Adventures in Star Dust

	"Have you ever had a dream come true? I have and a lot quicker than I had hoped; but not with out some baggage. I dreamed of commanding my own ship. To reach that dream I studied for years and worked my ass off, at first in my home system of Bastion and later abroad. I even got into the Mind-Link program run by Triglav. I earned all the skills I'd need to be a damn fine pilot. And despite a number of scholarships I also earned a mountain of dept in student loans. I quickly found my self contracted by Beatrice R&D to pilot their exploration vessels. The management I was put under wasn't completely sold on Mind-Link tech and considered me untested, which to be fair I was fresh out of school and all, so I was set up piloting a Venture with a small crew.
	Anna Tse, co-pilot and second in command. Francesca Osvalt, a Seraph hired to be our security. Lauren L. Lazuli, Grad Student and our science officer for preliminary analysis. And finally my self, captain, chief pilot, engineer, gunner and, in a pinch, medical officer. They might not have trusted me in a bigger ship but they were more than happy to fully exploit my skill set. It was ok I guess, but it wasn't exactly what I had in mind. It was the company's ship, not mine, and it looked like I might be stuck flying their ships for years before I could pay off my loans and afford my own ship. Luckily that didn't end up dying the case.
	See when negotiating my contract I was able to get a clause that promised me a 15% cut of any salvage we found. Now that might not seem extraordinary, especially considering they were mostly sending us to scouts for ores, potentially habitable worlds and what not more often than not. Here's the thing though, under this contract any Herald tech we found was considered a type of salvage. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't banking on that being my big payday for sure but I figured I might as well buy that lottery ticket when I had the chance. And did it ever pay out. About four months into our employment with Beatrice R&D we were surveying some desolate little system that no one had bothered to look twice at. It didn't even have a jump gate so we had to slow boat out to it. We had been at it for days with nothing to show for it and were about to give up when we came across a particularly large asteroid with an unusually high metal content. A second, more targeted scan revealed a particular metal signature and faint energy readings that could mean only one thing, Herald tech.
	We were all giddy with excitement. It was hardly every day that you discovered a piece of Herald tech but to find a Herald base hidden inside an asteroid? Our heads were swimming with the possibilities. Of course we convinced our selves it was our duty to find a way inside and make sure it was as big a deal as we hoped it was. Once we started looking it wasn't too hard to find the entrance hidden in a rather large crater and what was inside blew us away. There were several dozen fully equipped "Scabs" in good condition docked around the hollowed out asteroid with some sort of complex in the middle. Now that's when we should have turned around and hurried back to base so we could call in a professional full scale salvage operation, but we didn't. We were all dying to know what was in there that the Heralds had hidden away.
	After mooring our ship we all got suited up in EVA gear, none of us wanted to be left out and Francesca was too eager to explore her self to spend much time arguing over having to watch over all of us. Now we weren't experts at this sort of thing so we didn't know how or even if we would really be able to get inside but we wanted to try. "Luckily" for us one of the first few doors we tried was functional and open as soon as Lauren started trying to use it. The whole place had apparently long since depressurized, which was just as well since the door didn't seem to want to close so we couldn't have cycled the airlock and we didn't know if the air would have been breathable even if we could have. We didn't consider how strangely easy it was to get in at the time. Nor did we notice as we explored how there always just seemed to be one functioning door that really lead any where, and always deeper into the base. Sure there some other working doors but those paths always petered out after a room or two. Anyway as we explored we didn't really find anything particularly interesting, though were we all awed by being the first people to have set foot there in who knows how long.
	Eventually we came the the last accessible room and the first thing of real note. There were numerous non-functional consoles is this room, like in many of the other rooms we had passed, but one of them in this room had something glowing on it. We were drawn to it like moths to a flame. It looked to be a small disk, about the size of a collectors coin, embedded in the console covered in intricate patterns that shifted and change depending on the angle you looked at it from. We spent a while discussing it and the patterns we saw on it's surface; none of us could seem to see the same pattern no matter how we tried. Eventually I tried to see how firmly it was set in there. The moment I touched it I felt an immense jolt.
