Consolidation Litanies of the Dark Side: Souls of the Damned [DC Dagobah Hex Defence Upgrade]

[Dreadheart]

@Anatoli Sidorov​

Commander Woga frowned, as he listened to the incomming transmission. He nodded to one of the bridge operators. A sign they both knew well enough for the operator to begin the processing without a vocal confirmation.

"You may so." Woga intoned, looking back to the viewport. "You will be escorted to route being sent to you now. Report vessels identification and particulars to the starport authority, to avoid this encounter in the future... The Republic must know its ships... At berth you will be inspected by the security droids for disease, prior to disembarkation. There is a rampant Rakghoul Plague down the Trailing Sectors. Be advised. Follow instructions of the Orbital Command and respect the local laws, and you should be fine..."

Part of Commander Woga felt dissappointed. Though he was too proud to admit, or too aware of his own psychological issues, he would not openly accept that he craved for the action he had gone through back in Ossus. This post, here, was an exile to him. But, alas, duty was duty, regardless how gloryless it might be.

Soon after the Commander terminated the communication, the Indomitable received written instructions along with a clear passage plan in a file transmission. It appeared, the planet had an orbital station, on which the berths were located, unlike Phu and its planetside archaic infrastructure. Numerous vessels came and went, while the station itself was built in a circular design, like a massive disk of durasteel, with four horns forming a cross-like shape on it, marking the bridges it facilitated, under the watchtowers crowned with scanners of all kinds.

 

[Anatoli Sidorov]

Ok... so this is how it will go down... Oh well.
"Roger that Commander Woga, We will head according to the route sent to us. Thank you for the advise. Safe travels."
Then I said to the AI:
"Cancel readiness status, release excess energy from engines and deactivate the firing computer. Return the radar to standard search pattern. Place ships at at arrow formation with Invincible on the lead, Rochester and Black Swan on the sides and Cape Frio and Diamond Knot in line behind Indomitable."
After giving the orders, I pushed the telegraph from Dead Slow Ahead to Slow Ahead to speed up a bit. My Asperger's mind didn't like staying too idle and it always wanted stuff to observe. So once I was done with the alarms of the AI I finally took the time to look around. With the planet of Giju there was a space station floating by. That would be a great idea to have floating around Terraria to facilitate larger spaceships that couldn't float. Those fucking jarheads always tried to cut funding for my minstry and yet I managed to convince the Premier to delay budget cuts until I finished the first transgalactic trip and when presented with the results he could then decide and I hope that the Premier would love the idea of a space station that looks like our symbol floating in space. Oh well. These were thought for the far future but this is how my mind worked. Soon enough, once again ,the AI started blaring
"Alert! Alert! CPA with contacts 35 and 46 less than a nautical mile."
"Calm down these should be the escorts." I muttered under my breath and silenced the alarm once again. So here it goes. the first time after a long time where my ships would be visually inspected by a third party. That would be interesting to watch.

 

[Luci Ream]

"Here's your lot."

The datapad was tossed on the desk. The irritating voice of Mrs Takabaro a known noise in Luci's ears. She simply nodded to her. Mrs Takabaro remained over Luci's spot for awhile. She kept whinning about something, but Luci was no longer willing to care enough to listen. Whether it was the sallary delays, the bad taste of the coffee, the cheating husband of the Ithorian supervisor. Luci did not have anything against Ithorians, but holy Force, did Takabaro squeal so high pitched when whinning, Luci could see the reason the Empire had preserved so many millennia of hatred against the Republic.

"Am I wrong!?" Mrs Takabaro inquired. That, Luci always heard. It was a sign for her to engage the same way she always did.

"Oh no, what else could you do?"

Do? Luci had no clue. She had stopped paying attention to the repetitive stories years ago.

"I know!" Mrs Takabaro exclaimed.

"If you excuse me, I should tend to this."

Droids. Cargo manifests. Signatures. Report cards...

The very routine of this job had paid a toll on Luci. It might not be as stressful or as profitable like the job in the Taleg Corporation, or the job she could have had in the Vapeet Holdings, yet it was enough to provide safety, and at least a period of laying low, she most certainly needed after the last events... But what had been a project of few months had grown over two years old, and it felt as it would be lasting for much longer...

Perhaps it was still better than trying to survive in what seemed to be an ever-devolving galaxy...

