9 Comments on “Chissa

  1. The Songs of the Void

    The Asteroid Belt in FS30 system (Mhemne system)

    You and the crew are still docked at the Belter Mhemne hidden asteroid base.  The United Planetary Federations (the governmental and military arm of the Zebulon’s Expanse, a group you have come to affectionately call the UpFeds) have been rather pushy about getting help from you and you have not seen a lot of return for the efforts, until now.  The presence of VoidCorp in this region concerns your Insight side and the fact that VoidCorp is sharing tech with the Sathar is even a further concern.  This is in violation of many agreements between the Stellar Nations and the Concord would frown upon this. 

    It is not lost to you that the UpFeds are using your group for plausible deniability.  Most of the crew are members of the Galactic Concord (or just the Concord).  Although each of you are members of a different stellar nation within the Concord, the UpFeds see you as Concord, plain and simple.  This is as new to them as it is to you but right now, both sides seem to be using each other to gain power over the regions of space between the Concord and the Expanse – the area that includes the Verge and the Orion Frontier (or just Frontier).

    At present, an enemy of the UpFeds seems to be making moves in the Frontier that the UpFeds don’t like.  In fact, it is in violation of a war treaty signed a couple of centuries ago.  The Sathar don’t mean much to Insight or to the Concord but they could if they prove to be a threat and want to start a war anywhere near the Verge.  The biggest concern in all of this is that VoidCorp, another Concord stellar nation, has (1) been in this region longer than most other stellar nations have known about it (2) had contact with the Zebulon’s Expanse before the Concord has (3) is apparently working with the Sathar to build war fleets, combining their tech with Sathar tech.

    Docked at this asteroid base, the UpFeds have asked you to help with first contact with the Mhemne in this system they have labeled FS30.  The Sathars are subjugating the Mhemne, pitting factions against each other while committing a near genocide on their homeworld.  It is unknown what VoidCorps role is in the occupation of the system, but it is safe to assume it is not noble.

    After the initial negotiations with the Belters of the Mhemne, you learned that the Mhemne are a divided people between the aristocratic Homeworlders, the fractured Colonials, and the Belters.  They have access to a lot of very useful ore, most of which is right now being used to create a formidable Sathar fleet.

    The UpFeds don’t really feel that the Belters are a good representation of the Mhemne as a people, so they have asked you to go to the Homeworld to see if you can find the resistance there.  A plan has been devised to get you there, using the magnetic slingshot the Sathars are using to mine the asteroids.  This plan sounds dangerous but if you can free the Mhemne, it might be worth it.

    Since your arrival to the asteroid base, something has been distracting you mentally.  However, with the negotiations and the happenings afterward,  you have not been able to concentrate on it enough to identify it.  It has just been in the peripheral of your mental vision.  Once the Mhemne showed you to your quarters and gave you a chance to rest, then the voices started.  It was more than what you heard with the crystal entity and in fact, you can sense that the one you carry is also listening in. 

    What you sense almost seems like a conversation between different sentient beings, perhaps a worship chant or prayer.  There seems to be two sides to this conversation – one rather disjointed, fractured, and faint while the other very close and concentrated.  It is safe to assume that the latter half if the conversation is somewhere close by to you, on the base somewhere.

    The faint voices resurrect memories of a legend among the fraal people.  It speaks of a system in space that contains an asteroid belt that “sings.”  The legends says that this system marks the center of a region of space that is very dangerous to the fraal.  It is known as the Void of Madness – a place where many fraal expeditions have been rumored lost.  The crew of those that were located were found to be in catatonic states and varying degrees of insanity.

  2. The Song in the Stones

    The Asteroid Belt in FS30 system (Mhemne system)

    Your experience with the psychic song of the asteroids left a lasting impression.  It flows throughout the asteroid field and is an extremely strong mental force.  It is like the psychic energy is caught in an infinite loops along the asteroid belt, amplified by the crystalline structure.  This amplification has made the psychic energy incredibly strong and intense if tapped.

