-+------------------------------------------------------------------------+- )| The LoOnS: Python PoB Wizz The Guardian Chuck Action Man T-LeAF |. -+------------------------------------------------------------------------+- 08/10/93 /--------------------------*----------------------------------\ ;| PrOuDlY PrEsEnTs |, | | / FULL ENGLISH VERSION OF : \ :\ /: . | -> HIRED GUNS <- | . | | \--------------------------*----------------------------------/ ; : CONTENTS: ========= STORY OUTLINE. MAIN MENU. START NEW GAME MENU : Training, Full Campaign Game, Short Action Game. DISK ACCESSING. NEW GAME PROCEDURES : Number of Players, Control Option Screen,(see also 'AMIGA INSTRUCTIONS'), Character Selection. HIRED GUNS-THE GAME,THE CAMPAIGN : Mission Progress Map. APPENDIX #1: Equiptment/Use of/Descriptions of : Firing/Using Equipment, Re-loading, Guns/Rifles/Machine Guns/Flamers, Disruptor Charge, Anti-A.P.C. Rocket, Disruptor Cannon, Rifles/Ammunition, Grenades/Grenade Launcher, Sonic Stunner/1,3,6, Kilojoule Cells, Medi/Droid repair Kits, Fusion Power Core Ring, Auto Sentry Kit, Proximity Mine, Food/Rations, Syringe Anti-toxin, Keys/Access Wafers, Psionic Amplifiers, D.T.S. IN-GAME OBSTACLES : Entrances, Force Fields, Push Panels, Lifts. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::* GUNS FOR HIRE ============= Numerous events have led upto this point.From the time he was released from military service-five years and an entire star system away-Rorian Deevergh has amassed a group of people,some of whom he can even call friends,who are collectivly hunted by the authorities. And in a world where all transactions are relayed to a central authority which automatically logs and ID's everthing from the purchase of a fuel stick to the destruction of a planetary system, that can create problems. As for Rorian's gang of fugitives, they found just one way around the problem. Killing for a price and without recourse was a job in which they all excelled and one that allowed them to retain at least a comfortable style of living. Payment in rare metals, No questions. If you live, that's your business. On the surface, this was just a normal job. The patron funding the current operation will probably remain un-known, but the mission brief suggested that this particular mission would be a piece of cake. The political implications of the mission were glossed over-they were motivated by money, not politics. The payment, half up front, half on completion, was regular. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The only thing that aroused curiosity was the destination. A back water planet called Graveyard. The name aroused some faint disturbance in Rorian's memory. But what the hell,so did most names he heard nowadays. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: MAIN MENU =========== Allows the crew the option to enter a new scenario, to commence a previously saved scenario or exit to the workbench/D.O.S. screen. press the appropriate function key for your selection. Ctrl-Q will return you to the main menu screen at any time. F1 - START NEW GAME : Begin an entire new campaign mission or individual missions. F2 - CONTINUE A SAVED GAME : Load a previously saved mission from either a RAM disk, hard disk or floppy disk. Follow on screen messages to load game from disk or to abort the procedure. F3 - RETURN TO WORKBENCH/D.O.S : Quit Hired guns. START NEW GAME MENU : --------------------- F1 - TRAINING :All crew members should enter training section for weaponry familiarisation and utility training. Training mission profiles range through.... 'EXPLORATION' A simple building-no enemies-no danger. Get used to the controls. Find the exit to complete the level. 'OBSTACLES' Minimal danger-no enemies. Practise using lifts. Find the exit to complete the level. 'FIRE FIGHT' Your first taste of combat. Find the exit to complete the level. 'THROWING RANGE' An ideal opportunity to practice using grenades.Find the exit to complete the level. 'SENTRY DUTY' Find out how useful the Anti-sentries can be.Find the exit to complete the level. F2 - FULL CAMPAIGN : Game (see section Hired Guns,The game,The campaign, for detailed analysis) Enter your main mission on Graveyard. ready yourweapons and remember the saying : a slow trigger finger leads to a fast death!!! F3 - SHORT ACTION GAME : Once training has been undertaken,skills need to be fine tuned. this option will offer a mercenary crew access to a hostile enviroment in which to do this.All creatures are active and depending upon scenario,liable to attack immediately upon contact with crew. Tesseract Battle Systems excel in simulating lethal close combat theatres. We are fortunate to have a varied selection to sample. Each theatre is designed for a specific number of players. Single player scenario's generally require the four characters to work together. Two player scenario's are designed for two opposing teams of two. Three and Four player scenario's are designed for free for all missions.Although any scenario can be played with any number of players ! MISSION PROFILES : Single player: Animal Enclosure, Reactor, Penitentiary, Staying alive. Two player: Garden of Jarrys, Lemming Wars #1, Power genarator, The asylum. Three player: Big cheese, Escape to death, Bat mobile, Buckminster park. Four player: Leisure centre, Skeletal hall, Urban develpoment, Shopping mall, Lemming Wars #2 ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: NEW GAMES PROCEDURES ====================== NUMBER OF PLAYERS : ------------------- Hired Guns has been painstakingly developed to allow four players to enter Graveyard simultaneously using the same machine. A number of player interfaces are available to facillitate this and are listed in the Character Control manual. Select by pressing the appropriate F key. CHARACTER SELECTION : --------------------- The character selection screen allows you to select four characters from the existing database of 12. At the top of the screen is a visual impression of the character. To the bottom left is a character description and to the bottom right are four character selection boxes. Choose your character by using the cursor keys. Use the left/right keys to scroll the character's across the screen. To view a character's credentials, move a character to the left of the screen where it will become highlighted. Once a character is highlighted, his/her credentials will be displayed beneath. Further character details are to be found in the section 'countdown to Graveyard'. To select a character, first highlight the required character and press RETURN to enter the character into the character selection box. Repeat the procedure three futher times to create the full mercenary crew. NOTE : You must use the full complement of four characters each time Hirefd Guns is played ( unless a character has been killed in combat ). You may use the DEL key at any time to de-select the last character. Once the full complement has been selected, press RETURN to view the mission progress map. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: HIRED GUNS,THE GAME, THE CAMPAIGN. ================================== MISSION OBJECTIVE : ------------------- Mission dossier to be presented to mercenary team during planetfall, 15 minutes before dropship touchdown. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE : ------------------- TERMINATE PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF illegally bio-engineered ORGANISIMS ON SURFACE OF luyten L-7896 3.1( Graveyard ). Terminate existence of distribution point ( and it's surrounding enclave ). Target : Graveyard Central Spaceport.( lat 3.99 ign 43.22 ) this point and it's surrounding installations are fortified and heavily guarded. Method of termination :FUSION INDUCED THERMONUCLEAR EXPLOSION. Locate and recover four fusion power core rings from shielded storage at.... 1). Fusion reactor plant. ( lat 2.45 ign 39.19 ) 2). Satelite uplink tower.( lat 5.00 ign 40.73 ) 3). Laboratory. ( lat-1.21 ign 42.61 ) 4). Operations centre. ( lat -0.82 ign 43.47 ). Insert these devices into corresponding field coil generator at target site, detonation will be automatic after evacuating the site. Mission duration : 13 LOCAL days + 4 Hrs. Team extraction impossible after mission time expires. Ground Support : NONE ! Air Support : NONE ! Orbital Support : NONE ! SECONDARY OBJECTIVE : --------------------- Reconnnoitre ground installationsindicated on D.T.S. This information will be used for future ground based clean-up operations. WARNING. The majority of ground installations are overrun with mutated bio-engineered organisims, proceed with extreme caution. Note estimated threat level provided by master Digital Terrain Scanner. Terminate hostiles with extreme predudice. All available fire-power WILL be required. The following section provides all the necessary gameplay information to successfully complete the Graveyard mission. Training missions and single action missions are covered in more depth to the end of this document. The only thing which cannot be provided is the ingenuity and re-flexes of the participants. MISSION PROGRESS MAP : ---------------------- Guild VII - lo den. 459vfn I.R. Penetration 7. The progress of your mission can be monitored on this screen. View the extent of the terrain by using the cursor keys to move the cross vector point around the map. Doing so will allow you to see the area surrounding all mission complexes. On the map you will see a number of circled area's linked by lines. The circles surround identified complexes - any of which may house the hostages. The lines indicate route's of (relative) safe passage between them. From this map, you may see your possible routes from each complex and will be able to determine exploration strategies. You will also be given specific information about each complex as the vector point passes over it. This information panel offers vital information as to the current mission status of the area : Lat. Lgn. Alt - Displays Latitude, Longitude and Altitude of area. Area has not been comprimised - Uninvestigated area. Area compromised - Investigated and cleansed. Log entry - Guild VII ref, No. Estimated threat - From initial Guild VII electronic scanning, the threat to rescue forces has now been estimated. Scale 1 is a low threat, with minimal enemy activity. Scale 9 is a large threat with a high level of enemy activity. Your initial position will be indicated by a large flashing icon labelled DROP ZONE. This position was chosen as the most suitable landing area for the drop ship and is the point from which your mission will begin. Your initial action is therefore to choose your course - not much of a selection at first. Move the vector point accross to the complex to the North East of the drop zone using the cursor keys. Press RETURN to order forces to enter that level. NOTE : You can only travel to zones linked to your present position with an isoterra clearance line for pedestrian movement. If your party moves to an area that has already been compromised ( searched and explored ) you will be given the opportunity to futher explore it or pass through the area to a non-compromised zone. Note the red circles highlighting 6 of the zones. As well as the dropzone, these mark Graveyard Central Spaceport (primary objective) and the locations of 4 fusion power core rings. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: APPENDIX 1 ========== EQUIPTMENT (use of / descriptions of) ------------------------------------- FIRING / USING EQUIPMENT. ------------------------- The following section outlines exactly how some pieces of in-game equipment can be used. The descriptions used on the following pages refer to the MOUSE 1 method of control. If JOYSTICK, JOYPAD or KEYBOARD controls are used, refer to the Control Options Screen for the equivalent use commands. Hired Guns contains over 110 different items, what follows is a brief overview of the main categories of item you may find. GUNS/RIFLES/MACHINE GUNS/ FLAMERS/ROCKET LAUNCHERS. ------------------------- Providing a character is currently carrying a weapon with ammunition, centre the cursor and press the left mouse to fire ( or equivalent fire option ). If firing only results in a single click, the weapon is out of ammunition. Pressing the right mouse button will re-load the weapon providing spare ammunition is being carried by the character. RE-LOADING : ------------ Each magazine loaded into a weapon will eventually run out. When this happens you will normally hear a click and the weapon will not fire. To Re-load, simply press the right mouse button ( or equiualent ) and the weapon will once again be ready for action ( provided spare ammo is available in the character's inventory ). Look at the information screen available on the store panel for compatible types ammunitions types for a gun. See also relevant instruction in Character Control Manual. RE-FILLS/AMMUNITION : --------------------- These essential items are to be found throughout Graveyard. Once a mercenary has an item of ammunition in his possetion it is ready to be loaded into the appropriate weapon. GRENADES/GRENADE LAUNCHER : --------------------------- Grenades are used to obliterate enemies when the odds faced by a character are great. Grenades must be used with extreme care because they have a substantial spread of destruction. If they are used in an enclosed space, the grenade-throwing character has a considerable chance of destroying himself, not just the enemy target. Therefore, a grenade launcher, which can propel the grenade away from the character provides a better method of delivering the charge. However, even at long-range, the blast will most likely hit the player. To use a grenade, select a cluster of grenades and fire in the same way all other objects are used. The fire cursor allows a character to hurl a grenade one of four distances. These distances are illustrated below. The top cursor form allows a character to throw a grenade a short distance. to attain this, move the cursor towards the bottom of the screen. The bottom filled cursor instructs the mercenary to hurl the grenade a long distance and can be attained by moving the cursor towards the top of the screen. Using mouse 1, centre the pointer and press fire. To use a grenade launcher, hold the launcher and fire. SONIC STUNNER/1,3,6 KILOJOULE CELLS : ------------------- The stunner provides an effective close range clean method of destruction. It is less potent than many weapons and a character may need to be a little more active on the trigger. The stunner uses electric cells as a power source. A 1 kilojoule unicell will provide enough power for around 50 stuns. A 6 K.joule cell will provide 6 times the number of stuns rather than a stun of 6 times the power. MEDI/DROID REPAIR KITS : ------------------------ Carry the object and use the kit to repair damage to either humans or droids by pressing the left mouse button in the same manner as firing a weapon. Each kit will repair a substantial amount of damage to any appropriate character and may only be used once. AUTO SENTRY KIT : ----------------- The auto sentry kit can be placed by a character where it will self assemble and provide a sentry facility for friendly forces. Thus, it will fire upon any enemy but will allow friendly forces to pass unhindered. Two models of sentry kit exist-unidirectional and multidirectional. The operational difference of these units is crucial in order to provide effective cover for a party : multidirectional units are fully articulated and can face a target in any direction, unidirectional units cannot. To use the sentry kit, place it in a clear area in front of a player. PROXIMITY MINE : ---------------- When primed and placed, a proximity mine will detonate if any character, friendly or unfriendly, enters the area. The mine will usually wipe out the character entirely. To prime the mine, the mercenary must be holding it. Change to the character view screen and use the mine in the same way you would with any weapon. This will prime the mine, ready for action. Next, place the mine in a clear area and do not re-enter the area under any circumstances. Intense heat will trigger an armed mine. With this in mind,a player can use a flamer to clear a path through a minefield. FOOD/RATIONS : -------------- Food can be found in many forms throughout Hired Guns. Consuming food will restore a small amount of energy in humanoid characters. To use food, ensure a character is holding the piece of food, return to the character view screen and use in a similar manner to any other piece of equipment. SYRINGE ANTI-TOXIN : -------------------- Cures poison wounds on humanoid characters. Standard use method. KEYS/ACCESS WAFERS : -------------------- Allow access to indestructable entrance panels. If a panel is impassable or locked, the appropriate key or wafer must be found before it may be passed through. To use, a character will simply need to have the appropriate item in his/her possession. The card/key will be automatically used when the character approaches the entrance panel. PSIONIC AMPLIFIERS : -------------------- A psi-amp offers the user a variety of effects depending upon the individual psi-amp. Each psi-amp may be used a number of times and a description of each can be found in the section 'psionic amplifier glossary'. To activate a psi-amp, the character must be holding the item and used in the usual manner described at the beginning of this section. The effect may last up to 4 minutes, depending upon the psi-amp used. D.T.S. : -------- The Digital Terrain Scanner allows the D.T.S. screen to be activated. To use the D.T.S., View the section 'Amiga instructions'. