Shades and Spirits
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| Shades and Spirits | |
|---|---|
| Story information | |
| Author | Philip A. Lee |
| Pages | 3 |
| Type | Short story |
| Product | Interstellar Players 3: Interstellar Expeditions |
| Content | |
| Timeline | 12-15 June 3095 |
Shades and Spirits is the introductory fiction for the Interstellar Players 3: Interstellar Expeditions sourcebook published in 2012.
Plot Summary[edit]
Wade Laurence Beauregard, who holds five doctoral degrees, leads an Interstellar Expeditions dig team complete with the usual train of security personnel, volunteers and Dig Gypsies. As of June 3095 they have found a large abandoned facility on an otherwise uninhabited and unnamed planet 22.7 lightyears coreward of McEvedy's Folly that turns out to hold a treasure of information and equipment pertaining to the mysterious Minnesota Tribe. Beauregard is overjoyed upon finding what he regards as the "Rosetta Stone" of the tribe's history.
However, the Rosetta Stone datapad is stolen from his tent. As he discusses the situation with his security chief, mercenary Oleg Spector, the team's DropShips Howard Carter and Grave Robber suddenly come under surprise attack and are destroyed in short order; before being destroyed the Grave Robber reports a Thera-class WarShip and being attacked by Spectral type aerospace fighters. Spector then openly admits to Beauregard that the attackers are the Word of Blake, who paid good money for the secret to stay buried and only needed to authenticate the Rosetta Stone noteputer that Spector had stolen. Beauregard manages to kill Spector and retrieve the noteputer, but then has to watch helplessly as the camp is destroyed by carpet bombing or even a nuclear strike (that implicitly kills Beauregard).
Featured Characters[edit]
- Lorenzo
- Oleg Spector
- Dr. Wade Laurence Beauregard
Notes[edit]
- This story seems to confirm a connection of some sort between the Minnesota Tribe (confirmed to have been Clan Wolverine refugees) and the Word of Blake. However, it is implied the research team was wiped out to a man and all data and evidence they found was destroyed, leaving the Inner Sphere in the dark about their find.
- The Word of Blake-operated Thera featured in this story would be the Corinth. It had last been seen in 3079 and remained unaccounted for; its fate is unknown.