Stonerager Chronicles -

Stonerager Chronicles

By 2Charlie

This is a science fiction story that will contain occasional erotic scenes. If it's not for you, that's okay. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it and know that I plan to write more about this universe in the future. Oh, and before someone asks, a future chapter will make it clear that Stonerager is a mispronunciation of Stoenager that becomes the main character's moniker.

All characters in this story are of the age of majority.

Chapter 02

*****

Pulling himself together, Dutch weighed their options. "We need more information. Pheebs, task the ship with parsing through the data we salvaged from that Terran vessel to flag all mentions of jump gate locations, or Terran colonies. Meanwhile, this didn't happen yesterday, but we need to scan for any survivors. On Earth, the moon, Mars, hell, even the wreckage."

"I have tasked Phoebi-Prime with the data parsing you requested. Setting up scanning routines now - I will route the output from the scans to the main screen."

"Phoebi-Prime, eh? How about we just go with 'Prime' - rolls off the tongue faster. Okay - let me know if we get any surprises. I think maybe this is a good time to run in stealth mode." Turning to his defense systems panel, Dutch activated the Stealth Screen option, deciding now was a good time to test it out again.

The scanning results were being displayed on the screen when he looked up. No life signs on the planet below. Not even microbial. The moon had been colonized back in 2125, so the possibility had existed that someone there might have survived - at least, he thought so until he saw the pulverized rubble that had once been Earth's moon. Nothing could have survived that level of destruction.

"Captain, Prime has indicated that, based on her review of the recovered Terran data, there were once colonies on the Jovian moons. Perhaps we should check those after scanning the debris field from the battle."

Dutch nodded, watching in agony as the real-time results from the ongoing scans scrolled past, confirming what he already suspected. Humankind had been erased from this system. From their home.

Motherfuckers!

He thought. He had no way of knowing who had been at fault originally, but clearly, the fight had been prosecuted all the way here, with a hateful level of finality.

Turning to pace away from the screen, he rubbed his forehead, weighing their options. Stopping by the comms panel, he ran a frequency sweep, searching for any possible broadcasts, recorded or otherwise, that may have been left active in the vicinity. Nothing.

He clenched his fists in frustration, wanting something to hit, or something to do that could make a difference.

Returning to the flight controls, he strapped back into his seat, preparing to move the ship back toward the thickest part of the floating graveyard. "Pheebs, unless you need me to maintain our present station, I want to return to the wreckage. You might want to strap in."

She cocked her head for a moment, then replied "I see no reason to remain here. However, you should be able to move the ship without me having to strap in. I have been reviewing the data on the inertial dampening systems that were installed along with the artificial gravity generators. So long as we do not end up in pitched combat, I should be okay to stand or walk around while we are moving. Go ahead and try. I will hold onto the console to start."

Shrugging, he turned back to the controls and brought the engines online, setting a course back to the debris field. He opted to leave the stealth screen online, still assessing its effectiveness and impact. Breaking orbit, he moved the ship smoothly back toward the destroyed ships.

Pheebs continued to search for any signs of life, to no avail. This battle had ended decades earlier, based on the scan results, and any survivors had long ago made their escape, or long ago died. Against all hope, she continued to search. So far, nothing.

A brief spike in one sensor sweep caught her attention. "Dutch, can you move us closer to Ganymede? I have a sensor blip from there, but we're too far away to resolve it in better detail."

Bringing the ship about, he set course for Jupiter's largest moon. Long known as an icy hellscape, Ganymede had been under consideration for an outpost back when Project Daedalus was operational. One of the long-range astro-telemetry stations had been placed on Ganymede at the time. Now, more than a millennium later, the largest moon in the system looked different. Possessing the thinnest excuse of an atmosphere, showing obvious signs of having been bombed, there were multiple signs of ruined cities dotting the surface. One in particular had drawn their attention. Far south of the lunar equator, the southernmost collection of structures had only been lightly damaged.

