Stranded: Chapter One

Part 1 - Aurora Crashes

Aurora, on a mission to install interstellar phasegates, which allow them to warp between solar systems. Captain Hollister was in his quarters talking to Ryley "Captain, the planet we're approaching is the last known location of the Degasi, what do you want us all to do?" asked Ryley "Did you just say Degasi, as in the Torgal Corporation ship?" asked Hollister with a surprised look on his face "Yes, sir I did.... Their ships transponders were lost at these coordinates, but we can't go near the planet because there's orbital debris." replied Ryley "Okay.. Okay.. You're saying that Paul Torgal and his crew on board the Degasi was last seen here from their ships transponders? This is no longer a mission for Alterra, it's now a rescue mission to find the Degasi crew at all costs. Report to Officer Keen immediately, Ryley." replied Hollister "Yes, sir." Ryley responded as he went to Officer Keen who was on the bridge of the Aurora "Keen, take the ship closer to the planet, this is now a rescue mission." Ryley instructed Keen to do so "Affirmative, piloting Aurora closer." replied Keen as he was navigating the ship carefully through the debris "What happened here?" asked Keen who was now looking anxious "The Degasi's last known location was on that planet, sensors say the planet is a water world so you'll need diving suits." said Ryley. Before they even cleared the debris field surrounding the planet a spike of unknown energy came from the planet, Captain Hollister rushed to the bridge "What's going on here?" he asked his crew "Sir, we're picking up an unknown energy charging towards us." replied Keen "Alright, there's an island I can see, have all crew and personnel evacuate to the Lifepods and we'll regroup at the island." ordered Hollister as the ship was shot by the planet. The weapon from the planet had hit the engines of the ship, which was causing it to crash land, luckily all crew and personnel had gone to the Lifepods to evacuate the ship. 

Upon crashing on the planet, Ryley woke up in his seat which was sort of busted from the impact of hitting the water. He reached to the floor where his PDA had fallen, ans picked it up tapping on the screen "Come on you stupid PDA, work for me." he said as it started to reboot with the Alterra logo spinning and shortly after the PDA had rebooted in Emergency Mode "You have suffered minor head trauma. This is considered an optimal outcome. This PDA has now rebooted in emergency mode with one directive: to keep you alive on an alien world. Please refer to the databank for detailed survival advice. Good luck." the PDA said out loud to Ryley. Much to his surprise he checked the logs on the PDA and realized he needed to fix his Lifepod, his Lifepod number was 5. He opened the hatch on the floor, leaving his Lifepod to see a weird looking fish swim by "Oh that's a pretty looking fish, I wonder what else I can see here." he said as he went to gather resources to keep himself alive. In the distance he saw a weird kelp looking zone which was of course the Kelp Forest where Stalkers liked to hang out mostly. He slowly approached the kelp plants where there was also some yellow bulb looking plants appearing to grow from the plants. He pulled off 4 clusters from the plants, but his PDA had already started storing the info to his PDA's Databank. Ryley had enough resources to craft some tools to help him with the first day, he had encountered a Crashfish as he was collecting some quartz that he needed for something. He looked at the tools he had created "Now I need to find my colleagues, Captain Hollister gave us coordinates for dry land, but where is it?" he asked as he searched his PDA for the coordinates "Coordinates are 1.6km away, be careful of predatory lifeforms in the region." the PDA said to Ryley as he was able to gather a Seaglide to maneuver around faster than he would with basic fins. 

Ryley had reached an island, but it wasn't the island Hollister had said to meet at, he found himself at a large precursor building, supposedly the cause of the Aurora being shot down. He walked onto the land, putting his tools away "What the hell are you?" he said as a Cave Crawler came close, attacking him twice "Species analysis complete, this is a Cave Crawler. A small but dangerous lifeform, they jump to attack their prey or others unlike their own." the PDA updated Ryley of the lifeform. He walked towards an alien door, which appeared to be sealed off by a force field. He got his PDA out to perform a scan of the building "This building is composed of an alloy, possibly an alien metal that is not known on Earth." the PDA said to Ryley "Hmm there's something weird about this place, I just don't know what it is." he said as he was approaching a room where a button was, possibly the way to deactivate the building from firing upon anything else. He pressed the button, but before long his arm was locked in place for a mechanical arm to come out and prick his wrist. The light around the button turned red, his attempt to disable the weapon above had failed and his PDA had received a broadcast from the island "The control panel is broadcasting a message. Translation reads... WARNING: Infected individuals may not disable the enforcement system. This planet is under quarantine." which was not good news for Ryley or anyone who would be able to aid a rescue attempt for the Alterra crew and Degasi crew that were stranded on the planet. Shortly after the message from the island came, Ryley was interrupted by a strange holographic projection with what appeared to be a sea creature "What... are... you...?" the holographic projection said out loud to Ryley "Uhhhh what the hell was that, PDA run a diagnostic on what I just saw please." Ryley said as he got his PDA out to check the logs "The message is from the Primary Containment Facility, containing a Sea Emperor Leviathan. Running further diagnostics." the PDA responded with the data. Ryley was still surprised by what he had saw in a strange vision, or more of a holographic image of the creature. On his way back to the water, he heard a sound from the ocean, a mechanical warping sound. His PDA had performed a scan of the environment, but nothing came up about any creatures in the area. He had a scanner with him, just in case the creature came back into sight, which another creature came into sight. Ryley scanned the weird creature, so he could understand what it was he saw. 

Back at his Lifepod, the radio had received a message from one of the Lifepods that had sunk to about 100m below the water. He put his resources in the locker in the Lifepod, and responded to the radio "This is Ozzy from the cafeteria, what the hell guys? They didn't warn us that this would happen, now we're sitting at the edge of a cave system with this grim looking creature trying to eat through the hull. Come get us already!" was the message that Ryley had received "Grim creature near a cave system? This isn't going well for Alterra, I need to establish a safe way to contact HQ." Ryley said out loud to himself as he started making better equipment for himself so he could at least go deeper. He was still curious about the creature Ozzy described, and wondered if he was still alive to help Ryley. Meanwhile in the shallows where Ryley had crashed in Lifepod 5, he heard what appeared to be laughing sounds. He headed outside, where a weird looking creature with a 'gas mask' shaped head, a large body and a sack at the end of it, with yellowish green pustules on was swimming around the shallows. He headed towards the creature, but before he could get closer to the creature it let off some tiny sacks which then exploded in the water, which released a toxic gas "What the hell are you?" he said out loud, scanning the creature to read back inside the Lifepod. After scanning the creature, or as the Databank made an entry with the name 'Gasopod' with some interesting details about it, Ryley was starting to get concerned about the other survivors. He wondered if anyone else survived the crash of the Aurora, and if so would they aid some help to leave the planet? Ryley's PDA made a note of Ozzy's Lifepod, and that Lifepod was Lifepod 17 that was at the edge of the cave system Ozzy was describing.

Will Ryley find Lifepod 17, and hopefully save Ozzy from the creatures that live in the caves? What other creatures will Ryley discover when he ventures deeper to unknown depths? Find out in Part 2!