Getting moving again on this, sorry for the hiatus.In the early years of the 22nd century, war broke out between the free colonies of the Jovian moons and the AESIR - the Alliance of Earth and Satellite Independent Republics. Despite a spirited defence, the Jovian Collective was defeated in 2121.
Rather than live under Earth rule, the Collective embarked on an ambitious plan to launch colony ships to distant worlds. These ships were hurriedly assembled in secret, and launched in 2124. Your ship, the
St. Andrew was destined for a verdant, Earth-like world called Serendipity.
Most of the crew spent the 247-year journey in stasis. Only a small minority, the Flight Crew, stayed awake. Five generations of flight crew lived and died on board ship. The ship's AI, Prospero, also remained active during this long voyage.
On arrival at Serendipity, the rest of the crew began to awaken. Alien life was discovered on the planet's surface by probes, and the decision was made to establish the initial colony in a cold valley in the northern hemisphere. All was going according to plan until the
St. Andrew began aerobraking in the upper atmosphere. The heat shield partially failed, sending the ship spinning out of control. To preserve the
St. Andrew, Prospero dumped several cargo pods, which were scattered across the planet below.
Strange events began to plague the mission - computer glitches, allegations of sabotage and even murder, and odd behaviour on the part of the Flight Crew - but the colonisation effort continued. The Core Lander Module, the industrial heart of the new colony, was deployed successfully, and now you have a small town on the surface.
Native fauna include fast-flying avians, small predators called 'poondogs', and a type of worm that is attracted to heat. One of the worms was captured; it entered into a sort of chrysalis and turned into a wormball.
Some of the native creatures are potentially dangerous. One surveyor, Luis Wirren, was attacked by a bizarre entity made up of spheres (possibly a hive organism of wormballs) which he encountered in the odd hot caves to the east of the landing site. This entity captured a probe robot and was tracked to the volcanic lake to the south, which turned out to be full of the creatures. The scout team who were tracking the probe were threatened by the creatures, who were able to form cutting blades from their spheres.
The scouts continued to track the probe as it was carried south into the jungle, where they discovered one of the jettisoned cargo containers. Inside, they found a stasis pod, and in the pod was a strange woman who is not on the crew roster. She was severely injured, and has been brought back to the landing site.
Meanwhile, on the orbiting ship, tensions were running high. The Flight Crew objected to plans to strip the ship; others, especially Security Officer Cogburn, had become increasingly convinced that both Prospero and the Flighters were trying to sabotage the colony. Finally, Cogburn pushed for a surgical strike on Prospero's mainframe, disabling the AI. This attack on Prospero caused many of the Flight Crew to lock themselves in the rear section of the ship, and for a brief time, it seemed as if armed conflict was inevitable.
Consensus and diplomacy prevailed, though, and the crisis appears to have been revolved, although someone has just
launched a shuttle as if fleeing. Meanwhile, science and engineering are about to reboot Prospero.
It looks as though you're finally going to get some answers.
New players: Sign In Here, if you haven't already.
All players: sorry again about the delay. Work. And stuff.
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