"Yes, that strange signal continues. It appears to be related to the jamming, although that's very localized to within a few hundred meters. I don't know much about psychic energy, but I have read a few reports. It was forbidden throughout the Imperium for the last 800 years, and the psionics of the Zhodani Consulate were feared and hated. But I suspect that during the chaos of the Final War some of the Imperial fragments may have chosen to experiment with psionics as a means of finding a military or economic edge over their rivals. Have you determined what the goal of the research was? Psionics could explain the hallucinations, given some of the data I have seen, but it doesn't explain the strange jamming effect."
"As for power sources, I think there is something. The station ran on standard fusion reactors fueled by the hydrocarbons in the ice all around us. But according to what records I could find, some of the earlier pioneers used geothermal radiation for power. That building is quite old and it may have some sort of geothermal tap powering it."
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"Sandman, it's going to be some time until Spider finishes. We will look around - we will contact you on a regular schedule. Would every hour be adequate?," asks Flatfoot.
"That would be fine. Let us know if there is anything we can do, Flatfoot."
Drifter wanders around the room looking to see if there are any secret doors that might lead to a further area.
It takes Drifter about ten minutes to find a power station in the basement. The door wasn't marked, but this building is fairly large. The geothermal tap is old but very serviceable and could run this building for centuries. It would be easy to shut off.
Faltfoot remains outside, circling the building. He is looking for anything that strikes him as unusual, that might serve to explain the psychic activity.
Drifter looks to see if there is a way to use it to power up the terminal.
Drifter, it would be a simple matter to run conduits to the geothermal tap and power anything in the building.
For that matter, Drifter can see that the tap is powering -something-, probably something in the building. It's not a huge draw, but something is on, somewhere.
Mascot sticks with Flatfoot, making sure none of them are alone as they explore the outside of the building. He watches for any signs of external threats.
Flatfoot looks around, too, although he is uncertain what he should be looking for or even where to look.
Drifter powers up the computer terminal and Spider gets to work reading files.
When Count Dulinor assassinated Emperor Strephon and kicked off the Rebellion, Emperor Lucan soon took over on Capital. Lucan ordered fleets stripped from the rimward edge of the Imperium, denuding the battle fleets of the Old Expanses and Diaspora sectors (where our campaign takes place.) The Solomani Confederation took advantage of the situation and fought hard to retake the worlds seized by the Imperium over the last two centuries, particularly during the Fifth Interstellar War, eventually driving as far Coreward as Massilia sector, where they were stopped cold by forces loyal to Archduchess Margaret in 1125.
The war burned hot and cold for a decade until the Virus struck. Margaret was more prepared than most and created her famous Varian Line of fortress worlds, proclaiming the Glimmerdrift Alliance to ensure, it was hoped, the continued existence of humanity. Meanwhile, the Solomani Confederation, also at war with the Hivers in Neworld sector, were ill-prepared and the Virus spread like wildfire. Other factors destroyed the Confederation in the end, but by 1160 the Confedration was gone.
Pockets of worlds here and there were skipped over, jumped past and ultimately hurt less than others. this was what happened here on Lira. Lira, it turns out, was also home to a secret psionic institute - a research facility set up by Margaret's Imperium before the Solomani onslaught. In 1153, the three factions - Imperial, Solomani and researchers - joined forces to attempt something new - Interstellar-range telepathy. Had it been successful, it would have revolutionized communication time between the stars, possibly giving humanity a critical edge against the Machine Intelligences.
The first live trial was a four-person team all cooperating to project a single mind two parsecs from Lira to Lexol. If the test worked, longer-range tests were planned. The psionic energy was focused and directed by four young and very talented psions, all young women. But the machinery that kept the young psions in the perfect state of mental readiness - a chemically induced near death state - was maintained by a powerful geothermal tap that was thought to be immune from outside influence.
The last, hasty recording in the computer was made on the day of the first test. It mentions the sudden appearance in orbit of a heavy cruiser and the complete lack of remaining planetary defenses. The Virus deployed a neurotoxin weapon released into the atmosphere. The deadly toxin was then was pumped into the building by the Institute's own machinery. It left the researchers and the psions dead, but the machinery that sustained the psions' near-death state continued to function. The psions, their bodies dead but their minds still in transit to Lexol, left a powerful psionic imprint on the place where they died. As long as the machinery functions, some part of them will still be here - forever lost, forever trying to make their epic journey.
