Lore and Story

This page has been made in order to archive all of the existing lore and story's from the game. Feel free to add to this article, please include some kind of source for the lore/story, even if that source has since been taken down.

Most of the lore and stories haven't been touched, meaning they are in the same state as when they were released. Any lore or stories which have been edited or changed will have a note indicating that.

This article is currently a work in progress! Expect more entries to be added later.

## Hellion lore

### History of sol & earth

#### Lore from Devlog #40

Venturing into space had always been the dream of mankind, “the final frontier” that inspired countless generations. The space race of the 20th century turned that dream into a reality, but only briefly. For the next 50 years humanity remained grounded on Earth, until reusable launch systems, developed by private enterprises, shifted space exploration from large national agencies towards privately owned companies. This was the beginning of a “new space race”, a period of brutal competition for energy, resources and stock market shares between various rival companies.

Earth’s orbit became home to numerous businesses that dealt in large scale orbital construction, energy production, mining and transportation, as well as smaller enterprises that dealt in research, agriculture, consumer electronics and even entertainment and tourism. As more and more companies ventured into space in search of profit, conflict followed in their footsteps. Distance between celestial bodies became one of the largest obstacles and turned any potentially valuable near Earth object, whether it was a comet or an asteroid, into a priceless commodity that many were willing to fight over. Disputes over Lunar mining rights and safety regulations became common and many companies sought ways to circumvent the painstakingly slow courts of Earth and UN bureaucracy. Various private security companies seized the opportunity and began renting their services to space based businesses and started zero gravity training programs for their personnel. Private Military companies followed soon after and with them large international arms manufacturers and government weapon contractors. The number of incidents involving bribes, scandals, corporate espionage, sabotage and open conflict increased exponentially as more people migrated into orbit.

This situation was largely tolerated due to political instability on Earth. Breakthroughs in fusion technology during the late 21st century and the rapid transition from fossil fuels and nuclear power plants to clean, fusion based, energy sources nearly caused a complete collapse of the Earth’s economic system. Over time Earth’s leading nations became increasingly reliant on the extraterrestrial supply of He-3 for most of their energy needs. This had a severe impact on many of the world’s economies, especially in less developed countries, resulting in increased political instability. As the gap grew exponentially the world witnessed an unprecedented rise in poverty, terrorism and armed conflict. Furthermore these new crisis regions created ample opportunities for “less reputable” companies and PMCs, as well as weapons research.

For the most part, leading governments were content to let corporations have their way beyond Earth’s orbit as long as they provided vitally needed economic support and rare commodities for the elite. This situation changed drastically after the “May 23rd incident”.

##### May 23rd incident

On May 23rd 2116 a prototype asteroid mining barge “Atlas” lost control while returning to Earth from its maiden voyage in the asteroid belt. The colossal vessel plummeted towards ground at 12.6km/s and exploded during re-entry. While many of its components burned away or crashed into the Pacific many large fragments had to be intercepted by ground to air batteries. Still, several found their way into populated areas and caused devastation, panic and massive loss of life. The incident prompted the UN Security Council to immediate action.

##### UN reform

Within a year a new international space agency was created and placed under the command of the newly reformed UN Government. A special task-force was assembled and charged with restoring order and policing the orbit to prevent any future incidents. Backed by the collective economic power and resources of Earth’s leading nations the new Space Agency quickly established itself as the dominant political power in orbit and launched investigations into various illegal corporate activities and human rights violations. Multiple smear campaigns and lawsuits were directed at prominent corporate figures in an effort to discredit and reduce their influence. UNs bid for power and trials that followed quickly turned into a witch hunt that ultimately resulted in dissolution and confiscation of property for many space based enterprises, regardless of their actual involvement. In addition, the UN government imposed new restrictions on all companies operating at and beyond Earth’s orbit. These new regulations for space travel, resource shipping and construction operations, were especially hard on smaller companies and soon many smaller enterprises found themselves pushed out of business by companies with large government subventions.

##### Private Military Corporations

One problem that plagued the new UN government during its takeover was the issue of numerous private military companies and large weapons manufacturers still operating in orbit. During lawsuits, confiscations and scandals that followed UN’s rapid rise to power, the legal system that allowed these companies to operate was completely shattered. The new government used this as leverage holding PMCs responsible for the events that led to the May 23rd disaster. Threats of legal prosecution and several military actions, backed by strong public opinion pushed PMCs into a corner. So when the new UN agency offered amnesty in exchange for information and military service, many companies jumped at the opportunity to legalize their operations and avoid prosecution.

Since the new Agency was assembled in haste and initially lacked training and capable personnel, experienced mercenaries filled the gaps perfectly. In addition UN made similar offers to several major arms manufacturers and government contractors, thus compensating for its lack of reliable space equipment. Most of these companies were simply contracted by the UN government. Only a handful were given permanent positions in the new military hierarchy.

Once the situation was under control the UN administration began dismantling private military providers as it no longer had need of their services. History was repeated when many PMCs once again found themselves facing prosecution for crimes, illegal missions and atrocities. This time, the ones committed during the UN’s lengthy takeover campaign. They still had their ships, weapons, training and manufacturing facilities, but without legal backing they would be little more than outlaws waiting on their sentence.

Several major players refused to take the UN takeover lying down and set in motion a series of events. Ultimately these events would lead to the creation of a force that could rival UN's supremacy. The first two factions to emerge from this turbulent time were: Altair Corporation and Skyline Defense Solutions.

##### Altair corporation

Even during the massive reshuffling of the orbital infrastructure that followed the May 23rd incident, several large companies managed to retain their positions of power and influence by maintaining strong ties with prominent Earth governments and businesses. These companies began strengthening their position by buying out former competitors. Ultimately this ended in a series of corporate mergers that resulted in the birth of Altair Corporation, a massive corporate entity with vast holdings in orbit as well as on Luna and Mars.

Shortly after its founding the company started the first completely independent orbital colonization effort and began construction on a massive orbital habitat designed to house over 60.000 people. The project gradually gained popularity, as the new corporate entity encompassed experts from various fields of science, from agriculture to energy production. The initial station layout was finished in record time and “Hesperide Station” became home for 46.000 company employees and their families. Following the successful completion of their first major endeavor, Altair Corporation started a global recruiting campaign, offering new and exciting opportunities to people of various backgrounds, from scientists and engineers, to restaurant holders and artists.

