Echoes of Aneris

It is the future. Humanity has expanded beyond Earth, and found life far closer than most would have dared dream: Jupiter, Europa, Enceladus, and the nearby Luhman 16 system are all home to not only indigenous life, but advanced civilizations. Today, they are united as one federation under the banner of the Solar Union.   Five Terrestrial years ago, an Earthlike planet, Aneris, was discovered on the Union Frontier. In response, a number of prominent institutions of higher learning sent a joint expedition. Its mission was to evaluate the potential of the planet as a site for a scientific research colony, in consideration of the presence of extensive alien ruins of unknown origin.   The mission was not a success.The excavation team quickly fell out of contact with the orbital science team, and would-be rescuers found that the excavators had come into contact with alien bioforming technology that had fundamentally changed them on a physical and mental level. They resisted efforts to restore them to normal, and went rogue. By the time the situation was resolved, the chaos that had ensued was enough to set back any effort to colonize the planet for decades. The survivors returned home, their careers in shambles.   Now one of the members of that original team has gone missing under mysterious circumstances, and his sister will do anything she can to find him, even if it means assembling her brother's old colleagues for a trip into the unexplored depths of space…