Futuristic Unlit IC

[Solar Daddy]

While dodging the glares he was receiving from Lydia, no doubt for his lack of self care, he responded to James with a nod. "So far it's pretty hazy. We don't know much, save for the fact that a research team went missing exploring it. Small research group, I think five or six members. We're going in armed, but I suspect they messed with something they shouldn't have and that's why they've been MIA. As long as we don't do anything stupid I'm sure we'll be fine. We're going to be the government's lab rats to test and see what's going on in there before scientists start picking the place apart. Again, I don't expect alien life, but we should be prepared for the worst case scenario. The structure is a few miles wide, but there's a large heat source in the center of the structure, so that's where we'll be exploring."

Silas turned on the screen on the center wall of the Hub and brought up a blurry image of the surface of the asteroid, with intricate and clearly designed structures along the surface, much like a web stretching across the surface. "The image was taken from the original probe that landed on the asteroid a few weeks ago. Since then, the probe has been reported missing from its planned landing spot, as well as the crew's life support beacon that touched down a few days after discovery. Something is making these devices go dark, and it's our job to find out why." With a breath, he added in, "The asteroid is currently flying by close to Porphyrion, so we need to be extra careful about ultraviolet protection. Bring some high FPS sunblock, people." He finished it with a joke to close out his speech, looking to Adira to give them a time estimate to arrival and a possible landing and infiltration plan.

 

[Epiphany]

It's hard to say what Kestrel had been up to while the Ambivalence was in port. While the tall blonde was happy to help out with some routine maintenance, she was in no way an engineer nor inclined to spend days doing any kind of a refit. She was off-ship when the call came for a crew meeting but she made in good time, looking rather...fresh and relaxed actually. Spa?

A bit of that glow faded when she stepped into the conference room, only to see Silas escorting someone new. She gave James a thorough look, not staring but plainly not making much of an effort to hide the fact that she was sizing him up. Then she nodded once, shrugged and took a seat for the run-down. The rest of the glow vanished at the mention of primoridal activity, however. She listened intently and didn't move or speak until Silas finished his rundown. Once he stopped talking, she slowly rose to her feet in a motion that had a trace of a stretch in it before settling down on the balls of her feet.

"I'm Kestrel Cavanaugh," she said, bypassing the briefing to reach over and offer a hand for James to shake. "Looks like you've met our Captain and our Engineer. And our Doctor, of course," she added with a nod to Lydia. "Our tech's around here, Kepler, he'll take a bit of getting use to. Otto and I are what passes for ship's security personnel. As it happens, I have some experience infiltrating vessels, mostly from the other end." She flashed a smile and said "I grew up learning how to defend a ship against invasion. I don't think I've heard a plan yet, so I'm going to lay out some thoughts and we can sort through them to see what's usable and what's not."

The tall blonde stepped up to the center wall of the Hub and studied the pictures intently. "Can't predict exactly what this layout's going to mean. Aliens don't think like us, after all. If I had to guess, though, this looks like a mining operation, maybe with some light industrial and research thrown in. Circular design concentrates work and crew quarters. These hub facilities are usually fuel depots, power batteries, vehicle storage and ship docking facilities, plus you've got some warehouse type structures probably used to store whatever they mine out of the asteroid. At least a couple look like they have docks of their own, which is what makes me think it was a mining gig at one point but they might also use it locally for manufacturing in those satellite structures. Between noise, exhaust, waste and the tendency for research and industrial facilities to have explosive elements, it's pretty common to locate them away from the hub."

"So," Kestrel said, turning away to look at the crew. She rubbed her hands together, rolled her neck to the side to pop it and grinned. "Looks promising! Wish we had more hard intel. Getting that should be our first priority. Passive scans. If we can pick up a probe or two, I wouldn't mind rigging one with a good active sensor suite, launching it ahead of us and having it beam its data back to us. That way, if the locals aren't friendly and blow it up, no one dies and we don't tip our presence or our hand. I'll leave the piloting to our good Captain but if we can come in on an approach that puts the asteroid's mass between us and that facility, maybe with the probe launched on a different course but close enough for a good comm read, we can get a lot more detail and see if whoever's in that facility even notices."

