Project - Prometheus Ch. 01

"OK mama. Set me up and let's get going," Natalya said as she clapped her hands together. Korsa smiled and set the helmet on her daughter's head, then turned it, the audible click confirming it locking into place.

"Vacc test running," Nats said into the mic built into the helmet. The holographic interface in her helmet displaying all the seals and hard points in her suit as the checks ran through their cycles. Every single one lit up green, showing no leaks in the suit.

"Pressurized and stable. Ready to go," Natalya said as she walked towards the rear cargo door of the Darkstrider. Korsa had stepped back and activated the containment field that separated the door from the rest of the hold.

The doctor then activated her wrist comm, "You be careful out there OK? I don't want to have to perform an autopsy on you," she said with a halfhearted laugh.

Natalya turned to face her mother and smiled indulgently, "Don't worry, I won't be floating or anything. We're the only ones here, so I'll be fine," the engineer replied.

With that, Natalya pressed the button on the digital interface and opened the bay doors. After a brief decompression, she stepped through the containment field and out into space. Grabbing the edge of the doorway, she swung out to the right, grabbing onto the ship plating. Activating her mag boots, she then placed them onto the hull and traversed upwards, the cargo bay door closing behind her. As she cleared the vertical section of the ship, she got a good view of the state of the ship's armor plating.

"Damn! The damage out here is extensive! I'm surprised that we didn't get fried!" Natalya said into the comm as she surveyed the wounds the ship had sustained. Blackened scorch marks littered the titanium-steel plating like sand on a beach. A system prompt lit up the internal interface, telling Natalya that the onboard camera had just come online. "Are you seeing this cap?"

There was a brief crackle before the reply came back, "A bit blurry but we see it. Anything that needs immediate attention, or can it wait until we get back to a station for repairs?" Inari inquired.

A brief sparking to her left caught Natalya's attention, "Looks like it can wait. Seems that we have a damaged sensor and maybe some compromised wiring surrounding it. I'll patch it up, but we may have to replace it," Natalya declared as she walked over to the affected area. Kneeling, she dug into her harness and pulled out some soldering, wires and hull sealant.

Pressing a button on her left arm, a small compartment on her vambrace opened, revealing a small set of tools set into it. She pulled the stripper out, going to work on the sparking wires. After cutting them, she then set up the new wires and put them into place. Stowing her tools, she then pressed a button on her right vambrace, activating a small torch that popped out. Setting the heat to solder, Natalya glued together the new wires to the old pathways and then set them into the recess which they had nearly been blown out of.

"Done, you should have it back online," Nats reported to the crew as she shut down her arm torch.

"I see it," Priya spoke over the comm. "Recalibrating it now. It should be back in a few moments." Natalya stood pleased with herself as she looked around the hull, remembering the destroyed beacon.

"Inari was that beacon vaporized or is there still something left?" Nats asked.

"I suppose there should be some of the casing attached to the hull. Why?" came the response.

"Want to pry off what's left of it and properly dispose of it. Can't be too careful with these things," she said.

"I damn near vaped it when I hit it but if you want to have a look, go ahead. It's..."

"....at the rear of the ship, just above the engines, I remember." Natalya replied. As she made her way to the remnants of the beacon, Nats couldn't help but be struck by the sheer wonder and beauty that was deep space. She glanced at the system they were in, looking at the maiden worlds, untouched since their creation. Some of them had multiple moons, while a couple of others had only one, or none.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what looked like a small asteroid, drifting near their position. Curious, Natalya walked closer towards it, zooming in with her built-in interface program, getting a better view of the hunk of rock.

"That's strange, that thing doesn't appear to be a rock at all," she said to herself while examining its rough edges.

"That's not a rock!" Priya's voice popped into the comm, jarring Natalya from her introspective thoughts. Focusing on the floating object for the first time, she saw that the XO was right. It wasn't a rock, it looked like a large chunk of metal of sorts.

"Cap, can you power up and bring me closer? I want a good look at it," Natalya chattered into the comm.

"All right hang on a sec," came Inari's reply. She felt the ship shift towards the flying hunk of metal, the captain using the retro-thrusters to guide them closer.

"Pree, can you figure out where this thing came from before I grab it?" she asked as they came closer.

