Outbreak: Case Two, Consort Station (FT; Semi-Open)

by **Rethan** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 12:13 pm

The outbreaks continue to occur sporadically across this quadrant of the galaxy. They appear to be stretching themselves towards the Alpha Quadrant, though at this point highly visible cases are too small in number to make this anything more than assumption. Consort Station acted as haven for political prisoners from pre-spaceflight and non-FTL races within the area near the Gamme/Alpha border. Operatives from the station would rescue individuals at risk from these worlds, and settle them into the station to ensure their safety. A noble goal, but alas one which was apparently unique in the galaxy. And now exterminated.

Consort Station went quiet some time between my last visit and now. Totally silent. No traffic, no signals. Nothing. I don't have anything more than suspicion to go on, but I anticipate Consort has fallen victim to the virus which plagues this Quadrant of the galaxy. There is only way to prove this hypothesis, and I have chartered a commercial space flight to take me to the station. - Dr. Ezekiel Grath

Outbreak: Case Two
Consort Station

Consort Station is a large, curiously asymmetric station. Obviously not built to be aesthetically pleasing, Consort Station consists of a single plate and numerous appendages which extend out from the disc in the middle, giving it the ugly appearance of a city skyline, both 'above' and 'below' the orientation of the disc. Kept aloft in the atmosphere of a massive gas giant, Consort Station is masked in a strikingly beautiful display of colours and tricks of light, distracting one from the disordered construction of the station.

Once upon a time, Consort had been a hub of activity. It thrived by exporting the gas it mined from the giant below it, and an ever present stream of tankers used to line the central disc, clogging the airlocks and docking bays with their bulk. But they are not there now, and many of the airlocks are left open. Not that they serve much purpose anymore. The majority of the station's atmosphere is locked down or vented, and the normally ceaseless radio chatter which permeated the system was gone. Silence reigned in Consort. A dead system, now home to a dead station. There were no signs of conflict. In fact, Consort Station was still lit up, thousands of windows and various lighting on the surface of the station still glowing fiercely into the sky as it slowly faded to night. But there were no voices coming from the station, no breath of life left in the hollow husk of civilisation.

There is only one thing moving in the station. A man. An elderly man, perhaps in his sixties. He sits before a radio station and tries to activate the system. There is power, but he has been sitting here now for at least two hours trying to connect the communications device to the FTL network. Dr. Ezekiel Grath doesn't really understand the system he's working with, so with a reserved sigh he places his mouth next to the microphone and speaks again, hoping his voice emanates into the cosmos faster than a radio signal. Or he could be trapped here for a very, very long time.

"This is Dr. Ezekiel Grath, professor of xenobiology and xenoculturalist studies. I am requesting assistance. Broadcasting co-ordinates as to my location. The crew of my ship have disappeared and I am unable to get off this station. If there is anyone who can hear me, please respond."

Sighing heavily, Grath leans back in his chair again and waits a few moments. He begins his countdown from five minutes, knowing that the FTL signal will propagate quick enough that he should have a response within that time, assuming he had it connected correctly. From overhead, the same recording plays that has been playing since he arrived on the station. It is torn apart by static, nigh incomprehensible, so Grath does not know what it is saying. He should fix that, or try to, if the radio proves a dead end. It would give him something to do at least....

Fortunately for Ezekiel, this time his voice did sail into the stars....

by **Socialist States Owen** » Mon Jul 04, 2011 12:21 pm

(OOC: I'm in ur thread, taggin ur dudez)

by **Derscon** » Tue Jul 05, 2011 3:01 pm

Class IV.2 flag in given coordinates, retrieving relevant data from Archive Bloc G-G-X-Ten-Ten-Twelve-Zero-Four.
Scanned and received, Watchman. Proceed as normal. Central, this is Analysis. IV.2 confirmed Code AA.
Thank you Analysis. 2 Strati, advise?
Concur with Analysis. Suggest immediate investigation.
Thank you, Strati. Security, due to the sensitive nature of this case, I will be handling it personally.

"I'm sorry, dear; the cosmos has rules, and all are bound to them. Your mind is made of matter? Then your will is controlled by the rules of the cosmos. Your mind is made of energy? Even the Ahndra has its own rules to follow. Free will, you want freedom? Only the Kaësthari have that freedom, my dear. Until you are one with them, be content in your submission to the will of God." - Hrendomir Kaësthasál, Prohpet of the Dragon Lords, rebuking a scholar at Kaësthondheim

Consort Station

The quilted, regular pattern of the cosmos shifted into eldrich geometry, bringing joy to Mandelbrot and tears to Carroll, as a construct chose to manifest herself in the vicinity, her realspace shadow baring her naked self without her woven cover. She emanated not fear, but merely wonder; she was not demonic, merely strange... or perhaps ethereal in her structure, dominating, bending, and breaking every law of the universe with the precision and care of a master and a mother.

Unlike others, this force did not take form common to the Celesthari seen rarely in the galaxy. This force did not take much form at all, a nebula of majesty and wisdom. The voice echoing from her glorified her nature as Grace incarnate, every sentence a sonatina. Dr. Ezekiel Grath, it has come to Our attention you have found yourself trouble in this rather desolate place. My name is Lafiël Ammakyn; how may I be of assistance?

by **Rethan** » Fri Jul 15, 2011 8:56 am

The ringing, melodic voice surprised Ezekiel to no end. He had not anticipated any kind of response, and certainly not one which had happened so quickly. Breathing heavily in his enviro-suit, Dr. Grath watched in awe at the display before him, unable to comprehend what exactly he was bearing witness to. He stood up slowly and carefully, his mouth quite incapable of responding to the...the thing he could see. Edging tentatively closer, a sense of curiosity flooding his mind, Grath finally managed to salvage some words from deep within his frozen throat.

"I...I...what are you? How did you get here so quickly?"

by **Derscon** » Sun Jul 17, 2011 7:10 pm

Hmm? Ah... oh. Materializing before Ezekiel was a shorter, humanoid female, blue hair to her waist with golden hairpins revealing her full-colored white complexion and powerful, yet comforting purple eyes. As she approached the doctor, her imperial Chaofu glided and danced about her; no kink, no blemish, could be found in her grace. Presenting a smile as warm as heaven, she gave a polite, friendly bow, and as she spoke, her soft angelic voice seemed to resonate more in his mind than his ears. "Hmm, it's unlike me to make such an elementary mistake. Dr. Grath, as I stated, my name is Lafiël Ammakyn, and I hail from the Amaranthine Imperium. She smiled as only a mother or teacher could smile. "But I am afraid I could not tell you what I am, beyond merely giving a label, which tells you nothing. Carefully approaching the doctor - understanding his apprehension - Lafiël absorbed the information of the structure presented in its composition.

