*Dream: Chapter One (Wyvern TF)*

*Hard Landing*

Reading the prologue in not required but it is recommended, either way I hope everyone enjoys

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Dreams are the gateway to our imagination, we must fight to protect them...
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The idea of fate never occurred to Kevin in the past, his life was simply too complicated to worry about it. Although, now that the launch day had arrived he couldn't get it out of his mind. He was thinking about that as the time on his dimly lit computer ticked over to 7:00 AM, setting the alarm off. He let out a long sigh as he slowly got up and walked over to the alarm, turning it off. Afterwards, he put his computer in standby mode and got into the shower. Once he had showered and gotten dressed he walked back over to the computer and sat down at the desk.

Outside his window the sun had just begun to creep over the hills in the distance. Other than himself and a few engineers there was not a human soul for many kilometers in any direction. He had arranged for food and other supplies to be shipped out from the nearest city every few months. Even for being a wealthy man his house was rather small, minus the launch facility in his back yard there were very little visible signs of his wealth. As a blue song bird landed on his window seal he turned on a camera that was sitting on the desk in front of him.

A few days ago Kevin had decided to start a video journal, as the camera came to life he wondered if a keeping this kind of record was really worth it. Once the power was on he straitened his T-shirt and greeted the screen before making a short remark about the launch which was scheduled to happen that morning. As he was talking a knock could be heard coming from the door, he muted the mic and went to see who it was. The head engineer in charge of the construction of his ship, the Phoenix, apologized for the interruption, he then informed Kevin that the vessel was almost ready for the launch. Kevin thanked the man and ran over to the camera, un-muting the mic and quickly finishing up his journal entry.

As he was about to log off he made a short comment, "I still can't believe this is happening...".

On the top on a hill behind his house stood a small launch facility, it consisted of a command building, two hangers and a dirt runway. In the second hanger the final touches were being down on the Phoenix. She was a impressive vessel, originally designed for a crew of five she barley fit in the hanger. Before heading to the Phoenix Kevin decided to make sure everything was set for the launch in the command building. Once he had entered the control center on the second floor the computers spread around the circular room came to life, the computerized face of a women soon appeared on one of the large screens in the front of the room.

Kevin shook his head as he took a seat in one of the chairs, "Morning ARIS, is everything ready?",

"Affirmative, the human engineers are just doing a final check. My counterpart was installed last night while you were sleeping",

Looking down at the computer screen in front of him he typed something into the command box before responding, "Good, good...if everything goes according to plan I hope you'll have a bottle waiting for me when I return",

"Yes sir...but in the event of an error I will have a casket waiting",

Kevin coughed as he stammered for an answer, "Morbid today aren't we?",

"I...apologize...one of the engineers spilled coffee on my emotion circuits this morning",

Kevin rubbed his face as he finished up on the computer, "Well see if you can correct this "error" before I get back, no one wants you turning into HAIL",

"Understood sir".

Kevin took a deep breath as he stood up, he walked over to the door and said goodbye to ARIS before making his way out of the building. Outside, the engineers had already pushed the Phoenix onto the runway. When he stepped out of the door one of the engineers cut the straps holding the ship to a wheeled platform and careful began to slide her off. The vessel's landing gear did not have wheels so she made a horrendous screeching sound as she was slid off. Kevin originally based the ship's structure off of one of the space based video games that he use to play many years ago called Mass Effect. As he walked by he rubbed an inscription written in bright blue letters underneath the ship's name, Explorationem Renascitur (Exploration Reborn).

The head engineer walked over to Kevin and wished him good luck, he thanked the man as he boarded the craft. Once inside the lights spread around came to life and various screens began to display information of all kinds. Taking a seat at the front of the vessel Kevin worked down a checklist that had appeared on the main screen. Afterwards he radioed the command building and asked ARIS to begin the countdown. He then activated once system after another as the numbers passed by the screen. When they reached zero he activated the ship's hover engine, the tremor that resulted could be felt all the way in the distant city. Slowly the Phoenix lifted vertically off the ground, once he had cleared the hangers he activated the ships main engine and trusted toward the stars.

Unlike conventional space travel, once Kevin made it past the Karman Line and into true space he did not experience anti-gravity. This was do to an artificial gravity plating that he had installed in the floor of the ship several months before. For a time as the Earth faded behind him he was tempted to turn the plating off but doing so would damage various ship systems. He soon entered a stable orbit at four hundred kilometers and set a course for the International Space station. After several minutes as he came within fifty kilometers of the station he opened radio frequencies, attempting to contact the station's crew. On the opposite side of the main door he had made sure to construct a airlock that would be able to fit the station.

