Chapter 6: Colony Rycis
From Axalon RPG
This arc follows the Colony Rycis Taskforce as it tries to stop Cage and his followers from unlocking the Endless, and then tries to contain the Endless and heal the damage to the universe (aka FNOTI) caused by the destruction of the Axis of Time. Their adversaries are one step ahead at every turn. As this arc ands and Chapter 7: Genesis of Extinction begins, the Taskforce is essentially dissolved when its ship is impounded and most of its members imprisoned by Cage's security forces, which have taken over CA3.
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Enter: Colony Rycis...
Cage along with his band of followers arrived at Colony Rycis with the goal of freeing the Endless who were imprisoned long ago below the site the colony rests on. It was however believed that Cage’s arrival was accidental as the ship he stole received heavy damage in a fight with a Maximal Military ship. The Maximal Military vessel was destroyed in the engagement.
In response to the destruction of the Maximal Military ship, a taskforce commanded by Strafe was sent to the colony to bring Cage into custody. The taskforce consisted of veterans of previous Cybertronian Alpha RPG endeavors as well as a good number of newcomers.
Motive...
Strafe divided his taskforce into smaller units so that the area surrounding the colony could be scouted in hopes of locating Cage’s crashed ship. Large concentrations of energon deposits on the planet made sensors all but useless.
Several of Cage’s followers were spotted at ruins of an ancient settlement several miles outside of Colony Rycis. The resulting engagement is essentially a draw due to both sides being affected by energon buildup in their systems. However, Cage’s forces do escape the ruins with several mysterious tablets.
It is clear that Cage’s presence at the colony was not accidental after all.
Also, Icerunner who recovered from her previous injuries in 'Playing God' joins the taskforce.
Artifacts of Salvation...
Cage’s forces launch an all out assault against Colony Rycis. The colony was not designed to function as a stronghold and although Strafe’s taskforce had been fortifying it since their arrival, it is clear that their efforts were too little too late.
Strafe makes his priority the evacuation of the Carcanen colonists which in turn allows Cage’s forces to effectively take the colony. Knowing Strafe’s forces will counterattack, Cage wastes little time. He detonates the center section of the colony, which allows a large cavern to be uncovered.
Long story short: the cavern contains the Endless. The tablets are used to free the Endless who then kill Cage and take over the bodies of the rest of his men who then all vanish. Cage had wanted the Endless’s immense power. In the end, he didn’t get it.
Blood Feud...
The present Guardian of the Axis of Time bares witness to the Endless being freed by Cage. Thus, he teleports Strafe’s taskforce to the Axis. Essentially since they failed to stop the Endless from being freed, it was now their job to stop the Endless. The Endless, who had lost their bodies as a result of their imprisonment, are after new ones. But not just any body will do as they have particular ones in mind. Therefore, Strafe’s taskforce is divided up into several smaller units.
They are dispatched to several different points in the timeline, including CA1, 1984, a twisted post apocalyptic world, and a big dinosauroid gladiator contest.
Trouble in the Axis of Time...
To make a long story short, Strafe’s taskforce succeeds in destroying most of the Endless, or at least the shells they obtained. One of the Endless had set their sights on Icerunner, however that Endless failed as well. However, a few Endless attack the Axis of Time directly. In an effort to prevent the Endless from obtaining its power, Temperance who stayed behind to better study the situation, destroys the Axis.
It is believed however that the destruction of the Axis is exactly what the Endless wanted so that they could move throughout space and time unchecked.
Enter: Planet Sarnath...
This is very bad news. The team travels to planet Sarnath, which they are told holds some sort of solution. I (Riboflavin) have a pretty vague recollection of this mission, but I believe the key moment was when a mad scientist showed Cyrex Wingblade a liquid metal orb that was the only thing holding the structure of time together, and then Cyrex stole it, prompting cries of "You idiot! You've doomed us all!" or something to that effect.
Really, the mission was pretty slow and confusing around then, and it's unclear to this day what the true significance of that orb is, but in any case that event triggered the FNOTI crisis.
Cybertronian Alpha: Reborn...
Whether due to FNOTI or just "natural" timeline changes from chasing down the Endless, several things in the universe changed, from the Colony Rycis team's perspective. Cybertronian Alpha Station (CA3) was in existence again, apparently rebuilt somewhat recently. Cage was there, as Predacon Ambassador, and apparently had never been to Colony Rycis or unlocked the Endless or anything.
In the meantime, the timeline was deteriorating rapidly. Beings were being randomly booted tens or millions of years in the future or past. Pyre appeared, or 'a' Pyre appeared, and donated his Temporal Task Force time-jump device, which held a fragment from the Axis of Time, to be reconfigured into a Temporal Flux Generator which would essentially stop the bleeding. It is not clear if this Pyre is the CA proper Pyre who was last seen in 'The Better Man'. Various forces tried to stop this, for various reasons. Among them were the Lightspawn, who had been flung to CA3 from an alternate universe. This was, by the way, a free for all bring any character from anywhere mission. To that end, Cyan arrived.
The Consequences of Power...
The Time Generator was installed, and a lot of the worst of the problems were instantly rectified. The Lightspawn were returned to their home universe and time, for example. However it was just a band aid on the wound. Many beings were still temporally replaced, and more time storms kept taking place, albeit at a slower pace. CA3, being home of the Time Generator, was now the most stable place in the spacetime continuum, and so attracted a large number of refugees from, well, the rest of the spacetime continuum.
Some of these refugees had agendas. A team of three Minicons attempted and failed to destroy the Time Generator. They do manage to slip away, steal a ship, escape the station, evade some pretty powerful patrol ships, and go to transwarp.
The Puppetmasters...
Having reason to believe the Minicons are pawns of some more sinister force, the team gives chase aboard the Outbound, tracking their quarry to a small planetoid inside a nebula.
The Summit...
There they encounter an Endless-posessed Starscream, who pretty much just gloats a little, time-teleports out of there, and sets the planetoid to self destruct. Another sort of fuzzy mission that preceded another return to an altered CA.
In hindsight, team members might be smart to conclude that the whole Minicon attack thing was meant to send them on a wild goose chase while other events occurred on CA3.