"This place is an...uncomfortable one, for me. I would prefer to bear this burden than allow my children to suffer with it. Please, be calm, doctor. There is little to be gained from terror."

by **Demigueris** » Tue Jul 19, 2011 8:24 pm

Syyrin kicked her feet back and leaned back in her chair, seemingly staring out of her padded chair at the ceiling of her ship the Ymira. It was her mother's name, a woman who'd sacrificed a lifetime of freedom for the chance for her daughter to escape the horrifying war of extermination that had taken place on their homeworld. Her people had never been space travelers really, but the aliens that had descended on her world had never cared. Her mother had bribed, lied, stolen and cheated her way off world, hopelessly lost leaving behind the broken tribes of her world in a galaxy of war intrigue; finally found asylum as a partial citizen of Demigueris; a byword for someone who booked passage onto Demigueris by agreeing to let them perform a nerve stapling procedure that left the individual a pliable, nearly mindless worker without a care in the world.

For Ymira it was never fated to become a citizen of Demigueris, that was a privilege she purchased for her infant daughter.

Her mother was long dead now. For all Syyrin knew she was the last of her kind; her natural kind at least. Demigueris had produced more from her and her mother's genetic markers, they'd even filled in enough blanks to introduce enough genetic variation to create a somewhat viable population. Preserving them for all time. To some extent she was grateful in a way but staying on Demigueris was never an option. She'd come out here, happy to have the opportunity to be, quite possibly the only one of her kind to explore the universe in her own ship.

She ran an export business from Demigueris. Mostly the sort of automated systems that Demigueris specialized in. She had no crew, she controlled it all via the numerous autonomous units that functioned as her eyes, ears, and hands on the ship. That just left the cost of parts and power.

So far business had been good. Her ship was nearly paid off, she'd managed to get together money to get together enough money to make the ship and the electronics suite onboard liveable. For the most part she lived through her ships communications array; entering nearby networks through her FTL com gear, chatting with new species, learning new things, playing around on networks. She composed music in her spare time combining complex sounds into rhythms and melodies she enjoyed and shared them with the not inconsiderable number of friends she'd accumulated through the various aliases she operated across a dozen systems, species and nations.

She also listened absently to the standard, unencrypted com frequencies. The merchant 'trucker' talk, but more importantly the emergency channels. And so it was that the name, Dr. Ezekiel Grath came to her attention.

There were no coordinates attached to the signal, so she had to concentrate in order to make some modifications to the functionality of her receiver equipment to get source. She managed to confirm those coordinates against old star charts plotting an old 'Consort Station' not terribly far from her current coordinates.

It took time for her FTL drive to finish cycling, waiting for it to cool down for the next leg of her journey was what brought her out to this lonely stretch of space to begin with. She did the calculations though, if there was a rescue to be made, it wouldn't significantly affect her profitability on this haul anyway. Moreover, she didn't like the idea of leaving anyone alone in the depths of space - while she wouldn't ascribe to anything so grandoise as a 'Spacer's Code', there was a tacit understanding that when someone was in trouble, you responded.

You never really knew when it might be you needing help.

Syyrin plotted the coordinates, and dropped a com buoy that would contact the nearest naval patrol and major settlements of what was occuring and that she was responding to the signal in case Dr. Grath was in need of more emergency support than she was capable of providing.

Ymira translated into the system into a drifting orbit mirroring Consort Station's own just a short distance away. The mid-sized bulk freighter was by no means 'small' but at about 600m in length it also wasn't 'massive' according to many space-faring navy standards. It also wasn't pretty. It was a bulky, modular affair - clean and well-maintained - but definitely built entirely with functionality in mind with nary a care as to what the end result might look like.

Syyrin thought it was a lovely vessel regardless. But this was particularly so as its FTL translation into the system caused it to explode into normal space in such a way that sent a pulse of energy coursing through the fabric of space-time. In the visible spectrum there was a flash of light and the lingering eddies of energy swirled and danced for a few moments in the wake of the vessel like little butterflies, borne of light though fading quickly and dying as they folded back into the deeper folds of space.

On sub-light power, Syyrin was careful coming in on the station, approaching to within a few hundred meters as she processed her ships sensor and scanner readings. They were like her eyes here - through her neural like they very much filled the same role, though she could see across vast spectrums of the energy spectrum simultaneously.

There were curious signs of life coming from the station itself but perhaps more interestingly, some very unusually patterned energy patterns quite unlike anything she'd seen before. Beautiful too. More out of curiosity, she 'reached' out to touch them; making use of her ships sensors and other energy emitters in such a way as to nudge the pattern. Her mind melded with the ship, its systems and sensors like a second body it was a sensation not unlike reaching out to try and catch a snowflake, or touch a fluttering leaf on the wind.

From the perspective of a being composed entirely of energy patterns, it might seem more like looking down to find someone tugging on their dress.

Linking one's brain directly to a ship's computer equipment also allowed for flowing multitasking capabilities such as neither a normal person or even a pure computer could manage. Which meant that while she was poking at the pretty patterns through her ship's sensor suite, she was also busy trying to reach Ezekiel and prepare some of her equipment to board the station.

"Dr. Grath, this is Captain Syyrin of the bulk freighter Ymira, approximately 300m from your position, responding to your distress signal. I've forwarded your status to the nearest naval patrol vessels, in the meantime we have boarding shuttles standing by to assist with what limited resources we have on board. Please advise us of your status and what it is you require."

by **Rethan** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:57 am

Consort Station, Northern Communications Hub

As the angel coalesced into a more easily perceived form, Grath found his heart rate slowing. Somehow it was easier to accept the appearance of this being when she was humanoid, despite his experiencing her prior form. Such elegance, of Grath had any inkling of theism in his blood and mind he'd collapse before this apparent god in fervent prayer. But Grath had long since dismissed faith from his heart and, reasserting his sense of scientific purpose and maturity, he responded to the being as best he could behind the filtration systems of his suit.

