Recordings of the Lost
03 Oct 2021Anden Beliam
“Next jump will take us to HIP 16217.” Hale’s voice comes over the comm as I enter the command deck. Walking to my command chair the main sequence star comes into view. Taking control of the ship, I slide the Halestorm out of the collision course and the fuel scoop activates. Bringing up the discovery scanner, I wait for the honk signifying the scan and pull the direct message comm from Cmdr Massiah, “All right, looks like the prison is on AB 1 A. We’ll have to do a detailed scan to locate it.”
Booting into the FSS, I start scanning the bodies in the system. Finding AB 1 A, I target it and complete my scan of the system. Navigating the ship towards the planet I click over the ship comms.
“Kalia, we will be heading planet side soon. If there is trouble still over the colony you will need to be ready to go.” I say as the body comes into view and I slow down enough to get the surface probes shot off.
“You got it boss. Ready and standing by.” She says, her voice cracking a little, “Did M happen to say what type of goid was there causing trouble?”
“He didn’t….and I haven’t heard from him since the message.” My voice was stiff. Concerned.
“That...doesn’t sound good for us.”
I didn’t want to respond. There wasn’t much I could say. But I knew I should say something. There was never a for sure plan of action when it came to the larger thargoid vessels. Sure the scouts would attack you on sight. It just wasn’t the same with the bigger goid ships, at least in my experience.
“We will save the decision on attacking or not once we see what is going on. Who knows, maybe there won’t be anything there.”
I target the penal colony and set a course. There are a dozen different scenarios going through my mind as the glide sets in and I start to see the colony getting closer on the horizon. There was something hovering over it. It’s...it’s a bloody basilisk. What is it doing? I hear the groaning honk from the vessel as I fly in closer, thankful the gravity was so low making the descent easier to manage.
“What in the corners of the galaxy is it doing?” I say out loud.
“What?!” Kalia’s voice comes over the comm, “What is going on? Ready to deploy.”
“Wait. Wait!” I say, trying to figure out what is going on. The Colony seems powered down. No lights. The defense system is down as well. But apart from that….it just doesn’t seem to be doing anything.
“Hang on. I’m going to land a ways away from the colony.”
“And….you’re doing that why?”
“I need you up here. Now.”
I bring the Halestorm down as the command deck door hisses open. Kalia’s intrepidation is palpable from behind me.
“Ok. You’ve got the deck.” I say bolting out of my chair as soon as the ship is secured.
“I’m going to go check on things at the base.”
“Are you out of your mind!?” she yells at me.
“I concur cmdr.” Hale’s voice perks up after being suspiciously quiet.
“Look. There is something more going on here.” I point at the goid hovering above the colony, “It’s not attacking. It’s not. Really look. It’s just scanning. Just like the last group that pulled us out of the frame shift jump.”
Kalia was quiet but crossed her arms tightly as her brow pulled together. She looks at me her eyes becoming moist.
“It’s gonna be all right. I don’t think this thing will even pay me any attention. And if it does….well I’ve got you here in the Halestorm.” I grip her shoulder and hold a reassuring eye contact with her.
“I don’t like this. And if you make it out of this we are going to have words.” She says sitting in the command chair.
I sigh, glad that she doesn’t put up more of a fight. I turn on my heel and run through the door making for the SRV hangar. I slip into it and punch the release for the hangar door. The SRV drops lightly to the ground. I hear the hum of the stabilizing thrusters keeping the vehicle to the ground. Throttling up and pinning away from the ship I call out over the comm.
“All right. I’m clear. Go ahead and take off and stay clear until-”
“I know, I know!” Kalia calls back, “Jus- just be careful. There is no call for a hero here.”
“We don’t really know that. If these people need help and we can- we are going to do what we can.” I say, and hear her sharp intake of breath before the comm flick out.
Punching across the nearly pure flat surface, the colony looms closer and the goid noises get louder. The scan lights are nearly blinding to look at. I dodge through a group of larger rocks so I don’t go pin-wheeling across the surface. This freaking low grav planet.
I slide into one of the entrances of the place. Security doors that would normally be closed open like a maw of some slumbering beast. Scanning the buildings as I careen around corners I see a data post rising. Locking onto it I activate the turret visor and scan it without stopping. I see the notification of firmware confirmed.
“I’ve downloaded the site security firmware. I don’t know if I can figure out how to re-activate the defense system. I don’t see any signs of life and I’m not able to contact anyone from inside.”
“Be careful Anden.” Kalia says suddenly, “Just be careful. You hear me?”
