Prologue

Snow was falling in a constant slow sheet across the barren landscape. Not a tree or vegetation as far as the eye could scan. The snow was piling thicker in the absence of any breeze, obscuring the dusky sky in a pale blanket.

Thousands of miles above the solitary planet, a lambda shuttle meanders its ways through the widely spaced outer asteroid field of the Thule system. Among the craggy space rocks are several slabs of twisted metal and other space debris floating languidly in the system. Battered and barely limping the navigational computer locks into a signaling beacon and sputters into motion. A wild clicking and beeping sequence turns the craft directly for the frozen planet.

Landing sequence initiated, moans a metallic voice as the cruiser breaks the atmosphere of blinding snow and gently alters its course for a mountainous region totally covered in powder. The lambda's landing gear mechanically lower as the computer realigns the shuttle with a large metallic door opening in the face of the mountain chain. The shuttle slowly enters while the magnetic doors begin to close. Dalliance comes to rest solidly but gently protected from the elements of the snow-covered barrens. Landing complete. Have a nice visit, squawks the metallic voice as thrusters stop and the cruiser goes silent, almost silent.

The silence is broken by the sound of decompression winds and a dull thud echoing in the emptiness of the cruiser's frame. The storage room has been transformed into a rudimentary medical bay with several computers and three medical pods placed vertically along the far wall. These medical computers come online in a whir of activity and, after a few quick seconds of rapidity, fall into a rhythmic dance across the screen. Three units resuscitating.