291First chapter in a new year and already in February, I hope you enjoy this chapter and made it something everyone would surely know from our childhoods.
Chapter 83: Lockdown
Flying through space outside of the Magic Dimension for their quest for one of the two final artifacts as the signature was traced somewhere in space. Ben, Mal, Sky, Musa, Tecna, Stella Brandon, Timmy, and Riven took the Ebon Hawk for easier travel.
Ben and Tecna were in the controls having their turn to pilot the ship, Stella was taking a nap in the sleeping quarters while Rivan, Mal and Brandon were playing some holographic game to entertain themselves after installing a few. They appear to be playing some sort of shooting game with each one controlling a starfighter of their own..
"Face it, Mal, you won't stand a chance against me!" Riven was shooting Mal's, while also trying to avoid being shot down. "I'm the top player there is!"
"Oh yeah? Then how come you haven't beaten me already?" Mal mocked him.
Riven shot back at her snarky remark. "Giving you a chance not to screw up." He was ready to surprise her when suddenly his starfighter got shot and blew up. "What?!"
The one who did it was Branden "Sorry, Riven, but you let your guard down." He smirks at the brooding teen while Mal takes this chance to surprise him by shooting him from above, much to his surprise.
"Guess you were not so skilled afterall." Mal smirks with Riven snickering.
Sky walked in on them to see their game ended. "I'm guessing you guys had your fun then?"
"Yeah, only I won." Riven proclaimed with pride. "They should have known better than to beat a top gamer like me. This is just like the simulations back at Red Fountain."
They have been keeping themselves entertained during the long trip as it has been nearly hours, it would have been easier to use the hyperdrive but had not fully tested it and has not been running for thousands of years after it was picked up from space. They were entering an uncharted region of space and needed to be prepared for what they would run into.
Mal groaned and sat up to ask the prince. "But how much longer are we going to wait, Brandon? I've been cooped up in this ship for too long." Being in a ship too long was driving her mad, they had been stuck in the ship for too long. Even taking a nap didn't seem much to help.
"Allow me to answer that." Timmy spoke up to answer for Brandon with a laptop in his hand to show them the star map. "Based on the navigational systems, we should be close."
"The sooner the better, I'm eager for some action." Riven said.
"You might wanna be careful of what you say, Riv." Brandon says. "Who knows what we'll run into."
Riven decided to make his leave. "Yeah, well, I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up when we find that thing uh…" Unable to remember what it was they were after.
"The Heart of Light." Mal said with a deadpan look on her face.
"Yeah, that." Decided to make his leave through the corridors to get some refreshments, but he didn't expect to almost bump into Musa who was around the corner.
Musa grunted and saw who she walked right into. "Hey! Watch it."
"Me? You walked into me." Riven called out at her. "Got out of your beauty sleep?"
Musa narrowed her glare at him and said nothing until making her way to the kitchen.
Watching her leave, Riven sighs and thinks maybe it was not a good idea had he known that Musa was coming, they've been silent and had barely said anything without being snapped at by Musa. "Okay, look, sorry for that. I'm a little… bored and been on this ship too long."
"I suppose you just came for the fun and action then." She assumed that was why he willingly came to join them. Lowering her chances to get closer with him.
"No, that's… well, yeah, cause I'm a Specialist and it's my job to do it." Riven was having a hard time to spit it out to her. Scratching the back of his head and finding this very awkward. "Look, I'm trying to say try not to get distracted out there and maybe… not get hurt."
The fairy of sound was almost thought he genuinely meant it and showed some sense of care for her. It made her feel happy that he was showing some concern for her and thought for a moment that he was going to make a snide remark. It was baffling to her of why she still hold some feelings for him, even if she found out he briefly worked with the Trix and made things right, but after the war of the Grimm, they started to get closer and even give her comfort for worrying about her friends when they went off to find the pixies. Her father started to show approval of Riven when he helped the students support her in her battle against Darcy to save her father. Much as she thought of it, it was like he was maybe slowly becoming a better person and making her feelings for him grow.
"Musa, you okay? Anyone in there?"