By the time UN agency finally solidified its position as a political and military power in orbit, a large number of people already lived and worked in space. Altair Corporation was a massive entity that could no longer fit into any existing legal framework. The company owned several large orbital habitats, mining rights across the Solar system, long standing contracts with Earth’s governments and employed over 1.5 million people, of whom 600.000 lived on company stations along with their families. Additionally, AltCorp had contracts with numerous smaller enterprises that provided everything, from security to education and healthcare, to its employees. It had proved that the Earth’s laws and regulations were inadequate for handling an extraterrestrial civilization.

From the standpoint of the reformed UN government Altair Corporation was an anomaly, one that had to be brought into an existing legal frame by any means necessary, but the UN bureaucrats found themselves at a loss. Obvious solution was to give AltCorp special status, but doing so would create a precedent and create countless future problems. After many long debates Security Council finally opted to slowly erode AltCorp’s influence with new treaties that were aimed at gradually diminishing the giant’s power base. Altair Corporation found itself standing at a threshold.

##### Skyline Defence Solutions (SDS)

In January 2136 AltCorp’s representatives began negotiations with various independent space companies that were still outside the UN’s sphere of influence. The negotiations were held in preparations for a summit that would discuss the current UN restrictions, legal implications and Earth’s impending monopoly over orbital energy reserves. These efforts did not remain unnoticed and UN began mobilizing its troops to intervene by force should their diplomatic initiative prove insufficient.

On April 14. 2136 remaining PMCs, security companies and arms manufacturers announced a merger and the founding of “Skyline Defense Solutions”. One day later the new security behemoth signed a long term defense contract with Altair Corporation. Birth of SDS was the final piece of a plan Altair Corporation’s founders set in motion eight years ago. According to the terms of its contract SDS was tasked with protecting AltCorp’s interests against any and all foreign threats. But its true purpose was to serve as an armed deterrent against further UN intrusions. The UN Security Council was caught off guard by the treaty and unwilling to act, as in doing so they would be risking an unprecedented war in Earth’s orbit.

The grand summit took place at “Hesperide Station” on May 24th 2136, exactly 20 years and a day after the fateful May 23rd incident. The UN government officially recognized Altair Corporation and Skyline Defense Solutions as sovereign and independent political entities within the Solar System. After several months of negotiations UN, AltCorp and SDS signed the Outer Orbit Treaty, a document detailing mutual responsibilities of all three sides within Sol.

As time went by both AltCorp and SDS changed and evolved into entities that resembled independent states far more than the mega-corporations started from.

##### Developments in warp drive technology and the full colonisation of sol

On September 14th 2148 a small test vessel “Boundless” makes its historical journey from Lunar orbit to Saturn in under an hour, using the newly developed Warp drive, an FTL propulsion technology based on theories from the early 21th century. This breakthrough enables rapid transit throughout the Solar System and the construction of smaller and far less fuel dependent spacecraft. During the following decades mankind spreads across the Solar System, with terraforming projects underway on Mars, Venus, Ganymede and Europa. As part of the Actaeon program multiple unmanned probes are sent to gather information beyond our Solar System.

On September 23rd 2226. deep space listening outposts finally received first survey information from the Actaeon 34, a probe sent to the distant Hellion system.

### **The expedition project:**

#### Lore from Devlog #40 (Link will be added later)

Following a lengthy analysis of survey data collected by more than 100 automated probes, Hellion was finally chosen as the site for colonization due to its abundance of natural resources and multiple terraforming candidates.

The Expedition project was a colossal undertaking that took 64 years to complete and consumed more resources and manpower than any other endeavor in human history. The center of the project was a massive flagship “Daedalus”, a giant vessel over 12 km in length, that used micro-singularity as its power core. Safely stored inside its vast hull was all the equipment the colonists would need to establish orbital infrastructure in an alien system. Everything from science, construction and terraforming gear to self-replicating machinery.

Due to its sheer magnitude the project required extensive collaboration from every part of the Solar System. As the pioneers of space exploration Altar Corporation and SDS contributed most towards the project and came up with a number of solutions and systems that were ultimately incorporated into the fleet’s design.

Colonization effort was broken down into four stages.

Stage 1 would start by waking up mission critical personnel, conducting on site survey to confirm probe data, Actaeon 34 probe retrieval and initial deployment of necessary orbital infrastructure. Towards the end, additional engineering personnel and basic security would be brought out of cryo to establish in system production and make Expedition independent of Daedalus’ supplies.

Stage 2 covers the construction of advanced orbital infrastructure comprised of large scale installations including shipyards, habitats and research facilities.

Stage 3 is the beginning of actual colonization including sequential waking of the colonists by priority, such as scientists, engineers and the remainder of military personnel. These people would be tasked with initiating and overseeing the terraforming of potentially habitable worlds, as well as expanding the orbital infrastructure in order to support additional colonists.

Stage 4 is the final phase and includes deployment of support infrastructure on now habitable worlds and the waking of remaining colonists from cryo-sleep.

On April 11th 2292 Earth standard time, the expedition fleet, carrying almost a million colonists, embarked on its 78 year long journey towards Hellion.

## Stories from Hellion

### John's story

#### Story from devlog #38 (Link will be added later)

John was still deep in sleep when the first wave of pain washed over his body, then came the second one and the third until all he could feel was just sharp unrelenting pain. He opened his eyes and tried to scream but no sound came out. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain receded and his whole body loosened up as his dormant lungs filled up with air, for the first time in a century. Doors of the chamber opened and he stumbled onto the cold floor coughing. Emergency wakeup procedure, he remembered. He was still dizzy, from all the steroids in his system, but at least he was alive. The floor felt slippery beneath his fingers and it took him a lot of effort just to stand up. When his eyes finally focused, what he saw sent chills down his spine. The air was cold and thick mist shrouded the room while the flickering emergency lights gave it a hellish glow. Pieces of ruined wall padding and glass shards littered the floor while thorn cables hung loosely from the ceiling along with what remained of the covering panels. Cryopod to his left lay crushed against the opposing wall, thrown probably by the same force that almost tore open the module’s hull. He immediately knew why the floor was wet, there was no need to check for vitals.