"Lafiël Ammakyn, it is a pleasure to meet you. I apologise for my...erm...unprofessional manner. I've been stuck here for some time, and I was surprised for anyone to respond at all. Let alone someone of your own elegance. I must confess my ignorance to the existence of the Amaranthine Imperium, and normally I am cautious around those I have not heard of, but I'm in no place to be...eh...picky, here."

Grath waved at a sketch of the station's schematics which he had placed on one of the walls of the comms room, a diagram which showed the layout of the entirety of Consort Station north of the Ring.

"This place once housed millions, and it's silent now. I too feel nervous and uncomfortable here. Just over six months ago, this place was vibrant and full of life. And now...this. I came here to verify my suspicions, and although I can find no concrete evidence I find myself being proven more and more correct every passing minute."

Grath sat down in his chair once again, his head stuffy and confused.

"I would like to find out what happened here. And find my team if that is at all possible. Consort is a large station, and I've been here two weeks. I've only covered about two thirds of the upper sections and half of the Ring. The southern part is untouched. And apparently also completely vented, open to space. Climate control is shut down, so I dread to think how cold it is in there with all the airlocks open and-"

Grath's speech was interrupted by the sudden screeching, static filled transmission from the Ymira. Fortunately, as poor as the speakers were, Grath was still capable of hearing the message. Turning towards Lafiël, Grath shrugged, more than willing to have an extra set of eyes to search the station with. Of course, he had no idea what Lafiël was even capable of, so it was entirely possible she was well capable of managing the search herself. Or she might not want intruders and might try to kidnap the doctor. In which case, additional support might be warranted, as much as Grath felt comfortable and safe around Lafiël, he had seen too much evil in the galaxy not to at least have one backup plan regarding his safety.

"Excuse me...er, Captain Syyrin, this is Dr. Grath. I need to find my team and search the station for survivors. I have to figure out what happened here. The docking platforms are located on the ring which bisects the station, as are the central processors for emergency broadcasts. If you can get to the broadcast station and patch it up, I might be better equipped to contact anyone on the station. Plus, there's a recording repeating over and over, but it's too badly damaged. Probably some kind of shorted connection in the emergency broadcast systems. I'd be much obliged if you could fix that up too. I'll meet you at the broadcast processor units. Should take me about twenty minutes to get there.

All the docking stations should have numbers painted beside the airlocks. Search for one in GalStandard, docking number 45. Open and empty, has a direct connection to the processors and signs to guide the way."

Leaning back and away from the transmitter, Grath fiddled with his own earpiece and radio set for a moment.

"Confounded...okay, that should do it. I should be connected to the station's communication systems now. But I'm no mechanic so... finger's crossed. Anyone else radios the station and I should get it. I could do with your companionship through the halls of the Station, Lafiël. Not least for an extra set of eyes in case we walk past something interesting."

As Ezekiel stood, clanking in his environmental suit, the stuttering and broken recording played through the speaker system again, still far too distorted for him to understand. The noise was little more than static and high pitched wails, and Grath hoped the newcomers could get it fixed soon. The sound had been annoying him tremendously in his long time here.

by **Derscon** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 4:23 pm

OOC: Liberties taken with permission from Rethan.

"Doctor, please, there is no need to apologize. It is sometimes difficult to remember that most beings have not encountered us. Once we get out of this mess, though, you are welcome to come. First, though..." Lafiël glided up to the schematics and committed the diagram to memory. Listening to Grath speak, she felt even more wary than on her arrival.

"I would be happy to accompany you, Doctor Grath. However, do you have any theories as to what may have caused this? I... this is difficult to explain to one such as yourself... It is a... an uncomfortable emptiness in this station, but it is a void with substance..." She frowned. Every attempt to look deeper into the station made her more cautious than before. It was a chilling fear... one vaguely reminiscent of an evil long since buried. "That makes very little sense, but I do not know how to simply describe it to you. It makes me hesitant to, how would you say, 'feel this station out?' I do not know what is out there and I fear interacting with it could provoke something into motion."

Noticeably absent from her demeanor was any reaction to the "nudge" by Syyrin. While the Ymira's scanners could pick up Lafiël's physical manifestation, they could not pick up "her" as the 'entity' she was. Thus, the nudge went unnoticed by this entity labeled Lafiël, her body wrapped in the thick illusory fabrics of reality and power.

by **EternalNight** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 4:42 pm

Leliel
Deep Space, Alpha/Gamma Quadrant border

Leliel's ship mode moved through the dark void of space, A 1.5 km wedge of crystal, shifting through all the colors of the perceivable spectrum, and far beyond. s(he) was the most advanced product of Eternal Night's technology... and the first effective "offspring" of their leaders. Her essence and sensor systems took in all information. Mostly astronomical information and data, until her communications arrays picked up a transmission.

"This is Dr. Ezekiel Grath, professor of xenobiology and xenoculturalist studies. I am requesting assistance. Broadcasting co-ordinates as to my location. The crew of my ship have disappeared and I am unable to get off this station. If there is anyone who can hear me, please respond."

Leliel's essence pondered the call Should I investigate? S(he) thought. They are not of my creators Dominion... On the other hand my instructions were to seek new experiences... Parents... I have picked up a signal, I am investigating. Coordinates to follow... she resonated back to the First Triune before making preparations to investigate the transmission.

In Leliel's myriad fractals, Phase drive components aligned, synchronizing with all the other fractals. Once aligned Lelile shifted into phase drive, transiting into Gamma quadrant to the sources of the transmission.

4 LS from Consort Station

Leliel's ship form phased into the dimensional alignment of the Milky Way Galaxy, surrounded by a cloud of glowing multicolored motes of crystal. Transmitters were fabricated and aligned to the transmissions frequency, and s(he) began to broadcast. "Dr Ezekiel Grath, I am Leliel of Eternal Night, I have picked up your request. How may I be of assistance?" As (s)he made the transmission , sensor arrays picked up the presence of a ship in the other system. A Freighter, by mass and gravitometer scans.

Leliel's essence picked up the presence of another entity as s(he) waited for a response from the station, defense systemry at readiness in case hostility was present. Like me in some ways, different in others...Interesting... a shadow in this dimensional alignment... here but not here... Almost like my parents....very much like them, but it's not... S(he) sent out a resonance to the other entity. Greetings and Salutations, I am Leliel of Eternal Night, to whom do I have the honor and pleasure of speaking to?

by **Rethan** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 5:04 am

Grath paused for a moment to think, leaning against the portal out into the hall. He bowed his head slightly, his suit clicking as the helmet hit off the chestplate.