"Regardless of how the probe does, I think we should park the ship out of sight, hoof it across the asteroid's surface, and pick one of those satellite buildings as a point of entry. The direct approach didn't work for the research team, no reason to tip off whoever's in there that we're here until we're ready. Once we get inside, we see if we can find a terminal, maybe get Kepler to see if he can talk to it and find out what happened to the crew. If that doesn't work, manual search time by teams, minimum two people to a team. We find anyone from the crew, we debrief and evacuate them before proceeding. If we find an alien, well..."

Kestrel patted her sidearm, shrugged and flashed another smile. "Hope they're friendly!"

 

[Dragongal]

Adira was leaning in the doorframe to the Hub, having gotten to the meeting a bit late because she was double-checking her pilot's station. As always, Silas had double-checked all the mechanics, and she herself kept the space relatively immaculate, but she had to check. Also, she would always stay behind the wheel for at least a minute after controls cut off for Autopilot. After all - autopilot was good, but she was better.



Adira couldn't help but watch Stratton out of the corner of her eye for the entire week at port. Any time he was around, she would tense up and become hyper-aware of the guns she carried - not that she could get into trouble for them on this planet, but their weight pressed more heavily in their harnesses. While they were on planet, Adira spent most evenings off ship without explanation. She didn't need to justify herself to anyone, and Silas knew she would come back every night. Sometimes she came back with a bag or two of her own supplies. Most times she didn't.



As Kestrel explained her plan, Adira nodded slowly. "We do have to consider, though, that maybe whatever silenced their ship could silence ours. They could potentially be bait for a trap." She glanced at Stratton for a second, then back to Kestrel.

 

[Epiphany]

"Could be!" Kestrel admitted agreeably. She grinned at James and said "Think your organization would foot the bill for a couple of probes? We could turn one of them into a black box; load it up with copies of the first probe's telemetry, plus our own readings, and if it looks like we're doomed, we launch it in the direction of Madrigal so the next crew doesn't start over from scratch."

"And on a slightly less suicidal note, maybe we should have Kepler get to work on either finding an anti-jamming method or at least a method for triangulating the source so we can shoot it down."

 

[Solar Daddy]

"All good ideas," Silas nodded towards Kestrel and Adira. "It's too reckless to go in directly, we'll have to land somewhere safe. But then again the scientists - if it's not a trap - have to be running out of oxygen by now, if they're even still alive. We might have to rush things if we get any sign they're still kicking. I'd rather not get there just to find out the all suffocated because we took too long to get to them." Silas took a look back at the image, trying his best to keep from seeming like he was in too much pain since he knew Lydia was probably staring daggers at him. He just hoped he'd be feeling better by the time they got to the asteroid. "Maybe we can try and get the best of both worlds. We try and land at the edge of the crater it's in, sneak our way down to one of the branching buildings, and enter that way. Safe and quick." Silas sums up, looking to Kestrel and Adira for their thoughts.

 

[Epiphany]

"You and the Captain are the ones calling the shots," Kestrel said in reply, shrugging and taking her seat once more.

"Sounds like we've got a few different ways we can play this. Let's get some probes, get the ship restocked and get underway. Once we're closer and have better intel, then we can decide what plan we commit to. That's my vote anyway."

 

[Viper Actual]

When Kestrel introduced herself James nodded and shook her hand firmly. "Stratton. Pleasure to meet you." Based on her introduction the way she spoke of things James guessed she was ex-military or at the very least an experienced contractor. It was also good to have some additional intel on the other crewmembers, not that he had spoken much with them yet.

As the blonde laid out a preliminary plan for inserting onto the station James nodded to himself slowly. If she's not military then I've become really bad at reading people.