Putting the Odyssey into a low orbit, Dutch and Pheebs continued their investigation of the signal she had detected. A large structure, partially collapsed, was giving off a very weak energy signature. There were no other signs of life, no transmissions on any parts of the EM spectrum. The power source itself showed no variation, just a steady wavelength, indicating a static load of some sort.

Dutch scratched his chin, looking at the scan readouts. "We've got a decision to make. Do we go check this out or not? I think we have to, so let's go with that. Next consideration - how the fuck do we get down there? Options?"

Pheebs checked a tablet she'd been carrying with her, looking something over intently before she responded. "I wanted to review the details of the ship modifications before I answered. We have two options. One - we can land the Odyssey. Two - we can take a shuttle. Factors to consider - the Odyssey was not originally built to land, or even operate within an atmosphere, but this information indicates that the Tao had interesting notions when they modified our ship, including the addition of landing skids. Our upgraded drive system works in or out of an atmosphere. Optionally, we take the shuttle that was added - I am not sure whether you have seen the shuttle hangar and shuttle included in this list, but we have one. So, the choice is yours, Dutch."

"Let's check out the new shuttle. Meantime, Prime, please maintain station-keeping orbit for Odyssey. And let's leave her in stealth mode - I'd like to see that from outside. Assuming we will have a way to 'see her' when we return?" he asked, raising one eyebrow as he checked this with Pheebs.

She nodded, tapping something on her pad before saying to him, "Our shuttle flight instrumentation should be able to maintain or quickly establish remote linkage with the ship, as both are managed by Prime."

"Sounds good. Let's grab some EVA gear and go check this out. Did your list of new shit happen to include an armory?" he asked, as he headed down to the ship's main deck before turning aft.

"One is just ahead on your left. It looks like we have one in each main section of the ship. The Tao were certainly thorough," she said, shaking her head in admiration.

The two moved quickly to the nearby gear locker and donned their EVA suits, opting to carry their helmets for the moment. Stopping by the armory, they each grabbed what appeared to be energy-based handheld weapons, as well as holsters, each attaching the holster to the waist of their suits and holstering their weapon before continuing on to the hangar bay.

Inside the hangar, they found a large chamber of approximately thirty meters wide by fifteen meters in height by sixty meters in length, currently occupied by a single shuttlecraft that was perhaps twelve meters in length, slightly over two meters in height, and almost four meters in width. The shuttle itself was fairly unremarkable, appearing generally boxy in shape, although stretched into a more elongated form, resting on simple landing skids. Main propulsion was at the rear, with attitude thrusters apparent on key surfaces of the craft. A hatch was visible on the port side of the craft, and as they approached that side, the hatch lowered itself outward, forming an access ramp.

Stepping into the shuttle, they found the inside to be pragmatically provisioned. A pair of seats occupied the front of the craft for the pilot and navigator, demarking an obvious cockpit. A beautifully clean wraparound console made up the control surfaces in the nose. Above the control surfaces, a large viewport filled the front and wrapped around almost a meter down either side of the craft. Behind the cockpit, several seats lined each bulkhead, with multiple storage lockers above and below, several containing EVA suits. The rear of the craft included what appeared to be a tiny medical suite, as well as a lavatory.

Saving the full inspection tour for another time, the two slipped into the flight seats in the cockpit and quickly scanned the control surfaces, orienting themselves with the controls and systems that were there. Dutch ran them through his best approximation of a pre-flight, checking critical items including fuel charge, weapons capacity, and life-support levels. The flight controls appeared to be similar to those on Odyssey and struck him as very intuitive. Weapons and defensive systems were located similarly as well. Feeling slightly more self-assured, he issued a quick series of verbal commands to Prime to close the shuttle hatch, depressurize the hangar bay, and open the hangar bay doors.

Not sure what he was expecting, he was nonetheless mildly impressed when the deck below them tilted downward, the far end opening to space, allowing him to easily raise the shuttle by no more than a meter and then fly her straight ahead to exit the hangar. As they passed beyond the ship, he could see a blurry barrier ahead. As they passed through the barrier, the ship disappeared from their sight. Prime displayed a virtual outline of the ship on their viewports, alerting them as to its location, but otherwise, they could not see the Odyssey.

