NdRo-Fox

The fluorescent lights in the cell ceiling hummed into life and once again the routine began. As he heaved himself up from the hard slab that pretended to be a bed, he stared at the seamless white walls. ”Today”, he thought to himself, ”maybe today will be different.” He let out a sigh and tried to shake himself into some semblance of being awake. Soon enough, like every other day since he’d been imprisoned here, they’d force a tray of barely edible food through the slot next to the door and  give him almost enough time to eat it before the guards would turn up to drag him away. Every day was the same, and

redshift [rɛdˌʃɪft]: 1 - (N. Physics, Astronomy, Stellar Cartography & Navigation.) A shift toward longer wavelengths of the spectral lines emitted by a stellar object caused by the object moving away from the viewer’s position.    -Schumacher’s Dictionary of Modern Terran English & Related Anglophone Dialects, 3540 Edition, Schumacher Foundation Press, New Dawn, Verne (Nova System), Terran Federacy Good Evening, it’s Thirteen PM on the fifth of January 3546, here are this evening’s international headlines from FBN News: Alban. The Commonwealth of Allied Systems has accused the Sagitarii

The world slowly came seeping back as he regained consciousness, confusion fighting with pain as both made their way around his head. Keeping his eyes closed, he tried to figure out what had happened and where he was now from sound alone. The rain still hammered at the unseen ceiling above, so clearly he hadn't been out that long, and the noise was hardly helping with the throbbing pain in his temples. Behind the driving rain, there was the faint noise of footsteps, someone pacing around the room. It didn't take a great leap of deduction to figure out the guy who'd jumped him was still present, and after a second he realised he was bound by t

The occupants of the slabster remained silent for a while as they weaved through the back streets of the sector at breakneck speed. Eventually it became clear that they weren’t being followed, and the Englishman slowed to much safer speed and turned to the back seats. “You alright back there?” he had to raise his voice slightly to talk over the rain drumming on the roof, “there’s a medikit back there, think its even military grade.” “Got it, much obliged,” came the Sniper’s reply through gritted teeth, “so long as the pain meds are good I should be fine, not too much actual damage be

The world stood still for a few seconds in total confusion. The Sniper still had his finger on the trigger. That shot hadn’t been his. By the time this thought had fully processed, a second shot rang out and the bullet buried itself in his right shoulder, throwing him back into the room. Almost instantly a third shot shattered the window, the bullet ending its flight in the ceiling. A tense few seconds of calm passed as plaster dust rained down upon the hotel room, then the Englishman let into action. In an instant he was back at the window side, pulling the sniper out of the field of view. Taking his life in his hands, he risked a gla

"Sorry you got mixed up in all this, Limey" Paul Quine piped up, with a tangible insincerity in his voice, fidgeting with his ill-fitting fake designer suit, "You and the Sniper. Didn't mean to get anyone killed. You guys could have just let me go and we'd be done with it" "You think this'll just end here, Quine?" From his chair the Englishman glared daggers up at the smug, fake-tanned visage of the datashark, trying to free his hands from the rope binding him to the chair again, "I won't be the last to come after you, you can count on that, you turncoat little shit. Don't think you can ever rest easy, Weißmann's gonna want your head on

Occupying a tiny chunk of its coastline, Atlantia's Manhattan Sector is perhaps a textbook example of what is meant by "faded glory." Way back, before the mega-cities and rise of the mega-corps, when the United States was more than a historical memory, this tiny island was one of, if not the, richest conurbations on the planet. The organisations based within its confines dominated the world, financially and politically. But its influence weakened as time progressed, the end of the Cold War opened up new markets that grew quickly to challenge its dominance, and the growing political turmoil across the globe splintered its influence. As the twe

 "It's midnight on Thursday, August eighth, 2244; here are today's headlines from INN Atlantia…" The Holovision squawked away to itself in its corner as Gerhard Weißmann stood on the balcony of his Columbia Sector apartment, looking out on the dark ruins of Capitol Hill. "…terrorist group The North-Am Unionists have claimed responsibility for the car bomb outside the President's Richmond Sector home this afternoon, still no word from…" A Police skimmer thundered overhead, searchlight scanning the streets. Losing interest with the view, he made his way indoors, and sat before the Holo. "…activists across the globe are

It was in the first age that the Earth Goddess and her brother the Sun created the world. From star lined sky to the depths of the great ocean they lovingly created all we know, spreading glow of life across the land. They created the plants and the beasts to each fulfil the specific tasks assigned to them, and they placed the Guardian On The Moon high above all to control the seas so the will of the gods could be enacted. And for a time, all was serene and tranquil in the world. But the gods grew bored simply observing their creation, and the Earth Goddess decided to grant one of the myriad beasts a fraction of her power. Thus the Titans we

Good afternoon, to start things off today I'm going to recount a tale, one that I hope some of you are at least partially familiar with. Nevertheless it is a vital scene-setter for what we will be covering in the coming weeks. If you look at the dead centre of explored space you will find a small, yellow Category G star, and orbiting it at a distance of roughly 1 Astronomical Unit is a small blue marble. To modern observers this world may not seem like much, but that blue marble is the most significant world in all of humanity's reach. It is the Home-world, it is Terra. Up until relatively recently it considered itself the centre of the know