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--- game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:adventure_journal [2023/12/17 11:58] – [Avastan] Bryan Stephens
+++ game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:adventure_journal [2024/02/24 12:15] (current) – Bryan Stephens
@@ Line 92: / Line 92: @@
 Captain Swift wields a force of will that takes command of the camp. Under his direction everyone gets to work:
-..* Katronia sets up cameras and lights
+  * Katronia sets up cameras and lights
-..*Hambley, Cory, Sayelle, and Abe set up the barriers
+  *Hambley, Cory, Sayelle, and Abe set up the barriers
-..*Lucas restores power to the main back up generator
+  *Lucas restores power to the main back up generator
-..*Vincent repairs the radio
+  *Vincent repairs the radio
-..*Anson repairs one of the diggers
+  *Anson repairs one of the diggers
-..*Maria, not adept at much besides being a Psi-spy searches the camp
+  *Maria, not adept at much besides being a Psi-spy searches the camp
 As darkness nears, Vincent manages to contact the Far Trader //McGuffy//. The ship reports it will respond and is a mere 12 hours away. They are going to have to survive the night! David oversees the barrier construction and the electrification fence attached to the wooden posts. They build a perimeter inside the camp, using the buildings as anchor points. With the aux power system, they can make the fence lethal. Just before nightfall, Maria tells her companions she found the same sort of drug in the medical area. It is clear that Abe is part of the skill jacking ring.
@@ Line 386: / Line 386: @@
 The Temple is set at some 500 miles from the Avastan Downport, at the foot of some impressive mountains. Because of this distance, it makes sense for the Temple to have its own minor landing facilities. This looks to be mostly a landing pad and a couple of large covered areas.
-{{ :game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:lore:mandala.jpg?200|}}
+{{ :game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:lore:mandala.jpg?300|}}
 Maria is so intent on searching on her comm as she walks, she takes three hours before she notices the Brethren have an automated kiosk. Maria uses it to request a live contact and is almost instantly rewarded with a man in a blue jumpsuit. Using the correct coded phrases, she requests to come in with to “friends, not family”. She makes arrangements for a trip from the downport for the next day.
@@ Line 401: / Line 401: @@
 Breeland and Whayeson quickly debrief Maria via a group mindlink which they keep up for the meeting. Lucas notes how efficient that debriefing was. Whayeson assure the two men that their mental privacy is important and their minds will not be read, nor will anyone spy upon them here. Then they get down to business.
+{{:game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:3e78b3078df0b913033e982a3f5cb27f.jpg?400 |}}
 Breeland notes that Mandala stopped a group of pirates from deploying a ship in the area that would have tipped the balance and brought more Imperial scrutiny. The ship is too flashy for them to use in their normal operations. Knowing that Vincent and Lucas have their own half paid off ships, and the group has a whole ship they want to salvage, she suggests some sales. The temple has as hidden bay under the mountain that can hold a ship. The two are intrigued, but wary. Maria assures them there are no lies going on and suggests they will like this.
@@ Line 407: / Line 409: @@
 They return to the office and agree to the deal, and use some of the money leftover from sales to upgrade and tweak the ship to their liking. Whayeson also offers to help them shop for anything they may want locally even if it is a bit higher tech than the planet normally has. It is clear that the acquisition of three more mundane ships will suit the needs of Mandala very well, and they are happy to make this deal.
+===== 05 Dawnworld Dig =====
+==== Loose Ends ====
+|Game Date|01/16/2024|
+|Campaign Dates: 276-1098 – 313-1098|
+While the others were working on the ship, Captain Swift was investigating what happened to them. A quick visit to Avastan Portways was all it took to kick things off. While the company who runs the Class B Starprot looks the other way for a lot of things, they have no peace with slavery and engages in their own robust investigation with thanks to Sir. Swift. Lysani Labs paid for ship to go to Axilos system, meet with Small Hauler deeper in system before going to Axilos. There, “candidates” were were re-dosed at the mining camp and either sent to the // Caudala// for testing, or picked up by another ship go on to other sales.
