Origin

[|nfrared]

The following data entry is a Sirian translation of what appear to be personal logs of some unknown lifeform.

Alone in the Dark

For hours we huddled together, for hours and hours even long after the terrible shrieking had stopped outside. There we huddled in the dark. It was quiet now. I could feel the vibrations of the station's systems rebooting. I could feel the vibrations of the others around me, the fear we all felt was as tangible as the floor on which I lay. Some of us did not rouse, dead from system shock. After many hours of dismay the survivors and myself gathered in the Command Centre of the shattered orbital facility.

The huge structure was the crowning achievement of the Etherium, for centuries it had orbited Etheria, every generation of Etherium adding to this legacy, this monument of technological perfection. Due to the silicon nature of the Etherium genetic structure, technological grafting and overlays allowed for much faster and finer control. It also reduced the crew to only 7 Etherium, with the maintenence performed by automated machines. These 7 beings were grafted into the station at control nodes and lay dormant in a trance-like state, with their mental capacities manipulating the computers, using the large visual displays to show the survivors the full extent of the damage. The rest of the Etherium on the station were predominantly researchers, the intellectual peak of Etherium culture. They had research divisions for all aspects of technological advancement on this station, experimental spaceship technology and weaponry, as well and exploration, communications and space travel. There were also a few others that were here due to their particular skills for use in research exercises. Shard was one of these, a recon pilot for an experimental ship design being tested on the station, or Temple, as the Etherium called their space-born facilities.

The full darkness of the situation began to dawn on them. A final count of 66 survivors. The realisation that near complete scouring of the external sensors where they had been sheered off and destroyed, the understanding that there were no known stars or systems being given by the rest of the crippled sensor array. The only thing they could determine for sure was that there was a small star not far from the orbital facility, and that this stars gravity had locked the station in an elliptical orbit, along with the remains of the nebula and planetoid fragments that had come along with it. This was an important point, as the precious Iridium in that nebula was needed for the Etherium to survive.

When the final conclusion was raised, that one amongst them would have to take one of the few space vehicles outside and actually look that many looked around in disdain. The crew were needed to coordinate the repairs of damaged systems on the station. The researchers were very focused in their fields of knowledge, and the experimental vessels present on the station were beyond most of them. They needed someone who had been bred for this particular function. None of them could answer this. Those that could fly the smallest fighters, in any capacity, were immediately sent out to survey the damage to the outside of the station.

Only one among them could claim to have any knowledge or ability to fly the experimental vessels secured in the station's cavernous cargo bay. That Etherium was Shard. He knew what he must do.

The information from the damaged sensor array gathered all available data on the system. The residual background radiation from the flawed hypergate event posed the most risk, probably being responsible for the state of the sensor array. He must sweep the entire field, and report any immediate threat to the vulnerable Temple, and he knew few would expect his return. He would be the only eyes of the Etherium.

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Shard - The Faceless One