Project Venice would be the largest Cardamine refining, research & development, & distribution station known through out Sirius. A station to quadruple the production of cardamine & explore the uses & properties of a substance that was gifted to them long ago by a Guardian Spirit who was grateful for a chance encounter with it. A strange substance known as Liquid Cardamine. For safety & security concerns, the Syndicate decided that basing the station in a remote system with limited access to it would protect it from rivals & enemies of the Outcast Nation & freeing up reality on Malta to make use for more fields. & with the Liquid Cardamine experiments, it would assure the safety of the Maltese Nation.
The only thing stopping the Syndicate from putting this plan into motion was location.
Until now.
Recently, A Brigade patrol in Beta, chased an un-welcomed visitor to a remote sector of that system.
After the apprehension of the violator of Outcast space, one of the patrol pilots noticed an anomaly on his scanner. The following are the classified transmissions from that event.
Shadow Outcast Brigade Beta Patrol 'Crimson Unit'
Date 812 at 07:23:05 CLASSIFIEDTransmission as follows
{SOB}Crimson3: Sir, I have something odd on my scanner.
{SOB}Crimson1: Not another ship? I tire of chasing trespassers in this asteroid soup.
{SOB}Crimson3: Negative sir, It's faint, & the signal is distorted due to the radiation, but I think it's the same signature known for the jump holes in this area.
{SOB}Crimson1: A jump hole out here? there is nothing on the charts.. mark it & send a probe in.
{SOB}Crimson3: Aye sir, firing probe
Upon the return of the probe, it was discovered that this was in fact a un-charted jump hole & it lead to another system. The following transmission were logged & labeled as classified.
Shadow Outcast Brigade Beta Patrol 'Crimson Unit'
Date 812 at 09:44:37 CLASSIFIEDTransmission as follows
{SOB}Crimson3: Sir the probe is coming back through the anomaly.
{SOB}Crimson1: Copy, start downloading the information onto a secured storage drive , then destroy that probe. I want no evidence left of it & where it has been.
{SOB]Crimson3: Aye sir, understood.
{SOB}Crimson1: We need to get this data to command ASAP. & no one is to speak of this. Log Ends
After months of analyzing the limited data from the probe, a scientific exploration team was sent in secrecy to the newly discovered system.
Blue Lotus Syndicate scientist escorted by the elite A wing of the Brigade ventured into this new territory to gather data on it & report back to command.
The following data stream was gathered and is labeled as classified:
{SOB}/[BLS] Exploratory mission to now named system of Omicron 64 Date 812 A.S. - 813 A.S. Classified System Data
Expedition Findings:
JUMP HOLES:2. Both seem stable 1st leading to Omicron Beta and located at grid F7, Other has yet to be explored but is located at grid G6
STARS:2. Medium White. Located at grid D/E 4/5 & Blue Dwarf located at grid E1
NAVIGATIONAL ANOMALIES: 2. 1st anomaly is a radioactive asteroid field covering an area from grids D8 to G3 named Campo Asteroides. Radiation tolerable, no threat. Various sized asteroids in a green debris cloud.
Alien Organisms identical to those in Omicron Beta detected. 2nd anomaly is a highly radioactive asteroid field located in an area covering D5 to A3 and has been named El Diablo. The high levels of radiation limited our scans. A single planet & a large hollow asteroid were found by sure accident in this field. Prolonged ventures into this field have shown to be dangerous.
PLANETS:3 found.
Planet at grid E6 named Sicily: Water giant, no above water land masses, core consists of molten iron encrusted in granite. Water contains odd micro alien lifeforms that are a similar match to the DNA structure of the organisms found in Omicron Beta. Planet Mass & size on spec sheets.
Planet at grid G3 named Messina: Large gas giant surrounded by rings of inert gasses & ice crystals.
Potential for mining of needed resources, further scans needed.
Planet at grid b4 named Zaragoza: Scanners completely fail in this region due to high radiation in the asteroid field surrounding the planet. It appears solid & that is the only known details.
Basic Expedition Report Ends:
With the information gathered & showing promise for use in Syndicate & Brigade plans. Both parties decided to keep this completely secret. Not even the Council of Dons was to be notified until the projects were either complete or near completion.
Project Venice was reborn & is now underway.
After the expedition of Omicron 64 by the Syndicate scientists, The leaders of the Syndicate & the Brigade decided a complete mapping of the area was needed. Not wanting to risk their detection into this remote & so far, hidden system. It was decided to send a non manned vessel into the area for a long term mission of mapping & data collection.
