The Voyages of the Starship Icarus May Kick Off Next Weekend

I guess I need a name for the "Stars Without Number / Starships & Spacemen, Star Trek meets Aliens meets Warhammer 40k" drop in / drop out campaign.

"The Voyages of the Starship Icarus. It's 8 year mission: To explore strange, new worlds. To seek out adventure wherever it may be. To return. Yes, to simply survive and return after it's mission is complete."

The Icarus is halfway through its 8 year mission. All of the original command staff have met their end on one world or starship battle or from food poisoning or the like. Ensigns have been assigned to act in the ranks of the different command staff, but in truth they are all still ensigns.

Communications with the nearest Federated star base takes weeks to travel through hyperspace, and even if the Icarus turned back now, it would still take six months through occasionally hostile space to return home.

Over half the crew has been added from local populations over the years to replace crew members that have been lost. The new generation, or "New Gens" are inevitably "Red Shirts" until they prove themselves to the original generation of crew members. With experience comes added responsibilities, if not survivability.

(All PCs being ensigns and red shirts removes the constrictions of a rank based structure while still filling the requisite "rank" roles.)