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Chapter 1: Survival Ethos

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Navi opened his eyes to searing pain from the right side of his head, and then he noticed that he couldn’t see out of his right eye.

Looking down he noted a large object and he understood the reason he couldn’t feel anything from his body; a massive object likely weighing tons was crushing him.

Cutting across from his right shoulder to his left hip; his legs, right lung, right arm hand and everything in-between was crushed. All he had left was his left arm, neck and head.

Navi knew he was going to die, and the look given to him by the approaching commander Valding confirmed it. The XO was an honest man, and from the concern he was showing they were likely all dead.

Navi knew that the Auxiliary Power would soon run out and they would loose artificial gravity; once that happened the object crushing him would be released and he would bleed-out. The prospect for the other survivors wasn’t much better since it was likely the ship had been destroyed; they would likely die slowly once the life-support system failed. Navi was somewhat relieved that he wouldn’t have to wait hours for death to come slowly; it would be over quickly.

Suddenly there was a bright flash and Navi closed his eyes.

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The next time Navi opened his eyes he was on a hospital bed and for a moment he thought that he was in a virtual space, but the lack of Icons told him that he was actually in a naval hospital; looking outside he recognized the horizon to be reminiscent of Earth. It’s normal for the minds of those in HyperSleep to exist in a Virtual reality to keep the brain ready for active duty on StarShips, and the virtual space usually resembled the ship; keeping ship systems and functionality fresh in the mind.

Navi’s mind had trouble accepting what he was seeing, and then he remembered that his body had been crushed; yet somehow he could feel that all of his body was now intact.

Lifting up the bed sheets covering him he looked over his body

Navi : " Yep; everything is there."

Reaching into his pants and underwear for his crotch he could feel his penis and testicles were all there; everything was accounted for.

Navi : " Was it all a nightmare? And what am I doing in a hospital? Where am I?"

Navi began panicking; the churning of his stomach telling him that it hadn’t been a dream.

Navi : " What the fuck is going on?"

Col-Simmons : " That’s what we’re here to find out."

Navi hadn’t noticed five people approach his bedside; 2 women and 3 men, all in uniform, and all of them his superior officers. Navi hastily saluted and they return his salute.

Cmdr-Aramero : " I’m Commander Aramero, that’s Colonel Simmons, Colonel Simmons, Commander Eckhart and Colonel Lewis."

Col-Simmons : " We’re investigating the Fate of the ENS Dauntless E317; part of a formal inquiry Ensign Navi. What can you tell us?"

Navi : " Best I can recall we came out of Hyperspace and as we were manoeuvring around the local sun a massive ship blew us out of the sky. I remember the Captain calling for a brace for impact; we must have been on a collision course."

Cmdr-Aramero : " Ensign; are you sure about the collision course?"

Navi : " Aye Ma’am; the ship was massive and from my station I had a clear view of the Holo-Screen."

Col-Simmons : " Ensign; how many times did it attack?"

Navi : " Best I can; only once"

Cmdr-Aramero : " One hit on a fully shielded Ship caused the destruction? You’re sure about this?"

Navi : " To the best of my recollection Ma’am."

Cmdr-Aramero : " And after the ship took a hit?"

Navi : " I must have blacked out, and when I came to my body had been crushed, but the only pain I could feel was coming from the right side of my head. May I ask how my body was restored?"

Col-Simmons : " Just tell us what happened next Ensign."

Navi : " Yes sir. The last thing I remember before waking up here is a bright light."

Cmdr-Aramero : " Nothing in the light?"

Navi : " No Ma’am."

Col-Simmons : " Ensign; We’d like you to go over everything again in Virtual Reality so we can have a recording of your memories. Memories are clearer with imagery; you may remember something you overlooked."

Navi : " I understand sir"

Some hospital staff brought over Virtual Reality gear and attached it to his neural link; sending his mind into Virtual Reality.

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Navi found himself in the Virtual Naval Headquarters where he was instructed to step into a sensory depravation chamber and encouraged to remember the last moments of the ENS Dauntless E317 by what Navi presumed was a doctor or medical professional.

As Navi began remembering he found himself overlooking a version of himself as the ship began jumping into normal space and he witnessed the attack, but this time he got a clearer look at the alien vessel that attacked them. Everything proceeded as he had remembered until the bright light, and then something new appeared.

