Investigation of destroyed rescue megaships
12 Dec 2024C. Instinct
AzCorp Science DivisionAIRV BIG SISTER - field report
Investigation of destroyed rescue megaships:
The following report is based entirely on first hand data collected by myself, CMDR C. Instinct. I have visited the debris fields of all 7 destroyed rescue megaships, using my AX search & rescue Python, the SSR-04 “Miranda”. The entire expedition has been recorded. Selected pictures of interest will be displayed in this report, the full footage is available to any interested CMDR upon request.
It shall be noted here, that all 7 wreckage sites are so similar in their appearance, that there will be no further distinction made between them in this report.
General appearance:
Dropping in on the wreckage of a rescue megaship, the fist thing to notice is a distinct green cloud, enveloping the entire debris field. This is a common sight on any site of Thargoid related combat aftermath. While not showing any noticeable caustic properties, the green haze is most likely organic residue from the caustic cloud Thargoid ships release upon destruction. It is noteworthy that this green haze is the only observation that rescue megaship wrecks have in common with other Thargoid related combat aftermath sites. The debris field itself expands up to a radius of about 2.6km around the center, forming a bubble of just under 6km in diameter.
The debris:
A very distinct feature of rescue ship wreckage is the unusually high degree of destruction. The vessels have been completely destroyed, leaving no fragments larger than approximately 100-150m in length at maximum. This is very uncommon for wrecks of Thargoid attacks! Usually larger ships destroyed by Thargoids naturally display heavy damage but the bulk of the hull is structurally still intact. This can be observed on wrecks as small as beluga class S&R vessels over capital battle cruisers up to the wreck of the King Fisher megaship. It is therefor reasonable to assume that the Thargoids usually do not expend more time and energy on further destroying a larger ship, once it has been critically damaged. In contrast to that the complete destruction of the entire ship body of every single rescue megaship appears to be a very deliberate effort.
Thargoid interceptor remains:
Among the debris of every Rescue megaship, fragments from Thargoid vessels can be found. Furthermore, the size and shape of the fragments near the center clearly appear to be core fragments of interceptors. The positioning of the interceptor wreckage, combinde with the green Haze almost perfectly overlaying with the megaship debris leaves no doubt, that interceptor and megaship were extremely close at the point of destruction. I therefor offer the theory, that the rescue megaships had been destroyed by suicide attacks from one or more thargoid interceptors. This might also offer an explanation for the exceptionally high degree of overall destruction.
Absence of salvage contacts:
Another very unusual observation is the complete lack of any salvageable contacts among the debris. No wreckage components, no black boxes and no Escape pods at all, not even empty ones. At any other Thargoid related combat aftermath it is common to find such salvage.
Conclusions:
In the past the Thargoids have displayed a very consistent method of attacking larger vessels that can be broken down into 2 distinct phases: combat and retrieval. In the combat phase a thrgoid force of mostly interceptors attacks a ship until it is critically damaged and then moves on quickly. The combat force does not expend more time or resources than absolutely necessary to disable their opponents and does not bother with any salvage or escape pods. Some time after the combat force has left, a retrieval forces, consisting of mostly hunters, arrives to collect any occupied escape pods. These hunters usually ignore wreckage components and empty escape pods, but fiercely attack any S&R vessels they might encounter. The distinct lack of even empty escape pods and wreckage components is strong evidence against the notion that both phases might have been completed in just one step when attacking the rescue megaships.
The findings of my expeditions lead me to believe, that the Thargoids very deliberately focused on nothing but maximum destruction when attacking the 7 rescue megaships.