Chapter One - The Landing

[The Queen]

The Year is 2330. The Revenant of Purpose has reached it's destination: Planet Marsell. Planet Marsell lies in the Proxima Olympia System, 583 light years away from Earth. It's a small colonization planet, population: 10,000 approx. Recently, distress signals have been bouncing around in space. The Revenant of Purpose heard these signals, and have come to investigate. The Revenant is sending a few elite super soldiers down to find out what is wrong on the planet... and eliminate it.

[The Queen]

A young woman stepped onto the platform hatch of the travel shuttle, fingers curling and straightening by her sides. Even with her helmet on she still felt her stomach drop as she glanced below her and saw nothing but the pitch black of space. A shuttle crewman ushered her to a seat, and she buckled in, swallowing the rising bile in her throat. This was only her third time off-ship, her third time in space, but it was her very first time alone.

Her armored hands clumsily pulled the seat harness on. Even though her suit armor was much thinner than most, the metal shell protecting her from the void of space still made it difficult to do more delicate motions. The ship rumbled beneath her feet, and she tightened her hold on the steel armrests, letting her head tilt back to rest on the shuttle wall. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to settle the anxiety climbing through her veins.

You have your orders.

Orders. She was to investigate the distress signals originating from the planet. Sector C and Sector F, the technicians said. Those two areas each sent off a distress signal before the planet went dark. Sector C, she had been told was the metropolitan city of Zaggar. The center of the planet's trade and rule. Sector F... well... there was nothing in Sector F.

She had her first objective. Travel to Sector C and find out what was in Sector F. She just hoped there was something left in Sector C. She glanced down at her right arm again, eyes running over the light gray letters barely visible among the white of her armor.

White Rook.

[The Bran]

The Bran awakens from the stasis of Pod 13. He is confused. No memories or sense of identity. The station appears to be in a state of wreck. Many of the pods across the various rooms are filled with corpses; others are empty. Scrubbing what little data he can from the computers, he discovers the station's purpose is to clone a host as a means of prolonging their legacy. He has many questions but the data banks have suffered irreparable memory loss. The only clue he has left is a star map with a planet highlighted: Marsell.

The Bran decides there is nothing left aboard the cloning station of value and makes his way to the hanger. He discovers only 3 small ships. Sitting down in the cockpit of one of the ships, he attempts to take off. The ship does nothing. Confused and angry, The Bran bangs on the main control panel and cuts his hand. Much to his amazement he watches as a warm glow from the cut emanates and the cut disappears. The ship fires to life.
"Sample accepted, autopilot engaged" a computer says. And before he knows what's going on the ship launches from the hanger and darts for the planet Marsell.

[The Queen]

The travel shuttle dropped Agent White Rook off 3 klicks from the capital city Zaggar. If there was anything going on, she would have to find out on foot, so as to not give any enemies knowledge of the Revenant's involvement. Advantage was key.

Grassy fields stretched past her eye site. Only a few trees dotted the landscape. To her left, a couple of large, sun washed boulders sat. To her right, while she couldn't see it, the road to the city cut through the grassy flat land like a knife, a klick away from her.

First thing she did was access her scanner. As a pale blue glow emitted from the palm and fingers of her hand armor, her HUD flickered to life.

Hello, Agent White Rook. The A.I. of the Revenant of Purpose's electronic voice crackled over her helmet's head set.

"Hello, ACE. The atmo' here look okay?"

One moment. Analysis on your HUD. There is a slight influx of methane in the air, and my scans show it could be higher towards Zaggar.

"Thanks, I'll remember that. Compensating my air filters in 3." She pulled up the holographic control panel on the left side of her armor and made sure her suit filtered out the influx of methane.

I could have done that for you, Rookie.

"I need to be able to function without your assistance, ACE."

Was that you trying to say "Do not baby me?"

"Yes, ACE. Yes it was." The digital chuckle that filtered through her radio only had her rolling her eyes. She peered around the grassy plain she stood in the middle of. "At least the view is nice."

You are nervous.

Rookie rolled her eyes and started moving. The plains had little cover, so she had to move quickly, least someone spot her. Whose idea was it to drop her off in the middle of the day, in the middle of a big empty space?

