Author's Note: I did change the char gen build, as I want to take my first fic in a certain direction and I considered some of the things I added initially redundant. Also I'm half ad-libbing/improvising and half stretching the included lore/tech from Signalis from what scraps are provided in the in-game books throughout the game to try and make this work, if you have any ideas lmk.
Chapter 1
Regaining consciousness with the taste of iron on my tongue and the feeling of something other Itching—no, burrowing— in my temples wasn't ideal. After taking a moment to center myself; I open my eyes to darkness once more, wonderful. Clicking my tongue, I walk forwards in an attempt to find a wall and get a picture of what my surroundings are. With the clank of boots stepping on what I'm assuming is grating, my boots get caught on something and I trip. I wobble on my feet and as I'm about to fall I feel a burning sensation originating from three points on my forehead as a pulse lashes out from my head, then snaps back towards me giving a mental outline of my surroundings as I proceed to fall onto my knees due to a— tool box apparently.
I wet my lips. The implants work. The Bioresonance—latent, stunted—but there, Good. Grabbing a hold of a railing with my left hand and reaching to rub my chin with my right. My purchased talents in granting the capability of bioresonance are but an ant compared to something like a FALKE Replika, due to it, you know— being latent, but was a necessary purchase even for its ridiculous price, as I need some manner of ability in Bioresonance if I even want to have an inkling of desire to produce some of the more esoteric technologies and further up the tech tree of my second life's setting. Even producing Replikas requires it to great extent.
A metallic groan interrupts my line of thought as I'm forced to focus on reality. Right… I'm inside of what appears to be the corridor of a sunken submarine at the bottom of the ocean with portions of it inundated but sealed thankfully. I continue using what I'm going to be labeling as Echo Pulsing to find my way towards a sealed bulkhead door that should lead forwards to another unsubmerged portion of the sub. Grabbing the handwheel and with some effort, spin the mechanism and push it forwards.
The door creaks as it inches open, hitting me with the minor stale smell of decay. Echo Pulsing reveals a canteen with a skeleton sitting on a bench with a hole in its head and what appears to be a Chinese Officers Pistol. Wrinkling my nose as I approach the skeleton avoiding any obstacles in the way like trays chairs strewn about. Prying the pistol from the skeleton's hand examining its appearance and condition with my fingers and pulses. It appears to be a more sophisticated C96 Mauser interestingly enough.The not-C96's grip bears a five-clawed dragon engraving. Imperial relic? And in long need for maintenance but still barely functioning. Feeling out its weight in my hand, finding it acceptable, hoping I won't have a reason to use it just yet, engaging the safety and holstering it into my previously empty holster. Relegating it's repairs and refurbishing for later.Grabbing the 2 stipper clips in the skeletons tattered pockets and taking them for myself hoping time has been kind to the bullets.
Going through a couple more bulkhead doors and encountering a few more desiccated corpses I finally reach what appears to be the control center for this sub. Ignoring the skeletons and what I'm guessing was a firefight according to the bullet holes and dents in the corpses and certain pieces of equipment. I approach what appears to be a terminal attached to the port side of the wall.
Hoping this thing's battery is independent from the main power system I attempt to turn it on. Miraculously it sputters to life and I'm eventually greeted with a wall of text in Simplified Chinese— that I'm now thankfully capable of reading.
TERMINAL BOOT SEQUENCE
> SYSTEM INITIALIZING...
> BATTERY POWER: 11% (AUXILIARY POWER OFFLINE)
> LAST LOGIN: 2077-10-23 // 13:14:22
> CURRENT LOGIN: 2287-10-23 // 15:26:52
________________________________________________
MAIN MENU
[1] ACCESS CREW LOGS
[2] AUXILIARY POWER CONTROL
[3] SECURITY OVERRIDE (LOCKED)
[4] SONAR CALIBRATION (CORRUPTED)
Pursing my lips as I select in 1 and scroll through the logs to get a general Idea of what happened to the sub and its crew.
SELECTED: [1] ACCESS CREW LOGS
> LOADING...
FINAL LOG ENTRY (2287-10-23)
CAPTAIN LIU ZHEN (COMSUBIN-13 // PEOPLE'S LIBERATION ARMY NAVY)
*"Containment breach in Cargo Hold 4. Leftover Experimental Lóng Xī dispersion unit was compromised during tremors caused by confirmed Nuclear detonations across the U.S. mainland according to Research Station Delta. Fog has infiltrated ventilation systems. Crew exhibiting Stage 1 symptoms: paranoia, auditory hallucinations, rapid cellular decay.
