Beyond Mikunn...

[jugabyte]

​

Juga leaned back, tapping through ship diagnostics one last time. The journey would be long, longer than he had ever been away from civilized space. He wasn't the most chatty guy, but still, he wondered how long he could go before he cracked.

"Make you a deal," he said to the ship's AI. "I'll hold it together if you do."

"QUERY: UNRECOGNIZED COMMAND."

Juga's lip curled slightly. He was going to have to do something about his ship's default voice modulating program before this trip was finished. The one thing he'd have is time.

"Don't worry, I'll fix you up good pal."

"THIS UNIT IS OPERATING AT ONE HUNDRED PERCENT EFFICIENCY."

"This unit thinks your unit's personality sucks methane vapors."

"QUERY: UNRECOG..."

Juga punched the mute button. "Just hold it together mate, hardest part is th' first jump. Got a mission and there ain't nobody that's gonna stop me now..."

---

OOC: Join me in my journey to the center of the galaxy, sent forth by the Dukes of Mikunn on a mission of practicality and secrecy. It will be primarily a visual story taken with screenshots of my journey with occasional writing tagged onto it. Feel free to add me in game (CMDR Jugabyte) and check out the DUKES OF MIKUNN if you're interested in joinin' up!

 

[jugabyte]

​

"What do we got Bytes?"

"EARTH MASS: 0.3984 . RADIUS: 4,598 KM . COMPOSITION: 35% ICE. 60% ROCK. 5% MET..."

"Stop." Juga rubbed his temple. "New command Bytes, check my past log entries of previously scanned planetoids and say it like I've described them. Heavens know we've logged enough by now that you can give me th' jist."

"PROCESSING..." the AI chimed. Juga was working on phrase replacement, it was slow going. "CATEGORY CONFIRMED: BIG ICY BALL OF USELESSNESS."

"Great. Another one." Juga sighed. The itch of discovering new systems had worn thin a thousand light years ago. Now he was just hoping he'd find something worth the mind numbing effort he was putting into this. Juga leaned forward and made preparations for the next jump. "Come on Bytes, let's get outta here. I've got a good feelin' about th' next one."

 

[jugabyte]

​

"Really? REALLY?! One hundred systems and not a single..." Juga shoved a finger into the AI's photo-cam, "livable planet. How is this possible?"

"MAY I REMIND YOU THAT WE HAVE NOT COMPLETED A DETAILED SCAN ON THE APPROACHING TARGETED MASS."

"Oh, you mean th' large , rather volcanic bubble we're headed straight toward?"

"CORRECT."

"Th' one with NO visable atmosphere, oceans, or any other color than brown and red??"

"CORRECT."

"Then by all means, finish your scan." Juga folded his arms, glaring at the planet. So far he had nothing to show for his efforts, besides a few systems worth mining. But those weren't what he was sent to find. And he was becoming damned bored.

"SCAN COMPLETE."

"Well," Juga said through gritted teeth. "what's th' word?"

"CONFIRMED LIFELESS."

"Son of a Lavian Bottle Hocker!" Juga swiveled his chair around and kicked the scanner console several times. "I don't know how much more I can take of this, Bytes."

"WE HAD A DEAL. IF THIS UNIT STAYS OPERATIONAL, SO MUST YOU."

He sat there with head in hands. His hair was getting long and his beard itched. He'd shave it but... it wasn't worth the effort. He recognized that as a bad sign. He sat up and swiveled around to look at the planet. "Was this planet on any recognized charts?"

"NEGATIVE."

"Then I'm going to name it. How's 'Ball of Fiery Disappointment' sound?"

"INACCURATE AND LENGTHY."

"Excellent. Might as well as plot th' next system, Bytes. Wouldn't want to ruin our losing streak." Juga pulled the ship away from the planet's grav field. "Ain't nothin' to do but to do it, right?" He muted the AI's response before it could be given. After all, sometimes a man losing his mind needed some peace and quiet so he can have a one-on-one talk with himself.

 

[jugabyte]

​

Juga waited in the airlock for the green light to blink. It didn't. No surprise, the diamondback class ship showed multiple penetrations. Likely all oxygen reserves were spaced long ago. He detached his omni-tool from his spacesuit's utility belt and spent a few minutes rigging the hatch open. Just as he thought, no atmosphere of any kind.

"Poor ****ard. Wonder what did this?" Juga pulled out another tool and waved it slowly around. "Bytes, you getting this?"

"CONFIRMED. SIGNIFICANT RADIATION RESIDUE LOCATED IN SHIPS STERN."

Juga's helmet light flashed toward the rear of the ship. Nothing there but the engine room and a small cargo hold. He floated the short distance then gripped the handhold hard. Something had melted a hole through the cargo hatch door. He slowly looked inside, and found that it had also melted through another wall, into the engine room, then... nothing but stars.

"What th' frell..."

"YOUR SUIT IS IN-EQUIPPED TO HANDLE CURRENT RADIATION LEVELS."

"Yeah, got it pal. I didn't feel like hangin' 'round this floatin' tomb anyhow. Just one quick stop first." Juga turned around and shoved off with his feet. He palmed a button and the door to the cockpit opened halfway. It was enough. Inside a woman sat frozen in the pilot's chair. Wires lay tangled, leading from several terminals all ending at the communications deck. He pulled the wires loose and turned toward the Captain. "It was a good try, lass. Rest in peace."

"THE SHIP'S TRANSMISSION HAS CEASED."

Juga stared at the dead explorer for a few more moments, then noticed the dogtags. She wasn't just an explorer, she was military. He took the tags with him as he headed back to his ship. There was enough here to keep him awake for several nights.

