Episode 1

On the first day of their planned leave, Team Fugazi received a request to attend a briefing 'in your own time'. Uniforms were not necessary. When they turned up, they were informed that Dha needed to get Drake out of the way for a little while. He was the most prominent figure in House Dha at the time, and was therefore a target for Imperial agents.

As such, Dha decided to send the team on a 'mapping' expedition to the very edge of Guildspace, near the area known to have been once inhabited by the Aerolk.

They were informed that this would not be an official mission, and they would not receive their regular mission allowance, although full salvage rights would be paid.

The team set of for the designated coordinates, an uninhabited red dwarf star. On the way they were able to earn a pittance by carting a statue from one planet to another. One member of the Paradroids crew contracted a nasty cold, but responded well to standard treatment.

When they arrived at the red dwarf star, they found it was a breeding ground for large and dangerous space sharks, who were in the process of birthing. They came out of hyperspace almost on top of one shark in labour. The space sharks immediately attacked the Paradroid with bioelectrical discharges, causing small damage. Things were about to get worse when the school of sharks was scattered by a friendly t'skaa.

The t'skaa carried a message from the leader of Dha's Zin-shee, Duchess Murris'sha Qrr'sh. She provided a set of coordinates and suggested that the team investigate. Obligingly, the Paradroid entered hyperspace.

After a short time, the Paradroid received a collision warning and dropped out of hyperspace, narrowly missing being hit by a blast of laser energy from a then unknown source. However, extensive scans of the area revealed a vast network of satellites, each equipped with laser cannon and firing them at other satellites. Sharris and Drake agreed that it looked like a vast brain, with each satellite being a neuron.

The scans also revealed an unidentified ship at the limit of sensor range. The ship was not a known configuration, and did not respond to hails. It also appeared to be faster than the Paradroid, and retreated when approached, staying at maximum distance.

Just then the Paradroid's systems began to go off line. First was Epimenides, who broke off in the middle of a sentence: "Captain, I appear to have a slight..." After Epimenides, other vital systems such as maneuvering and sensors disappeared. Tok was able to isolate life support and prevent it from going as well.

A voice spoke from Epimenides' speakers and explained that it had not meant any harm, but had inhabited the ship's data banks. Epimenides had assumed that it was a virus and started attacking it, but had not been strong enough. It made peace with the computer after revealing itself to the 'meat' people and was assigned a secure data storage unit in the system by Sharris.

The entity (dubbed Euripides by Sharris) was an ancient lifeform who had long ago 'poured' its consciousness into a computer matrix, and has inhabited various electronic systems ever since. Most recently it had been inhabiting the various neurons of the space brain, but had also been on a planetary system a long time ago.

Euripides advised that the Space Brain had one input/output node, on the planet which formed a part of its power-generating mechanism. The location of the planet matched the coordinates provided by Duchess Qrr'sh, and the Paradroid immediately made course for it.

When they arrived, they found a single inhabitable planet, quite earth-like, orbiting a yellow g-class sun. The sun and its planet were entirely within the area encompassed by the Space Brain, and there were solar power generating satellites in orbit.

Extensive scans were made. It appeared that the planet had undergone a sterilising nuclear war centuries past, and was basically uninhabited, although radiation levels had dropped to within normal tolerance since then. The scans of the planet's surface did reveal three places of interest:

#1: Evidence of structure. It appeared that most, but not all of the buildings on the planet had been destroyed in the war. This was an area that might tell the team more about the planet and its history.

#2: A large power source, still operating. Another place had been fortunate enough to escape nuclear devastation, and this was a place where they might find some interesting salvage to bring back to Dha.

#3: A methane plume. Methane is an infallible sign of life, in particular mammalian life. This could be the remnants of the original inhabitants of the planet.

It was decided to investigate the structure first, as this may tell the team more about what to expect at the other two locations.

Episode 2

The team set down in the Iron Fist. The Citadel was located on a hill surrounded by the remains of a ruined city. The Citadel appeared strangely resistant to scans, and they were unable to scan its interior.

Drake used his jump pack to ascend to the top of the hill and found himself in front of a faulty power field, which discharged blue lightning. However, by using his guile and speed he was able to avoid damage.

The weapon towers protecting the Citadel were still operational though, and started firing at him as soon as he was past the field. Again using his jump jets he was able to make it to the plinth without suffering serious damage.

The rest of the team followed him, Tok taking the longest to cross the field, but suffering only minor damage from the laser cannon on the way.

Once the whole team was on the plinth, Sharris turned his attention to the doors. It was discovered that the material that the Citadel was constructed from was scan-resistant. Unfortunately, it was also very tough, and resisted attempts to collect a sample. Sharris used his new Hacker to open the doors and the team were able to enter the Citadel.

