One shot 4 - Straitgate XTreme episode 1
The Space Merchant Trading Federation has discovered an artifact on the airless second moon of the gas giant Glaorkg V, in cluster CSCID a88. You are part of the large team that the SMTF assembled to research the artifact. The team is made up of over a hundred scientists, engineers, security personnel, pilots, and other support staff.
You are part of the team selected to explore the artifact's potential.
When you arrived on Glaorkg V-b, your shuttle landed near a cliff that was the edge of a large crater. You walked in your vacsuit from the shuttle toward the cliff and entered what appeared to be a lava tube, about 10 meters in diameter. 20 meters within the lava tube a bulkhead with a large airlock had been installed. Beyond that, the lava tube continued in a “shirt-sleeves” environment. Living quarters, offices, and labs had been bored out in side passages from the main lava tube. 300 meters down the lava tube another bulkhead had been installed with an armoured pressure hatch leading to the cave containing the artifact.
The artifact is a large bronze colored cube, 15 meters on a side, engraved with glyphs covering most of the surface, sitting in the center of circular chamber, 60 meters across.
Dr. Ridley aan Caast-Foundling made the breakthrough in deciphering the glyphs, remembering a report recorded thousands of years ago about the discovery of a lost colony, Maaraat, inhabited entirely by Ohlzor and So’enala. The glyphs matched the writing and language the Ohlzor on that planet used. That colony was eventually integrated into known space, although the language used by the Ohlzor on the colony at that time has been completely replaced by Galacticom in the intervening centuries.
Eventually, the artifact was discovered to be a device that could create a direct connection to a similar device on another planet somewhere in the galaxy, enabling matter to be sent between the two planets without having to travel across the star system to a strait point and shoot the strait. The scientists named it a Straitgate, as it used straits in slipstream space in a way similar to the slipstream drive. The trip would be one way, as the portal closed 35 seconds after the last matter that entered the Straitgate was transferred.
Testing of the artifact showed that probes could be sent across to the other planet. The Straitgate could be re-opened in the other direction after the power system on Glaorkg V-b was recharged. The data recorded by the probes on the other side of the Straitgate indicated a chamber similar to the one on Glaorkg V-b, a 60 meter wide circular chamber, with the exception that directly across from the Straitgate was a rockfall that blocked the obvious exit from the chamber. The probes showed that the atmosphere, temperature, and gravity in the chamber was sufficient for most sapients to survive without vacsuits, if necessary.
Multiple test animals were also sent across multiple times, and all retrieved without harm. Now is the time for sapients to cross and learn what opportunities await on the new planet beyond, and you were offered a position on the team to do so.
You accepted for your own reasons.
Mission Goals
- Map the space around the Straitgate, and discover a way out of the chamber, excavating the rockfall if necessary.
- Record everything to send back, by setting up a relay drone near the Straitgate, that would cross back to Glaorkg V-b when the gate reopens with any data gathered, in case the team was prevented from doing so.
- Make contact with and establish friendly relations with any natives on the planet.
The gate would be opened back to Glaorkg V-b every 24 hours to transfer data and to allow the team to return if necessary.
The team will be made up of the following personnel:
- Captain Burinn Skreeek - So’enela security officer, leader of security team and veteran of many exploration missions
- Officer Fria Sun - Vat Clone (variant LH) security officer
- Officer Avery Johnson - Human security officer
- Tech Specialist Officer Carn Arty - Cronstak security technical specialist
- Dr. Ridley aan Caast-Foundling - Calcoran Schools foundling and anthropologist, scientific lead
- Dr. Blorg Emelmahay - Neon-teal colored Bearble physicist, specializing in slipstream space physics
- Wolo Kaolars - Bontion Senior Engineer
Mission Report
The team stepped through the Straitgate and shot the strait in their vacuum suits. Officer Fria Sun described it as a tingling while walking through a space filled with shattering mirrors without being cut. The arrived in the dark Straitgate chamber as expected, facing the rock fall blocking the entrance to the chamber.
They did not arrive at their destination without loss, though. Shortly after stepping through the Straitgate, Captain Burinn Skreek and Tech Specialist Carn Arty fell to the ground, experiencing seizures and expiring before Officer Fria Sun could apply medical help.
Dr. aan Caast-Foundling assisted Officer Fria Sun in determining the cause of the deaths of their teammates.
Dr. Emelmahay and Engineer Kaolars examined what appeared to be a control panel of some sort half buried in the rock fall.
Officer Avery Johnson checked around the perimeter of the chamber, his suit lights revealing finished stone walls. As the chamber wall opposite the rock fall came into sight, Officer Johnson noticed a stocky bipedal figure moving through a crack. Announcing to the rest of the crew that he had contact and was in pursuit, he followed the figure through the crack, revealed to be a door fashioned to look like part of the wall.
He chased him down into a cavern filled with stalagmites and stalactites. As he saw the robed figure pass a large stalagmite, he saw a tall figure attack it...