James then glanced over to Adira as she spoke up. The captain. Stratton had made a habit to avoid the woman as much as possible. During their initial introduction back at the landing pad he had recognized her name but had otherwise been oblivious to whom she was. Once his terminal was all set up he had tried to run her name through WS channels and gotten back plenty of results of which most were far above his access.

The little he had been able to read wasn't a rainbow story and there was a good chance that the woman would feel...guarded against him.

On the topic of probes Stratton nodded. "I can put a request with command. Shouldn't be too much of a hassle to load one up from an automated facility in orbit. There's still plenty of old surveyor drones waiting to be mothballed- may as well refit one of them to serve the purpose."

Stratton looked at Silas and Adira as he finished. "With your permission I'll get right to it."

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia Camden​

Damn well better be safe and quick. At least as much of those things as was possible. Lydia absolutely did not want any crew members overexerting themselves, particularly ones who had sustained injuries, and particularly ones whose injuries were not yet completely healed. If there were people to rescue in there, they’d more than likely need treatment, and there was only so much one person could do without another problem that would be much less of a problem if the patient had listened in the first place.

‘I like the idea of getting more details on what we’re dealing with before we do anything. If, for the sake of saving lives, we rush in unprepared, we’d hardly be of help anyway. Cause more problems than we solve.’

 

[Vudukudu]

Kepler's brow furrowed at the mention of gambling debts. Firstly, how did Silas know he'd been frequenting akrava tables at the nearest bar? Secondly, why would anyone incur debt when one could simply spend eight hours learning the requisite mathematics to insure a 61% win rate? After a moment's pondering, it dawned on him - if he had won all that money, someone else must have willingly chosen to play and lose it. Peculiar.

The new crew member was hardly of any concern to Kepler, and Silas' choice of words were primarily at fault for that. His presence here, at least for the moment, sounded bureaucratic and utterly non-essential to Kepler's daily life, in which case devoting any attention to him was a waste of valuable thinking time. Perhaps if his utility were displayed, he would reconsider the Waning Stars associate's potential value. With nothing else to pay attention to for a few moments, Kepler directed his optical suite to run a diagnostic. Reading the text filtering across his field of view was, if nothing else, something to do, though his focus was shaken at the mention of possible alien architecture or interference.

"Hmm." He murmured lowly enough to not disrupt the flow of conversation. This seemed an unfitting task, and he suspected something was afoot. Dispatching a small vessel with a mercenary crew lacking any archaeologists or xeno-tech specialists to investigate something of such potential importance seemed an odd choice. Waning Stars risking turning over the discoveries of the millennia to a bunch of independents, even with the supervision of one of their agents, seemed out of character to him. Perhaps they weren't thinking about it the same way, but few things made Kepler more paranoid than strange instructions.

These thoughts continued to plague him throughout Kestrel's tactical overview, and he steepled his fingers in front of his chin and made an effort of appearing to be listening. He'd have time to think about her commentary later, or to admit his concerns to her privately. Out of the crew, he suspected she was the one to turn to when it came to getting out of a tough spot.

"This unit would.." He started, then cut himself short and bowed his head. "I, would like the opportunity to conduct thorough scanning as suggested my Master Cavanaugh. Failing to do so presents a negative risk factor towards mission success, even if it means delaying the beginning of rescue operations."

 

[Solar Daddy]

Silas had to think on it. His morals were telling him to forget it and go for trying to save the scientists, but that could end up failing and getting everyone killed. Silas relented. "Stratton, see if you can get Waning to supply us with a flyby drone. If you can get it, let Kep take over the recon unit at the control terminal in the bridge. If we play our cards right, we might be able to get a probe to review the area before we even get close."

 

[Dragongal]

Adira listened to the options discussed. While she was not normally the cautious type on her own, when it came to her crew, she was happy to advocate for due diligence. Well, they weren't really HER crew, they were Silas's this time around, but still. "They might be running out of oxygen, but if we die, so do they," Adira said, mostly to Silas. He was the one with the dilemma, after all.

