Project - Prometheus Ch. 08

"You would be Jaesa?" it asked tentatively.

"I am. Now, as I understand it, you are in need of an update," she said to him. With that, she placed a hand on his shoulder and suddenly, both programs were still. The only thing moving were their eyelids, blinking in such rapid succession that they appeared to be jittering. The processing and sharing of information was done, over in less than sixty seconds. With that, Stanley straightened up and finally became much clearer to everyone there.

He was dressed in a formal uniform, a dated variation of a Federation Naval uniform. It was azure blue in color, with bronze trim and black combat boots. The face of the VI was handsome, with blue eyes and a bare face. It went with the Grecian features that mimicked those of the ancient king Leonidas. It looked at all of them with a new understanding in its face.

"Thank you for that update Jaesa. Now that I know of the story and events that have transpired over the course of the last few centuries, I can address whatever concerns that come up," Stan said formally, saluting all those present.

"At ease Stanley. Judging by the fact that Lumina can speak English with a good sense of clarity, I would assume that you were the one who taught her to do so?"

"That is correct Captain. Miss Luminia here came to me about four standard years ago, by accident. Looking for her father I suppose, hoping that he'd taken refuge in one of the wrecks here. Sadly, I confirmed for her what exactly had happened to her father," the VI went on, but quickly steered the topic back.

"Luminia was a... difficult student at first, but soon enough, she grasped how to communicate properly, if somewhat brokenly."

"I noticed that, when we first met," Nats said. "Though from what mama told me, it was worse when they first encountered her in that fortress."

"Likely because I hadn't spoken this language in some time," Lumi put in. "When speaking a different tongue, you have to be able to speak it regularly, or you forget it."

"That makes sense," Alex interjected. "I speak at least four other Earth languages but am likely rusty with them. I have no doubts that if I were to try to speak them again, I'd likely sound like I was butchering them."

"Precisely. Now, is there anything else I can help you with Captain?"

"Yes. I'd like to know how is it you're still active after all these years, how the ship ended up here and what the exact mission of the Columbus was," he stated.

"In regard to your first query sir, that is simple. My power supply is a separate source from the main reactor. It was designed so that in the event of a catastrophic failure that I could still be online and provide the crew with updates on the ship and render assistance wherever necessary. My source is intact and provides me with enough power to run for at least another four hundred years," Stan answered.

"That's actually one hell of an idea!" Nats said thoughtfully. "Jaesa, do you have your own separate power supply?"

"Oddly enough, I do not. My power supply is tied to that of the Solaris reactors that power the Perseus. That is something that could be of use!"

"I'm inclined to agree. We'll look into it once we get back aboard the Perseus," Alex said.

"Allow me to assist you with that," Stan said as he turned to Jaesa. He placed his right palm on Jaesa's forehead and laced his fingers through her hair. Both intelligence's eyes fluttered for about two seconds before he lowered his hand. Jaesa blinked, almost like she was waking up, then smiled beatifically.

"Thank you, Stanley! I now have the full schematics of the Columbus! Its technical readouts, drives, systems, everything! There are some interesting new improvements that could be applied to the Perseus and every other ship design in our databanks sir!" Jaesa enthused.

"I'm sure you and Chief Vostrikov will have a lot of long and sleepless nights ahead of you," the young captain chuckled. "Anyways, Stanley, please continue."

"Yes sir. As to how we got here, the Columbus, the Polo, and the DeChamplain were using an experimental type of hyperdrive to search the stars. It allowed the ships to tunnel through real space and using the hyperdrive to go from one place to another, almost instantaneously. It was dubbed the 'Wraith drive'."

"Wait a second! You're saying that you had a fully functioning Wraith drive on this ship?!? And that it was working properly??" Nats asked, her face one of complete and absolute shock and wonder.

"Yes, we did. Though the last time we enacted its use, we were in the middle of an intense fight with a Confederate battle group. Several of the containment modules of the drive ruptured before we could make our escape. While in transit though a kind of sub space reality, we were forced to jump out in order to effect repairs. Sadly, the damage was too extensive to repair or contain."

