# [DawningStar] The Great Unknown (Updated 11-5-07)



## Teneb (Jul 19, 2007)

The _Venerable Nebraska _ hung silently in the void of space.  On the bridge, crew went about their assigned tasks with a sense of nervous anticipation.  Elsewhere on the ship, personnel sat on their bunks or huddled around tables, listening to the open intercom.  Captain Tsekai gazed out the bridge viewport at the tiny speck nearly a mile away.

A voice crackled over the speakers,“_Sprite _ to command, distance to closure is five-hundred meters.  Adjusting attitude by negative oh-point five degrees.”

“Understood _Sprite_, continue on your current vector.”  The Communications officer glanced briefly at the captain, who ignored him.  This was understandable, since all eyes on the bridge were currently watching the progress of the Hummingbird-class transport, _Sprite_.  To be fair, the transport was probably secondary in the minds of the crew; most of them were more interested in the mile-long rock the tiny vessel was heading towards.

“_Sprite_, this is Reconnaissance.  Sensor sweeps confirm the target is some sort of portal or hatch.  It is SDA, repeat, confirm SDA.”  SDA: Standard Design, Ancient.  A hush swept over the bridge, of reverence instead of anticipation this time.  Captain Tsekai heard someone behind him whisper ‘Ancients be praised!’ and clenched his jaw in annoyance.  The Ancients, or more appropriately the Star Confederation, had apparently ruled the Helios star system millennia ago.  They inexplicably disappeared centuries before the refugees from Earth landed on Eos.  It was true, they possessed advanced technology; some even whispered that the Star Confederation created humans.  Tsekai thought this to be rubbish, and considered the almost religious view of the Ancients held by many to be foolish.  Reprimands could come later; he had to focus on the current mission: discover what the purpose of the obviously Ancient installation was and take control of it.    

“This is _Sprite_.  Docking with the target in 5…4…3…2…”  Silence.  

“Command, uh, we’ve successfully docked.”  A cheer went up, not only on the bridge, but across the ship.  After their long journey, finding and docking with the Ancient facility was a huge step.

Tsekai stood abruptly, animated for the first time since the _Sprite _ disembarked several hours past.  He was finally in a position to exert some control over the situation; he could finally do something.  “Engineering, I want full telemetry data on the environment on the other side of that hatch.  Recon, continue scanning the anomaly; we didn’t see any weapons on the way in but I won’t take any chances.  _Sprite_, what is your tactical situation?”  The captain rested his hands on his hips; he was in his element now.

“Command, _Sprite_.  We are five-by-five sir.  Tactical team is ready for entry, on your command.”

“Sir,” the Chief Engineering Officer approached the command chair as the captain turned expectantly, “we show breathable environment beyond the hatch.  The air will probably be a little stale, but there are no detectable toxins.  We’ve also detected some sort of gravimetric field, meaning they won’t need to worry about zero-G.  I’ve seen this before with other Star Confederation technology.”  He grinned self-assuredly.

“Thank you Mr. Sullivan.  _Sprite_, this is command.  You are green-light for breach.”


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## Shieldhaven (Jul 19, 2007)

Woohoo! Dawning Star Story Hour! I can't wait to see more. =)

Haven


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## Teneb (Jul 19, 2007)

This is a bit of an experiment for me.  I appreciate the encouragement!


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## Justin D. Jacobson (Jul 19, 2007)

Can't wait to see more. Do you mind if I post a link to this thread on the DS site?


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## pogre (Jul 19, 2007)

Great start!


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## Teneb (Jul 19, 2007)

Justin D. Jacobson said:
			
		

> Can't wait to see more. Do you mind if I post a link to this thread on the DS site?




Of course not


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## Khairn (Jul 19, 2007)

Damn ... you've got a fan club growing already.  I love DS!


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## Teneb (Jul 20, 2007)

My tentative plan is to update about once a week, but here's one more to kind of set the stage.
---​
*Eos, four years earlier*

The centennial celebration of Landfall Day was momentous for several reasons.  Over the past century the fledgling Dawning Star Republic had settled in and her residents got down to the business of crafting a civilization.  Civil institutions were created to manage day-to-day life, manufacturing and agricultural centers were constructed, and everyone slowly found their niche.  Landfall Day was a time to celebrate all the successes and remember the billions who had been lost to reach this point.

The 100th Landfall Day was also significant because it saw the launch of the first deep space observing platform, the Leviex array.  Named after the _Dawning Star’s _ chief astronavigator, the array coupled state-of-the-art optics with sensitive UV spectrum and gamma radiation detection equipment.  It was the first scientific space-based instrument created by the Sadler orbital facility, whose shipyards had previously been tasked primarily with constructing starships.

