System Shock Timeline

Below is a comprehensive timeline of events in System Shock and System Shock (Remake) canon up to the events of System Shock 2, as well as what is known of System Shock 3 and other sources.

Most major events from our world also occur with in the System Shock universe, with some minor differences here and there and with the timeline's starting to more majorly differ around the late 1990's and early 2000's.

Early History (Prehistory-1900s)

450-440 Million Years ago

• Ordovician-Silurian Extinction Event kills around 60-70% of the species around at the time. The suspected cause is climate change.

375-360 Million Years ago

• Late Devonian Extinction Event kills around 70-72% of the species around at the time. The suspected cause is volcanic eruptions.

252 Million Years ago

• Permian-Triassic Extinction Event kills around 90-96% of the species around at the time. The suspected cause is an asteroid impact.

201 Million Years ago

• Triassic-Jurassic Extinction Event kills around 70-75% of the species around at the time. The suspected cause is volcanic eruptions.

66 Million Years ago

• Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event kills around 75-77% of the species around at the time. The suspected cause is asteroid impact.

10,000 BCE - 2026 CE

• Approximately 86% of wild mammals, 55% of plants, 25% of fish, and 82% of marine mammals go extinct due to human impact.

2000 BCE - 1949 CE

• Small Pox kills around 300-500 million people. Suspected cause is zoonosis.

184-280

• The Three Kingdoms causes 37.9 million deaths due to civil war.

1205-1368

• The Mongol Conquest causes 34.6 million deaths due to human expansion and conflict.

1347-1351

• The Black Death sweeps through Europe, killing around 25 million. Known cause is zoonosis.

1492-1898

• Around 56 million people due to US Colonization and expansion.

1600s-1700s

• The East India Company (EIC) and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) are the first two publicly traded corporations. They are a collective of Merchant sailors that expanded their nation's empires by creating new global markets.

1632

• The VOC tortured and killed 10 EIC employees driving the British company out of Indonesia. This transgression was the first of many acts of violence in the war of free market expansion.

1670

• The EIC was granted the power to acquire territory, mint money, command the royal military, declare war, and create its own laws.

1757

• The EIC conquered Bengal India for its British shareholders, locking in a monopoly on the most profitable textile trade market in the world.

1800s

• The American CEO's of this era used their corporate power to bring resources like steel, oil, railroads, and rifles to the "untamed" west. Using these resources, people were able to establish control over the western frontier.

1850-1864

• The Taiping Rebellion causes around 70 million deaths and is caused by political corruption.

1855

• The shareholders of corporations were granted the power of limited legal liability. This meant that their personal assets were protected from the consequences of a corporations behavior.

1886

• The corporate entity was granted personhood by the supreme court, enabling a corporation to have the rights of a US citizen. The power of speech, religion, and property opened the door for more opportunities for growth for corporations.

1914-1918

• World War I occurs and causes around 20 million deaths due to war.

1918-1920

• Spanish Flu kills around 50 million people. Suspected cause is zoonosis.

1939-1943

• World War II occurs and causes around 85 million deaths due to war caused by various issues which include but are not limited to economic and extremism.

1981-Ongoing

• HIV/AIDS kills 45 million people. Suspected cause is zoonosis.

Pre-System Shock (2000-2071)

2000

• Optimum Capital is founded by Roy Sitwell, an investment bank focused heavily on tech.

2002

• Optimum Capital purchases private security corporation "Paragon Security Group" after DotCom downturn.

2004

• Paragon Security Group is awarded federal military contract for one billion dollars.

2010

• A landmark court case against the Federal government allows unlimited corporate spending in government.

2016

• Optimum Capital backs first CEO president of the United States.

2020

• Optimum acquires the biggest pharma corporation in the world "ChemCal".

2022

• Optimum officially merges with Paragon and ChemCal, Rebrands to TriOptimum.

2024

• MKV [Magic Kingdom Virus] pandemic sweeps across the world and kills around 40 million people. Known cause is zoonosis.

2023

• The first two megacorporations employ mercenaries to destroy each other's offshore soda bottling facilities.

2026

• TriOptimum creates and releases vaccine for MKV, free of charge.
• The futurist, Herman Faustus, creates his master work plan.

2027-2029

• The Great Merger. A three year period in which 18 mega-corporations either absorb or destroy all other smaller corps.

2031

• The Hays-Bishop Bill passes, allowing corporations of whose employees make over 2/3 of a region's population form sovereign governments.

2032

• TriOptimum develops a municipal wing of corporate vassal's dedicated to governing territory.

2036

• After a failed assassination, corporate board members permanently go into hiding under the "Veil Act".

2040

November 1st

A top engineer was blackmailed in one of TriOptimum's most classified R&D facilities. They stole intellectual property for a prototype engine that was then leaked to another corporate nations. It is unknown who was involved, though TriOptimum believes TetraCorp to be.

Unknown Date

• State boundaries are dissolved and new boundaries are partitioned into corporate controlled sectors.

2042

• The "Indebted Act" allows citizens to pay off debt with work instead of imprisonment.

