Whether by accident or other means, you have found your people suddenly transported onto other worlds than those you know. It very quickly becomes apparent to all of you, that at least for the moment, the situation is completely irreversible. Very quickly, your people set to mapping out the boundaries of your new home, and stumble upon a curious set of objects, as well as a small cache of clay tablets that seem to correspond to those on the others...
The assembled council was staring stonily at the poor newly generated AI. Hovering at the back of the council room in Tamamo-no-Mae's castle were a number of data feeds direct from the Moon Cell's live observation of the planet.
Despite a number of them being rather technical and difficult to parse, even someone as lacking in knowledge as Kishinami Hakuno, the last Master of the Moon Cell and the holder of the Regalie, could tell that the feeds were not displaying anything belonging to Earth.
She would think it a bad joke, but the Moon Cell provably didn't have a personality, much less a sense of humour.
The moon wasn't hovering above the Earth anymore. It was hovering over some other, random, practically uninhabited planet.
...strictly speaking, that wasn't correct. The planet had a fair amount of extremely average flora and fauna. Inexplicably average, even. Utilizing the ability to scan every single atom of the planet at every nanosecond - or faster, Hakuno wasn't exactly sure how amazing the Moon Cell was on a technical level aside from "unbelievably so" - the AI had compiled a report explaining that, 1) the planet was definitely not Earth, and 2) the planet was actually extremely boring except for two features that had very little to do with the actual planet.
"...again?" was what Tamamo finally sighed, and which Hakuno couldn't help but echo.
First the tournament for the fate of Earth's future on the Near Side… intermixed with that entire thing on the Far Side which honestly nobody really wanted to think about too hard… and then the entire Regalia and Zero Dark mess…
Honestly three times was pushing it. Four times?
"I think the most infuriating part is that there isn't even an Earth to save," muttered Ishtar from where she was floating lazily next to Hakuno.
"So this gate… the hypothesis is that it links to other gates? I suppose similar in some sense to the Labyrinth gates. Or the Sakura Labyrinth…" Medusa muttered contemplatively. The name 'Sakura Labyrinth' drew some winces from Tamamo, Ishtar and Hakuno, but it might be an apt comparison.
"The scans also suggest enough available resources for one materialization in physical reality that will at least last… a good while. Enough for a great deal of exploration. But only enough for one Servant, most likely. On the whole, it seems likely that we will be cut off from many of the resources we are used to…" Tamamo sighed again as she looked at the data.
"Maybe someone should build up that facility…" Hakuno mused out loud as she glanced at one of the visual feeds. The Harway research facility had inexplicably showed up on the planet, and although historical data was deeply lacking compared to what the Moon Cell was used to, inference based on the surroundings suggested it was a rather new addition to the surface of the planet…
"...I… suppose... " Tamamo said reluctantly, likely sensing the way the wind was blowing.
"If Tamamo does that, she can do it supported by the Moon Cell, and we won't need to spend any of those materialization resources… meanwhile I could take Ishtar with me to look for more magical energy." Hakuno continued her musing.
Tamamo looked like she had bit into something indescribably bitter, while Ishtar looked vaguely pleased. Medusa, as always, didn't have much of an expression at all. Altera meanwhile just seemed unsure.
"Probably not a lot more we can get done from here at least." Ishtar said.
"Then, let's start by finding out what is actually going on this time…" Hakuno said.
On that note, the council turned towards practicalities. There were a great many things to consider for the coming days and weeks…
Actions
Major Action 1
Between the AIs, Tamamo, Medusa, the robotics facility and the Moon Cell knowing where everything is and being able to locally predict the future, setup the infrastructure to extract new resources to repair the facilities and produce more robots, and just in general expand the basic infrastructure such that it won't all fall apart in a year but instead can naturally grow and expand.
Major Action 2
Tamamo will investigate the state of magical energy in this new world, and if it exists in any appreciable amount, co-opt or create leylines on the current planet and feed them all into the most basic type of magical infrastructure - a place of power. Hopefully said place of power, if it can be created at all, can at least support one Servant nearby, reducing upkeep costs and overhead for Servants in physical reality, and maybe even leave some magical energy leftover to use in other magical infrastructure projects.
Exploration Action
Ishtar, Hakuno and whatever robots are free will start jumping through the Gate. The primary mission is finding and retrieving more high-density magical energy sources that can support Servants, though general looting things that might be valuable is also nice.
Espionage Action
With everyone busy, Altera stalks Medusa to investigate how cool adult women behave and learns absolutely nothing of value (probably).
Once again he found his consciousness limited to his artificial body, hunched over beside the control consoles within the cryo-storage bay, rendered immobile by the number of pipes and cables connecting his Dust reactor to the rest of the ship. It was a shame, as he had just been getting used to the feeling of the entire ship being his "body". He was carrying an oh-so-precious cargo. Zolya and her.....their people had seen and done enough terrible things on Auriga. They deserved some time to sleep...
Slowly he whirled his head around the bay, ancient motors squeaking and groaning under newfound pressures. What his photoreceptors couldn't see, his access to the ship computer banks could. All pods still operational and functioning correctly. No abnormalities in brainwave patterns among his occupants. Good.
The lapses in his memory was steadily worsening ever since the Argosy was knocked off-course so early in it's voyage. Whenever he had access to viewports, he could not identify any familiar constellations, nor matches to the salvaged starcharts. Had they drifted so far already? His mind was a whirling with activity, calculating possibilities, rationing ship power to the most essential systems, and solving the same mathematical equations again and again. It was another way to avoid the mind-numbing boredom and loneliness of the voyage.
He did not like how the percentile chances of their survival were drifting ever-lower with each passing day.
The Argosy suddenly lurched, as if struck by a powerful wave. Long-dormant emergency systems came alive to stabilize the ship's sudden change in velocity, while OPBOT wrestled with the ancient systems of the colony ship. He needed a visual and a damage report as quickly as possible!
'I was afraid of that.' He thought. A hull breach in one of the storage compartments. While not a particularly difficult problem to fix for a Vaulter, he sadly could not risk awakening just a couple of them at this stage. There was already a multitude of unforeseen problems with the thousand-year old vessel, and he was not about to risk them all for something like this...
Wait. Viewport #14 was detecting something.... Magnify. Increase target resolution.
Mezar-Class world. Large number of compatible biomes with Vaulter anatomy. No ecological difficulties. An Auriga, before she was left for dead by the Concrete and Virtual.
Did he take the chance now? Zolya had instructed him to take them to their new home. Could this planetoid be it? It would only take a short nanosecond for him to decide, but within the confines of his mind, it felt like an eternity.
The Argosy's ancient engines roared to life for the first time in centuries, and sped off on a trajectory towards the planet.
Actions
OPBOT lands the Argosy at a suitable location upon the planet's surface, and afterwards he shall begin to revive the Vaulters onboard. They in turn will organize themselves into two groups. One to repair any damage to the Argosy itself, while the other starts digging. A proper Hold must be established as quickly as possible, for the Vaulters' sanity if nothing else.
Once the Hold is established and all of the Clans have found themselves a place upon the new world, Zolya will want the Argosy hidden in the future, in case anyone attempted to follow them from Auriga, native or unknown. A underground bunker complex should be feasible with enough time.
Raudd Klapatch was once the premier ecologist and explorer of the Holds on Auriga, and Zolya is certain he will be equally enthusiastic with exploring this new world the Vaulters have found themselves upon. He shall take a team of likeminded explorers out past the initial landing site and begin searching the local area for resources, points of interest, and anything else important that he may come across.
[No Espionage Action made due to lack of targets.]
The somewhat boring name for the building belied its true nature as the second largest depository and higher learning institute within the Alliance. The 'Grey-White Tower' stood near the centre of the city, twelve stories high, the building always shimmering slightly from the sheer amount of wards and other magic present, intricate runic script and conjured lights floated up and down its walls. Besides such things however, the tower was mostly unadorned, only a few flags of the Alliance and Theramore fluttering in the wind.
Redia Vaunt took a moment to pause and simply observe the building, Theramore's Chief Warlock admiring the myriad of patterns. Deadly to anyone stupid enough to try to touch them, but beautiful to look at.
She allowed herself a moment of indulgence, smiling slightly at such sentiment in her age.
There was a small barracks to the left of the tower itself, and she greeted the members of the Royal Guard stationed outside, knowing most of them for their entire service. A few, mostly sarcasm filled comments were exchanged, the guards fishing for gossip from one of the heads of Theramore's intelligence and she delighted in telling them nothing of importance. It was a common enough ritual, and there was something pleasant in the simplicity of it all. Still, it had to end, and she continued past them to the tower itself.
She stepped inside, the wards and various monitoring stations observing her through all sorts of magical and technological means as she crossed the threshold. She could have simply teleported to the rooms above, she had the access to bypass most of the wards, but then she would not have an excuse to go through the lobby.
The place was a personal project of her Queen, the room far bigger on the inside than the outside, served as the greatest library on Azeroth. Everywhere one gazed, shelves upon shelves of texts were packed into this place that could change shape as needed to fit more in. It was also packed with people, students and citizens were able to use the library without cost and many came to spend their time here getting lost in the writings on the wall.
Despite the hundreds of people, she heard little noise, most either silencing themselves with a cantrip or with the provided means to doing so, and the Gnomish bots that floated around to keep things tidy only made minute amounts of sound just to let you not be startled by them.
It was things like this that reminded her why something like the Legion would lose in the end, no matter the tricks it might pull, for it could never build anything its like.
She made her way up the elevators, briefly passing by Thomas, the head of the guard, who was as relaxed as he always was, though she could tell something was on his mind, probably Lady Nightforest, her counterpart in intelligence.
She stepped up to her Queen's Private office, knocking on the door. Despite no sign of it being present, she knew the occupant would be exasperated by the action, since she knew everything going on inside the building.
"Come in Redia." The voice of Jaina Proudmoore came over to her, a slight hint of amusement and exasperation present in the tone.
She stepped in through the doorway, into the organised chaos that was the Guardian of Azeroth's study. More bookshelves sat around a mostly unused chair, much to the frustration of the woman in front of her. In one corner, several powerful artefacts that some would sacrifice their soul for sat seemingly unattended. Indeed, someone had sacrificed their soul to try to get one, but failed regardless.
Art and portraits lined the walls, most of it made by her apprentice, and a number of Gnomish inventions were scattered throughout the room.
Jaina Proudmoore I, Queen of Theramore, Princess of Quel'Thalas, Guardian of Azeroth and many other titles stood in front of her desk, an unassuming looking cube casually floating above her left hand, and Redia nearly skipped a step noting that it was a simulacrum cube being put together.
The small smile on Jaina's features told Redia that she saw that. Her Queen looked much as she did back when she first met the young mage leading a desperate refugee fleet west, the magic of her station keeping her forever around her mid twenties. Back then she was impressed by the young mage, enough to reveal herself and share what little she knew of the invasion. Surprisingly she hadn't been killed then.
If she'd been impressed all those years ago, the respect for her monarch had only grown over the years, as she struggled against the world without losing her convictions. It was...an experience that she would forever be glad for.
Redia bowed deeply. "Your Majesty, I, your humble servant, thank you for this opportunity to meet now, in your busy schedule." Redia spoke, keeping her voice level.
Despite her eyes staring down, she could feel the exasperation rise from the figure ahead of her.
"Maybe I should just leave you in that pose Lady Vaunt." Jaina replied, sarcasm tinting her voice.
"If you feel this insignificant and unimportant person should do so to please you my lady then I will of course do so." Redia replied with utmost conviction, somehow not laughing throughout the process.
The woman in front of her sighed. "Very well Lady Vaunt, please raise your head, I cannot make you stand like that all day."
Jaina Proudmoore rolled her eyes at the Warlock, who replied with a smile, unceremoniously plopping down into a chair before the desk.
"Really Jaina, your distaste for such things fills me with amusement." Redia said, in a much more casual tone.
"Not that I see much of that in the country, most people know I have an aversion to it. Silvermoon can still be tiring at times with some of the old guard." She paused for a moment, leaning back onto her desk, the cube still floating in place, spinning lazily.
"So, what should I be worrying about now? Nobody has summoned another Old One again, right?" Jaina said, only half joking.
Redia shook her head. "It's something we've been examining, and the implications are...worrying. I'd managed to ask the Princess and Kael for assistance, and they both agree with my conclusion, difficult though it is."
She shivered slightly, both out of being glad and terrified of what she would say next. "The Twisted Nether...it's gone. Not obscured, not barred to us somehow, it simply doesn't exist. It feels as though it had -never- existed, which is impossible but…" Redia trailed off, as her Queen stared at her in surprise.
"Have you talked to anyone else about this?" Jaina asked after a moment's pause.
"Yes. The data we gathered from the Pillar supports this. Additionally, the Priests might come about something similar."
Jaina went pale. An expression that was incredibly disturbing to see on the most powerful caster on Azeroth. "The Light is gone?"
Redia quickly shook her head. "No, well, not exactly. The priests seem to report that the Light...transitioned along with us, and is now spreading out throughout the new space we have found ourselves in, and that we are the epicentre of it."
The Queen pondered on this for a moment, calming as she took that in, lifting up her free hand, which glowed softly. "I see what they mean." She muttered, more to herself.
"Are you alright Redia?" She asks, her head tilting slightly.
Most people would hear a sarcastic response, even the woman before her, but now was not the time.
"Mostly. My personal reserves of power are intact, and as best I can tell regenerating normally. But the inability to summon further or observe the Legion movements...and the wider implications of this are unnerving."
Most Warlocks would never admit to a weakness. Most Warlocks were idiots who got what they deserved by making stupid choices.
Jaina nodded.
"That is somewhat matching up with what Anveena told me about her connection to the Sunwell. I felt it, but not on her level." The Queen admitted, focusing on something for a moment, before looking back at her.
"I know it was a short meeting but Sandi needs me for something. If there is nothing else?" Jaina asked, offering a silent apology.
Redia shook her head. "You're busy, this is worrying but nothing we can react to at present." She began.
"Have fun with Sandi explaining more about economics, I think she's taken to injecting coffee into her blood directly now." Redia finished with a slight smirk, trying to get herself and Jaina back onto more positive topics.
"My economic minister is not so bad, she's just...excitable." Jaina had to think on the term to use.
Redia raised an eyebrow, but Jaina was not falling for it. With a final nod, she teleported away, and if she hadn't been observing she would have never been able to tell a teleportation had occurred.
888
Theramore Actions:
1: Re establish wards if any failed, reconnect any infrastructure etc. Connect national laylines to local planets to give the Spring some extra power. Go over data gathered from scans of this event, particularly from the Pillar, and see why nothing seemed to react to this event.
TL;DR. Basically, fix up anything that might have been damaged by the transition, make sure elementals etc are fine, etc etc.
2: Begin switch-over to civilian economy now that we've seemingly been forced out of the war, though keep a fair bit of production ready just in case.
Exploration:
One of the space ships will investigate nearby star systems with all appropriate caution.
Main:
General behaviour: Be cautious, but if encountering friendly sapients, approach and say hello (though initial scouts are exempt from this on best judgement).
Theramore will plan to explore eight worlds this turn.
Standard Approach to Exploration:
-Send through a dozen modified arcano-dragon bots, obscured by magic to map out the initial area around the gate. They can see/hear/talk, as well as see magic/energy fields and possess night vision as well as the ability to sense air composition. No real defences, besides obscuring magic and being mostly made out of metals.
-A team of Alliance Intelligence operatives, predominantly Night Elves, but others too, will scout out wider areas, or identified points of interest. Call it 5 groups of 3 per planet.
-If nothing of interest is discovered in the first month, send through some helicopters and planes, and establish a small base to map out a planet further.
-What follows are some examples.
