WF Jack Gaughan Datasheet (Patreon)

Designed in conjunction with 61 Cygni Patron, Fred Kiesche, here's the story of the WF Jack Gaughan.

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Bright orange, with disproportionately long fins and rods radiating from its WF Drive, the Jack Gaughan exited the gravity well of Jupiter, its tanks full of gases and volatile chemicals bound for the industrial complexes on Hygiea in the Asteroid Belt. The fourth largest asteroid in the belt, and the largest of the C-Types, Hygiea was settled early in humankind’s expansion in to the Solar System, and had become an important industrial hub  between Earth/Mars and the outer planets.

The WF Gaughan as it was known, was currently contracted to Skylark Industries, one of the largest Ice Shippers in the system. Scouts for Skylark would pinpoint icy asteroids, or comets, and Skylark would then fit them with stripped down WF Drive tech. Offering nothing but basic propulsion, and much slower than a WF Ship, WF Ice Drives would send the asteroids in, towards Earth or Mars orbit, or out, towards Jupiter and Saturn and their moons. The drives were able to deliver the asteroids or comets to very specific orbits or rendezvous with mining and refining facilities. The WF Gaughan, at one point, had performed the task that the ice drives now do. Extending its WF fields around an asteroid and shepherding it to its destination. Redundant in that regard now, the Gaughan instead delivered highly pressurised volatiles between refineries and industrial complexes.

Currently piloting the ship alone (the Gaughan had capacity for four crew) was Don Wollheim. He’d fallen into ice mining while looking to escape the mundane life he had on earth. Hoping for adventure instead he found himself all alone in the vastness of space for days and weeks at a time. Still, that time alone (in a ship that required little input) allowed Don to indulge his hobby of writing science fiction, and in that regard the depths of space were the perfect source of inspiration. Each time the Gaughan docked at a station, Don would make use of the faster comms available and send off his latest manuscript to his publisher. Two of his stories were soon to be published, Don’s agent was busy trying to find just the write illustrator to produce the covers. Soon he’d be a published author and Don could spend his royalties on a ship of his own to explore and finally find the adventure he’d been seeking his whole life.