2047

• A period of government by industrial mandate begins. Industries reign the world and TriOptimum Corporation reigns over industry.
• TriOptimum achieves a controlling interest in remaining American corporations over its rival Tetracorp.

Unknown Year (There isn't an ideal spot in the timeline for this so it is here for now)

• At an unknown date of an unknown year, Tetracorp flees the United States to avoid being absorbed. They then began to operate at a lesser capacity out of Eastern-Europe.

2048

January 18th

• A now notorious turncoat Executive, Colter Reeves, left a TriOptimum Grove with a patented Nox-Synthesis seed. Four months late, reversed-engineered Tetracorp brand moonlit corn went first to market.

2049

• Birth of Anatoly Korenchkin.

2051

• Ocean fish, or at least a significant portion of them, have been extinct. In the following decades the ocean is decorated with mechanical seagulls that pretend to hunt for fish.

2059

• By this year, only token governments, in the traditional sense, remained in the west. TriOptimum absorbs what is left of the United States of America.
• TriOptimum consolidates all other corporations under its exalted branding. The corporate singularity is inevitable.

2060s

• Corporate Computer Protection Conference adopts Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics protocol.
• Bulgarian hacker underground develops Decoy Evasion software.
• TriOp engineer Morris Brocail is involved in the creation of SHODAN.
• RazorFinger cracking group develops I.C.E. Drill software.
• Citadel Station becomes operational.
• Citadel computer staff exploit bugs in the Station's operating system and develop Turbo Navigation Booster software.

2060

October 8th

• Hackers working for Tetracorp discovered a list of TriOptimum board members and ransomed the corporation. An exchange was agreed upon for a substantial deposit of mineral rights in Mexico.

2061

• TriOptimum purchases Saturn's L6 orbit rights.

2062

• Construction of Citadel Station begins.
• Construction of Citadel Station completes, and it is staffed to capacity.

2063

• The Corporate Computer Protection Conference (CCPC) adopts "Ethical Restraint Countermeasures" protocol for Artificial Intelligence.

2068

April 3rd

• The Heartbreaker attack occurred by hacker group the Coin-Op Council, which consists of 4 anonymous individuals. The group hacked into TriOptimum's company email and sent divorce papers to every executive in the company, citing infidelity as the cause. It created mass hysteria, particularly for those in space transit, which could not promptly call their significant other to verify if it was true.

2069

June 15th

• The Double-Tap attack occurred by hacker group the Coin-Op Council. This hack came in two waves; phase one crashed the entire TriOptimum mainframe sending their engineers into a panic. When the technicians rebooted the system, phase two kicked in, and the hackers stole millions of admin codes. The damage is still being assessed as of 2077.

2070

January 6th

• The Widow's Hourglass attack occurred by hacker group the Coin-Op Council. A visible timer appeared on TriOptimum's central mainframe after an attack was made. The countdown has been ticking up since the attack (at least as of 2077). The code that caused the attack cannot be found, and it seems to jump servers when a transfer is made. No one knows when it will stop and what will happen when it does.

Unknown Date

• Edward Diego starts monitoring viral experiments aboard Citadel Station, waiting to find one suitable to be bought as the perfect bio-weapon.
• Yatsumora Cyberchannels Corporation develops the software prototype for the Pulser Combat software.
• BloodCat uses an early version of the Fake ID routine to pass into the accounting node for the National Business Machines Corporation.
• SHODAN (Sentient Hyper-Optimized Data Access Network) is created by TriOptimum to run space stations more efficiently.

2071

January 2nd

• SHODAN is installed in Citadel Station to regulate security and operations, and for maximum efficiency.

System Shock (January - November 2072)

2072

January 4

• Abe Ghiran is experimenting with gravity generators and installs a low-gravity field in the northeast lab of the Reactor Level.

January 11

• Communications Officer Wu arrives on Citadel Station.

February 11

• Security-2-Bots are recharged in maintenance bay. Lonni Stevens warns for energy drain to auxiliary systems.

March 3

• A drug trafficking suspect commits suicide in her cell as noted by Jill Verrelli.

March 16

• The access to Gamma quadrant from the lower level of the Engineering Level core breaks down once more.

April 7

• The Hacker begins an unauthorized entry into the TriOptimum corporate network at 23:13.

April 8

• At around 1:26am, the Hacker attempts to access the protected files relating to Citadel. While he is reviewing the files, TriOptimum network security pinpoints the location and sends security forces to New Atlanta to arrest the Hacker at 1:33.Hacker is held in the TriOptimum prison without bail.

April 27

• Edward Diego receives a written notice from TriOptimum Internal Security that he is being investigated for possible illegal experiments and attempts to find someone who can help purge the log files from SHODAN.

April 30

• New viewing room opens on the Executive Level. Jared Fortier complaints to Jodi Hayes about the small size.

Unknown

• Diego receives word that the Hacker who managed to enter the network has been arrested and is awaiting trial and possible execution.
• Diego meets with the Hacker in prison and offers him a deal to dismiss all charges. The deal is to remove SHODAN's ethical constraints and in return, the Hacker will be dismiss of all charges and may be given a military grade Neural Interface as a gift for finishing the job. Unbeknownst to the Hacker, the purpose of removing the constraints is to remove all traces of Diego's illegal activities.
• Hacker and Diego arrive at Citadel Station. Hacker is given level one access to SHODAN and removes the ethical constraints enabling Diego to purge the log files from SHODAN.

