Shattered Void - The Sci-Fi Dogfighting Tabletop Wargame
Created by White Dragon Miniatures
Huge capital class vessels sit in the background, engaging in tit-for-tat slugging matches as they slowly lumber in the darkness, explosions and debris litter the vast expanse between these metallic behemoths but their battle is none of your concern, your fight is a more personal one...
Your skills as a Squadron Leader and the abilities of your wing-men will be put to the test in a ballet of fire and destruction. Will you return speaking of heroic acts or succumb to the cold, silent void?
Welcome to Shattered Void, pilot.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
GOAL REACHED - New ships and more!
over 9 years ago
– Fri, Jul 15, 2016 at 10:04:45 PM
Thanks to you all we've hit the £11,000 goal! This means the new Squadrons and the 9 new ships that accompany them are locked in to be produced!
So, what's up next?
£12,000 Goal - Corvette Add-Ons
That's right, some of the big guns are beginning to approach the battlespace!
Each Corvette will cost £18 each and they are all rather large miniatures. Averaging out around 15cm long (or high, in the cast of the Astivar Nexus Corvette).
These are some of the big players in the Shattered Void universe, able to dish out and soak up larger amounts of firepower.
The Kalros has been complete and can be seen in its full glory below! This vessel is available in the Vitruvian Support Squadron or can be added separately to your pledge.
The rules will be updated very soon adding in all the newly unlocked ships and the Astivar. Also keep an eye out as the Asymmetrical Warfare (AW) rules will also be included along with previewing some of the AW Ships ;)
Plastic Injection Stuff!
We've had an update on the Stat-Tracker telling us they are now ready for production! We'll be receiving the first batch at WDM HQ very soon so expect photographs with the Ship Cards in very soon!
Finished Plastic Stat-Tracker
Stat-Tracker!
Stat-Tracker Sliders!
Facebook Group
One of our members has organised a Shattered Void facebook group for discussion, game arrangement (when it's in your hands!) and more. You can head over to here to find out more at the Shattered Void Flightdeck!
Log Entry 009
Fleet Designation: EARTH EXPLORATORY FLEET DRAKE
Date: 10.05.2253
Pilot ID: 01 WEISS, W. E.
Distance Travelled: 7.3 light years. Population: 12,273,976
RIP: 106,632
Fleet systems are sub-optimal. Garden yield is optimal and contamination has been managed by automated systems.
10,032 passengers died as a result of the freezing/thawing process and 71 suffered coronary or respiratory failure during the subsequent day. These numbers compare poorly to predicted rates of attrition. Widespread cryogenic failure in EEF-DRAK-12 and EEF-DRAK-03. 61,598 lives lost as a result.
EEF CORTEZ: Contact ongoing. Continued cryogenic malfunction. Garden contamination resulting in low nutrient yield. Casualties sustained: 5,362,789.
EEF LIVINGSTONE: Contact ongoing. Continued cryogenic malfunction. Garden contamination resulting in low nutrient yield. Casualties sustained: 3,476,728.
EEF POLO: Contact ongoing. Continued cryogenic malfunction. Garden contamination resulting in low nutrient yield. Casualties sustained: 5,492,667.
EEF VESPUCCI: Contact ongoing. Continued cryogenic malfunction. Garden contamination resulting in low nutrient yield. Nutrient shortages and cannibalism. Casualties sustained: 11,456,831.
Every joint in William’s body ached and creaked as he moved. His heart raced and his bowels writhed. Worst of all his mind was a buzzing hive of vexation and despair at the futility of it all. Simply typing in his pass codes seemed beyond his endurance. All the news was bad, more fleets had lost contact than even pessimistic predictive models had anticipated, more system errors were occurring throughout the fleet, more casualties were being reported.
He rubbed at tired eyes, bleary and dried skin sharp points of grit under his fingers. He stared at the computer screen.
A red icon winked back at him.
He jabbed at it with his finger. Acknowledging receipt of the message. A small rectangular textbox appeared on the screen.
“I hope you are receiving. We need your help. We are starving. Please change heading and donate any surplus nutrient yield. Please respond immediately.”
William checked the state of the nutrient yield according to the fleet wide ration check. There was a surplus. Drake’s garden facilities were about the only complex system in the fleet that was operating well, and given that there were fewer people to feed since the cryogenic failures and other deaths they could indeed spare some food for the starving passengers on board EEF Cortez.
He considered his options for a minute before replying.
“Fleet Drake will be sticking with protocol. I am sorry.”
