The hundreds upon thousands of voices clatter and overwhelm most audible senses in the area of the inner ship, a collective of various voices in what seems like dozens more dialects, spoken in various pitches; they all get silenced so suddenly. Lights shine across the metal platform across the large deck, various personnel clad in white and orange decaled uniforms walk up upon the platform, several in differently designed uniforms and blast armoring, most notably around the shoulders and legs. Recognizable out of the small group, one steps forward towards the podium, taking off his military cap with a pinned copper-colored symbol at the base, exposing overall greyish neatly-cut hair. He speaks aloud, pacing freely from side to side before eventually placing both hands upon the podium base, speaking to the overall mass with a portable microphone clipped to his uniform's collar.

Admiral Tully takes the podium, the main speaker for this mass meeting for several systems, the voice of the crippled Federation.

"We are all gathered here today, in celebration—" He looks down, quickly continuing his statement. "—and in great sorrow, that the system has been secured. At the cost of many of our ships—" Taking his hands off the podium, he starts pacing to the left with his hands behind his back, continuing. "—and many of our fellow brethren, too many to count. Too many for me to begin to count, too many that..I ever wished to have to count. 'Ascendance', 'Vindicator', 'Yuansu', 'Strider'. " Admiral Tully closes his lips, staring out into the large crowd, all silent at his booming voice echoing aloud throughout the area and translated through several broadcasting equipment to many other ships in the immediate vicinity; keeping calm with his choice of words and the fragility of the situation at hand.

"The list goes on, many of those Admirals on board those ships I knew personally; many of them I fought with not too long ago." Tully's eyes dip slightly, momentarily in a daze, he continues pacing to the right of the podium. "But quite a few of them I just didn't know, and will never get to know."

The overall crowd stays quiet, many staring across the sheer layers of Federation personnel of various races, the Rockmen being the most visually intrusive with their tall stature despite being very still, the very few Mantis personnel second to that with their comparatively stalky bodies with folded front arms as they listen attentively; subtly but quietly moving their mandible mouth pieces subconsciously.

"The most disheartening is that I will never know the Captain of the 'Aggressor', nor his valiant crew, Admiral Turzil and I having only spoken shortly before their initial run against the Rebel's Flagship and the subsequent cruisers in the distance. We provided fire support, but it just wasn't enough to stave off the immediate threats." Tully looks out towards the crowd again, speaking directly in the middle of the mass to emphasize his emotion in his demeanor, notably louder as he continues. "They are the very reason we are all gathered here. They made a sacrifice; a sacrifice that saved the last bastion of our forces, our last battleground, our last lines of defense." Placing his hands upon the podium, he leans forward, explaining the end-sentence.

"A sacrifice that saved our last hope, the last of our ideals; the last of the Federation as we know it and everyone involved."

Pulling his hands again off the podium, he moves his hands back down towards his waist, duly to his stomach as he joins them together and looks downward, the several personnel behind him doing the same.

"It is with great honor that I dedicate our victory to the crew of the 'Aggressor'. They gave all they've had to give, their very last breath, their very last effort. They gave everything to save all of our lives, and for that I am humbled: the most I have personally ever been in my career."

Various amounts of rocking and vibrating can be felt across the deck floor, Admiral Tully looks to the left along with the several hundreds in the Federation crowd, staring outside the large starboard-side window into the nearby asteroid belt surrounding the station. Several large balls of energy shoot across from the station, one seemingly coming with two kilometers, showing a vibrant display of vapor trails as they all travel in unison towards a specific point; they explode, igniting a cluster of subsequent gas imbedded within the projectiles, quickly-extinguished fire in the depths of space showing a grand display of vibrant colors. Another cluster of large energy balls pass by, they're recognizable by their colors and the pattern, the station rocking with subtle vibrations as the audible sound plays in the vacuum of space.

THUOM.

THUOM.

THUOM.

Several Federation cruisers in the background fire modified Anti-Ship-Battery projectiles towards a specific point in the asteroid belt visible to the station, detonated upon reaching a certain distance, a vibrant display traditionally shown in an act of great honor towards Generals and Admirals upon their passing; more fitting than ever given the present circumstances. Dozens of Federation transports in the immediate area are docked with nearby cruisers upon realization that the station is to maximum capacity, defended by Point-Defense-Systems as they tap into the local frequencies to listen to the ongoing speech made by Admiral Tully. Inside the station, Tully continues his speech, his demeanor getting more and more emotionally driven as it nears the end.

"Their sacrifice will not be made in vain." Several Federation personnel from behind, other Fleet Admirals, stepping ahead towards the podium alongside Tully as he starts to shout.

"We are a collective!"

The crowd grows audibly louder, talk mixed in-between Tully's statements.

"We are unified!"

The crowd grows significantly louder.

"We will not be stopped by those who would deny peace within the galaxy!"

A part of the crowd begins to clap and cheer, among them even the Rockmen, which are much more distinct in their audible sounds, the Mantis for the most part resisting to urge to screech.

"We will use the chance their sacrifice gave us, we must do it for their efforts!"

The Engi Admiral beside Tully, named Admiral Turzil of the Engi brigade, stands proudly despite it's relatively shorter legs;conveying a show of determination mixed with it's audible display of it's native language, Turzil tagging into Tully's speech.

"Collective effort; overwhelming beyond initial standpoint. Predicted support: Undeniable. Core worlds of various designations in disrepair: need bracing and function, Federation collective more than sufficient for task." Several dozen short arms raise above the crowd, a large assortment of green and blue-hued screens glowing throughout the otherwise dark mass of people and aliens. Admiral Tully continues with his speech, the majority of the crowd in support, he speaks out passionately.

"We do this, not because we're forced to." Placing his hands upon the podium, he continues. "It's because it's something we must do." Placing one hand above, he gestures several times as he continues. "We must show the galaxy we are a force capable of defending it, a force to be able to defend it's people: our people. In the same dedication that we were saved, we must be able to protect the ones we love, the ones we fight for, the ones we die for." The crowd cheers aloud, Tully starts to finish his speech.

"For the ones we've lost!"

The crowd cheers aloud, hundreds of supporters and applause.

"For the ones that have given their lives to defend ours!"

The Rockmen join in the applause, clearly audible over the audio transmissions to the nearby cruisers.

"For the galaxy in a whole!"

The Mantis join into the applause with the clanging of their front claws, the screeching very audible above certain frequencies, temporarily disrupting a few of them momentarily as Admiral Tully puts his fist to his chest, yelling out passionately to the crowd; encouraged by the unanimous show of support.

