Chapter 1.
Ace Ridley and Dr. Allison Grand find themselves on the far edge of the ever-dusty Yumin 6 in search of the Begalian Stones, said to be a powerful device used by the gods of Begal, allowing them and anyone in possession of them control over the physics of the universe. As to how they made their way over to Yumin 6 had Ace’s mind in a knot, Allison was more skeptical of the authenticity of their contact who had sent a message they had found the stones.
“This is ship designation, ‘The Quill’ asking for permission to land at the Yumin Desert Landing Pad 5. Over.” Ace waited for a response, and waited, and waited. Ace repeated his message still to no avail, He looked over at Allison who was resting in the chair behind him, she didn’t even need to say anything for Ace to know she was right about something being off. All she needed to do was smirk.
“Oh, screw this.” Ace exclaimed as he began the descent down to the surface, Allison buckled herself in as she proudly said, “Atta boy.” Ace swerved the ships way through the thick white dust storm, nearly hitting a Ship Guidance Post used to help with landing. But as they pasted more of the Ship Guidance Posts, Allison noticed most of them had major damages as if to disable them so no one could enter the planet’s atmosphere. Luckily for them Ace was a better pilot than anyone who might stumble across to Yumin 6
Ace flicked buttons as he was essentially blind, the only thing guiding his way was the ship’s lights and the radar which was playing up due to the dust storm, he had to trust his gut as per usual. Allison, still looking at the Posts, noticed they had passed the last to indicate they were nearing the surface, she called out to Ace that was the last one. “I know.” he said calmly as he pulled back on the controls to level out the Quill, which they narrowly missed the ground by a few feet, he then started going back up to avoid hitting the Desert Base.
The storm continued its grasp over the views of Yumin 6, leaving them still blind until they saw the faint lights of the Desert Base. As they grew closer, the base revealed itself in the storm and they safely landed on Landing Pad 5, it was the closest they could get to the entrance as they were still shipped docked despite the sign of any life. The two unbuckled as Ace began to turn the ship into low power mode in the case they needed to make a quick escape. “Looks bad out there, the amount of snow out there and we’ll freeze to death.” Allison stated.
“That’s not snow, Dr. Grand. That’s metallic dust, caused by what Yumin 6 used to mine… It was some of the strongest metal people could get a hold of, unfortunately after prolonged exposure to oxygen it begins to turn to dust. And because they were mining it so much, nearly the entire supply was turned into what you were seeing out there.” Ace explained, “It got the mining company into a lot of trouble, when they eventually tried to sell it all for cheap before word got out about its decaying nature.
“I somewhat remember hearing about that back home, when I was only a child. It’s funny I remember my parents and neighbours checking if they had anything with… oh what was it called” Allison tried to remember when it finally comes to her, “Indite! That was it. Never realised it would be this detrimental to the environment, but if it’s been like this for years… then where are ships still here?”
“Good question, and it appears that some of these ships are newer models. So someone has been here recently, just can’t tell how long due to the amount of dust. Grab the scanner Dr. Grand, we’ll see if we can’t tell how long they’ve been here.” Ace finishes as he slides his glass helmet into place on his spacesuit, while Allison grabs the scanner and places her helmet on too. They open the ship’s door and walk down the ramp that the door becomes, the winds not only make it hard to see but also cause a lot of sound.
“You try to open that door, while I’ll get some scans!” Dr. Grand yelled to her partner, he nodded in agreement, he was the better lockpick anyway. Ace jogged to the entrance and pulled out his lockpicker device out of a pocket on his spacesuit, after pressing a few buttons on the device he was able to get to work. Allison started scanning the ships closest to the Quill before moving another closer to the entrance and then another before she saw the door finally open.
She caught up to Ace before the door closed, she regained her breath before looking up to see a desolate and abandoned Mining hub. The electricity was still on, but the building was on emergency power as indicated by the wall lights and exit signs. The lobby had enough light for now but they knew they were going to need their flashlights as they continued to investigate.
Ace was searching for any signs of life, while Allison checked the data from the scans. “Ace, you’re not going to believe this. All of these ships have been here for 3 days” she continued to study the data, “Except one, it’s been here for 3 months… Looks like it may be the ship of our contact, the scanner picked up a similar energy as the one you described for the Begalian Stones.”
“The question now is, where is everybody?”