The Leviex array quickly made a number of stunning observations which helped the scientific community make significant progress towards understanding the physics behind the universe’s expansion.  The array also detected an anomaly beyond the Cronus Belt; most scientists wrote off the tiny object with an irregular orbit as beyond notice.  However, one of the primary non-governmental financiers of the Leviex array became obsessed with the object, certain the it was an object created by the mythical Star Confederation.

Percival Dagos was easily the wealthiest man on Eos.  Much of his wealth was inherited from his great-great-great grandfather Maximilian, one of the original colonists of the Republic, but a sizable portion was also due to Percival’s own business acumen.  He owned many businesses in the Republic, and was a generous donor to many charities and scientific endeavors.  His passion, some would say obsession, was the collection of Ancient artifacts.  From his home in orbit aboard _The Last Resort_, he planed an expedition to what was then called Anomaly X19.

The medium frigate _Nebraska _ was the lone military capital ship to accompany the Dawning Star on the journey to Eos.  One hundred years later the vessel was in acceptable shape, but newer more advanced ships were being constructed at an admirable pace, and there was talk of scrapping the vessel.  Percival seized upon this and offered an extravagant sum to purchase the decommissioned starship.  The government agreed, and after stripping the vessel of all military hardware, it was turned over to the civilian Dagos Corporation.  In honor of her storied history, Percival chose to keep the ship’s name but modify it to the _Venerable Nebraska _ to indicate her new, nonmilitary function.

The Dagos Corporation spent huge sums of money outfitting the vessel for a prolonged space voyage.  A team consisting of the brightest scientific and engineering minds was gathered and a mission plan was crafted.  A private army was gathered to protect the scientific effort, and trained relentlessly on ship-to-ship combat.  After a year, Percival deemed his group was ready to depart, and handed command over to his close friend and former EDF ship captain Hozoku Tsekai.  Nearly three-hundred crew, mission specialists, and private security left with him.  

The _Venerable Nebraska _ sped through the Helios system for three years, aided by a gravity assist trajectory past the gas giant Hesperos.  The science team made many amazing discoveries along the way, beaming all the data back to Eos for further analysis.  Even before reaching their destination, the prestige the voyage gained Percival Dagos was well worth his initial investment.  However, the true prize lay at the end of the journey, or so he hoped.


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## Teneb (Jul 26, 2007)

The good news crackled over the squad’s comm gear _‘This is command.  You are green-light for breach.'_  “Bull” Thompson stamped his feet appreciatively, “About fraking time.”

“Shut up Bull,” returned Amy Duerber, the team’s medic.  Her usual impish smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, “You just want to see if there’s any gourmet alien grub in there.”  The big man just grinned.  Meanwhile, the group’s engineering tech was busily poking and prodding a console on the outside of the hatch.

“How’s it going Henry?”  The tech wiped a gloved hand over his brow and looked over his shoulder at Dotun, the entry team’s leader.

“It’s pretty standard Star Confederation design Walker,” he grinned sheepishly, having used the nickname everyone knew Dotun hated, “which basically means it’s insanely complicated.  I’ll have this thing open in a jiffy.”  He grinned again.

Dotun turned and regarded the undisciplined mob that was his team.  Things certainly had changed in his life the last four years.  He was still getting used to the fact that he wasn't commanding paramilitary forces, but mercenaries.  They were capable fighters, sure enough, but the....culture...was very different.  “All right, safety checks!  Boots on the ground in five!”  He began walking down the narrow docking corridor, away from the hatch.  As he passed each member of the entry team they made an admirable show of getting serious, thoughts turning to the task at hand.  “Rules of engagement are defensive only!  Standard tactical entry!”  Each person in the ten-man team was equipped with the finest gear money could buy: light combat armor, targeting goggles synched to an EDF-15 assault rifle, high frequency wireless communications gear.  Bull even carried an EDF-35P plasma cannon in case things got really out of hand.

A few moments later, Henry glanced back at the team.  Beads of sweat were clearly visible on his forehead.  “I think we’re ready to go sir.”  Dotun nodded the affirmative and the engineer touched two wires of the opening mechanism together.  The five-foot diameter hatch rotated open in the blink of an eye in complete silence.  Henry crouched down next to the hatch as the team wordlessly moved through it.

It was dark.  Goggles automatically adjusting, allowing him to see, Dotun surveyed his position just inside the hatch.  They were in a room about forty feet on a side, devoid of any furniture or other debris.  McCormick and Sanchez moved ahead and took up covering positions on either side of the lone exit from the room, a hallway that extended for as far as Dotun’s darkvision goggles could see.  The rest of the team efficiently cleared the room and kneeled down into firing positions.  Bull, as was his wont, stood in the center of the room, presenting an excellent target for any hostiles in the vicinity.  Dotun sighed inwardly as the big man seemed completely oblivious to the situation.  

The team leader whispered into his mic, “_Sprite_, this is Entry 1.  Docking hatch is secure.  We’re moving in.”  Not waiting for an affirmative, Dotun waived his team forward as Henry closed the Hummingbird’s hatch behind them.  The tech and the team’s medic would follow behind the tactical team.