"For the Federation!"

The crowds across the neighboring cruisers cheer in unison, very far in the distance bright purple and orange-tinted displays of light can be seen in the distant planet surface, several colonies having listened into the broadcast as well and ejecting brightly-lain fireworks into the atmosphere, the local populaces showing continual support for the Federation fleet hovering above.

--

'What is this..'

Anti-Ship-Battery projectiles fly across in the distance, one mistakenly striking the surface of a particularly large asteroid, fragmenting the object into harmless momentarily-flaming chunks.

'This feels familiar..'

Grinding metal can be heard, he glances away from the corridor and looks outside the window, seeing something that alerts him. Matthews springs up and yells aloud as a warning, one of the projectiles heading straight for the bridge; he runs to attempt to warn a nearby Federation officer down the walkway of the incoming projectile.

"Brace! BRACE! Incomi—" The ASB projectile hits the bridge, fluctuating several systems throughout the cruiser, the overall stability of the ship starts to shift as the intercom struggles to relay information through several spurts of static, the speakers hissing and screeching as it starts to fail.

"—arning, hostile boarde—weapons free—unable t—reactor compro—" The system systematically shuts off, the bridge taking a direct hit, hull integrity starting to fail in that immediate area. Matthews stumbles backwards as the ship suddenly jets forward, another ASB projectile hitting the rear of the ship, permanently disabling long-distance communications located in the back of the cruiser. Matthews momentarily regains his footing, repeatedly yelling into his wrist communicator, spouting several requests for emergency contact when he doesn't spot the Federation officer he just saw a second ago.

"We're under attack—" He huffs momentarily, still in shock as he feels the vibrations of the cruiser start to increase, eventually making an audible metal groan. "—command, what's the situation??" Somehow a message gets through, but not the expected channel he was dialing for.

"Shields down! Repair crew, we need immediate repairs, shields failing to block any more hits. Wha—Shit, reactor's damaged!" It sounds like an engineer, based on the context, Matthews ignores the call since he can't establish contact either; instead making his way throughout the halls towards the bridge. The engineer yells aloud again through the feed, requesting something before he gets suddenly interrupted. "Command, I repeat, we need suppo— INCOMING! ASB HOSTILE LOCK! Brace! BRA—"

The ship rocks forward again, Matthews falls forward and hits his head along the door's control panel, wincing in pain as he attempts to get his footing again, lying with his back against the wall in a short panic.

"F-Fuck.." He tries to contact the engineer via his communicator, but all he gets is static, unsure if communications are down or if the engineer is dead. He assumes both and tries to make his way past the door, hitting his security key into the panel, the UI starting to flicker and malfunction.

"Come..come on!" He bangs his fist against the panel to no avail, the door remains shut, he spouts aloud to himself, "God damn it!" as he attempts to pry open the door manually via a manual lever, placing his foot against the base and desperately jerking. In his panicked state he sporadically thinks, hearing distant sounds and instances of metal warping.

'The hull's going fast..' as he slowly pries open the door, running past the doorway through another walkway, sprinting as best as he can in his state towards the bridge; systematically trying to get contact with anyone aboard the ship within range.

"T-This is Matthews, I need a sit-rep!...hello, is anyone there?? We're under attack, send a distress signal!" He gets no answer and continues rushing through the hall, heading past a starboard-side window of the cruiser, he takes a look at what's going on outside. It's worse than he expected.

A Rebel fleet detachment jumps in via FTL drive at the same time, in the first few seconds it starts with 3, then 5, moving up to 12. Their ASB weapons appear to already be charged, firing at several surrounding cruisers caught off-guard by the surprise attack, many of them barely even getting a shot off against the giant mass of cruisers. Matthews starts to shake as he reaches for his communicator, counting the amount of hostile Rebel cruisers, they're outnumbered 5 to 1. He requests again, desperately trying to get a message across as he starts to mumble.

"G-Get a distress signal going, a Rebel fleet detachment has jumped into the system! W-We need reinforcements!" He repeats the message across several frequencies, most either silent or audible with only static. "We need support!...I repeat, we need fire support!" He sees something odd begin to envelope, several Rebel cruisers break off from the main battle group and start to descend toward the surface of the planet below.

"No..no, no, no, NO NO!!" He starts to get emotional as he sees what he fears, their Anti-Ship-Batteries targeting the cities on the surface, an orbital bombardment from the upper atmosphere.

"Command! Civilians are within the—.." He starts to shake as he sees distant explosions on the surface of the planet, ASB hitting their targets. It's too late to warn them.

"..no.."

The ship suddenly rocks to the side as another ASB projectile rocks across the outer hull beside the window, Matthews suddenly gasps and notices he can't breathe.

'Hurk—!!"

Cabin pressure is destabilized from a hull breach somewhere within the walls, air being seeped out into space, draining oxygen out of the nearby rooms. Matthews closes his mouth, trying to hold in as much air as possible as he sprints towards the door, forcing his body to want to forcibly breathe out; he resists the urge as he pries open the door with the manual latch.

"...mmph..!" He can't breathe and starts to get dizzy, he makes a decision in the moment, rapidly thinking, 'Fuck this!' as he reaches for his pistol holstered to his leg. He aims for the control panel and fires a shot, the laser frying the outer UI and the circuits, the door successfully malfunctions and opens, leading the way to the medical bay that seems to still have power as far as he's aware of. Matthews takes the opportune moment to bolt past the doorway, cabin pressure in the now open room failing due to the exposed breach, he makes his way to the door and bangs on the medical bay door, managing to let out a few words before he's forced to hold his mouth again.

"Open up!" He gasps as he has a few moments of oxygen to breathe. "Doctor! Are you in—" The door suddenly opens and he's yanked inside by a person in a white lab coat, the door promptly closes as Matthews breathes in rapidly.

"Oh god, how many are out there??" She looks reasonably concerned, not giving him a chance to recover. "Matthews! What's going on?? Communications are down, I need to get any wounded to the escape pods, were there any more out—"

Bang. Bang.

Bang. Bang.

Matthews and the doctor hear banging on the door opposite to them on the other side of the medical bay, the doctor rushes over and listens, asking aloud,

"Are there any wounded out there??" She hears one man yell, assuming it's one of the Federation officers.

"Let us in! Life support's dying!" The doctor consequently opens the door, spotting something she didn't expect.

"Hi there."

