Armand Serrano
Armand Serrano
My name is Armand Serrano. Son of Ate and Elbrich. My parents originally met each other on Lubau. While originally not Humanites. I received my Xinghur implants when i was 5 years to be better suited against the harsh climate on Lubau.
My parents moved one year later to spacestation Zakyntos around Zalos because of better job opportunities. During my years on the spacestation i interacted a lot with the people from The Order. Here my curiosity grew for about the theories about the origing of the portal builders and the portal wars.
To support my parents i attended the Academy for a career as a mechanic on the spacestation.
Unbeknownst to my parents i attended history classes during my time on the Academy. By reading literature and going on fieldtrips i learned a lot about the portal wars.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
Sturdy
Body Features
Tough skin
Facial Features
Bulky face
Mental characteristics
Sexuality
Male
Education
Academy of Zakyntos: Spaceship Engineer Level II
Courses on the Portal Builders and Portal Wars.
Employment
Free agent with the Freetraders.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
I want to prove that i'm a an accomplished Archeologist by going to places which are dangerous for others.
Vices & Personality flaws
Alcohol. Pessimistic
Relationships
Scientist - Archeologist
View Character Profile
The technically skilled Xinghur have an unknown origin, but are in several ways adapted to hot desert climates, and seem to have relatives in the Algolan deserts.
Alignment
Coriolis
Age
35
Spouses
Siblings
Shamus loaded
(Brother)
Children
Gender
Male
Eyes
Brown
Hair
Dark blond
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
light translucent
Height
6 feet
Weight
90 KG
Escape from Dhaab - don't ask me how
The alarm was blaring in the control room. T-minus 30 minutes the computerscreen said. We only had 30 minutes to get off this planet. With the Zeluba Brigade between us and the shuttle. How would we survive. Suddenly the door opened and Niema stept into the room. Moses had called her. She was familiair with the systems on the Dhaab Station. Together with Shamus she was able to find a subroutine for the reactor programm. This gave us one hour more time. Now for the plan. We had to stop the Zeluba brigade from taking the Nannite technology off-planet. Khadyr told us to get to the basement where the labs were. To make sure no one would alarm the others to our presence the three Zaluba soldiers were tied up in the relaxation room. Lysia Wada and Niema stayed behind to keep checking the mainframe.
Quickly we went down to the basement. There was a long corridor to the laboratory . We only made our first steps into the corridor and five soldiers were rushing towards us. Now what to do! To head for cover Khadyr threw one of our smoke grenades. Our visibility was zero and the corridor fell silent.
And then it happened. From this point on in the story i swear this really happened and was not a dream or a lie.
|Our plan was now to rush the soldiers and shoot them one by one. We checked our carabines, discussed which soldier to take first, what was our fallback plan, did we have enough medical supplies and ...... Wait what ? I heard a Warcry from Shamus. Something about a pet chicken and then he suddenly rushed towards the soldiers bare-handed. Moses abruptly ran behind him shouting: "Forgive him, he does not know what he is doing" . Then we all ran behind Shamus. It was a flurry of punches, bites and gunfire. When we finally approached the first soldier. He was already was stunned. Then we shot the second soldier. Shamus was breathing heavilly and surprised by his own action had to come to his senses. Moses tried to calm him down. A little to soon. The remaining Zeluba soldiers started shooting. Fatally hitting one Red Hyena and hurting the second. Khadyr and i reloaded and were ready for our second volley. We just made our shot and there was a storm coming from behind us. A big furry was stampeding towards the other soldiers. The terror was visible on their faces. The last thing i heard from one of the soldiers was: "it was a good thing i put on the brown pants today". Then silence. All soldiers were defeated. Moses calmed Shamus. Behind the soldiers in the corridor we could see Jussuf lying on the floor in the vaults. We checked him. He was not dead. He wanted us to take him off-planet in exchange for the Nannite technology. While thinking about this proposition Shamus wanted to say something to Jussuf. He was whispering something and then a loud bang. Jussuf was dead. Probably for the better. He did betray us. Then we got the message we lost an hour. We had thirty minutes left. Our only option was to go into the Laboratory to try and access the subroutine again and give us some more time. We threw the nannite grenade into the lab and waited. This to make sure there were no Nannites remaining. We stepped into the Laboratory and Shamus was beginning to show signs of overexposure to the Nannites. First we contacted Lysia Wada and Niema to access the mainframe. Together with the help from Shamus we had now two hours. This was enough time to put Shamus into one of the scanners in the Lab. Instantly it detected the Nannites. Luckily it started to remove them. But this would take another thiry minutes. Shamus was finally back to normal.
The time was going more quickly than we had anticipated.We only had 15 minutes to escape. We contacted Lysia and Niema to join us. We had to go to the Shuttle platform.
And there it was. Raquel with three soldiers. They had mounted two automated Dial gun's. Outgunned an outnumbered we had to come with a plan. Khadyr and i threw the smoke and frag grenade onto the platform. This confused the soldiers and we hit one of the dial-guns. What happened next was a flurry of shots back and forth. Most were misses. But one did hit Khadyr. Then it was my turn but in the corner of my eye... there was Raquel and she shot me directly in the body. While i was lying with pain on the floor she took Moses hostage. She demanded we gave up the Nannite technology. We tried reasoning with her. The station was about to explode. She would not have any of it. During the shouting contest Moses got more scared and was asking Shamus for help. Shamus shouted he would help him. But how. We were pinned down. Is this the end ?
What i did not told you that when Khadyr and i stepped into the laboratory we did got infected by the Nannites. Nothing serious. But we were getting a bit sick. Now because of this we now know there was one Nannite who had his last hurrah.
Before Raquel could act. Shamus leapt up and came like a flaming fury towards her. In disbelieve she was too late shooting him. Shamus killed Raquel and the remaining soldiers within seconds. The way was clear. We heard Timon's voice from the communication system. We had to go now. We all got on board and flew away. In the background we could see the entire station being destroyed by the explosion. We survived. And we got the Mantella as a reward. Lysia Wada did not need the ship anymore. She would work now for Moses and the Red Hyenas. And for us. New adventures!