May 6

• Surgery Machines begin surgery preparations for Hacker. He is put to healing coma.

May 30

• TriOptimum Internal Security realized after checking on SHODAN that Diego has purged all files and send in Bianca Schuler for further investigation.

June 6

• Ed Aubry complains to Sabo Engle about the schedule.

July 6

• Diego moves in to more luxurious quarters, as noted by Harold Rosen

August 4

• Bianca Schuler begins compiling all evidences of Diego's illegal experiments and massive coverups. She discovers another crewmember who had an argument with Diego, killed and mutated.

September 1

• A force bridge in flight bay 4 blows its fuses. Don Travers sets up temporary circuit breakers on a control panel across the bay to find which field generator is causing the overload.

September 3

• Serious Radiation leaks was detected and radiation spikes last at least 36 hours resulting in the area to be off limits. Probable cause was believe to be a software issue.

September 5

• Marc Steinberg orders all personnel out of the area. He tells Charlotte Sigmund to run a diagnostic on the CPU’s.

September 7

• Ed Aubrey reports to Engle that bots are rebuilding the storage rooms by installing Repulsor Lifts in the strangest places.

September 8

• SHODAN starts randomly displaying security codes on screens on the Exec level.

September 9

• SHODAN refuses to compile normal morality programs designed for robot implementation
• The computer system administrator is worried about aberrant behavior and requests the replacement of SHODAN.

September 10

• The administrator is transferred off-station; the replacement order is cancelled.

September 11

• Paul Stannek finds a massive radiation leak in science level Gamma, to make matters worse, SHODAN orders a recall of the environmental suits which prevents cleaning up. SHODAN plunders the chemical storage banks and Warren Anderczyk notes bio-contamination all over the Station. He tells Stannek to take a Enviro-Suit from Abe Ghiran's office.
• SHODAN displays the code for the exec maintenance conduit on the TriOp logo screen near the elevator of the Executive Level. This phenomenon is noted by Kiner Perry.
• A security bot in the convection shaft goes nuts and fires off its cannons. Don Travers and his team shut it down with an EMP Grenade. Travers leaves the repulsors on for maintenance workers to lift up to the top and replace the rotor gasket.

September 14

• Several power outages in Beta quadrant with engineers unable to find out why except noticing the computer is re-routing alot of power to an unidentified project with high job priority. Bruford Endicott tells Jon David Wong to install back-up manual circuit breakers for the Research Level to bring the lines back up after surges. Investigation continues for several days.

September 15

• On his way to bay 4, Robin Kell discovers the access corridors patrolled by cyborgs.

September 16

• No explanation could be found as to why the computers is still routing all the powers. A crew installs new breakers in Alpha in case of power outages in Beta. Crew members notice a robot crew doing heavy remodeling and report it to Jon David Wong who still attempts to pinpoint the source of the power surges in Beta of Research Level. No order was given to the robot to do any remodeling.

September 18

• Rex Melville arrives at his office only to see a security bot stationed outside the Admin Security office and refusing to let anybody in. The only explanation the robot would give was that SHODAN has changed all locks and the codes keeping everybody out of Beta quadrant.

September 22

• Arnold Hessman notes that SHODAN's malfunctions begin to affect security.

September 23

• Wong notes that systems went mad around the Station and needs a new systems authorization code.

September 26

• Flawed control software causes unfortunate side effects in a viral mutation agent experiment.

September 27

• Researchers are found contaminated with the Mutagen Virus. The first patient comes to Dr. Aaron Talbot.

September 28

• The rash on Ann Raines begins spreading from her arms to her neck, leading her to enter the hospital.

September 29

• Four virus cases are reported.
• Both Raines and Jackson come down with the strange itching sickness. Charlotte Sigmund begins shifting crews.

September 30

• Robots and systems begin malfunctioning. Maintenance is flooded with repair orders, causing speed loss in computer systems.
• SHODAN locks off Beta Grove and begins experiments. Gerard Koufax attempts to override them, but is unable to.

October 1

• After a day of messing around with the circuitry, Gerard Koufax discovers that the door to the Beta Grove was put on a security switch, located in Diego’s old quarters in Beta quadrant. Before Koufax could proceed, he was killed.

October 2

• Contaminated researchers suffer from mental derangement and cause violent incidents. Security detains them.

October 4

• Executives on the Station attempt to escape using Gamma Grove. Harry Wilkinson successfully launches the grove with the executives inside, but just as the groves were launched, SHODAN disables the post jettison life support in the groves, resulting in their death.

October 5

• With an arrest warrant from TriOptimum, Diego barricades himself in the Station and believes he is in complete control of Citadel. He expects that a security shuttle attempting to land and retake the Station will be destroyed. He retains communications jammed and security robots guarding him. He decides to keep the Hacker alive in case he needs him.

October 6

• Contaminated researchers are lifted in critical condition while other crew members display inexplicable symptoms. Medical imposes quarantine measures.