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: IN-GAME OBSTACLES ================= ENTRANCES : ----------- Entrances are often covered by sliding panels which automatically slide open when approached using movement sensors. However, security requirements on Graveyard means that a large number of doors require security access wafers (or in some circumstances, keys) to gain access. The character will usually find the required wafer somewhere in the current location. To use the wafer, the character who requires access simply needs the wafer in their inventory panel where it will be recognised and allow access. FORCE FIELDS : -------------- Force fields are usefull devices for a) containing something behind b) temporarily denying access to an area where a permanent wall is not desirable. Force fields are used throughout Graveyard and are impassible. They may however, in some instances, be de-activated. How this can be achieved is dependant upon each situation. TELEPORT FIELDS : ----------------- These look simalar to force fields. They provide instantaneous travel to a fixed destination. If the destination is blocked, the would-be traveller will be notified. PUSHABLE BLOCKS : ----------------- These large metal cubes are prefabricated building blocks. They can be used to build walls,block passages or fill in large gaps. Note that they have frictionless traction field which allows that to be manoeuvred with only a light push or pull. Also note that they still have their original mass and momentum, thus being extremely hazardous to all if they fall from above. PUSH PANELS : ------------- These are usually found on a wall and can have several uses, apart from operating lifts. Pushing a push panel will usually have an effect, somewhere !!!. This could be moving a hidden panel, de-activating a force field, to name but two although the effect may not be immediatly obvious. LIFTS : ------- Underground locations throughout Graveyard may be accessed using lifts. The lift is unlike more conventional lifts as they are purely functional - allowing access from any direction (unless walled-in) and alighting whenever the person using the lift decides. It is thus possible to alight a lift 15 floors up and without a floor between them and the ground floor. THIS IS NOT HOWEVER RECCOMENDED !!! , but it is worth bearing in mind. Lifts are usually operated by using a push panel. ======================================================================================= -+------------------------------------------------------------------------+- | The LoOnS: Python Wizz The Guardian PoB Action Man Chuck T-Leaf | -+------------------------------------------------------------------------+- 02/10/93 PROUDLY PRESENT HIRED GUNS COUNTDOWN TO GRAVEYARD MANUAL TYPED BY : CHUCK SUPPLIED BY : PYTHON CONTENTS: --------- TWO STAR SYSTEMS, ONE BLOODY WAR HOW TO WAGE INTERSTELLAR WAR HIRED GUNS - THE STORY MERCENARY DATAFILE: RORIAN DEEVERGH DESVERGER JENILEE MC 128-7 CIM CHEULE SIYGESS CLAVIUS KATRINA HOMEZ ADELE REANNON MIYRIEL TORRE BONDEN SPEY KIURCHER CIM - LITE (PIRATE COPY ) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ESCAPE FROM A DOOMED PLANET ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- TWO STAR SYSTEMS,ONE BLOODY WAR... ---------------------------------- The seeds of the war can be found in one of the first exploratory missions to the Lacaille star system. Luyten had supplied the starship, D1aedalus, and its associated system ships. A tentative colony had already been established on the planet Jeuvo Cassandra. The crew of the system ship Canberra comprised both Luyten personnel and a science team from Cassandra. History, unfortunately , did not record who was manning the high sensitivity infra red lines when the planet that was to be called Tharagrene was revealed. Had it been a barren rock - much as Cassandra was - then it would simply have been logged and forgotten about, save for the obligatory surface mining teams many years later. Tharagrene proved to be both earthlike and habitable, but without indigenous life. It was a valuable find. the laws of extra - system exploration inherited from earth meant that the young colony had a legitimate claim on the entire system. Inevitably, both sides claimed the discovery as their own. Luyten couldn't act immediately with no faster-than-light travel even possible, the most rapid response possible would take a minimum of ten years. Daedalus remained in the system and was eventually converted to a space station in orbit around Tharagrene. In the time that followed, Lacaille expanded to settle on Tharagrene itself. The surface conditions made it ideal to develop and grow. And so, 20 years after the discovery of Tharagrene, another starship arrived in the system. It was called the Nubian. It was state of the art technology. It was a warship. HOW TO WAGE INTERSTELLAR WAR: ----------------------------- Earth would certainly have gone to war with luyten in the past, had it not been for the dozen light years that separated the two sides. It is however possible for a spacecraft to take on entire planets merely because gravity is on their sides. Lasers and particle weapons aside, an attacking craft will find the most potent force for destruction is the redirection of asteroids so that they collide with the target planet; a simple an inexpensive tactic. War was imminent and so reinforcements began to arrive from Luyten in a rota system. A tour of duty for a spacecraft was typically ten years real time. Upon return to Luyten, the warships were upgraded with the results of a further decade of research and development. It was the Maxellemar ring of Luyten that declared a state of war. Predictably, there was hardly any audible reaction from the civilian population - the policy of forcible draft for the war effort saw to that. Two draftees were Rorian Deevergh & Desverger. The warship that took them to Tharagrene was part of a stellar booster - a drive system that took the craft to near light speed. Smaller craft detached from the command vessel At the journey's end where other craft were then attached for the return trip. The forces of which Rorian & Desverger were a part were therefore effectively stranded until the arrival of the next stellar booster which, at that stage in the war, happened around every six months. By 2697, the war had gained momentum. Rorian & Desverger were ground troops for the federal forces of Maxellemar. they had served for a number of years in Five Division as punishment for past offences and had, after a while, developed a grudging respect for each other. When it was decided that more forces should be mobilised, Five Division was designated to begin the five year journey to Lacaille. Very few people would have been willing to face the prospect but troops, of course, had no choice, especially if they were members of Five Division. Time dilation from speeds close to light made the trip seem shorter for the passengers on this trip and thus more bearable and once the tortuous journey had been made, the decision came to push Five Division into the heart of enemy held territory - the capital city of Sahvoar. Midway into the mission and suddenly caught in savage crossfire from opposing troops, Rorian & Desverger made for the nearest cover. they found an unmarked truck, supposedly civilian that was cut off from the rest of the ground forces. The crew were dead, but were wearing the military uniform of their own side. The truck proved to be a disguised missile carrier - such things were unusual but not unheard of. What made this particular situation disturbing was the nature of the weapon in the cargo hold. It was a planetary denial weapon, a biological/chemical hybrid warhead of the sort banned for the past 200 years. It was obvious that it was on a timed delay. Desverger, who had considerable missile experience, believed it could not be stopped. CHOICE: ------- They faced a difficult choice. should they inform their superiors? Rorian believed that some general had his own covert plans for the weapon and that to report the current status of the warhead was no less than a duty. Desverger argued that this was a naive approach and that their own side meant to kill everybody, friendly and enemy forces alike. The alternative was simply to flee. This proved the more viable option. Beating their own miniature retreat, they enlisted the help of a medic, Jenillee Freymon and a combat robot, Cim. with this additional assistance they stole a shuttle and headed for high orbit. The escape was just in time.... The biological component of the weapon - spread widely by the initial blast - became effective after a day. Tharagrene was condemned as a plague planet. Any craft climbing up from the surface was ruthlessly destroyed by an orbiting particle cannon that, coincidentally, just happened to be in range for such a purpose. There were few survivors. HIRED GUNS ----------- Foolishly, when investigating the weapon truck, they had taken no account of built - in surveillance systems. Only they know the truth about the massacre. The authorities, in turn, now know of their existence. That knowledge made the team led by Rorian and Desverger possibly the most wanted people in the system. The first difficulty they faced after witnessing the massacre, was to return to Luyten. This took many different turns and, in the course of that journey, they were joined by a further eight people- some they can even call friends - some don't even live up to that. Nevertheless, all of them have useful skills. The war effectively ended with detonation of the warhead though pockets of resistance continued to fight well into the next decade. But the October 14th incident, as it became known, was accepted as the official end of the war. Lacaille was very much the loser, and as news filtered its slow way across the light years, the war became little more than a collection of facts in history books, even before Rorian arrived home. NOW IT IS 2712 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- COUNTDOWN TO GRAVEYARD: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Six hundred and thirty thousand million kilograms of metal, plastic and ceramics hung like a baleful star in the greying skies over new europe. There were several of these objects in orbit around the capital planet, but Freewill was the first, built in an age when the frontier meant something. Now the scant resources went elsewhere and the orbital stagnated as living on planetary surfaces became fasionable once again. As with every property left to itself for a time, settlers moved in. Freewill became self-governing in all but name. Cheule stared for a long time through a viewport down at the planet and saw the same land mass that she had seen yesterday and the day before and the day before that. It was a single star hotel sort of view; all that starscape and there was a planet in the way. The Anysije might not have been the greatest place in the system, she thought, but at least wasn't a synchronous orbit. You could watch the planet spin beneath you. The drink was cheaper too. perhaps she could persuade Rorian to buy her one. He was sitting with his terminal working, as ever, across in the lounge, with Clavius watching the screen and nodding from time to time. He obviously wished he was somewhere else. She knew how he felt Freewill was a strange choice for R & R, but given their wanted status, it was a sensible one. The lounge was nearly deserted apart from themselves. Desverger provided the main source of noise with an arcade machine and neglected airscrubbers gave the room a characteristic dank smell. It was late in the artificial night and the lounge had been switched to automatic. Above the entrance hung a large, jaunty sign which flickered:" YOUR FUN IS ABOUT TO GO NOVA!" not for her. She waved her hand in a certain way and a few seconds later a dispensing robot wheeled across. She slotted in a coin and was handed a cola. Rorian...she said softly Come on then, he replied without looking up. He pulled out a chair and she accepted it. What's the situation? See for yourself, he sighed, Dark Matter's going to be in dock for a month. She groaned. Dark Matter was the current fake identity of their spacecraft and the illicit modifications could only be done here on Freewill without attracting too much of the wrong sort of attention. Here! why here? she knew it was probably inevitable. This was Kiurcher's idea wasn't it? she said levelly. I will be several moments said Clavius in his gravelly voice and left diplomatically. Rorian shifted uncomfortably, but didn't answer. Cheule returned her attention to the screen, aware of his gaze. Shifting lines of green and blue formed a schematic of the ageing vector class cruiser called Dark Matter. Statistics scrolled by at the touch of a screen. She watched this for a minute until she couldn't feign interest any longer. He looked at her seriously then a thought seemed to brighten his face. Any suggestions for the new name? Something fitting... she took a long swig of cola and sighed. O.k, originally it was Gravitational Constant which then became Summer Storm and then Serendip Eclipse. right? she said. did you choose all these?? Rorian shook his head. Then my