Set Discrepancy

Characters

You: You were among the entry staff for the Theia Mining Venture when the colony was first established two years ago. Engaged as a safety officer to oversee surveys of the planet's underground tunnel system, you are presently stationed at Drop C, one of the large naturally-formed shafts that open down into the planet's bowels.
Evan Derichard: Like most of White Horse's current staff he has a questionable past, having performed shipping operations for any space-based faction with money to dangle, but his record was clean enough for him to secure the position of Lead Surveyor at Drop C. His years as a freelancer have given him tremendous self-sufficiency and an unflappable survivalist nature. You and Evan are known to be excellent survey partners.
Kimberly Saga: One of the original board members of Xue-Lancit Corporation, the business enterprise that went bankrupt and schismed into White Horse Enterprises. She now stands as Chief Executive Officer for White Horse, and has chosen to operate out of White Horse's new colony on Planet Theia, along with most of her senior staff.
Henry Lee: An old friend of CEO Kimberly Saga, he has been getting increasingly cynical about her philanthropic convictions which he feels will be the death of the company. He is your direct superior, managing the mining operation at Drop C, and he also serves on the colony's board of directors. It was under his supervision that a mining team made the discovery of an alien artifact under Planet Theia's surface.
Melissa Graaskamp: One of White Horse's hasty new hires following the first wave of staff resignations, Melissa is in training at Drop C for a surveying position. Her past is particularly shady, and she credits White Horse for having "rescued" her from criminal circles by giving her this job and a chance to earn a living within New Earth law.
Meghan Cambridge: A business relations officer. Meghan is part of a small office stationed on Planet Theia that communicates with the company's contacts in other parts of space in attempts to sell the planet's silver resources. Her team is responsible for the new contract with Samura Industries that looks to be the company's salvation; however, a long-standing addiction to sedatives has made her prone to delusions, and excessive time at the colony's holosuite threatens her eyesight and peripheral nervous system.
Dr. Gail Columbine: The Chief Science Officer and Head of Hydroponics in the Planet Theia colony. Frustrated with the environment in the Tigris Complex, she has recently implemented a confusing series of schedules and restrictions on food production.
Sasha Elumir: Sasha's official position within the company is with the Research and Development department, but he also writes for the children's magazine Upward, which partly sponsors his presence in the colony. The fact that a magazine would go to such expense has raised speculation about his true agenda on Planet Theia.
Candace Pike: Another member of the Research and Development team. She was born on Earth, and lived most of her life in one of the extremely superstitious Gaian communes that formed in response to the devaluing of Planet Earth in the wake of space colonization. Theia is her first off-world position, and she was one of the very few staff members to be granted access to the alien artifact for study.
Dr. Zeb Vinita: The psi therapist for the Planet Theia colony. Trained in the new field of body-to-body psionic communication, one of his responsibilities is to evaluate the mental fitness of colony members.


Timeline

2088. The rogue planet Theia is discovered when it passes in front of the star Delta Col. The planet is about 63,000 AU (one light-year) away from the sun. (Compare Neptune, with a mean distance of 30 AU from the sun.) It's most unusual feature is it's mineral constituency: over 15% natural silver.

2089. Studying its trajectory, astrophysicists hypothesize that Planet Theia used to be part of the local solar system, but was ejected from the system due to an unknown event.

2095. The Euphrates, a privately-owned colonial vehicle, makes planetfall on Theia's surface. This is the first major planetfall recorded, although there have been unregulated visits by rogues and zoners before this time. Surveyors report that the planet's only notable feature is a system of subterranean tunnels.

2101. The Euphrates is abandoned due to personnel depletion and numerous raids by deep-space pirates. Reports that Planet Theia contains no resources of particular value, other than the high silver content, leads to a general loss of interest in the planet.

2109. Xue-Lansit Corporation, a philanthropic company known for providing jobs for displaced colonists and refugees, declares insolvency. The company liquidates its last piece of real estate, a Jupiter ship-building plant. A core group of partners schisms to form White Horse Enterprises. Using its last reserves of capital, White Horse declares their intention to establish a research and development colony on Theia.

2110. The New Earth Government refuses White Horse's appeal for crown protection on Planet Theia. (Had it been successful, this would have meant that N.E.G. law would be in place on Planet Theia, and White Horse could litigate against any criminal activity committed against their colony.) Instead, White Horse hires the UNN Coepto, a privately-operated security battleship, for protection.

2111. White Horse's planetside colony is constructed on Theia from prefabricated environment modules. The company also re-purposes the ruins of the Euphrates as a hub for the company's mining activities.

February 2112. The last accounted-for personnel from the Euphrates dies in hospital of self-inflicted wounds.

July 2112. The White Horse CEO and major partners arrive planetside for the colony's official ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new research colony and the mining hub are christened, repectively, the Tigris and Euphrates Complexes.

April 2113. Initial interest in White Horse's exploration of the pioneer field of human psionics wanes as the company reports losses on its annual stock report.

November 2113. Eye on the Sky magazine publishes a vicious series of articles claiming that the Theia venture was financed mainly through criminal gains, calling attention to the CEO's desperation to keep the company afloat and her family's historical ties to criminal organizations. White Horse suspects that colony security has been compromised and starts implementing oppressive security measures.

March 12 2114. White Horse surveyors discover a curious anomaly below Theia's surface: a deep abyss whose size cannot be determined due to equipment malfunctions each time a team tries to measure it. Notably, probes of the fissure's depth consistently return values larger than Planet Theia's actual diameter.

April 30 2114. White Horse reports another year of loss. With little of note to come out of their R&D initiatives, and with few buyers willing to purchase resources from the planet due to its distant location, the Theia venture seems doomed to bankruptcy.

May 3 2114. White Horse finally comes into a windfall with the discovery of an alien artifact in the tunnels below the planet's surface.

May 11 2114. After a week of secrecy, White Horse releases details on the nature of the artifact, claiming it to be a primitive weapon. An unveiling ceremony is announced for the middle of the coming June.

May 16 2114. Members of the colony start to experience disruptive levels of anxiety, slowing down operations. Many colony members express the desire to leave the planet, without being able to articulate why.

May 23 2114. Apparently influenced by the company's new cachet, various investors take sudden interest in White Horse and purchase contracts for most of the company's resources.

June 10 2114. After many incidents of violence, and in spite of the company's recent turnaround, the White Horse senior staff concedes to allow for a one-time mass exodus of any employees who no longer wish to remain on the planet. Arrangements are made for them to wait on the orbiting Coepto until transportation away from the planet arrives.

June 12 2114. You are a lowly safety inspector whose biggest worry has always been to make sure miners zip up their space suits before venturing into the tunnels. You wake up in your dormitory, unsure of what time it is or how you got there. The automated announcement system is barking out strange messages, and you can't seem to find anyone else ...