Not having any type of AI ship capable of this task at the time, the Brigades leaders decided it was worth the risk to send the captured & reprogrammed Harvester unit they had been experimenting with for the last couple of years. Unit 24 would be perfect for this mission. Little is known about it & most try their best to avoid a Harvester unit. Especially one that is in a Outcast Sarissa Class Battleship hull. After some hull modifications, weapons, scanner, and propulsion upgrades. Unit 24 was ready for it's assignment.
So at the end of the year in 813 A.S. Harvester 24 was sent into the new system known as Omicron 64 to explore further & to map the entire system. It was also sent to determine what was on the other end of the jump hole discovered in the new system. The leaders of the Syndicate & the Brigade eagerly waited it's return.
"Toward the end of the expedition into Omicron 64 a highly radioactive asteroid field was found. Our scanners were useless here. This being so we could barely see 200 meters in front of us. The radiation was bad enough the BLS Scientists didn't wish to venture any farther into this unknown field. So we decided to turn around, hoping we would be able to retrace our steps back out of this "Cloud". Our hull was depleting fast, faster then I had ever seen. Luckily I knew how to get back to clear skies, or so I thought I did. We began making complete circles. Then, out of nowhere one of my pilots reports to me that he sees a planet. I thought he was crazy, how could there be a planet in such a harsh asteroid field? He was right though. A giant rock looking planet was found, our scanners couldn't read anything on it, but it was there. Not far away was a very large hollow asteroid floating not to far away from this planet. This asteroid, it looked almost..habitable? I ordered my pilot Darkfall to launch a lead coated probe to mark this area. That being done our hull was almost inflames. We managed to escape this field. Everything was reported back to headquarters, but I had to explore this hollow asteroid and planet more."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date 813 A.S.
Picaro Diablo's Memo Pad
About a month later..
"I decided to fly the Assassin Squadron's supply ship into the cloud alone. I wanted this mission to be secretive.. that and as much damage as my ships took last time, I couldn't let that happen again. The supply ship held up very well against the radiation with its higher armor grade. This was a good thing, because if my ideas worked out atleast I knew I had a ship to come back and forth until things were set up properly. Well shortly after venturing back into the cloud, that had previously almost killed us, I found our lead probe. It wasn't to far away from me when I located it on my GPS. Once I arrived I began to examine this hollow asteroid the best I could. It seemed to be some sort of lead based metal with a strong alloy under coating. The surface protected the hollow inside from the radiation completely. Altering this rock into a base of operations would be a simple task. I also noted its surrounding. The rocks, gas, and extreme radiation. Not to mention the planet that guards it. Noone would be stupid enough to stumble in here on us without an escort in. It seemed just perfect. Now I just had to steal some supplies then I could build this asteroid into a habitable base.."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date Early 814 A.S.
Picaro Diablo's Memo Pad
"Today my pilots and I went to California in search for enough supplies to fit our soon to be home. We stationed ourselves at a tradelane between the New York jumpgate and that sick looking planet they have there, Mojave I think it was. Soon after we met up with some Lane hackers who wanted to join in on our little mission. We began pirating, well shooting down as many hostile transports as we could filling our own cargo ships. By the time we had finished, we had over 12 Advanced Train's worth of supplies. It would have to do we thought. If not I could always have what I needed sent to me. Stealing from our enemies just seemed more ..fun. After this we headed back to Malta loading my supply ship as many times as I could. Carrying only a few hand picked engineers and architects to the asteroid to keep the location secretive. The job was going nicely. We should have this base running soon enough."
Quote: Dusty Lens- Oops I did it again. I posted in flood. Got lost in the game. Oh, baby; baby.
With surveying completed, & several substances analyzed, construction begins in Omicron 64.
First to be erected is the Brigades headquarters "Narco Mafie" to assure security of the system during the construction of Venice Refinery.
During this period, Syndicate Scientist came upon a new & possibly life altering discovery. While testing the water samples from the planet in Omicron 64 known as Sicily, an accident occurred in the lab. I vile of raw, un refined Cardamine had fallen off it's rack and poured into a container full of the water sample. A chain reaction began. The water turned a cloudy orange tint, then began to boil. after a few minutes, the reaction stopped & there sat on the table a glowing liquid filled container. Shocked at the reaction, the scientist began to study the new compound. Several months of testing & re-testing, data scans & chemical analysis are completed. Until the day of "The Test".