Dhaab Part 3
Exchausted, cold and numb. I was miserable when i got up. At first silence but slowly the howling of the blizzard was everywhere in the base. Everyone made an effort to sleep. But i don't know for sure if everyone was able to rest. First i looked outside. The visibility was somehow better. But the blizzard did not slow down. Khaydr, Moses were already up. But then Shamus. Those nannites did hurt him. He started rambling like a 5 year old toddler. Had no mind of his own. Thankfully Coffee worked and Shamus regained some focus
I talked to Khadyr and we decided to ask Timon on the Device. At first the device and Timon could not answer our questions. His software was damaged. After a quick check i could see some "," which were replaced. Nothing i could not fix. Then Timon could check Shamus and told us what is happening to Shamus. Apparently Shamus was being repaired by the nannites. But the procedure could result in gibberish behaviour by the host. The danger was when there was nothing to repair. But that was not the main concern now. The sequence started by Timon would result in the death of all life on the base in 24 hours. And we already lost 12 hours. We had to move quickly. Timon asked us to leave him in Dhaab-2 to make sure the research could not be stolen. In exchange for our help to stop Jusuf he told us where to find three nannite grenades. This would kill all nannites in the vicinity.... and the host. So we have to be carefull.
We would go through the servicetunnels this time. Because every minute counted. The four of us started going through the tunnel to Dhaab 1. After an hour Moses told us about a service-tunnel. This could a way to sneak into Dhaab-1. We chose against this. Shamus was still not okay, but was showing signs of strange behaviour. The service-tunnel was very narrow and could lead to a panic attack. The walk down the tunnel was hard. Still the blizzard howled around us. It was very difficult to hear someone talking. Also the cold was becoming unbearable. It's better to stay walking.
The next hour we were close to the main entrance of Dhaab-1. Close to the entrance we encountered three members of the Red Hyenas. Moses asked them what happened and told them about the situation. Thank to Khadyr they were easily persuaded to help us. Coming to the door i discovered Jussuf changed the entry codes. Nothing worked. We were stuck.
Luckily Moses told us about entry hatched which could be opened manually. The only problem was that we had to lift Shamus through the hatch. Together with Khadyr and Moses i succeeded to lift Shamus without our backs being broken. Finally we were close to our objective. But our troubles were just starting. When we stepped out into the room there was already someone. CAPTAIN WADA! She was screaming into the communicator. Trying to reach the ship, Aya, Anyone. But got no reply. She looked surprised at us when suddenly the communicator cracked and we hear Jussuf's voice. "TRAITOR!" he screamed before a loud gunshot and then rapid machinegun fire. It was a full on battle furtherup in the base. The Zeluba brigade decided to clean house. But why ? Still looking at captain Wada we noticed a soldier stepping into the room. He looked at us. Before he could act we shouted at him. What was going on, Who was betrayed, we are going to be dead in less than 10 hours... This last one was not true. The soldier told us the reactor in DHAAB-2 had been overloaded and we had 30 minutes to escape. To be continued !
Dhaab 2 inqury
Towards Dhaab2. This would be a difficult road. Ice, Snow and zero visibility. The exterme cold would make this a difficult journey. Shamus took the wheel and started the long road through the canyon. Along the way there was nothing we could do but trust on the driving skills of Shamus. From now and then we had to help if we were still on the correct path. There were a lot of twists an turns during our journey. After an hour we did get stuck in the snow. We were unable to break free from the snow. The only solution was to dig the crawler out of the snow. This meant going into the cold. The visibility was minimal and despite we had the HEV suits on the cold made it difficult the move. After an hour the crawler was free of the snow and we could move on. The blizzard was getting worse. Along the way we also saw an abandoned crawler. No stopping now. We had to move on.
After two hours we suddenly arrived at Dhaab 2. Visibility was poor. But we were glad we could enter the garage and disembark. It was here we found that Jussuf Farrah was not with us. He stayed behind on Dhaab1. No time to lose. We had to find the mainframe. Luckily i received a copy of Dhaab2 station. When we entered the main platform there was nobody around. Only the signs of panic. A lot of garbage, boxes, suitcases. It looks like everybody was in a rush to leave the station. Notably a shuttle which looked like it failed to launch. Anjil and i checked the shuttle. The passengers were still in the shuttle. But they had been dead for a while. When we looked around we found scriblings on the shuttle and some of the containers. According to my tablet this had something to do with DNA sequences on atomic level.
During my investigation. Shamus and Khadyr were talking to Moses about what happened on Dhaab2. Moses told us the station was in the same state as they found it. If we wanted more information we could ask Anjil. Because Anjil was a member of the Red Hyenas and worked for Moses. Strange. But no time to lose. I found the route to the control room. Here was the mainframe which was without power. After starting up the reactor the base we were able to start the Mainframe and all of the systems on the base.
Shamus started to check the logs of the base. Apparently the base was flooded with radiation: the Shanzidar Sequence. Which killes all oraganic matter. This is probably the cause why everyone rushed to get off base. Which they did not succeed in. And apparently we could not leave either. The temperature outside dropped to -100 Celsius. To risky for us to go outside. So we agreed to check the laboratory and see if everything of value was to be found. When we went through the airlock we entered an empty Laboratory. Everything of value was missing. The Airlock to the outside deck was unaccessible according to Shamus.
During our search Khadyr did find something. An object which contained a hologram of one of the scientists: Timon Gemet. He told us about the history of the laboratory. They worked for Borna Jalet to create medicine to cure diseases. The ultimate goal was to find a cure for all diseases. And here everything went wrong. Borna Jalet demanded more results and the project took more risks. This culminated in a set of nanites which would be injected in the body. The results were not positive and Timon told the results could not leave the planet.
He guided me to the project information and i started to download the files. To make sure we had everything we checked the files. Here we also found a photo of Borna. This was Jussuf...