+David then heads to trace their trip back to Mertactor, where they were first kidnapped. It is clear there must be some leads there. At Avastan, Lysani personnel are picked up and questioned. Conveniently, the //Caudala’s// final disposition is unexplored.
+When David arrives at Mertactor, he finds out that Weiss Mobil already started and investigation. When Captain Harrus, of the //Weiss Mobil Oxford Valley// found out what had happened to the son of the owner, he stopped his large freighter and opened an an investigation of his own accord based on this event and the reported piracy. He left crew to investigate and sent messages to other Weiss employees. Using his “Captain’s Purse” he also hired local Private Investigators. The problem was, no one other than the three university students left knew where the others even stayed and they were laying low. All actively avoided anyone. Sorrel fled with Captain Long, Gwith’thin signed on with a local accounting firm, and Auther got a job in the shipyards.
+With the return of David the puzzle is unlocked. Not only could he tell the PI’s where he was kidnapped from, he was easily able to involve the Imperial authorities, now he was in Imperial Space. The investigation was quickly able to find out some Open Arms staff were involved. The skill jacking ring would kidnap people from the hotel. They were marked as targets by the ring after they purchased information from a man from Regina, Ahno Jemmian. Jemmian, it seems, was hired to follow Lucas and maybe even join his crew to help subvert to steal his findings. Instead, he simply sold their information to the skill jacking ring.
+The ring itself paid the crew of the labship in potential subjects in exchange for their drug supply to keep jacked victims under control. While the skill jacking ring’s leaders were not present, the Imperial authorities made several arrests and rolled up this part of the ring.
+Jemmian himself was happy to sing like a bird when captured. He was hired by the rival scientist who helped to torpedo the Professor’s career at Regina University. Loumus Swain. Now, it was clear Dr. Swain was not seeking slavery, but far less. However, he will be getting a visit from Imperial authorities.
+It is to this conclusion that the newly christened //Wandering Providence// arrives at Mertactor. After a day to refuel and load, the ship is packed with equipment. Gwith’thin and Auther join David and Anson in boarding and the adventure on Dawnworld can finally begin.
+==== Dawnworld ====
+{{:game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:dawnworld_worlds-1.jpg?800|}}
+|Campaign Dates: 313-1098 – 350-1098|
+The trip to Dawnworld take three jumps and the crew is excited to finally be on station at the dig. Davis expertly engages in overflight of the area to map it with the Denitometers from the ship and the hovers perfectly to unload. Whole area is temperate rolling hills with trees region, not unlike what the Marietta area would be like without any development. The site was recently uncovered after significant washout from the river after a “1000 year” flood a year or so ago. It was noticed by ship stopping for fuel (water) going from Caliburn to Elixabeth. It appears to be some sort of unknown alien settlement. Nothing else has ever been discovered on this world, it is not thought to be indigenous. Mandala experts believe it is an Ancients site, based on their analysis of the Imperial report (never mind how they got it).
+Dawnworld itself is uninhabited by sophonts. The Class E Downport is little more the poured concreate and self-serve water pumps based on the coast of another continent. It has the basic communication satellites in orbit, including relays powerful enough to communicate with ships the 5 gas giants in the outer system. Ships pass through, especially Jump-1, on their way across this unclaimed area of the Spinward Marches. This means that news updates happen, even in this outer area. The team’s exitance is logged into the local system, and as ships pass, they can exchange niceties.
+{{:game_systems:traveller:creatures:b904e4fb8a24599951f4324781e75c62.jpg?400 |}}
+They set up at the site, away from the river, and leave the ship’s boat on the other bank in a raised area. They park //Wandering Providence// is parked 3.5 km away in a large flat area behind another mountain.
