The Batavia
From Autonomicon Mk. II
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Contents |
Overview
The SS Batavia is something of a ghost story amongst the various traders and explorers across Known Space. She was initially a modified heavy transport making runs between Vancouver in DF space, and the one open port in the Japanese Empire, Osaka. However, she dissapeared in the spring of 2152 while on a run past Vivaporius, within the Scinfaxi Quarantine Zone. This would not, however, be the last time she was seen.
History
Design
The SS Batavia was first launched in 2147 , one of the first batch of Indiaman-Class heavy transports. The model was designed to be capable of hauling massive loads great distances with minimal crew. Most went into service in the mining industries, carrying vast shipments of precious metals to the various DF worlds from remote mining outposts. Due to the precious nature of the intended cargo, the vessel was moderately armed and well armored, to ward off any privateers. However, the large vessels were relatively slow and unwiedly, something bemoaned by many of owning corporations.
Private Ownership
In 2150, the Batavia herself was sold off by her owner, Primaris Extraction Corporation, to one Captain Nicholaas Vanderwick, a private trader. The Batavia was sold due to severe damage sustained to her engine assembly during a major mining accident, and was thus sold at a discount. This was the first of her model to enter private ownership, albeit in dubious condition.
Restoration
Captain Vanderwick was a respected member of the trading community in the DF, and had amassed a noteworthy amount of wealth running various "high-risk" jobs. He had an experienced crew, and one of the finest engineers in the merchant navy. The Batavia represented his desire to "expand his profile," and as such, no expense was spared in her repairs and modifications. Several noteworthy features were;
- High-performance engines. Through means still unknown, Vanderwick managed to procure a set of high yield sublight drives from a York-Class cruiser; massively over-powered for a ship the size of the Batavia.
- Increased armament. The original model, while armed, wasn't designed for the kind of jobs Vanderwick was planning. Therefore, not only was the number of weapons nearly doubled, along with several concealed missle launchers added, but their calibre and velocity were also brought up to military specifications.
- Oversized power core. With greater engines and more weaponry, a superior energy core was called for. However, using several owed favours from the Erdrick Colonization Corporation, Vanderwick managed to procure a colonial power generator, designed for supply the energy needs of a basic colony, rather than a comparitvely small starship. This allowed increased power to all systems, from manuevering thrusters to communication.
- Improved secondary systems. With additional power available, many systems had to be replaced to fully take advantage of what was now available.
The work took 4 months to complete, and the end result was a vessel that was faster, stronger and more reliable than anything else in her initial class, or comparable vessels in other fleets.
Career
Vanderwick had his vessel running the treacherous routes into the Empire of Japan for most of its career. The route was notorious for pirates of all colours. Once inside the Empire, safety still couldn't be ensured, as it wasn't uncommon for vessels that had offended Imperial custom to be fired upon by the Japanese Navy, or even destroyed by riotous populations. Only fools took the route singularly, most travelling in armed convoys, but even they had a habit of dissapearing from time to time.
However, the profit from such a route was massive. An average run, with the Batavia's massive cargo capacity, could net upwards of $25,000,000. After various taxes, and the cost of the initial traded goods, Vanderwick was regularly left with $16,000,000 for his crew. Vanderwick and his men quickly became quite wealthy, and continued to improve their vessel with their gains. By 2152, almost two years of work, Vanderwick himself was worth near of $350,000,000. However, he had run his luck amassing that wealth.
Before her dissapearance, the Batavia was attacked no less than fourteen times, had suffered $6,000,000 worth of damages, and had even once had to run a gauntlet of highly organized privateers, all emblazoned with a gold star, with most of his sytems offline from an EMP blast. This did not, however, dissuade Vanderwick from greater goals.
The Vivaporius Run
Vanderwick had reached the point in his career that wealth was no longer his driving goal. He had more money than he could possibly spend, a veteran, loyal crew and the fair bit of fame at home. His goal now was infamy. The traders along the galactic south of the DF knew his name, but he wanted to be known from Quebec to Izhevsk. He sought his own sort of immortality. His renowned skills landed him just that opportunity.
A private enterprise on Vivaporius, known as the Blackstone Corporation, had heard of Vanderwick's particular skills in escaping trouble and getting the job done, and needed someone for a very high-risk venture. Blackstone specialized in Xeno studies, particularly xeno archaeology on the various dead planets across Known Space. They had recieved information from a well placed backer in the DF's Naval Intelligence that a world covered in ruins existed just within the Scinfaxi Quarantine Zone. The corporation determined that Vanderwick, with his unique, large vessel would be the most suitable man to carry an expedition to that world.
