Nexus Psi is a Fifth Sphere planet that was quarantined by the Containment Protocol Group in 987AE
About
Nexus Psi is a new discovery, a world on the edge of the Frontier that was brimming with potential. It has five main continents and a thriving ecosystem with dense forests ringing the equator. It’s a warm, wet world, with very few arid regions and almost no tundra. The equatorial forests are home to countless mountain ranges and canyons, evidence of massive seismic activity in the planet’s past.
This planet has now disappeared. Yet, despite what NavCorp systems might say, Nexus Psi still exists. It has become a Deadzone, quarantined by the Council of Seven to protect the rest of the GCPS from contamination… contamination from what might be the deadliest virus in existence.
The GCPS operation to contain the Plague infection at Nexus Psi was an unmitigated disaster. The outbreak was allowed to spread so far that the whole planet became overrun with infected individuals and various strains, with a horrific loss of life. There were disastrous errors and delays in establishing the blockade to quarantine the planet during the Containment Protocol, leading to countless breaches by not only Reb cells on the planet, but also various mercenary and alien factions. Most catastrophic however, where the breaches by the Plague.
While the Enforcer battlegroups sent to Nexus Psi fought a vicious campaign on the ground against the hordes of mutants, too many holes were left in the orbital containment grid. While the Enforcer gunships downed as many transports fleeing the carnage as possible, too many punched through the grid and the infection was free.
A World of Potential
Nexus Psi was picked up by a SanMar scout ship on a routine sweep of the Frontier, and was immediately categorised as Category D – suitable for immediate human occupation. It was a warm, wet world teeming with life, especially in the thick concentrations of equatorial jungle that rings the planet. Initial scans showed some the scattered remains of an ancient civilisation, but no signs of active sentient life. Most notably, it was one of the few Category D planets at the furthest reaches of the Frontier. In time, if it was correctly developed, it could become the hub for a brand new phase of expansion.
Within seconds of the planet’s existence being advertised, a licence request was submitted by the Reiker Corporation. Reiker specialises in developing new worlds and leasing surface space to other developers, and has teams of operatives scouring the infosphere for news of potential sites. Its Acquisitions department was one of sixty-two applicants for the licence to Nexus Psi, including their long-time rivals at the Magani Corporation, but won out following a series of complex negotiations and a tense auction. Not even taking a moment to celebrate the victory, Reiker’s operations manager gave the word to launch their waiting Exploration Fleet. Everything was set to open up the latest in a string of Reiker conquests.
Then, something unusual happened.
The Council of Seven – the executive body that rules the GCPS in all but name – has the right to overturn any agreement made under Corporate law, and they exercised it to place an indefinite stay on the Nexus Psi licence. Reiker’s board of directors was furious; they had spent good money equipping and launching their fleet, and now they stood to lose it all. Of course, they knew better than to directly oppose an edict from the Council. Instead, their legal agents began work on one of the most complex cases of their careers, and after several weeks of preparation a carefully-worded appeal was made. After a period of consideration, it was partially granted. Reiker was given leave to continue with the colonisation, with the expectation that a full licence would eventually be granted, but it would be held by the Council for the time being. This was seen as a minor (but important) victory, as well as a suitable compromise, and the Exploration Fleet continued on its way. It wasn’t long before outposts were being set up across the planet’s surface.
Each outpost was basic but functional, but some of the older ones were getting bigger, and four or five now had their own commercial districts. When each outpost was founded, it was given an alphanumerical code (‘B1’, ‘G62’) but many have been given nicknames by colonists. Reiker City grew to be the main settlement, incorporating many early outposts.
Death of a Dream
Nexus Psi had been colonised for almost two standard years when the artefact on Nexus Psi was discovered by Exploration/Retrieval Team Six-Alpha, which was based at Outpost W4. One of the newer mining outposts, W4 consisted of a walled compound surrounding half a dozen buildings and a landing pad in a forest clearing. There was a small troop barracks, a mess hall, a dormitory block, a ‘basecamp’ unit (operations, medical centre and comms room), a vehicle pool and an equipment shed.