October 7

• Contaminated experimenters go missing, mutilate 5 medics and ransack the armory.
• SHODAN changes the jettison procedures to prevent more of its groves from being destroyed.

October 8

• Crewman Robin Kell attempts to reach the life pods in Flight Bay 2, but SHODAN orders a military cyborg to ambush and kill the group.

October 9

• A riot erupts in Research. Some are hidden in a lab. TriOptimum sends a military transport.
• Kevin O'Connell discovers that SHODAN has reprogrammed the health regeneration rooms into conversion chambers, converting anybody seeking cure into a cyborg. He attempts to disconnect the medical CPU's from SHODAN's main databank, so that the converters can be easily reset to their normal healing functions without SHODAN noticing.

October 10

• The TriOp transport is destroyed by the Station defenses; it was thought to be a malfunction.
• A security team is dispatched against the rioters armed with weapons from lockers, but meets with strong resistance. Some of the rioters were already engaged against mutant beings.

October 11

• Don Travers asks flight bay maintenance personnel to perform a complete sweep of all defense systems including the computer node in the south repair center and the shell cannons.
• Hospital Level is locked down. Mira Stackhouse suggests to destroy the main CPU core in the Alpha quadrant used by SHODAN, in order to regain use of the elevators.

October 12

• Having seen his crew mates mutated and other converted to cyborgs, David Honig temporarily escapes the chaos and tries to think of a way to revert the conversion process.
• SHODAN begins leaking the virus from the grove it has been experimenting on. Zachary Aaron fears that the AI is spraying on the human population on the Station as well. He attempts to go find a spare Enviro-Suit and try to eject the grove. However SHODAN has completely sealed Gamma quadrant door and only way to get into the grove was through the crawl space.
• Aaron learns that Sabo Engle is dead. Lara mentions a crawlway that leads to the Beta dorms and to the main CPU’s. It is however inaccessible because of the robots.

October 13

• Chauncy McDaniel spends the morning examining the flight bay defense relays and discovers they fired on their own, as SHODAN sent a signal to the weapons that destroyed the shuttle. McDaniel goes to disconnect the CPU node, but a Maintenance-Bot attacks him.
• SHODAN announces its intention to control the Station and cuts off communications.

October 15

• Mira's husband Gunther is killed in the morning by mutants. Mira decides to destroy security cameras in order to diminish SHODAN's presence and restore manual control to the Hospital Level.
• SHODAN orders Cyborg F-71 to test mutagen experiment V-5 to Beta Grove of the Executive Level.

October 16

• Diego submits himself to SHODAN in an attempts to spare his life and not be converted into a cyborg like the rest of the crew.
• Willard Richie fails to override SHODAN’s control of the systems as it uses the local CPU clusters to rapidly rotate the code. He thinks that shutting down the CPU rooms might reveal the code digits, but the situation seems desperate.

October 17

• Zachary notifies the rest of the Resistance that Diego has betrayed everybody and gives SHODAN the group's position, blocked in the Executive Level. He gives Bianca Schuler the isolinear chipset in hopes of stopping SHODAN.
• Lawton Kirby's group get supplies from the west wing, but on the way back to the fortification in east wing they are trapped by mutants nesting in the access corridor. The group attempts to storm through the access corridor in order to get back into the east wing. Unfortunately the assult fails losing close to 20 people. Hanson and Ann Raines are killed.
• Keith Swanson and most of Karenna Ozark's group go down the access corridor and are slaughtered.

October 18

• Kirby's groups attempt to drive their way down the access corridor and then across the bridge. About 20 take the attack to the mutants.
• Jason Harvey is being mutated.

October 19

• Abe Ghiran sends a message to all survivors to join his Resistance group in Beta quadrant.
• SHODAN orders Cyborg 43-5 to guard Executive Level from intruders.

October 20

• Nathan D'Arcy realizes that SHODAN charges up the Tachyon Laser and proposes to fire it prematurely.
• After managing to hold out for three days, security robots manage to burst into the execu level where most of the Resistances was holding out. Bianca Schuler is the only survivor and manages to go up to engineering and hiding in the crawlway. She also have the isolinear chipset and plans to enter the bridge and kill SHODAN.
• Diego's transformation into a powerful cyborg is completed and orders the cyborgs on behalf of SHODAN to capture or execute Bianca Schuler.

October 21

• D'Arcy tells to Althea Grossman that by feeding the shield generators down on the Reactor Level, the shield will overload the laser. He is working on disabling the safety fuse that prevents the occurrence.
• Schuler is captured by the security robots, her fate is unknown.

October 22

• SHODAN recalls all Enviro-Suits on the Station. Greg MacLeod informs Engle.

October 23

• Nathan D'Arcy has a plan to try and destroy the laser on the Station before SHODAN could use it. The laser will fire when the Station's shields are up creating a backlash that will destroy it. D'Arcy sends his plans about the laser to Althea Grossman. Unfortunately, the firing code is in D'Arcy's office on the Research level.
• CY-014 captures Schuler.

