Excavation Site 1

Excavation Site 1 was the first dig the Sovereign Colonies Armed Forces opened on the surface of Tau Volantis, the frozen world the Sovereign Colonies came to investigate after tracing the Nexus signal. It produced much of their early discoveries, and its frozen Nexus specimens, locked in the ice mid-clash, became a landmark of the campaign. The site sat adjacent to Facility One, joined to it by tunnels, a pipeline, and a sprawl of research and archeological infrastructure.

Establishment and layout#

Excavation Site 1 was raised among some of the first excavated remnants of the Tau Volantis inhabitants. Its earliest research complex was improvised, relying on insulated tents to shelter the archeological teams from the cold and to protect the recovered remains. This makeshift ward stayed in use until a dedicated complex, Facility Two, was finished on the plateau above the primary city of the aliens. Alongside the research wards, the site held the first experimental drill site, sunk to open access to the vast subglacial caverns beneath the ice, and an archeology warehouse for the recovered material.

Nexus research#

The site's most significant feature was Specimen Station 3, designated NX-03, the third in a series of sections built to hold the Nexus corpses that the flash freezing of Tau Volantis had preserved. The warehouse was fitted with furnaces so the enormous body could be thawed under control and its neural network studied. The discoveries made here and at the two other specimen sites allowed the SCAF to triangulate the Nexus signal and pinpoint the buried alien city, paving the way for the construction of Facility Two.

Delta Barracks#

On a plateau overlooking Facility One stood the Delta Barracks, the staging area for the initial excavation. Reached across treacherous ice cliff faces, it housed the troop contingent erecting SCAF facilities across the planet. The compound was placed beside a second Nexus creature, NX-02, and atop the D-9 Armory, built from prefabricated sections driven into the ice and rock. By the end the armory had been emptied, its firearms handed out among the troops together with single rounds for the execution of Scenario Five. In place of weapons its halls filled with the dead, SCAF troops sealed in body bags or laid out for transport, some bags simply cast aside once the orders came down.