Oxygen.
It flooded my lungs like heavy rainfall after a drought, I put my hands to the side to finally breathe fully, While I was experiencing bliss, I had forgotten to check my surroundings for any signs of danger, but I couldn’t care less about what was around me right now.
As my eyes were closed, I kept breathing heavily to fully get back into shape, my gaze slowly drifted upward, and I see thousand upon thousands of lights in the distance, colorful nebula's covering enormous sections of space, and numerous asteroids flying by high above.
“Damn, this place doesn’t look half bad, even the trillionaires back on earth need to spend a fortune for a view like this” I said to myself amusingly, I got up and looked to my right side, Large concrete walls, burnt wooden bookshelves, destroyed data terminals and some animal bones covered my view.
“The hell happened here, I'm In some sort of ruin, haven’t heard of any ancient ruins with data terminals though”
I looked to my left and see the stars and nebulae still shining so brightly, confused he walked forward to examine what he was seeing.
Vance stopped abruptly, right on the edge of the derelict concrete flooring, he saw not solid ground but deep space once again covering his view. Feelings of deeper confusion appeared within him
"Where the fuck am I? Is this deep space? How the hell can I breathe here?"
As he stood there confused, he ultimately decided to not question why he could breathe and moved on to assess where he was.
Vance gazed at the bones that were scattered around the area and picked one up, the bone was the size of his arm, it was brittle.
"Some kind of leg bone? Looks old and not tough enough for me to use like a club, shame"
Vance placed the bone back down and continued observing the area, he looked towards the terminals, it had a white body and blue stripes on the edges, they were broken beyond repair, the screens completely black, the wires dead.
“You guys are the only believable things seen in deep space. I don’t know how concrete and wood is up here in space.”
Vance patted the terminals but as he did so, he realized the materials these terminals were made from was still in pristine condition, somehow facing no deterioration.
“Hmm, weird, guess they spent all the budget on the terminals and kept everything else in the stone age.”
Vance then made his way up a flight of stairs seeing more rooms, some having stored terminals and bookshelves, some being completely decimated that it only leads to the void below.
Vance didn’t find anything different until in one room, where from the corner of his eye, he saw a faint golden light emanating from the room.
“Now there’s something… hopefully it doesn’t kill me”
Vance slowly advanced toward the room, taking quiet steps until he reached the wall right next to the doorway. He slowly peaked to not grab the attention of the thing he saw
In the room, he saw a large golden triangle with an eye in the middle, being projected from a machine underneath it, the device seemed to fluctuate every now and again, evidently having a hard time projecting the hologram
The machine snapped its view to Vance, a quiet hum emerged from it as it scanned Vance in a golden light emanating from its eye.
Vance had put up his arms in a defensive matter fearing the worse, but when he heard the machine say something about an assessment, his fear changed to confusion and his stance lowered to see what would happen.
The machines voice was a man, average pitch with a slight echo to it. The AI continued in the same robotic voice.
Vance stared at the machine in confusion, almost offended that this dust covered machine was talking to him like this considering the state of the place the AI lived in.
Hey! You aren’t in any better condition, I mean look at this place, looks even worse than my apartment back on earth.
The machine did not acknowledge him, as if it never heard what he said and then continued its cold and brutal assessment of him.
"Like I give a fuck about your evaluation of me, what am I in? A job interview?"
Vance’s eyes widen, flabbergasted at this AI recruiting him without his consent or knowledge. He hadn’t gotten to know what any of the AI was talking about, he didn’t know if he was getting recruited as a sacrificial lamb or a worker.
"Woah, woah, woah, what the fuck do you mean accepted into? I don’t know what the fuck your “equinox” is about, what the hell does a voyager even do?"
The AI looks at him almost with a curious look, the machine below the projected triangle begins to glow and project a square screen in front of Vance.
Vance stepped back a bit upon seeing this unsure of what it was.
The screen flickers to life, slowly showing equinox on the front with the background being a grand building, made from an advanced material as it was shifting and moving slightly, as if it was alive and responding to it’s environment
Greetings! Young voyager, I see you have completed your assessment and test, good job! You now have the great honor of being a force of equinox and to join a hall of explorers that pushed the boundaries of the multiverse as we know it, now I’m pretty sure, you already know everything about equinox, it's purpose and what voyagers are, but in case you got a concussion or have a hazy memory as a result of the test, I’ll give you a quick rundown!
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"Hmph, great honor my ass, didn’t even give me any background on this shitty company before recruiting me."
Vance said bitterly, as he looked over at his surroundings and dragged a wooden chair to sit and watch this absolute spectacle of a propaganda video.
Firstly, Equinox is an organization whose purpose is to 1.Gather data about everything, no matter how small, 2.Gather dangerous artifacts and safeguard them in the vault so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, and finally 3. accept miscellaneous missions that range from cleaning the sanctuary, to delivery, escort and a whole lot more! You're sure to find what kind of mission you want to do!
"Pause. What do you mean by “dangerous artifacts” because I am not handling anything that can kill me"
“Just great someone can just rub a magical tear 10,000 light years away from me and id kill myself from crying.”
