Hello. My name is Morgan Fischer, and this is my last transmission.
Well, it is also my first, but that’s only because I just now managed to find where Brian stashed the comms device.
But that doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. They’re all dead now, and I will be as well. My only hope is that this message gets heard in time to stop anyone else from suffering the same fate.
This all started with a rescue mission. I was recruited along with the rest of my team to search for the whereabouts of the ISE Trident, the first in its class of International Space Explorers. Its purpose was to explore the previously uncharted sector known as Sector Wecos.
Sector Wecos was chosen for the maiden voyage of the ISE Trident because it is one of the locations with the least data in Mother’s archives. In fact, the only flag on the file is the one marked ‘deadly’.
The mission went on well, for a time. Until the ship landed on the first solid planet. Shortly after touching down, all communication was lost, and the ship went dark.
That’s where my crew came into the picture. We are the most prestigious search and rescue team in this branch of the galaxy. Or so I’m told.
Our ship, the ISE Telegrande was the prototype of the ISE Trident, we helped pioneer the DynoFlux engine, the first of its kind to utilize a HyperHydroCarbon fuel. This did not set my mind at ease, but then again, we never took a job that was easy or reassuring.
I would like to introduce you to the crew, but there’s no point now. All that matters is that Brian had a backup comms, this one I’m speaking to you with now. He told me about it with his dying breath.
We landed on the first planet we saw, it appeared to be made primarily of precious metals, you can’t mistake that sheen. Not only did we spot the ISE Trident, completely unscathed with landing gear engaged, but a myriad of other ancient space cruisers, most of which can now only be found in museums. As if things weren’t ominous enough, a heavy mist obscured the ground.
We quickly landed a safe distance away. Keeping the graveyard of shifts within eyesight, but far enough to spot any oncoming danger. We donned our exosuits, and engaged our sparkrifles… We were not prepared for what we found when we exited our ship.
We approached with caution, of course. That is the protocol after all. At first glance, there wasn’t a single sign of life, just the ships sticking out of the ground like monuments. Still, we kept formation until we arrived at the site. Then, shapes began to emerge on the ground through the mist.
I can still remember the fear that struck through my heart when our squad leader Benjamin barked “contact!”. We all brandished our sparkrifles at the shapes, ready to engage at his sayso.
He instructed us to hold fire as he tried in vain to communicate with the shapes. He demanded them to emerge and show themselves, but they ignored him.
Benjamin continued to follow the rules of engagement to the T, it felt like hours. Finally someone broke formation, it was Marcus, our second in command. He had a disdain for the book as much as Benjamin was by it. This contrast made them a great squad leader and co-leader. Marcus had enough, and was sure to vocalize as much as he pushed past Benjamin and approached the nearest shape.
It appeared to be a round lump about 5 yards from the Class III starcruiser, a once grand hauling ship. Once at the lump, Marcus looked down at it and stopped dead in his tracks. Despite the distance and obstruction of his face through the helmet, we could see the color drain from it.
Jane called out to him, to tell us what he saw, I could see her finger trembling on the trigger of her rifle.
He appeared to choke on his words before finally getting a sentence out. “It’s a suit. Guys, it’s a suit with a skeleton in it.”
I saw a wave of confusion wash across the rest of my crew. Marcus grew more frantic and began dashing from blob to blob. He screamed that each one was the same as the last, an empty suit with a skeleton in it. Benjamin called for him to stand down, but that did not seem to quell the mood.
Admitting defeat, we were told to break formation and inspect the site. Also obeying was the mist, which parted with our footsteps as we approached the suits, revealing the ground and the suits, which were covered in a thick pink goop.
Brian pushed forward past all of us with his matter analyzer, after a moment the machine beeped and he confirmed what we all thought. It was blood. Human blood.
A wave of terror swept across the crew, my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. Benjamin urged us all to remain calm, but Jane had had enough, she began a mad dash to the ship. In her haste she had tripped over another lifeless suit, falling to the ground, her feet entangled. Marcus rushed to help her up, neither saw it coming, unfortunately, the rest of us did.
