RP: YSS Resurgence Mission 15: The Pathfinders (YE 46.5)

[Yoshiro Tanaka]

Passageway

"It was but I think it was a hard fought victory. Those Xynar are tough though and they earned my respect. As far as winning goes, we did it as a team." Yoshiro responded. "As for being scared...I really was. Fighting battles isn't easy but like you said, we won. Sanda was really good leading the fight."

He waited a few minutes before he spoke to Beryl. "Say, Beryl? Would you mind if I took you out to dinner at our next shore leave? I would love to get to know you better if you want to." He said blushing.

 

[Wes]

Concordia Station
YE 46.5

The Resurgence had returned to Concordia Station to meet again with Concordia Sector Operations. A few of the crew went over in a shuttle to meet with the Xiulurian elf SAINT liaison Lemeli Sylvan, who had given them the mission to explore the wormholes the last time they were there. Aoba sent Mineko and Euikoshi to deliver the report and anyone else who wanted to join them was encouraged to do so, so Poppy tagged along as well. The station was in increasingly good shape, as its ancient systems were restored and the Yamataian forces got increasing cooperation with the AI at its core, who the Resurgence crew had saved from the Mishhuvurthyar.

In the conference room, all the Resurgence crew who had wanted to come attend were able to grab a seat and discuss their findings and what came next.

"As you'll find in the report," Euikoshi was saying, "Near Wormhole 1 we found a planetary system with a habitable world and on this planet there was an ancient research facility under the surface ruins that was over a million years old and yet still operational. It was maintained and defended by guardian robots and it had containment cells for...entities that had come out of some of the portals. We called the the dimensional aberrations, and they were from a dimension the systems referred to as the dark aether. The base was built by a civilization we are calling the "Aetherian Progenitors" and it was referred to by its guardian robots as the Nexus of Val'hara at Atramentum, the Origin of Darkness."

Yayoi was silent as usual as she took her chosen seat. Her hands remained on her pants as she listened to Euikoshi's debriefing. She remembered the mission well, but she still remained silent as she listened. Dark Aether, i wonder how different it would be from normal aether. does it have mutagen abilities? She didnt know

"How different are the Aetherian Progenitors from previously known entities that hail from aetheric regions?" Mineko asked. Murmuring, she added, "Intentions seem to align."

"We do not know from where the Aetherian Progenitors originate," Euikoshi told Mineko. "The base's systems that I was able to interact with mainly seemed focused on the dimensional research and the related portals, not really any cultural information or history."

"Well, just aetheric origins in general," Mineko queried.

Cheilith sat fairly quietly, watching the rest of the crew.

"Besides the Dimensional Aberrations, there is only one other entity I know of that may have had origins in the aether..." Euikoshi. "There are some within the SARA community that believe the Umbral, the overlords of the Mishhuvurthyar, commonly referred to as the Dark Ones, somehow originated from the aether, given their unusual interest in it and their objections to Yamatai's use of the aether. It's unclear if the entities we saw have any relation, but they apparently entered this universe over a million years earlier than the Umbral."

"I should have added 'purportedly' hails, but point remains. If they share that similarity, where do they end and where do they stop. Knowing—or at the least, theorizing—could help us in more ways than one." Mineko said.

Poppy chimed in, "Our working theory is that the Aetherian Progenitors kept opening portals to new dimensions, maybe other universes, for research purposes, until they found these Aberrations and they were a problem. They attempted to contain them in the research base. We don't know what happened after that. But we did find a faction called the Xynar Dominion which was sending military forces to secure the ancient artifacts for themselves and which may have released some of the ancient entities into the wild...which, by the way, didn't end well for them."

"I agree," Euikoshi nodded to Mineko. "I feel like right now we don't have enough pieces of this puzzle to really put it together, but maybe the other wormholes will give us more of the story."

Yayoi shifted a little in her seat as she attempted to think about the Aberrations the team fought. She didn't remember if they captured any, but did remember the statue-machines.

"And that's what makes what the future holds so interesting," Mineko said, words coming faster than she could speak. "Opportunity to learn. I'm especially intrigued that these dimensional aberrations weren't what the Celestial Concord were running from. We've seen the Xynar, know what they can do and why the Concordians feared them. But we don't know what's coming through those portals or their intentions, do we."

"They're bad news," Poppy said, "I've never seen something that could just bust through aether before just by touching it. Anything they put their hands on gets turned into glitter."

Yayoi nodded "considering we use Aether, they could be considered a threat. especially if they can do that to matter too." Yayoi commented verbally.

"The Concordians said they were on the run from some sort of machine faction that wanted to remove organic life. I'm not sure what the connection is between the Aetherian Progenitors' old base and Concordian Station, but they both had dimensional portals in them, and they both had robot guadians that come out of the walls, and those guardians look fairly similar and both use plasma weapons, and both bases were run by an AI that speak a similar language, so logic suggestions that Concordia Station may have been built by the Aetherian Progenitors. If they have a base on one side of the wormhole and a station on the other side, it's possible that the entire wormhole network the Mishhuvurthyar were using to spread through the galaxy was originally made by them. What do you think, Mineko?" Euikoshi speculated.

"If that hypothesis is correct, it's in our vested intest to find out if the Mishhuvurthyar knew that. If they are being aided by the Aetherians or if they are simply using a tool they stumbled upon. Our lives would be very different depending on that answer," Mineko said with a slow ruminating cadence that differed from the last time she spoke. "Our lives and our deaths, for that matter."

"It's unclear whether or not the Aetherian Progenitors survived into the current era," Euikoshi shrugged. "All we've found is their million-year-old ruins, bases, and space stations, all under siege by various other groups like the Rixxikor and Xynar, and with only robot defenders, no people."

"Even if they survived, the Misshu aren't known to be the best of neighbors." Cheilith observed.

"What they can't conquer or corrupt, the Mishhu destroy," Poppy nodded to Cheilith. "It's their way."

"You ever wonder why that is?" Cheilith asked.

"What I'm wondering," Lemeli Sylvan asked, "...is why the Xynar Dominion is so hostile to us without ever really even trying to identify us. They must have a lot of confidence to just attack other nations without asking questions."

"There are a lot of places where it doesn't matter why you are there or who you are, if you're not Star Army, you get shot." Cheilith offered.

"Maybe they're more talkative when there isn't ancient technology at stake," Euikoshi suggested. "I think they just wanted it for themselves."

