Unforeseen Consequences

New Mexico, May 16 2002

Gordon hadn't said a word, he'd been briefed on what the day's goal was, and was lost in thought contemplating his task as he stepped onto the transit cart. The day before had yielded an item of great interest to his colleagues as much as it did concern, how had they come to possess it and what would the test results reveal? Some of his fellow scientists had even uttered the thought that the sample was too pure, and would lead them down a path they could not predict, towards a resonance cascade.

Despite the catastrophic potential, curiosity and greed overcame the shadows of doubt, for the possibility of such an event required an unparalleled release of energy, one of such magnitude that it would dwarf even the Soviet Union's Tsar Bomb. Though what destruction a resonance cascade would set free could only be speculated at, an event fleetingly privy only to those with the understanding of forces as such.

The transit cart came to a slow stop, slowly bringing Gordon out of his thoughts as it neared the platform. What the day held still lied in wait, and though apprehensive of his task, like his colleagues his curiosity was not blunted by his apprehension, and it was time to suit up.

Uninhabited System, May 13 3059

Suspended 150 million kilometers from the systems star, the Righteous Rain waited. An old Invader class JumpShip, the common and reliable workhorse of interstellar travel, had spread its black sails. Inside the humming of a manmade star could be heard, its resonance reaching every corner of the ancient ship. On the bridge the crew steadily prepared the data that would propel the ship to parts more known.

"Captain, Engineering is reporting issues with the KF Drive"

Surprised, the Captain inquired "What sort of issues?"

"They are reading fluctuations in the KF field as they bring the Drive to full power" The helmsman replied

"Alright, delay the countdown, tell Jeleny she's got ten"

Close to the heart of the ship, rested the KF Drive, around it Engineers scurried back and forth, taking readings and retaking them, at the center Lisa Jeleny directed and gathered the various information.

"Chief, something is REALLY wrong, we can't bring down the turbulence in the KF field!"

"Then WHAT is CAUSING the turbulence?!"

"We can't narrow it down ma'am, we've checked every component that we can touch, and ran diagnostics on those that we can't. All's in the green, nothing is wrong with the drive!"

"Could it be the diagnostics? Could the mainframe be damaged or malfunctioning?"

"No ma'am, we've checked it too, it can run all the test protocols and it even generated the results a few seconds quicker, if anything its running better than it ever has!"

Frustrated, Chief Jeleny had to make a decision.

"What's the reading on the turbulence? How severe is it? Could it cause a misjump?"

"I couldn't say ma'am, we're reading an average one point nine TeV increase in the field, its small when you consider the fields total energy level to be a hundred EeV, but I wouldn't risk it ma'am. Even the slightest difference in the field could be our deaths knell. We need more time."

"We don't have the time, we're already two weeks behind schedule, and we were supposed to have our clients to Terra last week! Give me the odds something's going to happen."

"…I'd say three in ten we cook the drive, and two in ten we misjump."

Back on the bridge, the Captain watched the smallest hand on his watch tick past the twelve for the tenth time, Jelenys time was up, he needed a decision.

"Engineering, this is the bridge, is everything set? Are we go for a jump?"

"…Yes Captain, we are go."

"Good, helmsman, retract the sails and begin the count down."

The ship groaned as the KF Drive was fed the built up power that the sails and fusion plant had generated, steadily increasing the size and intensity of the KF field.

"Jump in T minus five, four, three, two, one: Jump!"

As if the void itself could scream, a deafening wail permeated the ship, all colour evaporated from their surroundings reducing the star below to a gargantuan point of light. As if being pulled, the star fell below them, reducing it further to just another point in the sky, then all at once every point around them grew until space had reversed colours, a glaring whiteness that cast the whole ship into shadow's that could not exist. The ship lingered in this state for but a moment, until the all-encompassing whiteness began to crack and fracture, and with every crack the ship shuddered and with every fracture the ship shook.

New Mexico, May 16 2002

"Shut it down! Shut it down!"

"Gordon! Get out of there!"

Gordon backed away from the Anti-Mass Spectrometer, trying to avoid bits of metal as the machine tore itself apart. Green arcs of lightning danced across the walls, one striking the control room, screams and an explosion rushed from the room. Gordon ducked under a bolt as it passed a foot above him, he began to run for the door, a second stride was as far as he made it.

Black Mesa, Orbital Control and Observation

"What is the Lambda complex doing?! Everything just crashed and the lights dimmed!"

"Damn them and Breen, every other complex comes second to Lambda, even our power goes to them!"

"Ah, the systems are coming back online. Wait a moment, what is that?! Henry, scan over to Sector 45"

"Alright, give me a moment, Sector 45 huh? Let's see…what is it indeed?"

One hundred and fifty million kilometers from the sun at what would be the Zenith point of Sol, there was a ripple, a distortion of space, small at first but began to grow exponentially. Then out of nothing a brilliant white light appeared at the center of the distortion and bloomed as the distortion did until it was a sphere a few kilometers shy of the diameter of the moon. It hung there in space for a moment and then exploded outwards, sending rays of coherent white light in every direction. Left at the center of the event, was a long black cylinder, along a straight section of the hull were inscribed the words Righteous Rain.