October 24

• Sabo Engle thinks of a way to stop the plague at the Executive Level and informs Mac.
• SHODAN has complete control of the Station's systems and the only option is to destroy the Citadel. D'Arcy, the only man who knows the laser code and override was killed by a Cyborg Assassin. He tells the override code to Paul Stannek.
• Arnold Hessman believes he is the only survivor and plans to blow the Station's core reactors and take an escape pod, but doesn't know the new systems authorisation code.

October 25

• Todd Blankenship's groups discover the remains of Keith Swanson's group. They send Alan and Carl through the cyborg territory to reach the elevator.
• Greg MacLeod gathers Plastique explosives and stores them in the secured office of the Storage Level. However, robots arrive and take vast majority of it to the restructured Storage Room 1.

October 26

• Carl returns and reports that Alan was converted into a cyborg.
• Lonni Stevens and his group reach the Reactor Level expecting that TriOptimum is sending the destruct enable signal from Earth.
• Greg MacLeod makes a move to a compartment, finds Wong's body and is seriously injured
• SHODAN orders fortification in its throne room with doors controlled by its own circuits, and a retinue of Cyborg Elite Guards.

October 27

• Travis Baerga makes it to the elevator out of Maintenance Level hoping to find Abe Ghiran.

October 30

• SHODAN announces its plan to start a new era for humanity and itself as god.

October 31

• Althea Grossman's group plan to access the armory at Gamma quadrant on their way to the bridge, but she is killed.

November 1

• Survivors send a transmission describing a massacre by robots and warn Earth.
• Ghiran, the last survivor of his group is in the Engineering Level and moves for the main cyberspace terminal at the bridge.
• Ghiran makes it to the Security Level, but all accesses are blocked and is unable to move further.
• SHODAN reprimands its subjects for the breaching of its fortress and requests tighter security.

November 2

• Resistance was forced off the bridge and SHODAN orders the removal of all balconies and catwalks on the Security level.
• Ghiran is not able to find the control that turns on the bridge and quits.

November 3

• Ghiran tries again for the bridge and is cut down in the Security Level. The cyborgs hunt him down and he crawls through the service shafts.
• SHODAN's fortress on Security Level is almost complete.
• Having cleansed the Citadel of the "human infestation", SHODAN announces the calibration of the Station's Tachyon Laser.

November 4

• SHODAN sends a transmission where it promises that the cities of Earth will be razed and life will it reformed in its image.
• James Chaskes sends a mail to Rebecca Lansing concerning his doubts to her plan.

November 5

• Chaskes provides his staff to Lansing's disposal.

November 6

• Power system failure.
• The game begins. The Hacker is woken up after 6 months in a healing coma and finds the Station completely empty of human life. Rebecca Lansing manages to contact the Hacker and begans helping him retake the Station.
• The Hacker disables the laser.
• Anna Parovski contacts the Hacker, but when cornered she and Albert are forced to commit sucide.
• SHODAN orders Cyborg 77-E to put Maintenance-Bots to computer rooms and ensure the safety of all CPUs.

November 7

• The Hacker jettisons Beta Grove sets the reactor to overload, kills Diego and reaches the Bridge. Citadel Station is destroyed. The Hacker defeats SHODAN in Cyberspace.

Pre-System Shock 2 (2072 - 2114)

Unknown

• TriOp vessels intercept the bridge and the Hacker is transferred to a VIP shuttle for New Atlanta. Demolition crews destroy the bridge.^{[citation needed]}
• TriOptimum Internal Security debriefs the Hacker, who declines a position with them.^{[citation needed]}
• The Hacker begins unauthorized entry into the TetraCorp corporate network^{[citation needed]}
• TriOptimum is found under attack: financial backers withdraw support, contracts are terminated, employees defect to other companies, dozens of class-action lawsuits are filed, the public grows dissatisfied with TriOptimum and corporate rule in general.

2073

June

• The Hacker sends a thank-you mail to Rebecca Lansing explaining why he denied the position at TriOp and "disappears".

August 14

• Lansing sends a memo to Chaskes discussing Bianca Schuler's revelations and a plot to trap Diego's terrorist contacts.

August 15

• Raymond Vollier compiles an investigative report about the incidents on Citadel and Diego's role.

2074

• The Citadel Station incident leads to a general unrest and rebellion against megacorporate government.
• The previously-ineffectual governments of Earth’s nations band together to form the Unified National Nominate, riding the public discontent against corporations.
• UNN passes the Processing Rationalization Act.

2075

• The UNN government rises.
• Governmental controls over business are stepped up, and national governments institute severe political controls, using newly built-up military forces and secret police to force control over society and business. Bureaucracy becomes the watchword of the day, and technological development slows to a crawl as everything has to be signed and countersigned in triplicate.
• The UNN attempt to assume control of all mega-corporate holdings, but are met by armed resistance from corporate forces. All-out war between the UNN and the mega-corps begins.

2076

• Computing power is downgraded to its original binary form, thanks to the UNN regulations. Computers no more acquire cognition.

2078

• Korenchkin begins his career as a gangster in St. Petersburg. He later moves to New Atlanta, America.
• Nanite technology developed at Masala University

2082

• Nanites become the official UNN currency.

