Silence, beautiful silence.
A quality this galaxy always lacked.
For there was war, eons of war, ever since the dawn of men.
Our weapons, armour and strategies evolved as we discovered new means of improving ourselves.
And through the ages, the battleground moved from planet to the deep darkness of space.
There were times of peace, balance between the rivalling  factions though. 
Yet there was always an overlooked factor that would endanger the delicate relations.
We fought ourselves, time and time again, until...

The two largest factions of the universe faced eachother.
The future was coloured with blood, blood of whoever would be defeated.
But neither of the two expected this to happen:
A  force unknown to this galaxy jumped from the shadows of Unexplored Regions..
The size of the armada brought darkness over everything we had built.
The first battle was lost.
But there will be more.

[.Space Stories Proudly Presents]

  “Smoke?” 
Two men sat in a lonely room on a ship new to them. 
They had discovered it only a week ago so it was something they had to get used to.
  “Sure.”
The ship was ancient, and from unknown origin. And they’re not sure whether it was a coincidence or that they were meant to find it.
  “Here let me light it for you.”
It seemed to adapt itself to its new crew, like it was alive or something. I hadn’t tried to kill them yet, so they figured it was safe. 

600 metres, black, alien, their home for probably a long time.

Right now their superior was making a plan. A plan to make it safely out of the Dead Zone. 
The place where they were now. 
  “Thanks.” 
Both men were experienced and good at what they did. Though it seemed there was no place for them at the moment.
  “To the end of the universe.” One raised a glass.
  “I hear that.” The other followed.
They laughed, but it seemed they weren’t as amused as they wanted to be. 
  “What’s next.” The first sighed.
  “Dunno, I guess the LT is working on something with that Robin guy.”
  “Ugh, that arrogant piece of frap.”
  “Tehe.”
The chuckle grew, until they bursted out in laughter. Probably a side effect from the alcohol.
Their voices could be heard throughout the empty hallways ship that was now their home.
An abrupt cough startled the two.
They looked at a woman standing in the doorway. 
A woman they now knew as Mary Kingston.
Black, semi-curled hair covered the sides of her face and two deep green eyes saw right through them.
  “Coming?” She said in a cool British voice, her eyes questioning.
  “Sure ma’am.” One replied, imitating the accent. 
Mary raised an eyebrow, clearly not amused. She let the two move through the door and then followed them.
Her nose picked up the smell of alcohol and cigarettes in their wake, though it was quickly filtered out by the ship’s climate system.

They entered the brain of the ship, the large bridge.
It was round and illuminated by the twin suns they had been orbiting for the last few days.
Holographic screens covered the walls in information. Though there was still a lot to be uncovered. 
Large sections of the ship were still unexplored regions.
So every now and then a group of two would set out to map the remainder of the vessle.
  “Ah there you are.” The voice of a 30 year old man made Mary look up.
Daniel Cray was his name, a three day beard matching the brown colour of his hair added to the strong jawline.
He was the only person with military authority here and had enough skill to pose as a leader.
The platform he was standing on somehow elevated him as a man. 
  “Yeah we were...” One of his men tried to explain.
  “...busy.” The other one finished.
  “I can smell that.” Daniel said, obviously picking up the smoke and alcohol.
The first man cleared his throat, thinking that his superior wasn’t that happy.
  “But, in light of our current situation, I’ll let you two go off with a warning.” 
The two were surprised by Daniel, who didn’t expect their leader to react this way.
  “Where’s Robin?” Mary asked.
  “He’s checking the supplies.” Daniel said.
 
[A Story By IXI]

Robin kneeled down, his eyes almost too tired.
He opened up the lid of a cardboard box and grabbed something out of it.
  “23 boxes of...” He looked somewhat amused at the cover of a magazine.
A half naked woman decorated the cover of what was bound to be not for all ages.
  “23 boxes of... prose.” His hand was slightly shaking as he typed it down on his PDA.
  “Damn it.” He sighed and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, though that didn’t seem to help a lot.
Continuing on this pace would make him pass out, so he decided to finish the rest tomorrow. 
His legs had trouble getting him up, and he shook a little, trying to get a sense of balance.
And more asleep than awake, he walked out of the hangar. 
He would make one final visit to his friend, to see if there were any updates.

