[IC] Eternal Galaxy: Shards of Starlight - Part I

[Cucoo5]

Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

"If you heard the tales as they are..." Avonna turned to John, "Then you would find yourself caught in the lies that shroud this Galaxy." She walked back down to where he was. "If you wish to seek the truth of the Manor of Eternity...then you must seek out the relics left by the Ancients. They are where the legends originated. If you find the origin of the legends, rather than hear the interpretations...then and only then could you find a way back." She then walked past him and activated another hologram. This one showed a scale model of the Venturian Galaxy. "The Galaxy is a smaller place than you would assume. The legends specifically speak of six planets of six solar systems." She zoomed into one section, showing Helios. "The legends first reference Helios System, but no planet in the beginning." she switched over to Celestora. "Celestora system contains the planet Alcyon, which the legends reference next." She continued to scroll through the solar systems as she spoke. "Senarious of the Egale System, Inopia of Sol Incineron, Nox of Venion, Conlustrare of Helios, and finally..." She switched to Nexion system. "Here...in Nexus itself, is where the trail ends." She turned back to John with a blue orb in hand that the hologram collapsed into. "This is the map with the order that I just showed to you." She handed to him. "If you seek the truth, follow the path the Ancients left."

------------------
Celestoria System
Space near Mortem

...leaving the Delta Division crippled, the NGO has fled to the outer corners of the system...
...Other reports indicate the NGO has begun targeting civilian freight ships...

------------------

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

Aion went silent with what Mima said, a thought crossed his mind.
"Maybe, but the Guardians of Time are just a legend...we don't have solid proof of their existence." Joe explained.
"Pardon me for intruding, but one of you is Aion Leonares, correct?" A man with jet-black hair and long officers jacket had walked up to the group, appearing to be in his later thirties.
"Lieutenant Navarre! Sir!" Kiara jumped slightly.
"Navarre Paladin...the legend of Maverick Pilots everywhere..." Joe whispered to Mima.
"I am Aion, sir." he stepped forward.
"A quick word, I have a message from your..." Navarre paused for a moment.
"Father. Orion might have been my teacher, but he was the only person I could call a father."
"Of course. The late Lieutenant always referenced you as his son."
"Whoa wait, Aion...Orion is...dead??" Joe looked at Aion and then to Navarre. "You never..."
Aion closed his eyes for a moment, as the silence began to seep in. "What was his last words- I mean...message for me?"
Navarre handed Aion a digital notepad, an older, bulkier model. Aion took it and turned it on. A single grey dot appeared, blinking. A sound played along with it each time it appeared.
DING...DING...DING...
"Orion was a great man. You carry the even greater honor to call him a father. And now you are the heir to his legacy." Navarre then gestured to the notepad. "As you know, Orion was fond of riddles. He left this so that only you could unlock it, as a precaution. It's contents are supposed to aid you when the time comes." Navarre bowed slightly then left.
Aion bowed in response and then looked back to the grey flashing dot.
"Ok, I'm going to go on a limb and say that you, Aion Leonares, is the physical incarnation of riddles and mysteries. Why? Let's take a quick look at your track record, matey. First, I find you in your home back when we were in our early teens and you have no memories of your past. Then, Revere shows up and dumps ya in the South Sea of Dua and you manage to get picked up by some friendly pirates and successfully travel through the Mirror Sea. And now, you find a chick who also has no memories and was found in the Mirror Sea itself and THAT." Joe pointed to the notepad. "And I can't forget the biggest mystery of all! Which is...the fact that despite being the most mysterious man here, you STILL don't have a girlfriend!"
Aion rolled his eyes at Joe's joke. "And the same could be said of you, Sir Gets-dumped-a-lot."
"HEY! I at least try!"

---------------

Helios System
Space

A voice of an older man answered Mara's request. "This is Commander Sullivan of the Delta Division Flagship Excalibur, Permission granted." Then a younger officer took over. "Landing bay M-408 is available for you to land. You may proceed with your approach."

[S121]

Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

John was somewhat frustrated by hearing that he would need to go to different planets to get back home. Could she be lying to him, trying to get him to run an errand? No, she had been kind to him for this long. She didn't seem to be the kind of person to do that. Perhaps it was just John's cynicism.

"It's going to be much harder to get back home than it was to arrive here, isn't it?", John asked Lady Avonna in a slightly depressed tone as he received the holographic map.