Snapped out of a dase and felt her cheeks flushed. "Oh, w-well, yeah, sorry, I'm a little distracted. But thanks, I mean-"
"Hey guys, we found something ahead and looks like-" Mal suddenly sprung up and found Musa and Riven in the same room. "Uh, something going on here?"
The two awkwardly stood silent with both their faces flushed lightly, neither were uncertain why they were feeling like this with each other as if they were caught before doing something.
"We weren't just talking." Riven made his statement clear to her.
"Yeah, that's right. Nothing." Musa looked away, only to glance at the corner of her eye to see Mal smirking at them as if she knew with her arms crossed. "Nothing! Seriously! What were you going to say?"
Mal answers. "That we found something drifting in space, better see for yourselves."
"What is it we're picking up?" Ben asked Tecna who was typing away on the buttons.
"Some sort of ship." Tecna used her tech magic to conjure a screen, using her hands to enhance the screen and found a massive advanced looking ship. Taking a closer look at it, it was a sleek, silver coloured vessel. "By the look of it, it's big."
"Is that a ship?" Sky came up behind them to see it with the others behind him.
"Looks like it. Maybe we can hail them for assistance." Tecna suggested an idea.
"Too late, someone's beat you to it." Ben answers the hail.
A female voice spoke through for them to hear. "Attention unidentified vessel, this is the Absolution please identify yourself."
"Hello? This is the Ebon Hawk to the Absolution we've just come to this region of space." Ben responded to show they were not hostile.
"I'm assuming you're not the ones sending a distress signal then?" The one known as Sara implied.
Confused, the teens looked at each other for what she was talking about. Sky took his turn to speak. "Not really, we just got here and didn't pick up any."
"Wait a sec, Sky I think she's right, there is a signal close by." Tecna confirmed Sara's statement. She couldn't pinpoint its location and found it strangely difficult to understand. "Something's off, I can't get a proper reading. Sara, would it be possible for us to come aboard? Maybe we can help each other."
Mal heard this and thought she was having a joke. "Wait, are you sure that's a good idea to wonder in a ship we know nothing about."
"Never know until we try. Besides, some of us will stay on board and the other comes aboard on the ship in case something happens." Sky brought up his idea if something goes wrong. "That sound good to everyone?"
Ben shrugs. "I think that sounds good to me."
"A logical choice." Tecna found it a good idea and a better chance to examine that ship.
Musa pondered and saw no alternatives. "Well, I guess we have no options."
"Okay, fine. We go with your idea." Mal reluctantly agreed.
"At least it would be better than sitting around on this ship all day." Stella spoke up and thought to better stretch her legs out.
Sky nodded. "Ok, so we agreed then. Sara, do you hear me? We like to come aboard if you wish."
"Of course, we haven't had visitors in a while… well, except one time after that incident a few months back. Once you step out, the Clydes will lead you to the bridge and meet me and TOM. in the meantime, welcome to the Absolution."
Piloting the Ebon Hawk towards the larger starship before them, the docking bay doors open for them to fly in. Tecna and Brandon took the controls to make a careful landing, the doors closed behind them and safe to disembark. The group who chose to explore the ship were Ben, Mal, Timmy, Tecna, and Sky. The others remained on the Ebon Hawk until they were needed or if something happened.
Taking a look around the place and found no sign of anybody aboard. "Where is everybody?" Timmy asked.
"Wasn't expecting a welcome party, but it seems off." Mal couldn't see anyone until a pair of doors opened and found a floating spheroid machine gliding over towards them, possibly one of the robots that work on this ship.
"What is that?" Sky looked at the robot and did not expect to see one.
"IT must be one of the Clydes, Sara mentioned. Tecna was fascinated by the little floating robot and spoke to it. "Hello, can you take us to whoever's in charge here?"
The Clyde silently nodded, turning around to lead them to where it wanted them to go.
"Must want us to follow it." Timmy guessed as it must have been sent to lead them.
"Then we might as well." Sky turned to Brandon who was by the ramp. "We'll let you know if anything comes up, just stick close to the ship until we get back."
"Got it." The squire nodded, as he would have gone with them but Sky insisted he and Riven stay behind. With Ben and Mal being the strongest of the group they have with keyblades, the prince should be safe with them.