You will be fine. It is better to be nervous than not.

Rookie said nothing, and kept moving. Activating her invisibility mod would only do so much.

"ACE, how long could I have my invis' mod functioning?"

With your battery cells at full capacity, your invisibility module would function for 8.643 hours.

"Am I at full capacity?"

Yes. Would you like me to activate your invisibility module?

"Yes, thank you ACE."

With that, Rookie once again took off towards the city of Zaggar, the tallest buildings only just coming into view.

[The Bran]

Heat. Fire. Inertia.
The ship successfully enters the atmosphere and slows it's descent. The Bran looks out of the cockpit to see trees. Lots of trees. Far off in the distance he can make out what appears to be a city. However, the ship seems to have set a different course.

"What in the 'verse could be amidst all these hills and trees?" he mutters to himself.

Suddenly, the ground below appears to shudder violently. Trees begin to fall over in all sorts of directions. The ground below splits apart as if a rift in the planetary crust is opening up. The rift swallows dirt and trees and creatures alike as it becomes larger. Everything disappears into the growing dark abyss below. The ship circles around the site of the seismic activity once more. Finally, the ground settles. Something appears to be rising from the dark abyss, out into the light of the day. An enormous object covered in dirt and debris slowly rises on a platform. It doesn't take The Bran long to figure out that he is gazing upon a starship - dreadnought class. The debris begins to fall off the rest of the dreadnought and The Bran notices a strange symbol on the starboard side of the ship. It resembles symbols painted on many walls of the cloning facility. This can't be a coincidence.

The Bran's small ship plots a new course for a small, nearby underground hanger. The small cruiser slowly descends into the remains of the nearby forest. He hears a thud as the landing gear touches down and the controls all go dark. The cockpit opens and he is alone in an underground hanger. Or at least, he thinks he is alone. He can't shake the strange feeling that he is being watched. The roof to the small hanger begins closing and darkness encompasses The Bran.

[The Queen]

The sun only just began to sink into the sky, shooting out streaks of pink and orange when Agent White Rook finally reached Zaggar. Standing on top of a guard tower, feet planted firmly on the crumbling roof, Rookie took in the city.

Her first impression was... bleak.

There were no people milling the streets. No cars or crafts were moving. No lights in any of the endless sky towers. The only thing moving was the dust being swirled around by the hot, dry breeze.

It was unsettling.

Some buildings were falling apart - most buildings were falling apart -. With windows cracked or missing completely, burnt around the edges and covered in filth. It was almost as if the city had been abandoned for years. But the distress signal was only a few months old. Perhaps it had been too late when they sent it. Perhaps whatever had happened, whatever destructive event that took place there, had already occurred when they sent the distress signals.

The thought made Rookie nauseous. She scanned the atmosphere again, awaiting for ACE's analysis, and carefully approached a sky tower, hand on her pistol.

I do not understand. Ace's voice trickled into her ears. The air is cleaner here than it was on the outskirts of the city. But the city is...

“Destroyed. Empty.”

Yes.

“Any signs of life? Or if there was any life here at all?”

One moment... there are no heat signatures in the immediate vicinity. There are no electrical signatures in the extended vicinity. I do not detect any form of life, human, animal, nor plant. Living or dead.

“No dead? So all these people just left?”

Perhaps it is due to whatever is in Sector F. Rookie. My map indicates a high level research laboratory 567 feet to the north east, and 600 feet down. I suggest seeing if there are any records there documenting what has occurred here.

“I hope so. Is it far down enough to have been spared from an EMP?”

That would be dependent on the strength of the EMP. But in most scenarios, yes. It is likely it would have not been effected.

“Can you tell if an EMP went off here, ACE?”

We would need to locate something electronic for me to be 100% sure. But at this moment in time, it would seem 96.34248% likely that an EMP was used somewhere within the confines of this city.

“So perhaps the people left because nothing was working.”

When ACE did not reply, a shiver went down Rookie's spine, tingling in her toes. ACE was hardly silent. With a breath, Rookie began heading for the laboratory, hoping it would have some answers.

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