"We came out just out of orbit of the world, which the Artucian call Talemkha. The explosions that followed, by damage wrought by the Confederate vessels, sent the Columbus into a downwards spiral to this planet. There were few survivors of the crash and since the hull had been compromised, they did not last long against the cold climate of this planet. Those that had, succumbed to their lungs freezing over via the microscopic ice crystals in the air," the intelligence iterated.

"May they all rest in peace," Alex intoned solemnly.

"Addressing your final question sir, we were sent out to search for life-sustaining worlds in which humankind could expand its influence. That and have a sector of the galaxy that we would be able to govern ourselves with no outside influences. Although, that was not the only objective," the VI said.

"What do you mean? Was there a secret objective outside what was told to the public?" Alex asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Yes sir, there was. Normally, I wouldn't answer such a question, as it was classified beyond Top Secret. Though, since you are the secret, logically, there is no point in keeping it as so," Stan finished.

"I'm the secret?!?" Alex asked his face lighting up in surprise.

"Yes sir. The other objective, which was also deemed vital was to search for and recover the Prometheus class vessels that had been lost. The Federation had been stretched too thin in those days and needed an edge that would put them on even terms with the Confederacy. Possibly even hope to beat them and put them in their place," Stan explained.

"Wait a minute," Taal'ani broke in. "You went searching for the lost ships of Project Prometheus? But why now after hundreds of years had passed? How would you be able to find them? They were lost to where no one knew where they were and what their projected routes were."

"That is where you are incorrect Specialist Taal'ani. You see, when the survivors of Earth began their exodus, there were some among them who had worked at Earth High Command. They were privy to the routes and directions in which each vessel was headed when all contact was lost. As they drifted through space, they kept this knowledge amongst themselves. They could see that there were factions of people among the survivors who blamed High Command for bringing the Xuul'khani down upon Humanity," the VI continued.

"They kept this knowledge of the ships last known locations and routes secret, to ensure that one day, they could be found. It wasn't until the year twenty-six sixty-eight that this secret group felt they could share this information without fear of persecution. They went to Federation High Command with this knowledge, hoping that they'd listen."

"Though skeptical at first, High Command was ecstatic about the information brought forward. Finding such marvels would help them achieve a level of supremacy over the Confederacy which was sorely lacking. The only problem was that they had no way to fund it. They disguised the truth of their search behind the veil of finding new worlds in places that were yet unexplored," Stan told his audience.

"After several failed attempts from various wealthy backers, they turned to the Farmer's Consortium. They hoped that they'd get the funds they needed to craft at least one ship to go searching. The Consortium gave them enough resources to craft three, along with a detailed contract that cited that any world that had viable farmland above a certain percentage was the Consortium's to claim, as a farming world."

"Since the Consortium was unaware of the secret initiative behind the project, the Federation agreed to the deal. When the ships were nearing the final test phases before being launched is when a recent border skirmish broke out into a fully fledged war. Seeing they had little choice, the Federation sent orders for the ships to begin their voyages ahead of schedule. That was when we were ambushed by that Confederate battle group," Stanley finished for them.

"The start of the Thousand Day War," Natalya groused, earning a look of surprise from both Alex and Talon. "What? I like to study up on history."

"I only read the basic footnotes about that conflict," Alex said. "You'll have to fill me in on the details of that later."

"Will do, sir!"

"This information on the last known locations of the other Prometheus ships, do you have it?" Alex wondered, anxious about news of the other lost ships.

"Sadly sir, that is information I do not have access to. Captain Sabrina Mueller kept a specific hard drive in her quarters, separate from the mainframe of the ship. If you were to find it, it would be possible to gain access to what she knew about the last known locations of the Prometheus vessels," Stan answered.

"All right then. Ladies let's go looking for this hard drive and see if we can get some answers about what they knew," Alex said excitedly. They were all about to head off to the officer's quarters when a transmission came in over the comms.

"Sir! We're under attack! A bunch of beasts just came at us from within the wrecks! We're holding but we need some back up now!" Korsa yelled over the comm line, startling everyone.