"That is a pretty sad end. I am not sure if its a blessing or a curse to not see it comin'. Something else in the building is running. Its probably what is allowing the psionic imprint to linger." Drifter says as he looks over the records.
Spider peers over Drifter shoulder. "OK, let's track down whatever that power drain is and see if we need to do anything about it. Then maybe we can get back to working on making some fuel."
Flatfoot completes the circuit of the building, certain that there is nothing lurking out.
Reasonably certain, anyway. Right now, the crowded streets of Aubaine seem pretty good.
The power drain turns out to be the device that the Institute was using to help focus and project psionic power across the void. Turning it off will likely end the local phenomena (and end the story of the Project Hermes voyagers.)
"Well, this is it then. Seems kinda like killing them again to turn it off. I am not sure if this is a device worth bringing for study or if we should destroy it since it can effect the living. Drifter says as he looks at the device.
"Pull the plug first and we can decide what to do with it afterward."
"I agree. Sad as it is, these people have been dead and gone for many years. Not much different than recordings or diaries that people create ... sometimes it was unnerving to go back through what people had recorded when I was an investigator," declares Flatfoot.
"With this tap, how long would it take to produce fuel for the ship?"
Spider nods his agreement and deactivates the device.
Spider pulls the circuit connecting the tap to the psi-device. Project Hermes ends not in triumph or even in tragedy. It ends in sad irrelevance amid the wreckage of galactic civilization. Perhaps now its long-dead subjects can finally know peace.
Twelve hours later, RCS Resolution is powered up and ready to continue its journey to find Vampire starship production facility.
Yes.
"All right, let's set a course for Kiiki."
"Let's log the fuel depot as it will be of use to other ships," says Flatfoot. "And, I am eager to get out of this system."
Drifter sits and watches the systems as the ship heads out towards the next system.
Resolution moves out to the 100-diameter limit and Drifter fires up her powerful J-4 engines. Silvery light plays over the lanthanum grid embedded in the hull as the ship creates its own bubble universe and disappears.
Outside the ship, the formless gray void of J-Space stretches into infinity. Some say that's merely an optical illusion, while others believe it is a truly alternate dimension devoid of matter. Either way, its beauty can become monotonous very fast, and the crew turns to its own pursuits once the sleek ship is secure on its voyage.
"Can you imagine being lost here for decades?" asks Doctor Su, quietly. "That is what those girls must have gone through. I don't know if they experienced time in the way we do in normal space, but if they did, I think it must have driven them mad."
"Mad, Doctor?" asks Sandman. "I know something of madmen. These girls did not seem insane."
"Perhaps not," says Su, thoughtfully. "But it was not an existence to be envied, I think." He turns to Spider. "You did what had to be done. Sometimes, ending suffering is all that we can do."
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What activities/ training are you pursuing during the journey?
Spider writes up a detailed report on their exploits on Lira, then files it away for future transmission. He continues to work on his marksmanship with rifles.
Drifter practices carousing now that he is not flying the plane. :D
Mascot joins Drifter in drinking and just generally cutting up. The experience on the planet was a unnerving for him and he tries to put it behind him by getting s@#+-faced.
The jump sees the crew quiet and melancholy. Hopper tries to engage Drifter and Mascot in games of chance, but the two mostly get hammered before the game can get good.
Doctor Su continues to try new recipes in the small galley where he discusses art and politics with Sandman.
A week later the Jump alarm sounds and Sandman calls everyone to the bridge. "Sixteen minutes to emergence," he says.
As small bolts of lightning begin to play across the hull, the grayish nothingness disappears into a flash of bright light, quickly replaced by the utter darkness of space.
"Systems nominal," says Sandman. "Calibrating position."
A few seconds later, the AI says "Position confirmed. We are at Kiiki."
