Marcus began developing defensive installations while his scientists scrambled to organise a proper expedition to the South Pole of Mars.
Thankfully, this was not the hardest mission to undertake, as Mars had a selection of colonies.
These colonies' original purpose was to provide a population to work on terraforming the world.
In other words, when Marcus decided that each world would have space colonies, these colonies would house a specific group of people.
In the Mars situation, the colonies were full of people who were experts in atmosphere, biodiversity, geology, and everything one would need to create a habitable planet.
So these colonies lacked people who were experts in archaeology. The initial archaeological phase passed several years ago. The world has been designated for terraforming without threatening archaeological sites.
'Clearly, we need to improve our archaeologists.' Anna looked at the data provided for her. The people stumbled upon the ruins' remnants while working at the South Pole to access water.
The building was buried under Mars' red sands.
"Approaching Mars, Your Majesty." The captain of the Expedition-class Frigate said to Anna. The spaceship was designed to work as a Research Command post until proper facilities are built.
The ship is preparing to position itself in low orbit above the pole of the world.
"Slow and speedy, captain. Send the word to the SWORD colonies to send Legion capsules." The Pink-Haired Empress said to the man.
"Understood, contacting the colonies."
With a nod, the communication was established, and the Scientist Empress checked the information the explorers on site had provided. Her fingers swirled and played with her hair while she was reading the reports.
It has been years since she did any real work. She was spending most of her time with her daughter. Marcus wouldn't allow any long-term work; this was different, understandably so. It was an alien research facility.
'Initial proposition from Marcus is that this is an observation facility directed towards Earth.'
Anna was a bit worried about that. If this were the case. What does this mean?
"Empress Leila is contacting us, Your Majesty."
"Hmm? Patch her through."
"Anna, I have compiled a list of possible styles of facilities we can build. Since water won't be an issue, we are far more flexible." The blonde Empress showed her several styles of buildings that they could build for the research facility.
"Pick one you think would be the best. Most important thing I do believe is to make sure communication is stable with colonies."
"That won't be an issue. We will position one of the colonies to be right above the facility to keep a constant connection." The blonde showed the Sword style colony hanging above Mars.
"Good enough. We can proceed with this." Anna nodded as she proceeded with issuing her orders.
One of the Sword-style colony moves its tip and targets the South Pole. The colony's cannon fired three capsules towards the Martian lands.
These were the Legion bots that would prepare the site for construction. One of the capsules was carrying parts for a fusion reactor that will power the new facility.
Not long afterwards, the scientists left the Expedition Frigate, followed by Mobile Workers, then a small squad of Cataphract mobile suits. The 3rd generation mass-produced machines that replaced Setanta as the main combatants.
~~~
A couple of days later, the site had been excavated enough that people could arrive and inspect it in person.
The building looked like an abandoned research facility of some sort.
There were no signs of houses or other types of buildings, except a singular building that was carved into an ancient canyon's side. The canyon was nowhere to be found anymore. Most likely filled up with sand and dust over thousands of years.
The initial explorers concluded that it could have been artificial in the first place to protect from Mars' ruthless winds.
The winds were indeed an issue; Mars is well known for its ruthless sandstorms thanks to its more erratic axis tilt. Without a moon, this world's seasons are longer and more dangerous.
Because of that, the sandstorms could last for weeks if not months.
While all that sounds awful, Marcus and Leila devised a solution a couple of years ago. To assist in the logistics of planet colonisation, the pair created 'portable' fusion reactors that emit a magnetic field barrier.
For Mars, they specifically altered these fusion reactors with a small gravitational force to create fields that keep Mars's winds and worst of the weather at bay.
Because of that, working in such a location is not an issue. On top of that. They can have breathable air in these bubbles, too!
The only issue is the temperature, but for that, a new type of suit has been developed as part of colonial efforts on dangerous planets.
With preparations for human arrival done, the first small spacecraft carrying scientists arrived.
The first ship carrying a group of well-known scientists arrived. The first one to step foot was the nerdy scientist. Dressed in a new full-body type suit, Lloyd took a deep breath.
"Ah, Martian air! Quite dull, but it will do." Lloyd exclaimed that he was wearing a specific mask that helped him breathe even when the temperature was close to -100 degrees Celsius. One would get Hypothermia in mere moments, lungs would freeze, and one's death would come extremely quickly.
For that, specific masks for assisted breathing were developed. It's a much better solution than needing to wear breathing masks with oxygen tanks.
"It's not technically Martian Air." Cecilia, next to him, commented as she looked around. This was the first time she had set foot on an alien world.
"Don't give me those technicalities, more specifically, look at that!" Lloyd grinned under the face mask. He was giddy! Alien building! Alien tech! Here he comes!
"Indeed. With how hostile this world is to life, such buildings can last for a very long time." Cecilia smiled, even though it's 50,000 years old. It can continue to exist even now, thanks to how hostile Mars is to any and all life.