Here they found a throne on a dais, upon which Sharris immediately sat. He was immediately zapped by a bolt of electricity, and the team heard a huge robot emerge from a storage unit and move to the attack. The throne had activated it somehow.

This robot was about nine feet tall. Its arms had two elbows, and its legs two knees. Its conical head sported three beady eyes. It had a weapon on each arm, a plasma flamer in its chest, and blasters on each shoulder. It was very tough and resilient. Tok's vibrosword bit deeply, but it shrugged off all other attacks, including Drake's pulse cannon. Finally Ezreal the Shanask decided to deal with it. He fired up his Sorce Saber, leapt at the massive robot in a flurry of black robes, and cut the thing in half. The robot staggered on for a couple of steps before falling to the floor.

In an area off the main hall, the team found a set of murals which appeared to depict the history of the planet. In the beginning, shadowy forms presented the Forbears with a glowing sphere. Over the years many wars were fought over this mysterious sphere. Eventually the sphere was held on the Second Continent, the inhabitants of wihch were depicted as dark and shifty. A great leader arose on the First Continent, the inhabitants of which were depicted as bright and strong. The leader was depicted as larger than the others. This individual led an attack on the Second Continent at a time when the planet's technological level was at its height. The war that resulted devastated much of the planet's surface, and extended to low orbit. The Leader took the sphere back to his own continent, and built the Citadel to house it. The sphere was placed in a sconce in the top tower of the Citadel.

The team made their way to the upper floors. There were another two of the giant robots, but they were again quickly dispatched by Ezreal and his Sorce Saber. Never before had the team seen the Saber wielded with such deadly effect.

In one area, the ceiling had collapsed, providing the team with samples of the tough material that was used in the Citadel's construction.

When they reached the top floor of the tower, they found that the sphere was not there. If it was a bomb of some kind, it appeared to have been detonated in this chamber. The walls showed scortching and traces of organic material. It appeared that someone came here and set the device off, killing himself in the process. The room showed slightly higher levels of radiation, fuelling speculation that the device was some sort of radiation weapon.

Having explored the entire citadel, the team stripped as much equipment that they could from the Citadel, including the control device for the power field, the plasma cannon that shot at them from the main watchtower, and the three guardian robots. They were also able to pack a fair amount of the scan-resistant metal into the Paradroid's cargo holds.

The then turned their attention to the second of the three sites...

Episode 3

Team Fugazi set down near the second of the three sites. This appeared to be an artificial hill with spikes sticking out of it. There was a ring of spikes at the base of the hill, apparently placed to discourage anyone scaling it. One section of the ring had been removed. On top of the hill were many large structures that appeared to be huge spikes which came up from below. In the center of the hilltop was a metal platform with a strange symbol. Nearby were bushes with red berries that exploded when touched.

The platform was a trap door which led to a deep deep shaft which extended below the level of the hill. Some of the strange scan-proof material was used in its construction, because the area below a certain level could not be scanned. There was a ladder, slick with condensation, that some of the team easily descended.

They found a large underground room with four doors. A trail of blood led from the ladder to one of the doors. The doors had strange buttons on their opening mechanisms, but without a clue to their operation, the team blew one door open.

There were bloodstains on one of the doors which provided the vital clue to the order in which the buttons had to be pressed, and in this way the rest of the doors were opened without recourse to wanton destruction. Behind each of the doors there was a long corridor/room, all of which contained strange writings and diagrams. One of the diagrams indicated that this facility was a hazardous waste disposal installation.

In one of the four rooms the team found an Anthropos corpse. It carried a note indicating that a group had landed on the planet some months previously, following rumors of a great treasure. But the group had fallen to quarreling and all the groups' members had killed each other. The dead man had come up the ladder wounded, trying to escape the rest of his party, now apparently insane. He had died before help arrived.

Undaunted, Team Fugazi descended the ladder to the lower level, where they found that the containers of hazardous waste stored there were old and rusted, and the floor was awash with water. A force field protected the entire area which was powered by some facility below. It was this power source that had been detected from orbit.

They also saw a dead man standing in a doorway leading out of the chamber. The dead man was holding what appeared to be a sword made from purple glass.

Carefully they made their way over to him after deactivating the force field (Sharris determined that the residual radiation was harmless as long as they did not spend too long in the area).

In the tunnels beyond they found the corpses of two more pirates, who had stabbed each other to death. They also found a large mutated berry bush and half of another corpse beneath it. This half-corpse wore a medallion of odd design. Tok was able to retrieve the corpse using his grappler.

Treesh determined that the medallion had a psychic resonance, but was not willing to try it on.

The team returned to the Paradroid as quickly as possible.