"I have a theory, yes. Only a theory, there's no evidence to suggest otherwise. I have been charting a surge in viral outbreaks on planets, ships, stations....all across this Quadrant of the galaxy. Despite the distances between the affected areas, I can surmise only that it is a malicious assault, carried out by a singular entity with - if my theories are correct - with a mind the size of a star system, and growing every day.

I do not know if others have encountered them, but I have no name for them. On every world this infection touches, horrific beasts appear. Aversions of science and of nature. I fear Consort Station has fallen to the same illness which has thus far consumed millions, possibly billions of lives. But then...where are the signs of fighting? This place is wholly undisturbed, why would the inhabitants not resist the contagion?"

Grath shook his head, shaking free the questions in his mind. Now was not the time to dwell on such things, and it was better to keep moving. Keep himself distracted from the dangers which lay between stars, and the damage which it wrought.

"Though this....emptiness you say you feel. If I am right than I feel it proves my hypothesis to some small degree. Come, we should not keep the others waiting. We can talk on the way."

As if on cue, as Grath passed through the doorway a voice exploded through his skull, and he clenched his head in pain. Cursing wildly, he lowered the volume on his headset before responding, the ringing in his ears would stop eventually. He hoped. Well, that's what he got for not checking his headset settings.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance Leliel. If you wish to help us, follow the others who should be boarding the station soon. We have already arranged to meet with them, and we can meet you where they are going."

by **Demigueris** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:09 am

"Life support is definitely shut down, in the 'north' section of the station it looks like there was some serious structural damage to the main power core, the 'south' sector seems to be on a different grid, and was apparently intentionally shut down." Even as she said that she was already dreading going over there in person, Syyrin was really much more comfortable remaining on her own ship. Excursions didn't suit her - she had bots for that sort of stuff. Still, in a case like this she sort of felt obligated to help, to be an actual person there, sharing risks, especially given what her scans had revealed on the lower levels. "I also picked up what looks like your crew but - if you're the baseline Dr. Grath, their readings are...erratic. I don't know what state they're in, I'm sending you their location."

She had one of her bots fetch her containment suit, and after a moment, she decided to add the single side-arm she had on board - kept just in case. The bots would meet her at the shuttle bay. There wasn't room, so she took a few of her favourites - Lenny her heavy repair unit, was actually a large mobile platform containing a number of purpose built robots for general space-born repairs. He was about as catch-all a bot as she could manage; damage control was its thing and it was capable of cutting through bulkheads, moving debris and doing other large tasks. She brought along Sibli too, who was sort of a large, portly, mobile power generation unit capable of patching in and powering most electrical systems in a controlled, localized area. That left Skeet and Scoot two smaller bots capable of operating in extremely tight spaces, designed to help with HVAC and wiring repairs in difficult to reach spaces. She also brought along Mona, her emergency medical unit. With the spare equipment and wiring she was bringing just so they had materials on hand that would just about fill up her shuttle.

That was about the point where she heard Dr. Grath talking about a virus. "If I just heard you right and you say this is a virus - I'm not really sure I should be coming over... we may dealing with a quarantine situation here and I'm not really equipped to do that. If you're right and what happened was an intentional we may also want to consider the possibility that your team is already infected and the sabotage and lifesupport shutdown was someone's deliberate attempt to contain the infection. I do have a remote link to the station's emergency systems, and can send my automated units to assist repairs but... I just don't think I should be walking into a biohazard area."

Truth was as long as she remained in her suit she would be fine. Standing in front of the shuttle, loaded with equipment and her robots though, Syyrin had to admit - she didn't like the idea of leaving the ship. She never liked leaving her ship - not if she could avoid it. Even on planets and normal space stations she always felt exposed and isolated leaving the ship 'for real.' Here the very idea was enough to bring on chills and a little feeling of nausea.

Secretly she was really hoping Dr. Grath wouldn't press the issue.

by **Derscon** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:00 pm

Lafiël frowned. "You refer to the Rethast Pathogen? That is what you sound like you are describing... well, admittedly, We have dangerously little data on the matter. Perhaps foolishly, We have turned a blind eye to the affairs of Delta Quadrant." The avatar's face twitched, eyes covered in a shadow as Lafiël suppressed her psychic signature to nothing, all while treading carefully beside the Doctor, almost paranoid in her attention to danger and detail.

"If it is a disease of... I guess one can say 'the soul,' for lack of a better human term... then struggle may not have been possible. Individuals struggle, individuals with personalities and, while deterministic, wills. If this Pathogen infects the Will, however, struggle would prove difficult as the instigator of struggle would be crippled, much like an immunodeficiency virus prevents a body from properly defeating other sicknesses. But...", she added, still feeling out the local area for any psychic signatures. "This is conjecture based on an encounter with a force producing similar results many eons ago. You know more about this Pathogen than I." Blinking, she faintly felt Leilel and smiled; Leilel must have picked her up before her suppression.

Leilel? Ah, yes, I do know of you. I am Lafiël, Ea'Hayyoth of the Amaranthine Imperium.

by **EternalNight** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:47 pm

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance Leliel. If you wish to help us, follow the others who should be boarding the station soon. We have already arranged to meet with them, and we can meet you where they are going."

Leliel's comm systems took the message in. fabrication units in myriad fractal units quickly assembled a small shuttlecraft as s(he) manifested a sentience node, having it board the shuttle. The shuttle departed from the main mass as Leliel turned her attention to Lafiel.

I am pleased to meet you, Lafiel. Leliel resonated. I picked up the distress call coming from this station and moved to investigate. I also sensed something... odd. I cannot place it though. I am rather young, by both Eternal Night's and conventional standards of measuring time.

As Leliel's essence resonated to Lafiel, the communications systems on the shuttle activated, sending a response to Grath. "Requesting flightplan and permission to come aboard, Doctor. Also, any information you have on the situation onboard would be appreciated."

Leliel's sensor arrays continued passive observation of the large freighter in the system, the hue of the main body lazily flowing through the colors of the EM spectrum as "her" shuttle approached the station. Though the main crystal mass shifted color, the cloud of fractals surrounding it pulsed a slow but steady blue.

by **Rethan** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:07 pm

OOC:Apologies for slow reply, been without a proper laptop for a prolonged unexpected period of time.

