Discovering the Past - Lisbon

[Spectre]

// Closed to any non-Lisbon Project participants

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As the Ubaste approached the station, a Bison manned with troops inbound, dead silence awaited them.

Lisbon.
The first stone in Epsilon, and a focal point for years, now sat abandoned in the field orbiting the system's star.

The wreck seemed ominous, but to a degree. With the Colonel out 'saving Humanity' and the Doctor away on business, this task fell to the rookies.

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"We're within range," the XO reported, turning towards the Captain.

"Good. Prepare a scan. Once that transport arrives, I want our men to help them search for any information that may have been left behind. Patrol reports, cargo manifests. Colonel said to check it first, then we can secure it." The XO merely nodded, returning to his duties, while the Ubaste's sensors lit up, probing the station for radial schematics.

Heavily damaged, depressurized and a husk that even the Nomads wouldn't touch. From the outside, it looked like a wreck beyond saving, but past that was the hope that the station could be salvaged. It had to be possible. It's huge, metal and took a fleet to render it inoperable.
Surely there had to be a way.

"Scans are coming up, sir. Heavy damage, catastrophic really.. no signs of focused oxygen pockets. It's nothing but a vacuum." The XO understandably didn't sound too optimistic. It was a voided station, after all. Still, he did overlook one key area.

"There." The Captain pointed to a decently sized chunk of the station's central structure. "The southern docking bay. That looks mostly intact. We can bring out repair ships, weld the door shut and pressurize the inside of it." He crossed his arms, staring at the nearly intact subsection. In theory, it could be done. By contrast, constructing a new station could possibly be easier, cheaper and less problematic. However, if there was one thing the Order prided itself on, it was achieving the impossible.

The XO nodded, looking back to his console. "I'll inform the Colonel, sir."

[Spectre]

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Hangar 3 - Lisbon Outpost

The Ubaste continued to await outside the station. Transport Nile had arrived, and now began procedures to board the station. Gravboots were in place, and weapons live should anything be crawling around...

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"This is Gardner. We're making our way across." A team of four, each pressurized in their suits, began to make their way across the mooring arm towards Lisbon. The creaking of the metal was unnerving to say the least, and the eerie green glow of the system's central star wasn't helping. They'd all been trained for this, though, or at least to a degree, but it still sent a shiver down their spines. As they moved across, the creaks grew louder, though the structure still seemed stable.
After what seemed like an eternity, though in reality about five minutes, the four stood on the other side of the mooring arm, walking through the ruined airlock into the hangar proper. The desolate and abandoned framework of a station once populated by the souls of over a hundred dutiful and proud Order officers now sat before them, broken, decrepit. It was disheartening, but only to a point.

Crew Quarters - Deck 15 - Sector 3A

"This is Ubaste to Team Two. Report." It came over their radios, the noise never escaping their helmets. Sound didn't work that way.

"Gardner here," the man seemingly in-charge here replied. "We're aboard and preparing our scans. This place is a mess."

"The Core certainly didn't leave her sitting pretty. Take what readings you can, but if that place starts deteriorating quicker than we expect, recall to the mooring arm. We'll deploy a team to cover it as you search."

They split, two to the west, two to the east. More ground could be covered, and it wasn't like anything could survive the vacuum of space anyway.
As they scanned the station's superstructure, groans and creaks of metal scraping by other material could be heard. At one point, a large rock floated peacefully through a hole in a hallway connecting the central spire to what used to be the station's crew section. On the other side, rocks couldn't easily glide through the structure, lodging themselves in the gaps. While ammusing at first, it seemed more commonplace as the eastern duo continued their scans. Eventually, the whole station, or what they could reach with mere magboots, was catalogued. While they'd passed obvious terminals covered in dust from the rocks, no power meant no entry. With hope, the station's wiring had at least survived to an extent.
This wasn't expected though.