When the request reached him, Vanderwick knew he had found his opportunity for immortality. Being known as the only human known to cross in Scinfaxi space, to a world holding unknown treasures would make him as famous as Magellan on ancient Earth. He quickly agreed upon meeting the senior members of the corporation on Vivaporius.
P27N5A
The world in question, designated P27N5A in the forwarded DF documents, lay 4 lightyears within the Scinfaxi zone. The run would take two weeks to travel, with no more than a month spent on the planet in question, followed by the return run. The Batavia would be carrying 27 Blackstone researchers, along with another 40 security personnel. Careful bribes had ensured DF monitoring satellites along Vanderwick's route into the Quarantine would be offline at his moment of transit, and on the return.
On October 23, 2152, the Batavia jumped away from Vivaporius. The plan dictated that upon reaching P27N5A, the Batavia would transmit the affirmtive signal, "Chicago" indicating the site was as dictated, and no complications had arose, "Athens" if the intellgience was faulty, and the site was non existant, or "Prophet" if hostile contact was made.
On November 16th, a week overdue, a very faint transmission reached the Blackstone corporate HQ. The source was unknown, and it took the techs nearly half an hour to clean the recording up enough to understand it. It said simply, "For us, doom."
Sightings
Since the Batavia's dissapearance into the Quarantine Zone, her name has not vanished. Numerous accounts from private individuals, military vessels and automated drones have reported various vessels matching the Batavia's description acting in peculiar manners. Several noteworthy events are as follows, in chronological order;
- November 24th, 2152. First event, while not neccesarily a sighting, is quite likely related. Remote listening station "Juliet 15" on the Scinfaxi Quarantine Zone was reported destroyed. The Navy picket sent to investigate determined it had been destroyed by conventional, human weaponry and began a search of nearby quadrants, all dead systems, for the likely perpetrator. No sign was ever found. The station, suitably enough, was on the direct path fo Vivaporius, were one to be travelling from P27N5A.
- December 8th, 2152. The passenger liner, Tarantine identified a large, modified transport matching the Batavia's description approaching Vivaporious's orbit at high speeds. The vessel in question ignored all hailing attempts by local authorities, entered low orbit, and fired a barrage of high yield missile directly at the Blackstone corporate HQ. The vessel then left orbit, and jumped away. The Tarantine captured several images of the event, which quickly spread across DF worlds.
- February 12th, 2153. The corvette Carentan's gun cameras recorded a vessel once more matching the Batavia's description approaching Nantes at rapid speed. The vessel quickly fired all weapons at the Carentan, destroying it outright. It suffered only a single glancing blow by orbital defense batteries before withdrawing. The Carentan was carrying Lt. Jacques Marquis to a his trial at Liberty on allegations of corruption and sharing of classified private information.
- April 19th, 2153. The mining ship Magnimonious reported a pirate raid on the New Canann Corridor. Their description of the attacking vessel matched, again, the Batavia, including a darkened scar along the top of the vessel from a mass-driver round. The vessel in question approached one of the bulk civilian carriers travelling with the enormous Magnimonious and initiated boarding procudures after firing several warning rounds. No vessel in the convoy was in any position to act, all lacking suitable weaponry for a target as large as what they were facing. Communication was maintained between the boarded vessel and the Magnimonious for 12 minutes. The last transmission from the carrier's captain was, "Security teams on standby....they're almost through...breached!" Following that the link was drowned in screaming, before it went dead 32 seconds later. Immediatly after, the two vessels disengaged one another, and jumped away.
- April 23rd, 2153. Recon squadron deployed in the aftermath of pirate attack on the New Canaan Corridor discovered the attacked civilian carrier adrift in an uncharted asteriod field several lightyears from the attack site. The vessel was apparently abandoned, and was emitting minimal power signatures. Marines were dispatched to ascertain the fate of the vessel. Inside, the ship was gutted. Almost anything of practical use had been removed; cabling, systems, air recyclers, even lightbulbs. Oddly enough, all valuables were untouched; coins, gold, jewels, anything of the sort simply lay thrown across the wrecked decks. As for the crew and passengers, only the occasional torn piece of clothing or uniform, and various blood marks, remained. No bodies, no weapons, not even bullet casings, remained. Most disturbingly, painted across the bridge in dired blood was, "We come for you all, defilers."