Demigueris wrote:"Life support is definitely shut down, in the 'north' section of the station it looks like there was some serious structural damage to the main power core, the 'south' sector seems to be on a different grid, and was apparently intentionally shut down. I also picked up what looks like your crew but - if you're the baseline Dr. Grath, their readings are...erratic. I don't know what state they're in, I'm sending you their location."

Grath waited for the information to pass across his suit's visor, before downloading it to his personal computer. Focusing more on the journey through the station, he deigned not to thank Syyrin through words, preferring to keep his power supply on as low a requirement as possible, he had made his own radio one way. Instead, he listened closely to Lafiël as she spoke, nodding slowly as he compared her words with what he knew.

"I do not know what this 'Rethast Pathogen' is, but I will trust your knowledge of such things. As far as I am aware, the creatures which I have been studying do not truly have a name for themselves. Where I have seen them, they take on the language of those they infect and as such tend to refer to themselves as whatever the local population calls them."

Grath was interrupted as Syyrin's voice again rang through his headset, and as her concerns were aired regarding the possible biohazard status of the station he flipped on his own output radio.

"Ah. A justifiable fear. Though there's no need to worry. The airlocks in the areas we will be visiting have all been blown out, and my scans of both the northern part of the station and the central ring have shown no contamination in the air. I have not been able to examine every surface, but it would appear everywhere not in the southern portion is safe. As for the southern part, I cannot say."

As time went by, Grath was growing more and more sure of his assumption's accuracy. Knowing the beasts he suspected of having taken the station, blowing out the atmosphere would have (beyond a certain point) been far more beneficial to the invaders than the defenders, and their lack of true life meant the damaged life support systems would do little to halt their progress. Certainly the sabotage of over half the station's power and emergency systems was coldly calculated.

Grath could only hope the station was empty.

by **EternalNight** » Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:57 pm

Leliel's shuttle came to a stop approximately 1 kilometer from the station. Her lifesight having detected the presence of the others responding to the distress signal. There was also... something else. Something familiar in some ways, but impossible to precisely quantify. Something she sensed once when she was in training with Nathrael. Stay away from Nathrael... his/her parents had both told her. Still, now s(he) wished she had spent more time with him, to learn...

Stepping to the airlock, s(he) opened it and stepped in, cycling it it. when the outside door opened she dissolved into a cloud of multicolored motes of crystaline light, which streaked off towards the station. As s(he) did, her Node's comm system signaled the shuttle to return to he Core. The shutle fired up it's grav drive as Leliel entered through an open airlock on the station.

Lifesight and motion sensors picked up movement ahead, and her essence could sense the presence of the Dersconi at this range. S(he) coalesced into humanoid form again, wearing a normal Eternal Night shipsuit. Space seemed to shimmer lightly around his/her body as defensive nodes came online, bringing up a phase shield. Stepping cautiously around a corner, her comms systems broadcast to Grath as her Essence resonated to Lafiel. "Greetings, it took me a bit longer then expected to get here."

by **Rethan** » Sat Sep 03, 2011 2:34 am

OOC:Sha-bump for replies.

by **Demigueris** » Sat Sep 24, 2011 7:31 am

Much as she'd have liked to stay behind, there was an edge of guilt to not coming personally and still sending her bots. Syyrin had hestitated until the last moment on the boarding ramp to the shuttle before securing the pistol she kept onboard in a holster and sealing up her enviro suit. She had her bots after all, a weapon. There were already people onboard. Why be such a coward? She could handle this - indeed - she would handle this! And with that she strode onto the shuttle full of confidence.

Which lasted all of the ten minutes it took to actually reach the ghost station.

Syyrin felt the gentle jolt as the shuttle secured itself to the station's docking collar. It was the sort of jolt she could only sense through her shuttle sensors but it still sent a chill down her spine. Being here, away from Ymira, it just felt like a bad idea that just kept getting worse all the time. She wasn't even out of the shuttle yet and she already wanted to throw off the helmet to her vacuum suit and start gasping for fresh air.

There was, at very least, the reassuring hum of servos as the robots that would be her eyes and ears began unsecuring themselves and working their way towards the now opening airlock. The power to the airlock wasn't working but between her remote connection to the station and the shuttle's own docking probes she managed to bypass her way into the docking systems and reroute power from the shuttle to the station's airlock which opened after she equalized pressure between the two ships.

The docking collar area was empty and silent. Syyrin stood up and watched as Lenny, ridden by Skeet and Scoot[i/], ambled out the door while the deckplates shaking as the enormous repair bot began roving down the hall. His sensors were feeding her information about what was ahead, as well as surveying damage to the local area which was pretty much non-existant. After [i]Lenny, Sibli was next and after that, feeling a little reassured that nothing was immediately in danger of jumping out and bashing her skull in, Syyrin herself departed with Mona in tow.

"Dr. Grath, I'm on the station now, and heading towards the broadcast station now. I'll meet you there."

Looking back over her shoulder as she rounded the corner away from the shuttle, she gave the command for the shuttle to seal itself up. One way or another, she was here now, and there was a job to be done.

by **Rethan** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 3:14 pm

Consort Station
Central Broadcasting Hub

Grath lead his new companion through the open roadways of the station. His breathing was laboured, the dry air being recycled through his suit irritating his throat and making him cough every few steps. The silence penetrated deep into his skull, and it unnerved him greatly. Screaming let him know something was wrong, gunfire that there was a fight. But Consort Station held no sign of conflict, no signs of life. Everyone had simply vanished. With bated breath, Grath continued forward. Hope was not entirely lost, because he knew that the Southern section held the emergency gathering zones, and if anyone was still alive they'd have holed up there. The increased gravity closer to the planet below provided a solid grounding for the emergency escape craft, and Grath's first objective would be to head there and regroup with any possible survivors.

He continued walking, trying to focus on anything but the intense silence. Of course, the whole station was a vacuum now. Not even his footfalls made any noise, but this small piece of logic didn't help to settle his beating heart. With single minded purpose he descended the staircase into the Central Ring, emergency lighting illuminating his path in a dull green glow. Scatterings of crates and floating debris told the tale of the ships which had docked here, leaving the station in a rush to escape whatever had happened here.

There was comfort in the lack of activity. The population of the station numbered in the millions, and as his head cleared, Grath realiased that someone had to be alive. Otherwise, he and the other guests would have drawn the attention of...them. Something had to be keeping them occupied, or perhaps he had been wrong all along.

