Fate of the Universe

Sailing across the stars, a small ship about 40 metres across is carrying with it half a dozen passengers, including an onboard Ai. It is a Diameter, one of the many ships the transport-ship-turned-operating-base Galactic Orb has in its arsenal, and it is half way to its destination, a planet called Homgern.

Its lunch time, and the crew are gathered in the cafeteria of the ship. Nodume, the co-pilot, is lying back in his chair, trying to relax as his duty is mostly covered by the newly implemented AI. Elexa, the ship technician, is finishing her ration quickly so as to get back to monitor the AI that was donated by the allied Faction called Green Window. One can never know these days if anyone, especially an AI, is a spy of a rival Faction, or even worse.

The others present include Medical Officer Yond, Duty Distributor Morvin, Princess Purra Fatelight, and Investigator Xóchitl Atlacamani.

After Elexa scoffs down the last of the brown pudding, she grabs her computer tablet that was lying on the table and rushes out of the cafeteria. She will likely be at the cockpit, connecting her tablet and reading data from the ITARI.

Meanwhile, Yond stands up and does stretches, looking out through the round purple-tinted window of the ship. Stars and a single distant brown planet slink by.

"Ah! By Ureka!" Elexa gave a surprised scream, before quickly composing herself. "Oh, it's just you. Just... don't mention that I still use my local god's name. Anyways, I'm still trying to understand how you function. Despite being 2 weeks of studying these results, I think I just barely scratched the surface..."

Morvin the Duty Distributer puts away the book he was reading, and pulls out the file containing the mission information. "Guys, I know you don't like me to repeat this again, but to refresh your memory, your mission is to find this man named Scepio Valik. Also known as the Preservator by the local civilians." Morvin says in a dreary voice.

"Try not to draw too much attention. Only those at the top of the government, and our local spies, know of our arrival. This man is suspected of being an Outsider agent and infiltrator. I can't give any more information, as the Information Distributive Department felt that you are too low ranking to be trusted to handle excessive info. Your mission to have enough proof of that he is not who he say he is, then call in reinforcements that will handle the situation. But if you guys are confident enough, you might take him on your own..." Morvin gives a wry smile.

Ah yes." Morvin says as he flips through the document. He shows the Princess and the Investigator two pages containing photographs of a well dress middle aged man. "This here is him 2 months ago, and this one is him last month. You may take note of his eyes." The older photo have him with brown eyes, while the newer one has his left eye being green.

"Of course, this might just be some new fashion of Homgern, but we have to take anomalies very seriously especially with doppelgangers and possessors in our times. And concerning about the name Preservator, it's just a dramatic title. The locals give to their famous people similar names like that. Dr Valik is the lead scientist of a medical research organisation called Tanks For Life. His team have invented a method to preserve organs indefinitely, and is now working towards immortality and suspended animation."

Elexa looks up at the projected image of ITARI. "Um..." thanks?" She says with a blush and a brief look of concern. Then a moment later after she turns back to her tablet that she realised that the AI is being subtly angry at her intrusions into his inner workings.

"Oh! You mind that I am checking if you're a... ah I mean, that I'm studying you! OK, I'll stop now." She exits the program that was on the screen, and disconnects her device, before nervously nodding to the hologram as she makes her leave to the sleeping quarters.

Elexa stops and hears itari's explanation. "I see. You trully are advanced, almost as if you're a real person. Um, do you take offense to that? OK, I'll respect you like a patient, and I will be sure to let the others know that you have feelings too.

2 more weeks passed, and the ship is finally nearing its destination. The planet of Homgern has pale green oceans, jade forests, and brown deserts. If one were to look at the windows facing the planet, it will look to be the size of an outstretched clenched fist.

"Yo, guys." The co-pilot calls out to the gathered group. "We'll be landing in a couple of minutes. Just to let y'all know, there is a beacon placed by our guys down there. Wherever it is, they believe it's the best place to park our ship secretly. Oh, and we'll be using basic cloaking. With the technological level of Homgern, no one will likely detect us if we turn on our defense fields as we descend."

Morvin speaks this time. "We at the United Worlds Project believe in having the worlds that we come into contact with to maintain their culture and have a natural development of their technology. If we deem a world to be unsuitable to introduce our standard of space travel to, then our interactions will be kept as low as possible. We had break ups in our old organisation in the past. We were once called the Galaxial Initiative, a splinter group of our original Faction: The End of Universe Project. Don't be alarmed, that old name was in reference to our resistance to the prophecied fate of our universe."

"But I digress. Because of our history of members having different ideas of how to progress our union, we feel that to avoid such infightings again, we'll be more selective in which planets we "ascend". In regards to Homgern's hostility. I'm afraid it's likely that some local nations will regard us as a threat, but the country we will go to is amiable with us, as we have established secret relations with their government. If the military identified us, they'll be ordered not to attack. However, we can't tell how the common civilians will react. It's best that we blend with them when we- I mean you 3 attempt to accomplish your mission. The other important reason to do so is because our target might indeed be a malicious infiltrator and flees if he knows we are after him. We'll be protecting the ship and keep in contact with you with our communication devices. As for their technology level, they have computers and Internet at a basic level, they have yet to land on their moon, and their most advanced area of science so far is in medicine and genetics."

It did not take long before co pilot Nodume steers the space craft into the planet's atmosphere. The beacon is set at a desert region, and the time of day would be in the early morning as the surface is still under darkness. With the automated systems kicking in, and the activation of the defense fields, the ship swiftly lands on solid ground. After the docking bay decompresses, the landing walkway opens up, and the party sees 2 people waiting for them right outside. Under the lights from inside the ship, it can be seen that they are wearing camo hoodies.

"Come with us." A gruff male voice says as one of the hooded walks away.

"Ah, apologies for him." Says the other, who is a lady. "He tends to be like that. Anyways, hello fellow friend of the UWP! I am Saromia, and that guy that is now heading to our base is Gorovon. Its nice to see that the UWP is so welcoming these days, as I get to see many exotic and beautiful woman such as you! Oh did I get too carried away? My bad! Anyways, we are the local spies of UWP, and our duty is mainly to send reports of any suspicious activity of possible alien incursions to our noble employers. You probably have knowledge of what the present issue is, if not, we can discuss it at our headquarters. Come, let's go!"