We’ve seen Radish Saumet’s spacecraft, Happy Delivery, before! Her spacecraft doesn’t have much of an aesthetic (except for the spraypainted Jolly Roger on the side) because it’s so modular; Radish swaps parts as needed, keeping the ISp and thrust as high as she can afford.
Her spacesuit, on the other hand, is another matter. Over time, she’s swapped dozens of parts in and out to match her tiny frame and her habits. Barring repairs, though, it’s remained the way it is for the last couple of years. Continue reading “Captain Radish Saumet’s Spacesuit”
The Happy Delivery is Captain “Radish” Saumet’s grudging pride and joy. Built out of discarded (and “discarded”) pieces of abandoned (or surrendered) spacecraft, she plies the asteroid belt for goods worth carrying.
The Soviet Almaz space station system is an adaptable set of orbit-assemblable parts that forms the basis of the Soviet Space Force of 1979. For the last several years, hundreds have been constructed and launched from Star City, most as spy satellites and platforms from which to drop their crewed nuclear bombs.
When the USSR launched its first piloted orbital nuclear warhead into orbit in 1959, the United States responded by electing Richard M. Nixon to his first term as President. Nixon buoyed by the fear of existential crisis, boosted the United States’ military space program to orbit and left President Goldwater with a legacy of programs he would need to meet the Soviets face-to-face on the Moon — and to contend for Mars.
The I-9, designed to be used by conscripted American pilots to intercept Soviet spacecraft. It’s intensely dangerous.
Now, in 1979, the night sky is filled with glittering necklaces of warheads, satellites, and orbital interceptors. Dangerous and unreliable, these craft are crewed by conscripted, coerced undesirables from both the Soviet Union and the United States.
The IS-9 Raven, known as the Crow Crap by those who have to handle it, is an orbital interceptor based on Boeing’s Dyna-Soar return vehicle. This production model is designed to destroy Soviet satellites and orbital interceptors. In practice, it’s also used to ferry American saboteurs to Soviet spacecraft.
But American and Soviet conscripts might find they have more in common with each other than with the nations of Earth that have ejected them from the cradle of humanity.
This is one of my early concept sketches for Fate Space. I’m having a ball working on these settings with the Evil Hatters and look forward to presenting you with the complete work! You’ll see more as the project takes shape!