[Cucoo5]

Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

"You are not alone in that regard...there are many here who seek the same thing...to simply return to their home, pure and simple." Avonna looked over to where Aurora was, who was smiling and, despite her inability to speak, mouthed the words: "Thank you."
"I can have my Guards equip you with that which you may need. The Galaxy is plunged into a War that has yet to even begin to see an end. It would be best if you are prepared for the worst."

[S121]

Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

John was slightly confused by Aurora's "thank you". If anything, John should be thanking them. They were going to give him the tools to get back home. John was curious, so he decided to ask Lady Avonna about it after thanking her.

"Thank you. I'll be sure to go ask the guards for supplies. All help is appreciated.... Why is she saying thank you?", John asked Lady Avonna.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Space en route to Excalibur

Confirming approval sir, ship incoming towards specified location Mara followed the order as her ship started flying towards the landing bay

It didn´t took much to get into the Landing bay M-408, and she was already being scanned for foreign anomalies or weaponry

A soldier asked about her augmentations as a protoclo and she had to answer

"It is a full body augmentation due to ship explosion, here you can have the list of the augmentations I have" the bioroid said handling the soldier a holographic list with them

The list was big to say the least, most of the organs were changed to cybernetics and those who barely managed to survive had patched augmentations to sustain the lost parts. Her bones had their share of changes to to sustain the new body and the brain had internal chips to control the robotic parts. Yet the most obvious part were here eyes, being black instead of white and the irises where golden looking.

"Uh.. thanks for the clearance ma´m you may proceed to the mess hall while your resupply order proceeds to be approved with the objects you asked for" another soldier said said giving the list back to the white haired

"I shall thank you for letting me be here sir" Mara said going towards the mess hall

[Cucoo5]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

The mess hall looked as though it were meant for a five star restaurant, with a vast array of tables and lofted areas that overlooked the lower levels. At the center was where chefs prepared food for all with cheerful enthusiasm.
"Oi there, little lady!" One of the chefs who was of considerable girth was skillfully frying up a sort of meat and herb mixture called over to the approaching Mara. "Haven't seen your face here-a-bouts! You look like yer got quite the apatite! And a bioroid no less! Ah I do love you bioroid types! Can pack it in and be forever thin! Arrharhar! Well, yer in fer a treat today, little missy!"

--------------------

Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

Avonna smiled at the question and merely repeated herself. "You are not the only one taking this quest." As she finished speaking, a Guard walked up and bowed.
"I will take him to the armory."
Avonna nodded, and the guard then asked John to follow him.

[S121]

Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

John was a little puzzled by Lady Avonna's answer. Was she talking about Cortana, or about others that John didn't know about? Were the others hostile? were they from another faction? That was probably why he was being outfitted with this time period's weaponry.

"Oo~ooh Cryptic, huh?", Cortana said to John in a sort of sarcastic tone.

John turned to the guard and nodded, making it seem like he was nodding at the guard's request when he was actually agreeing with Cortana. It would be strange if he seemingly talked to himself, so he picked the best way to communicate with Cortana. John put the map into the storage compartment on his thigh and followed the guard out of the room.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

Mara greeted the chef and stood near the table "I would like some bread and eggs if its possible, thank you for the offer" she said taking her portal gun and some smaller tools

The bioroid started thinkering on the object, regulating its cybernetics and checking anything that needsed to be repaired

[Cucoo5]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

The chef laughed heartily at the simple request. "Har Har Har! So, what kind you want? Ye got a choice of variety as vast as the galaxy itself!"

-------------------

Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

The guard led John to the Armory, which was a stark contrast to everywhere else in the Palace. It had hues of blue light throughout the windowless area. It almost looked like a factory as machines toiled in making sure there was a plentiful supply of weapons.

The Guard picked up a small flat hexagonal device. "This is what most simply call a Digital Bag. You can store a large quantity of items in it. I don't know what capabilities your current armor has, but if you have a telepathic uplink communicator, or something similar, you should be able to operate it by simple using thought and tapping it to confirm input. You can pick anything in the room. If you wish to store it, merely think it and tap the device. If your armor does not have the capability, we could have our scientists augment the device into it."

Spoiler:

Anything you want, it's like a candy store here of weapons.

[Kristia]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

Mara couldn´t help but smile "Just pretty normal eggs and bread, Im still adapting to food vaireties if you know what I mean" she said gesturing her robotic eyes

Soon the white haired took the rest of her apple and finished it as she was almost starving from the hunger. Having a bioroid body calmed down the body needs of nutrients, but it still needed food and water to survive.

