Pulsar Shade
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
From the log of Earth/Space Science Vessel: Reticula 7:
..The science vessel was sent into space to study a never before seen phenomena. A black hole had been discovered with a small planetoid caught in it's gravity well, but not being drawn into the singularity but rather holding stationary in the gravity well.
..Eric Marshal was a Marine assigned as part of the small security contingent found on most science vessels of it's type. Pirates, rikti and other threats could all overcome an unarmed science vessel without any security force.
..During the ship's initial scans of the planetoid they discovered it to be a hollow structure with a reasonably safe landing area and surface structure of alien design. It was definitely an artificial sphere. Further investigation was definitely warranted. The ship's captain was confident that the vessel's thrusters could get them back off the planetoid and break free of the black hole's gravity well without issue this far out.
..As the ship began it's approach run to land on the planetoid suddenly exhibited fluctuations in gravity causing the ship to come in hard for a landing, as it turns out this was a defense mechanism of the planetoid. The ship landed very hard, crippling it's landing gear and many shipwide systems. They were going to need to salvage some supplies from the facility in order to repair their ship before they could take off again in relative safety.
..The surface of the planetoid had no atmosphere and so space suits would be necessary. Once inside who knew what the conditions would be like. The crew donned space suits and gathered their scientific equipment while the soldiers gathered their weapons. It was only about 50 meters from the landing site to the facility entrance which was sealed into the side of a large rocky outcropping.There was writing on the control pad that operated the door. It looked vaguely familiar to a couple of the scientists but none could seemingly make it out. This perplexed the crew even further, was this made by humans?
..Once of the scientists, a specialist in Quantum Mechanics managed to bypass the controls and unlock the airlock door. With this information the crew ended up being able to unlock and operate many of the facilities controls. Once inside with the airlock closed and sealed, the crew ran some tests of the internal atmosphere and behold, there was an environment suitable for human habitation! Now the puzzles began to really get interesting. This HAD to be man-made, but it was way beyond the capability of Earth to create this. Further tests revealed no humanoid life-forms so the security detail gave the go-ahead to explore the facility. One soldier per 4 scientists, 30 people total, 24 scientists, 6 soldiers.
..The crew split up and began to explore. The structure was able to accomodate the humans but the halls and doorways were large and spherical in design, something they had no way of explaining if this was made by humans. The touch pads for controls appeared to be sized appropriately for humans and even had finger spacing between controls that approximated Earth computer systems. Power was functional throughout the facility as was life-support.
..One of the search parties eventually came across a computer system that had a 3D hologram display that was running. It showed a landscape of desert and jungle dotted with step pyramids and other stone stone structures. Some of the scientists conferred and ran some diagnostics. The designs of the structures and terrain were identical to those of the Babylonian Dynasty in Sumeria on Earth 5,000 years ago. They also discovered that the writing on the control pads also matched writings in cuneiform from that same time period.
..The scientists began to explore further into the facilities interior. Eventually coming upon some chambers that were enveloped in some sort of energy fields and contained a large black crystal. What were these, batteries, power crystals? They gave off no discernable harmful radiation so the okay was given to examine them closer. The facility computers showed the energy fields were very powerful gravity fields directed inwards towards the crystals. At this point, further tampering with the crystals was halted for fear that they might be somehow powering the planetoids ability to remain stable in the black hole's gravity well.
..The crew was ordered to disperse and continue exploration of the site. One of the researchers snuck off to the "bathroom". In reality he snuck back to the crystal room. Whispers in his head had been talking to him since he set foot in the facility guiding him to this room. At first he had thought he was going mad but the voices assured him he was not. They needed him to turn off the energy fields around the crystals so their spirits could be free, they were trapped, unjustly imprisoned, marooned. So the scientist disabled the energy energy fields surrounding the crystals.
..The scientist was immediately possessed by an alien force, his mind wholly suppressed. He could see what was going on but had no control over his body. He walked back to his party and bade them to follow him, he had seen something and needed their help. They were ambushed by more of the alien forces and taken over, mind and body. After that all Hell broke out, the possessed crewmembers had no problems getting close enough to the other crewmembers to incapacitate or kill them.
..Eric Martin was in the search party furthest from the crystal room when the gunfire started. the scientists with him were not so lucky, they were simply not preparred for actual combat. Eric had been in the first and second Rikti War on Earth so he had seen his share of combat. Severely outnumbered he made his way around the facility to the back side of the crystal room. He figured he might be able to take them if he could suprize them from behind.
