THIS IS THE FEDERATION THREAD.

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It is often said that if you looked at the lifespan of the Earth as compressed into a single minute, that humanity would only appear in a final few seconds of glorious growth and light.

Imagine if it was slowed down; In a moment, Humanity leaving the cradle of the earth behind, their light traveling. First to Luna, then Mars, then Europa - and then beyond, following an ever-growing webway between the worlds, a hundred colonies united and linked. Expanding, exploring, and yet...

Imagine, a moment later, Earth ignited, lit by a thousand lights, a thousand fires. The links shattered, contact lost, and all left to fend for themselves.

Imagine all those little lights, all those colonies, one by one winking out.

But not all of them. Some had clung to their survival, bereft of supplies and aid. Some had even grown. Their lights still burned in the darkness.

One such light was the Bodhi System.

Settled late in the colonial period, Bodhi had enjoyed all the benefits that the harsh lessons of space colonization had brought without nearly as much of the pain; What had been far more beneficial, however, had been the discovery that its second planet, a terrestrial rock slightly smaller and slightly hotter than Earth, had all the necessary materials and components for settlement. An atmosphere, an active core, and most of all water - nearly twenty-eight percent of its surface covered by it, an incredible find.

They were lucky - obscenely so. And as a result, when Earth burned and the Gates that kept the colonies together were severed, the Bodhi system survived.

They grew - first expanding across the slowly terraforming world they had come to call Nirvana, then building their way back to the stars. Satellites, stations, and even colonies of their own on several planets; including the largest on the seventh planet in the system, a resource-rich airless, frozen rock that they came to call Samsara.

Yet in time there came to be friction between the main world and its colony; protests of living conditions, of oppression claimed and retaliation in the tunnels. It came to blows in bars and molotovs in the halls, until soon enough the coalition of mining colonies and outlying stations declared independence.

It had been war, long and bloody and fought with warships and weapons essentially no more advanced than a sharpened stone, and had the outside world not suddenly come rushing back it would likely have spelled the destruction of both. But a Centauri probe passing briefly through the system picked up the signal of its long neglected Gate, and suddenly the light was alone no longer.

Eager for the rich potential of a garden world that Nirvana presented, the Centauri gladly offered to support the colony in their battle against Samsara - provided, of course, that certain deals were agreed upon... And only a short period later the Federation followed suit, declaring it their intention to protect the sovereignty of the Samsaran miners, who had - cut off from the supplies of Nirvana - openly accepted the idea that they would return to Earth's side.

The stage was set, and now both were waiting only for their cue.

Outer Bodhi System Asteroid Belt - Samsaran Outpost Yaksha

In a hallway of pristine, clinical white, the harmonic tune of a guitar strumming echoed along the walls. The sound carried over banks of consoles, past windows looking out into the darkness of the void, through doorways and along the pipes that crisscrossed the structure - drowned out in places by the hum of atmosphere recycling units and in others by the clanking crackle of generators supplying needed power and heat. It came from a collection of rooms - stowed away deep within, cramped spaces with barely enough volume for a bed (tucked away in the wall when not in use) and a few storage compartments. More specifically, there was a radio, which was shortly after struck by a wad of paper.

"Hey, Stu. Stu, you asshole," a voice groaned, followed by the rustling of sheets and a creak. "Turn that shit off. It's too early."

"Hell no. This shit's culture."

The barracks - for barracks it was - began to come to life, men and women undoing the straps that kept them in their positions and exchanging greetings and groans in equal measure. A bald man with a red tattoo on his skull poked his head out into the corridor, one hand firmly gripping the doorway of his bunkroom; the other was fishing around in his personal storage. "Up and at 'em, boys and girls!" he called, his knee banging against the metal of the wall. It may even have been on purpose, those his brief segue into profanity through gritted teeth implied otherwise. "Gah... Rise and shine, kiddies, the sun is out and the big kids are already out of bed! We can't let the foreigners show us up, eh?"

"The sun's always fuckin' out! We're in space!"

"And you're always asleep, Rupert! Monkey Squadron's got patrol duty with the Aces today, so get yourself out of your damn harness!"

