Tempest

17 - Waning Endurance

Four's Logbook

Two down. One to go. Nothing left but the last array ... and whatever Al'cor's so anxious about telling me.

Let's finish this.

...

Tobias moved into the cockpit and set himself down on the pilot's seat, taking note of the fact that Al'cor was situated in the co-pilot's chair. Being over seven feet tall, she didn't quite fit comfortably; but it would have to do for the journey until they arrived.

He looked over at her, and nodded towards to control console. "Alright, let's plug in those coordinates you grabbed."

She seemed hesitant. Tobias, I must discuss with you about the final fate. It's very-

He shook his head. "Coordinates first, then that. The longer we wait, the more worlds fall to the Amalgamates."

Though apparently frustrated with his arguing, she relented and held very still. Suddenly, an image appeared in his head; the screen of the slab back at the second array. He could see those foreign symbols, those characters of the Architects' language. She was providing him with this view so that he could enter them himself.

Turning towards the navigation console, he translated the coordinates in his mind, and punched in the numbers. After processing them for a second, the computer gave them a confirmation request; apparently, it was within close enough space to instantly warp there. But it also flashed a warning which he read carefully.

"'Coordinates fall within hostile space,'" he muttered. It then asked him if he was certain he wanted to initiate a warp. Apparently, wherever the last array world was, it was considered dangerous to the IMC.

"Alright everyone," he called. "Here we go!"

Overriding the computer's warning, he confirmed the jump and watched his vision begin to distort as the entire ship flashed out of existence, into warp-space, and then materialized once more.

Immediately, he was presented with several stimuli. The viewport cleared once more, and the communications channel was suddenly overrun by a multitude of signals.

"We've got a ship that just landed at Divine air field, sending out inspection teams-"

"This is IMC dropship 32-10, requesting to land near Chorus, I've got wounded aboard-"

"Lieutenant Rose of the WOH reporting in, I'm gonna make another pass on my scouting route. See if any other ships are entering without clearance in high orbit-"

"Ma'am, I've got an unknown object that just warped into orbit. Has IMC codes. Lot of IMC pouring in here today ..."

"Thanks. IMC Widow 78-31, you have ten seconds to verify that you are indeed in control of the ship before we take offensive measures."

With a start, he realized two things; one, that the last transmission was referring to his ship. And two, that he recognized the voice on the other end. Urgently, he thumbed for the comms to transmit.

"Gates! Gates, it's me!"

She paused for a moment. "State your name, or else-"

"It's Tobias! KT and I are aboard!"

Now she seemed to have recognized his voice. "Four? For the love of- you have clearance to descend. Get your ass down here now, lock in on my coordinates. Sending them to you now."

Obliging, he began to steer the ship into a descent maneuver. Before long, he began to enter low orbit in preparation for landing. It was a planet covered with green and blue, a pretty sight compared to the ones he'd been visiting the last day or so.