F.O.S. Starship
The Fog
...That way.
At the safe zone's edge, beneath the purification filter's reach, Vanessa's hand finds her gun. She narrows her eyes toward the likely point of contact, where the two green signals are expected to appear.
ID signals cross-checked multiple times. No anomalies detected... Commandant Vanessa...
Could it really be... the Gray Raven Commandant and Lucia?
I don't buy it.
Vanessa's fingers tap an uneven rhythm on her gun grip, her expression empty as she does the math: could the rounds inside blast those two "green signals" right out of the safe zone?
Old friends just waltzing in out of this hellhole fog? Please. Even Babylonia's trashiest web novels have more credibility.
But if it does turn out to be Gray Raven... if they're really here, we could—
Wipe that hopeful look off your face. There's no "if."
Without looking back, Vanessa narrows her eyes, the swirling gray fog mirrored in her pupils.
I'll confirm who they are myself. But the second I give the order to fire, you'd better not blink. Hesitate, and I'll put a round through your head before theirs.
...Understood.
Deathly silence claims the soldier, who dares not pursue the matter further.
Gray fog drifts and coils through the air as Vanessa studies the safe zone's boundary with unnerving calm, waiting for the answer she's already anticipated.
Heavy footfalls slam against the earth, hammering at their eardrums, and Vanessa's gun sweeps toward the sound with exacting precision, her breathing all but invisible.
Something's off.
Vanessa's brow tightens into a sharp furrow.
The footsteps... It's just one person.
She has no time to process it. A piercing shriek tears the silence apart, and from deep within the fog comes the sharp, metallic ring of a blade.
A Construct using a blade... Captain Lucia? Is that really her?!
Rargh—!
There's a wet tear of severed flesh, and then a charred Corrupted's limb spins through the air, arcing before it slams onto the deck.
That's not Lucia... Fall back!
Vanessa's order cuts through the air, signaling the soldier to hold up the gun. She leans forward, every muscle wound tight as a crossbow at its limit, her finger already kissing the trigger—
The fog splits. A blade has parted it, and there in the shadows beyond stands a "Construct".
Not particularly tall. Her eyes hold the calm of the abyss itself, her black-and-red frame cutting sharply through the gray fog.
Identify yourself!
Something about this Construct tugs at her memory, but Vanessa holds her weapon steady, the barrel fixed squarely on target.
...
Talk, or turn around and walk.
Could she have been dragged into this place by the fog, just like them? And if so, how could she have survived alone in here for this long?
Twenty-one days. Not long by most measures, but for the F.O.S. starship trapped in this hell, it's been an eternity.
Anything that survives in a place like this is either a monster or something worse. And right now, F.O.S. can't afford another disaster.
...
Silence is the only reply. Vanessa's gaze turns to steel, and she fires without a flicker of hesitation. The round screams past Alpha's ear, a hair's breadth from drawing blood.
...
Alpha's eyes narrow. Her hand drifts, coming to rest lightly on her blade's hilt.
Last chance. There won't be another—
I-Instructor Vanessa...!
Nia rushes in from the side, and the tense standoff breaks, if only for a moment.
...Get behind me.
Frowning, Vanessa steps forward with measured precision, subtly placing herself between Nia and Alpha.
I gave orders for everyone to stay in the safe zone. Why are you here?!
Instructor Raynor sent me! He said, he said...
Still gasping from her sprint in the bulky protective suit, Nia fights to relay Instructor Raynor's message verbatim, jabbing a finger toward a different location.
He said the two green signals on the holo-map suddenly changed course. Looks like they're heading for the safe zone from that direction...
...
No time to spare. Vanessa signals the Construct soldier to keep Alpha covered and whirls toward Nia's outstretched hand—
Two figures slip out of the gray haze, silent as shadows.
Who's there?!
The two voices ring out almost simultaneously.
...Show yourselves!
Same way you did.
...Quit stalling. Step forward!
From the thick fog, two figures slowly take shape. They are none other than the Gray Raven Commandant and the squad's captain, Lucia.
...
Vanessa doesn't lower her weapon. She doesn't step aside from the path to the safe zone, either.
And who's going to prove you're the Gray Raven Commandant... [player name]?
I can vouch for Commandant. I'm Lucia, captain of Gray Raven. Frame designation BPL-01, Pyroath version.
That's public record. Anyone on Babylonia could recite it.
And also...
...Tch. Everyone knows the great Gray Raven Commandant is an F.O.S. Chief.
All of that's in the public database. If you don't have real proof, turn around and leave. Now.
Her gun comes up. Vanessa's eyes find you, cold and unwavering.
Alright, then...
...Shut up.
The furrow in Vanessa's brow doesn't ease. She pivots in one swift motion, her gun finding Alpha.
That just leaves you as the problem.
Don't bother. I have no interest in sticking with you either.
Alpha doesn't intend to stay. She turns, already walking away.
What now? Another old friend of yours?
You scramble to cobble together a cover story for Alpha. Vanessa's expression remains skeptical. Across the group, Alpha arches an eyebrow, her stare slicing through the distance to pin you in place.
You want me to stay.
The Fog is a realm of nothing but the unknown. On the surface, Alpha is an enemy. But in this place, you all face the same threat and share the same objective.
Besides...
How do you—
Alpha's eyes drift toward Lucia, off to the side. She goes quiet, holding herself back from further interference.
You face Vanessa again, trying once more to spin a believable backstory for Alpha.
And what guarantees her identity holds up?
...
Fine. I'll take that for now.
But if she causes trouble, you're going down right alongside her.
Vanessa lowers her gun and turns back toward the safe zone.