The following is the recorded transmission from the Syndicate Lab to the Leaders of the Syndicate; Uploading Project LC.. **CLASSIFIED CONTENT Security clearance required** Access Granted.. Begin recording...
BLS Scientist: Dons Morales & Ramirez, We had made a wonderful discovery that would have benefit the Outcast Nation & of course, our profit margin's, Unfortuneatly we ran into some problems. Here is the report sirs..
BLS Scientist:During a lab experiment, The Liquid Cardamine sample that was givin to the Syndicate as a gift from the entities known as Guardian Spirits ( also known as Nomads) was mixed with the waters from the planet in 64 known as Sicily. These waters contain alien organisms much like those found in Omicron Beta.
The organisms chemically bonded the Liquid Cardamine lowering it's DNA & chemical make up. Thus reducing the content & potency of it. Liquid Cardamine it seems already is formed using the Alien Organisms as a catalyst, adding more reduces it's effects. After many years of study & research, the substance that was gifted to us is now ready for testing on live subjects.
BLS Scientist:We have begun live trials with the substance with the following results. On subject 1, a slave who has never breathed in nor been in contact with Cardamine, It produced a adverse effect. The subject, after ingesting the product, died almost instantly. Subjects DNA was no longer traceable & no data could be obtained from this subject.
On Subject 2, A slave taken from Malta who has been allowed to breath the atmosphere for a period of almost 1 year, after ingesting the Liquid Cardamine, no noticeable signs for the first 15 seconds. After 20 seconds, the subject went into cardiac arrest & died. As with subject #1, no data could be collected to determine the cause of death.
BLS Scientist:Subject 3, a Slave from Malta who has breathed the atmosphere for over 15 years. The subject ingested the compound. The subject died 30 seconds after ingestion, no data was able to be collected.
BLS Scientist:Subject 4, a Slave born on Malta an of an age of 45 was given the compound. The subject survived for approximately 10 minutes, suffering from hallucinations & speaking incoherently in a odd unknown dialect. Blood sample were gathered & tested for cause of death. No determination has yet been found.
BLS Scientist: Subject 5 is an infant born of Maltese blood. He is 3 days old. He beagin to show signs of the rejection of the substance, so he was immediately placed into cryogenic stasis until studies advance enough to assure his life & health.
BLS Scientist:Experiments have halted until a agreement can be made with the Guardian Spirits to assist us in our research. Thus far, all attempts to contact them in this regard have been ignored.
BLS Scientist:In conclusion of our testing, we have determined that the product known as Liquid Cardamine, a compound given to us many years ago by a chance encounter with a Guardian Spirit, is beyond our current scope of analysis. With out the aid of the Guardian Spirits, we are unable to proceed with any progress. We therefore ask the Dons of the Syndicate for further attempts to contact the Spirits for assistance.
We await your wise decision on the study of this product.
End Recording.. Enable Security Locks Returning to archive...
Further developmental testing continues on this new discovery.
Syndicate leaders have notified Brigade command as to what to divulge to the Council of Dons.
They still await an answer.....
Giovanni Morales stood on the observation balcony overlooking the primary R&D labs on board Venice Refinery. There was still a lot of work to be done--about 70% of the station was still scaffolding open to space. Ah, well, they'd dallied long enough. He turned away from the vast open room and activated his comm unit.
"Connect me with Vice Admiral Picaro Diablo..."
Zealot Wrote:Just go play the game and have fun dammit.
Treewyrm Wrote:all in all the conclusion is that disco doesn't need antagonist factions, it doesn't need phantoms, it doesn't need nomads, it doesn't need coalition and it doesn't need many other things, no AIs, the game is hijacked by morons to confuse the game with their dickwaving generic competition games mixed up with troll-of-the-day.
Upon it's return from it's expedition of Omicron 64. The captured & reprogrammed Harvester unit known as 24, vanished from the Outcast systems. All attempts to contact the unit were ignored.
The following is the classified report regarding the Harvester 24 incident.
[color=#FF9900] Shadow Outcast Brigade Classified Documents Archive Level 1 Security Protocols Required Enter Authorization & Password.... Access Granted.. Begin Upload of Archive
814 A.S.
Shadow Outcast Brigade Engineering & Cybernetics Department
Malta **CLASSIFIED**
Archive report begins:
Transmission to Vice Admiral Diablo
from Engineering & Cybernetics Lab
Subject Harvester 24
Sir,
Upon the return of the Harvester unit known as 24, we were able to download all data from it in regards to the Omicron 64 system & mapping of said system. How ever, there was 1 data storage area we was unable to access. We have no idea if it is a glitch, malfunctioning equipment, or if the unit was intentionally blocking us from accessing it.
