[05] Elite: Reclamation

Elite: Reclamation

By

Drew Wagar

Published by Fantastic Books Publishing

Cover Design by Heather Murphy

ISBN: 978-1-909163-32-4

Based on the space trading game Elite: Dangerous by Frontier Developments.

Elite: Dangerous © 2014 Frontier Developments plc. All rights reserved.

Copyright

© 2014 Fantastic Books Publishing

The right of Drew Wagar to be identified as the author of this

book has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,

Designs and Patent Act 1998.

All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher or unless such copying is done under a current Copyright Licensing Agency license. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

‘Elite’, the Elite logo, the Elite: Dangerous logo, ‘Frontier’ and the Frontier logo are registered trademarks of Frontier Developments plc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and copyright are acknowledged as the property of their respective owners.

Dedication

This book is dedicated to Hiram Holroyd Wagar, 1942–2013

It was my father who first kindled my interest in Astronomy and Computing.

‘Thanks for showing me the “Frontier”, Dad.’

Thanks to:

As you might expect, a vast number of people deserve credit for bringing
Elite: Reclamation
into existence. First and foremost, thanks must go to my wife Anita and sons, Mark and Joshua, for their enthusiastic support, uncounted cups of tea, chocolate, biscuits and generously allowing me to have the time required to write a book of this type.

Martin Gisle deserves the next mention for his now infamous joke on the Oolite forums – ‘Maybe you could start a Kickstarter Campaign to fund your £4,500 pledge!’ That truly was the genesis of this book.

John Hoggard, also from the world of Oolite, has been a staunch supporter throughout and has been a steadying influence particularly at the beginning of the project.

Griff, for the loan of his amazing Cobra Mark 3 model, for use in some of the promotional videos and assistance in getting it to ‘fly’.

Dave Hughes, for bravely attempting to reconcile the backstories and history of the Elite universe. It’s gratifying to see his work recognised in the official timeline. Oh, and the man hug.

Grant ‘Psykokow’, for just being a most unique individual and a huge source of encouragement and fun throughout.

Jason Hall, for a thorough proofread and valuable suggestions on the closing chapters.

Michael Brookes at Frontier, for sheer hard work in dealing with his day job as producer, managing the authors and their insatiable desire for detail and writing a book at the same time. How does he do that?

Daniel Grubb, my publisher, for being the most professional and enthusiastic supporter of the project from the beginning. Probably the most positive, if occasionally unhinged, person I’ve ever met in my life. I couldn’t have found a better person to encourage me along.

Mae, my editor, for invaluable suggestions on the manuscript. This story is far better as a result of her attention to detail and sage advice.

The ‘Lave Radio’ crew: Chris Forrester; Chris Jarvis; John Stabler; and Allen Stroud, for their amazing podcast and unfailing support of all the authors. Allen deserves a special mention for his efforts in making all the fiction as consistent as possible.

Darren Grey, for his ‘Comms from the Frontier’ podcast. Ditto John Harper. Good luck with your books, gents.

Kate Russell, from BBC Click, for being such a good sport and siding with me in the ‘dumping radioactive waste’ affair.

Marko and Ulla Susimetsa, for waving their swords around. I think you’ll both like my heroine.

To all those who followed my blog and website throughout, offering support and valuable suggestions during the tough process of writing the story.

Everyone at LaveCon who told me, ‘No, you are doing an audiobook.’ You got your wish.

The members of the Oolite forum themselves, for ‘carrying the torch’ for Elite through these many years. Zaqueesoan Evil Juices are on me, Commanders.

Thanks must also go to each and every person who pledged against my Kickstarter in late 2012 and via paypal over the following year. Without their financial help, this project would never have even started. That 465 people were prepared to back me, particularly when most didn’t know me, was a very humbling experience indeed.

Credits

Those folk who pledged to my Kickstarter at the £25 or above had the opportunity to have their names mentioned here. Thank you for your generosity and helping to bring
Elite: Reclamation
to life.