Hayden raised his hand, "Hey, uh, where's that stuff the robot told me fit in?"

Yayoi nodded with Cheilith's words indeed it was true, especially true with the Kuvexians. She clutched and unclutched a fist in silent anger as she thought of their crimes, before she turned her focus.

Euikoshi looked at Hayden. "The robots called the world the origin of darkness, I think they meant it was a cursed place because it's where the dimensional aberrations were introduced from this 'dark aether' dimension into our own, which may have led to the downfall of their civilization. Perhaps if we keep exploring the wormhole network we'll be able to find messages they left behind that could tell us more about their history and how it happened. But for now, it's unclear."

"I guess that sounds about right. Roboman didn't seem like he was very happy to talk about that part." Hayden mused, "For like, what a giant killer statue can be happy, or whatever."

"Please ask Captain Aoba to assist SAINT in gathering additional intelligence by investigating the other wormholes around Concordia Station," Lemeli told the Resurgence crew.

"We will, of course," Mineko said to the other Intelligence Officer. "Thank you for your assistance in doing so, as well. There is a lot to learn in this Sector and a lot of ways to make use of those findings."

Yayoi leaned back in her seat as she thought about Lemeli's request to investigate the other worm holes. She knew most were to random regions in the Kagami Galaxy, but she had to admit, going through a dimensional portal was intriguing. She sighed a little audibly "a certain medic trainee, would not be pleased if I don't ask.. but is there plans to investigate the portals we've discovered?' she asked. Yayoi knew most would know whom she meant by medical trainee.

"Yes, but we need to proceed with caution to avoid releasing more problems into the universe," Lemeli said. "After the First Fleet had to take decisive action to keep the planet from falling to the Xynar, it's likely the Star Army will set up a permanent base there and move SARA teams into the ancient facility for the long-term. Once that happens, we will probably need volunteers to explore some of the portals and the dimensions beyond them."

Yayoi nodded her head silently in agreement. She didn't like the idea of releasing new problems, though if these were only problems to the likes of Kuvexian, or better the Rixxikor that would be amazing.

"No doubt the Mishhu are happy to know we're now fighting a war on two fronts," Mineko stated, a little sadly.

"As we explore the galaxy to find the Mishhu, running into new threats is just part of the process," Lemeli replied. "They would have been out there regardless, so it's better that We Know instead of remaining in the dark about them," she stated flatly, referencing the SAINT motto.

"And now we know," Mineko nodded somberly, agreeing but still reflecting on the tough road ahead.

Poppy placed a reassuring hand on Mineko's shoulder. "The Star Army is built to do the hard stuff, and so is Resurgence. We're small but we always make a difference for the better," she smiled.

"New intel just came in from our scout probe," Euikoshi told Mineko. "It's, uh...on fire. Turns out the second wormhole is really close to a sun, maybe due to some sort of stellar drift or gravity interactions. We should be prepared to get a little roasted when we get there. Before it melted, we got a single image from it showing the silhouette of a space station similar to Concordia Station. Looking at it, it looks like it may fall into the sun soon so we should probably learn as much as we can before that happens."

"If the planet is going to fall into the sun, shouldn't we get heat resistant gear for the away teams?" Yoshiro asked. He had been listening to the briefing and was a bit concerned.

Yayoi widened her eyes, she'd never heard of such a thing happen before but then a wormhole being close to the sun was new for her.

"We should talk to Beryl and see if she can procure any sort of heat-resistant gear," Poppy thought out loud.

"Agreed, and heat resistant metal would be good too," Yayoi said.

Euikoshi and Poppy stood and politely made their goodbyes to Concordia Sector Operations' SAINT Liasion. Together with the rest of the Resurgence crew, they headed back to their gunship to get ready for the next mission.

= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Charaa, Yoshiro, AND YUUKI, Ame, Soban

 

[Wes]

YSS Resurgence – Wormhole Transit to Unknown Space

The YSS Resurgence surged forward as it neared the second wormhole, the sleek, war-weathered hull cutting through the void like a blade. The stars ahead began to warp and twist, dragged into a spiraling maw of darkness and light, the wormhole entrance shimmering with energy. This was one of the eight mysterious anomalies, and it felt different—more volatile, more dangerous.

"All hands, prepare for wormhole entry," Captain Aoba’s voice came over the ship's intercom. "Brace for turbulence and unknown conditions on the other side."

In the bridge, screens lit up with flashing symbols and shifting readouts as the ship's sensors struggled to grasp the sheer power of the cosmic phenomenon ahead. The space around the wormhole swirled, shimmering like a liquid horizon, twisting in on itself with pulses of strange, rhythmic energy.

In the wardroom, the crew felt the ship shudder under the strain. Drinks rattled in their cups, trays vibrated on tables, and the soft hum of the ship’s engines took on a more ominous tone as the Resurgence drew closer to the anomaly.

"Here we go again," Poppy muttered, gripping the edge of the table.

Euikoshi, standing at a console on the bridge, was furiously checking readouts from the ship’s systems. "This wormhole’s readings are off the charts compared to the last one. It’s destabilizing faster—there’s no telling what we’ll find on the other side!"

The ship began to rattle violently as it breached the event horizon of the wormhole, the stars outside bending and distorting into long streams of light as they were pulled through the swirling vortex. A sudden lurch threw some of the crew off-balance as the ship was yanked deeper into the unknown, the gravitational forces slamming into the hull like a hammer on steel.

"Hang on, everyone!" Gabriela shouted over the comms, gripping her station as the lights flickered ominously.

"Brace for emergence!" Kalena's voice cut in over the intercom. "Exit in T-minus 10 seconds. Prepare for immediate response!"

The countdown rang in everyone’s ears as the ship barreled toward the exit point. At the bridge, Captain Aoba gripped the armrest of his chair, his eyes locked on the swirling chaos outside. "Weapons at the ready. We don’t know what’s waiting for us."

The ship punched through the other side of the wormhole with a deafening crack, as if reality itself had just split open. The crew found themselves thrown forward as the Resurgence emerged into a vast, alien expanse—an entirely new sector of space.

But there was no time to take in the view.

The YSS Resurgence tore free from the wormhole with a jolt that sent a shudder through its entire hull. The stars beyond the ship snapped back into focus, but the view ahead was anything but ordinary.

