USM Abraxis

The USM Abraxis was an Earth Defense Force destroyer of the same class as the USM Valor, sent into the Aegis system to recover the only four survivors of the USG O'Bannon and carry them back to Titan Station. It carried a contingent of EDF Marines and an EarthGov interrogation team, and it was one of the few ships in the saga's records that was neither overrun by Necromorphs nor destroyed.

Service history#

The USM Abraxis was dispatched to the Aegis system by EarthGov to investigate the fate of the USG O'Bannon after all contact with the ship was lost. On reaching the O'Bannon, the Abraxis docked with the larger vessel and sent across a rescue team of EDF Marines, who found four survivors. When one of them, Nickolas Kuttner, killed a Marine, the rest of the team subdued and captured all four, bringing them aboard the Abraxis and locking them in a cell.

With the survivors in custody, the Abraxis destroyed the O'Bannon with its cannons and shocked back toward Titan Station. En route to the Sprawl, the four prisoners were interrogated one at a time. Kuttner escaped the interrogation room and killed several Marines before opening one of the ship's airlocks in a fit of dementia, killing himself. Alejandro Borges, the second interrogated, was released and then shot dead after telling his story. The third, Nolan Stross, was placed in cryogenics for study in the research of the Markers. The fourth, Isabel Cho, was taken aboard Titan Station after the Abraxis docked, while the Lead Interrogator and his assistant were killed to cover up the interrogation.

Design and layout#

The USM Abraxis was outwardly identical to the USM Valor apart from its color, its hull gray rather than military green and marked with "05" in white on the side. It was armed with multiple cannons powerful enough to destroy a ship the size of the O'Bannon with ease. Internally it held a detention cell, a bright white room with narrow seats along the walls where the four survivors were held, and an interrogation room, a bright chamber with a single restraining chair at its center where the survivors were questioned in the span of seven hours. The ship also kept a morgue, mentioned by a security officer ordering Borges' body taken away.

Cho referred to the Abraxis as an Interceptor, which may have been another name for the Destroyer class it shared with the USM Valor, or a description of its role. Unlike most vessels in the records, the Abraxis was neither infested by Necromorphs nor destroyed, surviving its mission intact.