..Upon entering the crystal room Eric was confronted by a glowing black orb of crackling energy. He immediately fired his weapon which had no effect on the pure energy being and passed harmlessly through it, striking the wall behind, shorting out the energy field control circuits. A wailing alert siren begain screaming and lights began to flash throughout the facility.
..A voice spoke to him, how he had no idea, but it seemed to be coming from the direction of the energy sphere. "I am Erishkigal, Goddess of the Underworld and I have been imprisoned here for 5,000 years. We are Warshades who once dwelt on your homeworld Earth, in the land of Sumeria and ruled as Gods. Some good, some evil, there was a great war and the forces of good triumphed. We were defeated and imprisoned here for all time. The gravity field of the black hole augments the prison's energy fields to keep us bound into our Shadow Cyst crystals. My husband Nergal wishes your destruction, his hatred for mankind has simply festered here. He cannot see the errors of his ways. He will not stop until all Humans and Peacebringers are destroyed. I do not feel the same. While he spent his time here hating, I spent my time letting go of that hatred. I offer you a pact. Join with me and I will help you escape here and return to Earth to carry on the war or deny me and die here in the cold depths of space at the hands of my vengeful husband. Choose quickly Human. The facilities self-destruct has been triggered by your errant weapon fire."
..Eric thought about what that meant, would he lose himself, was this being telling the truth? He had heard of these Warshades and Peacebringers on Earth, they were some sort of aliens, Kheldians he seemed to recal, or something like that, some good, some evil and hellbent on destruction. He realized he had no time and no alternative. He agreed to the joining. As Erishkigal entered him, he was flooded with with all of her memories, from her birth till the present, all in all, 10,000 years in an instant. His mind almost snapped like a cheap rubberband, but she protected him by sealing off the emotional portion of his mind that was the most fragile, allowing only access to the portions that govern self-preservation.
..She guided him through the halls of the facility towards the airlock. He wondered how he was going to get off this rock, the ship was damaged and in no shape to fly. They passed the airlock, now he was very confused. He heard the sounds of running feet behind him. They were not far behind. Suddenly a black bolt of energy crackled past him and struck the wall near him. Small arcs of black energy arc'd from the contact point before dying down as he raced past. Eric didn't have time to wonder what the hell that was. He let Erishkigal guide him deeper into the facility till he came to a bank of small round doors about 1 foot off the floor.
.."Open that one." she spoke to him in his mind. He seemed to instinctively know which one she meant and he knew exactly how to operate it even though he didn't know what he was doing. The small door opened and he jhopped inside at her urging. He activated the door close mechanism and none too soon as stattaco gunfire from one of the possessed officers weapons rattled across the opening. A single round found it's way inside and struck him in the torso throwing him back into the pod. as darkness began to cloud his vision he reached out and slammed his fist against the large red button. The escape pod jettisoned out into space at a high enough velocity to escape the black holes gravity well and continue out into space.
..When Eric awoke he found himself on a shipping vessel bound for Earth. He was not in the infirmary as he had expected he would have been but in a regular berth. He was wearing some hospital type clothing though and upon examining himself found no trace of a gunshot wound.
..The voice of Erishkigal spoke to Eric. "I have healed all of your wounds and kept you in a state of hibernation for 3 weeks while we drifted through space until we were picked up by this ship. Had I not you would have bled to death most likely and or used up all of the pod's life support in a few days."
..The crew of the shipping vessel marveled at Eric's survival not knowing how he had remained alive in a small escape pod for 3 weeks with no food or water and with a bullet hole in his suit but no bullet wound on his body. His story was relayed back to Earth and the DoD took over from there. He was ordered to report to the Department of Alien Affairs as soon as he got back for immediate debriefing.
..After his debriefing the two of them were given the option of unjoining and the Kheldian would be kept safe until a new willing host could be found. Considering what she had done for him, Eric offered to remain her host indefinitely and she agreed. Slowly Erishkigal is giving Eric more and more access to the closed off portion of his mind allowing him to process all the memories she has which also allows him to access more and more of her abilities to manipulate dark matter and gravity fields.
..Eric's first assignment for the Department of Alien Affairs was to go visit Shadowstar in Galaxy Park. What could the future have in store for him now?
Photos coming soon!