It looked like an oil spill, except it had no definition, it’s like the light ignored it. It must’ve followed us from our landing site, we were so focused on navigating the mist, we probably even walked right past it.
The horrendous lifeform descended on Marcus and Jane, extending a long tentacle with filaments appearing around the appendage. We opened fire without hesitation, our shots appeared to dissipate upon impact. The monster did not react, it continued its descent towards Marcus and Jane, as he struggled to wrestle her to her feet in her panicked state.
I couldn’t hear anything over the comms, but from the looks on their faces I could tell that they were screaming. It’s one of many things I wish I could forget, but I guess it’s not going to be an issue for much longer.
We continued to fire, to no avail. Benjamin held up his fist, ordering us to hold formation, it took everything in me to not disobey. We had to stand in horror as the abomination descended on Marcus and Jane. We were helpless as the monster drained their life from their bodies. I looked around at the others, Brian looked as if he saw a ghost; rather, a demon.
I shouted to Benjamin, begging for him to do something. The abomination continued to hover over Marcus and Jane’s lifeless bodies, their suits limp on the ground. A pink goo oozed around them, the very same we had seen before. To our surprise, the tentacle began to recede, and the beast began to approach us. Benjamin looked towards us, and told us to run back to the ship. We protested, but he insisted. I’ll never forget the look of determination and fear on his face.
After a final salute, we began sprinting back to the ship, I could hear my heartbeat, and my breath was fogging up my helmet. I could hear my suit’s air conditioning trying to compensate in vain against my heavy breathing.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and despite the fact that I was running full speed, it didn’t seem that we were moving at all. The smoky haze began to rise up, nearly obscuring my view through the biosuit. As the ship began to come into view, I saw it. Another one of those things was in our way. I froze in fear as it bobbed through the fog, inching closer to me.
Brian pushed past me, sparkrifle drawn and firing at the beast. He turned his head and he told me to run. He also told me where I could find this. He was trying to tell me something else when we both saw the hideous black tentacle lunge towards him.
I ran at a pace that made my previous one seem like a mere crawl. Tears were rolling down my face as I heard Brian’s bone chilling screams behind me. My heart was pounding and I was afraid of even drawing a breath because of the mere chance of it slowing me down.
Just as I felt like all hope was lost and I was on my way to meet mother, I was at the bay door of the ship. I quickly punched in the passcode and made my way to the command center, I tried to start the engines, but a low fuel warning kept running across the screen. I could’ve sworn we had landed with a nearly full tank but I had no time to run diagnostics, I could see the jet black abomination and its friend surrounding the ship. My hair stood on end as the last drop of adrenaline coursed through my body.
I quickly ran to where Brian told me where the comms was, and here we are. Thanks for listening to my story. I keep hearing this strange beeping, I hope it stops soon. I don’t have much oxygen left, I just hope it runs out before the demons find their way in here.
Electronic voice Critical life signs detected, engaging escape protocol.
Melvin Binder Today is the third day since Morgan arrived in our facility, although she is still recovering from grave injuries, she’s showing signs of waking.
We recovered her and her comms log through our experimental transport technology, only it wasn’t her we were expecting. We’ve been working with Brian Pages on some experimental tech, and in exchange he was supposed to transport us some precious metals from a planet he was doing a recovery on.
Evidently, it did not go as planned. Clearly the intel we had was incomplete and we were unaware of the hostile life form. We’ve cross referenced her account with some old documents we had access to, thanks to Brian. Surprisingly it’s one only thought to be old space sailor myth, the lifeform is a Carbomox, one who’s diet consists solely of carbon. Unfortunately the crew of the Telegrande and the Trident fit that description. Sadly, Brian isn’t here to celebrate the discovery of what was that to be a cryptoxenomorph.
That’s really all I know, I can show you to the medbay where we have Morgan, then I assume me and my crew will be detained?
Unknown Male Voice That won’t be necessary. We have a great interest in the work you’ve been doing here. Let there be no mistake, we own you now. Show me where Morgan is, and then let’s meet back here, I have some work for you.