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refuge-au · 2 years

Note

> Open the Pilot’s File

TFC: Try Out the New Toy

It took almost an hour and a half for the communications officers to herd the crowd of reporters, celebrities, government officials, and other miscellaneous bigwigs out of the room, leaving only the crew behind.

TFC recognized two of them, his copilot, and Xisuma, who seemed completely at ease and in control, his gradual descent into scruffiness curbed abruptly for the cameras that would doubtlessly be focused on him the instant he left.

The captain was doing some herding of his own, collecting crewmembers in a loose circle around him as he finished up the conversation he was having with the tall, dark haired man beside him, clasping his hands in front of him and smiling at the assembled group.

“Good morning, everyone.” He said, and a few people returned his greeting. “Thank you all so much for managing to make it here. I know we’re missing a few people still, but it’s better to have most rather than none, and unfortunately we can’t afford to wait for a date that everyone could attend. Rest assured, all essential personnel are present, or their job will be covered from the ground; there’s no risk to today’s test flight besides the usual risk of testing a ship that’s the first of its kind.”

His ‘joke’ earned him a few chuckles, but it did very little to alleviate the nervous energy in the room. It was like the air was buzzing with it. TFC’s geiger counter crackled quietly as he shifted from one foot to the other, reaching to adjust a dial without looking down.

“Well, then, I suppose we should get names connected to faces.” Xisuma continued, turning to the man that he had been talking to before. “Cub? Will you start?”

Cub, a tall man with dark hair, who was the only one in the room wearing business casual rather than a uniform of some sort, waved slightly. “Hey. I’m Cub. Head engineer, specializing in computer engineering, code. I’ll be on the ground today, monitoring everything, making sure neither X nor Mumbo have a nervous breakdown.”

X sighed softly, and the man next to Cub snorted. He was shorter, with brown hair cut very close to his head, and the beginnings of a beard starting to show on his face. As his chuckle made the group’s attention to him, he smiled. “Hey! I’m Impulse, mechanical engineer. I‘ve been across the pond with Cub and Mumbo and I can attest that most of his job is going to be keeping this one from having a breakdown of one type or another.” As he spoke, he motioned to the man to his right with his thumb.

Said man was the tallest person in the room, dark black hair slicked back with what must have been an ungodly amount of hair gel, and a large black mustache curling off of the lower half of his face.

“This is slander.” Mumbo said. “I can keep myself from having breakdowns quite well, thank you. Mumbo Jumbo. I’m an electrical engineer. I’ll be on the ground with Cub, and Impulse will be in the engine room to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

He turned to his right, and the young man next to him smiled. He was on the taller side of average, brown hair, with three nasty looking scars bisecting his face. He leaned casually on a slim metal cane as he spoke, his smile not fading for an instant as he addressed the group.

“Well, hello! I’m Scar, and I’ll be your copilot on this… adventure of ours. I’m sure you’ve heard all that talk about how recent my graduation was, but I assure you, I’m one of the best pilots you can find in the System. I won’t let you down.”

TFC would be the first to admit that he had had his doubts when he heard he was going to have a copilot who was fresh out of flight school. Anyone would have had doubts, especially considering the fact that they were going to attempt to fly the largest, arguably most complicated, spaceship ever built. Scar hadn’t had time to fly more than the most basic jets the Force had to offer, yet he was supposed to be taking the twelve hour shift that TFC couldn’t?

What felt like hundreds of runs in the simulator had assuaged most of his fears. The kid could keep his calm under pressure, could think on his feet, and knew his way around a cockpit. He and that engineer, Cub, were quite the duo, just judging by some of their conversations he had been privy to, which meant he knew at least a little bit of engineering tricks as well. Nine times out of ten, when he was the one that had to make a split second decision, he made the right one.

But for a mission that the fate of the human race rested on, nine times out of ten was not a very good average.

But hell, it wasn’t like TFC could do any better.

All in all, they could’ve done a much worse job in picking out a copilot, especially if they were planning on having TFC sync on the mission.

Scar turned to him, and TFC nodded. “Tin. You can call me TFC, if you want. I don’t care either way. I’m the pilot. Your lives are effectively in Scar and I’s hands the instant we get off the ground.” He grinned. “We’ll do our best.”

