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[S1lentWanderer]

I still recommend the risky maneuver. If our story ends here, we die a hero, if our story doesn't end here, we get to save a lot of people.

[Superdorf]

168 years.
It's a crippling long time to remain alert, but it's your compatriots' best chance at survival. The final decision is yours.

In order of preference:
D (primary choice)
B
C

[ZBridges]

I'm leaning towards D.

[Fluffe9911]

C Screw it go big or go home shame the cryopods dont got any inbuilt radiation shielding though.

[King Zultan]

Let's go with D.

[Eschar]

First option D. Second option C.

D lets us reach the Empyre 'fairly' fast and has good survivability for the crew.

C's advantage is speed, which we will need given the Empyre is probably not going to jump right into action at the warning of a Plagued "Exiled Noble", an actual pirate, and some quite mentally unstable Navy crewmen. Also we will probably learn a lot from the process if we succeed. Its disadvantage is obvious.

[19_EgarAlnis]

((Hey ya'll! Sorry about the delay, but I went on vacation. Still technically on one, lol. I unfortunately forgot my skill mechanic documents, and will edit in the skill gain from...168+ years of practice in creation and fusion. Both skills have been maxed, to the extent of Basil's knowledge within the field.))

Basil stands in the corner, watching the crew as they prepare themselves for the cold ‘sleep’. They wrap their pale frames in skin-tight black bodysuits of slick material, speckled with gold and silver. Pills are swallowed, and tubes are inserted. They step into their pods and turn, facing outward.

Sloan ruffles Basil’s hair as she passes into her pod, giving a wane smile before a mask clamps over her mouth. Pads cover her open eyes, and a body-glove of loose plates encases her entire body. A helmet wraps itself around her skull. Needles into her brain and spinal column. She flinches, but then stills as drugs flood her system from ports on her arm.

A microwave field pulses through the pod, and every atom in her body stills. Or nearly stills. The water in her body has no time to crystalize and rupture her cells.  Pressurized liquid is pumped into the system, hiding Sloan from him, but her vitals show on a panel nearby.

Sloan and the Crew dream, in their eternal night. Microelectrode arrays stimulate brief flashes in their frozen brain, keeping the pathways alive. The only thing keeping them from complete brain death. Basil hops to his feet and approaches the pad, thumbing through it. Sloan has an interesting dream. A quiet beach, with fishes, water,  and the warmth of a massive blue sun. On a whim, he looks through Mac’s system. A church of heavy incense and shimmering votive. A cross, upon which a figure is crucified. Murmured prayers and quiet choirs.

An occasional error flashes for every member of the crew, besides Sloan. Basil brings up scans of their brain, taken in the second, using the onboard Intelligence to analyze and explain.

Each and every member of the crew is having nightmares, the systems of the pods having to intervene to reinforce the calming images they selected. Mac suffers the worst out of all them. The intelligence, after a quick and easy hack, pulls up psychiatric analysis documents of his extensive post traumatic stress disorders. All caused by the extreme number of combat expeditions he has participated in and no doubt exacerbated by the stress of the last year

Basil frowns, unable to help,  and he sets the system to alert him of any degradation in the systems maintaining the pods.


Basil sets a rhythm for himself, the first few decades. He works for eighteen hours a shift, gives himself four hours for meditation, and two hours of recreational time. The work is grueling, and, after ensuring that every system and artificial intelligence was slaved to his will. After twenty years of solitude, he lets his form settle into his original shape. He installs nodes on every key system, letting his mind drift between multiple tasks when one proves to be too boring, his physical bulk melting into one of the hallways. The reactor redesign is a steady program of expected failures, as adjusting the complex shape of the containment vessel to produce matter instead of energy takes a great deal of trial and error.


Veyer’s voice echoes through the speakers sometimes, speaking of the Empyror. Basil searches through ship systems to try and find the feedback loop no doubt causing buffer leaks from the security recordings into the intercom. But there isn’t one. He even deletes the entire recording database, but the loops continue.

