Flying low to the ground in true Scout fashion, Hanno dropped them off in "touch-and-go" fashion. He then pulled away into the night sky, running fast and low to avoid detection.

There wasn't much cover on the floodplain other than a few hills with brush and copses of evergreen trees. The dome itself loomed darkly above them blotting out the stars. It was really one of the few landmarks on the mudflat, even though a lost city lay beneath it.

Ken led the group (all using night vision) towards the dome. They still had several hours of night left to explore the ruins. Then dawn would come. They could see a few gaps in the massive ancient permacrete structure, probably hardened to withstand orbital bombardment. These would allow access to the inside.

In reply to GM (msg # 2):

Lorrain stopped to take some low-light holopics. She allowed herself some wonder that she normally suppressed as an academic.

"Wow! The Tomb of the First Comers, per the inscription. We could be entering the final resting place of the Sky Raiders and their culture."

Ken led the way carefully, threading through the ruins.  He scanned the area around them carefully for sign of pursuit or enemy movement.  Looking up at the dome he shook his head.  "I'd say we found it for certain Lorain.  What do you think killed them all off.  As much as they were barbarian raiders this," he gestured to the ruins spread around them, "is an ignominious way to end a career of ruin."

He headed to the dome.  "Let's find a way in, night is speeding away quickly."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 4):

The massive dome was on some kind of low, brush-covered hill rising slightly from the muddy plain. Relatively close to them was an crack-like opening two metres above the level of the ground.

Lifting himself up over the lip, Ken determined from the sides of what appeared to be a fissure leading deeper inwards that the reinforced permacrete dome was perhaps forty metres thick. It seemed this crack was the result of some kind of ancient weapons fire, possibly some kind of ship-mounted weapon. If he had to guess, high-energy like a bay-mounted particle accelerator or plasma guns. Maybe some kind of early fusion weapon. Probably not a nuke or conventional explosive.

thank heavens for no nukes, although any residuals may have shown up on scans.  Blake looks about, trying to keep track of their location and the way back.  He'll give the prof a boost up and then pass along her gear.  He starts to feel a thrill going thru him, real ancient's stuff.  OK, there's Ancients and then these guys,any scout would give half their lifespan for a find like this ...

"Do you think this crack goes right through, or do we still need to look for an entrance?" asked Linus, looking up at the crack.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 6):

Lorain performed some measurements.

"Just a slight amount of background radiation. Fallout from a typical nuclear strike, an airburst, is mostly gone in weeks. The preliminary mapping made by Dumaer didn't show any cratering here from ground-bursts or subsurface bursts. There are some kinds of bomb designs that are intended to leave long-duration contamination, like cobalt-jacketed weapons, but I don't think they were used here on Qarant due to the lack of traces."

She looked up at the flank of the dome. "See those pits with rust stains at regular intervals all over the place? They look like attachment points. I think at one time the entire dome was covered by some kind of metal cladding. Probably decorative in nature, possibly precious metals of some kind. Megacredits worth if the entire dome was covered. All long gone, either from the elements or, more likely, tomb raiders.

"So to answer your question, Linus, I think this might not be a weapon strike but a deliberate penetration to access the interior of the dome. Some time in the last five thousand years grave robbers have been here. Probably someone from a local starfaring Vlazdhumecta culture not long after the Sky Raiders disappeared. Or later, using Zhodani Jump Drive technology. One day when we're not always at war with the Zhodani I'd like to get a crack at the Consulate's archaeological records. I bet we'll find more about the Sky Raiders in their records.

"As for what ended the Sky Raiders, there are theories. Internal warfare, mutually destructive clashes with some as-yet undiscovered starfaring culture, technological regression. Here on Qarant I'd bet on large-scale climate change. Qarant used to be a lot warmer and wetter. It's currently in a period of high glaciation. As evidenced by the ruins on Mirayn the Sky Raiders seemed to not rely on a robust technological infrastructure. If a plague caused a collapse of their civilisation and the crops suddenly stopped growing, there could have been a massive die-off. What few survivors remained could have scattered using what Sky Raider starships were starworthy."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:55, Mon 20 July 2015.

Ken pulled Lorain up into the crack in the dome as Blake boosts her up from below.  He shines his light at low power down into the dome with just enough intensity to illuminate but not wash out his LI goggles.  "Let's hope that whoever cracked a hole in the dome left enough behind for us to tell what happened to the Sky Raiders here."  He listened as Lorain made her assessment.  "So this must have been their capital, the base for raiding?  If so none of them seem to have survived at least here."  Ken thought for a bit more.  "It doesn't seem like they must have originated here though.  How else can we explain the Vilani influences?"

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 9):

Ken's red illiminating diode showed him the cylindrical tunnel stretched for dozens of metres sloping downwards a little, then ended in blackness. Call it 35-40m. There was melted slag that had collected and pooled on the floor, then hardened. It was rather like being in some cosmic worm's gullet.

In reply to GM (msg # 10):

Lorain stopped to help the others up.

"I sure hope there's enough left to give us a clue what happened. I hold out some hope that more inscriptions will be burned in the walls using the Vilani script, which we can now translate. Otherwise I'm not that concerned about valuables and electronics would be long corroded and useless.

"You are right, that seems to be a reasonable hypothesis. First, we'll try to find conclusive evidence this is indeed a Sky Raider colony, not just a base like Mirayn. Then we might get an idea what happened to them. Lastly, where they came from, of which the direction of the First Imperium is highly probable due to their language."

Ken nodded to Lorain as she spoke.  "Well, let's get going as time is not our friend here.  We'll have to leave the valuables to the Hegemony."  Once everyone was up he moved cautiously down the tunnel still using his light carefully.

The party made their way through the tough outer shell of the immense dome. The done was the size of a medium-sized stadium, and the walls were a good thirty metres thick.

Their footsteps echoed in the tunnel-like breach.

Eventually, they found themselves at the mouth of the tunnel. It was some three metres above the rubble-strewn floor of the dome. The empty space at the bottom of the dome was some 250 metres across but unlike a stadium there were no seats or bleachers. Much rubble had fallen down from the sides and roof and carpeted the floor with gravel, dust, sand and chunks of permacrete up to small vehicle size. What remained of the inner wall layer was covered with intricate mosaics and abstract shapes.

The double-hexagon of the Sky Raiders was a very common feature.

Blake looks for a way down, he looks over the floor, building debris on an empty floor ??  He looks upwards, a dome that opens ??  A hangar bay ??

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 14):

The beams of your lights play up and on the inside of the dome. It seemed to be solid, or at least not open or retractable.

It seems that over thousands of years chunks have flaked or broken off the inwards-sloping walls and fallen down. Some from breaches, others from cracks and fissures due to seismic or other shocks. Over time much such debris has accumulated on the floor.

In reply to GM (msg # 15):

Messandi checked the lip of the tunnel, shining her light down, then across the floor.

"Maybe at one time ropes were attached? But they've rotted away if natural fibre and I wouldn't trust a synthetic line after all this time.

"One thing is for sure there is some kind of drainage underneath the dome. Otherwise it would have filled with water from rain and snow after five thousand years."

Ken looked around at the magnificent space.  "They certainly built on a large scale.  Let's rig our ropes and head down to the surface of the dome."

Blake looks for an anchoring point.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 18):

Some time, long ago, someone had anchored pitons or other brackets to secure a ladder or rope. Now there were only pits with rust inside them. A little slag had flowed down into the bowl but most of it had run outside, down the slope of the tunnel.

With a little effort they fixed new pitons into the surface to secure a new rope ladder. Soon, they were on the floor of the temple. The roof was lost overhead in darkness, the floor was probably more permacrete but hidden under several centimetres or more of gravel, sand and mud.

Blake walks the perimeter,looking for doorways.  He spends time watching where his feet go.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 20):

The floor of the dome seemed to be a couple metres under ground level.

If there were once furnishings or equipment inside the dome, it was all long gone. All that remained were the detailed murals and carvings on the walls. At various places were also blocks of text in what seemed to be a similar script to that of the Sky Raiders, a debased form of Vilani.

There were several exits around the perimeter of the dome, a dozen in all. All were dark, arched portals leading down into blackness. A few pools of water had gathered here and there but it was obvious that the water was mainly draining out three or four of the exit tunnels.

"We ought to get pictures of the walls," said Linus.

Blake investigates the dry portals.  The wet ones may be flooded, but he checks one on a lark.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 22):

Setting up her gear, Lorrain began scanning the wall carvings, paying particular attention to the blocks of text.

All the exit passages led down, both the dry ones and the one that drained out. Sounds echoed off the concrete walls, roofs were 4m high, ribbed with reinforcements, spiderwebbed by cracks but not so many as to cause alarm. Floors were filled to 30-60cm of gravel and dirt or mud, scattered with chunks of debris dislodged from the tunnel ceilings.

Numerous side passages and rooms opened off every tunnel, indicating the sublevels of the temple was probably not unlike a labyrinth. The purpose of these rooms and passages remained a mystery.

Thomas faded back into the entry tunnel to keep a watch outside, at least the little he could see, and remain in contact with the G-Carrier. They could barely hear him through the static while the signal from the carrier was completely blocked.

Ken surveyed the half ruined great hall as well.  He looked about for signs of those that had breached the walls so long ago to see perhaps where they might have gone.  As he went from one passageway to another he shone the light down as far as possible and shook his head.  He looked for some sign that one might be more important than the other.  "Lorain, can you make sense out of the murals and writings to see in which passage we might find some sign of these First Comers?  I'd guess it's at the very heart of the temple underneath somewhere."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 25):

Whoever had come here and then left had done so thousands of years ago. There wasn't any trace of their passing or tracks leading to one particular entry. All of the entries were ornate open arched gates.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 25):

"Yes. That is plausible. Now, let's see if they left a map? Too bad these guys didn't seem to believe in a gift shop!"

She continued to scan the muraled walls. "Once I have enough information I can make a guess. This might take a while, though."

Hearing the prof's voice, Blake looks at the archways -- anyone of them unusually ornate or significantly different from the others ??  Hmmmm

Ken looked about.  He walked over to Lorain and gave her an encouraging squeeze on the shoulder.  "Do what you can Lorain.  Blake and I can look down each one of the passageways in turn to see if there is anything unique about them." He turned to Blake; "Let's head a ways, maybe 50 or 100 meters down each passageway while Lorain works.  We may stumble across something before Lorain can do her thing."

"I'll stay here and assist," said Linus.

While they waited for Lorain to finish her analysis, Blake and Ken ventured down the tunnels. Ollie and Linus stayed with the professor. Thomas stayed on guard at the exterior opening.

Each opening led to a 100m ramp down into the darkness. The tunnels were 4m high by 3m wide, but at least a metre or so of mud and gravel had been deposited over the millennia.