A laser bolt hits her chest, forcing her to step back from impact, she grasps her side and gasps as she puts her back against the wall, Matthews takes cover behind a nearby medical bed as he hears the shot, trying to stay quiet as she gasps in pain and slides down the wall staring at him. Matthews hears the man talk into what he assumes is a radio, it's apparent who they are.

"We have a straggler, medical staff." The Rebel points his pistol to her chest and fires, the second laser bolt hitting through her heart, dying within a few quick seconds. The Rebel talks again into the radio, without a hint of regret.

"Taken care of."

'You..' Anger builds quickly and Matthews springs up from the bed with his pistol drawn, lining his sights along one of the Rebel's heads, shouting aloud in anger.

"FUCK YOU!!" He fires a shot, the bolt hits across the side of the Rebel's head, the other reacts fittingly and stumbles backwards, grasping for his pistol at his side. Matthews manages to get a shot off before he can, directly in the chest. The other Rebel drops to the floor dropping his pistol, grasping his lower ribs as the back of his head hits a small table of syringes which lightly impale the back of his head, just beneath some exposed skin. He's wearing a respirator, the other room they came from having no oxygen and the medical bay's oxygen is draining fast. Matthews stares at the Rebel angrily for a few seconds before firing two more shots into his chest, quickly ending his life with a few quick gasps as the laser burns through their uniform; Matthews starts to shake upon seeing the doctor in his peripheral, lying lifeless, pointlessly murdered. Matthews mumbles as he feels his breath shorten.

"You..f-fucks.."

'You just..killed her..'

Without a moment to hesitate, Matthews grabs the oxygen pack and respirator off one of the Rebel's and quickly attaches it to himself, leaving the room into the oxygen-deprived neighboring room, trying to reason with himself as he leaves her body there. 'I..can't do anything for her now..' He attempts to speak aloud again into his communicator, still in shock.

"..I need a sit-rep...anyone there..?" He makes his way to the door, somehow it still has power, he attempts to open it as it leads to the bridge, he gets an automated warning instead.

"Warning: Cabin pressure compromised, pressure sealing inoperable. Oxygen levels at 5%, hull integrity compromised."

Matthews starts to lean against the wall beside the door, slowly sliding downward with his hands over his respirator as it clouds from him being upset. He doesn't have a way out and the oxygen respirator won't last forever, the bridge has been exposed to space and the way he came from has a hull breach he can't get past.

"....."

He stays silent as he looks out the window, seeing several Rebel cruisers tear apart Assault-class Federation cruisers, fleet artillery systematically destroying any Federation cruisers in orbit of the planet from a distance, to thwart any trying to defend the colonies from orbital bombardment.

"....."

Matthews can't speak, he doesn't know why. Grasping at his respirator's valve, he soon figures out why. He closes his eyes as things start to blur and go black, he starts to fall unconscious unwillingly, the Rebel respirator gives final automated warnings too late.

"Warning: Oxygen levels at 0%" The message keeps repeating until he can't hear anything else anymore, the sound deafens until he hears something else.

'This feels familiar.'

Matthews hears what sounds like buildings crumbling, metal bend and grind, moaning as it's integrity starts to fail, car alarms sound as he hears distance rumbles and explosions. Countless people yell in the distance, singularly, then suddenly start to come collectively as if they've been thrown towards him, the burning bodies start to scream for help as they run towards him, yelling into his ear. They don't stop no matter how much they burn. No matter how much destruction is caused.

He hears them screaming.

--

Matthews opens his eyes as he stares out the window towards the planet below, several bright purple fireworks exploding in the upper atmosphere, several ASB's exploding a safe distance inside the asteroid field, one passes by the window at least a kilometer away as he hears the crowd behind him cheer for Admiral Tully's speech.

"....."

He stays silent with his hands behind his back, continually staring out the window.

"....."

He hears the crowd chant one final line before he starts to walk away.

"For the Federation!"

"....."

Matthews stop's at the large room's doorway, typing in his passcode frantically, getting his key repeatedly wrong as his hand starts to shake. Someone takes notice to his light distress, he hears an elegant voice ask aloud softly, inquiring about him.

"Uhm, Ensign." She addresses him through his rank, apparently not knowing his name as she continues, "Are you alright? Did you simply forget the security key?" Her attitude shows a willingness to talk, though his attitude right now doesn't let him sense it.
Matthews quickly composes himself and turns around, but doesn't find the voice in front of him, instead looking down and spotting a quadruped dressed in a modified version of a Federation uniform.

"...Ensign." She looks overall grey in her body coloring, it doesn't concern him as much as he simply excuses himself from her.

"..I'm sorry, I just was thinking about something." He didn't mean to tell the truth, ironically. He assures her of his capability, simply saying, "I have it, don't worry." He reaches down to the keypad and types the security key, the door UI successfully 'dings' with a green light, opening for him.

"Ensign." She again addresses his rank, continuing. "Why are you leaving early from Admiral Tully's speech? I don't think he's quite done yet." Her natural tone gets the best of her, she suddenly exclaims, "..Oh. I apologize, I'm Oct—" as she gets rudely passed by.

He leaves past her without another word upon noticing she has the same Ensign rank, she has no direct jurisdiction over his actions and he takes advantage of that, leaving her in her mid-explanation of whatever she tried talking about. Matthews heads in the direction to his temporary quarters aboard the station, unbeknownst with a suspicious follower following slowly from behind, curious about his behavior compared to the rest of the personnel on-board. Octavia simply thinks, '...hm.' as she follows Matthews throughout the station's halls, he seems to show signs of reluctance to talk to her. Distant voices can still be heard in the distance, repeatedly chanting in a way that discomforts him, despite the proximity that shouldn't let him be able to hear them.

"For the Federation!"

It doesn't make him any more comfortable, his agenda is to get away from all this, the thought crosses his mind as obvious as it is. 'I'm on a Federation controlled station..' He can't get away, no matter how he tries, he made his choice, he questions repeatedly; thoughts too late. 'Is it the right one..'

"Ensign!" Octavia yells towards him from across the hall after following him down a set of stairs, into the lower decks of the station, the majority of it clad in thin paneling. The tensile strength is sturdy, despite it's otherwise thin material, she's very vocal despite her albeit shorter stature. She calls again, lightly walking towards him, an odd sight seeing an Equestrian 'trot' and minimally bounce in their steps; but not as strange as a Mantis walking on six legs rapidly, much like the normal insects would. "Where is your assigned post?"

He doesn't try to follow her same tone, some signs of hostility showing as he replies to her. "My post was escorting troops, nothing else, Miss.." He doesn't know her name, avoiding the same method of calling her by rank, leaving it as is. She replies duly, despite no strong context calling for it, she sounds oddly polite towards his otherwise reluctant tone.

