UCC Cerebus, one of the few TSA ships equipped with a hyperspace engine unit. Before her disappearance from the Sol sytem two years ago, her ongoing mission was to establish contact with new lifeforms in distant regions of the Universe. Until just a few hours ago all contact with the ship had been lost. At 23.6.2244 8:06 PM, UCC Cerebus waspicked up on radar in close proximity to Space Station Nothing. All communication attempts from the residentTSA garrison at SSN have failed.
Space Station Nothing's executive TSA officer has decided to send out small Frontiersmen unit to investigate the situation. You now find yourself in the company of these men, sitting in a dropship bound for the UCC Cerebus. Peering out through a visual in the dropship a gargantuan asteroid can be seen, embedded in the hull of the seemingly lifeless ship. You glance up at the scanner readout as initial data from the ship flashes up on the screen:
-REACTOR STATUS: NOMINAL- -ESCAPE POD STATUS: TOTAL DESPATCH- -HYPERDRIVE STATUS: INACTIVE; POWER AT MAXIMUM- -OXYGEN CONTENT: NORMAL- -ATMOSPHERE: BREATHABLE- -NO LIFE FORMS DETECTED ON BOARD-
As you look around all you see are blank faces, masks painted from an indelible monotone palette and cut from the archetypal mould that is a Frontiersman's basic training. Their purpose is to give the impression that this is just another routine operation, but you know that behind each facade is the same c**ktail of emotions that's being shaken up inside you. The anticipation, the excitement, the fear.
Docking clamps awkwardly shunt into position around you jolting this tin can claustrophobia in which you've found yourself imprisoned. But it won't last long, you tell yourself as your eagerness to break the tedium rises up inside you like a bloodlust. You can almost taste the challenge that lies ahead, that which you have dreamt for for so long. As you take your first steps out onto the deck of the UCC Cerebus -adrenaline coursing through your veins- you know what it is to be a Frontiersman.
Background story written by Stephen "Kobayashi" Etheridge, based on an original concept by Rudolf "Rendy" Klenovsky.
