SG Nova Roma, Chapter 2.12

12 – Patet Ex Cinere

(Spera – Gate Room – Day 128 / 31 December 2017, 0700)

Today was the last day of 2017 and 2018 was promising to be quite the challenging year. It had been twenty-three days since they had crossed into the Plain of Ashes, that the crew had begun calling it ‘Pat’. It was short for Patet Ex Cinere, which was Latin for Plain of Ashes. And that was exactly what they had found. Ruins of abandoned settlements, very little resources and signs of some kind of conflict having destroyed some to these places. And as Vale stood in the Gate Room, he didn’t expect F2B-017 to be more hospitable then any of the other worlds they had visited recently.

The dialing sequence finished and the wormhole formed. As soon as it did, Jumper One took up position in front of the Gate. The MALP data on the planet hadn’t told them much about what they would encounter on the other side. This was because the Stargate on F2B-017 was at the bottom of a crater that the MALP couldn’t leave. It had told them that there was gravity, a breathable atmosphere and that the temperature was twenty-seven degrees centigrade.

Since they were going in with limited information and that they were still inside the Pat, Vale had assigned all five NR-Teams and both Puddle Jumpers to the mission. Major Levine would be flying Jumper One, which would carry NR-2, NR-3 and NR-5. Vale himself would fly Jumper Two, where NR-1 and NR-4 would be. As for Spera, Sergeant T’Zalo would be in the center seat. ~They’ll be fine.~ Jumper One made its way through the Gate, while Vale made his way to Jumper Two. The two teams were ready to go, so Vale sat behind the controls and closed the rear hatch.

“Here we go, people.”

He took the Jumper into the Gate Room. ~Time to thread the needle.~ Two seconds later, the Jumper came out of the wormhole on the planet. Vale pulled the small ship out of the crater, where Jumper One was waiting for them. ~Whoa, sons of Dis…~ As he saw the surface of the planet, he realized that his hunch to take all five NR-Teams had been correct. Because the planet was covered in modern city that stretched as far as he could see. And that city appeared to have been severely damaged by an attack from orbit.

“It’s like we flew into Coruscant.” Grogan said.

“Yeah, after the Separatists hit it with every ship they had.” Vale said.

Vale took the Jumper further up. Next to him, Alison Porter was also studying the city. She realized that Vale and Grogan were right, and the ship had indeed been hit by a large number of vessels from orbit. But as she looked at the city, she noticed something odd. There were some undamaged chunks of city. And there was something else. The damaged parts of the city were expensive, fancy structures. Or at least, they looked like they had been. While the standing parts were slums.

And then she saw something that made her frown. ~Is that….~ Lying amongst the ruins was what Porter believed to be one of the attackers. There was a trail behind the vessel, indicating that it had crashed. ~After it was shot down ?~ Vale flew the Jumper closer to the wreckage for a better look. As they approached, her suspicions were confirmed. The attacker was a Command Ship. And whoever had lived here once had shot it down. The ship was filled with ragged holes from weapons fire.

“Bloody underworld…,” G’Yal said.

“Did anybody else notice that the slums are still standing ?” Porter asked.

“Yeah,” Patterson said. “Why would the drones do that ? I mean, it doesn’t fit with what we’ve learned about them so far. They should have levelled the whole thing, not just certain areas.”

“She’s right,” Porter began. “They’re not programmed to be that selective. Unless…”

“Unless what ?” Patterson asked.

“Unless the programming wasn’t making the selection,” G’Yal said. “What if, at this point, the builders were still in control ? Maybe they were in control and choose not destroy the slums. That might also explain why we haven’t found any of them before now.” Porter gave him a look. “If they won the war with whoever lived here, they probably took all the Berserker Drones and Command Ships with them when it was over. And if their home was in Galaxy Destiny Two….”

“Sounds like we have a theory,” Vale said. “Let’s see if we can find out if it’s true.”

Vale activated his radio and began giving orders. Then he started looking for a place to put down the Puddle Jumpers. So far, they had been gathering breadcrumbs of this puzzle. But this might be the motherlode. And he had no intention of missing any off it. He checked his watch and saw that they had only four hours before the ship jumped back into FTL. So this was going to have to be a rush job to boot. ~Oh, well, just another day in outer space.~

(Wrecked Command Ship – Cockpit – Day 128, 0712)

Jennifer Hailey landed on her feet. It had taken some searching, but they had found an airlock into the ship. It was at the top of the ship, so they had ended up falling into the internal space. Said space was a small cockpit. There were several control panels and two chairs. One of them had a skeleton in it, which Doctor Bennett was already studying. The other chair had been empty, but Alec Colson was now using it as he studied the ship.