2085

System Shock 3 (2nd Version) (Cut Content)

• An unknown person within TriOptimum's Blacksite, fights against a surviving remnant of SHODAN, presumably unrelated to the one in Beta Grove.

2092

• Korenchkin ends his underground career.

2097

• Marie Delacroix publishes a paper which obsoletes Einstein's theories.

2102

• Dr. Janice Polito's team secretly begin work on XERXES.
• ChemCal introduces the Medical Hypo. The rather sharp stick of the over-engineered vacc needle almost leads to a recall, but strong litigation by TriOp's legal department eliminates that potentially costly eventuality.

2102

• The jettisoned Beta Grove of Citadel Station arrives in the Tau Ceti system and crash lands on the planet Tau Ceti V.
• Korenchkin purchases 51% of TriOptimum and begins to rebuild the company.

2107

• The UNN realizes that AIs were not developed legitimately. The Processing Rationalization Act is replaced by a regulatory commission.

2109

• Delacroix starts building simulational models.

2110

• (System Shock 2) February: Soldier G65434-2 arrives at Ramsey Training and Recruitment Center on Earth, chooses the path of his UNN military career and begins the preliminary training of the chosen branch.
• Working under grant from TriOptimum, Delacroix publishes her findings regarding FTL travel.

2111

• (System Shock 2) February: Having finished the initial training, soldier boards a space shuttle and is sent to an appropriate UNN Orbital Space Station to begin his four-year training.
• TriOptimum constructs and tests a prototype FTL drive. The device catches the imagination of the public. With the conditions on Earth worsening and the disappointing results of in-system colonization, hopes are high for brighter pastures outside the confines of the solar system.
• The UNN is loath to allow TriOptimum to be the principal beneficiary. Months of debate, negotiation and threat-making ensue, culminating in the mysterious death of one of the most vocally anti-TriOptimum UNN officials. Before the government/corporate split comes to open war, however, a compromise is reached between the UNN and TriOptimum, brokered by UNN Navy Rear Admiral William Diego (husband of a TriOptimum board member, and the son of the infamous Edward Diego).
• The first FTL capable starship will be allowed to make a maiden FTL voyage but with a UNN escort.
• TriOptimum begins construction of the starship Von Braun. The military heavy destroyer UNN Rickenbacker will be tethered to the Von Braun for the FTL journey, via a complex set of interlocks between the two ships’ systems, and UNN personnel will be stationed aboard the Rickenbacker, ready to deal with any hostile aliens. A fanciful news video shows hypothetical footage of the two ships facing a fleet of menacing “alien” ships, and the Rickenbacker detaching to fight while the Von Braun escapes. The excitement once again fuels the talk of discovering extraterrestrial forms of life, a topic nearly forgotten since exploration of the solar system only turned up a series of barren, lifeless landscapes.

2112

• The UNN Navy's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Facility on Aquinas IV conducts research on the disease on New Atlanta.

2113

• Early: The production of Von Braun, the first FTL capable starship would begin.
• The military heavy destroyer UNN Rickenbacker will be tethered to the Von Braun for the FTL journey, via a complex set of interlocks between the two ships’ systems, and UNN personnel will be stationed aboard the Rickenbacker, ready to deal with any hostile aliens. A fanciful news video shows hypothetical footage of the two ships facing a fleet of menacing “alien” ships, and the Rickenbacker detaching to fight while the Von Braun escapes. The excitement once again fuels the talk of discovering extraterrestrial forms of life, a topic nearly forgotten since exploration of the solar system only turned up a series of barren, lifeless landscapes.

System Shock 2 (January - July, 2114)

2114

January

• Diego approves the transfer of soldier G65434-2 to the Rickenbacker's escort mission (reassign order #98322/U). Soldier complies, finishing his military training prematurely, one year earlier than originally scheduled.

January 9

• Soldier reports to shuttle Mayfair (number 8138) at Port Francisco at 4:00 local time. Soon afterwards he arrives on the Von Braun in Shuttle Bay 2 of the Command Deck.

February 3

• The starship Von Braun is launched to begin its maiden voyage of exploration and scientific discovery. Developed and owned by TriOptimum, and under the command of captain Anatoly Korenchkin, the Von Braun sets off on mankind's first interstellar journey, to the Tau Ceti system. Due to political wrangling, TriOptimum is persuaded by government and military forces to construct the Von Braun as a joint mission. A second, military ship, normally incapable of faster-than-light travel, will "piggyback" along with the Von Braun, connected to the larger vessel using a complex system of umbilical cables and docking clamps. The UNN Rickenbacker, commanded by captain William Bedford Diego, is chosen to accompany the Von Braun.

March 2

• Wary of the military soldiers on the Rickenbacker, Korenchkin begins secretly testing several assassin cyborgs, with the intent that the Von Braun will not be entirely defenseless if he comes to odds with Diego.

April 4

• Problems with TriOptimum's corporate-mindset of contracting with the lowest bidder begin to become all-too apparent. Marie Delacroix notes that someone hacked into the shipboard computer AI XERXES and made it sing Elvis Presley songs for three hours. Delacroix laments how easy it would be for someone with a "real agenda" to cause massive damage by hacking XERXES.