What was apparent was how massive this structure was. Permacrete was incredibly strong and durable, and very lightweight relative to its mass but the wight of this structure must have been immense! It became clear as they descended that the reason it hadn't completely sunk into the soil of the river delta floodplain was that it was actually built on a spur of buried sandstone. The ramps led down into a maze of corridors burrowed into the rock itself. Every 5-10m was a room or chamber, no doors or furnishings. Even murals and other adornments were sparse.

4 meters top to bottom ??  Tall aliens if you ask me.    as Blake looked up and down.  This entire mesa must be a labyrinth of corridors and such.  We could spend years searching this building out.  Ramps, no elevators ??  Very low tech footprint ??

Ken returned after a bit of exploration.  "There are no real clues as to which way to go.  The place is a huge warren and built like a fortress.  The Sky Raiders put a lot of work into the temple."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 33):

After some time, Lorrain announced, "I think I can tell how to get to the innermost chamber, the Final Resting Place of the First Comers. My mapping software and equipment will track where we go so we won't get lost.

"So is everyone coming down with me?"

The space under the dark dome didn't seem very appealing. It was silent save for the constant echo of dripping water, unseen.

"Of course," said Linus, far more confidently than he felt.

Ken gave Lorain a quick kiss to the cheek.  "Well done Lorain.  Let's go then." He'll motion for Blake to take the lead while he follows.  Lorain will be kept in the middle.

Blake takes point and the scans the ground and walls with his flashlight. Oh to have a 3 meter stick he thinks ...

Linus brings up the rear.

"Ha ha! It looks like we getting to to the interesting bit," said Ollie with a wide wolfish grin. He follows after Ken with a spring in his step.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 38):

Walker radioed from outside, "what's the plan? Did we find anything?"

There was a hiss and crackle, as the thick outer shell interfered with radio transmissions.

Neva takes up her position and follows the rest.  As she does so, she gets back in touch with Blake.  She keeps it short in case they are being monitored.  "We're on the move.  Update when I can."

Upon reaching a doorway, Blake stops at the edge for a quick peek from cover, then scans the room quickly before moving onwards.  He will speak only if he sees something of interest -- a larger room or such.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 41):

Already, the signal was fading. Thomas replied, "that isn't going to do me much good, Neva. If you leave me here I will lose your signal. And vice versa. Hold your position, I'm going to meet up with you."

Blake determined there was something odd about this construction. There didn't seem to be any obvious access to outside from inside the dome, although that could be hidden or in one of these tunnels somewhere. But there were no elevators, no electrical sockets, no provision for artificial lighting, no plumbing or wiring or conduits. No vents for air flow. There was no gift shop. Nothing was set up like any comparable Solomani or Imperial memorial edifice!

Hmmm, barracks or storage space he thinks.  He eyes that doorways, big enough for fork lifts or other cargo movers ??

Ollie, do you sense any air currents or movement ??  I'm seeing zip for T/L of any sort here.  Hold up, I'm going to do a dust test.  Blake carefully searches for some fine dust to toss up into the air -- he watches for air flow ...

That done, he crosses to a wall, spits and rubs the grime away from a patch.  Does it look like a cutter of some sort was used ??  He invites Ollie over for a look/see too.

In reply to GM (msg # 43):

Neva shook her head and got Ken's attention.  "Ken.  We're losing contact with Blake.  He says to hold up.  He doesn't want to lose contact between us."

Ken listened to the conversation and nodded to Neva.  "Come on in Thomas.  Lorain things she's found the path to the center of this warren.  From what Blake says this place looks like it was built by TL 2 or 3 people not a star faring civilization."  As he spoke he held up his hand.  "Let's wait up for Thomas to join us.  We can use his experience here."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 46):

While they waited for Thomas, Blake and Ollie performed some simple experiments. There was little dust down here, only gravel, a kind of dried clay mud and dirt, but Blake could shave some concrete dust off the permacrete walls using a knife. The scraping sounds echoed through the tunnels. When he tried to determine if there were any air currents it seemed like there might be something coming up the tunnel they were in, from down below. Perhaps not.

The construction itself seemed to be permacrete poured into forms. In places the walls had cracked, even partially collapsed. The substrate seemed to be a hard black volcanic stone of some kind, likely part of the extrusion on which the temple sat and was what kept it from sinking into the mud of the river delta under its own colossal weight. If he had to guess it looked like industrial plasma torches had been used to bore the tunnels. Likely TL10 at most, within the Sky Raider speculated technological capability.

Blake takes some long slow sniffs of the air -- dry or moist ??

Seems to be minimal air transfer Ollie, did we bring a gas tester ??  Wondering if we will run into gas pockets if we go downwards.

"This place reminds me of a tomb," said Ollie sniffing the air. "We'll have to rely on the good old biological sensors. My toolkit was too heavy bring down here so I don't have anything too sophisticated. If we went back I could pull out one of the g-carrier's sensors. Maybe Lorian has one with her computer?"

"All these ramps makes me think they were used by vehicles."

Ken shone his light down the passage as they waited for Thomas.  "There might be a bit of a breeze down here.  If the place was built as well as it seems they would have included some allowance for ventilation down in this underground."

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 49):

Lorrain laughed as she checked the display of her scanning device. "Yes! Exactly! I think this is the tomb of the "First Comers".

"Don't worry, my computer sensors are up to this. They not only scan and map the area for archaeological purposes but safety risks and health hazards as well. OK, we are looking good."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:59, Sun 09 Aug 2015.

Thomas soon caught up to them.

They set off again, with Blake in the lead, followed by Ollie and Neva, then Ken and Lorrain, then Linus and Thomas.

Things started off well. They found that the tunnels also featured staircases, cut into the stone or formed from permacrete. Their footsteps echoed off the walls and ceiling.

After two hours of trudging down cement corridors lit only by their flashlights, Lorrain realised they'd made a wrong turn. It took about a half hour to determine they were going in the wrong direction, and twenty minutes to backtrack to where they could get the right passage.

Soon afterwards, they found the right passage. As they moved along, they noticed a trickle of concrete dust falling from the ceiling with larger flakes spalling off and accompanied by a growing rumble from above...

GM note: everyone post an action along with a DEX check.

After the turn around, Blake will ask Thomas to cover their tracks into the new tunnel.

09:24, Today: Blake Renfield rolled 9 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,3. Blake -- Dex check.

Linus, who'd ended up by Lorain as the order reshuffled, tried to work out whether it was the ceiling ahead or behind that was falling in.

OOC: 14:37, Today: Linus Spruance rolled 9 using 2d6 with rolls of 4,5. Dex check requested.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 54):

Neva stayed next to Ollie as she had been assigned and looked up to see if the ceiling was going to come down on them.  The dust and flakes were coming from above.  If the ceiling was going to come down, Neva would try to dive out of the way but that would, of course, depend on how much of it was going to fall down.


11:10, Today: Neva Alexovna Morozova rolled 6 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,1. dex check for Neva.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:51, Sun 09 Aug 2015.

Ken looked up as the ceiling started to crumble.  He pulled Lorain back toward the entrance and shouted out. "Everyone back and out!"

17:24, Today: Ken Jenkins rolled 9 using 2d6 with rolls of 4,5. Dex Check.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 56):

Earthquake, about face and move it !!

06:24, Today: Blake Renfield rolled 9 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,3. Blake -- Dex check.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 57):

Walker looked back down the path that the party had taken in, and followed as the others made their way back to the intersection.

OOC DEX Check:

20:48, Mon 10 Aug 2015: Thomas Walker rolled 8 using 2d6 ((6,2)).

Filter masks might be nice next -- billowing dust and such will be following us out.

Double time it !!  Blake keeps his eyes peeled for anyone who trips/falls.  He keeps one hand on a wall for guidance.

Ollie makes a mad dash back the way they came/onwards after hearing Ken's command and muttering about the shoddy workmanship.

22:16, Today: Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,5. dex check.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:23, Thu 13 Aug 2015.

Neva moved back out of the area they were in, trying to keep her footing and dodging anything that might be falling, periodically coughing due to all the dust that was being created.

If we want to move forward instead of backwards ...  Now is the time.

Ken looked around and seeing that the entire group was already moving back continued to fall back toward the way they came.

OOC: We're all moving that way now, best not to dither and end up crushed in the middle.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 56):

Allowing herself to be pulled along by Ken as he and the others reversed their path. "Everyone run!"

The rumbling above them became louder and the tunnel filled with billowing grey concrete dust. Chips and debris gave way to chunks of concrete that thumped down.

A ragged chunk broke away from the ceiling and struck Neva on the arm! She staggered but didn't fall.

The party seemed to have gotten the instruction to head back. They stood, coughing and shaken up, back down the corridor.

Without taking a head count it would be difficult to say if everyone made it out in one piece.

OOC Neva takes 4 HP of damage to her DEX score. She is considered lightly wounded.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:36, Fri 14 Aug 2015.

In reply to GM (msg # 65):

Neva looked around to see who was with them but couldn't see very well.  "Everybody here?  Sound off so we know where you are."  Everybody knew where she was because after she felt part of the ceiling hit her she started to swear.  It was short lived because while it might have felt good to get some of it off her chest, it wasn't top priority right now.  She tested her injured arm to see if it was still working.

"I need to stop for a minute and patch up.  That damned ceiling caught me."

Keep moving Neva, no telling how much of this will collapse !!

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 67):

Neva knew that Blake was right which, of course, didn't improve her mood.  "Yeah.  I know. <pause>  I know."

Neva took a deep breath and moved on mumbling.

Ken stopped for a moment to take a careful head count.  "Everyone call out if they are ok.  It's too hard to see in the dust."

OK at the rear.

"Not my idea of fun, but OK," replied Ollie.

"Injured but ok."

Neva thought she had already said that but in the dust and stuff it was hard to think straight sometimes.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 69):

Coughing, Lorrain replied, "yes! I'm here. That was close! Can we make it through?"

Through the pall of dust the tunnel looked to be at least partially blocked. But there seemed to be a metre gap batween the rubble and ceiling.

Has what was above us opened up ??  Otherwise check out the gap, moving slowly -- don't want to start an avalanche.

Ken carefully checked each of the party to make sure they were accounted for.  "Blake, can you check the passage ahead and see if we can get through without causing another collapse?"  He headed over to Neva.  "How badly injured are you Neva?  Can you continue?"

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 76):

It looked like with a little effort the tunnel could be cleared enough to continue forward.

Meanwhile, Thomas used his medical kit to treat Neva's arm. After about ten minutes her arm felt a lot better and she could use it again.

In reply to GM (msg # 77):

"I don't suppose anyone but me brought any digging tools? OK, well, let's get to clearing this."

She unfolded her E-tool and began digging.

Archeologists should be real good at digging.Blake observes dryly.  He helps spread the debris that the prof clears out.  Then asks Thomas if he can hide their tracks on this side ...  I plan on backfilling it on the other side.  If everyone walks forward 100 meters or so, any foloow-on snoops may cover up our tracks with theirs ...

