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New Bangkok was a human Drifter colony.

History[]

In 3028, like other human Drifters, refugees that once lived in Bangkok, Thailand (one of the nations of Earth) fled Earth on evacuation ships before the Drej Mothership used its Planet Buster weapon to blow up Earth. After that, with nowhere else to go and with no suitable Earth like planet found at the time, the refugees docked their ships together into a hodgepodge looking station and dubbed it "New Bangkok" to keep the memories of their old home alive. Aboard the Drifter Colony, the refugees tried to recreate the culture of Thailand and their Buddhist religion. Whenever other human survivors came to the colony, they were welcomed with open arms as rivalries and feuds were forgotten by then since all humans held out hope that the Titan was out there somewhere in space and longed for the day when they could finally find a planet that they could call home.

Like all Drifter Colonies, life aboard New Bangkok was about survival. Children would grow up fast and do things that would contribute to the survival of the colony, from growing food and patching up the spaceships to bartering with alien races still friendly to humanity. Those who were born and raised on Earth before the Drej Attack of 3028 kept the memories of Earth alive by telling all children born on the Drifter Colony stories about humanity's rise and downfall, which gave the children hope and things to look forward to when a new homeworld would be found.

At Akima Kunimoto's grandmother's funeral, one attendees mentioned that the old woman had helped them found her son who was on New Bangkok.[1]

Helping the unexpected rays of hope[]

One day in 3043, the starship Valkyrie docked alongside New Bangkok to pick up plasma packs and food before the final leg of its journey to the Ice Rings of Tigrin in the Andali Nebula. Two of its crew, Cale Tucker (son of Sam Tucker) and Akima Kunimoto (a human Drifter), originally intended to barter some of the food they had for different food and different objects from Earth that Akima intended to add to her collection of Earth artifacts, but learned that their leader, Captain Joseph Korso, and their second in command, Preed, had been secretly working with the Drej to find the Titan for money. Korso and Preed then tried to kill Cale and Akima to keep their dealing with the Drej and their real reason for finding the Titan secret, only for Cale and Akima to escape through the hatch (that they'd jammed open during lockdown) and make their way into the docking port. Although Preed managed to wound Akima in the shoulder with a shot from his ray gun, Cale and Akima managed to get out of the docking port and aboard New Bangkok, with added help from the refugees. Unhindered that they'd failed to eliminate them, Korso and Preed decided to abandon the couple on the drifter colony and carry on their search for the Titan.

Once inside the main part of New Bangkok, the refugees set to work nursing Akima's wound and fetching water for Cale. Cale then watched some children playing soccer, during which, one of the boys accidentally kicked the ball at him. Fortunately, the boy's big brother apologized to Cale for what happened and explained about how the soccer ball originally belonged to their dad, who was once a star athlete for Thailand's soccer team back on Earth, and how the stories about Earth before the Drej Attack of 3028 help the children see beyond the hulls of rusting spaceships. He then shows Cale a treasured photograph of their dad playing soccer on a grassy soccer field (possibly taken during Earth's last World Cup in 3026), which gave his little brother the spark for imagining playing in a soccer field.

That evening, Akima wakes up and finds Cale staring up at space through New Bangkok's observation deck. While she shares her disgust in learning that Korso and Preed were wanting to find the Titan for money, Cale assures her that they'll never find the Titan first because they still need his map to find the Titan's true location in the Ice Rings of Tigrin and they're going to beat them to it, which Akima finds humorous at first because they're still stranded on New Bangkok and they don't have a ship, but Cale points out that they do, because he happened to be looking at a spaceship that he figured was just right for them. As soon as Cale and Akima speak with the elderly man who lives in the spaceship and explain their plight and how they're the humans who can find the Titan, the elderly man is more than happy to let them use his ship, but has doubts that it will be able to fly since it hasn't been operational for fifteen years. However, Cale finds that the ship's ionic vacuum drive is still functional and, with the assurance to Akima that he can fix the ship and Akima's promise that she can fly it, initiates repairs immediately.

With the news that the humans that can find the Titan are aboard and need their help, the refugees of New Bangkok immediately assist Cale and Akima in repairing the spaceship by patching up the exterior and replacing old controls with new ones. Once the spaceship is fixed up and rechristened "Phoenix" (after the mythological Earth bird), the refugees, including the soccer athlete's sons and the elderly man, all gather in the observation deck to watch the Phoenix make its first flight in fifteen years. After an almost false liftoff, the Phoenix takes off to the cheers of the refugees and flies off towards the Andali Nebula in pursuit of the Valkyrie.

New Earth finally formed[]

As soon as the Titan was found, while it was creating the new Earth like planet that would soon come to be called "New Earth", the news spread out to the human drifter colonies and all humans living as second class citizens with other alien races. Just like with the other Drifter Colonies, once they heard that humanity's new home world was being formed, the refugees of New Bangkok got all spaceship engines fully functional again for the first time since 3028 and set course for the Andali Nebula. On the first day of 3044 (16 AE), with the Ice Rings of Tigrin now gone (as they'd been used by the Titan to create New Earth), New Bangkok was the first Drifter Colony to appear out of space and come across the new home planet for humanity. Upon sighting New Earth and homing in on the Titan's signal, the refugees reacted with delight that the two humans they'd helped had kept their word in finding the Titan and formed humanity's new home and prepared to start their lives anew as other human drifter colonies and spaceships carrying human emigrants arrived as well.

It's possible that after landing on New Earth, the refugees of New Bangkok were given high praise and awarded by Cale and Akima for their help in finding the Titan and, like the other drifter colonies, New Bangkok served as a temporary New Earth home for its inhabitants until the human population built cities based on the ones they used to live in back on Earth as part of starting civilization anew.

Trivia[]

  • New Bangkok was probably named in honor of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand on Earth.

Source[]