We Came Forth to Contemplate the Stars (STA)
I’m beaming down with a survey team to see if we can find an entrance into the structure. With any luck, we discover the purpose of these ancient structures and maybe learn about the people who created them.
While exploring the ruins of an ancient structure on Pegasi V, the crew are transported to an impossibly massive space station at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy. At their arrival point, they are greeted by an alien species who call themselves The Covenant.
The Covenant are convinced that the crew are messengers of their gods (or perhaps the gods themselves) who abandoned them long ago. The Covenant hold a magnificent feast and celebration for the messengers. During the celebration, they learn that they are on a massive space station inhabited by the Covenant, as well as another hideous species that the Covenant call the Apostate. The Apostate are, according to the Covenant, mindless beasts to be feared, reviled, and even hunted. The Characters also learn that the Covenant believe the station was built long ago for the Covenant and that is has a purpose, but their gods abandoned them before the purpose was revealed. After the celebration, the crew are imprisoned.
Eventually, the crew can escape and search for a means to repair the transportation device that brought them to the station. The search leads them deep into the bowels of the station where they encounter the Apostate, who turn out to be gentle and friendly beings. They fear the Covenant and only wish to be left alone. Tricorder scans reveal that the Apostate are the same species as the Covenant, but they have mutated over the centuries due to their proximity to the radioactive core of the station.
The Apostate can show the crew to the machinery that operates the station. They are the descendants of the engineers who operated the station long ago and still maintain some knowledge. They can assist the crew in repairing the transportation device that brought the Characters from across the Galaxy. A further examination of the Apostate reveals that the mutation effects can be reversed with the right treatment. As the Characters work to repair the ancient machinery and undo the effects of hundreds of years of mutation, the Covenant, furious that they have been once more forsaken by their gods, attack the crew and the Apostate. Hopefully, the crew can help reveal that the Apostate and the Covenant are the same people. With the two peoples reunited, the crew finish the repairs and are able to return to 51 Pegasi.