In reply to GM (msg # 77):

Neva looked over at Ken and shrugged.  "I've been hurt worse.  Just patch me up and I"ll manage."

When Thomas came over and started to patch her up she smiled and tested the arm afterwards.  "Thanks.  See?  Functional again."

Ken glanced at Neva with relief as her injury turned out to be less serious.  He left her in the capable hands of Thomas as others turned to excavate the fall in.  "I'm glad you are feeling better Neva.  Make sure the wound is carefully tended."

Stepping forward he approached the fall.  "Let me help with that Lorain." Ken worked with her and Blake and to safely clear enough of a path for them to get past the fall. "Good idea with the tracks Blake.  We need to be prepared for pursuit once our intrusion into the camp are detected."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 81):

With about fifteen minutes of effort they cleared a path through, and even got some back-fill done. However, the ceiling above them started rumbling again...

Neva nodded to Ken and thanks Thomas again.  Then she heard the rumbling.  "Watch out guys, it sounds like it's not over yet.  Can you hear the rumbling?  Either somebody is coming or it's another tremor."

Neva looked around to see if there was another section they could retreat to.

"Not again..." said Linus.

Ken looked around.  "Let's get through this now before there is more of a collapse."  He carefully wormed his way through the gap and then held out his hands for Lorain.  "Come on then, one at a time."

Blake weasels thru and helps the next ones thru.  Then tries to block the hole ...

Looking rather dubious, Linus scrambles through.

Neva goes through but needs a little help at the end due to her injury.  She inhaled sharply when it started to bleed again but knew it was bound to happen sooner or later.  It was covered so she was safe.

As Blake started to fill the gap, more concrete debris, dirt and stone rained down. They quickly got the heck out of there, forging deeper into the temple's bowels.

Soon, with the aid of Thomas' medical supplies and painkillers, Neva was feeling right as rain.

After about three hours of slow progress scrambling through half-collapsed and washed out sections, removing the odd blockage of rubble and fording the occasional stream, Lorrain indicated they must be close. Their footsteps echoed down the ancient plasma-cut stone corridors, deep underground. Occasionally there were stairs and ramps, but mostly the tunnels sloped downwards. The air was cold but a little stale as there was little or no breeze in this part of the tunnel complex. There were additional hazards like missing stairs or collapsed floors. Always, they were able to either cross them or climb down or over them, or find a side passage through the maze of tunnels.

Lorrain's inertial mapping system indicated they had actually descended hundreds of metres and travelled laterally about 2.5 km east, towards the mountains edging the river valley. In fact, they were actually now under some of the foothills to the east of the valley.

Finally, the tunnel opened into a chamber. At the end of the chamber was a portal. The first actual door they'd seen down here.

It was a steel valve like a blast door, identical to the one they'd found on Mirayn. It was also flanked by two figures. They were wearing what the group recognised as the Sky Raiders emblems (solar systems) engraved on double-hexagon breast plates on their chests.

It was marked with the same 3 planets, made to be moved freely on tracks around a central "sun" as a kind of puzzle or locking mechanism.


This message was last edited by the GM at 10:23, Fri 28 Aug 2015.

Ken trudged along with the others through the endless catacombs.  This part of their trip was not for the faint-hearted or the claustrophobic.  He watched their progress on the intertial locator with interest and some concern as they continued to travel.  "We've come a long way to have run a tunnel, even with plasma cutters.  I wonder what we are going to find ahead."

When they reached the doors he examined it for a moment.  "Just like the one on Miryan.  I'd say we have to align the balls like that on the statue."

Blake will pass out some snacks while everyone ponders the monument.  Time to take 10.  While munching, he looks over the walls in this area.  Any differences ??  Also, why expend all the effort top make this 'base' and then leave it ??  Nothing high tech here at all ...  Reminds him of those old hidden treasure vids ...  But the treasure never made it here.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 90):

Lorrain took the snack and opened it. Began munching on the survival bar. "Thanks, Blake. Ken, you want me to do the homours? With the door?"

Neva took the snack and stopped to look all around.  The three planets should align and if they moved them to align one of two things, in Neva's opinion would happen.  She was a basic kind of girl and it would work or it wouldn't.  Part of her hoped it would work but but then what?  It was seldom that easy.  If they aligned would a giant chasm open up and swallow them all?  Would a giant fire ball come down and burn them like the wrath of God?  Would some sort of beam come down and pull them up some place to face their destiny?

Neva just looked around to see if who would do the honors of aligning the planets.  She wouldn't.  She would just keep an eye out for the unexpected/expected attacks and surprises.

Stop with the negative waves there Neva.  The wonders of the Skyraiders will be revealed to us, treasure beyond imagining.    Or their trash which Blake does not say out loud. At any rate, he sits outside the lone of sight/fire, nibbling on his crunchy bar.

He eyes Ollie, What you think Ollie ??  Jump 9 drives inside ??  Mass teleporter ??  Gourmet coffee maker ??  Blake's lips give the multi-million-credit ka-ching.

Blake idly turns on his com for a listen, anyone transmitting ...

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 94):

Neva hadn't said anything out loud but on the other hand somebody as observant as Blake could read her body language.  So, to try to make him happy, she put a smile on her face but she still wondered.

"They did love their puzzles," said Linus, looking at the contraption.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 96):

"Wouldn't it be too easy to have them all line up?  I mean isn't that the first logical thought to make them all line up?"

Neva had finished her snack and walked around the area they were in to see if any anything might suggest others were recently here or something had been disturbed.  Then she'd go look at the tracks that the stones were in to see if it looked like one area of the track seemed more worn than other areas to possibly indicate that those positions were used more.

Ken took some of the snacks as well as a long drink of water.  He wiped his hands and then grinned at Lorain.  "No, let me make the adjustments Lorain.  You are indispensable with all of this."  Ken stepped forward and examined the door and mechanism carefully for any oddities.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 98):

The mechanism was old but well-preserved. Some kind of starship-hull alloy, it seemed. The relatively dry environment meant there was little corrosion. But it was impossible to tell if there was more wear and tear at any point. Maybe there was none.

In reply to GM (msg # 99):

Lorain had a look as well.

"For all we know, the door was only closed once? I doubt crowds of people trooped all the way here from the temple. This almost seems like a "one and done" kind of construction effort."

Ollie suppressed a big laugh, thinking of the sounds that would echo through the empty corridors. "You've got to risk big to win big," grinned Ollie.

"But, I think the sky raiders wanted this place to be found and opened. They have been at advertising where they are and they haven't tried to stop us getting this far. The danger is from effects of time and those above."

"Is it identical to the one we saw before?" asked Linus, looking closely at the figures surrounding the 'lock-puzzle'.

"It looks so to me. In which case, the 'planets' ought to be lined up the same way as before to open the door."

Ken nodded as the group gathered around.  "This place certainly wasn't the center of worship but maybe it was a tomb.  That is what I would guess.  There was no trap on the other tomb and it looks like this one is safe.  I'll line up the planets as we did the other once you guys stand back."

He will wait for the others to move away and then align the knobs as they did with the other door.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 103):

Lorain looked excited as she recorded the operation.

"That script there on the lintel calls the chamber on the other side the "Vault of the Great Journey". I have a strong feeling that something very important to the Sky Raider people is inside."

When Ken moved the planets into line, like the door on Mirayn, there was an audible click.

After, the door swung open on its own due to it being weighted. Inside was a what seemed to be a vast chamber due to the echoes of sound in the immense blackness.

"A vault?  It could be a tomb but that doesn't sound likely." He stood back as the door swung open and then shone his light into the darkness.  "Let's see what we have here."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 106):

They were unable to see much from their vantage point as air started to flow into the empty space before them. The chamber hadn't been in a vacuum but it seemed like it was either somehow kept at a lower air pressure or air currents had been stirred up due to the opening of the door.

The lights couldn't pick out the far walls of the circular structure. It seemed to be a somewhat large open space. A little rubble littered the floor, but not much.

Resting on a dais in the middle of the floor was a large mechanical form, possibly a vehicle of some kind. It would be difficult to tell how large it was without entering the chamber. Other than that there seemed to be no visible markings or designs on the walls. The vehicle had some kind of paint scheme faded by time.

"Well... now that's something..." Ken called out in a low voice.  He stepped further inside, swiveling his flashlight around to take in the rest of the room and the vehicle.  "Some kind of construct, a vehicle not a tomb, at least not obviously."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 108):

Luckily, the entry area was not booby-trapped. There appeared to be some kind of small pile of bones and rags to their right.

It seemed that the vehicle, and the chamber it inhabited, were much larger than they appeared from outside the door. The scene suddenly snapped into scale.

In fact, the subterranean chamber was at least as large as the surface dome, maybe larger. The vehicle was actually a vessel, a ship. Probably at least a 500 dton displacement hull, roughly the size of a Subsidised Trader.

Linus stared at it.

"A... a ship? Maybe it's how they got here. I wonder if it still goes. Probably not, or they might have left in it."

He walked forward to take a closer look.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 110):

"Easy Linus.  We need your brainy types to figure out all the clues.  Let somebody else go first in case it is trapped."

Neva moved to go ahead of Linus or at least next to him.  She looked closely at everything as she slowly moved forward.  She would periodically stop and look at one section or another.

Ollie, I think we're going to be very busy ...  Blake wanders about the chamber trying to take everything in while not disturbing stuff on the floor.  He walks ever closer to the ship, eyeballing it, trying to place its design in the historical scheme of things as well as identifying surface structures.  Atmospheric lifting body ??  Body markings ??  Fluid leaks on the floor ??  Entry points ??  He even shines a light into the engine exhaust ...  If he gets under it, he looks into the landing gear wells ...

Eventually, he steps back to look at the ceiling and walls.  How did it ever get down here ...

Ken walked forward, his mouth open in awe.  "A ship... and a big one.  They had to have built this place around the ship." He stepped up to the entrance ramp.  "Let's split up.  We should explore the ship and find out what we can.  It may need Lorain to help translate from the old language.  We should also check the pile of bones and the rest of the dome for any other exits or clues."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 113):

"While we're looking around we should also try and see if it might be possible to get the ship out of there.  If they build the temple around it why?  Were they planning on taking it back out?  If not why not?"

My thoughts too Neva.  Maybe there's something useful inside ?? Blake now takes a second inspection around the ship, meter by meter looking for hatchways, servicing ports and ground umbilical connections.  He puts his gloves on to wiggle, press/pull as needed ...  If he finds a hatch - he will announce this before trying to open it.

The ship had a stone ramp built out to what seemed to be a main entry point, an open iris valve on the starboard side. There was also a ventral iris valve hatch, closed.

Style-wise, it did not seem like a Vilani design. Somehow it was a little more primitive, even moreso than early Vilani designs. It was streamlined with some control surfaces but not a lifting body. It seemed to be armed with missile racks, sandcasters and beam lasers.

