Bastion 3

Art by ZoSister

**Bastion 3** is a planet in VAST. It is located in un-owned space. It was the location of a Ta'al Klee facility and the Pac-Ha ship Vanglorious.

## Bastion System

Bastion 3 is part of the Bastion System. The system includes a massive B-class nebula which is 2 million light years across. The nebula interferes with all standard sensor readings and it reflects light from the Bastion systems star. The nebula also blocks the Concordance.

The Bastion system has three stellar bodies within it. Two of these planets, Bastion 1 & 2, appear in the Cyryn and Ta'al Klee databases. However, the third body, Bastion 3, only appears to be in Hansarald Neuroon's Ta'al Klee database.

When first encountered by the crew of the Screaming Valor, the system exhibited some form of anti-Slate radiation.

## Planet Description

Bastion 3 consists of a vast red desert, an arid desert-scape littered with towering calcium deposits - 30 foot spindly outcroppings that reach skyward like curved bony fingers. From the surface, you can see the sand all the way to the horizon if not for the ranges of mountainous red beds, sedimentary rock formations stained by red ferric oxides. There are also a handful of more fertile-looking mountains, sparsely covering what looks like desert grass.

## Ta'al Klee Facility

The Ta'al Klee facility was an ancient windswept basilica. Tall and beautiful in its construction. Its windowless exterior was covered by an array of solar panels. Awesome in the truest sense of the word, this looming phantasmagoria stood 170 feet tall above the desert floor, and was nothing short of a love letter to fractals and curvilinear geometry. A large flying buttressed archway flanked the building’s one entrance.

### Interior

The interior of the basilica consisted of five levels, from top to bottom:

* Level 5: Control Room
* Level 4: Incubation Chamber
* Level 3: Chem Lab
* Level 2: Ethology
* Level 1: Antechamber

#### Antechamber

The entry into the building was a large antechamber. It was large and largely empty, save for a series of support columns and a lone computer terminal. The terminal, like the rest of the building’s architecture, cleverly utilised Euclidean geometry to approximate patterns found in nature. The columns themselves held up the antechamber’s ancient ceiling with tree-like branches. It had fallen into disrepair over the untold hundreds of years it seemed to have been here. There were two doors out of the antechamber - Sub-levels and Ethology. The terminal had the following entries:

* Command: Directory
* Command: Access Ethology
* Command: Access Outer Security Door *(non-functional)*
* Command: Access Sublevels *(non-functional)*

The antechamber also contained a number of hidden nozzles for spraying pheromones into the atmosphere. This were used to cover the crew of the Screaming Valor with the 'Enemy' pheromone.

#### Ethology

Ethology is the science of animal behaviour. The ethology level was a room with eight transparent aluminium cases, all of which are empty. There is also a central terminal in the room. The terminal contained the following logs:

* Relocation
* Stridulation as Language
* *Further entries corrupted*

#### Chem Lab

The chem lab had five large tanks labelled in Ta'al Klee, each containing a different type of Bountiful and Thriving pheromone. They were labelled:

* Friend
* Enemy
* Queen
* Trail
* Nutrient Paste

Also in the chem lab was a chemical shower and a terminal with the following commands:

* Command: Logs *(corrupted)*
* Command: Deploy Chemicals *(inactive)*
* Command: Access Incubation Chamber

#### Incubation Chamber

The incubation chamber consisted of six incubators around the room, with a large transparent aluminium case in the centre. Each incubator contained a mass of eggs, called an ootheca. The central case contained a 32-foot long Bountiful and Thriving queen. She seemed to be in distress, communicating the following words: "Help... Freedom... Bountiful... Thriving"

The chamber contained a terminal with the following entries:

* Command: Logs
	+ Log: Epigenetic Modification
	+ Other logs corrupted
* Command: Open Specimen Cage *(not open)*
* Command: Open Incubators *(not open)*
* Command: Access Control Room *(open)*

#### Control Room

The control room for the basilica is where Garyn Arabath resided. She sat in a computer chair above the ground, flanked by a paid of Bountiful and Thriving.

#### Sub-Levels

The sub-levels of the basilica was actually an ancient Pac-Ha ship known as the Vanglorious. It was involved in the creation of the Slate, and served as the home of the Bountiful and Thriving. The bridge of the ship contained a dead Pac-Ha with an interface.

### Destruction

The basilica and Vanglorious were destroyed by Garyn Arabath. She had set charges around the structures that exploded when she killed herself.