He was shaken from his reverie when he entered the Broadcast Station, squeezing past the half open door to see Leliel waiting him. He waved politely, resting his hand on the wall as he regained his breath. He was an old man, and not built for long walks in zero atmosphere.

"That is quite alright. We just got here ourselves. Any sign of Syyrin yet?"

by **EternalNight** » Wed Oct 05, 2011 5:25 pm

Consort Station
Central Broadcasting Hub

Leliel looking over to Dr. Grath with a quizzical look on her face. "Syyrin? Would that be the other life form I sensed boarding this station? If so I have no idea, I picked up the signal on my own as my vessel was passing by this system." S(he) looked around at the station, mostly silent except for Grath and herself. It's odd here... like Nathrael's Harvester has been here...or Soulhunter... yet it's not the same. And where are the corpses? If this was a Harvest they'd just be left where they fell as the Arrays took their lives...

"This station... for it's size it must have had a massive population. Set I sense little, almost no, life on board, I do however sense...death. Forgive me, it is a gift that is both blessing and curse to my people. What happened here? The lack of massive amounts of external physical damage and general structural condition would seem to rule out conventional attack, or a catastrophic collision with a ship or asteroid."

Leliel then frowned, "On the other hand some of the internal sectors display rather notable dmage. Accident? Boarding or sabotage?" she said to Grath softly. Linked to her central node by her PTP systems, she promptly coalated all the information she had gathered so far, and after analysis sent it on to the Black Nebula.

Onboard space station [Coordinates to follow], Station all but lifeless. No sign of external attack, though internal damage suggests fighting with small arms has taken place onboard. Am continuing to investigate for additional information. So far though does not look like Nathrael or any of his goons. If anything it's too neat for him. Nathrael would have left corpses sprawled...phased halfway through decks, all sorts of gore to create terror... Will send another update in 4 hours, or upon Tactical Protocol Bith going into effect.

Tower Of Infinity
The Black Nebula

Two entities stood on a balcony overlooking an eerily glowing crystalline city. Flickering auras of deep amber and black/purple light intertwined the two like the touch of lovers, or perhaps something even deeper.

This was...unexpected.

What was, Anais?

Leliel has encountered something. Something I wanted to shield her from. Something I am not sure if she is ready for. I can sense death accross a whole galaxy... Something is occuring of momentous import.

You can sense death with as much adroitness as you cause it, beloved... But did you not say that s(he) must learn certain things on her own? To avoid becoming another Minagoroshi? But did you ever consider that something like this could lead her down that path in ways even Nathrael could not be capable of?

We all get tested as we move through the Web of Life, Anais.

Including our child?

Especially our child...

Consort Station
Central broadcasting Hub

Leliel's myriad sensor arrays and processor nodes were analyzing the damage in the southern sectors of the station. S(he) turned to Grath and said "The internal damage looks to be from small arms fire...grenades... I would almost say a boarding action except that there seems to be no sign of forced breaching. Perhaps mutiny or some sort of civil conflict? I am unfortunately not familiar with the species that built this station, nor their culture. I find it odd however that there seem to be no corpses." Leliel looked around for a computer terminal or dataport before turning back to Grath. "In the meantime let us wait for this 'Syyrin'. Perhaps they will know more."

by **Derscon** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 3:03 am

Lafiël nodded to Leilel upon his entrance and joining of the ever-expanding horror game party, too focused on examining the station to make any sort of further greeting. As they walked, she noticed the silence only insofar as she could tune out the rest of the sounds in her mind, unable to completely contain herself in a single avatar.

With great strength, Lafiël finally spoke, breaking the oppressive silence. "The way you speak of this...Pathogen... you say it as if it is conscious of its efforts. Doctor, exactly how much do you know of this? I am not comfortable sitting on a station potentially infected with something possessing a will and knowing nothing." Who would have known, she thought to herself, more on edge and nervous than she's been in millenia, that there could be something in this galaxy that could threaten us? Not even the mass-voiding Talythians can manage that.

OOC: Blah. Short again, but I'm a bit stuffed up in the writing department, and I don't as of yet have much to work with.

by **Demigueris** » Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:31 pm

Syyrin approached the re-enforced security door to the Communications Hub Dr. Grath had indicated as their rally point. Skoot had climbed the wall, and inserted his nano-filament probes into the control assembly. Syyrin worked his dextrous little appendages like a skilled surgeon, and it didn't take her long to tie into the power systems and power up the door lock and mechanism, and then bypass the control. It slid open with a satisfying hydraulic sound.

Syyrin smiled to herself a little and stepped into the room. It was dark - pitch black apart form Lenny's enormous floodlights which poured through the door. With a thought she shut those off and reached through her connection with the stations emergency systems to activate the emergency lighting in the hub.

The lights flickered to life to reveal a communications centre that appeared to have been abandoned in a hurry. Things were left exactly as they had been. An open cup of coffee there, now cold. All the equipment was off, a filing cabinet was turned on its side, spilling its contents out onto the floor. Syyrin took it all in though she silently and wordlessly continued directing her robots. Sybli entered, driving straight through the spilled paper work as she homed in on the main power tie-in for the hub. Skeet and Skoot both skittered into the room between Syyrin's legs and climbed onto the central com equipment and began to physically tie themselves into those systems, powering what they could from their on-board power-supplies.

A moment later Sybli started humming gently to herself and the whole center lit up like nothing had happened. Syyrin's computer aided brain immediately dove into the active com network taking active control of any systems she could find in there that still worked, and started sifting through the centre's computer systems and memory cores.

"Dr. Grath..." She said, speaking through the station's internal com system which was apparently now operational. "I'm at the hub and have control of the communications systems. It looks like whoever was here they left in a hurry. I hope you can hurry up, this whole station is more than just a little bit 'spooky.'" Having said that she looked toward the open door to the communications hub, and remotely accessing the now active controls, she had the door close and lock itself, leaving Lenny outside as her eyes and ears.

by **Rethan** » Thu Nov 03, 2011 3:22 pm

Grath knelt down, taking the covering off a panel and plugging in his wrist computer. Syyrin's voice came through clear on his communications set, a small blessing that there was almost no interference.

"I'm patching in now. See if you can route the emergency broadcast system to my console and I'll work on decoding it. Assuming the encryption methods are the same as I used to use. That way we can get an undistorted version of whatever keeps repeating over the speakers. Maybe find out more about what happened here. Once you've done that, come meet us. We need to head into the South portion, and we'd probably be better off doing that together."