She glanced at Stratton, and almost said a quip that Waning had better be willing to give them a drone considering that they were risking their lives, but she kept her tongue.

 

[Solar Daddy]

Silas had to relent to his team, though he didn't disagree with them. When it came to uncertain safety variables, like the one they were in, Silas had a tendency to jump in in hopes of doing whatever he could as soon as possible. In this situation though, as his team reminded him, it'd be foolish and could have a very probable chance of getting more people killed. Silas finished up the meeting with a time estimate, almost a full 24 hours away since the asteroid was so far from Porphyrion. Silas didn't often get to travel out to the gas giants in the further reaches of the solar system, since they're mostly filled with crime-ridden stations or industrial depots. The asteroid was out by Vile Recluse, so the team might end up stopping there if they're strapped for resources.

With the help of James and Kepler, the team learned many important aspects of the compound. With a good overhead image of the compound, the group would have a much easier time navigating the base. Once the ship exited FTLT, Silas threw on his gear with the added difficulty of his wound still causing him plenty of discomfort and pain. Luckily he didn't have his suit on when he was shot, otherwise he'd be strapped for an EVA outfit. Once he was equipped, Silas traveled down the hall to the armory, taking a look at the catalog they created of their supplies to see what kind of weapons they had. Deciding on lighter weaponry, Silas geared up with a P6R1 kinetic sidearm, same as the first mission, and then outfitted himself with a Disrupter as a primary.

Silas exited the armory out into the Hub, slinging his gun over his shoulder and holstering his sidearm. He waited as everyone got their equipment together, same as him, and soon Adira had set them down just outside the mouth of the crater. When everyone gathered for their last brief, Silas said, "You've all seen the info and know what we're here for. Hopefully find the scientists alive, and bring them back even if they're not. Of course, if we can figure out what this place is, who it belongs to, and if they're still around, that's also a bonus that I'm sure Waning Stars will show appreciation for. Everyone ready?"

 

[Viper Actual]

James nodded as Silas gave him the go-ahead and excused himself. As much as he supported the Waning Stars he knew that no government was capable of completely avoiding the slow-turning cogs of bureaucracy. Once at his quarters James locked the door behind him and activated his terminal. With the long-range communications booting up and searching for a node that would relay data back and forth Stratton signed in through the multi-layered security prompts asking him to verify his identity.
Unlike your average personal terminal this one held some pretty classified information at times and as such failed logins would results in a quick data wipe and a self-destruction of internal components, rendering the terminal useless.

Once the terminal was active and James signed in he went ahead to make a priority request to retrieve a Javelin-class surveyor drone from one of the old supply platforms in orbit. A message from a supply officer quickly popped up on his screen, notifying him that the request was being reviewed. Another thirty minutes later he got another notification. This time from some head-honcho at the office down in Madrigal. Request approved.

After retrieving the coordinates and all other necessary information it was just a matter of collecting the drone. James signed off and shut down the terminal before heading to the bridge. With some minor guidance from his part Adira guided the Ambivalence to the specified platform and after James submitted a series of codes one of the drones automatically deployed from the station and made its way over to the ship. His job was done for now.

With the drone safely aboard and handled by his more tech-oriented peers James went back to his quarters to gear up. Brought onboard the ship alongside the rest of his items was a personal armory locker. It wasn't big and it didn't contain much beyond ammunition for his pistol, a compact SMG and a basic suit of armor that functioned fairly well in atmospheric conditions. At his own pace Stratton went over his armor and weapons. Making sure that everything functioned properly was key, especially seeing as he rarely used this equipment on the job. He rarely had to. Though he preferred to not sit this one out, he still needed to find a way to build up more relationships with the crew.

Before heading back to the Hub and locking his room James took a moment to write a brief diary entry on his personal datapad. It wasn't much. More or less a quick summary of his first real interactions with the crew. His observations. Information he had gathered. He'd have to go over it later. For now though it'd have to do.

