Drafted-Ancients Section

Drafted 5 - Ancients Section

Ancients Section (Yan Jung Research)

The week has flown by. More physical training, like running in 3G and other practice, like flying your Atron all over the place, has kept your mind occupied for most of the time. You have burned through your skillplan in an accelerated way, that doesn’t mean you have finished it of course. Not by a long shot, it will take an additional 3 years to accomplish that, but you have made good headway with it. All the basic skills have been learned and some of the more advanced specialized skills as well. Which is good in a way, it makes your armour more resistant to incoming fire, your shields and hull as well, you are better at shooting at targets, even if they outnumber you. And, most importantly you feel more confident in your ship, knowing what to do on an almost instinctive level. All very good and well, but training is about to end, the real work awaits.

All of the Green Echelon members are drilled to perfection, as the Sergeant would say. Now all of you are standing in perfect formation in the mess hall, awaiting the arrival of Luminaire General Francois du Rennes. Finally he arrives, he walks onto the podium and looks around. He seems to look at each and every individual within the echelon as if speaking to that person one-on-one.

“Well, here we are again, and sooner than anticipated even. I have heard about your training and the new implants you got to test for us. Some have adapted better than others, but most of you have successfully reached a satisfactory level of combat readiness.” He looks around to see if his words made any impact on you and your comrades, but nothing shows on your or their faces. “Well then” then general continues “as I said you have performed well during this training and the exercises. Some of you even went on legitimate missions and performed well during those. So that leaves me to congratulate you on getting this far. You are no free men, as you can understand. Most of you have billions to repay and have to serve the Gallente Empire for numerous years to come. But you have been promoted from simple ‘grunts’, as your sergeant calls you, to ensigns first class. This means the Federal Defense Union militia will start to put you on the frontline in our war. You will keep your ship, modules and AI in the upcoming months. She will make sure you will not escape and do your duty. In the meanwhile, the clone activation module has been reactivated and works properly again, so dying will not release you of your obligations. You will be charged extra for the clone and new ship, but you will live, so that should be a small commiseration at least. Now your sergeant has your new assignments, pick them up, clear out your stuff from the Green Echelon’s quarters and go to your designated squadrons.” With that he takes a final look at you and walks off the stage.

“Ok green grunts” the Sergeant says with a smile on his face “get over here.” He starts handing out the assignments and formal papers of your new rank, including a new balance sheet with the outstanding balance you owe the Gallente Empire. Translated it means at least five years of service, that is if you don’t make any money to hasten the pace of repaying it.

“Ok, now start packing up the stuff you have in your quarters. You, Simmons and Ferrier, report to me in 30 minutes, we got a doctor’s appointment.”

Thirty minutes later and you have all your belongings with you in a small duffle bag. Knocking the door to the Sergeant’s quarters you think about what will happen when the doctor lays his hands on you. Remembering what happened to Baptiste, you hope that the new information on the Yan Jung will not fry your brain. Before you can start to elaborate on that thought, the Sergeant’s door opens with a hiss.

“Good you are here, now let’s see what the witch doctor has in store for us.” In a brisk walking pace you walk towards the medical bay. Greeted by the nurse the four of you are ushered into the room with the implant machine.

“Ah welcome, now it’s time for experimenting” the doctor says with a grin. Seeing the look on your faces he hastily adds “no worries guys, it’s just a skill book with information, we are not going to open up your skull again if you are worried about that.”

“Good, ‘cause I don’t like people messing around with my skull at my age” the Sergeant replies.

