Colony 9 // Chapter 1: Brydin(1st draft)

1

Brydin

"Why are we even out here." asked Koll as he scratched the fresh white stubble on his chin, he and Dyria stood looking out the Brydins' observation window at a gargantuan ring like structure. "The Bifrost shut down over a hundred and fifty years ago, both colonies, scavenged everything they could off it, it's nothing more than a husk now."

"True." replied Dyria, daughter of captain Arlend as she pressed a hand against the window looking up in awe. "Dad believes there is still something of worth though, maybe a few of the old reactors that were missed, or if we're lucky." she giggled "maybe we'll find some old war tech, the Dolarian Empire was said to have missiles that could pierce nano reflective metals and even artillery shells that could shatter a ships hull in a single salvo."

Kroll sighed as he placed his hands on his hips. "You kids today romanticize the Dolarian Empire, If it weren't for the Bifrost ruins and the old text documents I would think earth and the Dolarian Empire were a myth all together."

"I heard the people of Eden thinks like that, that earth is some kind of perfect world, and one day the Dolarians will return in glorious ships made of starlight."

"Be thankful you grew up in Mannheim then Dyria we know the truth, the Empire abandoned us, either of their own choice or by force."

"Could have been a war too, maybe there was some kind of uprising or resistnace." Dyria said stepping away from the glass but not taking her eyes of the ring.

Large chunks of the exo structure had been torn and cut away from it's once pristine armor. Bits of debris floated aimlessly around the structure stuck in it's gravitational field, creating a difficult to navigate field.

The ship listed bringing the ring before it, and sending Kroll on his back foot and Dyria stumbling back into him, the first piece of debris already skipping off the ships shields leaving behind a rippling rainbow effect.

"Here we go kid, let's get back to the engine room, Damage control's going to be a priority with your dad at the helm." Kroll said pushing Dyria off him.

The ships internal speaker sparked to life with a hiss and pop.

"All hands." A woman's voice broke through "All hands." Vandra the ships tactical office could now be heard clearly "We are entering the debris field forward shields are online, damage control focus on the aft unshielded sections, CPT's watch for rogue debris, everyone else buckle up."

The duo broke into a sprint as they left the observation deck and the gravity fell off they used their momentum to drift through the corridors of the ship, passing other crew members rushing to their stations.

Six of the close proximity turrets were along their path to the engine room all of them were being loaded with a type of low explosive artillery shell designed to maximize the kinetic stopping power of the shell while using a low yield explosive to push debris away from the ship without endangering any other nearby vessels.

Kroll watched as the first five turrets were shifted into their locked position sealing them and the gunners within the armor of the ship

"Asmund!" Kroll shouted as the duo passed the sixth CPT still sitting out of it's bay. "Make sure the feed on belt two is clear, last time we used these it jammed up and killed Thorkel, we don't need a repeat."

The young engineer turned to face the old man, his long black hair braided and tied off to keep it out of the way "Yeah yeah, we've kept the belts clean, checked them twice a day leading up to this maneuver, and oiled the injection mechanisms, and zeroed the sensors and."

"Don't get smart with me kid." Kroll shouted back as he drifted past. "Or you'll be the one in that seat."

Dyria looked the guns over, she had worked them herself a number of times, the feeding belts were often over looked during maintenance, or given the quickest rag wipe and oil, but Kroll was right, when that belt had jammed up, the shell within was set off, tearing out the side of the turret. The damage was still visible both inside and outside the ship, new metal plates welded atop the torn out sections, and black scorch marks covering the exterior brown paint and interior gun metal.

Though a number of Throkels friends had come aboard last time they were docked for repairs and had covered the section of the damage with hand painted images representing their bond to him and well wishes for the dead.

There were a number of these across the ship, some of the bunk room doors, spots almost randomly along the corridors, and even the navigators station on the bridge, wherever someone had died, those that cared for them marked the spot.

The Brydin vibrated as the forward CPTs took to the debris field, Dyria took hold of the vertical railing and used it to sling around the corner leading down to the engineering while Kroll continued forward heading towards the pod repair bay.

The ship had a single repair pod built in, as part of Arlends upgrades to convert the ship from a small merchant vessel into a recovery ship for both battlefields and mining operations, along with the pod the shields and CPT had been optimized for asteroid belts and micro debris.

For these changes to work most of the offensive systems had to be removed, the rear canons and missile tubes had been removed to make room for dense anti radiation materials and the increased cargo bay doors that allowed the repair pod to easily deposit different types and sizes of salvage.

"Status reports." Dyria called out as she slid through the archway into engineering, stopping herself against a banister that had been mounted to the floor.

The engineering bay was for the most part a large open space the central Meili FTL drive took up most of the chamber with two large cylindrical energy generators on either side connected by countless wires that spread up and down into the ship to their respective ports. Between the two generators sat the FTL drive proper, a large hexagonal machine that created a bubble of relative time around the ship.

FTL travel had always been dangerous but for most people the greatest downside was the difference in space time, traveling faster than light often meant loved ones would be dead and buried long before they ever returned, and that once a ship left a system those behind would never see it or it's crew again.

But in the one hundred and twenty ninth year post Abandonment an engineer named Meili had found a way to protect and isolate a ship and it's crew in a bubble of relative time that kept it in sync with the rest of the universe.

A scientific marvel and theoretical impossibility, but they had solved the greatest issue humans had traveling faster than light. the system wasn't always perfect, sometimes ships would get lost for a month or two in FTL, and only one had never returned.

Meili worked hard with an ever expanding roster of scientists to update and perfect the drive.

Dyria didn't know the finer details of the machine, but she had been able to keep the relative space time aligned with continuous minor alterations to the power generations during this salvage mission and intended to send Meili and his team her findings.

"Energy levels are holding at fifty percent." another young woman said as she drifted up from below the generators. "shields are taking thirty, the CPTs are taking another ten, thrusters are only taking two, and general ship systems are consuming the remaining eight."

"Thanks Runa, let's bring over all to fifty two and give a buffer to the thrusters, we don't want to be caught between two crushers with out extra power."

"Captains got it in his head that there might be something of worth here?" Runa responded. "Thought he bifrost had been picked clean."

"You sound like Kroll." Dyria said through a smirk. "but then again he is your grandfather. Take Iric and Orrin and monitor the shield strength, have Abi deal with the thruster output, shes starting to know that system like the rivers back home."

"On it." Runa said kicking off the banister to glide back down into the reactor.

Dyria could hear her barking orders to the others, the engine systems were too new for any of the old engineers to grasp, their idea of FTL was buried under decades of Pre Abandonment technology, the new Meili drives needed a clean slate, Dyria had picked up the system quickly, and the others weren't to far behind, each a specialist in some aspect of the drive.

The ship rattled and shook as they began to press into a dense cluster of debris.

"Ok dad, don't get us killed.