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Syroma is a balkanized system, historically under long term Imperial control. During the war it was occupied by the Federation and afterwards became a neutral system. System governments are split over galactic alliances (including some wishing to remain neutral). Right now there is a moratorium on any major power navy within the system and each respective power has a very minor presence.
The Scalawag jumped into Syroma and was soon hailed by a local power police cutter demanding they cut their engines and be boarded. Suspicious of their intent the crew spurred the ship onward attempting to evade the police cutter which attacked and pursued. Eventually, the Scalawag was able to fend off the ship and slip away, heading to Syroma 6.
The company approached the base which appeared powered down. Not responding to any hails, they discovered a faint automated SOS signal emitting from the base. Conducting a scan, it appeared the power to the base was shut off.
As they landed in docking bay, the research base looked deserted. After some Investigation, the crew found remains of eaten bodies. They were attacked by some alien species and made their way to the administration section. There they found a large pile of alien creature corpses with the entryway covered by an automated sentry laser minigun. Roxie fired off a precise shot and disabled the automated sentry. As they approached they found it covered what appeared to be a hastily barricaded room. Inside they found the remaining survivors.
Lt. Tina Dillon along with five other marines and four other scientific staff were the only ones left alive. They stated the base was medical research facility which harvested unique parasites from an alien species native to a planet with a thin atmosphere. The species is highly aggressive and can rapidly multiply if there is ample food sources (such as the dead station staff). The parasite had unique genes with high medical significance and the scientists used the alien creatures to propagate these parasites.
For some reason the isolation barrier fields for the alien pens were shut down, and almost immediately after power for the station was taken offline due to some unknown catastrophic event. Communications were also taken offline. In the havoc the marines were unable to gain access to the armory for more sufficient weaponry and armor, so they holed up in a room. As there was only one vacc suit, they have no means to safely escape. The marines knew if they were overdue for regular communications to superiors, a Federation navy craft will arrive eventually, so Lt. Dillon decided to hold tight in barricaded room. They expected that ship will arrive within a few days.
Syn was able to access more of the computer system and discovered that a sergeant Hamm had gotten access to explosives from the armory, followed by access logs indicating entry to the station power generator. Shortly after this, she found video footage of him entering alien pens, powering down barrier fields, and overriding main doors to remain locked open. He was almost immediately killed by the aliens after doing so, and then the security data goes blank (presumably after the power went down). There was additional footage and access log records indicating at the same time a person wearing a vacc suit took the communication array offline manually outside the station, and then planted a small explosive device to damage it. Finally logs show an ATV rover was taken out of the vehicle bay.
One marine will offer that sergeant Hamm was acting a little strange after recovering a lost marine on a training exercise. A private Snipe was assigned to conduct a remote solo exercise on the moon surface, as he always had problems with orienteering. Snipe had gotten lost in old mining base on far side of the moon. Sergeant Hamm went out to recover him and was overdue to return for several hours. This was about three days before the aliens escaping. The marine was adamant that Hamm was acting a bit off. All of them agreed that Snipe was an okay marine, just always a bit off and nothing about his behaviour indicated he had any issues. Lt. Dillon will emphasize that all the marines and personnel have thorough and recurring psych evaluations.
They decided as a group to work through an air duct, reach the Scalawag via EVA, and then return with more vacc suits. They could then ferry all the survivors to the ship. The company went to their tasks and were successful, leaving the abandoned research base behind.
En route to Syroma they were overtaken by an Imperium cruiser, requesting that they hold position and prepare to be boarded. Minutes later a Federation cruiser arrived in the area, stating that the crew of the Scalawag hold position so that they could transfer the survivors of the station. As this developed, a large Syroma system navy destroyed entered that sector and demanded to know what the Imperium and Federation ships were doing in the system. The crew of the Scalawag found themselves in a tense political situation, staring down the guns of three warships.
