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BACKDROP: In MY 2433 several factions discovered the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. After much investigation it was determined that the ships star charts were intact, and that the hyperdrive engine could be cloned.
By MY 2452 the first fleet of scoutships had been built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the ancient Progenitor ships star charts. The results were mixed: some scoutships returned with exciting news of “Eden-class” planets, while other scouts return with tales of planets who have degraded over the eons. Still other scouts fail to return at all…
By MY2475 the "Diaspora of Man" had begun in earnest, with interstellar colony ships being sent out to the far reaches of the Milky Way as fast as they could be built.
However once at their destinations, some peoples found the life of a colonist was a difficult and arduous task, and in some cases overwhelming, either from poor planning, or from the planet being more difficult than first gauged. This happened often enough that the Peace Keepers had set up a fleet of starships specifically designed for the transport and relocation of refugees from worlds that weren’t as hospitable as first thought.
There were also several other starships which belonged to the relocation fleet, however they never showed on any roster, nor did the Peace Keepers even acknowledge their existence. Crewed by Hive personnel trained in the methods of riot police, these ships were at the beck and call of planetary governments, and were employed primarily in the forcible removal of minority factions who either wouldn’t or couldn’t take a hint that they were unwanted on their current planet. Once removed from their planet of origin, the UN had set up a protocol whereby these unwanted peoples were humanely moved to a new planet, and that said peoples were allowed to pick which planet from a list of standing fallow planets.
The Hive had come up with its own version of this: instead of allowing the refugees to choose from the standing list, they instead used these transports as scoutships, exploring previously unmapped regions of space. If they found an Eden-class planet, they claimed it for themselves. If they then found a lower class planet, they “encouraged” the refugees to resettle to this newly discovered world, and then just backdated the standing list with the newly discovered planet. The system worked: the planetary governments, who footed the bill for the relocation, didn’t care where their unwanted went, so long as they were gone. The Peace Keepers were happy in that they didn’t have to be involved in what amounted to an unpopular and darker side of the ongoing galaxy-wide colonization effort. And the Hive was happy because essentially they were getting paid to explore new environs, with the side benefit of adding new planets to the Hive domain.
The Harbinger was a ship that belonged to the Black List. It had recently stopped off at a planet whose world government consisted primarily of the Conscsiousness and their close allies the University and Morganites, and who had deemed that there was no need for the minority factions consisting of the planet-loving Cultists and Gaians, nor of the bible-thumping Believer colony. At the request of the Consciousness government, in the same sweep the Hive had collected up other undesirables who fell into two primary groups, those labeled as Drones, and the others collectively considered brigands, or Pirates. Once the Hive Special Operations groups had herded the refugees aboard the Harbinger, the mindgames began: each Faction was segregated and isolated into generic holding pens, with no communication with anyone save their Hive Overseer. To all intents and purposes each Faction was entirely alone, and were completely dependent on their Hive Overseer for any additional circumstances that inevitably cropped up. In this environment the Overseer then doled out both rewards and punishments, all selectively tailored to condition the Factions to be responsive to their individual Overseer: everything was geared to break down the psyche of the refugees, so when it came time for them to be introduced to their new world, they would view it as a Paradise and eagerly grab at it.
The Harbinger, after exploring several dead solar systems on the fringes of known space, had decided to explore a small cul-de-sac of promising stars, and on their third solar system they had hit paydirt: a nominally habitable world, it fit the criteria as a perfect dumping ground for their cargo, and after a little “negotiating” with the various Factional leaders, each group had been transported down to the planet’s surface, with those Factions who had proved more tractable being rewarded with their choice of landing locations. Those who had been more obstinate, such as the devout Believers and rebellious Drones, were unceremoniously dumped a safe distance away from the other Factions.
While the process of colonization had been going on the Harbinger had also been scouting the solar system for any anomalies that might prove worth investigating, as artifacts of previous civilizations had been discovered in other quadrants, both in space as well as on planetary surfaces. In this case the search had proven fruitful, as some sort of artifact was discovered orbiting another world in this solar system.
