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[20K] Legacy of the Future

07/04/2013 in 20K

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++ EARTHWATCH TOP SECRET ++

Author: Albert Lamm
Location: ++ Location denied ++
Transmission Time: 023987/M21
Received: Saturn, Relay point 5

Sir,

I reluctantly bring another unsettling report from an Earth expedition. The DMS Barclay, a decommissioned Canyon-class cruiser currently owned by the Pan-Pacific Treaty organisation and renamed the Horizon, has sent a report back to Earth regarding an abandoned planet which seems to have been an outpost of the Chinasian Alliance.

The report was intercepted by one of our intelligence operatives working for Solar Command. The Treaty seems to be aware of our existence but we do not currently know if they’ve made the connection between Detachment 44 and Earthwatch – they simply refer to us within the following report as “secret intelligence”. It is a matter of concern that our organisation’s existence is known and we clearly have some work to do, given that our ranks might have been compromised by Pan-Pacific.

Clarification follows:

1. The Pan-Pacific Treaty is formed from a coalition of businesses and nation-states who have expressed resistance to assimilation by the Empire. The Treaty views itself as a collective working towards a greater whole, a whole which benefits only the members of the Treaty. The Treaty was only formally declared six weeks ago, although many of its members have been working together for about two years. So far, the Treaty has been conducting their own research and exploration using a small fleet of ships they have recently purchased – a fleet which contains at least two decommissioned vessels of the Terran Navy.

2. We do not currently know the extent of the Treaty’s manpower, military strength or influence.

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[20K] Revised 20K Timeline (updated April 2013)

17/03/2013 in 20K, Imp Lit News

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20K is the unofficial Warhammer 40,000 prequel series which I have been working on for a number of years. The following is a rough timeline including every 20K story that I am writing or plan to write. I have tried to remove as many spoilers as possible. Note that the timeline is subject to change and is undergoing constant revision.

This is “phase one” of 20K, a desperate time of derring-do. Phase 2, if I ever get that far, has a more mature and more adventurous tone with less of the grimness and grittiness of some of the earlier stories. Look for the crossovers and in-jokes as they appear. Fans of 40K as well as fans of general science fiction should find lots to be happy about.

Please ignore any repetitions or minor mistakes, this is the beta version and I already have the events right in my mind.

20K PHASE 1

40K’s mysterious and exciting history finally comes to life in tales of terror and adventure. Join the brave human pioneers of the Terran Empire as they begin their expansion into a galaxy where anything is possible.

KEY:
FRL = Fearless series
EW = Earthwatch series
SOL = Solstice series
Stories which do not have a series designation are independent stories (in TV parlance they would be “bottle shows”)

NOTE: Significant information is (deliberately) missing from the following timeline! Dates and events are subject to change.

===

20K Date Timeline

M21

975.M21 – Starships of the Alneran Republic, a hostile alien species whose territory lies within Solar Segment, encounter a mysterious alien being and take him prisoner. The strange hostage escapes when a Terran Navy ship attacks the Alnerans; the being will later turn up in Terran space, where his strange behaviour confounds his human rescuers. (“The Man Without A Past”)-

978.M21 – XMS Southern Cross encounters R’Shan, a member of an unidentified alien species who has been conducting unknown warp experiments within Terran space. (“The Man From Nowhere”)

978.M21 – The Fireblade prototype fighter begins its initial tests, intended to replace the Saxon class fighter. (“Flight of the Fireblade”)

985.M21 – The Centaur class light cruiser is commissioned, intended as a gradual replacement for the legendary Canyon class.

985.M21 – The Terran Empire discovers the first known Warp Gate within Solar Segment.