One thing Blake noticed was that it was not hooked up to umbilicals, although the right ports seemed to be there. The gear was a standard skid type, hydaulics long frozen and leaked out. The top of the vessel seemed to have additional attachment points, so that something could be mounted to the top exterior.

Overhead, the dome appeared a more simple design than the mosaic-covered one above. There were cracks due to age and seismic activity but it did not look like this was designed to be opened. They were also at least a hundred metres below the surface but there did not appear to be any kind of silo doors in the dome leading up.

Engines seemed to consist of large Maneuver drives: standard grav thruster units and anti-grav modules. Exhaust for a Power Plant. There didn't seem to be any exhaust ports for a Jump Drive.

The dome seemed to hold no exit. Near the entry door was a pile of bones. Three skulls, ribcages, assorted limbs. Rags of what could be vacc suits, three dust-opaqued helmets lay nearby. Bits of gear like gauntlets, equipment belts, etc. The skeletons didn't look like they died a violent death. Some dusty bottles and glasses lay among the remains.

Hmmm, were the last crew members entombed in here ?? 

He points at the tail, That's a maneuver drive, not a jump drive.  Something else brought them in and out of this star system.  The answer may be in there.  He points to the interior.

Blake  looks at everyone, We have to enter this ship.  We have to know who those bodies were.

Ollie, professor, we can't fly this ship out, we need to find any navigational and computer records.  We may have to remove the machinery, probably no power down here.  Blake hopes its not the usual antique stuff, heavy and bulky to man-pack out of here.  And then get away from this locale too.

Ken listens to Blake and nods in agreement.  "So why would they entomb a normal space ship like this.  It looks pretty well armed as you would expect from the Sky Raiders."  He glances about.  "Blake, why don't you, Linus and Ollie check out the ship.  Lorain, can you and Neva examine the bodies?  Thomas can help as well as stand guard.  We may need Lorain inside the ship if there is translation to do but starting on the archaeological remains seems the best use of her time.  I'll help stand guard with Thomas."

"All right," said Linus and started up the ramp.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 118):

Lorian looked surprised. "There's no dang way I'm not going in that vessel! It might not be a starship but who knows what could be inside? Some answers, hopefully."

Ollie heads carefully up the ramp, shining his torch into the airlock and trying to get a look inside.

He mutters to himself as he climbs, "There is no reason this would be boobytrapped. There is no reason this would be boobytrapped. Think about the treasure."

"I guess that means I will follow Lorain up  and into the ship.  Give in Ken.  She's a determined woman and she's this close to discovering new things you aren't going to change her mind."

Neva smiled and went over by Lorain.  If she was going to go into the ship then Neva would go also and try to protect Lorain.

Ollie, any boobytraps are at lease a century or two old ...  OK, Blake crosses his fingers they walk up.  I'll take the nose, Ollie you the back and we will work towards each other ??  The rest of you, try not to touch too much, hard telling what will happen after all of these passing decades.

Ken laughed and held his hands up in surrender.  "Go ahead then Lorain, this is the culmination of all your work and that of your father.  We can check the rest later."

The vessel looked like it wasn't some show model. Nor was it prettied up. Under a thick layer of dust there were obvious scorch marks from reentry and some battle damage, plus dings and scrapes from many landings and dockings.

Neva didn't think the skeletons near the main vault doors were of people who were victims of violence, although only an autopsy or forensic anthropologist would know for sure. For one thing they seemed like they just lay down and went to sleep. There was no obvious signs of violence or damage to the remains or the rags of the vacc suits they wore.

Using the ramp, they climbed up the side of the ship. The entry portal was over what appeared to be bulging fuel tanks. Inside the portal was, of course, an air lock. Racks for vacc suits and PLSS packs were empty, umbilicals to recharge tanks and batteries left dangling. The inner airlock door was open, and dark.

Ollie tentatively enters the airlock and examines its controls and displays. Trying to determine if there is any power in the ship's circuits and getting an idea for the general state of repair of its systems.

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 126):

The vessel is incredibly old, older than the vast majority of museum pieces. It's perhaps four or five thousand years old, sitting here without maintenance or cleaning. If it wasn't for the stone platform supporting it from below, it would have collapsed its landing gear long time ago. Possibly the vessel itself would have crumpled into itself under its own weight.

Ken thought the bracket and attachment points on the upper and side hulls looked familiar.

As it was, the systems were completely dead after 5000 standard years. The very nature of the materials had changed over the vast time due simply to the workings of age. Plastic had become brittle, even some of the alloy metal was corroded a little. Buttons and keys were frozen in place. A plastic toggle switch snapped off in his fingers with the slightest effort. Soft plastics and rubberised materials like seals were completely stiff, shrunken and cracked with age as their volatile hydrocarbon molecules had leached out over time.

A layer of grey dust millimetres-thick covered everything. Ollie wiped at a small readout monitor but it was clear the CRT display screen was now just a featureless black glass square. He suspected that even given power it would never come back to life. It looked like the fastening points were compatible with his engineering multitools, but if the fasteners were corroded over time they would be fused into their brackets. Probably better just to lever the CRT module out by brute force using a blade if he wanted a closer look at the circuitry.

Blake looks about and tries to head towards the bridge.  He ogles the ship as he walks forward, any detailed looking will be done on the way back to the airlock.  Rather odd it was left completely open like this.  Then again, the crew must have felt quite safe to debark.  But they never got outside the vault itself ??  Hmmm ...  This craft definitely belongs in a museum.

Neva shook her head as she looked at the skeletons near the main vault doors.  "Hey guys.  Be careful.  Whatever happened to these people it's like they just laid down and went to sleep.  I didn't see any signs, or at least obvious ones, of violence to them or damage."

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 129):

Next to the bodies were bottles and glasses, all covered in a thick layer of dust. If she had to guess, these were wine bottles and glasses.

In reply to GM (msg # 130):

Neva was walking by the bodies and then noticed the wine glasses.  "Hey guys?  Do you think it was a suicide thing?  Something that was in what they drank maybe?  I've known plenty of...ummm...people who either drank too much and wasted away or put stuff in their liquor to drift away."

Ken walked over to the bodies as he and Thomas stayed on guard outside.  He squatted down and poked at the bottles and gently at the suits.  "You're right Neva, I wonder if their markings if any are the same as on the artifacts we've found."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 132):

Ken saw that the markings on the tattered vacc suits did seem to be the Vilani script that the Sky Raiders used as the written form of their language.

The bottles and glasses themselves were long empty save for a reddish trace. Under a grey layer of dust and grime gleamed ornate decorations of gold filigree lined with precious stones. In fact, the bottles and glasses seemed to be a crystal material.

Ollie opens up the comms channel as he goes further into the ship. "This bird going ain't going anywhere or doing anything... ever. It's crumbling away as I touch it."

He carefully looks through the inner door before penetrating further in.

As Ken investigated the bottles Neva turned to make sure she knew where Loraaine was.  That woman had a habit of slipping away even when they weren't in a discovery that she was interested in.

Ken knelt and brushed off the dust from the bottles and glasses.  "These are very pretty.  I think we should take a few pictures and bring these along as souvenirs.  The script on the suits is the same on the other Sky Raider stuff." True to his word he snapped a couple of pictures of the suits and debris.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 135):

Lorraine had wandered back towards the outer door, recording the scene of the bodies.

"The crystal bottles and glasses certainly seems to be Vlazdhumecta handiwork. Presumably booty from some raid. Far too high a degree of craftsmanship for Sky Raiders. They were a warrior culture, not much given to decorative handicraft.

"I don't know what the markings mean. Names? Ranks? Titles? Their ships or unit? There's so much we don't know about the Sky Raider culture. Well, maybe there's answers in there. I can't but help cringe at the thought of taking anything here, it goes against my every instinct as an archaeologist. Even if freakin' fat freak Kalamaru is just going to loot whatever he can and sell it on the black market or keep it himself.

"So go ahead and take it, I'll just turn around and head to the vessel." She seemed sadly resigned that this would never be treated as a real archaeological dig site.

Ken shook his head. "We'll need to take these along with pictures as some proof of what we've found here Lorain.  No one is going to manage a dig here while the Hegemony and Kalamaru control this half of the planet.  We can have the residue measured and the glass itself analyzed to get dates and even DNA information."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 138):

"I've done all the required sampling that with remote sensors. Go ahead, I'm not trying to guilt you or say don't take it. Better it ends up in the Institute collection than in Kalamanaru's." She left to go see what Ollie was up to.

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 134):

Inside the ship, Ollie heard Lorain come up behind him, recording as he went. Old metal deck plates creaked softly under his boots as he ventured through the air lock's open inner iris valve. The air smelled musty, and cold.

A look to the left revealed a central corridor that led to an aft door of the spacecraft. (This was not a "ship" as that implied it being Jump-capable, which it was not) To the right was a forward door and probably the bridge. It was hard to tell the decor due to the layer of dust and grime, but it seemed to reflect the cruder functionality of the Sky Raiders. Support struts and reinforced ribbing was visible. It was possible that without the tough outer armour plating and reinforcement the hull might have collapsed in on itself centuries ago or longer.


This message was last edited by the GM at 05:55, Fri 18 Sept 2015.

"Let's have a look in bridge."

Ollie examines the bridge door to see how it can be opened.

Neva followed along, keeping Lorraine in sight.  "You are right about it better us taking some of the items to prove what was found and so others can see it."

Neva had to smile at all the dust laid over everything.  It reminded her of some of the tunnels from her times on the street.  What seemed to be dusty often hid treasures underneath untouched because many didn't want to look closer.

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 141):

Just aft of the bridge was a closed sliding door to the right, and an open room to the left with an iris valve set in the floor. The small room also held equipment or weapons racks, now empty. Ahead was the bridge hatch. It was a traditional hatch with a centre wheel and locking handle.

Lorain and Linus came up behind them.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 142):

Scanning the doors and various markings Lorain commented, "once again, the markings are of the modified Vilani script. We'll see more when we get into the cockpit but I have a theory about how the language has progressed over time."

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 144):

"You're in charge Professor.  So you can understand all these markings ok?  Think you'll be able to translate things on the bridge?"

Neva tried to stay alert for anything to spring out at them but Lorain wasn't known for paying attention to things that could spring them.  Hopefully Ollie would spot things before they had to dodge.

Ken smiled briefly at Lorain.  "It's hard seeing something like this at the mercy of pirates, I know Lorain." He wrapped the objects carefully in his jacket and stowed them in his pack.  Following Lorain and Neva he left Thomas on guard and headed into the ship.

"With the armor and weapons it looks like an assault lander like we used in the Marines."

Ollie grins, "Well, no time like the present!"

He carefully unlocks the hatch and turns the wheel, feeling the movement of the mechanism as it disengages.

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 147):

Neva tensed up as Ollie turned the wheel.  She wondered if something would happen.  She was dreading the answer to her unspoken question as well as looking forward to its answer.