+After a day of setting up, Lucas has the 5 achreobots start their own close up scan of the region which will take two weeks. He asks David to reconnoiter the area and map out a pathway they could walk to their ship if needed. Auther notes to David before he leaves that there are strop marks high on several of the trees, indicating a large animal. They easily find several elephant sized creatures the data files on the planet refers to as “Odacos”. They have tough shells, long tusks, and the disposition of a rhino or hippo. While the robots are search, Lucas takes Gwith’thin and they observe the animals for a few days. It is clear to the xenobiologists that something akin to musk from a mating season is coming. They return to the ship’s lab and synthesize a version. Gwith’thin then uses the Air/Raft to distribute it in such a way as to keep the herds, in their mating frenzies, away from the dig site.
+After two weeks, the group celebrates the survey’s completion with dinner on board //Providence//. Vincent offers a wonderful meal using local plants and some game as part food. Lucas and Gwith’thin provide updates on what they have learned. This is like nothing in the existing Ancients literature, but that is common for Ancient sites. The site is still covered in silt and sand from recent wash and it- It will take some time to clear out carefully. The buildings look to be built by something akin to coral but not with calcium carbonate but iron and carbon forming. There is an organic flow to structures. As Lucas reviews the data he is struck by a picture with an clear large stylized carving of the Ancients’ glyph for the #12. This is identical to the image on his ring. Lucas pauses and then says //”This is confirmation”//. Maria also recognizes the image as being on the device she stole for Mandala those years ago.
+==== Digging and Distress ===
+|Campaign Dates: 313-1098 – 351-1098|
+Three days later, as the digging has begun, the com system goes off with a Mayday from ship //Harus Kak// with grav-lift failure on way down. They race to the ship and charge up. It is clear what knocked down the ships was the category 5 hurricane in the area over the Downport. The whole trip, they cannot raise anyone. Lucas and Vincent man the sensors and are easily able to find the crashed scout ship on the edge of a mountain. David almost strikes the side of the mountain as well, but has a lucky skip. He gets the //Providence// hovering, airlock pointed towards the downed //Harus Kak// as close as he dares, 60 meters away. It takes all his skill to keep the ship there.
+Vincent tries all communications frequencies to engage anyone. He gets a ping back from someone over their neural comm, Alder Holbrook the ship’s engineer. The man sounds very scared, and says he is most worried about the Captain, but he not heard from anyone on the bridge for the last few minutes. Vincent has him open the airlock on his ship.
+While this is going on, Maria uses her //life detection// to scan the ship. There are five souls aboard, but one is dying fast. Already suited up, they make for the airlock. David tells Vincent to take his grav belt. Maria says,
+//”The Captain is going to die before we can get to him.”//. Lucas nods, and hands Maria his trauma pack and goes to fire the EVA cable to the distressed ship. Vincent places a hand on his shoulder and steps up.
+//”I’ve done this a time or two, let me.”// says the space, though not mentioned it has always been in vacuum not winds over 150kmph. Vincent has the grav belt attached and attacks the EVA line to himself. Before he can launch himself through the space he turns to see reality bend behind him.
+{{ :game_systems:traveller:insearchoftheancients:archorobot.jpg?400|}}
+After a use of //clairvoyance// to scan the bridge, Maria attempts to //teleport//. At first she is unsuccessful, but then, her modified suit is outlined with blue-white energy as her second attempt works and she is suddenly gone. Shaking his head, Vicent throws himself down towards the //Harus Kak//. He adroitly uses the grav belt and land inside the airlock. Attaching the EVA line, he tells Lucas to come on down. Lucas slides down the line, but he is not the expert. Just before he piles into the side of the ship, Vincent grabs him, and they both tumble into the airlock.
+Maria is already on the bridge. She is perversely relieved to see the crew unconscious due to smoke. The Captain is clearly dying, his left leg crushed, and now he is bleeding out. Maria uses her //awareness// to psionically increase her strength and tosses aside the debris on the captain, slapping the trauma pad on his leg to save his life. He is nowhere near safe, but not about to die. Maria throws the switches the vent the smoke and works to get the other three crew up and moving. Vicent and Lucas arrive and help to get the crew fully suited for the transition, other than the Captain who will have to be carried as is. They are stunned at how easily Maria moves the crew around.