	The next thing I knew I was on my back and feeling very dazed while every one else was slightly panicking over me. It seems the shock had knocked me out momentarily and had made with a light show in the process. When I got to my feet the disk wasn't glowing any more and we all agreed it was past time to leave and report our find. After getting back to our ship and out of our space suits I noticed a weight in my pocket. It was the damn disk. We were all more than a little freaked out because we all agreed that I hadn't picked it up and there was no real way it could have gotten into my airtight suit easily. We immediately tried to take it back only to find the doors had sealed after we left and none of them were responsive this time.
	Needless to say this was hardly comforting so we locked the disk in the ship's safe and left for our base of operations with out delay. Not that locking it up did any good. It almost always seems to be in my pocket or sitting some where with in arms. I'd show it to you but it's "shy" and the only time I can't find it is when I want to show it to some one who it doesn't want to be seen by or such a person is searching me. Didn't find that out until we had reported it to our superiors. Oh and people it doesn't want to be seen by means almost every one. It was an awkward event in any case and after they had thoroughly examined the base and found no evidence that we had entered or of the console we described it was written off as an attempted hoax.
	Regardless of what they thought of what they believed to be a poor attempt at humor on our part they were ecstatic with our find. Our crews concerns about the disk were quickly, the temporarily,  replace by the high of being part of a notable discovery of a cache of Herald tech even if we wouldn't really see much of the profits or recognition for it. One night we found our selves celebrating and discussing what we'd do with the money we were going to get, as Beatrice always rewarded finds like that. When I came my turn I told them as soon as our current contract was up I'd buy my own ship and hire them all as part of my crew. They scoffed at that of course, Beatrice didn't hand out rewards THAT big after all. That's when I told them about the 15% cut on salvage in my contract. It didn't take much knowledge of the market on Herald tech to know that meant a fortune considering what we had found. They were absolutely floored by that news. I think they were a bit jealous but they were happy for me and the did end up joining my crew. But at the time we still had two thirds of our year long contracts with Beatrice to finish out before we could strike out on our own. And it wouldn't be a boring 8 months either thanks in no small part, I'm sure, to the disk.
	It started, but by no means ended, when we began encountering rogues drones. Now that might not sound all that odd be these drones are different. We'd never seen drones quite like them before, nor had any one else we had examine the few we've disabled and salvaged. And ever since they started appearing the only places these drones have been seen are place we frequently go or have been. Like they are hunting us. No, I'm sure they are hunting us, or maybe even just me or the disk. I have no idea where they come from though. But like I said that was just the beginning.
	We've experienced... issues with our navigation systems. A couple of times they just freak out and send us well off course. Nothing could be found wrong with them that could every really explain what happened but that's hardly the weirdest part. No, the really weird part is how these 'malfunctions' always lead us to something. And they persisted until after we had explored where they landed us. I won't bother trying to explain what we found but I will tell you it's brought more unwanted attention then just the rogue drones we were dealing with already. And now that my crew and I are out from under neither our contracts with Breatrice we've sunk all our money and then some into a pair of cruisers and crew that will hopefully see us through what ever else is in store for us. They actually just finished getting refitted today and we'll be shipping out for the first time in them in a few hours. We've already taken up a several contracts to help pay for the ships, now we just have to make good on them and see what fate has in store for us. Well it's been good... oh hold up I just got a massage from my second in command... Looks like we have an emergency contract to immediately assist with evacuating a space station. Guess we're casting off early. Good drinking with you, wish me luck. I'll need it."
-End OFNI Observation Log 07 of Subject 04; Case file "Hailey"

