GalDate: 3.5-2-4216

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The crew of the Scalawag began a tense negotiation among the three parties. They discovered the Imperial ship had gotten a call for military help on a humanitarian mission, while the Federation ship was following protocol entering the system to check up on an overdue message from the research station. Official orders were circulated and appeared as if no one was lying. An agreement was struck for delegations from each ship to board the Scalawag and get a debriefing from the staff and marines from the research station.

During that time, Lt. Dillan took Grog and Deek aside. She asked that they return to the moon research station and track down the fate of her soldier that took the ATV. She emphatically stated for them not to risk boarding the station, but instead see if the marine had gone to some other abandoned structure in the old mining facilities. She requested they report anything they found back to a Col. Mats a Toshi in the Imperial Navy, and they would be compensated for their actions.

With all parties satisfied with the debriefing, the Imperial officer left a package for the crew containing Galcredits as payment for their services fulfilling the supply run and a small bonus for their help. The crew discussed their options and decided to return to the moon and see if they could track down the lone marine.

They picked up his trail and a faint energy signature within an abandoned mining complex. As they approached they came across a figure sitting in an ATV. Exiting the ship and on food they investigated further only to be attacked by a laser sentry. Destroying the sentry, they found that the figure was the missing marine. For no apparent reason they sat in the ATV, and opened up their face mask to the vacuum of space.

This was outside a habitat that was the focal point of the energy signature. Investigating inside it appeared to have been abandoned, but someone was living inside for what appeared to be several weeks. Deek found the debris, patterns of food and water consumption, and general state of the habitat unusual. It was not something that appeared to be living conditions typical of a human and instead be an alien. Syn managed to link into a buried network security feed that captured snapshot images outside the structure.

The grainy black and white footage confirmed Deek’s suspicions. Footage was found of a human in a vacc suit driving up to the compound and entering the habitat. They viewed images of the person apparently speaking to an alien with two dark bulbous eyes and an elongated snout. The alien appeared to have an thin body with two arms that appeared tentacle-like. Unfortunately they could only make out the upper chest and head of the being through the habitat window. The human exited the habitat and began to set up perimeter sensors and the sentry gun. Then the figure sat in the ATV and opened his helmet, with the footage of the camera system going offline shortly after (likely from running out of power).

Scanning through the footage, the camera came online several weeks ago. The crew saw the marine private come into the habitat, and afterwards wandering around the old outpost moving different gear. Another figure had approached the complex and the private waved for both of them to enter the habitat. After approximately an hour they both left, concluded moving some equipment around the mining facility and drove away. This event happened the day of the orienteering exercise where the private was apparently lost, and several days before the incident at the research station.

The crew decided to secure some of the leftover food found in the habitat, copied the found footage, and left the old mining base. They decided to land on Syroma and send off this information to Col. Matsa Toshi, the Imperium naval officer Lt. Dillan requested they debrief if anything interesting was found.