A chill winter wind gusts into the ground base, ruffling grass, leaves, and the fur of anyone silly enough to be caught out in it. A glance at the sky is all that is needed to see that snow will be coming, and soon. Perhaps it was not wise to place a camp so high in the mountains, but it provides the clearest views for scanners and early warning systems.
Zilvar trudges into camp. The last few weeks have seen his demeanor soften somewhat from the glacial temperatures it was when he was first seen to walk into camp with the remains of a dead alien slung over one shoulder like a sack of grain. He has a thick leather pack slung over his shoulder, a pack that bulges with its contents.
Zilvar opens one of the heavy doors to the main bunker and shoulders his way inside, shaking his head at the sudden and dramatic change in temperature. "Easy to forget how ugly it is outside until you come inside."
Zilvar shrugs his pack off his shoulders and sits down at a relatively empty and clean table, slumping back with practiced ease.
Chastity looks up from rubbing her lower leg, sitting in a low seat. "Is it getting worse out there? The weather, I mean?"
Zilvar nods, "Yeah. Have about 4 inches of snow in a few hours. Wind is picking up, too."
Chastity makes a bit of a face. "I was wondering why my leg was starting to ache. And here I thought those old men sitting in front of stores complaining about their joints and saying a storm was coming were joking."
Zilvar halfsmiles, "That could explain it, yes. Has it been quiet? I've been cooped up underground for the last couple of days."
Chastity nods quietly, picking up her cane and leaning on it as she stands. "Fairly quiet, though I'm sure there's still fighting and such somewhere. I haven't been very much in touch with anyone for my part.
Zilvar looks around, "I'm sure that if anything serious were happening, you'd have known." He reaches over and upends his pack, pouring out a lot of what look like charts, storage medium, and other whatnots.
Chastity limps over to the table, gingerly. "Probably. Swore I'd never get into a fight again...." She nods to the whatnots. "What have you got there?"
Zilvar starts sorting through the pile that he poured out onto the table, "You are, after all, in the nexus of the defense." He stops and looks up at you, "I'm...not altogether sure. I have some suspicions, but nothing definite." He looks back at the laminated charts..that, perhaps, being the only reason that they ARE charts, rather than dust, "Call it a .. treasure map."
Chastity arches both her eyebrows, leaning onto the table to get a better look. "Somehow I don't think you're looking for pieces of eight."
Zilvar hesitates, mouthing "pieces of eight?" before shaking his head, "Most probably not. I've been on this planet for a little while now. I spent a bit of time exploring. Found out some things while poking through a cave."
Zilvar picks out a chart covered with strange writings and turns it for Chastity to see, "As far as I can tell, this is the map of the place I found. It was an old base of some sort, probably military."
Chastity looks at the map, and nods more to herself. "I would agree. There's only so many ways to lay out a military base." She traces a finger over it, her lips moving as she say **says something** silently to herself. "It also seems... really old...." She frowns slightly, an ear flicking gently.
Zilvar nods, "Very, very old. But most of it is still intact, if non-functional. Whomever built it knew how to make things last. It is in a very tectonically stable region, buried in a mountain." He digs into his beltpouch and pulls out a charcoal stick, then makes a few hatchmarks over parts of the map. "Those areas are inaccessible. There have been a few rockfalls."
Chastity nods quietly, looking intently at the map, her brow furrowing. "And no idea what the base was for?"
Zilvar waffles, "Some guesses. I think it was a comm station. It's hard to find them after so long, but I found some evidence that there had been communications uplinks around the top of the mountain. That, and the absence of anything resembling launch facilities and/or armories.
Chastity nods again. "All right. We'll assume that it was a com station, then for now." She turns to stride to a chair... and winces as her reminds her it's not well. She staggers only a little, grasping the head of her cane, and sighs, hobbling over to the seat. She seems mildly older than how she was a few minutes ago. "I'm afraid I don't know this place too well still. Did there used to be a large standing army here?"
Zilvar shrugs, "I don't know. I don't know if anyone does. Local legends have it that this used to be a nexus for a great trading empire. Stands to reason that there would have to have been some sort of military."
Chastity shrugs a little bit. "Makes sense, of course." She frowns a little. "What are you hoping to find?"
Zilvar digs out a couple more charts, stretching them over the table. There are gaps in the picture that it forms, but it is recognizable as a surface chart for a planet or moon. The writing on these charts is just as incomprehensible as the previous map.
Zilvar looks over the picture for a few minutes, going so far as to stand up and walk around it. "I believe that this might be a map of one of the moons up there." He points to lines coming in from the edges of the map to various points in the center. "These probably indicate something important."
Chastity stretches a bit to look at the picture, and nods. "Some kind of command center? A coordination point or headquarters>
Zilvar shrugs, "Maybe. Probably. I've been speculating a lot...there's no evidence one way or another."
Chastity looks at Zilvar. "Unless I miss my guess, with those attacks still going on, time to fully investigate things isn't a big luxury."
Zilvar shrugs, "They've reinforced the system fleet..or had last time I heard. They can probably spare a cargo shuttle and a groundpounder." He smiles a bit. "Should be safe enough."
Chastity sighs softly and shakes her head. "Well. What have some of your speculations been?"
