The Caprican system was very similar to our own. It had two inner planets, too close to the sun for water to exist, one planet within the goldilock zone and a large gas giant in the outer solar system. Of course I focused most of my efforts examining the third planet as that would have to be the one where those signals originated from.

The only thing I could determine from the outer edge of the solar system was that the third world did seem to have an atmosphere. It only heightened my vigilance for any form of signal coming from the planet. After nearly 3 weeks of sitting here Agent White gave the go ahead to enter the system proper.

We inched our way in a few AUs per warp, every time searching for any form of signal. We finally found something that confirms intelligent life was once here. On one of the gas giant’s moons we had found something that was clearly once a base dug into the lunar surface.

It had suffered some damage, from what we don’t know, but only the entrance was accessible while the interior seemed to have collapsed. The confirmation of intelligent life besides our own had set the crew into a frenzy of activity as every available crew member started his or her own search for other signs.

We didn’t actually go down to the moon base just yet as we still weren’t sure if the original owners we still in the system and they might take that as a sign of aggression. We did however spend the next few days in orbit studying it every other way possible.

It became more and more apparent though that whoever had built this hadn’t been back in a long time. With that somber note we ventured further inwards, finally arriving at the planet itself.

If there had been doubt in anyone’s mind that we were dealing with an intelligent alien species the proof of it now hung before us. The alien ship was slightly cylindrical in nature but we had no doubt that it was non-operational as huge holes could be seen throughout the ship. The debris from whatever battle it had fought floated around it forming a cloud of small particles.

The planet below seemed just as battered as the ship before us. Large craters were scattered across the single large continent, which took up a third of the world. We could even see where a huge alien ship, around 4000m long, had crashed into the surface.

Nature had not in fact reclaimed the dilapidated cities instead it seemed to only just now be coming back from whatever had killed the civilization below us. The mood of the crew had become somber and contemplative as everyone gazed down upon the ruins of this alien civilization.

We sat there for the next few days debating on how the mission should precede, would we leave the system as is or dive in and recover any intact alien artifacts for study. The deciding factor was probably the fact that the planet below had an entirely Gaian equivalent atmosphere. Agent White’s superiors couldn’t seem to pass up the opportunity to gain exotic new technology.

It was decided to first explore the destroyed, 1200m, ship orbiting the planet. A drop ship, full of marines and myself, set off and 30 minutes later, after navigating through the worst of the debris field, we reached the ship.

The ship shuddered as it connected with the derelict ship and the door dropped open revealing one of the gaping holes leading to the interior. We set out cautiously along the surface, the marine’s mag boots keeping them from floating off, as we entered the belly of the beast.

A quick door breach allowed us access to the interior. It was strangely familiar, yet at the same time alien in design as the corridor was clearly made for something taller than us. Evidence of battle was clearly visible along the corridor as crystalline blood stuck to the wall and ceiling along with burns from some type of energy weapon.

We ventured deeper in, as a marine took several samples of blood, coming across more signs of battle but strangely there were no bodies amidst the wreckage. We did come across numerous pieces of wrecked machinery but nothing we could really salvage. It took nearly 10 hours to fully search the ship, or at least the parts that we easily accessible, with several breaks so the marines could refill their air tanks.

The decision was made to leave a platoon of marines behind to assist a team of scientists to identify and potentially activate select parts of the ship that may have vital information. The second part of the decision would have myself and two platoons of marine go down to the surface and land near one of the destroyed cities.

4 hours after the decision had been made humanity touched down on the second alien planet they had ever visited. Hopefully it would go better this time. Once again a platoon would set up a defensive perimeter around the LZ while I would be with the patrolling platoon.

There was no idle chatter as we walked through the city streets. Everyone was feeling an oppressive aura emanating from the city that seemed to dampen everyone’s spirits as we walked through the ruins of this once great city.

We spent the next five days exploring the city while returning to the ship when night fell, so the marines could get out of their suits. The surface team hadn’t found anything of note yet but the team on the ship had been lucky and discovered an intact device that seemed to be an alien equivalent of a hard drive. From the recovered data my ship brain had been able to form a rudimentary translation program that continually improved as it sorted through the data.

Finally on the sixth day our patrol of the city had taken us towards a huge building that, through the translation program, we had learned was some type of stadium. It is important to note that we hadn’t found any corpses the entire time we were here but we solved the mystery as soon as we entered the stadium.

Veritable hills of bones greeted us upon our entry and that was just the entrance. The plethora of bones continued further in but what was odd about all this, besides the hills of bone, was the clear pathways between and around the hills. No one wanted to delve further into this burial ground but unfortunately I had detected a very weak signal coming from further in.

We gathered ourselves and continued further into the maze of bones, while trying to avoid stepping on the remains that had become strewn along the path. Finally we came upon the source of the signal. It was a strange device that seemed to wrap around the head of the deceased alien and had a slight crack running through a portion of it. Truly it was a miracle it even worked much less continued to operate.

Trying to be as respectful as possible I reached out to grab the device but, as my fingers brushed the surface the nanites within my hand reacted with the device and against my will I felt my consciousness being drawn into the device.

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I kind of want the next few chapters to be as perfect as possible so I'm going to take a little bit more time writing and editing them. There probably won't be any other chapters today but they'll be out by tomorrow.