Within the light he could see 5 beings; they didn’t look like any of the aliens he had ever heard about. The aliens Navi was seeing have 4 legs and 4 arms on a humanoid torso attached to a humanoid head. Navi couldn’t classify them; they weren’t insectoids, reptilian or mammalian. Their dark blue skin looked like it might be soft to the touch like that of a human, but Navi got the feeling that the skin is likely sturdier than that of a mere human. But the most surprising was that the aliens had no mouth, ears, nose or eyes.

Looking over to the other crewmen he realized they were all freaked out by the sudden appearance of these new aliens; the aliens had already destroyed their ship after all. Navi who had resigned himself to death was surprisingly calm and the appearance of the aliens didn’t rattle him in the slightest. Looking around he noted that the aliens had somehow restrained the other crewmen with what Navi could only conclude were Psionic abilities.

Then one of the aliens came over to where he laid and looked at him; he didn’t know how he knew it was looking at him given that it had no eyes on its blank face but he knew somehow.

Then Navi began hearing a voice in his mind.

Voice : " Child; your injuries are severe. I require your consent to attempt to preserve your life."

Navi : " You can do that?"

Voice : " Yes child, but you would not be the same."

Navi could see the other aliens healing the others nearby using a method that seemed like magic.

Navi : " It’s fine as long as I’m saved."

Voice : " Many species choose death rather than be altered in ways their species may not accept. Our laws prohibit us from using our technology to alter or meddle with other species, so I’m restricted to using your own crude implements to make the repairs to your body."

Navi : " It’s OK; I was going to die. I’m grateful."

She began working on Navi.

The being somehow levitated the object crushing Navi away while somehow controlling his blood flow to prevent further bleeding, and Navi oddly felt no pain. Though the voice ringing in his mind held no hint as to gender but Navi felt like the being in front of him is female. Then without warning his body was levitated and opened up as she began removing the crushed pieces of bone while seemingly re-growing essential soft tissue.

Then Navi noticed that to the side 4 bodies of dead crewman had been brought over to him and she was now harvesting material. At first Navi thought she was going to perform a transplant but was she was doing was braking down the bodies into the constituent chemical compounds and combining it with materials from the ship to print prosthetic legs, an arm and replacement bones.

Navi thought it may be better to not look so began distracting himself by asking here questions.

Navi : " I’m David Navi; people call me Navi. What’s you Name?"

Voice : " I do not possess a name that speakers can understand. But I’m called Glimmering Light of Resolve Bathing in Fire of a Star."

Navi : " What are you?"

Voice : " We’ve been called many names by younger species; Ancients, Wanderers, Light Bringers, Builders, Gods and most often the Voice amongst many other names. But the name most of us prefer is the one given to us by the race that discovered us; they named us Whisperers."

Navi : " Whisperers?"

Voice : " We whisper life to the unconscious worlds, courage to the weak, order to the chaotic and compassion to the strong."

Navi : " Ah?"

Navi couldn’t understand what she meant.

Noting that Navi could not understand what she was saying she showed him images of the Whisperers visiting millions of worlds; making contact with thousands of species across hundreds of galaxies. The Whisperers would Teraform uninhabitable worlds into biospheres that could sustain life; seeding it with the most basic life-forms and leave. Where they found species teetering on sentience they would Whisper to it and cause an awakening.

Where an advanced interstellar civilization posed an existential threat to all other species in that particular galaxy they would first Whisper to them, and if that failed they would come down on that species without warning and without mercy; casting them down from the heavens back down to the planets.

Navi finally understood the power of the being in front of him.

Voice : " Your ship was on a collision course with our HomeSphere while we were the middle of our Bathing Ritual."

Navi : " Bathing Ritual?"

Voice : " We feed on energy, and even though artificial sources are our mainstay it is important for our young to Bathe in the star as right of passage. We hold no ill will towards your kind and any other species in this galaxy."

Navi : " Did you make us?"

Voice : " No; but we did teraform some of the worlds from which life sprang forth. The ones who actively make entire worlds are the ones who named us and in doing so gave us our task."

Navi : " Who are they?"