Boo !!Blake says ...  Always nice to see Neva jump into action.  Of course, he had best be a couple meters back !! ...

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 149):

Neva, true to form, was concentrating so hard she hadn't realized Blake was there and sure enough, she jumped.  She quickly turned around, her weapon at the ready, and it was only her training that stopped her from pulling the trigger.  Neva blushed and hissed back at Blake "Don't do that!" but took it in stride and gave him a wink before turning around again.

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 147):

The locking handle and wheel were corroded and frozen in place from a lack of lubrication. Fortunately, the hatch was still a little ajar. With a lot of effort, they were able to pry it open with a loud squeal of old metal.

Inside was the cockpit. The windscreen and old-fashioned CRT monitors were all dark. There were three crew positions: pilot, co-pilot, navigator/computer operator. There was no obvious position despite this craft being heavily armed.

"Hmm. Three crew positions. Three bodies. All accounted for. But no gunners chair for all that ordinance," wondered Ollie. He examines the bridge for anything out of place.

When Ollie is done, Blake will have a look at the piloting controls.  Prying out the nav comp memory banks would be nice ...  As if anything this ancient could still be read.

"Hey Lorain, come on over here and see if you can read anything on these controls will you?  I'd hate to press something and not know ahead of time what it did or perhaps said."

Of course Neva wanted Lorain to be closer to her so she could help keep an eye out for her. Neva also REALLY wanted to press some buttons because it was like putting a big red button on a panel and it's the only thing there. It just screamed "push me".

Ken laughed softly as Neva jumped at Blake's joke.  "Always the trickster... you about got me to jump as well Blake."  He followed the others into the bridge area, taking pictures of the scene before it was disturbed.  "I can do a bit more of a walk about for weapons stations.  They may rely on local control at the turrets or weapons themselves instead of a master fire director here on the bridge."

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 154):

She examined the controls at the piloting stations.

Everything was again coated with a thick layer of undisturbed grey dust. Lorain made scans and recordings, then wiped at some of the casings to read the labels.

"I don't recognise the terminology. It's Vilani script all right, and strongly reminiscent of the Sky Raiders linguistic structure, naturally. I do recognise some actual Vilani and Vilani-seeming words, though very few. It's likely these are loan-words from Vilani adapted into the Sky Raiders language, just like how the Sky Raiders borrowed their characters to adapt to their own language."

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 152):

Examining the displays and gauges of the control stations, Ollie could see it seemed to be a layout strongly reminiscent of Vilani patterns. Even over ten thousand years, Vilani designs hadn't changed so much that they were not still easily recognisable. He could tell that there was a pilot, the 2nd seater seemed to handle engineering tasks but there was no Jump controls.

The third seat seemed to be a navigation/computer station. There were storage racks and compartments in and around the desk-like station and the displays.

Ken looked around.  "They are Vilani influenced but not Vilani.  Didn't the Vilani spawn a lot of secondary empires from technology that leaked to existing human minor races or even aliens like the Vegans?  I recall that the Vilani actually conquered the Vegans to create a kind of peace."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 158):

"Absolutely. So much so the study of linguistic, cultural and technological transfer from the Vilani to what would eventually become their subject Worlds and peoples is a field of study all itself. That's why I had Professor Laskin brought all the way from the Subsector University at Regina.

"I would say this fits the usual pattern. Once primitive populations, typically human minor races, start the process of assimilating into the Vilani culture will adopt Vilani characters. Technical terms are appropriated along with starship design and technologies like the Jump drive.

"Obviously, though, it's never this far from the boundaries of the Vilani empire."

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 159):

Neva looked at the panels and stuff and leaned in to whisper into Lorain's ear.  "Say Professor, I have this irresistible urge to turn or punch one of those buttons.  It's a thing.  Can't explain it but if I were to, say do that now, which one would be the best one to do?"

Ken frowned as he thought through Lorain's explanations.  "They would have had to come all this way through the Ziru Sirka and around Corridor.  All that with just Jump one.  It would have taken decades of travel and a fleet of hundreds and hundreds of ships to have the amount of power that the Sky Raiders were rumored to wield."

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 160):

She laughed at the question. "Almost anything, I should imagine! Ollie can confirm that all power is long dead. There could be some kind of mechanical linkage, but I doubt it. Go ahead, push the button on the control yoke!"



"I think that's probably right. This ship would need to have been carried by a larger craft. A fairly large, I would guess?"

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 162):

Linus, a Navy veteran, was able to supply some details on the craft they were in.

Ships like this were commonly called "Battle Riders" or riders. This one was 500 tons. A single Imperial Nolikan-class battle rider was 20,000 tons alone! The Luriani -class battle carrier for a squadron of seven such craft (all together they were called a "BatRon") was 200,000 tons. The naval concept was that the battle riders, lacking Jump drive and Jump fuel, could be much more packed with weapons and armoured than true starships. The other side of the coin is that if they needed to flee they were vulnerable while docking or hooking up to the fleet tender. Without proper support to keep an enemy at bay few riders and carriers survived such a fighting withdrawal.

During the Fourth Frontier War some twenty years ago, several Imperial Navy battle rider squadrons were wiped out or took heavy losses when their systems were overrun during the surprise attack of the Zhodani-led Outworld Coalition. The same happened in turn to the Zhodani when they were ambushed at their deep space refuelling point by the Imperials during the Battle of Two Suns. Nevertheless, this weakness resulted in a tactical shift with the Imperial Navy to greater numbers of Jump-capable battleships and dreadnaughts.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:21, Wed 23 Sept 2015.

"The systems in this bird are as dead as lunch, Neva," pointed out Ollie. "The worst that could has is the button will break."

"Are we finished in here for the moment? We are still missing a crewman."

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 164):

Neva grinned at the news she could push a button.  She walked over and looked at the buttons and finally decided.  Yes, that one.  That one right there!  Neva didn't know why she wanted to push that one button but it was calling out to her so she gave in and pushed it.

She felt so much better afterwards and turned around with a smile on her face.  "That's better."

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 165):

The key depressed with a little effort and an audible snap, and did not spring back. Nothing was fired or released, thankfully. Lorrain thought it was funny!

In reply to GM (msg # 166):

Inwardly Neva was glad nothing happened.  She was also glad that she could give in to her curiosity and not have anything blow up.  That was one of the first good signs she had on this mission so far.

Neva smiled and casually took her place so she could guard again but everybody could tell there was a new spring to her step after pressing the button.

Power or no power, Blake cringes at the random pushing of buttons or pulling levers.  The pilot in him wants this bird to fly but the reality is, this craft is going no-where.  Never-the-less, his eyes roam over the controls ... then he looks about, searching for the main computer bus line -- to trace back to the central ship's computer.

Ken chuckled as Neva pressed the button.  "Well, this thing is dead as a rock.  It is interesting that this was an in system battle rider type craft.  They must have had a series of much larger mother ships then to carry enough of these things to make a difference."  He looked about.  "Let's thoroughly search the ship.  There should be living quarters of some sort and maybe some other clues."

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 168):

The main computer station seemed to be combined with the navigation and communications console. It was the third, rear, station on the bridge.

With Lorrain's help Ken was able to determine there was a section of controls probably devoted to docking externally with another craft. Of course if the tender was large enough this kind of battle rider could easily be berthed inside it.

"It looks like this thing hung off the side of another ship or at least was set up to do so."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 171):

"Anyone find computer controls of some kind? I think I can read ememory modules if they are of the same holo-tape format as other Sky Raider electronics we found as I can read those using a SQUID."

She pointed to the console that Ollie was standing in front of. "Ollie, is that a computer station?"

Ken wanders the ship looking for other equipment and possession as he leaves the computer stuff to the others.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 173):

Leaving the bridge, he noticed a closed floor iris valve immediately aft on the port side, and a cabin on the starboard side. There were more cabins lining the narrow central corridor, which led to a rear door.

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 172):

"Let's find out," says Ollie as he starts disassembling the console.

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 175):

The console is difficult to disassemble due to its age.

Ollie found racks of memory modules above the CRTs. Lorrain got to work in scanning them.

In reply to GM (msg # 176):

Running a scanner over the modules she exclaimed, "the SQUID (Superconducting QUantum Information Detector" is picking up data! It'll take me a few minutes to read, but let's hope we get some answers!"

Her scanning computer started humming and beeping as the ancient information was teased out of the memory packs...

Once he sees the computer stuff is being 'saved', Blake also leaves.  Seeing Ken standing there, he nudges him to look in the stateroom.  Its the easier of the two ...  He then sticks his head into the room for a look/see.

Ken turned to Blake and gave him a friendly poke back. "Sure, let's see what we can get while Lorain works.  We can split up, call out if you find anything of interest." He pokes his head into the stateroom next to the one Blake was examining.

Neva would occasionally pace back and forth as Lorain did her thing and she did her thing in guarding her.

"Excellent," said Linus. "Do you need a hand with that, Lorain?"

There were no unexpected threats as Lorrain scanned away.

The door to the starboard compartment immediately aft of the bridge yielded with some pushing and effort. It seemed to be on the small and cramped size, about what was expected of a warcraft/battle rider. There was a bed, couch, desk and three chairs. Some kind of ceremonial swords decorated the bulkhead above the headboard of the bed and ornate bottles of some kind were placed on the desk.

As usual, there was a thick carpet of dust on all surfaces. Untouched. Across, on the port side, there were only the empty gear racks and the iris valve (closed) leading down.

Blake looks but does not touch.

Ken looks as well, his eyes caught by the sword.  He takes a picture of the room first.  "It looks like they left their stuff in place when they departed.  In all the years it may not have been disturbed."  He leans forward to look more closely at the sword. "I have some skill with the sword from my time in the Marines."

Neva still stayed on guard but she did notice the desk.  "Don't forget to pull out drawers.  False bottoms or disks hidden underneath are common hiding places nowadays.  Perhaps back then too."

"Come on and help us search Neva."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 186):

"Then somebody come up and stand guard over Linus and Lorain.  When they get involved they don't pay attention to other things."

Neva would help in the search but she wouldn't do it until somebody else was standing guard.  She knew nothing might happen but she also knew that it most certainly WOULD happen if nobody stood guard.

"Ollie's up there with them to keep them out of trouble."

Thomas has also been checking in regularly by radio. He is not on the vessel but has taken up an overwatch position covering the door to the massive chamber.

Ken stepped forward to examine the swords more closely.

As Ken moved to exam the swords, Neva put in more of a search in the drawers and other closed places.  If nobody would stop her she would see if she could pull out the drawers and see what was in them and then look to see if hidden compartments and/or something on the bottom or in the back of them.

Blake stays in the doorway.  Tearing apart the ship is one, disturbing the crew's personal items seems an afront to him.

The swords reminded Ken of something. Then it came to him. They were similar in style to the pair that Stanley, the Mirayn native, had carried! Not exact, but they were close.