Once gathered at the Hub with the others James held his helmet under his arm and watched the others silently. In response to Silas's question he shook his head and placed the helmet on his head. It sealed tight with a quick hiss.

Showtime.

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia Camden​

Thank fuck, Silas was actually taking advice.
Lydia had a half-hearted hope that this would become a trend. Of course, if Adira was the one giving the advice, he’d probably be more apt to follow it. Perhaps the next time that she needed Silas to stay in the goddamn medbay, she could just ask the captain to make him. A lot less stress all around. And no dragging wheelchairs around the ship.
Thinking on this, Lydia ambled on over to the medbay after the little meeting ended. Put together her field first-aid kit and her little helper bot, packed up in its case. With a mission that would probably have less fleeing for their lives, there would be a setting stable enough for the little guy to help out if needed.
Before returning to the hub, she made sure everything was functioning--suit, helmet, bot, weapons, arms, limbs, automatic diagnostics, all working well. Equipment working, Lydia put everything together and popped her helmet on just before she rejoined everyone. A quick glance around the room told her that everyone was more or less healthy. Silas slightly less. She couldn’t hold back a sigh, but thankfully her expression of disappointment was invisible behind her helmet.

 

[Epiphany]

Kestrel spent most of the trip in getting ready for the mission. Which involved of course triple-checking her arms and armament as well as studying the fuzzy layout images before greedily taking in the tighter gain detail from the probe they launched in advance. Having useful intel or at least clear pictures made a world of difference in putting together a plan.

Once the ship touched down in the crater, the tall blonde joined the rest in the Hub. She wore her customized environmental suit armor, with a bag holding patch kits and a medic kit to backup the doctor, in case it was needed. Kestrel also carried a kinetic rifle on a sling, and sported a sturdy-looking pistol on a belt holster. And of course, she wore her remote package, a tube about the size of a roll of quarters with a delivery tube that let her flick out coin-sized mobile remotes for reconnaissance and surveillance.

"If no one else has a plan of approach, here's my suggestion."

She tapped one of the walls of the Hub and drew up the latest probe-fed pictures. Then the soldier tapped the lower right hand side. "See where there was an explosion? We might try inserting ourselves here. Chances are good any sensors or cameras they had in the area were blown up with that...fuel depot or whatever it is. Once we get in there, we get to the nearest uncompromised pressure door and we create a temporary airlock with a roll of FlexPlas and Fast Glue. Cycle the airlock and we're inside. Hopefully their tech security isn't as vigilant as the external points are likely to be, just like ours, and Kepler can get into their architecture and find the scientists for us."

"If we can't, we're going to have to search for them. I'd suggest two-man teams. Who's going anyway? Lydia's our doctor and Kepler's our tech. I can provide security backup for one, who else can serve as a gunner?"

 

[Dragongal]

"That'd be me," Adira said with a bit of a cocky grin. "I talked it over with Silas, he'll guard the ship and keep track of communications, I'll be following you all into the fight, so put me wherever you want me." She was well aware that none of them had really seen her fight up until then - there was a good chance they're underestimate her. In honesty, she was just excited to get back into the fight and get off the ship. As much as she loved being a pilot, she was a better fighter. She glanced for a split second at Stratton to check his reaction, then she looked back at Kestrel. "Your plan sounds good, I can cover whoever."

 

[Epiphany]

"I have a feeling Kepler and I will work well together on this one," Kestrel said, giving the cyborg a measured look. Then she glanced back to their pilot and grinned. "You can have the cutie this time." And she gave Lydia a friendly wink.

"James, looks like Silas is going to stay with the ship and it's a smart move that one of us does. You're the rover here so I'll let it be your choice. You can stick around with Silas back at the ship or..." and again she gave a friendly wink as she said "Pick your threesome."