The Harbinger, once its cargo had unloaded, proceeded towards the world in question: as data accumulated it appeared the world was a gas giant, with an eccentric orbit taking it well out of the normal paths traveled by the other worlds in this solar system. To an observer on another world (such as the one where they had just disgorged their carago) the gas giant would appear as a bright star, alternately brightening and growing dimmer depending on where it was in its orbit.
As the Harbinger traveled across the solar system a strange thing occurred: another artifact appeared on their screens! In this case it became apparent very quickly that the artifact was another spaceship. It also became apparent very quickly that the spaceship was not of human origins, and that it also was headed right towards the artifact the Harbinger was targeting. The Harbinger’s captain, taking the view that possession is nine/tenths of the law, quickly accelerated his ship towards the artifact, only to find the alien spaceship increasing its speed as well. The two ships bore down on the prize, moving into orbits on opposite sides of the gas giant, closing swiftly towards their prize. Just as both ships were clearing the fringes of the gas giant, the artifact, which had appeared to be a derelict single-seater spacecraft, sent out a scanning pulse, probing the two oncoming spacecraft. Immediately after this the small spacecraft jumped to life, and shot down into the ever-thickening cloud layers of the gas giant. Almost immediately a chain reaction within the gas giant began, one that the sensors on the Harbinger determined would very quickly lead to the gas-giant becoming a proto-star, and if the captain didn’t react quickly, would also consume the Harbinger in its initial burst of radiation.
The Harbinger frantically spun about, accelerating hard and attempting to break out of the gravity well as quickly as possible. However it became apparent very quickly that they would not be able to break clear of the gas-giant before it erupted……
Overseer Shin sat down in the now-empty cargo hold that had served as the housing unit for the Believer Faction they had just transported. He and his crew had been charged with cleaning up and organizing the bay for the next group of refugees that they would pick up. The work had gone relatively quickly: it wasn’t just the thought of the Watcher Eyes that dotted the walls of the bay and of who might be monitoring them, but also of the thought that once this was done there were no other pressing duties for the foreseeable future. Shin had been meticulously generating a list of serviceable items the Believers had left behind when the Harbinger’s emergency claxon had sounded. Shin and his work detail were about to leave the bay when the bay’s cargo doors slid closed, trapping them in the area. Shin looked around, seeing only the empty bay, and the accessway to the launching area. Of course - they could ride out the emergency in the planetary shuttle! Shin quickly hustled his people down to the shuttle, herding them into what had only a few hours previous been the last link to civilization the Believer faction had seen before being delivered to the newly discovered planet. No sooner had the door closed than a horrendous rending sound drowned out everything else, and the bay of the Harbinger was ripped opened by the first gouts of energy from the newly forming proto-star. The shuttle tumbled free, and was quickly swept away by the huge surge of energy erupting from the now boiling gas giant’s surface. Shin had only a glance of this before the shuttle’s polarizing shield slammed down, masking off both the visible and invisible radiation. What he had seen of the Harbinger in that instant though was enough to tell him that the ship had been completely destroyed, and that the only reason he had survived was because the shuttle was designed to withstand the temperatures of orbital re-entry, and thus had been impervious to the heat and blast that had destroyed the Harbinger.
Shin took the controls of the shuttle, trying to stabilize it against the maelstrom that howled outside. As the gas giant receded, the shuttle became more manageable, and finally Shin was able to relax as the initial surge of energy from the proto-star left them in its wake.
The polarizing shield, a facet of the resonance armor which had saved their lives, automatically lifted as the levels of radiation and visible light dropped to acceptable levels. What Shin saw as the shield lifted filled him with a deep sense of dark irony: in the center of the viewing field lay the planet Shin and his team had just deposited the refugees on to. It appeared that he would again get to meet those people he had just “assisted” in finding a new planet to call home. Only this time the circumstances would be significantly different.
