Station 18
The Horizon is full of riddles and inexplicable phenomena – lost shops, forgotten systems beyond derelict portals and the legends of the portal builders stir the imagination. Most of these stories can dismissed as nothing more than fairy tales. Yet, the unfortunate fate that befell Foundation's Station 18 is very much a historical fact. Even so, we still do not know why that whole station and its crew were lost.
Purpose / Function
When the Foundation built Station 18, or Institute for Astronic Research Station No 18 (IARS-18) to give it its full name, it was not built to study the Kandah cloud. The location is not ideal for observing Kandah and anything it could contribute to the understanding of the cloud is already done in other ways. Instead, the purpose of SS-18 was to develop a technology for opening new portals, or rather more powerful graviton projectors that could open the space-time web, the key to a kind of faster-than-light.
The inspiration for the technology came from the original portals around Kua and the other stars on the Third Horizon. At the same time, the researchers wanted to develop sustainable ship environments for future generational ships that could traverse these new portals and explore the vast spaces beyond.
The location for SS-18 out in the Rimward Reach was chosen because it is far from the inner system, but still in an area where the Legion has a presence. Access to Maghdan ore for the new and powerful graviton projectors didn’t hurt either, nor did the opportunity to study the tarns (small gravitational anomalies with characteristics of black holes) of the Reach. The astronomers of the Foundation suspected that the Founders (see p.296 Core Rulebook) had created a faster-than-light drive and that the tarns were the remnants of the Founders’ departure from the Third Horizon.
Entries
PORTIBLE AIRLOCK
AIRLOCK, DESTROYED
EXTERNAL DOCKING STATION, DESTROYED
Sensory & Appearance
Sensor sweep
• The station is largely powered down, but the core is still working at a low level and there are pockets of energy use. • There are weak signs of life in the biodome. • There is active gravity in parts of the station.Visual Sensor survey at a distance
Visual sensor scanning is difficult due to the clouds of biomatter, but this can be revealed at a distance. • There seems to be no power on the station, everything visible from the outside is dark. • There are signs of damage, both from asteroids but also what looks like explosive damage to the back of the station’s top side. • The station is rotating around its own axis once every two minutes. • There are four visible airlocks, two seem to be covered by dark biomatter. They can see that the space dock is gone as well as large parts of the habitation modules, and that several areas of the station are covered in a black growth (vacuum organisms) which in some places forms cocoon-like bulb (which will later form a sun sail). Vacuum organisms are also floating around the station. They are most like black branch networks or torn apart carpets of moss, lazily drifting in the vicinity of the darkened hull. The heroes should be able to see that parts of the branches and mosses appear to grow out of cracks in the hull of SS-18. The damage that the Heroes see is due to the vacuum organisms devouring large portions of SS-18 to get resources for Wahina's gift and her escape plan.Vacuum Organisms (Dark Flowers)
Use the biomatter outside the station as a tool to show the players that something is wrong with the structure. The stuff is everywhere and gets stuck on the PCs' ship and exo suits, clogging viewports and faceplates. Also consider hinting at how the organism reacts to light by describing how areas exposed to Kua’s distant light develop a green or purple tinge. This is definitely something new for the PCs and despite the organisms’ simplicity, the players should get a sense of menace. Among the debris of vacuum organisms float larger tree-like shapes. These are another type of organism created by Wahina, a kind of bionic security guard. They are completely unintelligent but have a built-in instinct to fly towards objects which generate heat (anything powered and larger than an exo), to attach to them and start breaking them down. They move at Speed 1 and will damage ships by breaking down their surface structure. The actual damage caused to the ship is set by the GM according to dramatic need. The vacuum flowers can be used to scare the heroes before boarding SS-18 or at least instil a sense of foreboding.Denizens
Charab
Kobu
Architecture
Station Construction
Like most space stations, SS-18 has lots of transport elevators, ventilation shafts, service tunnels and service ports (to access external aggregates and sensors). These connect the parts of the station with each other. In other words, it is possible to get through aisles, shafts or elevators between the various modules at the station. Between the modules, security doors are in place, some locked, some operational.
