From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Part 1

by Mercy.killing

Darkness. Unending darkness.

Interstellar travel, even with FTL drives, still takes enormous amounts of time, and most species that have developed it spend that time in some form of suspension or another. Ravenous warpods house only a single occupant, and enough equipment to keep him alive to get him to his destination. This pod was almost the size of a schoolbus. A vast distance to be travelled, to be sure.

The subconscious mind does not, however, shut down in any form of suspended animation. So, the Ravenous dreams. Paradise, his planet, Serenity, his home, Exquisite Crafter, his late sister, along with his parents, these things occupy his thoughts now. suddenly, those thoughts are torn, disjointed, fragmented into millions of shards as the pod encounters the quantum singularity at the galaxy's core. Massive gravimetric forces come to bear on the ship, and the laws of physics and reality as it is known ceases to be. Two ships, identical, spew from the singularity's edge, but in seperate dimensions as the pods emergency thrusters kicked in, preventing it from fully entering the hole in spacetime at the core. Thoughts and dreams return to the Ravenous.

It was a suicide mission, to track the Rikti invasion fleet to their destination. No possible hope of return was capable. Mercy.Killing gladly accepted, as he had no family, no wife or children, no connections or loved ones to miss him. On Paradise, this fate was one worse than death. So, the lone warrior travels to meet his fate, on a backwater planet that has yet to discover interstellar travel, his only hope of seeing any of his kind again the homing beacon in the ship blaring it's signal across subspace.

Deceleration thrusters fire as the ship enters Sol quadrant, and automated systems revive the warrior. Mercy.Killing wakes to alarm klaxons blaring, and a life support leakage. Ignoring the broadcasts meant to help him learn the languages and customs of his destination, he scrambles in the tiny spaces afforded to him to repair the leak. He manages to repair it, with only one fourth of the lifegiving stuff left in the tanks. Grimly, he sets the automated pilot and suspension bed to wake him upon atmospheric entry, no sooner.

The ship passes through the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars, sustaining massive impacts upon the hull, pulverizing exterior antennae as well as most of the smaller debris it travels through. The autopilot fires guidance bursts, to keep it on course as it passes within Martian gravity, whipshotting it towards Earth. The systems wake him as the ship encounters the atmosphere. Mercy checks the gauge for life support, only to find it empty! He has only the air left inside to make his descent, and that is rapidly becoming fouled from his breathing and the heating of the hull. He guides the craft clumsily, for he is no pilot, but still manages to pick out a safe trajectory. So much water! This planet has two-thirds coverage! He estimates his chances of survival at better than fifty percent. Scanning, he finds he is being scanned, and tracks the source, plotting his vector to land in the waters outside the group of islands.

The pod screams through the atmosphere, and impacts upon the waters, hurling Mercy free of the safety restraints. he impacts, and loses consciousness momentarily. Awakening dazed, he pops the hatch, water rushing in, and is knocked to the rear of the vessel. taking a deep breath of the last of the air, he waits until the craft is filled, and swims free. It requires a massive effort for him to keep from sinking with the ship, and he struggles vainly to reach the surface he senses not forty feet above him. Lungs aching, blacking out, he sinks further into the depths.

"This is the spot the object we tracked crashed..." said the Huntsman.

"Sonar is showing nothing, Commander."

"Very well. Begin a sweep, moving inland. Currents here are very powerful, and they flow towards shore. Get us as close as you can. I'll radio for a team to begin searching the shore."

"Yes, sir."

"This is Huntsman Clark, requesting a team to search the shoreline of grid #125."

"#125, That's Ghost Widow's tower..."

"I am aware of that, base. Get on it. There may be debris from the craft washed ashore. It would benefit Arachnos and Lord Recluse if we find it before the Longbow."

"Yes, sir. Right away."

"Holy sh... Commander, come take a look at this..."

"What is it, Jenkins?"

"A....survivor."

"Damn...that's an ugly one, and big. You sure it's still alive?"

"Yes, sir. Lifesigns weak, but there."

"Alright. Let's get him to the lab." The Wolf Spiders bend, to lift it.

"Holy..uummph...how much does this thing weigh? We can't budge it.."

"Team, this is Huntsman Ohanko. We have found a survivor, repeat one survivor. Extraterrestrial. Assemble on my signal, and bring the wagon. It's heavy."

The comm beeps again, the code indicating Seer Kalinda's channel. "Damn, what now?"

"Commander Ohanko here."

"Commander, I have just "seen" you and your find. Make sure it is well taken care of. No hostilities, understood?"

"Damn witch." He then speaks into the comm, "Understood Kalinda. It will be an honored guest."