    You can conclude from your experience that something cataclysmic occurred to release this energy – like millions of psychic voices cried out and then were suddenly silenced.  Their psychic energy signatures apparently have been absorbed and amplified by the asteroid belt and it’s crystalline nature.  This could be the cause of the mystery in this region that your kind speaks of.

    But why is not having the fabled effect on you?  Why are you not insane yet?  Although you have been rather traumatized by the experience, you do feel in control of your faculties, for the most part.

    You attention then is drawn to the part of the crystalline entity from Mahg Mahr – the Heart.  It has been strangely silent during this time. It too has noticed the Song and it does not appear to be revealing much about what it thinks or feels.  It has not made contact with you and if it has made contact with the source of the Song, you cannot tell.  But it is doing something.

  3. Something else in the Song

    The Asteroid Belt in FS30 system (Mhemne system)

    Something else occurred in that experience while you were in the holding bay on the asteroid base; something that you only are now beginning to remember and sense.  Getting that surge on the junk yard asteroid kind of woke it up.  While experiencing much of what apparently happened in the past, the psychic energy of the dead trapped in this asteroid belt and the dormant minds of others somewhere on another asteroid, you also got a sense of a surge of powerful energy coming from somewhere else much further out – like a communication signal but much more powerful.  In many ways, it is similar to the energy surge the Sathars on the scsout carrier detected while they were spying on their colleagues here in this system.  It can only be described as some kind of teleport beam traveling at hyper-light speeds.

    This one was heading to the asteroid base of the Mhemne belters.

  4. Journey to the Second Heart Part 1

    The Asteroid Belt of FS30/Libertas system

    The Adventures of Chissa and Kima

    While the rest of the crew of the Lancelot finished the rescue of the Mhemne cultist from the heavily damaged asteroid base, Chissa awoke from the trance he was in and reached out to the first mind he could think of – the Yazirian Kima.  Meeting the simian crewman at an abandoned Mhemne shuttle, they left the collapsing asteroid to points unknown.

    Chissa was acting on instinct, based on his astral experience "in the song of the stones."  There is an essence among the asteroid.  An essence that was once a planet but no longer.  A planet not unlike the world of Magh Mahr in Waller Nexus. A world that housed a planet wide crystal entity living in the crust.  This world had to have a heart like Magh Mahr, but where was it?

    Avoiding Sathar robot patrols, Chissa and Kima found themselves travelling to a far edge of the asteroid belt, an area the robots seem to have no interest.  But Chima sensed something in one particular asteroid and ask Kima to pilot the shuttle there.  Kima dreaded yet another EVA walk.

    The asteroid was like any other at first, but Chima knew better. The two of them walked to a large mountain-like feature of the asteroid where they found a cave. Journeying further in, the cave halls changed from rough natural rock to the flat smooth worked stone of a building of some kind. The hallways that followed were a maze but Chima seemed to be guided by deeper knowledge – an internal positioning connection that guided them both through the alien halls.

    Their first challenge they came across was a room with concentric circular tiles making up the floor.  The center was a white star. The room had no other exit.  The tiles appeared to make up a star system of five worlds.  The system they were in – designated FS30 or Libertas – had 4 planets and the asteroid belt.  But Chima knew that many millennia ago, the asteroid belt was a planet itself.  At the door on the wall was a miniature version of the same layout, with finger holes where the planets were.  Chissa could turn the planet holes to different positions and the room would adjust accordingly.  Kima’s intuition told him this was originally some kind of trap but there was not telling if it was still functional without testing it. Chissa was not going to take the risk.

    Chissa concentrated, trying to channel the same psychic essence he did when he was with the cultist.  He sought out the song of the stones, knowing he was at the center of it. His fingers dialed the planets in an alignment that obviously meant something to someone at a time long ago, but Chissa could not determine the meaning.  While the room adjusted to the position of the dial,  the two imagined that this ancient system would be making a horrendous racket, however in their EVA suits in the vacuum of space, it was as silent as it was stayed still.

