Light Cargo Vessel

D8 Droid

D8-M4

D8 is a M4 utility droid that was built by X to keep the ship in relatively good repair. M4s were the first to be able to leave the confines of the ship, travel along its outer hull through a series of mag-track pads in its rear roller, and repair breaches.

The M4 series was quickly replaced by larger M5 construction droids and the M6, more complex variants that were designed to carry weaponry. Back in the day, no ship in the quadrant would go to space without at least one or two M4's on board - used to constantly maintain and repair the ship's systems.

D8 is now part of the crew of the Lady Luck

Location: Lady Luck

The Lady Luck is a Light Freighter with a crew of four with additional births for four additional passengers. 

The cargo area of the Lady Luck is roughly
five connex boxes wide (40') and twice as long (40')
 and twice as high (16')

Location: The Lady Luck: Shuttle Craft

Prometheus 1.2

Well, Prometheus 1.2 is up on youtube.

The basic idea for this segment is to show that the colonists have more to deal with than just finding food, water and shelter.

Prometheus - Chapter 1.1

Prometheus

Prometheus is a project that I've been working with for a while. It's only now that I have access to the new Window Movie Maker in Vista that I can more easily put the ideas and images together into a coherent form.

Ideally, I'll find the time and direction to create small, video serials that will help explain the story of along. I find and splice segments of video from various movies together and tie in some music to help convey the basic idea of the plot; very similar to a story board.

In this first chapter, I am using footage from the movies: Serenity and Pitch Black. I already have started work on Chapter 1.1 but even three minutes takes a while to compile.

I'm not sure where the story is going but it should be an interesting trip.

Chapter 1.0

The colonists and crew aboard the Prometheus sleep away the 14 month voyage to their new home on Syan; a remote and newly established colony world. A collision with a micro-meteor storm sends the ship off course and they crash land on an unknown planet.

Nutri-Bars

Space Colony

Any new Colony would need to keep its members healthy and well-fed. As securing protein and food materials from local flora and fauna would be difficult if not impossible for the first few years, an easily transported source of food would be needed.

As this need would contribute to the ever-widening colonization market, several earth-based companies produced nutritional supplement bars. These meal bars were full of immunization medication, vitamins, protein and calories.

The basic formula for the bars was that each one could keep one adult alive for one day.

The flavorings were not the best. Some companies experimented with beef and chicken additives but none were able to truly capture enough flavoring to make them a hot commodity.

Nutri-bars became the food stores of the moderately poor colonists. Flavor wasn't the largest priority.

Some colonists were known to add a Nutri-bar to a soup or stew and cover the bland taste with other seasonings that were available.

INSPIRATION: Firefly (Serenity), Lost In Space (movie)

MutEx Scouts / Pirates

Mut-Ex (MU-TEX)

Mutant Exploration

Mutant Exploration of space.

Humans were considered poorly suited for deep space exploration so the scientific community decided to make some improvements. The scientists borrowed DNA from various animals to increase stamina, agility and muscle density. A few of the MutEx Scouts were given above normal intellects so be able to handle the multitude of navigation calculations more efficiently.

Most scouts were never heard from again; considered a lost cause and never searched for if lost. Hundreds of MutEx scout ships were sent out to find new homes for the citizens of Earth. Only 9 found anything close to a habitable world. Eight were deemed appropriate for colonization and were put on the fast track to be converted to a habitable atmosphere or for the construction of surface domes.

The ninth world, a medium-sized moon, was considered to be too hazardous for navigation and left alone. There were several rumors that one of the more intelligent MutEx scouts was able to overcome the psychological conditioning to obey his orders and found a world for himself and others like him. MutEx scout ships were not designed for inter-atmosphere travel; primarily to search out worlds with breathable or near-breathable atmospheres from orbit. If all of the MutEx scout ships crashed into their hidden world, there would be no threat. If any of them survived, they would be bound to the planet.

