NationStates Jolt Archive

Outpost 31.

It was a god forsaken place of eternal wind and snow. The frozen planet was orbiting the distant star named Campbell which itself was located on the edge of one of the galactic arms in a small stellar cluster. The class 3 Yellow Dwarf star was about midway through its solar life but that did not explain the mysteries of the planet.

The place was discovered years ago by an autonomous probe that mapped it to its best ability. That means it recorded the orbits of the planets and scanned each from a distance for any electromagnetic signals. Finding the system dead, it went on its way following its primary orders to search for intelligent life. The scans of the system were entered into record and then forgotten by both machine and man.

A few years ago, a trade vessel used the system as a hiding place when they detected a ghost echo following them. They slid into orbit around Campbell 3 and hit within the gravitational shadow of the moon while the pirate vessel searched for them. After they went away, the crew of The Bottom Line waited in case it was a trick to draw them out into the open. While they had time to burn, they did some low power scans of the planet below them and discovered entire cities buried within the ice. Knowing the ice was too deep for them to excavate, the shrewd captain sold the secret to the highest paying corporation. A whole civilization to reap was invaluable to any company who could claim anything they found as their rights and property. It was a profit dream come true and the captain got a large sum and retired to a tropical planet.

The company established an outpost near the largest city and on the books, it was only known as Outpost #31. A science crew was dispatched to find out what happened to the civilization and to find out who they were.

After an access tunnel was melted through the kilometer thick ice and a base camp located within the ancient Archive, the curious discovery was there were no bodies. They found cemeteries full of dead, but the cities were empty. No bodies filled the streets and hallways. The houses and apartments were empty. The personal transports were left In the streets and piles of them showed traffic accidents but no corpses.

There also were no animals

There were plenty found buried as well as fossils but it was as if something took all life from the place in a short time, even the vegetation was gone. Of course the ice was eons thick so whatever happened to the missing people happened a long, long time ago.

The science teams sent a flood of objects they discovered back to be reversed engineered or sold as alien artifacts and the parent corporation made a fortune off their discoveries. They considered their initial investment of the facilities and the finder’s fee paid to the captain of The Bottom Line credits well spent.

Until one day Outpost #31 went silent.

There was no communications from the distant star and only a faint automatic distress signal could be picked up when the signal made it through the neighboring nebula.






OOC:



This is a character RP, no fleets please.


The two options I can see is a small freighter picking up the erratic signal or a rescue team from the Corporation. Please indicate which you prefer.

This RP has nothing to do with Balrogga or the ITH. It is another idea I had and it is based on a well liked movie. If you guess which one, please don’t post it.

I am open to any GOOD RPer who would be willing to send in characters that could easily die. If it ends successfully the plot could be carried further into participant’s nations if they so wished but that will be decided later.

Here is the OOC Thread:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=14145793#post14145793

tag

There was a tear in space-time and a large burst of energy across any sensors in the e system and the ECS Father Time shot into the system. An Intruder-class frigate, it was the smallest ship currently in use by the Exchani Corporation and perfect for the job at hand. At least, that's what they told the Captain, Jonathan Freeman. He sat on the bridge, watching as the screen began to list all sorts of data that the Father Time was bringing in. Shifting in his seat, he spoke.

"Status report?"

One of the officers spoke up. "All systems are green, sir. Transfer from Chaos space complete. Sensors are scanning the system now. Aside from the source of the distress call, there's nothing here. We won't know anything more, however, unless we get closer."

Jonathan nodded. "Very well. Finish up the scan and then bring us closer to the planet."

"Aye aye, sir."

The frigate sat there for two more minutes, quickly analyzing the data before coming to the conclusion the only thing worth investigating was the transmission that had brought them here. Three days ago, a faint and static-filled distress call was received by a border post comm relay in Exchani space. A quick filter through deciphering protocols revealed some kind of distress call from an Outpost #31. No information could gleaned aside from the source and the name of the location. As was standard Exchani procedure, a frigate was sent to investigate. And so, here they were.

The frigate pushed the engines to full burn and made for the third planet in the system. While the ship made its steady way to the planet, the captain made sure all was ready. The interceptor and bomber pilots were put on standby and a portion of the military complement were armed, suited up and ready to begin exploring. This was a distress call, so they had no idea what had caused them to send this signal. After forty minutes of full burn, the ship entered geosynchronous orbit above the signal source and dropships were sent down. Jonathan steepled his fingers as he watched the screen of the descending dropships.

"Do you hear me, Sergeant?"

********

"Do you hear me, Sergeant?"

A man in a suit of black power armor opened his side of the comm with his communication implants and replied. "Aye, Captain."

"Good. I want communications channels open at all times. I don't want any funny business. Any of you get killed, I get stuck with the paperwork."

He chuckled. "No need to worry about that, sir. We'll be careful."

"Let's hope so, Sergeant Peterson. Now, your orders are such: You are to go down there and find what the sensors show as an abandoned outpost and an attached spaceport. With all the shitty weather going on down there, it was nearly impossible to find it. It's the source of the distress call; get in there, find any survivors if possible, and find out what the hell happened down there. If anything develops, contact me immediately."

