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Black Sunrise
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Buffalo, New York, USA
Aug 2000
time: 05:17
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Correct move received.
Planetfall! Heavily damaged, our craft smashes into a lake. Tired and haggard, the survivors gaze at a double star through their oxy-masks. Commander Indra meets with his leadership team to issue orders.
What's the status of the communicator?
Sir, we landed on it. I don't think it will be possible for us to contact other factions until we meet them in person.
Well, that will benefit the stupid, I suppose. A pity, for early contact with Morgan might have proved profitable. For the best, I suppose.
What's the status for the wrecked lander?
Sir, we have used the wreckage to establish Base 001. Initial efforts are underway to make it self-sustaining, adding a recycling tank. I doubt it will be fully complete and operational for a number of years, though.
Excellent. We must plan for the future. How does the preliminary scan look?
Sir, we have located no less than 2 of the strange objects described by the scout module! If we can, indeed, hook them up to our generators, we will have an incredible resource.
Send men to do so immediately. We have an advantage. Now we must make full use of it.
Last edited by Black Sunrise on 24-12-2001 at 04:23
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Darsnan
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New Syracuse, Beta Prime
Dec 2001
time: 00:17
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To say that we have established our first base would be an overstatement - the ramshackle hovels that now pass as quarters, compared to what we had on Unity, is like comparing Earth 21st century living quarters to those of the the Dark Ages.
However, it is home, and we must make the best of it. We have stumbled upon some sort of esoteric alien shrine: it has enhanced the capabilities of our personnel designated as scouts, as well as providing us with much needed resources. Planet has smiled upon us, this, our time of need, and we hope in the future to reciprocate in kind.
Two other colony teams are still trynig to locate the best locations to begin settlements: like a farmer carefully sowing his seeds, we seek the best locations in order to cultivate our progeny: we hope they are as lucky as Gaia's Landing....
Turn to Spasm.
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Darsnan
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New Syracuse, Beta Prime
Dec 2001
time: 00:17
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Two beautiful valleys located for our next settlements! We have also located several of the Unity's Pod beacons, and should be able to find them within one turn. Progress, although measured in meters, is progress, and we shall strive to continue to move our fledgeling colony forward.
In other news we were able to hear a Peacekeeper broadcast transmission last turn (2103). Although it was good to hear voices other than our own, the message was in itself disturbing. There was much debate as to whether we should respond to the Peacekeepers message to let them know we had also landed, but we decided that, with a majority of the blame for the Unity disaster laid deservadly at the feet of this faction, as well as the fact that other, more warlike factions have also probably survived, we decided to remain silent. Let the fool Peacekeepers continue to transmit their worthless blatherings: this will only act as a homing beacon for the more warlike factions, as well as anything else that is out there.......
Turn to Spasm
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Darsnan
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New Syracuse, Beta Prime
Dec 2001
time: 00:17
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sorry for the delay in responding: I have a new Firewall program installed which is only allowing me intermittent Internet access: the program is called "Kids new computer games"! 
Game mode: Success! The Unity Pod contained a working Rover. Once we got it running, we were immediately able to locate the next pod, which furnished much needed energy resources. Planet has smiled upon us, for sure!
However, this success has to be tempered with an ominous side as well. Those in our enclave with demonstrated empathic capabilities have been on edge lately. They will suddenly stop their work, and stare out at the fungal jungles that surround us, as if something is calling to them, or as if they can are trying to see something that remains hidden to the rest of us. This, coupled with the implications implied in another intercepted Peacekeeper emergency message, makes us feel as though we may not be alone on Planet......
Turn to Spasm
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Black Sunrise
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Buffalo, New York, USA
Aug 2000
time: 05:17
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Sir! They're ... they're all dead!
Christ, private! What happened? What's going on out there?
Sir, some kind of alien life form! And they're moving towards our base!
Oh no. Send patrols to stop them.
Sir, I don't think we can get there in time.
I know, private. It appears this is no garden of eden. It appears we have landed in hell.
Gentlemen, I fully expect to open my move next turn with a total population, including colony pods, of 1.
BTW, I did not trigger these worms. Not from opening a pod, not a fungal bloom, not from trying to enter fungus. They just appeared, whacked one of my pods, and now are about to burn my capital.
Watch me get Punishment Sphere'd by Planet.
Last edited by Black Sunrise on 26-12-2001 at 05:08
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Darsnan
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New Syracuse, Beta Prime
Dec 2001
time: 00:17
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The Comm Officer burst into the Gaian High Council meeting. "M'Lady, it's the Peace Keeper's again! They're being decimated by something coming out of the fungus!"
Lady Deidre softened the glare she had been developing towards the Comm Officer: he had been right to interupt the Council meeting with this news. "Yes, Pavlov, what is it?"
The Comm Officer gave a quick account of the latest Peace Keeper transmissions, ending with, "and it sounds as though their capitol is about to be overun!"
Lady Deidre motioned for the Comm Officer to leave, then turned to her council. Speaking quickly and with resolve she issued her directives,"Just as an animal coming down with an infection generates white blood cells to combat the invader, so too must we raise our own white blood cell count. I want all future colony pods to be accompanied by at least a scout. Also, I want to have a militia raised for each base: what has befallen the Peace Keepers will not happen to us!" Lady Deidre dismissed the council, turning away from them as they hastened to leave and relay the commands to their subordinates. So Planet was a harsh mistress after all! Sadness overcame her for the Peace Keeper's plight, but, she thought, even if the Peace Keeper's were wiped out to the last child, at least some of their legacy would live on.
Lady Deidre turned to more pressing matters.
