Surveying the Ice World

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Participants

St. Lucia Crew

ExoGeni Corporation

Syranis Foundation

Freelancers

Redrock Agency

Other

  • Jana
  • Feral Vorcha
  • Wildlife

Summary

The Saint Lucia

In October of 2185, ExoGeni Corp and the Syranis Foundation launched a joint expedition to survey UNC-49-256D-958/A, the icy moon of the gas giant UNC-49-256D-958 in an uncharted system. The expedition launched aboard the RSV Saint Lucia, an ExoGeni science vessel, from the freeport of Freedom Falls, Aite. Matriarch Syranis, ever a supported of local businesses, enlisted the services of Redrock in providing security for the expedition. Several independent specialists also took part in the expedition due to last-minute personnel difficulties. The Redrock team's leadership, Jason Wolfe and Ilyna T'Rea, were hesitant to work with ExoGeni after their past experiences with the company, but Chief Vasquez remained adamant that this was an opportunity they could not pass up, and so the team was deployed. After the expedition set off from Aite, a four-day journey through uncharted space awaited those aboard the Saint Lucia. For some, especially among Redrock, sharing the close quarters of a spaceship was a new experience, and the uneventful trip left plenty of time for the diverse expedition crew to get to know each other, some more closely than others. After some initial tension between Redrock and ExoGeni's personnel, the journey ended on a more amiable note, with an impromptu movie night in the ship's cargo hold.

Setting Up Camp

After a successful landing on the uncharted moon, scout drones were sent out to chart the surrounding area in search for a suitable site to set up camp - somewhere with ice thick enough to be stable, but thin enough for the laser drills to penetrate. During the search, the security team established a perimeter around the ship, giving Redrock's people a chance to see the stunning landscape of this arctic world first-hand - endless white plains of snow-covered ice in every direction, blending into the cloudy sky. Eventually, a site was located, and work could finally begin. Prefab shelters were erected, and the drill was mounted. Unfortunately, tensions once again flared between the security team and the researchers after Nathan Tennhausen, one of Redrock's new hires, and one of the company's resident demolitionists, lost his temper and threatened Harmonia Kozma, the leader of ExoGeni's research personnel following the rejection of a request to repurpose research equipment into land mines meant to protect the base.

Technical Difficulties

Once assembly of the research outpost was complete and drilling had begun, the expedition could finally start to settle in. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the moon's extreme weather would start to cause issues. Contact was lost with one of the scout drones that were still out surveying the area, and Yan Sun, an independent technician on a temporary contract, was sent out to repair it, accompanied by Nathan and Uvena of Redrock, who had been tasked with playing babysitter. While they were locating and repairing the missing drone, another one was lost, extending their little field trip. Unlike the first, the second drone proved a lost cause - it was discovered to have fallen through a hole in the ice. More interesting, perhaps, was the large marine animal carcass on the ice near the hole, looking as if it had been dragged out of the water. While the carcass itself intrigued the researchers, the security team was more concerned that whatever pulled it out of the water could be a threat to the expedition.

Under The Sea

After the drill broke through the ice, the most important part of the expedition's purpose could begin - a deep dive to survey the ocean floor for mineral deposits and undiscovered species. A team of four, consisting of Harmonia from ExoGeni, Nalota from the Syranis Foundation, and Nathan and Jasper from Redrock, descended into the icy waters using Triton diving mechs. They found a vibrant alien ecosystem deep underwater, although their exploration had to be cut short due to hostile wildlife, leading to a harrowing ascent. Fortunately, all divers emerged unscathed, although one of the mechs suffered extensive damage.

An Unexpected Threat

While the diving team was exploring the seabed, one of the remaining survey drones made an intriguing discovery - another carcass pulled out of the water, this one much fresher than the last. Not willing to pass up the opportunity for further research, a sizable team was assembled to go investigate in the expedition's rover. What they found on arrival was a surprise to all - primitive spears attached to metal cables had been used to haul the creature out of the ice. No sooner had this indication of an unknown offworld presence been discovered than the team was attacked by large numbers of feral vorcha that seemed well-adapted to the local climate. The rover was lost in the ensuing chaos, but thanks to the capable security team no lives were lost as the team fled on foot into rapidly worsening weather.

Old Secrets

While the severe weather helped the stranded field team lose the vorcha a blizzard was a deadly threat in its own right, but in a stroke of luck the team happened upon an unknown structure and forced their way inside to take shelter. They started to cautiously explore the facility, which seemed to have been abandoned for a long time, judging by the lacking power and frozen bodies they encountered. The bodies were asari, but given that there was no record of any outposts on this world, the most likely conclusion was some kind of illegal, or otherwise secret facility. Answers started to take shape as they pushed deeper into the facility, and Yan Sun, who was heavily cybernetically enhanced, was hijacked by the [AI] residing within the facility. Fearing for its safety and struggling to communicate, the AI demanded that the team leave before releasing control of Yan Sun. Shaken, but intrigued, she tried to explain her impression of the AI to the rest of the team, but she was disregarded as the others pushed deeper in the hopes of finding the base's generators to restore power, aiming also to shut down the AI before it could attack them. On the lower levels they found the generators, as well as more answers - it seemed that the facility had been housing illegal AI research, and that a Council Spectre had been sent to eliminate the scientists and destroy the facility, perishing in the process. The AI panicked in response to their intrusions, initiating a distress signal to the geth. Acting both out of fear that the security team's technicial specialist, Artullin Ortoratus, would be unable to disable the AI in time, and out of a desire to save the AI itself from destruction, Yan Sun convinced Jessica Kaya, a member of the security team that she had gotten close to during the expedition, to let her go directly to the AI core, where she convinced the AI to stop and promised it she would get it out of the long-abandoned base before disconnecting the AIs bluebox and hiding it on her person.

A Hasty Departure

Given the possibility that the signal to the geth may have gone through before it was stopped, and the still-present threat of the vorcha, the field team sent an urgent message back to the camp, and a hasty rescue was organized by Redrock while the remaining researchers packed up camp and returned to the Saint Lucia. The vorcha interfered with the retrieval of the lost team, but nothing worse than a broken arm was suffered as they were extracted and returned to the ship for immediate extraction. After an unexpectedly chaotic end to their expedition, security and researchers alike enjoyed an uneventful trip back to charted space, content that no lives had been lost despite the sudden danger. While their stay had been cut short, they still managed to collect a substantial amount of research data to boot. And then there was the facility, an intriguing lead to follow up on for a company like ExoGeni. Provided the system wasn't swarming with geth next time they checked, of course. As for the AI, Yan Sun kept her promise, bringing the bluebox back with her to Aite and keeping a hold of it, something she has only revealed to Jessica.

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