"Either way, Kepler I'm on point. Stay behind me, cover me if you can and let me take any fire that comes our way. We'll need you to deal with their security so your safety is my priority." With the instruction given, she looked back at Silas and Adira before saying, "On your orders, boss."

 

[Viper Actual]

After sizing up the pros and cons of the choice before him Stratton chuckled briefly at Kestrel's remark. The look from Adira did not go unnoticed either.

James crossed his arms and nodded towards Lydia and Adira. "I'll go with the Cap and Doc. I'm a bit rusty on the fighting-side of things though so keep that in mind."

It was no lie. Though it wasn't completely honest either. While he was indeed rusty he still had plenty of experience to draw from his previous military career.

That said he really only wanted to tag along with the two ladies to learn more about them. Silas and Kestrel were friendly enough and the cyborg, Kepler, didn't seem like someone who had strong opinions about anything really.

Stratton nodded to himself. It was a good plan. Bag the mission, get everyone back safely and improve relations on the way.

 

[Vudukudu]

Kepler's time aboard was primarily spent retooling his interface to accommodate the Waning Star's drone being provided. To interface properly with his custom coding language he would need to set up some translating software, which would need thorough debugging through simulations. When the time came, his software suite was prepared to handle the input from the drone system and present it in a format he would find intuitive. Most of his work was presented in such a manner, which was generally a problem when it came to cooperation. Kepler's version of "intuitive" rarely appeared so to outside observers.

When the time came, Kepler spent a few minutes tentatively experimenting with the controls, getting a feel for what he was working with before beginning to conduct surveillance. Data feeds matched what he expected from the visual record, and he ran one particular image of the damaged area of the structure through a program he'd designed to analyze explosion debris and discern a cause. Without knowing precisely what was inside, it was difficult to ascertain anything meaningful, though he suspected a fault internal to the system. Whether it was an explosive device or an accident, he could not tell.

When it came time to deploy, Kepler spent some time in the armory standing quite deathly still, evaluating his options. Finally, he settled on a sturdy but reliable looking P6R1 for his hip and the much bulkier Q70 Bullroarer shotgun to carry. He'd always favored the weapon for close quarters scenarios, and he'd donated his own to the armory. Having it back in his hands was pleasant, and he thumbed the toggle on the side of the weapon. The electromagnets inside hummed quietly, bringing a facsimile of a smile to Kepler's lips. The gun held a stock of extra pellets in reserve within a secondary chamber, which, when triggered by the electromagnets, spun into the next loaded shell. The metal, super-reactive to heat until exposed to air, would turn to slag when the gun fired and spit a small gout of sparks before hurling a slug instead of pellets downrange. Kepler very much liked the versatility - pellets for anything close, and a brick of super-heated metal for anything further away.

When it came to the final briefing, Kepler swathed himself in his familiar array of armor and voluminous red robes. He nodded attentively before suddenly frowning at the suggestion that Adira-Captain would be attending the "cute one." Kepler had, after rigorous explanation of the concept of physical appeal, come to believe he was a rather handsome man, though now he was coming to suspect that had been an erroneous analysis. Regardless, such petty concerns could be addressed another time.

"Orders understood, Master Cavanaugh." He said solemnly, then took a small step away from the gathering and began doing last minute checks on his shotgun while whispering to himself. "Behold the klaxons, for the litany becomes dirge. Rise and bear witness to the instrument of Its will, a specter wreathed in red. The instrument asks no forgiveness, for its task be the will of the Spark. With a gesture, the Instrument is awoken, with a word, it is disabled. Behold the klaxons, for their dirge becomes silence. Lo, the fury of the Spark is terrible. Lo, It is terrible."

 

[Solar Daddy]

Silas hated the idea that he wouldn't be out there with his team, but knew Adira would probably give him that glare that always terrified him. Maybe it was for the best. Silas still had trouble moving his torso at all, since he still got a few flares of pain, but besides that he felt able bodied. Adira and him had discussed him potentially staying back on the ship, and their discussion had ended in a resounding maybe. He supposed Adira finally made the final decision for him, which to be honest, sort of relieved Silas. He might become a liability on the mission, and the last thing he'd want is to get someone hurt by slowing them down. Silas staying on the ship, overall, seemed like the best thing for him. It also helped he didn't have to worry about Lydia scolding him as well.

