Survey Vessel Trident, in orbit around uncharted temperate planet.
"Captain, here on the thermal scanner, see it?"
"A blob, higher than the surroundings, yeah, I see it, what're your thoughts?"
"too warm to be natural, there has to be an artificial source, some kind of reactor, and that's the heat plume from the exhaust", said the scansman.
"There shouldn't be anything there, Captain.", said the chief scientist.
The captain frowned, "settlers, maybe? what about pirates?"
"Possible, but the size of it looks like a substantial installation, larger than anything that most civilians would have been able to obtain."
"I'll take the ship in closer, lets get a better look at it"
"Looks like ruined buildings around the site of the reactor. Several square kilometres of them."
"Does it look inhabited?"
"No sign of anything. It all looks overgrown with the local vegetation."
"How old do you think it is?"
"Could be centuries, captain, maybe thousands of years."
"And the reactor's still running, eh?"
"Still putting out heat, could be a fission reactor, still hot after centuries"
"Prep the dropship, we'll take a look."
Dropship
"Suit up everyone. Alright Doctor, what do you need us to do?"
"We're going to land at the outskirts of the city, Sergeant, measure for any environmental hazards, before taking a closer look at this reactor."
"Right, Doctor, we'll keep the wildlife from bothering you."
"Hah, quite. Though there's no guarantee it's uninhabited, so stay sharp."
"Captain, we've landed at the outskirts."
"How does it look, Doctor?"
"Radiation is barely above background levels, bacteria and virus present are all species we have in catalogues, nothing unusually dangerous. Atmosphere reads as breathable, but we're staying suited up for now."
"Any signs of life?"
"Nothing intelligent that we can see. The marines shot an animal that came out of the undergrowth, I don't recognise the species, it was a large quadroped. Quite muscly. Other than that, everything seems normal."
"Alright. Anything in the ruins?"
"A few artifacts in some of what I assume are houses, Amarrian writing on them. Translator hasn't found anything of particular interest yet. Just a few religious texts."
"Amarrian, eh? Could be an isolationist cult."
"That's possible, Captain, I'll let you know if we find anything more."
"Keep in contact, Doctor."
Dropship lands near what looks like a reinforced bunker, thick metal doors at the entrance.
"This seems to be it, Doctor."
"Hmm. Sergeant, have your men look around, there might be another way in. These doors might not open, if they don't have power."
"Will do."
"Alrighty, let's see now. There should be a console... aha... damn, need to enter a code. This may take a while."
[Entrance Console Activated]
"Found what looks like an emergency manhole a couple hundred metres away, Doctor, other than that, your guess is as good as mine."
"Alright Sergeant. I'm going to try these doors, I think this is the right code"
"well, look at that, they still have power"
[Entrance Door Opened]
"Captain, we've gained access to the reactor bunker, there seems to be several chambers inside."
"What have you found?"
"There is a warning written on the door leading further into the complex."
"A warning?"
"Yes, Captain. Ancient Amarr writing, it reads 'Woe Unto Those That Wake The Guardian', according to the translator"
"A guardian? guardian of what?"
"Doesn't say, Captain. Should we press on?"
"Yes, but stay alert, Doctor. If there's a guardian, there's something worth guarding."
"Aye, captain."
"Sergeant, we're going to push on, stay sharp, this tablet says "woe to those that wake the guardian", could be anything behind these doors."
"Guarded treasure, eh?"
"Possibly. Though if it was valuable, why didn't the people take it away with them?"
"Hmm. Alright people, check weapons."
[Inner Door Opened - Start Awakening]
"Look at all this stuff."
"Lots of gold. Think this is what was being guarded?"
"Maybe, though who cares for gold these days?"
"Yeah."
"Sarge, Doc, get up here, there's something you have to see!"
"What is it, Corporal?"
"It's... a girl"
"What?"
"Well, isn't this something, Doc?"
"Cryo stasis chamber, still running, she's still alive, yeah, this is something alright."
"She'll know what happened to the people, won't she?"
"Probably, yes... you didn't touch anything did you?"
"No, why?"
"Look at this, the chamber's awakening her."
"We must have triggered something when we came in here, Doc."
"Sergeant, get your squad to cover, if we've tripped something, the 'Guardian' might be coming"
"You heard the man, Cover!"
"Captain, we have a situation. We've triggered something, there's a woman in a stasis chamber here, she's waking up, the 'Guardian' might be coming for us."
"I read you Doctor. Stay safe."
[Chamber awakening sequence completed]
"It's been half an hour, Doctor, no sign of any 'guardian', maybe it's nonfunctional, what do you think?"
"You could be right, Sergeant, I still feel uneasy though."
"How's the ice queen?"
"The what? ah, hmm, let's take a look. Everything seems alright, I... ggaaah!"
"Doc! what is it!"
"She looked at me! the chamber's opening!"
The woman steps out of the chamber, looking around at the unfamiliar scientists and soldiers, and says something in a questioning tone.
"I'm sorry, miss, I do not understand."
"Does the translator work, Doc?"
"Not on speech, hmm..."
The scientist makes motions representing writing something down. The woman smiles widely.
"She's naked, Sarge."
"I know, corporal, take a look around, see if you can find her some clothes, eh?"
The scientist gives the woman a datapad and scribe, and she writes a short sentence in Amarrian script, then hands it back.
"I, umm, well, err."
"What is it, Doctor?"
"She wrote 'It is rude to stare'"
"Hah, she got that right."
"Here's a robe thing, sarge"
"Well, don't just stand there, corporal, give it to the lady"
"Here you go, miss"
The woman puts on the robe and smiles, and gestures at the datapad. The scientist hands it to her, and she begins writing again.
"Ah, she's asking if we're from the Federation. Says we 'look Gallente'."
"Maybe you do. I'm Intaki. Federation hasn't been called that for two hundred years. How long has she been asleep?"
"We'll get to that, I'm going to ask about this 'Guardian'. She might know if it still works or not."
The woman looks at the datapad and the question written on it, then begins speaking in heavily accented Gallentean.
"Hello Human People, I am the Guardian of the Word of God, the True Faith. Would you Like an Explanatory Leaflet? It is a Leaflet that Explains."
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Topic: The Guardian (Read 3516 times)