The rest followed the little robot who acted as their guide, walking through the corridor until they madey their way towards an elevator pod. They walked with the Clyde waiting for them as the rounded doors slid open for them and closed behind them when they all went inside before travelling upwards.
"Nice place, wonder why we haven't seen anyone or this Sara?" Mal's question was something everyone was thinking as they would have found someone by now.
"Yeah, she's right. Wonder who's piloting this ship?" Tecna thought so and was more curious than before.
They felt the elevator slowing down until it stopped, the door slides open once again and everyone then stepped out to follow the robot to what appears to be the bridge, it was a dome-shaped structure, a single chair close to the circular board and found multiple holographic screens, some appear to be animated.
"What's this? Someone watching tv?" Sky pondered.
"You could say that."
The teens were startled to hear the familiar voice and yet no sign of the one named Sara.
"Huh? Sara? Is that you?" Ben asked. "Where are you?"
"Right here." A holographic projection lid up before them on a screen, it was humanoid with a blue 'skin' and white eyes. "Sorry about that, I thought i tbe easier to introduce myself. My name is SARA, welcome to the Absolution."
Tecna's eyes widened in astonishment to find out who she really was. "You're an artificial intelligence?"
"An AI for short, and yes. Apologies for not revealing myself. TOM and I wanted to be sure." SARA explained to them.
"Tom? Who's that?" Ben asked her.
"He's coming up now and we can fully introduce ourselves."
"Just rode twenty floors on the freight elevator with a garbage Clyde, so this better be… oh." And once again the doors open to reveal another robot close to their height, but was a dark blue and white, it has a sleek blue helmet which included a mounted head scope with a camera tracking system Three lights embedded onto his hands, and a glowing symbol on his chest. The robot gave a nervous, but friendly wave to the five visitors. "Uh, hey. I suppose you met SARA. Name's TOM."
"He's the host of the broadcast channel called Toonami. Stands for Toonami Operations Module." SARA explained to them.
"Wait, you guys broadcast shows out here in space?" Mal blinked while absorbing this knowledge.
"Yep, we broadcast shows, games and a lot as it's been our job for a couple of months." TOM explained and decided to ask them a question. "So what brings you kids to this part of the galaxy, just wanting to be eager space adventurers?"
Sky shrugs his shoulders and smiles sheepishly. "Well, we're somewhat like that in a way, but came from another place you won't find out here. My name is Sky, this is Ben, Mal, Tecna and Timmy. The rest are back on the ship just a precaution."
"Well, this makes my day, at least you're not some space blobs trying to eat the ship." Earning a few confused looks of what he was talking about. Shrugs his shoulders and makes a chuckle. "Long story."
Timmy would ask until he remembered something and turned to Tecna from a previous conversation from SARA. "Tecna, didn't you say something about some strange transmission?
Tecna almost forgot about it when she was focused on the ship until Timmy mentioned it. "Oh, that's right. Before coming here, I picked up a faint transmission. However, something was blocking it.
"She's right, I'm picking up a signal I don't recognize. It's beyond my capabilities." SARA's tone itself suggested how unusual that was. "Or so old that the encryption code isn't in my memory banks."
"Log it. We'll take a crack at it later. Anything else in the area?" TOM asked and thought to check it out later.
"Scanning ... There's a lot of interference, and something's giving off a huge energy signature."
"Maybe that's what you picked up, Tecna." Ben said and assumed that must have been what they were picking up.
"No doubt about it, kid. How far away is it?" TOM asked SARA, pacing over to the window to see if there was anything within range of sight yet. All that anyone could see so far was that this area of space had an abundance of rust-colored nebulas.
"We're close." SARA told them. "The interference makes it hard for the signal to broadcast very far. I can't translate it, but I think it may be a distress signal."
"Maybe someone broke down and stuck out there?" Mal thought.
"That would have been my guess." TOM walked back over to stand before SARA's holographic avatar. he suggested. "But why aren't they using a normal shipping code?"
"Don't know." SARA said mysteriously. "Head to the observation deck."
"Alright. Fire up the DOKs."
"DOKs?" The teens said at the same time as they never heard of that before, except for SARA who was aware of what he was talking about.
"I hardly think there's any danger." SARA didn't see any need to use them.