It's life itself that causes buildings to crumble and fall apart. Weather adds to it as well, but things like trees and bacteria can eat it up and cause old stuff to break apart and decompose.
But Mars is basically almost like a vacuum of space; the atmosphere in this world is extremely thin.
"Let's go! We have a mission to fulfil!" Lloyd, with a jovial tone, motioned for his team to move out.
"Understood, my Lord!" The scientists moved out and walked towards the entry point.
Once inside the dark building, everyone turned on their projectors and built a HUD in their masks. These assist them in searching and picking up any radio or radiation frequencies. They can see those with their HUDs.
Sadly, all they could see were empty rooms.
"No technology, furniture or even signs of life. Can't see any biological remains. With how thin the atmosphere is, I expected at least some bones." Cecilia commented as she was recording everything she was looking at.
"Nothing here, professor." Another scientist reported from another room.
"Completely abandoned."
'Strange, was the facility left behind? If this were an observation facility directed towards Earth…
Is it because of a reset happening on Earth?'
Cecilia wondered whether these Aliens had retreated because of a civilisational reset that occurred on Earth during the Younger Dryas.
But that was around ten thousand years ago. The amount of sand that hides the facility was calculated to be between 45 and 50 thousand years.
The stones themselves were around that age as well.
'If this continues, we won't find anything.'
The woman sighed, she was dissapointed.
[Got it. Come to the underground levels, I think I found the black box.]
Lloyd said via comms. The nerd literally dashed to the basement as if he knew where to look.
"Reckless as ever."
The woman complained as she slowly walked to where he was.
What they found was a large cavern. In the middle of it, there was a man-made hole; on the other side of the hole, they were looking at something metal-made.
"Is that a computer?"
"Most likely, their central computer is related to this base. They have built it to last." Lloyd commented as he looked at old old-looking panel before him.
His hand went to, and a green hologram popped up.
"!!!"
Cecilia and Lloyd looked at this with wide eyes! The tech… reacted!?
The pair got closer to it and tried to understand what they were looking at.
"Legion, can you try to decipher this?"
[I can certainly try, but I need more letters and some sort of starting point.]
The AI said to the pair.
"Hmm…"
The pair looked a bit, but then Lloyd, all of a sudden, brought his finger closer to one option and pressed it.
"Lloyd!"
Cecilia complained, but then the whole place shook as a bridge emerged from the edge of the cliff and moved to the other side, where the main computer was.
"Hmm…"
The nerd started to walk as he strolled over to the main computer on the other side.
At that moment, three green screens surrounded him when he walked over there.
'This makes no sense. Unless it was left like this on purpose.'
As a scientist, developer and creator himself, he knows that research data should not be left unprotected. But here he was, accessing it without any safeguards.
He could assume it was due to time, but even then, it should be a fragment or corrupt.
Well, he doesn't understand what he is looking at, but he can tell it wasn't corrupted. Letters he can't understand were everywhere; there were no faults in these texts apart from the fact that these holograms were old and not that stable.
"Unbelievable! We have access to their database!" Cecilia strolled over as she gazed at this with awe!
"Swiftly notify the Emperor! We found something major!!!"
[Already notified His Majesty] Legion commented as the AI began to dedicate even more resources to cracking the language.
By this point, the AI has experience with hundreds of Earth-based languages. It has foundations to work with. Especially since it got a clue. The button Lloyd pressed pulled that bridge.
~~~
A sonic boom spread through the bubble of the new research site as a plane flew over with a spin, transforming into a humanoid form that revealed itself to be a Gundam.
From the mech's chest, hot air left the vents before the machine landed on the ground and dropped to one knee, assisting its pilot out of the cockpit.
Marcus dressed in his pilot suit, left the machine and strolled over to the ruins that became a temporary research facility. The elite guards at the site saluted him.
Inside the facility, there were computers and other tools needed to decipher the language. Deeper, in the underground where the database is, there were even more computers with holographic screens.
"Any news?" Marcus asked his wife who was there as well.
"Several words. We are getting there. There is one word that is constantly getting mentioned.
I can assume that it's the species of these aliens, or their faction name. We are not sure. But it appears constantly in these files.
The most interesting fact is that these aliens were indeed observing us. There is data related to Earth." Anna showed him several pieces of information.
Like climate… resources and other things. Marcus's eyes scanned the information.
"Interesting. Any data on why this base has been abandoned like this?" The Emperor asked her.
"No idea. There are no records, literally nothing. It's like they vanished in thin air." The pink-haired Empress said with a curious tone.
"The recording simply stops. Such a thing doesn't simply happen. There was some sort of event." She said with a sigh.
"I see. You didn't mention their name. How did they call themselves?" Marcus asked her curiously.
"They call themselves… The Protheans."
"..."
Marcus didn't look surprised, shocked, or intrigued; he simply nodded. After all, he already knew their name…
~~~
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