The problem is that they did survive and the Scouts, with their genetic enhancements, flourished. While the new eight colony worlds were being established and the settlers pushed their way out from Earth to their new homes, the Scouts turned themselves into pirates; attacking colony ships for provisions and materials.

It was because of the MutEx pirates that the Colonization Council established an armed patrol to escort the ships.

MutEx Pirates are the stuff of legend. Some say that they eat the people they catch on board the ships and others believe that they eject them to space. Either way, MutEx "MU-tex" has become a synonym for danger; a space-faring bogey man.

Two or three generations of being exposed to a number of different types of radiation has warped their appearance and that of their children giving them an almost monstrous appearance.

INSPIRATION: Reavers (Firefly), Morloc (Time Machine)

Space Colony: Planet Identification

Planet identification and exploration is the first step towards colonization. One has to know that there is someplace to colonize and what kind of planet it is before they can move in.

I have a few different theories as to how these planets would be identified but for the purposes of an story-line that I'm working on now, I'll use what I'm calling a "Scout Theory".

Scouts are genetically enhanced humans that were engineered to for deep-space exploration. Their bodies suffered and became weaker but as they would be dwelling almost in complete zero gravity, but their minds were expanded both in size and in function. Sort of like a living computer, the Scouts were sent deep into space to find habitable worlds to help the people of earth who had over grown the planet's ability to support their numbers.

Over thirty years of exploration in the countless systems, the Scout program identified nearly two-dozen planetoids in twenty systems that would support human life. The Scout List organized the identified planets in terms of ease of access, habitability, and proximity to valuable resources. The first seven on the list were seized by the largest of the world's governments and mega corporations. Four of the planets at the bottom of the list were considered too costly to colonize as there were too many navigation hazards to reach and not enough resources within the system to make it a sound economic investment.

The program dictated that when a planet was identified, the Scouts would launch several marker satellites that would provide a beacon to the fleets of ships that would arrive to take possession of the planet. These satellites also scan the planet for climate and some topography which is sent back towards Earth. A number of auxillery satellites were deployed which would pick up the signals of the planetary beacons and relay them to Earth as no one satellite would be able to send a signal strong enough by itself.

The Scout Program controlled all access to the relay satellites and restricted access to any of the data from the project. Only once they were certain to gain and maintain control over the planets they wished, did they start selling off the locations to the remaining planets. Corporations bought them quickly and then resold the planet's information out to the people of earth. Everyone wanted their own, small square of a new world; a chance to start over.

Most of the people who had the money to afford to leave the Earth weren't the kind of people to grab a patch of dirt and make it their own, however, so many of the new worlds would be colonized in waves. The first to leave would be thousands of workers who would build the first cities.

*Story Element*

One of the last of the four that were identified within a dangerous class of nebula that could not be measured in the short time that the Scouts passed it. Through their genetically enhanced minds, they were able to navigate the hazards of the nebula and find the last planet on the list.

As this planet was considered inaccessible by commercial ships, it was not considered for colonization. In a remarkable display of business ethics, the Scout Project didn't reveal the location of the last planet.

Eventually, the location of the Last planet was stolen from the computers of the Scout Program and a secret colonization was born.

Intruder Alert

Part 2 of "Maltharians in Space"

"Intruder Alert."

"Wha?"

"Intruder Alert."

"We've got problems."

"Yeah, no kidding. "

"What's this 'we'?"

"Intruder Alert."

"The WE in this detention cell."

"We're aboard a Tinari cruiser. What in the hell could board usunles it was something very bad?"

"Intruder Alert."

"Yeah, but they're not going to be coming after us."

"You're sure about that?"

"Hey, all I did was fall asleep at my post."

"Intruder Alert."

"Uh huh... and I 'just' missed chapel for the past month."

"What are you in for, Ensign?"

"I don't know."

"Intruder Alert."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Security picked me up coming off shift and told me that I was being detained until the Captain could question me."

"What did the old man want?"

"Intruder Alert."

"That's just it. He didn't ask me anything really. He just read my report from the mission to the ruins on the planet we hit a few days ago."

"That must have been some report."