"Is it a larger pack of those wolves?"

"Negative sir! They are large beasts, that almost look like mutated gorillas, but white in color and almost twenty feet tall! They have multiple horns on their heads and spikes protruding from their arms and backs!"

A gasp from Luminia caught everyone's attention and she bodyguards shared the look of fear that was plastered on her face.

"Luminia, what are they facing?" Alex asked gently.

"They are facing Tashkuun beasts! Full adults! No warrior has ever faced such beasts and lived to tell the tale!" she quavered.

"Well, let's see about changing that!" Alex said grimly as he cocked his machine gun and left the bridge. Talon and Nats did the same with their weapons and followed their captain, backtracking the way they came. Lumi and her guards looked at each other before following the humans out. They didn't want to risk dying, nor did they want to see their new friends perish at all, but they were determined to at least try to fight the creatures off.

Racing down the steps, the exploratory group found themselves back outside and in the middle of a firefight. Inari, Kas, and Pree were busy taking shots at no less than five of the beasts that Korsa had described. These things were out for blood, judging by how close they were pushing the defensive line. Alex was surprised by how effectively they were all holding, but the beasts were inching closer despite the fire they were under.

Their pelts were wet with purple blood as the firearms were having some effect on them. He looked around for Korsa and the Artucian two warriors and found them taking on one of the beasts by themselves! They'd wounded it, but with a quick attack it had knocked down the male of the pair and had raised its arms to pummel him.

Thinking on pure instinct, Alex raised Stormbreaker and opened fire, charging at the beast to get its attention. It worked as the heavy rounds from his machine gun were enough to stagger it for a moment, driving it back. The man used this momentary distraction to pick himself up and scurry out of the way. The Tashkuun beast roared in defiance of the attack, angered that its kill had been taken from it.

Wasting no time, Korsa leapt in, taking the beast down to its knees with precise sword strikes, hamstringing it. As it collapsed to its knees, she raced up its back, deftly dodging the spikes that poked out beyond its pelt. She then dropped to her stomach on the beast's neck and drove her blades into its throat.

It gurgled for a moment, almost like it couldn't believe that it had been so wounded. Driving the blades in as far as they'd go, before pulling her arms apart in a circular motion. The movement was slow for a second before Korsa screamed in defiance and put every effort behind the move. In a singular motion, she had cut open the beast's neck, almost severing its head completely.

As its blood poured onto the ice and snow, Korsa stood and ran to its forehead, jumping off and doing a double front flip, landing just in front of Alex as the monster toppled. Standing up, she turned and surveyed her handiwork, quite pleased with herself, before turning back to the group in front of her.

"Now who's the show off?" Alex wondered in dark amusement.

"Not the time for jokes sir!" Korsa growled as she took off to help the rest of her friends, who were having trouble keeping two of the Tashkuun beasts back. Alex mentally agreed with her but thought a little light-hearted banter wouldn't go amiss. He turned to help everyone else with driving back the larger group and saw that the team he took with him inside was making a very good account of themselves.

Nats and Talon were holding the line with Inari and Kas, while Pree was taking sniper shots at the beasts, trying to keep them back. The other Artucian stepped up and put their rifles to use, bringing down at least two more of the monsters. That left them with only two and one of them had turned tail and run as it was leaking blood like water in a sieve.

The beasts had gotten nowhere near the ship and that was something that Alex was thankful for. The last one, all alone, seemed like it was about to charge, until a massive roar echoed through the Dead Snows. It stopped mid-stride, looking about in fear, before turning tail and running, using its massive arms to propel it faster.

Hearing the loud screech of metal on metal and ice cracking and falling, caused the group to turn around and face this new threat. It was a Tashkuun beast, but much larger than any they had encountered previously. It was nearly thirty feet in height, its arms and back festooned with spikes and its fur was more a beige in color than the pure white that its smaller compatriots had been. This beast was the Tashkuun Alpha as the other had been deathly afraid of hearing it nearby.