Their voices carried through to the walls and stopped there, halted by the airless expanse outside. It was a space station, of course, built into the crook of an oddly shaped asteroid that provided shelter from impacts and enemies alike. Most of the station, therefore, was nearly zero-G - with artificial gravity being consigned to the deeper sections of the station, where most of the living took place. No reason to waste power on bedrooms, after all.

It wasn't big; wasn't small, either. Just enough for the twenty-six pilots currently onboard, with its life support systems buried deep into the rock to keep from easy sabotage. A mess hall, a rec room with games both traditional and electronic, as well as a video screen with a wide selection to watch - even a gym to keep their muscles from atrophying from the cramped conditions of the station. A command center with links to all the proximity sensors and detectors that surrounded the station, giving constant vigilance of the surroundings. Berths enough for a corvette or two to dock and unload supplies, which happened once every two weeks, and a tenuous connection to the Federation intersystem networks through an Ansible computer. Not to mention, of course, the Frames; Twenty-five and a half Frames of varying quality and customization, more than enough to rival any overeager pirates or patrol fleets who might catch a whiff of the station's scent - those who weren't dissuaded by its half-dozen turrets hidden in the asteroid's crevasses, in any case.

From the outside, the asteroid looked more or less like a potato... As most asteroids did, though. This potato, though, had already been cut - a gouge taken out of the center, where some impact had cracked the rock in half and left it surrounded by a cloud of its own debris, a mini asteroid thicket that would certainly not last for long. For the moment, though, it was an effective cover for the training facility.

They called it Yaksha Station, although the pilots had taken to calling it the 'Mole Hole' instead.

In a little while they would be mobilizing for patrols, keeping watch over the collection of automated mining stations and sensor buoys that the Federation had so graciously donated their newfound friends, while others would be practicing maneuvering drills; The natives were rookies, after all.

But for now, the station was a hive of activity, good-natured arguing, and the slowly growing smell of coffee cooking in the mess hall and rec room - you never could have too much, after all. The Aces were free to grab some, or head to the hangers to check on their Frames.

edited 13th May '14 8:53:35 PM by Hydrall

Isra looked around quietly. She'd only just arrived and this was her first station in charge of a Squad. She heard the voices echo down the hall and followed after them, towards the smell of coffee.

As she walked in, she gave a brief salute to those brewing the coffee. Those pinnacles of humanity. Examplars of the species. She owed them more than she would ever admit.

Rooting for a moment or two she found her mug and stood at ease, leaning back against the counter though out of the way of the mugs and other essentials.

Now she had to wait for the others. She should have done more but her schedule had made it that she had not even been formally introduced to a couple members of her very own squad yet though she knew their faces and stories very well by now having studied the files she was given long and hard.

She took a deep breath and waited for the chime that would tell her the coffee was finished.

edited 13th May '14 8:31:48 PM by Fauxlosophe

Michael strode down the halls. His pace was unnaturally brisk. Almost a jog. Such as it always was with the man known as Michael Arath. He had little time for unnecesary lollygagging.

Entering the mess hall, the aroma of coffee filled the air. Michael was never one for caffeine but he was familiar with the smell. It was all around him in every meeting room, breakfast or any other event you cared to name. Yet, he never had a need for the drug. 5 AM was the natural wakeup time for him, even in the light-deprived confines of space.

Passing by some of the younger new pilots, Michael noticed Commander binte Junayd. He had noticed some of the younger lieutenants referring to her as "Jun" in hushed conversations but such informalities were unknown to him. He saluted his fellow commander. "Commander binte Junayd. I trust you are settling into your command position over the pilots."

"Today is their first patrol," Isra gave a half smile showing her nervousness, "First time with all of them since our briefing, hopefully at least. I think we'll see then; though they all seem pleasant enough. How are you settling into Yaksha, Arath? It's much quieter out here than even my home on Biqu. It must be a change of pace from where you grew up."

edited 13th May '14 8:44:05 PM by Fauxlosophe

Lt. Angus M'bala drifted down the corridor from the mess hall to the frame hanger with a squeezepak of hot coffee in one hand, still trailing a few droplets of water from his short hair. His flightsuit was unzipped to the waist, the sleeves tied around himself like a belt, and the radio earpiece on the right side of his head pumped music into his ear canal.