### Into the fire

#### Story from Into the Fire, a full story on steam (Link will be added later)

“And you are sure that it is an SDS signal coming from those derelicts?” I asked Retrac over the radio.

“I'm telling you that there is something here.” Retrac said with a touch of exasperation. He was floating alongside the skeletal remains of a long corridor module. I couldn't blame him for his frustration because we had just finished clearing out the Purgatory’s defences and got some really good supplies and salvage. We both just wanted to get away from here and not fall prey to pirates, Sons of Earthers, or worse. A shudder went through me at the thought of the last one.

Retrac's transmission cut through my thoughts, “I can't seem to find any undamaged data ports, so I'm just gonna bring the whole transponder units from them, see what we get.”

“Alright, I'll start prepping for the warp jump back, it's going to be a 30 minute one.” My hands started punching up the numbers that would bring us home, “Should give us time to go over what you’ve found.”

“Alright I'm on board now, closing cargo bay door.”

“Copy that, pivoting for jump, 30 seconds and counting.” I always hated that we couldn't change our vector while awaiting for the warp jump system to align. One small little bump and it would fail. That time always was when you felt most vulnerable because of the trapped feeling that it gave you. Out of habit I would watch the sensors for any unknown contacts. The FTL system wasn't meant to be the safest way to travel, it just so happened to be the only way to travel.

“3-2-1, Jumping....” I started to relax and then a cold chill went down my spine as I stared at my contact screen and could have sworn that I saw another ship signal appear just as we hit warp.

I told Retrac what I thought I saw and he agreed that we got out of there in time. He stated that this SDS signal was blasting out to the whole Hellion system and anyone or anything would be noticing it. Just our luck to be on top of it as it started to blast out its distress tune.

We downloaded the transponder information into our nav computer, and it confirmed that there indeed was something at Sinha for us to find.

**Eridil Planetary System**

**Orbiting Sinha (The Demon Moon)**

After resupplying at our main base, we worked out a plan of action because we both knew that it was going to be a race to this new station. The prospect of finding this station before others was too good of an opportunity to pass. Unexploited station were rare, and Skyline Defence Solutions ones, even rarer. We both were excited at this prospect and talked about it en-route to the Eridil system.

“Popping scans,” I announced needlessly, because Retrac was looking over my shoulder at the nav screen. “Getting a reading.... it looks like three 'roids are also transmitting on the same frequency, but the debris field is dampening and disrupting the signals.”

I had a brief flash of myself trying to fly in that mess of junk, and was thankful that we had our high end radar system installed for this trip.

“Looks like we are getting a good reading on the signal modulation, I don't think we'll have to go down there for close scans.” Retrac stated.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I started to run the information through the computer and it spit out a nav way-point. “Looks like we got another jump to---”, the nav computer started to litter my screen with upwards of two dozen possible destinations, “--- make?”

“What the hell?” I exclaimed, trying to figure out what went wrong.

“Looks like this isn't going to be as easy as we thought.” my partner mused.

We talked it over and decided to go to the nearest one, we had brought plenty of warp cells for this trip. One thing Hellion teaches you, is you just don't take off without having double checked your supplies.

Hellion Inner Planets Orbital Zone

Unlisted coordinates (Deep Space)

“Well, that's the fourth nav point and still nothing,” Retrac informed me. “and nothing on long range scans either.”

Dammit, I thought, this far out, without any planet's magnetosphere to provide us protection from the star's solar winds, meant that our sensors would function at reduced efficiency. “Bloody needle in a haystack,” I muttered out loud.

“Huh? What's that?” Retrac asked.

“Nothing, I'm thinking that there has to be something that we are missing.” I replied, “Let’s look at Sinha's system again.”

So we stared at the screen looking for inspiration. We didn't actually go to any of those contacts at Sinha, perhaps the numbers were in a cipher of some sort. I pulled up the orbits of the three contacts that were sending SDS signals. And that's when it hit me.... The numbers matched up on one of the signals, a perfect match in coordinates. That was the missing information needed to plot our next jump.

Excited, we plotted the course and the nav computer showed us two possible destinations.

“Guess we'll go to the nearest one Retrac”, I said, “hows our cells?”

“Should be good for that one jump, but after that, we should really head back to base and resupply.”

“Good plan,” With that I started to align, “It's an eight minute jump.”

**Hellion Inner Planets Orbital Zone**

**Aegis – Blacksite 9 (Deep Space)**

“Wow, what a mess this is,” Retrac came over the radio, “There is some good salvage for sure, but it's pretty tangled up.”

“Well, we got the transponder codes, so anything else we can take with us is just gravy on top” I responded. This was a dream site, there was fuel, military grade shielding and engine parts. Even some of those advance Aegis Task Force assault rifles and Lance snipers.

“Coming back with another load.” I heard Retrac say, as I thought about all the living quarters that I saw, and I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the personnel that were stationed here, or what had to happen that it caused this base to split into four pieces.

“You know, with all this military grade shielding, we could bring our buddy's mini base out here, and park nearby.”

“Would sure cut down on the return trips.” Retrac agreed.

Thirty minutes later and we were both making EVA trips in and out of the wreckage until there was only one more part of the station left to investigate.

Standing at the edge of the ramp on our open cargo bay, Retrac looked through the scope of his newly acquired Lancer sniper rifle. “Yep, I see turrets, and these all look like the high end military ones.”

“Alright then, call out where you need to be and I'll maneuver you there.” I replied. He then relayed to me in short form what direction I had to go so that he had a clear line of sight to his targets. I maintained our distance and while giving him a stable platform he could fire from.