Vance thought to himself knowing he’s in some shit he was never supposed to be in, cosmic god level threats aren’t in the expected work of asteroid miners believe it or not. The AI continued the video.
“Now for what voyagers are, Voyagers are the members of equinox, voyagers aren't just explorers, they're warriors, medics, engineers, chefs and everything else you can think of, you do not define a voyager from what they look like but their skills. A voyager is not just exceptional in one skill like combat or medicine, missions are chaotic and almost nothing goes right, so every voyager must be prepared to go and fix things by themselves, so every voyager must be above average in every other skill!”
Vance raised his hand to once again pause the video. “Isn’t that unrealistic, I mean how can you find someone that’s just good at everything, not everyone’s a super genius”
The AI pulsated acknowledging the question.
Vance raised his eyebrow. “You keep rambling about a test or assessment, what’s that all about?” asking in a curious tone
The AI glowed in response.
“Well, Isn’t that a little intense” Vance said with a pause confirming his suspicions this was a place not meant for him.
The ranking system for Voyagers begins at Recruit Rank 7 and climbs up to Recruit Rank 1, the final step before transitioning into the Elite Class. The Elite Class follows the same tier structure: Elite 7 to Elite 1. From there, Voyagers enter the Expert Class, which consists of three tiers, Expert 3, 2, and 1. Those who surpass even this become part of the Veteran Class, then Master Class, and finally, the elite Paragon Class, the pinnacle of Equinox. These ranks aren’t just for show, each promotion unlocks greater privileges, access to classified intel in the archives, and stronger missions with better rewards.
Vance stared blankly at the projection as he couldn't care less about the ranking system of this organization.
"Wait, How are you and the video host speaking English" Vance questioned the AI
"Okay, I guess that makes sense" Vance said unenthusiastically
"Now, for the one thing every voyager is in constant search for! Gear, every voyager starts off with a basic equinox plasma pistol, it has no need for ammo since it recharges by itself! and it can work in any condition whether it's cold, burning hot, in space, underwater, you can count on this friend of yours to work with you! it can also be customized from the armory, giving it more power in exchange for the capacity of it's charges, increase it's fire rate but lessen the power, and many others! The next piece of gear is the equinox standard coat, it's customizable, tough and self repairing, it's the perfect all terrain coat! and the final piece of basic equipment is an equinox data pad, capable of mapping terrain, marking objectives, accessing the mission panel, interacting with your fellow voyager, and it's usable in any environment!"
Vance raised his eyebrows as he listened to the video, " Finally, something good, where can I get this equipment?"
Vance smiled blankly for a moment upon hearing this, "Of course, why wouldn't it be destroyed, why did I think I could get basic equipment that easily." Vance then slumped into the chair again to ride out the entire video
"And that's all for now young voyager! You are all caught up on equinox and your purpose, so stay vigilant, keep striving for more and more, the universe isn't gonna wait for you, so get up and start running for your future! And remember we are the voyagers, the raiders of the cosmos, so rise and etch your mark on the stars above." The holo video ended and the AI retracted the video.
Vance sighed, "Well shit, it's not like I have any power over this damn machine, I guess I'll go along, what's the worse that could happen, well death of course, but if it's gonna transport me somewhere with that portal from before, maybe I can luck out and find a human settlement and just don't go back here, yeah I'll do that." Vance thought to himself.
Vance got up from the chair and said to the AI, "Alright, I'll join this equinox thing, not like I can refuse in my position, Mr.AI." Vance said nonchalantly
The AI pulsed in response to Vance,
Vance looked at the glowing one eyed triangle and said, "Alright equinox, I'm ready for my first mission"
Vance stared at this and asked, "So what am I gonna be dealing with down there, are there predators? Soldiers that are occupying that place or what?"
Vance crossed his arms, "Well shit, Going in raw and blind, what a start." with a hint of tiredness in his voice.
Equinox started counting gown and a golden light encircling vance.
"Well here goes nothing" Vance readied himself and closed his eyes to prepare.
<3...2...1, Teleportation activated>Equinox said as it teleported Vance with a golden light and he disappeared from the ruins of equinox.
"Somewhere on outpost-467B"
In a ravaged base, with destroyed gadgets, torn bodies and spilled blood all over the floor, walls and roof, stood a creature, resembling a humanoid preying mantis, feasting on the head of a guard.
The creature stopped eating it's meal as it heard a sound from outside, it clicked it's mandibles and looked out a window to see a thin golden column from the corner of it's eye, the creature looked at the direction a bit before continuing it's meal.
But that didn't last long as an armored vehicle started blasting the base, destroying the walls and forcing the alien to drop it's meal, the alien screeched at the vehicle before running for cover.
Vance opened his eyes to see himself in a dense jungle filled with alien plants and weird noises from all around him, "I shouldn't have done this, Shit."
MISSION PANEL
LOCATION: Outpost-467B
OBJECTIVE: Retrieve 20 purple shards
DIFFICULTY RATING: No data
OPERATIVE: Vance
Loadout:
Primary: Nothing
Secondary: Nothing
Melee: Hands
Artifacts: Nothing
Magic: Nothing
Inventory:Nothing