He caught hold of the railing beneath a viewport looking out over the starscape as he passed, and made himself take a few sips of his coffee while he watched Samsara rise. He didn't linger long, and soon kicked off the wall to propel himself on toward the hanger again, no longer feeling quite as fresh as his recent shower had left him. Samsara and the Mole Hole... the whole place was just too damn much like home, but at least it did have one major point in its favor.

He brushed his earpiece with a fingertip, cranking the volume up to drown out the depressing thoughts with the singer's commands to jam. He had to get to the hanger before any of his trainees if he was going to make his entrance exactly fashionably late.

"I am... adjusting, I admit. I am more than familiar with space stations but a decade long-break is difficult to ignore. I suppose I have gotten lax during my break." Michael Arath gave a rare chuckle and put a hand on Commander binte Junayd's shoulder. "I have seen your resume. Your skills are second-to-none. You are still young, but I have little doubt that you will be able to handle this. Do not worry."

With those words of encouragement, Michael Arath picked off his walk where he left off without missing a beat. He paced his way to the hanger, where the frames would undoubtedly be stored.

Isra smiled a little awkwardly at having her shoulder touched. However, it softened as she heard his advice. He seemed like someone to respect but avoid. Though she had only a few pages to go by.

Just as she was about to reply, she saw Angus taking his cup. M'bala wasn't her flight, so she opted to let him go. However, this she took as her signal to drink as well.

She took a long sip. It was nice. Dark and a bit bitter, but it was a familiar taste and one that felt like home.

She felt a sense of optimism rising up in her and nodded to herself. With another wordless salute, she left the other coffee brewers and station crew behind to head towards the hangers with her coffee in hand: It seemed the rest of them were going to check on the frames and it seemed as though it was the responsible thing to do even if she trusted the technicians.

edited 13th May '14 9:15:50 PM by Fauxlosophe

After a decidedly unrestful few hours of sleep, Felix had spent the time until "morning" in his second favorite place to while away the hours: a frame cockpit (his first being anywhere he could smoke).

After the wake-up call, he exited the Dawn and meandered down towards the Mess Hall-hopefully he'd get there before the first round of coffee was used up.

Letting his mind wander, he considered how quickly he'd been reinstated, and made an Ace in the process; as if the last five years hadn't even happened-as if he hadn't lost his entire squad in a single night, along with practically the entire local PDF garrison.

Before he allowed his mind to wander down that road for the umpteenth time, he recognized the figure heading in his direction from the squad briefing: Commander Isra binte Junayad. Felix thought she resembled Trena from the old gang a bit, but from what he could tell she was nowhere near as boisterous.

He slowed down and snapped off a salute, "Commander".

Idly, he noted the coffee mug in her hand; damn, probably too late, now...

"Lieutenant Novak," Isra gave a quick salute in return, "I was just heading to the hanger to inspect the Frames. You are welcome to join me, though there is still time for breakfast if you would rather relax."

While his eyes were slightly heavier than he would have liked, the thought of second-brew coffee robbed Felix of his appetite.

"Considering I think I saw at least one other person pass by with coffee in hand, it seems I've missed the first brew of the morning, so I suppose I'll have to make up for it later."

He relaxed his salute and reminded himself that there would be another day, "I guess I'll join you now Commander, since you've offered."

edited 13th May '14 9:57:33 PM by Zautse

"Waaaah! Oooo!" Becky kicked off the wall, increasing her speed even more as she went somersaulting through the air. Some people had yelled at her about racing through the weightless hallways, but here in the hanger there was enough room to do as she pleased without crashing into anyone. Why the hanger was currently without its artificial gravity was unclear to her, but she was going to take advantage of it as long as she could. "Hup!" She bounced her heels off a frame's shoulder, propelling herself faster still.

"Knock that off!" someone near the AMF's foot shouted. She glanced down to see it was one of the Samsarans. Or Bodhians. Or whatever it was they called themselves.

