Unfinished Thoughts (M4F, sci-fi and fantasy)

[IrishWolf]

If any of these ideas interest you, please send me a PM, so we can brainstorm!

Rescue Station 254

Faster than light travel is possible, thanks to the Jump Drive. It was found that almost every star has points on the edge of their gravity wells, related to the closest neighboring stars, where it is possible to slip into Jump Space, where the distances between stars are much much shorter. This has turned voyages to other stars from those of multiple lifetimes to mere months. Of course in system travel is still bound by the speed of light but when a ship can make upwards of a tenth or more of that speed, it's not so slow.

This has allowed Humanity and other species to spread across the universe. 

However not all stellar systems are made equal. Some stars have a planet suitable for life, some have multiple and others just have bare rocks floating around them. Bare Rock systems can be colonized but it's rarely worth the effort. Normally such a star would need to have more than the average number of jump points or be extraordinarily rich in mining opportunities. So in most cases, such systems are bypassed, left alone as merely places to pass through on the way to much more desirable stars. 

There is a downside to leaving such systems uninhabited. No machine is perfect. Not those built by Humanity or the other species to be found traveling space. Which means ships can suffer breakdowns or have their shields fail, resulting in the ship being riddled with holes. Now such things are rare but that means a star system without people living in it, can be a deadly trap for any ship that suffers an accident. 

To help make the spacelanes safer, multiple planetary governments formed the Void Guard. The purpose of this organization is to build, maintain and operate rescue stations in otherwise empty star systems. These stations tend to be large, packed with supplies but kept mostly cold. Again because no machine is perfect, these stations need caretaker crews. Not a lot, in fact most could be a single person but that tends to result in that caretaker suffering mental episodes. Most caretaker crews are two people.

The Void Guard tries very hard to match the personalities in caretaker crews, as such deployments tend to be half a standard year (or more) and very boring. It wouldn’t do to have the caretakers hate each other. However they do have to rely on the information given to them by planetary governments about the people those governments send to join the Void Guard. And sometimes other details about different species get ignored. 



So in this story, I’m looking to play a human man paired with an alien woman, spending a tour of duty in the cramped confines of a mostly deactivated rescue station. Possibly one of said characters joined the Void Guard not because they really liked the idea of rescuing people but they were volunteered by their government instead of a prison sentence. Also looking for a plot point where some biological details are missed when they were assigned, like how the species the alien woman is from is highly responsive to sex pheromones and how humans, without a mating season, pump out said pheromones all the time. 



Not The Past

This is not the past. 

The pen scratched against the notebook, as the hunting guide wrote his warning. Every few seconds his eyes would leave the page, scanning the ruined encampment. He knew those flimsy chain link fences wouldn’t have kept the animals out. He had said so to the security lead. He had been assured that the fences were also electrified and nothing was getting through them. Well it seemed like nobody planned for the damn portal to close and the generator running out of gas.

I don’t know if they were wrong or if the bastards just lied to all of us but this isn’t the past. It just looks like the ice age but its not. The animals are all jumbled up, thats what the doctors were saying. I wasn’t sure, I wouldn’t know but the monster in the mountains, it sure shouldn’t be in the ice age. Take the footage from the drone and go back right now. Don’t let them close the portal on you too. 

I pray everyone but those of us out in the field were able to get home before the portal closed.

Current Date back home, June 15th, 2025.

I am heading west,

Ty McCoy

The man let out a defeated sigh, as he printed his name on the bottom of the page. Fear, confusion and anger made the bile churn in his gut, as he placed the notebook on top of the smallish drone he had been using during his excursion east, to get footage of the wildlife and help to make some local maps. Over the drone and book, he placed a large clear plastic bin, which would hopefully keep both from being ruined. On top of the bin he piled a few large rocks and a smashed computer tower.Hopefully he might just save whoever came next, whenever they reopened or fixed the portal. 

Bright blue eyes swept the camp again, taking in the broken fences, smashed tents and ruin. He couldn’t think why any animals might have done that, if everyone had been able to make it back through the portal but he hadn’t found any blood. He wasn’t sure what that meant. He wasn’t sure about anything anymore.

His gaze then went to the pile of salvaged supplies. Some food and water, blankets, a few extra jackets and other clothing, a shovel, a few lighters, more ammo, other small things and an extra pack. His friend’s shotgun, which he knew the guy would have grabbed, even if they had to evacuate. The fire axe he had been surprised to find and even more so that it hadn’t been smashed. He had no idea why it had been included in the camp. Must have been some boilerplate regulations for a lab setup.

Finally he looked towards his new.......companion. He had saved her, as he rushed back towards camp and he wasn’t sure if thats why she was following him or if she had nowhere else to go. Even if the feathered T-rex looking thing eating wooly mammoths in the mountains hadn’t been able to convince him this wasn’t the past, she would have. He was sure nothing like her had ever shown up in the fossil record before.



Alright so in this one I’m looking to play the human guy paired with someone not human. Could range from being a stoneage elf to a neko or a full anthro or anywhere between. I’m seeing plot going in two ways, an adventure roaming the wild primitive world or some sort of survival homesteading. I’d love to hear ideas. 


The Halls of the Mountain God

She had been told all her life, to never go deep into the woods and to stay away from the mountain. Everyone said that if you got lost in the forest at night, then the trolls would come down and find you. They would carry you away, up into the mountain and feed you to the devil that lived there and then make bread from the bones left over. 

Or at least almost everyone said that. 

Not Great Grandma though. She had been the oldest woman in the village and often told stories, out of the hearing of the local cleric. It wasn’t a devil up in the mountain but one of the old gods. He wouldn’t eat you but he would kill you, if it would protect his trolls and maybe, just maybe he’d make a bargain. He was a smithing god or so Great Grandma said, who made magical weapons. He’s the one who made the weapons for the heroes in the old songs.

No matter what is the case, the mountain is better than being at home.

The little village had heard there was war, some lords fighting over claims to some castle or fiefdom. No demands for a levy had been called though and they had continued as they had before. Until the mercenaries arrived. The swords for hired hadn’t been paid for their services and now, now they were roaming the countryside, taking their due. They had swarmed the village, snatching everyone. 

She could still hear the screaming, as murderous thugs tortured simple farmers for hidden gold. She could still see her father, pinned to the door of their farmhouse by daggers driven into his hands and feet, as more blades sliced at his skin, rough voices demanding to know where he kept his coins. She could still see momma, bleeding out on the dirt floor of the farm house, clutching at her open stomach. She could still see the look on her little sister's face, as she was dragged away. She could still see the face of the big man, who had torn her dress open and the terror she had felt, as she squirmed out from under him, after he passed out on top of her.


So I’m thinking the plot will be part rescue mission and part revenge arc. Farm girl makes it to the mountain, where she makes a bargain with the minor god residing there. Armor and a weapon, plus help to save her sister and kill the mercenaries, then punish the lord who let them ravage her village.