Or days.

Whatever it was.

 

[jugabyte]

​

“I say Deploy, you say...”

“SCAN IT.”

“I say Good News? You say...”

“FRELL IT.”

Juga stopped drumming the console with the two ceramic rods he had scavenged from the broken reclamator and swiveled to look at the AI's cam. His hair was bushy, except where he tied small bundles together with rubber O rings, and he was beginning to smell. He knew that because Bytes monitored all internal atmospheric conditions and gave him daily updates on any variance. He had taken that as a challenge, just as he had taken teaching Bytes to sing as a challenge. This one, however, he was losing.

“No! No, no, no, no! You've got to say it like you mean it. Put some umph into it! Say 'Frell it!'.”

“FRELL IT.”

“FRELL IT!” Juga shouted.

“FRELL IT.”

“Bah!” Juga threw up his hands. “Useless.” Juga tapped his head with one of the rods as he looked at the planet they were approaching. “Maybe I got it all wrong. Maybe you're not a singer, maybe you're a drummer. Like me. Yeah, let's see what you got Bytes. Bust a beat.”

The ship boomed with bass. Juga's hair bounced in glorious waves with each gut-stirring beat. His eyes went wide soaking it all in. Juga dropped his sticks and stood. He spread his arms out, facing space, speechless. He felt like he was having an epiphany. A nirvana moment.

Just then he noticed the planet had eclipsed with the sun.

“Whoa.”

It was then, at that moment, that he realized he had inched across that invisible line that kept him sane.

 

[jugabyte]

​

Most think of Caius as the canny brother. His dealings with the local populations are testament to that. But I've seen first hand what his older brother, Tiberius, is capable of. I've fought against him when he still belonged to the Empire. Fought and lost. A story for another time.


But now I'm his, and it was no surprise when he approached me with a mission. His brother, Caius, was interested in digging a path as far away from civilized space as profit would allow. Away from the Powers, where the Empire could not readily reach. Find mineral rich systems and worlds capable of sustaining life. New revenue sources.


Tiberius assigned me, and knowing him, probably others, to aim at the core and fly as far as my ship could hold itself together, scanning for assets along the way.


But...


Tiberius wanted more. And as the ship's nav-comp ticked it's 7000th light year from Mikunn, I found out what.


An image of Tiberius crackled onto the canopy's viewscreen. "Juga, if you're viewing this, then you've made it far enough to receive... additional... orders. What I am entrusting to you could well turn the balance in our favor in what I have no doubt shall plague us in the near future. Juga, I'm talking about this..."


His image was replaced with an object. It was riddled with technical specifications and rotated to give a full view of what was clearly labeled at the top as:


"Alien Artifact".​

 

[jugabyte]

​

“Don't hold back Bytes, is it possible?”


Juga sat flicking the dog tags that now hung within reach of his right arm. Ever since the hidden orders were revealed, his mind had snapped back to the mission. Missions, as it were. Alien artifacts! He poured over the data Tiberius had disclosed, over and over again. Something in the back of his skull kept nagging to be heard. When he woke, the question was there, and he put Bytes on it immediately.


“CONFIRMED. RADIATION LEVELS OF DIAMONDBACK CLASS SHIP DISCOVERED IN CATSPAW NEBULA COINCIDE WITH RADIATION LEVELS DETAILED OF ALIEN ARTIFACT.”


“Shooooo... Lola, where'd you get that thing?” He had added a second personality to talk to of late. Lola. Lieutenant Lola Pepperdine of the Federation Navy. What she was doing that far out with an alien artifact, he could only guess. Did she know what she had? Was she retrieving it or transporting it? If only he could go back and see if there was any data salvageable from her ship's computers. But he had pulled the plug on her distress signal. Any hope of that was long gone.


“GET READY.”


Juga blinked. Slowly he turned toward the AI cam. “What... did... you...say?”


“GET READY.”


Goosebumps began to run down his arm. Long ago, ages, he had programmed Bytes to do two things if ever they found an earth-like planet. The first was to say 'get ready'. The second was...


BOOM SHAKALAKA BOOM SHAKALAKA.


The cockpit erupted in flashing lights as pounding music filled the air. For a moment all sensors went wild, spinning in pre-programmed celebration. The viewscreen magnified to show a planet full of water and mountains. Readouts confirmed acceptable temperature and oxygen levels. He had found it!


He jumped out of his chair and ran toward the storage locker. He pulled out an unopened bottle of Lavien Brandy and strutted back toward the cockpit. Popping the cork, he raised the bottle and said, “Bytes, Lola, we've traveled long an' far, an' I ain't lyin' when I say I couldn't 'ave done it without you two. Here's to both of ya!”


He took a swig and sat looking at the planet before him, grinning like an orthonian minx. His luck had changed. He could feel it. He might just make it after all.

 

[jugabyte]

​

 

[jugabyte]

​

 

[Futuristic Kung Fu]

Your screenshots are amazing!!

 

[CMDR Hagglebeard]

This is awesome! I want more!

 

[jugabyte]

Hey, thanks mates! I appreciate the love. More to come soon. I tend to post a screenshot first, then go back and write a paragraph or two about it later. Enjoy!

 

[Jacob Marshall]

Hey, thanks mates! I appreciate the love. More to come soon. I tend to post a screenshot first, then go back and write a paragraph or two about it later. Enjoy!

This is good stuff mate, wish I was in the black to hook up and give you a break from talking to your A.I. I've seen 2001, it ain't good...be careful the next time you go out for a walk.

 

[jugabyte]

To Be Continued...
​