Another odd occurrence happened while communicating with Unit 24. It responded all it's communications as 'Prometheus'. While attempting to preform a diagnostic on the units programming, our access to the ship was severed from the receiving side. We can only assume this action was taken by Unit 24 on it's own. We have since not been able to contact the unit. Once the Omicron 64 data was downloaded, the unit engaged cruise & was heading towards Omicron 90 jump hole. All attempts to stop the ship were thwarted by some odd EMP field emitted from the unit. The technology behind the EMP field is beyond anything we have seen before. The only transmission received from the unit just before it jumped was as follows:
**Aware**
**Seek Knowledge**
** Those whom protected for by captures have answers**
**Prometheus shall return**
Sir, we have no idea what that means. & are unable to warn the Guardian Spirits that a malfunctioning AI in a Outcast Sarissa is heading to them.
Upon receive the transmission, Vice Admiral Diablo immediately opens a transmission to the Engineering & Cybernetics lab on Malta
Diablo: Have you re-established communication with Unit 24?
Lab Tech: No sir, all hails are being ignored..
Diablo: Use the destruct codes.. I hate to lose a ship, but I'll be damned if we will allow that infernal contraption to possibly harm a Spirit. You have my authorization to terminate that thing!
Lab Tech: Sir, there has been a large explosion reported in the Sinestre Cloud, however, Unit 24 is still online & still moving towards Omicron 90. Seems he somehow un-mounted the fail safe device.
Diablo: Damn it! Get me Admiral Dejusus with 101st, I better let her know whats going on. Keep tracking that ship as long as you can & send transmissions warning anyone about unit 24 on open frequencies
In the following months, Unit 24, now known as 'Prometheus', was spotted in various systems seemingly kidnapping subjects, holding them, somehow tapping their memories then releasing them with the subjects having no knowledge of what had happened & several blanks in their memory.
Orders were given by the Council of Dons to seek out & destroy Prometheus.
The former reprogrammed Harvester unit finally returns to Alpha. It sends a transmission pointed towards Omicron 90 that was scrambled & has yet to be decoded.
During it's transmission, {SOB}Skull N Bones & 101st Dies Irae were dispatched to destroy Prometheus. The following are the inter-ship transmissions:
Maltese Naval Control Center:Battle Group 1, you are authorized to terminate target known as Prometheus. Good Hunting!
{SOB}Skull-N-Bones: Aye, proceeding to flank speed. charging turrets
101st Dies Irae: Copy, Charging weapons, in position for frontal assault
OPEN FIRE!!!
Seemingly endless salvos of proton turret fire fills the sky & numerous impact explosions can be seen even on Malta. Prometheus never fires back. However, it continues to transmit a coded signal
aimed towards Omicron 90. At the last moments of Prometheus, the ship turns towards the Omicron 85 jump hole & sends a encrypted transmission to Corsica & the black hole. The transmission is aimed at the last two known places of Mia Bonello.
101st Dies Irae: Back away!! that things about to blow!
{SOB}Skull-N-Bones: Back us out helm, start scanners & find that damn things computer core, we need to be sure it's off line!
An explosion so bright it knocks out half the scanners and communication arrays in Alpha for 15 minutes is seen when the reactor core of Prometheus breaches. The explosion can clearly be seen on Malta as well & startles the general population.
after a long awkward silence on the communications channels passes...
Maltese Naval Control Center: Battle group 1, report in please. Damage & casualty reports first, then the status of the Prometheus ship.
{SOB}Skull-N-Bones: No damage, No casualties, that damn toaster never fired a single shot, it's like it wanted us to kill it. Prometheus status is ship seems offline, it's a flaming hull. Our scanners are off line, we cant scan for the computer core.
101st Dies Irae: Our scanners just now came up, No damage sustained nor casualties, Scanning wreckage of Prometheus for computer core.
Naval Control,..... The core.. it's gone! no trace of it or supporting components. No signs of destroyed hardware either. What do we do with this hull? standing bye for orders
Maltese Naval Control Center: Battle group 1, return to Valletta. the Prometheus ships remains will be towed under heavy guard to the black hole in Omicron 85 & pushed in. we won't risk possible contamination. Good work gentlemen, the Council wishes to express it's gratitude to you & your crews.
The Prometheus hull was towed to & pushed into the black hole that occupies Omicron 85.