favourite, Midnight Sun he continued, and finally Dark Matter. Cheule thought for a while. Seems to be a prediliction for profile names. She paused. Rorian I know why we're here. The other reason I mean, there's a mission coming isn't there? I'd make you my second in command if there was such a thing. He was no longer smiling. I need to work. just go and relax. Knowing we'll probably be fighting for our lives in a weeks time? The Flumpey cannon costs more than we can afford. This mission will pay for it. I hope so. Typical useless growled Desverger, easy to find a space station but easier to let a computer guide you. So they've been delayed. we can manage without them, countered Rorian. He tried to follow the game that Desverger was playing and pretended not to notice the games coinbox which had been split open. No excuse. They gave word. Be here. Be here now. Crashing noises erupted from the machine. A voice clearly said Game Over, he picked a coin from the box and pressed it into the slot, the game started again. Rorian stared. Desverger glanced momentarily and caught the look. Credit card trouble to fake. We'll just have to catch them at the second rendezvous point in the inner belt. Unlikely to be the case, said Desverger not looking up from his game. One: Pilot, Morton, his own ship. No loyalty to group. No kindred sense. What do you mean? asked Rorian. First better prospect, takes it. Not see him again. He got a few long standing things to sort out, that's all, Desverger ignored the comment. Two : Wife. Ah curse it! The arcade ship exploded in a fireball. He used another coin. Surprised , Rorian? he continued. Jenelle, Morton very close. Intent was marriage. She'll support any decision he make. This is pointless Rorian said and made to return to the bar area. Three : Desverger said raising his rasping voice. The twins. Emotionally bonded like all twins. One dead. Other emotionally crippled as result. neither any more use. Despite himself , Rorian continued to listen thoughhe didn't face Desverger directly. In effect, lost quarter of team. Good thing. Good?! Rorian shouted,they're valuable members! Team too large. Too unweildy. Graveyard mission: real reason to get new hardware. They're gone, taking ship with them. That's so. No . That's not it at all. Something delayed them and this is just a normal mission. You speak from knowledge? No. Voice betrays you. Always your trouble. Can't read the signs. Graveyard bad news. Money is never bad news - you see signs where there aren't any. If we live I'll look you in the eye. See who really is correct. You'll avert first. But you'll stick with me because really, you need all pf us. Am I right in trhat at least? he said sarcastically. Desverger didn't care to answer. Cheule felt a tap on the shoulder and spun around violently, grasping for the pistol that wasn't there. Habit. Sorry , she said relaxing when she saw Rorian. That led up to something nasty once. He handed her a glass of something. Thanks. Two down. Aren't you having one? No. I've got to keep my head clear. Freewill spirits aren't that dangerous she said, I know they have a reputation but... she tailed off, realising. He saw the change in her expression. Yes, It's a meeting. Why here? she said simply. Because right now we can't be anywhere else. It's too much of a risk. I'm not as foolhardy as you sometimes make out. The camera will provide a measure of insurance. I don't care if you do have an embedded micro-camera or whatever you call it. If we get footage of you being blown away. It doesn't help us a bit! shouted Cheule. She span around and strode away from him. Rorian looked as if he was considering what to say to her when an insistent bleeper sounded on his belt. He detached a square device and noted a red indicator. Kiurcher's signal he yelled. Right on! whooped Desverger from across the lounge. He drove his fist into his palm then pulled out a pistol and flicked at the safety. Cheule noticed with regret that the regular crowd had slowly ebbed away. There was only her and the rest of the Hired Guns. She tried to fit distaste, incredulity and displeasure into her voice. She was good at it. You were deliberately looking for a job here? she said. The fact was worse than the suspicion. Rorian was just standing there as if everything he did was either so obvious it was beyond questioning or didn't need explaining at all. He obviously hadn't planned on justifying himself. So who's the patron? she continued. He shrugged. Where's the meeing then. Where do we go? Sorry Cheule, it's a one on one meeting. I can't, we can't just let you go by yourself. She tried to pretend that it was only a legitimate concern for the leader. Even pretending that it was simply because only he had clearance for the ship and they would be stuck otherwise seemed false. A terrible image of holding his severed eye up to the retinal scanner to gain access to the ship sprang into her mind. Just a single person, Cheule. If anything happens... She remained emphatic. Stay here. That's the plan. That's always been the plan. Anything happens and I walk straight ioto it. Only me. Get it? Boss man's a right lover chipped in Desverger, twirling his pistol. She ignored him as best she could, Freewill's dangerous. we've never been hired from- Stay here! he shouted. She held eye contact for as many seconds as she could before he finally snorted in disbelief and stormed through the door. The quality of the image from Rorian's subcutaneously implanted camera was shaky and monochrome but it worked fairly well. The pictures were relayed to the terminal that he left with them. In the left of the screen, Desverger could be seen clambering into a ventilation duct. A large door occupied the middle of the screen with Cheule's concerned face reflected on it. Adele and Bonden entered from outside the lounge. Bonden bounded over to watch with them. Adele looked serious and flicked back her wet hair. Good swim I trust said Clavius with a trace of a smile. Good enough. Never realised a zero-g swim could be so hazardous said Adele deadpan. Yeah , nearly had every medidroid on the level called out! added Bonden. Clavius laughed. In the empty room it echoed. Cheule frowned at them both but never said anything. I believe it's a local sport Adele continued. Attrition rate would seem to be high. So what's happening Clavie? said Bonden. We bumped into the big cheese and he never even stopped to say high - he off someplace? Hey that's Dessie on the screen. Desverger had popped his head out of the duct and was indicating something. He paused and then nodded a few times before disappearing again. The doors on the screen began to slide open. The room beyond was dark. The small audience around the screen kept silent. It resembled a photorealistic arcade game. Cheule imagined any umber of surprises contained in there and was indeed surprised when the lights sensing Rorian's body heat flickered into life to reveal a perfectly bare room. Bare, except for a single videophone. The image of the phone in the screen got larger and a hand extended semingly from behind the screen and tapped a few buttons on the phone's keypad. A message, too small to read from the screen, appeared and tyhe screen shook vertically a few times. She wondered what had happened. Then she realised that Rorian must be nodding in response to something. It was irritating that there was no sound. Where's Dessie? asked Bonden. Desverger is acting as a form of insurance said Clavius. There is only supposed to be one person in this meeting, if it turns out to be a set up then Desverger is his best chance of getting out alive. Ah. Cheule couldn't stand to watch anymore and sought out a chair. She closed her eyes and was lost with her thoughts. Eventually Rorian returned. His entire stance, solid, aware and alert indicated to Cheule that the relaxation was over. She put down her unfinished drink. Get the rest up here, now, he said, then it's Bay Twelve in fifteen minutes. He went as abruptly as he entered. The Bay Twelve door opened to reveal what at first appeared to be a thin corridor, circular in cross section. As they entered, it revealed a vast cavern seen through the transparent walls of the corridor which formed a tube connecting to a shape that was partially concealed. Only half a dozen or so spotlights highlighted a warning symbol, a giant exhaust, a registry number and finally a name. The Platinum Heart. To either side was what appeared to be a metal valley, the basis of docking and construction bay in which floated the massive spacecraft. Desverger barged his way past everybody in the confines of the boarding tube, got to the top first and bowed mockingly, swirling his cloak simultaneously. He entered the craft and was swallowed up by the darkness. The interior was a dull grey; a characteristic of all ex-military vessels. A stocky man waited inside the entrance way and greeted them each by name, which Cheule found disconcerting. He in turn introduced himself as Moeller. Once for each of them. Friends , said Moeller when they were all gathered. Though I regret I cannot tell you the nature of this - er - job I wish performed, you will be given full details closer to the time. Naturally the payment will not be processed through any banking system and will be delivered in Rare Earth Elements, or should you wish, Platinum. A poetic touch, no? A percentage will be distributed in a moment, more upon leaving for Graveyard and, of course, the bulk of it upon your return. We will be leaving orbit in a little over six hours. Please feel free to make yourselves comfortable. He bowed rather unconvincingly and left. The assembled team began to talk amongst themselves but Cheule decided to follow Moellers example and leave to find more of the ship. Rorian caught her before she made it to the door. What's bothering you? he asked. You promised! she said bitterly. It seemed to take a while for him to realise what she was referring to. Just this one more job, Cheule. This'll net enough to head for any system you like. You will get your share. Cheule? he hesitated. I'll be sorry to lose you. She turned from the same, constant view of New Europe. Her eyes reflected in the glass. She felt like Jennilee with all this wistful gazing. I have to go back. He frowned, unable to read her expression. Catching this, a forced smile broke across Cheule's face. And I have to get that other drink you owe me. She said. With those words, a lurching and faint trembling was felt. A muted roar became apparent, then silence, followed by another burst of noise then silence once more. We're leaving Freewill, said Rorian. I would've at least thought there'd be some warning. C'mon. We've a few minutes before the main drive is activated. Let's find an acceleration couch. So this was it, Cheule thought. They were underway. Bonden , alert though he was, sat up with a start and stared in awe at the shape that Moeller was holding. He began to raise his hand to attract his attention, but faltered as if he really couldn't believe what he was seeing. The patron stopped. You're familiar with these? he asked. Bonden looked round him. Yes I, I think so. Good. You can give the briefing. Save some time. Moeller nodded to Rorian, tossed the device to Bonden who caught it awkwardly, and left to occupy himself with the drop ship preparation. I , uh, this is a psionic amplifier. It's used to create a variety of effects - it's very rare. Effector I mean, I saw one on Graveyard. It uses force fields to manipulate matter and lasers. Uses lasers I mean. As well as force fields. These are controlled by a computer, here, to create the effect you desire. Oh, yes. The type of effects are very complex and the information needed to create one is stored on a datacard - have we got one? yes. Here. Only one can be used at a time and... I'll show you. Farsight. Yes. He pulled out the card that was already installed to show everybody and then placed it back. Activating the amp started a glow of light in front of him. There were a few gasps from those who were less familiar with holograms. A pattern began to form in the centre of the glow. As you can see, a picture is being created of the location about - 100? 150? - about 100 metres in front of me even with walls in the way. Is that the storage bay? Yes. I believe it is. Different cards produce different effects. The group were looking at him in amazement. No one spoke. Cheule smiled warmly at him. So encouraged, he continued. Radioisotope power source so it won't run out. Some effects give information, some cause destruction. And so on. I have no idea how they get hold of so many. Oh yes. No user serviceable parts inside so don't try opening them. He grinned. The forward observation lounge was in darkness, save for a smattering of glowing green indicators, the red of a scrolling message screen and of course the faint light from the stars themselves. The soft glow of the edge of the Galaxy was visible as a band of diffuse light across the view. One of the points of light was brighter than the rest. Schematics unfolded and folded across the window, superimposed on the scene. Cheule sat quietly in one of the lounge seats, contemplating the view. She knew she would have been pleased to discover - through deduction - that the bright star was in fact Yalhoth and the smaller point of light just next to it was Graveyard - their destination. The schematics robbed her even of this pleasure. Letters on the window flashed and indicated Yalhoth with a green box, a catalogue number and the name itself. She hated it for that. Behind her the lounge doors opened with the soft hiss of pneumatics. Yellow light streamed in, taking on a red hue through her night vision. The metal-on-plastic clump of a robot echoed a few times and then stopped. The whine of motors was too pronounced and deep for it to be Miyriel. The crew was too scared of Cim-Lite for it to be allowed to wander the ship unchecked. There was only one droid one it could be. Miss Siygess it said. Hello Cim she said in return. Why could no-one pronounce her name correctly? Why else? they were Luytanians. Mr. Desvergh wants to see you. I'm staying here. She turned around. Cim was silhouetted against the doorway, a mobile mountain of metal. Red and green points of light from the panels reflected off its polished surface. It waited patiently. Tell Rorian I am not available she said. Mr. Desvergh was most insistent. Shall I replay the message? Cheule shrugged. Of course. Cim had a large audio buffer. It only had to play the appropriate section. ....especially get Cheule. I want her to be here when we discuss contingencies. If anything went wrong I want her to be the first out of here..... She considered the fragment of conversation, aware that her response would be recorded just as unobtrusively.. Rorian , that's very kind of you. I'll be there later. Cim, you can play that back to him. now go. As you wish. The robot backed away and the doors slid closed once more. It was a further two days before the Platinum Heart performed a slingshot manoevre around Yalhoth, gaining speed from the planet's gravitational field. It was common enough practice. At a key point in the trajectory mhowever, a small shape detached itself and carried on - undetected - towards Graveyard and into the atmosphere itself. The Dropship began its flight profile. Cheule grinned inwardly, inspired by the noise. Rorian! she yelled over the roar of the ramjets. The antinoise systems were overwhelmed by the rush of air. What! The new name: how about Slipstream? I'll think about it. I prefer Solar Maximum. The reply was cut off by the sound of the drop ship shifting to conventional turbojet cruise. The automatic pilot indicated its willingness to be taken over. Clavius now took control and the noise subsided slightly. Timed message release active, intoned Cim. The robot waited patiently for instructions. Scan and give us the highlights. Said Rorian. Accepted . Target elimination. Details follow. 