Shin, deflated with this turn of events, leaning back in his seat to try and make sense of everything. As he did so his communicator came to life, interrupting his reverie before he could even begin to sort out the events of the last few hours. Idly Shin wondered which of the Factions on the planet below were calling him, and if even an offer of succor was too much to expect under the circumstances. Shin punched the communicator, only to be confronted by a strange reptilian-like alien. The visage on the screen fuzzed and wavered, and Shin could see smoke emanating from several panels behind the lizard-like creature. Even with the difference of alien body language Shin could tell the alien held a malignant apathy towards him, a loathing of pure hatred emanating from the creature as it glared back at him. The creature, a small trickle of blood dripping from a gash on its forehead, rasped and hissed something into its communicator, and an eerie, tinnish voice echoed out of Shin’s communicator, “this will be settled on the planet below”. Without another word the communication screen blanked out.
After the shuttle had landed on the planet surface, Shin sat outside on a rocky outcropping, gazing up at the alien sky. The new pseudo-sun, Bonfire was what Shin’s people were calling it, was rising in the east, and Shin wondered what had really happened at Bonfire: had it been some kind of trap designed to destroy anyone snooping around this solar system, or was it truly a bonfire, designed to signal someone else in the galaxy that trespassers had entered this solar system? Shin’s mind was already numb at the turn of events, however he, as leader, didn’t have time to dwell on how horrible their predicament was. And truly it could have been worse, as at least they had the modicum of supplies that his team had packed away in the shuttle: it would be enough to start a colony, to give him and his people a glimmer of hope on this forlorn little world…….
Directions
1) In your alpha centauri/Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "BitS", and download and unzip the attached files into it.
2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "BitS" and choose the scenario “BitS”. The game will automatically load up with the Hive.
Enjoy!
D
By MY 2452 the first fleet of scoutships had been built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the ancient Progenitor ships star charts. The results were mixed: some scoutships returned with exciting news of “Eden-class” planets, while other scouts return with tales of planets who have degraded over the eons. Still other scouts fail to return at all…
By MY2475 the "Diaspora of Man" had begun in earnest, with interstellar colony ships being sent out to the far reaches of the Milky Way as fast as they could be built.
However once at their destinations, some peoples found the life of a colonist was a difficult and arduous task, and in some cases overwhelming, either from poor planning, or from the planet being more difficult than first gauged. This happened often enough that the Peace Keepers had set up a fleet of starships specifically designed for the transport and relocation of refugees from worlds that weren’t as hospitable as first thought.
There were also several other starships which belonged to the relocation fleet, however they never showed on any roster, nor did the Peace Keepers even acknowledge their existence. Crewed by Hive personnel trained in the methods of riot police, these ships were at the beck and call of planetary governments, and were employed primarily in the forcible removal of minority factions who either wouldn’t or couldn’t take a hint that they were unwanted on their current planet. Once removed from their planet of origin, the UN had set up a protocol whereby these unwanted peoples were humanely moved to a new planet, and that said peoples were allowed to pick which planet from a list of standing fallow planets.
The Hive had come up with its own version of this: instead of allowing the refugees to choose from the standing list, they instead used these transports as scoutships, exploring previously unmapped regions of space. If they found an Eden-class planet, they claimed it for themselves. If they then found a lower class planet, they “encouraged” the refugees to resettle to this newly discovered world, and then just backdated the standing list with the newly discovered planet. The system worked: the planetary governments, who footed the bill for the relocation, didn’t care where their unwanted went, so long as they were gone. The Peace Keepers were happy in that they didn’t have to be involved in what amounted to an unpopular and darker side of the ongoing galaxy-wide colonization effort. And the Hive was happy because essentially they were getting paid to explore new environs, with the side benefit of adding new planets to the Hive domain.
