Lake of Crimson

[Dusk]

---

Following the trail of Crimson Veil from two static-ridden transmissions, Civil Servant and the Falkenhorst cruiser found themselves deep in an uncharted red nebula located in the Omega Cluster. Fortunately, they had found their sister in arms before the Corsairs or the aliens did. She had indeed found something of interest: a disabled Coalition cruiser, hanging in space like a large tombstone. CV and her small crew had already boarded the vessel, attempting to repair the hull, engines and life support systems. Although they had managed to reseal the hull, the Typhoon was still largely without power. While Crimson Veil works to restore power, maintaining remote communication with Civil Servant and Chevalier, who had landed from the Falkenhorst, the latter two work to open the sealed doors and search for evidence that fits together to form a mosaic of the cruiser's final days.

Having entered the ship through the hangar doors, Civil Servant and Chevalier, passing a couple of Crimson Veil's crew members, found themselves in a cargo bay in complete chaos. Scattered items, weapons, and the bodies of the ship's previous crew. The Coalition men had perished in the confrontation, their bodies riddled with wounds. Following a trail of blood, CS and Chevalier found themselves next to a sealed door. Managing to get rid of the door with a gas torch and a bit of brute force, they entered a small maintenance room. There they came across the body of a Coalition soldier. In his hand was a personal device; damaged, but some recordings survived: it was mentioned that after the skirmish with the Corsairs, in an attempt to avoid further clashing with their reinforcements, the cruiser made a jump through an unknown hyperspace hole. The last audio recording was also preserved:

"Damn... Bastards..."
A cough.
"I know it was one of them... I should have gotten rid of them. Damn this wound... I'm fucked, it seems. I won't see Sveta and the kids anymore. Well, at least I got even with those creatures one last time... If anyone finds this, tell Sveta Ryabinova that I died in battle like a man... And watch your damn backs. I don't know if that thing really died."

Meanwhile, while trying to restore power, Crimson Veil alerted her friends that the elevator leading to the cockpit had gone offline. Now their only way forward was up the stairs, leading to a larger technical area. Where Crimson Veil herself would be.

---