An isolated system, 2295

January 2nd

A gas giant, a toxic world, and a barren planet. An empty and boring system, it was bypassed entirely by the State in its search for more resources during the civil war. All would be as it usually is, if not for the glow in the distance, near the ‘edge’ of the system. A large battleship, having recently exited a wormhole, proceeds to head further into the system, with the main goal of acting as bait, in an attempt to try and drag any of those mysterious ‘energy creatures’ out of hiding.

The ship, going off of data that the State believes was accurate, was sent shortly after the information went through the FTL communications network. This information eventually reached a space station with a suitable battleship, and they quickly refitted the ship with some new technology. The new hardware was designed to scan the energy signatures of these beings, although it is still very, very young.

Within the ship, a young woman stays seated, waiting until the light in the large computer in front of her and her fellow troopers turned green. She notices a drone, fluttering around as it scans each and every trooper, mainly for medical purposes. The drone eventually reaches her, and the light emanating from it reveals the name written on the metallic tag pinned to her breast pocket, ‘Catherine Snicket’. She looks down, her gaze being aimed at the tag, and she proceeds to straighten it as the drone finishes scanning her. After completing the scans, the light turns green and the locks disengage, allowing her to leave the seat.

She gets up from her seat, stretching as she turns her gaze towards the door, watching it open as her superior officer comes into the chamber. An order comes through the loudspeaker, telling them to stand still, although not quite limiting them from talking with each other. As this order comes through, the door leading out opens up, and in comes her superior officer. She talks with the soldier next to her, joking with the soldier. The two are good friends, and although her jokes are quite corny, the man still laughs. Eventually, the superior officer reaches her, and she stands still. Her gaze meeting his, she salutes him as he checks her out really quickly. The officer rests his hand on her shoulder as he says, “Corporal Snicket, you’ll be assigned to Skylane Avenue.” She nods, and he raises the hand as she heads off towards the locker room, donning her specialized power armor and then heading towards the corridor.

It takes some time but the sensors begin to detect an anomaly on the distant side of the system. Upon closer inspection, it's two anomalies. They don't appear to have noticed the presence of the State ship.

The battleship continues to move through space, though it eventually stops as the commander realizes that the mysterious energy creatures have yet to notice their presence. Thinking for a moment, the commander eventually comes to a conclusion, and he calls one of the maintenance personnel from the reactor level into the command station. A moment later, a man walks into the room, dressed in a uniform with various insignia explaining his purpose, which is to maintain the various reactors and maintain a stable energy output. The commander motions for the man to walk on over, and the looks into his eyes and says, “I need you to temporarily increase the energy output.”

The man simply stares at the commander, before turning his gaze towards the other crew members in the command station. They all seem to stare back, presumably wondering why he has yet to follow that order, and the man reluctantly leaves. The man goes through various elevators, hallways, and airlocks until he reaches the reactor ‘level’. Once he does so, he puts on protective gear and through the doors, into the overseers station. He turns on the microphone and gives the order to the other maintenance personnel. They look towards each other, before they begin the process.

As they do that, Snicket finally enters the lengthy hallway. She can tell, because it feels,… and looks… unique. What with the patterns on the carpet, and the chandelier-shaped lighting. She holds one of her hands near the wall, and just like that, the lights begin to turn on, one by one by one. She puts on her face mask, which consists of a tinted visor and a breathing apparatus, designed to help offset the lack of oxygen should the need arise.

Meanwhile, in the reactor room, the maintenance personnel have finished preparing, and are ready to pull the lever. The man in charge begins the countdown, and once they reach zero, he pulls the lever and braces himself. In Skylane Ave., Snicket gets the information, and she grabs a metal bar, holding it tightly as she feels the ship shiver, and as she looks at the ships details, she notices how the ships energy output has increased.

A few moments pass before the first mysterious signature moves toward the State ship, followed by the second after a longer delay. Though small, it is nonetheless an unexpected surprise how quickly the two signatures move, and given their acceleration and current speed, it's likely that this is a leisurely cruise to them.

It takes a fair amount of time for the two unknowns to come into direct viewing range. On-screen, they appear to be two bio-mechanical serpents, one with four glowing orbs at its bow, perhaps its eyes; the other, no glowing orbs at all. They do not appear to have any weapon mounts, nor hanger bays, or escape pods.

Whatever they are, they're the very definition of alien.