The Huge Plasma Accelerator 2

The Return of the Azure Sunset

Norman reappears in human space. He needs one thing: the Azure Sunset. What follows is a sequence of events which draws in unsuspecting and unscrupulous individuals from across known space.

Description

A fan-fiction story set in the FFE universe, around the year 3309. It is a couple of years after the Azure Sunset debacle at Fort Donalds. Mack Winston is on the run, with an Imperial Princess. Norman has returned from his search for Raxxla. He wants the Azure Sunset. As events start to ripple across the cosmos, other characters become unwittingly involved in proceedings.

Current Participants

• Norman Mosser (and crew)
• Mack Winston (and Maria Hengist-Duval)
• Cmdr Maegil (and Emu)
• Vasquith de Havilland (and Michael Veruz)
• Kim Stenson
• The Spartacus Brotherhood

The Story so Far (spoilers follow)

• de Havilland and Veruz discover, by accident, the location of the Azure Sunset. He is attacked by unknown aggresors and flees inside the ship where he learns every location the Azure Sunset will hyperspace jump to. After a brief battle onboard the Azure Sunset, de Havilland and Veruz escape in a borrowed Krait, which they take to the AAAI shipyards where de Havilland used to work. They decrypt the hyperspace coordiates of the Azure Sunset and as the city gets attacked by bounty hunters, they escape in a modified Saker Mk III with a Nano Plasma Accelerator. they set up a meeting with Norman Mosser and unwittingly become a part of his crew. They leave to paint their ship with a new 'Darkness' paint and are currently on their way to meet up with Norman again.

• Stenson get a notification of an Imperial Courier (Normans type of ship) was attacked by an Interpol patrol. He puts the clues together and goes hunting for more information in Reidquat. He is attacked by a group of heavies, but survives. His clues take him to Alioth where he sees the escaping Saker mk III. he flies to Reidquat and watches de Havilland interact with Norman then follows him through several hyperspace jumps, till finally they reach an inhabited system...

• Winston knows that everyone wants to kill him. Then Norman offers him a job. to kill Norman. Not himself naturally, just the other two of his clones wandering about. Mack takes the job as the money would go along way to salvaging some kind of a life from the wreck he currently endures. He kills one Norman and wounds another, but it manages to get away. Winston is captured my Maegil and taken on as his Apprentice.

• Mosser wants the Azure Sunset. Initially, he works together with his two other clones to retrieve it, but things become untenable and each Mosser tries to hire Mack Winston to kill the others. Two Mossers go to Earth, where one is killed, while the other teams up with Maegil where he gets the coordinates for the Azure Sunset and gets a proposition to join the Spartacus Brotherhood. the original Mosser, meanwhile, heads to Reidquat where he meets up with de Havilland and Veruz. together, they travel to the then current location of the AZ, only to get attacked by the mysterious forces. They escape and form plans to meet at a small, inhabited system...

• Maegil an Federation ex-special forces officer, currently a Black-Ops undercover agent. He has a distinct and often conflicting set of morals, and wishes to teach this to a young upstart named Mack Winston, also wants to recruit Norman Mosser to his anti-slavery group known as the Spartacus Brotherhood. He had a girlfriend named Emu, who he travels with.

• Spartacus Brotherhood An ex-slaves organization that created a semi-legitimate government and sent an ultimatum to every slavist government or system. Some think they are but brigands, but they keep military discipline in their ranks and won't plunder or murder; instead they have forsaken revenge in favour of justice and fight strictly according to the laws of war. Some of their actions until now include patrolling slavist systems and boarding ships suspected of carrying slaves (apreending them if they are), raiding starports to free slaves and invading the Quexce system to force the local government to abolish slavery. However, some of their actions were (intentionally or not) ham-handed, nearly driving the Federation and the Empire to full-scale war twice so far.

Showdown at Sunset

All the major players found their own way to the Azure Sunset, aloft in the Ioenin system: Norman and Sam flew with de Havilland and Veruz aboard their Stealthed AAAI Shipyards Saker Mk III. Maegil and Winston via Maegils Asp. Another Norman used another Normans Imperial Courier, but was ultimately killed in the enusing chaos. A series of showdowns encased the ship as the players tried to assert dominance over the others. A standoff was narrowly averted with Maegil being seriously wounded and his computer virus shutting down the auto destruct.

Now Normans crew are in charge of the Azure Sunset. All that stands in their way is an entire ship of defunct systems and a lone Interpol agent...

Weapons of the Saga

Federal Marines - Special Issue Carbine:

Based on the civilian Laser Carbine, the Special Issue was repowered by the Armonitions Corporation. the resulting laser pulse is shorter, but has a higher energy level and a faster refire rate. The recoil is almost completely compensated for. A folding stock and a more utilitarian look gives the Special Issue an almost spectral look. It is cheap and lightweight, but easily damaged and no good as a bludgeoning weapon. The barrel especially is prone to damage.

L&F Detective Special:

The Lance and Ferman Detective Special is a small, lightweight laser pistol with an average power output of 1 kilo-watt. Its small stature belies a robust weapon that will work in all environments. It is a discreet weapon that can be easily hidden, a must for detectives on the beat. Although not prone to malfunction, such an event is usually disastrous to the weapon. The main drawback of the Detective Special is the low power output.