Six-Alpha was made aware of the existence of the artefact by a standard survey sweep. An extraction team, complete with armed guard, was assembled and immediate removal of the artefact was scheduled. Led by Dr Remy Urovic, the team’s goal was to excavate the artefact and transport it back to W4 for further study. The artifact, a stone slab, less than a metre across, covered in pictograms of unknown origin, activated mid-transport. The first victims were the technicians driving the hauler on which it was being transported, with their colleagues in other vehicles falling in turn. The virus affected over half of the team, most of them dying in agony as it tore through their bodies. They were the lucky ones.
Dr Urovic transformed into something new… new, violent and incredibly dangerous. The remainder, apparently chosen as suitable hosts to spread the infection, were mutated beyond recognition. These unfortunates were wracked with spasms as the virus rewrote their genetic code, remaking them in its awful image. When the transformation was complete, nothing remained of the scientists and technicians that had been; in their place stood hulking monsters, titanic slabs of muscle and bone that wasted no time in tearing apart the remains of the convoy.
Dr Gayle Simmonds, Urovic’s subordinate, took charge of the surviving excavation team, leading them back to Outpost W4, while the creature that was once Dr Urovic chased them through the jungles of Nexus Psi. The handful of survivors escaped for now, making it back to the outpost and sending a distress signal to Corporation Central. The only response they received was dead air. Containment Protocol had already been enacted.
Starting from Urovic and spreading through an ever-growing network of vectors, the Plague spread across the planet in a matter of days. From the equatorial jungle it spread like wildfire, with each creature mutated by the artefact infecting dozens of colonists, who in turn acted as vectors to spread the infection to thousands of others. Pockets of resistance remained for some time, including Outpost W4, which organised a solid defence and only fell after nearly two weeks of driving back constant attacks by the infected. Within a month, virtually no opposition remained.
In time, the planet fell silent.
But the Council was prepared and thus Outpost H36, a Mazon Labs facility, was detrimental in the hunt for Dr Remy Urovic by the Enforcer Pathfinders, especially Recon Unit N32-19.
Most of the Enforcers of Nexus Psi were diverted from standard patrol forces, but other groups were brought in as the conflict continued. Elements from Red Division, a specialist Enforcer unit with considerable experience in the Arklyte Cluster, were brought in to deal with concentrated numbers of Plague victims for whom the infection had not fully taken root. These “zombies” had overtaken several Outposts, and were proving to be a serious impediment to regular strike teams.
Quotes and Excerpts
Final Notes
I can hear them coming. They’ve broken through the upper blast doors and they’re into the labs. Those animals are smashing everything apart. It’ll be my turn soon. The security in this place, it turns out, is not as ‘first rate’ as they told us when we shipped out here. For that matter, neither were the guards. Everything would be ‘top notch’, they said. ‘Best in class’. Utter nonsense.
The lab facilities were, I suppose, fine. Living quarters were adequate. But those thugs they sent to protect us didn’t last ten minutes when the monsters attacked. What good is a ‘quad-barrel Grinder cannon’ when a ten-foot tall monster covered in eighty millimeters of armoured chitin rips its crew apart like they were wet tissues? Eh? No point sending us in with armoured Mules if the first marine to reach them just drives away as fast as he can go when the dying starts, is there? No. There is not. Well, I’m going to die down here, I know that and I accept it. Well, I’m trying to. And I’ve done a lot in my life. I’ve made, I think, a difference to the life of my fellow man. And Sphyr, and everyone else. I’ve worked for some good corporations, some good people. Made some good products.
But, if there’s one thing I want to leave as my legacy, one thing I want everyone to remember about me when I’m gone, it’s this: Urbana Blackwing are not as fantastic under fire as their promotional brochures would have you believe. And Mazon Labs cannot be trusted when they tell you it’s ok to go to a planet that doesn’t exist on the Navicorp maps because they’ve got a special dispensation from the Council.
- Dr Foxwell Friend, Personal Journal, Nexus Psi
Gallery
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Nexus PSI Map -
Nexus PSI Planet Bigger -
Nexus PSI Planet -
Nexus PSI Supllement
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