"Oh, no." TOM said defiantly over his shoulder as he turned to leave. "I went out last time, remember? Better safe than sorry."
"Understood."
"Need any help? We got some experience and can fill you in on why we came out here." Ben offered, it could be where the Heart of Light could be.
"It would be a good idea to take some extra help for a change." SARA seems to agree with the keyblader's offer.
"Well… okay, but just stick close, don't want to get lost in a big ship." TOM went with it. "Come on."
"If it's okay with you, I could stay up here and maybe help SARA and let the others know we're completely safe." Tecna offered. "If that's alright with you?"
"Would be nice to have some girl company." SARA didn't seem to mind at all.
Sky nodded. "Okay, but don't touch anything and I'll call Brandon."
They followed TOM to the observation deck and Sky asked him a question on the way. "By the way, what did you mean by last time?"
TOM chuckled and thought it would be brought up. "Well, kid, it started out when we had an intruder…"
Once again taking the elevator pod with enough room for all of them, rocketed up toward an even higher level on the starship. The doors opened as the group walked into what would be the observation deck, encased in a polarized window and backed by a more sleek framework, arced out of the ship like a hump on a camel. Inside, on the deck floor itself, a shell rose out of the center of the platform and split in half to expose the projector.
Timmy was awed of such machinery and adjusted his specs. "Amazing."
TOM walked around it to the wafer-shaped control console. "Okay, show us what ya got." Activating the projector for them to see. Through the window before them of what SARA was able to provide. The image was jittery, due to the disruptive signals she had mentioned already, but clear enough to make out details to know what it was.
"Uhh, is it me or are those ships?" Mal could barely make out what they were. Almost like a graveyard of derelicts.
"More like a galactic dump, but yes, it would look like that." Timmy speculated as they were seeing a field of very large mass of debris.
Pieces of what could be perhaps wrecked ships, satellites, probes, stations, anything that was metallic and artificial, yet floating here like an industrial cluster of debris. Unable to make out any detail with the glitch-ridden video feed.
Sky contacted Tecna for the update. "Tecna, can you maybe help SARA fix up the feed?"
"Something is jamming the image, Sky. But I'm already working on it until I can translate that distress signal." Tecna informed him. "But it looks like something else there, a bigger ship."
A further detail of a space-faring vehicle, larger than anyone present had ever seen. It was long, straight, and sharp, with pointed spires protruding in a fan-shaped row on one side.
"Woah ... What is that?" TOM asked, pointing his finger towards the larger ship.
"No idea." SARA told him for the second time that day. "There's too much interference. We'll have to get closer for any solid readings."
Not everyone was on board with the idea as whatever happened here may have been a while ago, but didn't want to risk running towards something that could be a trap. "Not sure if I like that idea. Look at those ships, they look derelict. Can we get closer to the one broadcasting the distress signal?"
"Hold on." The ships' AI's visual scanners darted to and fro until it zoomed in on the ship in question. "Here." It was a small star cruiser that looked like a saucer with a winged pilot compartment on its front edge, sandwiched width-wise between tube-shaped engine nacelles.
TOM could tell just by looking at it that it was one of the oldest models he'd ever seen. "That guy may not even still be in there!" He exclaimed.
"Who knows how long it was, but better to find out, don't you think?" Ben recommended.
TOM thought of it and knew the brunette had a point. Didbn't want to leave someone stranded. "Tell ya what, take us into a slow coast into the field. Get the shields up and keep scanning. We're sending the DOKs to that ship."
"You're just looking for an excuse to play with your new toys." SARA figured him out already.
"Got me there." TOM confirmed. "Prep the boys for launch."
"Maybe we can get our ship prepped and go in as well. It's small enough to fly in." Sky suggested.
"Sure thing, just watch out for the DOKs." TOM told him and made their way back to the bridge.
Down in the Absolution's spacious cargo bay stood an army of motionless, cylindrical robots in eight groups of one hundred by one hundred. Upon activation, their bucket-heads rotated like turrets to expose a trio of lenses. The rest of their bodies unfolded like Transformers, producing arms and an array of thrusters.
