Port Meridian is a settlement on the artificial world Meridian based around the crash site of the Andromeda Initiative vessel Hyperion. It is borne out of adapting all of the ark's internal structures for sleeper deployment and future industrial and residential development.
Port Meridian is currently powered by repurposed Tantalus drive cores. The frequent static discharges required by these cores result in unique visual phenomena in Meridian's night cycle dubbed aurora meridiani.
The ark survived the crash largely intact, albeit with some yet-unrepaired burn scars and battle damage in interior zones. Several weeks after Pathfinder Ryder's defeat of the Archon, the former explorable areas of Hyperion's Habitation Deck are now explorable areas of Port Meridian, with the difference that the tram system is now inaccessible.
The Atrium has a memorial of the fallen human ark that can be queried for information. Next to it is an e-mail terminal containing several information packets regarding recent events. The Jezra's Acquisitions shop is set up by the entrance to the SAM Node and Ryder's Room. The skylight above no longer displays the black of space, but rather, the "surface" of Meridian within its massive hollow interior.
At the eastern end of the Atrium is a direct link to the Tempest, and beside it is Spec. Rynn Gee. If the specialist gets Ryder's attention, she reports about receiving a distress signal from the quarian ark Keelah Si'yah, but its location cannot be determined for the moment. On subsequent talks she remains hopeful it would be found one day. The e-mail terminal next to Rynn also contains chatter about the missing ark as well as several astronomical and planetary studies.
On the antechamber separating the tram area from the Atrium, the Supply by Cal shop is also open for business.
All of Ryder's squad also loiter in the area whenever the Pathfinder's around. Everyone except Peebee can be found in the Atrium during the initial festivities while the asari hangs out in the antechamber between Atrium and tram area. On subsequent visits, all of Ryder's female squadmates are in the Atrium, Jaal Ama Darav is in the antechamber, and Liam Kosta and Nakmor Drack are by the tram area.
The ability to activate Remnant technology without the SAM is an amazing adaptation, but the Ryder siblings have worked that "muscle" very hard in a limited time. SAM reports that at least in the Pathfinder's case, normal brain function has not been affected. However, we can observe scarring on the occipital lobe of the hippocampus. This fits with assumptions about Remnant, RE: interocular transfer and long-term memory. There are also stress markers throughout the corpus callosum, suggesting Remnant activation requires some deviation from cooperative hemispheric function. I'm not going there in this report. That split-brain business has always skeeved me out.
Recommendations:
- Ongoing monitoring of the Ryder siblings
- Restriction of Remnant interfacing unless SAM assists
This was one hell of a Hail Mary, and we all got lucky. Let's not push it.
Notes to shut Tann up (1) RE: What did the Archon actually do and will it kill us?
Please summarize this in a form that Director Tann can easily digest. I'd like him off my ass at our earliest convenience.
We're examining everything, including the "Archon's Eye," his omni-tool equivalent. Many functions remain unknown and seem specific to exaltation (forwarded to Genetis, re: krogan). It appeared to allow the Archon to externally manipulate the SAM connection, but it's unclear how useful the Archon's own data will be. He clearly wasn't aware how difficult it would be to attempt to interface with Meridian, despite observing the hemorrhaging the Pathfinder suffered while interfacing with far smaller Remnant elements.
The data from SAM suggests the Archon managed to poke some form of maintenance protocol. The Remnant that he "summoned" were enacting some form of corrupted cleaning behavior. The Architect was itself in some state of construction/disrepair.
As for Meridian's "activation", that was not the Archon. The simplest analogy is that touching any system was akin to approaching a motion-detecting light. As soon ships approached, Meridian began to transition out of dormancy.
Notes to shut Tann up (2) RE: What did the Archon actually do and will it kill us?
Continued: Could Meridian be weaponized? Technically, anything can be weaponized if you throw it hard enough. Note: do NOT say that to Tann.
We're getting into "who are the Jardaan and what did they intend?" territory. Signs point to Meridian being a life-lab or seed world, and that includes aggressive terraforming through networked vaults. This could be dangerous. But while it is tempting to look at the "purge" state of vaults and wonder if that could be turned into a planet-wide event, we've seen no evidence of that capability.
(Do not send the below section to Tann. Not helpful.)
Some pedant says that ever since the 2037 outbreak on Earth, every military-run human lab has had protocols for emergency sterilization of facilities. Salarians have similar fail-safes, again in military facilities. Has anyone asked whether the Meridian sphere and connected vaults were considered "civilian" enterprises? We know that the Scourge was a weapon and that the Jardaan were deliberately targeted, but we've no indication why. Seems like we'd want to know that.
We've already hosted multiple angaran factional heads. Separate concerns have been logged for two of those: Panel Kroejekt and Aya-One. We're making liberal use of their expertise. It's possible that some of Meridian was designed for them to access. They can't, of course. But they've been no end of help about adapting our technology to integrate somewhat into the Meridian power structure.
