Freelancer bonus disk

**Freelancer bonus disk** was an additional CD full of goodies related to the game, including early drafts of the intro and storyline. Some excerpts are preserved here as related to *Starlancer*.

## Freelancer opening narration

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FADE IN:
INT. asf sleeper ship. close on a pair of eyes.
The eyes look worried, confused, afraid.  We begin to PULL BACK as a cowling drops down over the person’s head.  We can still see the eyes through a small window.  There’s a HISS as the window freezes over from within.
COMPUTER VOICE
Life support online. Initiating cryogenics.
We CONTINUE PULLING BACK to reveal that the person’s in a coffin-like cryo-container. Next to it is another container, and another, and another. All beginning to freeze. And there are more containers, cowlings dropping down over nervous faces.
CONTROL (O.S.)
(over intercom)
All systems are go. Launch in T minus ten mintues...
We CONTINUE PULLING BACK to find that there are thousands of cryo-containers, all lined up side-by-side, level upon level.  People quietly climb into them, beginning the cryo process.
COMPUTER VOICE
Cryo lockdown sequence complete.
We PULL BACK through the hull of the ship to:
INT. pluto. underground asf base.
We now see how truly massive the sleeper ship is.  And nearby, there are FOUR more just like it!  Preparations for take off are being made.
CONTROL (O.S.)
(filtered)
Launch in T minus nine minutes...
Ships buzz about. Then:
A LOUD KLAXON WAIL can be heard. The futuristic version of the air raid warning.
SLEEPER CAPTAIN (O.S.)
Control? I’m reading multiple incoming hostile contacts. Should I abort?
CONTROL (O.S.)
Negative. Launch is still a go. I repeat launch is still a go.
SLEEPER CAPTAIN
(slightly nevrous)
Copy that control. Just make sure our trajectory is clear.
We HEAR a VOICE.  It’s the voice of an old man.  A man who has known strife and death.  A man who has looked into the bowels of Hell and didn’t flinch.  But it is also the voice of a man who is on intimate terms with ultimate power.
rockford (V.O.)
It was the 23rd century.  Mankind’s darkest hour.
shock cut to:
EXT. earth’s moon. battlefield.
Foot soldiers locked in mortal combat.  They blast away at each other with the conviction that every inch of ground is worth more than their lives.
rockford (V.O.)
The war had been raging for almost a hundred years. Some called it ‘The First Solar War.’
(beat)
Little did they know it was also to be the last.
EXT. montage.
The voice continues as soldiers plant a flag into the ground.  We see a series of MAP GRAPHICS and GRIDS all backed by the blasting and explosions of air bound WAR.
ROCKFORD (V.O.)
On one side was ‘The Coalition of Eastern Powers,’ made up of China, Africa, Arabia, and Russia.
EXT. space battle.
The battle rages on.  Large carriers from each side square off against one another, guns blazing.  Smaller fighters fill the skies, engaged in dogfights to the death.  A pilot FIRES blast after blast at his enemy until the ship EXPLODES in a ball of fire.  A radio tower is BLOWN to smithereens.
rockford (V.O.)
The other side, ‘The Allied Solar Forces,’ consisted of Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Japan, and the United States.
(beat)
We were known as the Alliance. We were also losing. One by one, our colonies fell to the Coalition onslaught.
INT. asf base. pluto.
CONTROL
5... 4... 3... 2...
Fighter escorts rise up and around the giant sleeper ships.
CONTROL (cont’d)
1!
The sleepers themselves rumble to life and begin to lift off.
rockford (v.o.)
In desperation, we launched five sleeper ships.
EXT. asf base.
Sleeper ships and their dwarfed escorts emerge and fly overhead.
ROCKFORD (V.O.)
 They were our insurance policy.
EXT. spacE
The small fighters zip around the slower moving sleeper ships.
ROCKFORD (V.O.)
Each ship was christened in honor of its occupants’ motherland.  The Bretonia. The Rheinland. The Hispania. The Kusari. The Liberty.
EXT. space. uf blockade.
A showdown between the opposing forces. The ASF fighters let go with everything they’ve got. A Coalition carrier takes a fatal hit, leaving a hole for the sleeper ships to push through.
rockford (V.O.)
With a little luck they broke the Coalition blockade and headed for the Sirius System.
The sleeper ships and their remaining escorts fly by and warp out of there, heading to the other end of the galaxy.
ROCKFORD (V.O.)
With them went our hopes and our dreams for a new beginning.