Ruins of any sorts:
-If encountering ruins/abandoned stuff etc, archeology is to be performed. Whilst we don't have Brann Bronzebeard nor Harrison Jones, Theramore has a decent archeological staff regardless.
-If we find corpses etc, say from a battle or simply laying around, bury them properly with all requisite traditions (After of course purifying them with the light to prevent undeath).
Non (seemingly) hostile natives:
-Approach openly with a minimally armed force (call it 8 ppl), but said force is to be full of strong mages who can teleport on their own without assistance, go invisible etc.
-Translation magic is a thing so communication shouldn't be an issue.
-As Theramore is home to around 14 sapient races, and knows of a number more, it has a fair bit of experiences dealing with varied cultures.
-Try to gather intel/share some knowledge of themselves.
-Offer medical, humanitarian etc aid fairly freely, and see about establishing relations.
Coming upon a battle:
-Take no sides, except when one side is clearly doing evil shit.
-Observe if safe, withdraw whenever possible.
Hostile Civ:
-If yet undiscovered, gather intel and withdraw as practical.
-If discovered, make all attempts at disengaging. (Invisibility belts, slow fall pots to jump off mountains, water walking pots to get across rivers, magic in general, etc).
-Fighting generally last resort.
Rapid Response Force:
-Given the unknown nature of things, the 7th Legion alongside the specialist units like the teleport shock troops will be on standby near the gate. When nothing is going on, they will help build a transport hub/defences at the gate itself, alongside throwing up tons of wards.
-Jaina herself will also be available as needed.
-Anveena would love to help explore, but for the next few months she has to monitor/help fix ley lines and her Spring self.
Other Stuff:
-In general, people are to use best judgement as to what to do in all situations.
It was an odd sensation for Mr House to be truly stumped by something, he had run countless simulations to predict the most likely responses from the NCR, Fractured remnants of the Legion and the dozens of other potential issues that the Wasteland could potentially throw at his fledgling nation. Under the previous projections his efforts to take humanity to the stars were on track to bear fruit within the next 50 or so years depending on various factors.
Now things were quite different, while the seeming displacement of the Mojave Wasteland from it's previous location to what his scouts could best describe as a barren irradiated expanse that didn't even have the natural resources or wildlife found in the nuclear blasted remains of America, although he predicted that it was just a matter of time before the wildlife of the Mojave corrected the latter issue, and the initial panic had been an issue he'd had to expend resources to quell. There had been a discovery that accelerated Mr House's plans by several decades.
By chance his Wildcard had found something, a ruined altar with a strand metal ring of unidentifiable make and material. Naturally Mr House had the device, along with the Altar it sat upon, studied and by chance, once again thanks to his Wildcard acting on a hunch, managed to activate the device. It was quite the wondrous machine, appearing to be able to create a stable wormhole between itself and a counterpart, neatly solving the issue with extra-terrestrial travel time limiting centralized control of a multi-planet nation that Mr House has been trying to concoct a solution to before this point.
It was an opportunity too good to pass up, even if Mr House was not foolish enough to believe that there would be nothing sentient on the other side, after all someone had to build it in the first place. Although statistically taking into account the ruined nature of the Altar and the state of the planet the Mojave now found itself in there were decent odds that the original creators had managed to destroy themselves somehow. But he was nothing if not careful.
So the device was moved under heavy escort, only a few Death Claws required getting put down by his Securitrons on the journey, to the temporary research facility in the refurbished Vault 3. Mr House had been trying to find a use for the place and a temporary storage/research facility seemed the best option until construction on a proper one could be complete.
Now it was just a matter of see what cards were drawn next and how much The House can use the hand he had.
Action:
Major Action 1 (Full House): According to House's predictions, if the usage of the Gate pans out, then New Vegas is expecting rapid expansion as they utilize the resources from the other side. As such additional security would be required, specifically additional Securitrons. While at the moment his current Securitron Army is more than adequate their numbers are still limited and at the moment he lacked a means to produce more.
As such Mr House will be correcting that weakness. Several facilities will be constructed all around Vegas, each handling some of the manufacturing process for the Securitron from the hardware to the weapons and the armored body. All these parts will be assembled at a final facility which will be fully automated and closely monitored/heavily guarded to make sure no one tries to steal the secrets to his Securitron Army.
Major Action 2 (Farm Hand): With the sudden relocation of the Mojave Wasteland there is a new problem for Mr House, namely food. While many of the smaller communities have the means to supply themselves the same could not be said for Vegas itself. While they had food stored that could last them for a time it won't do for Mr House's people to starve. As such he is implementing a large scale agricultural development program to rapidly and efficiently expand the agricultural production of the Mojave Wasteland, mainly through providing financial benefits, assistance in constructing the needed infrastructure and introduction of technologies that should hopefully improve efficiency considerably without harming overall sustainability.
Exploration Action (Eyes of the House): To begin the initial phases of the exploration of the other side of the Gate, at least for the initial coordinates as it is clear that there is more than one potential destination, Mr House has deemed that an unmanned scouting mission is necessary. Utilizing a couple dozen Eye Bots equipped with Robtech Stealth Boys, the initial mission will be to send the Eye bots through the gate with orders to scout and map as much of the surrounding area as possible while avoiding being noticed by utilizing the stealth boys.
After a predetermined amount of time all Eye Bots are to return to the Gate at which time it will be opened from our side and they will come through to report their findings. In the event that sentient life is discovered their orders are to remain hidden and observe/record as much as possible before returning.
Ravnica had stood for millennia as a beacon of stability and prosperity. During that time countless challenged had tried and failed to ruin everything. Whether it be Gods long thought dead, a renegade Guildmaster seeking to enforce his vision of biological perfection on all or even another Guildmaster succeeding in turning the Guildpact against itself Ravnica had stood tall against them all. She had faced each challenge head on and emerged stronger than ever before. Its citizens had grown proud and arrogant believing that nothing could threaten their beloved city. It took the God-Pharaoh less than one day to shatter those delusions.
Though he was ultimately repealed the cost was nearly unbearable. The Tenth District - the heart of the City - laid in ruins. Millions lay dead, butchered by the Dreadhorde. The Guilds, initially divided, came together as one with all their might and came short. Desperate for help the Guildmasters lit an interplanar beacon and called for help from whoever would answer. Hundreds of Planeswalkers would arrive only to be butchered and have their powers stolen by the God-Pharaoh. In the end the City would emerge victorious but only after the God-Pharaoh was betrayed by his own generals and brought low by his own sorcery.
Six days and seven nights have passed since that fateful moment and the citizens of Ravnica have begun laying the dead to rest and rebuilding their homes. The Guildmasters - both new and old - have gathered at the behest of the new Living Guildpact. As plans for the future are drawn out an ancient monument is discovered by curious souls. And so the City of Guilds is enveloped by the Second Great Change.
---
The first sign that something was wrong came when all the stars in the sky were. Then reports came of the strange portal engraved in symbols that bore an eerie resemblance to those found in Amonkhet, the seat of the God-Pharaoh's power. After examining it Ral Zarek the newly inaugurated leader of the Izzet and former agent of Bolas volunteered to travel to that Plane in search of answers. That was when they got their most worrying sign yet.
"You can't reach reach the multiverse? Are you telling me Bolas had a copy of the Immortal Sun stashed away?" confusion was clear in Niv-Mizzets face, a rare sight since the golden scaled dragon was not only wise but also incredibly protective of his image.
"No I'm saying that the rest of the multiverse is gone" distress becoming more and more apparent in Ral's voice as he spoke. "When the Immortal Sun is active I can still sense and try to go to other Planes, the Sun just puts up a barrier preventing me from going to them. Now when I try to planeswalk I can't feel anything at all. Both Vraska and Kaya have reported similar things."
There was a brief silence before the dragon responded. "As I recall the original reason for our isolation from the rest of the multiverse stemmed from the use of an ancient and powerful artifact on Bolas's home Plane. It would seem likely then that this is some sort of scheme conducted by him." The dragon went silent for a moment before continuing "Whatever the truth of the matter we can not afford to be reckless here." Before he could continue Ral stepped up.
"I agree boss and have already instructed the rest of the League on what procedures to follow. Only the most skilled of the Izmagni are allowed near the thing and they are only allowed to prod it with their own Weirds. I've also spoken with both Aurelia and Vannifar and they have both agreed to station their most elite forces in the area. If anything hostile should dare emerge from the portal it will be blasted into pieces before it even has time to think."
"Very good. Proceed like that until you receive further instruction" the voice of the Living Guildpact contained just the barest hint of resentment. "Focus on understanding what that artifact is and how it works. Any more experiments will have to wait until we are further along in the rebuilding process."
Ral was already leaving as he spoke his final words. "Of course Boss. Will report if we discover anything more."
*After the Concordat abbreviated Z.C
Status
Reconstruction Efforts: Barely Started
Military Forces: Depleted
Population: 21.4 million
The Guilds are United
The Guildless are Content
The majority of the population is currently Guildless
Currently no guild is dominant over the others
Actions
While much of the damage inflicted on the other districts can be easily repaired given enough time the Guildmasters have been forced to admit that the Tenth District, the very heart of Ravnica, is beyond saving. Far too much of it has been ruined for a restoration to be ever worth it. All the rubble will have to be cleared out and any structures that remain standing will have to be dismantled before a full scale rebuild can begin. The Cult of Rakdos and the Golgari Swarm, the largest sources of living and dead manpower respectively, will be tasked with the brunt of the work. The Izzet League shall dispatch some of their engineers to ensure that all demolitions are conducted as effectively as possible while the soldier-priests of the Boros Legion will conduct one last sweep for survivors alongside the physicians of the Simic Combine.
While the clearing of the Tenth District is taking place Niv-Mizzet and the top engineers of his former Guild will draw up the plans for its replacement. The new heart of Ravnica shall be a wonder of modernity taking advantage of all innovations made in the millenia since the the original was first built. A new steam vent system shall provide a much more efficient power distribution, a new road network should speed up travel significantly and the new Guild headquarters will be designed to survive another war should one arrive. Finally at the center of the district a monument shall be raised to all those who lost their lives in the war when the God Pharaoh attacked. As a bonus this time the Izzet, as a show of good faith, won't even design the city to be a secret signet that would link up with the leylines and give them ultimate power over the Plane. The fact that disruptions to the leylines means any such scheme would be impossible to reenact in the modern day is best left unsaid...
The Amonkhet artifact uncovered in the ruins of the Tenth District is our best bet for being the source of whatever weird anomaly has affected our beloved city. Yet we can't afford to be reckless with it. The last time an artifact from a different Plane affected Ravnica it resulted in us spending several millennia without access to a proper afterlife. All access to the artifact should be restricted to only our most skilled mages and none of them would be allowed to interact with it directly. Instead remotely controlled Izzet Weirds and Simic Krais will be used to prod the portal while we figure out exactly how it works. For once those Guilds will have to throw aside their usual daredevil mindsets and prioritize safety.
For a so called metropolis, Zheng 8 sat in almost total darkness. Its population too few to sustain to kind of light pollution that characterized the cities of Earth, Mars or even the more crowded settlements of the Belt at nightime. If someone was to wake to go get an glass of water and happened to look outside their windows, the only lights one could reasonably see would be the rays of New Sol, reflected from the twins moons. The less said about the night life the better really.
Only a few escaped the pull of Morpheus at times like this on Inanna. Sitting in front of his dinner table the Eshan Jackson, former Colonel of the Inannan Republic Fleet was one of them. The data pad in his eyes project a pale blue lighting into his face as he stared at its contents.
It was a high priority message sent directly to him. All it said was one thing. Reactivation
It was just a single word, not enough evidence for anything. But Eshan knew. He knew what it meant. He had always known that this day would come, and what it meant for him, for his planet, his home and his family.
Suddenly something flipped on the lights and banished the darkness.
"Grandpa have you been awake all night?"
Eshan looked up at his grand-daughter, seeing the concerns in her eyes. He smiled. "Don't worry. I have been through worse" will be doing through worse.
----------------------------------------------
The metros of Inanna were really a marvel. A network that connected to every section of the city, allowing for anyone to quickly traverse its lengths at ease. It was also overbuild, overstretched and a waste of money and maintenance. Too much on Inanna and Zheng 8 was like that. Building up as if they were a nation of billions. Reaching for the sun like Icarus.
And today he was headed towards the most overwrought monument to the Republic's glory there was. The Administrative Palace. Its Marble white steel walls seemingly glowing under the light of the sun.
Its hallways were covered with murals engraved with the mythological past they had inspired to. Mesopotamia. Cradle of the human race. Leading all up to the days everything changed due to the molecules. As he sat in the conference room, he couldn't help but think. How strange to think how much things had changed in just a few sort decade.
He was broken out of his reverie when a woman walked into the room with her entourage. Immediately he sprang up from the chair and saluted.
"Madame President Eun-ji. Colonel Eshan reporting for duty mam!''
The president stopped in her tracks, and shaked her head at him. "Oh come on now old friend. There is no need for formality between us. Sit, sit, we have much to discuss." She motioned to him as she smiled at him.
He did so of course, and readied himself on last time as he straightens his clothes. He really need to get new uniforms.
"Now first of all, Colonel Jackson. Do you know what you were called here for?"
"Madam, I can only imagine one thing and one thing only that would require my specific involvement." He could still remember the day it happened. The shock, hope and fear that traveled through his body and those of his crew. "The Ring-Gate."
"Indeed. Doctor Chabra and his team have finally found out how to make it work. And we can say for sure that its not the same as ones made by the Protomolecule. It does not lead to the Slow Zone, it does not lead to Medina Station, nor to the rest of the human race."
Eshan balled up his fist. Damn it. Their hopes were crushed one again.
"However, it does lead to other planets. So it is something."
He released a sigh. "Its better than what we used to have."
The president nodded her head. "Indeed. So we have a lot of work to do General Eshan."
Actions
Major Action 1
Madam President Kim alongside her staff, and Doctor Chabra shall fully disclose the existence of the Ring-Gate to the public. This Gate does not lead to the rest of humanity. But it is nevertheless a device that can travel through interstellar space. Hope still exist, they just have to search for it. PR Blitz for the program and its leader, General Eshan, the Hero of Inanna.
Major Action 2
The Military under Admiral Hei and General Eshan will expand any and all resources possible in the construction of a holding site/base for the Ring Gate. Part maximum security research site, part military base par excellence.
Exploration Action
Exploration teams shall be sent in small groups with drone and scientific support. Every member of the team shall be equipped with survival suits with oxygen tanks, resistance to temperature changes and body monitors. Strike teams of Immortals shall be put on standby in case the teams calls for help.
Goal: Search for traces, any traces of human communities, and re-establish contact with the rest of the human race.
500km South of Tri-City
Altitude: 3,000m
<<We should be approaching the Carpathians.>>
<<Then they look a bit taller than I remember.>>
Cyngiel made no response. He had nothing relevant to say and just continued looking at the data from the recon pods mounted under the wings of his Su-27. The flight had been making their way over the open, forested landscape, watching as it turned into a hillside, rising towards a mountainous massif.
<<Those look like the damn Himalayas! Czarodziej, climb to ten thousand, we'll make an overflight.>>
Dutifully, Cyngiel pulled back on the stick, pulling the fighter's nose up into a shallow climb. There wouldn't be much else to do other than these survey flights, he figured. It would be best to enjoy them while they lasted.
Hel Peninsula
Temporary Gate Facility
"Heeey, P, look who's back! Haven't seen you in a while, eh! You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Sarah Parker's spoon clattered to the table and she was somewhat glad no-one had joined her at the cafeteria table yet, because she didn't want people to see her try to perform an exorcism. Or try to stab a ghost with a spoon.
In the end, she did neither, choosing to instead stare at the familiar face. She was older, sure, but her features and the hairstyle hadn't changed much. Neither had the axe-murderer smile, so all in all, she had an easy time recognizing Melinda McKay, even after ten years.
