Drafted-Getting Out
Drafted 13 - Getting out
Getting out
Months have passed, filled with endless hours of scanning the entirety of the 1500 au wormhole space. The Yan Jung station has become your home, you even taken up a house of one of the houses left by the Yan Jung. Though there are ample houses available, you still have to share with both Simmons and Ferrier, the Sergeant has his own house of course. You notice that you all stick together, afraid to get lost in a big station like this, fortunately Aura has taken control of the station so you won’t get lost that easy anymore, neither can you use it as an excuse. All other activities continue as usual as well. Flights are replaced with training and vice versa. For entertainment you have learned quite a bit about the tastes of the Yan Jung, but you haven’t learned their language and don’t read it either. All station controls and terminals have been adequately translated by Aura, and some of the more interesting books, though the scientists involved claim all the books are interesting, have been translated and distributed on the computer terminals for downloading to your datapad. Also your skill swapping has been going as planned, but you know that you will soon will finish your skillplan and if you don’t get your hands on a few skillbooks you won’t be learning anything else soon. Soon that is, until you and Ferrier especially can find your way out of the wormhole. You have been trying to get some of the research of the Yan Jung adapted into a skillbook, but Aura hasn’t been able to do so, something about a missing routine that she just couldn’t replicate. That routine has to be bought specifically from a company that has its patent surely locked. In short, without it the skillbook is nothing but a meaningless series of words and as the current skillbooks have that particular routine buried under well encrypted layers of code, Aura hasn’t been able to replicate it just yet. Also, no such thing was available to the Yan Jung, so you can’t really use their technology for this as well.
Now back to reality, today you will go to a specific area Ferrier found yesterday that produces the minutest traces of a signal. Perhaps there will be another structure, just as you have discovered before. Those were mineral mining arrays, some circling inactive around a moon-sized asteroid. The ice fields you discovered were a welcome addition to the stores of h2o in the station, you even discovered some type of bacteria that Aura claims that can be used for food. The miners have been harvesting the stuff in their holds like it was a precious ore, survival isn’t the problem, but still the crew is wanting to get out desperately. Tensions have been running high and a few fights have broken out amongst the scientists. Both Chiraq, the Sergeant and the squad captain have been relieved that there is an entertainment deck and that the crew can relieve some of their frustration there. Even playing that ridiculous game of squash, ridiculous because the last five games Ferrier beat you fair and square. Thinking about that you get a bit annoyed again, you should have won that last match, but you were so tired you tripped and hit the wall, just missing the ball by an inch. Anyways, back to work. You exit the warp with Ferrier, Simmons and the Sergeant. This is the second warp you exited and finally you are in range of the faint signals.
“So, are we there yet?” Simmons asks.
“Yes we are Simmons, from here I should be able to launch the probes and find that signal” Ferrier replies.
“Good, and hopefully we can find a way out.”
“As I have been trying to tell you the last couple of weeks, there is no wormhole exit anywhere. This shouldn’t have happened, this can’t happen, wormhole space should always create an exit after the entry has collapsed.”
“And as I told you, I know, I have been paying attention to what you’re saying all this time Ferrier, but I just wanna go home” Simmons replies a bit annoyed.
“You guys just cool it already, one more word in a tone like that and I’ll have you running through that station until you have ran a hole in the floor. Understood?” the Sergeant interrupts.
“Yes sir” you, Ferrier and Simmons reply at once.
“Now get down to scanning Ferrier.”
“Yes sir.”
“Got it, man that signal is weak, but I got it.”
“Good, give me the coordinates and I’ll warp us there, you grunts listening?”
“We heard it, there is nothing here in this asteroid belt then those miners, nothing that we haven’t seen before at least.”
“Ok, I’ll warp the squad there.” With that the Sergeant initiates a fleet warp that takes the four of you to the location of that very faint signal.
“Wowsers, that is a strange structure.”
“Yes indeed, and nothing like we have seen before.”
As you exit warp you are confronted with a structure, made from the same materials as the station, according to your initial scans. It has three separate objects floating next to it and you surmise that this is similar to the four you discovered around the station at first. “Do you think it will have the same tricks as the station had in the beginning Aura?”
“That is likely ensign.”
“Sergeant, should we try to do this ourselves or wait for the scientists?”
“No, you just go ahead and try to get the thing working. It may just be a small station or POS for all we know.”
“Ok. Aura, can you send out the same string of signals as you did with the station?”
“On it.”
Minutes later you see the three objects closing in on the structure. As it makes the first connection Aura immediately relays the information to Chiraq.
“What’s happening Aura?” Chiraq asks.
“It is kind of strange sir. The connection of the outlying structures to the central structure has awakened several programs on the station. These have to do with this new structure sir, but there are more programs trying to wake up other similar structures throughout wormhole space.”
“Similar structures?”
“Yes sir, there are five other structures that are similar to the ones the Sergeant and his ensigns have found.”
“And what do they do?”
“As far as I can tell they have two different functions.”
“Which are” Chiraq asks, beginning to sound annoyed.
“Sorry sir, I just had to use about half of my computing power to these programs. As I said, there are two functions, one is for communicating with whoever is outside of the wormhole, the other is as a huge scanning array, giving me a detailed picture of the entirety of the wormhole space, more detailed then the scans of Ferrier.”