EXT. pluto.
The planet looks deceptively peaceful.
rockford (v.o.)
Those of us who remained fought on. We found ourselves trapped on Pluto. Ready to make one last stand. We hoped we could buy our ships time. Perhaps we hoped we could turn the tide.
Coalition forces gather over Pluto and unleash a devastating attack.
ext. pluto. base.
Coalition missiles pound the ASF base even as ASF ships try to take off.
Air raid klaxon’s WAIL.
EXT. space.
ASF ships go head to head with the Coalition forces.
Rockford
But fate wouldn’t have it.
Suddenly, in the midst of the fighting, an enormous ALIEN SHIP literally materializes out of thin air!  The thing is immense and shaped like nothing we’ve ever seen before. It clearly uses technologies we haven’t yet dreamed of.
rockford (v.o.)
Because that’s when they arrived.  Some say they were threatened by our technology.  Our ability to travel the stars.  Others say they feared the spread of our war.
(beat)
We’ll never know.  They made no attempt to communicate.  Not a word, not a blip ever came from their ship.
INT. carrier. control bridge.
A young general looks out at the strange alien ship.
rockford (v.o.)
I truly believe that if we humans had put aside our differences we would’ve had a chance to save our birthplace...  But it wasn’t to be.
EXT. space. alien ship.
The mammoth ship turns and moves into position.  A large, strange device emerges from its nose.  It seems to be taking aim...
rockford (v.o.)
One blast was all it took...
The alien device FIRES a single FIREBALL of glowing energy which streaks away from the ship like a comet.
EXT. space. following the “comet”.
We move with the white-hot fireball as it streaks inward through the Solar System, moving past the various planets.
ROCKFORD (V.O.)
One blast and all known life in the solar system was extinguished. By them... Our eternal enemy... the Nomads.
The fireball IMPACTS the Sun.  At first, the Sun seems to absorb it, but then the surface starts to roil.  The pressure builds quickly and then the Sun EXPLODES.
The resulting WAVE OF DESTRUCTION that mushrooms out from this explosion is on a magnitude completely unimagined by mankind.  Mercury and Venus are instantly incinerated.  Earth and Mars soon follow.
The WAVE swallows everything as it expands outward.  At Saturn, the rings are momentarily warped and flanged by the force before being completely obliterated along with the giant planet itself.
EXT. pluto. base.
The devastating WAVE hits, but it’s lost a little of its power.  A portion of the planet’s dark side manages to escape complete annihilation.
ROCKFORD (V.O.)
There was one survivor. In the wreckage on the dark side of Pluto, a young general managed to stay alive.
A ship rises up from the wreckage of the ASF base.
EXT. space.
The small ship makes its way through the flotsam and debris of space battle and alien destruction, heading off in the same direction as the sleeper ships.
ROCKFORD (V.O.)
Someone had to warn the colonists in Sirius.  Someone had to lead them.  Someone had to ensure that this would never happen again.
smash cut to:
main title.
dissolve to:
ext. space. planet manhattan.
The general’s small ship swoops into view and flies towards the planet.
EXT. Planet manhattan. settlement.
MOVING IN with the general’s ship, the planet at first seems uninhabited.  But as we MOVE CLOSER, we see a cluster of makeshift buildings.  We recognize the large structure in the center:  it’s the sleeper ship, Liberty, now converted into the settlement’s main building.
ROCKFORD (V.O.)
We came here 800 years ago to restart human civilization.
The general’s small ship comes to a landing near the settlement and we,
dissolve to:
Ext. manhattan. present.
Much has changed. The meager settlement is now a thriving metropolis bustling with activity and commerce.  The Liberty still anchors the center.  But it is now part of a larger, ornate structure called MANOR HOUSE: the political and financial center of the known universe, and also the home of Chairman Rockford, 842 year-old ruler of House Liberty and leader of mankind.
SUPERIMPOSE:
NEW MANHATTAN. CAPTIAL OF HOUSE LIBERTY. RULING HOUSE OF THE EMPIRE OF MAN.
ROCKFORD (V.O.)
We have come a long way since then.  We have grown. We have prospered. We have flourished.
A beat.
ROCKFORD (V.O.)
But we will never forget.
The scene FREEZES and the MAIN GAME OPTIONS fade up, ontop of this backdrop.

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