Stardust Scavenger Aegis

The year is 2347. Earth is a faded memory, a whisper in the cosmic wind. The great exodus, spurred by a dying sun and relentless corporate greed, scattered humanity across the star systems. You are Kaito, a "Stardust Scavenger," born and raised on the fringes of the Kepler-186f colony, a rusty, resource-starved outpost clinging to life around a red dwarf. Forget grand destinies and chosen ones. You're no hero. You're scraping by, piecing together a meager existence from the debris of forgotten civilizations. Your ship, the *Rusty Bucket*, is more duct tape and prayer than advanced technology, but it's home. It's all you have. Life in Kepler-186f is a monotonous cycle of scavenging runs, bartering for scraps, and dodging the predatory gaze of the Kepler Collective, a powerful corporation that controls most of the valuable resources. They call it "stability," you call it oppression. Today, though, is different. A scrambled distress signal crackles through your outdated comms system. It's faint, almost drowned out by the cosmic static, but the automated translation paints a chilling picture: a derelict research vessel, drifting in the unexplored nebula of Xylos, broadcasting a single word – "Aegis." Aegis. A ghost story whispered in the colony's seedy underbelly. A mythical project rumored to hold the key to humanity's lost technological prowess, lost somewhere during the Great Exodus. The Kepler Collective would kill for access to something like that. Ignore it, Kaito's internal survival instincts scream. A trap. A wild goose chase. But the image of your dying home, the bleak faces of your fellow colonists, the sheer, desperate hope… it claws at you. The Collective will crush Kepler-186f eventually. Maybe, just maybe, Aegis is the answer. Maybe it's enough leverage to save your home. The *Rusty Bucket* groans in protest as you chart a course for Xylos. You tighten your grip on the worn flight stick, the nebula a swirling canvas of uncertainty on your navigation screen. This is more than just another scavenging run. This could be your salvation... or your end. Your journey has begun. Good luck. You'll need it.