Voice : " We do not know, and they do not wish us to know. However the others who are as old as us call them the Architects."

Navi : " I see"

Voice : " It is done child; you are restored to a functional state. Now sleep."

Navi understood that she had put him to sleep.

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Leaving the depravation chamber Navi noticed that the investigators had shown up, but now he could no longer maintain his military composure and the questions gnawing at him came bursting out.

Navi : " How many were saved? Is Christine alright?"

Cmdr-Aramero : " I’m sorry for your loss Ensign."

Col-Simmons : " Only 97 survived; all of them from the engineering deck. I’m sorry for your loss."

Navi : " NOOOooooooO!"

Waaaaaa! Waaaaaa! Waaaaaa!

Navi fell to his knees wailing as the realisation that his girlfriend 2nd Lieutenant Christine Mathews of the embarked marines was dead. She had been in HyperSleep so Navi had unconsciously been holding out hope that she had somehow survived, but the colonel’s words shattered any hope.

Navi was now curled up on the floor in the foetal position.

Col-Simmons : " The Whisperers seem to have somehow sealed your memories until you consciously tried to remember while in Virtual Reality; it was the same with the others."

Cmdr-Aramero : " These Whisperers are easily the most advanced species we’ve ever come in contact with and the Architects are the most advanced we’ve ever heard of."

Col-Simmons : " From the looks of things your limbs feel like they’re normal to you but they’re similar to the electro-mechanical ones we make for our amputees; except for the part where they’ve apparently wrapt them in your skin. Moreover they seem to have used your neural link nanites to connect the new artificial limbs to your brain thus making them seem like a natural part of your body."

Cmdr-Aramero : " We can’t even begin to understand how they printed these carbon and metallic composite crystals in thin air into the shape of bones without the need for extensive force fields and hydraulic presses."

Col-Simmons : " These Whisperers seem to manipulate matter at will; which explains how they’re able to move in space without suits and apparatus, and as they say Bathe in the Stars."

Cmdr-Aramero : " These Whisperers are so advanced that they seem supernatural; which is telling given that we are also relatively advanced."

Col-Simmons : " And therein lies the problem. These Whisperers are so advanced that everyone will want a piece of them; or at the very least their technology. I’m sure you realize that they’re too powerful for any of the other species we’ve come in contact with; so they’re going to want to own and control any information about these Whisperers. The UEN has classified any information about the Whisperers top secret. That means you and the other 96 have been classified top secret."

Navi : " What?"

Navi had only been partially listening, but he rose in shock and dread at what would come next.

Cmdr-Aramero : " I’m sorry Ensign; there are far too many aliens visiting the heavily populated systems to allow any of you to stay. The UEN Security Council has decided not to release you from your military contracts indefinitely. As far as the public knows a malfunction caused the ENS Dauntless E317 to jump into the sun."

Navi : " Motherfucker!"

Col-Simmons : " I’m sorry son; as far as everyone knows all of you are already dead, and any attempt to tell anyone will result in your immediate termination."

Cmdr-Aramero : " All of you are to be transferred to the UEN forward operating base in the Agrissa Sector where upon reaching the base all of you will be placed on indefinite leave for the foreseeable future."

Navi : " The Agrissa Sector? That’s a 2 year jump, and the only thing out there is that radioactive debris field. How is anyone other than pirates supposed to live there?"

Col-Simmons : " I think that’s the point Ensign."

Cmdr-Aramero : " The military won’t just abandon you in the wilderness; you’re all getting paid handsomely for your cooperation. You’ve been given the equivalent of 10,000 Gold Coins; that’s more than 10 times the lifetime earnings of a ship captain.”

Col-Simmons : " Though given where your going it’ll be hard to spend it on something good so make sure to decide what you’ll need because you’re already in HyperSleep and being Loaded on a SCC class for the long trip out there."

Navi : " Shit!"

Navi realized that he’d been tricked; one of the reasons they put him in VR was to lock him in virtual space.

Cmdr-Aramero : " A word of Advice; think very carefully about what you’ll need out there."

Col-Simmons : " The others have already bought themselves Small ships such as tugboats so they can move around the Agrissa system."

Cmdr-Aramero : " The planet Agrissa has a small colony and the Forward Operations Naval Base is on its moon, but Agrissa itself hasn’t been teraformed so if you decide to settle on it you’ll need life support systems."

