Session 16 – Total darkness
Scene 4
Hurricane-Blizzard Jhina rages outside the mining station. Normal temperatures at -60 degrees celsius will quickly drop below the 100-degree line and keep on dropping. The thermostatic suits will stop working at -80 degrees celsius and it will immediately become deadly to travel outside for any longer periods of time. Even the temperature within the station will drop which will cause some systems and relays to freeze, which in turn will lead to the gravitational units beginning to fail. Some places suffered heavy fighting with the Hyenas, re-sulting in blown up doors and windows, the wind is intruding with massive amounts of snow.
Nothing was going easy on this trip, and something told me our mission was just starting. We had to go to Dhaab 2 in order to get the system up and running again. We had two options. One was by foot, using the tunnel, and the other was by snow crawler. We chose the latter. We had to move the snow crawler over a small road through the canyon. Shamus drove the crawler and of course we got stuck in the snow. How he ever got is drivers licence let alone his pilot’s license is beyond me. It took some effort to get the snow crawler back on the road again. After that we helped Shamus navigate so we would get stuck again.
Towards Dhaab2. This would be a difficult road. Ice, Snow and zero visibility. The exterme cold would make this a difficult journey. Shamus took the wheel and started the long road through the canyon. Along the way there was nothing we could do but trust on the driving skills of Shamus. From now and then we had to help if we were still on the correct path. There were a lot of twists an turns during our journey. After an hour we did get stuck in the snow. We were unable to break free from the snow. The only solution was to dig the crawler out of the snow. This meant going into the cold. The visibility was minimal and despite we had the HEV suits on the cold made it difficult the move. After an hour the crawler was free of the snow and we could move on. The blizzard was getting worse. Along the way we also saw an abandoned crawler. No stopping now. We had to move on.
Our brave heroes just drove past another vehicle who had been headed the same way. It seemed to have driven off the road and crashed on a small ledge below. Were there still people inside? We’ll probably never know…
Scene 5 – Isolation
SCENE 5. ISOLATION
After passing by the ruined garage with the sabotaged shuttle, both covered in scribbles, our misfits enter a narrow corridor that according to the signs on the wall leads to the security bunker. This space is also completely covered by scribbles of mysterious formulas and short texts which seem to be prayers. On the floor in the middle of the corridor there’s a small octagonal box. ”A mine?”, is their first thought, but through closer inspection they can see that it’s a modulator. When they examine it more closely it spins up and the nanites of the modulator start to take the shape of a man. He speaks.
After a few hours we arrived at Dhaab 2 and disembarked at the garage. To our suprise we found out that dr. Farra wasn’t with us. For some reason he apparently stayed behind on Dhaab 1. But there was no time to dwell on that, we had to move on and find the mainframe. Before we left for Dhaab 2 Dr. Farra gave Armand a copy of Dhaab 2 station on his tabula. When we walked on the station appeared to be abandoned. It looked like everybody had tried to leave the station in a hurry. There was garbage, boxes and suitcases all over the place. We also saw unreadable scribblings on some of the containers and also on a Zero G shuttle. We saw two man inside. Armand end Anjil went inside to find out that the two man were dead.
Visibility was poor. But we were glad we could enter the garage and disembark. It was here we found that Jussuf Farrah was not with us. He stayed behind on Dhaab1. No time to lose. We had to find the mainframe. Luckily i received a copy of Dhaab2 station. When we entered the main platform there was nobody around. Only the signs of panic. A lot of garbage, boxes, suitcases. It looks like everybody was in a rush to leave the station. Notably a shuttle which looked like it failed to launch. Anjil and i checked the shuttle. The passengers were still in the shuttle. But they had been dead for a while. When we looked around we found scriblings on the shuttle and some of the containers. According to my tablet this had something to do with DNA sequences on atomic level.
During my investigation. Shamus and Khadyr were talking to Moses about what happened on Dhaab2. Moses told us the station was in the same state as they found it. If we wanted more information we could ask Anjil. Because Anjil was a member of the Red Hyenas and worked for Moses. Strange. But no time to lose. I found the route to the control room. Here was the mainframe which was without power. After starting up the reactor the base we were able to start the Mainframe and all of the systems on the base.
Shamus started to check the logs of the base. Apparently the base was flooded with radiation: the Shanzidar Sequence. Which killes all oraganic matter. This is probably the cause why everyone rushed to get off base. Which they did not succeed in. And apparently we could not leave either. The temperature outside dropped to -100 Celsius. To risky for us to go outside. So we agreed to check the laboratory and see if everything of value was to be found. When we went through the airlock we entered an empty Laboratory. Everything of value was missing. The Airlock to the outside deck was unaccessible according to Shamus.