They had emerged in the proximity of a massive, dying star—a crimson giant, its surface bubbling and flaring with volatile bursts of fiery plasma. The searing heat and radiation of the star pressed against the Resurgence's shields like a furnace door thrown open. The proximity alarms rang out across the ship as the star’s gravitational pull tried to drag them closer into its lethal embrace.

But that wasn't what commanded their attention.

Suspended in the star's orbit, not far from the Resurgence, was a massive alien space station. The structure was gargantuan, its surface glowing faintly with intricate, geometric patterns. A labyrinth of shimmering metal, it looked ancient and advanced all at once—a relic of the Aetherian Progenitors, unmistakable in its architecture. Its vast rings and towers were slowly twisting, as though the station were trying to keep itself stable despite the overwhelming forces pulling it toward the star.

But it was clear—the station was doomed.

"All hands, report!" Captain Aoba barked, his eyes narrowing at the sight of the massive station. "What are we looking at, Euikoshi?"

Euikoshi, pale but composed, quickly scanned the ship's sensors. Her fingers danced over the controls as she gathered data. "It's an Aetherian Progenitor station, no doubt," she replied, her voice tense. "It's still operational, but barely. The gravitational forces from the star are tearing it apart—the station's losing altitude and getting pulled closer to the star's corona. Estimated time before it's consumed by the star: less than three hours."

"See if we can put together an away team of volunteers to get over there and tell them to use any sort of heat protection they can," Aoba ordered. "I want you to get anything you can off that station's ancient computers before the knowledge is lost forever."

Yuri looked out the windows of the ship's lounge, and blinked at the giant red star. "even red stars can be giant, huh?' she asked herself.

Shuttle Bay

In the ship's shuttle bay, Beryl was ready with her Ke-T7 transport shuttle Beryls of Fun, and fired up its systems as the team of volunteers began to assemble.

Sanda had already suited up in her Mindy before the ship had exited the wormhole and was ready to go. She was going lighter on weapons, only taking her side arms and sword, Arc. This was a grab and go mission so they needed to be quick.

Yayoi had the last of her Mindy's armor strapped on, the snaps loud and audible in her ears.

Cassie showed, dragging a transparent Zesuaium shield.

"The new model 1B Mindy armors like yours include a Norian-derived 'Kegsta' heat absorber module," their armorer Miriam Norita explained as they gathered to get in the shuttle. It should help you last longer, but if you need to get out of there, I've included two 'Froggy' teleporter pads to allow a return to the ship to cool down, which will be activated and connected to the ship whenever you set them down on a flat surface," she explained. "Try not to spend more than a couple minutes in the severe heat. The best thing you can do is use the station as a shield, and whatever you do, don't stand in direct sunlight on the outside."

"Thanks Norita." Sanda said. Then radioed Euikoshi. "Any suggestions of where we should start looking?"

A small hiss let the resurgences resident elysian that her armor had finished assembling and was ready for action. Chiheisen Takahashi stood up and joined the rest of the away team near the Beryls of Fun, listening into the mission briefing as quietly as always. The Elysian had been quieter than usual for the past couple of weeks, evidently still reeling a bit from past events.

"The station looks like it as a vaguely similar layout to Concordia station," Euikoshi told Sanda and the team. "So I've got a estimated position of the computer systems overlaid on this preliminary station map. Scans are still ongoing. Hey, there is one other factor..."

Pidole already knew what that was from her experience on Concordia station. "Let me guess...if the ancient AI is still active, it could try to possess us like the one on Concordia did?" She looked at her beetle with a very concerned expression on her face.

Sanda nodded to Chiheisen as she listend to Euikoshi's suggestions. She was glad to see the bird was volunteering again for the away team. Sanda and Chiheisen had both been captured and tortured by Mishhu. The Nepleslian Ranger had recovered quicker, but the Nito Hei had needed more time.

"If it's alive, it could be in a state of desperation," Cassie speculated. "I mean, it's about to get roasted, right? Er, not alive, but running. Operational. You know what I mean."

Yayoi nodded "agreed, alive or not we should be careful, especially with how close the station is to the star, we may have gravity issues to deal with as well as other anomalies." Yayoi commented to the team.

"Anyway we can potentially contact the Stations AI and let it know we're here to assisst? I mean we should know something about communcation with it from the Concordian station, right?" Sanda asked.

As the shuttle bay's doors opened it looked like someone was putting a giant flamethrower against the Resurgence's hull, with thousand-kilometer winds of solid fire rushing by the doorway. There was an extremely loud crackling from the air containment forcefields and a burning and ozone smell filled the shuttle bay.

"Anyone have a Marshmellow?" Cassie asked, before getting inside the shuttle to get out of the bright fiery light now cast across the shuttle bay.

"Im.... afraid that marshmellow would be reduced to ashes if you tried" Chiheisen deadpanned a little as her head slowly turned to look towards Cassie. She followed the rest of the team into the Ke-T7.

As the away team was preoccupied boarding the shuttle, they would recieve a little "Ganbatte!" from Kokoro Hayashi via their Mindy's communiations system.

"only food item i have is what is standard, which is nothing" Yayoi commented towards Cassie, as she followed the others into the shuttle. She took note of Kokoro's message, though it was distracting and unneeded to see, but it was apreciated.

"Whoosh," Cassie rolled eye eyes, trying to find some decent way to store her big shield in the shuttle's interior. "I don't suppose you'll need the ration's flameless heater," she told Yayoi

Yayoi eyed Cassie, for a second she's just like Yuri. Yayoi thought as she chose not to comment and instead sat.

As the away team boarded the Beryls of Fun, the shuttle hummed to life, its sleek frame vibrating slightly under the strain of the heat and gravitational forces outside. Beryl, seated at the pilot's controls, ran through pre-flight checks with swift, practiced efficiency. Her eyes darted between the readouts, her fingers moving across the control panels as she made adjustments to compensate for the rapidly changing conditions outside.

"Zanven, you ready for this?" Beryl asked, glancing over at the co-pilot seat where Zanven Brax sat. The Nepleslian pilot had a confident grin on his face, but even he couldn’t hide the tension as he scanned the roiling star ahead of them.

"Born ready," Zanven replied, his voice calm but determined. "Let’s just hope the shuttle holds up long enough to make it through."