Robin entered a room he had entered every day now.
A large cave, not formed by natural forces, harbouring one of the most astonishing discoveries they made when they first set foot on this vessle.
A 20 metre robot, a  female Mecha. As alien as the ship, yet it was fluent in 7 human languages, except english for some reason.
She  was white for the most part, with blue stripings to give the illusion of a larger mass and a taller body.
  “<Hello.>” Robin greeted her in Japanese, the only language they both understood. 
  “<Robin welcome back.>” She was happy he had returned. 
Bennington, the Medic in Cray’s team, was standing next to a CryoPod they had uncovered.
This Pod was the reason they were here in the first place. It was the one that lay in the Pod that asked Robin to come here. 
Joseph Varageva, thought to be lost. How he got here was still unknown, why he was here was also to be answered.
Robin had so much to ask his old friend, he felt like crying out to the Pod in an attempt to wake up Joe.
Not that it would help, but it would help Robin.
  “Any updates Sean?” He asked, keeping his cool.
Sean turned his head from the info he had written down.
  “Well,” He looked at Robin and saw the obvious fatigue in his face, “go get some sleep first, you look like 
    crap.”
Robin let out a cackle. “Yeah, I am somewhat tired, but tell anyway.”
  “Sure?”
  “Yeah.” 

[Based on the Background Scenario By Red Baron]

  “After some readings, I found out your friend here,” Sean pointed at the Pod, “is in perfect condition and he’s 
    very human.”
  “Very human?” Robin wondered.
  “How to put this... Joseph’s DNA is intact, but...” Sean tried to explain.
  “But?” 
  “It’s more than he needs. He has all the genes we have, around 15000. But there are around 245700 too many.”
For a second, Robin couldn’t grasp the information Sean gave him. And it seemed Sean was baffled as well.
  “What you mean like...?” 
  “He’s more human... than human.” Sean put it in layman’s terms.
  “ I... see.” Robin understood.
  “Why he has so many genes, I don’t know.” Was the conclusion.
  “So why is he... like this?”
  “He seems to be... hibernating.” The medic made a guess.
  “Hibernating?”
  “It appears he’s... waiting for something, somesort of trigger that will wake him up.”
  “Perhaps if we set an alarm-clock next to the Pod.” Robin joked.
Both men laughed. A satisfying end for Robin’s day.
  “Well, I’m going to crash.” Robin stretched out his arms.
  “Sweet dreams.” 

  “Robin?” Daniel’s voice sounded somewhat artificial over the intercom, “if you hear me, get to the bridge, and   
    if you run into Sean, take him with you.”
Robin sighed as he heard the message.
  “I hope it doesn’t take too long.”

A flash lit up the bridge for a second, notifying Daniel of Robin and Sean’s arrival.
  “What’s up?” Robin asked as he approached him.
  “The intercom works.” Daniel joked.
  “Very funny.” His friend wasn’t in the mood for jests.
Sean coughed, acknowledging his superior’s bad timing.
  “Right...” Daniel said, for the sake of switching subjects.
  “What was it?” Robin asked for a serious answer.
  “Well,” He gave Robin the earnest reply, “we, that is my team and I, are planning to go home with this ship.
    Perhaps aid the rest of the OC fleet.”
Daniel paused for a second, looking at Robin’s face.
  “And I was wondering,” he continued, “what you were going to do.”
The face he looked at was already sufficient, but Robin spoke anyway.
  “Same thing as you guys I guess. Home.”

[Boundless]
[1 // Go]

Home, it meant something different now. Something more.
Earth was never threatened. Naomi, his fiancee, was never threatened.
But now that they were potential targets...
  “I want to be there before they arrive.”
  “You mean... them.” Mary seemed to fear the unknown
  “Pretty much.” Robin was stoic.
  “By the way,” He turned to Daniel, “any word about the Colonies?” 
  “No nothing, connections have been seemingly severed.”
  “Okay, I’ll just go with you guys, then go my own way whenever we reach the OC.”
  “Deal, glad to have you on board.” Daniel could use anyone he could get, and a good pilot was always welcome.

....................................................................................................................................................................................

