YÁRAMINA SYSTEM, DUCHY OF HAEDIL
180BBT
Many nations theorised about ancient civilizations inhabiting the sector eons ago, but Calerost was one of the few to have proof of it. The ruins of Yáramina ware discovered shortly before the Miraline war, but never fully explored. They ware a massive complex of sites scattered all across the system, but the most impressive one was the Ring of Yáramina. With a inner diameter of 50 kilometers the structure was truly massive, but it’s insides could not be accessed. It was not designed as a station, but something else. More evidence of that was Site YR-2, a space station located only 100 kilometers from it that mysteriously followed it’s orbit perfectly.
Because of that the science frigate INS Ecstacy of Sunrise was sent to explore Dite YR-2. It’s crew was one of the most skilled in the nation, a perfect fit for this job. A previous scouting party found what looked like a docking port on the surface of the station, so the crew of the Ecstacy had their way in.
“We have managed to attach our extendable dock to the ancient port commander, but you’ll need to cut trough the port to enter captain. Sensors indicate no power, gravity nor atmosphere in the station.”
“Rodger that. Me and the exploration party are suiting up, we’ll board the station soon.”
Lady Tinnien Gil-díriel (epithet, meaning stargazer) was Calerost’s leading archeologist and the one in charge of this mission. She was unmatched when it came to ancient civilizations, having studied multiple in both Calerost and Trianar. She personality chose the 4 strong exploration party and was heading it personally. The party included her right hand man for this mission, captain Fêrion, captain of the Ecstacy, lieutenant Calendir, the Ecstacy’s head engineer, and Orodiel, a xenolinguist from the Imperial University of Calerost city.
“I am still not a fan of the fact we’re wearing civilian EVA suits. I’d feel a lot more secure in a military grade one”
“Relax Fêrion, you will be just fine. There’s no life forms nor active droids on the station, the sensors would have detected them (besides the fact that the interior is inhospitable to organic life) and if somehow something attacks us we’re armed. Besides, these are not your ordinary run of the mill civilian EVA suits, these are light mining suits i specifically modified for archeology. They’re tough and pretty well armored, besides the fact that the tools in them will come in more than useful for the mission.”
“Commander, we have cut trough the airlock. The station is ready to be boarded”
“Perfect. Let’s see what’s inside then”
Floating into the station they find at first nothing out of the ordinary. Some minor artifacts but nothing unlike what has been found in the rest of the system. And still no signs of the holy grail: organic remains. It was the main thing they hoped to find. Something that would give them insight into what actually ware these mysterious precursors.
Soon enough they find their way into what appeared to be a generator room, and found something surprising.
“Commander, the power source seems to be a still functional highly advanced antimatter reactor, though disabled.”
“Fascinating. Would it be possible for you to turn it on, Calendir?”
“I can try to jumpstart it using the generator from my pack, it could probably power the console, though I can’t guarantee I’ll know how to turn it on”
“That’s why we got a xenolinguist and a database of everything translated for now with us. Jumpstart the reactor”
“I don’t know how smart that is. It has been sitting here for probably millenia and we don’t know how exactly it works. We should probably look into it more first.”
“Calendir says it’s still operational and I trust his judgement. Proceed, lieutenant.”
“As you order commander.”
He takes off the pack from his back and plugs it in. After a couple of minutes of fiddling the console turns on. With the help of Orodiel and the database they manage to go trough the activation sequence. A bright glow radiates from the generator as it roars to life, and soon the lights in the station turn on, and the artificial gravity kicks in at a slightly uncomfortable 1.5g.
“As you can probably clearly see we got it on. But it only has enough fuel for 2 hours of operation, so we should be quick and try to find the master terminal. From there we’ll be able to hopefully download the data from the computer network and discover what the purpose of this station was”
“You don’t have to tell me twice. Any idea where the terminal could be?”
“I’ve managed to see a map of the facility on the terminal, it should be around the center section of the station, that’s where something refered to as “the control center” is.”
“Got it. Let’s get moving.”
Even though it was easier to move around with the gravity now functioning, it still took them a hour to navigate to the control center.
It was a large room with a window trough which you could see the ring in the distance. There ware many consoles around but one sticks out, a large table like one in the middle.
“Is that the master terminal?”
“Seems so.”
“Alright then, find a way to download the data and let’s get back to the ship to analyze it.”
“Yes, captain. Orodiel, please help me out here. What can your translator see?”
“It seems like controls for a… Gateway system. A large one. But the selector shows that only one other gateway is functional. We could connect to it if we wanted to.”
“Out of the question. We should first analyze the data before we mess with highly advanced xeno tech. Who knows what it’s capable of.”
“Excuse me, but I don’t remember you being appointed the leader of the expedition. We have no idea how the reactor that powers this station works, this could be our only chance in years to activate the ring. Calendir, please activate the gateway.”
“Tinnien, think for…”
“It’s lady Tinnien to you, or in this situation commander. And i have said what i said. I have more experience with these things than you and am, unlike you, aware that this might be our only chance to open and that we’d be scalded if it couldn’t be opened again.”
“i have sworn to put the safety of my crew above everything else”
“And i have been ordered to discover what the ring is and how to use it. If you want to disregard direct orders from a appointed superior, which is a act of munity and would end your career, go ahead. If not then allow me to do my damn job.”
“…Very well. Lieutenant Calendir, do as she commands. Just know LADY Tinnien that if someone dies because of this it is your fault.”
“And you know that your theatrics won’t look good on the mission report”
As Calendir starts the activation sequence thrusters on the station start burning, aligning it perfectly with the center of the ring. Lights on the station dim as the activation sequence drains a majority of the station’s power.
“Chargeup complete. Activating the portal in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…”
When Calendir presses the button four yellow laser like beams are shot onto 4 points on the ring and with a flash of white light the portal opens. But the crew could look in amazement only for a second, as basically as soon as the activation sequence is finished all lights on the station turn dark, the gravity falls to 0.5g and a loud beeping sound is heard
“What is happening?”
“I guess i made a mistake when deeming the reactor still operable. The activation sequence overloaded it, but it looks sta… It’s not stable. We need to get the hell off this station, now! We only have a few minutes!”
“I TOLD YO…”
“SHUT THE HELL UP AND HELP ME BREAK THE WINDOW, WE DON’T HAVE TIME TO GO TROUGH THE CORRIDORS! TINNIEN CALLING THE ECSTACY, QUICKLY POSITION YOURSELF INFRONT OF THE CENTER OF THE STATION AND PREPARE TO EMERGENCY FTL A ASTRONOMICAL UNIT BACK AS SOON AS WE ENTER”
The crew quickly places a breaching charge on the observation window and detonates it, sending shards of reinforced glass everywhere. They quickly jump trough the hole and use the small trusters on their suits to enter the Ecstacy’s airlock. As the Ecstacy warps away from the station and they look back to see a massive explosion as the reactor breaches, they know that if they ware just seconds slower they would have been dead.
“Way too close for comfort”
“Your arrogance almost got us killed.”
“But the portal is open”
“I’m still suprised at how such a relatively small reactor with so little fuel could do that.”
“You can go and try to figure that out. Sensors in the system have detected the explosion and sent data to Haedil and now the whole of the empire is messaging me to know what happened. I need to go write a mission report and request permission to go trough the portal. I will be back in like a hour”
“Are you serious? You actually want to go trough that thing?”
“Well we didn’t almost die to let it just sit there opened. It’s better that we go trough first than whatever is on the other side captain.”
sigh “Alright. But I’ll need to have a drink first. This was too much.”
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Veentu badlands…