    The concentric circles collapsed into a circular stair well that ran along the sides of a vast and dark pit. Visor optics in the EVA suits could not even see bottom. Kima and Chissa looked at each, seeing only a reflective faceplate staring back.  They started the long trek down these ancient stairs.

    It took hours, but once they reached the bottom, they were face with a new challenge. The stairs lead them through an opening beyond which was a long hallway. The floor of this hallway had many holes all along the floor.  Even as small as Chissa was, he could not avoid all the holes.  The asteroid was low gravity so jumping it would have been an option if the ceiling was not so low.  Kima could not glide as there was no atmosphere. Once they were in the general vicinity of the hallway, long crystalline spikes shot up from random holes, very rapidly. A hallway of deadly crystalline skewers.

    On the wall of the opening into this hallway was a small opening, like a key opening.  However, it look more like a place for a stone or crystal.  Chissa reached into his pack and pull out the crystalline heart of the Magh Mahr entity.  As he stared into it, the a piece of crystal sprouted from its midsection and dropped off.  Taking the crystal from the floor, they inserted into the keyhole.  The spikes stopped except for a series of them that created a new path down the hallway – a sort of detour.  I door opened on the wall where the spike pathway led.  This lead to a new room.

    Beyond the hall of spikes was a partially collapsed room.  They both had a growing concern that this could be the end of their journey. The room had no other exists apparent, and was at least one third collapsed in. They both knew, considering what the planet had gone through, the chances of them finding a clean path to the heart was slim. Kima suggested charges and Chissa hoped he was kidding. There was no telling what an explosion would do to this questionable structure around them.

    Despair was setting in. Time was running as the power of their EVAs was running dangerous close to the point of no return.  They still had several hours worth of a  return up the stairs.  Chissa closed his eyes and heard the song again.  He felt a surge of psychic power overcome him.  It was like on the asteroid among the cultists but even stronger.  He looked around for Kima but he was gone.  The collapsed room was no long there. All was black.

  5. Journey to the Second Heart Part 2

    The Asteroid Belt of FS30/Libertas system

    The smell of stale dusty earth-laced air filled their nostrils and this woke them with a start. That could only mean one thing – they were no long breathing the filtered air of their EVAs. Both taking a deep breath, they realized that they were in a pressurized room with breathable air, their EVA face shields shattered and EVA systems damaged beyond immediate repair. They stood in a room covered in crystal.  However it was not shiny bright crystal.  It was more like old, cracked and dusty crystalline walls that might have been once a breath taking sight but now it was just sad.  The floor was covered in crystal shards.

    A crystalline tunnel lead downward from the small room they were in. Chissa and Kima gathered themselves up, double checking systems for any functionality to no avail, and headed downward into the crystalline hallway.  Light seemed to pulsate around them, giving them enough to see, although at times it was darker than they liked.  Crystalline shards lined the floors.  The walls were cracked and dull.  At one point, they came across the dead carcass of a crystalline arachnon, a alien creature they encountered previously on Mahg Mahr.  It hung frozen over them in a crystalline web suspended from the ceiling. 

    Kima continued on despite the growing feeling that they had no way to escape now. With their suits all but useless, there was no chance of them getting back to the shuttle.  Not without a miracle. Chissa on the other hand, was distracted.  The psychic energy in this structure was deafening to him.  His head throbbed from the noise he could only hear.

    The hallway ended at an opening into a vast cavern. They could see where the tunnel continued on the other side of the cavern but it was at least 200 feet away.  Between them and continuing on was a vast matrix of razor sharp crystalline strands, struts and trusses, randomly crisscrossing and in varying degrees of sturdiness.  It appeared at one time there was a bridge here but there was little sign of it was left.  The two looked across the divide and then at each other.