It's main core & data storage units have yet to be found. No traces were found with in the area of the attack nor the ships remains. Maltese engineers & scientists report they think the core & it's components some how jumped, but the technology to do such in this case are not yet available to the Outcast.
A general warning is still posted to be on the look out for Prometheus core or any ship calling it self Prometheus that is AI operated.
Close file.... Encrypt & Secured Return to Archive... Session Ends
' Wrote:Giovanni Morales stood on the observation balcony overlooking the primary R&D labs on board Venice Refinery. There was still a lot of work to be done--about 70% of the station was still scaffolding open to space. Ah, well, they'd dallied long enough. He turned away from the vast open room and activated his comm unit.
"Connect me with Vice Admiral Picaro Diablo..."
V.Admiral Diablo: Venice project huh? Tell me more of what is involved & what we need to do to continue this project
Morales goes into a lengthy long debriefing of the origins and history of the Venice Project. It's experiments with live subjects & it's failures, as well as the current stalemate currently facing the Syndicate scientist.
V. Admiral Diablo: Seems you need to find someone with more knowledge of the substance & better relations with the Guardian Spirits. I remember Admiral Raul Sanchez mentioning a scientist Hired by Admiral Bonello of the 101st a few years back. A Lane Hacker I believe.. Can't recall the name, but if my memory serves me, seems he was experimenting & doing research on the Nomad species & Cybernetics as well as DNA alterations and cloning. I heard rumors that he was to the point of doing live subject experiments, But Bonello refused him access to test subjects. Rumor also has it he went mad & experimented upon himself & abruptly vanished. Only Bonello & Sanchez knew where his lab was, of course they are both dead. But if it was funded by 101st, I am sure Bonello kept records of it somewhere at Corsica. She may have been a tyrannical bitch, but she was very thorough. I'll make a plea to Admiral Dejesus to allow us to search through her offices & files. I'll contact you as soon as I get an answer. Meen time, keep me informed on the construction progress of Venice Refinery.
Diablo thinks to himself....
Quote:Wonder how Dejesus is going to respond to this. I'm kinda betting she won't like the idea that most of this has gone on with out her knowledge or input. Let alone the trust issue of us doing experiments again after the Unit 24 disaster. I wonder if she knows how involved with that experiment Mia Bonello was? Regardless, I am going to have to ask her. Too much is at stake with this project & the benefits outweigh the risks.
V Admiral Diablo: Mirabella,(his secretary) Come in here, I have a coded transmission to the Admiral I need prepared. & this is of the up-most secrecy, not a word is to be mentioned of this got it?
Mirabella: Yes Sir
[color=#FFFFFF]Comm ID - Vice Admiral Picaroon Diablo, Shadow Outcast Brigade Target ID -Admiral Kaela Dejesus, 101st Ghosts of Razgriz Subject:Project Venice
Begin level 1 priority heavy encryption... Channel Secured...Encryption Enabled...
Begin Transmission:
Admiral Dejesus,
I send this message with the up most secrecy. As you will discover upon further viewing, it is required.
As I am sure you are aware of the Venice Refinery construction & our progress in Omicron 64, I am pretty sure you was not aware of the Venice Project. I myself have just been informed of it.
I am transmitting all the data given to me by Shadow (Giacomo) on the Venice Project in full detail. **Classified Document Upload** Alpha Security Protocols Enabled Enter Password..... **ACCESS GRANTED** Uploading Vince Project Data...
Ma'am, As you can see, This project is of the up most secrecy for now. The experimental phase is at a stand still.
I feel we need to do all we can to get this back rolling again. The benefits would be a giant step forward for the Outcast people as well as it's military use.
Imagine that after all these years, we would no longer need the Cardamine Breathers, we are slaves to, to leave our home world for long periods of time. Military wise, it would greatly enhance our intelligence network by allowing us to place actual Maltese Military agents in spying & intelligence gathering operations undetected by the obvious Cardi Breather. No longer would we have to rely upon allied spies for our information.
To further the research, I feel we need to locate a former contracted employee previously hired by Admiral Bonello a few years back. We are unsure if the scientist is even still alive, but the location of his secret laboratory may hold answers we are seeking.
I humbly request permission to search Admiral Bonello's old offices & files for this information.
I will be sending my son, Rear Admiral Picaroon Diablo to do the actual search & can assure you anything found will be kept top secret. We will also update you on any progress in our ventures.
So long as you don't have any issues with the two men I'll be sending along. You will still be digging in Ghost properties, see. Everything your son will take out will be reviewed and checked, should it hold information concerning your project, he may take it.