The shuttle bay doors opened, revealing the hellscape outside. The fiery light from the dying star flooded the bay, casting long, sharp shadows as the forcefield crackled against the intense heat. The flames from the star roared past like a wall of molten fire, and the winds from the stellar storm battered the Resurgence, causing the hull to groan under the strain.

"Alright, we’ve got a narrow window," Beryl said, gripping the flight stick as she eyed the navigation charts. "The shadow side of the station is just barely out of the star’s direct radiation, but those gravitational eddies are going to toss us around like a toy if we’re not careful. Zanven, keep an eye on those thruster controls. We’ll need to punch through at the right moment."

Zanven’s hands hovered over the controls, his brow furrowing as he monitored the ship’s trajectory. "Got it. If we get too close to the star, we’re toast. Literally."

The shuttle’s engines roared to life, and the Beryls of Fun shot out of the shuttle bay, plunging into the swirling inferno of space. The moment they left the protective shields of the Resurgence, the shuttle was rocked by the violent forces of the star’s gravity and the intense heat surrounding them.

"Steady...steady..." Beryl muttered, her hands tightening on the controls as she fought to keep the shuttle on course. The screens flickered with red warnings, heat levels rising as the star's energy buffeted the shuttle.

Zanven’s eyes darted between the readouts and the view outside. "Heat levels spiking! We’re getting pulled in—diverting power to lateral thrusters!"

The shuttle groaned as it resisted the gravitational pull of the massive red star. The star’s surface boiled and churned, sending arcs of plasma spewing into space. The shuttle dipped and swayed as it fought against the pull, the temperature gauges edging into dangerous territory.

Beryl gritted her teeth. "Hold on... I see the station. Almost there..."

Ahead, the looming silhouette of the Aetherian Progenitor space station came into view. The massive structure was awe-inspiring, even in its decaying state. Its vast rings and towering spires shimmered faintly with the remnants of alien technology, pulsing with ancient energy. The station’s surface was a patchwork of twisting geometric patterns, glowing faintly in the dim light of the star. The rings around the station were slowly turning, though they seemed sluggish, as if struggling to maintain their once-perfect orbit.

The station was in its death throes, slowly but surely being dragged into the star’s fiery grasp. Sections of the outer hull were cracked and buckled, and plumes of debris floated freely around it, caught in the star’s gravity well. Flames licked at the edges of the station where the heat had begun to warp the metal, and the faint glow of forcefields flickered sporadically as the station’s systems fought to hold back the inevitable.

"There! The shadow side!" Zanven pointed, his hand moving quickly to adjust the shuttle’s trajectory. "We’ve got an opening!"

The Beryls of Fun angled toward the station, dipping into the relative safety of the shadow cast by the station itself. The star's rays were blocked by the bulk of the ancient structure, giving the shuttle some relief from the punishing heat and radiation.

Beryl let out a breath. "Nice work. Let’s find a place to set this bird down."

The shuttle skimmed across the surface of the station, passing over massive spires and intricate lattices of alien architecture. The station was enormous, its surface a maze of conduits, towers, and mechanical arms. The designs were impossibly complex, clearly the work of a civilization far more advanced than anything they had encountered before.

"Looks like there’s an auxiliary hangar bay up ahead," Beryl noted, her eyes scanning the station’s schematics that Euikoshi had provided. "We’ll set down there. I just hope it hasn’t collapsed."

The shuttle banked gently and descended toward the hangar, its landing gear deploying as it touched down with a slight thud inside the massive, dark bay. The walls of the hangar flickered with ancient lights, casting eerie shadows over the shuttle.

"We made it," Zanven said, exhaling in relief.

Beryl powered down the engines and turned to the team. "Alright, team, this is it. The station's in bad shape, and we don’t have much time before it’s pulled into the star. Let’s move fast, get the data we need, and get out of here before we’re roasted alive."

The away team gathered their gear and prepared to disembark, the weight of the mission settling on them as they looked out at the vast, crumbling station. The mysteries of the Aetherian Progenitors awaited them, but so did the dangers of a dying star.

Their time was running out.

When the shuttle hatch opened, Beryl stumbled out of the shuttle, feeling sick. Pidole rushed over and tried to comfort her. "It's alright, steady breaths."

Sanda stepped onto the station a little unsteady. Even with her suits extra heat sheilding, it felt warm. The ground felt uneaven as well. The Ranger wasn't sure it the station integraty was already degrading, or if it was the gravitaional forces of the star on the station. Whichever it was, it would make travel that much more hazardest.

"Lets get moving." Sanda said as she grabbed one of the teleportations and attached it to her back. She got her barings then headed out and a quick pace leading deeper into the station.

"Hai.." Chiheisen nodded almost imperceptibly as she stepped off of the ship, armed with her side weapon in hand instead of her LATR, which sat strapped to the back of her Mindy.

"hai" Yayoi said as she made her way out of the shuttle, her mind barely even registering the heat, though taking note ot the temperature. Her mind immediately went to Yuri, who's at times curious mind had given Yayoi a headache sometimes when Yuri had been little. Now she figured she'd ask just how much can a Mindy Power Armor take in the heat of the sun.

The shuttle bay of the ancient Aetherian Progenitor space station was a vast, cavernous chamber, larger than any modern hangar the team had seen before. The ceiling stretched impossibly high above, fading into shadow, while the walls were lined with intricate geometric patterns that pulsed faintly with dim blue light. The patterns seemed alive, as though the very walls of the station were breathing with ancient energy.

Despite the immense size of the bay, it was eerily quiet. The sound of the shuttle's engines echoed off the cold, metallic surfaces, but otherwise, there was only the faint hum of the station's failing systems. Crates and containers, long abandoned, were scattered across the floor, some of them overturned and covered in a thick layer of dust. A few alien ships, sleek and angular in design, sat in various states of disrepair, their hulls darkened by time and heat.

Above, suspended from the ceiling, massive mechanical arms hung like dormant sentinels, their joints creaking as they swayed slightly in the station's failing gravity. The bay's central control tower, a towering structure of glass and metal, loomed over the hangar floor, its windows cracked and flickering with sporadic energy surges. The control consoles inside blinked with faded lights, struggling to remain operational.

The floor of the shuttle bay was an uneven patchwork of metal grates and smooth, metallic tiles. The heat from the nearby star had warped some sections, causing the ground to buckle slightly, while other parts were scorched black, evidence of the intense radiation that had already begun to penetrate the station’s defenses.

