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| Receiving Transmission From: |
| *** USS Pathfinder *** |
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--> Commencing Transmission
--> Parsing Message...Done!
--> Displaying Message: ID# QEC 1865JN2013JB41
This is Captain Norton of the USS Pathfinder transmitting from
the Gamma 1 Octantis system. We have arrived, in our assigned
target system, 5 Earth days ago. However, shortly after
leaving hyperspace we were ambushed by a rogue starship. Upon
entering the star system our scanners alerted us to the
presence of another vessel. Executive Officer Graf and I
concluded that the ship must have been following us for quite
some time, carefully staying out of the range of our radar.
It jammed our radar while approaching us, firing its ion
beam cannon toward our ship. Our shields successfully deflected
its attack and we took evasive action, and in the process
were able to strike their hull with a few blasts from our own
cannon. It was at that moment that the rogue ship was struck by
a perfectly-timed meteoroid that tore through the cabin,
depressurizing the vessel. We couldn't believe our eyes!
Upon identifying the ship and scavenging it for useful materials
we discovered that the crew was human. We counted 23 casualties.
There were no survivors. We have identified the rogue vessel
to be a 23rd-century, Destroyer-class ship, of Russian design.
We found evidence in the crew's computer system log that the
ship was hijacked by pirates 16 Earth years ago. I hope that
the crew didn't have any friends in this region of the galaxy.
On a side note, we have not detected any trace of the existence
of any alien species in the galaxy. The Pathfinder has been
programmed to continually scan the depths of space for a wide
array of different radio signals and hasn't received or
intercepted any communication signals that were flagged as being
of possible alien origin so far.
I now return to the subject of our mission to explore and
colonize the galaxy. 2 Earth years ago, our crew of 75 men,
women, and children were slowly awakened from our suspended
animation by our ship's life support system. Upon stumbling
out of my cryonic pod in a daze, I looked out of the window
nearby and marvelled at the beautiful view of our new home
star, Gamma 1 Octantis, with its bright-yellow glow radiating
in the darkness of space. It doesn't appear much different than
my memory of the appearance of Sol, but then again its been so
long since I've seen Sol. Seeing Gamma 1 Octantis here, in its
own system, was a much welcomed sight. Executive Officer Graf
and I have reviewed our mission notes from the International
Interstellar Colonization Organization. Our next objective is
to explore the fifth planet orbiting Gamma 1 Octantis because
deep-space scans indicated that it is likely suitable for human
habitation. We have set course for the planet and will send
another communication update of our progress at a later date.
--> End of Message
--> Ending Transmission
gemini://cosmic.voyage/USS Pathfinder/transmission.txt