Hi folks! Konsty here again to hassle you all with inane ideas...
Hows this for a thought.....There must have been lots of Misjumped
ships during the Final War, all infected with nasty strains of Virus. Now,
while most would have probably destroyed themselves by now, there would
undoubtedly be some that survive - particularly the more advanced strains.
So how about this for an idea - a few ships manage to jump WAY out
of Known Space in various directions, to arrive at OTHER vast, stable star-
spanning empires. And then proceed to screw up these ROYALLY by infecting
everything they see. I would think the natives of these other empires would
be most displeased by this, and might start to think about destroying the
cause of the weird Virus that's just destroyed their billion-year Empire.
So, at some point in the future, the Imperium (probably just rebuilt)
suddenly finds lots of big nasty fleets at all its borders, ready and
raring to tear out its throat.
The same sorta thing happenned in the Star Fleet Battles Universe
with the Seltorians and the Tholians (well, Ok, maybe it didn't, but the
idea of chasing somebody over long distances is there...?!). Actually, for
all you Space 1999 fans out there (YAY!!!), one episode in the first (better,
IMHO) series called 'Voyager's Return' actually is very similar to this.
In that, a Voyager probe returned to the wandering Moon. Unfortunately
its propulsion system turned all the planets it passed into radiactive slag,
peeving the inhabitants no end. So, they sent out a fleet of ships to track
it down to its source at kill everyone there. Rather nice idea, I thought, and
I'm sure you can see the similarity...
Right, enough wittering.
TTFN, Konsty
Be Pure, Be Vigilant, BEHAVE - Torquemada, 2000AD