"Quiet Jar. What -did- he ask?"

"I wish I could see down the hallway."

"Intruder Alert."

"Where're all of the Security Guards?"

"He asked if I saw Commander Ryn collect some artifacts from the ruins. I told him that I did and that it was all in my report."

"Sounds like he didn't want you to see that."

"Intruder Al..."

"What happened?"

"Emergency Power Engaged."

"Shit, now we're on back up power and back-up lights."

"All personnel should go to code beta."

"Oh shit."

'What does that mean?"

"Didn't you ever study your regs?"

"It means that everyone on board should arm themselves and prepare to defend the ship at all costs."

"What the HELL is going on out there."

"Hey, do you hear that?"

"It sounds like weapons fire."

"Yeah, probably on the deck ahead of us."

"Is that... screaming?"

"I'm getting out of here."

"How, the security field..."

"... has been disconnected when we went to emergency power."

"Escaping the brig is considered a capital offense. They shoot you for that."

"Yes, but whatever's invading the ship will probably shoot us before they can get to that."

"Jar, see what you can do."

"What were these ruins, Ensign?"

"I don't know Chief. I was just there to check for any available technology for R&D."

"Those shots are getting closer."

"Well then get your ass in gear, Jar."

"Aye Chief."

"Did you find anything?"

"No, just a high concentration of poly-obsidian compounds and residual nero-genic energy signatures."

"What?"

"Got it."

"Jar, can you hack into a weapons locker?"

"Sure Chief, why?"

"I know who's boarded the ship."

"Who?"

"Malthaians."

Maltharians in Space

"Sir, Maltharian Heavy Cruiser decloaking off the starboard bow."

"What? Are they charging weapons?"

"She's launching shadow-fighters."

"Dammit! Hail them!"

"Receiving transmission sir. We're to stand down our weapons and clear out of their way."

"What?!"

"They claim a right of revenge on the Tanari Fleet."

"The whole fleet?"

"Aye Sir."

"Blood Oath...damn."

"They're crazy."

"No Ensign, they're Maltharians. o as they said. Get us out of the fight."

"Yes Sir."

"But not too far. I want to see this."

"Sir, nothing can stand up against the combined firepower of a Tanari fleet."

"You've not seen Maltharians in battle, son. No Tanari ship will survive."

"Sir, incoming transmission from the lead Tanari ship."

"On Screen."

"Captain, stand down your ship and prepare to be boarded. Surrender yourself and I'll spare your mutanous crew."

"I think you have bigger problems, Admiral."

"Blashphemers! Target Margosa's ship and inform the Maltharians not to interfere."

"Shadow-Fighters on approach, Admiral."

"Good bye, Admiral."

"Destroy the Inferno! Captain Margosa must not be allowed to escape!"

"Admiral, our weapons are off line."

"What?!"

"Intruder alert. Intruder alert."

"I'd get to an escape pod if I were you, Admiral."

"Impossible."

"They're coming out of the shadows all over the ship!"

"Security lock-down. Repell borders."

"I'll see you are damned for this, Margosa."

"Watch out for Shadows, Admiral. Sometimes they move."

Seven Seas

A. Thruster Pods
B. Helm
C. Anti-Asteriod Beams
D. Cargo Deck
E. Unknown
F. Torpedo Tubes (sensor shooters?)
G. Cargo access under the neck.

Psy Ops

What if telepathic were not just real, but reliable?

What if we were at war?

What if telepaths and psy's were integrated into the military?

More later.

Space Colony + Green World

The world's resources were drying up. Colonization of other worlds was no longer just an economic investment but rather a matter of survival.

Unfortunately, even with the best scientists working on the project, no habitable worlds were found by the many "Rover" satelites that were sent out to search the galaxy. While the Rovers were searching for a new home, the governments of the world began building huge orbital stations to house those working towards the salvation of their people. America, Europa, Pacifica were the first to get their stations operational. Thousands of people were brought up from a dying earth to live in the relative comfort of the floating cities.

