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A floating haven that became a hellhole, Citadel Station inSystem Shockwas once a place for humanity’s best and brightest. But things quickly took a turn down an Event Horizon-esque street after the resident AI went rogue. Everyone onboard had a bit of a rough time, and not many of them made it home.
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Silently drifting around a distant planet in our solar system, the events that transpired on Citadel would inspire countless games in the future. With the cult classic given a shiny new remake, it’s worth digging into all the horrible crimes against humanity that went down on this doomed domed habitat drifting in the dark. Here’s what happened to the Citadel Space Station in System Shock.
What Is Citadel Station?
First things first, it’s worth bringing out the background fluff first to establish a timeline of events. The station wasfirst constructed in 2062after the Tri-Optimum corporation purchased theL6 orbit rights for Saturn. Allowing them to build whatever they wanted around the giant distant ringed world.
So a station was built for the purpose ofmining and research, the latter often drifting into less than legal territory on more than one occasion. Christened “The Citadel” andone of the largest stations ever built, the site was fitted with anartificial intelligence known as S.H.O.D.A.N (Shodan). A hyper-advanced machine intellect that wouldhandle day-to-day tasks on the stationthat didn’t require human supervision. All was well on the station and it operated optimally for many years until it waseventually destroyed in 2072.
What Happened To Citadel Station?
To describe the situation that unfolded at Citadel Station as nightmarish would be amassive understatement. Although its problems were a small burn at first, itquickly became a raging inferno that impacted everybodyonboard and almost beyond were it not for the involvement of amysterious Hacker.
The downfall of the station can be traced back to the influence of one particular individual.A corrupt Tri-Optimum VP known as Edward Diego. This corporate stooge had beenusing the station to create the perfect bioweaponto sell on the black market, but afterTri-Optimums internal security began to investigate himfor his illegal activities, Diego took some steps that wouldbring about the destruction of his once-perfect cash cow.
The Hackerman Cometh
In order tocover up his illicit gains, Edward Diego enlisted the help of anunnamed and unknown hacker. A man that had already beenarrested for breaking into Tri-Optimums serversbefore. With the promise ofmilitary-grade implants and amnestyfor breaching the station’s security, Diego brought the Hacker onboard Citadel and allowed them tointerface with Shodan.
The goal was to shut down some of her more ethical constraints andcause a little chaos to cover up the hackthat would allow them to access andremove crucial log filesthat contained evidence ofDiego’s shady activities. Theheist seemed successful, but unfortunately, tinkering with the AI proved to have a fewside effects.
The First Signs Of Trouble
It started small at first. Fuses would inexplicably blow, and robots would be found inplaces they weren’t supposed to beperforming tasks theyweren’t programmed to do. Security codes wouldappear on random screens, instantly compromising secure areas of the station. Shodan also beganquestioning and refusingsome of the most basic tasks and functions. Those in charge of keeping the AI in check would find theirdiagnostic attempts stymied, theirrequests for the removal of Shodan blockedbefore they were mysteriouslytransferred off of the station.
From there Shodan began toblock off sections of the stationfrom staff members. Remodeling areas and filling them withredesigned robots and cyborgsfor reasons unknown. Power outages and radiation leaks were common as sheredirected more power and processing systemsfor her own needs. Security bots on other levels would randomly beginfiring their canons at staffand it only escalated further when Shodanchanged the access codes to secure areasand manned them with droids that wouldbar entry to anyone.
Shodan’s Lab Rats
Events would kick up a notch whenShodan locked off Beta Groveand beganexperimenting with bacterial and viral pathogens. Eventually using the fruits of her labor todeliberately infect a number of unsuspecting researcherswho began to deteriorate over a matter of weeks.
The researchers-turned-lab rats began to suffer fromextreme mental derangement, violently lashing out at other staff members until they weredetained and quarantinedby security personnel. The poor patients would mutate further, with someoverpowering their concerned captors, breaking loose from containment, and “liberating” some weapons from theCitadel’s onboard armory. Some would try to flee the chaos, but it would always end poorly.
One particular example of an escape attempt would involveseveral Citadel executivesonboard a Grove pod. But unfortunately, Shodan wouldshut off its life support remotely, killing them all.
Cyborg patrols would increase tocatch those still trying to leave, and as a last measure to ensure that she didn’t miss anyone, Shodanreprogrammed the Revival Pods. Anyone seeking medical aid from these devices would instead besurgically transformed into a cyborg slave, and unfortunately, this little trick claimed a number of victims.