To Dhaab
Here we are on the Mantella. All ready for our mission of 60000 BIrr. At this moment we are in a stationary orbit above Zurha. After a few moments the speaker called us to the briefing room. Here we heard about our mission to Dhaab station. The plan was pretty straight forward. We split up in two teams: Team Scorpion comprised of Zeluba brigade mercenaries create a diversion for us Team frog. Our task is to escort Dr Farrah to the control room. We would be accompanied by Captain Lysa Wada and Anjil, the army engineer.
After discussing the plan and memorize the layout of the station we had to suit up. The temperature on the planet is -50 Celsius amd there was a stormfront (Jhina) close to our landing spot.
After an hour we were descending to the station. Dr Farrah assured us he could open every lock in the station using this Tag. It was a bumpy ride because we came in via the Harballa Massif. But we could not do anything until the pilot landed us safely on the south entrance. This was a good time as any to pray for the deckhand. Hoping for a clean ship, because a lot of people started too feel their last meal again.
Through one of the windows i could see team scorpion land there shuttle to engage the smugglers who were operating out of the station. Then it was time for us to land. We stepped out of the shuttle and entered the station. We followed dr Farrah through the tunnels. At the first passage Anjil seperated from our team to disable the power.
While we walked towards the tunnel we heard shooting and people running away from us. Team Scorpion was engaged in combat. Unfortunately not all mercenaries. There were two soldiers guarding the stairwell we need to go to the control room. Khadyr and Shamus peaked at the soldiers and were able to determine that they were not paying attention. We could use the moment to sneak past them.
Everything was running very smooth. We were able to gain control of the control room very quickly. Two kids and an older man were only present. Dr. Farrah immediatly started working on the computer system. Khaydr, Shamus and i were checking the rooms and talking with our hostages. The older man was Moses Umbara. The leader of the smugglers: Red Hyenas. This was almost to easy. Almost. Suddenly Dr. farrah had accessed the communication system and was broadcasting around the entire base. He told the Hyenas to stand down. After some deliberation. The shooting stopped and we heard Team Scorpion that the smugglers had surrendered.
After closing the comm system a fire broke out in the control room. I tried to repair the system, but it was to old and beyond repair. Also the power was going out. At first we thought it was Anjil. But he had an issue. I rushed down and helped him to repair the generator. But this was also no good.
We were in control of the base. And on mission. Not to take control of the base. After an update we learned this was Dhaab-1 station and we had to move to Dhaab-2 station.
This was the easy part.
Ship number 2 and the search for more money.
New day, new ship, maybe new opportunities ? It's time to explore "The Black Moth" our new ship. It would take some time and money to repair. Now let's see if it is worth it. We started from the upper deck. Here we have a chapel and an audience chamber. Ideal for receiving visitors. Middeck is where we find the cockpit, crew quarters, statis chambers and the engine room. As a bonus we also have a mining station with an archealogy room. After selecting our own room it was time for the lower deck. This was were we arrived with the shuttle in the Hangar and Cargo Hold. We have enough food to survive the next few months.
CARL provided us some more background about the ship. Apparently it is a copy of an ancient ships of the first ones.
All well and done. We don't have enough money to repair the ship. So after some deliberation we had to find work. We decided to go back to the repair shop and ask Aziz. Here we heard about Lysia Wada. She was busy to find a crew for a transport job. Lysia Wada is the Captain of the Mantella a sleek and fast ship for quick transports. After speaking with Lysia and her crew we heard it was a mission to Dhaab station which would take 1 to 2 days. The reward would be 60000 Birr. We agreed and were told to get some gear and report for the briefing.
On my own part 4
Carl told me to be alert today. And it was. Going to machineshop i passed the tunnel where the mining drones were busy. The number 4 Elevator was accessible again. I checked the wiring. No issues heren. It only was missing power. Then i heard something coming from the end of the tunnel. I followed the drones. In the light of their torches i could see the access to a different tunnel. The drones were walking through the new opening. I followed. The tunnel was 1 - 3 meters in height. After some time we arrived in a new area. This was the lower mining level. I could see prisoners in HEV suits mining ore. I did not stop but followed the drones. Who started digging again. Very soon they broke through the wall into a natural cave system. I was wondering if anyone knew this would be here. Again it was difficult for me following the drones. The tunnels were very narrow on some points. This went on for a long time until they stopped at a wall. This looked metallic. The drones started drilling the stones and suddenly a panel was visible. It had a green circle. Probably the opening mechanism. Could this be our way out. Without hesitation i pressed the button. The wall opened and i could enter the room. The rocks were replaced with green opal look. This was something different.... As i walked forward i entered a large round room with a tentacle machine in the middle. Carl messaged me: "Find the control room". There were 7 tunnels. Without hesitation i started to check what rooms were behind every tunnel. This was definetely some base of operations. It had a prayer room, machineshop, crew quarters and food processing. Even a little museum. One room had a closed door. In the last room i entered there was someone sitting in a chair opposite a machine. The person did not react to my voice or hand signals. When i touched it's grey gown. It fell down with a puff of dust. It was ancient. I took the gown and found a green ring. I checked the machine. But this was not something to discuss. Probably best to destroy it.
With the ring i went back to the closed door. It opened. This was the control room. There was a terminal which activated when i touched it with the ring. Now i received a new update from Carl. I had to attach the circuit to the terminal. This was very easy. Did he know more about this installation ?
Carl showed me a map of the installation. It was something unknown to me. But it looked like a outpost which was abandoned a long time ago. There was a shuttle in the next tunnel. This was our way of this rock. Carl started to charge the batteries. I had to check the ship if it was in working order. Going to the ship i passed a room with some coffins in it which glowed green. Best not to touch them. You never know what is inside. The ship was in good working order. It had room for four persons. Now i had to wait until the batteries were fully charged: 25% at this moment.
