Last week, the galaxy witnessed a truly audacious rescue.

While returning from Beagle Point, Commander Felix Macedonica found himself without sufficient germanium to synthesise a FSD injection and continue his journey home. Faced with the choice of spending the rest of his life 65,000 light years from home or destroying his beloved Lakon Type-6E and riding the escape capsule back to civilisation, Felix was in dire straits indeed.

At that moment, Commander Chiggy Vonrictofen was exploring the Zunou sector. When Chiggy picked up a weak sub-ether distress signal he quickly established a private link with Felix before appraising the system for asteroid belts and ringed planets that could potentially yield germanium. He then departed for Colonia to fit a mining laser and larger fuel tank.

With his ship appropriately equipped, Chiggy proceeded to cover the first 30,000 light years from Jaques in less than 13 hours, a wraith of speed and purpose. Stopping only to sleep, he finally arrived less than 48 hours after receiving Felix's first transmission.

The pair travelled to the nearest belt and Chiggy spooled up the mining laser as Felix watched the scanner. Nickel, iron, sulphur, manganese, phosphorus – the elements kept coming, but not the one they needed.

Despair started to creep in. Then it appeared, a word that brought with it a cascade of emotions: germanium. Felix swooped in and secured his freedom.

"Chiggy's efforts have left me speechless," said Felix. "His perseverance shows that the indomitable human spirit has no bounds."

Commander Mad Billy

Institute for Galactic Exploration and Research

A number of newsfeeds have reported that amateur explorer Commander Lewis has finally returned to human-inhabited space. After following the Distant Worlds Expedition into the void, the unfortunate traveller found himself alone in a damaged Asp Scout some 65,000 light years from civilisation.

A freak accident during the return trip resulted in the loss of most of Commander Lewis's food supplies, leaving him with only tea and an assortment of biscuits for the six-month journey home. After being treated for malnutrition and diabetes, Commander Lewis spoke to the media about his ordeal:

"The journey was a nightmare. I kept getting lost, and was haunted by images of long-dead 21st century actors. If it wasn't for my 1,000 friends on social media, I would have gone insane. I don't think I'll ever eat another biscuit."

Despite assertions from Admiral Maxton Price that Federal ships in Merope would not initiate conflict, a recent incident report tells a different story.

Apparently, a clearly marked Asp Explorer science vessel was shot down, without provocation, by Federal vessels above Merope 2 A. Rescue teams from Obsidian Orbital, responding to a distress call, found the smoking wreckage of the ship a short distance from a barnacle site guarded by a Farragut Battle Cruiser and a squadron of combat ships. The pilot – a captain in the Federal Auxiliary Navy – was only slightly injured. They said:

"A lone Asp with retracted weapons is no threat to a battle group, and the navy can't shoot whomever they want without jurisdiction. If one of my boys ignored the rules of engagement like that, I'd throw the book at them. Admiral Price can expect a formal inquiry from the JAG as soon as the paperwork is done."

The Federation has not issued an official response.