Tau Ceti V

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For the Audio Log, see Tau Ceti 5 (Audio Log).

Tau Ceti V is the fifth planet orbiting the Tau Ceti System. It plays a major role in System Shock 2, though the planet itself is never seen in-game. It was also planned to appear in the fan mod System Shock: Rewired 2, before the mod was cancelled/put on hiatus.

Overview

The Tau Ceti solar system is found in the constellation Cetus with a sun that is similar to ours except it is only 78% of our Sun's mass. It is one of the few nearby stars with a distance of 12 light years away from the Earth. Tau Ceti V is the fifth planet orbiting the star, with the system itself having at least 5 known planets.

The climate on the planet's surface is described as hot and humid as the Hydroponics Deck was set to that temperature to simulate the conditions on the surface.

History

Tau Ceti V formed some time in the far distance past, much about the planet remains a mystery.

When the Hacker jettisoned Beta Grove from Citadel Station in November of 2072, it traveled through a wormhole near Saturn to get to Tau Ceti V. Years later it exited out of another wormhole close to Tau Ceti V where it would crash land.

The garden grove was full of life however with the V-5 Mutagen Virus onboard as well as SHODAN processing component 43893 who was performing an experiment on the virus. The grove was jettisoned just before the Hacker destroyed SHODAN's primary dataloop. After the crash the SHODAN component would lay dormant and the virus and mutants onboard would evolve and grow into The Many.

Decades later when the Von Braun left on February 3^rd, 2114, it took barely five months for the ship to reach the Tau Ceti system. On June 14 of the same year, an unknown transmission was detected from the 5th planet of Tau Ceti.

Upon arriving on the surface, crew members found eggs lying in a semi-circle in the middle of what looked like a crash crater. The surface itself was hot and humid. Bayliss found an electrical wafer and knew that Dr. Janice Polito would have some use for it.

Unknown to the entire crew, the eggs were evolved from SHODAN's experiments on Citadel Station, something only a select few would learn of.

Trivia

• Nothing is known about the other planets in the Tau Ceti system except that, by implication, there are at least another four.
• In real life, the existence of planets around the star Tau Ceti was not confirmed until 2012, thirteen years after System Shock 2 was released. At least four planets are known to orbit the star, with inconclusive evidence showing at least three more may exist.
  • At time of writing, the planets of the Tau Ceti system are named after the English alphabet, not Roman numerals as in the System Shock 2.

Gallery

ReWired 2

Tau Ceti V as planned to appear in the mod ReWired 2.

Tau Ceti V as planned to appear in the mod ReWired 2.

Tau Ceti V as planned to appear in the mod ReWired 2.

Tau Ceti V as planned to appear in the mod ReWired 2.

Tau Ceti V as planned to appear in the mod ReWired 2.

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