Book 1: Innocence

Wherein the crew of the Shifting Horizon began their inaugural voyage to the stars

Book 1, Prologue: Introductions

After some initial confusion (character creation can be a bit odd), the officers of the Shifting Horizon made it on board and began getting to know each other. Unfortunately, I paid about as much attention to names as their leering and lazy Captain, for which I apologize. The crew consists of a yet-unnamed Android, two humans (one named Tina Fey), a crazy mad-scientist Kchk'Trrs named Frosty Flame, and a Duul'Tlak named Q (perhaps Kyu?) who likes to hit things. With his fists.

The Captain gave them their assignments - or tried to, at least. He printed the wrong page, leaving the assignments up to the crew. Luckily, everyone seems to have remembered their training, and were able to make it to the UEA refueling station without any trouble (or space sickness). Being first on the scene, the dock authority allowed them their choice of vehicles, of which they chose:

• A general shuttle with space for a pilot and 20 passengers, plus 8 points of vehicles;
• A single-pilot space and atmospheric fighter with fixed quad-link medium lasers;
• A 5-seat fighter-bomber with dual-link medium lasers and small, medium, and large bombs;
• A light jeep, with space for 6 and two mounted heavy machine guns;
• An ultralight hover transport, with space for 4 passengers;
• A microscout - single seat jet with a sensor suite;
• And a two-seat microsub with missiles and torpedoes, just in case.

Chapter 1: Pyl'Nyy

Once their toys - er, vehicles - were loaded up, they set off to the edge of explored space. It wasn't long before they found a world surrounded by a Star Wars-style asteroid field, full of rocks smashing and crashing and tremendous speed. Before they had a chance to navigate the field, they were confronted by two fighters! After a horribly failed attempt at communication, in which the Frosty's translator began reciting all the dirty words it knew, the crew decided to attack. And almost immediately vaporized one of the two fighters. The other fighter, attempting to maneuver closer in range, failed in his mission and instead cranked hard left, narrowly missing an asteroid. A single missile was enough to shut down his engine for good; a lucky repair roll on his part kept him from becoming space debris. However, another ship revealed itself - a beat-up looking freighter. It turned tail and ran, while the Shifting Horizon abandoned its own fighter to pursue. Unfortunately, the ship was well-shielded; while the Shifting Horizon traded shots, the other ship couldn't land any damage, and the Horizon could only slowly whittle down its shields. Finally, realizing the only way of escape was a suicide run through the asteroids, the ship reluctantly came to a halt. In trade for his fighter pilot and fighter, the captain allowed the crew to search his hold. With a bit of luck, the insectoid found a hidden compartment with a power suit!

Releasing the smuggler (for indeed, the ship was part of a smuggling group attempting to contact the planet below), the crew braved the asteroids, taking their shuttle to the planet below - and bringing the microscout and the jeep as well. It seemed as if they had landed in a dust storm; visibility was drastically reduced, and those without breathing gear had a little trouble breathing. Except the android, he was fine. They found some nearby habitation domes, and easily gained access, learning that the planet contained about 5,000 Russians, dropped off (and stranded) by a ship about 250 years previous.

Normally, I would have given out bennies for dusting the first fighter, cursing at the pirates, and subduing the freighter, but since this was the first mission, I didn't. I'll make it up in the upcoming episodes.

Edited to add:
After conversing with the Russians, about 20 wanted to leave the planet; however, after a bit of discussion, the crew decided it was best to leave them. They did add a note in their next communication pod, but left them there. The Russians didn't really mind, in the end.

Up next: History! Technology! Documentation!