Sydney Endicott (“Sy”)
Age: 32
Sex: Male
Race: MechaSentient (Core-3)
About:
Sy was constructed and activated in the Gryzon plant in 267-ssc, and spent first three cycles of his life aboard a Nissimgrai merchant vessel, functioning as a pilot and navigator when the crew required sleep or rest.

      His service ended in tragedy however, when their ship entered an unexpected debris field during a burn in-system to Arc Helios. Despite Sy’s relative inexperience in piloting, he was able to navigate out of the debris with the ship largely intact – unfortunately, the ship had sustained extensive damage to its transplacement drive housing. Though officially classed as a Sentient, Sy was traded to the Arc Helios orbital station to help offset the cost of repairs.

      Endicott spent the next seventeen cycles in the Arc Helios system, working as a mechanic or tug-barge pilot. He gained an extensive understanding of spacecraft of all types, and quietly saved his small salary with the hope of one day purchasing his own vessel.

      In 288-ssc, he accepted a job from a meksen freighter called the Ferinoux. While moving the Ferinoux’s cargo into position however, Arc Helios Control made an unexpected scan and inspection of the freight – a scan which revealed the cargo to be an illegal ‘grai narcotic. Rather than risk imprisonment and deactivation, the crew of the Ferinoux fired magnetic grappling cables onto the container, dragging both their freight and Endicott’s small tug-barge into the ship’s hold, and initiated a transplacement jump immediately afterward.

      For two more cycles, Sy resumed his indentured servitude aboard a space vessel, this time as a reluctant captive. Though technically a prisoner, the meksen crew instructed him in the lesser-known arts of spacing. Their brief run ended when a too-close encounter with Volke System authorities nearly crippled the Ferinoux – they loaded Sy into a lifeboat and jettisoned him before making an emergency jump. The Ferinoux and its crew have not been seen since.

      After spending a quarter-cycle in Volke System custody, he was released and his accounts from Arc Helios restored. Immediately, he put the funds into the purchase of a VeriZone FG-92 freighter, naming it Endicott’s Fortune, after the sum it had cost him.

      He spent the first few weeks charting what he could of the Fringe, trying to find where the Ferinoux may have jumped to, but with his savings depleted he could not afford to maintain the fruitless search for long. In need of cash flow, Endicott turned his attention to freight hauling and has operated on a thin margin of profit for the last ten cycles, carrying cargo for the outer Fringe territories.

Beverly
Age: 45
Sex: Female
Race: Thilsh
About:
Although Beverly’s cyclic age is 45-ssc, her life only truly began about five cycles ago. She spent her youth in the middle class of Ishrin, receiving basic Thilsh education and Systems Standard instruction. Her adolescence was a blur of failed classes, short-lived relationships, and mild substance abuse. After coming of age, she “settled” on one of her more stable former classmates, taking him for a mate and helping him to raise their clutch of younglings.

      Beverly herself obtained work in one of VeriZone’s parts factories, producing conductor coils for a line of luxury yachts. It was an uninspired job, but steady and well-paying. Then tragedy struck. While driving their young home from class, her husband and two youngest were struck and killed by an out-of-control cargo hauler. Two days later, while her surviving three were still recovering in the medical facilities, Keller-Vanquist announced the release of its new freighters. Overnight, VeriZone’s stock price was cut in half, forcing over a hundred-thousand layoffs and closing eighteen plants across the Systems, including the one on Ishrin.

      Suddenly bereaved, unemployed, and faced with the growing medical expense for her three recovering young, Beverly suffered a mental breakdown. She drowned her problems with intoxicants and left her home only to buy food and more of her addiction. After being escorted from the Care Center for a particularly disturbing outburst, the Thilsh Public Services of Ishrin took custody of her young and ordered her to seek assistance in a mental care facility until she could recover.

      Instead, Beverly drained her savings, spent her last pension payment on a ticket off-planet, and sought work at her first stop, Rarinova’s secondary orbital station. After growing tired of Rarinova’s scenery, she bought passage Fringe-ward, eventually finding employment as a dockhand on the Beyron-IV waystation.

Victor DeLeon ("Vic")
Age: 26
Sex: Male
Race: Human
About:
Victor grew up in an age where intra-system space travel was commonplace. Humanity had established several growing colonies on Mars, a recharging station and a tourist facility on Earth’s moon, and were turning their eye towards a real challenge – terraforming Venus. When scientists announced a way to achieve faster-than-light travel, Victor assumed it would be used to speed the travel time between colonies. Earth’s political atmosphere was still a fractured thing, divided between the United National Alliance, Siberian Republic, and several others. Control over new territory had become a deciding factor for international strength. However, the UNA had much bigger ideas in mind.

      Victor was recommended to the UNA by an old military acquaintance – after reviewing his record, they conscripted him for the test-run of their “Solar Genesis” project. On June 22, 2403, he and six other test pilots lifted off from the lunar charging station and proceeded to jump 1.13 light-years out of the Sol system, making the Genesis I the first human craft to exceed the speed of light. DeLeon was hooked – his only comment upon returning was, “If she was a real woman, I’d take her to bed for a week.”

      Two years after that first successful test, Victor had racked up a daunting number of records with FTL craft. Solar Genesis had produced five new iterations of their test ship, each one improving on the previous design. By this time, the UNA was setting its sights on distant planetoids, in the hope of expanding colonization beyond the Sol system.