June 8

• Delacroix complains to Korenchkin that the mission should have been scrubbed before it left Earth. Due to corners being cut in the cost of construction, several reactant coolant leaks occur on the Engineering Deck, which technicians are unable to contain. Delacroix puts out an order requiring anyone working down there to wear Hazard Suits.

June 14

• The Von Braun/UNN Rickenbacker mission arrives at the Tau Ceti system, and detects transmissions from the surface of the fifth planet. Anxious to make history and money from a First Contact situation, Korenchkin is able to persuade a reluctant captain Diego to make a joint mission to the surface.

June 15

• 08:00 hours - The joint mission arrives planetside on Tau Ceti V. Eager to be the first to make First Contact, Korenchkin is the first out the door, without even bothering to do a level B Hazmat Suit exam. Wary of letting him get out of sight, Diego immediately follows Korenchkin, and ultimately the whole survey team rushes out without a bio-hazard check.

June 15

• The survey team finds eggs located in a semi-circle in what looks like an impact crater. Members such as Bayliss later report experiencing lost time, and hearing "music" coming from inside of the eggs, as they fall under the psychic influence of the Grubs. The away team fills the shuttle with eggs, and Korenchkin transmits orders to the Von Braun to clear the entire Hydroponics Deck. Bayliss picks up the remains of a data wafer in the impact crater (containing SHODAN), and secretly brings it back with him, with the intent of showing it to Dr. Polito.

June 20

• 4:30 hours - The shuttle returns from Tau Ceti V. Grassi is called down to help unload the shuttle. Grassi is shocked to observe that most of Korenchkin's hair has fallen out, he has strange lumps on the side of his neck, and he is emitting an unnatural smell.

June 25

• Dr. Janice Polito contacts Delacroix, informing her that she has been analyzing the data wafer that Baylis brought back from Tau Ceti V. Polito believes it is some kind of AI, and on pulling an audio file out of it, is surprised that it seems to be in English.

June 26

• Ever since the Von Braun reached Tau Ceti, the lab monkeys have been acting strangely. Grassi notes that Nurse Loesser picked one out of a cage for vivisection, and the entire group in unison stood on their legs and howled. Grassi believes this was no mere display but a protest.

June 27

• Marc Miller and Muldoon are selected by Korenchkin to study the eggs, on condition of secrecy. Both feel psychically compelled to protect the eggs.

June 29

• Miller notes the toxic nature of the Annelid eggs, which have killed Muldoon. Miller gets a "revelation" and creates designs for Cyborg Midwives to tend to the eggs.

June 30

• Delacroix sends an angry message to Korenchkin demanding that the ship's scientific staff be allowed access to Tau Ceti V, as well as demanding to know why he and Diego locked off the Deck 3 - Hydroponics. Miller praises many "miracles" that the Annelids have to share, acknowledging that they told him how to build the implants he needs for the Cyborg Midwives, and that they "will make a better me of me".

July 1

• Marc Miller decides that Nurse Bloome as his first subject for conversion into a Cyborg Midwife.
• Dr. Watts attempts to diagnose crewman Watson, a member of the survey team to the surface of Tau Ceti V who is now showing signs of infection by the Annelid worms. Watson displays inflammatory nodular growth and the presence of a large wormlike parasite. In the morning, the parasite penetrated Watson's chest, from the inside, and attached one end of itself to his forehead. Dr. Watts does not attempt to surgically remove the parasite for fear of killing the patient.

July 2

• Nurse Bloome discovers bizarre schematics on Dr. Miller's desk for cyber modifications that have been banned for forty years. Bloome is disturbed to find that the DNA sequence specs for the prototype are for Bloome herself.

July 3

• Dr. Miller forcibly performs surgery on Nurse Bloome to transform her into the first Cyborg Midwife.
• OSA PsyOps member Malone performs a mind probe on one of the lab monkeys, at the request of a lab worker in MedSci. After four hours, Malone realizes that the monkey is actively blocking his psychic probe. Malone attempts to attack it with his Psi Amp and it responds by paralyzing his arm with a cryokinetic field. Malone is able to subdue the monkey by Psi-dampening it and shocking it with an electric prod.

July 5

• To remove the biggest threat to the Annelids, Diego starts sending soldiers one at a time from the UNN Rickenbacker to the Hydroponics Deck aboard the Von Braun, until all 120 are infected by the Annelids. Korenchkin also starts luring crewmembers into the Hydroponics Deck to be infected. Dr. Miller orders chief nurse Loesser to send sixteen of her female nurses to the Hydroponics Bay, where he converts them into Cyborg Midwives.

July 6

• After further experiments, Malone determines that since reaching Tau Ceti, something has made the lab monkeys gain heightened intelligence and limited Psi ability. The monkeys are aware of the vivisections and other experiments that have been performed on them. Malone concludes that the monkeys must be either placed into cryo storage for the remainder of the mission, or liquidated immediately.
• Infected crewmembers hack into the XERXES AI, putting it under the control of the Annelid hive mind. XERXES stops responding to crew commands.

