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Beacon Pod
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| Ship Information | |
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Classification
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Purpose
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Distress Beacon
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Ship Type
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Beacon Pod
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RU Cost
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60 RUs
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| Technical Information | |
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Length
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65.5 metres
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Acceleration
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250 m/s2
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Speed
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300 m/s
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Eras
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Affiliation
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The Beacon Pod was a mysterious derelict that was deployed by the ancient starship Naggarok upon the vessel's arrival in the galaxy one million years BHL.
Background[]
The Beacon Pod was designed to be automatically deployed in the event of an emergency aboard the vessel, like if the engines or communications failed, sending a distress signal into space for other races to find. Larger than the conventional pod, the Beacon Pod also carried with it a mysterious entity that would not be rediscovered by the galaxy until disaster struck in 15 AHL.[1]
One million years ago, the Naggarok and its crew arrived in the galaxy, but accidentally brought with them a mysterious lifeform later dubbed The Beast. When The Beast overran and began subverting the entire vessel, the crew of the Naggarok attempted to trap The Beast aboard the vessel by disabling its engines and communications array. Unfortunately, because of their ship design, when the drives and communications were destroyed, the ship automatically launched a beacon pod, and unbeknownst to the crew some living samples of The Beast still survived aboard the Pod, where they would remain as it floated through the endless void of space.[1]
Usage[]
A Somtaaw Worker retrieves the Beacon Pod and brings it in for analysis on the Kuun-Lan, unaware of the threat within.
In 15 AHL, the Kiith Somtaaw mining vessel Kuun-Lan was relieving the Hiigaran Destroyer Bushan-Re from an ambush by Turanic Raiders when a mysterious distress call was detected elsewhere in the region. The Kuun-Lan sent a Worker to investigate the source of the beacon, later determined to be the Naggarok's Beacon Pod. The Somtaaw retrieved the pod and brought it aboard the Kuun-Lan for study, inadvertently awakening The Beast from one million years of stasis.
The Beast escaped the Beacon Pod and proceeded to infect the Kuun-Lan, subverting everything and everyone into a Beast organism. It soon infected the ship's hangar bay and spread throughout the lower decks, forcing the Kuun-Lan to jettison the lower modules in an effort to save the rest of the ship. The lower decks then drifted into space, infecting any and all ships that approached it and formed the basis of the Beast Mothership, signalling the first stages of the Beast War.[1]