As they pressed forward, their boots clanked hollowly on the metal floors.  Amy, easing her medic kit a little lower on her back, ran her hand over the cool metal walls as they went, sensing no imperfections – they seemed to be made of one continuous piece of metal.  Henry’s mind also wandered to studying the architecture of the hallway; he noted odd protrusions at regular intervals of the ceiling.  He touched his comlink, “Captain, I think this place is capable of ambient light.”

Dotun, fifty feet ahead, returned, “Noted.  For the moment the darkness works for us.  Keep me posted on anything else you see.”  Entry 1 continued into the darkness, weapons raised, searching for the unknown.

                                                                   -

Deep within the facility, an intelligence stirred sluggishly out of hibernation.  It struggled to grasp what had awoken it.  One thought began repeating itself over and over again: _Perimeter breach, sector 17-10.  Perimeter breach, sector 17-10.  Perimeter breach…….  _


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## pogre (Jul 26, 2007)

Excellent!


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## Teneb (Aug 7, 2007)

*Eos, four years earlier*

He slowly lowered the binoculars from his face, not wanting to alert the quarry to his presence.  Republic Ranger Dotun Amagawe had been tracking this band of smugglers for almost three weeks.  They were good, Dotun had to give them that.  Stealing weapons from the Eos Defense Force wasn’t a task for amateurs.  

There were three core members of the gang, though they subcontracted out for muscle when they needed it.  They stole military hardware from any depot they could get into, and stashed it in the wilderness somewhere.  When they met with contacts from the faction-camps, that’s when they usually hired additional help.  The biggest client was Roger’s Point, not surprising, but other camps bought from time to time.  Dotun had finally found out where their stash was located.

Lying prone, hidden by a large patch of tall prairie grass and camouflaged by the light-colored duster he wore, Dotun weighed his options.  The smugglers were likely heavily armed, but he had the element of surprise.  If he didn’t act now, he wasn’t sure if he’d get another chance at both the smugglers and their contraband.  The paranoid group had a tendency of moving their drop-point without warning.

The thought of Dawning Star residents, civilians, injured or killed by these weapons flowing to the faction-camps compelled Dotun to action.  These smugglers had to be stopped, and if they were a little banged up because of it, then that was the price of breaking the law.  

Dotun sighted down the scope of his EDF SPR, the finest sniper rifle ever crafted.  He looked at the now-familiar forms of the three smugglers.  He had been trying to bring them to justice for months now.  The irony was that he still didn’t know who they were; the three hid behind numerous layers of false identification.  Once again he thought to himself, definitely not amateurs.

Adjusting the laser range finder slightly, the Ranger targeted the smaller male of the party.  He talked the most, and Dotun had him pegged to be the leader.  Exhaling slowly, he pulled the trigger.  The grass around him parted as the silencer displaced the air of the rifle barrel.  Small Man’s right shoulder, his shooting arm, disappeared in a mist of blood and he crumpled to the ground.  The female and larger man whipped their heads around in panic, not understanding what had just happened.

“Republic Ranger, surrender in the name of the law!” Dotun boomed from concealment.  Upon hearing this, Big Man turned and ran back towards the all-terrain vehicle the trio had used to reach their stash.  The woman picked up an automatic weapon from the ground and began spraying the general vicinity with bullets.  She was concentrating her fire about fifty feet to Dotun’s right, so he took the time to shoot Big Man in the left thigh.  It was an intentional flesh wound, but served the purpose of slowing the man down.  He then calmly adjusted his aim and shot the woman in the collarbone.  With her smaller, lighter frame she was blown backwards by the force of the shot and lost her grip on her weapon.

Dotun stood and jogged to where the three lay, covering them with his SPR the entire way.  He had all three roll to their stomach so he could search them for weapons, and then allowed them to apply whatever limited first-aid they could manage.  He had already called for medivac and additional law enforcement support.

Small Man stood shakily from his kneeling position, “Do you have any idea who I am, cop?”  He sneered, wobbling side to side from blood loss and shock.

“You’re a criminal,” the Ranger calmly replied, “and you’re going to pay for your crimes.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” and with that, Small Man lunged.  

Dotun was caught off-guard, lulled by the man’s show of weakness.  It was clear he had been faking.  Small Man crashed into the officer’s chest, throwing him slightly off balance.  When Dotun had regained his balance a second later, Small Man was pointing Dotun’s sidearm at him with his uninjured arm.  Dang but the little weasel was fast! 

“I ain’t going to jail,” and with that, the smuggler pulled the trigger, putting two rounds into Dotun’s chest, center of mass.  

He rocked with the impact, but the combat armor he wore beneath his duster prevented any real damage.  He lifted his rifle and pointed it at the surprised fugitive, “Combat armor.  Nice try though.  Now, put down the weapon and get back on the ground.”