Kiiki is a K9V orange dwarf star with two asteroid belts and four gas giants. The main world is average (Mars-sized). It has a very thin atmosphere and roughly half its surface is covered in water oceans. Records show it once sported a Class-B starport and a TL-11 society. Never an industrial center, it became a dumping ground of anti-Imperial agitators. During the War, it became a hotbed of pro-Solomani terrorism and was bombed by the Imperial Navy for its trouble. There are no records of Kiiki after 1131, more than seventy years ago.
"That is odd," says Sandman. "No ships and the starport appears to be unharmed, but the world is quiet. A pre-technical society couldn't thrive in that thin atmosphere. That's not the odd part. The odd part is that I am detecting EM signals coming from the mainworld's moon. It looks as though somebody's home."
"Sandman, are the EM signals in any Imperial or other communication protocol? Or, one that has been used by Virus ships or facilities?," asks Flatfoot.
"We need to fuel anyway but we have almost a wealth of options - four gas giants and the oceans on the main world. Do the records indicate anything about fueling from any of those?"
"Records indicate that during the Imperial era most ships would refuel at the starport," says Sandman. "Fewer ships of that era were capable of frontier refueling."
"The transmissions are mostly a Guild code. I encountered this several times at Promise and RCES has recorded it as well. Some transmissions are in plain Anglic."
"Hmmm," continues the AI. "The I'm observing the moon with the telescope. It appears to be habitable. There are large swathes of vegetation. Forests and jungles."
"If there's anyone on that moon, they'll spot us in four minutes."
Spider routes the telescope's view to one of the main screens and stares at it for a few seconds, thinking. "I don't see any good reason to risk instigating hostilities with these guys. Set a course for one of the gas giants in a direction away from their base. We'll fill up and get out of here."
He uses the comms to open an unencrypted channel. "Moonbase, this is the RCS Resolution. Sorry to crowd you - we didn't expect to find anyone here. We'll just refuel at that green gas giant and be on our way."
Eight minutes later, the response comes over an open channel. "This is Guild Base Venik. State your port of origin and purpose. Wait. 'RCS', is that a Coalition ship? Out here? Stand off, Star Viking, we are armed."
Sandman speaks up, off-channel so the base can't hear him. "We're too far for them to detect our configuration yet - just our size and vector. For all they know we could be a tramp trader or a vampire corsair."
"I'm not detecting any active measures, but at Promise we had a deep meson gun that could have wrecked a battleship before it knew the gun was there. Recommend you tread lightly."
Spider rolls his eyes and keys the comms to respond. "Yes, yes - you're armed, we're armed. There's plenty of arms to have ourselves a spectacular battle, I'm sure. But we aren't here to instigate hostilities with the Guild, and I am hoping you didn't wake up this morning thinking it was a good day to start a war, either. We are moving away from your base, as requested. Once we fuel up, we will be on our way. As to our purpose - we are hunting Vampires."
There is a long pause.
Hopper's voder clicks and speaks. "I wonder what the purpose of this base could be? Perhaps they are not on the mainworld because the bombardment rendered it unsafe or there are vampire servants there. But still, why put a base here, where there is little population?"
"They did the same at Berens," says Doctor Su.
"As I understand it, that was not actually the Guild," replies Hopper. "The Guild are more like coercive merchants. They certainly do not cooperate with the Virus."
The Guild comms reactivate. "Acknowledged, Resolution. We will not interfere with fueling operations."
A moment later, Sandman says "They're launching fighters. Six...eight small craft have departed the base."
Several minutes later, Sandman reports "I believe they are pursuit fighters - fast but not heavily armored. They are taking up a guard position over the base."
"I think we should make friends. I could serenade them for a bit. Maybe we can sweet talk them into some info." Drifter suggests and belts out a quick tune as an example.
Hopper twists one of its many appendages into the semblance of a human hand with one digit up. You think it's meant to be a thumb. Hiver humor can be very strange from a human point of view.
"To be fair," says Sandman. "If they showed up at Dawn Base they'd be met with a lot of firepower, too."
Flatfoot responds to Hopper, "They said that they were guild, and turned out to be under the control of Virus. Maybe the same is true, here. As for why here, it might be to protect the route into other systems that they control."