+From engineering, Holbrook calls panicked, saying that he is unhappy with the fusion plants. Vincent tells him to shut them down, but is quite alarmed when the panels show a sea of rea suddenly. Whatever Holbrook did is not working. Lucas tries the bridge controls, but they are severed from engineering. Vincet and Maria get the crew to the airlock, and Maria uses the grav belt to traverse the line back and forth with the occupants. She sends the belt back and then carries the captain to the autodoc.
+Meanwhile, Lucas charges into engineering to shut down the fusion plants that are cascading into failure. As Holbrook stands by, the brilliant Vargr jury rigs a power down to the systems. The ship quickly goes dead. Now, everything starts to tilt as the gravity compensators fail. This also causes the ship to shudder as if it will fall off the mountain. David makes a swift adjustment to stop the whole thing from falling apart. They are running out of time!. Vincent yells over the com:
+//”Lucas, we are Leaving!”//. Lucas and Holbrook come up and quickly get to the //Providence//. Once more, the grav belt is slid down the rope. Donning it, Vicent begins his trip up, only to see in horror, the scout ship start to slid down the cliff, the EVA line now taunt between them. Vincent cuts the line, now swinging free below it. By now Maria is back at the airlock. She helps to haul Lucas back into the ship. The moment he is on board, Vincent yells for David to go and at four gravities of thrust the //Wandering Providence// launches into the sky. In moments they are free of the storm and on the way back.
+Now the emergency is over, they find that Cpt. Daron Steiger is a former Scout with a ship on loan from the scout service. His crew is Hap Gelfi, Keana Kingston, Quill Amano and Alder Holbrook. They were suffering from a powerplant that was always troublesome. This time, as they exited jump, it began to fail. The Captain used his expert pilot skills to try to thread the hurricane to get down to the planet, but an unlucky wind shear knocked them into the mountain.
+It takes a week for Steiger to get out of the autodoc. The crew is able to catch a ride on a passing Free Trader and things settle back into normal. For the next three weeks, the dig is just that, a dig clearing the soil. Gwith’thin becomes quite excited when he analyzes the soil. It seems to be from someplace else on the planet. Was this site buried with a purpose? Lucas orders a scan of the surrounding soil and they are all astonished to discover the hills to the south are similar soil, covering the pyramid shapes. But the returns on the shapes make no sense. They are perfect shapes that seem to either have no density or infinite density.
+==== Ancient Pyramids ====
+|Game Date|01/24/2024 & 01/30/24|
+|Campaign Dates:| 362-1098 – 365-1098|
+The discovery of two disks divert the team from the underground shapes. They are clearly of some unknown design. There is no interface of any sort, yet these clearly are parked at the “Coral Settlement” as the group has taken to calling it. It looks as if there were spaces for 12 of these. When Lucas approaches one, he can sense the Ancient artifact ring around his neck pulse. The ring is sending energy into the disk! He figures he had better explain. He tells the group his ring seems to store and release energy, but only around him. Somehow, when he first found it, it keyed to him. With no interface, they are not sure how the disk might work. The disk is now holding itself in place wherever it is put. Clearly, it has a grav lifter of some sort. Lucas asks Maria if she can communicate with it.
+Maria is a skilled and powerful Psion, perhaps one of the strongest in the Imperium. She has skill in all the known psionic disciplines, which her comrades do not yet fully grasp. However, her best skill is typical of a human Psion, telepathy. Maria does the impossible (16+ check) and establishes a perfect connection with the psionic interface with this alien device. She is able to fully unlock the device and “talk” with it.
+The disks are transportation devices. They use gravity planeing to operate around the planet, much like an air/raft. They generate a force shield and can support significant speeds with the rider moving in comfort. Like an air/raft, they can travel around the planet, as long as they have enough charge. Maria notes this one is rapidly running out of power and tells it to shut down. By then, she has an image in her mind of the locations this thing was programmed to go to. This includes the buried structure they just discovered, as well as 12 other sites on the planet. Maria pops a Navigation wafer into her waferjack and is able to easily locate these on the existing planetary map.
