Dark Shadow
Background
In the year 2120, a large international conglomerate of scientists developed the first of the new generation of slip drives. The drive allowed large star ships to pass into a layer of space between normal space and sub space by creating a high energy subspace field around the hull so the ship could slip through the fabric of normal space and enter into a slip passage and travel effectively across large expanses of space without having the previously restrictive problems of extreme time differentials that had plagued previous attempts to colonise the outer reaches of space. The prospect of exploring the unknown and the potential of making contact with an alien species gave the human race a new sense of belief and optimism, so in the year 2124 Earth and the ‘Local’ inner solar colonies revolted against the corrupt corporations that had worked to make mankind their slaves for almost five hundred years. Once the corporations had fallen in 2125 it was decided that scrapping the old monetary system that had been the norm for the previous generations and had been the root of the corruption and suffering was the only way forward, this created an society where people could work for the benefit and advancement of society and not entirely themselves.
However, not everyone was happy with the Utopian society that was rising from the ashes of the fallen society. So in the year 2126 a mass exodus from the solar system occurred which saw the departure of the old corporations and their followers. In 2130, after 4 years of constant travelling ‘New Earth’ was founded. The old earth corporations ran it like early 20th century capitalist earth. The ‘Good old days’ as that period was often referred to by the corporate leaders who ran the planet and the outer colonies. At the same time the newly founded earth republic set up an advanced space exploration and colonisation agency.
In the year 2140 New Earth made first contact with an alien species known as the Kilbarie. The Kilbarie were much like the New Earth colonists and they allowed interspatial trade between the Kilbarie and their allies. A free trade agreement was made in the year 2143 which allowed independent freighters, for a tax, to run cargo and trade goods between sectors along pre-defined and well patrolled routes, however some crews risked hijacking by space pirate’ by taking quicker and more direct routes through un-patrolled space allowing them to increase their freight charges for quicker delivery. This risk factor increased further when, in 2147, the pirates developed a new dampening technology that was capable of knocking ships out of their slip by literally popping the bubble and forcing the ship back into normal space, previously only possible with the use of an interspatial mine detonated at the correct time which was unreliable and expensive. The only way to retain slip within the field was to double the normal power required to enter slip, which meant that only short jumps were possible and it took several days after each jump to recharge the engines. So over the period of a hundred years or so a large area of space was nicknamed the ‘barren field’, a wide expanse of space wedged between the busiest trade alleys. Many freighters stopped the practice of cutting through the barren field, however some profiteering freight captains who led their crews into the barren fields discovered that they could triple their price if they smuggled both goods and people, that was of course, if they could avoid the pirates!