Euikoshi got her bearings and stood, then used her AIES computer to overlay an augmented-reality pathway towards the computer systems onto the team's HUDs that they could all follow.

Cassie raised her plasma rifle and began advancing across the bay following the trail markers towards a large interior exit door. She could feel the station vibrating under them from the immense stresses of the sun, feeling similar to constant Earthquake. It was enough that it was slowly shaking Beryl's shuttle around the bay, moving a few centimeters at a time like a phone on vibrate left on an angled desk.

= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Charaa, Cowboy, Yoshiro, AND YUUKI,, Lizalopod

 

[Wes]

He followed Cassie to make sure she didn't get in trouble. "Cassie, what are you doing?" Yoshiro asked.

"I'm closing on the objective," Cassie answered. "You want to stay here and get melted? Let's move out!" she said, carrying her large LAMIA shield. Euikoshi and Pidole followed, each with one of the two teleporter pads on their backs.

"You got a point., where's the objective?" Yoshiro asked Cassie.

"Supposedly this way!" Cassie said.

The passageways leading deeper into the station were narrow and winding, more like arteries than hallways, with walls covered in the same intricate, glowing patterns. The lights were dim, casting the corridors in a faint, eerie glow that flickered with each fluctuation in the station's power. Some sections of the walls had been breached, allowing the searing light from the nearby star to spill through in dangerous bursts that shot out scorching flames or superheated gasses.

The further the team ventured, the more the heat became apparent. The walls seemed to shimmer, as if they were struggling to contain the intense energy pressing in from outside. Occasionally, they passed by strange, alien machinery embedded into the walls—devices that pulsed faintly with energy, their purpose long forgotten. Some of these machines emitted strange, mechanical sounds, like distant whispers in an unknown language.

Yoshiro followed Cassie so he could help her if she needed it."

"Watch it!" Sanda exclaimed as a section of wall disapeared sending in a beam of intensly bright hot light. "How much farther?" She asked Euikoshi.

"Whoa!!" Yoshiro said..getting nervous and stopped and then tried to go around the beam of light.

Chiheisen remained on edge as she followed along, her pistol gripped in hand just in case. She shyed away from the lightshow, not wanting to end up like a crispy chicken wing.

Yayoi stopped as she saw the searing hot light, her sensors gave her a reading, and she knew that she'd had to be careful, as the light could deplete her shields, before her armor.

As the team ventured deeper into the shuttle bay, past the ancient, sleek ships and scattered debris, something else caught their attention—a massive, dormant figure slumped against the far wall. It was unmistakably one of the station’s ancient guardian constructs, but unlike the ones they had encountered before, this one lay still, its once gleaming armor blackened and cracked from the intense heat of the nearby star.

"hey i see one of those giant guardian constructs" Yayoi called out to her team, before she got her Mindy's systems to scan the construct, wanting to see its status.

"Yeah, and something else," Cassie said, pointing to some dead people. Around the construct's feet lay the remains of Xynar soldiers, their charred and mangled bodies a testament to the last stand this guardian had made before it had fallen. The corses weren't recent, and what bits of alien flesh were exposed resembled beef jerky. "These guys really have a thing for progenitor facilities, don't they?" Cassie rubbed her chin.

"Aw not these jokers again." Sanda said as she turned over the body of one with her toe in discust.

Yayoi grimaced as she saw the Xynar but her focus was on the fallen guardian as her scans did its work.

"From the previous.. wormhole?" Chiheisen peered towards one of the dead Xynar, examining them- as this was her first time encountering them. She had, of course, read the reports. "These seem... aged."

"Maybe this was the first group to fight these guys, and those from the last mission were the second group?' Yayoi thought out loud to her team as she observed.

Sanda shrugged. There really wasn't time to be standing around speculating about it. She looked at their mission timer that was diminishing at an infuriating rate. "We need to keep moving."

"It seemed the Xynary have been surfing the wormholes for a while now trying to find what they can find," Euikoshi guessed.

Euikoshi thought for a moment, examining a small console embedded in the construct’s chest. "It's risky, but I might be able to access its memory banks—if they're still intact. The power systems are fried, though. We’d need to be careful not to overload anything and lose whatever’s left. Do you guys want to go ahead and locate the core while I work on this?"

"If you think it's worth the time then do it. Hayden can remain with you while we move ahead." Sanda nodded to Euikoshi/

= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Charaa, Cowboy, Yoshiro, AND YUUKI, Lizalopod ★☆★☆★

 

[Wes]

The YSS Resurgence’s away team had barely caught their breath as they disembarked from the shuttle into the ancient Aetherian Progenitor station. The oppressive heat, even with their heat absorbers working overtime, was an ever-present reminder of the dying star's relentless pull. Every surface around them hummed with ancient energy, but much of it was failing. The walls buckled slightly, groaning under the stress of the gravitational forces from the fiery giant outside. Time was their enemy now, and they could feel the station’s slow descent, pulling them toward an inevitable fiery end.

As the team pressed forward, the passageways became narrower, twisting like the arteries of some long-forgotten beast. The walls flickered with dim, sporadic light as the station’s power ebbed and flowed. Glowing symbols blinked along their HUDs as Euikoshi’s overlay directed them towards the station’s core. Their objective was clear—reach the core, extract whatever data they could from the Progenitors' systems, and escape before the star consumed them all. But even as they moved deeper, the vibrations underfoot intensified, and strange sounds echoed through the corridors—mechanical groans and faint whispers of a forgotten language. Something was still active here, something more than just the decaying remnants of an ancient civilization.

Euikoshi checked the temperature sensor she had strapped to her Mindy's forearm. The interior of the station in the corridors was rising rapidly. She looked at the team as they went on without her, and they quickly became lost in a blur of heat waves. It was like they were all cooking in a big oven. As the team proceeded, the ruptures began to get worse, with more passageways being cut off by explosions of steam and hot gasses, or worse, pinholes of sunlight that were like heat lasers.

Yoshiro checked the the status of the armor he was wearing. The temperature was rising slowly but steadily. He checked on the location of the objective, marking it on the navcom.

As Yoshiro proceded,he found the way ahead towards the core had failing gravity systems, so the way up was either "wrong" or nonexistent. There were drops of molten material floating through the air, coming out of an air vent that was now closely resembling a cookout grill.