    Chissa continued to feel the psychic impulses around him.  Here they seem to resonate in a strange pattern.  He focused his mind on the patterns, shutting out all around him.  He could faintly hear Kima calling his name, as he felt his body move forward.  Feeling the psychic energy surround him, creating an ethereal tunnel, he levitated across the cavern.  He was propelled like a rail gun round in a gauss gun, he strained to control his speed.  He feel forward on the other side, sprawling into a heap of crystal shards.

    Kima watched as a bubble psychic energy levitated the Fraal across the cavern and the crystal strands. Not having the psychic ability the Fraal has, Kima was not immediately sure how he was going to get across.  But then something occurred to him. He had low gravity … and air pressure.  Perfect gliding situation.  All he had to do was weave through the crystalline struts.  Razor sharp as they were, it could end his flight rather abruptly. He removed much of the bulky EVA suit, took a deep breath and leaped.

    Chissa watched the graceful flight of his Yazirian friend, as he weaved through the dangerous chaotic truss system.  It was a matter of minutes and the Yazirian was on the other side with him.

    The Heart

    The two walked into another vast cavern after a long series of hallways. This room was more heavily damaged then any other section they had seen. Collapsed walls, columns, and portions of ceiling littered the floor. The largest feature of the room was a towering crystalline structure, heavily damaged but still huge.  At the top was a feint light.  The heart waited for them at the top.  Neither of them were expert climbers by no means, however they had one thing working for them – the low gravity. But even at that height, a fall could injure them seriously.

    They started slowly.  Portions of this structure were like giant stairs, where Chissa and Kima could stop and rest.  The air in this room was thinner than in the others areas they have been, so the climb grew harder and harder as they ascended. When they finally reached the top, it had been hours.  Their supplies were dangerously low.  Thoughts of how they were going to get back still lingered.  They had hopes a solution would present itself once they reached their goal.

    At the top was what remained of the central processor of the crystalline entity that once spanning an ancient world.  It lay in a disarray of broken crystal structures.  In the middle of all this disorder, still attached to crystalline umbilical was another heart, similar to the one Chissa still carried.

    Chissa carefully removed the heart from the attached crystal connectors.  A sudden pulse of energy through them both back.  Kima sprawled dangerously close to the edge but was able to save himself.  A low rumble shook the room, as more rock and crystal fell slowly to the floor.  The entire room began to shake violently. Climbing down was quickly becoming less of an option.  Kima reacted the only way he knew how.  Ordering Chissa to stow the heart in his pack, he grabbed the smaller Fraal, and leaped  over the edge.

    Chissa closed his eyes he gripped around the waste of the Yazirian, the pack pinned between them. Debris tell around them as, arms stretched out, Kima glided gracefully through the thin air of the chamber.  Chissa once again concentrated on the song in the stones, almost to the point of praying to it.  Channeling into unseen energies, he had nothing left but to hope.

    A flash again and they were somewhere else again.  A new crystalline walled room, this one small and cold.  In front of them stood three pods, inside which were three humanoid creatures, similar to Mhemne, but larger and slightly less hair.  They wore ceremonial robes and were surrounded by a blue light field that seemed to be fading by the minute. They could still feel the rumble as the room they were in collapsed but it was dying down. Chissa stood and stared into the face of the center pod’s occupant. 

    "We are the Great Ancestors. We are the Song of the Stones. The Heart needs a new being. A new vessel. The Song kept it alive until now.  You must hurry.  A new body awaits"

    In another flash they were in their shuttle.

  6. Operation Snowfall

    Mhemne Homeworld, Ninguis

    Last Chissa left the group, they were planning an assault on the central IMPP facility on Ninguis, controlled by heavily cybered-Sathars and  their robot servants.  The assault plan was to capture a robotic Hunter until, and use it like a Trojan horse to penetrate the walls of the IMPP facility. The group also knew about a concentration camp near the IMPP facility that had Mhemne prisoners. 