"Melody, Ensign Melody. If you want to go with formalities, sure, but I'd have to know your name as well." She attempts to be patient with him, taking note that she's missing the ending bits of Admiral Tully's speech as well, thinking he's apart of the same assignment she's on. She tries to encourage him further, lightly sighing. "Ensign Melody. Octavia Melody, if you'd like to know. Designation 0-1." He recognizes that number, second to first of Federation ranking, the pin on the left of her uniform with a simple bronze stripe insignia with a bronze circle in the middle. She asks again, taking note of him staring at her uniform for some reason. "Ensign, what is your name? Designation?"

Subjectively, he groans and answers her reluctantly, skipping over his first name. "Matthews. Ensign Matthews, also 0-1." He breathes outward, methodically entering his room's security key into the panel beside it, it beeps with a little red light. 'The heck..' He tries to enter it again, encouraged by the perceived annoyance beside him, it beeps again with a red light; the key he's entering is wrong.

"Grr." He's visually angry, she takes note and simply offers him a number, tapping the wall beside him with her strangely shaped appendage beside him.

"Might I suggest entering your designation along with it first? 0-1, Matthews." She doesn't look coy, but the way she said it suggests it.
He wasn't told this before, assuming it's possibly a simple mistake in his pamphlet. Regardless, listening to her suggestion, he adds
'0-1' to the beginning of the key and it finally beeps with a green light and slides open. He feels slightly embarrassed, quietly apologizing, though it doesn't stop him from stepping into his quarters.

"Oh..well, thank you Miss Melody. I wasn't told that." Taking a step inside his quarters, the motion-sensitive light inside detects him and flicker on, a small but manageable space. He tells himself, 'It's only temporary..', unsure if he means the room or his current predicament with the Federation. Sitting on is mass-produced bunk bed, he notices Melody still standing outside his doorway, seemingly just staring waiting for him to say something. The silence gets to be too much, she makes the first statement.

"..right. Well. I should probably get back to my post, goodbye Ensign Matthews." It seems like she still prefers to call ranks into name when addressing someone, a sense of formality in her dialect perhaps despite her wanting to know how name, he can't put his finger on the specific accent. The lights suddenly turn off, he's left in the room surprised as he stands back up, exclaiming towards her, assuming she hit the manual switch by the door when he wasn't looking when she left.

"Hey! I'm still in h—" He's interrupted by the lights in the hallway going out, the air conditioning audibly shuts off, Matthews hears Melody in the hall exclaim aloud.

"Wha—That wasn't me! The power's out, so is the airflow." She nudges the custom communicator attached to her left foreleg and dials a specific frequency, asking aloud into it as the station starts to flip into emergency power; light blue backup lights shining minimally through the halls. "Command, we have a situation." Matthews steps outside his room, noting the door is no longer functional, a sense of dread and deja 'vu envelopes in his mind, he feels uncomfortable.

"This feels familiar.." He subconsciously speaks aloud without noticing, seemingly Melody if focusing solely on communications, repeatedly requesting for someone within range to report back in. Melody speaks again, giving priority rank despite both of their lower rankings.

"This is Ensign Melody checking in, what is the situation?" A few seconds later, her communicator beeps, an audible sound of static can be heard before it's patched through. A male on the other side of the transmission speaks, for some reason still partially in static, it transmits to Matthew's communicator as well; taking priority on all Federation personnel, seemingly.

"This is Lead Engineer Evans, the station's reactor has shutdown for some reason, we're working on getting it up and running. Backup generators are up, don't wor—" The signals cuts off and instead of static it just stays quiet, communications have cut off. Melody suggest towards Matthews, taking a guess towards what might have happened.

"Huh, perhaps he's..out of range?" She attempts to flip through several other frequencies to no avail, Matthews comes up with a counter argument as he goes through his own.

"The station is only 3 kilometers long and 1 kilometer wide, we shouldn't be out of range." He takes a look outside the window and spots the Federation cruisers have stopped firing their Anti-Ship-Battery fireworks, unsure of their scheduling, asking Melody on the off chance if she knows. "Should the ASB guns have stopped firing by now?" Assuredly, she replies to him simply, knowing the scheduling well.

"Yes, they should have stopped by now. It was scheduled as a 3 cruiser, 21 ASB projectile show, so they're done." She looks towards the window as well, wondering, "I hope they're aware that the power's out for..some reason."

"Hmm." Matthews tries to dismiss the incident and heads towards his room, suggesting to Melody as he shuffles through a piece of luggage below the bunk bed, checking through his various clothing. "If the station's power has failed, then we better get ready to depart, life support only lasts for so long. Officers might already be coordinating in case the station's power isn't turned back o—"

All the hallway's doors suddenly close shut, spooking him and Melody outside of the doorway. She exclaims, caught off-guard by the sudden mass of sound of automated doors closing shut without warning.

"Wha—What was that?" She attempts to access the panel, but it keeps showing an error message, saying repeatedly in an unfamiliar monotone female voice.

"Advisory: Security lockdown procedures are in effect."

After a few seconds, the monotone voice speaks again. Melody doesn't recognize it as the station's Virtual Intelligence program, she suddenly yells towards Matthews on the other side of the door, trying to get through the mostly soundproof door.

"Damn it, I'll come back for you, I think the security system's been compromised!" Melody starts bolting down the hallway upon getting no response from Ensign Matthews, the door's composition resisting sound, himself on the inside attempting to force the door open. She enters her security key a little awkwardly with her right foreleg, the UI beeps with a green light momentarily before displaying a yellow lock symbol, the door opens regardless; she takes the opportune chance to run through, the doors suddenly closing with a swift shuink.

"Gah!" She yelps, the doors catching and squeezing the mid-part of her body, it does one hard push to get closed to no avail, painfully trying to close despite the obstacle in it's way. Melody begins to kick her rear legs to push herself through, the doors slowly opening as she falls forward, folding her front forelegs wincing in pain from the doors trying to crush her ribs. The monotone electrical voice speaks aloud again, almost mockingly so, referring to her own personnel file directly.

"Identification: Unknown Military Company; Octavia Melody. Rank: Ensign 0-1. Orders: Gua—"

The voice cuts off from it's initial explanation of her record, suddenly exclaiming something else mildly disturbing.

