Re: OOC: Off-Topic Posts II
In reply to 'Lucky Jack' McIntyre (msg # 561):
Groovy!
To set the scene, veteran belter "Lucky Jack" has been contracted to accompany an expedition to the home of the fabled Sky Raiders, who rampaged this area of Far Frontiers many thousands of years ago during the Vilani Imperium. But after signing his NDA he finds out it is located in deep space... on a massive asteroid mothership over four thousand years old! He is there to support some scientists and academics from the Institute for Interstellar Studies in the Imperial-client state of the League of Suns (aka "Free Suns").
It turns out that the Sky Raiders did not originate near here at all, they are the remnants of a lost minor human race known as the Loeskalth. After gaining Jump drive from Vilani traders in the earliest days of Vilani expansion they established a large pocket empire in their home subsector somewhere in the Domain of Ilieish who's location has been lost to time. When the Vilani attempted to bring the Loeskath under their dominion they knew their's was a lost cause considering the overwhelming strength of the First Imperium. They then devoted the wealth of many systems into creating a massive asteroid starship 10 km long and 2km wide from what was probably a comet. And not just a sublight starship but an actual Jump-capable one. The Jump drive was used to escape into the Rift. Then a Bussard Ramjet allowed the mothership to finish the crossing at sublight speed with the Star Raiders in stasis.
Using a combination of Bussard ramjet propulsion and, after refuelling, their Jump drive, tjeu eventually passed through the Reft, Trojan Reach, the Beyond and Vanguard Reaches Sectors to set up shop in Far Frontiers, to Rimward of the Zhodani consulate. Far Frontiers at the time was settled by a minor-human race, the Vlazdhumecta. After gaining Jump technology from the Zhodani they expanded rapidly and then completely collapsed, with some Worlds to coreward eventually annexed by the Consulate. In the remaining unclaimed area the Loeskalth, raided and pillaged many dozens of Worlds and earning the name "Sky Raiders". After centuries of activity they suddenly disappeared, leaving behind few traces like a base on Mirayn (located in an Imperial client state) that led to their only positively identified colony, on Qarant/Jungleblut (located in a neutral but Zhodani-leaning pocket empire).
Archaeological research continues on Qarant but evidence suggests there was some kind of civil war that shattered the Sky Raiders and led to most of the population leaving in an exodus, mainly to Qarant. There they flourished for a while but were eventually felled by a plague similar to (or the same as) the one that previously destroyed their base on Mirayn and annihilated the native population there. The remainder drifted along with the crippled mothership into the depths of space and oblivion. The mothership has now been located many parsecs to coreward of Mirayn and Qarant, drifting on a course that will take it straight into Zhodani space in a few decades. Few Jump-capable starships this size had ever been successfully constructed, let along travelled for hundreds of parsecs, this despite the relatively low technological level of the Sky Raiders. There were therefore significant technical and social knowledge to be gained from the mother ship. Not to mention the incredible amount of treasure, wealth looted from dozens of worlds.
The expedition originally went well. Using information gained from a wrecked battle rider found on Qarant the mothership was located in weeks (and not years, as feared) and the chartered research vessel Inquisitor Jumped to a rendez-vous point and then accelerated for a number of weeks to match course. As the first of the ship's two modular cutters (which look like Eagle transporters from "Space: 1999"
) made its approach to land on the mothership (or at least anchor to the surface due to the ship's spin) a mutiny broke out and the Institute members still aboard were seized. Down on the surface Lucky Jack took the cutter up to investigate why the Inquisitor had ceased comms and the starship shot the cutter's engineering module off, leaving it to crash on the mothership's surface due to its previous course. Lucky Jack lived up to his nickname, managing to make a hard but intact landing through the use of emergency maneuver thrusters, skill, giant testicles and a massive amount of luck. One of the crewmen, Billy, who feared he was marked for spacing due to finding out the real identity of the hijackers, rescued the remaining Institute personnel (mainly scientists) on the Inquisitor and they escaped using the second cutter to reach the surface in a hard landing. The Inquisitor then seemingly Jumped away.
Right now the plan for the stranded members of the Institute expedition is to explore the mothership some, while trying to repair the two crippled modular cutters but mixing and matching components. Jack is with the exploration party of the Institute scientists with their security detail (the PCs). Following a large but abandoned transport tunnel (that has a breathable atmosphere) they have found a side tunnel with living quarters and, at the top level closest to the centreline of the asteroid, a massive chamber that seemed to be planted with vegetation (forests) on the "sides" and an artificial sun in the centre. There is a functioning biome inside the chamber, suggesting very robust automatic systems and/or human or robotic caretakers.