"Team Two. Rendezvous at the airlock to retrieval. Team Six will prepare for electronics scan. Repair ships are on the way, over." The four began their journey back to the airlock, soon returning to the Ubaste. Their scans were finished, but this project had only just begun..

[Spectre]

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Hangar 3 - Lisbon Outpost

Cruiser Ubaste continued to oversee the restoration efforts, seeing to the station's reconstruction piece by piece brought in from Sicca. Repair ships from Carthage had finally arrived, and now it was time to bring the massive complex back to life.

Within mere hours, the Hangar had been sealed, and the approach of an entire battleship, CV Apollo, allowed direct usage of her power cells to bring flimsy, but visible, life and light back to the station.

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Battleship Apollo sat moored with the only truly intact mooring clamp left on the station, having been pulled out due to the station's feeble but present power. Teams were now roaming the station in force, connecting what computers they could to the Apollo's drives. With every passing minute, the hangar soon began to breathe life back into the facility, something she hadn't had for nigh on a decade. The Order's return to her abandoned halls was welcomed by the dutiful repairs of utility nanites, fusing the breaks and corrosion with minimal effort.

To all Operatives,

At 1400hours Akabat time, an amazing feat was achieved. Not only was salvage of the previously abandoned Lisbon Outpost ruled a possibility, but recent actions by our men in the Mu Component have begun preparations to pressurize the station's interior for the first time in years. This is a monumental accomplishment, but it is far from over.

Supplies are now in high demand from Carthage, as well as nearby outposts such as Cairo and Akabat itself. Logistics units will be preparing to move out. I implore all operatives capable and willing to undertake this effort to do so, as restoring Lisbon, alongside many other objectives, is a symbol the Order cannot afford to pass up.

My thanks goes out to everyone involved in this task, and even from my station in Omega-49, I will be monitoring this entire operation as it unfolds.
I have assigned Captain Dwayne Anders of the Mu component as the lead overseer of this operation. Any requests regarding Lisbon can be relayed to him instead of me for the time being.

Godspeed, gentlemen.

The Colonel herself was watching, and with this sort of publicity, it may not have been long before more would look to this. Lisbon was being reborn, and while that itself showed determination, it was also a probable chance for the Order's most despised opponents. Vigilance would need to be kept at a high priority.
Lisbon would not be allowed to fall twice.

[Spectre]

---

Hangar 2 - Lisbon Outpost

More resources were being devoted to the restoration project. Logistics vessels from Akabat and Carthage were moving in every day to supply the rebuild. While the computers aboard were slowly being accessed, packets of data sent back to Legacy command for decryption, exploration efforts seemed to cease. There was little reason to continue sending foot patrols, especially into the airless vacuum that still controlled the majority of the station.

For now, planning was to be done. Schematics drawn up, blueprints devised and shipments logged. Lisbon was coming back alright, but such long operations would take weeks, months, maybe years to see through, but the Order was insistent if anything. Once they set their minds to something, they did it. No matter the time.

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Scaffold - Reactor Chamber 2 - East Corridor

"Personal Log: Chief Engineer Oria Largo - Battleship Apollo (Co-assigned to Lisbon Outpost Restoration Project)
Entry 17 - Lisbon Hangar 2

It's been almost a week since our arrival to Lisbon, and in such a short amount of time, I've been assigned to oversee the workflow and schematizing of this station's reconstruction. I'll say, it's an honor, but it all seems so overwhelming.
Maybe it'll grow on me.

We've finally gotten the hangars pressurized, and they're beginning to take in supplies from the logistics ships bringing them in. Soon enough, we should have full power to the hangar doors, which will make offloading much easier, and maybe less costly.

Reports also came back from the East and West Corridors. The reactors in the east seem relatively well preserved. With minimal effort, we should be able to restore them to proper functionality within the month, though we'll definitely need supplies. I'll notify the Captain and see if he can't divert any our way.

