Secrets of the Ancients – In the Emperor’s Name

The crew find themselves prisoners on board the prison hulk, Gaesh, and must find a way off to stop Seven from enslaving the galaxy and beyond.

This chapter is based on Kay’s and Carl’s notes from our August 13, 2023 session. Since we are scattered around the country, we use Discord for voice communications and the Roll20 online virtual tabletop to connect with each other.

Continued from: The Death of Grandfather

Location: The Prison Hulk, Gaesh in the Pixie system, Regina Subsector.
Date: 353-1110

We had gone through the portal at a skewed angle and equipment was failing all over the ship, what else could go wrong?

We woke up groggy, our legs and arms manacled to our couches; armed guards were walking up and down the aisle checking on us. Huh?

We have blurred, confusing memories of marines in battle dress, oxygen masks pressed to our faces, the smell of antiseptic, muffled voices and the feel of jump, over and over again.

Coming out of a daze, we see a gas giant nearby and a ship with the imperial sunburst - the Gaesh.
It was one of the Kinunir-class ships built by General Shipyards on Regina; all of the General Shipyard Kinunir-class ships came to a bad end. The Gaesh became a prison hulk with a bad reputation. This didn’t look good.

The shuttle docked and an airlock hissed open. The guards unclipped our manacles and led us off the shuttle. The prison hulk smelled of sweat and recycled air. “Welcome to the Gaesh,” grunts one of the guards. “You don’t exist here.”

Well, that settles that. Maybe we are finally getting our comeuppance.

We come face-to-face with Arisa (Vlen Backett’s “wife/widow” and Fig’s interrogator during his Scout Service ship incident). We get the speech: we’ve been detained by the Empire, we will be interrogated; if we cooperate, we will be pardoned, if not or are argumentative, not; you can be in one cell together and will be given certain liberties of getting exercise out of the cell.

She explained we will be questioned about Uncle Vlen and our actions since.

All of us were still kind of woozy, and Fig passed out.  

Later he shared that he had a dream or vision of the pocket universe while he was out.

His head blazed with pain, and he lost all feeling in his limbs. He felt like his body was too big, too watery. His back itched… and then his vision dimmed and he lost consciousness.

He found himself looking at a complex equation, and he understood it. It described a universe, a space pinched off by science – and it was both impossibly advanced and childlike in its simplicity. The universe contained three stars. Trapped in the center of this universe, thrashing like a fly in a spider’s web, was a familiar but horrific shape. The robot body of the Ancient, Seven, was trapped in the pocket universe he fled… he made… his head burns. The pocket universe was shrinking. Rate of collapse uneven; estimated time to singularity is less than three months. He dreamed of Seven being annihilated as the walls of reality crushed it to nothingness…

We were all put in a common cell, but had some 'freedom' to roam at times, four hours a day; there is a rec room with exercise equipment. We were not the only people being held; there were other prisoners. Food was what you would expect from a prison, and we settled in to await our 'discussions'.

The first day they don’t interrogate us. We worked out that the time we spent in the pocket universe corresponds to the time we’ve been gone from this one.  Fig calculated the pocket universe should reach singularity on or around 080-1111.

We take stock of ourselves and discover that Medicus’s arm wasn’t searched; he still has drugs and the syringe needle in his prosthetic arm, with maybe 5-6 tranq doses.

354-1110
Guards asked Fig to come with them to administration; they needed to clear up records inconsistencies. The guards were Shairu and Chaon. He also met Warden Hawberk.

They mostly wanted personal information, updating records. They were skeptical about Fig's flesh arm replacing the cyber one, but had to admit it bled when poked.

Fig came back and the guards took Medicus. The warden questioned Medicus about his Zhodani heritage and Tarkwell prison where he grew up. Medicus answered his questions, mostly yes or no, and got escorted back down. On his way back to the cell, Medicus passed a guy on deck dressed like a noble who looked at Medicus like a bug. We later learned that he was Malik Haut-Tarvel, who would be one of our interrogators.

Medicus got back to the cell and the door locked. Medicus described the nobleman; none of us think he’s familiar.

When Sam’s turn came, they took him to the lower deck to what would have been a common area in the Navy ship and Alyssa was his interrogator.

He talked about Oberlindes and the Ancient cities we found and handed over to the Empire.
A bit later we had a power outage for about 15 minutes, at least on our deck.  We heard some guards moving about, and later on we were loosed for our recreation time.

We appeared to have dedicated guards: Chaon, a rookie and friendlier than we’d expect, and Shairu, a 50-yr-old woman who is suspicious of us; she thinks we’re trouble; she just doesn’t know how yet. She might even be right.