As for Neva, the drawers in the metal desk were stuck, frozen with age. One finally did come out with a squeal, or at least the front came right off in her hand! Crouching down, she could shine her torch inside. There were brownish scraps of what could be paper of some kind.

Ollie finished his examination of the computer console. It was a basic TL9 design. Lorrain put Linus to work, helping her sort and scan the memory modules.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:22, Mon 05 Oct 2015.

In reply to GM (msg # 193):

Hearing the drawer panel break off in Neva's hand, Lorrain looked up. She called from the cockpit, "is everything all right?"

Linus wastes no time in getting to grips with the rather archaic computer.

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 194):

Neva blushed but whether it was from excitement from having seen papers or from embarrassment was hard to say.  "Everything is fine!"  She wasn't going to say she found something until she could possibly pull out the papers and see what was on them.  They could be anything.

Neva carefully reached in and tried to get the papers out.  She didn't want to tug hard on them in case they tore and everything but her curiosity was up and running.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 196):

The brownish scraps were possibly some kind of plastic paper sheets, like the kind used as a replacement for wood or other natural fibres and easily recyclable. This was typical of spacefaring cultures that had access to petrochemicals found in asteroids and on primordial worlds, but not vegetable matter.

Unfortunately, over time the sheets had shrunk and become brittle with age, adhering to one another and the bottom of the drawer. They were stuck inside the desk and prying or pulling at them would probably destroy or damage the sheets.

Ken leaned over and looked at the sheets of paper.  "Can you get them out without shredding Neva?  See if you can get pictures of what is showing at least."  He pointed to the swords.  "Those are of a similar pattern to the ones that Stanley had.  I'd say there is some definite influence by the Sky Raiders on the natives there."

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 195):

"Thanks, Linus. See if you and Ollie can find a hard drive in there. But I think we can get what we need from these modules."

She continued using the SQUID scanner to record the quantum patterns faintly present on the ancient memory units.

"I don't think that I can get them out but if you have something that can go in there or recorder with a zoom then we might be able to see what is on them.  It might not be anything but you never know.  People put clues in the strangest places sometimes."

there was an iris door adjacent to Blake ??  He turns to look at, since it is probably long since frozen shut, he cautiously taps on it with the flashlight case.

Neva remembered that Lorrain's scanning gear included scanning heads mounted on stalks that could be manipulated and bent. This was so that nooks and crannies could be investigated.

Over at the Iris valve in the floor, Blake noted that is was not entirely closed. A lever (or, say, gun barrel) could be inserted in and used to pry the sliding leaves wider open to allow entry.

Ken looks away from the swords, tempted to take them as a souvenir.  "Neva I'd like to leave the place as a sacrosanct archaeological site but we need to find what we can about these people and get out before we are discovered.  See if any of Lorain's equipment can help with scanning this stuff.  I'll pry open more of the drawers."

He will pry open the other drawers or containers as carefully as possible.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 203):

Ken was unable to open any of the other drawers the normal way. Instead, he was forced to take the fronts off the other drawers. There was a considerable amount of noise! Inside, most of the other drawers were empty, one other did hold some other papers. Similarly fused to the bottom of the drawers.

In reply to GM (msg # 204):

Stopping what she was doing, Lorrain looked up. "Hey, what's with all the racket over there?"
This message was last updated by the player at 09:39, Wed 07 Oct 2015.

Ollie tries to follow the cables to where the hard drives would be.

"They sure are making a racquet in there. Must be taking the place to pieces."

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 206):

Neva got up and went over to where Lorain and Ollie were.  "Hi guys.  Ken got over enthusiastic on pulling out some drawers and there is paper stuck to the wood.  You got anything that might loosen up the drawers and/or paper?  We don't want to ruin the place but are curious as to what might be on the paper."

Neva kept her fingers crossed behind her back at the white lie that she had told.  She hadn't totally lied.  He had pulled out a drawer and made the racket.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 207):

After having Neva describe the desk, Lorrain looked in her gear, selecting a recorder with a fibre-optic stalk.

"Here's another hand-scanner. If the paper is plastic, the sheets will likely be stuck to the bottom of that metal desk drawers. Now, this fundamentally goes against all I believe and have been trained in archaeology, you shouldn't destroy or disturb artefacts! But we have so little time, and Kalamaru is likely to strip this vessel down anyways.

"Here's what I would like you do to. Don't wreck anything else. Scan the pages but don't touch them. I'll make the call on what we can gather to preserve for posterity. Maybe Kalamanaru will not have a chance to loot this chamber. I'm willing to risk it. In that case, we'll want to come back sometime sooner rather than later and properly inventory this whole site."

Lorrain hadn't been very happy with Ollie and Linus dismantling the computer station but at least she was there to supervise and they weren't destroying anything.

Neva nodded.  "Got it.  We really hadn't planned on anything breaking.  I was going to put everything back but that seems kind of silly now but perhaps we can still see what the paper has on it.  I'll be right back."

Neva left before Lorain could change her mind and went to find Ken again.  Finally she handed him the recorder with the fiber optic stalk.  "Here you go.  Lorain says don't wreck anything else.  We're to scan the pages but not touch them. She said if the paper was plastic, the sheets will likely to be stuck to the bottom of the metal desk drawers.  Of course saying if the paper is plastic sounds like an oxymoron statement or something.  How can paper be plastic.  Anyway, then she will look at it and decide if it needs to be taken, for posterity sake of course.  She mentioned something about Kalamanaru might not have come back yet to loot the chamber so we might be coming back to do inventory of the whole site.  Anyway, that's her orders."

Blake carefully uses his knife to open some doorway space - enough to use a flashlight to peek thru the opening.

Ken looked up as Neva returned.  He nodded as she spoke and then took the recorder from her. "Ok, shine a light on the papers while I scan." He moved forward to go through everything they had found.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 211):

Neva nodded and shone the light on as Ken asked and would periodically poke her head closer, probably blocking the light, since she was curious.

The light was not necessary for the actual scan, as that transpired over multiple frequencies and even the molecular level. But it did let Ken see what he was doing! Quickly he scanned the hard-to-reach documents.

Over at the iris valve, with a bit of effort Blake was able to push the leaves of the door open (like pushing apart the iris of a camera lens by hand. Once there was a gap as large as his head in the middle of the valve, he could see a dark empty space below.

Behind him the passage to the rear had 2 doors on each side, ending in a rear sliding door.

In the computer room, Ollie and Linus were able to locate the hard drive.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:57, Fri 09 Oct 2015.

In reply to GM (msg # 213):

Once she was done scanning the memory modules, Lorrain scanned the hard drive.

"Thanks for the help, Ollie, Linus. We'll see if anything survived on the hard driver or the memory modules. Now let's see what that pack of vandals are up to, back there, eh?"

Wandering back to the cabin where Ken and Neva were working, she looked pained at the damage but it seemed she understood. She examined the swords on the wall.

"That metal in the desk is so old, it's no surprise the fasteners on the fronts of the drawers just gave out and sheared off like that. The decorations on this cabin, what do you think it signifies? And those swords, definitely Mirayn hand-manufacture. Those bottles, as well.

"As well, what do you think the relationship to the Sky Raiders and Qarant is? This isn't some kind of operating base like Mirayn. They must have survived a very long time here on Qarant. The data suggests that this planet slipped into a period of glaciation several thousands of years ago. The glaciers have receded but are still very much present. This area wouldn't have been directly covered but the river was once much larger. Water would have become scarce, crops must have failed. This would not be as much of a problem to a space-faring culture like the Sky Raiders, so that's a puzzle."

Ken smiled as Lorain entered the room.  He spent a few more minutes finishing the scan and then turned back to face her.  "I think we were able to get images of most of the papers.  I'm going to keep trying to separate and scan the rest of the materials so at least we have some information."  He paused.  "Did you get anything out of the computer core?"

When she mentioned the decorations he shrugged.  "I'd say the swords were trophies rather than something that were used regularly.  Sitting up on the wall is not terribly practical."  Ken frowned as he continued to think.  "Perhaps this place was established as a planetary base by the Sky Raiders.  I'm not sure why but maybe they needed a place to set up manufacturing and perform repairs.  Obviously something happened to cause them to disappear from the space lanes so maybe that caused this place to devolve and then die out.  You can see that the tech level of most of the place is way lower than this ship."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 215):

Lorain accepted the scanner and set it to download its data.

"This could have been a major base, but the scale is more like an entire colony. These buildings, the city, it's all too permanent. Mirayn was apparently a major base but so little was left there, pretty much by intention. There's no indication of any indigenous peoples, that the evidence is the Sky Raiders preferred to subjugate populations when they could to serve as captive labour. This place seems anomalous in so many ways.

"I did find a lot of useful data on the modules, hopefully more on the computer core. That'll give us the answers we need, more pieces for the puzzle.

"Are we about done? What about the other areas of the spacecraft?"

Blake shines a light into the door opening ...

Ken has a thoughtful look on his face as Lorain speaks.  "And why would they bury a single interplanetary attack craft here in this temple.  It's like they are worshiping it."  He looked about.  "There are a couple more rooms to check.  Blake was headed aft."  Ken took the scanner and headed to the passageway.  "Let's look through the rest of the rooms quickly and then head back.  We've lingered here too long as it is."

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 217):

It looked like there was a cargo hold down there due to the clamps and attachment points on the deck and bulkheads, although it seemed empty. The plates of the iris valve were loose enough that they could be pushed open further to allow someone to climb down.

OK, lets have a look.  Blake carefully pushes some more plates out of the way.  Widening the opening enough to climb down.

Looks like an empty cargo bay over here.

Ken nodded to Lorain and handed her the scanner.  "Neva, Lorain, let's help Blake with the rest of the ship.  Can you two check the other rooms?  I'll go aft."  He headed over to the cargo bay and climbed in with Blake. "See anything?"

Ken saw that on the upper deck, there was a passage aft with 2 doors on each side, ending in an aft door.

Instead, he looked where Blake was climbing down into the cargo hold.

Blake was easily able to make it down to the lower deck by a hand/footholds in the forward bulkhead. In the forward bulkhead was an open hatch. The deck was about 6m square. An open passage (no door) led aft.

There were a few markings of some kind on the bulkheads, including by a large exterior cargo hatch on the starboard side. But the hold itself was empty.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:11, Sat 17 Oct 2015.

Some wall markings down here, otherwise a corridor heading aft.  No cargo here now ...

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 223):

Blake could also see a partly-opened hatch in the forward bulkhead as well.

Lets try the partially open hatch - less effort to open.  Carefully peek around for a look/see.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 225):

It was easy to peek around the partially-opened hatch.

Beyond the hatch in the forward bottom hull (located under the bridge) was definitely the gunnery compartment. There were another three acceleration couches (front, left, right) and surrounding them were dead dust-covered monitors and weapons controls stations. The front crash chair was occupied by what looked like a corpse in a vacc suit, although it was difficult to tell from the rear.