“You’re not that old sergeant, I’ve seen your file. The Ancient section however has provided us with, well not really a skillbook, but more of a fact sheet transformed into a skillbook. There used to be a lot more, but what I heard is that a guy named Chiraq went through it vigorously and stripped out all the assumptions it contained. You should have learned all of the facts by the end of the week. As it is comprised of all the research within the Gallente Empire, it will have to be implanted and removed by myself personally. They really insisted on this as part of national security, or something like that. Oh yeah, this includes the mandatory presence of Chiraq during the proceedings, and that’s who we are waiting for.” As soon as the doctor is finished you take a chair and start to relax. Taking out the datapad you check your skillplan. You were planning on learning the final level of your frigate, to be ready to fly something either bigger, a cruiser perhaps, or something more advanced, a tech 2 frigate, like those tackler guys in the wormhole a week or so ago. It shouldn’t be a big problem, and you hope that you will be able to pay off the debt with this Ancient Section as fast as the others in their normal attack squads. You have heard a couple of them, they’re moving towards the frontline, a few contested systems thirty or so jumps from here. Baptiste isn’t going anywhere, he is staying on his mining barge, a new one he told you. A nice Covetor, the top of the line of the ordinary barges, and he is aiming for a Mackinaw. Speciality mining will be his goal, in the meanwhile also learning refining, manufacturing and other science skills, such as research. Perhaps he can research a new ship for you. Grinning because of the thought, you look at the papers confirming you are an Ensign First Class. This is good, perhaps I can even make a career in the next five years, corporal, sergeant, staff sergeant, perhaps even a lieutenant. Who knows what you will be able to achieve if things go right.

“Ah there he is” the doctor says as Chiraq enters the room holding a silver briefcase in his hands.

“Small change of plans doc” he says, as he opens up the briefcase. “They are getting these attribute enhancers as well, so they can learn this information even faster as well as the other skills the Sergeant and I discussed earlier.”

“Wow” the doctor exclaims, “these are top of the line implants, a full set of them for each. Are you sure they are worth this?”

“The costs aren’t the problem, we need people to help us find the sites, analyse the communication and help us with the archaeological activities inside the Yan Jung structures. If I’m not mistaken, and I usually aren’t, these four will help us significantly with our studies of the sites.”

You look at the doctor quizzically, “what kind of implants are they doc?”

“Well, these are the most expensive implants money can buy at the moment. An elite set of attribute enhancers, plus 7 across the board. These will boost your learning capabilities considerable. You know how the implants work, right?" Without waiting for an answer, he started explaining, as much for you as for the rest of the medical staff. "There are a number of attributes inside the human brain we can target and aid directly. Charisma, intelligence, memory, perception and willpower. Every skill you learn will use two of these attributes in order to commit the knowledge to your neural pathways. I'm not going into detail on how this works, as you either wouldn't comprehend it or it will take me too long to explain. Let's just say, these babies will give you the best performance you can have, as long as you don't get killed of course. You will need to get an extra set of these for your new clone if that happens. Now, who's first?"

The Sergeant steps forward, he knows about these implants, as he has a set of improved implants already in his head. These are far too expensive for him to buy, but he will gladly use them if they are for free. "Hook me up doc."

The doctor makes him sit in the chair, starting up his diagnosis hardware he checks the Sergeants current hardware. Before removing the old enhancers, he shuts down the current learning skill. A soft chime of the machine indicates there is no skill in training. Then, disconnecting the old enhancers, putting them on a tray nearby, and the careful installation of the new enhancers. The machine checks if they are working properly and indicates that they do. After this the doctor uploads the skill Chiraq has provided, and checks if it is being learned.

"Ok, this checks out, it should be finished in 3 days instead of the five it originally needed Sergeant."

"Well, that's good, it saves a bit of time learning this stuff. Ok, Ferrier you're next."

"Yes sir" Ferrier replies, taking the seat opposite from the doctor.

Ten minutes later and the four of you have started learning all the facts and figures about the Yan Jung people.

"Well, this is going well, let me show you your new quarters" Chiraq says. "By the way Sergeant, I have taken the liberty to move your stuff to there as well."

"You did what?"

"I moved your stuff, it seemed prudent to have you situated near your squad."

"You better make sure it's a lot roomier than the room I had, it took me two years to get it."

"You don't have to worry about that Sergeant, I know how much trouble you went through to get your old quarters, but I assure you, you will not be dissatisfied with your new quarters."

"Mmm we will see Chiraq, we will see."

You sling your duffel bag over your shoulder and follow Chiraq who leads you to the nearest set of elevators. You enter and look as Chiraq takes out a key card and holds it before a card reader. The elevator pings, acknowledging the destination, and you feel your stomach moving towards your throat. 'Going down, next stop magic and magicians' you think to yourself. After what seems an eternity, the elevator doors open up and the five of you head out.

"These will be your quarters on the left hand side, there will be enough room for the four of you."

"What?" the Sergeant exclaims, "do you think I'm sharing my quarters with these grunts?"