Origin:
Beatrice R&D		(+100m)

Skills:
Basic Piloting
Standard Piloting
Advanced Piloting
Diplomacy
Ship Gunnery
Ship Weapon Specialization (Energy)
Medical				(-2m)
Mechanics			(-2m)
Nuclear				(-2m)
Mind-Link			(-2m)
Computer Science	(-2m)
(ST -10m)

Titles:
The Harbinger		(+190m)
The Fatebreaker		(+420m)
The Demigod			(+440m)
(ST +1050m)

Contracts:
Search & Rescue		(T4 +28m)
The Acheron			(T4 +38m)
Escalation			(T4 +44m)
Ace					(T4 +36m)
This Land			(T4 +36m)
All Aboard			(T4 +28m)
Twin Fangs			(T4 +26m)
Rogue Drones		(T4 +38m)
Heat				(T3 +32m)
Mining King Steve	(T4 +36m)
And the Fire Grows	(T4 +18m)
(ST +360m)

Total +1500


Ship: Errant Skies
Ship Hull: Cruiser; PI Vc9				(-41m)
Ship AI: Blueberry v7.3.2				(Free)
Energy Subsystem: N. Fusion x2			(-45m)
Shield Subsystem: Stalwart Shielding	(-50m)
Command Mod: "Columbus" BTR37			(-8m)
Hull Mods:
Overdrive Afterburner x5				(-60m)
Vehicle Bay x4							(-12m)
Hanger Bay x4							(-20m)
Active Cloaking							(-24m)
Teleport Jammer							(-8m)
(ST -268m)

SWM: 2
BTM: 16
PDM: 9
Hngr: 14(any)/8(vehicle)/8(ship/drone)
Nav: 11
Hull: 15
Shld: 23

Spinal Weapons:
Pulse Beam Cannon x2		(-16m)
(ST -16m)

Broadside Weapons:
Heavy Laser Cannon x6	(-26m)
Missile Launcher x4		(-23m)
Pulse Beam Cannon x4	(-24m)
(ST -73m)

Point-Defense Weapons:
Light Laser Cannon x3	(-4m)
Missile Pod x2			(-5m)
Flak Cannon x4			(-9m)
(ST -18m)

Fighters:
PI V17 x3

Drones:
Combat Drones x9		(-9m)
-Missile Pod x3			(Free)
-Flak Cannon x3			(Free)
-Auto Cannon x3			(Free)
Combat Repair Drone		(-2m)
(ST -11m)

Vehicles and Mechs:
AT Dungbuggy			(-1m)
-Machine Gun			(Free)
Drop Ship				(-6m)
-Light Laser Cannon		(-1m)
-Missile Pod			(Free)
(ST -8m)

Industrial Equipment:
Tractor Beam			(-3m)
Composition Scanner		(-4m)
(ST -7m)

E-War Equipment:
Poison Module			(-11m)
Honey Pot Module		(-9m)
Warp Jammer				(-12m)
Comm Scrambler			(-12m)
MITM Module				(-6m)
Penetration Module		(-14m)
(ST -64m)

Rooms and Compartments: 17
*Crew Quarters Upgrade	(-1m)
Officer's Quarters		(-2m)
Captain's Quarters		(-5m)
Advanced Infirmary		(-12m)
Advanced Evacuation		(-9m)
Fancy Mess Hall			(-7m)
-Tavern					(-1m)
Lounge					(Free)
-Recreational Room		(-1m)
-Observatory			(-2m)
Laboratory				(-1m)
-Terraforming Bay		(-9m)
Cargo Space x2			(Free)
-Engineering Bay		(-3m)
Hypercomms Room			(-2m)
-Digital Security Room	(-4m)
Arsenal					(-4m)
Training Room			(-3m)
Teleporting Platform	(-5m)
Holding Cells			(-1m)
Meat Fridge				(-3m)
Aquaculture Room		(-1m)
-Hydroponic Garden		(-1m)
Secure Vault			(-2m)
*Upgrade Ship Security	(-8m)
(ST -87m)

Crew Members: 340
Anna Tse			(-1m)
"Hailey"			(Special)
Mereille Fairley	(-4m)
Amy McCartney		(-4m)
Lyra Miralda		(-7m)
Faith Nichols		(-4m)
"Comet"				(Special)
Sophie Haynes		(-2m)
Livia Amaruq		(-5m)
Francesca Osvalt	(-2m)
"Uplink"			(-12m)
Lauren L. Lazuli	(Free!)
Sarah Escher		(-2m)
Vito Lozano			(-4m)
Carolyn Brooks		(-2m)
(ST -49m)
Researchers x50		(-1m)
Explorers x50		(-1m)
Medics x50			(-1m)
Engineers x50		(-1m)
Seraphs x50			(-1.5m)
(ST -5.5m)

Total -606.5


Ship: Drifting Stars
Ship Hull: Cruiser; Prospect			(-25.6m)
Ship AI: Beatrice v6.8.2				(Free)
Energy Subsystem: N. Fusion x2			(-45m)
Shield Subsystem: Stalwart Shielding	(-50m)
Command Mod: "Columbus" BTR37			(-8m)
Hull Mods:
Overdrive Afterburner x3	(-36m)
Vehicle Bay x4				(-12m)
Hanger Bay x4				(-20m)
Active Cloaking				(-24m)
Teleport Jammer				(-8m)
(ST -228.6m)