      February 15, 2405, Victor was preparing for another test run in the Genesis V. The number of crew had been reduced with each successive version, and only three others joined him on the run. They initiated the FTL drive as planned, but a vector miscalculation skewed them off-course, nearly tripling their intended velocity as they found themselves in a slingshot trajectory through Jupiter’s gravity. Feedback in the FTL drive caused electrical malfunctions throughout the ship – in 2405, the Genesis V unintentionally became the first human craft to achieve a transplacement jump, and one which vastly exceeded the capabilities of System craft.

      Regrettably, the jump slagged the FTL drive and all four were left adrift in an unknown star system, shaken but alive.

Zoe
Age: 5 (19)
Sex: Female
Race: Rah'li
About:
Typical Rah’li growth periods range between three quarter-cycles to a full cycle, before they are released from their acceleration canisters and sold to their respective patrons. The size of a ‘crop’ of Rah’li varies from one facility to the next, though in all of them it is considered standard practice to sell at least 80% before their actual release.

      Zoe was grown in a crop of thirty. After a half-cycle of growth, the Nissimgrai in charge had only managed to obtain a sale on eight of them, and was desperate for preorders. Thus, when a wealthy Krek approached them offering an extra sum if his purchase was released early, the gene-facility was only too happy to oblige. They cautioned him on potential growth or mental handicaps, insisted on an extra waiver for the early termination of the growing period, and with their rear parts covered, Zoe was extracted from her container and released.

      She had only reached the physical age of 14 at this time, and with the mental conditioning cut short, she had not even imprinted with basic language instruction. This, in truth, was the primary reason her patron had insisted on an early release. He tutored her privately in the Krek language, refusing to teach her anything of Systems Standard and punishing her if she attempted to converse with anyone who spoke it.

      Despite the Nissimgrai warnings however, Zoe proved to be a rapid learner. Over the course of her first cycle, she learned to read and speak Krekken fluently, and showed a surprising aptitude for mathematics as well. Her patron viewed these developments with concern, but did not discourage her.

      For three and a half cycles, Zoe accompanied the Krek on political errands throughout the Core Systems. Occasionally, he would confide troubling developments to her, venting his frustrations to the only party he knew to be politically “safe.” Seeking his embarrassment or ruin, Zoe was approached several times on these trips, primarily by Nissimgrai, but her inability to speak Systems Standard prevented them from gaining anything useful, and none were brave enough to try anything forceful.

      Her patron’s luck ran thin, however, when she was approached by another Krek while at a conference on Meritus. Since she had never been forbidden to speak with other Krek, and was too naïve to question the other’s motives, she conversed openly with him. Clever and polite, the Krek praised her fluency in their language and did not pressure her on any topics that seemed to make Zoe uncomfortable – though given her naiveté, there were very few.

      Barely five days later, the results of her indiscretion became apparent. Her patron was disgraced and exiled to the Fringe systems, and Zoe was sold to another Krek – the same one she had spoken to on Meritus. Her duties changed very little, though her childlike nature seemed to aggravate her new patron on several occasions.

      In early 299-ssc, she accompanied her patron Krek to his new assignment as planetary Administrator of the Astivelle system.

Rachet
Age: 31
Sex: Male
Race: MechaSentient (Core-3)
About:
      Along with his friends Rivet and Frank, one of the co-owners of RRF Transport. They operate a minor shipping business in the Fringe Systems.

      Rachet is the brains of the trio. His knowledge of mechanical and electrical systems keeps their KV-22 freighter Toy Solder in prime condition, although his perfectionist nature leaves him berating the sub-optimal quality of parts, or their lack of availability in the Fringe.

Rivet
Age: 29
Sex: Male
Race: MechaSentient (Core-3)
About:
      The “muscle” of RRF, Rivet is none too bright and tends to work best helping out with the cargo. Though Rachet and Frank have known him for years and remain his closest friends, his inferior programming often tends to annoy them. Worse, he has a terrible habit of making bad puns, especially meksen ones.

B1V5-13 (“Bivsie”)
Age: 46
Sex: Male
Race: MechaSentient (Core-2)
About:
      The deputy of security on the Beyron-IV Waystation, B1V5-13 prefers to be called by his serial number, though its superficial resemblance to letters earned him his “detestably cute” nickname. Where his duties are concerned, B1V5-13 prefers to run station-side affairs as tightly as possible – a difficult task, given the general apathy and disreputable nature surrounding Beyron-IV.

Anne
Age: ???
Sex: Female
Race: MechaSentient (Core-3)
About:
      A dock-hand on Beyron-IV, Anne spends most of her spare time in “The Nut & Bolt,” trying to forget where she is. Thanks to Captain Morrigan’s Spliced Coolant, she usually succeeds.

      …At least until the next morning.

Giz
Age: ???
Sex: Male
Race: MechaSentient (Core-2)
About:
      The proprietor of Beyron-IV’s most popular meksen bar, “The Nut & Bolt.” Like most of those on the waystation, he’d prefer to be elsewhere, but enjoys his job as much as his programming allows.

      After a particularly bad brawl between two of his customers several cycles ago, Giz invested in an external backup drive, and now keeps a constant audio and video log streamed to it during business hours.

Svarius
Age: ???
Sex: Male
Race: MechaSentient (Core-?)
About:
      Svarius is the administrator of Beyron-IV. He oversees both the operation and security of the waystation, and in some respects has more control than a planetary administrator. He performs his duties with precise efficiency, though privately considers the station to be a waste of his time and abilities.