10 Megs of off line data. Editing. Illegal government weapons research. Bio-engineering sites. Key installations. Retrieve backpack nukes from marked sites. Detonate at designated points. Digital terrain mao suspplied - Guild VII compatible. Estimated mission time 13 days plus 4 hours. Secondary objective - reconnaissance. Rendezvous Platinum Heart, co-ordinates given. Compositing mission profile from drop zone onwards. Is that it? shouted Bonden sarcastically. Merely waste half the planet? Too intense for you, youngster? said Desverger. What the hell have you got us into this time? Enough of that. Take the cash and don't ask questions. That's how it's done. Replied Rorian. Yeah, easy... said Cheule quietly, her mood becoming sombre. the vibration of the flight making her armour plate rub uncomfortably against her neck. What made the flight worse was the absence of any form of window in the hold. She couldn't see anything unless she turned her head to the extreme left where a small patch of the windshield was visible between Clavius and Rorian. And that held only the grey of the sky. Five minutes to zone. Nothing on passives. We're in the radar shadow of the mountain. We'll emerge into the main beam in half a minute. O.k. Clavius. Contour following within the next thirty seconds. Confirmed . The ship fell to within twenty metres of the ground and kept that distance. Speed was still greater than Mach 1. What's local speed of sound? Low. 550 metres per second. We're making too much noise then. Drop to 350. the audio sensors over the next ridge can detect our supersonic track easily. Revised time to zone, 4 minutes 20 seconds. Reckon we can risk the active sensors? Make it a quick one. Two second burst on the Doppler radar. 360 degrees. Full spectrum. Anything? Radar has a 10 degree blind spot at 180. That doesn't matter. Nothing on screen. Wait, several ground targets. Type? Nothing important. Airborne targets? None. We're in! A smoothly-shaped object sailed over the ridge to the sound of muted thunder, keeping a precise height from thr ground and slowing down constantly. Its appearance frightened creatures hiding in the undergrowth and startled birds who took to the air, offended at the objects intrusion. A blast of air swept the ground underneath the object which wobbled uncertainly at the top of this column of fast moving air and, slowly, its height above the bushes and trees diminished in a flurry of vegetation and dust stirred up by the unnatural squall. With a final rush of sound, the drop ship placed itself deep within the covering layers of forest. Broken branches spilled onto the ground. The residual whine of motors slowed to be replaced by the higher pitched note of the landing ramp servos. Rorian emerged first, then Desverger then Cim. Camouflage details, go, ordered Rorian. Within ten minutes, the dropship had been covered in camouflage netting, surprisingly crude considering the levels of technology they had at their disposal. The most effective anti-radar coating was at the same time the least smooth and of course the least effective for aerodynamics. At last they were ready. Eleven of them stood in front of Rorian. Four to go for the nukes, four to stand by in case of trouble and the remainder to stay with the dropship. They formed a loose line and looked at him expectantly. The two robots stood motionless, as always. Bonden next to them, restless, not willing to wait even this much. Kiurcher hung at the back not wanting to be seen. Desverger daring anyone not to pick him for the worst of the fighting. Clavius ready to do whatever was asked. Jennilee shying away behinf him. Adele looking slightly bemused by the whole situation. Miyriel was just, well, Miyriel. Katrina was expressionless, having slipped back into her cold ruthlessness and of course Cheule, who was looking at him intently as if she should be in charge and leading them to another planet entirely. Just four should be necessary, said Rorian. He rubbed his hands together and unshouldered his rifle. So, he continued, who's it gonna be? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- MERCENARY DATAFILE: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- RORIAN DEEVERGH. Born:2670, New Europe. There is a saying in the poorer areas of New Europe that can be paraphrased as One only needs a plastic spoon to eat and live; one needs a silver spoon in the south for the same reason. To be born on Luyten's capital world is to automatically gain a lofty superiority over the other inhabitants of the system and to know that one is better in every way. Rorian was born in the Southern Sectors of New Europe to parents who were particularly wealthy, even among their contemporaries. Because he was an only child, as was the custom, he found little time of his own, owing to social pressures that were entirely an invention of the rich. Like many of his generation, he rebelled and turned to a life bordering on the petty criminal, seeking thrills that everyday life seemed unable to provide. By age 16, he was organising elaborate stunts and commanded a small gang of disaffected teenagers. One of those stunts went badly wrong and and three people were killed as a result. Not being old enough to execute he was drafted into the Maxellamar Ring of Luyten Army where he became part of Five Division. Despite his profound dislike of authority, Rorian has made a name for himself as a skilled combatant. It is unwise to insult him as he is short on temper and has an almost superhuman dislike of fools.He places nobody above himself but will honour any promises he makes - but only to those he deems worthy. Faults in others are tolerated, but only if they make an effort to put them right, even if that effort never quite succeeds. To those outside he seems utterly ruthless when a situation like a firefight occurs, then he will apparently ignore the fact that it ever happened. In reality it bothers him greatly; he will brood about it for days afterward but never giving a hint of this to others. They need to be able to see only his strong side. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- DESVERGER. Born 2670, New Europe. Desverger is similar to Rorian in many ways. He was also born on New Europe and rebelled against authority until being drafted into the army. Desverger was a product of the seedier, more disturbing elements of New Europe that no-one wished to speak of. He slept rough and got involved in serious crime, not caring how it reflected on the gang, not caring about anything. Eventually the crimes were serious enough to make front page news. He hated having to be second in command for everything, but tolerrated it simply for what he could gain. Ironically, when he was eventually caught by the police, the result of his short trial put him in the same army division as Rorian. He suffers from rapid mood swings. Usually he is very cold and doesn't get on with anybody else. Officially he is a member of the team for his skill as a marksman and weaponsmith. In actual fact, despite the rivalry, Rorian is probably the closest thing to a friend he has and the bond goes deeper than they both realise. He has, during his life, probably killed more than everybody else in the team combined. A fact which, to their disgust, he often boasts of. After the escape from Tharagrene, Desverger seperated from the rest in order to pursue his own life free from the interference of anybody else. He embarked on an ill-prepared career as a professional assassin, but his style was anything but professional. The result of his endeavours is that a number of real assassins have him as a permanent target should he ever be encountered. Once again (to his displeasure) he found that he had to make his way back to Rorian to seek protection. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- JENILEE Born 2685. Tesseract. Jenilee had a love affair early on in her life. Jase was the classic example of a childhood sweetheart that lasted into teenage years. Perhaps it was too early in her life. Never having known anything other then happiness with Jase, nothing could have prepared her for his disappearance. He was suspected of being abducted for forcible drafting into the military; a process on Tesseract that was by no means unheard of. It left a gaping hole in her life and, naively, she joined the army herself in a hope of finding him. Somehow. Needless to say, there were no quick results. Her job in the medical team in Five Division seemed easy enough. She enjoyed caring for the few injured and working with people. Since she cami into contact with people from all the divisions and all ranks and she was able to befriend some who could help her. Computer serarches and lookouts took place. There were still no results but she never gave up on her dream. Never gave up, that is, until the start of hostilities on Tharagrene where Five Division were relocated. The horrors she saw there aged her more than any space travel and she became bitterly cynical. But the worst was yet to happen. Jase was brought in with a batch of wounded under a different name. She was unable to do anything for him, his wounds were so severe. He died by her side without ever saying a word and seemingly unaware of who he was; still less who she was. The escape from Tharagrene happened that night with her among them, helping to steal a shuttle. Before this, she would never have contemplated what amounted to treachery. Now it seemed there was no other choice. These days Jenillee can often be found staring out of a viewport or watching the horizon. On duty, she reverts to the dedicated professional person she used to be. But when her task is done she returns to stare out of her viewport - alone. What she thinks about, no one can say. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- MC 128-7 CIM Built 2706, Tesseract. MC 128-7 CIM is a robot designed to fight. The number stands for Military Construct type 128 revision 7 Combat Infantry Model. He is simply known as CIM, pronouned Sim. The original team's escape from Tharagrene was largely due to Cim, not so much by his own initiative, but stemming from a quick reprogramming which enabled them to overcome enough security to escape in a shuttle. Nothing subtle, he ripped the doors off their supports. Cim is a highly complex piece of battlefield machinery but is posessed of what might be called a very limited intelligenge by human standards. He has almost no reasoning capacity and is undoubtedly not self-aware, at least by any conventional test. The military has no need of such esoteric functions. What they do need however, is as little maintenance as possible. Cim - like most military robots can take human food and chemically extract from it. The type 128 robots are the bipedal equivalent of tanks, sacrificing manoevrability for armour, autonomy for firepower. Because a robot is essentially a highly mobile computer, Cim comes in handy for calculating orbits and storing data for which he has been unkindly called the world's greatest filofax, an insult which he is incapable of registering. Although he will accept reasonable orders from any member of the team, it is not generally realised that everybody's instructions carry a certain weight. Rorian, of course, has top priority in this regard and can override anyone else. The MC series are modular in construction, enabling limbs and major components to be replaced without fuss. Thus was how the reprogramming was accomplished initially. The mission parameter datacard was swapped with a new one. This, of course, directed loyalties to Rorian. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHEULE SIYGESS Born 2685, Earth. Cheule is unique amongst the team members in that she comes from Earth in the home system. She often claims that she really means Little Earth, an asteroidal colony in the Inner Belt, but her argument is unconvincing. She doesn't talk about her past much and any mention of Earth causes her to change the subject, often forcibly. Her real life story is shrouded in mystery. All that is known is that when she was 18 when she left Earth for reasons that are unknown to anyone within a dozen light years - literally. She arrived in the Luyten sytem after an entire ten years, Having boarded a Stellar Shuttle, the Dragonwick, by adopting the identity of her twin sister. The effects of time dilation at speeds close to, but not exceeding light, mean that only 4 years passed for her. Physically she is now aged 22 but in real time she is 28. In all that time she was not discovered a fact that testifies to her talents. The Dragonwick was one of the last Stellar Shuttles to leave the Solar System before all communication with Earth abruptly ceased in 2708. The Dragonwick was itself destroyed in mysterios circumstances shortly after entering the Luyten System. Cheule was long gone before that. The team, such as it was back then, found her on the Fuysije Orbital where she tried to con Rorian out of his shuttlecraft and nearly succeeded. He admired the gall of someone who had heard of him and still wasn't afraid. Yet , it wasn't so much the team adopting her as the other way aroud. Rorian accepts that she is with them only because they will further her cause, whatever that might be. He knows also that her smile conceals a lot of hurt - of what, he is at a loss to say. The team mostly regards her with awe. Earth to them is an almost mythical place. Strange tales, often contradictory, get told about Earth, often about terrifying things, and someone from there could clear up a lot of fables. Anybody could claim to be from Earth of course, but no -one doubts that in her case it's true - if only for that terrible haunted look in her eyes when the subject arises. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- CLAVIUS Created 2536, Monyluth Clavius is a product of technology, being a primitive gene-engineereed creature in the days before such things were illegal. He is basically human but with a resistance to radiation that in theory would enable him to command unshielded spacecraft for long periods. The performance improvement of the craft resulting from the reduced mass of the shields would increase dramatically. To further reduce spacecraft mass, living space was reduced to a minimum and Clavius was given a psychological profile to deal with this. As a result he is a borderline agoraphobic. The project to create such a creature began during the period before colonisation when the need for efficiency was at its height. In a patriotic fervour, his incept date was on the hundredth anniversary of the discovery of New Europe. Clavius is not proud of his heritage and has no family to speak of save for the overseers at the lab where he was born. Although they are now long dead, he still hates them and all they stood for. With his creators now a memory, he found no purpose in life. Being in sole command of a craft made it absurdly easy to steal and the lighter weight enabled him to outrun anything in the system. He went everywhere he possibly could in search of a new purpose which he has never found. Those days are long in the past now and he has had many adventures in his time. With his incorporation into the team, he has at least gained a pretence of purpose. From some difficult conversations with Cheule, he now harbours a wish to learn more about Earth and intends visiting there someday. This will take many years of his life but he suspects that his creators did not set a limit to cell replication; in effect he will not age. He often relates some tales of his own to the rest of the group when there is time to be spent and has proved to be an enthralling and captivating narrator. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- KATRINA HOMEZ Born 2685, Tesseract Katrina was unlucky enough to be intelligent, shrew, attractive and physically very strong. Unlucky? It made her a perfect target for recruiting by the Secret Services (UPBI). When first approached, she naturally refused. She already had a worthwhile job as field reporter for a news network. The UPBI staged her death and abducted her. She underwent intensive brainwashing and reprogramming and emerged with most of her mind intact but with a fanatical devotion to the UPBI. Katrina subsequently went on undercover missions and had an excellent track record - from the services point of view - until she was ordered to investigate a mercenary team by infiltration. This she did by an elaboratly set up scenario where she pretended to be rescued by them and subsequently joined them. Her deception was uncovered when a head wound from a combat mission left her delirious. She talked about the UPBI. Desverger wanted to kill her outright. However, the UPBI had underestimated her underlying willpower. Given a focus and with support, katrina overcame her conditioning and now she is a valued member of the team. She views her service in the UPBI with horror and deliberately goes out of her way to prove that she's changed. This can lead to her being overzealous at times. When under stress, or in combat, some of the programmed ruthlessness can still show through. Rorian is perfectly satisfied that she is loyal and is willing to take her at face value. Desverger, however, still has doubts and airs them openly. She despises him as he reminds her so much of what she used to be. Her memory of life before the service is almost non-existent and she isn't even sure whether Katrina is her real name. No documents can be found which can tell her for sure and of course all computer records show a blank. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ADELE REANNON Born 2681, Jeuvo Cassandra Adele is from the Lacaille system. This alone makes her a target for UPBI interest. What's more she was one of the foremost security experts in that system until the Lacaillian sponsors went back on the deal they had with her.The new security equipment she had designed was simply taken, along with all the blueprint disks. She had enough presence of mind to suspect that she would also be the subject of an assassination attempt, in order to prevent her knowledge being of use to anyone else. In this, she proved right. She narrowly escaped and was then audacious enough to actually advertise her sevices to any mercenary team willing to take her on board. Rorian, fleeing from Tharagrene at that time, was only too happy to make her a full member. Her home was Jeuvo Cassandra, a small rocky planet, halfway between a real planet and an asteroid. It had no atmosphere and all life there was contained in vast complexes - the only viable solution, Jeuvo cassandra did not have enough surface gravity to sustain a useful atmosphere even if one was introduced. Because of the cost of maintaining the complexes, they mainly housed professional people engaged on research in various forms. Thus Adele has no real family, only a lot of friends who now think she is dead. She is realistic enough to realise that revenge is a futile pursuit. She has no idea who could have ordered her assassination and the assassin himself is dead by her own hand. The security equipment was the culmination of her life's work so she has resigned herself to seeking out all the pleasures that life has to offer - anything else would be a waste of time and effort and would only bring hurt. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- MIYRIEL TORRE Born 2612, New Europe. Miyriel led a very sheltered and otherwise uninteresting life for a long time. When she was informed that she was wasting slowly away from a rare disease for which there was no cure, she immediately squandered the entire family fortune on getting a complete body replacement. Essentially she is now a cyborg. Her brain is all that's left of the original but it remains as sharp as ever. Of course it was impossible to undergo such a change and keep a normal lifestyle. Miyriel ran off with what remained of the money and invested it until she simply outlived everyone else she knew - a fact that pleased her greatly. They never showed any support during her illness and seemed resigned to the fact that she was going to die. She has an interest in interfacing with any new equipment she can find. Some would say she was a bit unstable. She is decidedly eccentric and often given to playing childish practical jokes. Now that Miyriel is agile and active once more she pretends to be a teenager. The new life she has been given her by the mechanical body is too precious to waste. She feels she has to be on the move and gets increasingly quirky when forced to remain still or when bored. The robot chassis that comprises her body is designed for aesthetics rather than mechanical efficiency. Even so it is considerably stronger than the human body. It has several smartgun adaptors so that in theory Miyriel could interface with any weapon that Cim could. In reality she would not touch anything so crude. To her mind a weapon should be stylish and compact - as should all machinery. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- BONDEN SPEY Born 2690, Starscape. Bonden was born and brought up on one of the asteroidal colonies in the Inner Belt called, rather whimsically, Starscape. Because it was such a closed society, mystical and religious thinking formed a large part of his childhood and shaped his attitude. He takes things less than seriously, searching for adventure and high times without reckoning on the gritty nature of reality. He is often unable to appreciate the consequences of his actions and has the old fashioned belief that there is glory to be had in a noble cause. Noble causes are difficult to find. Bonden is the only person in the team to have actually been on Graveyard before. He essentially did this as a bet. His friends said he couldn't manage without equipment or resources in addition to his natural resourcefulness. He tried it because it was great fun to outwit the authorities. It was an interesting experience and not at all what he expected. He got caught up in the subtleties of the Duone religion. He retains sympathy for the Duone's willingness to pursue their own beliefs in the face of technology and is fascinated bythe fact that technology is an almost integral part of their religion. Out of all the group, he retains the most hope and optimism for the future. His home colony is preparing to turn the asteroid into an arkship to go in search of new systems. It is not quite ready and he is torn between returning for the journey or staying in the system. Either decision is irreversible. The colony will nwver be returning. The trip was made possible because the asteroid was granted independant status - chiefly because it was seen to be of no material value. Desverger has often unkindly suggested that Bonden be the front man because he is A). Naive and B).Expendable. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- KIURCHER Born 2663, Tesseract Kiurcher was born in a miltary base on Tesseract where such a thing was frowned upon. Since shipping him and his parents out of the bas would cost money and compromised security it was determined that he be raised to be uniquely skilled in a particular military trade. He wasn't much good at those trades but was gifted in mathematics and coupled with a business sense he was placed in charge of funding at the age of 16. By 18 he had embezzled huge amounts of cash and began his flight from job to job until his past caught up with him. Eventually he turned to full time crime. Kiurcher doesn't display any emotions and any that he does have are limited in intensity and restricted to the entire negative range. He does this intentionally in order to play his cards as close to his chest as he can manage. Little is known of his past and he gives nothing away. This is perhaps fortunate, because if he told everything he knew, then a lot of people would find themselves in serious trouble of the kind that usually ends in a verdict of death by misadventure. He has no regrets about his life and tries to indulge in excesses whenever possible. Since joining the team he has become more pensive and paranoid. He tries to find out as much about the next job as possible in order to assure himself that he won't be in any danger. Kiurcher is egocentric and wishes to follow up any possibility of extending his natural lifespan. The group are tolerant of him because he has an extensive working knowledge of business practices and an unrivalled number of contacts within numerous industries. He is financing some of the modifications of Dark Matter. No one has cared to ask where the funds are coming from. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CIM-LITE (PIRATE COPY) Built 2710, Freewill CIM-Lite comes under the designation Enhanced Survivability Unit. The CIM-Lite robots are more intelligent than the usual combat oriented military types. This design is dictated by the primary and to the lesser extent, secondary mission profiles. The primary mission type is essentially the same as all other combat robots which is troop support. The main difference is that a CIM-Lite model may take command of up to 16 other robot types. This is not merely giving orders to the other robots which are then carried out. It connects to them via radio link so closely that they become extensions of the CIM-Lite; effectively they become extra limbs. 16 robots acting in unison are vastly more effective than 16 independent units. To exercise this direct control, it needs greater than normal intelligence. CIM-Lite posesses a personality as a consequence of the needs of a greater intelligence. Even so, it is a cold and calculating one with distinctly polarised morality. CIM-Lite's world has no shades of grey but only the black and white of the bad guys and the good guys. Problems used to occur with this model where civilians were concerned. The chassis is a lightweight one designed for agility and speed, sacrificing armour and firepower. Aesthetically, the model is designed on psychological principles to induce a degree of fear in the enemy. Tactical ability is far higher and CIM-Lites have a high degree of autonomy in the absence of superior officers or orders. CIM-Lite is the newest member of the team and is often called Newboy as a sort of a joke. Battle robots tend to be male because the brain is programmed to act male, ie with violence and aggression. He does not have an illustrious history with regard to the team. They simply saved up the money and bought him. The chassis is a copy, but the behavioural Roms are from an original. ===================================================================================== -+------------------------------------------------------------------------+- | The LoOnS: Python Wizz The Guardian PoB Action Man Chuck T-Leaf | -+------------------------------------------------------------------------+- 22/09/93 PROUDLY PRESENT HIRED GUNS THE LUYTEN SYSTEM MANUAL CONTENTS -------- THE LUYTEN SYSTEM GRAVEYARD TESSERACT INNER ASTEROID BELT NEW EUROPE ORBITALS ANYSIJE FUYSIJE FREEWILL YALHOTH OUTER ASTEROID BELT ZEUS TARANUS ENEMY FORCES LEAHDILE RAHL AHL-CIM HADRAL TYPE 3 - SKELETON AMREK 5 ROBODYNE 7000 WEAPONS GLOSSARY VEHICLES GLOSSARY PSIONIC AMPLIFIERS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE LUYTEN SYSTEM - A BACKGROUND -------------------------------- Luyten is an M7 class star unlike the Sun. It is 10.8 light years distant and only in the last few centuries did it become known as Luyten possessed a system of planets. Stars that are not in binary pairs are comparitively rare. Ones that possess planetary systems are rarer still. It was therefore inevitable that mankind spread out to encompass Luyten. Despite this achievement, only a few star systems have been colonised and all of them attempted (and succeeded) in becoming independent from Earth. This makes further colonisation from Earth very unlikely. The Luyten System is divided roughly into two sections; the inner planets and the outer planets, the boundary of which is between the orbit of New Europe and that of Yalhoth. These are known as the Maxellamar Ring of Luyten for the inner section, and the Minellamar Ring of Luyten for all the rest. It is possible that there are small undiscovered planets in far orbits. The problem of what to name these, should they exist, has not been addressed. The entire system was named largely on the whim of various captains whose exploration craft discovered these worlds in the first place. Rumour has it that Yalhoth was a transmission error for 'All hot here~! For comparison, the planetary system of the star Lacaille is known as the United System of Lacaille. The sun doesn't get a mention. It is simply called the Earth System or more frequently, the Home System. The Luyten system was colonised during a revolution in mankind's thinking. There are only a dozen extra-solar colonies in existence. After centuries of effort , Earth could not see any benefit to itself and ceased its expansionist policies. Trade between systems was prohibitively expensive for raw materials that could be found elsewhere. The only profitable trade concerned goods such as food and wine that couldn'd possibly be manufactured locally. Even this was limited to specialities or delicacies that the rich were prepared to pay for and marketing disasters were frequent. Interplanetary trade is feasible only in special cases. Recently knowledge became an export by broadcasting encrypted and protected information across interstellar distances in return for other knowledge. So far, the scheme seems to be working. Other than this, Star Systems have become very isolated. GRAVEYARD: ---------- Because of the highly inclined orbit and great distance from the sun, Graveyard has exceptionally complex weather systems. Initially it was just a moon of Yalhoth, but surface conditions were deemed right to begin a limited terraforming programme which went according to plan until the money ran out. This unfinished state contributes to the unstable atmosphere. The plan lasted long enough for the already largely oxygenated atmosphere to be boosted with the introduction of liquid water. This was done by slammingg asteroids into the surface which provided enough heat to melt the ice that was already present and it was kept up long enough to get the atmosphere to trap enough heat to keep things stable. Animal and plant life was introduced prematurely and plans were aired to turn the