[bookdragon2000]

Sol Inceneron
Near Inopia, alpha fleet

" Good to see you too, but I'm not staying out of this, I need to test this new bullet. Thanks for the path." He sent the message to Ember, then sent instructions to his first ship to arrive on the scene, FuyuKaze, being the fastest. He instructed it to cover KuroiKaze and ShiroiKaze while they attacked.

Then manipulating both ships, he entered the clear zone between the two Omega destroyers Ember had left on her wake. Each of his ships quickly fired one of the new bullets at their respective targets before speeding off to fire on the last two cruisers. Three of the bullets found their mark and released their load into the cruisers, the loads retained the original inertia and were given and extra boost, allowing them to enter the destroyers at an extreme speed while the bullets were repelled. The last bullet was destroyed by a lucky shot from the destroyer it was aimed at.

In the three destroyers, a small hexagonal shape landed inside with a thunk, and even before the vacuum of space could take effect, a dark cloud started appearing above the digital bags and dispersed in a seemingly never ending stream, causing injuries and screams from whoever it touched. The dark cloud was composed of a large swarm of beetle-like creatures he had found on the planet his Helios base was located on, they were one of the reasons that planet was uninhabited, he had had to build large, thick walls, shields and other manners of defense to keep hem out. They were the size of a fingernail, with a hard carapace, were able to fly and had sharp jaws which they used to tear into anything they could eat, which was cirtually everything. Bulkheads were closed against them, but they still enough slipped through before that and also through the ventilation system to cause mass panic within the destroyers. Even then, the swarm was still growing larger in the isolated area, the bugs continuing to scratch and chew on the walls and bulkhead, damaging them.. Bugs still continued being pulled out into space through the hole left by the digital bag, but the hole was starting to clog up due to the sheer number of bugs, and even more were still materialising. The three destroyers fell into disarray, the guns slowly fell silent as either the gunners were attacked or the wiring was damaged. The destroyers started to drift as the pilots and the engines were attacked. The bugs would all probably die soon due to them eating into the wiring, but meanwhile, they continued wrecking havoc.

The rest of Nhiome's fleet arrived and he gathered KuroiKaze, ShiroiKaze, AkiKaze, FuyuKaze and NatsuKaze together before setting out to continue fighting. ShiroiKaze and FuyuKaze , using their superior speed, started attacking and destroying drones that were attempting to attack Nhiome's fleet, the black roses and the NGO battle cruiser. KuroiKaze, NatsuKaze and AkiKaze engaged the last destroyer, avoiding the shots while constantly shooting back. FumeiKaze positioned itself on the space-ward side of the battle where its stealth would be of more use, it then began sniping at either the last destroyer or any drones that approached, causing explosions to occur seemingly without cause.

[Koishi]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

"Get a room, you two." Mima said. "Since I was found in this Mirror Sea, or whatever, which is supposed to be 'legendary'.." Mima continued. "Is it not out of the realm of possibility that these Time fellas could exist, in some fashion? I mean, you are talking to a ghost or whatever." Mima explained.

---

Celestoria System
Space near Mortem

---

The NGO. They all seemed unjust, but the NGO being on the top of the list. The frieght ships were a common thing for them, though usually, they would keep it out of the public eye. They got reckless. The Reaper decided it would be a good enough excuse to visit the market.

It plotted a course, and then, in a blink of an eye, jumped to a relatively fast speed, and began to head towards the Helios System.

[Cucoo5]

Sol Inceneron
Near Inopia, alpha fleet

The Black Roses, The NGO Battle Cruiser, and even the Unaffected Alpha Division Destroyer stopped firing altogether.
The Drone fighters began to drift as their pilots aboard the cruisers were killed.
Everyone listened to the open channel that was still transmitting from the other ships affected by Nhiome's Bioweapon.
Screams of pain, horror, fear...
The NGO Commanding Officer did not look at the opposing Alpha Division Fleet at that moment as an enemy.
"...Concentrate fire on only the affected destroyers."
The order was given by both the NGO and the Officer of the last Alpha Division Ship.
Ember and her squadron watched on as the two ships began firing upon the three affected. "This war has raged on for far too long. So long that all sides would readily give a merciful death than watch the other suffer..." Ember spoke seemingly to herself but didn't realize the open communication channel to Nhiome. "This is the result of a War of Eternity..."

