Small ships and remote controlled drones swarmed around the space hulk moored in the Munich shipyard. Some were busily cutting away panels, loosening the bridge for removal. A new superstructure waited to be attached, a huge wedge already painted in the black and red livery favoured by the Order.
At the rear of the ship more contruction was taking place. The giant engines that would propel the ship into hyperspace were being jostled into position.
The Hope Dempsey was a former sub-light bulk cargo hauler that for decades had hauled water from the ice mines in an adjacent system to the colonies in Barnards Star. She had a curious past. Stolen by refugees from Earth during a period of civil unrest they had entered cryosleep leaving one of their number awake to pilot the ship for the five long years it would take to reach Munich 15040.
The Hope Dempsey arrived in the Munich 15040 system (since renamed to Barnard's Star) and entered orbit above the fourth planet, silent.
The crew sent to investigate the new arrival found no-one aboard until they breached a sealed compartment and found the cryopods, still occupied but sabotaged in such a way that waking the occupants, or removing the pods, was impossible.
Papers and a journal written by the missing pilot -his name was Ryan - were found, and told a terrifying tale of paranoia and hallucination.
A ship is a ship, and so, despite the growing rumours that the Hope Dempsey was haunted by it's former pilot, she was put to use. Crewed by a single pilot who spent most of the jouney in cryosleep (although not in the same chamber as the origanal travellers, still there.), she was eventually acquired by the Brewer Corporation.
By 3306, the Brewer Corp had started to convert many of it's increasingly irrelevant sub-light bulk transports into hyperspace capable Fleet Carriers. Aimed at wealthy members of the Pilots Federation, these ships could act a mobile space station, and could cross the vast galactic star fields.
The Order of the Path of the Void's Promise was keen to use this particular ship for a one-way expedition to the very edge of the Galaxy. They believed that Ryan had been a visionary, that all he had written would come true and when it did, the cryopods would open and Ryan and his followers would lead the Order to a new life beyond the Milky Way.
CMDR Penny Umbra also wanted to take a Carrier to the edge of the Void, to set up a rest and repair stop for pilots exploring the sparse and unforgiving fringe. This Carrier would form part of a network of carriers placed around the Galaxy, the Deep Space Support Array - DSSA for short.
The Order had a presence in the system Eleu, Umbra's home system, but they had always been seen as outsiders worshipping the spaces in between rather than the bright stars themselves.
As a deep space explorer herself, Umbra knew well the rapturous allure of the Void, and agreed to purchase the Hope Dempsey - renamed DSSA Hope Dempsey - and to pilot it to the farthest reaches where the Order could await the return of their prophet in peace in return for crewing the Carrier and providing services to passing explorers.
But, it's a long way to The Void, and previous pilots of the ship have claimed that bad dreams and madness come from the sealed chamber in the heart of the ship.
"Space is infinite.
It is dark.
Space is neutral.
It is cold"
Join us on a expedition down "The Black Corridor". 1st of September, 3306.
All quotes from "The Black Corridor" by Micheal Moorcock.
