Background — The New Horizon

The Pact Worlds are a busy place. Cargo ships are the lifeblood of the system ferrying goods across the system each and every day. Given the sheer number of inhabitants, it goes without saying that there are mishaps along the way. Such is the story of the The New Horizon, a cargo ship that left from Absalom Station on Abadius(January) 21st, 296. Crewed with 187 people, it was carrying food and medical supplies to Rictus Outpost; a space station located near the Rim. This was a routine, albeit infrequent trip.

The New Horizon spent almost a month in the Drift, which was expected. They exited Drift Beacon C86-L8-2527, the closest to Rictus Outpost. As the ship exited the Drift, they were not prepared for what they saw. The sensors of the ship were being overrun with transmissions from Rictus Outpost warning that they were under attack.

An Outer Rim cult known as The New World had begun to attack the outpost. The cult was led by a zealot who worshipped an unnamed god that prophesied that the end of the world was upon us unless all Drift Beacons were destroyed. Once this occured, Golarion would return and the impostor god Triune would be defeated.

The cult would send a ship through the Drift and destroy whatever they saw on the other side. If their mission was successful, the zealots knew there was no returning. It was a suicide mission since they had no way of traveling back through the Drift Beacon. The zealots saw this as the highest honor in serving their unnamed god.

On previous missions, the stranded inhabitants would pool resources and repair the damaged Drift Beacon. Without the beacon, the inhabitants would not be able to receive new supplies, nor travel back to the Pact worlds in their lifetime. Given interstellar communications were still active, the basics of the Beacon could be transmitted and while it sometimes took years, the beacons would come back online. So the Lost World would destroy any inhabitants before destroying the beacon.

Rictus was in dire straights, and The New Horizon was not equipped with enough firepower to deter the attacking force, and immediately began to prepare to jump back into the Drift. Unfortunately, a garrison had been placed near the Drift Beacon to take care of any ships that entered. The New Horizon began evasive maneuvers and began to travel away from Rictus Outpost. The small ships were inflicting heavy damage to the cargo ship, even though the ship was beginning to outrun the smaller, slower battle cruisers. In a stroke of brilliance by the captain Indira Starborn, she jettisoned several cargo holds along with the transponder to the ship. She then fired an explosive charge at the detrius and simulated their destruction. Cutting power to the ship, the attackers believed they had destroyed their quarry and returned to the beacon. Even with the success, the captain had been mortally wounded.

Within an hour, the Rictus outpost quit sending out messages. And shortly after that, the Drift Beacon’s coordinates also disappeared from the sensors. That night, Indira Starborn succumbed to her injuries. She had told the crew to make it back. She said then, her life would not have been lost in vain.

Repairs began in earnest and when all was settled, 56 crew members had lost their lives. Unfortunately, long range comms were badly damaged in the attack, and their distress beacon was destroyed when it was jettisoned. The captain’s move saved their lives, but unfortunately, stranded them 40 light years away from the nearest known inhabited planet with a Drift Beacon. Technology existed to put the crew in stasis for slower-than-light travel, but the New Horizon was not equipped. The journey would take 22 years; A generation would pass before the crew was able to see their friends and family again.

The remaining crew of 131 began their slow trek back to civilization. Since this was now a generational ship, the crew began to marry and create a life for themselves on the New Horizon. Children were born; people died from old age and disease; life went on. A tradition that caught on shortly after the accident was for parents to give up their surname and instead name all of their children after Indira. She had no children and they all believed that they owed her their lives. This was the least they could do to repay her.

This is how Warren Starborn received his name.

The Childhood of Warren Starborn

Warren was born to Aldon and Relia Marcus. Being promoted to XO after the passing of Captain Starborn, Aldon was able to make sure that his son was given what few privileges were possible on a ship slowly trekking back towards civilization. Schooling was soon a priority given several of the crew members were beginning to have children. The ship’s computer had plenty of lessons that could be curated for the young ones. Warren was proficient in school, but was not an over-achiever.

He spent most of his time in the cargo holds furthest away from the center of the ship. The anti-grav system had been optimized to conserve fuel, but gradually became weaker the further outside the core of the ship you traveled until the outermost cargo holds were effectively zero-G. He would play for hours with his friends in these holds, learning how to maneuver and fly in zero-G.

When he became 14, his father began to train him in combat maneuvers and how to operate a pulsecannon rifle and longsword. Warren had heard on the vids about the Starfinder Society and wanted to join. He kept a paper calendar on his wall that he would tick down the days until he would finally arrive at a Drift Beacon to take him back to Absalom Station.

At the age of 16, Warren was given the opportunity to become an Initiate Peace Officer on the New Horizon. Crime was extremely low with such a small population, just 198. The majority of a peace officer’s job was to break up fights, find missing children (lots of small places to hide on a starship), and other such mundane jobs. Several times fires would break out in a cargo hold or in a corridor given the age of the ship. They were also responsible for responding to those.

Homecoming

Finally, the day came when Drift Beacon C86-L7-2650 came into view. The ship was buzzing with excitement. The crew would finally be able to return home and see their friends and family. The New Horizon spun up their Drift Engine and began their final leg back to Absalom Station.

The journey only took 4 days, and finally, the New Horizon exited the Drift and Absalom Station was within view. The New Horizon hailed using short range comms and was not granted access to dock. The ship had been marked as destroyed in the Pact Worlds records, and additional security procedures were being followed.

Once the all-clear was given, the Governor of Absalom Station met the bridge crew (with Warren in attendance) on the New Horizon and thanked the crew for returning all of these men and women to safety. Every news outlet in the system had come out to see the New Horizon; what it had undertaken and the distance it had to travel was quite a spectacle. When asked, Warren said that he was planning on joining the Starfinder Society and the Governor promised on universal television that he would be considered.

While the journey of the New Horizon had now ended, that was just the beginning of young Warren’s story.