Grath waited as his personal computer connected with the station's network, streams of information being fed into his helmet and almost blinding his aged eyes in a flurry of light and text. Not much of it made sense, some kind of worm had eaten up most of the text files, and it was difficult for him to find enough solid, untouched pieces of text. None of it told him what had happened here. Sighing, after many seconds of silence, he stood up and turned to face Lafiël.

"I know...more than most. I've been following these things for a long time. They are....interesting, and terrifying all at the same time. And yes, I am sorry to say they are intelligent. Quite disturbingly so. A single one is no more intelligent than your average human, but as the group gets larger.... I've seen AIs be taken down by a large enough group of them when they connect to a virtual network. When there's a larger group, the individual gets smarter, their cognitive functions become faster....

The station doesn't seem infected. The atmosphere is gone, and none of the surfaces show the tell tale signs of infectious residue. We should be okay. What most concerns me at this stage is what happened to the inhabitants here. Why are there no signs of combat? And where are all the shuttles, escape pods and ships? There's no record of an evacuation notice, so.... I just don't know. I just hope the southern section gives us more to work with."

Grath leaned against one of the walls, waiting for Syyrin to route the emergency broadcast to his personal computer. This whole situation didn't make sense. Assuming the Pathogen had infected the station, wouldn't the occupants have fought back? And where were they all, Pathogenic and citizen alike? The southern section showed dedicated sabotage, the power was irreparable to the area and even emergency lighting wasn't functioning. Perhaps there were more clues to find there...

The room is unnaturally silent. Still. Lifeless. There is no air, but ice coats the walls, an incomprehensible chill filling the vacuum colder even than the abyss outside the station's hull. A black web of crystalline malignancy clings to the floor.

It pulsates.

It tears.

A single hand reaches out from beneath the oily mass, pushing through the crystallised outer layer and trailing strings of blackened bile behind it. Six fingers stretch and curl in the airless room, before a tall and frighteningly thin creature emerges from the cocoon. Then another rises from the mess, two brothers of the same putrid birthing. Lifeless, soulless eyes take in what little they can, spines along the back and scalp twitch and the mouth distends to atrocious size.

The creature does not try to breathe any air. It has no heartbeat. Dark blue veins run beneath a tight, dry and cracked skin. And as its clouded eyes are cleaned of the black fluid which gave birth to the abomination, it hisses. There are intruders here, and they must be unified.

The Rethast screams, and even in the vacuum the sound propagates. It is a scream of silence, and reality itself recoils away from it. A moment later, a choir of thousands respond in kind....

His worst fears were confirmed. It was not subtle, the Aura. A wash of dread flooded through his mind, and suddenly the room feels uncomfortable. Like he is not welcome. He feels like he is...wrong. With shivering arms, and a trembling voice, Grath looks up at Lafiël again.

"They're here...."

by **EternalNight** » Fri Nov 04, 2011 11:47 am

Leliel seemed to stare off into space, or maybe beyond space... S(he) felt the Aura, an odd feeling, like what she had been told two of her creator/parents had felt when missing their third. Despair, pain, strong enough to cause resonance (or perhaps dissonance?) in the d-branes themselves. It felt sad to her, and yet...strangely attractive.

Images and words flashed in her POV as her main body sent warnings to her sentience node. This is what I was warned about... s(he) thought to herself before turning to Grath and Lafiel. "You both felt it as I did..." she said, her eyes glowing an odd blacklight color. "Like Antilife...like Us but not like Us... I am getting messages from my... other self, the rest of my being. Apparently my creator/parents know of this effect. But for some reason wanted to shield me from it for whatever reasons they had."

Looking from Grath to the Dersconi, Leliel said simply "Is there anything either of the two of you can tell me about what we face here? IYou both seem to have more information then I do, and though I find that odd, I am not so blinded by pride that I will not ask for assistance." Leliel's form then dissolved into a cloud of glowing motes of crystal, reforming into a 2.9 meter long by 1.5 meter wide crystalline wedge, the light from within cycling through the colors of the spectrum like her main body.

"Combat form" s(he) spoke. "more efficient should our needs here turn to violence."

In deep space. her main body went on alert as well, space rippling around her form as metaphasic barriers activated. The cloud of glowing crystals surrounding the main mas all tuirned a deep amber, shining sullenly against the blackness of space.

by **Demigueris** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 11:09 am

Syyrin was busy diving into the stations available systems. Dr. Grath's warnings about the Rethast being able to infiltrate digital systems was a little worrying, but she was really a melding of biological and digital thought processes. Even though she had a physical form, she was really more digital consciousness than a simply biological entity. With the processing capacity of Ymira nearby, and as she repurposed the station's processors for her own use, she was much more confident dealing with these 'Rethast' inside the stations computer systems than in person.

She turned the broadcast system over to Dr. Grath's unit, and made a few adjustments to repurpose the station's internal communication systems. Comparing their readings she managed to fashion a rather crude but effective seismic echo-location network. She could see Dr. Grath, and... she presumed the other entity there was Leliel but it was definitely weird and she couldn't ascribe a precise form to it.

That done, she turned her attention and spare CPU capacity on Ymira and the station processors she'd co-opted toward the data-files Dr. Grath had found. They were badly worn. But worms worked in very meticulous ways, if she could identify its pattern of attack, she could probably recover the data remotely. Worse case scenario, Skeet and Skoot[i/] had sensors for reading most datacore types physically; just about any deletion or wear technique would still leave imprints of the original data if one knew how to look. With barely a thought Syyrin sent [i]Skeet skittering at breakneck speed out of the communication's hub - firmly closing the door behind it - and down toward the station's central datacores where she could physically recover the data.

As a largely informational entity who'd spent most of her life attached to what was effectively a massive collective bio-computer consciousness Syyrin knew more than a little about information data-systems.

It actually took more effort on her part to communicate in 'ordinary' spoken language than to deal with computers. Computers and mechanical systems were really the easy part for her."I've cracked the station's security encryption already Dr. Grath - sorry, it's just a habit."

She pondered how to explain some of this to Dr. Grath, but it would just be too complicated to fit into spoken language. He'd get bored, and other things were going on. It would be easier if he too were a bio-computer on the network, she could just give him a data-dump and that would be that. She wouldn't have to explain that one of her hobbies on long voyages was looking around local computer networks she came across. Bypassing security protocols was just something she did; making arrangements with local authorities was just too much hassle for both them and her. Easier just to quietly sneak in. AI's were sometimes reasonable if they were given leeway to be flexible, but most people, organizations or even security companies would never even know she was there anyways. The really sophisticated ones might realize they'd been targeted by some sort of apparently self-aware multi-pronged AI infiltration. But that was really a simplification of what Syyrin was.