Zilvar halfsmiles, "Supply dumps, or remote headquarters. Backup facilities. Landing fields. Nothing that requires constant communication because of the time delays in transmission.
A light rap can be heard from an outside-facing door.
Chastity bites her lip, frowning and glancing at the pictures. "I'm trying to remember... what I would put on a moon if I had the time to put it there." She shakes her head finally, giving a wan smile. "It's been too long, I'm afrai--" She looks over at the door.
Zilvar looks up as the door cycles open, letting in a puff of snow.
Jenora steps in, and closes the door behind her, then brushes the snow off her cloak.
Zilvar chuckles softly at Chastity, still looking at the door, "Even still, you may know more than I. I've never had the luxury of that sort of planning."
Jenora turns and smiles to both of you. "Good evening."
Chastity smiles and bows her head. "Good evening."
Zilvar nods to Jenora, "Hello. I see that the weather continues to worsen.
Jenora grins to Zilvar. "Good to see you're back. And the weather is just doing what weather does. But yes, most people would probably consider this worse."
Zilvar shrugs lazily, "You get tired of walking through snow after a while. That's probably why."
Chastity says gently, "Has there been any more news?"
Jenora hangs up her cloak, chuckles, and steps into the room.
Jenora says, "Not that I've heard, I'm afraid."
Chastity lets out a breath, and nods quietly. "Thank you."
Zilvar looks at Jenora, "If you were going to put military facilities on a moon, what would they be?"
Jenora hmmms. "Let's see. We're assuming that the person putting up the military facilities already controls the planet below?"
Zilvar nods, "Yeah."
Jenora nods. "Okay. Long-range communications equipment goes there, as you need it out of the atmosphere for better reception. Deep-space detection equipment goes there for the same reason. Perhaps a transfer facility, but in general that would be better in its own orbit."
Chastity blinks as she listens, tilting her head o the side. She seems to be listening half to Jenora and half to some memory or another.
Zilvar hmms, "True. Hadn't considered those. Was there a lot of orbital debris around this planet? Something to indicate large numbers of satellites?"
Jenora says, "Not that I noticed, but we could do a closer scan. Nothing really major anyway, but then time and micrometeorites could do that."
Jenora says, "Probably want a deep-space planetary defense system there as well, along with the detection system. Faster response time. Though with that you'd want orbital platforms as well, to get better coverage."
Chastity abruptly frowns softly, "The moon is usually too far to place satellite tending facilities... Was there anything at the Lagrange points?"
Zilvar nods, leaning back in his chair. He looks at Chastity curiously.
Jenora hmmms. "I don't know, but then we didn't do an elaborate scan of the system when we came in. Unless it reflected radar well, we probably wouldn't have seen it."
Zilvar says, "I doubt there would be much left anywhere, really. Not after as long as legends indicate it has been."
Chastity nods quietly, "Lagrange point facilities -- well, everything except L1 -- would be close to the moon. If anything was at the L-points the best place to keep their spare parts and the vehicles to go and repair them would be on the moon.
Chastity frowns, and nods, "True. Anything up there is probably long gone... except for the moon itself.
Zilvar starts shuffling papers together into a big pile. "Yeah. But I still want to look.
Jenora says, "Well, L1, L2, and L3 aren't long-term stable anyway. Only L4 and L5, at the trojan points, are."
Jenora looks over at the papers. "I assume there's a reason this discussion came up?"
Zilvar nods to Jenora. "I'm going to borrow a shuttle and go looking.
Chastity nods, then frowns and rubs her eyes. "Oh, dear... Zilvar, do you mind if I take a nap? I'm definitely not the young generalissima I once was.
Zilvar grins at Chastity, "Not at all. Go right ahead."
Jenora nods. "I could help with some scouting. I'm almost back up to space travel again."
Zilvar looks at Jenora, "Another pair of eyes could be useful.
Chastity smiles quietly, and nods. "Thanks. See you when I wake up." She settles onto a small cot, and closes her eyes,sighing... and is quickly asleep.
Jenora waves to Chastity. "Goodnight.
Zilvar sets his pack on the pile of papers and whatnots and leans forward. "It'll be a day or two before I am confident enough to go."
Jenora says, "All right. By then I should be charged up enough to get into orbit under my own power if I want to. Probably still easier to take the shuttle, though."
Zilvar nods, "Whatever you choose."
Zilvar stands and sketches a lazy bow, "I think I will follow Chastity's example. I have only just returned and could use the rest."
Jenora says, "Okay. Were you told about that little sentry station that shot at Andromeda and myself a while back?"
Zilvar shakes his head to Jenora, "No, I had not."
Jenora nods, and starts looking over maps of the area. "It was over here... an old technology site. It apparently recognized Andromeda, or at least her species, from before, as it only targeted her."
Zilvar hmms softly. "I'll have to ask you about that later, when my mind is clear enough to take notes."
Jenora nods. "All right. Thought I should mention it... as there's some evidence that the race that had previously set up here may have been the ones that Copernicus' race escaped from."
Zilvar arches his eyebrows, "Interesting. Thanks. That gives me some ideas.
Zilvar sits down on a cot and stretches out. He sticks his arm up and waves, "I'll ask you more about it later!"
Jenora waves. "Goodnight."