Raiders of the Lost Arc

The detour

It would have been a 60 km detour if the science council had been quicker with their decision. The Popsicles had enough on their mind so a request for a detour was met with skepticism. “But why, Gene?” Val asked. “I am not allowed to disclose that yet Val,” and he started humming a drinking song. After the transmission was complete Finni filled in the secret hint. “That song is,” Val interrupted him, “Wehrdards favorite drinking song, I know. Let’s connect with Cobalt Base.”

After a bit of chatter, they changed their course and drove through the Duna night despite the risk of running aground. It was still a vast area to survey, but then they spotted a tiny pyramid at the horizon. “That has got to be it. Lets park and head out tomorrow.” Katsuki said, and all agreed with big yawns, Kerbals were not made for night work.

The heavenly palace

As the sun rose the team had breakfast and started the long road towards the artifact. “Small?” Valentina said. “Look at those pillars, that pyramid thingy is just the roof.”  One hilltop later it was shown that the pillars were not the lowest part either. “That thing is massive!” Katsuki said. “Its a spacecraft the size of the VAB!”

And indeed just driving around it took quite the time, it measured more than 80 meters on each side and was more than 100 meters high. It was old too, very old. But the scorch markings and fractures on the bottom could be dated back about 5000 years. “That seems to align nicely with the story of the ancients,” Valentina said. “Rain of rocks,” I wonder if the fragments from the moon that was blown up landed here as well?” Katsuki said.

“That is likely,” Finni responded. Even Kerbin got serious hits and Duna could have been closer. Any colony on the surface would have suffered greatly, most structures would have been destroyed in an asteroid shower.” Val looked at the massive structure, “So, why did this one survive?”. Katsuki said: “There seems to be an energy field surrounding it, that is why it doesn’t show on sensors. Something is powering it even after all these years.”

Knock, knock

“That must be one hell of a battery,” Val said. “Hold on,” Finni said, “that looks like an access portal.” And indeed it did, but the whole structure was buckled and cracked, pushing a button was not going to work here.” Finni examined it closely, “it looks like an eye, possibly some kind of bio-mechanical locking mechanism. I wonder how we open this.”

“Let me use my finesse, elegance, and the brute force the Sojourners 10 powered wheels to pull this pannel out of its socket,” Katsuki responded, and so she did. In one loud crack, the panel came loose and revealed a passageway.

“knock knock,” Valentina said.

Up, up and up we go

The tunnel was huge and Valentina went first to test the structural integrity. “Looking good you two. Join me one at the time, keep a relay to the recorder in the Sojourner, I want to stay in radio contact.” At the end of the tunnel, there was a stairway, again with scorch marks. “I wonder if the Dunatians fought their way through here,” Finni said.

Look at this place, it is breathtaking. The sun rose in the sky and they marveled at the large plateau. “I’m reading all kinds of materials here,” Katsuki said. “I think this was used to store raw materials, but then like a lot of raw materials.”

Looking down the three Kerbals were tiny, and when they looked up they saw it. “What in the Tut’s name is that?” Valentina said. “The Kraken drive,” Finni responded. “At least, I think so. It looks like the glyph the Dunatians used. This is what they sabotaged.” Katsuki peered. “Doesn’t look damaged to me, could have been grown back?” Val shrugged, “I don’t know, but the answers are up there.”

Jetpacks for the win

“You may have noticed, there are no more stairs,” Katsuki replied. “Let’s use our jetpacks,” Val said, well knowing that Finni was afraid of heights. They flew up on the outside to the first level and spotted the terrain. “If I were defending this place, this would be an awesome vantage point,” Valentina said. “Agreed,” Katsuki said, but if this is the soldier’s balcony than the General must be higher up. “Probably in a more save place,” Finni said as he stepped away from the ridge.

“Can you see that? there is a hatch like structure that has an opening, just above us. I think I can fly in and lower a rope.” And so began a series of twists and turns to navigate this vertical maze. They tripped and fell, secured themselves and pushed further until they managed to get inside the top structure.

