Who were the Guardians ?
15 Apr 2021Anubis101
Who were the Guardians? This is a question I ask myself often as I traverse the void and hear people talking from starport to starport. But, this question took a more prominent position in my mind when me and CMDR Wolthbrook the Legatus of my Squadron were sitting in Van Houten station in Ember sipping on some ale in the concourse wondering what our next move would be. CMDR Wolthbrook and myself were discussing the ongoing conflict against Abyss Corp in Shonso and planning our next move to push them back into their home system when I overheard 2 pilots discussing the on going Thargoid conflict and their strategies to combat it.
Everyone at this point has heard about the Guardians and their ancient technology that is supposedly the proverbial kryptonite to their organic based ships. So with that being said it is not unusual to hear talk about the Thargoids and to even hear some Xeno hunters discussing their recent exploits against the alien race but, this time these 2 pilots were discussing some ancient sites in the Synuefe sector they had found with the motherlode of Guardian tech. When me and Wolthbrook heard this our eyes locked and you could tell we were on the same page.....
"We need to go out there and inspect this for ourselves Wolthbrook...." I said to him as I continued to sip my ale in a manner disguising my voice. "I agree but we are talking 700 ly out of the bubble here that's no day trip Primus...."
"I know, how much fuel do we have in the Arch Prime? Think we could make it there and back on our current reserves?" As I spoke i repositioned myself closer to the 2 pilots table to continue eaves dropping while we planned our mission. "I think we have about 250 tones of trit on board at the moment so it'll be close but I think its possible..." I began to pull out my data pad and open up a small holographic display of the galaxy map making notes of the sites the 2 were discussing about. "It appears the 3 locations they are talking about are here in SYNUEFE EU-Q C21-10, SYNUEFE NL-N C23-4, and Synuefe KU-F B44-4" I pull up the locations on the map and point them out to Wolthbrook as he scratches his chin in contemplation. "Well only one way to find out if this is a true motherlode or not, let's take the jump and see if we can dig up some of those blueprints and materials. I know some tech brokers in neighboring systems that can retro fit the tech onto our ships.... With that kind of tech we could aid in the fight against the thargoids. This could help us gain some victories in the name of the Empire and the Legion....."
So we stood up and left the station heading for the Arch Prime.....
After a lengthy trip in the Fleet Carrier Arch Prime we arrived at Synuefe KU-F B44-4 and discovered a Guardian Beacon left deactivated in the void of space stationary and stalwart. The beacon was massive almost 4x the size of our diamond backs we were in at the time and as black as the void. CMDR Wolthbrook, CMDR Zenoe, CMDR Wook, and myself scoured the surface of the beacon until CMDR Wolthbrook discovered what appeared to be an unpowered energy pylon.
"What if we try and shoot it with our energy weapons? It could transfer the power into the beacon, maybe then we can unlock what secrets this place holds." With that he began firing his class 3 pulse laser at the energy pylon and it began to whirl and light up, and with a thunderous clap a bolt of energy connected the pylon to the center of the beacon... "WHOA!" I whirled back in my chair as the flash of light lit up the space around us. "Well that appears to of worked let's do that with the other 2 pylons!" CMDR Zeno and myself began to shoot the other pylons with the same result. But after the 3 pylons whirled to life the beacon began to transform and take a much more open and larger form with the middle of the beacon opening up and ejecting a large data node of some sort crackling with energy discharge. After scanning this data port with our on board scanners the system began to power down and an ancient key was released out of the bottom of the beacon pointing us to our next destination......We lock in the coordinates and jumped to the system.
After arriving at the target location on a nearby planet we could see old buildings and structures seemingly made ages before and of the same sort of material as the beacon. As I inputted the landing coordinates to my shipboard AI "Anubis" I could not help but take in the sights of the once proud and advanced race the Guardians were. Their structures were made of sharp edges and flashing lights, some were buried and some were still standing tall. It was truly a sight to behold and deserved a moment of silence....
"Anubis lock in the landing coordinates and deploy landing gear, set us down as close to the structures as you can!" The Anaconda I have named "Plague" was a monster of a ship compared to the installation I was trying to land next to. "Roger that Commander coordinates locked, but I cannot promise itll be a cozy landing." Anubis' voice was deep and throaty, when I had this A.I. commissioned there were a few parts that I left up to the engineer and he nailed the hammer on the head with its voice.
As I hoped into my SRV and began to inspect the facilities it WHIRLED to life as ancient skimmer emerged from the dirt. I immediately engaged the SRV's turret and commanded my A.I. to split power between shields and weapons. After a few seconds of the engagement the skimmer began to launch missiles into the sky above but they were quickly shot down as my Anaconda's Point defense came to life and sprayed the air with bullets. After moments the skimmer fell to the ground without much issue. The installation's secrets began to answer our call as we looted the place with a flurry of cargo scoops and SRV fire. Lastly when we thought we had unlocked everything this place had to give a giant ball of energy came from inside the structure at the far end of the installation. It spun and crackled with electricity and energy as it hovered in the air just meters above the housing it emerged from. As I pulled up to it and locked on with my data link scanner a notification came up on my HUD of the SRV. "Guardian Module blueprint recieved" I could not contain the smile on my face...
"Bingo......"
This was what we were hoping to find here, a tool to use against the thargoids and hopefully help to give humanity a step up in the fight to come, and of course the Empire.... After we completed one last look over of the location we boarded our ships and headed for the Arch Prime.
"Hey Legatus......Did you make sure we have the tritium reserves for this trip before launching?" I said while i twirled a bullet between my fingers. But the Legatus of the 01st Legion responded with a confident jest, "Of course I did Primus you trust me right?" Of course he knew the answer to this so I simply smirked and told Anubis to request docking permission and proceed to dock with the Arch Prime, "Permission granted CMDR, I'm assuming you wish to give docking controls over to the Prime?" I jumped out of my chair and spoke in an uninterested tone, "Of course Anubis you should know by now I don't land myself unless it's needed"
Upon docking with the prime I made my way to the bridge and met up with the Legatus Commander Wolthbrook, "So we have a minor problem Anubis...." He spoke as if he was a child who had done something he shouldn't have.
"Let me guess...we don't have enough fuel" Wolthbrook was one of the best pilots this galaxy has ever seen but sometimes his carefree attitude surprised even myself. "Yes.... BUT IT's OKAY! I have plotted a course as close as possible to the bubble as we can and we will just have to make a small trip for some gas to make it the rest of the way."
"So we are stranded hundreds of lightyears from space...If you call the fuel rats I swear I will float myself out of the nearest airlock before they get here." I said in an unamused tone. "Now now primus, there's no need to go that far, but really those fuel rats aren't THAT bad... should give them some credit!" He said as he gently slapped my shoulder and gave me that typical quirky smile he always gave me. "The only credit's I will ever give those guys are the bounty over my head for the ones I have killed many years ago. But regardless Let's just get this fuel run over with....."