The Harbinger was a ship that belonged to the Black List. It had recently stopped off at a planet whose world government consisted primarily of the Conscsiousness and their close allies the University and Morganites, and who had deemed that there was no need for the minority factions consisting of the planet-loving Cultists and Gaians, nor of the bible-thumping Believer colony. At the request of the Consciousness government, in the same sweep the Hive had collected up other undesirables who fell into two primary groups, those labeled as Drones, and the others collectively considered brigands, or Pirates. Once the Hive Special Operations groups had herded the refugees aboard the Harbinger, the mindgames began: each Faction was segregated and isolated into generic holding pens, with no communication with anyone save their Hive Overseer. To all intents and purposes each Faction was entirely alone, and were completely dependent on their Hive Overseer for any additional circumstances that inevitably cropped up. In this environment the Overseer then doled out both rewards and punishments, all selectively tailored to condition the Factions to be responsive to their individual Overseer: everything was geared to break down the psyche of the refugees, so when it came time for them to be introduced to their new world, they would view it as a Paradise and eagerly grab at it.
The Harbinger, after exploring several dead solar systems on the fringes of known space, had decided to explore a small cul-de-sac of promising stars, and on their third solar system they had hit paydirt: a nominally habitable world, it fit the criteria as a perfect dumping ground for their cargo, and after a little “negotiating” with the various Factional leaders, each group had been transported down to the planet’s surface, with those Factions who had proved more tractable being rewarded with their choice of landing locations. Those who had been more obstinate, such as the devout Believers and rebellious Drones, were unceremoniously dumped a safe distance away from the other Factions.
While the process of colonization had been going on the Harbinger had also been scouting the solar system for any anomalies that might prove worth investigating, as artifacts of previous civilizations had been discovered in other quadrants, both in space as well as on planetary surfaces. In this case the search had proven fruitful, as some sort of artifact was discovered orbiting another world in this solar system.
The Harbinger, once its cargo had unloaded, proceeded towards the world in question: as data accumulated it appeared the world was a gas giant, with an eccentric orbit taking it well out of the normal paths traveled by the other worlds in this solar system. To an observer on another world (such as the one where they had just disgorged their carago) the gas giant would appear as a bright star, alternately brightening and growing dimmer depending on where it was in its orbit.
As the Harbinger traveled across the solar system a strange thing occurred: another artifact appeared on their screens! In this case it became apparent very quickly that the artifact was another spaceship. It also became apparent very quickly that the spaceship was not of human origins, and that it also was headed right towards the artifact the Harbinger was targeting. The Harbinger’s captain, taking the view that possession is nine/tenths of the law, quickly accelerated his ship towards the artifact, only to find the alien spaceship increasing its speed as well. The two ships bore down on the prize, moving into orbits on opposite sides of the gas giant, closing swiftly towards their prize. Just as both ships were clearing the fringes of the gas giant, the artifact, which had appeared to be a derelict single-seater spacecraft, sent out a scanning pulse, probing the two oncoming spacecraft. Immediately after this the small spacecraft jumped to life, and shot down into the ever-thickening cloud layers of the gas giant. Almost immediately a chain reaction within the gas giant began, one that the sensors on the Harbinger determined would very quickly lead to the gas-giant becoming a proto-star, and if the captain didn’t react quickly, would also consume the Harbinger in its initial burst of radiation.