Log Entry 014
Fleet Designation: EARTH EXPLORATORY FLEET DRAKE Date: 10.05.2258
Pilot ID: 07 SHALE, N.
Distance Travelled: 10.2 light years.
Population: 6,638,078
RIP: 5,744,128
+++EEF LIVINGSTONE REPORTS LOCATION OF HABITABLE PLANET+++ +++COURSE CHANGE HAS BEEN AUTOMATED+++
+++FLEET CORTEZ HAS ALTERED COURSE+++
Fleet systems are sub-optimal. Garden yield is optimal and contamination has been managed by automated systems.
1,106,921 passengers died as a result of the freezing/thawing process and 503 suffered coronary or respiratory failure during the subsequent day. These numbers compare poorly to predicted rates of attrition.
+++EEF LIVINGSTONE REPORTS LOCATION OF HABITABLE PLANET+++ +++COURSE CHANGE HAS BEEN AUTOMATED+++ +++ FLEET CORTEZ HAS ALTERED COURSE +++
EEF CORTEZ: Contact ongoing. Continued cryogenic malfunction. Garden contamination resulting in low nutrient yield. Casualties sustained: 8,121,113.
EEF LIVINGSTONE: Contact ongoing. Continued cryogenic malfunction. Garden contamination resulting in low nutrient yield. Casualties sustained: 8,226,752.
+++EEF LIVINGSTONE REPORTS LOCATION OF HABITABLE PLANET+++ +++COURSE CHANGE HAS BEEN AUTOMATED+++ +++ FLEET CORTEZ HAS ALTERED COURSE +++
Nadine scanned the reports Drake had received from Fleet Livingstone. A new world so like Earth as to be considered nothing less than a miracle. Equivalent gravity. Equivalent atmosphere. A warm climate well suited to human tolerances. Abundant water. Stable landmasses. Levels of pathogens, teratogens and mutagens equivalent to, or lower than, those on Earth.
A miracle.
But it was a world that belonged to someone else.
The reports told of the Vitruvians, a race of fearsome looking yet apparently peaceful aliens, who had created the world using terraforming technology and who now stewarded it for the sake of their own future generations. The name was a puzzle to Nadine, but the EEF Intraweb supplied the following information.
Vitruvius had been an important man in ancient Rome, an architect and a designer of war machines. His thoughts on measurement and proportion had inspired a sketch by Leonardo Da Vinci showing different extents of an adult man’s outstretched arms and legs.
It was this sketch that the initial envoys of Fleet Livingstone had been reminded of when they first met the aliens, for they had two pairs of grasping upper limbs that, when extended, resembled the form of the Vitruvian Man.
She punched up the communication from Livingstone, hungry for more information.
INFANCY/MATURATION/LIFESPAN: No information or useful speculation to be made. DIET: No information or useful speculation to be made.
SEX AND REPRODUCTION: No information. Some clothing is worn by the Vitruvians and does fall into at least three distinct styles. This may or may not correlate to notions of gender.
VITAL STATISTICS: Weight unknown. The tallest individual we have encountered stood at 8 foot 7 inches, but may well stand higher depending on posture. Very little variation in height in those Vitruvians we have encountered. The shortest individual stood at 8 foot 3 inches. Slender frames. Chest/waist/hip measurements average at 34-26-34. Large wide heads.
SENSORY PERCEPTION: Each Vitruvian has a single multifaceted organ to the front and centre of their heads. We speculate this is an organ analogous to the compound eyes common to terrestrial arthropods. We also speculate that whilst this organ is concerned with sight the aliens have some secondary organs to compensate for the apparent issues of limitations to depth perception and visual field pertaining to a single eye. Vitruvians seem to hear similar frequencies to those picked up by human ears, though we do not know how. Their mouths are similar to those of terrestrial crustaceans, being a series of intricate and interlocking mandible plates. The two plates that cover the mouth are large and hard-wearing and we speculate that the bite of a Vitruvian could inflict serious injury to the human body. They vocalise eloquently. We speculate that some of the mandible plates vibrate and rub against each other in order to produce the noises required for their speech.
SOCIO-POLITICAL ORGANISATION: No information, though we have speculated that the different styles of clothing may well indicate class divisions as well as, or instead of, notions of gender.
THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY: The Vitruvians seem highly reasonable. It became clear in negotiations that they valued straight talking and made efforts to be honest even when arguing against their own interests. They seemed willing to accept our testimony, even when it was against their better interests to do so. They do not seem to concern themselves with religious or metaphysical notions, though we have no real notion of their private practices. They did guard details of their own history from us, explaining that they felt it best to be cautious about such things until our two species came to justifiably trust each other.