"Yeah, just give me a moment," Priya responded. Natalya stepped back as the Darkstrider closed the distance to where she could comfortably grab the debris. It was metallic for sure, about the size of her torso and looked to be about six inches thick. Shaped like a tooth, the silvery metal looked familiar, but Nats did not understand why.

"Got the trajectory. You can bring it in."

Natalya rubbed her hands but still stepped forward gingerly, not wanting to make any sudden moves. She reached out and clasped the uppermost edge of the metal and pulling slowly with both arms, dragged it towards her. Slowly walking backwards, she turned and pushed it in front of her.

"Mama open the cargo bay and extend the ramp, I'm bringing it in." Hearing the hiss of the opening doors, Natalya guided the shard to where she was just over the doors. Seeing the ramp, she deactivated her mag boots, floating upwards, before starting up her suit thrusters to guide herself down onto the waiting ramp.

"Quarantine field is ready," Korsa's voice said over the comm. "Want to be sure that this thing is safe before we do anything else with it."

Reactivating her mag boots, Nats pushed the metal fragment in before saying, "I know, but I'm wondering what this thing is doing out here? I thought we were the only ones who knew about this place," the engineer said.

Back in the cockpit, Priya was going over the trajectory data of the hunk of metal that was being quarantined.

"Did you miss anything Pree? A faded ion trail perhaps? Maybe a probe or a buoy of sorts that was left behind?" Inari quizzed her XO as they went over the calculations.

"I'm certain. No one has been here. Ion trails leave behind a residue that takes months, sometimes even years to dissipate. I checked the readings over at least three times. It's just us here and no one else has been," Priya continued, frustrated.

The computer chimed just then, giving them a projected path of the metal shard's flight. The yellow pathway showed led them towards the fourth planet in the system.

"Well, wherever that thing came from, it was from there. Nats, you back in?" Inari spoke over the comm.

"Just closed the doors and finished with quarantine checks captain. The shard is safe and so am I."

"Good, because we're heading to see where that thing came from, so I want everyone to their stations, on double!" she said, her voice booming with the command. Everyone scrambled to their seats while Inari hopped into hers and powered the engines, on course to the fourth planet. As they closed in, it looked to be covered in ice, mostly white with hints of blue here and there.

"Scanning now," Priya reported as she narrowed her search on the world and the space surrounding it. A small ping lit up their radar holo, showing a contact in high orbit around the dark side of the planet. "That can't be right," Priya said in a voice barely loud enough to be heard.

"What's that?" Taal'ani asked.

"I'm picking up a reading, some sort of ship, but it's huge!" Priya scoffed with disbelief.

"I see the positioning. Taking us in for a closer look," Inari intoned in a voice that brooked no argument. As the Darkstrider got closer to the point of contact, a large black spot became visible in space, blotting out the stars surrounding them.

"Doesn't look to be any running lights. I'm picking up a power signature but it's very weak," Priya said as the black blot grew larger in the cockpit's viewport.

"Hitting the lights," Inari stated as the searchlights on the Darkstrider fired up.

In front of them was a ship, massive as Priya had told them it was. Debris of various types floated about their ship, but none large enough to cause any concern. It so happened that the lights from their freighter were playing along the prow of the ship where a name was spelled out in gigantic white lettering; PERSEUS.

Eyes widening in wonder, Inari spoke in a quiet voice, "Ladies," her hushed tone heavy with reverence, "I think we may have found one of the lost Prometheus vessels."

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This is where the first chapter ends and don't worry, I'm not one of those authors who just writes something willy nilly then forgets about it. No, I have a definitive plan and idea for what I'm going to shape this story into. This will be one of those truly epic journeys, where you're going to need a big breakfast, maybe second breakfast and elevensies just to get through the first bit, lol!

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read my work and I do hope that you've enjoyed it! I'm open to constructive criticism and will seriously consider any suggestions made about various story arcs. Please feel free to rate and comment on my work down below. If you like what I write, don't be afraid to follow and share, though your views, ratings and comments are quite enough for me.

In the meantime, this is C.H. Darkstrider, signing off to grab a beer and some quality time with the wife! ;) You will attain whatever you most desire, as long as you believe in yourself. Cheers!