----------------------------

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

The chef chuckled to himself again. "There ain't no such thing as "normal" in my kitchen, lassie! Har Har Har! Only the extraordinary dishes are made here!" He then turned to his work area and began cooking a meal, though what exactly was hidden by his girth. After some time he turned around with a formidable dish that seemed like an omelet, except it had herbs in it that seemed to sparkle and looked the consistency of a nebula. "Now here's a dish to lift the spirits!" He handed Mara the plate which seemed to be at least 3 feet in diameter. He then leaned over the counter and said in a loud whisper: "The Heaven's Omelet, said to be the dish of evil's bane...not even the most wicked can withstand its taste and remain villainous vermin! Even the dead rise from their graves just to get another taste of it! Sometimes, its said to even bring them back to life! OHOHOHOHO!" He then held a hand and legitly whispered this time. "And if the size o' the dish worries ya...let's just say that size can be deceiving." He chuckled to himself and let Mara take the Omelet with a side of honey-wheat toast with a cup of some sort of blue and green swirled jam.

***

Kiara giggled at Mima's comment before responding. "Well, I suppose it only makes sense if some of the legends have actual living proof, though the scientists would remain skeptical, especially when the largest part of any of the legends, the Shards of Starlight, cannot theoretically exist because...crystals powerful enough to have created the galaxy...is a bit of a stretch."

----------------------

Helios System
Asteroid Belt - NGO Flagship

Revere made his way through to the bridge, where the Commander of the entire fleet, Roderick, was.
Commander Roderick had a twisted personality. He came off as relaxed and good humored, but this was merely a ruse as he was known to be even more brutal than Revere.
"Ah! Revere, my boy! How was your little endeavor? Successful, I do hope?" Roderick had a big grin plastered across his bearded face. His hair would remind someone of something from the ancient history books of a sort of Sea Pirate from Old Earth.
"No, The one we seek has made her next move and is putting up the usual fight. The war will continue for now."
"Ah...that is terribly unfortunate. I thought you knew how to capture her..."
"I do, but to do so is to play a lethal game of chess where each move must be choreographed carefully. We have to bide some time until the Daedalus Project is complete. Then and only then will we attain a true checkmate."

[S121]

Nexion System
Planet: Nexus

John looked through all of the weapons and picked everything that he could possibly need. John picked a gun that fit on your arm that could fire blasts of energy, homing missiles at a fast rate, ion streams, and large, chargeable plasma beams, a mini-fusion bomb launcher, Pulse Grenades, an atomic bond splitter cannon, a red beam sword, a rapid-fire, high-powered coilgun, a Ceramic Carbide bladed chainsaw, a gun that fired explosive shells that could be programmed to explode at certain distances, Singularity/Implosion Grenades, a quad-barreled, 8-gauge shotgun, an Ion Cannon, a Fusion/Plasma Launcher, Fusion Grenades, Thermite explosives, Cryo explosives, a weapon that could fire a continuous, focused laser, an energy sapper module, a rechargeable plasma rifle, and 2 Ceramic Carbide Combat Knives.

Once John was done, he walked over to the guard and placed all the items down. The amount of weapons John was carrying had to weigh at least seven-hundred pounds.

"Wow, John... Got enough weapons?", Cortana asked John.

John remained silent, a little embarrassed by his weapon-grabbing spree. John simply grabbed weapons for all occasions. He didn't know what he was getting into, so he picked weapons that would help him in any situation.

John then turned to the guard and spoke.

"I don't actually have an armor module that would allow me to use the Digital Bag. I might need to give your scientists my armor, but it will need to be stored on a cart. It's too heavy to move by hand.", John said to the guard.

[Koishi]

Helios System
Delta Division Flagship | Excalibur

---

Mima made a low chuckle. "Scientists? You're talking to a ghost here, fella, I could care less what those eggheads think." Mima replied.

---

Helios System
Comet Field

---

The Reaper's ship approached a large array of slow moving comets, and as it approached, it was signalled to open a channel.

The Reaper obliged, and was met with a man in somewhat makeshift armor.

"Ah, The Reaper returns to the Black Market once more. Business, or pleasure?" the man asked.

"Doesn't matter. Code: Catrina." The Reaper replied.

"Code's valid. Come on in, we've been waiting." the man then pressed a button, cutting off communication.

The Reaper approached one of the largest comets, probably half the size of a moon, and a hatch opened up, revealing a hanger. The ship entered inside, and the hatch closed. The Reaper opened the hatch of it's ship and went into the hangar itself. It was clearly meant for one ship, with a small tunnel leading to the main complex.