I decided to check one of the crew quarters where a door was broken down. Maybe there was something valuable there. Going through the rubble i found a red ring. In the corner of my eye there was a safe with a red circle. I pressed the ring on it. It opened the weapon cabinet. I know have four guns. This was looking good. Now to check the machineshop. A lot of equipment was unknown to me. I did find something that could help. Some odd looking device (200 Birr). The batteries of the ship were now 50% charged.
Then Carl told me there was something happening in the prison. Three persons arrived that were looking for me. One of them, a young woman, was killed. The other two: a short guy with big glasses and a woman were imprisoned. This had to be Shamus and Khadyr. I could not leave them behind.
I had to think of something. First i tested the alien weapons. They were still working. But i would do this alone and needed some help..... from the drones. Carl told me he had transfered control of the drones to my Pad. Excellent. Now to arm the drones. One was very difficult, so it had to do the heavy lifting: Codename Mongo. Drone number two could only fire the alien weapon: CodeName Kraber. Drone number three could shoot and do the heavy lifting: Codename Flash.
Now to plan the escape. Free Khadyr and Shamus and find three spacesuits.
The Way out
The shuttle is almost ready: 90%. Now to safe Khadyr and Shamus. Carl told me they were in the same cell block as me in seperate cells. Now for the plan. I go back to the prison with two of my droids: Flash and Mongo. Vera will stay behind to guard the entrance of the outpost. When i arrived i commanded both droids to break through the walls of both cells. This had a lot of noise and confusion. Guards and prisoners were standing still to hear what is going on. Suddenly the alarms started. Through the noise and confusion i had the chance to sneak into my cell and get the diamond. After a few minutes the cell walls were open. I told Khadyr and Shamus that i found an escape route. They had to follow the droids through the caverns back to the Outpost. I still had one thing to do: retrieve three HEV suits from the machineshop. Luckily all attention was on the escaping droids. After retrieving the suits i followed Khadyr and Shamus through the tunnels. Suddenly armed guards started appearing. I sent the command to Flash to start shooting: not lethal. But to try to hold the guards off. This was enough to keep us in front of the guards.
After a long run we finally arrived at the outpost. Now Vera started to shoot the ceiling of the tunnel. This created a cave-in. And we were temporarily out of harms way.
Carl sent a message that the shuttle was 100% loaded. We could leave. After putting on our HEV suits we entered the control room to get CARL. After unplugging the circuitboard from the terminal we walked to the Shuttlebay. Now to remove the three tethers from the shuttle and we were ready to go. I plugged CARL into the Shuttle terminal. Suddenly the ship was starting. Engines were rumbling and not a moment too soon. The guards entered the bay and were shooting the shuttle. Luckily the bullets were ineffective.
With a deafening roar the Shuttle took of and within a minute we were in space. Morji was getting smaller every second.
Carl told our next stop: the Mothership. We did not know what this meant and started asking questions about him and why he needed me to escape. He told us the entire story: how he was installed in the prison terminal and how he gained consciousness.
Then we saw a shiny glimmer in the distance. This had to be the mothership. It was hidden in the Asteroid belt around Xirhaa. When we got closer we could see it was a Class III Bhamut ship. Very old: PRe-Zenethian.
On our approach to the mothership the hangar opened and we started our landing. The hangar was dark. We could not go outside just jet. We had to wait for decompression. After receiving a schematic of the ship and a quick check of the hangar. We found a ladder and elevator which could bring us to the upper level of the shop. The elevator was offline so we had to take the ladder. It was a large ship and in good shape. While walking on the upperlevel towards the cockpit the ship was coming alive: lights were appearing, terminals were coming online. According to CARL the ship could fly but needed some repairs. For this reason he asked us to plug him in to the console.
At this moment we asked ourselves how he knew so much about the alien ship. We were unable to read the language. Shamus had figured out some of the controls. But this was not enough to safely control the ship. To be sure he would not take us somewhere we did not know we had to create a safety. We could plug Carl into the PAD and then use a firewall to block CARL from executing commands. He could then tell us what to do. After some time we had a working solution and plugged CARL into the console. Immediatly we received a warning. A Legion Destroyer had detected the ship and was almost in firing range.
We asked CARL how to fly the ship. He told us we could not at this moment. He would be our only chance of surviving. When the destroyer was locking in on the ship with torpedo's we decided to remove the safety. CARL was in control now. Within seconds the ships began to move with high speed. We tumbled down and had to drag ourselves to our seats. Using the Asteroids as cover CARL was evading the Destroyer. And it worked. We were not in danger anymore. CARL told us he would take us to a hidden space station for repairs.
To be continued
On my Own Part 3
Finally i'm able to walk again. And start working again. Not in the mine. But in the machineshop. After the loss of Paul Hinden they really need a mechanic who can perform maintenance on computers and mining equipment. On my first day i have to repair five HEV suits. I manage to repair 3. One is beyond repair and has to be replaced. The last one needs a spare parts to be in working order. My coworker in the machineshop left me alone. So i am now able to do some research on the three mining drones. First i have to find a way to the surface without anyone noticing me. After quick check of the elevators there is only one option: The Ore Elevator. This one is guarded and everyone can see me going outside. I need a valid reason to go outside. Quickly i'm runnig a check on all camera's. Carl (the central computer system) tells me only half is in working order. So this is what i am going for. Luckily i have a excellent HEV suit which i put on. On my way to the escalator everyone thinks i'm Alex Herman. Perfect. No one will suspect. When i arrive on the surface i start reparing some of the camera's towards the motorpool. They are not inside. When i check the vehicles outside i finally find the three mining drones. Quickly i press the green button on all of them. And start walking back. All three mining drones are online and start walking towards the Ore Elevator. I'm walking as casual as i can be. And act as surprised as the other personnel. of seeing the drones going down the elevator. Back in the machineshop i check the camera's to see where they are going. Back to elevator 4 where the tunnel collapsed. I can see the drones are starting to shovel the rubble.