+Lucas decides to uncover the pyramids. The top of the tallest is only covered in soil. It takes a day, but the top is revealed. It is a flat surface, that is perfectly reflective of all types of energy. The group quickly surmises this is a statis field, with perfect reflections. Maria sees if the “Floaty Discs” have a way to open the field, but they do not. David suggest that Lucas approach with his ring out. The doctor agrees.
+They move the crew and the ship’s boat back to the //Wandering Providence//. The four heroes are all suited up. Lucas approaches with caution, hand outstretched. As the ring gets to within around 9 meters, it pulses, and a silver light bursts from it, hitting the stasis field. In an instant, the light is gone, and the hard surface of the pyramid is left. On the top is a large 30 meter diameter hole, with a shaft leading down.
+They summon their archobots and send two down, using their gippers, like insects walking on a wall. The strange material of the structure, coupled with the feet of dirt and stone reduce the effectiveness of radio communications. The bots can relay signals. What report back is amazing. There appears to be 12 controls rooms around a central circle and then down a hallway. There is some tectonic damage clearly visible to the main hallway. Each room appears to have been a monitoring room of some sort, with silhouettes of 12 different species:
+  .Terran Humans
+  .Humanoid (and sized) whales
+  .Great Cats
+  .Bears
+  .Aurochs
+  .Mammoths
+  .Muscadine (weasels)
+  .Rodents
+  .Kangaroos
+  .Hyenas
+  .Monkeys
+  .Canids (Vargrs)
+Other spaces appear to be a medical bay, storage and barracks. With nothing apparently dangerous, the group rides down, carried by the bots. In the largest room, one apparently designated for humans, Maria lays down in what appears to be a control couch. She attempt to activate it with her mind, and activate it she does! Maria immediately falls unconscious. Lucas and Vincent race to her. Her medical monitor shows her mind is racing, and her body is undergoing stress. They are unsure of what to do, but stand by. After a few minutes, Maria’s eyes open. Even inside her vacc suit, she is drenched in sweat. The world is a bit darker to her, and she realizes she has spent all of her psionic energy, or more correctly, been drained of it as the chair used her energy to power itself.
+Lights go on down the hallway, and down another shaft. The group looks at the tired woman. Maria relates a vision she had, her mind touching another that is in this place. It is a man, Anuan, who when he was young was taken from earth by an ancient in human form, Kraverse. He lived here on Dawnworld until he aged and was near death. Kraverse then made him into the Administrator for the complex. Power is damaged and needs to be restored. Maria is quite drained by her experience and asks to return to her stateroom. David agrees and takes her back to the ship in the air/raft.
+Lucas and Vicent look at the different rooms. Vincent says he wants to try a chair. Lucas is not sure but agrees to stand by. Vincent is not struck as Maria was and remains awake. The screens in the room spring to life. They are dark at first, but Vincent is able to direct them with his mind, moving the focal point through what is stone now. This looks at the site of the uplifted kangaroos. All that can be seen are the remains of a bronze age settlement. Lucas makes sure to record the footage. Suddenly, the screens go dim and Vincet goes into cardiac arrest. Lucas rips open the ports on his vacc suit and injects Vincent with a stimulant. The stricken man stabilizes. They get back to the surface just as David returns. The two take Vincent back to the ship, even has he assures them he is fine and wants to continue. His protests die down as they reach the ship and the simulant effect fades. The two men wrestle the now stumbling Vincent into the autodoc, where he can be monitored and restored.
+=== Holiday and Recovery ===
+The next day, Maria emerges well rested and ready to return. She is appalled to hear what Vincent did, and even more concerned when she meets him and she can sense his mind is horribly exposed. It seems the chair forced his mind open, and while this did give Vincent minor psionic capacity, without any training, he has been left vulnerable to telepathic effects.
