Callisto

1.2

My spirit stood the test of time very well, my vision still focused on the objective at hand, but my body had failed me. Mobile Task Force unit Rho 19 personnel are attired in an outer space Exo suit when on a mission. TL series 4 Exo suits are basically space suits enforced with life-supporting units and embedded micro-receptors to provide increased physical prowess. The drawback was that they were very heavy to move into. That never bothered the Rho 19 squad as our primary missions took place in zero to low-gravity regions. But right now, my body wasn't even able to support the weight of the armour, even in artificial gravity. Lieutenant Jeder was right in protesting my decision to still wear it, but I would never accept it from him. I had to settle with a Series 2 protective suit meant for the research personnel; it was lightweight with a built-in plasma shield and monitoring devices, with a shoulder-mounted logbot to note down and record the proceedings and findings. Not my favourite, but then again, I would have anything to walk out of the med bay.

LOGBOT INITIATION SUCCESSFUL, NOW FUNCTIONAL.

Able: Now that we are done with this, tell me what's the status of the mission, Lieutenant, and I demand proper details from the ground up.

Jeder: Sounds like Sybil was running late for the testing if she left without briefing you, Cap'n; Well, here I am to get you up to speed with everything.

When we landed here, you were already out of action, so Sybil took charge of the proceedings, and she did a damn good job if you ask me. The ground team succeeded in entering the alien facility quite easily. It turned out that the place itself was far bigger than it looked on the outside, with three underground stories and many different chambers and unused but open wings and halls. It had no indication of any life form or signs of recent presence either. The research team took over and started their job, and here's where things get interesting, sir.

The first thing they discovered was that all the alien equipment found inside the facility not only worked but was also capable of running with standard foundation equipment of all kinds. Though they were still unable to find who built the facility, where it came from, and what it was built for, as there were no records of any kind at all. The one thing that caught their attention was a portal gate standing at the centre of the ground story of the facility. It wasn't connected to anything else in the facility, and its location dictated that the facility was built around it, so the research crew ruled it out as an escape door, but they still didn't know where it led to.

In classic foundation fashion, upon utilizing and studying everything the facility had to offer, they decided to power up the portal gate, as it was compatible with the power sources we had with us. But it turned out to be insufficient as the gate drained a fusion battery dry in no time, can you believe it?

In need of more power sources, the Foundation assigned another company of MTF carrying fusion batteries to Callisto. The crew already on the moon here was ordered to build a surface facility and study the alien tech further. I was leading that second voyage, and things escalated quickly as soon as we touched down here and made contact with your crew.

It took five fusion batteries working at max capacity to finally open the portal gate on a stable level, and then it was only a matter of time before MTF personnel were entrusted to go through the portal and report where it leads to. That is if they survived.

Luckily, Contact Team One survived, and what they found made this entire mission even more complex as if it needed any more to its mystery. We are currently camped on Callisto, one of the more prominent moons of Jupiter. The portal expected to lead us to some other dimension, galaxy, or planet rather took us to another one of Jupiter's moons instead. Thebe.

It was bizarre if you ask me, the portal opened up to another similar facility. A one-to-one replica of Callisto's, it even had an active life support system and gravity spikes all active and running. It took the Research team some time to study the portal on the new facility, but it all ended up the same. It had been ruled out that somehow the Portal gate on Callisto was channelling its energy over to this facility. That's why all the systems were active before we arrived. The only difference was there was another Portal gate on the surface level of the Thebe facility. An active one.

The MTF contact team was yet again assigned to go through it, as expected after the research team got done with the new place. We were still sceptical about the other side of the portal, but it ended up in vain. The Portal gate on Thebe led us to yet another moon of Jupiter itself. Titan. The same scenario there as well. A clone facility of three levels, all systems active and drawing power from our Callisto camp through the gate and on the surface level? Yet another active game. This continued on the same line as the Titan gate led us to Metis, and the gate on Metis led us to Io.

Io was where things differed from the previous destinations. Rather than a portal gate standing on the base third level of the facility, we walked out of a wall-attached huge outing on the same level. On top of that, this facility had no other portal gate on-site, which meant whoever built the previous facilities had no similar way out of this one.

So now we have in control for ourselves five different alien facilities on five of the moons of Jupiter with zero explanation. Not only are all these facilities similar to each other in vastly different environments, but they can also channel energy amongst each other through one point, Callisto. And the portal travel seems stable on astonishing levels.

Currently, we have two Rho 19 companies and the research team is spread thin between these five moons, and as you are back with us again, Captain, it might be easier to carry out all the missions furthermore.

Able: Astonishing indeed, old friend. Where's Roth?

Jeder: Oh, he is on Io, as I last recall, studying the abnormal portal gate there. He was supposed to come down here to brief you, but well, it seems like the good doctor is busy with his findings.

Able: We better pay him a visit then?

Jeder: Sir, yes, sir!

LOGBOT RECORDS HALTED.