Officially, the FNS Roanoke was a Sol Federation support and logistics vessel assigned to fleet resupply operations during the fourth year of the War for Fortuna.
According to public military records, the ship was operating in orbit above Fortuna in 2579 when it was caught in heavy fighting between Federation and Sovereign Systems Republic forces. The vessel suffered catastrophic damage, entered the atmosphere, and crashed into the northern districts of Vesta, leaving much of its hull embedded within what is now North No Man's Land.
Federation authorities claimed that the Roanoke carried nothing more than routine military supplies, scientific equipment, and logistical personnel.
Few believe that explanation.
Sections of the wreckage bear the insignia of the Federation Armed Forces Science Division, markings inconsistent with the ship's official role. In the years since the crash, neither the Federation nor the Republic has made any public attempt to recover the vessel, its crew, or its cargo.
Instead, the wreck has been sealed behind an impenetrable quarantine.
Most civilians know only rumors.
Most soldiers know nothing at all.
Months before its destruction above Fortuna, the Roanoke participated in a highly classified Federation expedition to Tau Dolantus, a frozen world located far beyond established space.
The operation consisted of:
Twenty Federation warships.
Multiple scientific vessels.
Thousands of soldiers and support personnel.
Researchers, engineers, and civilian specialists.
Federation Special Operations Command detachments.
The expedition was commanded by:
Major General Spencer Ahaad, commander of ground operations.
Admiral Belladona Brevit, commander of the naval task force.
Dr. Earl Vazques, chief scientific authority.
Personnel were told only that the mission was essential to the future of humanity and the war effort. The true objective remained classified even to much of the expedition itself.
Beneath the ice of Tau Dolantus, they discovered something ancient.
Within weeks, the expedition had ceased to exist.
Deep beneath the frozen surface of Tau Dolantus lay an object of unknown origin, age, and purpose.
Official records simply refer to it as the Artifact.
Its creators remain unknown.
Its properties remain poorly understood.
What little is known has been buried beneath the highest levels of Federation secrecy.
The Artifact appears capable of:
Altering biological life.
Reshaping organic tissue.
Interfering with death itself.
Producing unknown psychological effects.
Reanimating infected corpses.
Exposure to the Artifact transformed members of the expedition into entities later designated Revenants.
Revenants are violent, necrotic organisms created from dead or infected hosts. Most lose all recognizable traces of memory, personality, and identity, becoming aggressive creatures driven by instinct and whatever influence the Artifact exerts over them.
The corruption spread faster than Federation containment teams could respond.
Research stations fell silent.
Warships disappeared from communications.
Entire battalions vanished beneath the ice.
The Tau Dolantus Expedition collapsed into chaos.
As the situation deteriorated, Major General Spencer Ahaad declared Scenario Five.
Scenario Five is the highest emergency protocol in the Sol Federation and may only be authorized when a threat is believed capable of endangering humanity itself.
Its directives are absolute:
Military authority assumes control over all civilian and scientific personnel.
All research data, biological samples, records, and communications are to be destroyed.
All ships, vehicles, and infrastructure are to be rendered unusable.
All personnel are ordered to self-terminate.
Those refusing orders are to be executed by Federation Special Operations Command.
Containment forces are ordered to terminate themselves after mission completion.
Scenario Five contains no evacuation procedures.
No rescue operations.
No survivors.
Only containment.
The Roanoke was the only vessel known to escape Tau Dolantus.
Upon reentering charted space, it broadcast fragmented emergency transmissions confirming that Scenario Five had been declared by Major General Ahaad.
Communication with the crew was never successfully established.
Near Fortuna, Federation vessels intercepted the Roanoke and opened fire.
Public reports later blamed the Sovereign Systems Republic for the destruction of the ship.
Those reports are false.
The Roanoke was deliberately shot down by the Sol Federation before crashing into northern Vesta in 2579.
Why the ship returned remains unknown.
Unanswered questions remain:
Did members of the crew deliberately violate Scenario Five?
Did the crew lose control of the vessel?
Was the Artifact brought aboard intentionally?
Did something else pilot the ship home?
Was the Roanoke attempting to warn humanity or infect it?
No surviving records provide definitive answers.
Following the crash, a covert containment perimeter was established around the wreckage.
Official maps describe the region as a combination of unstable ruins, industrial contamination zones, and minefields.
Those explanations are fabrications.
The true purpose of the quarantine is simple:
Nothing enters. Nothing leaves.
The quarantine is enforced by the Quarantine Security Detachment (QSD), a secretive organization operating outside conventional Federation authority.
Personnel stationed within the Zone include:
Soldiers wearing unmarked combat armor.
Scientists in sealed hazmat suits.
Combat robots and automated defenses.
Surveillance drones and sensor networks.
MAG-40 Greyhound armored vehicles.
Unidentified intelligence operatives.
The QSD's standing orders are absolute:
Shoot intruders on sight.
Issue no warnings.
Take no prisoners.
Destroy unauthorized aircraft.
Eliminate witnesses.
Prevent contamination at any cost.
Even lost Federation patrols have reportedly vanished after entering the Zone.
Rumors persist that the QSD answers directly to Brigadier General Sebastian Holloway, the Strategic Intelligence Directorate, or some authority entirely separate from the Federation military itself.
No one knows for certain.
Only a handful of senior officials possess the full truth surrounding Tau Dolantus, Scenario Five, and the nature of the Artifact.
Most Federation personnel believe they are guarding classified military research.
Even many high-ranking officers remain ignorant.
The Republic knows that the Federation deliberately destroyed the Roanoke and suspects that the wreck contains biological or experimental weapons.
However, the SSR has no confirmed knowledge of Tau Dolantus, Scenario Five, or the existence of Revenants.
Several Republic reconnaissance teams sent into North Vesta have disappeared without explanation.
The FPG understands only that both superpowers fear the wreck.
Resistance fighters, scavengers, and civilians avoid the northern quarantine whenever possible.
Among the people of Vesta, stories of ghosts, monsters, and cursed soldiers have become common urban legends.
The Syndicate knows that something valuable and dangerous lies inside the Quarantine Zone.
Over the years, smugglers and scouts have attempted to investigate the area, but few returned.
Syndicate Captain Ravik Hallow currently considers the region too dangerous to justify major investment.
As he reportedly told one of his lieutenants:
"Secrets are profitable. Dead smugglers aren't."
The Sol Federation possesses enough orbital firepower to erase the Roanoke and the surrounding districts from existence.
It has chosen not to.
This suggests one of several possibilities:
The Artifact remains aboard the vessel.
Critical research data survived the crash.
Senior expedition personnel may still be alive.
The Federation believes the Revenants can be weaponized.
Destroying the Artifact could trigger an unknown reaction.
Something aboard the Roanoke cannot be destroyed by conventional means.
The ship escaped Tau Dolantus for reasons nobody understands.
Whatever the truth may be, the Federation has proven willing to sacrifice soldiers, civilians, and entire sections of Vesta to keep the secret buried.