We didn't have unrestricted wandering about on the ship, just a nearby rec room for working out and a few corridors to walk along.

When Kipenzi went to the exercise room with Medicus, there were some other prisoners there, and they spoke with them. They were Baronet Vulis and Captain Ruatair, and they seemed friendly enough, for now.  They said it was OK here, but mostly boring.  They recommended staying away from one prisoner, Evan Haut-Uishir, 4th son of a count, responsible for 16 serial killings and has maimed others… and he’s attacked people here.  It was best to leave him alone, “stay away from him if you meet him in hallway, he tends to attack other prisoners.”

Kipenzi asked about the prison’s response to prisoners fighting. The guards break up fights, often they stun both combatants; the guards carry body pistols and stunners.

The Baronet was ruler of a district, Vilante in Aramis subsector, and he had been in charge of the district when we were there. He was overthrown as a tyrant by a rebellion.  He was sent here for war crimes and he’s living here permanently and has accepted his fate. He describes the ship and guard routines, “and it’s all being recorded,” he talks to the ceiling. We had figured out that part out for ourselves.

They asked us, what are you in for? We honestly don’t know, we reply, we haven’t been charged with anything yet, that we know of.

They said we were not the only people who were not sure why they are here. One is a reporter, Thoic Abshur.

Capt. Ruatair told us he was in the Denotam Planetary Navy and was accused of being a pirate. The Imperials arrested him and there’s a stay of execution until it’s settled; he attacked merchant ships, but he says he had a legitimate letter of marque from the Denotam Navy; he became a sacrifice in some political deal. 

We go back to our cell.  Later, Leon was taken out for interrogation and back.

Sam had his turn in the spotlight after Leon. Arisa led the team, especially interested in our relationship with Vlen Backett.

“How do you know Vlen Backett?” she asked.

“He was dead when we got there. He was Fig’s uncle.”

“What do you know about any Zhodani contact with Vlen?”

Sam replied, “Nothing,” that he remembers – a LOT has happened since we were at Vlen’s lodge.
“What happened at Prof. Ujinka’s house?”

He explained in detail about the house in Dancado and everything that followed on Regina; Prof Iaros Ujinka’s a member of archaeology and history faculty at U of Regina; developed scanner for Ancient artifacts, a G-band detector. Her assistant, Juni was on Beck’s World at an Ancient Site using the detector. We were at her house when two assassins attacked and killed her; we stopped them, names of Kinson and Labre. They worked for the criminal, Ven Yasha; they used an EMP gadget to disable the Prof’s automated security system, and they were also present when Vlen was killed by Yasha’s aide, Harlan.

Sam told her how they tried to kill all of us, but we were able to escape. Sam adds our Oberlindes contacts, and Ancient sites; that we helped the Imperium; he’s as polite and civil as possible.
Medicus went next. His interrogator was the snooty guy that looked down his nose, Malik Haut-Tarvel. He had a lot of theories on the Ancients, but most of them do not hold water based on our life paths.  He is looking for support for his thoughts, rather than any real investigation of the facts.

He asked, “How did you find the Ancient vessel at Boughene?”

Medicus replied, “I don’t remember.”

He’s not alone, a lot of us don’t remember the details; a LOT has happened since then. We try to remember back that far; oh, yeah, the Ancient freighter we found in the gas giant using the Prof’s scanner. We took the Far Hunter down to it, landed on it and found an active AI in charge. It was a freighter and it took us to its home system, the pocket universe. It took us a while to remember that… A LOT has happened since then.

Malik continues, “Why go looking for it?”

Medicus replied, “We knew we were in so much trouble by now, finding and handing over an Ancient ship might get us a whole lotta forgiveness.”

He mentions they have our ship... the Far Hunter. That was a shock. That ship was dis-assembled in the pocket universe. We came back here in a primitive rocket.

Malik has Ancient theories, all wrong, he’s arrogant and wants info to confirm his theories about Ancient wards (Medicus nods silently while he pontificates), and he thinks it was a war between two competing Empires.

He believes we are either mad or lying.

We find out there’s one more interrogator who hasn’t shown up yet.

Fig is next, with Arisa. “We meet again.” He gives full disclosure on all the questions and tries to bring her around to our side.

Fig said, “I’m glad you weren’t on the Alahir when it exploded. We’ve never plotted against the Empire, but I can’t say we’ve always worked in its best interest.” Fig was being extremely honest.

“What do the Ancients want?”

Fig said, “They had a war, Seven wanted to take over.” He tells her about his dream vision and that the pocket universe will disappear around 080-1111, but we don’t know where it is from here.

At this point, we are told about the Far Hunter; they found the ship’s logs were wiped and it had annual maintenance, most of the ship looked brand new.