“Man... I'm liking these Lances!” I could hear the grin in his voice as he popped the last one, “We are in the clear, sir”

After a few more short bursts from the RCS thruster I matched speed with the spinning station, called out to him, and shortly saw him EVA heading towards the station. I could also see that he was armed for trouble. We kept in radio contact and he called out what he saw. There was ruptures that looked like they were caused by impacts, blast marks from grenades, as well as damage marks he just couldn't figure out the cause of. I kept my eye on the short range scanner, after all, we didn't know who else may have figured out this location. Earlier I had picked up some repeating signals that seemed to be coming from the Eridil system, but they had vanished as mysteriously as they had appeared.

“I've set this base to self destruct, we got five minutes to reach minimum safe distance.” Retrac's sounded pleased, “I also have something else that we’re gonna like.”

Despite my curiosity, I jetted away from the station and aligned for the jump back to our mini base. Once that was done, and we were safely away, I turned and was met by Retrac's grinning face. I understood at once why he was so pleased, in his hands was a military grade ship scanner.

“No way!” I exclaimed, “I've seen specs on those things, they can be used to remote view ship’s scanners!” I knew that this would let us see through other ship’s sensors and allow us to explore without putting ourselves in harm’s way. All we needed to do was maintain a tight beam link to the ship, and we could see everything it finds. As I picked up the advanced scanner system, I had a plan already forming.

“I've been running numbers on those last transponder codes. They are indeed correct, and the origin source of the SDS signal is coming from the Hellion star itself.”

Hellion Inner Planets Orbital Zone (Nimath’s Orbital Path)

Holding Position Over SDS Signal Source (Deep Space)

“OK, so we were able to salvage four of those Steropes, and we got them synced to our new scanner system?” I asked Retrac as we started to suit up in these new, heavily modified AltCorp Mk 9 Pressure suits that had Sons of Earth graffiti all over them, “and you are sure these are going to protect us from the radiation?”

“Well, mostly,” he replied with a smirk, “I don't know how long we should be exposing ourselves, but let’s not stop to sight see, OK?”

I had to go out and set the ships alignment and warp time manually, after that all we had to do was sit back and watch the show. The remote viewing system only lets a person see what was going on from a forward view as well as receive telemetry from the ships systems. “Alright, launch set in two minutes, are we clear?”

“Give me a sec,” came the reply. What the hell could he be doing, I thought, “Hey, I really don't want to be going there personally, so whatever it is you are doing better be important.”

“Oh it is...” I swear that I could see his ear to ear grin coming over the radio, “there, I'm clear.”

“Copy that,” I said then made my way quickly out of the ship and into space, “now what the hell---” I paused as my mind caught up with what I was seeing, first I was shocked by the audacity of what he had done, then I just laughed. “Nice.” was all I could come up with. Painted on the side of the ship were the words 'Helios Diver Mk I'.

“Well, it is bad luck to launch a ship without christening it.” He stated in a matter-of-factly.

With our spirits high, we headed towards the Arges, which we had docked to the top of our outpost, looking like a nesting bird of prey. We cycled the airlock and quickly gathered at the navigational console, which was already tracking the progress of Helios Diver.

“Rad's climbing, fast, it's already showing loss on its hull integrity.” He noted.

“Yea, but the warp drive is still nominal, scanner and the data link also working.” I replied, unable to tear myself away from the screen. “Recorder is running as well.”

Then the signal went dead, all at once and so fast that it took us a few moments to register.

“Wow, that went down fast.” I said.

“Last I saw was the rad's climbing past 250 per tick.”

“Uh, how could something even survive in that?”

Confused, we started to discuss what had happened and what could possibly survive in such an inhospitable area. Hellion is a rough place to live, but its sun, that is truly the heart of hell. We came to the conclusion that we'd have to wait until the signal source moved farther away from the sun.

After a few hours, and without any fanfare, we launched Helios Diver Mk II. Its systems failed farther out then the Mk I. After reviewing the recordings, we could see that the warp drive malfunctioned, dropping it out of warp and into the unforgiving hands of the red giant. It's signal warbled and then died with screech before fading to the white noise of static. No scanner contacts were detected by this one either. Radiation was recorded at 150 units per tick. Where we were orbiting right now it was 16 rads. I didn't like what my math was telling me. We'd be liquefied in our fancy suits before we could even blink.

Retrac called a brainstorming session and all we could come up with was that there was definitely something down there and that it must have had something shielding it from the exposure.

And so we waited, and planned. Hours went by before we figured the signal should be in a lower radiation zone, but it would still be too much for the Military grade shielding to prevent.

“Helios Diver Mk III away,” Retrac announced, “Tracking signal strong and steady.”

“Time to drop, two minutes, thirty seconds,” I replied, “Mil core holding, no damage to ship.”

“Rads at 25 and climbing.”

“One minute to drop, non critical systems are taking damage, FTL still undamaged”

“Rads have levelled out at 59 units.”

“Drive just went off line, but the scanner is showing that something is definitely there!” I exclaimed excitedly.

“Station name confirmed as Site Alpha!”

Nimath Orbital Zone

In Warp (En-route to Site Alpha)

“So, we agree that we protect the FTL system first, then the reactor?” I said.

“Makes sense, even if we lose air we can run red for a bit.” Retrac agreed, “Looks like we should be there in about another forty-five seconds, I better head down below and keep watch, rads are climbing past tolerance”

“Copy that, if it looks good I'll position us so the sun is to our backs, would hate for us to get cooked now.” With the heat radiation pounding us, it was causing the ship to flex and contract as it fought to equalize the temperature of its hull. I could hear the metal creaking and pinging, sharp sound grating at my nerves that where already on edge from just being this close to the sun. I mean, sure I've had close calls before, like that one time I was flying my Steropes past the sun and a freak flare knocked out my FTL drive, but this was different, this time I was purposely diving towards a storm of fire that nothing man made could even come close. 'On purpose,' I laughed to myself as I checked the systems again. “Drop in 10,” I stated.

Retrac acknowledged that he was in position and ready.

**Hellion Orbit**

**Site Alpha**

We dropped out of warp and into the brilliant glare of the sun, it took up the entire sky, glaring at us. I quickly looked for the station and there it was, two-point-five clicks out. I rotated the ship and put us in a drift so that we'd slide into position with the sun behind us. Retrac called out reports as he watched for any type of system damage or hot zones. The ship responded to my requests without delay, but the hull voiced its complaints with a muttering of groans and creaks as the temperature once again changed rapidly. Hot became cool, and cool became hot. “Almost there....” I muttered, forgetting that we had set our comms to open.