Small Man looked panicked for a brief moment, then an evil grin crossed his face.  “Frak you,” he lowered his head, put the gun to the back of his skull and pulled the trigger.  The medivac helicopter could be heard approaching as the lifeless body fell to the ground and Dotun looked on, stunned.
                                                           -
The dead smuggler turned out to be Danny Armstrong, son of Alex Armstrong and a member of the Colonial Congress.  Danny had been accessing his father’s computer to learn of vulnerable weapons caches.  A thorough investigation implicated Danny and his co-conspirators while clearing Congressman Armstrong of any wrongdoing.  The Congressman spoke loudly of a conspiracy to frame his son as a political ploy to smear the Congressman’s name.  He blatantly accused the Republic Rangers of murdering his son, pointing to his “execution style killing”.  

Ranger Dotun Amagawe was cleared of any wrongdoing, though was publicly reprimanded for using excessive force in capturing the smugglers.  The inquiry board accepted his story of Danny’s suicide using the officer’s weapon, though Congressman Armstrong made it his personal mission to harass Officer Amagawe at every possible turn.

When Percival Dagos began his quest to acquire Anomaly X19, Dotun viewed it as a chance for a fresh start and resigned his commission in the Republic Rangers.  Due to his experience with firearms and his cool demeanor under fire, Mr. Dagos gave him command of one of the mission’s security details.


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## Shieldhaven (Aug 7, 2007)

Woohoo, update!

I'm impressed, Teneb! This is awesome stuff!

Haven


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## Teneb (Aug 13, 2007)

Entry 1 slowly advanced into the heart of Anomaly X19.  The smooth metal walls and floor reminded engineering tech Henry Abraham of walking through the ductwork of a house.  If the house were a giant rock.  In space.  Far away from anything approaching civilization.  If you were stuck in a rock space house far away from anything else, wouldn’t you get really bored?  And really, logistically such a house would be really difficult to live in – where would you get groceries?  You wouldn’t be able to pick up much in the way of TV either, and…..

Henry snapped from his daydreaming abruptly.  He had almost run into Dr. Duerber, the team’s spunky young doctor.  She was apparently stopped because the rest of the team had ceased moving.  It was hard to tell since the darkvision goggles only allowed about thirty feet of vision.  He experimentally lifted his goggles and was immediately engulfed in all-encompassing darkness.  Henry hurriedly lowered his eyewear back into place.

“Sanchez, report!”  Walker’s voice– Dontun, the tech reminded himself, whispered over the comm.  Sanchez was on point, with the rest of the team spread out over about one hundred feet.  Presumably, Sanchez was the reason the team stopped.

“I thought I heard something sir.”  Normally that revelation wouldn’t warrant an extraordinary amount of attention.  However, after walking for almost an hour in total silence, total darkness, with no branching hallways or landmarks, _any _ change was significant at this point.

“Visual contact?”

“Negative.  It was high pitched, like metal on metal.  Very brief.”

“Switch to infrared.”  The goggles the team wore not only served as eye protection from debris, but had three vision-enhancing capabilities: darkvision, infrared, and glare protection.  Darkvision was very effective, as the team was well aware, but had limited range.  Infrared wasn’t very useful for navigating the metal hallway with its uniform-temperature walls, but would allow a user to detect heat signatures of an enemy at a significantly greater range.

“I might be picking up a little something, straight ahead.  It doesn’t look like a definitive contact, more like heated air from a duct or something.”

“Understood.  Team, advance.  Be alert.”

Everyone started moving forward again, approximately ten feet between each member in a standard tactical pattern.  Henry followed Amy, and heard the last trooper fall into line behind him.  He toyed briefly with his holstered sidearm, his only weapon, and then hooked his thumbs through the straps of his pack.  His mind once again began to wander to rocky space houses.

Suddenly, Bull shouted out in…..pain?  Fear?  Searing light blossomed in the hallway as a brief gout of super-heated plasma kissed the ceiling.  His combat goggles mitigated most of it, but Henry was still momentarily blinded.

“Lights!  Lights!  Lights!” barked Dotun, forgoing the comm link.  Immediately, a half-dozen spears of light pierced the darkness as other team members activated the mag-lights slung under their rifles.  Henry pulled his own light out of its holster and also drew his sidearm.  Glancing behind him, he was comforted by the sight of Kriegen covering their rear, kneeling on the floor with weapon raised.

A cacophy of shouted commands drew his attention forward once more.  “Get down!”  “Watch your firing lanes!”  Back off!”  “Get this frakking thing off of me!”  This last was from Bull.  Henry struggled to see past the six people in front of him and figure out what was going on.  The scene was….surreal.  A bipedal figure grappled with Bull, one articulated hand grasping the barrel of the EDF-35P, the other holding the big man’s left bicep.  The thing was made up of metallic tubes and stood approximately five and a half feet tall.  Exposed wires and cables were visible where a human’s joints would be, and, disconcertingly, there was a featureless sheet of metal or plastic where the thing’s face should be.  It was obviously exceptionally strong, as it appeared to effortlessly control Bull’s movement despite his vigorous struggling.  This fact may have saved their lives, as the thing held the plasma weapon pointed to the ceiling; if that first panicked blast had been directed down the hallway, most of the team would have been incinerated.

