Scavenger's Lament

The year is 2347. Humanity, bloated and arrogant from centuries of technological advancement, has spread like a gluttonous stain across the cosmos. We've conquered planets, rewritten atmospheres, and squeezed dry the resources of countless star systems. But hubris, as it always does, breeds weakness. You awaken in Cryo-Stasis Unit 743, deep within the derelict freighter, *The Scavenger's Lament*. Your last memory is the blinding crimson flash of a pirate raid. Now, the ship is silent, drifting aimlessly through the uncharted void beyond the Kepler-186f system. Emergency lights flicker erratically, casting long, dancing shadows that play tricks on your eyes. The air is thin, biting with the metallic tang of ozone. The power levels are critically low. You are… no one special. Just another cog in the vast, indifferent machine of corporate exploitation. A miner, perhaps, or a cargo hauler, or even just a sanitation technician scrubbing the grime off the privileged elite's pristine surfaces. Whoever you were, that life is gone. You are now a survivor. The *Scavenger's Lament* is more than just a wreck. It's a labyrinth of forgotten dangers, abandoned projects, and the ghosts of a desperate crew. Rumor has it, whispered in the dark corners of spaceports across the galaxy, that this ship was transporting something... *unconventional*. Something that could rewrite the very fabric of reality. Whether those rumors are true or just the tall tales of drunken spacers, you have a more immediate problem: survival. Your vital signs are unstable, your equipment is malfunctioning, and you are utterly, devastatingly alone. You need to find a power source, repair the ship's life support systems, and understand what happened here. But be warned. The silence of the *Scavenger's Lament* is deceptive. Something else is aboard this ship. Something that hunts in the shadows, something that whispers in the static of the broken comm systems, something that is very, very hungry. And it knows you're awake. Prepare yourself. Your journey begins now. Will you become a hero, unearthing secrets that could change the galaxy? Or will you become just another forgotten corpse, another lost soul swallowed by the infinite darkness of space? The choice, and the consequences, are entirely yours. Good luck. You'll need it.