That got him a chuckle, and brought the invisible talking stick back around to Xisuma, who gestured in the direction of the door. “Those two that bit the bullet to give us a second to breathe were Zloy and Pix, the communications officers. Our navigator-slash-astronomer, Joe, was unable to make it, and our mechanic-slash-security-officer, False, was also waylaid. Our cryogeneticists were supposed to be here today as well, but as there have been some… threats, the decision was made to push back their arrival until closer to launch. It’s not the most helpful of things for us to do, but as you’ve all been told multiple times and will be told multiple times after this, it’s safest for everyone involved for this mission to be prepared remotely, then put together later.”

Xisuma took a breath, and smiled thinly. “So. That’s out of the way. What do you say we get this bird off the ground?”

The Refuge was a marvel of modern engineering, technology, art- the news had called it everything under the sun, but they all agreed: this was the best that anyone could do.

If it didn’t work, nothing would.

The ship loomed above the runway, taller than some of the base’s buildings and most definitely twice as long- a colony ship that would house less than fifty people, but enough supplies to feed, clothe, house, and protect generations. She wasn’t the most aerodynamic of things, but that was more than compensated for by the power generated from her twin massive engines and the massive retractable wings that could fold inwards to a quarter of their size for interstellar travel.

Something stirred in TFC’s chest as he looked up at the Refuge from inside the building’s doorway. Most of the rest of the crew busied themselves putting on masks and glasses, Scar slipping a medical grade respirator over the lower half of his face. Xisuma waved away the assistant that tried to offer him a mask, repeating the gesture when they tried to insist.

“Sir, there’s a pollutant advisory-”

“I don’t see you trying to press Tin into wearing one.”

“A couple more chunks of metal in my lungs can’t hurt me.” TFC said dryly. “Could hurt you.”

“I’m being flushed in two weeks. A few minutes without one on won’t kill me.”

The assistant looked helplessly at TFC who shook his head slightly, and they scampered away, refused mask in hand. Xisuma moved to the front of the group, directly in front of the doors, and rolled his shoulders back, standing at attention.

“Alright, guys. This is it. Ready?”

“Ready.” A chorus of voices replied, and X pushed the door open, leading them across the tarmac. As most of the group split off, heading for the control tower, TFC, Scar, and Impulse headed for the ship.

Impulse left them at the door, saluting and heading towards the engine room at the back as the pilots made their way to the bridge. As the doors slid open, TFC was struck by exactly how different it was from the models they had been training on.

The models hadn’t done nearly enough to convey the sheer size of it all. The bridge was massive, the cockpit a comparatively tiny part at the very front, a set of steel doors available to cut it off from the rest of the ship if need be. Buttons and screens flashed, levers and switches waited to be flipped, a dozen chairs sat unused, untouched. No expense had been spared, not on the long counters that held the consoles and controls, not on the grated metal flooring, not on the large gray chair that sat in the center of everything, directly behind the cockpit.

The news was right. It was a marvel.

TFC and Scar took their seats, Scar humming to himself tunelessly as they began to prime the engines, start all necessary routines, and prepare to take off. The Refuge purred under their fingertips as it turned on, lights flickering across the dashboard as twin screens, one on TFC’s left, and one on Scar’s right flashed on as well.

TFC reached up and flipped a switch, and his screen cut to the feed coming from the control tower. Scar did the same, only his screen showed the engine room, where a slightly fuzzy Impulse was pacing between the two massive engines, typing rapidly on a holopad, his eyes magnified by a pair of goggles and his ears covered by a set of headphones.

“Impulse?” Scar asked as TFC reached out to bring the yoke towards him. “What do you think?”

Impulse looked up, bringing a hand to his headphones, and when he pressed the button, he had to shout over the roar of the engines to be heard. “I’m not seeing any problems! You?”

“All systems normal here.” Scar said, turning to TFC, to in turn glanced at his screen.

“Zero, what do you think?” TFC said. “How’re we looking?”

“Absolutely gorgeous, Refuge. The pinnacle of modern technology, running at peak efficiency.” Xisuma grinned.

“Well, not quite peak efficiency.” Someone cut in, and Cub walked into view. “We’ve encountered a minor bug with some of the exterior cameras. Won’t be able to test the sync today.”

“I think there’s something off with some of the interior ones too, cause Impulse is looking very grainy.” TFC informed him.