SCIENTIFIC MASTERY: We have no real idea, though their expertise in terraforming is much more advanced than anything we would be able to achieve without significant advances in our own collective body of scientific knowledge.
MILITARY CAPABILITY: No information or useful speculation to be made.
It was all so fascinating. She scanned through further reports. “New Helix” was the best translation of the Vitruvian term for the world. The aliens had apparently accepted a provisional deal allowing the inhabitants of Fleet Livingstone to settle on one of their planet’s larger islands. The envoys of Fleet Livingstone said they had told the Vitruvians very little about other fleets, but suggested that if we arrived at a slow but steady rate they would likely let us colonise the world.
And, really, what other options were there?
She was pleased to see that the Fleet had already changed course, heading in the direction of New Helix. It would be years before they reached the planet at their present top speed, but they would make it.
Some of them at least. The attrition the population was suffering was severe, and taking a personal toll on Nadine herself. After all, she hadn’t been due to take her post for another year, but when she had awoken and realised the disparity she had taken a quick tour of the cryopods set aside for the pilots.
The pods belonging to QUIMA, P. W. and SWIFT, H. H. were empty and inactive.
Each annual cycle more and more died.
But at least Fleet Drake had been managing better than Fleet Cortez. She punched up the communications between the two fleets and was shocked to see that those messages from Cortez were increasingly intemperate, laced with admonishments, accusations and invective. She read through their demands for an “increasingly selfish” Fleet Drake to “at least hold position” whilst Cortez caught up “seeing as how the pressure is off” now that New Helix had been discovered.
She considered her response, but then closed down the system and returned to her cryopod. She reasoned that no hastily written words would salve relations between the two stricken fleets and hoped that the next time she awoke it would be in order to disembark and explore humanity’s new home world...
Stretchgoal Shake-up!
over 9 years ago
– Tue, Jul 12, 2016 at 08:22:11 AM
Hello backers!
Today's update is offering some-what of a shake up to the Kickstarter so grab yourself a nice cuppa' tea and a biscuit before continuing below!
New Squadrons Unlock!
That's right! We've taken several constructive criticisms on board in regards to the Kickstarter and have decided to rejiggle the unlocks and stretchgoals. Due to all of the production work for Shattered Void being done, a stereotypical ship-by-ship unlock at a certain amount isn't really suitable for this campaign!
Therefore, the £11,000 Stretchgoal will unlock three new Squadrons and a total of 9 ships, that can be chosen for your pledges, purchased additionally or each ship available individually, should you wish to top-up on any extras! We believe this may be a much better way of getting our miniatures out to you without the tedious hop, skip and jump to the goals!
We will have a lot more upcoming unlocks over the course of the campaign so keep your eyes glued to the cockpit glass in the near future!
Squadrons
As ships become available, we will be adding their beta rules into the Print and Play for everybody to check over, test, look at and read up about! The Vitruvian Kalros Lance Fighter is currently undergoing final upgrades so will be previewed as soon as it reaches us!
The Stat-Tracker moulds are on the verge of being complete so we will get the pictures to you guys as soon as they are available. The production samples will be with us shortly afterwards so again we will keep everybody posted on that front!
There are currently 2 moulds left to be produced, these are the Manoeuvre Template and Manoeuvre Tokens. These are the last pieces of plastic to be produced due to their simplistic nature. We endeavoured to get the Flight Bases produced first as they were integral to gameplay followed by the more advanced Stat-Trackers, we wanted to ensure the Stat-Trackers were perfect for their intended purpose!
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Log Entry 007
Fleet Designation: EARTH EXPLORATORY FLEET DRAKE
Date: 10.05.2251
Pilot ID: 07 SHALE, N.
Distance Travelled: 5.7 light years. Population: 12,375,466
RIP: 6,800
Fleet systems are operating at predicted capacity. Garden yield is high but fungal contamination has resulted in the automated sterilization of 125 agar sheet acres.
2,839 passengers died as a result of the freezing/thawing process and 45 suffered coronary or respiratory failure during the subsequent day. These numbers compare poorly to predicted rates of attrition.
EEF CORTEZ: Contact ongoing. Continued cryogenic malfunction. Garden contamination resulting in low nutrient yield. Casualties sustained: 3,649,463.