SWM: 2
BTM: 12
PDM: 6
Hngr: 7(any)/8(vehicle)/8(ship/drone)
Nav: 11
Hull: 13
Shld: 23

Spinal Weapons:
Pulse Beam Cannon x2	(-12m)
(ST -12m)

Broadside Weapons:
Heavy Laser Cannon x4	(-16m)
Missile Launcher x4		(-20m)
Pulse Beam Cannon x4	(-24m)
(ST -60m)

Point-Defense Weapons:
Light Laser Cannon x2	(-2m)
Missile Pod x2			(-4m)
Flak Cannon x2			(-4m)
(ST -10m)

Fighters:
Twin Fangs

Drones:
Combat Drones x2		(-2m)
-Missile Pod			(Free)
-Flak Cannon			(Free)
Mining Drone x4			(-4m)
-Mining Harvester x8	(-4m)(4 Free)
-MK2 Frequency Lens x4	(-4m)
-MK3 Frequency Lens x4	(-8m)
-Salvage Harvester x4	(-12m)
Hull Repair Drone		(-2m)
(ST -36m)

Industrial Equipment:
Tractor Beam			(-3m)
Composition Scanner		(-4m)
(ST -7m)

E-War Equipment:
Poison Module		(-11m)
Honey Pot Module	(-9m)
Warp Jammer			(-12m)
Comm Scrambler		(-12m)
MITM Module			(-6m)
Penetration Module	(-14m)
(ST -64m)

Rooms and Compartments: 15
*Crew Quarters Upgrade	(-1m)
Officer's Quarters		(-2m)
Captain's Quarters		(-5m)
Advanced Infirmary		(-12m)
Advanced Evacuation		(-9m)
Standard Mess Hall		(-2m)
-Tavern					(-1m)
Lounge					(Free)
-Recreational Room		(-1m)
-Observatory			(-2m)
Ore Processing Facility	(-3m)
-Factory Wing			(-3m)
Cargo Space x2			(Free)
-Engineering Bay		(-3m)
Hypercomms Room			(-2m)
-Digital Security Room	(-4m)
Arsenal					(-4m)
Teleporting Platform	(-5m)
Holding Cells			(-1m)
Meat Fridge				(-3m)
Aquaculture Room		(-1m)
-Hydroponic Garden		(-1m)
*Upgrade Ship Security	(-8m)
(ST -73m)

Crew Members: 320
Kay Hunter			(-2m)
Jacqueline Young	(-2m)
Tera en Chasteaux	(-7m)
Trisha "Props" Lim	(-3m)
Roxanne Gilliam		(-4m)
Kelly Moss			(Free!)
Tina Wei			(-4m)
Amanda Lynch		(-6m)
Dani "Cuts" Laine	(-3m)
Lt. Jenny Larue		(-6m)
Erica "761"			(-2m)
"Arachne"			(-6m)
May Padilla			(-4m)
Patricia Cooper		(-2m)
Laurie Parsons		(-1m)
(ST -52m)

Industry Labourers x50	(-1m)
Explorers x50			(-1m)
Medics x50				(-1m)
Engineers x50			(-1m)
Seraphs x50				(-1.5m)
(ST -5.5m)

Total 548.1


Fighters:
1st, 2nd & 3rd
Ship Hull: Fighter; PI V17			(-7m)
Ship AI: Rom/Jacob/Remington
Energy Subsystem: Power Cap. x2		(-18m)
Shield Subsystem: Adv. Shielding	(-12m)
Ship Mods: X38/CBL2 x2				[-3m/-8m]
Hull Mods:
Overdrive Afterburner x4			(-12m)
Active Cloaking						(-6m)

SWM:	3
BTM:	4
PDM:	4
Hngr:	3
Nav:	25
Hull:	5
Shld:	12

Spinal Weapons:
Tesla Overcharger x2	(-12m)[-4m]
Torpedo Silo			(-6m)[-4m]

Broadside Weapons:
Missile Pod x2			(-4m)
Missile Launcher x2		(-10m)

Point-Defense Weapons:
Light Laser Cannon x2	(-2m)
Flak Cannon x2			(-4m)

Drones:
Combat Drones x3		(-3m)
-Missile Pod			(Free)
-Flak Cannon			(Free)
-Auto Cannon			(Free)

Crew:
Ace				(-3m)
(ST -99m) x3 + [-3m-8m-4m-4m]

Total -316m