"Sorry!" she called down insincerely. "Don't worry, I didn't break anything! I'm an Ace, you know!" she added, in case that would shut him up. They were supposed to be taking orders from her, weren't they?

Her line of sight fixed on the rapidly diminishing man, she was completely unaware she was heading toward one of the main entrances.

edited 13th May '14 10:15:20 PM by Satinel

Isra nodded and drank quickly.

"It's unfortunate about the hanger," She said aloud though she was largely thinking to herself as she moved to finish her coffee quickly, "Do you think they'll have the gravity back soon? I can't imagine it is easy on the engineers to work in those conditions."

Just as she finished her sentance, a door opened and she felt lighter. Another few steps and she'd be weightless.

She took her last sip to finish off what little remained and then continued on towards the frames.

edited 13th May '14 10:07:10 PM by Fauxlosophe

Lt. Calvin Summers gave a wide yawn as he trudged through the mess, his flop of blonde hair uneven and messy. He shoved a particularly annoying bit out of his eye with a vengeance, only for it to flap back into the same position. He sighed.

Gonna need another trim. He thought sourly. I don't know how I ever piloted with that infernal mop I used to have.

He made his way immediately to the small pile of sweet rolls and liberated seven, cradling them in both arms, with snatching another in his hand and taking a large bite. There were a few looks of disapproval from the nearby crew, including an offended "What the hell?" but Calvin flicked a middle finger in his direction and continued through the exit, soon spotting the sorta-attractive squad leader and the ancient guy who he recognized from his squad meeting. He didn't remember either of their names. Swallowing his bite, he made his way towards them.

"Salutations esteemed squad mates." Calvin greeted drolly, stifling another yawn. "Anything I should know before we embark on our Crusade Upon the Empty Spaces Around Our Rock?" He took another bite out of his sweet roll and gave the squad leader a casual look over.

She's not too bad I suppose. She's a stick but at least she's a pretty stick. He swallowed and consumed the rest of the roll. Probably not worth the effort. He thought with a small sigh.

edited 13th May '14 10:10:05 PM by rabbitRider

Angus stopped himself on the door frame of the main hanger entrance and peered around before entering, wanting to make sure none of his trainees were around yet, and catching sight of the girl rocketing toward him just in time to drop his coffee and put both hands up to shield himself from the frontal impact. Of course, it would do nothing to soften the inevitable collision with the floor once her momentum was transferred to him.

"Gravity is temporarily down," Isra said as she came to the hanger door, "It happened at some point last night: No word on what caused it yet, though it is probably just some maintenance or technical error."

Becky connected with something which made a thudding sound. She hadn't been expecting any sound, but if she had been it wouldn't have been the thudding sort. She windmilled her arms haphazardly as she tried to turn around and see what she'd bumped into this time. Probably a person. Hopefully not an important one.

"Hello?" she called out, flipping over too quickly to make out the person now drifting quickly away from her. She did manage to grab a package of juice or something, so that was nice.

"It's been a while since I was assigned to a station, but back then a loss of gravity in a block could take several solar weeks to fix. I'm no engineer, but I imagine a more localized issue like this wouldn't take that long, assuming it's a serious malfunction." He followed Isra into the hangar, narrowly dodging an errant toolbox, and the poor engineer floundering after it.

He didn't, however, manage to dodge the girl hurtling through the hangar; he clipped her and was thrown off course, colliding with one of the frames.

"Ow, dammit!" he swore, trying to reorient himself. He looked at the girl with a bit of a scowl-probably too harsh, in hindsight.

"You trying to kill someone in here?"

"Good to know the Federation military machine is running smoothly as ever." Calvin commented as the group approached the door. The jostling of his walking shook one of the precariously balanced rolls from his arms and it bounced slowly upward in the lowered gravity. Calvin lunged forward and seized it with his teeth while it slowly arced, before dodging to the side to avoid the thin, flying frame of an attractive girl in a pilot's uniform as she whizzed by. Calvin stared after her for a moment, before swallowing his roll entirely.

After a second he turned to the other two. "There are young, attractive pilots hurtling through the air and it took me ten years to get assigned to this station?!?" He asked incredulously.

edited 13th May '14 10:36:35 PM by rabbitRider

Isra frowned first at the collapse and then at Calvin.