Professor, I have another body for you down here.  Blake stays outside so as to not disturb anything until officially sanctioned/allowed to.

"Give me a call if you need any help Blake," as he turned to go look through the other two rooms in the passageway.

OOC: Go work with Neva to finish off the remaining rooms while Blake pokes around.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 228):

Neva waited for Lorraine to be over by the others so she'd be safe and motion for Ken that she was ready to check out the other rooms.

Blake shines his flashlight around the room.

Ken nodded to Neva and turned to the next room and opened the door.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 231):

Not that she was expecting trouble, but Neva automatically went into the training that she had done for so many years.  While Ken was opening the door, she brought her weapon up from low ready to high ready and swept the room before stepping too far in.  Over cautious?  Probably but at least she was ready and people had a tendency to live longer if they were ready for the unexpected.

Lorrain climbed down into the lower cargo hold, then joined Blake in the gunnery compartment. She checked out the corpse.

"Oh yeah, he's been dead a long time. A little better preserved than the ones outside. I'd say it was a male. See the long beard and hair? An old fellow. I'd say the ones outside were old men, as well. See the bottle? Looks like he committed suicide, like the others.

She performed a few scans, then gave up.

"Well, not much to learn here. There's little or no memory storage here that's of any use. The computers are all dedicated to fire control, not useful for our purposes."

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 232):

The four other rooms (2 on either side) were obviously crew cabins. Unlike the forward cabin, which had a single bed and fresher, the rear cabins were double-occupancy (with freshers of their own). Unlike the other cabin the decor on these ones were very Spartan. There were no other visible belongings or documents. The bunks even lacked bedding.

There was one remaining door, at the aft end of the central corridor.

Thomas checked in by radio to say things were quiet.

One more door ...  Wait, they committed suicide ??Suicide professor ??  They came here to die ??  Or they had nothing to go back to ...  Suddenly this place takes on a chill of it's own.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 235):

She nodded.

"That would be my guess. There's no sign of trauma, they didn't die of old age where they lay and they're not ceremonially laid out. I would bet that once the molecular scans are completed we'll find traces of some kind of toxin in those bottles.

"Now, this structure was obviously built over the spacecraft as there's no door to bring it in. I hypothesise they completed construction, then decided to end their lives some time after. These could be the flight crew, caretakers, ceremonial priests... we might find out more from the logs."

Once Ken and Neva were through with what turned out to be double occupancy staterooms, he nodded to Neva and then went down to open the final door.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 237):

The aft door on the upper deck led to a small crew lounge with a tiny galley to the left. Like the cabins save for the one immediately behind the cockpit, there were no decorations or items of interest lying about.

Ken backed out of the small room. "It's just a galley in here.  This was one hell of a cramped little ship.  I'd hate to travel far in it."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 239):

Neva just smiled.  She knew a couple of people who would have thought the galley was a mansion.

"Did we cover all the rooms then or do we have more to check out."

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 240):

Those on the upper level seem to have covered all the rooms there. Basically, there was a cockpit, airlock, several cabins (one decorated more than the others) and the galley aft.

Shall we regroup outside ??

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 242):

She nodded. "Yes. We've not yet found the engines and power plant, but there's that passage leading aft. Unless it's on the upper deck? But those things aren't very important to me. It's unlikely there's more information there."

Ken nodded.  He was little interested in the drives as well. "Let's go then.  It seems perhaps they committed suicide together although why we don't know yet.  We've spent long enough down here, let's get back and out before we're caught."

"Sounds like a plan.  Let's all gather back up."

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 245):

They exited the spacecraft, meeting at the foot of the ramp.

Thomas remained on guard at the doors.

In reply to GM (msg # 246):

Lorrain was excited at the data she'd collected.

"It was so strange, you could see the Vilani influence. Yet it was clear there was non-Vilani influence there. If I had to guess, I would say that whoever they were they had developed spaceflight capability indigenously, then kind of incorporated Vilani technical elements while keeping a distinct non-Vilani style."

Ken smiled at Lorain's enthusiasm even as he assumed a guard position.  "Knowing the details of their technical progress should make it easier to determine exactly where they came from on the other side of the Rift.  There can't be that many minor human races."  He turned to Thomas; "Can you take point Thomas?  I'll back you up."

Professor, any chance of being able to make a copy or two of what we have found ??  Blake takes the rear or middle, as needed.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 249):

She nodded. "Oh yes! All my data is backed up onto holodrive automatically. If we don't make it back that won't do us any good, but we won't have a situation like where my "assistant" wiped all the files except for the copies he made."

If we lost that computer or it gets damaged on the way out ...  Blake does a quick gear check, making sure everything is closed and ready for traveling, crawling, etc.  He also checks the inertial locator for current info.  If possible, he deletes this room from it.

Ken scouts a bit down the passageway while the others make ready.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 252):

Neva took up the rear position and kept watch as they moved out.

As they got themselves ready, Ken thought he heard footsteps a log way down the passage. In the direction they had come from, and were now hoping to go. Thomas confirmed he also heard something, as he doused his torch to reply in the PRISS's night-vision capabilities.

Thomas ?? Blake whispers into the mike ...

Ken held up a clenched fist.  He whispered.  "Quiet, we have something up ahead.  Lights out and crouch down against the wall.  Ready your weapons."  Dousing his own light he flipped his LI/IR goggles on and peered down the passageway.

Blake looks for cover as he goes down, goggles on.  He then aims his weapon at the far wall some distance down the tunnel.

Neva turned off her light dropped down and then activated her LI/IR goggles.  She prepared for whomever it was that was going to come and "visit" them.

Thomas transmitted that he was ahead and could see five men armed with SMGs making their way down the passage, using hand-held lights for vision. Range was fifty metres.

There was enough cover in the rubble-strewn passage, plus a crossing side-corridor, to hide everyone from view, or at least make them difficult to be seen.

Linus looked for Lorain, checking that she was OK and out of sight.

Blake clicks his weapon to 3 round burst, checks his spare magazines and looks around placing everyone's location in his mind.

Once he sees the lights, Blake aims for leg shots, may need someone who can talk afterwards.  SMG's are close range guns, these people must mean business.

If it looks like shooting, Blake will transmit Down Thomas !!

Ken waves to everyone to take cover.  "Get in concealment and fire on my order.  Thomas fall back with us."  He took cover as well.

Aimed fire then, furthest right.

Ken counts slowly as the foe approach.  He draws on experience from other firefights and at what he judges to be the right moment calls out.  "Fire!" He punctuates his call with emptying his shotgun at the foe.

Bang,aimed shot, chest.   Bang Bang Bang follow on fire at the right most.  Then stop shooting, roll right.

When Ken gives the order Ollie panics and lets off the entire magazine down the corridor.

I love the sound of suppressing fire there Ollie !!

Ollie looks embarrassed. "I always forget to let go of the trigger."

The three men with electric torches cautiously advanced down the ancient corridor. It seemed obvious they were following the group's tracks. All three were armed with rifles and wore Hegemony fatigues and equipment belts.

There was a trade-off between springing the ambush at a closer range and longer range. Closer was more effective, but the chance of the targets detecting the ambush went up. Instead, Ken opted to give the signal to fire before the men came into the most effective range.

The fusilade of shots was deafeningly loud in the concrete corridor! All three men went down immediately. Two lay still, then after a pause, the third scout rolled over and started to slowly crawl back the way he came, leaving a wide trail of blood. He crawled a metre, then passed out, the began again, more weakly. Thomas raised his scoped rifle to finish him off, but held his fire.

Much farther down, more lights could be seen, about a hundred metres back. There were more coming.

In reply to GM (msg # 269):

Before Neva could act, Ollie had done the suppression fire and between all the men there didn't seem to be a reason for her to fire so she kept on the alert.  She heard the others coming so she just held her position and waited, knowing that there would be more for her this time around.

"Sounds like more.  Better get more ammo in there Ollie.  You don't want to dry fire."

Question: is there enough time for Blake to jig up to one of the dead & place a grenade under the body as a booby trap ...  and get back here ??

Stream of thought idea ...  Lets get the frak out of here.  Enough guns and they can pin us down. Blake whispers in his comm.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 272):

During the immense racket of the firing, Lorrain was curled up in a ball, hands over ears. She slowly came out of it. She crouched, activating her palm computer, going over her tunnel maps.

"Wh... What happened? Are they dead? Get out of here? I could try and find a side passage. Or we can see if there's another way out of the burial vault. I suspect from its construction and location it could have started as a planetary defence silo, then renovated."

Ken looked about and nodded as the enemy were wiped out in a fusillade of gunfire.  Thinking quickly he looked about at the others.  "Fall back to the vault and look for another way out.  Blake, let's move forward and booby trap the bodies.  I'll cover you." He stepped forward, reloading his shotgun as he crouched down near the wall.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 274):

Thomas moved up with Ken and Blake while Neva, Lorraine, Linus and Ollie made their way back into the Vault of the Great Journey with it's ancient spacecraft.

They began to take harassing fire from a couple rifles, but the shots whizzed by or spanged into the floors, walls or ceiling. Still, to deal with this and confuse the situation Thomas pulled out a smoke grenade and threw it down the hall as far as he could. A billowing cloud of smoke temporarily cut off vision from their pursuers and the shots tapered off.

Examining the men, they could tell that one was dead, one was unconscious, and one was barely conscious. The two (barely) living men were bleeding out.

In the Vault, Lorrain began scanning the walls for hidden passages or chambers related to its original construction.

Linus prowled around, looking for possible ways out of the chamber.

Blake dashes up, pulls the pin and places the grenade under the barey conscious man.  He grabs the man's weapon and heads back, zigging, zagging, trying to stay low.

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 270):

"Damn!" Ollie fumbles in for another clip and reloads before returning to the vault. "Thanks Neva! These firefights are not my thing."

In the vault, he watches the way the residual smoke from the smoke grenades moves in the air. Any passages out of here should be indicated by some movement in the air since this place is so well ventilated. Maybe.

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 277):

Realising what was going on, the wounded Descarothe soldier grasped the grenade's spoon handle and clutched it to keep it as tight as he could from going off. He gasped in Galanglic, "you... bastard... please help...me!"

In reply to GM (msg # 279):

In the chamber, Lorrain quickly started scanning the walls, looking for cavities.

As Ollie watched, a tendril of smoke seemed drawn to a wall with scattered 30x20cm niches pocking the surface.

"Ollie," she said not having any luck, "whaddaya got there?"

IISS intel, you tomb robbers !!  Now I have a gun.Then Blake zig zags back to the vault opening to cover the others ...