“The Empyror told me what you are.” Veyer says one day, as Basil meditates in his makeshift observatory, a room that he ripped the wall away from. It is open to the vacuum, but Veyer’s voice still hisses from the intercom. Lights glimmer in the distance. “The first of his to awaken. A plague that will replace humanity.”


Basil ignores it.

“You should have stayed with your mother. Maybe then the galaxy would be rid of you.”

“Shut up.” It is the first time Basil retorts. No sound emerges.

“Basil, you exist as a lie. Speak the truth, erase yourself. Do us all a favor.”


Basil awakens in the corridor of the ship. Twitches of his will bring components together, automated over the course of a decade. Tentacles welding them using the vacuum of space. He has no need to be physically present anymore. An alarm chimes again, and Basil seeks out what caused the awakening, searching through nodes --

He reforms himself in the cryo-bay. One of the crew screams in mute silence, struggling within the cold of the pod. A weak twitching as pain receptors respond to what must feel like an eternity of pain. Basil physically hammers at the emergency release, trying to pull the crewmember out of the cold crypt -- the person stills. They flatline -- he pulls them from the system. But it is too late. Their skin melts off in sloughs. Ice crystals forming and melting instantly, ripping their cells apart. Basil kneels, holding the arm that pulled away easy.

“Failure. Failure. Failure.” Veyer’s voice echoes from the hungry pod.

Tentacles shred through electronic and steel, through duct and glass. Still it echoes.

“Failure.”

Rank: Junior Specialist
Position: Secondary Scientific Surveyor @SABER22
Total Service Time:273 years
Age: 64
Citations: One Significant Scientific Service Award, two High Habitability Planet Participation Surveys.
Demerits: None
Next of Kin: Emilia Summers, Daughter, ATY-890102010

KIA
CRYOPOD FAILURE IN TRANSIT, FULL HONORS

Basil checks the pods every minute from then on, even if there isn't much need. The new engines push the wreck of the ship towards the nearest star system. Each day, the light of the sun hits the vessel a little sooner. The outside is a little warmer. The Oort cloud, due to some hellish gravitational quirk, is filled with heavy chunks of rock and metals, more like an asteroid belt than a true Oort, and Basil begins to seek out the largest chunks.

The Saber sends a ping to him, responding to a request made more than a hundred years ago. A vessel is nearby, transmitting a distress signal. [MCI:5] is bounced back to the Saber from the vessel that identifies itself as The Wandering Pig. Telemetry indicates a spew of radiation and heat venting into the cold vacuum. Nothing else in the system responds to any queries.

Spoiler: Status (click to show/hide)

Basil the Scholar of V̵̖̉õ̶̼͠i̷͇̖͒d̷̨̈́ͅ
Terran Time: 43470/03/19 12:30
Personal Time: 169 years

Active Dust: 5 × 10¹³ corpuscles
Nexus (Heart) Stability: Flawless
Nexus (Mind) Stability: 95%
ENERGY RESERVES:100%
Active Processes:

• 10% Quantum Networking
• ̶͕͖̣̗̗͈̏∞̴̠̣̺͔̬̼̍̍̉̂̀̅̄̌̓͠͝% ERROR:DATA CORRUPTION

Willpower Level: 3(d10)

Traits:
Empathetic (3/10)
Haunted (1/10)

Perks:
Scholar
Void

Spoiler: Objectives (click to show/hide)

Freedom

• The Galaxy beckons. New knowledge and interesting experiences await.

Knowledge

• The Behavior of the Third Children
• Seedships
• The Truth of the Ancient Twins, Earth and Mars

Strength

• Killing the Blighted Glass
• Mastering Your Skills
• Learn to Veil your Power.