+Anson points out that tomorrow is [[https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Holiday|Holiday]], the annual celebration of the Imperium. Lucas decides to take the day. Vincent goes to work to prepare for the day, and Maria joins him, mostly to keep near him and monitor. Gwith’thin excitedly reviews the data, while Lucas and Sorrel prepare comm units to create a comm chain so as not to fix the bots into place and let them be mobile. Anson, David, and Auther monitor the ship and perform maintenance. Holiday goes well, and it is a good rejuvenation for the crew that has been working so hard. Everyone is excited about exploring the structure tomorrow, but this day is a day of celebration, laughter, with good food and fun.
+=== Back to the Pyramid ===
+The next day, exploration begins again. This time, the crew on the ship is monitoring all the feeds closely. The four main members return, this time following the illuminated passageway down. It becomes clear that the power centers on the lower level are blocked by a cave in. They are thermal units, using superconductors of heat driven deep into the earth. The lines are clearly cut by the cave in. Several servitor bots stand dead, unable to finish the work they were clearly engaged in.
+As they explore, there are more rooms. Maria enters what looks to be a lavish private quarters, when suddenly a force field grips her and alarms blare. She is unhurt, but the room is blocked off and she cannot move from its grip. She tries to telepathically communicate with the mind she was in contact with before, but it does not seem to be on the otherside of this device. And nothing more happens. Lucas tells the team to watch the feeds around the site, but there is no changes. Having seen a room that looked like a control room, David moves into the room cautiously. He is suddenly struck by a telepathic attack and falls unconscious. Lucas quickly and deftly order a bot to retrieve him and immediately performs first aid to rouse him.
+As they are wondering what to do, the alarms stops and the field drops. David surmises this must be an automatic system with its own power. That ran out. No one is coming to answer the alarm because they are long dead. Maria starts a full search of the room, while Lucas has the bot advance into the other obvious control room. It is suddenly depowered by an ion strike, and then something similar to sarin gas is released into the room. While it is evacuated by a fan, that room is still off limits.
+Meanwhile, Maria finds 12 droyn coyns, of unique properties, and several crystals which seem psionically active. Maria proposes to the group she take the coyns and declare she is allowed to be in the room, both verbally and telepathically. They agree, but Lucas has a line clipped to her suit’s EVA connector and has a bot on stand by to pull her out. The former agent enters the room, coyns in hand. She is immediately struck with the psionic attack, but her powerful mind holds it off. A voice comes from a speaker and a red hand print appears on the control surface at the end of the room. The voice speaks English and asks for power to be restored. It calls Maria by name and tells her to touch the print. She does so, removing her vacc suit glove. As she does so, psionic attack ends, but she feels her psionic energy being draining to power this computer. She lets is flow. The room comes to life with light.
+//”I am Administrator. Welcome. You may now enter safely. I have turned off the automatic defenses”//
+The voice says in perfect [[https://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Anglic|Anglic]]. The other three look at each other and slowly enter into the room. After sensing the ring Lucas carries, Administrator notes that was a control ring for the Ancient Kraverse. He guesses that is how they shut down the stasis field and asks Lucas if he can drain its energy. Lucas agrees and more power goes to support this ancient computer that is more than a computer.
+Administrator tells the group that he was once human, or he is copied from a human, he is not sure. He was taken from Earth long ago and brough here by the Ancient Kraverse, the 12th “son” of the original Ancient called “Grandfather”. Here, Kraverse sought to uplift other Terran species, in much the way Vargr had been by Grandfather himself. The man Administrator was, Anuan, was a leader of the project. The humans from Earth ran the project for the enigmatic Ancient, who was most often absent working on other projects. He always looked like a perfect human, but Anuan knew this was not his true form, or original form. When Anuan was old and infirm, he was transferred/copied into this current state: a mind in an inorganic form, housed in an armored shell and hooked into this place, to over see the great project. Then war came.