"I'll man the stations on the ship while you guys are away. Hopefully if something comes up I'll be able to assist from here. I'm not as tech savvy as Kep, but I think I can hold my own at his console. If you guys sync up your feeds I'll be able to monitor you from here." Silas stayed in the hallway as his crew members got into the airlock. "I'll be on comms the entire time. Keep me updated. And please, for the love of the Stars, don't get killed if you can help it." Silas pressed the button on the interface screen, causing the doors to shut between the people going on the mission and the people staying behind. He lingered a moment, putting his hand to his hip with a bit of a wince before turning down the hallway and getting to the bridge to work at the command station.

 

[Solar Daddy]

Once the team opened up the outside doors and were greeted with the harsh vacuum of space, they'd see the sprawling expanse of the crater they were just outside of. The asteroid they were on was solid and about half a mile across in all directions. The sun, only a pale blue point of blinding light just on the horizon, cast long shadows on the surface and in the crater from even the smallest of pebbles. The slope into the pit was rather steep and would require finesse to traverse. Just down the decline of about 40 meters was the closest, circular domed section of the strange structure. The material it was made from was dark and shiny. No artificial lights were visible, and a coating of dust barely visible from how far away they were guaranteed the idea that this was an old structure, potentially abandoned. It was about 60 meters from the base of the incline of the crater, with the other incubation dome, with the scorch marks and visible hole in the side of the structure - some 200 meters away. Just beyond the destroyed chamber was the small, single seat spacecraft that hadn't been reported before their probe was sent out. In the opposite direction was the scientist's ship that was seemingly abandoned, with the distress beacon either removed or turned off. How the team continued was up to them.

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia Camden​

​

As plans were made, Lydia ignored the ‘cute one’ comment.

The landscape of the place was eerie. Long shadows latticed the ground and the cold light of the sun was no comfort.

Seeing the large hole torn in the side of the building only intensified the horror-story atmosphere.

‘Hm,’ Lydia muttered. ‘Don’t like that.’

She was glad she had packed the field kit as thoroughly as she did.

‘So. That’s new.’ She gestured to the small vehicle. ‘Someone beat us here.’ Lydia was glad that nobody could see her anxiety as she glanced at Adira, wondering how to proceed.

 

[Epiphany]

"I'm on point," Kestrel said over squad comms. Stepping out into the vacuum, she slung her rifle and started down the unsteady decline. "Careful going down this decline, you don't want to trip in near zero-G. And I wouldn't try jumping it. If there's a hostile force here...well, let's just say a target in motion in near zero-G is a target that can't maneuver and I wouldn't pass up a shot on them if it were me."

Setting the example, she descended the decline with deliberate care. With this little gravity, it's almost like drifting down the slope of the crater, barely disturbing the rockface.

Once she reached the base of the slope, Kestrel peered ahead, glaring a little at the single seat spacecraft that hadn't been on any picture. She kept one hand on her slung rifle but the other went to her environmental armor belt. Unsealing a compartment, she undid a protective cover with practiced ease despite the relative bulkiness of environmental gloves. And then the tall blonde flicked her hand out. Once. Twice.

"For those of you who can support a TactNet, I'm going to be streaming vid feed from my mobile drones so you're welcome to see what I'm seeing. If you do support a TactNet, make sure you've closed down local server access. I doubt whatever this is will accept a query anyway and someone in there might use an open port to launch EW of some kind against you."