"Relax Sergeant, these quarters consist of four sleeping area's with their own shower and toilets, and a common area you have to share. Besides, I made sure you got the biggest room of them all" Chiraq adds with a grin.

"Again, we will see, I may have to kick out these grunts out and let them sleep in the hallway, harden them a bit as part of their continuing training" he adds with a bit of a smirk on his face.

"If the accommodation isn't sufficient, there are numerous others on this floor. This is the underside of the station, with its own hangar, maintenance crew and communication array. You will not have to go to the upper levels anymore for a long while. We're completely self-sufficient, apart from a medical bay and the cloning station we still have to share. Once you have settled in, I will give you the grand tour of this place. Welcome to the Ancients Section."

Continuing training, now that doesn't bode good for you, Ferrier and Simmons. You hoped it would be done with after graduating today, but apparently the Sergeant, or better Staff Sergeant, thinks differently. You enter the new quarters, it is more luxurious than you have seen in the past months. Large screens with all kinds of information on them are displayed, a comfortable sofa and table are positioned opposite of them. There are also some other chairs and a kitchen table of some sorts with their own holographic screen, projected in the middle of it. The Sergeant doesn't wait to take in the common room, but starts searching for his own master suite, with all the stuff he has on the station in it. His stuff has been moved alright, but everything is still in boxes. With a sigh he starts going through them and starts unpacking his stuff on shelves and in cupboards. Both Ferrier and Simmons didn't wait for invitations as well and picked a room. Which leaves you with the one near the entrance, you resettle your duffle bag on your shoulders and head to your new room. At least you don't have to share this one with all the other grunts of the Green Echelon. You throw your bag on the bed and start exploring the room. After the bed, standard issue, you move to the en-suite to find a standard issue toilet, wash basin and shower. There is even some standard issue shower gel and toilet paper, which is a good thing. You step out of the en-suite and take another look at your room. Besides the bed, there is a single cupboard and a few bookshelves. Those have to be the most useless feature of this room, you think to yourself. The books you 'own' are all digital and compact enough to be held on a single datapad. Besides, even if you run out of storage on the device you can always back it up to the general information system of the station, or Aura if it’s really important. Ah well, it's better than what you had previously, so you really shouldn't complain. You can always put a couple of potted plants there. You pick up your duffle bag and empty it on the bed, turning around you open the cupboard and start putting in the few items you have. You training gear, a few clean uniforms and some underwear. The toiletries are moved to the en-suite. Taking another look at your room, you head out to the common room to find Ferrier 'hogging' the screens.

"Any good shows on?"

"No not really, besides I'm checking some stuff on the Yan Jung, but there is hardly anything to find. It seems that all records on them have been expunged or something like that. There isn't any information on any of the ancient races, only a few bits on the Sleepers, and only a list of items to be found at the Yan Jung sites."

"Strange, shouldn't there be more of it? At least on how to deal with the sites?"

"Yes you would think that, but only the Sleeper behaviour has been thoroughly described. There is no mention for example of how to deal with AI ships of the Yan Jung race. Nothing."

"What are you guys doing, any sport channels on there?" Simmons asks as he gets out of his room.

"Ferrier was looking up some information on the Yan Jung, but there is hardly any to be found" you reply. "Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"Not really, as that Chiraq guy was pretty evasive on the contents of the memory skill we got running now. I think they would not want people to get any wind of the Yan Jung, other than the archaeological stuff they find now and then."

"Yeah, that could be it" Ferrier says "they probably suppress the information that there are AI ships of the Yan Jung, just like the Sleeper ships. Probably they want the capsuleers to go after those Sleepers first and keep the Yan Jung discoveries to themselves, or at least the Gallente Empire."

"Yep, now turn the channel to some sport shows, we will get enough time to acquaint ourselves with the Yan Jung later." Simmons adds. After half an hour of watching all the sport you can handle, the Sergeant finally steps out of his room. "So you found the holographic projections, any news on my rugby team?"

"Which one is that, Sergeant?" Simmons asks.

"Luminaire Centrals"

"Sorry sir, but they lost their last match sir."