Ken snapped off a few shots as Blake set the trap.  He clubbed the man in the head with the butt of his shotgun to keep him from ruining the trap, reset the grenade and then retreated with Blake.  Ken fired a few rounds over his shoulder to discourage immediate pursuit.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 282):

The blow loosened the grenade from the man's grasp. It skittered along the ground through the smoke, where Thomas snatched it up and tossed it down the passage with a curse. He dove down and it went off with a flash and concussion that rolled down the passage, shooting the smoke in front of it in both directions.

He joined the others at the door, looking disapproving. "Booby trapping the wounded? Very not cool, guys! At least make sure they're dead first."

Ollie runs over to the wall for a closer look at the niches.

"Neva! Give me a hand here!" he urges. "Air is moving through here. It may be a ventilation tunnel or a passage. It might be our way out of here."

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 284):

Lorain jumped a little when the grenade went off.

"Holy mackerel! I hope they aren't that close! We better be quick."

She scanned the section of wall where Ollie had seen the smoke disappearing.

"Yes, wait, let me be sure... ok. There's definitely some kind of chamber or passage behind this false wall. So, how do we get at it?"

"Crowbar?" suggested Linus.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 286):

She nodded. "Yes, where can we find one? I left mine back in the car!"
This message was last updated by the player at 20:11, Sat 28 Nov 2015.

Linus will root around for something appropriate. There's probably something on the ship if nothing's lying around outside.

Ken shrugged at Thomas' reaction.  "He looked dead in the darkness and confusion.  Let's get the hell out of here now."  Ken fired down the passageway and then fell back to the entrance to the hall of the ship where he took a firing position.

Ollie feels around the grill for how it is attached and hoping there is an easy way of getting it off.

"Linus, that crowbar would be handy if you can find it. Can you have a look around for one? Otherwise I might have to use a frag grenade to get in here."

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 288):

At the entrance with Ken, Thomas began firing down the corridor to buy them time. Neva joined in, firing her shotgun. Not that she expected to hit anything but as harassing fire.

Looking in the ship, Linus went straight to the one area they didn't check before: the engine compartment. As suspected, there was a fusion powerplant and gravitic Maneuver drive, but no wormhole Jump drive.

Despite being a museum piece/shrine, the spacecraft seemed to be fully equipped, if not operational by several thousand years. Linus easily found a tool locker, and inside were various pry bars that could be used. Grabbing those, he headed outside.

Using these, he, Ollie and Lorrain made short work of the wall they suspected hid a shaft or other cavity.

In reply to GM (msg # 291):

Looking at the tunnel that was hidden behind the false wall, Lorrain exclaimed, "I knew it! This "Temple" used to be a planetary defence installation. That's the best explanation for all the dead-end tunnels, empty rooms, and this silo. Maybe we'll figure out how it went from one use to the other, why they converted it."

She shone her torch inside, checking the duracrete walls. "Looks solid."

Ken continued to fire to keep the advancing foe at bay.

Blake eyes ken with another grenade in his hand.   He nods towards a fallback position and waits for Ken to start moving there - before tossing it along the near tunnel wall.

Blake's grenade went off, the explosion echoing off the walls.

The return fire slackened somewhat. It seemed as if their pursuers were either pulling back or at least halting their advance.

Lorrain's scans indicated the tunnel/shaft they'd found seemed clear and safe.

In reply to GM (msg # 295):

"OK, I guess I go first?"

She looked uncertain, then pulled on a processor/sensor pack.

In reply to Prof. Lorain Messandi (msg # 296):

Neva looked over at Lorain and shook her head.  "You probably shouldn't go first Lorain.  You are needed to figure out things.  I, on the other hand, am another grunt that can be disposable if need be.  Let me go in and then you can come in after me."

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 297):

The cramped 2m passage was half-choked with dirt and debris from the walls and ceiling. It ran about 30m, ending at a vertical shaft. As she got closer Neva could feel a cool breeze on her face and hear running water. There was a steady stream of water spattering down from above and landing somewhere far below. If there was a bottom to the shaft it was too far down for her torch beam to reach. The beam didn't reach the top of the shaft, either. Some sort of slippery algae clung to the side of the shaft. A ladder of sorts was formed by hand and foot holds cut into the permacrete sides of the shaft to her right.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:23, Sun 13 Dec 2015.

Ken fell back with Blake, firing sporadically now as the enemy fire slackened and he tried to conserve his ammunition.

Ollie quickly checks the ladder to determine if they were jury rigged later or built in when they originally built the place.

Linus eyed the shaft.

"Looks like this was intended as some kind of emergency exit. Shall I go up and see what is to be found?"

"Yes, but what is at the bottom. You don't build a shaft this deep without a reason."

"Drainage, probably," said Linus.

It was anyone's guess what the shaft's originally intended purpose was. Rust-stained holes suggested that, among other things, cabling had been run up the shaft. Ventilation? Emergency exit? Drainage? Wherever the water landed it was a long way down, perhaps dozens of stories or more.

The diameter was 3m, considerably wider than the connecting lateral passage.

What was clear was the foot and handholds were not added but set into the permacrete. This made them more solid, but the centuries or more of water pouring down had eroded them somewhat. Luckily the runoff did not seem to have a high mineral content as accretions like stalactites would make climbing very difficult indeed.

If Blake, ken & Thomas fall back, Blake has a look behind them.  Is the shaft entrace easily concealable from the other side ??  We need to buy time ...

In reply to Blake Renfield (msg # 305):

The shaft was concealed behind a false wall. The wall needed to be broken through, leaving an obvious hole. It would be difficult to conceal the opening if they looked at any length.

"I think we had better leave," says Ollie and starts up the shaft. "I really don't want to make the locals acquaintance."

Lets get out of doge pals ...

In reply to Oliver Oliphant Oksasaellllozae (msg # 307):

It was a slow, tiring climb.

The handholds were a little eroded by time and water, but mainly good enough.

Ollie climbed out of sight.

In reply to GM (msg # 309):

Lorain craned her neck to look up.

"I better follow him! If there's a blockage, or we can exit the shaft, he'll need me to find a new path."

With that, she slung her gear and began climbing as well, following the Vargr. "Oof! This gear's so heavy!"

"Let me take some of that, Lorain."

Ken continued to fall back, conserving his ammunition and using his night vision equipment to try and make each shot tell.  His goal was to buy time for his comrades to get up the shaft for should they be caught climbing things would be very nasty.

"I'll stay behind to the last Blake, Thomas.  See if you guys can rig a trip wire or something both at the entrance to the vault and the entrance to the maintenance passage.  We want them to follow cautiously."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 312):

Setting explosive booby-traps were not the forte of a Scout or hunter, but a simple wire wasn't too difficult to rig at the vault entrance and by the maintenance shaft.

Their pursuers seemed to have backed off, perhaps waiting for reinforcements. Ken was unable to tell if he shots counted but they sure seemed reluctant to press them.

Lorain shared her burdan with Linus. They and Ollie carefully climbed up the shaft. It was slow going, for the ancient foot and handholds were slippery and eroded over time. They all climbed for about 30m. There they found a lateral passage intersecting the vertical shaft.

In reply to GM (msg # 313):

Checking her scanner and 3D maps, Lorain suggested, "let's check out the lateral passage. If it's not blocked, it should get us back into the complex but at a higher level than the people chasing us.

"If we climb much higher, one of us is going to fall. God knows where they'll end up."

Once they start climbing, Blake will purposely look for a loose hand-hold or two.  Work at them to loosen and toss down the shaft ...  Two in a row would be great to do.

Ken remained behind until all the others were up the shaft.  Then he slung his weapon and climbed up after the others.

Oh to have a grav belt right about now Blake thinks.  Given the small corridor, a lot of bumps and bruises while ascending would result.  Probably need a real helmet too.  He goes back to watching every step, hand grip ...

"Definitely a better idea then falling to my death."

Ollie heads down the lateral tunnel, trying to be both cautious and quick.

Neva smiled and let Blake take the front.  "So what do you want us to do?  Find a place where I can hanker down and shoot them so they don't follow us?  Hang up some grenades so I can shoot them and blow us all up?  You find me a perch Blake and I'll do it but don't complain afterwards."

Wink wink, nod, nod to 'Killer' Neva wanting to shoot an explosive to set it off ...

I'm glad you're on our side Neva !!  I defer to our resident marine and hunter for tactics, Neva.  Personally, I would shoot the first one in, then drop some smoke.  Unless they have electronics, they may wait for it to clear to see to climb up.  Probably squeeze another one in to cover their ascent.  Buys us time to scamper along.  If I was really evil, I'ld toss a couple rocks over the edge once they got started climbing.

Perhaps Ollie could throw a wrench while yelling "Can you dodge a wrench ??"  OK, waste of a good wrench per Ollie, but a great scene.

Neva and Ken, having some experience and training in explosives, believed that a grenade wedged into the foot/hand holes would blow out a good chunk of the wall due to the condition of the concrete. With a couple climbing holds taken out this fashion it would make climbing very difficult. The trick was going down far enough in the shaft to create a crater in the wall that would be impossible to cross. The narrow width of the shaft would make throwing up a grapnel very difficult (but not impossible) to cross.

Ken yelled up as he started to climb.  "Pass down a couple of grenades and I can wedge them into the hand holds.  We can use rope to pull the pins and they can blow enough of the holds clear that they can't get up past them."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 322):

Neva helped Ken set up their plan.  "make sure that there isn't any kinks in that line when we pull the pins."

Ken nodded as he continued his climb.  "I've no desire to blow off my hands." He worked to set a couple of grenades wedged in hand holds tied with line to the pins.  The idea would be to blow them from above without the grenade coming out of the hand hold.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 324):

With the liberal application of duck tape, the grenades were firmly wedged into handholds about 5m down from the cross-tunnel. Pins where also taped to nylon climbing cords. Ken and Neva climbed up when they were done.

Wisely deciding to not wait for anyone to poke their heads out, they pulled the pins and then scooted down the cross-conduit as far as they could, fingers in ears.

There was a tremendous explosion which they not only heard but felt. The rumble didn't stop immediately after the blasts, but continued, getting louder. A full fifteen-twenty seconds later the sound died down, leaving them deafened and shaken. They were covered by concrete dust, scratched by chips that fell from the conduit ceiling.

In reply to GM (msg # 325):

Neva looked over at Ken and gave him a thumbs up even as she tried to carefully shake off the effects of the backlash.  She then started to dust herself off but still had a smile on her face.

Linus looked dubious.

"Hope you haven't weakened the whole structure. Or that we don't need to go back down this way."

We know the welcoming committee's back that way, lets keep going this way instead.

Neva looked over at Linus and shook her head.  "Nope, you don't need to go back down that way.  You wouldn't like that way."

Ken stood stunned for a moment at the roar of the explosion and the shuddering of the tunnels.  He let out a hearty "Ooorrahhh!" and then laughed.  "Now that's how we do it in the Corps," he said with a smile.  "I hope it shook the roof down on the bastards." He quickly counted heads and then reloaded his shotgun.

"Let's head out of here.  Blake, can you take the lead again?  I'll cover you."