Hallway - Dormitory 14, Deck 8 - West Corridor

West corridor's a bit more touchy. Living quarters, mess hall (basically anything crew related, including the bar) and whatnot are all located here, if decade old schematics are to be trusted. Some bodies survived in the vacuum, albeit in less than stellar condition. I've had the marines gather as many as they could, but I can under stand their hesitation to touch them. Possible infestation, and the fact that they're decade old corpses of their comrades can't be easy to stomach.

Command Spire's easily the most well preserved section of the station. I've had men go down there with scanning tools and lighting arrays to give it some semblance of navigation, but without supplies like, say, an ionic torch, we're not going to cut through that much grime and dust. At least, not with the precision we want on this station.

Suggestions for getting things up to speed would be to get those supplies. I'll have a requisition order placed after I log this, and then get back to trying to figure out how we'll condct this logistical nightmare.


Notes for corridors-
West: Patch up holes, big or small. May need to see that the Western corridor is left last, given it's complexity. Very likely that we'll be spending quite a lot of time on that area of the station.

East: Get the reactors online. In their relatively well preserved state, they shouldn't be too hard to get online, and once they are we can stop draining the Apollo's power core. I fear that this project may cost us a warship, but hopefully we'll manage supplies well.

Hangar: Get the doors working. Shouldn't take long, and with the men we're being assigned, and the repair vessels we've been given, it should be a cinch.

Command Spire: Activate. Simple and easy. There doesn't appear to be much damage, and what damage there is should be easily accessible to the repair ships. Not like the West and East corridors. I predict a week's time and we'll have it operational. Month's time and it'll be repaired.

Will log more when the need arises. Until then, the work never ends.

Largo, out."

[Spectre]

---

East Corridor - Lisbon Outpost

Battleship Apollo began to back from the station for the first time in almost three weeks, and for once the station kept itself lit. Supplies had finally made it, and with the reactors in the East finally online, the whole of the station began to clank back to life.

Now began the tedious, but important work of restoring the station's systems, and nudging life back into this symbol of progress.


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"Personal Log: Chief Engineer Oria Largo - Project Lisbon
Entry 21 - East Corridor Engineering

Reactor Chamber 4 - East Corridor

We just got the reactors back online. Apollo finally unmoored from the station, and is rotating their reactor at the moment. Heavy drain, but she should recover.


I've gotten the go ahead from command to start lining up design plans for this place. We're still exploring some of the areas that were locked down by emergency bulkheads. Couldn't be opened without primary power, which I guess was a sort of failsafe in the event of attack. Suppose it actually came in handy.



First priority will be to recover what's down there. I'll load up a log of what we've captured so far, but it's nothing truly special..

• - 43x Hostel-type Gravity Rifles (Preserved) - Supposedly act like gauss-based infantry rifles. Untested, but very well preserved. Will send a sample to Command on Akabat.
  
• - 76x Density-14 Auro-plated Medium Infantry Armor - Standard-issue armor of the time. Will send to Command for testing and likely upgrading as well.
  
• - 42x Onuris-type Light Calibre Self-Defense Pistols - Standard-issue sidearm of the time. Will send to Command for testing.
  
• - 13x Level-type Mines - Unusual supply for a guard station.
  
• - 10x Lincoln-type Antimatter Torpedoes - Very surprised these survived the attack. Obsolete, but useful nonetheless as a testing device.
  

Not much, and not a lot of interesting things, but this is what we've dug up so far.

Lounge - E-Deck - West Corridor

Teams have also begun refurbishing the living quarters in the West Corridor, making room for permanent personnel who will e working on the station from now on. Got myself a nice room on J-Deck, but I don't know how stable it will be.
Will probably have to check with the guys down below on how we can do that. This hull so far is willing, but also not very forgiving.

I'll be overlooking the rest of the extraction. Next log will be logging what's down in those storerooms.

Largo, out."