"Everybody assume I'm best friends with giant killer robot statues now, know everything about talking to them," Hayden ruminated as he walked along with Euikoshi, eyes darting to his temperature readout on his hud more than probably strictly necessary. "Well, Green Machine, you just tell Hayden what you need."

"Hayden, I am just glad you are able to talk to them. You have a great talent with that." Yoshiro said.


While Euikoshi continued to try to extract data from the ancient robot, Pidole began tracing the wiring and power systems of the ancient station. "I believe if we take a detour here, we may be able to buy some time by restoring some of the malfuctioning life support to move the heat out of the route to the core," she offered. "What do you think?" she asked the away team leader.

"You're the genius, Professor." Hayden moved to stand off to Euikoshi's side, ready to follow her lead. Looking back at Yoshiro, he waited a perfect comedic beat. "I just got roborizz."

Yayoi walked with her away team, her Mindy's sensors noting the heat temperature, and a time limit to when they are requred to get to safety. In addition to other mundane tats that only someone with a stick up her butt would find important. Her attention went to Euikoshi "sounds like an idea worth trying.

"How long will it take you to fix it?" Sanda asked Pidole. She could feel the sweat starting to bead on her fore head which wasn't a good sign.

"I don't know, but it's better than cooking?" Pidole told Sanda. "These systems are ancient and alien, but they still run on logical engineering...I think I should be able to figure them out."

Sanda grunted. "Not if we spend all of our time trying to fix something and that may or not work and are unable to compleate our mission." She looked around at the heat waves rising in the hall way. "You've got five minets to try to get things fixed, then we have to just suck it up and keep going."

Chiheisen let out a tiny huff from inside her Mindy as its internal temperature began to rise, not to dangerous levels, but at the very least, stuffy ones. She glanced towards Pidole, then towards one of the detour in question. "If we have enough time to-"

Suddenly a swarm of drones darted out from the passageway ahead and began to shoot at Chiheisen and Sanda! From the dark green metallic exterior and teal lights, they were readily identified as Xynar in origin. Sparks flew as the shots impacted on and around them.

Chiheisen's eyes widened as her HUD alerted her of incoming fire, shifting to attempt to avoid being hit. She returned fire with her sidearm, which she still had in hand. The Elysian deployed her NSBs to also return fire.

Yoshiro started shooting the drones with aether.smg. "Sanda you got hostile contacts firing at you!"

"shit!" Yayoi commented, as the drones suddenly appeared and started attacking members of the away team. Immediately she moved forward, activating her weapons, her Aetheric Pulse Cannon Chief among them and fired at the drones.

The drones made small targets and were difficult to hit as they bobbed and weaved between shots. It was taking more effort than normal to tag them with their weapons.

Sanda was already irritable do to the extream heat. Now she was downright pissed off. "No shit, Sherlock!" Sanda yelled at Yoshiro. She drew her Plasma revolver and her sword, Arc, in one fluid motion. "Ustedes bastardos eligieron el momento equivocado para meterse conmigo." and went on the attack.

Sanda sliced through one of the drones and its halves clattered to the ground, leaving two left.

Cassie heard gunshots. "Guys?" she asked, looking back at Euikoshi with concern. "Hey, are you ready to move yet, Euikoshi? The rest of the team may be trouble." She didn't like being around the corner and missing a battle.

Chiheisen grunted as she opted to swap to her main rifle. She began to track one of the two remaining drones, attempting to lead her shots to clip it out of the sky. It was a small target, but the Elysian didnt spend countless hours practicing her aim in the vr room for nothing!

Somehow Chiehisen still managed to miss! At least this time. These drones were freakin' speedy. An alarm sounded as the drone shot back, hitting her in the visor and causing some damage to her sensors and communications antennae.

"I get the feeling that someone or something doesn't want us here." Yoshiro said with concern. "I think they may have sabotaged the station." Yoshiro aimed at the drones and fired.

Yayoi managed to get the next kill, blowing a drone up with her aetheric pulse cannon. The final drone seemed to make a kamikaze run for Yoshiro! It blew up in front of him, sending him flying like a ragdoll into the nearby section of damaged wall, which exploded into flames and pushed him away, spewing hot gasses.

Yayoi almost smiled as she managed to blow up a drone, but she had to acknowledge that it was hard to target them, so she pondered using her hidden blades but

The Elysian grunted as she stumbled back a little from the hit, her HUD flickering with warning symbols. She tried to send her NSBs after the remaining drone before it could hit Yoshiro, before noticing her own little bits werent responding to her commands. It was a bit more evident to her as she realised the extent of the damage to her armor, letting out a curse under her helmet that went unheard.

Standing watch over Euikoshi, Hayden was more concerned with drones coming her way than anywehre else. He knew to stay in his lane and watch his own arc, and that arc covered the science officer's hoop. "Got the AC fixed yet, Prof?" He took a well aimed shot at a target of opportunity, but was mainly using his bulk as a shield for her and firing only at ones coming her way.

As Euikoshi worked on the dormant guardian construct, she managed to bypass several security locks in its memory banks, her fingers flying over the controls of her portable interface device. The construct’s systems had suffered extensive damage from the heat, but some of its data remained intact. After several minutes of careful work, she uncovered a fragmented but critical piece of information.

"The guardian’s last memory log is from right before it fell," Euikoshi reported, her voice tense with concentration. "It was in the middle of repelling a Xynar attack... but there’s more. There’s a specific command, an emergency protocol initiated by the station’s AI. It looks like the station was preparing for some sort of massive data transfer—a failsafe meant to preserve vital information before the station was destroyed."

She paused, eyes narrowing as she deciphered the ancient symbols. "If I’m reading this correctly, the core isn’t just a control center. It’s a vault. All the knowledge and technological advancements of the Aetherian Progenitors are stored there, waiting to be transferred somewhere safe. But the process was interrupted... which means the data could still be here, if we can complete the transfer. But we need to act fast—the core’s systems are critically unstable."

"Let's get back with the rest of the team," Cassie encouraged Euikoshi, who nodded. Cassie gave Hayden a pat on the shoulder as she passed, briskly jogging to close on the other Resurgence members.

When the team reunited, Pidole immediately asked for someone to cover her as she worked in the secondary control room to restore life support and ove the heat out of their way.

Hayden's focus shifted on turning into the rear guard after the pat, and once the others were moving he fell in behind, auto-tracking whoever was closest, so his armor could hover backwards while he fired back for cover.