The Harbinger frantically spun about, accelerating hard and attempting to break out of the gravity well as quickly as possible. However it became apparent very quickly that they would not be able to break clear of the gas-giant before it erupted……
Overseer Shin sat down in the now-empty cargo hold that had served as the housing unit for the Believer Faction they had just transported. He and his crew had been charged with cleaning up and organizing the bay for the next group of refugees that they would pick up. The work had gone relatively quickly: it wasn’t just the thought of the Watcher Eyes that dotted the walls of the bay and of who might be monitoring them, but also of the thought that once this was done there were no other pressing duties for the foreseeable future. Shin had been meticulously generating a list of serviceable items the Believers had left behind when the Harbinger’s emergency claxon had sounded. Shin and his work detail were about to leave the bay when the bay’s cargo doors slid closed, trapping them in the area. Shin looked around, seeing only the empty bay, and the accessway to the launching area. Of course - they could ride out the emergency in the planetary shuttle! Shin quickly hustled his people down to the shuttle, herding them into what had only a few hours previous been the last link to civilization the Believer faction had seen before being delivered to the newly discovered planet. No sooner had the door closed than a horrendous rending sound drowned out everything else, and the bay of the Harbinger was ripped opened by the first gouts of energy from the newly forming proto-star. The shuttle tumbled free, and was quickly swept away by the huge surge of energy erupting from the now boiling gas giant’s surface. Shin had only a glance of this before the shuttle’s polarizing shield slammed down, masking off both the visible and invisible radiation. What he had seen of the Harbinger in that instant though was enough to tell him that the ship had been completely destroyed, and that the only reason he had survived was because the shuttle was designed to withstand the temperatures of orbital re-entry, and thus had been impervious to the heat and blast that had destroyed the Harbinger.
Shin took the controls of the shuttle, trying to stabilize it against the maelstrom that howled outside. As the gas giant receded, the shuttle became more manageable, and finally Shin was able to relax as the initial surge of energy from the proto-star left them in its wake.
The polarizing shield, a facet of the resonance armor which had saved their lives, automatically lifted as the levels of radiation and visible light dropped to acceptable levels. What Shin saw as the shield lifted filled him with a deep sense of dark irony: in the center of the viewing field lay the planet Shin and his team had just deposited the refugees on to. It appeared that he would again get to meet those people he had just “assisted” in finding a new planet to call home. Only this time the circumstances would be significantly different.
Shin, deflated with this turn of events, leaning back in his seat to try and make sense of everything. As he did so his communicator came to life, interrupting his reverie before he could even begin to sort out the events of the last few hours. Idly Shin wondered which of the Factions on the planet below were calling him, and if even an offer of succor was too much to expect under the circumstances. Shin punched the communicator, only to be confronted by a strange reptilian-like alien. The visage on the screen fuzzed and wavered, and Shin could see smoke emanating from several panels behind the lizard-like creature. Even with the difference of alien body language Shin could tell the alien held a malignant apathy towards him, a loathing of pure hatred emanating from the creature as it glared back at him. The creature, a small trickle of blood dripping from a gash on its forehead, rasped and hissed something into its communicator, and an eerie, tinnish voice echoed out of Shin’s communicator, “this will be settled on the planet below”. Without another word the communication screen blanked out.
After the shuttle had landed on the planet surface, Shin sat outside on a rocky outcropping, gazing up at the alien sky. The new pseudo-sun, Bonfire was what Shin’s people were calling it, was rising in the east, and Shin wondered what had really happened at Bonfire: had it been some kind of trap designed to destroy anyone snooping around this solar system, or was it truly a bonfire, designed to signal someone else in the galaxy that trespassers had entered this solar system? Shin’s mind was already numb at the turn of events, however he, as leader, didn’t have time to dwell on how horrible their predicament was. And truly it could have been worse, as at least they had the modicum of supplies that his team had packed away in the shuttle: it would be enough to start a colony, to give him and his people a glimmer of hope on this forlorn little world…….
Directions
1) In your alpha centauri/Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "BitS", and download and unzip the attached files into it.
2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go to the subdirectory "BitS" and choose the scenario “BitS”. The game will automatically load up with the Hive.
Enjoy!
D
Think of it as a challenge! 
Actually what I tried to do was make them a greener version of an alien Hive. I then also had to make them a challenge to play against. After numerous iterations of playtesting this is what I arrived at. Didn't leave any room for negative social effects, unfortunately. 
we'll see how long that lasts if i lose these treaties or get the PTS though 
)
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