OT: War to End All Worlds

[AgentZero]

Great, thanks. I know it took a little while, but here's a few pages to keep you all going.

The massive warship turned ponderously as her velocity dropped rapidly from an exit speed of .95c, swinging her nose around towards the system’s innermost planet.

“Transit complete,” announced the navigator. “ETA at waypoint one is four hours, thirty-six minutes.”
“Very good,” Kellet acknowledged before turning back to the three standing at his side. He noticed immediately that Matthews was looking a few shades greener than usual. Hyperspace transit was notorious for affecting telepaths more than anyone else.

We’re not going to do that again, are we? her voice inquired timidly in his mind.
Not for a while, he replied.
Good, she thought gratefully as she moved her hand over her mouth to conceal an unpleasant gaseous emission.

“Now then,” he said aloud. The next words out of his mouth were cut off as a violent cacophony of noise drowned out everything else. Kellet had only time enough to catch Aolo’s eyes long enough to see a combination of awed curiosity and sheer terror before being hurled across the bridge by the hand of an invisible giant. He slammed down into the gunnery pit and felt something crunch, but the pain was overwhelmed by the fierce agony in his head as an awful psychic scream ripped through his mind. He knew it could only come from one source, and he twisted desperately to catch some glimpse of Matthews as he was hurled towards the ceiling. He managed to grab a hold on one of the upper display monitors for a brief moment before it was wrenched from his grasp and he was tossed across the bridge and slammed into the navigation station before dropping to the deck which, mercifully, no long seemed inclined to move. He pushed himself slowly to his feet as cries for medics began to fill the air. Stumbling on unsteady legs he cast his eyes about, seeking one shape in the dim emergency lights. He caught sight of Aolo, who had somehow managed to get from the rear to the front of the bridge with no visible damage. The Ardent’s commander waved Kellet towards the rear of the bridge, just behind his command chair. Moving as quickly as his protesting muscles would allow him, he hurried towards the rear. As he came around the command chair, he caught sight of Matthews’ small form, curled into a tiny ball. He dropped to her side and pulled her into his lap, tilting her face towards his. Blood ran from her wide, moist eyes, and dribbled from her ears.

“By the Nine Circles,” he whispered. “Can you hear me?”
Matthews nodded.
“OK,” he said, pushing the hair out of her face. “You’re going to be fine. The medics are on their way and-” he stopped as she shook her head violently.
“…don’t need medics,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Hyperdrive coils… gone… so many… gone…”
“Sarah,” he murmured. “Focus, my love.”
She drew herself closer to him, her fingers digging into his back as she pressed her face into his chest. “I felt fear,” she whispered numbly. “I opened my mind to try to feel where it was coming from. Opened my mind all the way, to the whole ship. Then there was an explosion. I closed my mind quick. Not quick enough.” She turned her face up to look at him. “I felt their deaths,” she said, her voice breaking as tears began to roll down her cheeks. “The pain, the fear, panic, screaming, desperation to live, and then the silence. Gods the silence at the end.” She paused to survey the chaos around them for a moment then turned back to him. “Do you know how scared someone is before they die?” she asked softly.
Kellet slowly shook his head.
“More afraid than I hope you’ll ever be,” she told him, then reached up and kissed him deeply. He broke away after a moment and helped her to her feet.
“Are you hurt otherwise?” he asked, giving her a quick look-over.
“Fine,” she replied before grinning fatalistically. “Aside from this rib stuck in my lung, anyway.” A dribble of blood trickled from her lips and Kellet instinctively wiped his own, to find his hand came away streaked with her blood.
“MEDIC!” he hollered, the terror in his voice bringing four white-clad medics sprinting over. One gave her a quick run over with his medical scanner.
“Stretcher!” he shouted. “We’ll operate immediately. Sick Bay 2,” he instructed the orderlies.
“Goody,” Matthews smiled as she lay down on the stretcher. “Another scar. Christmas has come early.”
One of the orderlies stared at the other blankly and mouthed, Christmas? The other simply shrugged.
The doctor began to turn to follow the stretcher when Kellet’s hand shot out and caught the doctor’s shoulder in a vice grip, spinning him around to face the admiral.
“Doctor,” he voice grated. “Fix. Her.”

[Spoo]

More!

[AgentZero]

Might take be a day or two. My muse is angry with me right now.

[Atrocities]

We have all been there. Looking forward to next chapter though.

[sachmo]

Very nice!

So this is a story you've already written, or are you writing it now?

[AgentZero]

The stuff from the original post I wrote about a year ago. The following additions were posted here within a few minutes of me completing them. So bit of both, I guess. Haven't managed to get very much done because I'm not sure of the direction I want the story to take. I know the Ardent will require rescue by someone, since I just blew the back end off it, but I'm not sure what direction that rescue should take. I'm thinking it should come in the form of a ship from either a 'lost' human colony, or perhaps one of the Ancients should drop by?
The story is set in a universe I created during the SE4 Beta, but unfortunately my history of humanity that is central to the universe was lost in a great hard drive crash.

But hey, if anyone wants to throw out some suggestions, they'd be more than welcome at this point.

[sachmo]

Well, while waiting for inspiration as to the identity of the rescuers, you have a whole lot to fill in with the crew trying to save the ship. You've left yourself many trails to follow.

My initial thought as to the rescue would be an enemy force, taking the crippled hulk back to base for study and analysis.