"What the fuck. Melinda?"
The smile faded from Melinda's face, turning to a look of consternation. "I was expecting a warmer welcome."
"W- You were gone for ten years! I thought you were dead! Why didn't you call me!"
Melinda shrugged and pulled back one of the chairs.
"Well, I was kinda busy the first few weeks, then I wanted to call but I realized it was a few weeks and it felt awkward, so I put that off and then it got more awkward and well, you know how it is?" At some point she began nibbling at a chocolate bar. "Anyway, signed up with Phoenix, got assigned here and hey, then I noticed that there was a Lieutenant Sarah Parker in the PRT, asked around and hey thought I'd say hello after that whole thing with the gate, and yeah, you look great! How you've been?"
'You're not your mother' Sarah repeated after her therapist 'You're your own person. You don't have to shout at everyone all the time' and took a deep, calming breath.
"Went to uni, made mom mad because I went for robotics, got my face lasered, joined Phoenix, made mom even more mad, got nanomachine treatments so I'm not on pills, they put me in charge of some robots… that sort of thing." she said, then pointed a finger at Melinda "And where have you been?"
"Hum. Places?"
"Places." Sarah echoed.
"Mhmm, yep. So… did you, you know..." Melinda made a scissor motion with her fingers "...snip?"
The spoon hit her square on the nose.
Tank Nr. 102
Gate Operations Staging
"...and we're getting telemetry from Fairy Eye!" Paulina reported from the gunner's seat "We're green across the board, Karina!"
"Sweet!" Karina clapped her on the shoulder and stood up in the hatch. "Doctor, Sergeant, we're good to go here."
Sitting atop the turret, Sergeant Ilya Zamienietsky gave her a smile and a sloppy salute. "Glad to hear that, Ensign. Doctor, are you getting the datalink?"
"Checking, checking..." Renata Marchetti tapped away at her tablet as she paced the engine deck. "And… yes, I'm getting data from both the M9's and your Fairy Eyes. Excellent!"
Karina glanced at the large, cylindrical device mounted to the turret. There were warning signs. "This thing isn't radioactive or anything, right?"
"Hm? Not as far as I'm aware, unless there's anything else Phoenix was hiding from us…?"
The doctor cast a cold stare at Ilya, who just shrugged. "I wouldn't know, doc. But Phoenix is quite safety minded and we've fielded these sensors for… fifteen years now? I'm sure they're safe. Anything else you wanted to do here, doc?"
Renata shook her head. "No, I just wanted to ensure the Fairy Eye works properly. It'll be interesting to see these in action… Well, I have some other things to take care of. See you later." and with that, she leapt off of the engine deck and disappeared in the direction of the research team and their vehicle. Karina's eyes followed her for a moment, before she cast a wider glance at the staging area - it wasn't much more than an air-tight warehouse fitted with an airlock, large enough to fit in an expedition as it deployed. It was filled to the brim with personnel, robotics and vehicles as they prepared to cross the ring dominating one end of the area in just a few minutes.
"You got the link with ADA set up?" Ilya asked, startling her slightly.
"Huh? Oh yeah, your lieutenant helped me get her set up on our network." The Adaptive Dataspace Administrator was the AI managing Sarah Parker's slice of Phoenix's battle net - a slice that Karina's tank and their accompanying infantry were now a part of. It was strange to be under foreign command all of a sudden, but…
...just one glance at the gate reminded her that it was by far the least strange thing she was having to deal with.
"Great stuff! Guess that's our pre-flight done. See you on the other side, Ensign!"
And with that, he slid off the turret. Karina dived into the hatch and closed it above her, sealing them in from the rest of the world.
"'See you on the other side'? Fuck, that's a super great choice of words, Sergeant Hottie."
Karina peered down into the depths of the hull, where she could just see Katarzyna sitting in the driver's seat.
"'Sergeant Hottie'? Really?"
"Hell yeah, boss. Have you seen those abs? Hngh. Gonna tap that… if the wormhole doesn't eat us, I mean."
This time, it was Paulina's turn to pat her on the shoulder. Karina sighed and leaned back in her seat, adjusting the new uniform - it was one of the armored suits that Mithril used for their troops, a vast upgrade over their regular suits in terms of… everything. Even the environmental seals could be put on quickly, which sounded really nice for a trip on an alien world.
<<This is an ADA system announcement. All teams report readiness. Mission countdown has begun.>>
The ADA screen they installed yesterday started displaying the countdown. Thirty seconds. Karina raised her seat a little and her eyes to the front vision port - the robot arm installed over the pedestal struck the symbols in sequence, then touched the large, central orb and the gate came to life. The inner ring spun until it lined up the first symbol with the top chevron, which lit up and moved with a loud clank. The second chevron lit up with an orange light, and the sequence continued, symbols lining up and chevrons lighting up, until…
The gate seemed to erupt with a fountain of water foam, leaving behind an almost water-like surface within the confines of the ring. Almost water like. There was something extremely off about it - after all, it wasn't actually water.
Her radio crackled, and Sarah Parker's voice came through.
<<Scarlet, Ishtar One-One. Want to do the honours, or shall I?>>
Karina stared at the alien ring. "...mały krok dla człowieka, wielki skok dla ludzkości…" she pressed the mic at her throat. "I figure we've got the most armor here. Ishtar One-One, Scarlet is moving forward."
<<Roger. See you on the other side.>>
Karina laughed. "Great word choice. Scarlet out."
She muted her mic. The engine was already running, the all-electric power pack needing no time to start up. They were ready.
"Driver, advance!"
The tank motioned forward, towards the gate.
Actions Major:
-Establish a launch facility near the planet's equator using TDD-2 as a transport, and investigate the use of the 500mm railgun mounted on the ship for satellite launches.
-Equipment used for maintaining and fabricating spare parts for the Garuda's Lambda Driver is transferred to the Tri-City and data on the false axis repulsive field is transferred to the scientific community.
Exploration:
-Enter the Gate and explore as many worlds as reasonably possible Mission Plan:
-First stage
Conduct drone reconnaissance of the immediate gate area to ensure the immediate safety of the recon team. Drone reconnaissance continues throughout the later stages of the operation.
-Second stage
Deploy a StarGate Team (SGT) to conduct initial sampling of local atmosphere, geology, flora, fauna, investigate areas of interest and establish a base camp. An SGT consists of a PRT robotics team, a single M9G3 detached from the SRT, a T-55AM Merida with an accompanying squad of infantry and a small scientific team (4-5), as well as BTR-94 transports. There will be only nine SGTs deployed at any one time to keep at least a single SRT squad at full strength.
-Third stage
If no outstanding hazards are found and the planet is considered of interest, a permanent base camp will be deployed around the gate by the Siły Obronne, tasked with maintaining the drone fleet mapping the planet and supporting research teams. In the first three months, all planets will likely be considered to be "of interest"
Administrator: All primary Tower systems are functioning. Damage control is currently addressing the problems created by the instability of the shift.
Wing1Rep: Right, so just to clarify, we're no longer in any danger of the Tower being sheared in two from the stress of being teleported through a wormhole, and we are definitely in stable enough condition to not have to worry about the Wings dropping?
Administrator: That is, in fact, what I just said.
Wing2Rep: Seria, relax a little. If that initial wave of bullshit didn't knock our Tower over, some aftershocks won't either.
Wing1Rep: Wilfred, we haven't even finished the geological surveys. For all we know, this planet could have the kind of tectonic activity that would render the Tower unstable in months!
Wing3Rep: Calm down you two. Yeah, there's some risk, but honestly speaking, the worst is over. Even in the event of some kind of catastrophic disaster, we'll be able to actually evacuate. There's no Sea of Death, and even if something were to happen that would make the world itself a hazard, we have that artifact. Speaking of which, Elena? What's the latest report on that?
Administrator: Pulling up the latest reports now, Representative Elduke. Currently, the device has been relocated to a secure lab for further study. Initial research into the material it is made out provide comparisons to various grathnode alloys used in experimental versions of the wormhole device that transported us here, we can safely confirm it is not a material conducive or reactive to symphonic energy. Based on our studies, as well as the recovered artifacts from the local area, we believe it to be a small-scale wormhole generator. Unlike the wormhole device we used to move the Tower of Sol Ciel, this does not generate a 'warp-sphere' around the target area, but instead creates a smaller one. Combined with the available information, it would seem that instead of simple 'randomly hoping for the best' and consistently having to adjust or reset, there are instead a set number of destinations pre-programmed into the device.
Wing2Rep: And those tablets are an address list? Instructions?
Administrator: Correct.
Wing1Rep: ... Why were they on baked tablets then?
Administrator: Unknown, but given the relevant age of the device, it may have been a consideration of weathering. Normal papers and scrolls would have likely been damaged in some way, while information stored electronically would likely have degraded without any form of maintenance, not to consider the problems of accessibility.
Wing3Rep: That's interesting, but that assumes the ones who left them behind would have intended anyone to be able to easily follow them. And any civilization capable of making one of these gates could probably have managed a more elegant and lasting solution than clay tablets.
Administrator: A second theory is that the tablets and gate are the products of two different civilizations. One merely making use of another's tools.
Wing1Rep: That makes a lot more sense.
Wing3Rep: That's honestly just as worrying in a different way, and brings up a second concern of mine. Are we able to do anything to stop unwanted users who want to come to our gate?
Wing2Rep: That's a bit harsh sounding there, Galena. I mean, it's not necessarily our planet. What if they're coming back home or something?
Wing1Rep: Wilfred, they left behind clay tablets, and we can't find anything else so far. For all we know, they already evacuated. Or if they came back, they could be bearing a plague, or some kind of invasive insect. This thing's already been moved to the Tower, and I don't like that we're using it up here at all. What if it interacts oddly with our own wormhole device?
Wing3Rep: Yeah, about that....
Administrator: That is not a concern. The wormhole device used to transport the Tower has been disabled.
Wing3Rep: That's one way of putting it...
Wing1Rep: What does 'disabled' mean?
Wing3Rep: The internals melted into a slurry of overheated components soon after arrival.
Wing1Rep: ...
Wing2Rep: Whelp. We weren't capable of going back without a second Tower anyway, but... yeah. Huh.
Administrator: Although a handful of the exotic elements involved the creation of the wormhole device cannot currently be synthesized or manufactured in the Tower, we can acquire new materials to create a new device, and have the blueprints available. In the mean time, I would suggest focusing on more practical matters...
MAJOR ACTION 1
While the immediate area around the Tower has been confirmed to stable enough to support it, conducting large-scale reconnaissance of the planet as a whole would likely be very beneficial. Geological surveys could be used to locate additional raw materials, possible civilizations identified, and a map of the planet (temporary designation: Ar Ciel-2) would be much appreciated. Addressing concerns about the planet's stability would also be, as Representative Wilfred Bartel would put it, 'a good thing'.
MAJOR ACTION 2
Per the request of Representative Seria Lumei, the Gate is to be placed into a secure facility created on the planet's surface to better enable the quarantine of any potential invasive diseases or creatures. Per the request of Representative Galena Elduke, this will also be a military facility specially armed to contain any potential invaders, while also supporting the potential movement of military forces through the Gate itself, as well as drone launch and recovery operations. The facility will be inside of the Tower's operational range, supporting both the use of Song Magic during it's construction, as well to help support it's own defenses.
Exploratory Action
Volunteers are currently being sought out and trained for a possible exploratory program, but in the mean time aerial reconnaissance drones are being launched through the gate. While there is a vested interest in locating other civilizations, more focus is being placed on locating either a suitable 'resource' world for the extraction of materials. However, the primary goal at this time is to locate safe worlds to begin construction of an 'evacuation point', in the event that instabilities are discovered on Ar Ciel-2.
Flickering lights, darkness, flickering lights. Those gnomes had seen the legion, those gnomes had to be operators and planers of that costly war for years. Although just for seconds, it was one of the most terrifying moments those Gnomes in the command center had seen in years. And quickly following, the command center bursted in activity. The screen erupting in new data, error data, communication requests came from all over the three republics. Some gnomes even ran around in chaos, waving their hands meanwhile like everything went out of control.
And in this mess was the old Commander Manabar, grabbing one of those Gnomes before tlking in his high voice "Get a hold of yourself! This is not the time to goof around! Back to your post!"
The Gnome nodded, before escaping the commanders grasp and getting back to where he came. "Everyone! Back to position! And tell me what happened! We had no power shortage since the Reclamation." Commander Manabar walked along the lines of computer desks, before climbing up the stairs into his commanding chair.
"We left Azeroth! Spinning Gyroscops, we actually left Azeroth!" one Gnome freaked out, leading some of the others to quickly rise up from their chair and again running around like crazy chickens.
"Stop that! What do you mean we left Azeroth?!"
"Well-well-well, we had to switch to emergency generator systems, because we disconnected from the ley lines. And as soon as the were back online and reconnected to the Uldum System we got completely new map data, from places we have never seen and-"
"There are several emergency calls Commander, the City leaderships are in turmoil. Toshleygan reports to be stranded in an uncharted territory. Several expeditions are lost and there is no signal from the rest of the alliance leadership so far."
Commander Manabar pressed a button at the armrest of his chair and soon followed a blue hologram hovers infront of it, a blue but detailed silhouette of Mindy Copperwheel.
"Hello Commander, the High Tinker is currently in a conference with the Three City Councils. Shall I dial you into it?"
"Yes Mindy, yes please."
___________________
Six months later…
Howling wind. The clanking sound of tools working on metal.
A finer Clack. And once the snapping sound passed, a flame came out of Jeppo Toshleys mechanized thumb. He lighted his cigar before his thumb tip fold back up, extinguishing the flame in the process. Sticking the cigar into his mouth, pulling a short breath before exhaling the smoke sideways.
"Are we able to fix that, Fizzle?"
"Sir" replied Fizzle, an elderly but still very healthy looking gnome, leaving his crew to the task while he swiped a bit of his sweat from his forehead, smearing some oil onto it in the process. Not that he wasn't dirty enough.
"I believe we can. Serdi made kind of a mess, but it doesn't look like she did more than dismantle it. It should be working in about an hour."
Toshley walked closer to the working spot. Kneeling, he took one of those... crystal like plates that the crew tried to put back in since an hour.
"Hm. Those parts look like Draenei crystal technology. Do we have an idea what this ring is for?"
"Indeed! I mean, no, and yes, but probably."
"Fizzle." Toshley gave him a coldhearted stare, one that was even seen in a barely lighted and makeshift room like this.
"S-sorry Sir! What I meant to say is, hehe... no, it is not Draenei, far from it. And-and we probably think it is an… well… teleportation device." Fizzle began to explain. Putting his hand on the inner cycle of the ring, he continued. "The schematical build up kind of leads to the conclusion that this ring channels unknown power into the middle place, which is kind of enough to rip a hole into reality, similar to the goblin devices that were experimented on the Gadgetzan 25 years ago. It is connected to that dialer over there."
Toshley almost bit his cigar off, before taking a deep breath, while his mechanical hand clenched into a fist.
"Wait! So… does that mean it is a goblin invention? Could that mean we stumbled upon the illidan goblins?!"
Surprised, Fizzle raised his hands in a defensive manner, waving off Toshleys concerns. "No, no, no! These devices have security measures that prevents overcharging and the like. It looks more like titan technology, but… on the other side it does not. Whoever build that was probably someone that was at least as good as them."
"Alright… Fizzle, make sure it is repaired and ready for transport. We cannot allow to make our findings publicly known. If the other gnomes find out, they all want to step through the portal to find their next adventure."
Toshley taking his cigar out of his mouth, Toshley walks towards a window, looking outside into the cold, and stormy desert night. "This planet alone is dangerous and unknown enough already. Exposing them to a whole galaxy of that…. That is just too much for them."