planet into an agricultural world. These plans failed through lack of funding. Despite being so far from the sun, a reasonable range of temperatures exist. These are extremely varied over the entire planet and are rarely constant. However they do fall within a relatively small band of temperatures and allow the planet to be officially classified as temperate. This is due in part to the exceptional heat radiated by Yalhoth, a process which occurs because of a gradual shrinkage in diameter amounting to less than 5m a year. Because of its great mass, this alone provides the heat energy. The reason for the shrinkage has not been determined. While Yalhoth forms a beautiful and impressive sight in visible light, it is a brilliant object when seen in infra-red. It occupies most of the observable sky when favourably positioned. This alone would make it a wonderful tourist trap except for the grim fact that since the terraforming was never completed, there is limited radiation protection. The sun at that distance is no problem, but Graveyard orbits directly in the centre of Yalhoth's most powerful Van Allen radiation belt. The major export, in terms of size, is terraforming equipment in which Graveyard is something of an expert. Unfortunately the market is almost nil, it being cheaper to manufacture equipment on the planets of a target star rather than face the enormous cost of transporting it. Thesedays it is more common to rely on the selling of expertise. Graveyard maintains a small establishment for research into improving the terraforming technique which is ideal since Graveyard is essentially half complete and any way of completing the task at minimal cost would be greatly desired. The economy is bolstered by the selling of water. At first a strange notion, water in its pure form (hydrogen and oxygen) has an unpleasant taste. Water as we are used to from Earth and New Europe is "contaminated" with a great deal of minerals which gives water a taste - although we are so used to it that we call it tasteless. Water on Graveyard is "contaminated" with a very different set of minerals. Water from here actually has a very pleasant taste and people from all over the system are willing to buy it. Hence it forms the main export in terms of quantity. TESSERACT: ---------- Physically, Tesseract is the same size as Mercury in the home system. It is a rocky planet with a ring system that is only visible from Tesseract itself but is nevertheless a spectacular sight in the night sky. Tesseract is essentially Luyten's centre of industry and, by extension, the basis of Luyten's previous war effort. Since the economy would collapse if military construction was ceased. Tesseract still produces nearly 100% of the military space vessels in the system as well as transport vehicles. It is the most heavily defended place known to humanity. Raw material is close by, as planetary distances go, in the form of the Inner Asteroid Belt. For this it has an extensive network of mass drivers and mining installations. It is probably fair to say that the Luyten System could not have been viably colonised without Tesseract and the Inner Belt. This fact is less impressive though after a thorough geological survey was carried out and Tesseract found to have extensive deposits of Rare Earth Elements. The colonisation would have been far quicker had this been known originally. It is a sobering thought to realise that Tesseract contains less than a half of one percent of the mass of the system, but almost 80% of the wealth. INNER ASTEROID BELT: -------------------- The Inner Asteroid Belt was not formed in the same way as "normal" asteroid belts which are generally the remnants of an accretion disc that formed the entire system in the first place. The Belt is in fact the remains of a planet which exploded in that orbit some millions of years ago, possibly from a comet collision. The result is that rare elements which tend to be in the core of planets are spread about the Belt and are easily accessed. Hence it is a very rich source of mining. Because an entire planet went into making the Belt, and the fact that it has a small orbit, it is comparatively densly packed with asteroids. Indeed, much of these asteroidal fragments are large enough to house colonies which tend to be mining support and mining colonies themselves. One or two independent states exist, bringing the total colonies in the Inner Belt to the region of 34. The most notable of these are Little Earth, Starscape, Starmind and Progenitor. The last is of especial interest as it is from Earth and is the original colony craft built from a hollowed-out asteroid some centuries ago. NEW EUROPE: ----------- New Europe was the only planet in orbit around Luyten that had a breathable oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere and a liquid water ocean. It was slightly larger than Earth and in a closer orbit. When discovered, it did indeed have a carbon-based life form on it. Unfortunately it was in the form of single celled creatures which were the largest living things in the system. A few voices were raised about the rights of this indigenous life but the need for real estate overrode any other considerations. New Europe, originally catalogue number La64-2404 before the reformation, was ruthlessly sterilised before the introduction of Earth species. In effect the arrival of humans meant genocide. New Europe has been called a water world. Oceans cover 90% of the surface. Remarkably the other water worlds known, Bessel, Tharagrene and Earth point out the fact that for a water world, Earth is unusually dry. New Europe has two major landmasses, one in the Northern hemisphere and one in the South. It is the closest planet to ideal conditions and thus supports the largest population, even though this is increasing every year and fears of an Earth style overcrowding are being voiced, this is unlikely to become a problem for another fifty years. A secret plan was put forward to eliminate overcrowding by creating a nuclear "accident" when necessary, but fortunately this doesn't appear to be in favour at the current time. The Capital city of New Europe is Coriandis and is essentially the seat of Government for the whole star system. Tesseract is making noises about independence which is causing some tension. It is expected that Tesseract will declare itself the new capital planet. While an interstellar war such as the previous one is difficult but not impossible to wage, an interplanetary one is all too easy. ORBITALS: --------- New Europe is famous for its Orbitals - gigantic space station type structures whose purpose is simply for public residence - a comparative rarity. New Europe has little land area and being so overcrowded, the orbitals were a good idea. Strict population controls made the cocept workable. Of the three largest, only Fuysije exists in a state close to the ideal. Anysije has deteriorated to the status of a slum and Freewill - in an effort to avoid the same fate by reverting to a space station role sevicing spacecraft - has turned into a hotbed of organised crime. It is interesting to contrast the fates of the three orbitals. All other orbiting habitats are mere space stations by comparison. ANYSIJE: -------- The fate of Anysije was effectively sealed when large numbers of undesireables were transferred from New Europe. This was an attempt to relocate bad tenants to a place where they could be more effectively controlled. At first it seemed like a good idea and the concept was extended to include potential subversives, then petty criminals. UPBI agents frequently used Anysije as a real-life training ground where the potential consequences of mistakes are not as important as elsewhere. FUYSIJE: -------- This was the last Orbital to be started. It was scaled down by around 50% to conserve raw materials which were beginning to rise in price rather severely due to the war effort in progress at the time. Because of the delay, Fuysije was able to incorporate newer technologies made possible by the accelerated research that a war always provokes. A late development was the use of designer styling in the interior and on some of the external features. As a result, the rich have taken over Fuysije. FREEWILL: --------- The model Orbital that all others were to be based on was Freewill as it was the first to be constructed. The others were started when Freewill was only halfway through the construction phase. This proved to be the first of many mistakes as the lessons learnt from Freewill during this time were not applied to the others. All were placed in a synchronous orbit which proved to be too far for an effective shuttle service. When Freewill became effectively self governing, plans were made to equip it with Fusion Drives to move it into a new orbit around Luyten itself. All planets up to this point form the Maxellamar Ring of Luyten, equivalent to the Inner Solar System or to a hemisphere on a planet. The rest of the planets outward of this point form the Minellamar Ring of Luyten. YALHOTH: -------- Yalhoth is the major Jovian type planet in the sytem. It has an abundance of moons and moonlets, one of which is large enough to sustain an atmosphere. Yalhoth is unremarkable in most respects except to note that its Van Allen radiation belts are some of the most intense known. Graveyard orbits inside one of these belts. The temperature, despite being so far from the sun, is enough to sustain life, primarily from the heat radiated from Yalhoth itself in conjunction with the belts. Graveyard is classed as a moon along with another half dozen or so which have robotic probes continually buzzing around since the early days of the system colonisation. OUTER ASTEROID BELT: -------------------- The Outer Belt of asteroids was formed in what is believed to be a "normal" manner. It is an extensive but thinly spread system of asteroids in a more highly inclined orbit than the rest of the system. Being further from the sun, solar energy is more of a problem and the asteroids are not as rich in elements as the Inner Belt. There are therefore considerably less colonies and outposts stationed in the belt - 5 at the last count - and most of the human population of the Outer Belt are to be found in System Ships stationed there. One interesting note is the spectacular conjunction of Yalhoth's moons which occurs every few years and brings man fee paying visitors to the belt. The best vantage point is in the Outer Belt. Burnham~s World, which forms part of the Outer Belt, has made a complete tourist industry from this simple astronomical fact. ZEUS: ----- Zeus is a very large gas giant planet indeed. It is a brilliant green colour that is visible across most of the system and is often seen as New Europe's equivalent of the "Evening Star". It is so bright in the sky because it is highly reflective and because of its considerable size - which is greater even than Jupiter! From Graveyard, when in the right position, Zeus looks like a second sun, although greener. Zeus' atmosphere is rich in Tritium, compared with the only other gas giant in the system, Yalhoth. Tritium is the basic ingredient for Fusion Drives and this makes the most worthwhile extraction site. The place is essentially public property but at least one company has tried to enforce mining rights. Few people would pay for something that can be had for nothing, but processed fuel is of higher quality. Those who insist on this higher quality keep the processing companies in operation. Zeus marks the limit of the Luyten System as far as politics are concerned. Further out yet is the Oort cloud of comets but they are at such range they are effectively unexplored and largely ignored. One further planet is known to exist, although it is difficult to find even in the extensive New Europe databanks. It is called Taranus. TARANUS: -------- Very few references exist. Why this should be so, it is not known. There are no chartered ships making regular voyages there. It is ignored by the military and almost no member of the public will list it along with the other planets of the system. What information can be gleaned from careful scrutiny of data reveals that Taranus is in a highly inclined orbit around Luyten, orbiting nearly over the poles of the star. This suggests that it is not native to the system but was captured by the star a long time in the past. Its orbit is not stable, although it won't decay for several million years. Taranus is Earth sized but no surface or atmospheric characteristics are known. Amateur astronomers are unlikely to detect it, since they would naturally expect a new planet to lie on the same plane as the others. Of those who do know of Taranus, even less ascribe any significance to it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ENEMY FORCES ------------ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION RELATES TO THE TIGERLIGHT RESEARCH FACILITY AND IS HIGHLY CLASSIFIED. ONLY PERSONNEL WHO PSSESS aLPHA lEVEL CLEARANCE MAY STUDY THE CONTENTS OF THIS DOCUMENT. SHOULD YOU SEE THIS UNATTENDED, NOTIFY A SUPERIOR OFFICER IMMEDIATELY. DATA HAS BEEN ABSTRACTED TO A DEGREE TO MINIMISE POTENTIAL SECURITY BREACHES. LEAHDILE: --------- The Leahdile is one of the later generations of genetically engineered creatures. It directly benefited from the experience gained on the earlier works. Initial work was performed on the Tigerlight IV orbiting facility. After a successful first prototype was demonstrated, the research was transferred to (Location Classified) for field testing. Base source for the genetic material is from a DNA structure constructed from supercomputer simulations as opposed to the modifications of the existing material. While the capabilities of the Leahdile are far in advance of the others in its class, the development cost is an order of greater magnitude. Duplication, however, is of normal cost. Current recommendations are to use the Leahdile where quality and effectiveness are of the utmost importance. The computer software for simulation is still in the early stages, RAHL: ----- The Rahl was a departure from normal development goals. All creatures up to this point were sterile and each individual had to be grown seperately. The cost problems are obvious. Allowing a creature to reproduce at will was deemed to be unacceptably risky, considering their purpose. A solution was found that allowed reproduction for 4 generations before sterile offspring were produced. In this way, deployment of a pair of creatures would enable the growth of a population of approx. 