It's the end of the day and i go upstairs to have dinner. Here i meet Billy who is complaining about mining duty. During our smalltalk he tells me that one of the other prisoners told everyone about the code to the armory: 6713 or 7613. After dinner i go back to my room. Before i fall to sleep i am getting a new message from Prisonder #0000. It's a diagram of a computer circuit to bypass the security override. This would allow the computer to be autonomous. The next morning i wake up early and check the books in my Pad for parts needed to create the circuit. With my "shopping" list i go back to the machineshop. My coworker has left with the three working HEV suits. He left me parts to repair the fourth. This succeeds. Now it's time to create the circuit. By scavenging parts from the fifth HEV suit and whatever is in the machineshop i am able to create the circuit very quickly. I go back to the computerroom to do maintenance. Just then i receive a message from Prisoner #0000. By now i know it has to be Carl. After confronting the computer with this it answers honestly. It was Carl all the time. And it wants to get out. Carl tells me about a secured room next to the computerroom where i have to install the circuit. But i need a guard access-card to open the room.
How can i do this. The guard in the computerroom has left and almost everyone else is down in the mines. Then it hits me: "Lunch Time". I go to the kitchen and check what the guards are getting for dinner. It's pasta today with some nice creamy fatty sauce. I ask for a bowl and on my way back to the computerroom i can see a guard passing. Now with some precise timing i pretend to tumble forward because of my bad ancle. The bowl of spicy pasta hits the guard full frontal. His entire suit is covered in it. After some quick apologies i offer to clean him up. He walks with me to the kitchen and i start cleaning him with the many towels. The guard is meanwhile eating and this is the perfect change for me to grab his accesscard. Without hesitation i am able to grab the card without him noticing.
With a new bowl of Pasta i go back to the computerroom and use the card to access the secured room. This is the central computer system. With the description provided by Carl i am able to connects the circuit to the central computer. The lights flicker for a moment and i get a message from Carl. He is uploading himeself to the circuit. He has a plan for escape. After a few minutes the upload is complete and i disconnect the circuit. Then i go back to the computerroom. For the remainder of the day i follow my normal routine. During the evening i connect the circuit to my PAD. And Carl is online. Tomorrow will be a big day.
On my Own Part 2
Not much progress. My ankle is hurting and i think a fever is setting in. Amadi came back to tell me the doctor was going to see me today. After Amadi left a new envelope was pushed under the door. It was a request from prisoner #0000 to find three mining drones and activate them.
Then the doctor arrived. Her name was Niya Mansoori. She checked my ankle. It would take six weeks to heal. She put a brace around the ankle and gave me some painkillers. With the brace i was able to stand and walk again. But very slow. During the examination she told me her homeplanet was Lubau. She only visited the prison and had no knowledge about other settlements on the planet. Such as the Circle City.
When i asked when i was able to work again she nodded. But no physical hard work. She would recommend me to replace Paul Hinden in the Workshop. After a bioscan she detected i had some kind of condition on me. But did not know what it was. She would have to travel back to Sura for more analysis. Then she left.
The rest of the day i read the books which were provided to me. Everything on mining equipment.
Unfortunate Events
This was unexpected. Instead of waking up in a comfy bed it's the hard surface of metal room. The door was shut. So i pounded on the door. After a few times someone answered. I was a prisoner now of The Legion. After a few questions about my Xinghur heritage and what happened at the station i got no answers.
After some time the door opened and i had to step outside on our destination. Some cold and uncomfartable planet. Ideal for a prison. I myself and others were pushed to one of the buildings in the complex. Here we had to remove all our clothes and belongings. After the mandatory shower we had to put on an orange suit. And we received our prison number. Mine is: 9725.
When we arrived at the prison we met Warden Grice which we have to address with Sir. Tarkwal is the name of the moon were we arrived. Alle prisoners of The Consortium were brought here to work in the mines. We will receive 50 birr each week. With hard work and good behavior we could be released sooner. I still did not know why i was arrested. Probably it has something to do with the Station.
From now on i have to work in the mine until i get parole or my shipmates will get me. The complex is a small deteriorated complex. During our walk to the cell i could get a good idea of the layout: guardtower, warden's house, armory and some old ruins. It is being guarded by the Golot. Our cells are undergournd. My cell is in row three. The cell is very basic with a bed, toilet and wash table.
The next day i started working in the mines. It was an old mine with a lot of terminals who were out of order. There were two levels: the upper and a lower level. Which was nicknamed "The Danger Zone" where you had to work for bad behaviour. One this first day our group was sent to work in the upper level. Here i met inmate 7943. He told me the ore we were mining was Copper. He already been here for some time and told me more about the mines. There are four elevators where only two had access to the mine and one other was collapsed. There are opportunities to get a diffrent job such as mechanic. There were not that many personell in the mines. Everything was guarded guarded by Carl-1. The central computer of the facility. Carl is something of an anomaly in the prison. Probably the prison was something else before. The computer started singing to us and was very friendly. The inmates told me this started a month ago.
At the end of day we have to go through decontamination. Here i had trouble hiding the gem i found this morning. I have to get this outside to receive 4000 birr. In the mess hall we received the standard prison meal: tasteless and with unknown ingredients. Here i also met someone who was working in The Danger Zone. Prisoner 3305 (Billy Mushdi from Kua). He had to work there for trying to steal a hover car. He also got one year extra . When asking why he tried to steal a hover car. He told me about a settlement some 5-10 km from this facility: Circle City. Maybe this was my way out of here ?
When we had to get back to our cells we past the computer room where one of the guards, Paul Hindin, had trouble with Carl. The central computer was malfucntioning. On the advise of Fuller he rebooted the machine. The power supply went dead.....
On my own Part 1
Suddenly all systems were online again. Paul is very frustrated because this is happening to many times. He has argument with Fuller about the situation. This is my chance. Repairs had to be made and they need a mechanic: i volunteered. This is ideal to get another job and maye some more information about the prison. I followed Paul back to the repair shop in the mine. Apparently elevator number 2 has been out of order for some time. Something triggered the security system of the elevator. And know it did not move.
