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synodiporia_ooc2016-01-05 10:23 pm
powersthatbe) wrote in synodiporia_ooc2016-01-05 10:23 pm
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ESCAPE FROM JUNKWORLD: JAUNT INFO.
Welcome to the Junkworld of Gehenna: a radioactive cinder twice the size of Earth, used as a rubbish heap and ship graveyard for centuries by cultures across the cosmos, guarded by automated gunstations (left by cultures from across the cosmos), and with its only native inhabitants being Leaping Fireworms who feed on metals and thrive in heavy-gravity environments. Occasionally used as a penal colony as well, but really a death sentence - the only way people are sent to Gehenna is being placed in gutted ships in decaying, unguided re-entry orbits. Still, over the centuries, some have survived this process, and settlements have grown on the surface, giving the world a total population in the high hundreds or low thousands.
And now, the Tachyon Storm is coming. Nobody knows exactly what that means, but it’s bad.
You see, tachyons are particles that travel faster than light and back in time, and the slower they are, the more energy they have. And what few sensors on Gehenna work have started detecting increasing bursts of tachyon radiation, denser and denser, slower and slower moving. The best guess is that some incredible high-energy phenomenon is coming in the near future. No normal lightspeed shockwave can be seen before it hits - so by the time anyone knows what it is, it’ll be too late. And judging by the rate the tachyons are slowing down, it’s only a few weeks away.
The refugees, prisoners, scavengers, smugglers, and accidental colonists of Gehenna have a plan - or some of them do. Smuggler ships small enough to slip to the surface past the automated gun satellites are too small to travel faster than light, and they don’t have time to call for a ride. But the planet is all but covered in wrecks, hulks, derelicts, and crashes, and two large, durable vessels of dubious design are nearly intact. It’s just barely possible to put them together, strap on the smuggler vessels as armed outriders, and blast off for escape.
But as the source of the Tachyon Storm gets closer, things are getting weird. The laws of physics are bending or breaking entirely. The ships, barely understandable or able to be kept together as it is, are behaving in strange ways, and that strangeness is carrying over to the synthetics and cyborgs who interface with ship systems to operate them. And everyone on Junkworld Gehenna had an agenda or an axe to grind, anyway - trustworthy, safe, sane people don’t wind up banished to radioactive cinders, after all.
Ancient, unknown ships falling apart around them. The combined dark secrets, dubious pasts, and skeletons in the closet of a hundred different interstellar scofflaws. Even with an oncoming shockwave approaching at least as fast as light, the open question is still: what’s going to get around to killing them first?
CREW POSITIONS
Captain: The commanding officer, whose word is law. In a crisis, there’s no time to argue about who’s in charge, and a competent captain has unquestioned power of life and death over the crew.
Computer Interface Officer: A Synthetic who interfaces directly with the ship’s computer to monitor electronic systems and make sure data and informational security are functional. While the Interface Officer answers only to the Captain, they command no-one else.
Communications Officer: A Synthetic or Cyborg who manages the ship’s external communications, as well as the internal software which allows everyone to seemingly speak the same language. May also be the Interface Officer.
Sensor Officer: A Synthetic or Cyborg who manages the ship’s internal and external sensors and reports on conditions. Often works very closely with the Navigator, who needs all this information immediately, but usually more relatable than a Navigator.
Navigation Officer: A Synthetic or Cyborg who manages the ship’s navigation. Mystical, artists, possessed of strong mental discipline, they plan hyperlight courses which even little particle flows or gravity anomalies can interrupt. The math is time-consuming. Many find navigators to be eerie visionaries.
Helmsman: the one who flies the ship. Hot-shot jet-jockeys with lightning reflexes, fueled by pure ego - or that’s the stereotype.
Gunner: If you can point and shoot, you might be a gunner.
Engineer: The master mechanic who keeps the reactors and both sublight and hyperlight engines operational. Usually highly educated and scientific; often eccentric, used to working in obscenely dangerous conditions.
Bo’sun: The bo’sun isn’t an officer. The bo’sun handles crew discipline and hull repair with the same delicate hand - that is to say, usually with a hammer, in a hurry.