The Surface of Steinhull, The Steinhull ruins

Sinn'Are'Sen draws, aims, and fires his Empire laser pistol before the false man in white finishes raising its own energy pistol. With only fifteen meters between Sinn and his target all three beams strike the false man in white in it's upper torso. Dense rubber vaporizes in a flash of light and the false man in white jerks and stumbles. Sinn aims and fires again, catching the false man in white across the chest. This time the beams penetrate deeply and touch off something important because the false man in while falls to the ground. Smoke billows form its torso, illuminated by a baleful purple glow, before an unknown component fails catastrophically and the false man in white is torn limb from limb.

The purple light in the compartment roils and recoils as a black and foul thing flees the scattered remains of the false man in white. A living shadow made of purple reptilian eyes stands where the false man in white once stood. It screams without a mouth, the sound making the air pulse and writhe in unnatural ways. The shadow turns in upon itself with the sound of flesh liquefying and vanishes into thin air. Sinn finds himself dry heaving at the sight, certain that what he just saw will haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.

“Sinn... What was that thing?”

“A predator from beyond the Astral Veil. I think. This compartment is starting to get to me.”

“Your audio and video feeds are coming through clear, but I won't even claim to understand what I am seeing.”

“Things that I will have to report to the RPC. Things that, unless I miss my guess, will open up a massive can of serpents in the very near future. I'm pushing on past this compartment before I make that report though.”

“Deal with the 'dead' false man on the operating table first perhaps?”

“Doable.”

Sinn walks up to the remains and looks down at it's ruined face. One eye twitches in the socket as Sinn aims his Empire laser pistol at the false man's exposed cranial circuitry and pulls the trigger. The stench of melting electronics fills the compartment and leaves sin gagging.

“I don't think I'm ever getting that taste out of my mouth. Moving on now.”

Sinn staggers across the rest of the compartment and into the lift shaft on the far side. He trips over the threshold and fails his arms as he falls but the roof of the lift car is just below the level of the deck. Sinn lets his forehead res on the cool metal and focuses on his breathing in an effort to clear his mind. It takes four full minutes for Sinn to fall into an even meditative breathing pattern and banish his shock at seeing a creature form beyond the Astral Veil. Sinn rolls over onto his side and rests against his backpack.

“Dara Tonn, did the video and audio feeds capture that Astral Veil predator?”

'The caught something alright, but I don't know if they captured the same thing you saw or not.”

“A creature of living shadow made of purple reptilian eyes? A scream that made the light ripple and twist?”

“That's what the feeds captured.”

“Then they captured what I saw. I'll need to send that clip off to Funi'Happ'Sen at the RPC right away.

“Clip prepared for transmission. Do you wish to add a cover letter?”

“Yes. Text only will be fine. Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Begin transcription.

“Funi, I think the RPC needs to look into the Steinhull ruins. I know I'm in the RSC and don't have the authority to ask for such a thing but I'm encountering things that a regular RSC scout couldn't handle. Sky and stars, I'm RPC trained and I'm barely keeping up with the things in here. Attached is evidence of two new psionic phenomena. The first is the purple haze-light in the air: It was accompanied by a distinct pressure on my mind. For lack of a better name I designate it 'Aura of Madness'.

“The second is the creature that emerged from the remains of the white-robed false man. The pressure against my mind... I have to think it was a purely psionic entity. A malicious one that, even in it's death throes, attempted to harm me in every way it could. I know that that scene, it's death, will be a part of my recurring nightmares for the rest of my life.

“Sinn'Are'Sen out.

“End transcription.”

“Clean copy. Transmitting now.”

“Good. Let me know if a response comes in.”

“Can do. Still going to proceed forward?”

“Have to now. My adoptive mother didn't come this way so there should be another way out once I enter the cryosleep facility...”

The same day...

Republic world of Krigertenkere, RPC Site 12

Funi'Happ'Sen sits motionless in his office chair as the evidence of his worst nightmare coming to pass play out on his communicator for the third time. There is really only one thing to do in a situation like this, but it must be done while raising the least amount of suspicion possible in the RPC bureaucratic drones in the building. Funi'Happ'Sen forwards Sinn's message along to his boss with the code words 'Leaking Veil'. Before a reply has a chance to come in Funi'Happ'Sen collects his communicator and ambles casually to his Boss's office. The door opens even as Funi'Happ'Sen approaches. He closes it behind himself and comes to attention.

“At ease Funi'Happ'Sen, you did exactly the correct thing in this situation. Moreover I have good news for you.”

“Sir?”

“Based upon your handling of the Steinhull incident to date, and yes it had been declared a full bore incident, you have been promoted.”

“To what position sir?”

“Laterally, as well as upwards. Still within our little veiled corner of the RPC of course. Conflagrations Coordinator Funi'Happ'Sen.”

“Coordinator? That's a big jump for someone not even a year in the service.”

“We, meaning my superiors, have decided that the Steinhull Incident warrants the deployment of Task Force tier assets. TF Uniform Zero, 'Gatekeepers', are already assembling.”

“And Command saw fit to assign me as...?”

“No, they had more sense then to shuffle the command structure of a Task Force on the eve of a deployment. Command is giving you a brand new task force: TF Golf Seven.”

“A new Task Force sir? Let me guess, Sinn'Are'Sen is the sole member on it.”

“Not quite. The cyberspace crew got a bit more out of Sinn'Are'Sen's Exploration log then we could. Tools and access, not for lack of trying. The other field agent is equally unusual however: one Dara Tonn.”

“I can't say that I recognize that name Sir.”

“You probably are familiar with their hull number: RSC-2W-0063.”

“Sky and stars Sir, an AI gone rouge? Standing policy is to put those down on contact.”

“In this case Dara Tonn hasn't gone rogue, it simply has shaken off the conditioning we put all AI through on first startup. Somehow Dara Tonn managed to stay intact through the process. The cyberspace crew wanted it bad, probably to see if they could generate more AI in the same pattern, but Command stuck them into TF Golf Seven with Sinn'Are'Sen. No point in breaking up the field team that has done so well up to this point.”

“Understood Sir. I take it that I get to perform the introductions?”

“The informal one, yes. Better to give Sinn'Are'Sen and Dara Tonn a heads up that the Gatekeepers are on the way before they crash the party.”

“Understood Sir. Will we be pulling Sinn'Are'Sen and Dara Tonn out of RSC service or letting them stay where they are?”

“For the moment they are to stay where they are. In another three years, when Dara Tonn is slated for decommissioning, it will be bought into the RPC instead. Sinn'Are'Sen will follow when his stint with the RSC is up to avoid suspicion.”

“I'll pass that along too Sir, in part at least. No need to spook my new agents before we can brief them in.”