It was late, and despite the fact that Mary was tired she couldn’t find her sleep.
She turned again trying to find a comfortable position. 
Music, she heard music. The young woman got up to check where it came from.
All she needed now was more distractions that would keep her from her sleep.
Her legs supported her, barely, as she stood up.
Turning on the lights would only hurt her eyes, so she preferred the darkness for now.
And stumbling over her clothes she reached the door. 
It opened silently, and allowed Mary to follow the trail left by the aggresive tune.
The empty walkways provided a perfect place for the music to echo, and made the pounding in Mary’s head even worse.
She stepped yawning into the Hangar.
  “Robin?” She called.
  “Hm?” He came from under his ship, his hands and face all greasy and his voice somewhat overpowered by the sound installation in his ship.
  “Could you turn down the music?” Mary cried.
Robin reached with his hand in the cockpit, and the volume turned down a few decibels.
  “Thank you.” 
  “No problem.”
  “Who is that anyway?” She sat down on the wing.
  “The artist? Overseer, best music of the 21th century.” Robin joined her.
The music changed. A more relaxed song now filled the ship.
  “So what are you doing here?” Mary asked.
  “Trying to install new systems on my ship, but so far no luck.” Robin wiped his hands on his trousers.
  “New systems?”  
  “Yeah, from the previous ‘crew’. Pretty advanced stuff they have here.”
  
  “Hm.” Her reply was the beginning of a moment of silence.
A soft bass tune carried a guitar up, while percussion came in slowly and strings took the skies.
The guitar played, rounding off the full sound of the song. 
  “Weren’t you tired? You looked tired on the bridge.” Mary asked.
  “Yeah I was, but after some sleep I felt... well reborn actually.” Robin didn’t know how, he only knew it felt good.
  “Hm.” The same reply, again the start of a few seconds of serenity.

The bass came in, after a brief period of strings. It started, with the percussion, the same relaxing tune.
It swept up and down, making Mary’s head bob from side to side a little.
Strings went into low tones, joined by the now catchy guitar.
She let out a deep sigh, feeling calm.
  “I’m going back to bed.”  
  “Sure, goodnight.” Robin went back under his ship.

....................................................................................................................................................................................

It was silent in the cave, despite the fact that Robin had turned the volume up again.
The Mecha seemed to be asleep, her systems on standby for now.
A current slowly moved through the inner workings, making her glow every couple of seconds.
Sean had fallen asleep next to the pod. His hand still firm around his pen.
Notes running through eachother on a seemingly endless pile of paper.
He could’ve used his PDA, but stubborn as he was, he always used paper.
  “Feels more natural.” Sean would say.
The current within the Mecha paused and her eyes lit up.
  “Ano?” She was awake, and looked around. Something had pulled her from her sleep.
Her movements shook Sean out of his dreamworld. The first thing he saw were his notes.
Writings about mathematical equations.
He looked at the unnamed Mecha.
  “What is it?” 
She just looked around, like a dog expecting an earthquake.
Something dark was coming...

Alarms went off, waking up everyone who wasn’t awake yet.
Robin ran out of the hangar, his hands still dirty.
The sensors had picked up something, and it was enough for the alarms to sound.
He met Daniel on his way to the bridge, who seemed agitated.
By looking at his face it was clear that he was awakened by the orgy of sound.
  “This better be good.” He grumbled.
A bright light lasted a few moments, and Robin and Daniel entered the bridge.
Two shapes took the stage in the main holo screen. They were moving towards the dot in the middle.
  “We’re the tiny blue thingy in the middle, right?” Robin asked, somewhat uneasy.
  “I think so...”
  “That means we should move away from those other thingies.”
  “I think so...”
The men looked at eachother. Meanwhile the rest of the crew entered the bridge to see what they were up against.
  “You’re the best pilot we have.” Daniel said.
  “Flying a fighter is somewhat different than a 600 metre cruiser.” Robin cried.
  “Try!” Mary yelled in Robin’s ears.
Robin swore, not expecting Mary to stand so close by.
  “Alright, alright.” He sat down in the pilot’s seat. It was pretty comfortable, not that Robin noticed.
Projectors formed controls in front of him. His lungs sucked air in and he breathed out deeply.
  “Here we go.” He pushed the handles forward and movement could be felt throughout the ship.
  “Sensors show they have picked us up.” Daniel said, his voice muffled by constant beeping from the alarms.
  “Could you turn those damn alarms off?” Mary shouted.
Daniel pushed a few buttons and the volume was reduced.
  “Thank you.” 