"Incompetent bastards. They should be shot, those idiots" the Sergeants mumbles to himself. "Well, let's take the grand tour of this place." The four of you walk out, taking a left turn and march to what seems to be the center of this floor. A large open room opens up and you see a number of technicians look at different screens, projected from their desks. There is a huge six by four meter screen as well, displaying the universe with a number of green and red dots on it. Chiraq is sitting in his central console chair, talking to a nondescript tech with a datapad in his hands.

"You sure you entered all the information on this screen?"

"Yes sir, I have sir."

"Quit it already with the ‘sir-ing’, I'm not a sir. I am called Chiraq, that is how you will address me, understood?"

"Yes sir, I mean Chiraq, sir" a bit flustered, the tech turns around and heads back to his own station.

"Ah there you are, you like the new quarters I provided?"

"Yes sir" three of you reply, combined with a "they will do" from the Sergeant.

"Do I need to repeat myself? Call me Chiraq, not sir. And Sergeant, did they get all your belongings from your old quarters?"

"They did, and they didn't even break anything this time."

"Good, good. Now, let me give you the grand tour of this fabulous section. As you can see this is the command center of our little outfit. Well, I say little, but on and off we have approximately two hundred staff working hear, not counting pilots we use to enter the Yan Jung sites. I gather you found out something of the Yan Jung already?" tapping his head with his index finger.

"Yes we did, si... Chiraq" Ferrier replies "but there is a lot of information in our head that can't be verified on any universal information site."

"That's true, I have orders to suppress all the information, except the archaeological finds, from the general public. Only the Sleepers are known to the general public, the other races and the sites they left us with, are completely unknown."

"But...... this is major news, to all the citizens of the universe, isn't it?"

"It could be, but it could also create an existential disturbance within the empire, even the other empires. The Sleeper race has been discovered by capsuleers and they have shared their information with everyone who wanted to know about it. The reason I suspect is to drive new technology and therefore a market for the finds they make in the Sleeper sites and the salvage of the Sleeper ships. All our information on the Yan Jung has been gathered on specific information systems with added layers of security to prevent unauthorized access and to diminish the chance of any information being leaked to the outside world."

"Wow" Ferrier stutters, trying to comprehend the significance of what he has just learned.

"Let's continue the tour or your new home and we will talk about the Yan Jung over dinner."

Chiraq leads you from the command center on a tour of your new home. After spending a few minutes on the quarters, which are unsurprisingly empty, you are guided down a couple of floors into a large open room.

"This is our laboratory in which we research every scrap of information on the Yan Jung from all the archaeological finds we make. Most of the artefacts you would find in the museums are indeed copies, all the originals, well most of them, are moved here. There are only Gallente scientists working here, no other affiliated scientists."

You take a good look around. A number of scientists are walking around with datapads in their hands, arguing, probably about the results of one of the numerous tests they conduct. A few are sitting behind large well-lit desks, using magnifying glasses and brushes to inspect an artefact. Another scientist is placing an item in the center of a room and walks out to the nearby console. A few commands later and the item is rising vertically, surrounded by laser scanners it is lit up, in order to create the finest digital copy possible. So much is happening that you cannot decide which is more interesting. In the back you see the remains of one of the Yan Jung AI drones with scientists and what looks like mechanics crawling on it. Ferrier tugs your sleeve, apparently the tour is continuing, but you know you would rather spend another day or week even in this place, finding out all the secrets that are going to be discovered and explained. Chiraq doesn't wait and walks towards the elevators, on the way down he tells you that this is just 'Lab 1', with the more safe items, and that there are four more labs like this, some a bit more dangerous. On the fifth level there is a mess hall, with room enough for two hundred employees. On the sixth level it gets interesting again. The display in the elevator says "Research and Development", and you decide to ask Chiraq.

"And what are they developing here?"

"Well, you know by now that the Yan Jung were focussed on the development of technology with advanced gravitronics and force fields. The Sleepers are known for the advanced knowledge of virtual reality, neutral interfacing and cryotechnology. These are what we now use for tech 2 and tech 3 ships, like the Proteus. In this department we develop technologies based on what we can learn from them, as well as the other races, the Talocan and the Takmahl. New modules and such, and at the moment a new type of shield based on the Yan Jung knowledge of force fields. There are some other ideas and applications they are working on, but that's what they are doing."

"Anything we can stick on our ship?"