"Warning: Multiple unidentified armed personnel detected. Lockdown procedures engaged. Status report advised." After a few tense seconds, Melody continues bolting towards the rest of the Federation personnel past several doorways, hearing something else distressing. "Status Report: Weapon systems: Online. Shields: Optimal. Point-Defense-System: Online." Static can be heard, followed by another message, this time from the intercom all around the station. "Warning: Multiple unidentified cruisers within firing range. Advisory suggested." Melody's about to try to force open a door when suddenly the other side of the door starts to dent, eventually a second strike tearing it down, she's mildly surprised when she see a Rockman walk inside, followed by several Federation crewman.

'That's..one way to do it I suppose..' She suppresses her momentary astonishment and asks the Rockman something upon spotting a Lieutenant insignia pinned to it's large chest.

"Oh, right. Ensign Melody reporting, sir!" She stands up tall and looks above to the tall being, professionally asking upon seeing several Federation personnel with crewman insignias and uniforms, "Lieutenant, what is the situation? Security may be compromised, the door controls won't respond, and someone's talking on the intercom like a..robot? Is that correct?" She's unsure how to describe it, though most of it is audible anyway. The Rockman duly responds, albeit in a hard to understand dialect, distinctly deeper in pitch with a grating-like rasp not much unlike it's body composition.

"Someone has unauthorized access to the door controls and reactor, crew mans are tracing the signal now." Melody is unsure of what to make of his dialect, understanding the majority other than the 'crew mans' part. Regardless of her understanding, several Federation crewmen behind him quickly march inside the hallway looking at some kind of small device in their hands, assumed to be tracing this 'signal' of some kind. Assuming the stations has gone under control of some sort of hacker, she follows the small group, having more information on situational awareness.

'Wait..' She realizes they're heading back towards Matthew's quarters' hallway, she duly warns them when she discovers this. "Lieutenant!" The Rockman keeps walking with the small team of crewmen while also keeping it's non-existent ears open to listen to her, Melody following easily beside the Rockman; itself being bulky and strong, but also slow. "Sir, are you familiar with an Ensign named Matthews?" The Rockman simply shakes his head, mildly interested in what she has to say. "We're headed towards his quarters, is your team tracing the signal back to there?" Trying to piece some information back herself, she wonders momentarily.

'I knew there was something odd about him..' Her thoughts and the Rockman's reply is interrupted as they reach the doorway to the hallway, the Rockman winding back it's large boulder-like arm and slamming the middle of the doorway, it dents largely inward; the Rockman strikes it open upon the second hit, the crewmen enter inside the hallway and expectedly gather around the outside of Matthew's quarters. One of the crewman, an Engi oddly enough, explains aloud in it's more than prominent language of mathematics and calculative speech.

"Signal trace confined to area, zero spread. Precision: Room B5. Analysis: Local virus. Effect: Disruption and communicative disruption. Cause: Indecisive."

Going by the word of the Engi, the Rockman Lieutenant steps in front of the crewmen gathered around Matthew's quarters, winding back it's arm again to attempt to pummel the door open. Unexpectedly however, they hear the same monotone voice speak aloud through the local intercom, saying something a little confusing.

"Warning: Oxygen levels at 5%, local room temperatures exceeding at over 300°F. Local fires detected."

The Engi looks to his portable scanner and replies to the Rockman, explaining simply but obviously. "Local Area: Safe. Presence of Fire: Negative."

The room suddenly starts to flood with vapor and white froth-like liquid from the air vents above, the station's fire suppression system going off in the local area, the crewmen and Melody are caught off-guard; disturbed by the sudden realization they can't breathe.

"Haugh—!" She closes her mouth, so do the rest of the crewmen, the Rockman a little less effected by the fire suppressant, but enough to have to start coughing. Oxygen begins draining in the immediate vicinity, the fire suppressant absorbing oxygen paired with the non-functioning life support system is causing the area to cease with oxygen. Melody and the crewmen begin to rush towards the exit door, disturbingly enough, a second layer of reinforced metal shoots down from the top of the doorway as they leave the hallway. Melody gasps along with the others, taking in panicked breathes of air, wiping and shaking off light layers of white liquid-like substance off her mane and uniform.

"Goodness, what was that Lieutenant??" She coughs heavily and covers her mouth with her hoof, the vapor being unpleasant to breathe due to it's properties. Her question is interrupted by the Engi exclaiming aloud, lightly striking the door's now reinforced paneling.

"Analysis: Reinforced and sealed blast door. Use: Emergency containment of exposure to space vacuum, containment of oxygen outside of exposure. Suggestion is to pry open. Subjective: Tools unavailable." It looks up towards the Rockman, adding further. "Virus has taken control of station fire suppression controls. Possibility: Creator or operator does not want interference."

Melody sighs, giving out a light sigh as she says aloud to the Rockman.

"Sir..I may know who it is." She sadly thinks, noticing and piecing together Matthew's odd behavior patterns from earlier, she looks worried for her own sake.

'I hope it isn't him..I gave him the security key to get through the doorways..'

--

Five minutes earlier

Five minutes earlier

"Hmm."

Matthews tries to dismiss the incident and heads towards his room, suggesting to Melody as he shuffles through a piece of luggage below the bunk bed, checking through his various clothing. "If the station's power has failed, then we better get ready to depart, life support only lasts for so long. Officers might already be coordinating in case the station's power isn't turned back o—"

The room door suddenly closes, he's spooked and tightly grips one of his spare uniforms, asking aloud unaware of the door's sound-proofing.

"Uh, Melody! I'm still in here!" He gets no response and decides to stand up, asking aloud again. "...hello? Hello??" He walks over to the door and repeatedly presses the door's UI controls, repeatedly beeping with a red light, the panel suddenly exclaiming aloud from a female-like monotone voice with an error message.

"Advisory: Security lockdown procedures are in effect."

"What?" He attempts to enter emergency security keys into the panel to try to get through, it repeats the same error message through text, he fittingly strikes the panel with his fist out of frustration. "Fuck you, let me out of here!" He puts his face close to the door, trying to relay a message to Melody. "The door's jammed, can you get it open through there??" He doesn't hear anything, so he keeps trying to access the door controls, to no avail. The monotone voice speaks aloud again, in something a little distressing to hear in detail.

"Identification: Unknown Military Company; Aaron R. Matthews. Rank: Ensign 0-1. Orders: Guard attending personnel to the commemoration speech of designated Admiral Tully."

"What the fu—" It's reading out his personal file, he's unsure of how it's doing so, but he's not comfortable with it. He pulls out his pistol holstered to his waist, aiming it towards the UI panel, a disturbingly familiar feeling of deja'vu. The monotone voice continues speaking, particularly of something he's not comfortable with it knowing.