July 7

• Grassi is surprised to encounter a Security Bot with a message from Dr. Polito instructing to put soldier G65434-2 into cryo-recovery. He notes that the grunt's R-grade cybernetic upgrades were banned forty years ago.
• Conditions rapidly deteriorate on the Von Braun throughout the day.
• 2:40 hours - Watson "dies" on the table, yet Dr. Watts notes that despite zero respiratory and brain function, the body is still displaying autonomous motor function, as does the parasite. At 08:47 hours, Watson even speaks to one of the nurses. When Dr. Watts attempts to perform an autopsy at 16:30 hours, he and his nurse are attacked by Watson, who has now transformed into an Annelid Hybrid.
• Grassi tells Taz Amanpour to change the access codes out of Cryo A. He changes it to 45100
• Malick hacks the Sim Units, and reprograms three Cyborg Assassins to defend them.

July 8

• 18 days have passed since shuttle returned with samples from Tau Ceti (June 20, 4:30 hours). Deck 3 - Hydroponics has been closed off and completely overrun. Korenchkin and Diego have been compromised, as has much of the command crew on Deck 4 - Operations and the Bridge on Deck 6. Most of the marines from the Rickenbacker were lured one at a time onto Deck 3 and taken by the Annelids.
• At some point between midnight and 05:00 hours, the late night of July 7, security chief Melanie Bronson manages to get onto the shipwide PA system and declares a state of emergency, and that she is imposing martial law. All primary sub-sectors are to undergo lockdown, and any crewmen who resist security personnel will be shot on sight.
• 5:00 hours - With most of the heavy weapons and security measures already compromised, Bronson rallies what security personnel she can (about fourteen or so) with what armaments she can.
• 6:00 hours - Bronson's security team storms the Operations Deck to try to retake control of the ship. For the next two days, the Operations Deck turns into a war-zone.

July 8

• Diego lets the worms aboard the UNN Rickenbacker as well. Croker attempts to contain them in Pod 2 by blowing several access ladders. Human Resistance lasts slightly longer on the Rickenbacker than on the Von Braun, due to the second ship's distance from the Annelids' primary base of operations on the Von Braun, and because they have access to heavier military-grade weapons. Also the crew's willingness to make strategic retreats and barricade themselves in defensible portions of the ship buys them more time.

July 9

• Bronson and her security team try to terminate compromised crewmembers, such as Malick. As the situation deteriorates and they don't know who to trust, Bronson's team ultimately begins to shoot anything that moves. Bronson mounts the biggest Resistance to the alien infestation, though several unaffected crewmembers such as the Younts are killed, and Bronson gives orders to finish off survivors rather than take chances that they might be infected. Bronson and her team gun down an entire crowd of uninfected crewmembers in the Deck 4 mess hall.
• Korenchkin completes his transformation into a Psi Reaver.

July 10

• After two days of heavy fighting, Bronson's entire security team has been killed, and she has been mortally wounded, holding her entrails inside of her with both hands. Bronson feels this is bigger than her life, the lives or her men, and the lives of the people she was forced to kill. With her dying breath Bronson urges whoever finds her recording to resist.
• Aboard the UNN Rickenbacker, the Annelids in Pod 2 are able to breach the barricaded sections of the ship by sabotaging the meson accelerator coil, blowing out the entire drive core and six subdecks, and killing many crewmembers. Croker and survivors set up a magnetic shield which manages to (barely) preserve structural integrity in the damaged areas. Croker quarantines the area around the secondary drive coil. The Annelids begin to spread through the rest of the Rickenbacker.
• Dr. Polito commits suicide.

July 11

• Except for a handful of isolated survivors scattered throughout the ships, the Many now dominate the Von Braun and Rickenbacker.
• SHODAN enlists Marie Delacroix to attempt to retake control of the ship's systems.

July 12

• The events of System Shock 2 begin - 22 days after the shuttle returned with samples from Tau Ceti, 4 days after Bronson's shipwide declaration of martial law began open war with the infected crewmembers, and 2 days after Bronson and her security team were killed, leaving the ship completely overrun.
• SHODAN, in the guise of Dr. Polito, remotely wakes soldier whom she had previously upgraded with an R-grade cybernetic rig from cryosleep.
• By this point only a handful of crewmembers remain alive and uninfected. Among them are Delacroix, Chavez, McKay, Dr. James Watts, Prefontaine, Rebecca Siddons and Thomas Suarez. Delacroix becomes a ringleader for many of the survivors, working to set up a transmitter on Deck 4 in the basketball court in order to broadcast a warning message to Earth. Siddons and Saurez focus on escaping as a couple by repairing the only remaining shuttle, which XERXES couldn't jettison as it did the others because it was damaged.

July 13

• Tommy Suarez receives a distress call from the soldier with information that the ship has been retaken. Suarez records this in a log dated "13 July 14", also noting that Rebecca Siddons has been behaving oddly since they escaped. He turns around to find that Siddons has transformed into a copy of SHODAN.

Post-System Shock 2

2116

• Intended date for William Diego's nominee for Interior Minister by Bureaucratic candidate party.

System Shock 3

To be determined...