Fizzle looked sad at first, putting his wrench back into his tool belt before following Toshley to the window. "But Sir, we need to inform the High Tinker."
"And I will inform him." Toshley replied, before taking a last breath from his cigar and covering the window in a screen of smoke.
Nation Sheet:[link] Major actions:
1: Connect the planetary ley lines into the power grid and use the 'Uldum' Satellite Network to map the new planet and safe every gnome that probably went missing.
2: Toshley transports the Stargate near Toshleygan and admissions the construction of a Exploration center. With the blessing of the High Tinker, he has access to some of the most capable persons from all the Three Cities and is promoted to the Exploration Commander. This facility will hold super secure storages, sleeping quarters, top notch training facilities that can be modeled to emulate every environment, security measure to be a fortress against everything that comes through the portals, as well as medical, research and production facilities that allows to create custom tailored solutions for everything the outside world has to offer. Toshley is a explorer his entire life and he knows – whatever is there, he needs the best he can muster. Exploration action:
Sending the Scoutship "X03 -Crazy Chicken" out to automatically collect data from other planets in the galaxy. It will also try to monitor several communication channels to make assumptions on life and technology level in areas it charts. Also use the 'Ulduar' Satellite Network to explore the closest 8 planets from afar. Espionage action:
Wait a second!
OPBOT lands the Argosy at a suitable location upon the planet's surface, and afterwards he shall begin to revive the Vaulters onboard. They in turn will organize themselves into two groups. One to repair any damage to the Argosy itself, while the other starts digging. A proper Hold must be established as quickly as possible, for the Vaulters' sanity if nothing else.
The landing and revival go without a hitch, the Argosy setting down in what appears to be a climatically temperate zone, with little tectonic activity. Soon, work begins in earnest. The colony ship itself is in dire need of maintenance, but none of its core systems have suffered more than minor degradation - it's all breaches in outer sections due to collisions, damaged sensors and so on, and repairs are complete by the end of the first quarter. The excavations teams, likewise, make excellent progress and a Hold sufficient to comfortably house the population is established.
Once the Hold is established and all of the Clans have found themselves a place upon the new world, Zolya will want the Argosy hidden in the future, in case anyone attempted to follow them from Auriga, native or unknown. A underground bunker complex should be feasible with enough time.
With available manpower busy with the Hold and repairs to the ship, a bunker large enough to hide the Argosy can't be built immediately, but some work can still be done. Camouflage nets are strewn over the ship's hull to make detection from orbit more difficult, both with visual and thermal scans. A suitable location to excavate a bunker is found and work can begin as soon as construction of the Hold finishes.
[Argosy bunker will be completed at the end of next turn, does not require spending any actions]
Raudd Klapatch was once the premier ecologist and explorer of the Holds on Auriga, and Zolya is certain he will be equally enthusiastic with exploring this new world the Vaulters have found themselves upon. He shall take a team of likeminded explorers out past the initial landing site and begin searching the local area for resources, points of interest, and anything else important that he may come across.
The landing site proves to be an excellent choice in the following months, as the explorers the surrounding regions to be quite rich in resources and suitable for agriculture - a very promising start for the new colony, even if the area is fairly unexciting after the first few weeks.
However, near the end of the first month, the team finds an unusual discovery - the ruins of an ancient settlement, withered down almost to nothing but the foundations, and at the center of it all, standing a large ring made out of an unknown metal, decorated with strange symbols, accompanied by a pedestal - both seemingly unaffected by the passage of time. Found in a small hollow near the ring, is a set of clay tablets with combinations of symbols matching those found on the ring. Initially thought to be some sort of ceremonial item, perhaps part of a calendar system, this assessment changes quickly when one of the scientists experimentally attempts entering the sequence found on the tablets on the pedestal, which activates the ring. The team doesn't risk interacting with it until it shuts down 38 minutes later, but it's abundantly clear that it's a technological device, and far more complex than anything they've seen so far.
[Finding the Gate didn't take long, so there's still time to attempt to send an exploration team through this turn]
1: Re establish wards if any failed, reconnect any infrastructure etc. Connect national laylines to local planets to give the Spring some extra power. Go over data gathered from scans of this event, particularly from the Pillar, and see why nothing seemed to react to this event.
TL;DR. Basically, fix up anything that might have been damaged by the transition, make sure elementals etc are fine, etc etc.
The transitions doesn't seem to have had any major effects, other than some disruption around the edges of your territory - cut off roads, some damaged buildings, slightly disrupted wards, etc - all of which is restored reasonably quickly. Attempts to connect the Spring to other planets go reasonably well, giving you a modest increase in your supply of magical energy.
As for observation on the transitions, it happened with no warning and almost instantly, so little observation was made and what is there is little better than white noise.
2: Begin switch-over to civilian economy now that we've seemingly been forced out of the war, though keep a fair bit of production ready just in case.
The switch-over is sudden and causes some disruption, but your economy is fundamentally quite healthy and most of your experts believe the situation should stabilize in the next few months, even if the lack of foreign trade will be keenly felt. The slight stimulus of keeping some of your military industry running helps keep things stable.
Exploration:
One of the space ships will investigate nearby star systems with all appropriate caution.
Main:
General behaviour: Be cautious, but if encountering friendly sapients, approach and say hello (though initial scouts are exempt from this on best judgement).
Theramore will plan to explore eight worlds this turn.
A sweep of a few nearby solar systems finds a number of gas giants and rocks of varying degrees of uninhabitability. There's little of interest in any of them, other than as perhaps additional sources of resources and possibly magical energy for the Spring if you can connect up to their leylines across interstellar distances.
As for the gate...
The first three missions find breathable atmospheres, though the biomes themselves leave something to be desired, the explorers finding a cold tundra on one, an arid wasteland on another and a desolate, misty swamp on the last. Despite the discouraging results, a curious observation is made - the different worlds all share what little flora and fauna there is, leading to implications of an interplanetary terraforming project... though given the first set of world, one questions how effective it was. Further exploration over the next months reveals more pleasant regions away from the gate, though nothing specifically interesting is found.
The fourth world silences all doubts as to the terraforming theory, as your explorers emerge from the gate in a lush forest in a rather scenic mountain valley. It seems to be the middle of summer, the temperature is a pleasant twenty degrees, the forest teems with life and a gentle breeze rustles the leaves... and a near-overgrown path disappears into the trees. Over the next several days, your teams carefully explore the valley, taking care to remain concealed from the small civilization they find within - a doze villages along the bed of the valley, between a three hundred and a thousand inhabitants. They're technologically primitive, seemingly only recently having invented the wheelbarrow and entirely lacking in magic, but they're there, very much on this alien world and very much human.
The next two worlds are uh... less than amazing. On one, the wormhole connects, but as far as you can tell, the arcano-dragons just fail to materialize. The other somehow manages to be worse than the swamp by virtue of being a swamp, but also toxic, full of insects, every kind of small, poisonous creature you could imagine and partially on fire due to an oxygen-rich atmosphere, pockets of methane and frequent lightning strikes.
After that, the final two worlds are somewhat more livable, but still rather unpleasant - one is clearly too close to its star and a scorched wasteland despite the breathable atmosphere, the other orbits a gas giant, and the scenic view does little to counterbalance the low gravity, thin atmosphere and high radiation levels. There seems to be what look like the remains of advanced structures around, but they have withered to almost nothing.
[There is sufficient time to attempt diplomacy with the inhabitants of the fourth planet this turn]
Major Action 1
Madam President Kim alongside her staff, and Doctor Chabra shall fully disclose the existence of the Ring-Gate to the public. This Gate does not lead to the rest of humanity. But it is nevertheless a device that can travel through interstellar space. Hope still exist, they just have to search for it. PR Blitz for the program and its leader, General Eshan, the Hero of Inanna.
The announcement is met with fear and some degree of panic, however the government's assurances and General Eshan's leadership are enough to counterbalance the fears over a new alien artifact and being cut off from humanity. Little disturbance occurs, and life slowly begins to return to some semblance of normality as no threats come through the gate.
Major Action 2
The Military under Admiral Hei and General Eshan will expand any and all resources possible in the construction of a holding site/base for the Ring Gate. Part maximum security research site, part military base par excellence.
Construction on the gate facility starts with containment for the gate itself, rapidly expanding into a small fortress, though one designed to keep things in, rather than out. Automated weapons, layered bulkheads and blast doors, elaborate kill zones and tight security ensure that if anything comes through the gate or tries breaking containment in the expansive labs, it won't get very far. Based on observations of the wormhole's behavior, some mechanisms to block its opening or prevent materialization have been implemented, ensuring that no-one can open the gate unless someone on your end wants them to.
Exploration Action
Exploration teams shall be sent in small groups with drone and scientific support. Every member of the team shall be equipped with survival suits with oxygen tanks, resistance to temperature changes and body monitors. Strike teams of Immortals shall be put on standby in case the teams calls for help.
Goal: Search for traces, any traces of human communities, and re-establish contact with the rest of the human race.
When the first drone emerges on the other side of the gate, the operators are almost certain that they found Earth, and only the higher gravity and unfamiliar constellations in the night sky can convince them otherwise. You can't blame them - based on what you know of Earth before its devastation, the area around the first gate could be anywhere in Earth's temperate biomes. Even the atmosphere's composition is very close, though lacking in greenhouse gasses and general pollution. The next two are similar stories, one gate leading to a rather scenic seaside, another to a river valley.
It doesn't take your scientists long to notice that not only do these world share flora and fauna, but they also share it with humanity's homeworld. Certainly, there's unique lifeforms, but your teams also have a chance to see humpback whales on the second world. The news are shocking and speculation is rife, but ultimately you have too little data to make any conclusions.
The next two gates emerge in a rocky desert and a wide, open savanna. The one after that - a tectonicaly active area, split by great ravines filled with free-flowing magma. The gate's activation is enough to destabilize the cliff face it stands on, and the whole thing slides down into the sea of lava. Contact with the drone is lost as the wormhole sinks into the molten rock. The connection is maintained out of scientific curiosity until it cuts out after the usual 38 minutes and attempts to reconnect fail entirely.
The next gate is on the bottom of a seafloor. Of interest are the ruins around it, and after putting together some diving equipment and USVs, you're able to mount an exploration mission of the immediate area. The findings are... strange. The ruins appear to have been built for humans, or at least humanoids of roughly human size and stature, but the technology used seems oddly primitive - all stone and mortar and simple metalworking - and no signs of electronics or any sort of high technology are found. Surely, something must've survived?
The final gate you explore opens to a craggy, rocky landscape, inhabited mostly by small rodents and moss.
While the immediate area around the Tower has been confirmed to stable enough to support it, conducting large-scale reconnaissance of the planet as a whole would likely be very beneficial. Geological surveys could be used to locate additional raw materials, possible civilizations identified, and a map of the planet (temporary designation: Ar Ciel-2) would be much appreciated. Addressing concerns about the planet's stability would also be, as Representative Wilfred Bartel would put it, 'a good thing'.
It's going to take a long time to thoroughly survey the planet, but initial sweeps are promising, revealing a rich biome, several potential resource extraction sites and creating an initial map of the world you find yourselves on. As for the planet's stability, the atmosphere and biosphere are both quite stable and in no danger of sudden shifts, and while the planet has tectonic activity, the tower is at a safe distance from any fault lines. There doesn't appear to be any immediate danger from other celestial bodies.
You appear to be quite safe here.
For now.
MAJOR ACTION 2
Per the request of Representative Seria Lumei, the Gate is to be placed into a secure facility created on the planet's surface to better enable the quarantine of any potential invasive diseases or creatures. Per the request of Representative Galena Elduke, this will also be a military facility specially armed to contain any potential invaders, while also supporting the potential movement of military forces through the Gate itself, as well as drone launch and recovery operations. The facility will be inside of the Tower's operational range, supporting both the use of Song Magic during it's construction, as well to help support it's own defenses.
A facility is prepared some distance from the tower. Designed to keep anything coming through the gate in, it'll be quite the death trap for any potential invaders and will act as an excellent staging area for exploration teams. After the first few gate activations, means of blocking incoming connections and preventing intruders from materializing are devised and installed - no-one's getting in without your say so.
Exploratory Action
Volunteers are currently being sought out and trained for a possible exploratory program, but in the mean time aerial reconnaissance drones are being launched through the gate. While there is a vested interest in locating other civilizations, more focus is being placed on locating either a suitable 'resource' world for the extraction of materials. However, the primary goal at this time is to locate safe worlds to begin construction of an 'evacuation point', in the event that instabilities are discovered on Ar Ciel-2.
The results of your scouting missions are somewhat promising. The first seven gates you connect to sit in somewhat desolate areas - a frozen tundra, a noxious, volcanic region, deserts and arid wastelands and one freezing, arctic region. They're all suitable for long-term habitation, though the atmosphere on some is less than ideal. Long-distance overflights reveal that on three of the worlds, regions farther out from the gate are more suitable, and geological survey reveals potential resource deposits on all of them. While scouting the edges of the volcanic regions, one of your drones finds something odd - its ground penetrating radar finds an area just below the surface which reflects emissions in ways oddly similar to the gate. Some samples are taken and brought back, revealing them to be some unrefined form of the gate material - insanely energy dense and resonating oddly with Song Magic.
The eight gate open to a vast, grassy plain, broken up by forests of various sizes. It's picturesque, has an atmosphere and gravity perfect for humans and no serious pathogens are found in the first few months. It seems perfect, with nothing breaking the impression... until you find the villages. Hidden away some distance from the gate, they must've been inhabited by some primitive, sedentary community - until someone burned them down to the ground, that is. The buildings are all nearly completely burnt out, and your scouts discover bodies among the ruins. Human bodies. Fresh enough to be only slightly decomposed. Mostly killed with some type of focused, thermal blast, some with bladed weapons or blunt force. There isn't enough corpses to match up with the size of the villages you've found and there were no signs of survivors within a radius of several miles.
Major Action 1
Between the AIs, Tamamo, Medusa, the robotics facility and the Moon Cell knowing where everything is and being able to locally predict the future, setup the infrastructure to extract new resources to repair the facilities and produce more robots, and just in general expand the basic infrastructure such that it won't all fall apart in a year but instead can naturally grow and expand.
It is not the easiest of starts for your group, as Tamamo has the unfortunate luck to be planet side during what appears to be the local biomes rainy season, making initial oversight of expanding the facilities on the surface a somewhat miserable experience. Still, she perseveres, particularly with the remote help and assistance done by the AI's and the various lower quality robots that can be made manifest on the surface with far less hassle than the energy expenditures required for a Servant. By the end of her direct over-watch, the automated facility has doubled it's production capability, and several convenient mines exist not too far away to fuel the workshops that exist in the complex.
Whilst the Moon Cell was of course capable of gathering all the data on the planet, getting it to explain exactly what it had found can sometimes be trickier, but there is one thing that surprises the team once they find out. Namely that most, not all, but most of the flora and fauna are from Earth, despite the clearly alien nature of the entire star-system. Still, Tamamo does use this as an excuse to create a small farm for ingredients that she can use in the physical realm, after all she must be able to cook for her wife at any occasion.
Tamamo will investigate the state of magical energy in this new world, and if it exists in any appreciable amount, co-opt or create leylines on the current planet and feed them all into the most basic type of magical infrastructure - a place of power. Hopefully said place of power, if it can be created at all, can at least support one Servant nearby, reducing upkeep costs and overhead for Servants in physical reality, and maybe even leave some magical energy leftover to use in other magical infrastructure projects.