Bringing the shuttle around, he saw that Prime was also displaying a digital dot on the viewport, pinpointing the location of the power source, as well as a suggested flight path. Pleased with how simple this made his job, he steered the shuttle into alignment with the suggested course, noticing that the line shifted colors from green through yellow, then red as he pushed the shuttle to gradually higher velocities. Testing a theory, he reduced their speed, and the overlay image altered back from yellow to green. Establishing a speed just on the cusp of the green-yellow transition, he accepted the ship's recommendations and continued toward the destroyed colony below.

Approaching the shattered series of domes ahead and below them, he searched for options to enter. Based on the blinking location of the sensor anomaly, he decided to just attempt entry through the shattered pressure dome itself, as there appeared to be no air locks nearby. Slowing the shuttle, he nudged her into the dome, looking for a clearing large enough to set her down. Several options presented themselves, so he opted to sit down in an open quad directly in front of the building from which the power source was being detected. The shuttle rebounded slightly in the lower gravity before settling to the ground.

Donning and sealing their helmets, Dutch tested comms, simply saying aloud, "Comms check. Pheebs, do you read me?"

Turning to look at him, she responded, "Affirmative, Captain. Loud and clear."

"Prime, can you hear me as well?" he intoned, glancing toward the flight controls.

"Affirmative, Captain," she responded via the speakers in his helmet.

"Open the shuttle hatch, please, Prime."

"Aye, Captain. Be home before the lights come on," the ship's computer responded.

Watching the hatch lower to the ground outside of the shuttle, he couldn't help but grin to himself. "Okay, mom," he replied with a chuckle.

Looking to his left, he caught an amused twinkle in his companion's eyes. As he stepped out of the shuttle, stepping onto the surface of the base within Ganymede, he mentally noted that this was a historic first for him. He had never before set foot on any celestial body other than Earth. He paused, noting that the gravity felt different to him, but the ground beneath his boots was man-made. Returning his gaze forward, he noted that a heads-up display was being projected onto the inside of his helmet, showing him the direction and distance to the object of their curiosity.

"Looks like we can access the building ahead via a portal just off to the left. Let's get moving - this place is probably dead, but I don't want to be here any longer than necessary," he told his companion, drawing his sidearm as he was speaking. Lights on either side of his helmet turned on as he approached the building, brightly illuminating their path ahead.

Approaching the access portal, he noted the control panel was dead. Looking around, he found a pressure plate that slid aside when depressed, revealing a manual opening mechanism within. Grasping the T-shaped handle, he pulled it down, causing the access portal to creak open a crack, just enough that they could grasp it with their gloved hands and pry it open further. Once open, they were able to pass through it directly into the building, observing that its internal environment had equalized with the external environment already, meaning the structure had been compromised previously, likely during the conflict.

Turning to get his bearings, Dutch took note of the HUD showing him the best route to the anomaly. Stepping carefully around debris and rubble, he threaded his way across an open foyer, eventually coming to another door. This door had a simple access control that was also dead, but the door itself was not as rugged as the exterior door. Shouldering the door open, they encountered a stairway that led down into the darkness below.

"Down we go," Dutch grumbled, forgetting about the open mic in his helmet as he focused on navigating the tight quarters in the bulky EVA suit. Fortunately, the descent was relatively short, depositing the two into a corridor one level down. Curiously, the motion-activated lights came on as soon as they stepped out of the stairwell, confirming that at least some power was still available to the structure.

Dutch paused to glance down both directions of the hallway, reassuring himself that nothing unexpected was suddenly closing in on them from the darkness just beyond the reach of the activated illumination. Whatever this facility was, the sub-floor they were on was largely empty, having only the occasional doorway to interrupt the walls. Returning his focus to the track displayed on his helmet, he moved quickly forward, approaching a final set of doors about 30 meters from the bottom of the stairwell.