"Let's get fueled but keep the weapons ready."
Six bumpy hours later, Resolution is fueled up and at a safe distance for her next jump. Where to?
Spider reviews the data they have for the Hewlett and Ruffian systems before making a decision.
In 1119, Hewlett was rated A310748-E, meaning it had a Class-A starport and a Tech Level of 14, well above the current TL of the Reformation Coalition. One of the choke-points of Eberly Gap, Hewlett was known for its lax customs officials, whose eyesight got blurrier with every credit they're given. Despite thriving black and "gray" markets, there wass very little crime planetside, where the local government strictly enforces the few laws it imposed.
The star is a Sol-like main sequence GV2 yellow dwarf. There are three gas giants and no planetoid belts. The main world is small (Mercury-sized), airless and waterless, and once supported a population of more than sixty million people.
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In 1119, Ruffian was rated C54858B-9, meaning it had a Class-C Starport and a Tech Level of 9 (a little ahead of modern Earth). The other choke point and once a part of most every Gap-runner's itinerary. It was a good place to locate contracts and patrons of every kind. It was an agricultural world and during the Imperial period exported food to surrounding star systems.
The star is a dim M1V red dwarf. There are four gas giants and a single planetoid belt. The mainworld is also small, with a thin atmosphere, but almost entirely covered in water (85%). It once supported a population of 300,000 agricultural workers and had a corporate government structure.
Spider leans back in his chair. "Plot a jump to Ruffian and fire up the j-drive."
One week later, RCS Resolution drops out of J-Space at Ruffian, not far from its largest gas giant. Checking out the system with passive sensors you detect no ships and only decaying debris around the homeworld. A few navigational satellites around the gas giant are no longer in working order.
Flatfoot detects intermittent radio signals from the mainworld - potentially evidence that somebody is still alive there, but the early stellar civilization that once thrived there is clearly gone. No one contacts the ship and there seems to be no obstacle to refueling.
It does worry you a bit that Resolution hasn't had proper maintenance in months, but it was built hardy for long months on the frontier.
"One more stop at St. Denis, and then it's on to Ebekhar and the vampire factory." Spider reads up on whatever info they have about the two systems.
St. Denis’s host star is a young and very luminous Type-A (like Vega). In 1119, the tiny mainworld was rated C1109CB-F, meaning it had an average starport but a very high Tech Level of 15. The main world was a tiny moon orbiting the smaller of two gas giants (gravity about 2-3% of Earth-standard). St. Denis was once known for its rich deposits of rare elements easily mined from the asteroid belt. The world was once technically home to more than a billion people, though nearly a third of these were spread across habitats in the system’s large asteroid belt. RCES has had no report of St. Denis since approximately 1126.
St. Denis and Ebekhar had a tortuous relationship, discussed below.
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Kennebunk is a binary yellow star with two very similar G3V Sol-like stars. It hosts a single distant large gas giant with three large rings and six moons. The mainworld lies just inside the habitable zone of the slightly larger star.
In 1119, Kennebunk was rated C69469D-9, meaning it had an average starport and an early stellar technology (a little advanced of modern Earth). The planet is moderately sized, with about 70% Earth standard gravity, but has a dense atmosphere tainted with volcanic fumes, requiring respirator masks to survive. About 45% of the planet’s surface is covered in water. The world was once home to more than seven million people. RCES has had no report of Kennebunk since approximately 1126.
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Ebekhar has a single Sol-like G3V yellow dwarf star. Although the Lilly Marlene’s computer contained no data on Ebekhar after the fire, RCES does have data as late as 1128 (74 years ago). In 1119, Ebekhar was rated C989642-A, meaning it is a large world (115% Earth-standard gravity) with a dense but breathable atmosphere, and nearly covered (92% with water). At that time, 4 million people lived on Ebekhar and had a Tech Level of 10. The planet was declared for Lucan’s Imperium during the Final War.
Nine years later, during the Hard Times that followed the civil war, Ebekhar was rated D98989-7, meaning that the population had ballooned to twenty-nine million as refugees seeking the safety of a world with breathable atmosphere flooded in.
