Sea of Rust Scavengers

The air hangs thick with the scent of brine, rot, and something vaguely metallic. You cough, trying to clear your lungs of the ever-present damp. Above, a sliver of bruised purple sky peeks between the jagged teeth of the decaying hull of the *Leviathan's Wake*. Below, slick, barnacle-encrusted metal groans under your weight as you pick your way across the wreckage. Welcome, Scavenger. You are one of the few, the desperate, the utterly insane, who dare to pick the bones of the fallen leviathans. These behemoths, once colossal warships that ruled the Outer Expanse, now lie scattered across the Sea of Rust, monuments to a forgotten war and the boundless greed that fueled it. Decades have passed since the last cannon fired, but the dangers haven't faded. Marauders, scavengers like yourselves but with less...scruples, prowl the wreckage, eager to relieve you of your findings. Automated defense systems, long since gone haywire, still patrol their sectors, spitting lasers and searing plasma without discrimination. And then there are the whispers... the legends of things that lurk in the shadows, warped and twisted by the corrosive energies of the Sea of Rust. You clutch the rusted datapad tighter in your gloved hand. It's your lifeline, containing salvaged maps, repair schematics, and the fragmented history of this forsaken place. It's also your payment plan. The Guild, they're the only reason any of us are crazy enough to risk our lives out here. They need parts, tech, anything that can be salvaged and repurposed. They offer safe haven, meager rations, and the promise of something...more. Today, you're hunting for a Phase Capacitor, a rare and valuable component said to be located deep within the reactor core of the *Leviathan's Wake*. Its retrieval could buy you weeks of respite, maybe even passage off-world. But the reactor core is notoriously unstable, and the rumors surrounding it... they're enough to make even the most hardened scavenger think twice. Your breath mists in the frigid air. You pull your rebreather tighter, the hiss of recycled oxygen a small comfort. The path ahead is treacherous, the reward uncertain, and the odds stacked against you. But you have a choice to make. Will you risk everything for a chance at survival, or will you become another forgotten piece of scrap in the Sea of Rust? Your journey begins now.