"Welcome to the grim darkness of the future. Enjoy your stay."
Access Violation is an Alternative Canon roleplay and the first story in the series detailing affairs between Mechanocratic Russia and the Imperium of Sidhae. Detailing the events of the Lenin Affair, it features four main plot arcs:
- Colonel Victor Golovkin's attempts to bring missing Mecharussian Space Marines Colonel Visarion Tokarev, Sergeant Vsevolod Berdan and Corporal Yuri Lavochkin back home after their spaceship, the MSS Vladimir Lenin, is destroyed over the planet Scatach Prime, bringing in tow the young scavengers Riva Geller and Nathan Epstein.
- The brutal torture and subjugation of Mecharussian Captain Zinoviya Marilova by Sidh Judicatrix Serena Romana, dispatched to Scatach along with Alain, Halko and Olhon to capture the remaining Russians for unknown purposes.
- The romantic affair between Alain and Mildred 'Flannery' Boughton, the ferociously-cantankerous kingpin of Bayit Gadol's criminal underworld who arrived on Scatach after a botched commando raid.
- The efforts of Immanuel 'Monya' Hershkowitz, Flannery's most direct rival, to seize control of the underworld for himself, secretly backed by Sidh Domestic Security precentor Jamtar Namer and firebrand Word Bearer Azariah Carron.
There are also three secondary plot arcs:
- General Elena Trotskaya's struggle to cope with learning that she is bearing Golovkin's child, having been impregnated shortly after the Battle of Kuala Lumpur in the Singaporean civil war.
- The negotiations between the Mecharussian and Sidh governments for an embassy exchange.
- The efforts of Marco Webley to bring down the gang-imposed order and install philanthropist Word Bearer Minki as leader of the ghetto.
Plot Summary[]
The beginning of Access Violation focuses on the battle over Scatach Prime. After being dispatched for a field-test in the Singaporean Civil War, the MSS Vladimir Lenin is accidentally teleported to the wrong dimension - the engineering crew of the ship, acting under orders of the ship's commander, Brigadier Vasiliy Sokolov, determine the cause to be the teleporter drive's navigation computer not having the Singaporean universe on its database, causing the 'access violation' for which the story is named. As a result, the drive's failsafe kicked in to prevent the vessel from being destroyed mid-transit or transported to Hyperspace.
The arrival of the Lenin is reported on a deep-space surveillance buoy as a jump signature, and the Sidh strike cruiser Hammer of Thor is sent to investigate the disturbance. Upon the Lenin being discovered, both ships find themselves unable to communicate with each other, in spite of attempts by the Hammer to hail the ship using a lasercom. In the hope of persuading the cruiser to back off, Sokolov orders the Lenin to fire a warning shot with one of its ion cannons. However, the Hammer mistakes this for a full-blown attack, and a battle between the two ships commences. The battle turns out to be extremely one-sided, and the Lenin is destroyed with minimal effort. Most of the crew escapes the destruction of the dreadnought - however, only four survive planetfall: Tokarev, Marilova, Berdan and Lavochkin.
Tokarev lands in a forest to the north of the crash site, while Marilova lands on a barren hillside. Marilova attempts to communicate with Tokarev to ascertain his status, nearly getting him killed by a patrolling Sidh drone as a result. After learning that he is safe, she discovers a pair of local scavengers - Riva and Nathan - rummaging through her escape pod. After a tense meeting, Marilova introduces herself to the pair and vice versa. Meanwhile, Tokarev is attacked by a native predatory cat, narrowly surviving the battle. He initially intends to camp out in the forest, until he learns that Marilova has made contact with the two scavengers.
As the two plan to regroup, the commander of the Hammer, Martellus Radec, has been listening in. Mistaking Marilova for being the captain of the Lenin, Radec plans to capture the surviving Russians so that the Sidh authorities do not learn of the unexpected incursion. Radec's marines attack in the dead of night, forcing Tokarev, Nathan and Riva to flee. Marilova sacrifices herself to buy her comrades time and attempts to put up a fight, but is easily overwhelmed and the capture operation is successful. In the escape, Riva is badly injured by a powerful plasma blast from one of the marines' energy rifles.
Later in the night, the solar buggy conveying the trio breaks down. As they plan to repair the buggy in the morning, they are suddenly accosted by a group of Greencoat scavengers making their way to the Lenin crash site. Before the Greencoats can harm them, Berdan and Lavochkin arrive at the last minute in a GAZ-2147 Deya fast attack vehicle, destroy their crawler and kill the gangsters. Berdan offers to transport the trio, but the Mecharussians do not know where. Nathan suggests Bayit Gadol and, realising that the Sidhae will capture the marines if they are detected, has them steal some of the jackets from the dead Greencoats. The disguise works, and they sneak into the ghetto just as dawn breaks - but not before a tense confrontation with a Sidh patrol commanded by Nathan and Riva's friend, Avitus. Meanwhile, Boughton learns that the Greencoat scavengers that tried to rob Tokarev, Riva and Nathan were killed: needing the destroyed crawler's precious cargo to secure an important business deal, she flies into a rage and orders her thugs to locate the Deya.