Going to the nearest terminal i asked Carl about the elevator. The computer told me the emergency breaks did not work properly. This caused the security system of the elevator. When i told i would fix the breaks he put the elevator back online. To be safe he lowered me to the bottom of the mine. Then i should have no issues repairing the breaks. After a quick check i found the issue. The breaks were misaligned. This should take not too much time. After unscrewing the bolts i used the hammer to align the breaks. The test was succesfull. The breaks were working again. During the cleanup i heard Carl's voice asking Paul to go to the administration level.
Suddenly the elevator made a lot of noise like it was preparing to go up. Quickly is used the hatch on top of the elevator to go below. Still the elevator started to make more noise. I had to get out of here. So i jumped out of the elevator. But barely made it. My ankle was broken i thought. While checking my ankle the elevator came crashing down. I had to cover behind a rock to avoid being hit by debris. After the dust settled i looked at the elevator. The emergency breaks were not engaged. Suddenly i saw something in the cart... it was Paul Hinden. He was dead. Killed by the crash. Suddenly a voice came from above. It was Warden Grice. I answered that i was still down here and that Paul Hinden was dead. Grice was not pleased and told me to stay put. It was best not to run and tell the truth about what happened. Otherwise they would think i killed Paul.
When Grice arrived i told him the entire story. Luckily there was someone who could corroborate my story. The Warden now believed it was an accident about what happened. But did it. Why did Paul used the crew elevator to go to administration. The elevator does not even go theren.
First i had to let them check my ankle. Probably something was strained. I could not walk and Grice ordered one of the guards to help me to walk. Our journey was not going that fast so i had a good chance to check the lower level of the mining shaft. There was a lot of rocks submerged. It looked like something else was down here. This was not a mine. We went through a giant steel door where Grice had to use his code to get us through. When we arrived on the upper level i was able to take a shower and put on some clean clothes. They brought me back to my cell and told me the doctor would be there shortly.
Just minutes after my cell door was closed an envelope was pushed under the door. I was able to get in time before the prison cat could snatch it away from me. The message was from inmate 0000 who told me he was preparing an escape. If i wanted in i had to nod my head. Because i was being watched. So i nodded. Just minutes later a second envelope. Know the question to tell about my self before i arrived at the prison an about everything i learned up until now. Inmate 542RClean would pick up the letter under my bed. I started writing about the Misfits and vaguely what happened at Station 18 (we searched and found a missing ship). Then a knock on the door. A relieve worker entered the room: Amadi Malouf. He checked my ankle. Apparently my calf was torn and i had to rest until a real doctor would arrive tomorrow. During my examination a droid entered the room... This was #542Rclean. It started cleaning my room and went directly under my bed. The worker told me he was given a portable reader that he had to give me. On it i could order books from the library to read. The droid left and the worker also. I checked the letter under my bed. It was still there. The droid had scanned it.
Apparently i'm in a group now busy preparing to escape from prison. But i still did not know much about the plan. But i think i got an idea after starting the reader. There were five books. Four about computer maintenance and micro circuitry and one about a miner's tale.
Now i have to prepare for the next step.
Rewards and new opportunities
Finally back in Djachroum. We received our 10000 BIRR and were of to Janna's Cafe. Here we had a few drinks to celebrate that we survived our first mission. Everything looked ok. I did hear from the bartender some people already were aware of the discovery of Station 18. But nothing else. Nothing to worry about.
It was time to decide what to do next. Shamus wanted to repair his glasses and Khadyr wanted to check the Basaar. As for me: search for a new mission. After the three of us left the cafe i went to find the nearest new terminal. The Space Collective was the nearest. Still no news about Station-18: good. But also no lucrative missions. Just a few thousand birr. Not enough for us to live.
In the scientific bulletin i found a message from Doctor Samah. He was asking for a crew who would take him to the Mining Baron's Palace. This was on Asteroid D14465 in Ashala's Belt. Not to long ago Maghdan ore prospectors discoved a big building which was over 200 years old. Probably built by the firstcome.
He wanted to continue his research there. He could not offer money... but he did promise the people who helped them could keep everything they found. This made it legit. I heard the palace was looted and the items were sold on the black market for a hefty price. The one's who were caught received long prison sentences. No money up front but a promise of a large profit. Maghdan Ore sells at a very good price on the market and the last thing in the message told there were three large vehicles on the Asteroid: one ship and two landcruisers.
After logging of i met up with Khadyr and Shamus. After some discussion we decided to go for it. We spent the night close to the Mining Office, because we needed supplies and information about mining Maghdan Ore.
Our second day started with a visit to the mining office, buying supplies and maintenance of the ship. I already contacted Dr. Samah and he agreed to meet us the following day.
The Meeting with Wahina
Suddenly a woman appeared from the forest. She said her name was Kordoban Wahina. The last years she had worked on the Space Station 18 alone. To perform her research she created her assistants: The Charab and Protectors: The Kobu. At that moment Khadyr, Shamus and Jihan met up with us. We had a lot of questions about the station and why she was alone. Apparently she was performing research about a new genetic code. But the results did not please some of her associates and the Legion. When the Legion arrived to stop her they were killed by the Kobu. Since that time she was working alone.
Kordoban wanted us to go with her to the workshop. This was in a service unit beneath the Biodome. When we arrived we found a lot of strange thing. But the big surprise was in the center of the room. The "original" Wahina: more plant than human. She made a clone of herself: Kordoban. Because of the nature of her expirements she had transformed herself to be able to resist the portals she was working on.
Because we did not appeared to be hostile she had not ordered our death. Instead we were asked to help with the battle against a squad of the Legion. We agreed to help her. After picking up a twin-barrell shotgun in the armory for Shamus we were of to the rec. room. The Kobu led the way. After surprising the Legion Soldiers when we used an airduct the battle ensued. Quickly we shot two of the soldiers on guard and i was able to disable an automated turret. Then the battle was over. The legion soldiers managed to blow up a wall and flee with the Kobu in pursuit.
