[FTL RP, WE'RE BACK, REBOOTED!] The Rogue Cadets

[JakeCollins]

Yes, I can't think of any questions right now. Something might come up later, but for now I'm ready.

Please note, I am doing this post in an unusual way. We are skipping lots of time. We will obviously continue expanding upon our old plot lines, but this is to shake things up a bit. It's time for a bit of shaking, in my opinion.

Let the games begin...

1.5 Years Later
The Throbheart Expanse, Abandoned Sector 03, Rebel Identification Delta-774

Jake Collins sat in his piloting chair, staring at the scanners. As they had for the last 6 months, the scanners showed nothing but static. The Throbhart's dark clouds were like a smothering veil to sensors, energy signatures, and crew morale. The swirling black clouds were not Nebula gases, but rather remnants of a past long forgotten. The dust was comprised of particles from stars, planets, asteroids, and perhaps civilizations. Perhaps great empires. All washed away with time. Who knew what memories the dust contained? What dreams it once held? What life it once bore? Jake's stare was as empty as the dust, as weary as the dust, as deprived as the dust.

The lights onboard the Mature dimmed and flickered. The power dampening effects of the cloud had been effecting the Mature especially, but there were reports from the other ships of the United Rogue Union. This mysterious cloud? Well, it was simply long-dead matter swirling around a super massive black hole.

However, the matter was very unusual, because a specific jet-stream in the cloud took the matter just a few meters below the Event Horizon of the Black Hole and spat it back out again, which by every law of physics should be impossible. The Event Horizon, by definition, was the point of no return. And yet, this black hole was dragging matter below the event horizon, just a bit, and pushing it back out. When the matter came back out, it was changed into some weird mass, not an atom or molecule, but something else. Sarah's calculations suggested that whatever the substance was, it should not belong in this universe.

Science aside, this place was a great hiding spot from the fleets of sinister rebels and tribes of violent Lanius just beyond the protection of the cloud. And yet, Jake hated this place. He hated his life. He hated this war.

[Jumbocarrot0]

Kira stared in awe at the matter cloud orbiting the massive black whole. 'Looks just like the great eye.' She tried contacting the Mutare, but the cloud seems to be affecting communications. It was mesmerizing.
Behind Kira sat her friend King, confused by what they were looking at. "It is not possible for any substance to escape the event horizon." The engi stated, "Its the point of no return, not even light could escape it is so powerful."
"Doesn't mean its not beautiful." Kira replied.

Sediment has only seen two black holes in his life. The one that torn up Tranquil's station and this. The idea terrified him, a weapons that can destroy anything, only visible by what it destroys. Nonetheless he stared at the static, contemplating how they got here.

[4n4rch1st]

Xernia sat in the cargo by of the Swallow, clutching the last remaining tank of the rebel virus. She thought about how fascinating Eden and her crew's reactions had been. They had been cocky before they realised their tank was fake, quickly becoming more conservative. Briefly wondering if she should give it back to them, Xernia decided against it.

In their current state, the pirates relied on the Rogue Union.

And the Union very much required all the help it could get.

[stylesrj]

The Pelican arrived shortly outside the expanse with a slight wobble to its rearward engines. The cargo freighter had taken on some damage after a recent skirmish but the ship seemed to be relatively intact.
"Your father seemed rather calm about the whole situation" Eden Cortez said as the ship pulled into the clouds. The sensors went immediately dark, including internal sensors.
"I guess whatever mission he's currently on has shaken up his ideals as well" Lux Jensen replied from her station on the ship. The young woman had certainly changed over the past year. The smile she bore to contain the hidden sorrow was gone; the facade chipped away over time. Now she was capable of expressing emotions like everyone else.

The Pelican moved towards the designated position within the nebula where they had agreed they'd meet up; without sensors it was impossible to locate their friends within the expanse after all.
"Jake? We're back from the supply run. The Federation has agreed to our request for supplies and scientific equipment. Unofficially of course" Lux said over the coms, aiming the signal beam towards the Mature. "Any changes in the singularity?"

[JakeCollins]

"We're getting the same readings over here as we have for the past six months. No sign of the Scarab either. Speaking of which, deploying tether." Jake replied.

He then pressed the button to shoot a high-speed magnetic grapple onto the hull of the Scarab, then activated the servos to make the carbon-fiber cable taught. A physical connection was the only reliable way of sticking together in this muck. Signals echoed all over the place. The Scarab was lost about five months ago, before they started using the tether. They moved out of visual range for only a moment, vanishing into the fog somewhere. Jake couldn't bear the thought of leaving without them, especially with Bren and Ruwen's illness.

[Jumbocarrot0]

The tether shook the Scarab,. The wheels of a repair drone sounded behind Kira, probably to repair some smashed glass. Kira turned around, looking at what used to be Trench's AI, but is now a simple repair drone. 'If only Yallag (Trenchcoat) listened to my warning,' Kira thought, 'then, maybe, we could've saved the AI, and not be forced to purge it.'


