The Precursors were a large,
insectoid race called the Tk'Mara. There
was also a heavy set slave race called the Melan. The Melan once tried to
rebel, but were put down before the Tk'Mara left for somewhere else.At least one Tk'Mara starbase was
left operational, run
automatically, in a large nebula in Alliance space. It had been visited
several times by several different races over the millennia.The crew visited the station, and
talked with its main computer. The
computer, tired of endless existence, was set to self-destruct.Before the base exploded, the crew
rescued an old Precursor ship,
called the Purple Star, from the station. Zen, the onboard AI, agreed to
help them.The silver sphere from the Kaa
starbase is a stasis generator. The
black box Kordivan stole is a Power Amplifier, with a Field Projector
attached. Should all three components be combined, the could generate a
stasis bubble large enough to shield a starship. The crew recovered a
power amplifier from the base, but still lack a Field Projector.Tachyon beams, a Precursor weapon,
will pass straight through force
screens. Should a Tachyon beam hit a stasis field, the effects on local
space-time are very bad.Melanie has sent at least one ship
to search for the suspected
assassin of his son. Before that vessel could board the Klarg Star,
however, it was destroyed by Kordivan.Councilor Nichols, head of FedInt is trying to find the crew of the
Klarg Star.
Further in the base, the crew finds the main computer, still on-line,
though quietly babbling in an alien tongue. It is, however, quite able to
learn the various modern languages. It explains that it has been left in
charge of the station for millions of years, since the Precursors suddenly
decided to withdraw. It doesn't know where they went, but it explains a
great deal about the them. There were two major races: the insectoid
Tk'Mara, and the vaguely humanoid slave Melan. Both were tremendously
physically strong. With its help, Anthony is able to roughly translate a
Tk'Mara (thinly detailed) technical manual. They finally identify the small
silver sphere from the Kaa Starbase as a "Stasis Field Generator." On its
own, it can only project a field within a couple of meters. The large black
box (with conical attachment) which Kordivan took is revealed as a Power
Amplifier (with a Field Projector). If they were to be hooked up with a
Stasis Generator, they could create a stasis field large enough to shield an
entire starship from virtually anything. Except, of course, a tachyon beam.
If a tachyon beam were to strike a stasis field, the time/space continuum
around the point of impact would suffer serious mangling. Tachyon beams
are, of course, blue...
The computer continues to chat with the crew, explaining that it was left
to tend the station, and guard the Melan prisoners. Apparently the Melan
had tried to rebel against the Tk'Mara a bit before they left. Several of
them are held in stasis in the core of the station. Over the last few years,
the stations automated maintenance units have begun to fail. The
computer decided to self-destruct the station, and decides not change its
mind once visitors finally arrived. The last visitors it had met were
millennia ago. It does, however, say that a small Tk'Mara ship is docked at
the base. Its antimatter reactor was damaged, so the Tk'Mara abandoned it.
As its onboard computer might not want to be blown up, the main
computer reactivates the ship, and the crew pays it a visit.
The onboard
computer, named Zen by the crew, agrees to join the Klarg Star Shipping
Company rather than die with the base. Zen explains that its antimatter
reactor cannot be repaired by the crew, and must be jettisoned. Even with
its auxiliary reactor, however, the ship would still be significantly faster
in hyperspace than any other vessel in known space (almost 7
parsecs/day)! The crew also manage to salvage a working Power Amplifier
for the Stasis Generator. Without the Projector, the field is still to small
to shield a vessel. Both the Klarg Star and the newly rechristened Purple
Star (on autopilot) leave the starbase before its destruction. But on
exiting the nebula, the ships are caught in a grav wall by a destroyer
sized ships calling itself "Hammer of Melanie." As the vessel moves to
board the Klarg Star, however, an Iraari destroyer decloaks nearby and
destroys it. The destroyer than rapidly recloaks, and even Zen can't track
it.
Returning once again to the Empire, the crew removed the Purple Star's antimatter reactor (and store it in the Imperial vault), but are forced to replace it with a fusion plant. Meliar takes an unexplained contract to transport something to Earth. They also learn that the Federation Councilor Nichols, in charge of Federation Intelligence, has personally requested an audience with them on Earth...
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