Reunion - The Wanderer - WEP August Challenge

Reunions are celebrated on ReUnion, a colony planet that has been settled for a few hundred years. Here is one of the stories from that planet.

Surface horizon of a planet, similar to ReUnion, free use image

ReUnion - The Wanderer


A Noah Generation II Starship arrived at the landing port with supplies to trade. The sleek stealth black wing design could handle hyperjumps and was equipped with hidden armaments in the exterior shell of the ship. The manifesto included grains, seeds, cloned animal embryos designed to withstand the rigors of space travel, and the latest inventions.

Captain's Log:
We planned to be here for a week, time to unload, reload, make a few deals. With the upcoming ReUnion Festival of Humanity opening in a few days, this place is going to be crawling with potential customers. I smell more profits. 

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A red alert flashed indicating an incoming message to the bridge. The captain's raised eyebrows and his switch into action at one of the consoles confirmed this was a real call for help. No one else moved for a few seconds. . .

"Urgent. Mayday. SOS. SOS. Generation I, Colony Starship Wanderer, damaged from attack. Urgent. Come in ReUnion. Our call code is SSJ900. Mayday. Mayday...."

"Call Code SSJ900. This is NOAH , Gen II Trade Starship SST1100, Captain Jona speaking. Do you read me? I'm in contact with the landing agent on ReUnion. An emergency ship will be dispatched. What coordinates?"

"Coordinates sent. Thanks Captain Jona. I'm Pilot Olivar, our power level is depleting. We may need towing unless you have a mechanic who understands the old starship configuration. I can send the schematics."

"Great. I'll forward them to the agent. Your signal wasn't strong enough with all the interference of other ships landing and leaving."

"Can't boost it. Power level too low. I'll look you up later, Captain Jona. I owe you one, sir."

As he signed off, Captain Jona wondered if this man kept his word. Many say of things they will do, but few follow through. This could be an event of historic importance, a wandering explorations colony ship! He wanted to see the other ship and look up Pilot Olivar, once he arrived. 

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Captain Jona obtained clearance to visit the ship, on the condition that he would act as liaison for the incoming Terran ship and its captain. 

From the notes of the meeting in the Captain's Log, Starship Noah, quoted verbatim:

"We are a exploration settlement ship which left Terra many centuries ago, an advance ship sent prior to the Great Evacuation. We have been searching for human settlements but only finding other species or humans who look like us. but are NOT like us. Searching so long . .then we were attacked several weeks ago by one of the free-running marauders. They usually travel in pairs but this one was alone. We used a lot of our power supply to escape the attack. We are grateful for your help.

"May we also express our sincere thanks to Captain Jona who heard our call for assistance and responded. Our pleas would have gone unheard if not for him."


Captain Jona winced, but smiled and nodded. No way was he going to stand and acknowledge his part. Nope. 

Pilot Olivar stood and looked at the few who were able to attend this momentous meeting. Privacy meant it couldn't be a public affair, only an inner circle could be trusted. But Olivar knew, it wouldn't take long for word to get around.

"We, and I speak for my shipmates, will need to assess our damage in human lives as well as our ship functions. I'm not sure how many we may have lost in that last encounter."

Pilot Olivar invited Captain Jona to meet with him privately, so they might talk friend to friend.  As they are dining, Jona tells Olivar about ReUnion and asked him to meet again so they might be able to set up a deal with some of the trade items. Olivar asked him how the name of the planet came to be ReUnion.
 
Jona replied, "This planet was named ReUnion by the initial settlers with their hope of reuniting some of the far-flung colonies of humankind.  After centuries of no contact, most of the population has forgotten that reason. Reunion has become a focal point at the crossroads of several trade routes. The colony has grown into several large cities on the one large continent. Trade is the lifeblood of this planet. That's why we are here."

WC = 754

To be continued at a later date. . .

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Do you like reunions of any kind? Have you attended a reunion for your school or work location, or a large family reunion in the last year?