"No, not at the moment, but in the near future there should be some modules you can use based on what they are creating in there." You step out of the elevator and take a good look around. Another large room, just like Lab 1, and here are researchers at work, looking over strange apparatus with strange more alien details on them. Nothing like the modules you have studied before, more intricate then those, with a distinct Gallente flair of course.

"So, like I said" Chiraq continues "this is the place where we create new stuff, based on what the lab's above can figure out. There are two more departments like these, but they are not like these at all. Those have separate rooms, in case of emergencies, like modules blowing up et cetera."

"Pretty impressive" the Sergeant says "now, you were talking about our own hangar?"

"Ah, yes indeed, I thought that might interest you. We brought all your ships there, and the Atrons of your ensigns as well. Let's head there and finish up our tour."

The five of you step in the elevator again and head down, after two more floors with the R&D departments you enter the hangar area. Whilst the laboratory and R&D departments were huge open spaces, this is a massive space. A large number of ships are floating around, waiting to be boarded by the pilots of the Ancients Section. You see a fleet of Atrons, some fifty of them, neatly in a row.

"This hangar is almost fully automated. You get into your pod and everything from there is done by machines and computers. No human interface, something that probably will be implemented in all of the hangars in the future. The only thing we have mechanics for is to incorporate new technology on a ship, that's still a specialist job, but the rest isn't anymore." Chiraq walks to a nearby console panel and requests information on the hangar. You see a large number of ships readily available for pilots to enter.

"It even stores the specific settings for each ship and pilot combination, and because the process is fully automated you don't have to have a large number of space to store the ships anymore, no more manoeuvring room because our computers can park the ships to within a meter of each other. Even the modules, like the weapons are stored in a similar fashion and the same goes for the ammo."

"Nice setup, Chiraq" the Sergeant reluctantly replies. "No human error, and how about the repairing of ships?"

"The repairing is automated as well, either on request of the captain of the ship or before storing the ship. If you get a ship from storage it doesn't have any problems, no damage from previous encounters, just the ship and the desired modules."

"And changing the modules?"

"That's as easy as well, you just tell your personal Aura AI what you need and she will relay your request to the hangar computer. If it's available it will be retrieved from storage and mounted. If it's now available it will be either ordered from the market, or created in our weapons manufacturing platform."

"Nice, and who will pick up the bill?"

"For now we will, your requests will ultimately be reviewed by me, so don't start ordering your Megathrons just yet, alright?" The Sergeant grins at Chiraq, in agreement. "I guess I'll be signing of on the requests of these grunts here?"

"That's the idea, you report to me and keep your squad in check. You guys ready for some early dinner so we can start planning your activities." A collective 'sure' is heard as you enter the elevator once more. Up you go, towards the command center.

These dinners are nice, you think by yourself, a steak, fresh vegetables and potatoes. A lot better than the mess hall of the Green Echelon. Everyone is about done eating when a serving robot comes around with a freshly brewed pot of coffee.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed that" Chiraq says after pouring himself a cup of coffee. "We got our own chefs here to get a decent dinner, sort of a compensation of the lack of communication with the outside world on what we are doing here.

"It was good" you say.

"Yep, very good, and the coffee isn't bad as well" Simmons adds.

"Now let's get to business. Tomorrow I want you to enter the site you discovered yesterday" Chiraq says nodding towards Ferrier. "We need you to go over the structures to find out any information that may be relevant for us."

"You mean the tactics those ships were using against us?" you ask.

"Indeed. But there are other things as well, we haven't been able to get into a central structure, at least not before we have shot it to pieces. See if you can find out anything useful and perhaps even an open door."

"Are we going to search for communication signals as well" Ferrier asks.

"No, we got teams for that, besides most of the communication has been cut down after we destroyed that last ship. There was only one burst of communication after that and we recorded everything we could, now it's up to the communication officers and other scientists to decipher that information and find out where it was sent to exactly."

"Ok, so you want us to find an entrance in the central building at the site and anything on the tactics they deployed? And after that?" the Sergeant summarises.

"Well, if you get that far, that would be a major breakthrough, and there would be numerous activities you could help us with. But let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. Go back to your quarters and review the information you have learned already and the information you can learn from our recordings from this site. It has been uploaded to our servers and you have been granted access to them. I don't suppose I have to repeat myself that communication on this subject is forbidden and you will not share any information with anyone outside the Ancient Section, right?"

