Waystation: SCAF Radio Relay RS 9

The Waystation, formally designated RS 9, was a Sovereign Colonies radio relay set in the snowy fields of Tau Volantis. Part of the planet's radio network, it was lost when ration shortages drove its garrison to cannibalize infected flesh and turn into Feeders, leaving Samuel Ackerman as its only survivor. Two centuries later Isaac Clarke and John Carver sheltered there.

History#

The Waystation lay in the snowy fields near the SCAF Central Command on Tau Volantis and formed a vital element of the Sovereign Colonies' radio network across the planet. Operated by the 41st Engineering Brigade, it was meant to link the Command sector with Supply Depot 212 and support supply efforts. Instead it was lost with nearly all hands after ration shortages drove the soldiers to cannibalize infected flesh, turning them en masse into Feeders. Samuel Ackerman was the sole survivor; he sealed access to the lower levels before evacuating the station.

In 2514, two hundred years later, the facility briefly saw use again when Isaac Clarke and John Carver used its surviving suit kiosks to replace their damaged suits with SCAF arctic survival gear. It was also the final resting place of Austin Buckell, who was left behind without an arctic survival uniform or even a sheet to keep him warm as the dormant Brother Moon's dementia began to affect Clarke's team.

Layout#

Set in the middle of a snowy plain at the entrance to the windy cliffs overlooking the Central Command complex, the Waystation was built across two distinct levels. On the surface it was a reinforced facility with a common room, a communications station, and a pump workshop that formed an integral part of the SCAF pipeline and allowed it to operate. A radio mast erected at the top served as the relay, and Hospitality Unit 213 lay between the station and the supply depot. An elevator in the common room descended to the underground floor that housed the garrison's quarters.

The underground section followed a standard prefabricated design. The elevator opened onto a main corridor with two suit kiosks, fitted with an active sensor that would not allow soldiers to leave without a snow suit. The level was divided between the barracks and the pump station. The barracks held a small kitchen with an adjacent pantry carved from ice to conserve power, a mess hall, a washroom, bunks, an officer's quarters, and a laundry room. The pump station beyond was part of the pipeline, with two pumps driven by a single generator and worked from a control room overlooking the central area, alongside a room that converted water into steam and served as auxiliary storage. Outside, a security checkpoint granted access to the cliffs leading to Central Command.