“Great. We’ll get that fixed as soon as possible.” Cub said. “If you don’t have any other problems, I think you’re clear to go.”

“Got it. Zero, this is Refuge, requesting permission to take off using Alpha Runway.” Scar said.

“Refuge, Alpha Runway has been cleared. Feel free to begin taxiing.” Someone said, and TFC nodded.

“Thanks Zero. Beginning taxi.”

The engines hummed louder as he shifted into gear, and TFC swallowed down a spike of excitement as the ship began to move forward slowly. It had been a while since he had been at the helm- and he’d never piloted anything like this before. Never.

Even back when it was routine, he had always loved it- the feeling of taking off, of gravity releasing its hold, the sheer audacity of thousands of tons of metal defying the laws of physics and flying. Flying.

The ship began to pick up speed, and the miscellaneous chatter from the control room died away. Scar’s humming faded as he pulled one of the subscreens towards him, checking the levels of something- it didn’t particularly matter what to TFC at the moment, so he didn’t bother to try to find out.

The engines shifted, the humming turning to a low growl as the Refuge turned, straightening herself on the runway.

“Zero, we are about to commence our first takeoff.” TFC said, reaching overhead to flip open a case and press a button. “Impulse? Everything’s still fine?”

“Nothing’s blown up yet!” The engineer yelled back. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you know.”

“Well,” TFC said, turning his attention back to the runway, and his copilot. “This is it. Got any last words in case we turn into a shooting star?”

“Cub, if I die, tell Jellie I love her.” Scar said, wrapping his hands around his joysticks. “And don’t do anything stupid.”

“How could I do anything stupid when you’re taking all the stupid with you?” Cub asked, the smile evident in his voice. At least somebody wasn’t worried about an imminent explosion.

“What about you, Tin?” Xisuma asked. “Any last words?”

“Well, if something ends up going wrong, I’m sure you’ll hear them, and I’m sure you won’t be able to let the press quote them. Say, you aren’t going to give them the recordings of this conversation, are you? I know they’re filming along the runway.”

“No, they won’t get the conversation records.”

“Good. All set here. Scar?”

“We’re just sitting here wasting fuel at this point. Let’s get this bird in the air.” Scar said, shifting in his seat and twisting his head to crack his neck.

“Rodger.” TFC said, and he pressed the yoke forward. The engines caught, and then their tone changed, rising in tone and intensity as the ship began to move once again.

No one spoke as they moved forward, agonizingly slowly at first, then faster and faster. The end of the runway moved closer, closer, the engines’ roar grew louder- a light came on next to the screen, and TFC felt his breath catch in his throat, pulling back-

Refuge’s nose tipped upwards…

And her wheels lifted off the ground.

She soared upwards, engines singing, computers whirring, testing systems, running diagnostics and all coming up with the same answer: apart from the cameras, everything was working perfectly.

That information was relayed to the control room, and their reaction brought a smile to TFC’s face. Papers flew, and Xisuma swept Cub and Mumbo into what must’ve been a bone crushing hug- but they was too busy beaming to care. Cheers made any talk almost unintelligible.

Scar laughed, and TFC glanced over at him to find him grinning. “It worked! We did it!”

And they had done it. The bird had fledged. They were that much closer to the mission being started… and completed. Everything going well meant they had a greater chance of doing it. Of saving everyone.

Of starting over.

TFC grinned back. “We certainly did.”

Scar held out his fist, and TFC, after a moment of hesitation, bumped it.

Computer: Input Command:

