Uruk

Anton opened his eyes to find a smooth ceiling. He started looking around, taking note of his surroundings, finally setting on a familiar figure.

"Ah, you're finally awake." Heydar said.

"... Are you freaking kidding me?" Anton responded. Heydar merely chuckled in response.

"Alright, alright. Jokes aside, you healed pretty quickly due to your suit, and with a little help from some nanites. I also had introduced myself back in the shuttle, but while I know your name, I don't know your other details."

"You didn't check my tags?"

"I was going to, but I didn't want to test whether or not you've been instinctively trained to break someone's wrist while you're asleep."

Indeed, most Alzitoran Military personnel are capable of doing so to prevent their fingerprints or other non-digital forms of identification from being used for not-so-savory purposes. Anton brought out the two tags tucked between his armor and bodysuit.

"Just for identification?"

"Yes, nothing else. And if it is used for something else without authorization, the individual responsible will have to deal with Kevin's lethally bad luck."

Anton held out the tags, and Heydar merely leaned down and stared closely at the tag.

"Anton C. Volante, Private First Class, Blood Type AB Positive, Brown Hair, Metallic Grey Eyes... strange... No religious preference, serial number, etcetera."

Heydar stood upright and brought his left arm level, a hologram popping up from the bracelet-like device attached to his forearm guard. He tapped away for a few seconds before lowering his arm, allowing the hologram to turn off.

"Well, with that out of the way, the medic said your mind and body should have adjusted to the Flux, and your memories back in order."

The Flux refers to a phenomenon that occurs throughout the Dimension, where quantum fluctuations are higher than normal, to the point it can affect the mental and physical state of a living being. Various factions have recorded symptoms of confusion, nausea, warp fever, acute hemorrhaging (mostly found in those with a circulatory disease or disorder), and short-term memory loss. Such symptoms typically only last anywhere from 12 hours to 2 days. Most people experience this at least once during entry.

"By the way, did you take a Metaphysical Compatibility test?" Heydar asked.

"No; it was optional and I wasn't exactly interested," Anton responded.

"It was optional in Alzitor. In Zeshan, it's required..." Heydar closed his eyes to think for a moment, before opening them back up with a slight smirk, "... but since we don't have the necessary equipment, we can hold off. Now come on. It's time I show you the rest of the ship."

Heydar motioned for Anton to get up and follow him. Heydar placed his hand on the scanner, and a green light blinked at the top as the door opened into a corridor.

"Welcome to the Uruk. Escort Carrier and Command Ship handling trade route security in the Soliv Disputed Area."

"Soliv Disputed Area?" Anton asked.

"It's a long story. There's a public terminal you can use in the Records Module."

Heydar then motioned over to the open area directly ahead. Following him in, Anton looked around to see numerous tables, a kitchen on either side, and shelves lined with packaged foods.

"This is the mess hall. You can also have food in the halls and the bunks, but generally, everyone stays here to eat. Speaking of which, have you eaten yet?"

"Not since the crash."

"Well, soldiers can't fight on an empty stomach. Have a club sandwich."

Anton caught the container tossed his way, opening it up and taking one of the sandwich halves out. It even had extra bacon, just the way he liked it. He took a bite and followed Heydar through the main airlock area and into a far more spacious area filled with cargo containers.

"Cargo area, if you couldn't tell already. Mostly supplies and ammunition to keep us self-sufficient, since this is a command ship and not a logistics cruiser. On either side are the spacecraft hangars, holding our fighters and shuttles."

"You said you were running low right? It's pretty empty in here."

"Yeah, most of the stuff we still have left is Rubryx compound and DM-Titanium used in the construction of Metamaterial Stealth Composites. That's for when we arrive at Sanadir Station..."

"I have the feeling there's an 'if' there," Anton said before taking another bite out of his sandwich.

"... IF we reserve enough fuel to get there. Problem being, those three unknown destroyers are still out there and armed with proton missiles, and without that resupply, we'll have to conserve what we have. We could stop at the Bana Fuel Depot, which is much closer, but the price has been rapidly climbing since the blockade."

"So, what I'm understanding is: We're outnumbered, outgunned, and flat out broke."

"Yeah... pretty much. until we receive reinforcements from the 25th Destroyer Squadron and their associated logistics. I would call this our darkest hour, but this is a mere skirmish and there's been far worse."

They reached a set of sliding doors and Heydar touched the up arrow on the screen.

"So with that in mind, let's head to the important part of the ship," Heydar said, "The Combat Information Center."

The doors opened to reveal an elevator, the interior having a tan and grey circuit pattern design. Anton followed Heydar in, and the doors closed before the elevator made it's way up to the command level.

Once the doors opened, Anton first saw a large hologram in the middle detailing the Uruk along with a similarly sized support cruiser on one side of the planet, with three mysterious destroyers orbiting on the other side. The Bana Fuel Depot was located 'above' everything else, but there is no up or down in space, just differing orientations.

A set of information for each point of interest was listed on the hologram as well. The support cruiser is a Serisun-class called the Dayanikli, which was responsible for intercepting the missiles, while the information on the three destroyers was slim, but at least determined some of the weaponry and the recent fact that they had limited stealth capabilities. As for the planet... well, just a rocky, mountainous planet with nothing special about it besides the few exploration rovers... and the wreckage of the expedition.

Anton then stepped out and to his left were an officer and operators sat in front of monitors displaying scanners, radar, and other related equipment, and to his right was a similar sight, except the monitors displayed weapons, power supply, life support and hull status. The CIC was housed within the armored hull of the Uruk, and ahead of the CIC was the more exposed Bridge.

"And behind us is the Officers' Medical Bay and the Records Module, in that order," Heydar finished. He began walking over to the Bridge, but then stopped and turned around to toss over a bracelet.

"Oh, and if anyone asks, tell them I wanted you to catch up on recent events. If you find anything useful, copy it onto that hologram bracelet."

Anton made his way through to the Records and entered a room with 8 large servers filled with hard drives. The room itself was capable of sealing up and detaching, allowing for another starship to retrieve it should the need arise. There were also foldable seats in some areas, allowing a partial use as an escape pod as well.

In front of Anton was a terminal. The screen indicated for a scan, and Anton took off his right combat glove before placing it down. His name came up with authorization to access the records for recent events the Uruk went through as well as several ship classes. He picked a few files to copy over to the hologram bracelet, before clipping the bracelet to his left wrist.

[Uruk - Oncu-class Escort Carrier - Zeshan Trade League]

> Ship Information

> Recent Disclosed Events

[Dayanikli - Serisun-class Support Cruiser - Zeshan Trade League]

> Ship Information

[Daneralin-class Destroyer - Straezir Royal Alliance]

> Class Information (Incomplete)

[Intolerance-class Guided Missile Battlecruiser - Straezir Royal Alliance]

> Class Information (Incomplete)

[Soliv Disputed Area]

> Records of Disputes over Control of the Soliv Nebula

> Laws Regarding Third Party Neutrality in the Soliv Nebula

'On one hand, I'd like to know how this ship operates so I don't get myself blown out an airlock,' Anton thought, 'On the other hand, these two classes from Straezir... I'm getting a gut feeling about this. Now... where to start?'

The alarm went off and the lights turned red. A pop-up on the terminal announced a Red Alert.

"Guess I'll start later."