    After acquiring the Hunter Unit and loading it with Mhemne resistance fighters ready to attack the facility, Chissa entrusted the Mechalus named Spike with the crystalline entity heats, instructing him on what to do, while Chissa made plans with the Mhemne to break out the prisoners from the concentration camps, arm them and perhaps use them as a cavalry unit to help with the assault.

    While the main force took the Hunter droid unit into the main facility, Chissa and the special ops team he hand picked planned out the assault on the less secure concentration camp.  It took most of the day to get into position, meanwhile the main strike team was just entering into the faility.  They soon would be reeking havoc inside the Sathar IMPP, and hopefully resources from the camp would be allocated there.

    While waiting for the calamity start at the IMPP, Chissa remembered the mysteries of these camps.  Each IMPP had one nearby but all were outside the security walls of the facility. Surrounded primitively by two layers of electrified fencing, the camp had four watch towers and were manned by security robots of the same make as those in the IMPP.  The Mhemne resistance said that periodically a strange ship would land in a designated area and 20 hours later.  During those 20 hours, Vrusk soldiers could be seen guarding the ship and loading cargo on to the ship.  After the ship left, the robot hunter units would raid another resistance camp for more prisoners, bringing them to the camp. 

    As Chissa suspected, many of the concentration camp guards left their posts to help with the sudden chaos occurring within the walls of the IMPP facility.  The security of the camp significantly diminished, Chissa’s strike team used the cover of the late day darkness to move into closer to the camp and set up their initial stage of their attack.  Blowing the fences with some of the specialized explosives they acquired, the attack teams assaulted from two different directions and were able to take out the first level of security fairly quickly.

    With Chissa’s mential help, the teams infiltrated into the camp building quickly to take out the remaining security forces and free the prisoners.  Casualties were light for the Mhemne, but Chissa was amazed by dedication of the Mhemne people.  You could tell from their passion and dedication that they wanted to be free and a new start for the civilization.

    Once the camp was relatively secure, Chissa and the teams search the camp for weapons and intelligence. Chissa was particularly interested in who the mysterious Vrusks were visiting this world.  With VoidCorp already smuggling experimental weapons stolen from Austrin-Ontis, there was enough intrigue in this system to give a Concord Administrator a small heart attack, but now with some Vrusk entity involved, this could blow up into an intergalactic incident.

    The data was difficult to obtain and even more difficult to translate but they did indicate that the Vrusk entity was some major Vrusk corporation.  There is only one major Vrusk corporateion – Streel Corp.  This indicates that there is some nefarious alliance between Streel and VoidCorp and the Sathars.  Couple that with the fact Chissa already knew – the fact that Void Corp has been involved in this region of space and with the Zebulon’s Expanse unbeknownst, long before the official first contact occurred, this brings up many more questions than answers.

  7. Operation Ferret: The Final Stage of the Campaign

    L4 Station, Libertas System

    Operation Ferret

    Assault on L4 Station

    What has gone on before…

    For several months now, the party has been involved in the liberation of the Mhemne people from the clutches of thought to be a new Sather incursion outside of their own space. This being the first time anyone has seen Sathar activity outside their “empire” in a over 200 years, it was a surprise to see them so “advanced” despite restricted trade and embargos from all known parts of the Expanse. Apparently, the Sathars have had contact with others.

    One of those others was Void Corp, who are in all levels of Concord legal violations by interacting with a known enemy of a potential ally. But there is something more about the Sathars that has the party wondering that perhaps there is more to this plot than just a Sathar expansion attempt.

    It was already well know that the Sathar society was heavily dependent on robotics and cybernetics. However, no one imagined advancements like the Sathars display in the Libertas (Mhemne) system. The advancements range from simple cybernetic integration into their robotic chairs to full cybernetic and organic tech upgrades to their entire bodies. The workers on the surface of the Mhemne world had the very simple advancements and were aided by heavy robotic units that showed considerable improvement since the Sathars were last encountered. There was also evidence that these Cybered-Sathars (or Cythars) were experimenting with Mhemne, trying to integrate similar technology into the near-human race

    On L4 station, there was considerable more surprising developments.