The best way to describe the magical energy of this planet is...'standardised'. There doesn't appear to be anywhere on this planet with more or less mana, even places where such things should gather naturally in excess or in lower amounts just, don't exist. Admittedly, Earth is your only true example of such things, but it still feels odd to not have any such regions. Even the Moon Cell has parts that have different ambient conditions. The lay-lines are much the same, no real nexuses, stronger or weaker lines. Still, co-opting the ones nearby to your facility and this 'Gate' to do your bidding is a simple enough task for Tamamo, the Caster rather intrigued at the lack of any 'ownership' to deal with for such power.
Soon enough, the Fox manages to create a Place of Power, outdoing herself and the expectations of some in her efforts. You should be capable of manifesting two Servants on the planet without much difficulty, and a third if you wish to do nothing else with the excess power you are gathering. It is evident you will likely be able to expand upon this in time, but for the moment with how much you have just changed to local lay-lines, they require some time to form into their new role, and the changes that Tamamo has wrought to them are propagating down to other lay-lines across the planet. What this means for the future is still being mapped out...
Ishtar, Hakuno and whatever robots are free will start jumping through the Gate. The primary mission is finding and retrieving more high-density magical energy sources that can support Servants, though general looting things that might be valuable is also nice.
Ishtar is understandably at least slightly smug about having gone first through the Gate. At least, until she realises that since she is first, she gets to act as a test-case as to how a servant might react to the wormhole. The experience is...not pleasant. Servants appear to retain at least partial awareness as they are torn up and re-created on the other side, something akin to being violently forced to take spiritual form and manifest moments later. The data gathered on the experience is sent back to the Moon Cell, where some solutions are devised but it will still likely be a somewhat...uncomfortable transition for now.
The first planet you end up on is cold. Really cold. Thankfully, some preparation for such was made, but neither Hakuno nor Ishtar (especially Ishtar) are used to this sort of weather. Still, the robots manage to unearth what is clearly a dirt road leading further down into the forest, and with few other options, you decide to follow it. After a day or so of travel through the snow and harsh winds, you come upon a village, clearly unused and unsuitable to current climate conditions. Around thirty crude stone huts exist within it, a few larger than others, but with only one building standing in contrast to the rest. The outside stones are built to a far higher quality standard than the rest of the village and clearly having been made using more advanced methods than the huts.
Stepping inside, you are greeted with actual heating and air conditioning, as well as artificial lights that at first glance look like braziers and the like. More importantly (at least to Ishtar) is that nearly every surface and most items are either covered in Gold, Gems or both. Needless to say she is rather enthusiastic in trying to persuade her Master to begin looting and pillaging.
As best as you can tell, the structure serves as some sort of military barracks, for what Earth armies would refer to as a Battalion. The building is largely empty, but you find some sort of odd staff weapons that double up as plasma cannon of some sort, amongst a few other pieces of technology that you'd have to analyse back home. The one thing that astounds your explorers however is the power source of these trinkets, an odd liquid in the weapons, and a small amount of ore in the others, the material has an enormous energy potential both for electrical and magical processes, more so than just about any crystal Ishtar (or Rin) had ever encountered barring a select few.
The other buildings are a study in contrast, seemingly built with primitive tools and housing little to nothing to match the advanced technology inside the seemingly palatial barracks. You find some very crude mining gear and equipment for processing minerals and the like, but the houses are, well, atrocious compared to the other building. As best as you can figure out, based on the condition of certain things, is that this place must get warmer in whatever passes for local summer and perhaps something is mined here during that period?
What do you wish to do?
[Note: this isn't the start of a full on RP sequence; but it lets you give me a bit more to finish off stuff on this planet and get you one more world later.]
Altera's mission is a difficult one, Medusa has a tendancy to move rapidly between locations and doing so in a rather stealthy fashion. Still, the little one is nothing if not very persistent and over time manages to 'sneak' closer to the Woman, who to all appearances seems unaware of what is going on. Or at least, that is how it seems to Altera at any rate, Medusa deducing (wrongly) that the young one clearly wishes to learn how to move about the Moon Cell better, and thus she begins to lead Altera through a variety of locations that are harder and harder to traverse. Perhaps she doesn't learn much about how 'cool adult women' behave, but it is a rather good exercise for her.
Other:
>Unknown Observation Detected.
>Location Unknown. Re-prioritising.
>Location Unknown. Shifting Sensor capability by 5.412% with focus on probable space.
>Passive sensors are tracking unknown observer floating within local primary.
>Active sensors brought online.
>Observer has noticed sensor and is attempting to shift further into [redacted] bands to evade detection.
>Continuing observation on unknown Energy Being. Micro-burst of energy detected.
>Being rapidly leaving system at [extreme] super-luminal speeds.
>Detection lost after 1.1124 Light Years.
>Logging Encounter. Resuming normal operations.
Major Action 1 (Full House): According to House's predictions, if the usage of the Gate pans out, then New Vegas is expecting rapid expansion as they utilize the resources from the other side. As such additional security would be required, specifically additional Securitrons. While at the moment his current Securitron Army is more than adequate their numbers are still limited and at the moment he lacked a means to produce more.
As such Mr House will be correcting that weakness. Several facilities will be constructed all around Vegas, each handling some of the manufacturing process for the Securitron from the hardware to the weapons and the armored body. All these parts will be assembled at a final facility which will be fully automated and closely monitored/heavily guarded to make sure no one tries to steal the secrets to his Securitron Army
For all that the Securitron can appear a simple robot compared to some models out there, it is infact one of the more capable variants of machines that have long existed within the United States. The decision to build brand new facilities is noted, and whilst some material is built from tearing down some older structures, a significant proportion of the things used are new, what with the greater overall focus of New Vegas on self-sufficiency.
All the facilities are built over the next few months, granting you a reasonable production capability, though it suffers from a lack of reliable material input as yet, and transport capability. You have a few pre-war trucks and cars, as well as some Brahamin wagons, but your overall ability to ship parts between places is limited. Still, a significant security improvement.
With the sudden relocation of the Mojave Wasteland there is a new problem for Mr House, namely food. While many of the smaller communities have the means to supply themselves the same could not be said for Vegas itself. While they had food stored that could last them for a time it won't do for Mr House's people to starve. As such he is implementing a large scale agricultural development program to rapidly and efficiently expand the agricultural production of the Mojave Wasteland, mainly through providing financial benefits, assistance in constructing the needed infrastructure and introduction of technologies that should hopefully improve efficiency considerably without harming overall sustainability.
The money does little; for it is not really caps or NCR dollars people require to get better farms out there, but the spread of various simple technologies available in Vegas but rare in the various little settlements has a huge impact on agricultural production. Within the first month, many of the previously barely self-sustaining farms of 'tato, Maize, Agave and many others are slowly able to ship excess to their neighbours, though co-ordinating such shipments to Vegas itself is trickier. Even with the reduced bandit activity (with many dying to the Wildcard) distances, road quality and fears of safety mean that New Vegas is still losing food.
To begin the initial phases of the exploration of the other side of the Gate, at least for the initial coordinates as it is clear that there is more than one potential destination, Mr House has deemed that an unmanned scouting mission is necessary. Utilizing a couple dozen Eye Bots equipped with Robtech Stealth Boys, the initial mission will be to send the Eye bots through the gate with orders to scout and map as much of the surrounding area as possible while avoiding being noticed by utilizing the stealth boys.
After a predetermined amount of time all Eye Bots are to return to the Gate at which time it will be opened from our side and they will come through to report their findings. In the event that sentient life is discovered their orders are to remain hidden and observe/record as much as possible before returning.
The first few attempts are...discouraging. One gate seems to have been buried in ice, with only the immediate area around it explorable due to the vaporisation the Stargate causes. The next is on a planet akin to Mars, with little to no atmosphere to speak of, and scorching climates that are worse than the Nevada in the summer. The third is a similar story, with the added bonus that you appear to have gated in just as an asteroid storm was hitting the area near the Stargate.
The fourth however...
The Stargate and it's dialling device are situated next to a lake, with a slightly worn but clearly crafted by tools stone platform underneath itself. The data begins to come back, and the team Mr House has assembled, including the man himself could not be more ecstatic about what they have seemingly found. No significant radiation detected. 0.95g. Atmospheric pressures comparable to Earths. A number of Eyebots carefully begin mapping out the area, though by the end of the first two weeks they do not find anything that could be considered artificial structures, the planet appears to be perfectly suited for human habitation. And then...
A number of probes come through the gate, observed by your Eyebots. They fan out in various directions.
While much of the damage inflicted on the other districts can be easily repaired given enough time the Guildmasters have been forced to admit that the Tenth District, the very heart of Ravnica, is beyond saving. Far too much of it has been ruined for a restoration to be ever worth it. All the rubble will have to be cleared out and any structures that remain standing will have to be dismantled before a full scale rebuild can begin. The Cult of Rakdos and the Golgari Swarm, the largest sources of living and dead manpower respectively, will be tasked with the brunt of the work. The Izzet League shall dispatch some of their engineers to ensure that all demolitions are conducted as effectively as possible while the soldier-priests of the Boros Legion will conduct one last sweep for survivors alongside the physicians of the Simic Combine.
Despite the decision taken making logical sense, it is still somewhat a saddening one for the citizens, even as they acknowledge the need for wholesale reconstruction. The work is grim, given the damage to the area amongst others, your workers find far more corpses than living beings, most of those who are still alive being half-starved. Still, over the next few months the skyline clears, the rubble is repurposed and removed, with many workers taking small mementos (mostly chisling off bits of the key buildings) for themselves as a reminder of what once was. The co-ordination between the key guilds involved is rather good.
While the clearing of the Tenth District is taking place Niv-Mizzet and the top engineers of his former Guild will draw up the plans for its replacement. The new heart of Ravnica shall be a wonder of modernity taking advantage of all innovations made in the millenia since the the original was first built. A new steam vent system shall provide a much more efficient power distribution, a new road network should speed up travel significantly and the new Guild headquarters will be designed to survive another war should one arrive. Finally at the center of the district a monument shall be raised to all those who lost their lives in the war when the God Pharaoh attacked. As a bonus this time the Izzet, as a show of good faith, won't even design the city to be a secret signet that would link up with the leylines and give them ultimate power over the Plane. The fact that disruptions to the leylines means any such scheme would be impossible to reenact in the modern day is best left unsaid...
It is an ambitious project, one that had not been attempted on such a scale in quite some time, but the guild is absolutely adamant that they will succeed in their task and create one of the most advanced pieces of large scale infrastructure to date.
They estimate that it will take around six more months to finish. [2 turns, passively]
The Amonkhet artifact uncovered in the ruins of the Tenth District is our best bet for being the source of whatever weird anomaly has affected our beloved city. Yet we can't afford to be reckless with it. The last time an artifact from a different Plane affected Ravnica it resulted in us spending several millennia without access to a proper afterlife. All access to the artifact should be restricted to only our most skilled mages and none of them would be allowed to interact with it directly. Instead remotely controlled Izzet Weirds and Simic Krais will be used to prod the portal while we figure out exactly how it works. For once those Guilds will have to throw aside their usual daredevil mindsets and prioritize safety.
You handle the objects with appropriate care, only interacting with it remotely. As best as you can work out, the device enables point to point teleportation between itself and presumably other devices of a similar nature. The more you examine it however, the less certain some of your team studying it are that its Amonkhet at all. Both the pedestal and the ring itself are made out of odd materials that have little in common with such things. Additionally, the ring appears to operate on no magic whatsoever, though how this is achieved you can't even begin to speculate.
[You learn a number of the rules that I had pinned on the discord regarding gate travel]
Actions Major:
-Establish a launch facility near the planet's equator using TDD-2 as a transport, and investigate the use of the 500mm railgun mounted on the ship for satellite launches.
Creating a launch facility for rockets and the like, as well as an airfield are easy enough, despite the initial logistics bottleneck of just using the TDD-2, as a number of ships are also pressed into service for the task, and soon enough a true space center begins to take form at the equator.
As for the use of the ships railgun as a means of launching satellites...the short answer is 'Eeh…'. The longer answer is that you could certainly overpower the gun safely to fire off something into a respectable orbit, particularly as planetary gravity is actually slightly weaker than Earth's, but most things you'd shoot up would simply break apart from the stresses instantly imposed on them. Firing packets of useful solid materials to aid in construction would be doable, but making something that could withstand the sheer power of acceleration from the military weapon would take some research, and is not something you could use existing satellites.
The main issue is simply one of length, the TDD's railgun is a huge platform for a military weapon, but not for safely launching fragile things into space. That being said, most of the planet /is/ empty, building some sort of multi kilometre long launch platform railgun for small and medium payloads, theoretically even people is doable, and well within the technical capabilities of even 30 years ago. The cost in material is high, but not prohibitively so. There are of course several other proposals also put forward, now that prime launch areas have nothing built in them to get in the way.
-Equipment used for maintaining and fabricating spare parts for the Garuda's Lambda Driver is transferred to the Tri-City and data on the false axis repulsive field is transferred to the scientific community.
This goes much more smoothly, for a definition of such. Creating spare parts is well within the ability of the Tri-City. As for the data, its certainly stunning im some revelations, but compared to original usage and common remarks from the scientific community in the 90's of 'excuse me, what the fuck' advancements in various theoretical fields allow the scientists to have some grasp of what they're looking at. It'll be some time before anything practical comes of it.
-Enter the Gate and explore as many worlds as reasonably possible Mission Plan:
-First stage
Conduct drone reconnaissance of the immediate gate area to ensure the immediate safety of the recon team. Drone reconnaissance continues throughout the later stages of the operation.
-Second stage
Deploy a StarGate Team (SGT) to conduct initial sampling of local atmosphere, geology, flora, fauna, investigate areas of interest and establish a base camp. An SGT consists of a PRT robotics team, a single M9G3 detached from the SRT, a T-55AM Merida with an accompanying squad of infantry and a small scientific team (4-5), as well as BTR-94 transports. There will be only nine SGTs deployed at any one time to keep at least a single SRT squad at full strength.
-Third stage
If no outstanding hazards are found and the planet is considered of interest, a permanent base camp will be deployed around the gate by the Siły Obronne, tasked with maintaining the drone fleet mapping the planet and supporting research teams. In the first three months, all planets will likely be considered to be "of interest"
The first address connects, but the probe is lost immediately upon transit, cause unknown. The second address leads into what seems to be a natural cave system of some sort, though the lack of atmosphere is...concerning. Given the gravity present, its possibly on a moon of some kind, or a small planet.
Two of the next addresses are more promising, one emerges on a plateau and the start of canyons near a desert, the next emerges in something roughly comparable to the African Savannah.
The next two are one failure, and one that leads to what could only be described as Mordor. The gate itself is in what was clearly once a robust facility, but it has weathered away to almost nothing. Given how much fun multiple volcanoes seem to be having in the background, it is likely the gate will be buried within a few years, and the atmosphere is mostly Co2.
The last is most interesting, the gate is located inside a biome comparable to northern Europe, though this is not what catches your team's attention, but rather the mediaeval style village made of stone that the Stargate appears to be the centrepiece of.
Its...empty. As best as your team can determine from the scene, some sort of plague had hit the city, with many dying, evident by the mass grave outside the confines of the palisade that surrounds the city. Where the rest are is unknown, there are some signs in houses of packing/preparation, but it does not appear to have been carried out and many valuables still can be found through the village itself.
The various farmsteads are empty as well, with one or two burnt down, though the cause of the burning is unclear at the time. As best as you can guess, some sort of high-energy impact based on some of the scorch marks on non-flammable materials.
888
Your linguists are extremely intrigued by the village however, as there appears to be a significant number of written texts still preserved in reasonable conditions, though the language is unknown, it appears to have similarities with some of the reconstructions of Indo-European that have been made, and a few of the texts appear to contain what some of the researchers believe to be cognates with other Indo-European languages.
888
Your geologists do not report anything too intriguing for the first few months, but towards the end of the third month someone finally gets to explore one of the furthest mines. Inside is...you're not sure what to call it, but whatever the material is it is complete bullshit. There is not much of it present, but the energy density of it is completely ridiculous, and after some initial experimentation you begin to find more uses for the crazy stuff.
