V
Vay
Guest
Dead in space she drifts, no power, no hope.
When construction started the 'GSC Leviathan', was the largest supertanker ever conceived, at almost 10km in length she was the first of the Behemoth class super space-tanker to exit the famous GSC yards. With cargo bays totaling 9,800,000 cubic meters (346,080,000 cubic feet) she set a new standard in size and cargo capacity, construction assembly 9 had to be enlarged to accommodate her massive hull and she took 9 years to build. But that was 30 years ago, her aging hull, while no less impressive she is now but one of a fleet of such vessels, transporting highly volatile fuel stabilized with additives that are later filtered out between the compositors and the commercial dockyards. The Behemoth class needs a small crew, 30 engineers, maintenance crew and operators, transporting their dangerous cargo along safe trade routs through space.
The dank odor of sweat, cheap whiskey, and rust was the normal atmosphere inside the bridge of the Leviathan. The single crewman in the room was snoring softly as a small red light began blinking on one of the consoles that where arrayed along the edge of the cramped room, it continued to blink unnoticed until a shrill siren sounded throughout the habitat module at the same time as a shudder threw the crewman from his chair. Status lights flashed orange then turned red as everything aboard was thrown forward as the automated safety procedures engaged full retrograde burn bringing the ship to a halt on the remote trade lane near the automated way-station GSC SZC-4081. The crewman threw himself onto the console and fumbled the ship's intercom. "Captain, we have a breach in tank 3, the systems shut off everything, we can't move." As he finishes speaking the the lights went out to be replaced a second later by a soft red glow as the ship went onto reserve power, the main reactors shutting down to avoid igniting the leaking fuel. Dead in space the stricken tanker went black, only the emergency beacon transmitting into the void, and even that scrambled by the rapidly expanding radioactive cloud.
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The leviathan is dead in space near a remote way-station, far out of the usual rout traveled from these large, ungainly vessels. One of her cargo tanks is leaking, spilling highly volatile, radioactive fuel into space that it kept by the large ship's gravity, as well is electrostatic forces within the cloud itself. The ship's reactor has automatically shut down to avoid igniting the fuel that would cause a chain reaction detonating the entire cargo. The way-station is automated with no people aboard though it has two automated cargo tugs. The ship is on reserve power that can only power life support for a day more. This far from the main routs no other ships are likely to come this way, you are their only hope.
When construction started the 'GSC Leviathan', was the largest supertanker ever conceived, at almost 10km in length she was the first of the Behemoth class super space-tanker to exit the famous GSC yards. With cargo bays totaling 9,800,000 cubic meters (346,080,000 cubic feet) she set a new standard in size and cargo capacity, construction assembly 9 had to be enlarged to accommodate her massive hull and she took 9 years to build. But that was 30 years ago, her aging hull, while no less impressive she is now but one of a fleet of such vessels, transporting highly volatile fuel stabilized with additives that are later filtered out between the compositors and the commercial dockyards. The Behemoth class needs a small crew, 30 engineers, maintenance crew and operators, transporting their dangerous cargo along safe trade routs through space.
The dank odor of sweat, cheap whiskey, and rust was the normal atmosphere inside the bridge of the Leviathan. The single crewman in the room was snoring softly as a small red light began blinking on one of the consoles that where arrayed along the edge of the cramped room, it continued to blink unnoticed until a shrill siren sounded throughout the habitat module at the same time as a shudder threw the crewman from his chair. Status lights flashed orange then turned red as everything aboard was thrown forward as the automated safety procedures engaged full retrograde burn bringing the ship to a halt on the remote trade lane near the automated way-station GSC SZC-4081. The crewman threw himself onto the console and fumbled the ship's intercom. "Captain, we have a breach in tank 3, the systems shut off everything, we can't move." As he finishes speaking the the lights went out to be replaced a second later by a soft red glow as the ship went onto reserve power, the main reactors shutting down to avoid igniting the leaking fuel. Dead in space the stricken tanker went black, only the emergency beacon transmitting into the void, and even that scrambled by the rapidly expanding radioactive cloud.
===============================================================
The leviathan is dead in space near a remote way-station, far out of the usual rout traveled from these large, ungainly vessels. One of her cargo tanks is leaking, spilling highly volatile, radioactive fuel into space that it kept by the large ship's gravity, as well is electrostatic forces within the cloud itself. The ship's reactor has automatically shut down to avoid igniting the fuel that would cause a chain reaction detonating the entire cargo. The way-station is automated with no people aboard though it has two automated cargo tugs. The ship is on reserve power that can only power life support for a day more. This far from the main routs no other ships are likely to come this way, you are their only hope.