Flashback here...
18 months earlier
The Scarab

Kira was talking to Trenchcoat through the drone's hologram projecter, (Continuing from this post and this post
"I'm ssorry, what?" Trenchcoat asked. "You are asking me to, oh forget thiss you're wasting my time."
"Trust me, this is for a good cause." Kira replied.
"Okay then, what cause? What possible reason do you have?"
"This might sound absurd, but I have seen the future..."
"Well you got absurd right." the slug interrupted.
"Trust me on this. Okay, look. How did I know about this holographic communications feature? How do I know that this station The Scarab is docked to used to be yours? How do I know that Jake sold you a fake black hole weapon? How do I know that your last name is Gogom?" Trench stayed silent, some of these had simple logical explanations, some explanations were a bit less likely.
"Okay then, what will happen if I don't do what you say?"
"Your store will be taken by rebels. And when that day comes, if this drone has communications to your store, then the rebels can take control and, who knows what." Trench, however, wanted one final nail for the coffin. "Okay then. How much of the future do you know?" Mr Gogom asked.
"All of it."
"Then who in the Rogue Union will die within, oh I don't know, the next year?" Kira stayed silent, that was a secret she couldn't tell. "Well?" Trenchcoat pressured. "Just what I thought." Trenchcoat ceased communications, the hologram shut off. 'I wasn't expecting any different.' Kira thought.


Present day

King knew what she was thinking. He tried to comfort Kira.
"Your actions in those moments were dire. You did what you calculated to be the most profitable."
"I know." Kira replied. "But if the drone was shut off in the first place then the AI could've been saved and Ruwen wouldn't be wounded. He's still sick from the excessive crystal formations."
Grom burst in wearing what seemed to be a hand made nurse outfit, and a good one at that.
"Everyone okay? That was worse then normal." she asked, worried for more people to be injured. After she found out about Bren's illness, she wanted to take care of him. Later, Ruwen got wounded she decided to take care of him as well. After a few pointers from Lux, when she was avaliable, she took up the job of doctor in the Scarab.
"Yeah everyone is fine." Kira reasured. "The stabalisers are acting up again."

[4n4rch1st]

Now sitting in the helm, Xernia piloted the Swallow closer to the singularity. The nebula-tuned engines navigated through the outer clouds with ease. But even the barely functioning sensors could detect the black, goopy inner clouds. The Mutare's intelligence was only able to identify it as "not of this universe".

Activating full thrust, Xernia charged at the clouds. However, as soon as the ship touched the goop, it slowed to a snail's pace. She was only able to get a few meters in before the engines overheated and was forced to pull out.

It especially frustrated Xernia because she knew that they... she was so close to a breakthrough. Something that would end the six months of hiding uselessly, wasting countless days against the Silence. Sighing, she turned around and maneuvered towards the approximate location of the Mutare.

[stylesrj]

"By the way, I found out what my father had been up to since well... everything started" Lux explained to Jake as the Pelican began unloading supplies; Lux was using a modified cargo frame to carry several crates of scientific equipment into the Mutare's cargo bay. Eden had given her training in use of the suit and the young woman was becoming a natural at the controls. The frame stomped through the narrow corridors of the ship at the speed of a Rockman looking for the lavatory.
"Admiral Tully gave him command of a Federation Cruiser designated the "Osprey" as well as a top Federation crew to assist him" she continued "Not sure why he'd be given such a ship and a team like that, but it's probably some Ops mission as he's not part of any battlefleets... but good to know he's still alive and not inside one of those singularities..."
"Also, Dread Pirate Tuco has been making the news. He's seeking out volunteers for his own expedition to find his grandfather's treasure. Of course, Tusco and Hernandez don't like this one bit as they want the treasure but it's at least a good idea to keep up on the state of the major pirate factions" Eden explained, now talking to Jake again instead of getting someone else to do it for her.

[Jumbocarrot0]

Sediment came to the cargo bay to help offload some of the Pelican's smaller cargo. He stayed silent. The rockman hoped that the return of Ruwen, and therefor the Crystalmen, would reuinite the fragmented rock empires and start a new age of enlightenment. While this was ambitious at best all hopes of this happening were shattered when Ruwen became ill.
He has also never gotten used to the feeling of having most of your crew-mates be teenagers. The closest he had to mature company was Eden, who Sediment never felt comfortable being around for obvious reasons.


After some trouble, and powering from Kira, The Scarab finally had clear connections with the Mutare. "This is Kira of the Scarab. Do you read me? Over." she was relieved when the voice of Jake Collins replied back. "Finally!"

[Chickengames]

Black clouds swirled around the Mutare, pelting it with the tiny particles that formed it. The clouds were almost like sand. Black sand. Like a beach. Kyrie’s mind wandered again, like it tended to do in the six months the whole company had been there. She would daydream with her hands supporting her head, pushing her cheeks up a little. She would stare out the window at whatever scene happened to greet her that hour. She would daydream. It was one of exactly six things to do on the ship: pace the room, eat, talk with the crew, sleep, pace the room again, and daydream. It was a cycle and Kyrie imagined this is what prison was like. Yeah I did six months on the Mutare. Except the only bars were the nebula that trapped them.

Recently, the ones with a scientific mind had started studying the goopy substance the black hole emitted. From all the science jargon that had spat out, Kyrie had gathered that they didn’t know what the hell they were doing or what anything was. She wished there was something she could do that wasn’t in the cycle of six things. Science wasn’t her best subject; she was more suited to working with her hands. Fixing, fighting even. But as long as they were here, none of that was happening. So the cycle continued.