Please leave a comment to let me know you came by and I'll respond. Thanks for taking time to read my entry, a partial beginning for a short story.

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WEP - Write, Edit, Publish - a fiction challenge: REUNIONS

It's August, time for another WEP challenge - with the support team of Nilanjana Bose and Olga Godim adding their imaginings and creativity. Thanks to Denise and Yolanda for being the hosts!

Create an artistic entry: a poem, a flash fiction piece of 1000 words or less, a non-fiction piece detailing your personal experience or someone else's experience, write a script, draw your dreams, or post a photograph or a photo essay. The genre and the artistic choice are yours!

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If I Wish Upon a Constellation - WEP October Challenge

If I Wish Upon a Constellation,  will more stars make the wish come true?

What was that old Terran saying? Star light, Star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight. . . .

Omega Nebulae *

As I look up into the darkness above me, I see multitudes of glittering stars, and a few constellations I know. Some regions of the starry sky have order and others do not, they seem splattered on the darkness in chaos. The swirling clouds of nebuli glow with colours for which we have no names, as stars are born from the etherial dust. A flash of distant brightness as a star goes nova, and a comet streaks by, its tail streaming. This is a performance, a light show of the night sky.

Eagle Nebulae Pillars *

All around me I see the dust and little rocks which make up the surface of this asteroid which is our colony's home. This fine dust gets into everything. Likely it's in our bodies, too. The surface is barren and unwelcoming. But below the surface, we manage with what we have. It's not a bad life, but it is a hard life. 

Telescope Image*

On Terra, so the teachers tell us, the ancients studied the stars, gave them names and sent probes to explore them.. All this, which they told us was unfounded however, until a recent discovery.

While working my shift turn at the main library, I found a forgotten copy of an antiquated manuscript on constellations which detailed groupings of stars in the various quadrants as seen from old Terra. It had fallen between two storage shelves. Now, I had that manuscript, hidden in my satchel, loaned to me under strict secrecy by a sympathetic librarian in our colony.  I had to return it in a few days. All artifacts had to be submitted to the colony panel.

As I leaned back on the rock, I caught a movement out of the side of my eye. All my sensors went on high alert. What was that? And, why is it hiding?

Something doesn't feel quite right. Maybe I'm sensing something. Prickly hair on my neck, and a twitchy eye.  A bad sign. No one could know about the manuscript pages I brought up to compare to our stars. . .could they?

I look around but see nothing. Only one person knows I'm on the surface and that person is out at one of the camps.  I have to do something. . .

I reached for the laser pistol clamped on the side of the suit. I turned. Nothing. All seemed as it should. I did a quick 360 degrees turn, using my visual infrared feature of the helmet to scan for heat signatures. There, something giving off a very small heat signature  behind that outcropping. 

Then it was gone. No heat signature reading. No movement. I looked away, for just a moment. When I looked back, they were gone. I wasted no time in getting up, keeping the pistol in my gloved hand and securing the exterior door after leaving the airlock.

Another incident. 


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Please leave a comment to let me know you were here and tell me how you feel about the unexplored frontier in space? 

Thanks for dropping by and taking the time to read my post. Please remember to visit the others on the participation list found on Denise's blog.

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Write, Edit, Publish

FLASH FICTION, POETRY, NON-FICTION, PLAYSCRIPTS, ARTWORK OR PHOTOGRAPHY.  It's your choice of medium, and genre, but the word count should be about 1000 maximum. Check out more details at the WEP site, and there you will find the entrants participating in this challenge!  

Join us in these challenges, and practice your short fiction!WEP Hosts: Denise and Yolanda

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References:

* = From various telescope images.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/88_modern_constellations 

http://www.go-astronomy.com/constellations.htm images of constellations


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_quadrant Galactic quadrant


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation) Orion constellation

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CONSTELLATION DEFINED:
a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure. Modern astronomers divide the sky into eighty-eight constellations with defined boundaries. OR a group or cluster of related things.

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