Pulses in the Dark, Atum Stories Pt.1

[Vibrant Songs]

Prologue: Warnings Ignored

The Tombstone, one of the most advanced warships designed and made by the Order after the fall of Toledo, a ship showing its fear in forms of detection, spying and many other possibility in its old dusty hulls and forms that lingered in and out of the Order space. Five new additions were made for the Order, only three remained, the Tombstone, Palettes and the Razgirz, all three still accounted for. The fourth, suffering total destruction at the hands of on board combat during the apprehension of Admiral Kelly Hellion, causing the full loss of the forth warship in its entirety, remaining a burning broken husk on the ground of Planet Akabat. All that remained was the fifth, codenamed the Atum warship, the personal flagship of Milly Stone which had been missing for longer then most agents recalled. Recently brought back to light by the Order Primary Fleet, the Atum had its eyes set by the Order to be located, found and brought back fully. Little to the Order's knowing until recently, this lone Tombstone stored more data then most people knew of, ranging from all encounters the Order held, to spying networks, information on people and more. While Milly didn't speak much on what the warship could do, she warned Jeremy Hunter and Admiral Golanski that the warship was by no means a joke in terms of defense... Yet little heed was paid toward the warning that Stone tried to give them...

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Last Location: Omicron Minor, Unknown Sector
Camera: 10
Pulse Detection: 127th

Unknown energy and sensory detected, warning, cloaking device detected coming online
Error, Cruiser Atum lost

After weeks and months of searching, tons of missing patrol reports, sightings and listings, the Order ground bases all over Akabat were abuze about the sighting of the almost six year old warship known as Atum, or properly the Tombstone warship inside the Minor system. While reports gave off little, the detailed reports said it was moving on its on and blocking out all forms of detection possible, as if using some form of unknown sensory jamming. While the ship was old, it was quite clear that it was doing quite well, but how it was still around after Toledo remained a mystery entirely that even Milly remained tight lipped on, seeming to fear some hidden truth. The sighting was a rare one, and the location was right near the Mu hole location in Minor yet it was moving around quickly, almost scanning and looking for something. Upon being detected by the patrolling warship, the scouting patrol noted how the warship began to glow slowly a blueish tint before it flashed and was gone, having not jumped however, it seems the Atum still had what the Tombstone sister of it did, a prototype cloaking system that rendered the warship practically not only invisible to the naked eye, but also to scanners, sensors and more, however the odd effect was when the pilots returned after finding it, all three agents repeating the same thing, a ghost in the shadows, pulses in the dark, a demon in the clouds. Clearly not a nomad, or an infested vessel, all pilots seemed to repeatedly suffer from the same flash effect over and over again, each time they personally saw it. As medical reports came in the next day, the admirals and commanders would found the cruisers flashing effect in the Minor cloud was causing them to suffer from some form of mental trauma, either about some creature or beast near the Atum, while those that didn't see it but detected it reported nothing was even with it to begin with, most likely showing that the cruiser was using the fact the field of Minor caused Terror to many to its advantage to run and hide each time it was detected

Finally breaking her silence, the sister told Golanski and Jeremy what they wanted, that this was the most experimental prototype the Order had of the Tombstone class, holding not only what they gave, but also boosted jamming, sensors and many other things that rendered locating and tracking of the Atum next to impossible unless some form of great measures were taken to trick the warship to go into its lockdown PESS phase, however noting that the fact the nebula didn't effect the cruiser was far from normal and that it seemed to be operating on its own was...she noted the one possibility of an agent who could of been, but the chances were extremely slim...Finally breaking and giving out more and more information during the questioning, Golanski and Jeremy would hear that Aelita was never recovered, and the Stone they had was a matter of fact her older sister Milly. She repeated the fact and statement that the possibility of Aelita being alive and captaining the ship was next to impossible...yet didn't deny the fact it was completely impossible, even hinting that it may be here...why she didn't return for the last five years after Toledo fell and more had yet to be reveled, Aelita still remaining one of the few agents missing in action after Milly finally told Jeremy and Golanski who she was...if she was not the real Aelita, that meant the real Stone was still missing, and now her ships had upped and vanished besides the Lyoko Gunship which was destroyed over a year ago during Millys attempt to escape

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Time: 14:00
Location: Omicron Minor, Sector Six Beta

The patrol began to lead them to where the ship was last located, the search began as Jeremy and Golanski remained behind to watch from a command center, it was fine...well, quiet for nearly an hour before the warship decloaked dead center of the ships. The fact it decloaked on the patrol then running made it look extremely off before several wide shots came off it, the agents spreading in panic away, the leader calling in back up as one of his men were podded as the Tombstone's razor system downed the ship. "This is Yellow leader requesting back up, the Tombstone has decloaked on us but has begun firing without warning, two of my squad members are down-" Static came in, the pilot became confused as his ship suddenly turned around and to the Tombstone behind him "What the hell?! Overwatch command, I've lost all control over my ship, I repeat, the Tombstone ha-" The comms for the wing leader went quiet as it suffered the direct hits of battle razor weaponry from the cruiser

The three remaining pilots tractored in their wing mates and ran quickly as the Tombstone gave chase, the nearest patrol, a single Hathor and bomber wing near the planet, acting as the leader of the entire patrol and the mobile command post, closed in on the desperate wing to aid his men. Yet as the captain of the Hathor ordered his crew to fire, the Atum's weapons seemed to suddenly shift, pausing to watch all of this unfold, the now shocked captain would see five glowing bolts streak across space itself at the ships, all five landing, the power of the gunship dying, as well as the three snub pilots with it before it restored. By the time their systems came back online, the Atum was completely gone, this time however there was no flash or anything..no trace...it was just gone again...the weakened and hurt soldiers returning to Akabat with this disturbing information how well armed the Tombstone might be...

For the next few days the same thing happened over and over, the disabling and fleeing again and again till the Tombstone got itself trapped before two Hathors and a light fighter escort, however the panicked captains had opened fire at this point, knowing the Tombstone's detection of fire and the sudden glow, all three ships ceased to exist as the Atum punched a mortar each into their hulls before leaving in lockdown mode...three weeks passed for its lockdown mode to stop...giving enough time for the Order to plan how to finally capture the Atum and stop it from running or attacking...and find out who was crewing and captaining the Tombstone cruiser...