888
The teams investigating both flora and fauna on your new world and on these new planets is slightly disturbed, given all the signs that point to probable large-scale terraforming across what seems to be the entire galaxy. And with plants and animals clearly from Earth. Certainly, both on your planet and others there are unique species that seem to have no easy correspondence to Earth based organisms, but a very significant portion of everything found seems to be Terran in nature.
Major actions:
1: Connect the planetary ley lines into the power grid and use the 'Uldum' Satellite Network to map the new planet and safe every gnome that probably went missing.
You manage to reconnect your own layline nexuses to the planetary ones with surprisingly little trouble, which surprises you some, but it is a welcome thing. The satellite network alongside your communications in general confirm another interesting thing, that in addition to orbital assets and the three cities, a scattering of border towns and villages, particularly Mag'har, Ironforge and Theramorean ones had also made the transition.
2: Toshley transports the Stargate near Toshleygan and admissions the construction of a Exploration center. With the blessing of the High Tinker, he has access to some of the most capable persons from all the Three Cities and is promoted to the Exploration Commander. This facility will hold super secure storages, sleeping quarters, top notch training facilities that can be modeled to emulate every environment, security measure to be a fortress against everything that comes through the portals, as well as medical, research and production facilities that allows to create custom tailored solutions for everything the outside world has to offer. Toshley is a explorer his entire life and he knows – whatever is there, he needs the best he can muster.
The gnomes, nowadays very used to building fortified positions thanks to the experience build on since the war against the Dark Irons, quickly create a self-contained bastion to serve as the bulwark and R&D site of this portal facility, with it rapidly coming into form.
[will be finished next turn, but is basically operational now]
Exploration action:
Sending the Scoutship "X03 -Crazy Chicken" out to automatically collect data from other planets in the galaxy. It will also try to monitor several communication channels to make assumptions on life and technology level in areas it charts. Also use the 'Ulduar' Satellite Network to explore the closest 8 planets from afar.
The Crazy Chicken begins to explore the nearby star systems, finding most of them rather bland and uninteresting, with no life bearing planets within those systems. Out of the 12 it manages to blink to however, one does have a habitable world, if an empty one, which nonetheless has another Stargate on it. Exploring that planet further from orbit, you do find the remains of primitive mining enclaves, though what they may have been mining is long gone, the mines seem to be filled entirely with mundane rocks and the like. Still, the tools and remains of housing do appear to be made by humans, if with far more simpler methods than even those used before the first war.
As for the Ulduar Satellite, you map out your new home system carefully, finding it to be...bland. Certainly the system gas giant is picturesque and filled with many hydrocarbons, but overall the system is rather stale. Indeed, the few shamans and such are also reporting that local Elementals, when they do manage to call them up are, essentially unthinking and purposeless. It's almost as if they had never been called upon before.
Ishtar is understandably at least slightly smug about having gone first through the Gate. At least, until she realises that since she is first, she gets to act as a test-case as to how a servant might react to the wormhole. The experience is...not pleasant. Servants appear to retain at least partial awareness as they are torn up and re-created on the other side, something akin to being violently forced to take spiritual form and manifest moments later. The data gathered on the experience is sent back to the Moon Cell, where some solutions are devised but it will still likely be a somewhat...uncomfortable transition for now.
The first planet you end up on is cold. Really cold. Thankfully, some preparation for such was made, but neither Hakuno nor Ishtar (especially Ishtar) are used to this sort of weather. Still, the robots manage to unearth what is clearly a dirt road leading further down into the forest, and with few other options, you decide to follow it. After a day or so of travel through the snow and harsh winds, you come upon a village, clearly unused and unsuitable to current climate conditions. Around thirty crude stone huts exist within it, a few larger than others, but with only one building standing in contrast to the rest. The outside stones are built to a far higher quality standard than the rest of the village and clearly having been made using more advanced methods than the huts.
Stepping inside, you are greeted with actual heating and air conditioning, as well as artificial lights that at first glance look like braziers and the like. More importantly (at least to Ishtar) is that nearly every surface and most items are either covered in Gold, Gems or both. Needless to say she is rather enthusiastic in trying to persuade her Master to begin looting and pillaging.
As best as you can tell, the structure serves as some sort of military barracks, for what Earth armies would refer to as a Battalion. The building is largely empty, but you find some sort of odd staff weapons that double up as plasma cannon of some sort, amongst a few other pieces of technology that you'd have to analyse back home. The one thing that astounds your explorers however is the power source of these trinkets, an odd liquid in the weapons, and a small amount of ore in the others, the material has an enormous energy potential both for electrical and magical processes, more so than just about any crystal Ishtar (or Rin) had ever encountered barring a select few.
The other buildings are a study in contrast, seemingly built with primitive tools and housing little to nothing to match the advanced technology inside the seemingly palatial barracks. You find some very crude mining gear and equipment for processing minerals and the like, but the houses are, well, atrocious compared to the other building. As best as you can figure out, based on the condition of certain things, is that this place must get warmer in whatever passes for local summer and perhaps something is mined here during that period?
What do you wish to do?
[Note: this isn't the start of a full on RP sequence; but it lets you give me a bit more to finish off stuff on this planet and get you one more world later.]
Hakuno watched Ishtar lounge in the modest throne in the large central room they had found in the… palace, for lack of a better word. Setting aside that nobody seemed to be living there, it didn't appear to be where the owner of the throne usually lived, given the lack of royal quarters or the like.
Even so, the palace-barrack was clearly meant for a ruler and the ruler's soldiers. The ostentatious wealth - especially compared with the mudhuts and implied deprivation of the non-soldiers, non-rulers that presumably lived on the planet some of the time - made that abundantly clear.
Hakuno had to admit, she didn't like the implications much, but she wasn't so sheltered and blind to the norms of the past that she felt comfortable passing judgement on whoever ruled the place without at least meeting them.
After all, many of her closest friends and allies had done terrible things in the course of their lives.
As if sensing her thoughts - or perhaps just growing bored of the apparently substandard throne - Ishtar pushed off it and floated over to Hakuno.
"So. We are taking everything, right?" she asked. Hakuno felt a ghost of a smile tug at her lips. Some things just didn't change.
"...we do need these resources," she admitted, making Ishtar smile and make a little fist-pump - a probably highly un-goddess-like gesture which was on the other hand very Rin-like.
"It's a lot of gold though. Can you carry all of it?" Hakuno asked Ishtar. Ishtar made a 'hmm' sound and tapped her cheek in a thinking pose while Maanna came floating into the center of the room from where it had been hovering at the side.
"I can carry a great deal, but probably not all of the gold… the amount of gold is, well, honestly I'm surprised, I don't think even that goldie ever went this far. The layers are a lot thicker than you'd expect too - most rulers would just make a thin coating, but this is definitely more like plating." Ishtar mused, picking up a golden ornament and dropping it into the strange non-space where she kept her things in Maanna.
"Let's leave you to take the most valuable things then." Hakuno said before looking over at the robots. They were all running extremely simple AI programs - practically only animal-level intelligence, but given precise orders they could do fairly complex things. One of the Advanced AIs back at the Moon Cell had said that the Harway facility had some of the basic tools for building photonic crystals, which would allow much more complex AIs in some of the robots if it could be produced at sufficient size, but that seemed far off.
On the other hand, they should be plenty to haul away plates of solid gold stripped from the walls.
Hakuno tripped around the hall a bit as she watched Ishtar instruct the robots. Surprisingly, it was peaceful times like this where she felt the most uncertain. Her Servants were so much better than her - even at something like looting, Ishtar clearly knew what she was doing - and absent a pressing conflict or imminent danger, Hakuno's intuition was left to flounder. She had made her peace with not being someone special per se, with not having a special talent or skill other than sheer bloody-mindedness, but it still irked her to stand around with nothing to do.
It made her miss Tamamo. Ishtar was good - great! - but every time Hakuno was left without Tamamo in close proximity for more than an hour, she found herself feeling pangs of loneliness all the way into her soul.
Having gone several days now, she found herself sighing wistfully at regular intervals.
"You have it just as bad as she does, huh." Ishtar whispered right into Hakuno's ear as she squeezed her shoulders from behind. The goddess had floated - silently, of course - right behind Hakuno, who made an embarrassing 'hyaaaah' noise as she jumped in place from surprise. Ishtar just grinned at the red-faced and pouting Hakuno.
"You two are so cute. It's a good thing you're such a prude or we'd never get anything done, but really, don't you think you should be a bit more aggressive?" Ishtar said, floating backwards while grinning. In the background robots were stripping gold from the walls, letting plates of it fall to the floor to be picked up by other robots that then piled it up on the central table.
"Besides, you know how weak that fox of yours is to you being aggressive. She absolutely adores it." Ishtar said in a low voice, grin widening. Hakuno could feel her face turn even redder.
"You know, if you're afraid of not pulling it off well, you can always ask big sis Ishtar here…" Ishtar continued after a brief but deeply suggestive pause. Her smile was saintly - or should that be divine? - and Hakuno could only make a wordless cry of embarrassment and flee.
After hiding in a pile of the blankets they had brought to resist the cold in one of the smaller rooms of the palace-barrack, and allowing herself to think Ishtar's words through, Hakuno had to admit that the goddess was - as she usually was - probably right.
But just because it was true that she should try being more aggressive in making moves on Tamamo didn't mean that embarrassing things stopped being embarrassing!
Still, it bore thinking about. If nothing else, things would be a lot simpler once she got back if she had some way to make Tamamo calm down. She always got particularly clingy after any kind of separation.
Maybe she could find something nice for her… for her… her girlfriend (and definitely not her wife nope that was far too early really nevermind that they had been sleeping in the same bed since after the Far Side incident and then had pour out their hearts to one another and, and, well, there was a lot of things but still).
Ishtar was going to tease her about this for the entire rest of the expedition.
WAT DO
-LOOT ALL THE THINGS. Ishtar picks out all the most valuable stuff and secures within Maanna. The robots pry loose everything else and hauls it back - if necessary making some primitive sleds or the like to drag large amounts of precious metals.
-Pick out something as a gift for Tamamo. Given how ostentatious most of the options are, the viable choices probably aren't that many, but an elegant piece of jewelry, or a particularly beautiful gem that goes well with Tamamo's colours would be good. A hair ornament or bracelet might be ideal.
-If possible, retrieve examples of the technology in the main building as well - the heating and lighting might be valuable clues as to what is going on in general.
Hakuno watched Ishtar lounge in the modest throne in the large central room they had found in the… palace, for lack of a better word. Setting aside that nobody seemed to be living there, it didn't appear to be where the owner of the throne usually lived, given the lack of royal quarters or the like.
Even so, the palace-barrack was clearly meant for a ruler and the ruler's soldiers. The ostentatious wealth - especially compared with the mudhuts and implied deprivation of the non-soldiers, non-rulers that presumably lived on the planet some of the time - made that abundantly clear.
Hakuno had to admit, she didn't like the implications much, but she wasn't so sheltered and blind to the norms of the past that she felt comfortable passing judgement on whoever ruled the place without at least meeting them.
After all, many of her closest friends and allies had done terrible things in the course of their lives.
As if sensing her thoughts - or perhaps just growing bored of the apparently substandard throne - Ishtar pushed off it and floated over to Hakuno.
"So. We are taking everything, right?" she asked. Hakuno felt a ghost of a smile tug at her lips. Some things just didn't change.
"...we do need these resources," she admitted, making Ishtar smile and make a little fist-pump - a probably highly un-goddess-like gesture which was on the other hand very Rin-like.
"It's a lot of gold though. Can you carry all of it?" Hakuno asked Ishtar. Ishtar made a 'hmm' sound and tapped her cheek in a thinking pose while Maanna came floating into the center of the room from where it had been hovering at the side.
"I can carry a great deal, but probably not all of the gold… the amount of gold is, well, honestly I'm surprised, I don't think even that goldie ever went this far. The layers are a lot thicker than you'd expect too - most rulers would just make a thin coating, but this is definitely more like plating." Ishtar mused, picking up a golden ornament and dropping it into the strange non-space where she kept her things in Maanna.
"Let's leave you to take the most valuable things then." Hakuno said before looking over at the robots. They were all running extremely simple AI programs - practically only animal-level intelligence, but given precise orders they could do fairly complex things. One of the Advanced AIs back at the Moon Cell had said that the Harway facility had some of the basic tools for building photonic crystals, which would allow much more complex AIs in some of the robots if it could be produced at sufficient size, but that seemed far off.
On the other hand, they should be plenty to haul away plates of solid gold stripped from the walls.
Hakuno tripped around the hall a bit as she watched Ishtar instruct the robots. Surprisingly, it was peaceful times like this where she felt the most uncertain. Her Servants were so much better than her - even at something like looting, Ishtar clearly knew what she was doing - and absent a pressing conflict or imminent danger, Hakuno's intuition was left to flounder. She had made her peace with not being someone special per se, with not having a special talent or skill other than sheer bloody-mindedness, but it still irked her to stand around with nothing to do.
It made her miss Tamamo. Ishtar was good - great! - but every time Hakuno was left without Tamamo in close proximity for more than an hour, she found herself feeling pangs of loneliness all the way into her soul.
Having gone several days now, she found herself sighing wistfully at regular intervals.
"You have it just as bad as she does, huh." Ishtar whispered right into Hakuno's ear as she squeezed her shoulders from behind. The goddess had floated - silently, of course - right behind Hakuno, who made an embarrassing 'hyaaaah' noise as she jumped in place from surprise. Ishtar just grinned at the red-faced and pouting Hakuno.
"You two are so cute. It's a good thing you're such a prude or we'd never get anything done, but really, don't you think you should be a bit more aggressive?" Ishtar said, floating backwards while grinning. In the background robots were stripping gold from the walls, letting plates of it fall to the floor to be picked up by other robots that then piled it up on the central table.
"Besides, you know how weak that fox of yours is to you being aggressive. She absolutely adores it." Ishtar said in a low voice, grin widening. Hakuno could feel her face turn even redder.
"You know, if you're afraid of not pulling it off well, you can always ask big sis Ishtar here…" Ishtar continued after a brief but deeply suggestive pause. Her smile was saintly - or should that be divine? - and Hakuno could only make a wordless cry of embarrassment and flee.
After hiding in a pile of the blankets they had brought to resist the cold in one of the smaller rooms of the palace-barrack, and allowing herself to think Ishtar's words through, Hakuno had to admit that the goddess was - as she usually was - probably right.
But just because it was true that she should try being more aggressive in making moves on Tamamo didn't mean that embarrassing things stopped being embarrassing!
Still, it bore thinking about. If nothing else, things would be a lot simpler once she got back if she had some way to make Tamamo calm down. She always got particularly clingy after any kind of separation.
Maybe she could find something nice for her… for her… her girlfriend (and definitely not her wife nope that was far too early really nevermind that they had been sleeping in the same bed since after the Far Side incident and then had pour out their hearts to one another and, and, well, there was a lot of things but still).
Ishtar was going to tease her about this for the entire rest of the expedition.
WAT DO
-LOOT ALL THE THINGS. Ishtar picks out all the most valuable stuff and secures within Maanna. The robots pry loose everything else and hauls it back - if necessary making some primitive sleds or the like to drag large amounts of precious metals.
-Pick out something as a gift for Tamamo. Given how ostentatious most of the options are, the viable choices probably aren't that many, but an elegant piece of jewelry, or a particularly beautiful gem that goes well with Tamamo's colours would be good. A hair ornament or bracelet might be ideal.
-If possible, retrieve examples of the technology in the main building as well - the heating and lighting might be valuable clues as to what is going on in general.
