Story 3: The Changeling

SS Scavenger DX-1017: The Changeling is the third canonical story in the SS Scavenger Universe series by Daniel R. Bingamon. When identity itself is rewritten, the crew of the Template:Ship must race across the stars to find a cure—before the change becomes permanent.

Overview

Following the events of The Water World, the Template:Ship returns to base at Prose for refit. Aboard, engineer **Alan Dathan** awakens transformed into the young woman he once rescued at Cycronox. Within hours, Admiral Sorell tasks Captain Elan Drex and his crew to trace the origin of a viral epidemic spreading across the Alliance. What begins as a medical mystery soon entangles Alliance and Tonan forces alike, revealing that both species are victims of a shared contagion.

Acts and Chapters

Act I – Shadows at Home

• Ch 1 – Night on Narosi 10 – Alan Dathan’s transformation shatters the ship’s calm.
• Ch 2 – Hospital Revelations – Alliance doctors confirm an epidemic; Drex is ordered to find patient zero.
• Ch 3 – Orders and Outfits – The ship refits as a mobile lab; Kessa Rin and Terev help Alan adjust.

Act II – The Search Begins

• Ch 4 – Cycronox Salvage – Dr. Heli Naska is found transformed and unrepentant.
• Ch 5 – Questions and Clues – Conference records point toward G254-29 and archaeologist Alaren Lor.
• Ch 6 – Groombridge 34 Escape – A Tonan cruiser confronts Scavenger; Drex bluffs his way out.
• Ch 7 – CD-46 11540: Enemies in Crisis – A Tonan crew, also infected, agrees to a desperate truce.

Act III – The Carrier

• Ch 8 – Altair Transition – The heavy-gravity colony reveals links between the archaeologists and Wolf 1055.
• Ch 9 – Wolf 1055: Ruins & Patient Zero – The team discovers Daya Lor, the unaltered carrier of the viral code.

Act IV – The Cure and the Cost

• Ch 10 – Barnard’s Star: The Hospital Hub – Over 2,000 cases overwhelm Alliance facilities.
• Ch 11 – Splicing the Cure – Kessa’s antibodies and Daya Lor’s DNA form the first working serum.
• Ch 12 – Race to Prose – Using the ship’s Transit Window, the crew mass-duplicates the cure.
• Ch 13 – Shadows Remain – The epidemic ends; Kessa receives Prose’s highest scientific award.

Principal Characters

• Captain Elan Drex – Commanding officer of the Scavenger.
• Dr. James Drex – Ship’s physician; Elan’s brother.
• Kessa Rin – Science Officer whose antibodies enable the cure.
• John Rin – Operations Officer; Kessa’s husband.
• Alan Dathan – Engineer transformed by the virus; first restored patient.
• Velka Ereen – Records Officer and chronicler.
• Arei Moltan – Chief Logistics Coordinator.
• Terev Saikah Gillings – Prosian engineer.
• Brennen Gillings – Third Engineer; Terev’s partner.
• Dr. Heli Naska – Transformed archaeologist who sees her condition as a “gift.”
• Daya Lor – Carrier of the original viral sequence (Patient Zero).
• Admiral Sorell – Alliance Fleet Commander who commissions the mission.
• Tonan Commander Kuegon – Rogue captain later seen hunting Scavenger in subsequent stories.

Locations and Events

• **Prose / Prosiana City** – Homeworld and final destination for mass distribution of the cure.
• **Cycronox System** – Origin of the changeling virus within an archaeological wreck.
• **Groombridge 34 and CD-46 11540** – Key encounters with infected Tonan crews.
• **Altair 3** – Heavy-gravity colony; links the archaeologists to Wolf 1055.
• **Wolf 1055** – Site of the ancient ruins containing dormant viral code.
• **Barnard’s Star Hospital Hub** – Alliance’s primary medical center and site of the cure’s creation.

Themes

• The fragility of identity and body.
• Cooperation between enemies under shared threat.
• Scientific sacrifice and the moral cost of salvation.
• Renewal – both biological and cultural – reflected in the Prosian proverb:

Akora jenekwa, na torrenwa. (“In reflection, I find strength.”)

Appendices

• Appendix A – The Prosian Language and Alphabet.
• Appendix B – The Prosian Calendar (Annuli 342-day system).
• Appendix C – Cultural Notes of Prose.
• Appendix D – Key Crew of the Scavenger.

Visual Plates

• Kessa’s Award – Prosian Science Ceremony – Depicting the medal presentation following the cure’s success.
• Additional proposed illustrations:

* Scavenger Docked at Prosiana Base

* Wolf 1055 Ruins

* Transit Window Duplication Array

Canon Status

• Officially cataloged as Story No. 3 in the SS Scavenger Universe timeline.
• Immediately precedes The School from Hell and follows The Water World.
• Introduces the Alliance-Tonan truce and the first practical use of the ship’s Transit Window for molecular duplication.

Prosian Saying

Akora jenekwa, na torrenwa.

(“In reflection, I find strength.”)