"No worries there Chiraq, I will keep my grunts in line and I won't be spilling any information on anything, you can be sure of that."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure that you won't, 'cause I'll be monitoring everything you do" Chiraq replies with a smile.

With a stifled yawn you go back to the assigned quarters, a lot more people are around now, looking at you with a bit of apprehension shining through their eyes. They can see by your looks that you are capsuleers, the metal ends sticking out of your skull a dead giveaway. Not caring about what they may think you enter the quarters, taking a seat on one of the sofas. Ferrier, Simmons and the Sergeant join you, resting their feet on the table, looking up information on their datapads. You get up to get your own pad and take your place on the sofa again. Access was provided Chiraq said, so you look to what they have been storing on the Yan Jung. Especially the new site you are going to visit tomorrow, you quickly find the footage that has been taken of the site. Though the small datapad gives you a crystal clear image you have difficulty to find anything useful on it.

"Mind if I use the big screen for this?" you wave your datapad and the images on it to the others.

"No problem, go ahead" Simmons replies.

You walk up to the big holographic screen. "Aura, could you help me out a bit?"

"Sure, what can I do for you" Aura replies over the intercom.

"I want to view the footage of the Yan Jung site on the big hologram screen here, but I want the most detailed view you can give me."

"Ok, one moment please......ready"

"Thank you."

You look at the big screen, this is much better than the small datapad. With a flick of your hand you start the footage. Numerous flyby's give you a full picture of the central structure, but nothing stands out. This is getting you nowhere.

"Aura, could you help me again?"

"Sure ensign, how may I be of assistance?"

You look at the screen and the cameras behind it puzzled. "That's a bit formal, isn't it? Somebody been messing with your settings again?" You turn your head to look at the Sergeant, who looks up from his own datapad.

"No, but I'm trying different forms of communication, to find out how you react to them." Aura replies. Looking at the smirk of the Sergeant, you refocus on the screen, "well don't, it's confusing. Besides, I want you to create a 3-D model of the central structure based on all the footage there is of this site.

"That may take a while."

"How long a while?"

"Two hours at least, unless I can start with the model the scientist already created."

"There is a model already? Good, yes you can start with that."

"Alright, give me a second."

You look at the screen as a 3-D model is created of the structure, slowly more details are added and you get a better view of the structure. "Can you increase the detail?"

"Yes, but not by much, there isn't footage of all of the structure that can give you that."

"Mmmm something to remedy tomorrow when we go there. Wait a minute, how about the footage of the site when we were attacked by the AI ships? Is that useable, and what about the footage of when we were salvaging the wrecks. I can remember that I came pretty close to the structure salvaging those wrecks."

"That will take some time as well, but I can do it."

"Good." you walk away from the screen, but then turn around, "do you need the screen to create the model, Aura?"

"Certainly not, I can do that on the servers of the Ancient Section, this projection will only take more time to create the model."

"Ok, then let me look at something else, how about those other structures?"

"Alright, here you go, anything else?"

"No not right now, thank you."

A number of the other structures are projected on the big screen. You select one of them and start to look at it, no visible means of entry, nothing special to be honest, just a structure. After looking at the structures, researching other sites and the structures found within them, you decide you had enough. Time to get some sleep, it has been a long day, and tomorrow there will be more things to look at. With a 'good night' you head to your bed to get some well-earned sleep.

The next morning you awake by an alarm, right next to your head. 'What the hell' you think to yourself. What's this, you struggle with the alarm to make it stop.

"Blasted thing, shut up already" you shout out.

"You enjoying your new alarm?" you hear the Sergeant shouting from the common area, "time to get your butt out of bed, it's getting light outside."

"Of course it's light outside, we are near the sun of this system" you reply, swinging your legs of the mattress and try to stand up.

"Don't be so cocky mister, we got training to do, get into your gear and let's go already."

"Yes sir."

Two minutes later you enter the common room in your special cooling running gear, including the face mask.

"Ah there you are sleeping beauty, Ferrier and Simmons have been waiting anxiously for you to turn up. They could hardly wait to get this training started."

You look at Simmons and Ferrier, knowing they would rather spend some more time sleeping which is confirmed by the look in their eyes. You shrug and turn back to the Sergeant.