On the one hand, should a godess really know so much about the best way to loot a building? On the other, as a diety of warfare it only makes sense that a patron of soldiers would be well aware as to how best to pillage the structure you are temporarily occupying. The near state of ecstacy that you see in her whilst she caresses some of the bigger gems might be a bit much, though she does let you get first pick on anything you spot that might work as an appropriate gift for Tamamo.
The jewlery is quickly discounted as a lost cause, always seeming to look off in some way that doesn't appeal to your sight. Nothing that seems like a hair ornament either, though you do find a rather beautiful handheld mirror, a silver frame with only a few gems that do not blemish the aesthetic nor functionality of the piece.
You also take care to secure pieces of technology, grabbing some of the weapons, lighting and such. A bit suprising is the lack of anything written down. Certainly, the place looks like it had mostly been cleared out professionally, presumably to be used when the weather gets better, but even the walls were largely unadorned of any actual symbols besides one…
[The symbol of Ra, I just can't seem to insert it on phone]
With things packed up and Maanna full of requisitioned goods that are definitely not simple loot but suprise offerings to Ishtar, you are ready to leave for another potential destination, or to go home.
On the one hand, should a godess really know so much about the best way to loot a building? On the other, as a diety of warfare it only makes sense that a patron of soldiers would be well aware as to how best to pillage the structure you are temporarily occupying. The near state of ecstacy that you see in her whilst she caresses some of the bigger gems might be a bit much, though she does let you get first pick on anything you spot that might work as an appropriate gift for Tamamo.
The jewlery is quickly discounted as a lost cause, always seeming to look off in some way that doesn't appeal to your sight. Nothing that seems like a hair ornament either, though you do find a rather beautiful handheld mirror, a silver frame with only a few gems that do not blemish the aesthetic nor functionality of the piece.
You also take care to secure pieces of technology, grabbing some of the weapons, lighting and such. A bit suprising is the lack of anything written down. Certainly, the place looks like it had mostly been cleared out professionally, presumably to be used when the weather gets better, but even the walls were largely unadorned of any actual symbols besides one…
[The symbol of Ra, I just can't seem to insert it on phone]
With things packed up and Maanna full of requisitioned goods that are definitely not simple loot but suprise offerings to Ishtar, you are ready to leave for another potential destination, or to go home.
The overgrown remains of the road to the Stargate and lack of observation by scouts to anyone travelling to it mean that it is not a frequently used object by the locals. Additionally, given the technological level present and the lack of either Arcane power, the Light or other powers, is something intriguing and we might well be seeing a humanity akin to what the first Kings of Arathor had led as a civilisation, even if their numbers are small as compared to those times.
With that in mind, the initial contact team will move in on foot, a total of 12 guards drawn from the Theramore Shock Troops in the latest armour with their tabards on and helmets off, clipped to their side. The main contact team will be comprised largely of humans and dwarves, as not to spook the locals too badly with the myriad of species these people might have never met before. A group of six diplomats, comprised of a few academics and one of Lordaeron's ambassadors who was happy to lead the talks on behalf of the Alliance.
(Note, some stuff will still be weird, I mean, clothes, the armour and its colour(a vaguely pale/shiny green/white since its mithril), general health of the party, etc don't help, nor do the guns etc. As much as possible care is taken to not have anything too weird be visible, at least at first.)
The overgrown remains of the road to the Stargate and lack of observation by scouts to anyone travelling to it mean that it is not a frequently used object by the locals. Additionally, given the technological level present and the lack of either Arcane power, the Light or other powers, is something intriguing and we might well be seeing a humanity akin to what the first Kings of Arathor had led as a civilisation, even if their numbers are small as compared to those times.
With that in mind, the initial contact team will move in on foot, a total of 12 guards drawn from the Theramore Shock Troops in the latest armour with their tabards on and helmets off, clipped to their side. The main contact team will be comprised largely of humans and dwarves, as not to spook the locals too badly with the myriad of species these people might have never met before. A group of six diplomats, comprised of a few academics and one of Lordaeron's ambassadors who was happy to lead the talks on behalf of the Alliance.
(Note, some stuff will still be weird, I mean, clothes, the armour and its colour(a vaguely pale/shiny green/white since its mithril), general health of the party, etc don't help, nor do the guns etc. As much as possible care is taken to not have anything too weird be visible, at least at first.)
Despite your best attempts, your contact team still causes a panic in the first village they approach, leading to a short standoff with a hastily-assembled militia. Luckily, your people are cool-headed enough and the militia intimidated enough that the initial crisis is resolved peacefully, and as soon as they believe that you don't mean them harm, your people are greeted quite warmly. Soon enough, you learn that while the gate has never activated in living memory, it is generally associated with invaders coming to scour the land in legends.
Over the next few days, words spreads across the village of your arrival and you are directed to the Moot, a traditional neutral ground and center of trade in the heart of the valley. There, you meet representatives from the other villages and put together a rough picture of their society and history. The Dolinai, or 'people of the valley' in their own language, have lived on this world for a several centuries and claim that their ancestors escaped through the gate from the clutches of a 'fiery-eyed god-tyrant' referred to as 'Azarte' and have suffered many raids until about a century ago. Today, they are an agrarian people, politically divided into loose coalitions centered around the three largest villages. There seems to be some animosity, though they are able to keep things civil at the Moot and from the way their warriors talk, most warfare seems to be highly ritualized and hasn't escalated into sacking of any of the villages, thus far. The representatives from the large villages aren't quite subtle enough to hide that they're obviously fishing for advantages over their rivals, but they seem generally open to trade and hosting your representatives. Some of the older villagers voiced some concerns over 'corrupting the youth with foreign foolishness', but they've mostly been ignored for the moment.
Overall, a good first-first contact, even if your new trade partners can only offer some additional food.
Despite your best attempts, your contact team still causes a panic in the first village they approach, leading to a short standoff with a hastily-assembled militia. Luckily, your people are cool-headed enough and the militia intimidated enough that the initial crisis is resolved peacefully, and as soon as they believe that you don't mean them harm, your people are greeted quite warmly. Soon enough, you learn that while the gate has never activated in living memory, it is generally associated with invaders coming to scour the land in legends.
Over the next few days, words spreads across the village of your arrival and you are directed to the Moot, a traditional neutral ground and center of trade in the heart of the valley. There, you meet representatives from the other villages and put together a rough picture of their society and history. The Dolinai, or 'people of the valley' in their own language, have lived on this world for a several centuries and claim that their ancestors escaped through the gate from the clutches of a 'fiery-eyed god-tyrant' referred to as 'Azarte' and have suffered many raids until about a century ago. Today, they are an agrarian people, politically divided into loose coalitions centered around the three largest villages. There seems to be some animosity, though they are able to keep things civil at the Moot and from the way their warriors talk, most warfare seems to be highly ritualized and hasn't escalated into sacking of any of the villages, thus far. The representatives from the large villages aren't quite subtle enough to hide that they're obviously fishing for advantages over their rivals, but they seem generally open to trade and hosting your representatives. Some of the older villagers voiced some concerns over 'corrupting the youth with foreign foolishness', but they've mostly been ignored for the moment.
Overall, a good first-first contact, even if your new trade partners can only offer some additional food.
-Have my ambassadors make absolutely clear that we can depart, maybe leave behind a way to contact, maybe not but if they wish we can leave under their terms.
--Ask for any info possible on this 'fiery tyrant' and explain we had fought such beings in recent history.
---Explain to them that we are more than willing to help, goods, services, knowledge etc (without strings) but point out that this will be overwhelming. Try to hint at scales of why. Be open about this.
----Offer opportunity to visit Theramore if they wish.
888
-----If they accept, overtime I'm going to basically absorb through sheer weight (long term) in the gentlest possible way and with great benefit to them but it will happen.
(I might write some IC/RP this up if I do this if i feel like it.)
-Have my ambassadors make absolutely clear that we can depart, maybe leave behind a way to contact, maybe not but if they wish we can leave under their terms.
--Ask for any info possible on this 'fiery tyrant' and explain we had fought such beings in recent history.
---Explain to them that we are more than willing to help, goods, services, knowledge etc (without strings) but point out that this will be overwhelming. Try to hint at scales of why. Be open about this.
----Offer opportunity to visit Theramore if they wish.
888
-----If they accept, overtime I'm going to basically absorb through sheer weight (long term) in the gentlest possible way and with great benefit to them but it will happen.
(I might write some IC/RP this up if I do this if i feel like it.)
Your warnings leads to some consternation, but overall they don't seem too concerned? You suppose it's a somewhat abstract danger, compared to the benefit they see for themselves and their people. They also seem to be quite eager to visit Theramore, which you oblige, of course. Unsurprisingly, they're awestruck - there's just more people than they've ever seen, buildings of a scale surpassing anything they've built, technology and magic they've only heard of in legends and all of this seems to make them more eager, as overwhelmed as they are.
At the end of the day, they agree to host your embassy near the Moot, will begin trading with you (mostly selling agricultural goods) and will in general accept the assistance of your doctors, scientists and engineers.
As for the tyrant, there's a great number of legends of the time the Dolinai were under their oppression, speaking of great sky-pyramids which would rain fire upon rebelling cities, metal hawks which would hound escapees and iron soldiers impervious to the sharpest of spears. There's little written records, but the elders of one of the villages show you to an old artifact, dating back to their exodus - a number of clay tablets, supposedly holding the Gate addresses of the tyrant's worlds, preserved for when time would come to strike back.
Only two of the addresses are intact, the rest have only a single or two symbols remaining.
The first gate opens to a cliff side overlooking a stormy sea. While the atmosphere on the planet is breathable, it's still somewhat thin, the temperature is somewhat low and there's little in the way of vegetation and animal life. Judging by the local sun's position in the sky, you emerged in the planet's equatorial regions, leaving little hope for better climate elsewhere. Still, initial and follow-up surveys find modest resource deposits in the immediate vicinity of the gate.
The second gate opens to the interior of a pressure cooker. The atmosphere density is bad enough to almost immediately crush your drones, the highly corrosive atmosphere sealing the deal. This one's a write-off, though it gives you some idea of the gate's durability.
The next world is far more promising. While it seems that land life is yet to evolve here, the atmosphere is breathable and gravity is close to that of your new homeworld. While interesting in terms of scientific study of early evolution of land life, what's of more immediate interest are near surface resource deposits that survey teams discover within several dozen kilometers of the gate. Most seem perfectly ordinary, until you encounter a large vein of an unusual iron isotope. While quite brittle in its raw form, initial analysis shows some interesting properties to it and your metallurgists are able to refine it into an incredibly strong alloy using carbon and titanium, its strength surpassing any other material you have available in practically any category, and at a lower weight. They also think they can do even better. Your current supply is quite limited.
Behind gate number four is the summit of a snow-capped mountain, the slopes descending into green, forested valleys below. Surveys show little in the way of easily accessible resources in the area around the gate, but the biosphere if of some interest - most of the flora and fauna is almost identical to that found on your homeworld, accounting for some genetic drift and the initial theory that the gate opened to somewhere else on your planet is quickly disproved. Otherwise, though, the main value of this planet in the short term is perhaps as a fallback position.
Gate five connects... to hard vacuum and extreme radiation from a nearby black hole that the planet is in a stable orbit around. A very interesting find for your scientists, though you'll have to put together some more radiation-resistant equipment, as your drone's systems start failing after just a few hours.
The sixth gate opens into a cave complex and it takes a fair bit of time to find a way to the surface, which exits out halfway up the cliff of a fjord. Navigating up is a bit tricky, but once atop the cliff, your explorers find themselves in a somewhat chilly but over pleasant region, dominated by pine forests. Like with the fourth world, the flora and fauna is eerily familiar, lending further credence to interstellar terraforming theories that are now being tossed around. Of more interest are rich deposits of fissile materials discovered in a nearby mountainside.
On the seventh world, the gate sits among the withered ruins of a city, clearly built by an industrial civilization. It clearly has been abandoned for a long time, but signs of fighting are still present - withered remains of civilians and soldiers alike, the hulks of armored vehicles, their armor melted and shattered by intense, focused heat, entire city blocks erased, leaving behind deep craters and shattered buildings around them. There must've been millions living here, once. Outside the city limits, the world has been devastated, some kind of an intense bombardment destroying the biosphere, leaving behind dust and ash.
The last gate is... not great. Your scouts are able to determine that they find themselves on the planet's polar regions, which is not promising, considering the scorching heat and sandy dunes stretching in all directions. Not much in the way of resources has been found in the immediate vicinity of the gate, either, and ranging further may be prohibitive.
Once again House went over the data which his Eyebots had acquired, it was most curious. While he had expected to encounter sentient life at some point, although admittedly he was curious as to the odds of such an encounter so soon as the data had seemed to indicate that many of these Gates had simply been abandoned, but what he hadn't expected was what they found.
His thoughts however were interrupted by the distinct sound of the Elevator reaching the penthouse suite and the arrival of his Wildcard. She was clad in a set of Elite Riot Gear that she had acquired during her trip to the Divide and had the custom Gauss Rifle that had become one of her preferred weapons slung over her shoulder. She was also covered almost head to toe in dried blood and had been ever since she returned to the Strip after her latest excursion.
"I see you have been enjoying yourself." he spoke simply as she made her way before his primary monitor.
"You know how it is boss, it's Deathclaw mating season and we can't have any more mouths to feed," she responded in a rather casual manner as she took off her helmet, revealing the surprisingly attractive face beneath and her mid-length red hair that had been styled to hide the scar from where she had been shot. "Plus the Ultra Lux needed more eggs for their latest menu item."
"Quite, I take it you've heard about the information from the Eyebots then?"
"Yeah took a look and I gotta say it feels weird." went his Wildcard as she fiddled with her Pipboy before slotting in a Holotape containing a bit of the footage, "Not that they are humans, I've been around the Wasteland enough that something like that is kinda normal. It's strange in that it feels like I'm watching a bunch of tribals who stumbled upon a cache of pre-war tech."
"I concur," Mr House replied, he had felt rather similar when he analysed the footage. "While the Wargame nature of the observed combat has likely muddied the data, it is rather obvious that whomever these people are they are unfamiliar with true warfare."
"Another one of your calculations boss?"
"No, merely an hypothesis. We'll need more data before we can come to a proper conclusion, for now there are other matters to attention to." Such as the current issues with supplies. He could already see his Wildcard settle in for the discussion, while he generally just gave her a goal and trusted her to complete it through whatever method she chooses it didn't hurt to make sure she fully understood what was desired of her.
Action:
- Major Action 1 (Working on the Railroad): With the increase in farming throughout the Mojave the current issue that Mr House is facing is the inadequate distribution network that has made transporting products in suitable bulk an impractical process. As such he will begin the construction of a railway network throughout the Mojave with Vegas as the central point of the entire network.
The network will be set up to link key strategic settlements and facilities, such as Hoover Dam, Mines and particularly productive farming settlements, with Vegas Security forces being in charge of making sure that the network isn't damaged due to raiders or hostile wildlife through stationing heavily armed guards at stations, on the trains themselves and routine patrols.
Finally the trains themselves will be designed to be heavily armed with powerful weaponry and auto-turrets to further discourage anything attacking them.
-Major Action 2 (Mined Out): It is rather obvious that at the current rate of expenditure the metal stockpiles of Vegas are likely to be depleted rather quickly, even if one takes into account the ever present salvage scattered throughout the Mojave, and as such efforts must be made to correct this. As such Mr House will be reopening what mines aren't tapped out in the Mojave and begin surveys to find other veins of valuable Ore.
These mines will utilize a mixture of Human and Robotic labor to extract the Ore and send it to Vegas for processing into useful metals. Naturally these mines will be provided security in the form of Mercenaries to deal with hostile wildlife and bandits.