"Notes: Marked with desertion tag. Report: Military desertion of Federation forces."

The intercom suddenly spurts out a wave of static, causing him to wince in surprise, making him fumble with his pistol before he can pull the trigger. It continues with an odd line of dialogue.

"Identification Successful: Federation personnel identified, allied tag accepted. Permission for Assignment:...pending. Accepted."

Matthew's wrist communicator suddenly starts to flicker, the text and following lights start to scramble and malfunction, giving strange text numbers that read out repeatedly.

"01001001 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101000 01100101 01101100 01110000 00100000 01101101 01100101"

He attempts to pry off his communicator when presented with this confusing display of numbers. Before he's successful, the voice starts to speak out of it, giving a strange message.

"Warning: Multiple unidentified armed personnel detected. Lockdown procedures engaged. Status report advised." Confused, Matthews speaks aloud towards it.

"What? Status report?" Unintentionally it registers the command input, simply relaying an answer to his order.

"Status Report: Weapon systems: Online. Shields: Optimal. Point-Defense-System: Online. " It beeps to confirm, relaying another warning. "Warning: Multiple unidentified cruisers within firing range. Advisory suggested, multiple Anti-Ship-Battery locks available."

"What the, I didn't say to—" He realizes he's issuing minimal commands accidentally, he yells at his wrist communicator, assuming it's listening. "What, uhh..!" He tries to think of a command when prompted to reply to it detecting the nearby Federation cruisers, he spurts out several things to convey, not knowing how to reply to it precisely. "Uhm, friendlies! The ships are friendlies, do not open fire!" He starts to panic when he says not to, afraid it might anyway. "Err, weapons offline! Turn off the weapons!" The voice replies to him, inputting his order.

"Order confirmed: Weapons offline, disabling lethal ASB targeting systems. Non-lethal weapons active, suppressant deployed."

Not knowing what it means by 'suppressant', Matthews gives a relieved heavy sigh, he finally has a minute to relax; unfortunately for him, the minute goes by fast as it relays another message.

"Hostile personnel successfully suppressed. Awaiting further orders."

"Wait, what?" He's surprised by this, pacing to the side of his room, trying to think of another command to try to say as he frantically spurts aloud, "No, no! They're friendlies, Federation! Leave them alone! Err, all weapons offline! All lethal and non-lethal, shutdown or..something!" The program surprisingly inputs the multiple inquiries, successfully processing the order.

"Confirmed: Surrounding personnel flagged as friendlies. Designation: Federation personnel."

Matthews wipes his forehead, unsure what to make of this thing now communicating and listening to him through his wrist communicator, he decides to take some more initiative before it says something else disturbing or tries something else relating to the weapons aboard the station.

"..unlock all of the station's doors, turn the power and life support back on." He tries to think of something else to try to keep it settled, remembering an old command for an old Roomba he had in his childhood. "Err, enter..sleep mode?" The monotone female voice calm replies.

"Acknowledged."

His quarter's room door UI finally flickers with a green light, making a subtle grating sound before the door finally opens by itself. Matthews sighs and sits in his bunk bed, examining his wrist communicator, thinking about his current predicament. The idea dawns on him and he turns his communicator to local frequencies now that they should be back online, surprisingly catching a familiar voice on the other end. She replies a little confused, with a hint of worry for some reason.

"Oh, hello? Wait, Matthews? Are you there?" She sounds frantic, but still oddly calm, herself spotting the crewmen enter back into the hallway towards Matthews now that life support is back online.

'Must have been confusing with this thing messing with the station..this thing is weird, why is it listening to me?' He tries to piece together any logic to no avail, interrupted by the large silhouette of a tall and bulky being, a Rockman with a Lieutenant pin on his chest; packed somewhere in the mass of rock-like skin.

"Ah, good thing you guys are here." Matthews passively smiles, pointing to his wrist communicator, trying to resume his proper demeanor when in the presence of a relative superior and tell them about this thing controlling the station. "Lieutenant, we need to get this thing under contro—" He's interrupted by two crewmen grabbing him by his arms, pulling his pistol out of his holster and forcing him up against his quarter's wall.

"Ah! What the hell!?" He can feel something clasp around his wrists around his front, presumably energy handcuffs as he's violently pulled back. "What, hey! What did I do!? This thing is in my communicator!" Melody watches from outside in the hall, unsure of what to make of the situation at hand, being led to believe he's some kind of saboteur. As he's being escorted outside of the room, he can hear a small beep from his communicator.

"Warning: Hostiles detected."

The room's sliding door suddenly closes, gripping tightly against one of the crewman holding his arm, wincing back to try to relieve the pressure being pushed on him. The crewman yelps out in pain, the door having excessive amounts of force.

"H-Help!"

Almost immediately, the Rockman holds his arms in place above the crewman and forces the door open, the mechanisms of the doorway being forcibly strained as it attempts to close. Unexpectedly, at least to the crewmen, Matthews grips the injured crewman with his bound hands and helps pull him away from the doorway. Matthews yells at his wrist, attempting to stop whatever's controlling the station to cease.

"Friendly, these are all friendlies! Don't do that again!"

A moment of silence envelopes awkwardly, the crewman stare at Matthews to see whatever he tries to do next.

"....."

The silence drags on, he angrily and impatiently thinks out something.

'...any time now, you stupid voice!'

Melody decides to tag in, sensing the odd tension, attempting to ask him, "...Matthews, who are you talking t—"

"Acknowledged."

The crewmen seem surprised at the voice coming from his wrist communicator, having had less time to react before with one of their own being crushed in a doorway. The Rockman grabs Matthew's wrist suddenly and pulls him to his feet, asking determinedly, "Ensign, explain yourself. And this."

'Long as you're aware my arm is fragile..' Matthews reasons that the being doesn't know it's own strength with it's bulkiness and size, excusing his own sarcastic line himself. "It's hard to say Lieutenant..also please don't break my arm." The Rockman simply replies, it's hard to tell if he's being sarcastic as well, the Rockmen aren't good at conveying emotion. Matthews assume the latter, given no release of pressure on his arm.

"You broke Yusuf's arm."

"Noted.." Matthews stays quiet, unsure of what to say next to try to appease the large rock-like being.