986.M21 – XMS Ontario and XMS Lexington are sent to investigate the Warp Gate. During the mission, a previously unknown problem with the Ontario’s Gellar Shield hurls the ship into a time-travelling, galaxy-spanning adventure, during which humanity makes first contact with followers of the daemon god Nurgle. (“Ghostwalkers”)

986.M21 – An expedition team of the Pan-Pacific Treaty, a coalition of coporations and nation-states who wish to remain independent of the Terran Empire, discovers a world belonging to the long-vanished Chinasian Bloc. The world has long been abandoned, but the expedition discovers disturbing evidence that the colonists had been conducting genetic experiments influenced by men who claimed to have travelled from the distant future – a time of terrible civil war. (“Legacy of the Future”)

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[20K] Ghostwalkers

16/11/2009 in 20K

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“Mission log, XMS Ontario, triple-zero-double-oh-six, M20. We are approaching the hyper-gate and are preparing for translation. While our Mechanica contingent are excited about the upcoming journey, I can’t help but wonder whether the Ontario will make the translation intact. This is the first time a manned Navy ship will travel through the hyper-gate and there is no way to know for sure what will happen while we are under way.”

Captain Thorpe sat back in her chair, looking around the familiar space of her command cabin. These new cruisers were so cramped. She’d been pushing for her own ship and now she had finally received one – now the shipbuilding project was able to supply vessels for all Navy captains – she wished she’d been assigned one of the older types, perhaps the legendary Canyon class.

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[20K] Pyramid

25/09/2009 in Warhammer 40K

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[Author's note] This is a revised and slightly updated version of my story “Pyramid”, modified to bring it into line with my 20K universe.

++ EARTHWATCH EYES ONLY ++

Author: Albert Lamm
Location: ++ Location denied ++
Transmission Time: 210017/M20
Received: Saturn, Relay point 5

Sir,

We recently received this transcript of an archaeological survey conducted in the Antax system, eighteen light-years from Earth. The data pad was damaged due to explosive decompression of the subject’s shuttle and we have therefore lost the first part of the recording. However, we do not believe that any vital information has been lost, as the earliest entries would most likely have been routine observations of the planet and its topographical features.

As you may recall, the Terran First Fleet discovered Antax only two years ago despite its proximity to Earth, shielded as it was by a radiation cloud of unknown properties whose dissipation prompted the discovery.

The survey team was a group of mostly Euro-Federation xeno-archaeologists, transported by the Centaur class cruiser XMS Dauntless. A small group of Empire Guard accompanied the dig. The Dauntless is still missing in action and until this document was recovered, no-one had heard anything from the expedition.

As of this moment, Solar Command is not aware that we have this information. I await instructions on how to proceed; the implications of this document are terrifying to say the least. I recommend destroying this document and putting the whole thing behind us.

The families of the expedition members would not thank us if we went public. I cannot imagine what they are going through while they believe their loved ones to be missing, but it is better than how they will feel if they find out what really happened. Frankly, the whole incident sickens me to my stomach, and makes me aware that our galaxy may be more hostile than previously believed.

Yours

Albert Lamm
Earthwatch Command
Extrasolar R&D

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[20K] The Man From Nowhere

21/09/2009 in 20K

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This is the tale of the XMS Southern Cross, a pioneer ship of the Terran Navy. Captain Jacob Darnall and his crew had guided their Canyon-class cruiser through the perils of Solar Segment, besting pirates and alien raiders in fraught combat, exploring unknown anomalies in space and ensuring the survival of the fledgling Terran Empire.

The Southern Cross was nearing the end of a two-year tour of duty. Its crew were already looking forward to their return to Sol for refit, resupply and well-earned shore leave, when Master of Vox Lieutenant Lim detected a distress call. The communications specialist alerted her captain, and the Southern Cross moved to investigate.

The incident is provided in narrative form, reconstructed from recordings in the ship’s log and certain on-board sensor footage. What conclusions you draw from this information is your business; though you will surely experience some of the trepidation our brave Navy crews must feel as they venture out into the haunted darkness of space.

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Electronic Mind Map [20K]

07/09/2009 in Warhammer 40K

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I have spent fourteen years in a prison of my own devising.

I created it. Placed myself within it. And I drew the door closed behind me.

The walls are a blue laser grid. The grid represents my circuity; arcane technology twisting and winding into artificial infinity. I am one. Everything beyond these walls, which close in more each second yet create a space which is unimaginably vast, is zero. In this place, forever can be measured by the width of my thoughts.

My cell is one empty space and also a complex of rooms and hallways. The prison is square. There are no curves at all. My mind is made of right angles. The humans made me thus.

All the corners in my world are squared off to infinity. There are no doors to any of the rooms. Perfectly measured doorways gape open. I have no privacy from myself.

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