The angara welcome any access, and we're glad to host it. No doubt some of them are interested in their connection to the Jardaan. It's jarring enough to have a creator, but one that was here only centuries ago? I'd be all over the place.
END LOG
Angara showing affinity: ALERT! Security addendum
(SAM override)
Attendees: Data missing
Speaker 1: The revelations on Havarl are problematic. We've never encountered a species designed to pass information through their genetics, nor do we know the limits of this function.
Speaker 2: If they retain information, can we access it? Maybe the angara can… remember how to work Meridian.
Speaker 1: That isn't the right question. If they can retain information, can they also receive it? Receive instruction? Have they already?
Speaker 2: Well that's just… you mean sleeper agents.
Special budgeting request
Reporting: Data missing
(SAM override)
As of today, the Ryder siblings are still the only people able to directly interface with Remnant—and only the SAM connection allows the Pathfinder to do it without damage. It is a self-limiting adaptation. But there was a time when there was only one human biotic, and the mistake of the day was to say she was the only one rather than the first. This ability is demonstrably trainable. We must assume that, like biotics, it is something that can be assisted, and will spread in future.
To avoid the violence of Subject White, and to avoid the mistakes of BAaT training at Gagarin, we must begin preparations now. We live inside a machine made by aliens we can't comprehend. The next person to control Remnant cannot be an accident.
Welcome to New Zero. Let's be ready.
Autopsy and Handling - Subject: Archon Reporting Exobiologist: Dr. Viara P'lina
Subject: The Archon
Species: Kett
Age: Unknown
Cause of Death: The jokes will cease. The cause of death is not "Pathfinder." I may be second wave and didn't see the fight, but there are no monsters in my morgue. This being will be afforded the respect of our profession—especially since the cause of death could have direct consequences, should our Pathfinder continue to manipulate Remnant, or other seek training in their use.
While the structures of the kett brain are unknown in purpose and—perhaps—design, the damage to tissue is obvious. When the devices of Meridian were denied an external power source they in part drew from the Archon's own augmentations. This repeated surge-and-transfer inflicted internal burns and, shockingly, lacerations.
However, it is my opinion that these injuries, while severe, were survivable. I say this because I have personal history with treatment of biotics who have strained too far and damaged themselves. The fatal element here is different. The use of Remnant is not just a physical strain. It seems to draw some part of the mind into the manipulated element. A division on consciousness.
I am in theoretical territory here, but this is my analysis: the Archon overextended his faculties within Meridian. When the Pathfinder took control of the power, the Archon was not just de-powered; he was—for lack of a better term—severed from himself.
I need more time with the Archon's remains. And dedicated facilities. A full team. The study of this one being could last lifetimes.
Beside the exit to the Tempest:
A signal! Holy shit! Login: Comm Spec Enzo Ames
Okay. Okay, calm down. There's something. It's been bounced who knows how many times, and it's patchy as hell, but I know an ark signature when I see it. Ark Keelah Si'yah. It's out there. It's damaged… or something. I've put probes out, but with the Scourge, who knows where it is. I'm logging everything, and I mean everything. If a spitbug burps on Eos, I'm parsing it.
Because the worst thing? The signal isn't a distress call. It's a warning.
END LOG
Resource deficit: Trackers? Login: Security P. Moses
This is an official complaint. Addison can stop the reports, but I know what I know, and the long range scans show it. The resource deficit isn't some outlaw shooting up our ships. The reason they're all through and reporting no losses is because it's auto-enacted skimming. An emergency drop triggered by backdoor codes. The good director can swear up and down that no trackers were deployed, but they're out there. And they'll be targeting wherever we work the hardest.
END LOG
Exo-Geo Studies and Planetary Detection
Login: Elise Morgana
The Scourge continues to defy our best efforts to see through it without costly physical force. Flying blind is not viable, despite continued reassurance that only Remnant drive systems act as attractors to the charged energies within. Until we understand the full mechanism of this weapon—and we must remember that it is a weapon—we need other means of navigating it.
Governor Shie has been especially forthcoming in the weeks following the claiming of Meridian. We have received additional data about the Scourge eddies that has allowed deeper scans. It has hinted at the reason why the angara were reluctant to provide such information: additional planetary systems and—I presume—additional angaran colonies.
I must repeat that it is only a hint, and that I've assured Shie that my concerns are purely navigational. But given the aggression of even the remaining kett, I can't fault her caution.
As we wake more specialists and focus on traditional astronomical studies, we're tracking several unique phenomena throughout the cluster. The Scourge continues to mask long-range mapping, but in this case, it's actually helped. We're tracking a group of comets with peculiar mass signatures, suggesting they are exceptionally high in pure precious ores. In fact, Alphonse has nicknamed them "The Precious Few." We don't have many ships with the speed to approach, but observations would be valuable in every sense.