We survived !
The fight was over. The last two Legion soldiers were being chased down the corridors by the Kobu. Mission accomplished. And maybe something extra apart from our bonus: our own thermonuclear mine! (This is easily worth 30000 Birr) After some investigating i figured on who to unlock the mine from the floor. The three of us tried to move the mine. But it would not budge an inch. When i ran the model of the mine with a similair item in my database this mine was unknown. Probably something custom made by The Legion like the Vulcan turret we acquired.
Since there was no immediate danger we set of back to Wahina. During the fight she had moved all her equipment from the service unit to the Medlab. She said that it was time to leave the station. But not by using a ship. Instead she would use the portal for the first time. Apparently a destroyer was on it's way and probably would destroy the entire station. We did not have much time. After saying our goodbye's i got a hug from Kordoban .Thanking me for all our help.
The three of us decided we would proceed on our quest and retreive the missing ship. This led us throught the rec room. Shamus had the good idea to search the dead soldier bodies for any weapons or supplies. We found Two Vulcan Carbines and a grenade. In the distance we could hear shouting and shooting. The soldiers were still alive. Quickly we followed the trail to the docking station. Suddenly a trail of blood appeared leading to the docking station. It stopped at the third dead soldier's body. A Kobu had killed him. So he did would have no use for his Vulcan Scorpion.
In the distance we could see the ship of Jihan ..... which suddenly started it's engines and flew off with our 10000 extra birr !
That was it. We walked all the way here without anything and with a destroyer incoming we made a quick dash back to Shamus' Ship. After entering the ship through the PORTABLE airlock i checked the engines and signaled Shamus that we could take off. Maybe there was a change to catch Jihan's ship but after a sensor sweep the ship was out of our reach. There was a thing coming in range: the Destroyer. We made a hastily retreat on the backside of the station. It was time to go back to Djachroum.
Fortunately the Destroyer was heading towards the station. We were undetected and were quickly moving away from the station .Then suddenly all sensors started bleeping. It was coming from the station. At first i thought it was a detonation. Looking out of the window at the station it suddenly started to transform. The Biodome was seperated from the station and a leaves started to create a sail. From the station pods were shooting off to a near asteroid cluster. Suddenly with a bright flash a portal appeared and the " SHIP of Wahina" went through.
Then silence. We were alone. After a long silence Khadyr suggested Shamus, Jihan and i would get some sleep. After four hours i relieved Khadyr on the bridge. Then i had to relieve myself. I was cold and i had stomach cramps. This happened a few times during our journey back. So it was no time for a quick drink. Water and crackers for me.
After a day and a half we arrived back in Djachroum. Here we said goodbye to Jihan. And after checking the news about Station 18 (no news) and receiving our reward it was time to get a drink.
Our first venture was completed. Now it was time to go for supplies and check if there were new jobs we could do.
P.S. Note to self: upgrade my database. In the new version PORTABLE items are mentioned !
First step in a new Venture
And we we're off. Heading to the last known location of the missing ship and our first bounty. The journey fortunately only took one day. The engine of the ships badly needs maintenance. This was also the reason that i decided to stay in the engine room during the entire trip. Making small repairs and cleaning the engineroom the ships was sounding much better than on Djachroum. Khadyr and Shamus were on the bridge the entire time.
When we arrived at the coordinates there was no ship to be found. After a scan of the system Kahdyr detected a spacestation. After a quick sweep we discovered two things: The name of the spacestation: IARS-18 and our missing spaceship which was docked to the spacestation. The spacestation was on lockdown for decades according to the database. A sensor sweep showed the station had no power but there was gravity. Also there was a soft hue coming from the biodome on top of the station. Now was the time to decide: go back to Djachroum and collect our 10000 birr or board the spacestation and try to get on the spaceship.
Unfortunately we could not use one of the two remaining airlocks. These were overgrown with some kind of biomatter. Luck would have it that we found a make-shift airlock close to what looked like a meteor collision. This would be our chance and thanks to some surprising good piloting by Shamus we docked our ship.
When i got in my exosuit there a was a small tingle in my gut. This always happened when i felt something was off. The Spacestation was on lockdown since decades and the last reports were of a large explosion which left it an radiated wreck. Our sensor sweep showed no radiation. Since the incident it was guarded by the Legion. We got here without a Legion ship in sight. If the Legion would not even dare to get close the station why would we..... . Thankfully i always keep a canteen of "dutch courage" in my satchel. After a few sips i was ready. Let's go get the ship and our 20000 Birr!
After openening the airlock i performed a first scan of the environment. There were no toxins, or radiation and the air was breathable. I suggested to put of our helmets so we could get a full view of our surroundings. There was no light except for the Exosuit floodlight. After throwing a sugarglobe in the corridor we could only see a strong overgrowth. The floor, ceiling and walls we entirely covered. Slowly we proceeded through the corridor. When we arrived at our first junction we could see a shimmering light at the other end. It was a fountain. We had arrived at one of the promenades in the living quarters. But which one.
I suggested to find a map of our surroundings: an escapeplan or something. All doors to the appartments were closed except for one were branches covered the entrance. With some help of Khadyr i used my axe to cut through the branches.
The appartement looked like someone left in a hurry. The dishes were in the sink and someone left his meal on the table. I could not find a floorplan. But Khadyr did find a working terminal which was still active. Shamus was able to boot it again and access the database. After some searching he found a floorplan and a last rapport of the spacestation. IARS-18 was a science station lead by Hulab Darim. He went missing in CC50 and his son Jihan Darim whent back to the station in search of his father. It was his ship we had to bring back.
After some argument about what to do: explore the station or go to the airlock where the missing ship was docked we decided to go after the ship. On the floorplan we found an elevator which would take us to the same floor where the ship was docked. We passed several corridors before we found the promenade close to the elevator. And there we found something new: A dead Body. It looked like a child and somehow it was attached to the floor. To be sure it was dead Khadyr and i lifted the body. With a loud crack the head fell off. It was totally overgrown with leaves and looked more plant than human now.
