The Story of Westarc (Part 4)

Debate raged over the merits of Planet 68 as ground teams scoured the LZ for any evidence of what had occurred in the night. No bodies had been discovered, but there was an abundance of blood, ash and bullet holes.  It was a patrol searching on the farthest limits of the facility at the edge of the ruins that discovered a broken wayteam drone, carrying a rather curious data-parcel.

Though it was garbled and difficult to understand a message spelled out an unexplained exodus from LZ Humanitie. 

And a fierce firefight against contact referred to simply as "inconnu" or unknown.  A positioning blip link to a Wayteam helmet transponder ended the message. 

Acting quickly on this new information Westarc Ground Command took control of the situation, immediately sending two mechanized units to the ground.  Named "Gothic" and "Typhoon"  these units would converge on the Wayteam with a war footing. Utilizing a small convoy of FSV34's team "Gothic" was to navigate the winding city streets and break through to the survivors, while "Typhoon"  with a medium range Gravitic mortar, would establish a temporary field outpost and triage station to the north of the transponder signal. 

The units deployed quickly at the LZ, which would be held by the initial SAR units in the event the teams would need to fall back. 

At 10:30 am, only twenty minutes after the discovery of the drone, Gothic and Typhoon set out on Operation: Inconnu

Though it was not known then,  the next few hours would decide the fate of the entire Arc, and lead to a conflict that might save the residue of mankind or lead us into damnation.

To be Continued... 

The Story of Westarc (Part 3)

Work and excitement carried Westarc through the first week on planet 68, with a record zero fatalities by suicide. The entire vessel was abuzz with talk of settling, and the manufacturing plant aboard ship was being readied for the construction of suitable human dwelling. Planetside, Explorateur teams scouring the city, venturing farther and farther for clues about the past civilization them found themselves among.  Hope was in the air, but it was but a momentary perfume in the ever hanging cloud of doubts.

[Planetfall +6]
In the shadowy nighttime hours,  PFC LaCroix of the étoiles Explorateur reported a " Curious localized spike in radiation, which disabled his instruments and drained the battery life from his Pulsar Rig."   An immediate science team investigation yielded no source or cause for the anomaly.

[Planetfall +7]
Later in the day, just before dusk call-in,  étoiles Explorateur Wayteam 2  also records the anomaly. This time, as before all team members lost complete Pulsar Rig battery backups, and instrument functionality.  Upon their arrival to the LZ,  Wayteam 2  adamantly reported movement in the ruins, prior to the spike.    all Day 8 patrols cancelled.

[Planetfall +10]
Patrols resume, after several days with no spike reported. When Mid-day an enormous spike interrupted comms between the LZ and Westarc Terraform Command for thirty minutes, prompting the removal of non vital personnel from the planet.  All patrols are again cancelled until, the Science Team could learn the source of the anomalies.

[Planetfall +11]
At 10:30 (Earth Measured Time) in the evening, communications between the LZ and West Arc, again failed. This time however,  they never returned.
After two hours had passed, rescue units were sent to check on the LZ.

[ Planetfall +12]
The following are images recorded from the ground in the early morning hours of the Twelfth Day.

 One thing was clear in those confusing times. LZ  humanité.  and all its inhabitants had been lost...
But to whom. Or to what?     That was still very much to be determined

To Be Continued...

The Story of Westarc (pt 2)

For 6 months, the Western Arc slipped through the darkness of the cold void of space. Stopping at every new star system to look for a new home and harvest fuel, and minerals from countless barren systems.  After a year of absence from the comfort of terra-firma, many within the Arc's population began to grow apathetic and depressed.  It became doubtful that there was any hope of success, a wave of suicides began to take hold, as people simply lost hope.  But in the midst of despair, the Arc sailed ever onward.

One day, 2 weeks, 9 months and a year since departure.  The Arc slipped from Voidspace, into system "DVS-231" for routine search,  of the 1.5 million citizens, around 1.2 million remained alive.  These 1.2 million souls would find "planet 68",  which appeared as a gleaming green and brown jewel in a system of lifeless gas giants.    The first of its kind in the Arc's history. 

The Arc's populace was abuzz with joy at the find and a ground analysis team was quickly formed.  Built from French and Belgian light infantry and science staff, the "étoiles Explorateur" were the first humans to set foot on Planet 68.   It quickly became clear that there was more at work planetside than anyone could have imagined...

What Orbital Scanners and Rendering equipment had mapped as Rock spires, and trees, appeared in fact to be vast, advanced cities, and infrastucture, overgrown by thick alien foilage.

The drop craft of the étoiles Explorateur, landed with robotic support assets in a clearing, named  "LZ humanité."  Immediately they set about testing the atmosphere and creating rough camp.  

Teams of étoiles Explorateur, roved outwards from LZ humanité, eager to explore the vast continental cities of this mysterious world. 

But in the hollow shells, across shattered alien vistas, phantoms.. shades from a bygone era.. began to stir. 

To be Continued...

Sources:  Planet picture is from NASA.   Landscape is conceptual art from Wes Ball. 

The Tale of the West Arc (pt1)

In 4534, the nations of the world initiated the 3rd World War.  It was inevitable… though we had tried all we could to stop it.   

The great nations, and corporate states of humanity tore into each other across the cities, farms and oil fields of every continent. Anti-gravity tanks, robotics, and mechanized suits yielding casualties as high as 2 billion,  thanks to rampant overpopulation,  the supply of warm bodies was plentiful.

At first, the conflict was kept conventional,  the forbidden weapons of our past being kept locked away in their darkened silos. But it was too great a temptation, and the sins of man were made manifest in wholesale destruction and horror.   Gravitic, Ionic, and Nuclear weapons scoured the Earth into heated ash deserts. Only a handful of nations and the off world colonies were spared from the 

holocaust

.

The colonies could not hold all the survivors for long,  illness, civil unrest and anarchy threatened to exterminate us. In a final gambit,  1.5 million souls each were placed aboard “The Western Arc”  and “The Eastern Arc”   given all the technology, research and information that humanity had, they were pointed at opposite halves of the milky way, and sent to find a new home….

While the Fate of both Eastarc and the Sol. Colonies  would make bold tales in their own right.

This Is the Tale of Westarc.   

- To be Continued...



Last painting is by Reid Southen.