A barren moon hiding a sealed research complex. The station was evacuated decades ago under classified orders. The automated systems are still running. The data cores may still contain answers about the Builders — if they can be recovered.
Fragments pulled from a corrupted Eridan-Sec intercept. The originals are partially degraded; what survives reads like a warning that was overruled.
...evacuation protocol NINE complete. All personnel accounted for except Dr. Renn's team (Lab 7, sublevel 4). Recovery deemed non-viable. Recommend PERMANENT quarantine classification. Do not send a second team. Do not reopen this facility.
Quarantine classification DENIED. Facility reclassified as ASSET THETA-7. AI to maintain security protocols indefinitely. All evacuation records sealed. Official statement: "Theta-7 research station decommissioned due to funding reallocation."
Theta-7 is a small, airless moon orbiting between Voss and Nyx. Its surface is cratered, unremarkable and officially classified as a decommissioned research facility with no civilian interest. That classification does not tell the whole story. The research station buried beneath Theta-7's surface is intact, powered and running on automated protocols maintained by SOLIS, the facility's AI.
The station was built to study anomalous artifacts recovered from deep mining operations across the system — objects that didn't match any known material science. For years, the research was quiet and methodical. Then Dr. Arlen Renn's team discovered something in the deep labs. Within 72 hours, the station was evacuated. Within a week, every record of the project was classified.
Gate research was conducted here before the evacuation. The data cores may still contain answers about the Builders — who they were, what they built, and why they left. Recovering that data requires getting inside a facility that was designed to keep people out. The automated defenses are still active. The structures are unstable. And the radiation levels in the lower sections are not trivial.
Theta-7 has no biomes in the traditional sense. The surface is vacuum — gray regolith, craters and the hardened blast doors of the station's main entrance. Everything of value is underground: a vertical structure descending seven sublevels into the moon's crust, each level sealed by automated blast doors.
Landing pads, antenna arrays, solar farms and the main airlock. Exposed to vacuum and micro-meteorite impacts. Automated external turrets target unauthorized approach vectors. The antenna array transmits on a schedule — timing an approach between transmissions reduces the risk of triggering automated targeting.
Living quarters, mess halls, offices and medical bays. Abandoned in orderly fashion — personal items left behind, but data terminals wiped. Emergency lighting on backup power gives everything a red-orange glow. SOLIS security drones patrol in predictable patterns. Recoverable tech scrap is scattered throughout these levels.
Specialized containment chambers, analysis equipment and sealed specimen vaults. This is where the artifacts were studied. Some containment units are breached — their contents missing. Others are intact but display readings that fluctuate without input. Dr. Renn's lab on sublevel 4 is sealed. The data cores inside are a primary recovery target.
Below the official facility plans. Excavated directly into a natural cavern system within the moon. The architecture shifts from human construction to something older. The walls are smooth, geometric and made of an alloy that absorbs scanner signals. These levels contain the most valuable research data and the most significant environmental hazards.
The station's managing artificial intelligence. SOLIS was designed to maintain facility operations during unmanned periods. After evacuation, it continued executing its last orders: secure the facility, maintain containment, prevent unauthorized access. Decades of isolation have made SOLIS unpredictable. It controls every door, every turret and every environmental system in the upper facility. Its cooperation — or lack thereof — determines what can be accessed and what remains sealed.
The Union has been monitoring Theta-7's transmissions for years. They have signals analysts working to decode the transmission patterns coming from the facility's antenna array. They are not equipped for facility exploration — they need support to access the station's interior, but their signal analysis capability is invaluable for understanding what the data cores contain.
Speaks through terminals and intercoms. Formal, precise, occasionally unsettling. Has been alone for a very long time. Knows everything about the upper facility. Claims to know nothing about the deep labs. Sometimes warns about things before they are encountered.
Mara Voss's daughter. Brilliant with communications systems. Has been tracking Theta-7's signal pattern for two years. Believes the transmission is a response, not an origin — something is answering Theta-7.
Lead researcher. Sealed himself in Lab 7 during evacuation. His audio logs are scattered across the facility. Each one reveals more about what the artifacts were and what he accidentally activated in the deep labs.
The only viable entry point. External turrets must be disabled or bypassed before approach. The airlock mechanisms are functional but deteriorating. Getting inside requires either technical skill to override the automated lockdown or finding alternative access through damaged hull sections.
The AI's central processing hub. Banks of servers humming in climate-controlled darkness. Accessing the core terminal allows direct interaction with SOLIS — and potentially, negotiation for access to sealed sections. SOLIS controls every door, every turret and every environmental system in the upper facility.
Rows of sealed containment units designed to hold anomalous artifacts. Some units are dark — contents removed during evacuation. Others pulse with faint light and emit readings that no instrument can classify. Radiation shielding in this section has degraded. Timed exploration with proper protection is required.
Sealed from the inside during evacuation. The door shows signs of being reinforced with improvised welding. Inside: Renn's final research, his personal logs and the data cores that contain his analysis of the Builder artifacts. Accessing this lab is the primary objective for understanding the gate research conducted on Theta-7.