 As the chaos continued and the two melee combatant did their slow, struggling dance, Henry mentally detatched himself from the situation.  The figure was clearly a robot or android of some kind.  It was far more advanced than anything he had seen before, and considering their location, it was affair bet it was of Ancient design.  It didn’t have any obvious weapons beyond its great strength.  Oddly, despite the straight, unbroken run of the hallway the robot had materialized in the middle of the team.  It was unfathomable that Sanchez could have missed the robot in the twenty-foot wide hallway.

An emphatic “Shoot it!” from Bull cut through the babble of voices from the rest of the team.  His massive shoulder muscles bulged with the effort of holding onto the 35P.  Perspiration beaded Dotun’s brow as he watched the situation unfold.  He couldn’t even bring himself to aim his rifle at the robot – the danger of shooting his own man was too great.  “Can’t take the risk,” the former Ranger hissed under his breath, mentally scrambling to find a solution to the current problem.  Other members of the team continued aiming at the automaton but were unable to get a clear shot.  The stalemate seemed to stretch on forever.

Someone raced past Dotun, trailing the faint scent of lilacs.  The team medic was running towards the unmoving pair, human and construct.  The robot turned its featureless face towards Amy as Bull redoubled his efforts to pull away from it.  With an inarticulate scream she raised her pistol and smashed the handgrip into the thing’s head.  Its faceplate shattered, exposing intricate circuitry beneath.  The robot released its grip on Bull’s arm, seeming to evaluate the damage to its face with a human-like hand.  Still unable to free his weapon, Bull used the opportunity to head butt the machine fiercely.

With a sound like shattering glass, bits of metal and other debris erupted from the robot’s head.  Bull slumped against the wall, dazed, his face a bloody mess.  The robot stumbled backwards, strange clicking and whirring sounds coming from inside its chassis.  Once it reached the middle of the hallway, a cacophy of shots rang out.  Pieces of metal, wire, and plastic geysered from the robot as it fell to the floor and landed with a heavy thud.

Amy leaned down to tend Bull’s face.  He had been cut in numerous places by the sharp edges of circuits, but thankfully most of the damage had been superficial.  Dotun ordered a perimeter to be formed so the team could take stock and regroup.  He gave a brief nod of respect to Amy before slowly approaching the downed machine.  Not realizing he had been holding his breath, Henry gave a deep sigh of relief.


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## TDRandall (Aug 14, 2007)

"oh, excuse me!" mentions a new arrival on the scene, as he accidentally steps on Shieldhaven's foot and spills the tiniest bit of his extra-large-giganto tub of popcorn into pogre's lap while trying to manuever past their positions.  He can't help but notice how they've so "selfishly" taken the best spots in the center of the house.  People these days......

The man carefully positions his super-duper-humongo-gulp and briefly sighs as his girth settles into the plush theater seat next to them.  He's letting the cares of the day wash away, and obviously settling in for a long stay.  He leans over and  whispers to Justin: "I can't believe I was lucky enough to get in one of these advanced screenings.  This feature is supposed to rock - this year's big blockbuster!"

The others shush him even as he offers a Raisinet to Devyn, so he turns his eyes back to the story.  They glaze over in contented glee, as he attempts to psychically will the next installment to appear ........

Yes, you've got another fan; keep 'em coming!


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## Teneb (Aug 26, 2007)

*Eos, four years earlier*

Henry gave a deep sigh of annoyance.  One hundred feet away, the chief archaeologist and his sycophantic flunkies pawed over the Star Confederation artifacts the team had uncovered.  Henry’s irritation stemmed from the fact that they did so beneath the hidden confines of a massive canvas tent.  The engineer and the rest of the excavation team were left sitting in the sweltering heat, confined to gossiping and speculating about the find rather than participating in the emotional high of examining the artifacts themselves.  The truly galling part was that none of this would have even been possible without Henry.

A group of murcow herders had discovered a strange metallic building protruding from a hillside.  Several items suspected to be of Ancient origin had been found in the area previously, so the herders notified the local authorities, hoping to cash in on their find.

A team from the local university investigated, and then called in experts from Dawning Star.  Henry was one of those who had been selected for the research team; he had a reputation for an inherent understanding of all things technological.  He was designated as the primary engineering technician for the expedition, along with three archaeologists and their gaggle of yammering students.  Thirty or so excavators and other heavy laborers completed the team.