“Better get there fast, this ship is not liking this temperature switch, I've had to plug two micro fractures already.” Retrac said.

“Alright, I'm stable, better come up here and depress us, we'll go suit air from this point on. I'm gonna check the docking cams so we won't have to maneuver as much.”

“Copy that.”

Upon hearing the hatches opening I flipped my face plate down and checked my suit's air and fuel levels. Both confirmed as full, so I went back to my docking cameras and noticed immediately that I was getting positive contacts on my docking beacon.

“Uhh, we can dock to this thing? Airlock or anchor points.” I told Retrac.

“Really?! Wow, so much for having to worry about going EVA in this mess. Let’s dock to the airlock then.” He responded with a relief.

Agreeing with him on that, I rolled my ship slowly to let the temperature have a chance to equalize and positioned us for a flawless docking run. Retrac was in the topside airlock and calling out distance. Not that I needed much help as all the needed info was already being displayed on my HUD.

“Docking imminent.” I called out, “Locked, we are secure.”

Retrac was busy trying to see what he could though the small airlock window looking for any automated threats, I headed back to the engineering panel to start powering down the base. It was then that the deck of the ship heaved and struck me in the face. My mind started racing and I heard Retrac say something but I couldn't make it out, another impact slammed me around so hard that my vision went dark. Retrac shouted again and the ship took on a funny red glow for a moment. All I could think of was to get to the bridge and hit the recall system. My sight blurred and I heard a hissing sound, one that I knew too well. My suit had been punctured. Something whizzed by my face, a shrapnel I thought, the ship had been breached....

**Nimath Orbital Zone**

**Mini-Base (Deep Space)**

When I came to, I found myself back in our mini base, every part of my body hurting. Retrac was slipping out of something that barely resembled a space suit and I noticed that my suit wasn't looking any better. “What the hell happened?” I croaked out.

“Airlock blew up, and then the ship got punctured, we were too close so all the energy transferred into our ship and... well, it’s a total loss, I had to scuttle it. Sure glad you had it programmed for a return trip.”

“The airlock... that means...” I stared at him.

“Ya, a booby trap. And I was outside in it, I soaked up a lot....”

“We'll have to put you on ice for a bit, I'll go and see if I can get you some meds, and anti-rad packs.” I started to form a list in my mind of all the stuff we had and would need to get. We were not equipped to handle this kind of emergency.

Since I didn't get exposed to the sun that day I was in much better shape then Retrac. I patched myself up and moved the mini-base to the nearby Athnar’s planetary system. I got lucky and scored a recoverable Arges right away. It took me a few hours to tow it back to base, but I was able to load it up with much needed supplies. Including the exposure medicine and healing stims. Retrac got back on his feet and started to process the supplies as I went on a few mining runs for some raw minerals. I had to play hide and seek a few times as there were a few other ships in the area. All I saw were warp signatures, but I knew I wasn't in any shape to fight off a pirate or even a hostile gnat at this time.

Bit by bit we replaced what was lost, however the thing that I regretted losing the most was that mil-spec scanner. Truly, that was a game changer.

Nimath Orbital Zone (Deep Space Staging Area)

Aboard Hell Jumper Mk II (Arges Mk II H Series)

Retrac looked at me and grinned, “Like the name?”

“Hell Jumper Mk II, nice!.” I grinned back.

We went through our final checklist of supplies and double checked our fuel cells. Looking good, I gave a thumbs up to Retrac, he checked his weapons and tools, and he gave me one back.

“Warp alignment confirmed, jumping in 12 seconds,” I nodded to Retrac. He looked at me and said....

“Lets do this!!!”

#### RetracElyk’s log

Hell Diver MK II launched. We were again loaded with Sons of Earth Suits, the top weapons, EMP grenades, and a well outfitted ship. Upon our arrival, Bathem used the docking camera to move us within one meter of a derelict module. I quickly exited the ship taking minor radiation damage in the process. We worked as a team to clear automated defenses and search for any survivors. As we entered the last CQM, we discovered an active cryopod.

With so few survivors remaining in the system, this took us by quite the surprise. What was even more strange was that the cryopod was authorized to none other than Deadwolf, the deceased mad leader of the Sons of Earth and a former member of the Aegis taskforce.

His words made little sense, ramblings of a madman, he spoke of locking us in this infernal prison forever of ghosts and apparitions. At first I thought that he wanted to blow up the station with us still inside. I pulled a gun and pondered firing. It was then that he mentioned Theona and his words started making sense. We realized that this was all connected and that us finding him here wasn’t a coincidence. Deadwolf acknowledged it was time to leave, saying that he had been locked up for far too long.

He was unarmed and walked slowly with us back to our ship. As we boarded, our turret began firing at him proving that he wasn’t just a figment of our imagination. To our bewilderment he suffered no injuries, to which he just replied that the Beast wouldn’t let him die, not yet. Bathem maneuvered us away from Site Alpha and plotted a course back home.

As we warped outside of the high exposure zone and radiation fell back to normal levels Deadwolf collapsed onto the flor of the ship and shortly died, finally free from his eternal torment...

### A catastrophic disruption

#### Story from "A catastrophic disruption" parts 1 & 2

"At first we relied on chance and opportunity as we looked for our place among the stars.

Today, we shape the universe and create our own destiny."

Excerpt from Daedalus launch ceremony - UNS Admiral Sandi, Earth April 11th 2292

'Sam how are we doing?', James spoke into the commlink.

'Almost there, darling', Samantha said with a playful voice.

She's totally enjoying this.

Smile crossed his face as external cameras showed Sam effortlessly maneuver the new engine unit into place. 'Just checking, dear. Here's the last piece.'

He maneuvered the ship a bit closer, waited for a few secs until she gave him an OK and then pulled the undock leaver.

'Richard, Sam's nearly finished. How are things on your end?'

'So far so good. I'm doing the final system check right now. You guys want to stick around for a test drive?'