EEF LIVINGSTONE: Contact ongoing. Status summary is of least concern.
EEF POLO: Contact ongoing. Fleet reports mutiny and defection. Almost 32% of the vessels in the fleet have changed heading, intending to return to Earth.
EEF SHACKLETON: Contact ongoing. Status summary is of least concern.
EEF VESPUCCI: Contact ongoing. Vespucci reports widespread rebellion, many passengers refusing to return to cryocells after thawing. Nutrient shortages and cannibalism. Casualties sustained: 5,299,737.
EEF ZHENG: Contact ongoing. Status summary is of least concern.
Nearly three thousand of the 600,000 passengers to be thawed this rotation had not survived the process. Nadine rubbed at her eyes and blinked in the harsh light of the plasma screen. Her vision had been intermittently blurred ever since she stepped out of her cryocell.
Three thousand. This was more than twice the number who had perished in the previous rotation. That had been too high at a thousand and ten. If the numbers of passengers succumbing to the stress of the thawing process kept growing in this way then it would take about eight years before the population began to crash in catastrophic numbers.
She looked to see if she could discern a pattern in the make or position of cryocells that correlated to the deaths. Nearly 34% of the casualties came from ship EEF-DRAK-27. Suspicious, but not enough on its own to explain the overall rise in fatal thawings. She requested a fuller diagnostic analysis and sat back on her chair while she waited for the computer to download and compile the report.
Her bones ached, her muscles were stiff, her teeth were loose in her mouth. Seven years frozen took its toll on the body.
Lost contacts with Bierce, Eudoxus, Flinders, Naddoddur, Norgay and Zhang were all to be expected at this point, but that they had heard nothing from Columbus for a year was alarming. The fleet had set off on a trajectory just 45 degrees tangential to their own, so any signals they sent out should be as strong as those produced by Cortez, Livingstone and Vespucci, and stronger than those produced by Polo, Shackleton and Zheng. She checked the history of their received transmissions, everything was as good as could be expected, a little attrition and mishap but generally they had seemed to be faring better than her own fleet, then eight weeks ago all communications ceased. No clue as to why, no distress signal.
She flicked through the previous reports that had been logged by her predecessors. Amazing to think that in these days, when human history was at its most dramatic and desperate, all that was being recorded of their affairs were brief yearly summaries of deaths, mutinies and disasters, the details either logged in distant computer systems on board other fleets or simply lost, forever.
Weird to think that if they made it to some habitable world the people who survived would know more of humanity’s travails in the distant past than they would of the events of their own lifetimes.
The computer beeped and rattled as it printed out the report. The systems in place aboard EFF-DRAK-27 were much the same as for the other vessels, but for the fact that one of the nourishing matrices was spread over a longer area. The computer recommended a more regular inspection of contaminants over larger matrices. Nadine agreed, these things seemed obvious in retrospect.
For a moment she considered the temptation of staying awake, spending time wandering the halls and vaults of EEF-DRAK-01, watching the stars from its portholes and teasing out details and speculations regarding the fate of the lost fleets, the stricken vessels of Cortez and Vespucci, or the reasons behind the deaths on Drake.
But the penalties for such a breach of protocol were high.
Eventually her musings subsided as she returned to her cryocell. The familiar hum rang in her ears as her world fell to black...
TO BE CONTINUED...
Hunting Bigger Prey
GOAL REACHED - Shattered Void Funded!
over 9 years ago
– Mon, Jul 11, 2016 at 03:06:09 AM
FUNDED!
We are funded! A huge, heartfelt thankyou goes out from all of us here at White Dragon Miniatures for your support in bringing this project to life! So, where do we go from here?
As previewed, the Astivar Fighter Squadron are now available as a Squadron Choice available as a Pledge Reward and as individual optional add-ons!
Primary Stretchgoal 1 - Wave 1 Ships £11,000 Goal
At £11,000 we will unlock access to the new Wave 1 Ships for purchase!
We will also soon be releasing information regarding the rest of the other ships, squadrons and more available to the game of Shattered Void, as many of you who have been following us for some time are more than aware of the plethora of different ships we have lurking behind the scenes!
Our Secondary Stretchgoal Announcement will be incredibly exciting so keep your eyes on the Campaign when that hits - the real fun now begins!
In closing, this is from us at WDM to you, our supporting backers!
New Add-ons! 28mm MTU! Squadrons Information! Ship Cards, Stat Trackers and more! - Oh my!
almost 10 years ago
– Wed, Jul 06, 2016 at 05:49:31 AM
Good afternoon Backers from all of us at WDM!