"Lieutenant." Melody decides to chime in, continuing. "Let's bring him and this..thing for questioning." Her tone conveys professionalism, her particular accent fitting well with it. "Ensign Matthews, do not attempt to speak from this..duration until told to. Please." She takes charge, trying to be minimally sympathetic, sensing something else beyond his knowledge is at work here. The Rockman simply nods and lets go of his arm, one crewman and the Engi escort him away, Matthews silently assumes to a detention center somewhere on the station.

'First day and all this happens..' An overwhelming feeling of deja'vu washes over himself.

He sighs only once during the trip to the detention center, knowing this is like last time.

'...this feels familiar.'

He closes his eyes, trying not to remember the screaming.

--

"Excuse me?" Admiral Tully asks aloud towards Turzil, met with disbelief at his own opinion, both of them taking potshots of logic towards each other in a private meeting aboard the 'USS Alacor', a local capital ship underneath Tully's ranking. Turzil replies to Tully, subtly trying to counter his argument.

"Answer was clear: near rhetorical, Admiral." Admiral Turzil speaks justly, trying to explain the situation at hand as clearly as possible, as much as an Engi can anyway with their complex mannerisms. "AI, simply put. Artificial Intelligence of Engi and Zoltan make upon our brief study. Origins: Unknown, all that is theorized is it was activated from salvage activity aboard the enemy Flagship. Purpose and Directive: Indecisive, disruption appears to be a main method of attack." Turzil adjusts his seating, his mechanical arms strewn about the table, showing several gestures along with his method of speech as a visual aid. "Conflicted Reasoning: AI possibly espionage tool, harbored aboard a salvage ship or local cruiser, eventually docking with the station in search of something while being transferred through several systems. Brief recording sessions with Ensign Matthews say otherwise, it did not have 'Federation' in it's vocabulary initially. It did not show initial hostile action, it showed signs of conflicted programming and identification when interacted with."

Admiral Tully shakes his head again in disbelief, simply asking, "So what are you saying, Turzil? That this AI shutting down the station's life support was a 'friendly' action? That it didn't try to ask this Ensign if it could target nearby Federation ships, including civilian ships, unable to defend themselves because of their modified ASB projectiles? This AI is a danger, something we should destroy, it gained almost full control of the station's systems." Tully stands up and tries to get his point across further, exclaiming. "It could have opened every single door and airlock aboard!"

Turzil remains calm at the situation at hand, explaining with hints of sympathy as he makes his own point clear. "Risk of AI: High, method of controls through hacking and disruption; greater. Conflicted action was clear: AI easily submitted of it's own volition with Ensign Matthews. Asking permission to target: Illogical if an espionage or disruptive program intended for destruction. AI are not sentient, Admiral: They are not capable of independent thought or decisions. If it was going to fire at nearby ships and disrupt the station maliciously; it simply would have done so without warning, following it's programming." A sense of irony washes over Tully, his fellow Admiral Turzil is unclear of his own species' origins, being compromised entirely of nano-machines yet able to be sentient. Duly listening to Turzil's own viewpoint of the matter, Tully comes up with a more well-though out reply.

"So you are saying this AI program wasn't intended to attack our own ships..or gain control of the station..but did anyway? But for what? Just to submit to an Ensign? It doesn't make any sense." Tully stands and leans against the large hologram table with his hands, noticing Turzil pull out a small datapad, assumedly relaying information to the holo-projector. "I have the feeling you have more news, I can tell it's not good." He's learned to be able to read faces, regardless of race, Admiral Turzil showing subtle signs of reluctance with a slightly discolored screen on it's body. Turzil replies, pressing a button on the datapad, showing a hologram of a small station; loosely jointed with distinct Engi parts and hull. Turzil explains to Tully, again pointing with several gestures as visual aid.

"Possible conflict of interests: Remember how I said it had signs of Zoltan and Engi technology? Be mindful, information on this subject: Severely limited. Physical location of this station: Undetermined, more than likely compromised by Rebel forces. Upon discovery of what information was available; AI may have been apart of military STG study, Special Task Force under Federation and Engi alliance. Exact origin: Unable to say, information ceasing early in Rebel conflict, possible capture of Federation technology to gain advantage. Irony Absolute: Original technology shows it was initially stolen from Zoltan." Tully seems to calm a bit, choosing to address that particular bit of information.

"So this AI may be a construct developed by one of our joint task groups? Why were we not aware of this? How long has this 'project' been going on, and for what purpose?" Turzil stands up and points to several key points within the holographic image, most notably numbers that seem to be scrambled; explaining it further.

"Information relayed to Federation Intelligence: Minority is encrypted, majority is corrupted or scrambled, including physical location of the station. Most likely reasoning: This station was top secret for an unknown designation, even to most Federation and Engi forces. Zoltan as per usual: Unaware of the joint programs as well." Turzil closes the hologram and attempts to bundle all the information he's said, trying to simplify it despite it's unique mannerism. "Information: Majority unavailable and minority is encrypted. Research station condition: More than likely compromised or destroyed by Rebel fleet incursion. Last log from the research station an estimated 14 months ago: Unable to establish contact through any decrypted data so far. Necessity focus: Time, time we do not have." Turzil puts his short arms on the table, subtly mimicking Admiral Tully's own posing, trying to convey the message further.

"AI construct shows potential: Possibility of being mass produced, an interactive command center controlled solely by the Captain or Admiral of a cruiser or station. Estimated combat effectiveness if attuned to the person: Up by 185%. Situational Awareness: Up by 145%." Admiral Tully seems to show some interest, noted by Turzil, he explains the cons of his proposal as a rebuttal. "Conflicted viewpoint: Unfortunate, but absolute. No other known recreations of this AI construct exist: 98% estimated chance of research station destruction, majority of project information permanently lost along with the original participants of the project. Personal observation shows an anomaly: The AI construct still appears to be in the early stages of it's development, not having Federation ID as a pre-programmed identifier." Admiral Turzil hangs his head low from the table, looking strangely expressive for an Engi, feeling utterly unsure of his next statement.

"Keynote observation is indecisive: This AI was made for Federation, but did not have Federation designation in it's programming, or at least was not aware of it until Ensign Matthews had first interacted with it. It appears he was the first of Federation personnel to interact with it directly after it's supposed travels, telling it of his Federation rank of an Ensign. It is unknown if submitting to a Federation Ensign was intended: Data shows many degrees of conflict in it's own actions. Recommendation is to wait for further information to be inquired: Stay low and study this AI while it is still cooperative with Ensign Matthews. Unfortunate truth is more evident: This AI is not as we had initially thought, it has a designation, but not one we are aware of that fits any sort of project name." After listening to Admiral Turzil's mass of information and explanations, Tully simply asks,

"What is this project's name?"

