The Story So Far...

DEEP SPACE. SOMETIME IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

Spiral Galaxies, giant gas clouds and billions of stars fill the endless void. Meteorites pass by, spinning across space. A feint, unnatural humming noise can be heard, occasionally there is a more intense burst of sound. The camera locks on to a large meteorite as it hurtles past and tracks it. A vast metallic hull fills the scene and the meteorite diminishes to nothing until it bursts in a green pool of energy close to the ship, identifying the source of the intense sound. More meteorites fly by, some colliding with the ship’s shields. At the point of contact the shields ripple with green pools of energy. The camera fixes on a large window in the control tower as the enormous vessel lumbers towards us. The ship continues to get closer until we fly straight into the control room. Inside, the walls are covered with hi-tech control panels, monitors and equipment. Amongst all the flashing lights are six crew of the LMS-Explorer:

The six crew are specialists in their fields of expertise, they include a geologist, a pilot, a vehicle driver, a sailor an engineer and the captain. As they skillfully manoeuvre their way through the meteors, their sensors pick up an unusual space time disturbance pattern exerting a tremendous gravitational pull. The captain orders his crew to divert all power to the forward thrusters to try and break free. But taking away the power from the shields means that they will not be able to stop the meteors hitting the ship. It’s a gamble they must take as they are being sucked towards the black hole, now looming up on their Visual Display unit at the front of the Ship’s bridge. It seems to be working and the great lumbering hull is managing to fight against the powerful gravitational force when suddenly the sensors pick up an even bigger problem. A huge meteor is also caught in the grip of the gravitational pull and it starts to swirl in an arc, as if it was water going down a plug hole.

The captain knows what is about to happen and orders for the power to be transferred back to the main shields, but it is too late, the shields take time to power up and the meteor has already gone through the outer shields perimeter and the inner shields will never be able to withstand the impact of such a large meteor. Crash ! The meteor smashes a huge hole in the side of the ship sending the crew flying through the air, the bridge is momentarily plunged into darkness and then the flashing red emergency lights automatically come on, the klaxon horn is sounding the alarm, the crew have to act fast to try and save the ship. As they scramble to their positions, the crew realize that the impact has damaged the power lines leading from the energy crystals, which, having undergone tremendous energy stress are almost completely exhausted.

The biggest problem is that without the energy crystals to power the cargo ship, the gravitational pull of the black hole is now sucking them into itself. As the crew spiral through the black hole, they find themselves emerging into a whole new galaxy.

The captain steers the ship towards the nearest planet, hoping that the energy crystals will hold out until they can reach the planet’s orbit. Using all his skill he is able to maintain a safe orbit just above the planet’s atmosphere. Time is of the essence, they must make repairs to the ship’s hull and more importantly replenish their stock of energy crystals, if they are to have any chance of returning through the black hole and completing their mission. A geological survey of the planet reveals seams of energy crystals and ore, but the sensors cannot be accurate as they are operating on very low power. The only way to extract the valuable ore and energy crystals is to send the Rock Raider team down and to locate and mine these precious minerals as soon as possible. As the crew tele-port down to the planet to mine, they do realize how perilous a task this may be……