> Open the Captain’s File

> Continue

> 01110100 0̶̛̛̥̬̭͖͕̻̪͓̠͚̥́̐͗́̋̈́̄̉͘ͅ1̶̥̐̍̄͊̾͐̄̇̂̚̕͝1̴̨̼͍͚̽0̴͚͠1̶̨̨̺̩̺͔̙̲̠̜͓̳̙̀͒̍͜͠0̸̛̬̣͌̓͒͌̄̽̏̏͌̽͆͆̽̕0̶̛͕̰͔̭͎̯̯̻͓̟͒́̅̌̽̉͋̌̒̅͘͠0̵̰̞͓̋́͗͑͒̇͊̍͆̔̈́̇̑ͅ 01100101 01110010 01100101 01110011 00100000 0̸̡͕̖̗͕̦̪̬̪̦̺̹̮̙̦̝̯̺̮͋̄̾̆̿́͛̐͆̃ͅ1̶͓̳̬͓͉͕͔̺̩͔̗̘̆͋͌̈̑̚͜ͅ1̵̛̤̝̪̗͍̦̙̦͓̗̩͔̩̺̞̋̉̂̉̈̾̆̈̄͂̒̏̚͠1̸̘̠͖̜̘͑́͊͆̋̇̓̅̈́̄̄̈́͒̚͘ͅ0̷̡̛̭̈́́͒̇̑͊͐̋̓́̎̽͊̽̾̚0̷̳̳͖̪̼̞͓̤̦̠̹̤͙͖̺͂̀͒͝1̶̳̬͙̥̼͔̭̭͕̝̜̐͂1̸̛͇̙̟͖̣͍͉̼̣͂͗̀̏̈̈͆̈́̀̀̓͜͜͜͝ 0̵̭͛1̴̙̋1̶̧̽0̵̰̚1̴͓͊1̷͖̚1̶͈̓1̶͎̎ ̵͈̍01101101 01100101 01101111 0̵̢̱̰̿̋́1̴̰̱̙̩̖̔1̶̢̨͇̩͗̀̄̽0̷͍̪͔̤͕̼̥̪̊̈́̆͋̄͜͠1̴̞̳͍̘̉͛̌͒͒͋̑͠1̸̢̘͕̹̼͈͙͍́͛̌̒̊̇͑̀͘͝1̷̝̖̓́͛0̴̠͓͙͆̑̈́̆ 01100101 00100000 0̸̡̢̡̨̛̜̭̘̟͕͎̠̬̘͕͕̻̳͎̬͉͖͈̖͖̪̠̗͊̀̅͗̈̏́̀͑̉̀͊́͌̅̎̃̾̀͊̔͌̇̽̐͆̽̄̍̓̀̍̀͗̈́̍̎̍͜͠1̶̢̢̢̨̣̩̞͔̰̮͈̹̝̦̠̞̯̜̫̭̻̪̱̖̳̜̥̲͚̭͔̣͙͕͎͉̜̻̘̲̞̼̩͚̖̣̓̐̊͆͛͒̐ͅ1̶̡̧̧̗̮̬̜̮͔̳͚͉̦̯͓̗̫͉̱͍̜͎̱̬̠͇͓̫̥̺͈̖̄̓̔̍͒̓̃̓̏͆́́��̓̅̃̉͊̏̅͒̋̓̐͒̈́́̋͘͘͜͜͠ͅ0̵̡̡̢̨̧̨̨̝̝͍̲͖͈̺͈̘̮̹͍͚̲̫̦̣̻̤̲̣̘̗͈̰̤͉̰͔̗̥̻̂̊̆̅̍̿̏̀͌̋̄̍̀̃͊̐̀̽̓̌̔̓́̍̂̽̏́̒̚̕͜͜͝ͅ1̸̛̛͈͇͖̬̉́́̋̇́̀̊̏̓̏͊̔̃̆̀͐̃̃̇̍́̊̇́͊͌͌͂̒̒̔̈̈́͛͗̑̿̄͘̕͘͜͠͝͠ͅ0̴̧̨̢̨̡̡̧̱̯̪̫̹̣̯̲̘̹͖̤̪͈̺̘͈͚̟̞̙͙̞̹̭͎̮̝̝̜̹̪̲͑̊̍̂̀̓̋̾̅͆̌͐̅̀̃̿̐͛̄̚̕̕͜͝ͅͅ0̷̧̛͖͔̪̣̱̳̳̫͂͆̏̍̿̑̔̂͊̓̆͒̓͌͝͝͝͠0̶̨̡̧̨̡̧̨̡̹͍̘̳͎̙̩̥̭͈̝͓̥̼̻̠͉̗̳͇̣̲̖̣̩̞̮̙͎̰̠͓̝̬̹̺͓͐͘͜͝ͅ 01100101 01110010 01100101

#the universe is made of stories not atoms // tfc #hermitcraft au #hermitcraft refuge au #refuge au #hermitcraft arg #hermitcraft refuge arg #command input needed #prologue #refuge arg #tfc #mumbo #impulse #xisuma #scar #zloy #pixl #joe #false

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