Zenith-47 - Prologue

Drifting through deep space, The Scrapper, a small, light reconnaissance ship, has just exited hyperspace. The primary engines are disabled and it is running on auxiliary power, maintaining its momentum with the two ion drives that have been modded onto the rear of the central fin. It is nearing the end of the sol and the internal habitat system has just dimmed to a subtle orange.

As you patiently wait for the end of your shift, you suddenly notice a blinking red indicator on the dashboard in front of you. Flicking the comms switch to ‘receiving’ and expecting to see a standard flight control log message come in, you’re surprised to instead see an active alert signal. It was coming from a nearby space station, Zenith-47, a research vessel just 15 minutes’ travel from your current location. The message reads as follows:

LOG//Sol 446: m$44yj90imme9-g ()0-fu48c2——danger help us--

You feel the ship suddenly decelerate, the ship’s walls grumbling under the strain. The space station soon comes into sight. Zenith-47 is a moderately sized outpost, eight large photovoltaic arrays arranged in pairs in a cruciform pattern. The main body of the station consists of a number of interconnected modules that form a long straight passageway. Positioned at one end is a small escape shuttle, still coupled in place. At the other end, an opening docking port, which the ship is carefully approaching.

The nearer you get to Zenith-47, the more the damage becomes obvious. The left side of the main body has been severely compromised, and lines of metal and debris radiate out from the centre, floating slowly away. The damage seems to either be caused by some sort of high velocity impact or some sort of stellar phenomenon—it is difficult to tell without closer
analysis.