'Only if you stop referring to me as

guys

,' Sam barged into the commlink.

'Yea sorry about that ma'am...'

'It's the suit, Sam.', James laughed. 'You can't really blame him.'

It's been little over a year since captain James woke up from his 80 year long cryosleep. James, along with his wife Samantha and a handful of colleagues like Richard, was part of Hellion's "Stage one" deployment team. The station they were assembling, was part of the "Hecaton" project, a large asteroid capture operation in the outer belts. Post 6 was just one of many such installations, built to insert massive ore rich asteroids into stable orbits around Hellion's most promising gas giants.

'We're good to go!', Sam said as she locked the final piece of the engine puzzle in place.

'Ok, head on back. I'm coming to pick you up. Richard, all done on our end!'

'Sure thing. I'm starting the ignition sequence in five. Make sure you are both clear of the blast zone!'

James maneuvered his

"Steropes"

closer to Sam's position and began depressurizing the airlock. The

Steropes

class was considerably smaller and much more maneuverable compared to its big brother Arges, but no less capable at assembly and transport. Due to its small size, captains had to plan ahead and economize with available resources to get the most out of their ship. Fortunately he had no problem with this, but many of his colleagues would have preferred the larger and ""safer" Arges. James, Samantha and Richard were among the first Expedition personnel to wake up and for a good reason. An expert pilot, a brilliant EVA specialist and an engineering prodigy.

'Guys! There's some kind of a...', Richard's voice was cut short by a powerful wave of static and the sound of alarms going off all over the place.

For a moment the ship's instruments went dark, then the alarms started ringing. Even without the noise James could see what was going on. Only one of the asteroid's four engines was activating. The engines were embedded deep into the asteroid's rock layer and were made to work in pairs. With only one, the place would tear itself apart. Sam was still outside and he was forced to only watch as the entire asteroid slowly spun out of control. Then all he could see was a huge expanding cloud of dust, fire and smoke.

James counted to three and fired all starboard thrusters, he prayed that was enough for her to get in.

Dammit!

He narrowly avoided a head on collision with a massive chunk of rock but didn't have enough time to escape one of the engine support beams that came behind it. The impact sent the ship spinning out of control as the canopy cracked and the breach alarms sounded. Bringing the ship under control while trying to move them away from the incoming debris was no small feat and ship took several more hits before it was out of harm's way. As soon as he deemed it safe, James jumped out of his chair and lowered his visor.

'Sam!' Are you ok? Sam!' He found her slumped against the airlock wall, her helmet cracked. His heart skipped a beat. 'Don't do that to me girl!', he yelled as he pulled her into the prep room. A quick glance over the monitor confirmed he could take off her helmet.

15 minutes of air left, not good!

He checked her pulse and pulled a stim out of his pack.

Work you damn thing, work!

When he felt her shift in his arms he let out a sigh of relief.

Longest damn minute of my life!

Well hi there…', her eyes slowly opened.

'Damn it Sam!', he tightened his grip. 'You had me scared shitless! Are you ok?'

'Ouch! Easy there, I hurt all over…', she gasped. 'My suit stopped most of it, I think.'

'You hit your head. Can you stand?' She gave a small nod and he helped her to her feet.

'What the hell happened out there Jim? All I heard was alarms going off, then there was a flash…'

'Something went wrong with the engine sequence, only one of them fired.'

'Only one?', her eyes went wide. 'What about the station, what about Richard!?'

'I don't know yet.', he looked away. 'I barely got the ship out of harm's way.'

She noticed his hesitation and grabbed his hand. 'You did the best you could! Now lets see what the two of us can do.'

James raised his head and looked at her. Shock, pain and confusion were gone from her eyes and she stood there calm and confident, as always.

'You sure you want to go back out there?'

She threw him a smug smile. 'Why? You know someone better?

Within seconds he was back in the pilot seat. Their radar was acting up, several starboard thrusters and the main comms array were severely damaged. Three hull breaches in total and a piece of shrapnel lodged in one of the capacitor banks.

Could have been worse

, he thought.

The two functioned like clockwork, James routed what little air remained back into the air-tank and tweaked the systems to draw less power then went to work on the capacitor. By the time he finished, she was done fixing the hull and got 3 out of 5 thrusters working. James got back into his chair and started looking for Post 6.

'Sam better get back in your seat. This is gonna be a rough ride. We have a runaway asteroid to catch!'

Catching up proved to be a lot more difficult than James initially thought. The asteroid was spinning violently and already falling apart under pressure, sending wave after wave of debris into space. As James took a dive beneath one of the larger ice chunks a storm of smaller fragments crashed against the cracked canopy. With his radar damaged, and several thrusters barely working it turned into a rigged game of dodgeball or a space version of Russian roulette. Finally, he saw an opening.

'Richard was in the command module right?'

'I think so, why?'

'Because I'm gonna use that cargo as cover!'

James added more strength to the thrusters and went straight towards the next ice wave. He reached the module's shadow with a second to spare, dove beneath it just as a huge chunk of ice crashed against the massive doors and burned towards the rocky surface.

We made it!

'Hell! I think I just aged 30 years!', James breathed out a sigh of relief.

'Wouldn't that make you...What? Like 140?', he heard Sam say from her seat.

James threw her a quick glance and caught her pale smile through the visor. He laughed and turned towards Post 6. He got them closer to the surface and avoided large cracks and the shrapnel they were spewing. As the station's remains came into view James remembered why he liked

Steropes

so much. The stunt they've just pulled? It would have been impossible with Arges. Better armor would have come in handy for sure, but it would make little difference if they got hit by even one of the larger chunks. Not to mention that its size would have made using cargo for cover all but pointless. James tightened his grip on the controls and moved towards the command module.

Post 6 was in bad shape. With the exception of the cargo bay most modules were still connected, but severely damaged. The station was anchored near the asteroid's center of mass, which let it avoid most of the G forces that were tearing the asteroid apart but that couldn't protect it from the explosion and debris. There were holes everywhere, and the entire side facing the crater left by the malfunctioning engine was scorched.

