The Saga of Askella Colony

[Tivec]

I am reserving this as a the header post to a write-along I'm doing with the current colony. I will be introducing the story in the next post.

Founding the settlement:

• April 1st, 5500 - Landfall
• April 3rd, 5500 - April 5th, 5500 - Tribesman
• April 6th, 5500 - April 9th, 5500 - Gang War
• May 1st, 5500 - The First Raid

Please feel free to leave a comment and some feedback. I do this for fun, not for profit, and English is not my main language. There may be spelling errors, grammatical oddities, and other things. Be gentle

[Tivec]

The klaxon alarms blared loudly as Corwin was rudely awoken and ejected from his cryptosleep casket. "The gravity generators in the ship must be malfunctioning," he thought as he struggled his way to the now upside down command console. He was, after all, the captain of the ship and was going to see it reach its destination. Three buttons pressed and the shield over the observation windows opened to show a burning ship. Jets of air escaped as parts of it decompressed wildly. He quickly flipped through the screens. Location: Askella, populated rimworld planet. Date: April 1st, 5500.

"What a joke, we're four years late to the wrong planet!" He switched to the emergency screen. Ship population: 5. Pods ready. He hit the button for the four pods still remaining. No time to calculate a landing site. "I just hope the population is friendly and can take us in..." There was a loud crack, a creak and a sudden silence. He threw himself into the escape pod and joined the four others on their journey through the atmosphere. As it spun, he saw the state of the ship. "Five people. We went from fourty-five thousand to five." The ship imploded, then violently exploded as it sent out a cascade of debris across the system.

---



"Stand down!" Corwin pointed his assault rifle at each person in turn. Nobody stood down. Apparently, these were all rookies who had never been through cryptosleep. The effects on people waking up could be severe, and these were thrown out of a burning ship and awoken in all but a controlled environment. Marvellous situation. Confusion and sometimes hallucinations were not uncommon in this situation.

"Why should I?" a man with a large moustache (even bigger than his own, Corwin noted) said and pointed the barrel straight at Corwin.

"I feel sick... I.. " said a young woman in a pink duster coat before doubling over and emptying out the contents of her stomach on the ground.

"Just great. Cryptosleep disrupted and no med bay." The woman speaking had a scar across her eye, and her right hand had been replaced with a bionic. She held her weapon like one who knew what battle's about.

"Look, we're all disoriented, this was not how it was supposed to go." Corwin held up one hand while slowly putting the gun on the ground. "Let's just see what we can do to fix the situation, alright?"

The man with the moustache shook his head as if trying to clear his mind, and opened his mouth to speak.

"I am not doing anything until I have some coffey," came the voice of the fifth man, a slightly overweight man with a fedora. There was something peculiar about the way he said "coffee", but Corwin gave it no more thought.

A laugh came from the woman with the scar. "Well, that's something I can stand behind. We could all use a cup now."

Slowly, everyone lowered their weapons. The poor young girl was retching next to her rifle, and the woman with the scar quickly went there to give her some aid.

"Alright. This is what we do..." And he began doing what he had always done. He took command.

---

About an hour later, they were gathered. The young girl introduced herself as "Jup", and then walked away to stand a bit away from the others as they planned.

They would set up a small camp and go looking around the nearby area for resources. Trees were to be felled, a temporary log shelter was to be built, and some source of food would be needed.

It turned out Coffey (the others had started calling him that) had a knack for building things, and he soon took charge on the small shelter. Just big enough for them to have a roof above their head over night. Kay, the scarred woman, introduced herself as a doctor, but refused to say why she had a bionic hand.

At the mention of food, Yul, the man with the moustache (Corwin was still quite jealous at that) promised to see what he could do. "Don't forget coffee," Coffey said. "I have some beans. Can you plant them?" The two trailed off, talking to each other.

What a ragtag group, but Corwin assessed the situation to be viable for now. Survival rate, improbable, but at least it's something.

[Tivec]

Amazing, Coffey's really crafty when it comes to building. He built a small shed, and even shaped a saw so Kay could make planks for construction - that bionic hand sure is handy. Jup got a desk so she could use that amazing mind of hers to figure out how to make some new equipment and tools. The group is really settling in for real!

The town is still missing a storage shed, but Coffey said he'd work on that next. And it's about time, all stuff needs to get under a roof, things were starting to deteriorate from damage. After that, A desk is needed for Corwin to oversee the settlement, which has been given the apt name of "Askella Colony". Not very glorious, but the place can always be renamed.

---



On the fourth day since landing Yul came running after spotting a stranger coming from the north, and the everyone immediately grabbed their weapons. While rushing to the positions, Yul said that the stranger was definitely local, tribal at nature, and wearing a large wooden mask. He had a weapon over his shoulder, it looked roughly like a rugged harpoon, but Yul didn't get close enough to see for sure. Everyone was on high alert as he approached.



"Come no closer!" The stranger stopped at Corwin's words, tilting his head. He didn't seem to be hostile, but we were not going to risk anything. He took a few steps closer, and showed his empty hands - weapon still slung over his shoulder. A few tense moments passed until Corwin decided that to let him approach. Everyone lowered their weapons, and most went back to their duties.



Corwin spent the next couple of hours trying to communicate with the man. He did manage to introduce himself, and got the response: "Val." So that supposedly the name of the man. He kept repeating "Tasca" and "Emba'i'sada" in a weird tongue, and at the evening debrief around the grill, Corwin said that that was probably the name of the tribe - Emba'i'sada Tasca - and that everyone needed to keep their eyes open for others.

As the tribesman left, he got attacked by a squirrel. Of all things, a squirrel? Something is wrong with this planet, when squirrels attack.