"Are we going to do ten miles with added gravity?" you ask him.

"No, we are going to do some treadmill work and weight lifting and anything else I can think of. These guys have their own gym, but don't have the hallways like we have above, so I can't change the gravity, unless I change it for the entire section, and something tells me that Chiraq won't approve of that. Well, enough talk, let's head out to the gym. This will be your new morning ritual, one hour of exercises before breakfast, from 6:00 until 7:00 am, understood?" The three of you nod your head, and follow the Sergeant to the gym. You didn't see this on your tour yesterday.

"I thought we saw everything yesterday, but apparently the gym wasn't one of it?"

"Yes, they were still constructing that, one of the requirements I set before accepting this assignment." the Sergeant replies.

"Accepting this assignment?" Ferrier asks "I thought they gave you orders, just like the rest of us."

"No, I was initially hired to train new recruits, that was all that was in my assignment, nothing more, but this was an interesting development and I thought that I should take it."

"Any more requirements we should know about?" Simmons asks "Any torture chamber you put in here?"

"Heh heh heh. No, no torture chamber of gild plated Vexor's or other ships, just the three of you."

"The three of us? What do you mean?"

"Well, I needed to create a squad to work with me, and the three of you were the best of the Green Echelon, not the best I've seen, but the best of this year at least."

You think about this, on the one side you feel a bit of pride, being selected by Sergeant for this job, on the other side it feels demeaning. What does he mean with 'not the best I've seen'?

"Oh well, enough babbling, start running" the Sergeant breaks your train of thought. An hour later you emerge from the gym.

"Are you sure you didn't order a torture chamber instead of a gym?" Gasping for air you look at the Sergeant.

"Shut up you wuss, you ain't seen nothing yet" the Sergeant replies, a bit out of breath. "Time to hit the shower and get some breakfast in us, it's going to be a long day."

"Yes Sir" the three of you reply, wobbling towards your quarters.

After a refreshing shower and a good breakfast with extremely good coffee, according to Simmons, you head down to the hangar. You enter your request in the terminal and see the computer check your previous settings and starts picking up the modules you had equipped last time. A few minutes later your ship is ready, just as you have entered your pod. Completely automated you are hoisted into the air and encased in your awaiting Atron. Exiting the station you take a vector which leads you away from the hangar exit on an angle. After a few kilometres you stop all your engines, waiting for the others to exit the hangar as well. As soon as the engine hum dies down you get a fleet invite from the Sergeant. You accept it and right after that he emerges from the hangar, joining you within a few meters of your ship.

"Mind the paint job."

"Oh shut up wise guy, I knew I shouldn't have told you guys I requested you as part of my squad. It will only end in tears, yours to be precise." The Sergeant replies gruffly.

Something has changed though, there is a new kind of understanding between the four of you, the Sergeant is still in the lead, but you are confident that there is more leeway in how you can address him compared to how things were when you were part of the Green Echelon.

"No worries Sergeant, we will treat you as we always have done" you reply with a smile.

"And how will that be, without respect whatsoever?"

"If you like."

"Don't think about it buddy, unless you paid off all your debt, you still are a grunt, nothing more. And by the looks of it, the three of you have a long way to go. If I give orders, they will be followed, or I will transport you to the frontline to die myself. Now enjoy your cushy job and do what I tell you to."

"Yes sir."

"Good, now is everyone here?"

"Yes sir."

"Let's head to the wormhole and start exploring the structures there."

You warp to the entrance of the wormhole space and enter it again. Fortunately there seems to be no more ships in the vicinity. Only other Ancient Section ships in the area. Without delay the Sergeant warps the four of you to the central structure.

"Aura, start recording the details of the structure in the highest resolution you can manage, please."

"Will do, but you will need to approach the structure to within a thousand meters."

"Sergeant, I will make a recording of the entire structure in high-res, if that's alright with you."

"Go ahead, Simmons you record the structures on the outside, Ferrier you will check out the position of the AI ship that checked us out. I will try to find a few points of entry, if there are any. Oh yeah, Chiraq also told me to monitor any transmission on all frequencies, including subspace transmissions, whatever those are."

"Aura, you can do that as well?"

"No problem ensign, I can multitask like the best of them."