Several minutes passed before a man with a thick Russian accent responded, "This is the International Space Station...we can not identify you, please respond",

"Hello, this is the Starship Phoenix requesting docking clearance, over",

"We are not expecting supplies for a month, what agency are you from, copy?",

"I am not from any government agency...this craft is an experimental design, I need to check to see if she suffered any damage during the take off",

The station did not immediately respond, as Kevin began to worry that the line had been cut an American female came over the radio, "This is...very unusual. I'm are not sure if we are allowed to let you on board but if your ship is capable to dock then I will personally check for any damage",

Kevin thanked them for there understanding and began the docking sequence. Once he was docked with the station the women came back over the radio and told him that a station representative would be coming on board while she looked over his ship. He waited eagerly at the airlock for the crew member to arrive, the same Russian who had first greeted him soon walked into the Phoenix. The man's face when he stepped onto the gravity plating was a mix of shock and confusion, Kevin welcomed the Russian and asked if he wanted a tour of the ship. What Kevin was not counting on was the torrent of questions from the man, who's demeanor was very different from when he first came over the radio.

After over twenty minutes of questions Kevin bid farewell to the station crew member and took a seat back in the front of the ship. He then turned around and took the camera he had used earlier that day out of a backpack before setting it onto the dashboard. The conversation he had this time lasted a bit longer than before, ending with him deciding to keep the camera rolling until the initial test was over. A few minutes later the American gave him the all clear and he undocked from the ISS. As he departed from the station he reached over to flick a switch, accidentally knocking over the camera in the process. After quickly picking it up he checked for damage, afterwards he set it back down and began the final testing sequence.

Right before he initiated the jump he made a passing comment, "Well, here's for nothing...",

As the ship's FTL engines spun to life the entire vessel distorted, not only did the space outside the hull twist and warp but inside Kevin felt as if his entire body was being pulled forward. While checking to make sure everything was working correctly a faint explosion could be heard outside the ship. He frantically tried to figure out what happened but before he could another much larger explosion rocked the vessel. This time half of the middle section of the ship was torn off, the engines were strained trying to contain the breach. At that point the FTL jump had already been aborted and the instruments claimed they had jumped back only a few thousand kilometers from were they last were. The problem was the planet that Kevin was orbiting was not Earth, at least, not his Earth. As the the Phoenix came closer to the ground she skipped across a large mountain, destroying what little landing gear she had left. Right before impact Kevin grabbed onto the camera to try and stop it from being destroyed.

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The force of the crash knocked Kevin out for several hours and when he came too the dust had still not settled. He groggily tried to pull himself up but found that a piece of metal was pining his leg to the floor. No matter how much he pulled the debris would not budge, after a few failed attempts he reached up to the console and grabbed the radio's microphone. Once he had recorded an emergency message he put the radio in an automatic broadcasting mode and grabbed a metal pipe laying near by. It was extremely painful but he soon was able to pry the metal just enough to get his leg out. As he began to get up a sharp pain in his side sent him smashing back to the ground, he then found a large piece of glass logged into his lower torso.

Knowing that pulling it out would only make it bleed more Kevin simply wrapped his hand around it and held it in place as he got up. A massive hole in the side of the ship let the mid day sun in, the front section of the ship was only being held to the back by a few very weak beams and assorted wires. He slowly walked over the gap and limped to the back of the ship only to find that the engine was down to ten percent power and the main computer had been badly damaged. After brushing off some debris covering the computer's console he tried to see if he could get it back up and running. Fortunately the backup computer was still functioning, he carefully crouched on the ground and opened up a panel underneath the console. He then flipped the power switch and began to rearrange the wires. Once he had completed the work on the computer he switched the power on and placed the panel back.

As the screen came to life ARIS' distorted voice could be heard, "Systems damaged...analysing...36% of vessel destroyed...scanning...location unknown",

Kevin grabbed hold a piece of debris and got up, almost passing out from the pain in the process, "ARIS...is there enough power for code 82?",

"Affirmative, however you appeared injured...recommend that you wait for paramedics to arrive",

As ARIS talked Kevin could feel his consciousness slipping, "Ya I don't think paramedics are going to be arriving...please activate code 82",

"Understood...defense systems activated, recommend you exit vessel",

Kevin could barley hear ARIS speak as he stumbled out of the ship in a haze, he could no longer keep his wound from bleeding and had lost a considerable amount of blood. His own feet could also no longer keep him up as he fell to the ground and began crawling away from the vessel. A faint blue energy field soon appeared around the Phoenix as a single laser turret popped out of the top and began scanning the area. Unknowingly to him when he had skipped across the mountain he had woken up something very big. The creature had then spent the past few hours trying to find the source of the sound. As he lay there bleeding the creature began circling the crash. It was trying to figure out what the craft was when it saw Kevin laying there, it then veered off it's course and landed in front of him.

As he lost consciousness he could aware that it said something, "Ik Krarivar? Gatha urra vawro ukag vare", A Human? Think they were long dead