Adam Mellor; Adrian; Aidan Thomson; Alex GS; Alexander R. Jenner; Anders Svensson; Andre Czausov; Andy 'Above Average' Smith; Andy Monks; Anis El-Mariesh; Anita Wagar; Austin Goudge; Ben 'MonkeyMan' Thwaites; Ben Staton; Brad Roberts; Chand Svare Ghei; Chonty; Chris Brind; Chris 'Crispy Leper' Lepley; cim; ClymAngus; Cmdr Ricardo 'Tricky' Harrison; Colin Barker; Commander Kevin Jameson; Commander McLane; CptSparky; Cristari; Cute Rabbit of the Obsidian Order; cuteLittleRabbit; Dale Thatcher; Dan Pehrsson; Darren Hill; Dave 'Selezen' Hughes; Dave Vint; David Pratt; David 'Saint' Bodger; David Wilkinson; Dean Crawford; Dennis Thony Pedersen; Denver Giles; deusx_ophc; Duncan Bell; Elkie; freuyh; Frog's Friend; Gary Edwards; Gerrit Ludwig; Gimi; Grand Admiral Scott; Griff; Håvard Sunnset; Howard S; Iain M. Norman; Ian Crawford; Jacqui Wagar; James Doyle; James O'Shea; James Weir; Jay; Jaymes Sattler; Jerry George; Jesse Lim; Jim Collins; John Darsley; John Hoggard; John Whitehouse; Jon Metcalf; Jonathan Hammond; Julian Crisp; Karl Matz; Maik Schulz s.p.; Majogu; Mark; Mark Bull; Matthew Benson; Michael Midura; MichaelT; Milton Stephenson; Mochyn Daear; MonkeyMan; Nat Saiger; Neil Lambeth; Neil Smith; Oliver Borchers; Paul Cook; Paul Maunders; Pekka Timonen; Peter Augustin; Peter K. Campbell; Phil Cherry; PrintsAhoy; psema4; purplepete; Ray Watkinson; Roland; Rorschach; Sam Stanley; Scott Conlan-Jackson; Sean A. Curtin; Shaun Chadwick; Shaun Gibson; Simon J. Peacock; Solids2go; Steffan Westcott; Stephen Varey; Steve Trumm; Steve Wyeth; Terry Walker; TFG; Thargoid; Tomduril; Tormod Guldvog; V3teran; Victor Tombs; Vincent Ecuyer; xzanfr

Author’s Note

In 1984 I was a young, slightly autistic, socially awkward boy with a penchant for computers. Space itself, adventure, exploration and the first faint flushes of romance were the storytelling I loved. I lost myself in the novelisations of
Star Wars
, the works of Arthur C. Clarke, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Anne McCaffrey.

Computer games were primitive and simplistic in those days. Insert coin. Left, right, up, down, shoot. Beat the high score, gain an extra life, last a little longer, die and try again. No story, no background, just pixels. It was all very predictable. I remember asking myself why there wasn’t a ‘Peace Treaty’ button in ‘Space Invaders’. Imagine that. Those games were fun, but you had no ‘choice’ as to what you did. Despite orders of magnitude improvement in their graphics, most games today have the same limitations.

Into all this came a game that was nothing short of a revolution, a game which broke the rules, tore them up and threw them away. A game you could play for months, not minutes: a game that had no ultimate goal or even a score, but a game that pitted you against the universe, ill-equipped, with just your wits to save you. Its name? Elite.

The graphics and gameplay were advanced for the time, but by modern standards, laughably primitive. Much can, and has, been written about the three-dimensional graphics and procedural generation that Elite utilised. Clever for sure, but for me, a focus on the technology misses the truly dramatic impact of this game on my generation.

This was the first game that started with a story.

The late Robert Holdstock wrote a novella to go with it;
The Dark Wheel
. A tragic loss, a shadowy villain, a quest for revenge, mixed with a smattering of romance. Derivative stuff perhaps, but new territory for a computer game. I can directly trace my own writing career back to this story. It inspired me to start writing. Thank you for that, Robert. Writing has given me immense joy over the years.