“This is the drive level,” Valentina said. “I wouldn’t touch that,” Katsuki said while scanning the drive. “It’s giving off all kinds of radiation, its seems almost alive.” Val nodded, “Let’s go up there, we should be almost at the top.”

The juice of the nerve center

“Whooha, that’s a Kraken!” Katsuki looked scared. “Stand clear,” Valentina stayed calm and in control. No other Kerbal could have commanded this mission any better than she. “Katsuki, check out those containers. Finni, scan that Kraken find out if it is alive. I am prepping the exit and scan the building.” The next few minutes were painfully slow.

Katsuki was the first to report. “Those canisters contain some kind of fluid, very high energy, low mass. I am sure it is powering this whole thing, for thousands of years now. We need a sample of it.” Then came Finni, “Well, it powered not just the building. That thing is a Kraken stasis chamber, and the thing inside is very much so alive. Sleeping, but alive.” Val nodded. “I suggest we don’t wake it.”

The failed heist

“Here is what we do,” Valentina unfolded her battle plan. “This whole place makes me feel uneasy and vulnerable, so I’ve set up a zip line to the balcony level.” The team nodded. “Katsuki, I want you to unmount one of those cylinders, connect it to the zipline and lower it.” More nods. “Finni, watch the creature and secure the second line so that we can lower the canister securely.” She watched the room, “I will set up a transmitter and try to flood the room with white noise, it should not only allow us to track the location better, but it may disrupt the radiation patterns that we have seen.”

When the canister came loose, it fell to the floor. The other canisters started to glow more brightly but the Kraken still lay motionless in its chamber. The line was secured and then they started lowering their treasure. Val joined in with Katsuki and they pulled the canister past the first level when the rope on Finni’s side got stuck in the drive.

“Let me fix that,” Finni said as he stepped on the canister, that promptly shifted and both ended up on the drive. “Don’t touch the drive!” Katsuki said, but it was too late. It was as if time stood still. Finni’s eyes widened and he screamed out. “No! I refuse!” Val rushed to the other platform, “What is it Finni?” but he could not hear her anymore. “I refuse! I rather die!” Finni said, “Try, controlling this!” and he stepped off the platform and tumbled down.

A fallen hero

It was roughly 70 meters down from their position, and despite Duna’s low gravity, he picked up quite a velocity. He seemed to make no effort to ignite his jet pack and in fact seemed to point his head down without protecting it as they had learned in basic training.

He smashed into the ground, cracking his helmet and tearing his suit. Though, surprisingly not completely. Nevertheless, the whole thing was venting atmosphere, and alarms were sent out to the other team members, decompression was imminent.

Without hesitation, Val jumped off the platform, igniting her jetpack halfway down, she landed hard but controlled. “Katsuki, secure the cargo,” she barked as she ran over to Finni. This is where they had trained for, she pulled the sealants from her backpack and closed the ruptures, hooked up her own life support to his pack and repressurized it.

By the time Katsuki had come down, the suits alarm lights switched back to amber. “How is he?” Katsuki asked. “Unconcious, but alive.” Val responded. “We are connected, I’ll get him back to the Sojourner, try if you can find a way to load up a sample of that orange stuff.”

The bounty

Katsuki couldn’t figure out how to open the canister and for some reason, it didn’t seem like the safest thing to do. So she chucked the entire canister down the tunnel and mounted it to the rear of the Sojourner. “Hmm, it’s going to need some support.” She thought. She moved the buckboard to the end and then added two of the forward wheels to it. “Okay, it looks dumb, but it will work.” She said to herself. “Let’s see if Val patched up Finni in the same fashion.”

That would not be the case. Finni was out. Val had hooked him up to the medical equipment. “Several broken bones, internal bleeding. Unconcious, and not sure what got into him, he seemed to have thrown himself off that cliff.” Katsuki remained silent, “perhaps the body cams will tell us more.” She added. “Let’s get out of here,” Valentina said, “This place is giving me the creeps.”

Lord Makbar Darheek

As they moved away, the Kraken in the stasis chamber opened an eye and then closed it. It had been a long time since it had been awake. Its spirit was weakened and reached out but found nothing. It did not know what to do, it was waiting, as it was doing for thousands of years, but now it was awake.