Spoiler: Powers (click to show/hide)

Max Willpower Range: 10m

Ḙ̵̛̬̺̤͍̼̬̣̊̐̈̋́̏̔̊̑̃̊̚̚͜͠͠͠n̶̗͔̯͕̮͗̑ͅd̸̡̨̯̯̰̜͚͈̼͖͔͎͍̺͒͛̽̅͋̀̀̓͗̎̅̓͛͆͠͝l̴̟̺̳̍́͌͂̀͂̀́̎́̓͘͠e̸̦͈̋̔̃̂̒̃͝ş̸̗̯̘̣̻̪̠̗̤͑̎̓͛͗͝s̵̛̛͙̟͔͈͉̫̍̊̈̓͋̈̿̀̈́̍̚͠ ̷̳̣͉̯̗̣͓̼̠̠̆̃̑͌̚͝V̷̢̫̙͖̘̾́͗̿͒̾o̶͓̞̐͆̅̀̀̈́̿̿̚i̴̛̟͛̈͊͒̄̉͋̓̇̄͘͝͝͝d̵͕̜̬̜̠̝͇̈̂͂̂:Instinctive (NULL)
Brawling:Amateur(800/1000)
Ranged:Inept(50/100)
Meditation.:Instinctive (NULL)
Mimicry.:Instinctive (NULL)
-Arsenal of Agony.:Instinctive (NULL)
-The First Mask: Trained (2835/3000)
-The Second Mask: Dabbler (492/500)
-The Third Mask: Amateur (521/1000)
-The Fourth Mask: Novice (800/1000)
-The Fifth Mask: Dabbler (456/500)
-Healing Factor: Instinctive (NULL)
Control:Instinctive (NULL)
-Voice of the King: Dabbler (492/500)
Amalgamation:Dabbler (432/500)
Synthesis : Dabbler (452/500)
Rot:Dabbler(456/500)
Instant Quantum Networking : Instinctive (NULL)
Divine Conscious: Dabbler (393/500)
Unified Field Manipulation : Dabbler (393/500)
- Gravity: Dabbler (393/500)
- Matter Manipulation: Dabbler (393/500)
- Fission: Dabbler (393/500)
- Fusion: Dabbler (393/500)
- Energy Manipulation: Novice (847/1000)

Spoiler: Inventory (click to show/hide)

Lower Body:A brown jumpsuit
Upper Body:A black silk toga
On Feet: A pair of black leather boots
Right Wrist, Only Right Arm: A gold bracer tablet.

Spoiler: Bonds (click to show/hide)

The Devoured Sun

• A Plague Entity. Brought about the Galaxy's First Night.
• Hereditary grandparent of Basil
• Deceased(?)

The Blighted Glass

• A Plague Entity of immense power.
• Hereditary parent of Basil
• Contactable through Quantum Networking.

Sloan

• Homo Fundamentum Female
• Basil saved her life. (++Opinion)
• Contactable through Verbal Communication.
• The thought of harming Basil causes her immense fear and disgust.
• If she harms Basil, she will be infected by a Targeted Rot.

The PerversionBob Twitchy.

• A Plague Drudge
• One of Basil's Lictors.
• Contactable through Quantum Networking.
• Dedicated to the protection of Basil.

Spoiler: Concepts (click to show/hide)

[A las-pistol/rifle]
A cheap, hydrogen battery laser pistol/rifle.

• Small Hydrogen Battery
• Large Hydrogen Battery
• Laser Focusing System
• High-Accuracy Laser Focusing System
• Micro-Reactor
• Plastic Case

[A small hydrogen reactor]
A household hydrogen reactor, capable of outputting 35000 watts with only water as input.

• Large Hydrogen Battery
• Hydrogen Reactor (Small, Household))
• Fuses
• Plastic Case

[Cryo-pod]
A Cryo-Pod

• Cryo-Pod Insulation Fluid
• Cryo-Pod Internal Anti-Freeze System
• Microwave Stasis Field Generator
• Controller Board
• Outer Shell
• Dream Modulating Systems

[A Microreactor]
A tiny microreactor from a las-gun, using energy stored within Hydrogen Batteries to produce light.

• Hydrogen Reactor (Micro))
• Fuses
• Plastic Case

[A Small Ship's Reactor]
A reactor design, with optional material production designs.

• Hydrogen Reactor (Small Ship)
• Reactor Piping
• Reactor I/O
• Fuses
• Metal Case

[A cheap space suit]
A thin, cheap space suit.