Arisa: “What happened to Gant Holcess and his ship?”

Fig describes how it was destroyed by Seven when it approached.

Next, Kipenzi was interrogated by Malik Haut-Tarvel.  He asked about our trip to the pocket universe. She told him how we got to the pocket universe by an Ancient ship, a freighter, that landed at their spaceport, and how our ship was destroyed at the port by robots. She was surprised to hear about the Far Hunter’s existence. He tried to pick apart her story, Kipenzi doesn’t persuade him of anything.

Settling in for the night, we realized this was probably a typical day of what we could expect here. It could be a long stay, but at least they have coffee.

355-1110
During night, Fig has another dream of Seven coming back at our universe, a nightmare for sure.

There’s a 110-day countdown; may not apply if we can get to the Archives before it happens.

Fig’s dream:

The strange pain overtakes you again, and you black out. This time, it is like the telepathic flashbacks you experienced in Grandfather’s realm. You feel like images are spooling out into your brain. You saw Seven die in the pocket universe. You saw the ancient cybernetic monstrosity be completely and utterly destroyed… and yet you know that somewhere, machines are resurrecting it. A Family Archive, that is what it is called. The instant Seven was destroyed… will be destroyed… a telepathic signal activates the Archive. Seven’s machine body is rebuilt, its personality reactivated from backups. And then the nightmare begins. Seven’s wrath is no longer counterbalanced by the threat of other Ancients. The galaxy belongs to the monster machine. You see bizarre ships in the skies over Regina, over Rhylanor, over Capitol. The alien ships rain down destruction like the thunderbolts of a jealous and judgmental god. Humaniti is wiped out by the child of its benefactor… If Seven is destroyed in Grandfather ’s pocket universe, a new version of Seven will be built by its Family Archive… … and if Seven lives, the galaxy dies.

During the exercise period, Kipenzi and Medicus chat with some of the other prisoners. They meet Taek, Yalin, and Osvok; they’re in temporary custody, captured by the Navy; they are smugglers and drug dealers, just waiting for sentencing. Taek is clever; Osvok gruff and growls; Yalin is fat and exercises halfheartedly; they know nothing about politics or Ancients. They’ve been here 3 weeks, from Regina, locals. We ask if there are any prisoners we should watch out for. They say Gaius, not friendly, jerk, not sure, tough guy.

On the way back, the lights dimmed and all the doors clicked open. Gaius steps out of his cell into the hallway and notices Medicus, “You! You’re responsible for this!”

We recognize him as the assassin of Prof. Ujinka; the one who didn’t talk. With rage on his face, he rushes Medicus. Medicus kicks him in the crotch. Medicus had the advantage of growing up in a prison taken over by the inmates. He went down instantly.

Kipenzi yelled to Medicus, “Medicus, move back, let the guards handle it.” 

The guards got him back in his cell and all the doors locked again.

Guard Shairu said, “Damn, I knew there’d be trouble and here’s trouble.”

Medicus updated us that he’s involved in this, Gaius Labre.

Later, Sam was interrogated by the new guy, Mr. Galen, grey hair, no military rank, he wore a black suit.
He told Sam, “This place does not exist. The Imperium rules the space between worlds, not the worlds themselves, and so this station does not belong to any world or noble. You have fallen between the cracks. While you are here, you do not exist.”

“And because you do not exist, we can do what we want with you.”

Interrogations continued.  Galen, a man in black. He was kind of threatening, playing on fears maybe.  Maybe he was just a power mad egotist... with a gun.

He wanted to know how active the Ancients are in our universe.

Sam told him, “Don’t know that they are, but the ruins we find we give to the Empire.”

Next, Galen interrogated Medicus. He noticed he was wearing a side arm (the others weren’t armed). He looked at Medicus strangely, like he saw something unexpected. He asked the usual questions, and ended the interview early.

Clearly the three (so far) interrogators are sharing information.

After Medicus, Fig got Galen who introduced himself and asked, “What do the Ancients want?”
Fig told him they all want to be the only one. Don’t know how many there are, but they want to be the only one.

Fig realized Galen is a telepath and he intends, most likely, to kill us all at the end of things. Galen is probably a psychopath of some kind.  He doesn’t realize what’s going on, he probed Fig and Fig probed back. Fig came to the realization that he has become a powerful telepath as well, and Galen has somehow not detected this.

It becomes routine: morning exercise, interrogation later; something goes wrong with the power about once a day.