"Understood. Peterson out." He turned to face the soldiers in his dropship and nodded to them. They hefted their weapons and began to prepare themselves. He opened a channel to the frequency he used when commanding his soldiers.

"Alright, this is the situation. Captain wants us to take a look at some old outpost. The source of the signal is in there. We are to go in, find out why it was sent and take any survivors. No heroics, no curiosity hikes, nothing outside of my orders. If you do that, we'll be in and out in no time, and back to sleeping in our bunks."

The dropships shot through the pouring snow, making it nearly impossible to see the starport that was their objective. Sensors managed to make it through the weather and the two dropships landed. The ramps extended down and ten troops each poured out. Five from one group was assigned to guard the dropships, while the remaining fifteen followed the Sergeant. He gazed about him, his visor working hard to see through the snow. He cursed under his breath as he shivered. He turned up the heat in his suit; he hated frozen planets.

"Alright; Jenkins, Parowski, you're on point. Everyone else, get into delta formation two and await my orders."

The two he named moved forward, their pulse rifles tracking the railings of the pathway until they came to the door. Jenkins leaned forward and snorted.

"I can't believe this."

Parowski looked at him. "What do you mean?"

"The power's still working. We have lights, power signatures and the door panel is working. Hang on." He opened the com. "Sir, we're at the door. The lights are on, and power's working. Not sure who's been paying the bill though."

"Stuff it, Jenkins. Have you tried contacting anyone on comms?"

"One moment, sir." Jenkins initiated an open channel, boosted the signal and sent out a call. After several moments of silence, he did it again. Nothing.

"Nothing, sir. They're playing possum, dead, or....something's fucked up here."

"Just get the door open." Jenkins walked over to the panel, and saw it only had one button. Pressing it, he heard a small beeping sound and the door opened. The Sergeant came down, with the rest of the soldiers behind him. He saw the open door and nodded.

"Good work, Jenkins. Take Parowski and start scouting, we need to find the command center and find the logs. They'll tell us what happened. Alpha Squad, you go with them. Beta Squad, you're with me. Everyone else, get inside, shut the door, and guard it. I want to have the entry open in case shit hits the fan."

They all gave their acknowledgment and set to work. Jenkins, along with six other soldiers, began to head throughout the facility, trying to locate the command center. Peterson, along with the entire five man Beta squad, began to head down another path, scouting out the area for bodies or signs of what happened. The remaining five stayed back at the entrance. So far, all they had found were quiet corridors, the howl of wind, and the dead silence of an active yet empty base.

What in the name of God happened here?

OOC:

Please play this Youtube Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCi8oCkH94w&feature=related)for atmosphere while reading posts in this Thread, this is the constant sound everyone hears of the wind.





IC:



As the Father Time approached the planet, the numerous attempts to raise someone on the radio were only met by an automatic distress signal. It was clear nobody was home to answer the phone. As the frigate slipped into orbit above the minimal spaceport, sensors would pick up nightmarish landing conditions. High winds tore across the planet with nothing but ice to slow it down. The landing field was placed I the lee of a glacier near to one of the frozen cities encased for eons but getting to it would take some fancy flying. Auto-pilot kept canceling the approach so the pilot had to turn it off and go in hot. After a rather rough landing, the two drop ships made it OK and the heavy environmental doors shut with a thunderous THUD which echoed through the cavernous mostly empty hanger. A single shuttlecraft lay parked at the far end sitting askew, part of its landing gear crumpled. The cargo hatch was wide open as if it was recently unloaded but the craft was cast in shadows, dark and empty. Near the craft was a cargo handling frame, its exoskeleton casting an eerie shadow in the lights the power armor cast. A couple coats lay nearby as if they were hastily discarded and forgotten. Even though the heavy bulkhead doors were tightly closed, the constant howl of the wind and the barrage of ice crystals filled the room forming a constant rumble even felt through the power suits of the marines.

As the crew made their way down the corridor to the control room they found only a few security lights operating. The empty hall echoes the sounds of the team as they walked down the passageway into the room that could only be the operations center of the small spaceport. When they entered, several panels were lit and a continuous blinking on one consol drew their attention. It was obviously the Comm system and the source of the distress signal. A computer screen flashed a password prompt with several failed entries. A trail of dried blood led away from the chair to a larger dried pool in the center of the room. Several of the consoles were smashed and inoperative as if someone had tried to stop the distress sign physically.

Outside the control room, the wide hall terminated at a double platform lift, the type that travels at an angle downward where you can park a small vehicle or cargo. A single control panel projected from the floor of the lift along the side. The other lift was somewhere down in the darkness of the ice encased tunnel walls below.

This is still open if anyone wanted to play someone from the parent company or even a wandering frigsate ot salvage crew. I just want no armies or it might spoil the RP for the others.

OCC: could i send a GOU?(basically a clone soldier) say he crashed?

OOC:

Whomever you send, make sure they can be overwhelmed by what I might bring in. It would not be a horror story otherwise.

As long as that basic idea is followed, there should not be a problem. Any questions, feel free to TG me.