"Inquiry. Boarding protocol active. Estimated time of arrival, 12 minutes." the droid spoke, as Luci arrived by the berth. She nodded simply, while her gaze wandered outside the large transparresteel window. The vessel approaching was large, while the design foreign and rare sighted, compared to the typical spacecraft expected to be seen by the berths.

the Indomitable was brought closer to the berths, with instructions to reduce engine power to neutral, as the ship was placed in coordinates for the tractor beam to gain control over the hull, to bring it by the berth smoothly.

As soon as she was berthed, multiple medical droids were waiting to board and commence the necessary medical tests to provide the Free Pratique required to commence any operations or interactions with the starport.
Luci looked down at her datapad.

The ship, apparently from an unknown, to her, star system, had not been through the sectors marked as dangerous, due to latest reports of Rakghoul Plague outbreaks...

"This will be fun..." she muttered. Sarcasm flooding her mouth as she grimached to herself, before preparing her typical formal expression to meet whatever alien was in command of the ship...

@Anatoli Sidorov

 

[Anatoli Sidorov]

I slowly made my way to the coordinates sent to me by commander Woga with Indomitable while the rest of the ships automatically were docked to other berths. Their AI's automatically sent alerts but I ordered them to obey the instructions and not resist to the movements imposed onto them by their respective tractor beams. I also instructed them to unlock all doors but not open them automatically due to the lack of pressure on the outside and it would create a interesting mess I would have to fix later on. Now it would be fun to see the reactions of the personnel that would enter these ships only to realize that are void of life. I don't even remember if I had life support on on them since there was need for them to be on. Back aboard Indomitable, I let the autopilot do it's thing and I went to my cabin to get rid of my sweatshirt and training pants of my more official attire so I would be presentable to the inspection authorities. As the tractor beam was positioning Indomitable at it's docking position, I couldn't help but think either how useless the other captains where that needed help to dock but then I remembered how was my first attempt to dock, at sea, where I almost destroyed the dock because I came a bit too fast in my approach with the cruiser i was given command of. Still though I thought that with all these thrusters that most of the spaceships have I expected the whole thing to be way easier given also that there are no weather conditions to whiplash the ship around. Anyways. Luckily my AI wasn't going ape with alerts about the tractor beam well because I disconnected the whole system out for today. Once the spacebridge was connected I powered down all power for the engines and left running only the life support systems. Then I wore my overcoat over my hoodie and jeans and went down to deck level to open the hatch where the space bridge was connected. My first "official" inspection and my first guest from a different planet would get onboard from this very space bridge. This would be exciting. Deep breaths Anatoli. You got this. After checking again that I was presentable enough and not smelling like a pig I started undoing the locks on the hatch to let whoever was standing on the other side in.

 

[Luci Ream]

The boarding bridge produced a rather distinct noise, as it latched against the vessel's hatch and rapidly pressurized, prior to openning the entry point for the droids and Luci to walk across, to the newly arrived ship. The very same process happened to each of the vessels, with yet another such delegation visiting respectivelly.

Luci had put on a rebreather, adjusted with air quality filters, and hugged the datapad against her chest. She walked encircled by half a dozen of droids, each fitted with a different scanner to detect life signs, air quality, life support stability, pressure, and biohazardous material in the artificial atmosphere inside the ship. This was as much excitment she could gain from this line of work, Luci regretted to herself.

This wasn't supposed to be.

This shouldn't be.

The hatch popped open, the pressurization causing steam to squeal through, as the droids entered.

"Inspection. Life Support."

"Inspection. Biohazard."

Each droid declared a different task they were meant to conduct onboard, as if their names were meaningless to mention.

Luci entered the ship. Her dress elegant, with flumboyant yellow against the blue patterns poping out her red-orange hair, laced by the synthetic binds of her rebreather mask. Her eyes barred by spectacles, wide and transparrent.

"I am Luci Ream, of the Orbital Inspections and Monitoring Department." she announced herself. "I am sorry, I cannot shake hands, yet" she explained then, shrugging. "Safety protocols..."

The droids roamed around the deck, performing their scanning, while one approached Anatoli himself.

"Status. Safe. Hazard Level. Sub-Normal."