Turn to Spasm
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Darsnan
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New Syracuse, Beta Prime
Dec 2001
time: 00:17
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The debate in the Gain High Council Chamber raged deep into the night: whether to send aid to the Peace Keeper's or not.
From the Military Commander,"This could be a Spartan trap! They practiced this very technique on Unity of sending out false distress calls in order to lure the unwary to their demise!"
From the Political Officer, "If it was us enduring this calamity, would we not reward our benefactors with undieing loyalty?"
Lay Deidre sat in silence, letting the debate swirl around her. Finally, the two sides paused, as if two behemoths had pulled back from their battles, taking time to warily assess each others capabilities, as well as the weaknesses.
Into this silence came a voice, not from either of the vocal facions, but from the back of the chamber hall, "I'll go".
All heads snapped as one to the sound of the voice: it was a young Gaian in the uniform of the newly established civil command.
Lady Deidre turned to the Military Commander,"who is this, General Zhukov?"
"Able Scout Darsnan, M'Lady". Zhukov turned to eye the young man," I was considering promoting him to Scoutmaster", he said it in such a way as to imply that this might not be the case anymore, but with enough authority to leave the matter in doubt.
Eyes slowly turned to Lady Deidre. She sat staring at the young man for a moment, then spoke slowly, with measured words,"and just what do you mean by saying that you will go?"
The young man braced himself, then spoke,"the arguments are mainly about whether we should reveal our location to anyone, and not about whether to give humanitarian assistance or not, correct?"
Lady Deidre nodded, implying for the young man to proceed.
"So my thought was that if one individual were to make the trip with whatever we could afford to send, then we could circumnavigate the issue of revealing our location by sending a broadcast offering assistance."
General Zhukov took the opportunity to speak,"and if it is a Spartan or Hive trap, they are quite capable of making you reveal where we are - you are aware of these implications, no?"
"I am aware".
General Zhukov seemed to accept this, implying that he had confidence in the young man's abilities. He turned to Lady Deidre,"he has shown much aptitude in the military training classes, as well as having a high empathic talent. He could conceivably take a utility truck and make the journey in, say, one Standard Turn".
Lady Deidre turned to the Political officer. The man remained silent, offering no argument for, nor against, the proposition.
Lady Deidre turned back to Zhukov,"do it!"
While the debate raged in the High Council chambers, 2 communique's came in from the field:
First communique: Unity Pod located. When opened, some sort of manifestation boiled out of it. Request assistance immediately!
Second communique: This is Scout 002: responding! We will be in position to assist in one Standard Turn!
Turn to Spasm
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Darsnan
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New Syracuse, Beta Prime
Dec 2001
time: 00:17
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The reports came flooding across Deidre's desk from every sector. In one report, two scout teams had cornered a mindworm boil, "The empath talents assigned to each scout team seemed to confuse the creatures. We flamed them down where they massed. Suggest having an empath assigned to each scout team". Another, "we followed the beacon into the fungus to what we thought would be another Unity Pod. Instead it turned out to be a Unity Escape Module filled with dead Spartans. They appeared to have died upon impact. After contacting the Spartans with the sad news, we buried the Cohort with full military honors, as is Spartan custom." A third report from the Gaian Trading Commission,"Colonel Santiago sends her best. She and her staff seem to have come out the worse for wear from the Unity disaster, and are very eager to establish trading relations for much needed equipment. Our coffers should start filling up with enough money from these trade agreements to make even CEO Morgan blush! We also suggest selling the Spartan comm frequency to anyone else who would be interested." Another was a request for a planetwide broadcast selling the Spartan comm frequency, which Deidre initialed against her better judgement, " To anyone who can hear this broadcast and is interested in obtaining Colonel Santiago's comm frequency: we are willing to share this information for 40ec."
And yet, the one report that she was consciously looking for failed to appear: the fungus seemed to have swallowed Scout Darsnan without a trace, and there hadn't been any comm signals from the Peace Keeper's enclave for over a Standard Turn now.....
Turn to Spasm
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Black Sunrise
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Buffalo, New York, USA
Aug 2000
time: 05:17
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The leader stared out the porthole at the swirling snow.
He triggered his personal recorder.
"Four light years, we still get buried in the crap. Ugh. Must rush work on the formers, maybe we can dig our way out."
A small red light indicated a communication from the science lab.
He stared at it for several minutes before triggering it with a twitch of his head. Apparently something was wrong with his arms.
On screen, a white-jacketed officer came into view. The officer appeared to be studying something off-screen.
"Sir... we've come to some tentative conclusions. First of all, the native creatures are attracted to the strange Monoliths. Second, the Monoliths make them MUCH more dangerous. Third, while at the Monolith, for a bit of time they hold still. We believe this phenomenon to be some kind of a growth stage. We think it may be what saved us."
The officer glanced at the screen, blanched, looked hurridly away.
"That and our troops."
"Yes." The leader remarked dryly. He twitched his head again. The screen changed to the communications room.
"Scout Darsnan. We have reached a decision. We thank your people for their hospitality and offer of assistance, but we fear you misunderstood our intentions. We were offering you help. Help in the form of valuable information. Information that Planet was far more dangerous than you suspected. Return to your people. Give them our regards. Inform them of what you have seen here."
The screen blackened. The last image Darsnan saw was a hideously scarred face, heavily bandaged. Mind worm infestations are a terrible thing to resist. Especially when you lead the attack yourself. The Peacekeeper people were lucky to have his guidance still. Perhaps future medical research might even allow him to walk again.
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22-12-2001 23:57
Black Sunrise I am going to e-mail you the correct file. (I hope) If you still have trouble I'll give you my password so you can go on to your turn from mine. 
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