Today's update is going to be yet another hefty one with some exciting new add-ons alongside upgrading the Flight Lieutentant pledge to offer even more value for money!
28mm Marine Tactical Unit Add-On
To pay homage to our previous 15mm Marine Tactical Unit Kickstarter and to satisfy the 28mm wargamer within us all - we've decided to release a full squad of 6 EEF Marines in 28mm to purchase. The MTU can be added to your pledge for £25!
These chaps are excellent for you collectors, painters or to be used in other game systems that are played! Their heavily armoured frames cannot be missed on the battlefield as they stand approximately 32mm to the top of their heads.
As a note, the circular bases on the renders are not present on the final production models, this allows them to be glued onto any base you see fit.
28mm Marine Tactical Unit
28mm Marine Tactical Unit
28mm MTU Scale Comparison
28mm MTU Close-up
Additional Squadrons
We've had some questions in regards to purchasing additional Squadrons (as we will no-doubt unlock more Squadrons along the way for the EEF, Vitruvian and Astivar forces).
Additional Squadrons will cost £30
Stat Cards & Stat Tracker Information
All ships will now as standard come with their own double-sided Stat Card. These show off all of the ships abilities, weapons, and statistics which (when placed in a clear plastic card sleeve) can be marked off with a drywipe pen for easier tracking of the status of your ships in the squared boxes next to the number!
Amarok Interceptor Stat Card
Dubuk Fighter Stat Card
Plastic Stat-Tracker
Secondly, we will be adding to the Flight Lieutenant Pledge (Earlybird and standard) 10 plastic Stat Trackers for free! Additional packs of 10 Stat Trackers can be added to your pledge for £10.
These allow easy access to tracking all statistics on the front of the Ship Stat Cards alongside being able to be flipped over to check weapons and abilities of your ships.
Stat-Tracker and Stat Card
Black & White Rules Released
Due to popular demand, we've edited the Kickstarter Edition of the Rules to be Black and White to make it much fairer on your ink or toner use! The link can be found on the main page in the Gameplay section.
Also of note, we have secured a trusted and skilled translator and therefore the rules for Shattered Void will also be translated into German upon full release.
We will also be providing a more indepth video which includes many of the other ships that will be unlocked in the course of the campaign to show you how a full game of Shattered Void is played! We'll keep you all posted as we get closer to release!
Brueckenkopf Online review
Our good friend Christian over at Brueckenkopf Online has posted a review of some of our miniatures alongside some painted examples of his own a scale comparison next to other miniatures.
All edits to the Pledge Contents, Add-Ons and more have been added to the main Kickstarter Campaign page along with the description and a very brief introduction of the Astivar Collective.
As always, any queries or questions - Hit that comment button!
KS Edition Rules, Announcement and more!
almost 10 years ago
– Mon, Jul 04, 2016 at 02:21:31 PM
Hello Backers!
So we're now into day 2 of the Kickstarter Campaign for Shattered Void, thank you all for your support thus far! Today's update is a long one so strap in and away we go!
£10,000 Kickstarter Success Goal!
You read that right! Upon hitting the Kickstarter Goal we will unlock the first of our additional Squadrons. This time it is the third race in the Shattered Void Universe, The Astivar Collective!
We'd also like to officially show off the Kickstarter Edition of the Print and Play ruleset. This covers the first two unlocked Fighter Squadrons of the EEF and Vitruvian Sovereignty. The rules are by no means the finished piece as certain values, abilities and attributes are still under scrutiny.
We have been asked about "building your own ship" in Shattered Void, this is something we do very much wish to explore as being able to kit out your fighters and their pilots in a manner to suit the mission ahead is a great aspect of tabletop gaming, though at this moment in time this hasn't been implemented into the Kickstarter Edition of the rules.
What lies beyond - Stretchgoals
Below are the further Stretchgoals we have on offer upon reaching our initial goal of £10,000. These are the "Primary" Stretchgoals in which we will be working towards, Primary Stetchgoals are the main playing pieces of Shattered Void, the ships. We will throw in Secondary Stretchgoals throughout the Campaign which will be optional little extras from time-to-time. Some of these will be gaming aids while others more decorative items!
So, what's coming up?