Ships were created capable of traveling to their new home but word never came from the Rover satelites. The ships eventually became living quarters as well as more and more people bought their way out of the industrial filth of the planet below.

In time, generations were born on the floating cities and the earth was forgotten; left behind like a guilty scar. Three generations had been born and died in the creation of the stations and their ships. No more did shuttles arrive from earth with newly "rescued" families from earth. Nothing new came from the burnt planet.

Materials were recycled almost indefinately to maintain the new human population. Domes of plants, imported from protected gardens, once grown to clean the air and provide a memorial to the fallen world, now became an environment only enjoyed by the extremly wealthy. Real wealth was displayed in the organic. Small planters of real grass could be valued as a whole year's salary. Flowers are now frozen within a protected plastic coating to preserve them for generations and soil is as valued as gold.

As with most things, those who control the wealth are in the minority but control the majority. And, as with most things, wealth can be stolen. Food is no longer fresh vegetables and beef but a poly-protein slurry that is compressed into bars and disks. For those who can afford it, their food has been fashioned to appear very much like it once was. Dye and flavoring additives help people believe that they are eating real apples and real carrots but, in truth, they eat little more than processed soy beans.

Huge domes filled with the only remaining plants adorn the top of the floating cities. Those with wealth are closest to it and one's import is measured by which station level you live upon. Any level lower than thirty is considered dangerous and unpatrolled by on-station security. Those who dwell within those levels are left to their own means for survival - breeding unmonitored and unchecked. Having no wealth to access the food vendors, they steal what they can and hack into water pipes to live. They crawled throughout the station's pipes like rats and so they were named by the wealthy.

Rats skulk in corners and hijack food shipments. They disrupt the natural order of things and prevent the space colony from moving forward to "Launch Day". Set backs and problems a plenty have been attributed to the Rats and they are often rounded up in bunches and summarily disposed of with the public's blessing.

But the Rats have a secret.

Some of the Rats, one in twenty, do not steal food and water, they steal earth and seed. Only the bravest of their tunnel-runners venture so high as to steal an acorn or a handful of rich, black soil. The precious prize may change hands a dozen times to send it deep into the lowest of levels where hyjacked sunlight is piped through fiber-optic cables to grow their Green World.

The Green World is a hollowed cavity within the bowels of the floating city. With torch and flesh, the floors and walls were ripped open to form an 'egg' of salvation. Vines, plants and algae clean the air where most think it unfit for breathing. Water runs not in pipes but in small streams to nourish their new world under an artificial sun.

Thus bore the great conflict upon the stars: The Green versus the Greed.

Security teams, attempting to quell the rash of thefts from the gardens and green houses of the wealthy, delve deep itno the heart of the station to destroy the Rats. This time, above others, the Rats would not be rounded up and destroyed so easily. The Rats, who previously had been picked off one by one, had grown into a community - surrounding the Green World and willing to lay down their lives to protect its secret. The rats worked together to alert each other and although they had no great weapons to fight their hunters, but what they did have was cunning, stealth and above all - faith.

Armed only with a dagger carved from the gigantic thorns grown within their green sanctuary, they plotted ambushes and raids. The sharp point of their thorn-daggers plunging deep within the authority of the station. Where one would fall, they would take five and sometimes six guards with them, the only hint of their identity being a small egg-shaped, green pendant found about their neck.

The struggle between the low and the high continued for near three decades until the station's secret was discovered. The Rover project, to find them a new home, had returned information and the location of at least three planets almost fifty years prior. To leave the station and find a world rich with land, plant and soil would rob the powerful of their wealth.

Best to hold a population in poverty than promote them all from purgatory.

NOTES:

1. The earth-that-was has been beyond their observation for more than one-hundred years.
2. Even if the colony ships wanted to, could they actually launch the ships to the new world?
3. Could the Green World on the station be a bit more technologically savvy - enough to perhaps create a "cure" for the polution problem on the Earth? (Some kind of algae that would eat away at the water and soil polution?)
4. Could the Green World's goal be to return to the Earth