[003-H] Unknown Signal

[Hades]

Beep beep beep beeeeep beeeeep beeeeep beep beep beep...

Beep beep beep beeeeep beeeeep beeeeep beep beep beep...

[EyesofMarch]

Before any spacecraft would be sent to the location, the location would silently be pinged from an unknown location by the Systems Republic of Kal'Bavakor. A male Kal'Bavakorians voice would fill the void left by the strange beeping, the synthetic tone of his voice, in English, keeping a calm yet curious tinge to it.

++-'Attention unidentified signature. If of sentient nature, begin new transmission and attempt communications.'-++

[Hades]

The Kal'Bavakorians would receive a complete lack of a response. The tachyon message continued to repeat, following the same pattern.

[Double D]

Not long like the Systems Republic of Kal'Bavakor, another ping would follow. But instead of a vocal response, another Tachyon message would follow. It would repeat twice before silencing itself.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep... Beep... Beep. Beeeeep. Beep. Beep... Beep. Beeeeep. Beeeeep. Beep.......

Beep. Beep... Beep. Beep. Beep.......

Beeeeep. Beep. Beeeeep. Beep... Beeeeep. Beeeeep. Beeeeep... Beeeeep. Beeeeep... Beep. Beep... Beeeeep. Beep... Beeeeep. Beeeeep. Beep.

[Hades]

As expected, no response was returned. The message continued.

[Hades]

((Eyes said he won't be continuing on this. Rogers, that's your turn!))

[Double D]

003-H System Rim

Not unlike a drop of ink dropping onto fresh paper, a small Ghazi class Corvette would seemingly materialize from nothing. Not even the length of a football pitch, the small vessel would sit steady, running several system checks. All six of its Maadi autogauss weapon systems scanned around them methoticly, searching for anything worth their time.

Content with its surroundings, the small ship pressed forward in an attempt to find the source of the signal.

[Hades]

Almost immediately after jumping into the system, the corvette would detect the source of the distress signal: a shuttle-sized ship, drifting in a decaying orbit around the system's fourth planet. Any further scans would detect that its systems are offline, and that it is venting atmosphere through multiple leaks. The pattern of beeps continued, unchanged in any way whatsoever.

[Double D]

S.I.C.N. Jhelum - Corevette, Ghazi Class

"When the airway opens, you will enter the gangway. Scans indicate the ship is offline and possibly leaking atmosphere. At this point, we'll be broadcasting one last time. From there, it's a standard boarding party. We don't have the faintest idea what to expect, so stay sharp. May The Most High protect you. Allahu Akbar."

"Allahu Akbar," replied the marines in unison as Kaseeb rolled his eyes. Believer or not, the pep talk wasn't what he needed. What he needed was a smoke. But time hadn't allowed for that. Instead, he crammed down his throat a high protein and calorie meal before getting his gear on.

One by one the ten marines, each clad in their immaculate garb, loaded into the gangway. Kaseeb found himself third in the row, his grip firm on the T-11 Rail-rifle he carried. Practicing a boarding was common when not on patrol, but it had been hard to take them seriously when the targets were holograms. Looking up, he watched the helmet of the man in front of him, eyes following the nametag attached to the bottom of it.

003-H System Rim

<::Unidentified Vessel, this is the S.I.C.N. Jhelum of the Second Islamic Caliphate, responding to your distress signal; Requesting entry to your vessel; Failure to respond will result in a forceful boarding; ::>
The message would play three times, first in Arabic, then in English and lastly in morse code.

[Hades]

Silence.

It wasn't jamming, or natural interference. It was just plain old silence. The shuttle continued to broadcast its bland SOS signal, but otherwise gave no indication that the Caliphate's message had been received or understood. In fact, the entire craft continued to drift, continuing on its rather stable and amazingly circular orbit around the planet. With the corvette closer, it would be obvious that the fission reactor that usually provided power for the shuttle has been shut down.

[Double D]

S.I.C.N. Jhelum - Corevette, Ghazi Class

"Farid! Up front, plasma torch!" barked the Staff Sergeant over the comms. From the rear came the portly Technical Corporal Farid, jogging as briskly as his legs could take him.

With the torch out and running, the gangway glowed a baby blue. Slowly and carefully the door was cut away. At last the job was done, allowing Faird to pack away the cutter as he walked to the end of the line. Looking back, the Staff Sergeant raised one hand in a fist.

With just a light shove from the squad leader, the blast door fell forward, crashing against the floor of the craft. Within seconds, the entire squad had poured in, formed a semi-circle around the entry way, rifles pointed in every direction.

[Hades]

To say that the interior of the craft was dark would be a vast understatement; with the re-entry shields lowered over the windows and the lights deactivated completely, the entire ship was filled only with darkness, an eerie black that bathed everything like smoke. The lamps of the entry team were the only source of illumination in the first compartment, which was quite clearly the airlock; maintenance crews evidently used this chamber to put their EVA suits on, as evidenced by the collection of 22nd century Extra-Vehicular Activity suits that were stored in semi-transparent containers mounted on the wall, and passengers could enter through the chamber when it was docked without risking compromising the internal atmosphere.

Getting through the second door was much easier; the door bolts were not offline, and all it required to enter was to attach a magnetic clamp on it and push towards the right. Once inside, darkness again; the massive passenger compartment seemed like a luxurious airplane of the 21st century, sporting leather seats and tray tables in front of where each passenger was supposed to sit. And yet, there were no such passengers; the compartment was empty, with the occasional dried blood splatter against the brown leather of the seats, but nothing of interest was actually present inside. The long hallway lead to two areas; by going aft, the team would reach the airlock that lead to the engineering section, which had been hermetically sealed, while by going opposite, they would emerge at the cockpit, also sealed. The cockpit seemed to have been welded shut from the inside.

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