Colt .45 "Peace maker":

The Colt Single Action Army handgun, also known as the Colt Peacemaker or Single Action Army, is a single action revolver holding 6 rounds of ammunition. It was designed for the US cavalry by Colt's Manufacturing Company and adopted in 1873, and it was perhaps the most prolific pistol in the wild west.

CCH "Ambassador":

In 2056, Churchill Combine Houver produced a weapon they called the "Ambassador". A stepping stone between the traditional pistol of the 20th century and the true railguns of the 22nd century, the "Ambassador" was a true hybrid, combining the chemical power of a bullet with the electrical power of a railgun. A new, smaller bullet was produced, which fitted into a large magazine. Although fired like a normal bullet, magnetism was used in reloading, allowing a simpler, cheaper gun, but also a dangerously high refire rate. the same Magnetism suite was used to give Molecular spin to the bullets. The nanoscale vibrations allowed deeper penetration of the target, including Spectra and High Powerered Body armour.

Colt "Diplomat":

Favoured by special forces in all the major militaries, the "Diplomat" is a simple, but powerful weapon. It forgoes style and class for functionality. the resulting weapon looks like it was birthed in a junkyard, but packs a large enough punch to rival the Deathwrecker. The laser focusing and emitting crystal is the only high tech component, giving unparalled accuracy. The Diplomat can be dropped, kicked, compacted, shot at and detonated, and will keep working. Despite the simplistic design, the cost of the "Diplomat" is high. the weapon is also unfriendly to the user in terms of recoil and hand damage; there is no heat dissipation componentry, although some can be brought after market.

L&F Inspector Special:

Lance and Ferman took the famously reliable "Detective Special" and threw some more money at it. They wanted a more upmarket weapon that was as successful as the Detective, but looked great and worked better. The resulting weapon was creatively labelled the "Inspector". Although the accuracy and looks were improved, the cost also increased, alienating loyal customers. The Inspector continues to sell, despite its only moderate success.

"Winter Moon" katana and the "Little Moon" wakizashi:

A diamond-edged duralium 'daisho' (Japanese: 'large and small') given to Maegil by his Sensei, Emu's father. It incorporates the japanese swordmaking concept of a hard cutting edge sheated in a softer, shock absorving material to prevent shattering.

Ingram 350:

The preferred Federal Special Forces assault rifle, also adopted by the Spartacus Brotherhood Marines. Its standard version has a medium powered fast rate of fire, good against soft armour or massed opponents, but has a power regulator that can be set for a slower, 350KW shield piercing output. Its modular design can be converted to a carbine, a sniper rifle or an infantry support weapon and back in a moment's notice just by exchanging its modules, making it an excellent all-round weapon. Its downsides are the the '350 is rather heavy weighted on some configurations and is definitevely not a cheap weapon.

GVG:

Gratuitous Violence Gun, the Imperial Army mainstream assault rifle. In an attempt to level its poorly trained conscript forces with the Federation's shielded professional soldiers, the Empire created a sturdy weapon that substituted marksmanship for sheer destructiveness. Very powerful, it has an incorporated plasma granade launcher. Even with government-manipulated production prices, the only reason the Empire can afford these weapons as mainstream is that they usually outlast the soldiers...

Vega Corp Deathwrecker Mk I:

A weapon designed to wreck death and destruction, regardless of consequences. The deathwreaker is actually a hand held micro laser cannon, sacrificing minor things as heat exchangers, safety norms and core radiation shielding, for capacitors and yet more capacitors... 200 million were released on the market before Vega corp. was forced to stop its production on account of the law suits for personal and genetic damage, but even so it's still in demand on grittier systems. Of course, the only places you can walk around with one without being stopped by the police is where battle weapons are legal, or there's no police at all... It huge blast in a small package has another price: a power cell has capacity to fire only five times before reloading, and the lack of heat exchanger forces for a long refire time to prevent overheating.

Vega Corp Deathwrecker Mk II:

With exquisite Achenar-style design, 15% more blast and 8% larger power cells, it can go up to 300!KW, but it also incorporates a regulation swich that reduces its power and increases the power cell life. Unfortunately, the Vega corp still wasn't able to include shielding on it and keep it a hand gun, so they added a legal disclaimer on the bottom of grip; basically it states in legalese that on carrying or firing the weapon, the user acknowleges and accepts its hazards. To read it, one just needs a lawyer and a electron sweep microscope (not included, Cr1499+tax). The psichos who disable the safety interlocks usually find its 0.5MW 'sufficient' even for the most extreme uses... and the meaning of 'severe radiation burns'.

Vega Corp Deathwrecker Mk II - Mosser Special Edition:

The MK II with a platinum 'Azure Sunset' sigil and an exchangeable focusing and emitting crystal capable of burning the image of Norman Mosser up to 100m. Only 300 were made, and of those, many were bought by... Mosser!

External Links

Elite BTF has a PDF version of the HPA and HPA2 (in progress) sagas, along with the "Past Prologue" compilations of what some of the participants did in the between.