Stopping outside the doors, he looked back at Pheebs. "Any additional details from your scans before I open these doors?"

Checking her pad, she shook her head, "Negative. Still just an indication of energy usage. Steady, has not changed at all since we first detected it."

"Well, here goes nothin'," he sighed, turning back to the doors and pushing them open.

Dust devils swirled in the corners of the chamber as he disturbed the slight bit of air in the room. The motion-sensitive lighting flickered, trying to come on, but struggling to do so. Various banks of equipment lined the near and adjacent walls, while a half-dozen large sarcophagi were arrayed against the far wall, one of them showing active lights and indicators on the attached monitoring panel.

Approaching the row of strange devices with caution, he quickly surmised they must be some sort of hypersleep chamber. Similar technology had been discussed back in his time as a means for humans to survive long-haul space travel. The invention of the FTL drive was supposed to make such things unnecessary. Certainly, jump drive technology would have done so, although it was entirely possible that other uses for short-duration travel may have existed, such as for prisoner transfer, or easily managing large crowds on confined vessels with limited room for vital supplies, such as food and water.

Pheebs was using her pad to gather information on the devices, checking her data before turning to Dutch with information. "These are all occupied, although all but one have failed, leaving their occupants deceased. The occupant in the final operating cylinder appears to be a young adult human female, probably in her early twenties. The capsule appears to have been set to a manual mode of operation, meaning it needs someone to wake the occupant, instead of relying on a pre-set timer." She paged through her data for a moment before continuing her assessment. "It may have been within the purview of the local computer system to wake them, but that system appears to have been offline for some time now. Each of these cylinders has independent power supplies - the others have exhausted theirs, but this one is just barely functioning."

"I wonder how long she's been in there. Was she in it before the battle, or did they all enter hyper-sleep as a means to survive the battle? It's not as if this is a well-hidden location." Dutch scratched his growing stubble, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Well, I can think of one way we might be able to find out, but I am uncertain as to the best way to accomplish it," Pheebs offered, looking around the chamber for inspiration. Spotting something of interest, she nodded her head at something behind him. "Perhaps one of those could help."

Turning to look in the direction she had indicated, Dutch caught sight of a trio of mechanized humanoids, all standing against the wall, evidently powered down. Moving closer to inspect them, he searched their visible exteriors but failed to find anything as obvious as a power switch. "Prime, if you're able to scan these, please analyze and guide us as to how these automatons can be activated."

"One moment, Captain," Prime responded, then continued after a brief pause, "I have access to data from the warship which might be of assistance. Please try to examine the back right shoulder of one of the androids. You will be looking for a patch of their casing that can be pressed. When you find it, press and hold for a five count."

Leaning one of the bots forward, he searched for the described region. Finding the indicated spot, he pressed it and held it down while counting silently. Abruptly, the android's eyes flickered with illumination, and they cycled in and out of focus before turning to look at him. "Identify yourself, intruder, or I shall be forced to apprehend you."

Dutch chuckled to himself. "At ease, tin man. I am called Dutch Stoenager, and I am here searching for survivors. I seem to have found one, but I need help to safely recover her from her sleep chamber." Backing out of the android's field of view, he swept an arm back toward the sole functioning cylinder.

Standing fully upright, the android moved over to the cylinders, inspecting each of them. It stood about 1.88 meters tall and was encased in a white duraplaz housing with deep blue sections at the shoulders, back of the head, and thighs. "These others all seem to have failed. I am shocked to see that, as each had independent, redundant power supplies. They should have continued to function without service for nearly a century."

Pheebs grunted, pulling the android's attention to her. "It may well have been that long. We were trapped in a time dilation event for more than a millennium, and only just returned to this system, to find.... all of this," she swept her hand across the room, intending to include more than just what could be seen by the android. "So much destruction and the only life signs we have detected in the entire system are in this room. Although to be honest, we were not looking for androids such as yourself, as they did not exist when we came from."