“Ok, so now we really know what is in this space. Big deal.” Simmons adds.
“It is a big deal Simmons, is there any more information there Aura, for example, is there an exit wormhole?” Chiraq replies.
“Well sir, now you mention it, there is one structure that we haven’t located yet, besides of course the six structures that have been woken up.
“Let me get into a frigate and tell me the coordinates” Chiraq replies and you can hear him making his way down to the hangar, in the meantime hustling Deux Partiez, the lead scientist, along into the frigate.
Ten minutes later he has joined you next to the communications and scan array. He joins the squad and tells the Sergeant to warp him to the new site. “Aura, do you have any idea what this specific structure is for?” Partiez asks.
“Yes sir, I do. However, do you desire to contact the remainder of the Ancient Section on our old station?”
“We just left them, they will be alright” Partiez replies.
“No sir, our old station, not our current. The communication array needed a test, so I fed it the coordinates of a communication array in normal space and we now have a connection with your counterpart on the old station, I believe his name is Des Domain?”
“Yes yes!” both Partiez and Chiraq reply.
During the warp, again two maximum warp lengths crossing half of the wormhole space towards the other side of the station, both Chiraq and Partiez talk to their counterparts on the old station. Even though the search has never stopped, they assumed we all died in the wormhole after its entrance collapsed. Assurances that a solution will be found and how many discoveries were made during the time spend in the wormhole and the station you finally reach your destination.
“We are here sir, as communications with the outside are no longer a problem, I will advise them of our current situation and start transmitting some of our research data, is that alright sir?”
“Yes it is Aura” Chiraq replies, ending the transmission. “Now tell me what this specific structure is for.”
“Sir, I believe this construction was used to create a unique type of wormhole, a guided wormhole so to speak.”
“Guided wormhole?”
“Yes sir, the wormholes that usually appear are apparently natural wormholes, a means of the universe to preserve the balance. Then there is the created wormhole that was used by the ancient races. As to why and how I have no idea.”
“Ok, but can you control it and create a wormhole?”
“Yes sir, but apparently there is just a single place that the wormhole can be formed.”
“Please don’t tell me that it’s in Caldari space?”
“Oh no sir, no need to worry about that, but it will connect to the system that we entered this wormhole from. It cannot be directed to another system, probably this has to do with the ruptures in the fabric of time and place that has already been created before. Path of least resistance so to speak.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem, are our forces still there? On the other side I mean?”
“As far as I can gather from our own databases, yes sir, but it is advised to have a considerable force ready in case of eventualities.”
“Good suggestion, make it happen, both on this side as on the other side.”
“Done, every capsuleer pilot is getting into their ships, on both sides. I gave them a location a lightyear away from the event horizon because of the other effects that may occur.”
Another hour passed and you feel both giddy, nervous and excited at the same time. You can’t half believe that you are almost out of this wormhole space. You asked the Sergeant and Chiraq if you needed to pack your stuff, but Chiraq said that wasn’t necessary, because you would be staying on the station for a while. He already made a decision that the Yan Jung station would be the new home station of the Ancient Section. Though there is nothing to do now you have secured the wormhole, there are no AI ships anymore and no pirates can come in, except through the new wormhole. The Sergeant has already thought up some defensive strategies as the others board their ships, on this side of the wormhole and on the other side as well. As far as you can tell the wormhole will be guarded closely at first, but after that, as Aura claims that it will be stable, a more permanent guard will probably be put in place. There is talk that a few large POS towers will be placed near the entrance, with a lot of sentry guns and sensor arrays, to make sure that no one will enter the wormhole but the friendlies of the Ancient Section. Then Chiraq opens the fleet channel.
“Listen up everyone, we got a large fleet on the outside, and we got everyone in here as well in their ships. Now Aura will start up the construction to create the wormhole, so in a few seconds we will be free again from this bit of space we call home. Everyone be ready, and keep your scanners running, cause this will be a unique event.”
You start up your scanning equipment and anticipate the creation of the wormhole. Within seconds you see that there is a spike in the gravimetric sensor array. The Yan Jung are masters of gravitronics, and this proves that they used it and probably gave it to the other ancient races like the Sleepers and the Takmahl. Then a strange wobbly sphere is formed and shot out towards the location where the wormhole entry was formed. It originates from the location where you found the structure the Aura claims was the wormhole generator.
“Sir, the wormhole has been created, these are the coordinates” Aura breaks the silence. Your onboard computer receives a new set of coordinates and moments later Chiraq warps you to the location.
“Ok, let’s be careful, we have the coordinates, but the other side hasn’t found the entrance yet. It looks like it’s stable, anyone want to go through it first?”
Before you can say anything a number of scientists start shouting that they would want that particular honor, then they are cut off by the Sergeant, “I think Ferrier has deserved that honor Chiraq.”
“I agree with that, but he’s not going through it alone, your squad is to be the first through the wormhole, you have all deserved this honor. However don’t go too far, this is where your new home will be.”
“No worries Chiraq, we will head out, meet up with the other fleet and then head back to the station, we need some new skillbooks and I want to make sure that all my stuff is still in my room.”
You hear Chiraq laughing, and then the Sergeant warps your squad to the wormhole exit.
“Ok grunts, let’s go through it” he says as you all head for the exit and ready yourself for the ride to normal space.