Ebekhar System Details (unclear whether this was in 1119 or 1128).
Star - “Azure”
Orbit 0 - Planet (“Dustbowl Zero”) - Has an emergency landing facility
Orbit 3 - Planet Kenitra - one moon
Orbit 4 - Planet Khufra - one moon
Orbit 5 - Ebekhar - Mainworld - two moons
Orbit 6 - Planet Sinquay - three moons
Orbit 7 - Large gas giant - “Scylla” - seven moons - mining installations
Orbit 8 - Planetoid - “Camp Khartoum” - military base
Orbit 9 - Large gas giant - “Charybdis” - eight moons - mining - one emergency landing facility
Orbit 10 - Planet Assisi - University astronomy facility
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Ebekhar’s history:
Originally settled in –30I.E. by a utopian group from Imkhasham (Core 1124) fleeing the growing power of the Sylean Federation. Ebekhar remained an isolated backwater with a TL of approx. 5, until 204 I.E. when its was re-contacted by imperial merchants following up the IISS recon missions to the Solomani Rim. Ebekhar was incorporated into the Third Imperium in 398 I.E.
Ebekhar’s second moon was leased in 405 I.E. by the Susanna Gage Memorial Foundation (named after a Solomani doctor who saved the Vilani planet Asshashur from one of the plagues that ravaged many Vilani worlds during the Interstellar War period), and renamed “Hope”. They set up a low berth facility for the terminally ill. They held terminally ill patients until such a time that a medical cure was available. Eventually in the early 500s, it was realized that preserving the body at the point of death, was not a suitable base for future treatment. From that point, the patients were placed in low berth at the first onset of a chronic terminal illness, such that the patient would still be fit enough to undergo treatment. The center’s fame grew over the centuries, and by 1116, the facility was now the biggest medical preservation facility in the sector, and the 7th biggest in the Imperium.
Over the years, the facility had expanded from the purely medical to take in other low berth applicants, such as the unemployed, cryo-prisoners (with several contracts with planetary governments within the Sector), and actors, artists and athletes preserving their physical performance between competitions. The facility also had contracts with the Imperial services directly for medical preservation of disaster victims in case of a planet wide disaster. They even provided secure facilities for small Timer clubs and individuals who lacked sufficient financial provision to procure their own secure low berth facilities.
The planetary population consisted of the Foundation’s members who formed a consensus group, and partook in all decisions relating to the facility. Contract staff provided additional manpower from Ebekhar itself. With the coming of the War, the Imperial Navy reactivated its contract with the Charity and started to use some of the facility to store Frozen Watch personnel, although never in significant numbers. In 1118, pro-Solomani rioting wracked St Denis, The planetary security forces soon rounded up most of the ringleaders and exiled them to the Ebekhar System. This added a discontented minority into the scheme of things. To ensure that these ringleaders did not return, the St Denis government placed a small military picket vessel in-system to guard against rescue attempts.
In 1120, the orbital part of the C class starport (5ktns) was severely damaged by a small but extremely potent enhanced radiation nuclear weapon. The entire highport staff of 120, were killed in the blast, either directly or by the radiation. The radiation also destroyed most of the onboard electronics. The St Denis picket vessel was forced to destroy the damaged station with nuclear missile fire at the request of the Ebekhar planetary government to prevent the port becoming a hazard to navigation or from re-entering Ebekhar’s atmosphere.
It was believed that the attack was the work of SolSec (the Intelligence arm of the fascist Solomani Confederation), to hinder the use of the low berth facility for Imperial Navy frozen watches, and to prevent the easy exile of any further St Denis rebels. With the destruction of the orbital starport, it became difficult for the remaining ground facilities (class E) to service the corporate freighters etc, (these were often unstreamlined and required shuttle support). The planetary TL declined, and the pro-Solomani ringleaders raised the standard of riot and civil disobedience. This balkanized the planet into numerous factions.
"Let's fuel up at the big gas giant, then lay in a course to St. Denis."
"Agreed," says Flatfoot.
"Unless there is something critical on the ship that requires repair. Do we know if there is anything needing immediate repair?"