The door to the Star Confederation structure was like nothing Henry had ever seen or heard of before.  It was made up of an octagonal frame roughly seven feet across.  Inch-wide strips of metal, each only a few millimeters thick, transected the frame and overlapped one another in the exact center of the portal.  At that point in space, some sort of pictogram was etched.  Other writings ringed the frame.

Despite its flimsy appearance, the door proved to be incredibly resilient.  The metal could not be cut or melted; when struck the door bowed slightly but held firm, regardless of how much force was applied.  The archaeologists spoke all manner of passwords and codes, to no avail.  They tried translating the writings and manipulating the pictogram, each equally unsuccessful.  Reluctantly, they let the engineer “sully” (their sarcastic words) the Ancient portal.

Henry began by re-examining the writing on the doorframe.  The archaeologists had noted that one symbol repeated more frequently than the others – a one-inch diameter circle with several radiating lines.  It resembled the old earth depiction of the sun.  The impotent scientists had seized on the repetitive nature of this particular symbol to aid them in the translation effort, one which ended in failure like every other attempt they had made at opening the door.

The tech evaluated the symbols, not with a scholar’s eye, but with an engineer’s.  The sun symbol repeated five times, spaced equidistantly around the door.  Henry leaned in, nose almost touching the frame despite the snickers coming from behind him.  Eyes widening, he quickly fumbled for a tool on his belt.  He delicately touched a probe to the sun symbol, sliding it into the frame about an inch.  The scientists behind Henry fell silent- they had apparently discounted the fact that this particular symbol was etched much deeper than the others as unimportant.

Glancing excitedly at the gage attached to the probe, Henry breathed, “There’s a current running through here.  I think I saw microcircuits inside this symbol.”  Ignoring the babble of questions from the others, Henry ran to his kit and began assembling a five-pronged contraption.  He carefully walked back to the door with his new tool, held together with electrical tape and good intentions.  Henry slowly slid each protrusion into one of the sun symbols.  He connected the whole thing to a battery and slowly increased the voltage.  

Without warning, the central pictogram flared with a cyan light.  The metal bands fanned together and retracted, leaving an open hallway receding into the hillside.  Henry grinned stupidly, “Cool.”  No sooner had the word left his lips and he was unceremoniously shoved aside as the archaeologists and their students plowed through the portal.  He wasn’t even allowed through the door he had opened!

And so he sat with the laborers who, Henry thought bitterly, were at least able to carry some artifacts out of the facility.  He hadn’t even seen an artifact.  Henry kicked an undeserving stone violently.

Occasional cries of excitement or heated discussion could be heard coming from the main research tent; Henry had been mentally suppressing them for most of the day.  Now, a different sound was emanating from the tent – a high-pitched whine that was growing in volume.  Henry cautiously started walking towards the tent, then trotting as the hairs on the back of his neck began to rise.  A few students scampered out the tent door, fear written plainly on their faces.  That was enough for the engineering tech, and he brushed past the students and into the depths of the voluminous tent.

Inside was chaos.  People were arguing and gesticulating wildly, while everyone gave a squat cylinder in one corner a wide berth.  The growing whine was coming from the cylinder.  Henry demanded to know what was going on.  One of the chief archaeologists, a strange mix of annoyance and apprehension on his face, responded, “We inadvertently seem to have activated a Star Confederation power source, and we are unsure as to how it could be deactivated.”

Henry looked at the man levelly, “It’s not connected to anything.  It’ll overload.”

“Perhaps,” replied the stuffy academician, “although Dr. Hartman has a theory regarding a hypothetical override sequence which could conceivably….”

“It’s going to explode you idiot!” Henry thundered.

Dr. What’s-his-face stiffened angrily, “I must say, your tone is completely unacceptable, and furthermore….”  A bolt of raw energy leapt from the device and vaporized a nearby table.  With a very undignified “Eeep!” the chief archaeologist fled the scene, joined by many of his colleagues.

Henry shook his head disgustedly, sarcastically mumbling, “No, no, it’s OK – I’ll take care of it.”  Another bolt flew over Henry’s head, blew a hold through the tent, and kept going.  Screams of pain and panic could suddenly be heard from outside.  He dropped to the ground and hurriedly belly-crawled towards the device as red runes appeared on a display panel.  Tearing off what he hoped was an access panel, Henry sized up the situation.  Numerous wires, coils, and circuits were exposed to him.  He mentally compared the scheme to numerous other power sources he had seen.  The device was significantly more advanced than any other power source he was familiar with, but the concept had to be similar, right?  He certainly hoped so.

Henry’s hair began to lift away from his head as a localized electrical field began to form.  Acting on instinct now, electricity arcing uncontrollably from the device, he grabbed a number of metal support pipes that were lying nearby and drove them into the ground.  He prayed a stray bolt of electricity wouldn’t kill him.   A few seconds later, a pair of cables were clamped on each pipe.  Henry cautiously edged towards the device, the other end of the cable in his hand.  He wasn’t quite sure how this was going to work without him ending up dead, but he was going to give it a shot.  Closing his eyes, Henry clamped the cable to the innards of the Ancient power source and immediately scrambled away.

