Icarus station

The **Icarus** was a space station.

The purpose was of the Icarus was to use its high intensity laser to destroy debris, which included dead satellites and space junk, in order to clear the space lanes for safe passage. This was the job of Mark Robinson, who manned the laser and whose job it was to keep a strict log of every time the laser was used. The workers of the station were all a part of a union, led by union leaders. One of these leaders was Kathy Marshall. Marshall's professional and personal relationship with the Controller of the station, James Winfield, was fairly hostile. She saw Winfield as someone who put the success of the station above the welfare of the crew, something which Winfield disagreed. This had led to a long period of strikes by the staff, led by the union leaders.

At some point, the criminal organisation known as the Red Core communicated with Robinson and the workers, and entered into an agreement, which they kept secret from Winfield. Both the workers and the Red Core disagreed with the destruction of the rare metals and minerals within the space junk, with Marshall herself claiming that many Euro Credits could be obtained for selling them Earthside. The Red Core hatched a plan to infiltrate Wolfe International, an Earthside company that provided shuttles to its sister company Moon Tours. They would then steal a shuttle and use it to pick up the pieces of space junk and take it back to Earth. Meanwhile, Robinson would fake the laser records to make it appear to the management and other outside eyes that the junk had been destroyed.

The stealing of the shuttle, namely Shuttle MTZ1986, didn't go unnoticed. Trying to keep it hushed up, the owner of the company, Russell Wolfe, sent the company's Corporate Security Officer Alice Okoro to investigate its whereabouts and why it had been stolen.

Things took a nasty turn, however, when a rival criminal organisation known as the Collective became aware of this deal and wanted to take control. It's plan was to buy out and merge with the Red Core, and take over the business deal with the staff at the Icarus. When Mark Robinson outright refused, he was kidnapped by the Collective, the Red Core's supposed leader Jacob Depard was murdered on a leisure trip to the Moon, and the stolen shuttle was hijacked and sent on a collision course with the Icarus. Both Marshall and Winfield were present as the shuttle was sent hurtling towards the space station with them aboard. Marshall's quick thinking saw her use the laser to deflect the shuttle and send it crashing to the Moon instead.

The Collective had promised to not harm Robinson, leaving Marshall no choice but to report him missing the International Space Police Force, who sent Pal Kenzy out to investigate his whereabouts. It didn't take her long to work out what had been going on. Her investigation led to the discovery that Robinson had been murdered by the Collective. When all the truth is out, Marshall guns down Winfield and is taken into custody where they discuss potential leniency for information on the Collective. Before they could discuss this any further, Collective agent and assassin Torsten Arthurton shoots her and kills her. (AUDIO: *Hostile Takeover*)

## Behind the scenes

* Icarus is the name of a Greek figure, who was warned by his father to not fly too close to the sun should his wings melt. His ignorance of these warnings resulted in his tragic death. The naming of the space station after this figure is no doubt a reference to Kathy Marshall's relationship with the Collective, and Mark Robinson's relationship with the Red Core. Both of these characters got too close to an organisation that they had no equal footing on, and thus both ended up suffering a tragic fate.
	+ Bizarrely, and almost certainly not related, Icarus' father was Daedalus. Daedalus was the name given to the spaceship seen in the *Star Cops* TV episode, *Conversations With the Dead*.