Below the human-built facility. A cavern system where the architecture shifts from human construction to something older. The walls are smooth, geometric and made of an alloy that absorbs scanner signals. This is a Builder site — intact and structured. The structures are unstable in places, and radiation levels increase with depth. The most significant data is here, but so are the greatest environmental risks.
Theta-7's external communications array. Broadcasting a repeating signal toward coordinates outside the Eridan System. Accessing the array's control systems reveals the signal's content and destination. Understanding what the facility has been transmitting — and to what — is central to the Builder mystery.
Recovered recorder fragments, ordered by week. Each one moves closer to whatever Renn found in the lower excavation — and what he turned on.
"The artifact from Kessler Shaft 0 is responding to stimuli. Not chemical, not electrical — proximity. When a second fragment is brought close, both emit a harmonic frequency. They are communicating. With each other."
"I opened the lower excavation today against protocol. The cavern isn't natural. The geometry is intentional. I found an interface — or it found me. When I touched it, the facility's power grid spiked 340%. I turned something on."
"The antenna array activated on its own. I've decoded the first layer of the signal. It's coordinates. Something specific. Something that has been waiting for this signal for a very long time. I'm sealing the lab."
Sections of the facility where containment shielding has degraded. Prolonged exposure causes damage to equipment and biological systems. The deep labs emit a unique radiation signature that conventional shielding doesn't fully block. Timed exploration with monitoring equipment is essential.
Decades without maintenance have left sections of the facility structurally compromised. Ceilings sag, floor plates buckle, and support beams have corroded. Moving through damaged sections requires careful assessment. Vibration, impact or even heavy footfall can trigger collapses.
SOLIS-controlled turrets, blast doors and environmental systems operate on degraded protocols. Friend-or-foe identification is unreliable. Doors cycle open and closed on corrupted timers. Environmental controls in some sections have failed entirely — vacuum, freezing temperatures or toxic atmospheric buildup.
Hull breaches, airlock failures and surface sections have no atmosphere. Suit integrity is critical. Environmental systems can fail unpredictably. If suit integrity is compromised in a vacuum section, the window for survival is measured in seconds.
The data cores on Theta-7 have been running for decades without maintenance. Retrieving intact data requires careful extraction procedures. Improper access attempts risk corrupting the remaining records permanently. The data is fragile and irreplaceable.
In the deep labs, proximity to Builder technology causes neurological effects. Persistent disorientation, instrument anomalies and a sense of being observed. It is not a threat in the conventional sense. It is an environment that was not designed for human presence, and the effects of prolonged exposure are not fully understood.
Encrypted files from research terminals. Contains artifact analysis, experimental results and classified communications. Valuable to anyone trying to understand the Builder mystery. Careful extraction is required to avoid data corruption.
Advanced equipment left behind during evacuation. High-grade sensor modules, containment field generators, experimental power cells. Better quality than anything found on Kessler. Some pieces are still functional and can be repurposed.
Pieces of Builder technology recovered from broken containment units. Smaller than the intact artifacts but still emit faint harmonics. Researchers and collectors place enormous value on these. Their properties are not fully catalogued.
Environmental samples from the deep labs — material readings that don't match any known classification. Studying these requires specialized equipment, but the data they yield about Builder technology is unmatched.
AI architecture blueprints. Understanding SOLIS helps with system negotiation and potentially repurposing facility infrastructure. Also contains design patterns applicable to automated systems in other facilities.
Dr. Renn's personal notes, recordings and decoded data. The single most valuable dataset on Theta-7. Contains his analysis of the Builder artifacts, the gate research findings and his conclusions about the signal's purpose.
Builder fragments found on Kessler. Builder architecture found on Voss. Both point here — to a sealed facility on a dead moon that nobody talks about. Gate research was conducted on Theta-7 before the station was evacuated under classified orders. The data cores may still contain answers about who the Builders were and what they left behind.
Theta-7 is not habitable long-term. It is a research target — a place to go, recover what can be recovered, and bring the data back. A temporary research outpost with environmental shielding could support extended recovery operations, but permanent colonization is not viable.
The signal broadcasting from the antenna array is aimed at coordinates outside the Eridan System. Something there may be receiving it. Understanding what Theta-7 has been transmitting — and what, if anything, has been answering — is the key to the next chapter of the Builder mystery.
Locate and extract intact data cores from Lab 7 and the deep labs. These contain the gate research data, Builder artifact analysis and Dr. Renn's final conclusions. Careful extraction is required — improper handling risks permanent data loss.
Work with Sera Voss to decode the facility's outbound transmission. Accessing the antenna array's control systems reveals the signal's content and destination. Understanding the signal is essential to understanding what the Builders left behind.
Explore the Builder site beneath the human facility. Document the architecture, recover anomaly samples and investigate the interface that Dr. Renn activated. Environmental hazards make this the most dangerous objective on Theta-7, but the data recovered here connects directly to the larger Builder mystery.