He made it through the tent flap when a loud CRACK sounded from behind him.  Henry’s entire world went topsy-turvy as the ground beneath him shot upwards - the force of the discharge had caused a minor earthquake.  Once it had subsided, Henry evaluated his health and determined that he wasn’t badly hurt.  He looked around him and saw the fearful eyes of the archaeology team looking back at him.  The air of superiority was gone now that he had saved their lives.


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## opfor06 (Aug 30, 2007)

Splendid yarn keep up the good work!


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## Groob (Sep 5, 2007)

Yes. Please, do continue. - I've just recently discovered Dawning Star for me and I like the breath of life your story gives to the setting.


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## Teneb (Sep 5, 2007)

Apologies for the delays in updating.  School/work is hitting me kind of hard right now.  I'll update again as I'm able.


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## Teneb (Sep 18, 2007)

I'm really tired of studying...what shall I do?  Ah yes, work on the Story Hour!

---​“Sir, long range scans are picking up a number of small asteroids entering our encounter zone.”  The Recon officer kept his eyes locked on the data screen in front of him.  “Spectometry indicates moderate levels of iron and nickel.  Rotation of zero-point-three degrees per hour.  It appears as though they are a binary system.  Speed will take them out of our zone in roughly fifteen minutes.”

Captain Tsekai glanced briefly back towards the Recon station before returning his gaze out the front viewport.  “Any danger to the installation or our people?”  He tried not to let irritation creep into his voice; the question shouldn’t have to be asked.  His crew was fairly skilled, but their shortcomings were a constant source of irritation.

“Negative captain, the projected vector will take the asteroids safely past us with a wide margin for allowable error.”  Tsekai indicated he understood non-verbally and settled back into his chair.  

The watchful mood was quickly broken as a panicked voice came over the open communication channel.  “_Nebraska_, this is _Sprite_!  Shots fired!  Shots fired!  Entry team has encountered hostiles!  Please advise!”

Tsekai leapt from his chair and thundered, “Discipline!”  He glared at the viewscreen, willing the crew of the Sprite to calm down and act like professionals.  His will bored a hole into the tiny speck of a ship nearly a mile away.  It apparently worked as the person on the other end of the line audibly calmed themselves.  “_Sprite_, report the tactical situation.  In a calm and succinct fashion if you don’t mind.”

“Yes sir,” the now somewhat sheepish voice returned.  “Our external microphones picked up the sound of gunfire.  The audio scanners indicate it was standard issue EDF-15 weapons discharge.  Faint, but unmistakable.  We’ve tried to reach Entry One, but haven’t been successful.  Due to the nature of the sound, I think it might be because they’re too far in for our comm. signals to reach.”

_‘Or they’re all dead,’_ the captain thought bitterly.  This wasn’t the most auspicious start.  “Standby _Sprite_.  I’m sending an additional tactical team over with Ukcha on the _Pixie_.  Continue trying to reach Entry One.”  Without waiting to hear the affirmative, captain Tsekai walked to the back of the bridge; a familiar hulking form stood silently, watching and waiting.  “Well old friend, it looks like you may need to pull someone out of the fire pit.”  The velin grinned in anticipation.

---​
The intelligence within Anomaly X19 was fully aware now.  The scout it had sent to investigate the perimeter alarm was no longer communicating, so something must have befallen it.  Unfortunately, options were very limited.  The number of functional androids was quite small, and it couldn’t risk losing many more.  Doing so would compromise the integrity of the facility.  Power was also in limited supply, so auxiliary systems had to be kept at minimum operating capacity.  If the intelligence had been capable of sighing in frustration, it would have.  

It turned its attention outward and quickly located a small vessel attached to the facility, as well as a larger ship further away.  Presumably the two were related somehow.  Neither looked particularly threatening, which was potentially positive.  Of greater concern were the two vessels that had just been picked up on long-range scans; the intelligence immediately realized they were more than they seemed.  Long, bitter experience had driven that point home quite clearly.  The question was: were the beings now inside the facility friend or foe?  More importantly, how were they (and by extension, itself) going to deal with this additional threat?


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## Hstio (Oct 26, 2007)

Outstanding!!  It's been a month since the last update, is this story hour dead (hopefully not)?

Hstio


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## Teneb (Nov 6, 2007)

Amy finished patching up Bull’s face.  He wasn’t all that pretty to start with, so the scrapes and bruises didn’t detract from his appearance.  Of course, they didn’t add anything either.  The big man stewed silently; Amy knew Bull’s temper was up after their little encounter, and that was potentially problematic.

Dotun and Henry stepped forward to examine the robot, with the rest of the team covering both ends of the hallway.  “Where’d it come from Walker?”