She liked to describe it to biologicals as being like a dance. Syyrin's cyber-augmented brain handled the higher order thinking functions, while she set CPU's working help her. She spun AI's that were just aspects of herself to oversee the process. There were probably about six specialized 'Syyrin' AI's helping her run every system on Ymira at that moment, and she was busy spinning together a few more to run on and help her manage Consort station's systems. She created patterns, and set them free - like birds - into cyberspace, and they in turn did her bidding.

In truth though, she really wasn't all that different from these Rethast by the sounds of it. As she coopted more of the station's computational capacity, adding it to herself, she too would grow in complexity and apparent intelligence. She was just decidedly less sociopathic about it, and didn't see much need to intrude into the physical-biological realm the way the Rethast did. She wasn't really comfortable dealing with the physical world at all. Information networks and computers just held way more potential for the imagination whereas physical forms were just so... limiting. Boring really. That was the one thing about these Rethast she couldn't fathom.

She just wished she had a more powerful FTL transmitter. If she could establish real-time contact with Demigueris, they would be much better situated to model, understand and control this Rethast contagion. Maybe even reason with it as one collective to another. Even alone, Syyrin's growing personal presence might be enough to establish some sort of rapport with the Rethast. It really depended on how reasonable their intellectual capacity was. It also occurred to her that just as in individual biological entities, it was possible for collective consciousnesses - particularly if they were extremely centralized as the Rethast seemed to be - to become unbalanced. Or, more simply put, to just go completely insane.

That would explain a great deal about Dr. Grath's description of their behavior.

It also opened the possibility that, with appropriate treatment, they could be treated for their insanity, if not cured. The crude models she was able to create by herself were inconclusive about the chances of success on this; though the models about her trying it on her own were not promising. She really wasn't specialized to do any of these things.

All this she pondered while she continued to infiltrate consort station, run the numerous systems and processes that kept Ymira functioning, and the space between sentences manipulating the com system to synthesize her own voice for the benefit of Dr. Grath.

"The broadcast system should already be patched through to your suit. I should be able to deal with any sort of digital infiltration on this network. It's pretty simplistic compared to what I'm used to - it's like fighting a narrow pass here. Really advantageous terrain - if that makes any sense to you. I'm going to start data recovery procedures now, and try and bring up the rest of the station's systems..." Her voice paused, and for a moment she lost track of the literally millions of activities she was overseeing as the Aura ran through the station.

"Um, Dr. Grath. They're not just here. I've got tremor vibrations running through the station coming from the southern section. There's something moving down there." As a few seconds past she was better able to reduce the random error in her readings. "There is A LOT of somethings moving down there!"

Another pause.

"Wait, what was that about combat?"

by **Rethan** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 7:49 am

OOC: Dammit Derscon y u no post? ; - ;

Grath thanked Syyrin when the broadcast begin feeding itself through his suit. He idly worked on fixing the message, rerouting it through his communications set. With this part of the station a complete vacuum, he couldn't pipe it through the speaker system, and the station's own internal comms network was clearly damaged. As he worked away on the broadcast, Grath connected to Syyrin...

"More than likely most of that movement will be Downcast. Mutations abandoned by the Rethast. Downcast are usually simple to estimate their actions, and so long as we do not attempt to threaten the Rethast proper, they will leave us alone. Rethast, on the other hand.... They are clever beyond reckoning. If you're detecting them on seismic or motion sensors, I can almost guarantee they want to be seen. Most likely, they're concerned we'll try to harm them. The Collect here seems too small to have anything other than self preservation in mind. Stay where you are, and try not to cause too much of a disturbance."

As Leliel shifted into her combat form, Grath slid his finger alone the rail pistol at his side, feeling significantly more comfortable about the situation at hand. He didn't doubt that the two god like beings in the room with him would be well capable of handling the situation....but then again, the Rethast in large enough numbers could rend apart reality. How that would effect these gods, he could not say. Instead, with trembling fingers, he continued to work on the broadcast, fighting through the dense shroud of despair that had spread across the station. He could almost taste the vile sense of being unwelcome in his throat, like he was trespassing in a zone of space where his very being was the abomination. Nothing felt right, and it took all his fortitude not to break and run for his shuttle.

With a gasp of relief, Grath successfully filtered the transmission into his comms unit, feeding it through to all his companions on board the station. The message stuttered, and a light film of static lay over it, but it could be heard regardless.

"...universal message three-bravo-seven-seven. This is a message to any survivors of t-t-total catastrophe, broadcasting on all known stations. Please report to your regular disaster contro-o-o-olllll cente-e-e-er-r-r-r-er-er. This is not a test. This is a medical emergency. As of this date, zero-o-o-o survivors have been reported. This message will repeat every fifteen minutes on all known channels. It has repeated nineteen thousand, three hundred and fifteen times...."

It took Grath a few seconds for the reality to kick in. Consort station had been dead for at least six months since this transmission had begun, and gods knew how long before that. And yet no survivors had reported in. None, in all that time....

His legs felt weak, and with a cry he fell to the ground, blood rushing from his head.

"Dead...all dead...they are all dead."

They would have to fight there way out. He had already figured out what had happened, the transmission had pieced the puzzle together.

The station had been infected, most likely in the southern section. An attempt at quarantine, sealing off that section would have failed. With the southern portion under Pathogenic control, any infectees would have found their way there. The survivors in the North would have been unable to reach the docks and one by one would have fallen victim to infection. Six months was plenty of time for the last few to die, and fall to the infection. Perhaps a lone survivor looking for others had activated the transmission, or had blown out the atmosphere to ensure a quick death for himself.

But then what of the numerous ships that should have circled the central disc?

Easily discernible. The Rethast would have taken them, spreading their plague further. If all of the station had fallen, there would have been millions of Downcast, and a few hundred Rethast. Enough to build a congruent intelligence capable of understanding the ship controls of the various species docked here. The ones left behind then must have stayed to protect Newborns yet to hatch, hoping eventually to be collected....

Which meant the Rethast would be coming back....

Outbreak: Case Two, Consort Station (FT; Semi-Open)

Outbreak: Case Two, Consort Station (FT; Semi-Open)

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