'...can anyone hear me. I repeat, James, Sam is anyone still there?', Richard's voice came on the radio, but it was weak, very weak.

'Can't we answer?', Sam asked. Worried look on her face.

'No. Our transmitter is busted and there is too much interference for short range radio.'

'Ok. Get close and look for a place to dock. Once I'm in the station I should be able to reach him.'

'Just be careful, alright?', James barely managed a smile.

'Aren't I always?', with that she went to the airlock.

James got them as close as possible and could see her dive straight to the surface. The entire landscape looked eerie, almost like a slow motion scene from a horror movie. A thick layer of ice dust enveloped the surface like a cloud, obscuring razor sharp edges beneath while the larger rocks slowly bounced back and forth as the land shifted. At the corner of his eye he could see a figure fearlessly darting through that frozen hell towards the command module tower. And then she disappeared inside. A thousand things could go wrong there in an instant, but James pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on flying. He noticed an exposed docking port further from the command module, near one of the broken airlocks and moved in to dock.

Docking itself was a bit harder than usual, with all the circular motion to compensate for, but James was not ready for what followed. The moment docking clamps closed and the vessels connected a violent shudder shook the ship, then another, and another. All followed by sounds of breaking rock, torn metal and cracking ice.

If there is a hell, I think we've found its soundtrack.

Comms were filled with nothing but static with no trace of either Richard or Sam. He waited for what seemed like an eternity when the hellish cacophony of the outside got interrupted by the static from the suit's radio. It was Sam.

'James, can you hear me?'

'Sam! I hear you but barely. Did you find him?'

'I did, but it's not good James…', her voice was trembling. 'You have to come down here…'

After finally getting into the station James wasn’t sure what to make of it. There was far more structural damage than he had expected and multiple scorch marks all over the place. Furthermore the station was in zero-g and full lockdown. The only reason he and Sam managed to get in was because the integrity had weakened enough to let them break open a few doors. Richard was locked inside one of the few still operational cryopods of the Life Support module. He looked like he’d been through hell. His suit was in shambles, multiple lacerations and punctures. It all looked like it was held by internal seals alone. At a glance James could identify several serious injuries. Punctured lung, broken leg and several broken ribs, judging by the suit damage. Still what made him pause was Richard’s right arm, scorched all the way to the elbow seals, his charred fingers still clenched around a small black object.

‘‘What the hell happened here Sam?’

‘I’m not sure…This, this is just insane.’

‘Any way we can get him out?’

‘I don’t think so’, Sam said with a sigh. ‘That cryo is the only thing keeping him alive. If we open it’, there was a pause in her voice. ‘He’d be dead in minutes…’

‘So, we need think of something else...’

A violent shudder shook the entire station and James had to grab onto an exposed girder to avoid being thrown away. He could feel the steel structure straining beneath his fingers as several large cracks appeared before his eyes. He looked over at Sam who likewise held on to a nearby wall and used thrusters to stabilize herself.

‘Jim, the entire place is about to fall apart. We need to get him out of here.’

‘I know, give me a second.’ James’ eyes turned to one of the still working monitors. ‘Integrity is failing. No way we can tow him with us.’ His eyes darted back and forth across the room. ‘Is there a chance we can cut him out?’

‘The cryo? I don’t know, maybe. But without power and life support it won’t work.’

‘There’s got to be something we can try’, James let go of the girder. ‘I’ll head to command and see if there’s something I can do about the lockdown. You go outside and see if there’s anything we can use.’

‘Alright just be careful! I have a bad feeling about this!’

‘You and me both, Sam. You and me both.’

Getting to command module proved to be a lot more difficult than James originally thought. The entire station was locked, but he couldn’t find any emergency protocols in effect. Override codes weren’t working, even the ones Richard set just two days ago.

Too many things just don’t add up! Excessive structural damage, the bloody lockdown, what happened to the failsafes?

, he was furious! Then as he passed through one of the shrapnel riddled corridors he noticed that the ceiling was in ruins. Panels looked blown off and most were either shattered or melted.

Did the engine blast do this?

The question stayed on his mind as he tried to clear the rubble that was barring access to the command module’s upper deck.

As expected, the place was a complete mess. Broken windows, fried consoles and shattered panels everywhere he looked. Most of the damage was caused by the outside explosion, but just like in the corridors there was damage along the walls and ceiling that made little or no sense. But the real issue was the central console that somehow still had power.

A full system wipe?! What the hell Richard?

He entered the mainframe room and a million questions sprang up in his mind.

‘‘Sam? Do you read?’

‘Kind of. Go ahead!’, her voice was almost lost in static.

‘Can you check the external RCS?’

‘Alright. What am I looking for?’

‘If I’m right. You’ll notice at once! Meet me inside when you’re done.’

It took 10 minutes for James to get back to the life support module. By now the place was full of dust that was getting in through the massive hull breach that had effectively split the module in half. When Sam arrived she didn’t even bother with the door and got in straight through the rupture.

‘How was it?’, James turned as she floated in.

‘You were right’. So I also checked the fuel lines. All gone.’

‘And there I hoped I would be wrong’, he said with a sigh.

‘I think I’m starting to get the picture.’

After James was done recounting what he had seen on his way to the mainframe, they both remained silent for a bit.

‘So you are saying that Richard deliberately wrecked the system?’

‘I think so.’

‘But why? What reason could he have for something like that? It makes little sense!’

‘I know, I know. On its own it doesn’t, but I think that core he’s holding is the key to everything.’

‘You know that sounds a bit crazy. Right?’

James waved his hand at Richard’s pod.‘For crying out loud Sam! He ripped the mainframe core out with his bare hands! Can you imagine a guy who never does anything without a reason do something like that?!’

‘Calm down James, I believe you!’, she floated over to him and put her hand on his shoulder. ‘I know what you saw. I just can’t wrap my mind around it.’

‘I’m sorry’, he lowered his voice and took her by the hand. ‘But I don’t have a better explanation. Something went wrong during ignition. He tried to stop the sequence, realized he couldn’t and did the only thing he could which was to...’

‘Physically take out the core’, Samantha finished for him. ‘That explains the lockdown, but it would have shut down the engine not blow it up?’