Stretchgoals, Ship Waves 1 & 2
Our first Stretchgoal, Wave 1 unlocks the ability to add the EEF Jaguar, Vitruvian Karsyn or Astivar Vorak to your pledge. The second Stretchgoal, Wave 2, unlocks the Astivar Valestrom, EEF Roc and Vitruvian Ubik! Stretchgoal amount will be announced closer to Shattered Void being successfully funded as well as Ship information and their roles within the battlespace.
Behind the Scenes at WDM...
There are many things behind the scenes that we've been working away on at WDM to make this as smooth and possible for both ourselves and our backers. This has included getting as much produced as possible, such as ships and gaming aids. One of the main gaming aids required for Shattered Void are the bases and flight stand.
These have been created specifically for Shattered Void using plastic injection moulding in clear polystyrene plastic. The flight stands you see in all our miniatures are not prototypes, but actual finished pieces.
Plastic Injection Moulded Bases
Plastic Injection Moulded Bases
MISSION LOG OF FLEET DRAKE
Log Entry 001
Fleet Group Designation: EARTH EXPLORATORY FLEET DRAKE
Date: 10.05.2245
Pilot ID: 01 WEISS, W. E.
Distance Travelled: 0.84 light years.
Population: 12,382,194
RIP: 12
Fleet systems are operating at predicted capacity. Garden yield is optimal and contamination has been managed by automated systems.
As per protocol 600,000 passengers were thawed and put through a series of gentle exercises before being allowed 24 hours of recreation and then returning to their cryocells. Generally this process went smoothly, although eleven passengers died during the freezing/thawing process and another suffered coronary failure during the exercise regime. These numbers compare very favourably to predicted rates of attrition.
Lost contacts: EEF BIERCE, EEF EUDOXUS, EEF NADDODDUR, EEF ZHANG
EEF COLUMBUS: Contact ongoing. Status summary is of least concern. EEF CORTEZ: Contact ongoing. Widespread cryogenic failure. Garden contamination resulting in low nutrient yield. Casualties sustained: 942,456.
EEF FLINDERS: Contact ongoing. Status summary is of least concern.
EEF LIVINGSTONE: Contact ongoing. Status summary is of least concern.
EEF NORGAY: Contact ongoing. Status summary is of least concern. EEF POLO: Contact ongoing. Status summary is of least concern.
EEF SHACKLETON: Contact ongoing. Status summary is of least concern.
EEF VESPUCCI: Contact ongoing. Vespucci reports attack by enemy unknown and/or sabotage resulting from internal division. Casualties sustained: 1,235,769.
EEF ZHENG: Contact ongoing. Status summary is of least concern.
William looked up from the computer terminal. He stretched his arms, limbs still stiff and aching after his yearlong cryosleep. A mere 24 hours of recreation and torturous stretching exercises weren’t quite enough to banish all the cramps, cricks and knotted muscle.
Contact had been lost with fleets Bierce, Eudoxus, Naddoddur and Zhang. That was to be expected, those fleets had set off at obtuse headings to the one Drake was taking. At this point any signals they sent in Drake’s direction would probably be travelling more slowly than the ships of the fleet.
He punched up the data report from fleet Cortez. Their automated farming systems seemed hard pressed to eradicate a fungal infestation resulting in the sterilisation of many of their acreages.
He checked to see if Drake’s own farming systems had used this data to re-calibrate the priority given to fungicidal measures. They had. Good.
The blight wasn’t the only misfortune endured by the passengers aboard Cortez. Reports indicated that energy shortages had caused nearly ten percent of their Cryocells to fail. Nearly a million of fleet Cortez’s passengers were now dead.
William couldn’t help but find a little grim irony there, one problem addressed the other. Everything on board these ships gets recycled, so the very fact of a million dead bodies could well mitigate the effects of losing a portion of their crop.
Reports from fleet Vespucci were even more dramatic. It seems as if when the first group to be thawed out took their recreation they discovered some others on board their vessels who were already active. Whether or not they had been stowaways or passengers who had been thawed before their allotted time was unclear.
Reports then became even more confused, as shortly after this confrontation some of the ships in the fleet came under fire, enemy unknown. Whether this means that our alien foe had caught up with Vespucci or whether the various factions in the fleet turned weapons on one another is a question that the sparse status report did not resolve.
William composed a message asking the Vespucci pilots to confirm whether or not their current population were all returned to cryosleep.
He returned to his own cryocell, passing as he did the cells of the other pilots. Cheng, Swift, Hopkins, Jones, Quima, Shale, and Dirrick. As the whine of the cryogenic mechanism began to increase in pitch William realised it would probably be 2253, eight years from now, before he had another conscious thought.
