Dust Devil Lazarus

The year is 2347. Earth, as you know it, is a distant memory, a faded photograph in the dusty archives of the orbital station designated "Alexandria Prime." Centuries of environmental collapse and catastrophic war rendered the surface uninhabitable. Humanity persevered, not on the ground, but amongst the stars. We became children of the void, carving out a precarious existence on space stations, asteroid colonies, and generation ships hurtling towards distant, uncertain destinations. You are Elara Vance, a Scavenger. Not a glamorous title, no. But a necessary one. On the fringes of the civilized (if you can call it that) systems, amidst the decaying remnants of forgotten technologies and shattered dreams, you make your living. Your ship, the *Dust Devil*, isn't much to look at, a patchwork collection of salvaged parts and questionable modifications, but she's yours, and she keeps you alive. Your specialty? Ghost Yards. Graveyards of ships, abandoned stations, and orbital debris, teeming with hazards and the whispers of the past. Most avoid these places, superstitious whispers of "corrosion ghosts" and "dead tech fevers" keeping them at bay. But you know better. Beneath the layers of rust and radiation, there's always something valuable waiting to be found. Something that can keep the lights on, buy you another tank of fuel, or maybe, just maybe, get you one step closer to paying off that crippling debt you owe the Crimson Syndicate. A cryptic message crackles over your comms, flagged as high priority. A former associate, a gruff but reliable salvager known only as "Ratchet," has stumbled upon something… big. Something worth risking everything for. He's cagey, reluctant to give details over the open channels, but the urgency in his voice is unmistakable. He directs you to a derelict research station, codenamed "Project Lazarus," orbiting a collapsed star on the edge of charted space. He warns you. Lazarus is heavily shielded, radiating unusual energy signatures. He suspects it's crawling with automated defenses and… something else. Something he couldn't quite identify before his comms went dark. He needs your help. And you need whatever he's found. Prepare yourself, Elara. The *Dust Devil* awaits. The void calls. And Project Lazarus is about to reveal its secrets. Are you ready to face the ghosts of the past and uncover a truth that could change the fate of humanity, or bury you alive in the cold embrace of space? Your journey begins now.