Lighting varies widely from pitch darkness to occasional illumination by light strips. Often, emergency lighting is activated. There is atmosphere in several spaces, e.g. the habitation module, parts of the lab and the biodome. Gravity is also operational in most spaces but missing in the more damaged areas. Use this to make battles or chases more entertaining.
The entire station is overgrown with vacuum organisms and thus gives a forest-like impression. In appearance, the growth resembles branches, roots, and moss-like carpets. In places, leaf-like structures are hanging from walls and ceilings. In other places the vacuum organisms appear to grow out of the interior itself, as if they are drawing nourishment from bulkheads and beams of the station. Vacuum organisms are black in colour. The only exception to that colour scheme is in the area in and around the biodome, where there are light sources and the vacuum organisms contain active chlorophyll, adding a bit of green (leaves) and purple (flowers).
The following text can give an impression of the station’s interior.
The environment scanner beeps and displays three green bars: no radiation, no toxins and no foreign organisms. The air is indicated as Kua standard. You turn to your friends and show the sensor display.
They give the thumbs up. With a brief gesture, the captain gives command to proceed into the station. You step over the airlock threshold and are met by utter darkness. The only light is the slim finger of your helmet light, cutting a narrow path through the inky blackness.
From exo's fabric pocket you remove a sugar globe and some vacuum-packed sugar solution. Carefully, you cover the globe with the gel and rub it in. Slowly it starts to glow, first with a gentle light then brightening to a strong white. One last time you turn to the captain, who gives you a nod prompting you to roll the sugar globe down the yawning black corridor beyond the air lock. It bounces over the dirty floor before it sticks to something – is that a tree root?
Then you realize that the whole room is covered with black garlands, roots, branches and foliage. Everything is matte black and devours the light from the globe. Everything is overgrown with vacuum organisms!
History
Foundation Information Blackout
Although officially denying all knowledge, the Foundation know exactly what happened on SS-18. In their experiments, the scientists had succeeded in creating a new kind of unstable portal that immediately collapsed into artificial tarns. Because of these experiments, the space around the station is now filled with them. When information about sabotage aboard the station reached the Foundation's Central Committee, they were quick to contact the Consortium's Special Section, which sent a Task Force towards The Rimward Reach. Before it arrived, a distress signal was sent from the station, describing total power failure and an attack by “foreign entities” on the station’s crew. The message did not finish - it was suddenly cut off. A request for an intervention was sent to Legion base Thalus and a few days later, the Legion’s Task Force around the patrol boat Hiram reached the station. Significant gravitational fluctuations were noted around the base and they chose to send in a shuttle with soldiers and agents at first. The shuttle never reached the station. Instead, it was sucked into a tarn and disappeared. The patrol boat reported the loss to Thalus and awaited further instructions. After fierce discussions within the Consortium and the Foundation, another unsuccessful attempt was made to reach the base before a different solution was agreed upon: thermonuclear destruction. A specially equipped combat wing was sent in but could not reach their target because of the Tarns. The Hiram then fired a thermonuclear torpedo, which did not reach the station either. Four more attempts were made, with varying approach vectors and detonation times, however no torpedo came into effective range of the damaged station. Finally, attempts to board or destroy the station were abandoned and the Legion were asked to patrol the area instead.The lost expedition
What happened to Jihan Darim's expedition to SS-18? With an unusual bout of luck and some astonishing piloting skills, the free trader Jilanta managed to get past the tarns. Upon arrival at the station they found it deserted and damaged. When no operational air lock could be found, they instead used their portable lock to cut through the station's hull. A landing party consisting of Jihan and a group of trouble-shooters boarded by cutting through to the habitation module. There, they quickly encountered a group of patrolling Charab children accompanied by Kobu who killed the entire group except Jihan. When the remaining crew on the ship realized what had happened, it was too late. Vacuum organisms had already grown over their hull and their attempted departure led to an explosion which completely annihilated the ship and damaged the station. Now, Jihan is left alone on the station, slowly going crazy. He is hiding in the habitation module and hopes for rescue in his more lucid moments.
Founding Date
37
Alternative Names
IARS 18
Type
Vehicle, Spaceship
Parent Location
Owning Organization
Characters in Location
Related Report (Primary Locations)
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