Independent Miners Guild Comm System (GuildComm)

[Malacore]

¤-¤-¤-¤-¤-¤-¤-¤-¤ Transmission Incoming ¤-¤-¤-¤-¤-¤-¤-¤-¤

¤ LOCATION: Tau-29
¤ COMM-ID: Abraham Caldwell
¤ TARGET-ID: Guildmaster Jack Henderson
¤ SUBJECT: Recovery of the Arosa Star
¤ ENCRYPTION: IMG M.E.T.A.N.O.L. Code

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Greetings Guidmaster Henderson,

I've recently been in the Tau-29 system Navmapping the area and during a routine deep space scan I picked up a sensor distortion on the outskirts of the system over 250k away from my current location. Naturally my curiosity got the better of me so I abandoned my scans and set off from Freeport 6, baring South-East in an attempt to figure out what was causing the blip on my scanners. I shunted power from all systems to my sensor array in an attempt to figure out what was really there. The flight was a long one, looking back everything seemed to slowly disappear. Thankfully when I was 150k away from the object the first images started to come through and to my surprise it was some kind of object, possibly a ship!

At that point I diverted every ounce of power to my engine array, thinking back on it now that was a rather stupid decision. For all I knew that could have been a hostile vessel hell it could have been anything, but I couldn't stop myself, I had to figure out what it was and why it was there. Each passing moment the excitement grew within me I was constantly checking my sensors and realigning the main array in an attempt to clear up the images, all the while doing everything humanly possible to get there a little bit faster. Finally I got the image that confirmed everything! I was resting my eyes, feet up on the dashboard you know how tiresome long flights can be but then my sensor alerts started to go off, I called up the most recent sensor data and clear as day it was a ship.

I could not believe my eyes it really was a ship one that seemed to be powered as well, it bears a striking resemblance to one of the ancient Pilgrim Liners but I couldn't be completely sure until I was able to perform a more detailed scan. It really was astonishing to behold who knows how long that vessel has been travelling the empty void of space for, were did it even come from? These questions raced around in my brain aching to be answered. At this point I started sending out a long range transmission maybe there was someone alive in there that needed my help, the hours trickled by and all I received back was static, sadly it seemed that there were no souls left alive on board. I'm not going to lie it scared the hell out of me, the thought of stepping aboard a dead vessel, I wondered if there was going to be any bodies strewn across the ship.

I finally reached the vessel! Preliminary scans confirmed my thoughts this was in fact a Pilgrim liner and to my surprise the carbon dating report shows that this ship was built around 330 A.S! I couldn't even begin to wrap my head around that, this ship is nearly 500 years old, this is likely to be one of the last built Pilgrim Liners of its time. As they are seemingly produced in smaller numbers today. I could not wait to get on board it would be like stepping into a time capsule, though do not worry I took every proper precaution before boarding the ship. I did a primary scan of the hull and as you can imagine it showed some serious wear and tear with hundreds of micro fractures across the hull and supporting super structure. There appeared to be multiple hull breaches on the starboard side as well as a breach on the keel of the ship. Simulations show this would have caused explosive decompression of the ship across the majority of all decks, with only the main reactor and a couple of corridors left safe, scans also showed that there were 133 organic bodies remaining on board... Sadly not a single life pod was launched. I believe the rest of the crew were ripped from the ship when it was vented. I'd like to request we give the ones I can find a proper burial.

I manoeuvred to the stern of the vessel where there was an undamaged docking port which leads to corridor 24-E. I donned my best EV suit and stepped into the ship. Primary scans indicate the artificial gravity generator suffered major damaged from unknown sources and appears to be offline. I engaged the magnetic lock on my boots and made my way down the corridor through the bulkhead doors. The readings on my suit showed the air here was very thin, I would suffocate without its protection and yet this was one of the few areas that still maintained pressure. A local scan of the ship indicated that there is debris blocking the air ducts and that sections of the vents have completely collapsed, the majority of the ships oxygen system appears to have broken down many years ago.