+Administrator heard from Kraverse that the Ancients were fighting among themselves and to hide. Number 7 was coming. The hope was that if this site were hidden, then the enemies would not destroy the world. They were only partially right. Administrator evacuated the Coral Settlement and dumped tons of dirt on it and this site. He then hid in stasis. When he came back out, things appeared to be secure. However, the real effect was all too horrible. Something had been done, and every creature of Sphere Terra had males born sterile. Administrator watched as all the sophonts, so carefully guided, nurtured and developed, died out. This included his own lines, his own family. All died. Administrator when back into stasis with one of the two remaining temporal D-tubes.
+Afte this sad story, Administrator asks them to help restore power to the facility. He gives them instructions on how to do this and the group sets to work. It takes four days to clear the debris, and two more to reconnect the leads to generate power. However, once done, the whole facility is restored in all its glory. It is then Administrator drops the bombshell: This place must be destroyed.
+==== Buried Secrets ====
+Administrator tells them he has a directive, that feels much like a growing urge, to destroy this base. With Kraverse gone and the project devastated, this base must be destroyed. However, he does not have to kill himself. He makes an offer to them: Take me with you, and I will order the ship construction modules to upgrade your ship. His plea is impassioned, and he even offers to give Maria a psionic trigger to kill him. The group is moved and agrees. Lucas orders the crew to start taking as much out as they can from both sites. Administrator uses the strange powers of the last temporal D-tube to remove dirt from the long buried hanger, and //Wandering Providence// starts its upgrade. The crew collects artifacts and some of the technology. Both man sized autodocs go, as well as Maria taking a psionic interface chair. They find 8 working and 4 non functional floaty disks as well. Meanwhile, Administrator starts the upgrades of the ship’s power plant, drives, and hull.
+Maria spends much time in contact with Administrator and helps him understand what was done to his own mind. Once free of the system, he will have room to grow as an independent sophont. He comes up with a new name for himself, Ama-gi, meaning “wanderer” in his old language.
+The urge to destroy the base unfortunately grows stronger faster than Ama-gi had expected. He urgently tells his new organic friends to evacuate. He asks Maria and David to disconnect him once the others are safely away and fly out on the floaty disks. Lucas tells the crew at the Coral Settlement to get in the ship’s boat and head to orbit.
+On the //Wandering Providence// the ship is not set to fly. Its fusion reactors are powered down, and its M-drive is not ready. The grav systems will work, but they need power. Lucas adroitly uses his ring to power the systems needed, almost casually making the connections. Vincent then flies the ship out of the hanger and towards the starport on the other continent. The ship responds much faster than Vincent is used too, having cut his teeth on capital ships.
+Once away, Ama-gi mind links with Maria and walks her through the steps to disconnect. He is unsure what will happen, but is concerned that internal security systems will try to stop his removal when he can no longer suppress them. He will power them all down at the last moment, but once he is out, automatic programs will take over. This includes the destruct sequence. And he is afraid. Maria can feel his fear and tells him to stay in contact. Her eyes will be his eyes. Her ears his ears. He will not be senseless. She makes the final disconnection and she and David the 1 meter across dodecahedron onto a disk and they jump on their own. The disks respond to mental commands, even of non-telepaths and they race towards the first shaft up.
+The shut down areas start coming to life from the computer core room forward, like a wave. Two portals open up and guns emerge to fire at them trio. David fires his automatic rifle in two bursts and take the both out. He tells Maria not to slow down, and the three do a hard 90 degree bank to head up. Maria struggles with the turn and almost strikes the wall, but manages to move up at the last moment. She just clears the shaft as a ring of guns deploy behind them. The activation wave passes them, and between them and the exit shaft are four floating spheres. David easily takes out three with his rifle, but Maria’s laser pistol cannot disable the last one. It shoots David, making him stagger. It is at this point Ama-gi, using Maria’s eyes, reveals he can use telekinesis, and slams it into the wall. The three discs fly free of the complex.
+Below, magma erupts, exploding from the sides of the hill, starting to fill the chambers of the ancient structure, and spilling over the Coral Settlement. The abandoned living modules are buried under the flows. That is not enough for the pyramids. The final image from a camera inside is of the temporal D-tube flashing with silver light, and then the whole area goes black. After a few minutes, the pyramids are gone, millions of years of time having passed in minutes. Kraverse’s command center is gone forever.