The game fostered immersion in its own self-contained universe. There were huge gaps in the experience of playing, which were impossible to avoid given the limited technology of the time. Those gaps were filled over and over by the imagination of fertile young minds. Those weren’t just ships on the screen, they were pirates and bounty hunters, crews with a mission, going somewhere, doing something. It left a profound impact on my friends and I, and hundreds more fans I’ve come to know in recent months and years. It changed us, became part of our culture; a shared formative experience with an effect that has lasted decades.

Thirty years has passed since the original game. No longer a child; I’m a husband, a father, a manager of people. Elite was a fond piece of nostalgia from my youth, wistfully remembered on rare occasions. There have been fan-remake games along the way, such as the wonderful ‘Oolite’ and ‘Pioneer’, supported by a vibrant community with their own unique flavours.

Yet in all that time there was almost total silence regarding an official sequel. I considered it highly unlikely that it would ever be written. I thought too much time had passed.

I was proven wrong on Tuesday, 6 November 2012.

Aiming for an astonishing funding target of £1.25 million, Elite abruptly reappeared on my radar as a ‘Kickstarter’, a new game called ‘Elite: Dangerous’. I had no idea what a Kickstarter was, but it didn’t take long to establish it was a crowd-funding initiative. £200,000 was pledged within the first day, it looked like a foregone conclusion.

I sent an email to the Frontier crew, asking whether they were considering a sequel to
The Dark Wheel
and whether or not there was a possibility to ‘audition’ to write it. There was no response. I guess they were pretty busy at the time.

Shortly afterwards a new pledge award appeared. It was for a ‘Writer’s Pack’, allowing anyone to write an officially licensed book within the Elite universe. Frontier themselves would provide background detail on the game, privileged information, graphics, logos and even help with promoting the resultant story. Fabulous!

There was a downside though; the ‘Writer’s Pack’ pledge level cost £4,500.

My initial reaction to that was ‘Game Over, Commander’. Not many people have £4,500 to indulge on a speculative venture of this type, and I was no exception. It was far beyond anything I could finance with no surety that I’d be able to make the money back. Contrary to some perceptions, writing is not a lucrative career for the majority of authors. It wasn’t clear at the time that the Elite: Dangerous Kickstarter would succeed or not. Financially it was simply too much and too risky. I pledged £40 for the game and a ‘non-player character’ name – a little immortality in the game – and left it there.

And then a friend made a joke. ‘You could always start a Kickstarter to fund the Kickstarter.’

It was a stupid idea. It obviously wouldn’t work. It probably wasn’t even allowed. We all had a good laugh about it. And then somebody asked the obvious question. ‘So, why wouldn’t that work?’

There was silence.

Research began. It wasn’t against the Kickstarter rules as far as I could determine. I had written books before, so I knew what I was doing. I was confident I could write a book in that timescale. I even had some previously published work to point to as examples, I had a track record. I thought about pledge rewards; characters, dialogue, a copy of the finished work. Perhaps it could work, but would Frontier allow this approach? I summarised my intentions to them and sent another email. Would they respond this time?

The answer was prompt and from David himself – ‘Yes, that’s fine. And good luck!’

The only question left in my mind at that point was would the Elite fan community be prepared to fund £4,500 for a relatively unknown author based on little more than a page on the internet. Would it work? Frankly, I suspected it would crash and burn, but I knew I had to try or forever live with the knowledge that I might have missed my own personal ‘Signing the Beatles’ moment.

Feedback from the fan community, if the Kickstarter comments page was anything to go by, was mixed. Some folks thought it was a great idea, others (with various levels of ire) were much less enthusiastic, accusing me of ‘cashing in’ and trying to derail the Elite: Dangerous Kickstarter itself. I got some quite unsavoury emails during that time, some laced with anonymous unimaginative profanity, some even accusing me of being a crook. Clearly it was a controversial idea.