To everyone else, and the resurgence, Chiheisen's comm link would show up as disconnected. Granted, she was alive still, considering she was standing with the group.

"Chiheisen's comms got disconnected, Sanda can you find her?" Yoshiro asked.

Sanda checked on Chiheisen's suit. In these extream conditions, there was almost no margin for error. Everyone's suits needed to be 100% functional to survive these conditions. Chriheisen's suit didn't look too bad, but if her comms were down that could mean other things were wrong as well. "Chiheisen, you and Yoshiro need to head back to the Res and make sure your suits are at 100%."

The station shook violently as it continued to buckle under the extreme stress of being pulled into the nearby star.

"Oh fu..." Yoshiro said as he fell down due to stress the sun was putting on the station. "Roger that, Sanda. "

"Hmm, anyone else see that heat warning?" Cassie said, looking at the blinking yellow indicator on her Mindy's HUD.

Sanda removed the teleporter she'd been carrying. "Anyone who's suit is not at 100% get back to the Res now! Have Norita swap out your suits and get your sorry asses back here!"

Chiheisen didnt really seem to respond, facing towards the hallway with her LATR, flicking through her suits systems... Her communicatons array was damaged, she couldnt really hear Sanda's orders.

Seeing Chiheisen not responding, Sanda moved in front of her and used her hands to sign what she wanted the Bird to do. Go...to ship... get fixed up... get back here.

The Elysian blinked as she saw Sanda, before nodding and providing the heisho with a quick salute.

Sanda smiled under her helmet and gave the bird a thumbs up.

The bird quickly made her way towards the now active teleportation pad, motioning for the damaged Mindy of Yoshiro to follow before teleporting away.

"yes, we need to hurry, quadrupal time!" Yayoi commented out loud, not at all liking what her sensors were showing.

Pidole looked around then pointed at Cassie and Hayden and then led the way to secondary control room off the side of one of the passageways.

The secondary control room was a shadowy, compact chamber, filled with rows of ancient, hexagonal consoles that glowed faintly with blue and purple hues. The walls were adorned with intricate geometric patterns, pulsing faintly as if the station itself were still alive, though clearly weakening. A massive, cracked viewport dominated one wall, offering a view of the star’s molten surface as it slowly pulled the station closer to its doom. The air was thick with the faint smell of ozone, and the temperature was noticeably hotter, with waves of heat radiating from malfunctioning systems. The room’s primary control pedestal stood in the center, a column of translucent material that hummed softly, flickering with erratic streams of alien symbols and ancient data that scrolled across its surface, waiting to be accessed.

Pidole immediately went to work, selecting the corridors that led to the core from a large map. She also stored the map layout in her AIES and relayed the intel to the team. The team was now able to see a better map along with markers showing where the damage was too severe to cross. This would speed up their way to the core. For the selected path, Pidole transferred all available life support to those places, pushing the heat to abandoned sections, which brought the temperatures down to near normal in the passageways in front of the away team.

Yet...Pidole looked up, then back over her shoulder at Cassie. "I'm not the only one logged into the system," she said. "Someone else is taking control over parts of the station."

"I feel like I'm in that old book about the dude wandering around Hell making witty observations. Uh, it was called, uh..." He was looking around for hostiles as he covered Euikoshi and Pidole.

He leaned over towards Pidole, without taking his eyes off the corridors and approach points. "So it's like.. BUT THE CALL WAS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE?"

Yoshiro used the transporter to get back to the Resurgence to check his armor rearm himself.

Once Yoshiro and Chichi had left for the Res, Sanda picked back up the Teleporter and attached it to her back. "Then we need to get moving. Stay alert." Sanda took the point, her revolver heaed up and her sword ready to strike at the first thing that moved.

"Roger," Pidole said, heading back to Sanda. Cassie tapped Hayden on the shoulder again and they followed. The way to the core was no longer superheated, but the station was still on the way to destruction..

As they reached the entrance to the station's system core, they encountered a strange sight: A mechanical entity made partially out of guardian robot parts, pieces of the station's systems, and a cloud of dark aetheric energy was blocking the way. As soon as it saw them its hands began to glow with a hot pink aether similar to the main cannon of a Plumeria-class gunship.

"You seein' this?" Cassie sideeyed Hayden.

"oh, great, Yui's ...."Yayoi exclaimed, unfortunately they didnt have Yoshiro to talk to it so she tried. "we mean you no harm, do not attack us please" She attempted to try.

The entity spoke in a strange and disjointed voice, sounding unstable. "Intruders... unauthorized... presence... detected." it said. There was a burst of cracling static from it, before it continued, "This station... is not for you... you must leave... or be... consumed... by the star's embrace."

"our intentions are to safe you, and your technology, we've met others of your kind, and are their allies" Yayoi tried, wanting to test its sentience, but she knew they didnt have much time.

"No... no passage... only destruction... I am the last defense... I will not fail. The knowledge... must not... fall into... the wrong hands." The entity's energy flickered, and the glow from its aetheric power surged. "Your interference... is a threat."

"What are your directives?" Euikoshi asked, hoping to determine its orders.

The entity stared at them with a shadowy face that was half robot, half ghost. "The core... holds... everything. You will not... have it. I protect... I preserve... until the end. The Progenitors... foresaw this... contingency. All must be transferred... safeguarded... to the next... generation."

Sanda had her revolver helded just low enough to not be pointing directly at the robot. "We are here to safeguard your data. For the next generation. If you don't let us help you, all your data will be lost. Then what will be there for the next generation?"

"Time... is running out... this station... is doomed. I will not... surrender the core. I will... end... you... first." the entity said.

"then come with us, allow us to take the core, and come with, see our intentions help us to safe guard the data everything?" Yayoi asked the entity "we do not want to cause the Aether progenitors's history its technology to be lost." She said.

Euikoshi's fingers moved swiftly over her datapad, pulling up the files from the ancient research facility they had previously encountered. The data she accessed was a mix of symbols, codes, and protocols that the team had unearthed in their past mission. She had hoped that there would be something—anything—that could be used to identify the team as allies or emissaries of the Progenitors. The hacker AI, still active from their work on Acuna, processed the data, cross-referencing it with the entity’s fragmented directives.

"Hey, I only speak giant robot. Don't look at me." Despite the tension of the situation, there was room for a Hayden crack at any time. "But yeah, what she said. Just like, come on with us. How you even know we the wrong hands?"