“How is it looking, Alec ?”

“Dead as a doornail, boss,” Colson said. “We’ve got no power to any of the systems. I’ve tried re-routing, but to no avail.”

“What about our dead friend here, Doctor ?”

“He looks Human, very Human,” Bennett began. “But the only way to know for sure is to take him back to Spera. The problem is that we cannot take him with along. These bones are so fragile that they will fall apart if we try to move them. I can, however, give you a guess,” He looked at Hailey. “These bones are roughly fifty-thousand years old.”

“Okay, do what you can, doctor.”

Hailey climbed back out of the ship. NR-5 was examining the outside of the wreck, which was overgrown by some kind of wooden vines. Hetty McConnell had cut through one of them and was studying the cross-section of the sample. McConnell looked up as Hailey climbed down from the wreck.

“Bennett found a skeleton, says its fifty-thousand years old. What do the numbers on our green friends say ?”

“The numbers don’t add up. Because this vine has been growing for two-hundred years at most,” McConnell said.

“How can there be such a big discrepancy ?”

“I may have an answer,” A male voice said. “And it’s not good news, ma’am.” McConnell and Hailey turned to see Claus standing next to the wreck. “The lower section is a mess and there are several hull breaches down there. Including one right next to what I think used to be the main reactor. And if the fuel leaked out….”

“Then maybe this whole area was dosed with some kind of radiation until two-hundred years ago,” McConnell said. “Could be. And if it is, then every Command Ship wreck out there could be a radiation bomb, waiting to blow up. Hence, the bad news part, I presume ?”

“Yeah. And if Doctor Bennett is right and these things are fifty-thousand years old, those bombs could be pretty fragile.”

Hailey activated her radio and contacted Colonel Vale. She knew it was just a theory, but she was not going to take the chance that it was right. While NR-2 and NR-5 were examining the wreck, NR-3 and NR-4 had headed for the nearest slum. Finally, the job of looking for more crashed Command Ships had fallen to NR-1. Which was my she was contacting Vale.

(F2B-017 – Wrecked Office Building – Day 128, 0727)

Vale had listened to Hailey’s theory. And from the building he had climbed, he could see seven more Command Ships wrecks. The people of this planet had put up a considerable fight against the Berserker Drones. ~And each of these ships might be a bomb. Great.~ But if they wanted answers about the builders, they would have to risk a closer look at one of them. He picked one of the wrecks and reached for his radio. But before he could activate it, he got an incoming call.

=/\=Teldy to Vale.=/\=

“Vale here.”

=/\=Sir, we’ve made a major discovery in the slums, =/\= Teldy said. =/\=I think you should come down here.=/\=

“On our way.”

He made his way down to ground level, where G’Yal and Porter were working on gathering information. Patterson was standing guard as they did so. Vale told them to head out, which they did. The office building – or what they thought was an office building – was not far from the slums. So it took them only a few minutes to reach the two other teams. As they did, Vale realized that some things were universal. The place was build out of wood, corrivated steel, plastic and repurposed garbage. Major Teldy was standing outside a large building made out of what Vale figured had once been shipping containers. ~People use whatever they can get their hands on.~

“What do we have, Major ?”

“See for yourselves,” Teldy said, while gesturing towards the building. “They’re inside.”

Vale made his way into the container building. The building appeared to be a make-shift medical clinic. Vale counted eight beds, each with a body on them. And not a single one of the was Human. ~No way, are those..?~ He looked at the bodies and realized that they were indeed what he thought they were.

“Nakai ?” G’Yal said. “And Ursini ? Together, on one planet ? How is that possible ?” He looked around the room and then noticed that two of the bodies were neither species. Approaching the bodies, he shook his head. “And I’ve never seen one, but from what I learned in school, those….”

“Jynacko ?” Vale asked.

“Yes,” G’Yal said.

Vale exchanged a look with Major Teldy. This planet was proving to be a game changer. ~Before, we were working on a puzzle.~ But now, they might soon end up play a game of cat-and-mouse with both the Berserkers and whoever had lived on this planet.