    Upon arriving onto L4 through the experimental teleporter, the party encountered the first of many advanced Cythars (command level, perhaps) as well as similarly cybered Mhemne. It appeared as if Sathars were turning less and less Sathar as they party went up the chain and more something else.

    The first level of the L4 Station the party encountered was the Shuttle bay level. Fighting their way through, they found the Mhemne technology overlaid with the organic tech of the Cythars, spreading like some infection. In organically shaped alcoves, Cy-Mhemne as well as a few Cythars stood silent, connected to whatever central consciousness there was. Some awoke to confront them while others did not. It was a lein combination of simple technology of the Mhemene, overlaid the sinister alien tech of the Cythars.

    After the shuttle bay level, an elevator took the party to the Shuttle Crew Deck. This two was a fairly familiar design, where the shuttle pilots would come and go, like a starport terminal. However, it has been converted much like the previous deck they encountered. Many more Cy-Mhemne stood in alcoves, oblivious to the party’s arrival. Others did awaken and attack but once the first wave failed, no second wave followed.  After sorting out a few problems involved a errant grenade that landed too close to the station outer wall, the party discovered a yong Mhemne crawling in the air vents of the station.

  8. The Arrival of the Lighthouse

    Lighthouse Station, Libertas System

    The arrival of the Lighthouse creates a complication for Chissa.It brings all that is at the heart of the political conflictbetween the Concord and the Verge. All the major factions of theStellar Ring are represented on the station. It is usually a greatopportunity for rising diplomats, but it can be exhausting.The Fraal primarily let the human delegates work out theirpolitical issues while they maintain an unofficial undergrounddelegation watching over their interests. The Fraal havespread out and claimed allegiances to the various human factions but in reality work together to carefully protect Fraal intereststhrough this underground aboard the Lighthouse.

    VoidCorp and Insight have an interesting relationship on thestation. They are at peace and in fact work together in manyefforts. Despite the conflict back in the Stellar Ring, the VoidCorp ambassador has brokered a peace with the Insightdelegation that is well known. This bodes well for Chissa ashe knows he will have to answer to the loss of the Lancelot.This also creates a complication with the Libertas incident.The VoidCorp involvement with the Mhemne and the Sathars couldcreate an interstellar incident, one that could spark another war. The only arbiter of interstellar, of course, is aGalactic Consulate – the soul judge, jury and sometimesexecutioner of Galactic Concord law. The question is whetherjustice would serve the Mhemne or create more problems.

    To complicate things, there is Yishya, a female fraal assistant delegate and fellow mindwalker to the Galactic Consulate and former friend. She felt that your endeavors into VoidCorp were wrong and miguided. Unaware of your workings with Insight, she saw it as a betrayal of all things fraal.

  9. The Z’Fraal

    Lighthouse Station, Libertas System

    The revelation that there are other Fraal in the galaxy is considerable.  The Fraal general populous has long been lead to believe that the Fraal that contacted the humans of Earth were the only Fraal that survived whatever disaster befell their homeworld.  Finding other Fraal, no matter how divergent genetically, would cause serious ripples within Fraal society.  The leadership would be in doubt and this could have a serious effect from the top down.  More information much be gathered. There are a lot of questions the answers to which have been long forgotten.  Who or what were the Fraal running from?  What happened to the homeworld? Were they other home ships?  Perhaps the Z’Fraal had some answers to them. 

    The fact that they are being hunted down by the Vrusk concerns Chissa as well.  Why?  What do the Vrusk have against the the Z’Fraal?  Is it just a result of age old fairy tales of boogey men and phantoms or more than that?  Was it the Vrusk that started those fairy tales for the strict purpose of forcing the Z’frall into the shadows? Again, many unanswered questions.