Talking to Moses Umbara about what happened on Dhaab 2, he told us the station was in the same state as they found it. To our surprise he also said that if we wanted more information we should talk to Anjil. Turned out that Anjil was a member of the Red Hyena’s and worked for Moses. How was that possible. Well there was no time to get into that. We had to press on. Armand found the way to the control room and after starting up the reactor, the mainframe came to live again and so did the power. Shamus, not a very good pilot but an excellent datajin, found in the stations logs that Dhaab 2 was flooded with a type of radiation called The Shanzidar Sequence, and causes to kill all organic matter. No wonder everyone wanted to get off the base in such a hurry.
Rewards granted
1 XP for each hero
Darkness Points
GM gains 2 DP (1 for a re-roll and 1 for flying beteween the dark of the stars in the next scenario)
Thimon
Missions/Quests complete
The Shanzidar sequence
The secondary reactor unit has been activated by Shamus and they find out it is running a so-called Shanzidar sequence (a neutronium radiator). Shamus can see that this type of activation has been initiated once before, but were then somehow deactivated. The Shandizar sequence seems to be working according to a cycle where radiation will increase in strength and radius until it culminates in an uncontrolled nuclear reaction.
We also wanted to leave but found out that the conditions outside were to horrid. Because of the blizzard the temperature outside now dropped to -100 Celsius. Because only I was rugged, it was to risky for the rest to go outside. We decided to wait out the storm. In the meantime we could check the rest of the station. We went through the airlock to enter the Laboratory. The Laboratory was empty and nothing of value was left. When Shamus got cose to the airlock he suddenly fell ill. I did find a Modulate. When I approached it, it suddenly came alive. It contained some sort of hologram of a scientists called Timon Gehmet. He was trapped in this hologram, but told us some interesting things about the station.
” Salam, I do not know who you are or where you come from. It doesn’t matter. My name is Timon Gehmet. I’m a former scientist at Dhaab. Now I am trapped here.
Many cycles ago there was a group of scientists who had an idea, a vision, that all disease could be cured and that death was just like any other ailment. I was one of them. With the help of nanite technology and atomic craft, we could control the life system of people like it was any other machinery. It could be shut off, turned back on and repaired. But there is always a price. I’ve realized that now.
After a long fruitless search for a patron willing to sponsor the project, we received a letter that answered our prayers. It provided us with the chance to prove our theory and method, to turn it into a reality.”
t the station they worked for a man called Borna Jalet to create a medicine that could cure all diseases. But that wasn’t enough. He wanted to make something that made a person a invincible fighting machine, the perfect soldier. This led to the production of a serie of nanites. Timon Gehmet said that Shamus got sick because he was infected with these nanites. Probably it was a mild infection, with no consequences. Probably ….. what if Shamus turned into an invincible fighting machine…. I shook of these thoughts and listened futher to what Timon Gahmet was telling us. He was very eminent that these nanites should never leave this planet an should be destroyed.
I decided to search the laboratory some more. Maybe we could find out more about what happened here. I suddenly had the feeling that that I was being watched. As I turned around I saw two bended figures looking at me. When I tried to look at them closer they disappeared quickly.
We searched the system further and found that the nanites are practically indestructible. Timon put in a fail-safe. An injection that could kill the nanites. Looking through the files we also came across a photo of Borna Jaleb. Wtf…. we stared right into the face of …… Dr. Yussuf Farra.
”My answers are limited. To receive them you must ask the right questions.”
Timon Gehmet was a scientist who was suspended from the research team after he opposed the experiments and advocated for a shutdown of the trials. He was imprisoned at Dhaab 2 and not long after that the Red Hyenas captured the station.
After the Hyenas witnessed what had taken place on Dhaab 1 they feared what they might find on Dhaab 2. They decided never to set foot there. Timon was therefore forgotten in the security bunker. Without authorized access to a computer or the right access cards he was left to wither away in isolation.
During the last days of his life, he created a nanite modulate. This is Timon’s chance at redemption.
During our search Khadyr did find something. A modulate which contained a hologram of one of the scientists: Timon Gemet. He told us about the history of the laboratory. They worked for Borna Jalet to create medicine to cure diseases. The ultimate goal was to find a cure for all diseases. And here everything went wrong. Borna Jalet demanded more results and the project took more risks. This culminated in a set of nanites which would be injected in the body. The results were not positive and Timon told the results could not leave the planet.
He guided me to the project information and i started to download the files. To make sure we had everything we checked the files. Here we also found a photo of Borna. This was Jussuf…
Our massive heroes go back to the crawler to get some sleep and wait out the blizzard. Hoping and praying that when they wake up Shamus is still his old self.