I came to a cross-section were wires and pipes hung from the poorly maintained ceiling, I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts, simply because behind either of these doors one of the could be laying there dead, much to my dismay behind the first door there he was, his lifeless body slumped down against the wall. Lt.Cmdr Ryan Ellis or at least that's what his ID tag said. I could barely stomach to look at him it felt like he was silently judging me for boarding this ship, his barren face and empty sockets stared at me, it was as if I was staring in to a black hole and nothing but death started back at me. I performed a quick biological and deep tissue scan of the body, it showed that he died from a projectile wound and it appears the round tore through his brain terminating his life instantly, maybe he knew his time was up and decided to end it his way, regardless I quickly move on. The next room was pretty much the same as the last, though this time it didn't have a crew member staring me down thus giving me a proper chance to evaluate the area. It appears to be the crew quarters. On my initial scan of the ship I found that the majority of this vessel was built to hold people. it's similar to the new Luxury liners that we use today though it definitely does not afford the same comforts that's for sure, it's a lot more barebones than most modern ships in fact. The historical records show these ships were designed to ferry people over the vastness of space before we had access to Jumpgates so they were never designed with high-end comfort in mind. I did check a few more of the rooms but most were filled with personal effects and a few dead bodies.

I pulled up the schematics of the ship and found a nearby route to the reactor room, much to my surprise the reactor appeared to be in good condition. However a closer scan of it showed it to suffered from having micro fractures across its shell. Scans also showed that the containment chambers holding the fuel had fractured a long time ago spilling fuel out over the reactor and across the deck, all that is left now is a dried highly radioactive residue. Even with the protection of my EV suit, it was not rated for this level of toxicity. Though it has to be said that old tech really has stood the test of time. The only silver lining here is it appears the crew had it set in a power saving mode this reduced the amount of fuel going to the engine thus preserving engine functions. I quickly plugged in to the main computer core pulling up whatever data I could. Unfortunately the optics had degraded over time leading to a lot of data being corrupted or lost. I managed to retrieve their primary mission and it appears that the ship left Liberty space but was hit by an Ion storm 20 years in to its mission, dramatically knocking it off course. This was before shields were common place and this ship wasn't lucky enough to be outfitted with one. Without protection, the ion storm massively damaged the engines and electronics and caused extensive hull damage, leading to explosive decompression. it has been drifting through space ever since slowly breaking down. I shut down the computer core to preserve whatever is left and once I've returned the vessel to a local shipyard I can start the process of retrieving whatever data possible.

I finally made my way down to the bridge, just before I entered there was a metal plaque laying beside the door it read 'The Arosa Star' I hung the plaque back up in its proper place, I'd guess that's what this ship is named. Stepping on to the bridge it really was a sight to behold, after 500 years this room has remained undisturbed. Sadly, sitting in the captain's chair, was another corpse, Capt. Jamie Blackwood, according to his ID tag. I went over to the Nav console and confirmed what I had read at the computer core; the ship and nearly all hands were lost a few weeks after they were hit by the Ion storm. After that I went over to the captain's chair and laid Capt. Blackwood on the floor. It was horrible, his flesh was dry and rough like old leather but he felt so fragile as I laid him down beside the chair. It's sad to think that the captain of this incredible vessel has been reduced to nothing more than a moldering husk. Afterwards I began to analyse the data within the console: this ship originally had 150 crew and roughly 1,100 passengers aboard. it's sad to think that only 133 bodies will receive a proper send off, I then rerouted all remaining power to the hull plating in an attempt to reinforce the ship. I went back out the way I came but I made a quick stop at engineering this time to pickup some high-strength cabling, with this I've attached tow lines to the ship and I'm now in the process on bringing it back to our Shipyards.

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I'd like to request that you allow me to keep this ship, I know as miners we aren't normally known for piloting liners but given our recent endeavours in to the Omicrons the use of a one would come in handy for relief missions. Not to mention once it is fully operational it can be used to help setup other deep space IMG installations. On top of that I am more than happy to use this ship for deep space exploration missions for the IMG. I believe this ship will benefit the IMG overall. On the way back I also did a more complete scan of the ship. From what I can see the damage to the ship is extensive but fixable, I would only need the use of a shipyard mooring point for maybe a month, uh we'll call it two just in case. I will also retrofit the hull, install new shields, replace the reactor and also update all electronics on the ship to a modern standard. Don't worry I will cover the cost of all that. The main resource I need from the guild is the use of a mooring port and the repair suite at Singapore Shipyard. I think it might be wise to get in contact with ALG to see if they'll have any luck in cleaning up the reactor room, I would also like to get their opinion on the main reactor and whether or not it's worth saving. On top of that I do require a good clean up crew for the rest of the ship! I think it would be a real shame if we scrapped this vessel it's a piece of history and I want to honour that and the crew.

Kind regards,

Abraham Caldwell.

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