Dotun sighed loudly, “Please stop calling me that.”  He crouched down and aimlessly prodded the fallen automaton a few times, almost experimentally.  “It couldn’t have just waltzed past McCormick and Sanchez.”  That would have been almost impossible.  The two point-men were hand-picked by Dotun for their sharp eyes.  Besides, the hall was only ten feet wide.  He scratched the back of his head and stood up.  Henry took the opportunity to kneel down next to the robot and push his face in as close as he could to the exposed torso.

As was his wont, Henry started talking to himself.  “Hmmm, circuits look pretty complex.  Must be some kind of alloy, as it doesn’t look like anything I’m familiar with.  Heh, and I’m familiar with quite a lot!”  He didn’t pause to observe Dotun’s opinion of this statement; he didn’t notice that the team leader had wandered off to examine the corridor wall.  “Outer casing is almost rubbery; could be some kind of synthetic skin.  That’d be pretty cool.  We’ll have to take what’s left of this thing back to the ship with us.  I sure wouldn’t mind tinkering around with its insides.  Lotta neat stuff in there I suppose.”  A few other members of the team shot bemused glances back at the engineer.  He was good at his job, but he was apparently a little cracked.

Bull stood up with a slight grunt of effort and joined Dotun at the far wall.  “What’cha see boss?”

Dotun looked sideways at the big man.  It was clear that the…attack?….had shaken the big man, and that in turn made him edgy.  His hand reflexively gripped and re-gripped his plasma weapon.  Dotun opted to let it slide for the moment.  “This thing didn’t just magically appear, so it had to have come from somewhere.  I’m thinking maybe there’s a door or something here that we’re not seeing.”  He ran his hand over the smooth metallic surface of the wall.  Suddenly he stopped.  “Henry, come here.”

The engineer broke from his happy babbling and prodding and approached the wall.  Dotun silently pointed out a number of depressions in the wall at about chest height.  There were ten of them, two sets of five.  After mumbling to himself a little, Henry turned back to the fallen robot and grabbed one of its arms.  He whistled, “Wow, this thing’s got fingerprints.”  He held a limp hand at the wrist, palm facing Bull and Dotun for their review.  He dragged the robot to the wall; metal components scraped against the floor and raised an unholy screeching noise.  Other members of the team broke their vigil to glare at him in annoyance.  Henry didn’t notice.

He carefully placed each of the five fingers of the right hand into the depressions, and with Dotun’s help raised the other lifeless hand to fill the other five depressions.  Nothing happened.  “Hunh, that would’ve been too easy,” the tech said quietly.  He examined the right hand and noticed that the tips of two fingers had been damaged in the melee.  Henry shrugged and grabbed the robot under the arms.  As he pulled it back to the middle of the corridor and out of the way, Bull slung his weapon and approached the wall.  He set his feet and braced his massive arms, pushing against the wall and groaning with exertion.  Henry grinned, “Oh, you think you can just push the wall over there big guy?  I think it’s going to be a little more complicated than that.”  He chuckled to himself as he examined the robot further.

Bull grimaced in irritation, and then reset his hands on the wall to give it another shove.  His fingers settled into the ten depressions naturally as he shifted, and he began to push.  Without warning, a soft chime could be heard, and a ten-foot section of the wall recessed silently into the ceiling.  Bull’s astonishment lasted only a minute, after which he swaggered around and shot Henry a knowing look.  Henry cocked an eyebrow but otherwise stayed silent.  Dotun immediately stepped into the new hallway and covered their exposed flank.  This hall was also ten feet wide, but he could make out something hanging on the wall about fifty feet ahead.  “Alright, we haven’t seen anything change in this last hallway; I say we move forward this way and see if we find anything.”  The team quickly redeployed and began moving forward. 
---​Ukcha stood resolutely behind the pilot and co-pilot of the _Pixie _ as it neared Anomaly X19.  The velin, as a race, did not generally venture off of Eos, but the hulking man was an anomaly among his people in many ways.  He relished the adventure and unknown dangers this voyage provided.  He would have many great stories to tell his clan once he returned to them.

“Five minutes to contact sir,” the pilot said over his shoulder.  To some, the velin were considered primitive, subhuman even.  However, Ukcha’s proven battle prowess and soft-spoken manner had earned him the respect of many on the expedition.  His close friendship with Captain Tsekai didn’t hurt either.  He acknowledged the pilot’s comment and continued watching out the front viewport.  Behind him, his team, Entry 2, waited quietly.  Where Dotun’s mob was rowdy and undisciplined, his team was organized and efficient.  Ukcha respected the former Republic Ranger and his team, but he wasn’t surprised they had gotten themselves into trouble.

He had a nagging feeling that things were going to get interesting very soon.


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## papa_laz (Nov 7, 2007)

Gripping story. Nice change from all the swords and sorcery.


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