| abstract
| - Leone tried to stop thinking about "Associated Planets" and “Tribute planets" and focus on the boring task at hand...searching a dead planet for signs of life. As they continued their orbital swing around Flammis, their 3D model of the planet's surface became nearly complete. There were nearly a dozen anomalous surface features that the spaceship's artificial intelligence had scanned and flagged and which showed with flashing red highlights in the model that was now being projected into Leone's brain. Leone asked, "Why are most of these surface features dark red but one is bright red?" The Thot artificial intelligence replied, "All the red features appear to be human settlements that were destroyed by man-made explosive devices. The dark red sites were destroyed many decades ago and appear to have been human bases located on the surface of the planet. The bright red site was recently destroyed and appears to have been an underground base." Leone's heart began to beat very fast. "What do you mean by 'recently destroyed'?" The machine explained, "The craters are still cooling. They must have been made within the past few days." "How deep was the base? Is there any chance of survivors?" Thot was slow in answering. "The scanners on this ship are designed for use in space. I cannot penetrate the depths of the shattered rock at that site. I believe that antimatter bombs were used and some exploded at depths of more than ten kilometers. I doubt if anyone could have survived." Leone muttered, "Too late. We arrive too late." But who could have arrived here just a day or two earlier and obliterated the inhabitants of this little-known planet? And why was the planet attacked twice, once long ago? If this had indeed been a hiding place for members of the Osiris Order, who was their enemy? Why did the Osiris Order have enemies who would pursue them to the death across space and across time? Leone's spaceship was now completing its first orbit of Flammis. Still, there was about fifteen percent of the surface that they had not yet been able to scan, so theoretically there might be some small human base down there that had escaped destruction. Maybe the Masters had used a trick and offered their enemies a false target...maybe the Masters remained hidden at another site on Flammis...or deep below the surface of Flammis. Now that Leone understood the nature of the potential landing sites and that they were all sites of destroyed bases, he had no immediate interest in attempting a landing. He instructed the ship to let its orbit stabilize over the location of the recently destroyed base. Assuming that there might be scattered survivors, Leone was now prepared to send a signal to the planet to ask for permission to land. The Thot spaceship was trying to swing into a geostationary orbit around the planet where it could wait for the “Masters” to send them a signal. Leone was about to start transmitting when the spaceship trembled. Both Leone and Aristark felt the odd motion of the spaceship and alarms began to sound. They both had imagined that the planet was dead, so this strange event surprised them completely. Although Leone was a veteran of a thousand trips through space, he had never been in a battle. The hundred year long history of the Empire was one of peace. The movement of the spaceship felt like being in the epicenter of an earthquake, but being in space they had nowhere to run. Leone had grown up near geologically active mountains on Sakkara and had been trained from an early age to run out of buildings during an earthquake. But now he was in a spaceship and surrounded by the interstellar void.
- Leone tried to stop thinking about history and the possible existence of Egypt and stay focused on the boring task at hand... searching a dead planet for signs of life. As his spaceship continued its orbital swing, the 3D model of the planet's surface became nearly complete. There were about a dozen anomalous surface features that the spaceship's artificial intelligence had scanned and flagged and which showed with red highlights in the model that was now being projected into Leone's brain. Leone asked, "Why are most of these surface features red but one is blue?" The Thot artificial intelligence replied, "All these features appear to be human settlements that were destroyed by man-made explosive devices. The red sites were destroyed many decades ago and appear to have been human bases located on the surface of the planet. The blue site was recently destroyed and appears to have been an underground base." Leone's heart began to beat very fast. "What do you mean by 'recently destroyed'?" The machine explained, "The crater is still cooling. The underground base was destroyed within the past few days." "How deep was the base? Is there any chance of survivors?" Thot was slow in answering. "The scanners on this ship are designed for use in space. I cannot penetrate the depths of the shattered rock at that site. I believe that antimatter bombs were used and some exploded at great depth. I doubt if anyone could have survived." Leone muttered, "Too late. We arrive too late." But who could have arrived here just a day or two earlier and obliterated the inhabitants of this little-known planet? And why was the planet attacked twice, once long ago? If this had indeed been a hiding place for members of the Haldus Order, who was their enemy? Why did the Haldus Order have enemies who would pursue them to the death across space and across time? Leone's spaceship was now completing its first orbit of the planet. Still, there was about fifteen percent of the surface that they had not yet been able to scan, so theoretically there might be some small human base down there that had escaped destruction. Maybe the Masters had used a trick and offered their enemies a false target... maybe the Masters remained hidden at another site, some secondary base deep below the surface. Now that Leone understood the nature of the potential landing sites and that they were all sites of destroyed bases, he had no immediate interest in attempting a landing. He instructed his spaceship to let its orbit stabilize over the location of the recently destroyed base. The zero g conditions temporarily ended while the Thot spaceship was swinging them into a geostationary orbit above the planet where they could wait for the “Masters” to send them a signal. Assuming that there might be scattered survivors, Leone was now interested in the idea of sending a signal to the planet and asking for permission to land. Leone was about to start transmitting when the spaceship trembled. Leone and Aristark felt the odd motion of the spaceship and alarms began to sound. They both had imagined that either the planet was dead or the "Masters" were cautiously waiting before revealing themselves...so this strange event surprised them completely. Although Leone was a veteran of a thousand trips through space, he had never been in an actual space battle. For the past hundred years the galaxy had been peaceful except for a few small single-planet skirmishes and the never ending acts of piracy near the outer borders of colonized space. Leone prided himself on being a great space traveler, but he was not ready for battle. The movement of the spaceship felt like being in the epicenter of an earthquake, but since they were in space they had nowhere to run to. Leone had grown up near geologically active mountains on Sakkara and had been trained from an early age to run out of buildings during an earthquake. But now he was in a spaceship and surrounded by the interstellar void. After a moment of shock, his long past years of emergency training began to guide his actions.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)