-Exploration (Follow the Thread): A Team is to go to the Wargame planet on which we observed unknown humans. Once there they are to set up a basecamp from which they can use to send Eyebots to the same coordinates that was observed being used by the Unknowns when they left, with the goal of hopefully gaining more information on these people without being detected. These Eyebots will be equipped similarly to the previous ones.
Crucially this team will be under the direct command of The Wildcard, who will be given permission to authorize manned expeditions to the new coordinates provided that she has received enough information to be confident that they can do so without being detected. Additionally she is authorized to attempt to steal technology or kidnap someone for interrogation so long as she believes they can do so without being detected.
(Taken from Discord, certain things omitted due to OOC) @Sinsystems
The Eyebots are ordered to covertly observe the probes in order to ascertain their purpose. No contact is to be made as of yet and at least one eyebot is to be stationed at the gate in order to accurately count the number of probes that arrive or leave.
888
The eyebots observe their counterparts, which are bigger than themselves, though they aren't built for detailed scanning, nor do they appear to have true stealth features as yours do. On the other hand, the incoming drones do appear to have somewhat superior hovering technology, they do not seem to have spotted your own drones. Overall, a total of 4 of these had come through the Stargate, and they spend several days flying around the area, not going as far as your own eyebots. After nearly a week of this, the gate activates again, with a number of humanoid soldiers in silver coloured full body armour coming through the gate, carrying ornate staffs, their helmets looking something akin to a bird's head.
Those soldiers appear to fan out and quickly begin to secure the area around the gate, as more come through with entrenching tools, some horse drawn carts coming through with what seem to be basic supplies.
888
Eyebots are to continue observations, they are to avoid being noticed by the new arrivals as much as possible as they gather data. Of particular importance is acquiring recordings of communication between the new arrivals for later analysis by our scientists and information on their technology. If it appears that the new arrivals notice the Eyebots they are to use sound clips of local animals to create the impression that what they noticed was just an animal while the Eyebot retreats. In the event that an eyebot is unable to retreat upon being spotted they are to gather what information they can, transmit it to other eyebots and then self destruct in order to avoid the new arrivals from gaining any concrete information on us.
888
The Eyebots continue their observations, and whilst they do notice what appears to be the commander of the unit communicating on some sort of portable video-screen that looks like a crystal ball, they completely fail to capture any transmission. More interesting however, is that the silver armoured soldiers aren't humanoid, but -human-, after some have their helmets collapse down for food and such. There are around 200 odd soldiers; and as far as you can tell they are extremely professional in their conduct, setting up the encampment, training, and the like with little fuss or disciplinary issues you might see in the legion or lesser NCR formations. More worryingly, the camp they are setting up is for a far larger group than currently present.
Your scheduled incoming gates from home also seem to set them on edge; their commander almost immediately after it finishes getting onto his communication device. Shortly after this, a crate that had remained unopened is now open, with eight handheld (with far better ergonomics) rifles of some sort being taken out and handed to what -seem- to be the sergeant equivalents.
888
Eyebots are to continue observations for as long as possible, gathering up as much information as they can before a pre-selected date. If the opportunity arises to acquire an example of these People's tech then it should be taken, so long as it doesn't overly risk discovery.
At the pre-selected date the Gate will be opened again to allow data transfer and any examples of stolen tech to be brought back. After that the eyebots are to continue observing until such a time as Mr House opens the Gate again to collect data or issue new orders.
888
The Eyebots continue their vigilance, helped by the fact that the soldiers, whilst clearly experienced, seem to insist scouting around in their shiny silver armour, rather than taking it off as they do for training and the like. You do get to witness the staff weapons actually act as some sort of plasma throwers, the bolt not quite as powerful as one you'd get from one of your own guns, but respectable in terms of what it does to a target, hampered by a somewhat slow rate of fire and some accuracy issues. How intentional this is, but the troops seem satisfied with their own gunnery. Another radio update comes, and goes, and soon after it, more people arrive through the stargate...a lot more.
What Pre-war US army would consider a brigade of troops start coming through the gate, with a decent amount of them wearing golden armour, more oversized drones hovering near the soldiers, and some heavier weapon emplacements being drawn in. The soldier's predominantly carry somewhat shorter staff weapons than those you've seen, and a number of them carry the counterparts of the 8 rifles you saw previously. You see more grenades on their belts, and in general the quality of their armour seems higher than those already on the planet, who are quickly made subordinate to the newcomers.
More interestingly, a few tiny fighter-craft fly through and land. One half of the army takes off further inland, the other begins a concentrated sweep for something, those shorter weapons leading the way. And immediately there is a problem, as they sweep their weapons back and forth, suddenly their guns are focused on a few of your closer observing eyebots. There is a moment of confusion, but very quickly, they begin firing. The sensor weapon appears to shoot some sort of, honestly you're not sure what, but it instantly annihilates one of the eyebots, with only a tiny amount of scrap left. Most of the others miss, though one is brought down by three plasma bolts hitting it in short order.
888
Eyebots are to act on their standing orders and fallback to avoid further discovery, with the information that the humans can detect them at shorter ranges they are to maintain distance with any groups performing searching patterns with their weapons.
888
The soldier's push your Eyebots back and as they retreat it is clear their method of detection is short in range, as their weapons fire quickly dies away, though you do see them securing the wreckage of the one that was downed. After a few hours of activity, you do spot a number of what seem to be commanders clearly discussing things around the broken Eyebot, with a lot of back and forth arguments. Finally, they call up somebody on the crystal ball, all but the lead commander kneeling immediately, though your Eyebots are too far away to make out any real details, since they're ultimately not equipped with the sort of tools for long range observation. The conversation lasts for a while, before the commanders nod and set off.
Over the next few days, activity slowly returns to normal, though there are a lot of regular sweeps that occur in that time, none catch your bots out. Your gate-in radio call comes again, as the group seems to slowly be gearing up to head inland to the direction of the other group, that has been setting up defensive works and the like for the last few days.
It becomes clear, that what you witness is a fairly well organised wargame. The staff weapons fire off a red glowy ball than the typical orange, that seems to cause damage, but not death to those shot, some use of mortars and grenades is observed particularly carrying out attacks on trenches, though much of the combat is something you might see in the napoleonic line of battle era. More interesting, is the fact that the golden armoured soldiers, all of them, seem to posess some sort of energy shield that can tank several hits before failing.
Given that around 70% of this army has such armour, a lot of them are very well protected indeed. Other observations point to extreme levels of courage, for whilst this is clearly training, units don't seem to simulate 'breaking' until a significant 75% up casualty ratio is achieved. The fighter craft occasionally pop up, strafing one side or another, but they seem to come rather sporadically than anything else. Ultimately, the defenders 'win' the battle after a day or so of fighting, and both sides seem fairly pleased with the whole thing. Your analysts are less so. The enemy tactics seem to be all over the place, as are equipment failures and successes.
Their entrenching tool is fantastic, but their weapons, even the shorter staff is...not. It's especially bizzare since their weapons to spot your eyebots seem much more accurate/ergonomic, but they are basically discarded once the fighting begins, outside a few units that are clearly on patrol for you. More oddly, is the fact that their men do not scout outside their armour, insisting on wearing something that makes stealth so much more difficult, or the fact that only the battalion commanders are equipped with actual communication spheres, the army communicating through a combination of signal flags and other such things. Lastly the enemy soldiers, without their helmets being on, seem to have decent night vision, as you see their units not hampered much by darkness.
888
Additionally: (Stuff that happened over voice-comms)
-Enemy soldiers eventually left after several weeks of exercises where they improved steadily in capabilities.
-You were able to pick up some samples of dropped items, though only basic tools (the staff weapons, side arms and a few grenades)
-Your eye bots were able to observe the gate address that the enemy force had used.
After dropping things off, and fending off Tamamo, you set off for another planet, this time a far more pleasant locale, the stargate on top of a small hill, and below it a beach inside a natural cove. There seems little else on the planet of actual note however, Ishtar flying high did not spot anything that would indicate anything close to the gate itself.
Tower Adminstrator Elena hummed to herself as she surveyed the refugees from Ahanna. The Representatives were discussing recent revelations with their own constituents, leaving her to her own devices for the moment. As much as one could, at any rate. She was the Administrator, and that meant a certain constant amount of busywork constantly flowing through the back of her mind. The Representatives were in charge of the people, while she was in charge of the Tower. It was an odd sharing of power. Technically, she should be working on more direct tasks, but with the Tower taken care, and the Representatives pondering the nature of the galaxy they'd found themselves in, she had nothing to take up her full attention.
And so, clad in her Linkage Armor, she floated forward in to the medical bay. Most of the refugees were unhurt, and the Reyvateils were kept away by the need for quarantine. Additional screening had been added to search for possible Goa'uld presence, but none had been discovered. However, as safe as they had been declared, they still had not received healing magic.
Elena smiled, not that they could really see it outside of her armor.
And then she began to sing.
MAJOR ACTION 1
The Representatives do not like the fact that there is a interstellar empire commanded by parasites that take control of human hosts. Neither does the Adminstrator. While the Gate facility is certainly secure, and the Towers defenses could probably strike down an invasion fleet, the fact remains that the Tower's range is limited. A wide-scale analysis of how many Towers it would take to have complete coverage of Ar Ciel-2 is to be undertaken.
MAJOR ACTION 2
The initial wave of surveys for resources fared very well. It is now time to take advantage of that. While most conventional resource extraction is to be limited to Ar Ciel-2 for the time being, special interest groups have become fascinated with the unrefined gate material located on the planet designated A-3. It has been decided that this will be the first off-site resource extraction location.
EXPLORATION ACTION
Investigate the address provided by the Tok'ra agents Koresh and Ward, before continuing generalized surveying.
When the first drone emerges on the other side of the gate, the operators are almost certain that they found Earth, and only the higher gravity and unfamiliar constellations in the night sky can convince them otherwise. You can't blame them - based on what you know of Earth before its devastation, the area around the first gate could be anywhere in Earth's temperate biomes. Even the atmosphere's composition is very close, though lacking in greenhouse gasses and general pollution. The next two are similar stories, one gate leading to a rather scenic seaside, another to a river valley.
It doesn't take your scientists long to notice that not only do these world share flora and fauna, but they also share it with humanity's homeworld. Certainly, there's unique lifeforms, but your teams also have a chance to see humpback whales on the second world. The news are shocking and speculation is rife, but ultimately you have too little data to make any conclusions.
The next two gates emerge in a rocky desert and a wide, open savanna. The one after that - a tectonicaly active area, split by great ravines filled with free-flowing magma. The gate's activation is enough to destabilize the cliff face it stands on, and the whole thing slides down into the sea of lava. Contact with the drone is lost as the wormhole sinks into the molten rock. The connection is maintained out of scientific curiosity until it cuts out after the usual 38 minutes and attempts to reconnect fail entirely.
The next gate is on the bottom of a seafloor. Of interest are the ruins around it, and after putting together some diving equipment and USVs, you're able to mount an exploration mission of the immediate area. The findings are... strange. The ruins appear to have been built for humans, or at least humanoids of roughly human size and stature, but the technology used seems oddly primitive - all stone and mortar and simple metalworking - and no signs of electronics or any sort of high technology are found. Surely, something must've survived?
The final gate you explore opens to a craggy, rocky landscape, inhabited mostly by small rodents and moss.
The meeting room was thick with tension as everyone stared at each other. All present were left astounded by this discovery. This impossibility that flew in contrast to all logic and sense established by scientific norms. In many ways this was even more shocking that the beginning of the Protomolecule incident that definitely showed that alien life existed.
The first one to break the silence, and who put into words what had been on all their minds was General Eshan. "Doctor Chabra. Are you and your team absolutely certain about your findings?"
The sleep deprived eyes of Ahmed Chabra stared back with both frustration and resignation. "General. You have seen the footage and looked at the live samples and heard the word of our men. They even brought back some of the animals for sanity's sake."
"Look at this, just look at it!" He said as he directed the eyes of all present into the holographic projector sitting in the middle of the room. Images of wolves, chameleons, owls, ants, an cacao, an lous plant, and etc. Dozens upon dozens of examples of creatures and plants that evolved on Earth. But of course, they werent taken from Earth. "Either we have all gone insane, or this is the simply reality staring back at us, or perhaps its both."
But of course, that didnt answer the unspoken question that was gnawing away at the minds present.
What does this mean?
Actions
Major Action 1
W.T.F.
Begin going through the previously "explored" Earth like worlds, and start setting up forward exploration and research bases. If these places have a biosphere exactly like Earths, surely humans must exist on them right? Its the only thing that might make logical sense. Focus on getting satellite and surveillance drones into Orbit so that we will have a view of the planets themselves and can guide our team's search for answers. At the same time focus also on recovery efforts for the submerged ruins, the only sign of civilization found so far. What secrets might it hold?
Major Action 2
Hold a Design contest. Military and civilian contractors, public and private designers. Being a Space faring power, the Republic's stable of land based vehicles pale in comparison to the ship designs it inherited from Sol. Considering the wide variety of worlds that are open for exploration, and the sheer size of them. The Republic's exploration efforts will require planet based designs that can traverse through the gate, and then cover immense distances on the other side. Of primary importance, Gate Subs, Gate Planes/Ships and Gate Military Transports.
Exploration Action
No seriously, what the fuck. Continue survey for new Worlds as per the primary goal. But as stated also begin indepth look/exploration on the first Earth like planets discovered through the gate.
Primary Goal: Search for traces, any traces of human communities, and re-establish contact with the rest of the human race.
@shaderic Encounter on Ahanna (summary)
Following the discovery of the massacre, Sol Ciel deployed additional drones, a ground team and an airship and more drones to to search for survivors. Only a few survivors were found after a few days of search, talking of an attack by "Goa'uld" and "Jaffa" through the gate, taking all able-bodied men and killing all the rest - not the first raid they suffered, but the first time it was so devastating.
After finding no more survivors, the search teams are about to call it quits... until the airship's sensors pick up something odd, while making an overflight near the village ruins. Less a presence, and more an absence, swallowing up active sensor scans, almost missed in the ground clutter. A drone find a small tunnel dug in the side of a ravine and a ground team is sent to explore it, finding that the tunnel is clearly artificial and lined with strange, crystalline structures. It doesn't go far and the team, again, is about to call it quits and come back with some samples of the crystals, until the airship crew calls in and warns them that the anomaly is just beyond the end of the tunnel.
A scanner is brought in to try to crack the whole mystery, but what cracks instead is the scanner and almost the skulls of the two soldiers brought in to set it up, as the the tunnel's end dissolves, revealing a man hiding there, who promptly uses an unknown weapon to destroy the scanner and attack the two soldiers. They prove tougher than he expected and a brief fight erupts in the close confines, which leads to his prompt capture.
Initially non-talkative, the man opens up after being brought to the ruins of one of the village and asked for an explanation. He is a Tok'ra, a member of a resistance group to the Goa'uld, an interstellar empire that has dominated the galaxy for millennia. They're both of the same species - a symbiotic species that takes humans as hosts, though while the Goa'uld overwrite the host's mind without a care, the Tok'ra only take willing hosts, with a symbiotic relationship as a result. He hid on this world after his cover was blown while infiltrating a Goa'uld world, and even though he was certain he shook off the pursuit... well, the Jaffa came and being one against hundreds, he tried hiding until they left.
He requests to be allowed depart. He can't promise help - the Tok'ra are distrustful of anyone - but he does provide a gate address where he'll try and make contact in a few months. Sol Ciel requests the name of the world (Ahanna), if he knew any of the villagers and to assist in burial rites.
After the final funeral pyre is lit, Koresh of Malkshur, the symbiote and Morin Ward, the host, bid Sol Ciel and the survivors farewell and depart through the gate. The survivors, wishing for nothing else but to leave the ruins of their home, but with nowhere else to go, are welcomed in Sol Ciel.