1,100 before extinction occured. This provides sufficient time for them to eliminate hostile forces. No rigid skeletal structure was employed in order to leave no trace after the creature's death where it decays quickly into its unremarkable organic components. AHL-CIM: -------- The Ahl-Cim is a hybrid of some of the DNA rresearches, combined with a robotic frame to facilitate deployment in diverse environments. These include ocean to a depth of 3Km and Low orbit. Whilst it is understood that specific designs for each of these environments would be more efficient, projected reports suggested that it would not be cost effective. The Ahl-Cim was an attempt to address this issue by providing a multipurpose creature with more flexibility than a robot. Typical applications envisaged are security patrols of sensitive sites and light escort duties. The Ahl-Cim can fold up into a compact shape and can be equipped with (Item Classified) or equivalent for missions. A major advantage that an Ahl-Cim has over a completely organic creature is its ability to be stored until needed. Others must be grown when the need arises and this can slow response time for deployment. HADRAL: ------- The basis for the Hadral is human sourced genetic material that is modified, but not grown. Tailor made adaptable genetic material is introduced into a human subject who then mutates according to the design parameters of the material. When the change is complete, the subject may be introduced into a hostile environment. The advantage of creatures generated in this way is that they are untraceable. That is to say that in isolation such a case may simply look like a normal mutation. No suspicion will then follow. Initial genetic sources have been taken from (Location Classified) which is sufficiently isolated for the purposes of Project Tigerlight. The above sources are diverse enough to allow for previously unsuspected discoveries. Progress has increased markedly since this policy was adopted. TYPE 3 - SKELETON: ------------------ The type 3 is not intended for mass production. Psychological studies have indicated the effectiveness of weapons of terror when used on the battlefield, Robots have already been designed to exploit this fact but nothing has so far been attempted which has terror-inducement as its primary goal. The type 3 is not as highly classified as other projects and similar work is known to be in progress on Tesseract. The current version is essentially a technology demonstrator (Type 3-100) but if funding is approved and the additional improvements anticipated from mainstream robotics development become available, then type 3-200 will be ordered for entry into service early in 2717. Field trials of the type 3-100 and the resulting type 3-101 began in 2709 and have continued to the present date. AMREK-5: -------- One of the support items in securing a hostile area or defending an already secure area is the Amrek 5 Gunpost. Essentially this is a proven gun platform married to a specially developed sensor and hardwired artificial intelligence system. (For low cost.) Some models can discriminate between hostile and friendly forces. Installation has been made as simple as possible. From taking the Amrek out of the case to initial firing tests is 42 seconds in typical cases. No external connections are required excepting a possible belt ammo feed. Digital radio links are available to interface with CR404 equipped controlling robots or command teams. The classified part of the Amrek 5 is the sensor system which detects and reacts to pheremone and gas traces. In effect it has a sense of smell on the order of 2,000 time better than human. ROBODYNE 7000: -------------- The Robodyne 7000 is an effective guard system for use in dangerous environments where more intelligent robots are too valuable to risk. The brain is simplified to a great extent but no compromise has been made on the weapons systems. The design of the 7000 series has deliberately been moved away from the humanoid shape. This is a consequence of the larger size and thus more efficient use of materials, where superfluous components such as arms are not required. Particularly valuable capabilities include the fastest land speed over rough terrain of any non wheeled robot in the past 50 years. Fatigue life of the robotic chassis is excellent, adding to the anticipated long service of the 7000 series. A commercial variant is to be made available shortly as the Robodyne 6800. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WEAPONS GLOSSARY ---------------- A SHORT BRIEFING ON SOME WEAPONS KNOWN TO BE IN USE ON GRAVEYARD. ROCKET LAUNCHER: Ammunition; Rocket. North-European Inc. have a vast range of rocket launchers based around the proven Litefire system. With the end of the war, most systems have become available on the black market. Litefire systems have become the default standard chiefly because of the wide range of compatible rounds available. In a famous incident of the war, a Litefire 2300 actually brought down a Medium Troopship on its final approach to a battleground. The launcher itself is re-useable and is shoulder mounted. Badly made rounds, however, can damage the launcher beyond repair and sometimes the user as well. MOUNTED MACHINE GUN: Ammunition, .44 Calibre. This was the favoured weapon of the so called Last Liners, referring to a riot squad who were the Last Line of defence. Their appearance in a trouble spot meant things were very bad indeed.These guns are durable, all-weather, and can be mounted on any of the major 70mm hardpoint standards found on a range of vehicles. The design is licensed to sa number of manufacturers and can therefore be found in almost any civilised location. Increasingly these days, they are appearing as a man-portable weapon. NEUTRON FLUX CANNON: Ammunition, 1 Kjoule charge or more. The Neutron Flux Cannon, to give it its full title, has no model number. It is the only type commercially available and only to organisations who can prove a real need for one. It is therefore only known as the Neutron Cannon which is a misnomer. Other Neutron Flux weapons exist, but only on large vehicles where the greater size enables a correspondingly greater efficiency. Radiation protection should be worn by the user, especially when heavy combat is anticipated. The built in shielding becomes radiation saturated after a while and should be replaced at two yearly intervals. The advantage of accelerating neutral particles to high velocity means that magnetic shielding is ineffective against it. HYDROGEN FLUORINE HAND LASER: Ammunition, 1 Kjoule charge or more. Hand lasers do not get the respect they sometimes deserve. They are usually underpowered and their capabilities misunderstood. There are a substantial number of substances that a laser is not effective against. This has often led to the death of a combatant who thought he was in control of a situation. Used properly, however, such a weapon can be very effective, for example against soft targets such as unprotected people (or the Killer Marshmallows from the planet Apyhoors Mahey ? sorry I got bored!) Such cases are always fatal. Lasers are always the favourite weapon of assassins since there is no equivalent of a ballistic matching of bullet and no chemical residue that can give them away afterward. Balancing the advantages, of course, is the extremely high price tag. PARTICLE BEAM RIFLE: Ammunition, 1Kjoule or more. Whilst a charged stream of particles can be effective in killing people, they cause comparatively little damage to surrounding material. Their main effect is to disrupt the electrical functioning of the body. Only at power levels found in spacecraft will a particle beam cause physical damage. Because of the nature of the beam - electrons - it is particularly effective against robots, computers and certain types of machinery. The downside is that a magnetic field will distort the beam drastically and a shaped magnetic field will shield the target completely. The effective range is comparatively short compared with hand guns of a similar mass. OXY6 FLAMER: Ammunition, 100cc or more of Oxy6 refill. For massive ground clearances, there is nothing quite like a flamethrower, more commonly known as a flamer. Oxy6 is a registered trademark and refers to the fuel that the flamer is designed to use. The fuel is more advanced than the gun that uses it and is under constant enhancement. A refill, thrown into a fire makes a good explosive. Flamers are, however, risky in their use. An incorrectly adjusted nozzle could lead the flame back into the chamber, causing the weapon to explode. Range is very limited. Some models have a destruct timer that ignites the fuel after a delay. Others can make use of almost any liquid fuel. The flamer is also available in a smaller Junior version, favoured by street gangs. IMPERIAL AUTO: Ammunition, 9mm Calibre. The word Imperial refers to the manufacturer based on New Europe and not to the so called Imperial Army who were created as a public relations exercise and since disbanded. Imperial Arms Ltd. were created simply to design a gun and this was their sole result. No expense was spared in the design phase and this has resulted in reputedly the best sidearm ever conceived. They are available so cheaply from licensed manufacturers as well as Imperial Arms Ltd. that it's never been copied or improved. Production is so vast that the expense of retooling the entire production line for another weapon effectively precludes the appearance of any other model. SUPER COVERT: Ammunition, 9mm Calibre. Chiefly used in covert operations, hence the name, the model 4 has a silencer built in as standard with reduced muzzle flash, digital targeting system and laser target designator. Other standard features include exceptional durability and reliability. A low muzzle velocity reduces the potential damage but keeps the sound and light emissions down. The designator can be keyed into external equipment via its control data bus. This means that it can be fired from a command from another piece of equipment. Anti-terrorist operationw can use numerous guns, up to a maximum of 16. The controlling equipment waits for each of them to signal that a target has been acquired. When all of them have target aquisition simultaneously the controller fires them, resulting in up to 16 terrorists being hit within a 15 millisecond period, giving them no chance to react. (17 terrorists? Kaboom!) SILENT AUTO: Ammunition, 9mm Calibre. The Small arms 6 Silent Auto has an unenviable reputation of being a disposable gun. This myth arose when the initial batch proved so unreliable that they were useless after a single magazine had been fired. The fault was corrected in quick measure but the myth persisted. An insult gained popularity at the time where someone useless at a task was called Small Armed. The gun itself is mass produced and is a solid and genuinely reliable product if not a very exciting one. It is available in a variety of designer colours as part of a promotion. M73 AUTO GUN: Ammunition, .44 Calibre. The M73 is widely known for its man-portable firepower. With a single pull of the trigger, an entire ten rounds leave the barrel (under some settings) before the recoil of the first has been felt. Even this is gyroscopically damped down. This makes it very accurate with an exceptionally high hit probability. The downside is that it is all too easy to waste ammo if the aim is less than perfect. A typical setting is therefore the three round burst and of course as large a clip as possible. MOUNTED MINI GUN: Ammunition, .44 Calibre. Mini-Guns are almost never found outside of vehicle manufacturing planets except in the field. The general exception to this rule is when Mini-Guns have been mounted on a combat robot. This practice has been frowned upon since the wargame exercise went wrong after the central controlling computer was hit by lightning and the robot squad wiped out an entire city before they were stopped. Mini-Guns are almost never used against soft targets, being most useful against light-armoured vehicles. SNIPER RIFLE: Ammunition, 9mm Calibre. This is more a class of weapon than a single model. Sniper Rifles tend to be custom made to individual specifications and very few are mass produced. Why this is so, no-one can say, but the result is that there are almost as many designs of rifle as the rifles themselves. The only common element is that of the ammunition type used, although variations are even found with this. A typical custom job will take three weeks from ordering to delivery. The rifles are exceptionally long ranged and have found favour with sportsmen. TUNGSTEN BORE RIFLE: Ammunition, 18 bore cartridge. This was the original product that established the Tungsten Bore Company as a major player in the arms supply business. It seemed that the company was more famous for illegally supplying arms to rebels - in order to gain money to establish itself more properly - than for the products themselves. That is why anyone carrying a rifle such as the one above will be met with sideways glances and strange stares. The gun itself is above average, but their PR was always awful. SHOTGUN: Ammunition, 18 bore cartridge. Also known as the Scattergun, the Shotgun is a weapon used for a variety of blood sports as well as riot control. It is short ranged, though very effective. An increasing number of shotguns are available in modular form; the prospective customer simply decides what barrel ( and how many) to attach to the other components. In this way a sort of custom weapon can be had for less money than a fully customised one. SMITH & WESSON 29: Ammunition, 9mm Calibre. Smith and Wesson replicas are very common. A genuine S&W imported from Earth is very expensive and is used mainly as a status symbol. The 29, however is certainly a weapon to be proud of. Its performance is flawless and it is this that distinguishes it from lackluster copies. To say that it is hand crafted would not be entirely correct, but a greater care goes into individual guns than is possible with automated milling processes. Since the loss of contact with Earth, trade has also ceased, making the 29 rarer still. UPBI ISSUE 38: Ammunition, .38 Calibre. The 38 is standard issue for UPBI agents, sourced from an unnamed manufacturer that is rumoured to be on Tesseract. Many a high powered criminal has found his or her career ended staring down the barrel of a 38. Covert operations reputedly have a memory-effect polymer version of the 38 which enables it to change to another shape when immersed in boiling water. These are immune from standard spaceport detectors that operate on density rather than metal content will register the presence of the 38. As yet they are still rare. BLASTER 52-C: Ammunition, 1 Kjoule charge or more. The model number refers to the wavelength of light that the human body readily absorbs. Delivered in extremely short burstss, the effect is to explode organic tissue, making the Blaster an efective, although disgusting weapon. Ironically most people claim this is an uncivilised and barbaric weapon, yet the reputation it has gained serves almost as a deterrent. It is the preferred weapon on spacecraft because the beam won't puncture hulls or damage important machinery. It has featured in contemporary pulp fiction to the point of being a cliche, especially the scenes where the antagonist fires into a glass of water that the hero is holding , causing it to vapourise and explode, thus making a point. SONIC STUNNER: Ammunition. 