SS-I087 (An Academy Fanfiction)

Chapter One Teaser: Illinois Vessel Number 087

Based on C.L. Stone's Ghost Bird Series

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Academy series (Ghost Bird or Scarab Beetle) All rights go to C.L. Stone.

RATING: K+ for language and violent themes. Mentions of abuse and depression.

WARNING: May contain triggers for some readers- read at your own risk. Nonagon-ic relationships between Sang and her nine boys (Owen Blackbourne, Dr. Sean Green, Nathan Griffin, Dakota 'Kota' Lee, Gabriel Coleman, Lucian 'Luke' Taylor, North Taylor, Silas Korba, and Victor Morgan)

GENRE: Romance, Humor, Reverse Harem, Science Fiction, Fiction

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~ TEASER CHAPTER ~

Illinois Vessel Number 087

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Kota was reclined back in the pilot's' seat, playing a puzzle game on his tablet when the warning lights blinked to life. Since he and Silas were already on the bridge, the ship had no reason to set of call sirens to alert them. Kota paused his game and pulled up the handheld system controls to find out what the ship was alerting him to.

"Destination P3302E is within range." The ship's AI system said in its human voice, the lilted English accent a result of one of Luke's pranks months before. But, not even Victor- their on board tech specialist- could change it back to the voice it had been when they had docked two months ago. Not that anyone was inclined to figure out a way to change it back so soon, it was actually pretty nice having a female voice aboard.

Silas slid his chair forward, looking over the screens with precise concentration. Their mission was simple: salvage the mysterious ghost ship that had been drifting around a two star location for the past year. There had been many reports of it recently, but no one had been able to get an exact location until it had been assigned to the Blackbourne team.

"Were coming up on it pretty fast," Silas said, poking at the guidance systems screen. "But the vessel isn't moving. It'll be easy to get a lock and bring it aboard."

"Incoming transmission." The AI interrupted Kota before he could say anything. Silas' big brown eyes locked with his own green ones and narrowed.

"Where's it coming from?" Kota asked, hurrying to pull up any information on the stationary ship.

"Source location; Illinois-087. Broadcast on shortwave frequencies. Would you like me to play the transmission?"

"Yes," Silas said. "Play transmission."

The head window, looking out into the inky blackness of the two-star location they were sitting in, flashed up with a fizzling picture of a girl. Her long blond hair was loose around her shoulders and waved lightly with semi-wetness. The screen was filled with the image of a ship's bridge, stark white and glowing even in the low lighting. The girl, though, Kota noticed, couldn't have been older than his own sixteen years.

"Log Four." The girl said, voice dripping with honey and sweetness, as she looked downwards at the controls she was tapping at. "This is SS-I087 aboard the Illinois-087. Day 234, six-fifty-one AM. It's been seven days since the last escape pod ejected." Kota heard the footsteps of seven of his brothers fill into the space behind him, each quieting as the girl continued. "As I suspected, the power used to send the pod off has drained my sources to near zero. At my rate of consumption on clean air and nutritional resources, I estimate they will only last another month at most. I've redirected all energy from the labs and sleeping quarters to the top half of the ship, leaving only the bridge operational."

She stopped whatever she was fiddling with to look up into the recording camera. Green eyes, like shining jewels, were sad and glittered with unshed tears, a darkness in them floated like ghosts. Nathan caught Kota's eyes as he slipped into the co-pilot's seat next to Silas. He silently asked his brother for answers, but Kota hadn't been able to get any himself, so he simply shrugged at turned his attention back to the recording.

"The solar panels are still operational, but the lack of stars in this vicinity won't keep the ship running for long. I've got the Illinois on a course for chartered space. My only hope now is the cryochamber. I've finished one, but I'm not sure how long it will last with the ship running as slowly as it is." She reached up to wipe at a tear that slipped from her lashes. "I've given up on jerry-rigging the broken axle on the second engine. She's running on faith and a duck tape now.

"I've not gotten any problem reports from the escape pod yet," SS-I087 continued. "She's on course for Earth with an extra two weeks of life support- it was all I could spare. The estimated time of arrival is six months. I uploaded my last location to the computer, but with the distance and the backlash of the pods acceleration I doubt that the transmission reached it's destination. I think it's time to give up hope of a search party being sent. I'm the only one on board... but if the Academy can't find me, I'm hoping someone see's this before my power goes out. You're my last hope now." She reached out for the camera as she gave it a large smile filled with sadness. "Wish me luck, Obi-Wan."

The video ended, but an animated voice almost like their ships AI said; "Duration, 32 seconds. Repeated; 10,512,092." Before the video popped up again.

"Log Four," The girl said again.

Kota closed down the video feed and turned to his brothers. Numbers flew through his head as he did the math.

Silas' arms crossed over his chest as he looked out into space. Far away, stars twinkled, almost unseen with the glare of the two suns only 897,000 miles from their current location.

"That was a transmission from the craft we're supposed to be scrapping, right?" Victor asked from the long hall that lead from the bridge to the kitchen, sleeping quarters, and finally the cargo bay at the other end of the ship. When Kota nodded, he leaned forwards to look at all of his brothers. "What are the chances of her still being alive?"

"Power signatures are still being detected," Silas said from his seat. "Diagnostic readings from the systems are saying that there is still air inside the ship but it's also reading out malfunction errors in a lot of the ships operating systems. It says here the engines are both non-operational."

Nathan leaned over another screen, reading the information on it. "Illinois-087 is also reading life signs."

"That might just be from the cryogenics chamber SS-I087 mentioned." Doctor Green reasoned, a worried look pinching his brows. "Even if a cryo-chamber is engaged, it doesn't mean the girls still alive. Cryo-chambers are still experimental, it doesn't make sense that such an old ship would have an operational one on board. The reason we're here is because this is space junk drifting in usable shipping lanes. No one mentioned anything about a radio message from the ship or life signs."

"That's because most Illinois vessels have been scrapped," North said. He was tapping away at another handheld tablet system. No doubt doing research on their find. "They were one of the first space vessels to be okayed for long term space exploration. Most didn't even make it past Jupiter, but the few that did were tasked with exploration and experimentation. There are only four Illinois vessels that are unaccounted for. They probably had readings of the ship on their radars and assumed no one had survived."

Mr. Blackbourne stepped up to Kota's seat, placing one hand on the back of the hard chair. "Gentleman, we're here for one job. Collect the ship and take it back to Earth with everything usable. We're not here to pay respects to this SS-I087 girl. The possibility of her still being alive is slim-to-none." He gave a steely look to Silas. "Collect the craft in the bay. Afterwards, we can hold a funeral for this girl."

The eight boys, looked solemn about the development, nodded their heads and started the protocols for gathering the ship into their cargo hold.

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~ SINDER-CHAR