It was the first time she has ever used my first name, “I will be. If there is no one left, maybe there are some recordings of what happened. Hopefully, they all got out safe.”
I rove around the colony, the whole time the goid is scanning and making it’s groaning noise. It was grating at first, sounding so much different that when I was scanned in the Halestorm. I find some scan points and listen to the recorded messages. They are all from the Chief Warden. It’s doesn't sound good.
“Kalia...they are all gone.”
Silence.
“The Warden left a message. Everyone was missing. She thinks...she thinks that the Thargoids took them.” I say, the words leave my body feeling chilled.
“Took them? Wha-what do you mean they took them?” She asks. I shake my head even though I know she can’t see me.
“I don’t know. All I know is what she said. I’m sending you the logs now.”
I hear the whir and chime as the data is sent out to the Halestorm. As I wait for her to listen to them I feel myself drawn to look at the Basilisk. What in the world? I’ve been running around down here and nothing has happened to me. No attempt to draw me in. No ground forces. Just- nothing.
“You need to get out of there, Anden. I don’t like this. I don’t like it one bit. You get back here. Get out and get back here now. I’m sending you the coords for where I’m setting down.”
“I am going to try and see if I can reset and engage the turrets-”
“What?! Why? Anden! There is no one else there. No one to defend who is still there. The recordings. And not being able to hail anyone.” She blurts out.
“No, Anden. This is it. There is no one to help. Please. Please just come back.”
I can’t help but make note of the desperation in her voice. I look once more at the scanning ship as I come around the corner of the building.
“All right. I’m making my way to you.” I swear I think I can hear her sigh of relief over the comm.
I shoot out of the entrance, matching tread to tread the tracks of when I entered. I gun it. In the distance I can see the flashing lights from the Halestorm.
“Sir, it’s good you listened to her.” Hale says over the SRV comm channel, “ She might have done something….ill advised if you had not.”
“Hale, if I didn't know any better I’d say that was concern.” I grinned, despite the situation.
“For myself, sir. Who know what would have become of me had she decided to engage the Thargoid vessel.”
I felt a laugh deep down. If someone had told me what the new upgrade for the ships AI would be like I would have laughed them out of the station. Now...I’d say they undersold it’s capabilities.
The srv slid to a halt under the hangar doors of our ship. I punch through the boarding sequence and feel the SRV lift and twist to lock in place. It’s barely securely set when I launch out and make for the command deck. Kalia is there and throws her arms around me the second I step through the door. I hold her back.
“It’s ok. It’s ok. I’m back.”
She nods and pulls away, wiping her suit sleeve across her eyes. I follow her to the front view port of the Halestorm. We both watch silently as the Basilisk continues to torrent streams of whatever it is scanning.
“Why doesn’t it just leave? If there is nothing there, and no one left. What is going on?” I ask under my breath.
I feel Kalia’s hand slip into mine, “Let’s go. Let’s just get out of here. I don’t want to stay.”
Nodding, I squeeze her hand and then step into my chair. Her hand drifts slowly away from mine and she steps back to sit in the back right copilot chair. I watch the ship scan once more. Questions rattling around in my brain. I engage the drives and lift off, flipping around and away from the dead and lifeless colony. Pulling up to the escape route line, I hear Kalia sniffle behind me.
“I know...I know I don’t really like those longer stretches out from the bubble. But- maybe it’s time to take that trip to Sag A like you had always planned.”
“You want to go to Sag?” I ask, dumfounded.
“Not really. But there has never been a goid reported in the black towards Sag A. I thought- I thought it might be nice to get away. No chance of seeing those things for a while. And maybe. Maybe you could show me how to find bios and I could test my flight skills in the canyons…”
Her voice trailed off. I punched the drive and brought up the galaxy map to select a course for Jameson. She is right. Maybe this was the time to get away for a while. Hell, maybe even quest out to Beagle from Sag. Might even find another crew member to take on. Someone who like them just want to let the black call them away.
“I think you’re right.”
“Of course I am. I’m just glad you learned it so quickly.”
I smile and a soft chuckle builds out of me, “All right. All right. I’ve set a course for Jameson. We will load up supplies from there and change out a few mondules. Make sure we are all set for a long, long journey. Sound good?”
“Sounds perfect.” Kalia says and I hear her set her feet up on the display console.
Shaking my head as the star stream on either side of the ship, collecting together in front of us. Who knows what the next few months will hold for those still in the bubble. Personally, I wouldn’t mind to forget it all for a little while.