[Spectre]

---

Command Spire - Lisbon Outpost

Battleship Apollo has departed for the front, now operating in a more open fashion. To take her place, the order was declared for cruiser OCV Kepler to take her spot, standing vigilant nearby for any incursions.

Work was going well. The East Corridor was coming along, and work had begun on the rest of the hangar areas and the command spire. While plenty of sudden sights and less appetizing scenes awaited them deeper in the bowels of the station, what was found was quickly cleaned up, not much structural damage finding its way to the Spire.
Soon, all command on the station was rerouted from the hangar to the command center, including data routing and operations.


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"Personal Log: Oria Largo - Project Lisbon
Entry 37 - Command Center

Restoration of engineering has been completed, at least as far as the reactors are concerned. We've managed to get them back to 96% efficiency, which is as good as we'll get until we can reaffirm the quantum actuators into a better rhythmic cycle. Might need more tinkering, as we're not sure what the station's last engineering team had before the attack.
I've relocated my restoration operation to the command center, seeing as it was recently repressurized. Those repair ships certainly can work quickly. I'll send some towards the west corridor to begin restoration. Meanwhile, we'll keep working on the systems here.

Command Spire Exterior - Extension 3

Speaking of systems, we've located files from the station's past. We're still trying to decrypt them (our newer slicing programs aren't too adept at cracking old Order encryption), so meanwhile I'll be focusing on getting this section of the base back into perfect working order.


The command spire was a mess, but not nearly to the extent that the west corridor and hangars are and were respectively. While we've cleaned out the main areas of it, a lot of the space is still collapsed and inhospitable. I have teams working on clearing out the debris, but it's hard when you could accidentally break something vital to the effort. As such, progress is slow.
Heavy damage to the exterior has also been a main problem. Large chunks of floating debris (in addition to the large section of the station floating above the west corridor) have made this area not the most devastated section to deal with, but certainly the most frustrating. However, parts of the station that were floating through space are now being reincorporated into the structure once more, allowing us some degree of originality, combined with the newer technologies that we have available.

In addition to the news on structure, some equipment was also found here, though most of it is similar to what was found in engineering, it being of similar quality. The only thin I couldn't find a place, or any documentation for that matter, was a small, seemingly cat-sized drone that, from what I could deduce, seemed to float around the air. I'm not entirel ysure what this thing did, or was for that matter, but it seemed to be rigid and tough given its survival of the station's destruction. My men have taken to calling it 'BeeDee', though I have my own speculation as to what this thing really is. We'll see when we find a way to reactivate it.

Aside from all of that, not much else was found here. We're still poking through the systems, but it's a long and admittedly frustrating process.
Davis and her crew were rumored to have based out of here at one point. Maybe I can talk with her about possibly linking anything on that ship of hers about this base. Might help paint a clearer picture.

Until then, I'll close this log and await until I have something more fruitful of note to put down.
No doubt we'll keep running at the same pace.

Largo, out."

[Spectre]

---

West Corridor - Lisbon Outpost

The station was now nearing full clearing. While the lights weren't visible from Carthage yet, they were from a larger distance than they were a week ago. Still, even the rusted hulk of Lisbon wasn't complete. The damage of the Core attack a decade ago still rang true.

Outside help was needed.


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"Personal Log: Oria Largo - Project Lisbon
Entry 50 - West Corridor

This is it. The last few sections of the station are nearing full exploration and repressurization, and finally we can start patching up the minor things. Force fields have never been so useful before, I swear.

G-31 Hall, West Corridor (One of the few undamaged)

In the last few days' digging, we've uncovered a fair amount of texts from the west corridor's rooms, some of which were rather personal. It's sad, reminding us that we weren't the fist people to step here, but they'll be remembered. I'll be sure to tell the Captain about this. No doubt the big boss lady will love this.

Sections 14, 15 and 17 are all cleared now, which contained the food court. we're still working on 16, but it should be cleared soon enough.

