The ISC Cassandra was a retrofitted ISA cruiser converted into a VSA weapons research station.
Operational History[]
The Cassandra was originally constructed as a cargo ship which launched in 2358.[1] It was later re-purposed in 2386 to function as a black site bio-tech weapons-based research station and sent into deep space. The Cassandra was joined by two other ships, the ISC Rydion and ISC Hexis; both are still operational but their whereabouts remain classified.[1] The Cassandra's true purpose was publicly covered up by the Vektan government in which the ship was stated to be a unmanned research station used for a routine survey of local solar data from Vekta's sun, Alpha Centauri B.[2][3]
In 2389, Dr. Hillary Massar joined the ship and began work on developing a biological weapon designed to kill Helghast.[1] Helghast and half-breed migrant workers were unwillingly taken to the Cassandra to be use as live research subjects. Some of the Cassandra's crew were kept ignorant of the project and its purpose conducted by Massar in which she even feared that they would mutiny once they know the truth.[4] Regardless, most of the people who come to know about the project remained silent for they either feared the repercussions for speaking against it[5] or they did not care about it.[6] As more Helghast became unwilling subjects to Massar's experiments, the Cassandra's Vektan crew were forced to double their work shifts and even taking menial work that were previously tasked by the Helghast.[7]
Less than a year later, on June 22, 2390, Dr. Massar decided to defect to the Helghast and released her virus on the Cassandra's crew, killing everyone except Massar. An SOS was sent to Vekta from the ship, but the Vektan Security Agency (VSA) was unable to contact the vessel; when the crew was presumed dead, VSA Director Thomas Sinclair sent Shadow Marshal Lucas Kellan to destroy the Cassandra and any evidence of Massar's research by rerouting it into the sun. However, Kellan was unable to stop Dr. Massar's defection as New Helghan operatives led by Echo apprehended Massar.[8]
The cause for the ship's destruction was covered up in an official press release in which the Vale Research Institute stated that the Cassandra had completed its research mission after making "a staggering 41 orbits of the sun and traveled over 500 million km."[2]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Cassandra is named after the mythical Greek figure Cassandra, who, in the Iliad and its associated works, was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Heccuba of Troy, and was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo in an attempt to seduce her. But when she spurned him, he cursed her, making it so that no one would ever believe her prophecies. During the Trojan War, Cassandra's prophetic warnings to her father, such as the Trojan Horse, went unheeded and sealing Troy's destruction.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dossier: ISC Cassandra
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Vektan Daily, "Going Out in Flames"
- ↑ Vektan Daily, "ISC Rydion goes dark"
- ↑ Massar's Diary 2
- ↑ Parsons' Diary 1
- ↑ Parsons' Worries
- ↑ Vektan Letter Home
- ↑ Killzone Shadow Fall, campaign level The Doctor