Survey Vessel Victoria's Song & the Thargoid Scout
12 Dec 2017Robert Phillips
My previous lead had produced good results, but ultimately lead to a dead-end. The Thargoid Structure at HIP 19026 B 1 C was inaccessible due to the site having decayed.I returned to my list of potential leads from my investigations at Relay Station PSJ-17:
- Investigate HIP 17746 for info on 'Recon 6' and Pleiades Sector AB-W B2-4 (the location of the original crash site).
- Locate and investigate survey Vessel Victoria’s Song
Re-visit HIP 19026 B 1 C and investigate coordinates -17,9575, -152.6994.- Locate and investigate Survey Vessel Pandora
- Investigate the Listening Post in Merope.
I took the top lead from my list, and headed to HIP 17746 to see if I could find out anything about 'Recon 6'. Scanning the whole system, and each body in the system, revealed nothing of use. If Recon 6 was in this system, it was not obvious.
However, during my travels from HIP 19026 to HIP 17746, I happened to pass through Pleiades Sector IH-V c2-5. Around the first body in that system was a Listening Post from which I was able to download the following data:
LISTENING POST SIGNAL DATA
…Unknown Subroutine NNP-292-A Detected…
Signal Match Detected in HIP 17125.
…Partial Decryption Achieved…
You can’t just arrest us, we haven’t done anything wrong….
This is a registered survey mission, we have all the paperwork…
please listen to me….No…please…we’re an unarmed survey team….. pIease…………
Black flight 12 to command. Site secured…clean up underway.
:…Beacon Signal Interrupted…
The Listening Post revealed a matching signal somewhere in HIP 17125. I jumped to that system and scanned it. Again, nothing appeared on my Nav computer. It's a binary star system, with the second star over 40,000 LS away, so it was possible that the signal match originated from there, beyond my scanner range. To make sure, I began a scanning each of the planets around the primary star.
As I approached HIP 17125 A 3, I got a signal on my Nav computer - Survey Vessel Victoria's Song:
It appeared to be abandoned, as there were no signs of life. Along the ship' hull were 4 Ship Log Uplink points. Scanning them downloaded the following audio logs:
SURVEY VESSEL VICTORIA’S SONG, COMMANDER’S LOG 1/4:
Some of the crew are not happy we’re working for the Feds, but this deal is too good to pass up.
With all the expansion going on in this region, we need to make sure we’re in at the beginning to secure the contracts we need.
This Survey mission is just that. A simple rock hop, scanning for minerals.
SURVEY VESSEL VICTORIA’S SONG, COMMANDER’S LOG 2/4:
We arrived in orbit around planet A 7 A a day ago, it’s been all hands on deck to make sure all the equipment is ready for launch down to surface.
While the majority of our planet scans just showed the usual mineral data, there is one area on this rock that is giving off some unusual readings.
If there is any profit to be made from this trip, I’ll bet my ship it’s going to be found there.
SURVEY VESSEL VICTORIA’S SONG, COMMANDER’S LOG 3/4:
We’ve stumbled onto something big. I don’t know what it is, or who built it, but we’ ve definitely hit the mother load.
Aries Dark Region DB-X d1-63 is gonna have our names on it.
First things first, I’ve got to make sure all this is by the numbers. I don’t want this going south because we didn’t fill in the correct paperwork.
I’m calling it in.
SURVEY VESSEL VICTORIA’S SONG, COMMANDER’S LOG 4/4:
Security vessel, please respond… Hold your fire! This is a registered survey mission, we have all the correct paperwork… Listen to me! You can’t just arrest us…we haven’t done anything wrong, we have rights.
Repeat we’re an unarmed survey team on a registered mission.
We surrender! Please!
It seems the vessel was attacked by unknown assailants masquerading as security forces. This was worrying - I experienced something similar at Relay Station PSJ-17 and at Communications Hub Zeta 12. There definitely appeared to be some kind of Black-Ops going on.
Thankfully, there were no ships in the vicinity of the survey vessel. There was, however, a small moon orbiting HIP 17125 A 3. I was curious - why would the Survey Vessel be in this area in the first place when their logs indicated there was something worthwhile at Aries Dark Region DB-X d1-63 A 7 A?
The answer revealed itself when I performed a detailed scan of the nearby moon HIP 17125 A 3 A. An unusual signal was emanating from the surface. I descended towards the source of the signal.
At Lat: -65.819, Long: 48.867, nestled in a shallow valley, overlooked by a gas giant, I saw what appeared to be a crash site:
I landed nearby and was surprised to find that this was no ordinary crash site. The crashed vessel appeared to be a Thargoid ship! It's design was different to what I had encountered previously, and it was much smaller. Nevertheless, it followed the same basic octagonal design, and it's hull appeared to have organic properties (though it appeared to be less organic):
Scattered around the crash site were numerous Thargoid technology and biological components.
A scan was difficult, due to the ship being half buried. I had to point my SRV scanner below the surface to achieve a successful scan, which revealed the following data:
SHIP ANALYSIS
…Material Analysis complete…
…High concentrations of mycoid particle detected…
…Searching known databases for identification…
…Results confirmed…
Designation: Thargoid Scout
So, this was a Thargoid Scout ship! Interesting.
This must have been what Victoria's Song was studying before it was attacked. I studied the vicinity for a while longer and then, satisfied that I could not gather any more data, took my leave to investigate my next target - Aries Dark Region DB-X d1-63 A 7 A.