In a smooth, orderly fashion, their thrusters popped to life and they lifted off the cargo bay floor one by one, headed for the exit. The massive doors parted, allowing the legion of DOKs out into space. Among the swarm was a Clyde fro SARA to use as her eyes to know where they were going and what was happening.
On the bridge, Tecna was going through the transmission to bypass and crack with the AI's help, she couldn't believe so much derelict in one area. She contacted the others about what was happening. "Things are going well so far after we met TOM and SARA and so far no sign of any danger."
The one she was speaking to was Musa "Any chance they know where the Heart of Light is?"
SARA answered for her. "Unfortunately no, although I have looked at the description from your source material to assist me searching through the data banks, yet nothing so far."
"Maybe not on the ship, but I'm picking up something from that debris. It would be a good idea to search through it." Tecna believed it had to be in there. "Tell everyone on the ship to be ready and we'll join you."
Yet, something didn't seem right as she noticed something about the debris. Looking at the holography display called SARA. "SARA, something's off, have you noticed anything unusual about the debris?"
"Hmm, yes, I see what you mean." The AI avatar immediately caught on to what she was getting at.
"Better tell the others as soon as possible. I think they wanna see this."
"Good idea."
As they waited for the results and waited to join up, TOM was informed of the guests' stories and about them. This intrigued him alot of what he found out. "So, you guys are from another dimension and fighting the forces of evil with magic and your key-shaped swords, but came all the way out here looking for something called the… Heart of Light?"
They nodded their heads to confirm the answer. "Yeah, pretty much about it." Ben stated.
TOM made a whistling sound, almost impressed. "Damn, you kids have some adventures, kinda like to visit these worlds sometime and-"
"TOM, Tecna and I got something." SARA popped up in the screen room noticed how the Absolution's AI avatar had some news. She put up a projection of the ship that was in the centre of the debris. "Look at the trajectory of all these craft. All of this debris is slowly moving towards that giant ship."
Timmy thought something was off but assumed it was just hsi eyes playing tricks on him or the bad signal. "Hey, she's right. It's as if they're being pulled towards it by something."
"What's the deal with that thing?" TOM asked as he was confused more and more. "I thought this system was deserted. Why would all this be way out here?" Suddenly, realization struck him of what was happening. Or at least he partly understood.
"SARA, full reverse! we'll meet you on the bridge!" Then he took off down the walkway.
"Why?"
"JUST DO IT!"
"TOM! Wait a sec!" Mal yelled and ran after him.
And not just him, Timmy also realised what it was and looked horrified. "Oh ho!"
"Timmy? What's the matter?" Sky looked at him of what was the matter.
"Sky, contact the others not to take off!" Timmy dashed off to follow the robot.
"Come on, something isn't right here." Ben didn't like the look of things.
They made it to the bridge in a rush back to the bridge where Tecna was standing by the rounded board with a concerned tone.
Timmy was having a hard time breathing and clutched his hand to his chest. "Tecna, we have to-whoah!" Just then, everyone felt the entire spacecraft shuddered and threw everyone off their feet.
Mal rubbed her butt as she felt it sore." What the hell was that?"
Sky groaned and pulled himself up to check on everyone. "Anyone hurt? TOM you still with us?"
"Ugh, yeah." TOM groaned after he hit his head on the chair and fell backwards. "A little bruised but I'm good." Continues groaning even if he shouldn't feel any pain as a robot, he pushed himself up. "Man ... what the heck is going on?"
"We've been caught in a tractor beam." Tecna told him. Rubbing her head and sat up. Yet, she found herself on top of Timmy and surprised of the position they were in, both looked at each other and then turned away with a mutual flushed face before they pulled away. "And we've got caught by it."
"A tractor beam?" Ben asked her. "You mean that ship is still active?"
"I'm afraid she's right. The engines are offline." Sara spoke over the alarms as she was unable to pull away from the powerful force coming from the supposedly downed derelict. "That thing has us caught in a tractor beam and is pulling us in. It's blocking all high-frequency broadcasts."
"Meaning we're cut off from the rest of the universe?" Mal couldn't believe her luck that they were marooned in the middle of nowhere. "Great."
Settled into his chair, TOM was still recovering from the surprise and pain as he shared her dismay. "Ah, man ..." The robot host groaned. "What about any outgoing signals?"