The black ship moved into the Death Zone, away from the 2 unknown contacts.
  “Steady as she goes.” Daniel felt somewhat like a captain.
  “Don’t get all cocky.” Robin chuckled, sensing the tone in Daniel’s voice.
  “Any idea who they are?” Mary approached the console Daniel was working on.
  “The ship doesn’t seem to recognise them, they could be anyone.” 
A red button lit up, Daniel didn’t seem to notice. 
  “Daniel?” Mary pointed.
Somewhat unsure, he pushed it.

“Unidentified vessle, turn off your engines or you will be fired upon.”
It seemed they had opened a channel.
  “H-Hello?” Daniel spoke.
 “This is Captain Julius Nesmith of  the IR Providence, stop your vessle, we will fire without warning.”
  “Wow just a sec, alright. No need to waste ammo now.” He tried to calm the man on the other side down.
 “Who is this? Identify yourself.”
  “This is Lieutenant-Commander Daniel Cray. Acting captain of this vessle...”
 “Federation?”
  “No, I’m OC, here with my team. We found this ship...”
 “OC..? Prepare to be boarded.”
  “Boarded?! Now wait a...”
Daniel was interrupted by the sound the sensors were making.
5 new contacts were shown on the Holo-screen. Unknown, and approaching with great speed.
  “Captain, are those IR cruisers on my sensors?” Daniel asked, hoping for an answer.
There was no response. 
  “Connection has been cut.” Mary concluded.
A different set of alarms went off as a wave of tiny flecks appeared on the Holo Screen.
They appeared to be coming from the new contacts.
Fighters no doubt, and they were sure as frell not friendly 
  “Robin take us out of here.” Daniel’s voice went from soft to loud.

....................................................................................................................................................................................

It was warm, but not as warm as it was yesterday.
There was now a breeze cooling down the streets of Tokyo.
Tension remained however, things hadn’t been the same since war had broke out.
Earth was out of the crosshairs for now, but it was uncertain how long it would stay that way.
Almost the entire fleet had moved away from the upper part of Terran space and was now stationed near Grannah. 
Not that it mattered, not to Naomi that is.
Robin was out there, and he could be in the middle of it.
She looked at the stars above her. There were no clouds covering the diamonds of the universe.
It should’ve been calming, the sight of countless little lights and the moon.
Yet her head was racing. Thoughts were worrying her but hope was telling Robin would be alright.  
She sighed as the wind did the same. Her hair flowing in the sporadic current.
  “Are these yours?” A question pulled her from the storm in her mind.
An attendant looked at her with eyes awaiting an answer. His hand on one of her suitcases.
  “Yes... yes they are.” Naomi answered.
  “And the cat?” He looked at the box she held in her left-hand.
  “I’ll just take it with me.” She would keep the box close to her, for the entire journey.
The cat meowed and Naomi smiled for the first time in a while.

....................................................................................................................................................................................

  “We’re clear!” Robin yelled.
Daniel took a look at the Holo Screen. They were now out of harm’s way, for now. 
The alarms shut off automatically. 
  “Seems those IR’s didn’t make it.” Daniel concluded, as there was no sign of them anymore.
Robin sighed, letting go of the controls. His hands were sweaty to his surprise.
He leaned back in his seat, trying to calm his heart down.
Daniel bit his lip and his breath was deep. He bowed his head between his arms.
It was close, not that close, but close enough to scare him a little.
Tension seemed to fade on the bridge as a wave of relieve came in.
  “Nice flying.” Mary complimented Robin.
  “Heh, thanks.” Robin replied.
However...

A now familiar sound slapped them in their faces.

A dot appeared on the Screen, another, and another.
Daniel looked up. 
His eyes understanding.

Robin knew what was coming, this wouldn’t be the last time they had to run like this.
He wiped the sweat of his hands.

Mary licked her dry lips and took a deep breath

And deep down, inside the cave.
The Pod showed signs of life restarting, and the Mecha readied herself.

[Chapter’s End]