We asked the guards about the power situation. It needs more work than 'they' are willing to put into it. Kipenzi offered to help, and tries persuading them. Chaon is almost willing to let her bring her case to the warden, but realized it would be a bad idea to give a prisoner access to the ship’s power system.
Through the questioning, we learn a few things. They found us in a primitive rocket; the Far Hunter came through the gate first, the navy had ships there (wherever ‘there’ was); hailed and after getting no answer, marines stormed it and no one was on board. We came through in the rocket afterward, the marines stormed us. We asked about the others, the researchers and Droyne. They went to Regina, to a separate interrogation, maybe political strings were pulled.

Fig got Arisa again and asked her, is she planning on killing us too, like Galen?

Arisa seemed a bit surprised at that, “You think Galen plans on killing you?”

FIG: “It’s a feeling.”

ARISA: “how about Malik?”

FIG: “Haven’t seen him yet; seems like a douche bag.”

He tells her about the second dream.

ARISA: “Are you working for the Ancients?”

FIG: “Not to my knowledge.”

ARISA: “Was Vlen?”

FIG: “Yes, for Seven.”

FIG: “Are you aware Galen is a telepath?”

She indicated no, she was not aware.

ARISA: “Do you have any dealing with Seven?”

FIG: “No, we went into the pocket universe.”

Fig learned that Arisa is empowered with an Imperial Warrant under Imperial Edict 97 that was inherited from Captain Holcess. That would give her unlimited authority, only Emperor Strephon himself would have more.

356-1110
Fig dreamed again; woke up and asked to talk to Arisa. Fig looked haggard, when he woke up, older.

More worries about Seven regenerating after the pocket universe collapse.  If Seven is gonna be destroyed, we should try to make it permanent.  Family Archive has gotta be a primary target.

Fig’s dream:

In this vision, he was back in the pocket universe, on Grandfather’s space station.
Seven loomed above him, terrible and invincible. The space station fired a beam of shimmering nameless energy, but there was no effect on the dark metal star-god…

…or was there? In the vision, Fig traveled along the beam, his consciousness encoded in a pattern of erupting anti-mesons. He was suddenly inside Seven, inside the machine mind. It was a nightmare place, a hallucinatory realm of cold hatred, of overwhelming loathing for all other life. Seven dreams of a universe where all other living beings are subservient to it, to never-ending conquest. It dreams of a galaxy of self-replicating warships, all enslaved to its mind. A host of warships, quadrillions strong, hurl themselves across the void to conquer other galaxies, tear holes in reality and slip sideways to parallel universes... always conquering, always growing, immortal, invincible, divine… an infinite of universes where there is nothing but subservience to the one true god, Seven…

He flitted through the machine’s fever-dreams in search of his prize. As Seven’s weapons incinerated Grandfather cell by cell, the machine god roared with pleasure, and it rippled through this psychic landscape like a red tsunami of bloody joy. There, a memory, a single closely-guarded memory exposed only in Seven’s moment of triumph over Grandfather. He darted in and seized it.

A world. A garden world, Earth-like, shimmering oceans, green forests. Atmospheric composition includes an unusually high amount of neon. Gas giant, three moons, one of which is a captured ice ball. Vargr, enslaving a minor race of amphibious sea-slugs. Uthe subsector, only a short distance. Deep beneath the crust, a hidden fortress. Seven’s base. Seven’s Family Archive.

Find that world. Find it before Seven escapes the pocket universe.

Fig passed his dream information on to Arisa, hoping she would buy into it at least a little bit. He told her he saw Seven disintegrate Grandfather and a picture of the world, earthlike in the Uthe subsector; Seven’s archive resides in a system with one gas giant with 3 moons, one an ice ball; one world like Earth.

She seemed pretty much convinced, but you can never be certain and she’s our only hope for survival.
Arisa, persuaded that we really were on the side of life, got us our stuff back (such as it was) and we are all off on a search for Seven’s Family Archive.

She got us back on the Far Hunter, which was only 20 km away, and joined us. Tarvel was not happy; Galen is expressionless but went along. The other interrogators wanted more, but she was done.
Sam said, “Search the ship in minute detail for sabotage, bombs, trackers, etc.”

It sounded like a smart move.

The ship looked practically brand new, right out of a full fit and servicing.  The tanks were full.

Arisa brought a device, the EMP gadget the assassins used when Professor Ujinka was killed, it shuts off electronics. We got our gauss pistol and other weapons back. Kipenzi got a new vacc suit; hers was pretty beat up.

We were surprised to find that Bey Venshar was still in the low berth.

“We forgot all about him!”   

We sent him to the Gaesh for holding.  The University of Regina wants to press charges for multiple murders, in addition to a lot of others. They’ll keep him on ice until he could be shipped back to the subsector capital.

So we are back on the Far Hunter and off to glory.


Continued in The Dark Gate.