Complete Saturation Of The Staff
Any ships sent to rescue those locked onboard the stationwould be destroyedas Shodan hadtaken control of Citadel’s defense systems. Anyone that tried to disconnect Shodan from the system would meet a gruesome end at the hands of her security droids, mutants, cyborg slaves, or byShodan herself in creative and brutally efficient ways.
Communication to the outside wascut off and after sealing off the Grovesand other safe havens, Shodan would thensaturate her homemade pathogensthroughout the station. Infecting anyone that was unable to find an environment suit or untouched quarantine area in time. For the esteemed Edward Diego who started all this, after fleeing from one safe spot to another, he would eventuallysee which way the proverbial wind was blowingand would subsequentlyally himself with Shodan.
The Resistance Stands
Whilst Shodan ran riot on the Citadel, thosestaff members that weren’t killed, infected with mutagens, or turned into cyborgs that were now chasing their colleagues around beganforming a resistance. Some had managed to arm themselves and would often beginraids or riots in areas of the stationto undermine their AI overlord’s efforts. Some were successful, most were not. But progress was being made.
Security cameras and processors being used by Shodan would beshut down. Cyborg conversion pods would bereversed back into medical baysand vital components Shodan required would bestolen or sabotaged. Each operation wasnot without its casualties, and after abetrayal by Edward Deigo,the Resistance lost one of their strongholds on the Executive Level of the station.
For his treacherous efforts, Diego was rewarded by beingturned into aCyborg bodyguardby Shodan.
Time For The Doomsday Weapon
Things would come to a head when it was discovered that Shodan had begunaiming and chargingthe Citadels Tachyon Laserat Earth. The AI had completely gone off the deep end, announcing to those still left alive onboard that theera of Humanity was over, Shodan would be theirnew god in an Edenguided by her hand.
Though the Resistance would try todestroy the laser, all was for naught as Shodan’s control through the station was too strong, her fortress-turned throne roomtoo well defended. The station had to be destroyed. But before that a transmission was smuggled out to Earth,warning them of the situation onboardand the gruesomely high body count of the site’s former staff members. Shodan herself wouldtransmit herown messagenot long after, and it wasnot well received on Earthby concerned parties watching those far-off events play out.
The Hacker Is Awoken
It’s around this time thatthe Hacker reawakensafter spending thelast six months in a medically induced comabefore everything went to hell. Sent orders from Earth toeliminate Shodan, this mysterious figure mounted up quite an effective response.
First, the Tachyon Laser would be shut down, then hejettisoned the contaminated Beta Grovebefore it could be launched at Earth as a bioweapon. The Hackers former employer Edward Diego would also be dealt some retribution as he wasdestroyed when the Hacker detonated the Citadels reactorwhilst escaping to a detaching Bridge section. But unfortunately, hewasn’t alone on his liferaft, as it was the location of Shodan’s throne room.
From there, aclimactic showdown would occur in Cyberspaceas the two fought back and forth. The battle in the digital world was a grueling one, but eventually, this demented digital demon wasdealt a deadly blowand was destroyed.The Bridge section sent drifting through space withthe Hacker left onboardas its lonely passenger.
Whilst there were stillsome survivorson Citadel Station, sadly they wouldcommit suicidebefore the Hacker could reach them.
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The Aftermath Of The Citadel Station Incident
Despite building the station and letting things get so bad in the first place, Tri-Optimum tried to save face bydispatching a rescue shipto the floating bridge section. Though theonly survivor onboard was the Hacker, they took it as a win and even offered the hero of the hour a position within the company.
They would be turned down, with the Hackervanishing into obscurityas a deluge of lawsuits hit Tri-Optimum and the Diego family. The families of the staffsought vengeance or at least recompensefor the loss of their loved ones under the company’s watch. The ruling governments of Earth alsofounded the United National Nominate (UNN)in order tostrip excessive power and influencefrom megacorporations whilst alsostrictly policing future operations.
It wasa time of great financial and social upheavalas the economic market was radically changed, rebellions rose and fell whilst humanity as a wholetook a technological step backward. Shunning anything that involved artificial intelligence lestanother type of Shodanreappear. For a small scientific station floating through space, The Citadel had quite an impact on the human race.