Admiral Turzil shakes his head, simply replying back. "Negative: Not project name, entity designation. The AI has a designated 'name' ; but it does not fit into either Federation or Engi information databases."

"Alright, I'll bite. What is this AI's name?"

Admiral Turzil replies back, taking a mental note, having to study into the name at a later date.

"Designated Name: Twi. E. Sparkle." Turzil is met with a confused expression from Tully.

"That sounds like a strange name for an AI, Turzil. Do you know the origin?" Tully duly sits and begins to listen, finding the information odd to process, understanding the majority though it's all pretty vague. Admiral Turzil replies, pulling up the hologram again, this time showing a green and blue earth-like planet instead.

"Minimal study shows that it may be an Equestrian-related name: many of them simply as a descriptive name to their occupation, strangely. An unfortunate circumstance: Information on the Equestrian home world is very limited, refusing all inter-galactic contact with any Federation forces or otherwise. It is a peaceful world and civilization, Admiral: They do not like the idea of mass war on a galactic scale, and personally I do not blame them for that aspect. Back to the objective: Information is limited, something we can not officially inquire with. Main reasoning: Not permitted to enter Equestrian space, further more the home world is over eight systems away, not something we could quickly go to with our current remaining forces."

Tully decides to interrupt for once, inquiring about it.

"Admiral Turzil, you are aware we do have Equestrian personnel within our ranks? Albeit very few, but they are present, we could ask them about the world if need-be." Turzil starts to walk over, explaining himself on his way over to Admiral Tully.

"We know the basics of the Equestrian race already Admiral, their culture, and the majority of their government; showing many aspects to olden kingdoms comparable to the early civilizations of the human race many millennia ago. It is their military projects we are unaware of: Something I don't believe they'd like us to ask about, nor do I personally believe they would study into. The utter majority of their population and ideals are peace: They would not engage with Federation personnel unless they declared independence, an aspect rare with their race." Turzil looks up towards Tully, who duly stands up alongside him, respectfully listening to his very informative fellow Admiral.

"Equestrian personnel would not be acquainted with any of their race's projects if there are, or were, any of them recently: respectively. They would not add any information to this Twi. E. Sparkle AI : We do not know much about it, they are further unlikely to know much else either than what we already are aware of. The majority of the Equestrian race is peaceful, the few space-faring individuals are either parts of the race that declares independence or scholars sent by their ruler to cautiously study abroad; the latter being something we shouldn't try, in fear of sparking an inter-planetary incident should we be involved with key political figures or citizens. All the information we have to go by is mainly what this AI is capable of, and the name 'Sparkle'. " Turzil stands tall and places his arms behind his back, saying with a sense of pride, not uncommon with Engi when tasked with something. "I will lead an investigation on this name for any significance with the Equestrians and any other projects related to the Federation or Engi: this is all a big predicament, Admiral. But it is something that shows some potential in our conflict with the Rebels."

Admiral Tully places his hands behind his back, asking aloud professionally. "So, what would you recommend doing with the Ensign, Turzil? This AI is 'imprinted' to him and seemingly him only, so it shows an advantageous aspect.. but it's very dangerous in the hands of just an Ensign." Turzil takes note of his choice of words and simply replies.

"Then let's say it wasn't in the hands of an Ensign, Admiral: I will organize duly with an Engi Special Task Group for a new designation. It may be a great tool for the Federation fleet to regain power and hold of the galaxy again; a task we were incapable of doing before, being spread too thin." Turzil tries to drift away from his personal feelings about the conflict, snapping back into his mannerism and assuring Tully of his decision.

"I will work with Ensign Matthews duly: in an attempt to understand this AI, we need an advantage against the Rebels. We have won this major battle: I do not wish our sacrifices of our brethren and fellow Federation have been for nothing, Federation collective is weak."

Tully dips his head for a moment, attempting to accept this new information.

"..very well, Turzil. I will go with your word, but let's make sure this AI does not get out of hand. What is your first plan of action, if I might ask?" Turzil turns around as he's about to exit the room, simply replying.

"Working with Operation Restoration: We need allies before we could focus on military efforts. I will supervise Ensign Matthews, his designation should be a prominent one: Not one we should take lightly."

Tully makes a suggestion, the path Turzil is outlining getting to be a vague one.

"I suppose Captain would be out of the question, unless his credentials say otherwise." An audible whir can be heard from Turzil, he replies with a mild tone of realization.

"That will do precisely, Tully; At least for now. We need every single advantage we could get: this AI could turn the tide of the war if Matthews can turn it as a tool, a supposed weapon of sorts. But first we must figure out it's capability in combat and it's relative relation to this Ensign." Turzil leaves the room with a swift salute, walking with his escort away from the conference room.

A sense of deja'vu washes over Tully unexpectedly, a thought flickers in his mind, reminiscent of his past decisions relating to a win-or-die scenario. He shakes his head, a looming though sparks, a familiar feeling that Matthews feels currently, sleeping in his lone cell.

--

'I hope I'm doing the right thing..'

Author's Note

Edit: Small thing, chapters may be temporary titles. There was a thing with chapters titles for 'Time to Think', thinking of doing something similar here. If all else fails, can just simply put dates for titles. :)

If you are not familiar with FTL(Faster Than Light), I'd recommend looking up gameplay named from a Youtuber named Northernlion or VanguardOfValor for general information and examples of gameplay. I personally love the game (pretty much addicted), but it's hard to understand this story when you don't understand the backstory or full context of the actual game, take note of that!

Ahh, good to get something done in..such a long time. I'm sorry for the long delay, been having to deal with some life-related things, mostly just personal finance, so very little time on the computer. Have felt burnt out on the last story, 'Time to Think', and I WILL continue that at some point, but I shouldn't run myself raw to force something out, so for now it is on Hiatus.

Busy from 8-3 PM isn't a very good schedule!

This should be an interesting story premise to go with, though I'm a bit new when it comes to large scale things especially with a large scope, so I guess I'll go little by little. Do note the tags I put on :) Please provide feedback, negative or positive or just a simple comment on things in the comments! I like feedback and it helps me improve for future writings! (Hopefully.)

As per usual with the other story I've done, I provide semi-related pictures in the author's notes, so have an FTL-related bit of artwork! Pro-tip when playing FTL, don't let the Mantis anywhere near you. They're get a little 'touchy feely' so to say.

http://i.imgur.com/BBQbB.jpg

Edit: At the time of re-submitting this story for approval, it is 5:32 AM. Heading to bed!