Stranded: Chapter One

Part 2 - Keen And Yu Are Alive?

Ryley had been on the planet for just over 2 weeks, and in that time he's come to terms that he maybe the only Aurora survivor, his radio received a distress call from Officer Keen at Lifepod 19 and also CTO Yu at Lifepod 17. Ryley had to gather his only resources from his small lockers he placed in the waters, so he knew what was in them and if he would need them for long distance swimming. Just as he exited Lifepod 5, his PDA triggered something from his scanner "Caution: Detecting foreign levels of bacteria in the water, performing a self-scan is advised." which he then took the scanner out to scan himself "Self-scan complete: Vital signs normal... Continuing to monitor." followed by another message "2 life signs detected." Ryley was a little surprised to hear there's other survivors from the crash. Riley was already heading out to the closest Lifepod, which was of course Lifepod 17 of CTO Yu. As Ryley passed the Kelp Forrest, a Stalker had attacked him from behind, luckily he was able to use one of the few med kits he had made before he left for the survivors. Ryley slowly approached Yu's Lifepod, tapping on the overhead hatch to get her attention "Yu, it's Ryley from Lifepod 5." said Ryley as Yu let him inside the Lifepod "Ryley, you came alone?" Yu asked with a confused look on her face "I had no choice Yu, Keen is in 19, and the PDA says he's deeper than you." replied Ryley "What caused all of this?" asked Yu as she was getting ready to leave "I was picking up energy particles from when we crashed, there's a weapon on the planet. It wants to keep something off the planet, or stop us from even leaving the planet." Ryley responded. Yu had a Cyclops parked 50 meters away from where they were "Ryley, we have submersible transport 50 meters away, there's room for at least 10 people." said Yu as she got her gear ready "Where's Berkeley?" asked Ryley "He took off in Lifepod 2 before Aurora crashed, sir." replied Yu "We should head to the Cyclops ASAP, this place is insane." she added. Yu and Ryley headed for the Cyclops "Chain of command insists you take the conn of this, sir." said Yu as they climbed on board the Cyclops "We're going to 19 to get Keen, then we'll to the shallows, okay? Set a course for Lifepod 19 at Ahead Standard, Yu." Ryley instructed "Aye, sir." replied Yu.

Ryley decided to fabricate a few decoys, just in case a creature attempted to attack "Yu, these decoys should aid some help to us, whatever is near Keen maybe hostile." said Ryley as he loaded the decoys into the tubes "Alright, we're all set! How far are we away from 19?" asked Ryley "We're 150 meters away, but he's 300 meters down sir." replied Yu "Okay, grab 2 diving suits and tanks, we're going down together." said Ryley as he pressed Launch Decoy from the controls on the Bridge. Yu came back with what Ryley had requested "Sir, here you go." Yu said as she handed Riley some equipment "Let's go, and watch out for any  hostiles." said Ryley as they both left the Cyclops to dive deep to Lifepod 19 to see if Keen is still alive. As they approached the Lifepod, the lights inside were blinking in Morse Code to signal SOS. Ryley dived a little deeper "Keen, are you in there? It's Ryley, I'm here with Yu." shouted Riley "RYLEY! YOU CAME?" yelled Keen as he opened the hatch to 19 "I never thought there were other survivors, now get me the hell out of here! NOW!" replied Keen as he swam towards Ryley who lead him to Yu who was waiting above the hole. Ryley showed Keen onto the Cyclops, followed by Yu "Yu, get us the hell out of here, Ahead Flank!" instructed Riley "Aye, sir." replied Yu. Keen was in the port section still surprised there was others scattered across the planet "Keen, we have intel of Berkeley stranded in Lifepod 2, do you know how we can detect all of the ejected Lifepods?" asked Riley "Yes, there is a way but we'll need scanning tech first." replied Keen "Wait, like the sensors on Aurora?" replied Ryley "Not that simple Ryley, but yes... IF we can isolate the data core from the Captain's quarters, we will be able to detect anything within sensor range." Keen replied  "But, we have the tech from our PDAs." replied Yu. 

Keen, Yu and Ryley reached 300m from the base Ryley constructed before they were rudely intercepted by a creature, sounding like a mechanical warp Ryley had no more resources to make more decoys "What the hell is that noise?" yelled Keen "Scans show it's a Warper, supposedly the peacekeepers of the planet. They don't want anyone or anything to leave or enter the planet." replied Ryley "Does that mean they built the weapon which destroyed Aurora?" asked Yu nervously "No, I scanned the weapon and it's a precursor base for protecting the planet, I was unable to translate the text so my PDA translated it for me." Ryley replied sounding sure of what his scans showed "My PDA only had 2 lifesigns, yours and Yu's and I don't know if Berkeley made it, or even Ozzy." Ryley said as he went to the engine room to check the power cells, they were slowly dying. Ryley had to get them back to his base before nightfall, as the nights are so dark you can't see what's in the waters "Yu, take us further to the Shallows at Ahead Standard." said Ryley as he sat down on the floor "Aye, sir!" replied Yu "I didn't think anyone made it, I ejected just as Aurora crashed, I barely had time to secure myself in the seat of the Lifepod." said Keen rubbing the back of his head "You are lucky I found you, otherwise you'd be dead from having those creatures kill you. It's what they do, they kill any infected person or animal and move on to the next target." replied Ryley getting a med kit for Keen's head "Here, you need this Keen, my Lifepod is always making more so you won't need to worry." said Ryley "Oh, and I have 4 med kit fabricators in the base, so there's always a lot more for everyone." he added. They soon arrived to the Shallows, but to Yu's surprise she saw a large base with everything you could ever need "I think we're here, but the base looks like it could hold the entire crew." said Yu as she piloted the Cyclops into the makeshift dock Ryley made "Yeah, I had to make a base for everything we needed, I have coffee fabricators and food vendors in case you are hungry." replied Ryley "You learned a lot in such a short time?" asked Keen "Without Hollister? Yeah, I had no other choice but to improvise alone. You are in command now Keen, but this is my base." said Ryley "No, you are okay? You got myself and Yu to safety, so you are in command." replied Keen. They all got something to eat and drink, before they went to bed "Thank you Ryley, for coming for us." said Yu as she hugged Ryley "I thought we were going to die, but you found us in time." she added "I got to hand to you Ryley, you have proven to me you are ready to be the next Alterra captain, I'll make the recommendation myself." said Keen. 

Will Ryley, Yu and Keen find Berkeley? Find out in Part 3!

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