Stranded in the Rift (Kiber Dorn)

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

Endless space surrounded a small starship as it exited hyperspace, nebula and tiny lights surrounded the cylindrical vessel that sailed through the night.

The Chiloon's bounty held many secrets and the spacers who roam its expanse tell stories of the bizarre and impossible.

Sent off to be on his own, Kiber Dorn was stranded on a derelict station located somewhere in the Rift's heart near the Bubble of the Lost. Here anomalies of all sorts are experienced by the unfortunate souls who fall prey to the unseen predators.

The cold metallic hull groaned softly through the silent vacuum of space, it sung to distant stars in hopes that they'd sing back... How terrible it is to be alone for so long, to not feel the warmth of another soul... That is until finally one set foot inside the solitary station and beckoned leaden spirit.

Power on the space station was only at partial capacity, emergency lights, life support, and gravity were its only ongoing functions. Communications, security, and just about everything else was disabled. Inside the hangar there was nothing to offer as to any kind of direction, save for the single corridor that lead deep within the only other path was into the lifeless abyss outside. All this begged one final question.

What lies within?

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

 

[Kiber Dorn]

His life was one long series of cruelty.

Kiber Dorn had spent his life running and hiding from such things, and while he would find a brief respite in laying low, they were simply two elements that he could not escape. First he ran from family, then it found him again. He also ran from responsibility, and that too sought him out. For your family, for the Primeval, for yourself.

Was that cruelty? Or was it destiny?

Were these all the signs that pointed towards shedding his skin and growing up into something? Force, he had been so content with being nothing, unfortunately others did not feel the same way. Cedric seemed primed to kill him on a moment's notice, hand stayed by surname alone and Anja, well, the Host Lord had long since been at the end of her tether.

Such was evident when he was booted out of the woman's shuttle and onto a derelict vessel without much in the way of a warning or explanation.

Had he just been abandoned? Ma'am, Kiber Dorn is for life, not just for Sithmas, he thought to himself as the presence of her shuttle vanished into the vastness of space, leaving him here, alone in the dim emergency lighting accompanied by the presence of eeriness.

“Hello?” he called out, voice bouncing off of the walls, before reaching into his pocket for an emergency cigarra. Once between his lips and lit, he placed hands upon his hips and surveyed his surroundings.

She'll be back, after all I've got potential, he kidded himself, doubt already placed firmly in the back of his mind.

---

[member="The Primeval Storyteller"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

Distant lights flickered faintly, the buzz of the space station's inner workings was the only response he received as his voice echoed throughout the sparse hangar. Besides a few empty crates, there wasn't much to notice within the hangar of the space station; it was big enough to house an entire shuttle and perhaps a starfighter or two. The exact purpose of the station itself was rather unanswered by the hangar's contents.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

The sound of something pressing against a metallic surface was carried by a calm breeze through the only corridor. Lasting only briefly, the sound disappeared the moment it found its way to the unexpected visitor's ear drums. Afterwards everything went back to the usual ambiance of cracks, pops, whirring, buzzing, and ringing as the space station struggled to maintain its necessary operations; operations that kept Kiber Dorn alive. The far side doorway lead into the station, it was impossible to tell how big the facility truly was or what would be found inside.

Such stations in the rift weren't uncommon. Most were used for mining, temporary constructs later to be abandoned. However, miners were a rather wary breed and thus they made sure that once abandoned the station's would still operate for spacers that found themselves lot in the Rift. If Kiber had any clue on that fact he might find it odd that there were no maps located in the hangar, nothing to indicate where to go in the case of an emergency.

[member="Kiber Dorn"]

 

[Kiber Dorn]

Just an echo.

He grimaced at the thought of being alone upon this station. He liked having company, even if they didn't like him that much. Not that he needed somebody to talk to, more like somebody to talk at, and maybe annoy on the bonus chance. Getting a rise out of cultists was his second favourite past-time.

After spice, of course.

For a moment he froze, ears picking up the distant sounds of...something in the distance, eyes were narrowed as if that would aid his hearing any more. It did not. When the noise receded he brought the cigarra back up to his lips, taking a drag to calm his nerves.

Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

Kiber yelped, spinning around upon his heel to try and catch sight of the source of startling sound. Yet there was nothing. What could it have been?

Was his Master fething with him?

“Very funny,” he said, eyes darting all around the room to try and catch some kind of clue. Perhaps a hidden camera or maybe a hideous monstrosity waiting to kill him and eat his bones. “Where you guys hidin' at?” As if the Primeval would be down for such japes.

He peered down the dimly-lit corridor, smoke lazily wafting in front of his vision.
“Down there?”

With nowhere else to go, there looked to be no other option. With apprehension in his soul, he sighed before venturing down the corridor.

---

[member="The Primeval Storyteller"]

 

[Aleksandyr Gaillard]

The lights flickered ominously along the faintly lit halls, it seemed that with each step the source of light was further away than it seemed. Along the walls many there were many shut and sealed doors, the path guided Kiber Dorn along a particular trail that led him into a crossroad where the path split into three new directions. Forward, left, and right.

Forward seemed to go on much like the way he came, there were doorways lining the sides and some appeared to be functioning. To the left the hallway was filled with debris, crates, and and a chilly breeze seemed to be coming from somewhere in that direction. Finally to the right a staircase lead to lower levels. In the very center there was a circular shaped control panel with various buttons and switches, in the center a holoprojector protruded but produced no images.

Whatever had been making the noise earlier, the source didn't seem to be anywhere near Kiber for the moment.

[member="Kiber Dorn"]