While Khadyr and Shamus were not looking i took another sips from my canteen. I knew something was wrong. What was this. How could a human body be entirely overgrown. Don't think: let's move on.
The overgrowth was much less severe the closer we got to the elevator and there was more light. We could take up the pace and soon we arrived at the next promenade with a security terminal. Here we got our first glimpse at what was the real cause why the station was abandoned. No reactor explosion but an unknown entity was attacking the crew. We could not see it before the picture went dark. Suddenly Shamus heard something. Earlier he thought there was something in the shadows. But now we heard it too.
No time to waste: "assholes and elbows" we have to get to the elevator !With our quick pace Khadyr and i did not notice Shamus was far behind us. Until we heard loud cracks behind us. At first we thought it was Shamus who was eating potato chips. He said he was hungry since we entered the station. Even the leaves we looking tasty. The cracking sound grew louder and louder. I decided to go back to Shamus. When i arrived we found the source of the cracking sound: bones, piles of bones and Shamus was in the middle of a large pile. After helping Shamus we heard a voice coming from one of the airshafts: it was shouting: Kiran, Kiran.
Someone was still alive. Maybe we could get some answers. After entering the airshaft we found a man with a thick beard surrounded by empty packages of food and surrounded by a very thick stench. He held a Talisman of the "Lady of tears", a good luck charm. He told us his name: Jihan Darim . After a long story about faceless children killing his crew and his escape he asked if he could come with us. He could have more answers about what happened on the station. He did tell us his ship was not damaged. As a sign of good will he offered the talisman to Shamus (The luckiest man in the universe for the next year).
When we arrived at the elevator Jihan told us it was damaged. I checked the elevator, but it was not damaged but sabotaged. Someone has blocked the access to the controlpanel. Shamus and i tried to bypass whatever was blocking the control panel. Our first attempt failed. When we started our second attempt we heard noises. There were faceless children near us. But somehow they did not start attacking us. They were observing us. They were especially interested in Khadyr and Jihan. When one of the "children" started to come closer to Khadyr i took my axe and shield and tried to get between. This made them suspicious of me. But still they did not attack. They were just sitting there. Like Jihan they were faceless and somehow i got a feeling they were not human.
Suddenly i rememberd a class i followed on Zakyntos about the "dark between the stars" . People were always afraid about the unknown threat that lurked in the darkness of space. An unspeakable horror which was preying on humanity. What kind of research were they doing here ? What did these scientist find and brought back with them !!
No time to waste. As fast as we could Shamus and i broke through the security code on the control panel. We pulled Jiran and Khadyr in the elevator and pressed on the button for the Docks. Then Jiran told us: the elevator is broken and can only travel between ground floor and the upper floor: "The Biodome".
He got really nervous and said he did not want to go any further. After some convincing from Khadyr he did agree to come with us.
The biodome was a litteral jungle. Entirely overgrown. Hot, Humid and we heared several animals. Jiran told us that the Biodome was entirely covered with thick brush. There should be a recreational center attached to the Biodome. If we could find it then maybe there was some other route to the docks.
With my axe i was cutting thick branches and foliage and we were making good time. Then we had our first encounter. At first i thought it was a spider. But this was a spider resembling a human hand: fingers, nails, everything. Just like the one in that scary holo film: " The eighth passenger". I felt a little sickness in my stomach. Because i remembered what the spider did in that movie.
We would see a lot more of these creatures which looked like to be made from human bodyparts. At first we were not certain. Then we did when a bird landed on my shoulder. Wings which looked like human skin and entirely made of human parts. When it flew away we were almost running through the Jungle. Which was not the best idea. Because we did not see we were on a hill. Everybody slided to the bottom of the jungle. When i stood i could only hear Khadyr and Shamus. We had to get back to each other. I put my axe above the foliage hoping they would see it and come to me.
I did not find them, but something or someone found me..... to be continued !
The Meeting
After another mission for Jarrod Khadyr and i finally arrived at Djachroum. We don't get payed enough for these kind of missions . I was not in a good mood an needed a drink. Which was made worse after meeting the harbour master. We had to pay 25 Birr each just for entering the spacestation. Above that Khadyr had taken her cat along. Which cost extra.
Finally we arrived at Yana's Blue Mirwan. A nice little cafe which was not expensive and has a good selection of drinks. When i was ordering our drinks a tourist entered the cafe. With his hands full of boxes and bags he came tumbling to the bar. Some wealthy tourist for sure by the looks of this coat.
I discussed our last mission with Khadyr and told her we don't get paid enough. If we want to get paid more we should find our own missions. Khadyr agreed and we discussed how we would check The Bulletin and be on the lookout for opportunities.
As fate would have it. This did not take to long. Word spread in the cafe about a ship in the docks which was fuming so heavily no ships could leave the station.
Apparently the ship was owned by the wealthy tourist in the cafe. He was approached by the head of the purple guard. They asked him to repair his ship. So an opportunity did arrive. As a skilled ship engineer i offered my services to Shamus Loaded. We went to the docks with members of the purple guard behind us carrying the boxes and bags of Shamus. When we arrived at the ship a large angry crowd was gathering at Shamus' ship. Large fumes was coming were coming out of the exhaust port.
After performing a scan on the engineering computer i found the issue. There was something stuck in the engine. With some borrowed tools from the dockmaster and the help of Khadyr i cleaned the engine. Apparently some dead animal was stuck in the engine.
With the crowd gone we talked to Shamus who told us his father bought him his ship and now he was travelling through the system. This was a change for me and Khadyr. To go on a mission on our own. After checking i found a report about a missing science vessel: " The Foundation" There is a 10000 reward for any information about the status of the ship and even more if we bring the ship back.
After we convinced Shamus we were on our way to the last known coordinates of the ship and the beginning of our new venture!
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