@Anatoli Sidorov

 

[Anatoli Sidorov]

As I opened the hatch I was swarmed by a bunch of droids and behind them stood a very beautiful person. Behind her rebreather I could say she was a very beautiful woman. She was shortish, at least to me, ginger haired, shyish, woman holding a tablet close to her chest. She seemed a bit held back but I could tell by the look in her eyes that she didn't really enjoyed her posting. As I stretched out my hands for the droids to scan me, I heard her introduce herself:
"I am Luci Ream, of the Orbital Inspections and Monitoring Department. I am sorry, I cannot shake hands, yet. Safety protocols..."
Her voice showed a bit of frustration and resignation, something that seemed weird to me cause I expected that a posting like this would be an interesting one meeting people from a vast . With that, my suspicions were solidified. She wanted an out, if she hinted it more I would offer her an out.
Then I introduced my self:
"Anatoli Sidorov, owner of Anatoli Shipping, resident of Terraria. Pleased to meet you." Then the AI started blaring alarms once again and I excused myself as I went to the bridge again to silence the alarm and see what the hell was going on. With the droids scrambling to follow me I climbed the stairs to the bridge where I silenced the alarm and I ordered the hatches open for the droids to enter and do their jobs, while I had their AI blare loud enough to be heard but not too loud to be a nuisance that this is an automated vessel under the command on HMS Indomitable. Then I turned around and I stretched my hands for the droids to continue their scans. As I did, I saw Lucy climbing the last stairs up to Indomitable's bridge. As she entered the bridge I said:
A- Sorry. I had to take it. It wasn't something serious but when you run a one man show you have to take care of everything."

 

[Luci Ream]

Luci nodded politely to Anatoli on his introduction.

As soon as the droids confirmed the state of the vessel, Luci unclipped her mask and took a deep breath, clearly regathering her breathing now that she had not the rebreather's restraints. She took her time walking across the corridors that led to the bridge, which was accessed by stairways. The datapad always stored against her ribs, her gloved hands tracing the stairs rails.

"Not to worry." she said with a polite fabricated smile. "I only require some signatures and some data from the ship's mainframe, to clear the ship for operations."

She slid the datapad to her hands, where she started sliding through it.

"I would need the Event Report, Passage plan and cargo manifest." She pointed out.

Each word a well-practiced protocol that had already ran over a thousand times, to the point it became hard to distinguish that from one of the Droids. She once put effort into phrasing, or even engaging the different captains, commanders and other travellers, yet that era was long gone. There was little point in it, she reasoned, for she would never again encounter any of them. If they did not fall prey to pirates or Sith raiders, they would voyage their own course, with little regard or interest in any other affair, including her own.

She simply held the datapad and looked at Anatoli, waiting for the requested data to be sent to her pad, so that she could then wrap up yet another case, to throw in Takabaro's desk, by the shift's end.


@Anatoli Sidorov

 

[Anatoli Sidorov]

As Lucy passed on her request I powered up the main terminal of the AI even though I never used it cause well I have grown used to the smaller screens since I would get myself to the engine room to run diagnostics on the boilers, plant for hyperspace travel and other machinery, so if anything needed repairs, something that almost never happened due to my extensive maintenance schedule I had implemented and having the best tools Terraria could provide. So as the screen slowly rose, the whole schematics of the ships appeared with dots labeled droids and life signs, oh yeah I forgot about that, one with bleu signaling me and an other with red, signaling Luci. By touching the holographic screen I created my Passage Plan for Yag'Dhul and then along with the radar logs, from all ships, I forward them to Luci while I pulled up the cargo manifest showing only medical supplies and spares for my ships. It was a risk showing to a government officer the destination of the medical supplies but if questioned I would say someone would have to take the risk and take humanitarian aid to a war torn planet. Also last time I checked I don't remember embargoes being enforced on medical supplies. SO legally I was in the clear and I was getting payed hefty for the risk my ships were going to face. It's not that I was part of an illegal "humanitarian flotila" like Grettia, that psycopath that Sewdania "honoured with a fucking Nobelia Peace Prise for complaining about global warming", something that ok while we may have affected it a bit, Terraria is going through fluctuations of core temperatures thus creating a very slow rise of the general temperature on Terraria and this will naturally start to drop and bring a new ice age in 700 to 800 years from now. Oh well then I forwarded everything to Luci and asked her:
A- I am going to the kitchen to prepare my lunch, I can have some tea boiled up for you if you want in the mean time while you go over my files.
Then I stood up from my captain's chair and started slowly making my way to Indomitable's Kitchen to start boiling some water to make me some spaghetti with thin cut beef meat and a sauce of my own making.