She started forward, sending out the mobile drones she'd tossed into space forward. The thumb-nail sized machines jetted forward on microgravity thrusters, beaming back their sensory data to Kestrel, who promptly streamed it to anyone who had the needed technology to support the feed. She sent the first drone down the crumpled, broken corridor where the breech had occurred, hoping to see what condition the surviving airlock was in. The other she sent out to the spaceship. There was no rush; their arrival prompted no reaction so far, they'd parked the ship out of sight and there was no sound and only minimal power signatures for anyone to pick up which meant unless whoever was inside had line of sight on them, they'd have no idea.

Kestrel tracked both feeds, not effortlessly but through long practice as she looked for something to stand out. If the corridor was an all-clear, she shifted her attention entirely to the unexpected spaceship, trying to identify its make...and whether or not it was open for access.

"Kepler, if we can, I want to shut that spaceship down. Keep it from working. I don't know where the pilot is but I don't want them going anywhere if they're out here somewhere and planning to flank us. See if you can get into it without tripping security and, if you can, remove something vital to flight. We can always put it back later if they turn out to be above board."
Vudukudu

 

[Vudukudu]

Kepler was quick to follow Kestrel out, relying on his somewhat damaged thrusters to aid his movement. He'd had to shut a few of them off and recalibrate the ones that remained to balance properly, but it was an imperfect solution at best. He didn't bother with drawing a weapon, more than aware that firing either of the two he'd brought with him in limited gravity would likely send him hurtling into the void, and stopped with a quiet thump beside Kestrel. "I will... evaluate the situation." He replied, eyeing the ship. It had a simple enough design, though he was wary of anything that looked easy, especially given the circumstances of this mission. Frankly, he was waiting to see the flash of an energy beam consume their ship and take them all with it.

Relying on the fact that they hadn't been shot yet to insure his safety, Kepler trudged over to the vessel in question with no regard for cover or speed. Upon reaching it, he prodded carefully around the outside for a time looking for anything obvious, somewhat resenting the fact that it was him and not Silas doing this. Keying his comms, Kepler let out something akin to a disappointed wheeze. "No external vulnerabilities are apparent. The holy machine's dormancy prevents external digital access. This unit humbly requests the advice of Master Burns in pointing out possible points of physical sabotage." With his message sent, Kepler turns off his transmitter, awaiting a response while standing idly next to the ship.

 

[Solar Daddy]

Silas leaned back in the chair he was in, stretching out before looking at the video feed from Kepler's helmet at the small spacecraft before him. Looking closely and getting a full understanding of the vessel, before saying, "That looks like a Varstadi ship. Check under the front landing gear and see if there's a loose wire. If there is, you can cut that and it'll force the ship into protection mode. The blast shield will deploy and whoever owns it will have to spend a while trying to unlock the blast shield before they can get into the cockpit again. That's your best bet."

Silas tapped away at the console, adjusting in his seat and wincing a bit on reaction. He turned on his synced connection to Kestrel's drones, watching the feed they took of the interior of the scorched, wide open dome. The diameter of the dome was about seventy meters across, with dust covered machinery of strange shapes and interesting patterns. It was clear that under the thick layer of dust that burn marks covered many of the objects close to the hole in the wall. As Kestrel's drone traveled further into the complex, it passed a threshold and a heavy reverberation blasted through the metal of the base and the asteroid surface. Silas had quickly grabbed his weapon when he felt the shock wave, unsure if something had fired at the Ambivalence.

However, when he turned back to face the screen, he almost thought he was looking at a completely different sight. The power was on, lighting up multiple areas of the interior of the dome seemingly for no reason. Inside the now lit up interior of the dome, it was clear to be a place of manufacturing, despite it being unclear what was made here. It was almost like a maze from how the rooms were laid out, and the high ceiling made it feel as though they were ants. Machines whirred and parts moved about intricately in the complex structure, though they seemed to not serve a clear function. Despite clearances for something much bigger, there were plenty of alcoves and rooms that could fit something about human sized through it's doorways, adding to its mystery. The last thing Silas noted from the video was how the walls had been cleared of the dust, almost as if it was scrubbed clean in a matter of seconds.