Immerged in the pod fluid you try to shrug. "Ok then Aura, I'll approach the structure." Seconds later you approach the structure, starting to film every detail on it, a hundred meters width at a time. After one circle around the station you ask Aura how things are going.

"Recording is going fine, I will send the film to the station and finish the 3-d model in your quarters."

"Thanks Aura, I think that would be helpful."

Four hours later you have finished your recordings of the station and you report in to the Sergeant. "Well done grunt, now help me find a place to enter this structure, that is without blowing it up of course, we can always do that."

"Yes sir." you reply, and head closer to the station to a few strange bulges on it.

"These bulges are strange, everything else is crisp and straight, no unnecessary curves or angles, just efficient design of whatever this structure is supposed to be."

"Indeed, it looks strange" the Sergeant says on the comm channel. "They are spaced out evenly around the structure though, it might interest the scientists on the station, but it doesn't give us any access to the station. Keep looking. Ferrier, Simmons how are you coming along?"

"I have finished recording half of the outlying structures, Sergeant" Simmons replies.

"I've checked the position of the AI ship and recorded everything from its viewpoint. Then I did the same thing for all the other ships as they were flying when we first got here and when the reinforcements came along. There is nothing obvious about it, at least as far as I or Aura can see."

"Ok, start helping out Simmons and his recording of the outlying structures. Anything on the transmissions?"

You check with Aura, "that's a negative sir, no transmissions whatsoever."

"That's unfortunate, but I guessed we wouldn't crack this puzzle on the first day. I'll report our initial findings to Chiraq."

At the end of the day, al the structures are recorded in detail and the images sent to the station. All the frequencies were recorded, but no transmissions have been found. The entire central structure is looked over by both you and the Sergeant and you can find no way in there. Disappointed you head back to the station, you exit your ship and moments later you exit the pod. A quick shower to remove the remainder of the pod goo, and it's dinner time. Chiraq joins you at the table, and looks at you individually.

"Cheer up guys, you really didn't think you would crack this secret in a few hours, did you?"

"I guess not" you reply, "but it would have been nice. I would like to wonder around that structure, to find out what's in there."

"Heh, me too ensign, me too. I've been working here for two years and I still can't get into those structures. They have kept their secrets for thousands of years, so a few days, months or years extra doesn't matter to it. Be thorough and inventive, and we will get there one day, soon I hope."

"Yes sir."

"Besides, creating the 3-d model of the structures is a good thought, we didn't think about that possibility at all, we just use old video of fly-by's. So when the entrance to the wormhole space collapses, we can still study it without finding a new location."

"Wait, what?" Ferrier sputters, spilling a mound full of green beans.

"Oh yeah, I guess I didn't tell you that before, but the entrance to the wormhole can destabilize after enough matter has passed through it.

This one is quite stable, so you don't have to worry about that for a while." Chiraq replies.

"But what if we are in there?"

"Then I hope you either have a probe configuration fitted on your ship, or your clones are up to date."

"What, so either I find an exit or I have to die first?"

"Well, yeah, that's the gist of it. The first option is finding a new exit, but the location of the exit can be placed all over the universe, even in Caldari space for instance. The other is to self-destruct, losing the current clone of your body and implants, and get back to the station in a new body. Oh, there is a third option."

"What option is that?"

"Well, your pod can literally sustain you forever, so you can float around in wormhole space until someone stumbles on the exit and finds you."

"Well, that's not really an option is it? It could take years before someone finds us then, decades even, if at all" Ferrier replies. "I hope I never have to go through that, ever."

"You never know what you will have to face in the future, but now you know what the options are. Anyways, I got some paperwork to fill out and you need to finish your dinner. Just don't get discouraged after today or tomorrow if you don't get results immediately.

"Is there any measurements on when the entry will collapse?" the Sergeant asks.

"Yes and you will be notified if that threshold is about to be crossed. So there is nothing to worry about it."

"Thought so, anyways, I know something to keep them occupied and too tired to think about anything, right after dinner" the Sergeant replies, looking at each of you with a grin on his face.

"Oh no, not again" the three of you reply in unison.

"Oh yes, and this time you will be running uphill."

Chiraq bursts out in laughter joined by the Sergeant, because of the look of despair on your faces.