Listening to yayoi, The entity’s form shimmered, the pink glow of aetheric energy pulsing in erratic waves. It hesitated, as though processing Yayoi's words. For a brief moment, the energy around its hands dimmed.

The entity’s head twitched, its fractured voice carrying a strange undertone of desperation. “I… must safeguard… the knowledge. I… cannot fail… The transfer… must be completed.”

"Man, what you safeguarding falling into a star? They have a different definition of safe where you from? Come one with us and get out of here too." Hayden backed up Yayoi

Meanwhile, the entity’s voice crackled with a low, ominous hum. “You cannot… deceive me. I am… the last defense… against failure. No external force… may access… the core.”

Euikoshi’s eyes widened as a notification popped up on her screen. She’d found something—a Progenitor access protocol buried deep in the data. It wasn’t perfect, but it might be enough to fool the entity’s systems. She quickly loaded the access key into the team's systems, syncing it with their suits.

“Wait!” Euikoshi called out. “We have authorization. Look.” She projected the ancient Progenitor symbol from her datapad, the blue holographic emblem shimmering in the heated air.

The entity paused, its pink aetheric energy flickering. The symbol hovered in the air between them. It stared at it for what felt like an eternity before it finally spoke.

“Access... recognized… temporary clearance… granted… proceed with caution... but beware... failure will not be tolerated.”

The way forward to the core was clear—for now.

Sanda received a message from the Res. Norita had refit Chichi and Yoshiro and they were ready to come back and join the fight. Sanda took the teleporter off her back and gave it some space, allowing her team to come back.

Out popped the Elysian, now in a hastily repaired Mindy. Her communications were back operational, swapping the antenna was likely an easy fix. Chiheisen saluted Sanda, rifle in her other hand. "Apologies, heisho."

Station Core

As the team entered, they were greeted by an overwhelming sense of scale. The room stretched up and out in all directions, almost too large to comprehend, its walls curving upward into infinity. Ancient, glowing conduits snaked across the surfaces, pulsing with energy in vibrant blues, purples, and greens. The energy seemed to pulse rhythmically, as if the very lifeblood of the station flowed through this space.

At the center of the room was the core itself: a massive crystalline structure suspended in midair, rotating slowly. It was encased in a lattice of translucent metallic vines that crackled with arcs of energy. The core pulsed with the same otherworldly light as the conduits, but brighter, more intense. Patterns of swirling light danced across its surface, shifting and rearranging like complex alien code. Inside the crystal, faint shapes and figures appeared to move—records, knowledge, history, and the very essence of the Aetherian Progenitors, all encoded and stored within.

The chamber’s atmosphere was thick with ancient energy. Strange, floating glyphs hovered in the air around the core, each one connected to another by thin strands of shimmering light. They shifted and morphed, constantly rearranging themselves into different constellations of information. The walls surrounding the core were adorned with massive, ancient control panels, their surfaces dotted with unrecognizable symbols and holographic displays. Despite the passage of time, everything here seemed alive, preserved by the ancient technology but teetering on the edge of collapse.

The temperature in the room was noticeably higher, the core’s energy output adding to the heat from the dying star outside. The ground beneath their feet was uneven, with sections warped and cracked by the immense pressures and gravitational forces exerted on the station.

This was the heart of the Progenitor’s technological knowledge, and the weight of its significance was almost palpable. The core held secrets that could change the universe, if only they could retrieve them before the station was consumed by the star. But the constant hum and occasional tremor reminded the team: time was running out.

Even though the entrance had been blocked by a giant killer robot, Sanda still scanned the area for any contacts. The Xynar had a nasty habit of showing up where they had no right to be.

As the away team stepped deeper into the core chamber, they noticed a disturbing sight: scattered around the periphery of the room were the remains of Xynar soldiers. Their armor was charred and twisted from the heat, some crumpled against the walls as if they had been thrown there with immense force. Several had died clutching strange, alien devices, likely tools they had been using to attempt their own extraction of the core’s data.

But the most unsettling part was that not all the Xynar were dead.

Among the wreckage of the fallen soldiers, several Xynar operatives were still active. They were working feverishly at makeshift control terminals, their gauntleted hands moving rapidly across glowing alien consoles. Their armor flickered with the faint light of their camouflaging systems, making them difficult to spot at first, but their movements betrayed them.

The Xynar had somehow bypassed the Progenitor entity guarding the core, likely through advanced stealth systems or brute force, and now they were desperately attempting to siphon off the core's knowledge for themselves. They had managed to rig several energy conduits, attaching strange, spider-like devices that appeared to be extracting data directly from the core. Whatever information they had already gathered would be extremely valuable—likely some of the most advanced knowledge in the universe.

The Xynar had noticed the Resurgence team, and one of them barked something in their harsh, guttural language. The operatives immediately went on high alert, drawing their weapons and turning their attention away from the core to face the new threat. The tension in the air crackled as both sides realized that the knowledge of the Progenitors was now a battleground, and only one side could claim it.

Sanda hostered his revolver. It was too chancy that a stray shot might damage something irreplaceable. She instead drew her Straight Silver knife and held in a reverse grip with Arc in her other hand. She shook loose her shoulders and poped her neck from side to side. It was time to see just how tough these Xynar were.

Hayden didn't wait on them to draw. When he noticed there were Xynar, he started taking well-aimed shots, immediately. This wasn't going to be a chat, this time.

Once Hayden began to shoot, Chiheisen also quickly took notice of the Xynar remnants. She began to lay down careful fire, making sure to prioritize not missing and hitting something important.

"If we make them visible maybe the guardian robots will shoot them," Science Officer Euikoshi suggested to the team."

"Sounds like a Science Genius type job, Professor." Hayden cracked as he continued advancing while firing aimed shots.

Euikoshi nodded to Hayden, but she looked at Pidole. "Can you get some smoke or steam going in here to outline the stealth Xynar?"

"Does a Delsaurian shit in the desert?" Pidole laughed, and rushed towards one of the station's air ducts.

Yayoi couldn't help but think of Yuri knowing she'd likely asked if they would. "careful that we don't damage the core.' she commented as she readied her hidden blades.

"Good point," Cassie agreed with Yayoi. They didn't want to go back to Yamatai empty-handed.

= = =
OOC: JP by Wes, Charaa, Cowboy, Yoshiro, AND YUUKI, Lizalopod ★☆★☆★