Mundus Lost: Post 1
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Marcus Rhys Rhodes strode confidently towards the bridge of the
IHS Idylwylde,
[1] his duty boots tapping along the metalic floor. His confidence was bolstered by the fact that he had just turned twenty four years old and his collar points bore the shiny new devices signifying the bearer as a full Leftenant in the Imperial Navy of the Helus Star Empire. His promotion and further assignment as Weapons Officer of the
Idylwylde had come just in time for his ship to set sail on a pirate hunting and patrol cruise on the outskirts of Empire space. When the Empire's founders had fled doomed Mundus, their old enemy the Borlanders had tagged along and even now continued to plague the Crown. Hiding among asteroid belts and endlessly riding their caravan ships on the fringes of settled space, the Borlanders attacked any ship or station they thought they could get away with.
Mundus Lost...sometimes referred to as Doomed Mundus. An ancient tale by now, but one worth being told again and again. The old records did not preserve much of the time before the threat was recognized, but they do say it started with a cabbage. A minor nation with an obscure religion worshipping cabbages of all thing came into prominence in the early parts of the new millennium. A fragile ruler, mourning his dead wife, did fall to the wiles of a manipulative woman. The Duchess, as the story calls her, whispered into her husbands ear and steered the little nation to take great risks so that the ruler could provide his new wife with the style of life she has come accustomed to. In a desire to increase production of the sacred cabbage, the cabbage worshippers experimented with many fertilizers, chemicals and soils. They even delved into the biological manipulation of the plant. One such experiment was aimed at modifying chlorophyll so that the cabbages could grow in little to no light. Dreams of underground caves filled with cabbages came into being, but it was not long before the dream became a nightmare. The genetically modified chlorophyll blighted and that blight became rampant across the little nation. Then, to the horror of the peoples of Mundus, the blight mutated and crossed species, eventually affecting all chlorophyll dependent plants.
For many years the nations of Mundus worked together to combat the Blight, but it was to no avail. As one nation after another gave into despair, they turned their attentions to fleeing the dying planet, for surely it was dying. With the end of all plant life predicted it was the only recourse. It was during this time that self preservation took hold of the nations of Mundus. Some banded together to survive, some survived on their own and others, many others, fell by the wayside. It was during this time that the Helus Empire was born. The Cult of Helus was strong in spirit and so the faithful came together under the descendant of Raimond Unasson, King David V. The nations of East Moreland, Bakkermaya and Seaforth became one under Emperor David and still are to this day.
As Marcus neared the bridge he was joined by one of his division officers, jolting him out of his thoughts. On exchange from the Achkaerin Conclave, Ensign Haruko Silver served as head of the Point Defense Division. Haruko nodded a good morning as she fell into step slightly behind him her fox tail swishing in step, ears twitching.
[2] "Good Morning, Ensign Silver. Eager to start?"
"Yes Sir." Smiled Haruko. "By my calculations we should be coming out of jump space shortly."
Almost as she said the words, they felt the
Idylwylde shiver as the Sleipnir Jump Drive
[3] started to bring them back into normal space.
"Well Ensign, we wouldn't want to keep Captain Ashland waiting, would we?" Said Marcus as they reached the bridge.
"No Sir-" Began Haruko before she was suddenly cut off as the ship violently jerked to the right.
Marcus shook his head several times to clear his vision as tried to make sense of what happened. The hall was dark and lit by emergency lighting, smoke pouring out of the overhead vent. At least it was smoke and not some other toxic gas. Ensign Silver staggered up, a shard of metal sticking out of her left thigh. It didn't appear to have struck an artery, but was obviously painful as hell. Behind them a crewman was dead from an unknown injury, his eyes staring straight up at the ceiling, while the bridge lay behind the hatch in front of them. The coloured light above the door indicated that the bridge was pressurized. Putting Ensign Silvers arm over his shoulder and grabbing hold of her belt, Marcus helped her to the door to the bridge. Waving his hand over the senor, it picked up the implant in his hand and opened. The two young officers left the hallway and entered...into...hell.