‘Remember his arm? The mainframe was torched from the inside out by an electric surge.’ James looked at her. ‘That’s how his arm got burned.’

‘But if that also ignited the fuel it would mean…’

James looked at her with a grim expression. ‘That every safety mechanism in this installation failed to activate...’

To any outsider his words wouldn’t sound that strange. After all systems can fail and accidents happen. But to any AltCorp engineer it just sounded wrong. They all knew how their equipment was built and how many different safeties and redundancies existed in each of their systems. He looked over at Samantha and the look on her face gave him all the confirmation he needed. They were thinking the same thing.

Whatever happened here was deliberate!

After about a minute, Sam finally lifted her head and let go of his arm. ‘I think I have a plan Jim. One that will get all of us out of here’, her voice was calm and confident.

Had someone told a few days ago that he would be glad that he was not piloting

Arges

, he would have just laughed. Now, he was no longer sure.

Steropes

was at the core of Sam’s plan and the reason why James believed they could pull it off. It was also the only chance they had to get Richard out of this place in one piece. Unlike its big brother, Steropes’ had a flexible design. It was the ship built for easy field deployment and that meant its systems weren’t as hardwired or complex as the ones on Arges. Sure it didn’t have a fusion reactor, but it didn’t really need one. The amount of power its triple capacitor banks could store, enhanced by the added core containment units Sam salvaged, were more than enough.

They just had to charge them!

He looked over through the cockpit and noticed Sam’s flashlight closing from the dust cloud.

Now to see if they actually fit!

Her plan was simple. With base’s systems compromised they couldn’t rely on any of them and since the place was doomed anyway they would just take any parts they needed and use them to make an interface to keep Richard’s cryopod working long enough for them to reach the nearest habitat. For that, they needed power and that’s why Sam spent the last 20 minutes dismantling the station’s solar array. James went out the airlock and began welding the panels in place. She waved at him and went back into the dust cloud to start working on life support.

Once the last panel was in place he started cutting through the hull. Steropes’ systems may have been “loosely” wired, but the ship wasn’t exactly designed for what they were doing. He still had to tear the hull open to expose the conduits that brought power to the RCS thrusters, then rewire the internal components to feed power back to the capacitor. After he was finished, the ship would have all the maneuverability of a brick.

If anything was to go wrong...

the thought crossed his mind as he was looking at the first set of cables and he hesitated.

He looked over his shoulder towards the asteroid. It was steadily losing mass for the past 2 hours and as a result kept accelerating, spinning faster and faster with each chunk of ice and rock that it flung into space. At this point they had to hold on to the surfaces to avoid being tossed around as their jetpack thrusters were starting to have trouble countering the rotation. He knew full well what was happening. The asteroid was getting dangerously close to the breaking point. Then his eyes caught a series of faint flashes coming from the shifting dust cloud that by now covered the entire station.

Sam’s cutter

, he smiled.

She’s still down in that mess.

He turned around and started cutting. At best they had two more hours, give or take, before everything went to hell.

‘I think that’s it Jim!’, Sam said as she welded the final part in place.

‘Alright, gimme a sec. This damn thing better be working…’

‘It will.’, her voice was tired and her breathing was heavy. ‘It has to!’

They’ve both spent the last hour and a half trying to get the backup life support that Sam cut out of the station jury-rigged onto the ship. Systems room that housed their capacitor banks, air tank, RCS control and warp drive was now a total mess. They had to rip out most wall panels and rewire everything. Everything, except the ship’s warp drive, since none of them dared touch it.

James crawled from under a pile of cables and looked at one of the crudely wired access panels lying next to him. He breathed a sigh of relief when it finally activated and displayed their makeshift life support unit as “online”.

‘It’s working Sam! It’s actually working!’

‘Finally!’, he heard her say. ‘Ok, once you get us close I’ll go pick him up!’

‘Roger, I’ll have us there in a sec!’

Back behind the controls, he swung the ship around and moved it closer to the surface. He was definitely missing those thrusters he had to dismantle. The ship felt heavy and sluggish and it took a lot more effort to maintain position, especially since the asteroids rotation was getting worse. The only good thing about their situation was that most of the dust was gone by now so he could clearly see the life support module, or what was left of it. He brought them as close as he could and did his best to keep the ship leveled with the surface while Sam linked Richard’s cryopod to the improvised towing cables. Once he saw her ok signal he began gently pulling away from the asteroid until they were far enough to stabilize. He left the ship to drift away from the asteroid and went outside to help her. As they struggled to get the cryopod into the ship, James looked behind them at the spinning asteroid. There were no rocks flying towards them any more, no ice chunks, no nothing.

A calm before the storm,

he thought. Whether or not the asteroid finally reached an equilibrium he couldn’t say, but he wasn’t planning to stay long enough to find out. He helped Sam get the chamber into the ship, even in zero-g it still felt heavy and since both the chamber and its occupant were in bad condition, they couldn’t risk hitting any of the walls. They set it down in the corridor, just outside of the system room and connected it to the makeshift life support unit. It wasn’t perfect but it was the best they could do.

Now to get us out of here!

James set a course for Eridil. At best speed they could reach the habitat in 35-40 minutes, but first they had to wait until their capacitor was charged up.

Lucky that Steropes has three separate capacitor banks,

he thought.

Had it been just one that first hit would have left us completely stranded.

He increased forward thrust to make more distance between them and the asteroid.

Just five more minutes…

‘How’s he doing Sam?’

‘I’m not sure.’, she sounded worried. ‘His vitals are really low. Even with the chamber it’s bad.’

‘We’ll be at habitat in 40 minutes! Let’s pray he can hold out that long!

Finally they were ready and James started the countdown.

One more minute and we’re out of here!

As the timer reached 15, his entire screen went white. He closed his eyes and when he opened them the asteroid and Post 6 were gone. All that was left was an expanding cloud of rubble and smoke. Not this time you don’t! This time they were far enough away so he slowly aligned the ship to the warp coordinates and activated the ship’s warp drive! He could not remember the last time he was this glad to see that bright blue glow envelop the ship. He started pressurizing the rooms and got out of his seat.