The main issue with this station now isn't that there's more debris to clear, but now that there's no infrastructure to work with. The electronics are fried in most of the station's rooms, and only the command center and the hangars have decent operations. We'll need to bring in supplies from the outside to help cull this.

I'll notify herself whenever I get the chance, but odds are this may take another month or two.
Nothing further. Maybe later.
Largo, out."

[Spectre]

---

Command Spire - Lisbon Outpost

With supplies having come in from the countless runs of the Order's allies, the stage has been set for the final steps of Lisbon's reconstruction to take place. The final shipments from Akabat have come in, and in a few day's time the station will be open to leading individuals of the Legacy cell, as well as those from all other cells of the Order.

By this time, OCV Kepler had been met by another asset of the Order's reserve defensive force, OCV Orion. Taking up guard positions in mimic of those around Akabat and Sicca, they are but the beginning of the region's revival into an Order-held garrison against the alien menace.


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"Personal Log: Oria Largo - Project Lisbon
Entry 108 - Final Steps

"This is Oria Largo, Chief Engineer and head of operations to restore Lisbon Outpost in the Epsilon system. We've hit a rather stiff point where construction has ground down to a crawl, though this is a very good thing. The station is coming along very, very well and soon I'm guessing we'll be finished. How soon 'soon' actually is will be a matter of academics, but I'm theorizing about one to two weeks for the short end and about a month to a month and a half for the long. We're almost done, but there are a few finishing touches we'll need to take care of.

As with my prior entries, I've noted some of the materials we've been able to find on this station. While half of them are exploration logs, and thus not really all that interesting, everything past them is a veritable treasure trove of storybook material. This entire station is a masterpiece. My only regret is that the discoveries had to stop a few weeks ago. Granted, the vast majority of them are in the old files of the station's computer systems, but they are stunning. I've already forwarded them to Legacy command, so they'll figure out how we go forward from here.

Archive Image of Lisbon Outpost, Omicron-100 (now Epsilon) system

The defensive capabilities of the station have become about what we can expect from a station this big. Her size is about half or a little less than that of Carthage and Sicca, but that doesn't mean she's lacking. Pulse batteries, 'Angel' defensive systems.. it's like there's a Hathor or two's worth of defense on this station. Not too impressive, but for a station this size that's something considerable.
I've also cleared for the station to receive two defensive cruiser assets to keep guard on the station for the foreseeable future: OCV Kepler and OCV Orion. Typical Resheph configuration, so I doubt the station will be seeing much in the way of pestering, especially from the smaller warforms. Never know when something bigger may come along, though, so I'm pressing for command to send another warship our way, possibly one of the older 'Geb'-class light carriers for quick deployment of defensive squadrons. The Core may have done a number on this place back then, but it's no excuse to lax on defense because of location and the present day.

Currently, we've been denied our plans to install the Berth onto the station, as the Overwatch allegedly has plans for it and Sicca. In time though I suspect command will want to install a smaller drydock to the station to facilitate the needs of the home fleet. Chaos is brewing out there, so another dock will always come in handy. Would need to be for the mainstay fleet, though, as there's no dock that'll hold the Thebes aside from the Berth.

Interior components are looking stable as they can be, and we're not reading any structural abnormalities. Reactors are on full burn, and the crew that is coming in to finish up the work we've done are taking to the station very well. Some of these kids are Akabat-native, so that's a plus as well. I'm very impressed with how this station's come around, really. Life support hasn't hiccuped once, and we've had some close calls with that. Only thing I'm even remotely concerned with is a small panel on the top of the command spire, but even that's planned to get sealed down firmly within the week.
A very solid job, but there can always be something that can go wrong. We'll keep watch on it to ensure everything goes smoothly.

I'm going to finish this log, then pass on to the command staff my request to nudge the station to the field's edge. If there are plans to attach a drydock module to the station, then we'll want it clear of foreign debris, which seems contained enough inside the belt.
time will tell.

This is Chief Engineer Oria Largo, possibly for the final time, out."