Navi : " I see."

Navi let out a big sigh.

Navi fought hard to suppress his rage reminding himself that the fact that he had survived was a blessing, and if the price of survival was being isolated in a desolate region with no neighbouring civilizations then he’d have to accept it. Still; the way the Security Council had gone about things was infuriating.

Navi let out another big sigh.

Col-Simmons : " As of this moment your Name is Navilno Devalio; Ensign in the UEN StarNavy, and Certified Naval Systems Engineer"

Navi : " At least I get to keep my qualifications."

Col-Simmons : " You should start looking at ordering things you’ll be taking with you so that they make it on the ship in time. The SCC class only makes a supply run to the outposts once every 18 moths. So make sure you get everything you want."

Navi : " Yes sir."

Cmdr-Aramero : " Also; I’m told that the navy will accommodate you for the first 6 months but after that you’ll need to either rent or buy your own lodgings. Think very carefully about that."

Navi : " Aye ma’am."

Bringing a holographic visual of the Agrissa System Navi began exploring his options.

Navi noticed that there were a lot of jobs for Certified Naval Systems Engineers and that he wouldn’t struggle to find work to supplement his starting funds. All he needed was good accommodations in an ideal environment and he would be set for life. The problem was that hustle free housing on the moon next to the naval base was expensive. The other option was a nice habitat planet-side but the colony on Agrissa was basically lawless; he could expect to be robbed within months.

Most of the 97 survivors had paid between 5,000 and 8,000 Gold Coins to take-up permanent residence on Agrissa’s moon. Navi thought that it wasn’t a bad way to guarantee a comfortable life in the badlands, but he was hesitant to commit so much to housing; he wanted to at least own a small ship and have enough left over for unforeseen eventualities. A new system class tugboat would cost 4,000 Gold Coins and a simple personal vessel 2,000 Gold Coins.

Then it occurred to Navi his Naval Credentials could get him seized goods cheaply and he started looking at the lists. What grabbed Navi’s attention was illegal mining equipment; most of the stuff was in various stages of disrepair and could be considered hazardous to operate, but Navi is a Certified Naval Systems Engineer; he could keep them running. The best part is since they were heading for the smelters he could get the lot for 1,872 Gold Coins.

Navi’s attention went back to the Agrissa System; he was about to buy a largish cargo ship and he needed a place to birth it. Even if the ship is a Junker he would need an affordable place to keep it for the inevitable repairs. Everything was expensive on the moon and the planet but then he saw the price lists for the nearby Asteroids forming a wide ring around Agrissa. The Asteroids closest to the moon had already been thoroughly mined of all the useful materials and the ones that still had resources cost upwards of 5,000 gold coins.

Navi focused his attention on the cheap Asteroids; most of them had been hollowed out making them cheap at 100 to 500 Gold Coins. Navi noticed a rather large Asteroid measuring 55km in length and 10km in maximum width; what drew Navi’s attention was the disused Landing platform. It was apparent that the Asteroid Navi was looking at had been heavily mined and there was nothing of value left since it was priced at 955 Gold Coins.

Navi made his decision; he bought the Scrap Mining Equipment for 1,872 Gold Coins, the large hollowed out Asteroid for 955 Gold Coins, a used smelter for 1000 Gold Coins, Scrap Metals at 450 Gold Coins and brand-new Class 5 personal Sim for 5000 Gold Coins. He had spent 9277 Gold Coins. The most expensive purchase had been the Class 5 personal Sim with processing capability that rivals those installed on Corvettes and possessing the highest security; a favoured of the super rich.

Navi’s superiors were stunned; they never imagine he would spend so much so quickly.

Col-Simmons : " I thought you’d at least try to pool your resources with the other 96 and cooperate."

Navi : " That was an option?"

The officers seemed a bit exasperated as Navi face palmed.

Cmdr-Aramero : " It’s already done so there’s no helping it"

Navi : " I figured that even if things don’t work out I can earn 2 Gold a month as an engineer out there."

Col-Simmons : " Well; good Luck Ensign."

Navi : " Thank you sir"

They vanished leaving Navi to wonder if he’d made a big blunder with those purchases.

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