Per Directive 12-C, all personnel are to report to the armory for termination. This is not a drill. Auxiliary power diverted to preserve navigational and the weapon's data for recovery teams.
To any survivors: Do not breathe the fog. It does not kill quickly.
— 永别了 / Farewell."*
________________________________________________
Considering I'm not hallucinating and/or melting alongside my bio-monitor not alerting me of any hazards, I'm assuming time has rendered the bio-weapon inert. At least I figured out the fate of these poor sods. Speaking of time according to this terminal, if I'm not mistaken, I've been placed on the day the Sole Survivor leaves the vault…
I bite my nails at the implications and things I'll have to deal with— but continue on and attempt to turn on the power so I'm not forced to play the part of a bat if I wish to explore the rest of the sub and hopefully find a way to leave it.
SELECTED: [2] AUXILIARY POWER CONTROL
> WARNING: AUXILIARY POWER REQUIRES 15% BATTERY CHARGE
> CURRENT CHARGE: 11%
> OVERRIDE? (Y/N)
> USER INPUT: Y
> ENGAGING AUXILIARY POWER...
> EMERGENCY LIGHTING ACTIVATED
> OXYGEN RECYCLERS: ONLINE ( PARTIALLY DAMAGED)
> NAVIGATIONAL DATA: PARTIALLY RESTORED
> BATTERY DEPLETION IN: INDETERMINATE
________________________________________________
Red Emergency lights flicker to life lighting up the musty interior of the submarine. Making me blink a couple of times to clear my vision to the now present light caused to the relatively low light provided by the terminal in complete darkness my Irises got adjusted to. I return to the main menu to explore the newly available options provided to now having power up and running
MAIN MENU
[1] ACCESS CREW LOGS
[2] AUXILIARY POWER CONTROL
[3] SECURITY OVERRIDE (LOCKED)
[4] SONAR CALIBRATION (CORRUPTED)
[5] HULL INTEGRITY REPORT (NEW)
[6] NAVIGATIONAL DATA (NEW)
________________________________________________
SELECTED: [5] HULL INTEGRITY REPORT
> LOADING…
HULL STATUS (2287-10-23 // LAST SCAN)
PRIMARY HULL: 62% INTEGRITY
-BREACHES: SECTORS 3 (PORT), 7 (STARBOARD)
PRESSURE SEALS:
-FUNCTIONAL: 40% (EMERGENCY BULKHEADS ONLY)
________________________________________________
SELECTED: [6] NAVIGATIONAL DATA
> LOADING...
LAST RECORDED POSITION (2077-10-23)
COORDINATES: 44.3° N, 67.6° W
APPROX. LOCATION: GULF OF MAINE, 12 KM NORTHEAST OF FAR HARBOR-MT.DESERT ISLAND
DEPTH: 218 METERS
WAYPOINTS:
-PRIMARY: BEIJING (ABORTED)
-SECONDARY: RESEARCH STATION DELTA (COORDINATES REDACTED)
> ALERT: NAV DATA CORRUPTED BEYOND 2077-10-23
________________________________________________
Is this sub the reason Far Harbor has to deal with that damned fog? The log states that what compromised the Sub was a leftover dispersion unit, ergo they already deployed the weapons on target. What is troubling me is the depth alongside the distance between this sub and Far Harbor. Not only that there is a chance that there still might be ghoulified remnants of the sub's crew due to exposure to the bio-weapon.
I'm assuming the crew mutinied against the orders for Self-Termination. And with a quick glance to the impromptu battlefield that the command center I'm in became; there is merit in that line of thinking. But there will be a higher concentration of the crew towards the armory, thus I'm debating if it'd be worth even exploring that section for the chance of obtaining whatever rotted equipment is there compared to the chance of encountering ferals with a not-Mauser that is in a questionable state of repair.
That's not even mentioning my chances of being capable of escaping the the sub. Hopefully there are some functional escape pods or I'd have to go for a swim in irradiated waters with whatever mutated monstrosities that live in its murky depths, that's even if I could find a proper atmospheric suit to handle the pressure and lack of oxygen. Its either those or I'd escape using some questionable Ideas involving hollowed out torpedoes.
CLANG!!
My body reacting purely on S2's instinct; quickly unholsters my pistol aiming it towards the source. I attempt to calm my breathing, realizing it came from further into the submarine, taking note of an open bulkhead door leading back towards the stern with a nice little label indicating the armory is down in that direction.
Realizing my decision was made for me as I heard rapid pattering of flesh on metal grates slowly getting closer I got behind one of the larger terminals and prepared for the arrival of what I'm hoping are just regular ferals.