Echo Zone Salvage

The year is 2742. Humanity, having colonized a smattering of star systems, has become…comfortable. The daring frontier spirit that fueled the initial expansion has dimmed, replaced by bureaucratic stagnation and a glut of synthetic luxuries. The Interstellar Collective, the governing body, is more concerned with maintaining the status quo than pushing the boundaries of exploration. That's where you come in. You are not a politician, a soldier, or a corporate magnate. You are a "Salvager," a relic of a bygone era, a ghost in the machine. You pilot a patched-together, retrofitted starship, the "Stardust Drifter," a vessel salvaged from the debris fields of forgotten wars and haphazard technological leaps. You scrape a living from the scraps of the past, venturing into the uncharted fringes of known space, retrieving lost technology, forgotten artifacts, and anything else you can sell to the highest bidder. The Collective frowns upon your activities. They see you as a disruptive element, a wildcard in their carefully constructed order. They tolerate you, barely, because they know someone needs to clean up the messes they'd rather ignore. But they also keep a close watch, waiting for you to step over the line. Recently, whispers have started circulating among the Salvager guilds. Rumors of a vast, uncharted region beyond the known star maps, a place referred to only as the "Echo Zone." Stories of advanced technology, lost civilizations, and unimaginable riches. The Collective, predictably, denies its existence. But you, with your yearning for the unexplored and your knack for finding trouble, can't resist the pull. The Stardust Drifter is refueled, its shields are patched, and its cargo hold is empty, waiting to be filled with the secrets of the Echo Zone. You've heard a rumor of a derelict research station on the edge of explored space, a place that may hold the key to unlocking the mysteries beyond. Prepare yourself, Salvager. The journey will be perilous, the dangers are unknown, and the stakes are higher than you can possibly imagine. The Echo Zone awaits. What will you find? And more importantly, what will it find in you?