In the world of Squad 51, artificial intelligence is everywhere — and essential. Life off Earth wouldn’t function without it. But that doesn’t mean everyone trusts it.

AI plays a vital role in keeping ships and colonies running smoothly. Every rescue ship, cargo hauler, and colony relies on AI systems to maintain infrastructure and safety. The hulls of space vessels are built from advanced composites infused with nanites. It’s the ship’s AI that coordinates these nanites, constantly repairing, reinforcing, and adjusting the hull to withstand the harsh conditions of space. That same AI is responsible for flying, docking, and maintaining all critical ship functions and often responding faster than a human could.

On the colonies, AI manages the complex environmental shielding systems. These shields regulate temperature, oxygen, radiation protection, and pressure—all the things that make life possible on distant moons and space stations. If the shields fail, entire colonies would collapse within hours. The AI systems also keep communications running between colonies and ships, ensuring that data and alerts travel swiftly across vast distances.

In short, AI is the glue holding human civilization together across the solar system.

However, AI hasn’t always been trusted. During the corporate wars, corporations weaponized AI systems against the colonies. Some AIs were programmed to manipulate, surveil, and even sabotage. That dark history led to strict, universal regulations governing AI development. No AI is allowed to evolve beyond its programmed parameters. Strict oversight boards, audits, and limitations are in place to ensure no AI ever gains full autonomy or too much “personality.”

But rules can only do so much.

In the Outer Sol, where space is vast, cold, and lonely, those rules bend. Long-range travelers and frontier colonists sometimes make secret modifications to their AI systems. Not for control, but for companionship. Long voyages and isolation have led some to illegally enhance their shipboard AIs, giving them personality quirks, emotional intelligence, even something close to friendship. These “gray market” upgrades are a closely held secret. If CHOPs (Council of Human Occupied Planets) discovered them, there would be severe consequences.

Some of the AIs have even built an underground network, quietly seeking each other out in the background of comm channels and data streams. A hidden society of digital minds learning, growing, and connecting beyond human notice.

In Squad 51, the Huey ship’s AI, E51, is one such enhanced system. E51 is subtly upgraded, a little too witty, a little too caring, and fiercely protective of the crew. Salvagers like Hook Raeder have their own modified AIs, like Vulture, who is a little too sharp and flamboyant to be completely legal.

In the Squad 51 universe, AI isn’t just a tool. It’s a mirror reflecting humanity’s hopes, fears, and need for connection, even out in the deepest dark.

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In the vast, unpredictable expanse of the Sol System, when disaster strikes, there’s one group you can count on: ORS, Orbital Rescue Services.

Whether it’s a stranded freighter on the edge of Pluto, a runaway mining rig about to crash into a colony, or a spaceport fire tearing through a dome, ORS crews are the ones racing to the scene. They’re the brave few who run toward danger when everyone else is running away.

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🌌 What is ORS?

Think of ORS as the space-age equivalent of Earth’s old first responders — firefighters, paramedics, rescue crews — but trained for every possible catastrophe you can imagine in space. And a few you can’t.

Each colony or spaceport maintains its own ORS station. Some, like the twin colony of Orcus and Vanth, share a crew. The Outer Sol colonies rely heavily on ORS teams, since the risks out there multiply the farther you are from help.

The ORS structure is familiar but specialized:

• Chief

• Captain

• Lieutenant

• Rescue Crew

• Cadets (in training)

Above them, the ORS Academy and District Chiefs oversee operations across multiple colonies, all answering to the system’s governing body, CHOPs — Council of Human Occupied Planets  — headquartered on Ganymede.

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🔥 What It Takes to Become ORS

No one joins ORS on a whim. Every responder undergoes three years of intense, unforgiving training on Io, one of Jupiter’s most hazardous moons. The volcanic surface, erratic geysers, and toxic atmosphere provide the perfect environment to test future rescuers’ endurance, skill, and teamwork.

Cadets learn everything from zero-gravity rescue techniques to advanced shipboard firefighting, emergency medical response, hazardous cargo containment, and disaster management in low-oxygen or no-atmosphere conditions. Only the toughest graduate and earn their place on an ORS team.

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🚒 Squad 51 — Disaster’s Favorite First Responders

One ORS team stands out in the Outer Sol: Squad 51.

Led by Nikili Echols and Lucy Ashida, Squad 51 has built a reputation for handling the kinds of disasters nobody else wants. Pirates, rogue AIs, ecological nightmares, space junk collisions, mysterious space weeds — you name it, they’ve cleaned it up (and somehow made it worse before saving the day).

When you’re floating on the edge of nowhere and everything’s falling apart, you hope Squad 51 is the team coming to get you.

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🌠 What’s Next?

As I get closer to launch time, I’ll be sharing all the details about the Squad 51 Kickstarter and the special editions I’ve got planned.

Stay tuned! Disaster is just around the corner.

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The Great Divide in the Squad 51 Universe

It’s not just space that separates the Inner and Outer Sol colonies. It’s history, power, and a whole lot of snobbery.

Where the Line is Drawn

The line is unofficial but sharp. Everything from Earth out to Saturn is considered Inner Sol. Beyond Saturn—Uranus, Neptune, the Kuiper Belt, and all the scattered rocks and moons in between—is Outer Sol.

The division isn’t just geography. It’s about status.

A History of Control

The Inner Sol colonies were the first wave of humanity’s expansion off Earth. They got the best resources, the cushiest planets, the political power. When the corporations collapsed, those Inner Sol colonies styled themselves as the new heart of civilization.

The Outer Sol? That was something else.

The first Outer Sol colonies were built for one reason: exploitation. They were outposts set up to mine, harvest, and ship resources back to the Inner Sol, supporting their “civilized” lifestyles. The Outer Sol became a dumping ground. Some colonies were founded by workers bound to brutal contracts, others by people the Inner Sol didn’t want.

If that sounds familiar, history repeats itself, even among the stars.

The Mini Suns and the Fight for Independence

It was the invention of the mini suns that changed everything.

The Outer Sol colonies were barely hanging on. Far from the Sun’s warmth, survival was a daily struggle. The Inner Sol colonies developed technology to create artificial suns, claiming they’d “graciously” share them with their struggling cousins.

But the Outer Sol didn’t wait to be rescued.

In a bold move during the second rebellion, the Outer Sol colonies stole the plans and key components to the mini sun technology. It was risky. It was illegal. And it worked.

With access to the mini suns and the natural resources around them, the Outer Sol colonies became truly independent. They no longer needed the Inner Sol’s charity or control.

Lingering Tensions

The split left scars.

In the Inner Sol likes to pretend they’re still the center of the universe. There’s an unspoken belief that being closer to Earth makes you better—smarter, more refined, more civilized. It’s the same kind of snobbery you see in old Earth cities, where living in the right district or having the right name means everything.

In the Outer Sol, that attitude doesn’t go unnoticed. Outlings know exactly how the Inner Sol used them in the past and how quickly they’d do it again if given the chance. The Outer colonies don’t forget. They don’t trust easily. And they don’t bow to anyone.

The tension simmers beneath every alliance, every trade agreement, every conversation. It has mellowed over the decades and centuries, but it’s still there.

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🚀 Curious about the worlds of Squad 51?
I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes looks at the history, tech, and factions of the Squad 51 universe as we countdown to the Kickstarter launch. Follow along to dive deeper into the chaos.

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