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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/BainWrites on 2025-06-24 20:21:18+00:00.
There was an impressive sense of scale to the structure. As the small government-provided FTL-vehicle travelled through space, the station’s immense… mass filled the viewport, spreading out as far as the eye could see. It was a diverse, moon sized, artificially created mass, floating out in the middle of nowhere, a single blip in the infinite vastness of space.
Lena could see the station was awash with activity, vessels moving too and fro, military fleets hovering in its orbit in defense of the research station. The occasional explosion erupted against the surface, visible even from this distance, the evidence of some kind of weapons test causing new craters to appear in the lifeless gray rocks that made up an eighth of this station’s mass.
The rest was a strange mismash of biozones, a kaleidoscope of colours: the greens of a verdant forest, the blues of a vast endless ocean, the reds of a hot dead desert. It was as if someone had taken slices out of other planets and fit them together like lego bricks, to create the perfect testing environment for anything special R&D projects the Terran Alliance might want to create.
Lena couldn’t help but feel impressed by such a feat. Most stations of this size, such as the neutral Federation created structures that the galaxy used for diplomacy, would normally build upon an existing uninhabited planet. That way you didn’t have to worry about what to build your station’s core out of, or how to keep its orbit regular enough to not eventually collide with nearby systems. To build something like this, a new moon sized station in the middle of nowhere, outside of the view of prying eyes, was an impressive feat of engineering.
Of course the Scythen’s own technological feats far exceeded that of the Terrans, to the extent that building such a structure in normal reality was an outdated concept. This didn’t change Lena’s admiration for the project: it was still impressive, much like seeing a complex clockwork machine go about its business; even if it was obsolete, it was still interesting and a work of craftsmanship.
They stared out at the structure that would soon become the Scythen’s new home, the station getting larger and larger as they approached, passing by enough orbital defenses to take on even the most mighty of Estorian fleets. Lena had heard the station be referred to by a number of names during the process: “The Death Star”, “Site-19”, “Blackbox”. The official documentation however gave the location a simple name: “Research Location 9”. Lena had been told that research locations one through eight did not exist, that it was a common Terran naming convention to pretend they had more resources than they did.
“I miss you as well sweetie, I’m counting down the days until I see you again.”
Johnathan spoke enthusiastically, eyes twinkling as he continued to speak with his wife. Lena wasn’t getting much from the one side of the conversion they could hear, all while the Terran prattled on about random topics and people the Scythen had never met or heard about. The Doctor had done this for the last half an hour, filling the otherwise silent two person vessel with incessant noise.
“I will! I’ll single handedly discover how to give some slavers a good kicking, then be home for tea. Anyways, I’ve got to leave you now, we’re about to land, I’ll call you tomorrow.”
This was indeed the case, as the station had grown from a very large moon in the distance, to encompassing the entire idea of the ‘ground’ as their vessel moved quickly towards the section of the planet filled with buildings of various sizes, the AI driving the vehicle silently dealing with the business of securing a landing spot.
“No, I love you more…. Nu huh, love you more… Nope, I love you even more!.. I really gotta go now, so as a final statement…. Loveyoumore.”
Lena watched with amusement as Dr. Fletcher spoke with the same enthusiasm of a love struck teenager, quickly whispering out the last three words before ending the call, a smile stuck to his face as he did so. While Johnathan, like most Terrans, did look to be in his earth twenties, his current marriage had been going strong for over a hundred years. The Scythen had long since gotten used to Fletcher’s constant calls of doting and adoration with his family back home: Whether speaking to his two sons, or his loving wife.
“Question: what are your thoughts on this situation? Is Friend Johnathan excited?”
Lena was still in the dark about what exactly they were going to be doing: Even after the Terran alliance had accepted them immediately into the position, there was scant little information about what that their job would entail, apart from a generic title of “head researcher”.
And a hefty paycheque, if one cared about such things.
“Heh, being taken to a government blacksite to do mysterious research to help win a war. How could one not be excited?”
A gentle shudder signaled the end of the pair’s journey as the vessel they were traveling in softly touched down at its final location, the doors opening and allowing them both to exit with a stretch and a sigh, to see their new residence for the first time.
Or at the very least, the space port of their new residence.
For a secret government research facility, two things immediately stuck out to Lena. The first was how busy it was. Based on Terran media you’d have assumed the entire thing would be clandestine and run entirely by faceless people in black suits, but everything looked… normal. A bustling busy location that wouldn’t be out of place at a million and one different spaceports around the galaxy: ships taking off and landing, cargo being hoisted one way and another. The only real difference at Location 9 was the passport control being replaced by a strong military presence.
The second thing was the makeup of the people around them. While the concept of “Build an artificial moon to do science on” was clearly a chaotic Terran idea, the people who walked, flew, slithered and jumped around were not just Terran. While they were the largest contingent at the station, they weren’t the majority, hundreds of species and thousands of people all being represented in one place.
The pair shuffled awkwardly from foot to foot, or in Lena’s case hoving in mid air, looking around anxiously as they weren’t sure what they were supposed to be doing now that they’d arrived in the midst of all this activity. The vessel they’d been taxied in silently rose into the air once more, towards whatever new location it was required to be at, as if signaling to the both of them that the time for any second thoughts had quite literally left them behind.
“Did any of the documentation mention what we were supposed to do once we got here?” Jonathan asked slowly, hoping the Scythen had a better idea as to what to do next.
“Negative response: No, it did not.”
Luckily for them, they wouldn’t have to wait around for long, as someone very important and official looking was speed walking over to their position, with the energy of someone who knew very clearly where they were going and why.
The first thing that stood out to Dr Fletcher, was that this new person looked… old, probably around about in their early forties. Of course, humanity and Terrans as a whole had long since conquered the aging process, meaning visible age was a poor indicator of experience. Jonathan himself was 20, going on 300, and like most Terrans looked like a young adult still in their prime. So for this person who strode towards them with purpose to choose to look older, was in of itself a noteworthy thing.
If anything, it was the only noteworthy thing about a woman, who looked like a factory produced government official. A boring dark grey suit, hair tied up neatly into a bun. This person looked like she’d spawned spontaneously from a pile of forms and bureaucracy, had said their first words signed in triplicate, then made her way directly towards the pair.
“Dr Johnathan Fletcher and the Scythen going by the name Lena.”
The voice was firm, purposeful, not a question about their identities, but a statement. The hand she held out was firm and robotic, along with the handshake she gave to Dr Fletcher.
“Yes, you are?..”
“Susan Carter, Head of facilities here at Location 9. Follow me please, I don’t have a lot of spare time, I have a lot of meetings after this, so walk and talk.”
Just as rapidly as she had arrived, Carter started walking towards a different location across the spaceport without waiting, leaving Fletcher and Lena to scramble after this one woman on an unknown mission.
“Well it’s very exciting and an honour to be offered-” Johnathan began to talk as they moved, only to be cut off by Susan.
“Yes yes, it’s an interesting position, everyone is honored, let’s leave the unimportant social niceties for later.” Her voice was dismissive as she spoke, a sign that she’d had this conversation many many times with many many people. She didn’t look up from the holopad she held in her hands, furiously pressing buttons as she multitasked, doing goodness knows what. “For now, let’s go over what you’ll be doing here, as I’m sure you have questions.”
The bustling spaceport was left behind without fanfare as they walked, a single normal looking hallway leading to a single normal looking door, opening out into the re…
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