+The three parties regroup at the starport. No other ships are present at the moment. Maria goes to connect Ama-gi to the ship, and he starts work completing the upgrades. Maria refuses to leave their inorganic friend and uses stims to stay awake until Lucas forces her to go to bed after she is up for 72 hours. Four days after the evacuation, //Wandering Providence// is in her new form (as is the ship’s boat).
+==== Keeping Secrets ====
+No one is quite sure how to make a report. Lucas suggests they remain and look at the other dig sites. They decide to reaming for another 4 months or so doing surveys. Sorrel does not want this. Being on digs is not what she thought it would be. After the excitement of a find of a life time, digging up bronze age sites is not what she wants to do. She leaves with a passing ship after a heartfelt good bye. Lucas promises she will still get credit on the paper. He is also insistent that Auther and Gwith’thin will finished their degrees. This also gives him time to write up their findings in a way they can report them to the authorities. Lucas and Daivd work on a report that makes it easy to pull certain items they understand might be at issue. David also makes the report he will want to give to the Navy. They plan to head to Glisten, the sub-sector Capitol closest to Dawnworld. This time also gives Lucas and Gwith’thin time to figure out why Sphere Terra males are sterile. It is a type a virus that piggy backs on more common viruses. It is easily purged by adult immune systems but not infants. It is very stable, as it is artificial, and a vaccine should be achievable. Further, it gives Maria a chance to train Vincent on mental shields and mink link.
+After a little over four months, the group bids farewell to Dawnworld and using their new Jump-4 drives, take only two weeks to arrive at Glisten. Lucas immediately puts in a request to meet with the Sub-Sector Duke’s people, while David makes an appointment with Naval Intelligence at the Naval base in system. Lucas is quite concerned about meeting with people of such high status, and asks Vincent to come with him to the meeting. Maria decides to stay on the ship with the others, and deliberately not run around the city.
+While Vincent has taken Lucas clothes shopping, David flies to the naval base to meet with Lt. Commander Adams. He is too the point and Commander Adams is amazed at the story. With a call, he expedites Lucas’ meeting and sends Captain Swift to the Duke’s residence. Vincent and Lucas find their clothes shopping interrupted by the Duke’s security, who take them directly to a meeting days sooner than they expected. All three men find themselves in a conference room in the Duke’s private rotating habitat.
+They are met by Ms. Sonesta and Mr. Jordan. She does all the talking. It is clear she already has the report from David and takes the information from Lucas. They are as excited by the possible cure for Dawnworld’s curse as they are the information on the ancients. The three are told they will be guests for three days at the residence. Vincent calls Maria, who by this point, is contemplating hacking the starport’s security feed as she has had no contact for hours. As Vincent gives his rather anodyne report, Maria summons her energy and attempts a very distant mindlink with Vincent. Vincent, to his surprise, is able to make the connection briefly, and tells Maria the full story with memory.
+After three days, the men are given the sanitized version of the paper to be published and David’s formal report. Ms. Sonesta suggests David familiarize himself with it for his final briefing. She also tells them they will send an agent to interview the three students to reinforce upon them what they can and cannot say. The three agree and head back to the starport.
+David has an easy time of his final report. A few brief questions from the head of Naval Intelligence in the sector, and then David is wined and dined as the celebrity his is by the brass. Back at the ship, Lucas is worried. They, of course, don’t have all three students to be debriefed. Maria notes she can solve that problem and when the agent comes, she will stand in for Sorrel. The next morning, Maria emerges looking and sounding much like their departed student. She and the others meet with the agent and told in no uncertain terms what they cannot say to others. They are even provided with drafts of their dissertations and told to learn them
+Finally, everyone is back on the //Wandering Providence//. Lucas has been looking at possible leads on the Ancient Hunters sites. He thinks there may be a place or three to check out. The ships slides into the black and prepares for their next adventure!
+**End of Season 1**

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