1 Kjoule charge or more. The stunner range of handheld weapons are the ultimate peaceful sidearms. The simpler models disrupt neurological functioning to render a target unconscious, whilst more advanced models have variable settings. Some are pocket sized, others are shoulder mounted. The greatest of these can pacify an entire crowd. Stunners are freely available and without license, contributing to their enormous presence in some cities. DATABANK: Data Banks are fully self-contained information stores, cross referenced with hypermedia links. The data is updated by subscription wideband radio broadcasts where available. Total storage is around 1,024 GBytes of holographic non-volatile memory containing text, pictures, audio and other data. Pirate versions are available (Hurrah!) These bypass the encryption necessary to receive free updates. The subscription update is charged yearly to specified accounts. DTS - DIGITAL TERRAIN SCAN: The Guild VII is the latest in the line of navigation aids for travellers. Several methods of locating position are available. Stored map, satellite positioning and - on the Guild VII Plus inertial location. Because of the complexity of some of the more advanced systems, each model is tailored for a specific planet and is useless anywhere else in the system. The proposed Guild Ultra will be able to locate positions anywhere within 100 light years by recording stars spectral data and comparing with known stars! Of course since the volume of explored space is nowhere near this amount, the feature is merely an expensive gimmick. MEDISTAT: Medical status is a very important factor when adventuring. Medistats are full health indicators - heart/lung - with a limited diagnosis capability depending on the model. They are deliberately made as simple to operate as possible, considering that untrained personnel may have to use them at a moment's notice. It's worth remembering that while they can tell you what's wrong, they can't do anything about it. Attachments can be purchased to filter air samples for pollutants and contaminants to avoid medical problems in the first place. PSI-AMP: Unknown item ID. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VEHICLES' GLOSSARY. ------------------- CORPORATE III CLASS SYSTEM SHIP (HEAVY CRUISER): The System Ship Platinum Heart is an ex-military vessel of the Corporate III class as used in the war, when most vessels of that type were constructed. It is essentially a military upgrade of a civilian vessel, the dies and presses being shifted over from commercial production in 2664, the early days of the War. The large canopy was intended to make the ship appear visually to be a single or two-seater and thus less deadly than it really was. Modern sensors of course, have made this notion less than ideal, although the strategy paid off on at least two occasions. In both cases the enemy craft had sensors jammed and had to rely on visual information. The exposed fuel tanks on the dorsal and ventral fins were originally intended to facilitate fast turnaround at cargo cetres but proved to be especially vulnerable in the military version. Too few funds were available to rectify the problem. The type was withdrawn from active service in 2672 and replaced by the Corporate IV Class, a completely new design rather than an upgrade. Remaining vessels were either decomissioned for commercial use or picked up cheaply by other organisations. The Platinum Heart is not one of the original conversions, but a full specified military vessel. When it was withdrawn, it disappeared from official records and reappeared two years later in the hands of a commercial organisation, presumably with the weapons layout still intact. Performance is marginally better than most vessels of this size. It has two docking bays, extensive cargo decks and the potential to connect to a Stellar Booster. These devices are essentially Bussard Ramjets and the System Ship acts as a command module, although it is dwarfed by the size of the Booster itself. When connected, it can make interstellar journeys at great expense. DAL-ROGRA 323-400 DROPSHIP: The vessel category of Dropship is a very loose one in that there is nothing particular that makes a vessel a Dropship. Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers, for example, are defined by tonnage but the various types of vessel that have been called Dropship is truly astounding. Almost anything that can make a hot re-entry can lay claim to the title and few, if any, are designed specially for the role. There are subtle differences between this category and OSV's (Orbit to Surface Vehicles) that even experts disagree on. There is a growing tide of opinion that a Dropship is anything that can be used in a covert operation. The Dal-Rogra 323-400 would seem to support the above assertion. In the military category - if the manufacturer's specifications are to be taken literally - it would seem that the overriding criteria is to have an extensive avionic suite and the latest in sensors. This is to provide deep, undetected penetration into hostile airspace, making it a Dropship. However, the tonnage and engine rating would suggest that the 323-400 be called an OSV, intended for limited heavy cargo to and from close orbit. Without the added burden of a large cargo, performance increases dramatically. To further illustrate the confusion surrounding the categories, other high volume, low mass cargos such as tritium fuel are typically transported to and from orbit by OSVs. Dal-Rogra themselves are reticent about the matter, preferring to state that their products are better specified than those of their rivals. certainly the 323-300 saw extensive use over the closing years of the War and the 323-400 is a logical next step. Improvements include the incorporation of passive stealth ERADAS (Emitted Radiation Absorption, Deflection and Scattering), Jamming Pods and active stealth EREP (Expected Return Elimination Processor). This relies on a secondary effect of some radar installations that allows the Dropship to substitute its own radar return echoes for the original ones, editing out the Dropship in the process. The technology is still experimental and this is the first use on a production vessel. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PSIONIC AMPLIFIERS ------------------ My name is Jared Rhine. I have been attempting to examine the devices known as Psi-Amps, one of which I have in my possession. The term Psionic Amplifier is not strictly correct. They may operate on such a principle as described by the term but this is by no means proven and there are numerous compelling theories. Psi-Amps, or my preferred term 'Invokers', require information to tell the device how to produce the desired affect. This leads to a third term for them, 'Effectors'. The information is stored on what seems to be a type of Datacard, although the exact method of storage remains unknown. The origin of the devices is shrouded in mystery and all attempts to examine the workings of an actual device have only succeeded in making the Psi-Amp self-destruct - even, remarkably, by using passive scanners. The rarity of the devices has ensured that examination attempts have simply stopped. One Psi-Amp was reportedly found buried in a hillside on Graveyard. The implications are disturbing. If true, this means that the devices pre-date humanity in this Star System. I have not attempted to use any form of scanning device whatsoever, except my own natural senses and recording techniques using visible light, which the device seems not to object to. That in itself was a calculated risk. Other scanning methods such as NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) are too dangerous to be used. It is extremely fortunate that the datacards themselves are amenable to scanning and although this provides no real insights, it does mean that it is possible to produce more of them. Occasionally, however, the Psi-Amp is a complete unit with built-in cards. The information is contained in a recogniseable binary array but the actual contents of the memory, though known, are beyond analysis. It would seem that this is deliberately encrypted. I am certain that I have only begun to scratch the surface of its potential uses. FLOAT: The caster will float slowly downwards. This seems to work by increasing the caster's drag coefficient to a high degree and not by the anti-gravity method that I expected. Air resistance, then, becomes so great that it acts in the same way as a parachute, although vastly more advanced. This method allows it to operate in the artificial gravity generated by the rotation of a Space Station. (A genuine method of reacting against a gravity field would have nothing to react against in a Space Station, whose gravity is nothing more than centrifugal force.) Although I have not tested this in depth, the implication is that this would not work in a vacuum. STRENGTH: This has the incredible property of doubling or even tripling the caster's physique. How this is accomplished I have no idea. When I first researched this I felt no effect until I tried to open the door and ripped it off its support. The effect lasted a full 4 minutes. At the time, the Invoked Natural Power theory was uppermost in my mind. Heedful of this, I surmised that my adrenaline flow had been greatly increased along with metabolic functions, reinforced in some way by the device. Panic set in when I realised that permanent genetic damage may have resulted. Subsequent medical diagnosis revealed nothing out of the ordinary. It is as if the device is built to resist attempts to discern the methods of its working. (Does it somehow select a minute as being a convenient human time interval?) It is most perplexing. FARSIGHT: The device creates a hologram when used by itself. Interpreting this is tricky at first. When invoked in close proximity to a DTS system, a remarkable thing happens. The device seems to interface with the DTS and supplies it with data beyond its normal range. My guess is that it does this because a user will be more familiar with a DTS display than an alien format. The practical upshot of this is that the DTS will show features in the landscape that are not visible from the user's location. It seems to work despite prevailing atmospheric conditions such as fog or rain. This rules out some infra-red methods. Again I find out how something is achieved but not why it is possible. FIREBALL: I quickly learnt to test this Invoker outdoors after discovering the Datacard. A fireball was created and thrown forward, doing incredible damage to my workshop. Apparently this is just one of a number of variations of the fireball effect. The fireball itself was a sphere of ionised gas. In essence it was a ball of fire as opposed to an actual plasma such as a more conventional weapon might fire. The temperature fell within normal ranges for a fire but there were no indications as to how the fireball was generated. Again I can only speculate. GILLS: Sometimes the Datacards contain mathematical symbols. At first I had hoped they contained some hint as to the functioning of the device. Alas it was merely a language form - deliberately easy to translate - that told what the card made the device do. Perhaps these types of cards have a different origin than others found? This one, if it was to be believed, allowed one to breathe underwater a span equalling four minutes. It does this by surrounding the Caster's head with a forcefield that keeps water out and air inside - but only enough, as I said, for four minutes. It would seem reasonable to assume that a larger force field would hold more air but there is no means I have been able to find to accomplish this. Any larger of course and movement becomes unweildy. It is truly a strange sensation. TELEPORT: I have not been able to discover a way to control the destination location. The devices manipulates matter in such a way as to swap volumes of space. The space originally occupied by my body was replaced by the volume of matter from my destination. This avoids the potential problem of materialising inside a solid object. The destination is random but always within a certain radius. In a way this shows that the power of the device is not unlimited. A truly unlimited device would place a person exactly where they wished. MIRACLE: After much deliberation, I have decided to name this effect Miracle. There is no objective basis for this but one thing is certain - a random casting is made, completely without control of the user. It does not seem to be a flaw in the design but an intentional function. In this way I have discovered many previously unknown Psi effects. The end result often does seem truly miraculous. SHIFT: The Shift effect had me fooled as to its function initially. When activated, nothing seemed to happen aside from a brief burst of light. In fact the unit was attempting to move me forward. The path in front of me was blocked so the attempt failed. When I used the device with a clear space I was shifted forward until my path eventually became blocked. During this time I even negotiated gaps. It works on line of sight and does not follow the contours of the land. The effect is similar to the teleport. The difference is that it is a number of discrete ports which require less energy. I assume with a completely clear path it would go on indefinitely. Does it take into account the curve of the horizon, I wonder? On open sea, for example, would I find myself heading out of the atmosphere? Someone else can try that in a spacesuit. An experiment for the future perhaps. PART WAVES: The symbol for water molecule is unmistakeable, so it was obvious that this effect had something to do with water. The assumption was borne out by testing it on a low scale in my back yard. It had an immediate effect on my pond. A straight-edged section had been bodily removed from the water, allowing safe passage through the gap. This seems to have been achieved by a wedge-shaped force field being lowered over the body of water, parting it. It only works however to a limited depth. TRANSMUTE: This is without a doubt the most impressive of the functions I have discovered so far. When activated, any object immediately to the left of it is transmuted into something at random. Most often the result will be foodstuff of some description. I have performed extensive tests on the created items and they seem to be normal in every respect. The effort needed to create this effect, or to duplicate it by conventional means, defies belief. All factors, the energy, the molecular desription of the object, the tailoring of the resultant object to something suited for human use all point to the fact that humans did in fact create Psi-Amps originally. But no-one human could have access to this level of technology. REPAIR: Useful. Very useful. This function alone would be worth billions in the commercial sectors. Although many of the functions of the Psi-Amp are esoteric and applicable only in a few specialised cases, a generic repair facility has implications for almost every aspect of life. Every piece of equipment I owned was in perfect operating condition after I used the repair function. In order to do this, it would have to have detailed knowledge of the equipment under repair. How it manages to affect the repair, I do not know. Neither have I determined the radius beyond which it is no longer effective. CREATE WALL & BANISH WALL: These are two complementary functions. The first, as may be expected from the name I have given it, creates a wall directly in front of the Caster. The creative possibilities would be endless if this could be more finely controlled. It would seem, however, that the only walls that can be removed are the same walls that were created in the first place. I have not been able to get it to remove (and thus demolish) anything else. I suppose a fireball would be more effective for that. There are numerous effects that I have not yet got around to investigating. It may take me the rest of my life and I am unlikely to find the answers I am seeking. In the meantime, however, the Psi-Amp is a practical fact. It would be foolish to have such abilities and not make use of them. Perhaps there are more such effects waiting to be found. I can only hope.