- August 19th, 2157. The Greater German Reich heavy cruiser, Frederik, recorded an attack by a vessel, once more matching the evolving description of the Batavia. The target was an Abwehr recon corvette returning from a world nicknamed, "Tomb" on the edge of GGR space. The attacking vessel had vanished before the Frederik could do anything to react to the suddent destruction of the corvette. This attack was the first outside of DF space. From this point on, sightings began to appear in virtually every quadrant.
The Batavia had developed a pattern, and all further sightings would follow it. The Batavia would pick off isolated targets, gut the vessels, leave cryptic messages scrawled in blood, and leave the battered husk adrift in space. Individual targets, often members of the DF Naval Intelligence or xeno-based corporations, would be targeted and destroyed by the Batavia across known space. Seemingly anyone with any vested interest in the scattered known ruined, dead worlds would find themselves encountering the Batavia. While the attacks were real enough, the national powers never considered them of much consequence. Intelligence circles found it impossible to believe a single vessel could be responsible for such actions, and attributed the various sightings to different pirates.
Theories
While the national governments may scoff at the idea of a single, vigilante daemon vessel scouring the stars, many individuals and think tanks have spent considerable effort trying to understand the phenomena. While some ideas are simply the ravings of madmen, several deserve closer inspection. Of note when reading any of the following theories is that none of these individuals knew what exactly the Batavia was doing in the Scinfaxi Quarantine Zone, all Vanderwick stated to his friends and backers is that he would be going there, and no details survived the destruction of the Blackstone HQ. The general consensus is that something very twisted happened to the men of the Batavia, and something very inhuman.
Scinfaxi Infiltration
A common belief, one that is arguably the most prolific, is that the Batavia was captured by the Scinfaxi, her crew removed, and a Scinfaxi one put in their stead. This would imply that the Batavia is being used as a kind of advanced scout, capturing vessels to analyze them, and to use to improve the Batavia itself. Further credence is lended in that the Batavia generally only destroys military intelligence vessels, perhaps indicating there are secrets on the dead worlds the Scinfaxi don't want humanity to know about.
However, the theory has it's share of flaws. The Scinfaxi never demonstrated a particularly religious aspect to their existance, so the various theological-type threats on the captured hulks left behind do not match their character. Furthermore, the Scinfaxi have not been seen since the exodus from Earth, and show no sign of emerging from their regions. Again, these actions do not match their character.
Daemonic Possession
Many religious schools of thought have the belief that the barren worlds found across the stars are evidence of a divine cleansing of tainted societies. They shun these places universally, even those with no stated belief on the subject avoid the dead worlds entirely. Given that the Batavia generally destroys vessels which had visited such places, religious thinkers have hypothesized that the Batavia has either been taken over a higher power, or lower, depending on the thinker in question, to ensure that the taint of those worlds does not spread. This matches the messages in the drifting hulks, but what is done with the missing individuals is not stated. If these individuals knew where the Batavia had gone to initially, this theory would likely explode in acceptance. However, most secular individuals find such a thing hard to believe, as, to be blunt, no evidence of any divine action has occured in humanity's spread throughout the stars. There are, however, equatable theories from more scientific minds.
Unknown Xeno Influence
It is known that Humanity and the Scinfaxi are not the only intelligent lifeforms in the Galaxy. They are the most advanced, and certainly the dominant, but due to the knowledge that there are others, it is easy to say there were others before the current civilizations arose. In fact, over a dozen worlds have been identified across explored space covered in ruins all of the same monolithic style. These dead worlds do not match any known species at any level of development in architecture, materiels, or any discernable trait. They are as utterly alien to what we know of the Scinfaxi as they are to ourselves. Because of this, it has been theorized that the Batavia encountered either this "Species X" or another of their ruined worlds, but with something still functional on it. This species or remnant thereof did something to the minds of the crew, destroying their humanity, and turning them into what they were now, with only a dark, twisted drive pushing them onwards. No one behind this theory has much idea as to what their motive may be, aside from safeguarding the other dead worlds.
Current Status
The Batavia, is as of it's last recorded sighting, outside Vega, 33% larger than it was at the time of its dissapearance. The hull is a patchwork of various upgrades and additions, some very much apart of standard human design practices. Vessels continue to dissapear, lightning strikes continue to kill individuals in various intelligence communities and xeno-based corporations, and more hulks are left adrift, their crews gone, their hulls gutted, and assurances of doom scrawled in blood. Every attempt to track the vessel has failed, with the pursuing vessel(s) either dissapearing themselves, or lose the trail. The Batavia continues to prowl the stars, pursuing its unknown agenda, and defying every attempt to understand it. However, rumour has it that a task force has been assembled by the Democratic Federation to eliminate this "pirate threat." Only time will tell what they shall accomplish.