• Oxygen Tank
• Emergency Sodium Chlorate Heater
• Carbon Scrubbers
• Micro-Medicine Array
• Small Tablet Screen
• Carbon Fiber Cloth
• Water Reclamation System

[A small engine]
A small thruster

• Liquid Hydrogen Tank
• Small Scale Reactor Piping
• Rocket Nozzles
• Engine Moderation Software

[A .35^c engine]
A larger thruster for small to medium-sized vessels

• Reactor Piping
• Electromagnetic Plasma Control Nozzles
• Engine Moderation Software

[Uni Ľubomíra]
A young man. Born on a dusty mining world. Became an Auxiliary Pirate Marine Lance Corporal. Died to Plague Infection on 43301/10/01.

• Brawling: Amateur
• Shooting: Inept
• Mining: Apprentice

[Plague Ivy]
A multipurpose vascular, manipulation and motile system.

Spoiler: EN LIGHT SKIRMISH @SABER22 (click to show/hide)

Main Reactor: [online]
>[80% TOTAL OUTPUT LEVELS]
>[ERROR:REACTOR:MODIFIED]
>[20% FUEL LEVEL]
Hull: [online]
>[COMP_REACTIVE_HULL:EN192121:SLAVE_AI] [online]
[105:HULL_BREACHES_DETECTED!]
Shield: [online]
>[COMP_HARDLIGHT_SHIELD:EN192121:SLAVE_AI] [online]
Artificial Gravity: [online]
Life Support: [online]
Cryogenics Support: [online]
>[6/6 [CRYOPODS ACTIVE]]
Empyreal Communications Array:[online]
>[EMPYREAL_COMMS: ON_STANDBY]
>[TRANSPONDER:EN_DISTRESS:MCI:5]
Main Thruster System:  [online]
>[75% TOTAL OUTPUT LEVELS]
Living Spaces: [online]

<< <>

[19_EgarAlnis]

The Halcyon Crown

Chapter Two: The ProtoKen System

The Saber22 has made it back to civilized space from the Big Empty. A feat that few, even in this great age of technology, have accomplished.

This is thanks to Basil, a child of Plague with a curious mutation: Empathy. And he has shown great empathy, and sacrifice. His first act, was one of empathy; saving a woman from the Plague that consumed her. In turn, he became her close nephew. He trained beneath the Herald of Ivy, but rejected the teachings of war and blood, instead seeking the understanding that the gifts of Plague could bring.

In yet another act of empathy and heroism, he saved the doomed crew of the Saber, from both Plague consumption and the hunger of time. In the process, subjecting his fragile mind to a decade of boredom and loneliness.

A young hero seems to be rising on the rim of the galaxy, but only time will tell if he continues to subvert the expectations of his birth.

[King Zultan]

Huzza!


Also it's a shame we lost one man but at least we were able to save the others. And hopefully that ship we encountered is friendly.

[Superdorf]

Hail to the rising king.
He is wise like the serpent, fierce like the brooding hen.
He makes war against the ungodly, and makes safe the churning waters.
He shepherds those under him; he bears his flock to good pasture.
May his years be many. May his arm be strong.

Χαίρε Βασιλίσκος. Well done. Well done. Well done.

Another vessel is asking for help. Will we go to them, or see first to our own?

[ZBridges]

I think we should first wake up the crew and come to a group decision as to how we should proceed.

[Superdorf]

Mmh. If we have enough life support infrastructure still to harbor them, sure. Otherwise we'll need to find a berth for our vessel first, or reconfigure it to support the crew again.

[King Zultan]

Making sure things are in good enough shape that our guys can safely be woken up sounds good.

[S1lentWanderer]

Well done, little king.
You have brought seven of your charges out of the void.

Now, another vessel calls for help.
It may have surviving crew, or it may not.
Either way, it almost certainly has usable components.
Intact fuel cells. Matter reserves. Possibly engines.
Stripping the wreckage for survivors and parts will help us in many ways.
Any survivors rescued will enhance our reputation
within the system where we land.
Even if the ship has no usable advanced components,
It is already made of spaceworthy materials,
Which should save valuable time improving our ship.

[King Zultan]

If that other ship's hull and bridge are better shape than ours we should use it and scrap the one we're in