An ancient signal

-Captain! I wish to inform you, that a new discovery requires your attention!

-Captain! You have to see this!

The two requests came simultaneously, so Natra was pretty sure that both of them wanted to convey the same message. Nevertheless, he ultimately ordered Helena to come to the bridge, and make her report there, all the while continuing his observation of the satellite, which was now beginning to disappear from view, slowly making it's way to the other side of the planet...

The doors silently opened, as the commander entered to the bridge, only to find Natra sitting in his chair, fiddling around with the controls. She started to speak, but the captain ordered silence for a moment, before starting a recording. After this, she signaled Kryolis to start her report again, which she did:

-Captain! I want to report something strange. At Empire time 19:53, the communication satellite - which was placed into orbit approximately seventeen minutes earlier - began to receive an unknown signal on our open channels. I tried to analyze it, but it did not matched with any of our currently used codes, however I managed to catch a lot of interesting details.

For example the signal itself is very weak, so weak in fact that another meter or two, and even the satellite couldn't have catched it. Secondly, while it used our open channels, it tried, and partially succeeded to access the encrypted ones, more specifically the low-security routes, which is usually reserved for everyday military chatter. Just from this we could draw numerous conclusions about the natu.....

-Commander please - interrupted the captain - this is all going to be on record. So just the facts. I don't mean to be rude, but.... [sigh] Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, just you know.... these sleepless nights are..... they are really messing me up right now so..... just continue as if nothing happened.

-All right! - continued Helena - so about the nature of the transmission. Originally we thought that it was an attack from an unknown party, however it turned out to be a distress signal -probably from a beacon somewhere- heading towards the planet. Hugh. After that, I decided to pay more attention to it, and what I found is that according to analysis it was recorded in perfect Selenian. I don't know what does that mean, but if I had to guess, than maybe it was Home world sending backup for some reason, so we should at least investigate.

According to data gathered by the satellite, it most likely comes from the planet's moon. If you want it captain, I could plan a rescue mission, however it would take at least a day or two, and with our reduced manpower we would need to postpone our Guild quest by a lot. Of course we could also just ignore it, but it probably wouldn't sit very well with mission control, and would probably result in mission failure and potential execution, soooooo I advise to mount the rescue operation as soon as possible. Captain! Sir? Are you listening.

One couldn't fault Helena for thinking that his higherup completely ignored her report. after all it's on record, so he could listen to it anytime he wants. However this wasn't the case as Natra slowly looked up from one of his holo-monitors, then pressing a button, beginning to play a recording:

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-This is Chief Science Officer Levon from the seventh squad of the sixth fleet codenamed Leviathan. If you hear this message I'm stranded on the moon of an unknown planet. Our ship Godspeed was en route to exterminate a planet in the Sol Sector when [heavy breathing] when suddenly we found ourselves separated from the rest of the fleet.

The failure of an engine brought the entire ship down to a nearby planet. I managed to enter a life-pod, before it happened however [multiple coughings cut the sentence ] however thanks to this I was separated form the craft, and became stranded on what I assume is a moon. Since then I established contact with them. [Sigh] They said they cannot help me.... that the ship had broke down, and it's beyond repair... They decided to sink it to the deepest point of an ocean.... If anyone from the empire hears this, and finds my corpse, please locate the ship, and make sure it is retrieved or properly disposed of.

The crew wired a beacon to the ship's reactor with several backups, and programmed it to respond to a specific signal..... a signal I saved on my personal computer.

If you want to find it, just trace this message to my body. But if you find me.... and you are part of the Empire... please do the kindness, and give me a proper burial. After that everything I had with me is yours. [Heavy sigh] I feel my end is near, so I'm going to retire for now. Chief Scinetific Officer Levon out.

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-Now Commander what do you think? Should we mount a rescue operation? -chuckled Natra - Honestly I don't blame you. Even I made the same mistake of not reading a message before forwarding it, and not just once.

However back to he subject at hand, it is indeed fortunate that we managed to capture this transmission. Or unfortunate depending on the point of view. One thing is for sure. The number of problems we have just increased by one. Nevertheless, high command wil be notified. Until then your orders are the following:

One. Send a probe to that moon, and decide on the type of gear we need to walk on it.

Two. After that, order three space suits from the fabricators.... no, make it four, alongside with a carry platform and a hermetically sealable box.

And finally, number three. Find the exact location of Officer Levons' shelter and prepare the crew for a moon landing.

You are dismissed.

Helena saluted to the captain, then turned and prepared to leave, when something just popped into Natra's mind:

-Commander, there is something else! If you find yourself around Dr. Ming, please tell her to pass me some sleeping pills, because I have to complete this report, and would probably forget it. Have them delivered to my personal room.

Just a heads up: The security feed was somehow cut from the lab, and all signs point to it being intentional. So yeah, just prepare for a huge mess. And no, she cannot use cleaning bots. It's her mess, so she will be the one cleaning it up.