As I mentioned in my review of ALIEN Heart of Darkness, I believe it needs a clear timeline of past events for the GM. It’s fine for players to have to puzzle out what happened, but the GM should have that at their fingertips.
So I’ve created one.
Italics are my comments, as occasionally things don’t make sense. Page numbers refer to where I found the information. I may have missed something – if so, let me know.
Spoilers ahoy!
2111
USCSS Cronus visits 26 Draconis and discovers an Engineer facility. They trigger a device that collapses a red star into a black hole which then starts devouring the other two stars in the system. As a result, Colonial Administration put a travel and exploration ban on the system. [p. 5 – What did Colonial Administration know about what happened with the Cronus? And why didn’t W-Y follow up, as I would expect them to be all over 26 Draconis given what the Cronus found (Engineer star forge, bioweapons, translated hieroglyphs? And why didn’t anyone else want to investigate the mysterious new black hole – even if only in the name of science? UPDATE - this lack of follow-up may be explained by the 20 Parsec Limit, imposed in 2112 and detailed on p21 of the CMOM. Bad luck if you only have the Starter Set (and I can't see it in the Core Rulebook either).]
2173
“Twelve years ago, a company probe flyby catalogued the young singularity, reporting the system’s breakdown and its high-energy output. Weyland-Yutani won the exploitation contract from Colonial Administration and set up Erebos station to harness the plasma flow in energy trawlers.” [p.6]
2175
Erebus established, with Wicks as station manager [p.22] and Stykes as Colonial Marshall.
2177?
After her shuttle was stuck in a decaying orbit around the black hole for eight hours, Wicks returned changed… somehow different. She blew up a plasma tank and set fire to the station. Stykes claims she led a company revolt that resulted in 67 roughnecks dying trying to extinguish the fire. (However, Skykes killed them when he vented the airlocks.) Erebos is converted to a maximum-security prison, with Stykes its warden and Wicks one of its prisoners. [p.11]
Wicks continues to claim that the black hole made her blow up the plasma tank and wants revenge on Stykes and to destroy Erebos. [p.22]
6 to 12-month staff rotation implemented. (Crew rotation ship visits on a six-monthly basis.)
2178?
Project Ironfish implemented, known only by Stykes and Clerke. [p.11]
2185
April to July 2185: Hellassian lights identified swarming around a meteoric mass. Clerke requests permission to anchor Erebus to study the new lifeform. An uptick in NDD symptoms recorded. (p.6 – presumably, the increase in NDD symptoms is related – but how? And why?]
Early August 2185: Green light is given to anchoring the Erebos to the “meteoric mass” (the Cheiron) to the Erebos. Team of scientists rapidly assembled. [p.9 – The “green light” indicates FTL communication between Erabos and Gateway Station, although nobody seems to use this to communicate anything of importance after this, such as what’s going on.]
7 August 2185: USCSS Cetorhina leaves Gateway Station for 26 Draconis, carrying the PCs. Bishop records his message. [p.9]
12 September 2185: The Cheiron lifeboat is brought aboard the Erebos (although it is not recognised as such until two days later). [p.29] This disturbs the accompanying meteor swarm, and Proto-Hive Nodules start slamming into the station and begin to grow. [p.10]
15 September 2185: Clerke tries to find out about Cronus on the Network but is locked out by MU/TH/UR. [p.29]
16 September 2185: Clerke reads files from Cheiron – learns about Engineer stellar farming facility, 26 Draconis Strain, Lavigne and the hieroglyph notebook. [p.29 - note, I've updated this. Originally I thought Clerke got the info about Lavigne from the Chronos Network files, which didn't make sense.]
18 September 2185: Clerke learns about Perfected and their plan to infect other star systems. [p.29 – it’s unclear if this is from the Cronus files or if Clerke has now encountered the Perfected. If the latter, they’ve probably made him the same offer they make the PCs.]
Late September 2185: Clerke warns Skyes and Webb about the Living Proto-Hive. Webb was sceptical (at first). [p.19]
October 2185: The first protomorphs appear. Wicks leads a prison revolt. [p.21]
October 2185: Webb starts designing a virus to kill the monsters. [p.19] Webb and Clerke begin reconstructing the 26 Draconis Strain so they can create a virus that will kill the Living Proto-Hive. [p.28]
October 2185: The last thing Webb and Clerke need is a living sample. But before they can get one, Webb loses his mind (to the NDDs) and Clerke starts turning into an Abomination. [p.11]
October 2185: Stykes kills Clerke in the Deck C MU/TH/UR station while he (Clerke) was becoming an abomination. [p.32]
Early November 2085: Now
PCs arrive in-system aboard USCSS Cetorhina.
DA/UT/UR decrypts the Cronus black files [ p.44 – although what this contains is a mystery as Clerke had already learned everything about the Cronus.]
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