Once a small central square aboard the F.O.S. starship, this space—with its proximity to the compact purification filter and its generous expanse—has been hastily repurposed into a safe zone.
Salvaged supplies from the Fog sit in disordered piles, while makeshift metal barricades throw uneasy shadows across the floor.
Twenty-one days. That's how long the F.O.S. starship has been trapped in the Fog.
Food, medicine, and serum are dwindling fast, with no hope of resupply. The scent of decay lingers. In the corners, the wounded, students, and instructors sit or stand in scattered clusters. As your group enters, their eyes follow, silent and watchful.
...89 survivors. 33 wounded.
Aside from Scout Team 5 at the comms tower, this is everyone.
The moment the command room door clicks shut, Vanessa's shoulders drop, just a fraction, betraying a flicker of exhaustion.
Bad. Why does it feel like we've had this talk before?
Anyway, this is already the 21st...
The final grain of sand hangs for a breath, suspended in the glass, before dropping. Vanessa reaches out and flips the hourglass, watching the sand spill into its endless cycle once more.
The 22nd day.
A shadow crosses Vanessa's face.
When F.O.S. came under attack, its defense systems triggered and ejected the starship.
Surface attacks kept coming for a while after. I tried mounting a counteroffensive, but we couldn't lock onto the enemy. Had to stand down.
At first, nobody thought much of it. Comms tower went down, we lost contact, but we could still pick up Babylonia's signal... until the ship got dragged into this hellhole.
Yes. The F.O.S. was "captured" by this space, yanked in on purpose.
The second we picked up the gravity anomaly, we pushed engines to full output, tried to wrestle back control of the ship. Didn't do a damn thing.
One violent lurch, and we were in.
The most suspicious people who've shown up? You three.
There's something big prowling the ship. Can't confirm if it's a Corrupted or something else entirely. Doesn't show itself much. Only surfaces after the heavy tremors.
We're calling it "Chimera" for now.
Yeah. Strange pair of horns, massive frame. My money's on it being the thing that tore those "rifts" open.
But I don't have the people to go on the offensive. All I can do is hold this safe zone.
She frowns.
We've got wounded piling up. Sitting here isn't an option anymore. We need an exit. How'd you two... you three get in? Can we backtrack through your entry point?
Commandant and I... along with this Construct, were pulled in at the old F.O.S. surface site.
...The old surface site?
...
Alpha doesn't call out your lie.
Gray fog had swallowed everything. Your eyes opened, and the deck beneath you felt familiar and wrong all at once.
The ringing in your ears refused to fade. Your first thought was the Construct. She should have been right there with you.
Commandant, I'm here.
Commandant, this might be the F.O.S. starship, but it's also... something more...
Lucia rose to her feet. After checking the Punishing Virus filtration system on your protective suit and confirming it functioned properly, she spoke in a quiet voice.
The structure matches the F.O.S. starship. But this space itself... it feels like the Fog.
The Hetero Tower had never shown itself, which meant there should have been no way into the Fog...
I'm... not quite sure either.
When I entered the Fog before, it wasn't like this.
She remembered how it used to be. The Fog was an infinite gray haze where time and space held no meaning, where she could only run senselessly, a headless chicken lost in the void.
But this place...
Countless rifts yawned open, each a doorway to some other "domain," and through them came grotesque monsters by the thousands, descending upon the deck in an endless, writhing tide.
Even through the murk, the starship's monument stood out like a beacon. But the silence was wrong—too deep, too complete. Nothing stirred except the skittering of monsters and the bloodstains that painted the floor. The place was silent as a tomb.
Are they really still alive?
Ngh...
A faint tremor rippled through your Mind Beacon. Lucia's brow furrowed in response.
...It's nothing serious, Commandant. Just the Fog pressing on me.
I can't recall. It may be part of whatever's changed about this place. The Hetero Tower didn't manifest, after all.
Looking back yielded no route of return. The only choice left was to press on.
Commandant, we...
The F.O.S. had disappeared on Homecoming Day, with seasoned commandants on board. Faced with a Punishing Virus concentration this dense, they would have made straight for the compact filter.
You braced for the worst with every step, until at last, human silhouettes emerged in the distance. Only then did the tightness in your chest begin to ease.
The Fog, huh... Never heard the name before. Fits, though.
Vanessa accesses the F.O.S. navigation logs on the terminal.
So your entry point, which was near the old F.O.S. surface site, might connect to an exit leading out of the Fog...
It's still a lead. Beats sitting on our hands waiting to die.
Those damn rifts won't stop vomiting monsters. Priority one is locking down the safe zone we've got. After that, we work out—
Bzzz—
The hull convulses without warning, a bone-deep tremor that sets the alloy bulkheads groaning, warping under the strain.
Ngh...
Alpha takes a half-step back, barely perceptible, her fingers locking tight around her blade's hilt.
...
Another M.I.N.D. tremor rippled through, the same kind you felt upon entering the Fog... Could the Chimera be causing this?
Another one... Raynor! Grab the reserve 7th scout team, sweep the safe zone perimeter. No rifts open inside on my watch. And tell Elianna to—
She caught herself and slammed her mouth shut.
On it!
Raynor acknowledges from outside the door and hurries off.
...And you. Don't just stand there. Take those two and go check...
She calls up the tactical radar's holographic projection, scanning for the densest enemy concentrations—
There. Another green marker, drowning in an endless swarm of red hostiles.
...You've got to be kidding me. A fourth F.O.S. signal?
Wait. But how...
Vanessa's head snaps up in shock.
That position... Why is this person right on top of the Chimera?!