She slowly launched herself towards them off the railing. She offered the two her hands to correct themselves a little.

"Both of you alright?" She asked, "What was happening in here?"

edited 13th May '14 10:43:45 PM by Fauxlosophe

Angus nabbed the corridor railing after his initial ricochet off the floor and steadied himself with a sigh. So much for making a cool entrance today. He untied the sleeves of his flight suit from his waist, and shrugged the upper half of the suit on, still unzipped, as he drifted into the hanger proper.

"This is the third time this month, Bec!" he called after the rapidly retreating girl. "And that's coffee, not cola, so give it back!"

He pulled the gloves of his suit snug over his fingers, and aimed his right wrist at a point on the opposite wall in line with Becky's trajectory. Squeezing the sensory pads in the glove, he fired the zero-G maneuvering cable built into the forearms of all Federation flight suits. It anchored in the far wall, and another squeeze of a different set of pads in his glove activated the cable rewind, pulling him toward the younger pilot.

Felix took a moment to calm himself down as he took Isra's hand.

"Sorry about that, Commander. Like I said, it's been a while since I've had to navigate a cluttered area like this in zero-g, though that's no excuse." He released his grip on Isra's hand and looked after the girl he had crashed into, and his fellow victim as they floated away.

"Any idea who those two were, Commander? I'd guess they're from the other Ace squad stationed here, since I don't recognize them..."

"Nothing, nothing!" Becky answered Isra's question innocently, letting the woman anchor her still turning body. "Someone broke the gravity here so," she suddenly assumed an official, military tone. At least by her estimate. "I was better acclimatizing myself to 'Zero G' manuevers, should they be required at any time in service to our glorious Federation!"

She then grinned, hearing Angus shouting as he approached. "Coffee? Bleeeeh." She frisbeed the package at him. "Who needs something like that to wake up? We have Frames!"

edited 13th May '14 10:57:22 PM by Satinel

"No damage done this time," Isra said, "Just be a little more cautious next time; the mechanics in there have it hard enough without any gravity. I don't think they need anyone staging a one woman battle in here."

"I have," She paused and coughed, "heard a little about Quinn, here. My friend from the mess hall earlier, I don't believe I had the chance to exchange names with though I believe he is Lieutentant M'bala."

She looked over at both with a sympathetic but awkward half smile as if to invite an introduction.

edited 13th May '14 11:12:56 PM by Fauxlosophe

Commander Arath somehow arrived in a moment after Commander binte Junayd, perhaps after attending to business of some sort. He spotted the scattered pilots and took note of the mess that were the so called, "Aces" of the squad.

"LIEUTENANT REBECCA QUINN! I will suffer no tomfoolery within the bounds of these hangers. These are military weapons we are dealing with. Learn that no matter how skilled you are with a frame, you are a soldier, and therefore must act like one!"

He turned to Felix next. "Lieutenant Novak. You should have been paying attention to the briefing. I have the misfortune of having these pilots in my Squad. They are Lieutenants M'bala and Quinn. They, along with myself and two others will be your sister squad for the patrol. I suggest you study up on our names or at the very least, our callsigns lest you end up like her." Michael Arath looked accusingly at Rebecca before moving on to his next victim.

"LIEUTENANT CALVIN SUMMERS! You have been repeatedly warned about bringing food into the hangers. This is not a school playground, you may pursue your insatiable lust for food during downtime but not within the bounds of any room with sensitive military equipment. If you give Commander binte Junayd any trouble, you will be hearing from me, AM I CLEAR?"

edited 13th May '14 11:13:47 PM by neobowman

Isra smiled pleasantly at Michael, however she spoke with a firm tone.

"Thank you for your support Commander Arath, however I can handle my squad for the time being," She said, "Speaking of which, I will let you get organized. We must do the same with our squad."

She released Rebecca, offering a sympathetic glance as she turned to her own Squad.

"Alright, the others are probably in the mess hall," She said as she move towards the 0G hanging hoping they would follow after, "However, I admire your initiative inspecting the frames. Follow after me."