Lusitania IV

Vessel Profile
Type	DropShip
Class	Fury (modified)
In service until	1 June 3135 (see Timestamp section)

History

The RS Lusitania IV was a Fury-class DropShip operating out of Kaus Media that had been converted into a passenger ship. It was owned and registered to the Republic of the Sphere-based InterStar Travels and Shipping Company.

On 1 June 3135 the Lusitania IV suddenly exploded just beyond the upper atmosphere of Moore after takeoff, and the remains of the wreckage burned up on reentry. All 24 crewmen and 106 passengers aboard were killed. At the time, the Lusitania IV was on a routine round trip to nearby systems, and scheduled to dock with the JumpShip Bristol.

Foul Play

Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that foul play was involved, and that the Lusitania IV was deliberately destroyed in an attempt to kill one specific passenger, one "A. Reka". This was apparently Stefka Riviera, a granddaughter of Brooklyn Stevens, whose investigation into her grandmother's quest to find the Hidden Five had led her to her to a graveyard on Moore with her grandparents' graves.

One "Field Operative Dionysos (Mu/Delta V)" reported to "Olympus Command" that local internet search queries had been traced to one A. Reka who had arrived on the Lusitania IV, and in a subsequent report identified two spaceport crewmen as suspect and also matched passenger "Stefanie Riverside" to Reka, and finally reported that Riverside had canceled her reservation on the DropShip less than three hours prior to launch.

Stefka Riviera herself wrote to her brother Yeska Riviera (in a letter dated 8 June 3135, on a message timestamped 7 July 3136) how she opted not to take the DropShip just hours before its departure on a hunch; the letter goes on to describe her feelings that somebody (named possible perpetrators include ComStar and Interstellar Expeditions) is "on to her", and that she is convinced she is marked because of "the Worlds" (implicitly, The Five which Brookly Stevens had previously sought to find).

Timestamp

The LinkNet articles pertaining to the Lusitania IV incident and the Stefka and Yeska Riviera subplot, as per the Dark Age: LinkNet Articles (3136) PDF document, alter between 3135 and 3136 in their timestamp:

• "Passenger DropShip Exlodes Over Moore" has a LinkNet reporting timestamp of 3135;
• Dionysos' first report is dated 28 June 3135 in the header, but has a LinkNet transmission timestamp of 30 June 3136;
• Stefka Riviera's letter is dated 8 June 3135 in its header, but has a LinkNet transmission timestamp of 7 July 3136;
• Dionysos' second report is dated 17 June 3135 in the header, but has a LinkNet transmission timestamp of 17 July 3136 (and refers to the first report as "7-06-35");
• Yeska Riviera's answer to his sister is dated 30 June 3135 in the header, but has a LinkNet timestamp of 21 July 3136.

Apparently, LinkNet published the files with a delay of just over one year.

Bibliography

• LinkNet - Dark Age: LinkNet Articles (3136)