It turned its hateful eyes upon them, fixing them with a glare that said they were on his land and they'd have to pay the price for trespassing. Other than its size, there was one discerning feature that separated it from the others. On the left side of its leathery face, was a long and jagged scar, like someone had tried to stab its eye and missed. Roaring in challenge, it moved towards them as fast as it could, which was little more than half the speed of the others.

Steeling themselves, the party readied themselves, Korsa stepping up to the fore, ready to intercept the beast. Alex also stepped forward, handing his guns off to Inari and Kasumi, who were currently cursing their lack of ammo. He drew Yggdrasil and ignited its flame, before charging forward, to join Korsa in her defense.

The beast roared again and lowered its head at the last possible second, its head and horns knocking and throwing Alex and Korsa as though they were bowling pins. They flew back and landed hard, both a bit dazed but all right. Their armor had saved them from being horrendously gored, but now there were score marks on the Phalanx suit and Korsa's armor had taken a couple of dents.

The Alpha had pounded down its fists, causing the rest of the group to scatter. It bore down on Natalya as she was the closest one to it. As it focused on her, it seemed to ignore the incoming fire from the rest of the group, most of the bullets bouncing off its hide. As Alex and Korsa stood, they both saw what was transpiring and let out bloodcurdling warcries as they charged the best yet again.

It turned briefly to see what was coming at it, but saw these small beings as inconsequential, turning back to Nats. That lack of respect cost it as Korsa reassembled her Thuun'tara blade and swung mightily at its exposed back. The blade bit deeply, tearing a massive gash in its hindquarters, causing it to roar in pain. It then turned and backhanded the little insect that dared to wound it, sending Korsa flying yet again. It was at that moment that Alex leapt up and took a small sliver out of its left leg.

The sliver was a sting compared to the large wound that Korsa had opened. But it was the flames of Yggdrasil that caused it to howl in agony as the fiery axe had ignited its fur. It danced around in an impromptu jig, trying desperately to put the fire out. It quickly rolled in the snow, dousing the flames and barely missing the Hermes. Nats scrambled out of the way and put some distance between her and the creature, its attention now focused on Alex.

The beast pounded the ground in front of it, almost like it was daring Alex to try that again. Alex raised his axe above his head with both hands and shook it in a bellowing challenge. Knowing he had to buy Korsa some time to get back in the fight, he charged at the beast, the whirling axe wreathing his form in flames. The monster struck at him hard, but Alex dodged out of the way at the last second and brought his axe down on the beast's forearm, driving the blade deep.

He tried to pull his axe out, but it was stuck and that split second cost him. It grabbed Alex with its other hand, hoisting him up in the air and holding him aloft like he was a straw doll. Though its mouth was big enough to swallow him whole, the creature squeezed him, the armor groaning in protest. Alex screamed as he felt the pressure of the beast's grip crushing him.

Suddenly he was falling as he heard the report of a high-powered sniper rifle. He crashed down into the ground, snow and ice exploding around him. He then felt himself being pulled to his feet and saw both Korsa and Natalya helping him up. Looking to where the beast was, he saw that it was roaring in anguish, staggering away from them. It clutched the arm Alex had wounded, blood gushing everywhere.

"Good shot Pree!" Inari shouted as she fired at the creature's wound. Though its hand was in the way, it was apparent that Priya's shot and enlarged it considerably. The exposed flesh was steaming and bleeding profusely and everyone with a gun was firing at that area. The beast roared and charged again, intent on crushing the insects that had dared wound it so.

Alex was back on his feet and a little stiff, when he spotted Yggdrasil lying in a puddle of purple blood. He ran over and picked it up, activating his suit amplifiers as he went. He then issued another battle cry, trying to get the creature's attention. It worked, and it turned its eyes to him and started in towards him. Igniting his axe again, he charged once more making sure that the beast was focused solely on him. Because of this, it didn't see Korsa or Luminia coming in at its flanks.

When the beast was almost upon Alex, Korsa raced in and swung her sword as hard as she could at its leg. It cut right through its knee, going in with little effort and exploding out the back, almost severing the limb completely. It howled as it toppled, the loss of its leg sending to fall flat on its face, grinding to a halt mere inches in front of a slowing Alex.