"We're still broadcasting, but the frequency is modular. I can adjust faster than that thing can block it. But it takes an unbelievable amount of processing power, so I can't do anything else."
"So no distress signal, huh?" TOM sighed with the luck they have. "What about the DOKs?"
"Yeah, maybe they can help us." Sky said.
"Unfortunately no, TOM designed them to interface on my band frequencies only. So we can't reach them."
In other words, the DOKs sent on a reconnaissance mission were now another mass of useless debris. Drifting about helplessly, bumping into one another or other objects.
"Better check on the others." Timmy pulled out his phone and tries to get in touch, fortunately it was received and Brandon picked it up to respond.
"Guys, what the hell happened? We felt the ship shook and can't even get the engines online."
"We got snagged by a tractor beam, Brandon. Is anyone injured?" Sky asked him.
"I just took a bruise, I caught Stella before she fell and Riven got a hit on the wall, but he's okay."
"Meet us at the bridge, one of the Clydes or we can meet you and fill in what's happening." Sky told him. "Guess the Hawk isn't going anywhere either. We're trapped and can't contact anyone."
TOM shook his head. "What is it with our luck? How long before we get sucked in by this thing?"
"A long time," SARA began her calculations with the numbers scrolled by on either side of her screen to answer his question. "Roughly, one hundred-seventy-eight years, seventeen days, ten hours, and twelve minutes."
"Roughly, huh?" TOM remarked.
"Roughly."
"Better not let Stella know that, she'll lose her mind if we are trapped here for over a century." Mal can easily imagine how freaked out the Solarian princess will be. That is if they have enough to last a couple of months on this ship if there be food and supplies.
"And I figured out what was happening before we got trapped." Timmy surmised to get their attention. "That large ship in the centre must have caught the others in its pull as well with it's tractor beam."
Everyone realised what it meant and why so much derelict in one area. It wasn't a battle but likely to have been victims who were caught in a trap or something. "Ahh, so I guess that means these ships have been trapped here for a hundred years, too," TOM figured.
"Very high probability. It wouldn't be a problem for us if we didn't need power. But we'll go down. Soon. And for our guests… that's another unfortunate situation."
"Maybe not," TOM responded, a thought beginning to take shape in his head. "I've got an idea. Crazy, but it just might work."
"We're open to crazy ideas that don't involve getting killed." Mal was willing to hear him out.
"What have you got?" Sky waited to hear his idea.
TOM shared his idea with everyone. "What if someone else outside this sector logged onto our systems and controlled the DOKs remotely?"
"Interesting." Sara said with genuine interest. "Perhaps ... If I position more power to the receivers ... Yes, it may work. But why aren't the DOKs being affected by that thing as well?"
"Who knows? Who cares?" TOM dismissed the question with a semblance of a shrug. "We know they can move. Let's not waste any more time."
The prince turned to the two geniuses. "Timmy, Tecna, see if you can help SARA boost the signal for anyone, maybe we can help find a way to break free."
"Unless you have other means of getting to that ship to shut down the tractor beam with your vessel affected as well." SARA informed them as they would have a hard time in space without protection.
TImmy smiles as he has something to say. "Fortunately, I was able to tinker with some new gear thanks to Cid's help, it won't have any effect on the girls' when they transform in space or suffocate."
Tecna was surprised to hear this. "When did you do this?"
"Just a while ago, it's only experimental and I haven't tested them yet." Timmy was unsure to risk their lives with a situation they were in.
"Well now may be the time to try them out, Timmy." Ben said.
"Well, we now have several volunteers, but we're gonna need help over here while another helps the DOKs disable that rustbucket." TOM would need the help he can get to repair the ship.
Surprise! Bet no one saw that coming of who the heroes were going to meet. TOM and SARA of Toonami! I always loved that broadcast channel and was trying to figure out which part would go, the latest one or the Intruder II, but thought, one enemy against a dozen? nah, so went with the earlier version and we will see the latest version of TOM and SARA in the future chapters. Was tempting to use Treasure planet, but thought to hold that for another adventure. The first part of Lockdown is done and will do more, there will be some differences of the story just a heads up and also some surprises.