It looks just like it did in the briefing, the squat little structure that you knew was only the tip of the facility, the other 80% of it buried under the rock of one of the ten moons (UB-VIc) surrounding the Neptunian world. Above it, a long narrow superstructure of elevators, pipes and conduits up to the radial docking rings, allowing for up to six ships to docked with the station at one time, easily accommodating the two system ships and up to four visiting vessels for patrols and resupply missions. Currently, an Elephant-class transport is docked along with the Harald Wartooth and the Randver.

The station is operational, pressurized but seemingly empty and silent. No visible damage or other signs of struggle have been reported yet...

Strangely, the climate is warmer than should be expected in a standard Hegemony installation. Up by several degrees above regulation.

Oscar extended his hand to shake once the ships had completed docking and Oscar made to join the Randver boarding party. "Good to see you, Shipmaster," he said in a formal greeting of captains before looking around. "I am thinking that we might need to clear the transport first to see if they have any repair supplies we can commandeer. We also wouldn't want her secrets sneaking upon us." Oscar gave a glance at his laspistol in hand and the multitool near his belt. He made a quick gesture on the dataslate to link the local network of the Randver and the Wartooth. He passed the dataslate to Zazan. "Our comms array was lost in the fight. I am requesting that the Wartooth be able to piggyback signals from your ship to the rest of the squadron while we are docked."

Zazan nods as he steps within inches of the shipmaster to converse. "Eh...zat will not be a problem. I share your concerns about ze transport, I am tempted to have her reactor started and ready to go. My XO has orders to cut and rejoin ze squadron if trouble finds us.

While you are in ze black, I have found that secret is certainly omnipresent, perhaps omnipotent. Secret killed the Sigfred afterall."

Nodding skyward, "Ze hegemony is good at finding new and interesting cultures willing to shoot at it, of zis I am certain. And shoot they did. Ze cruiser is quite frightening. "

Oscar nodded at the fellow Bothislian, not wanting to say anything further about Secret. "If anything, the Hegemony certainly will want to pick it apart to see if they can adapt anything to our Fleet ships. I, for certain, will be looking into that radiation weapon. Secret only knows why these ships are here, at the opposite end of the spectrum compared to Sable-One."

"Sharing a language leads me to believe ze ships share an origin at least. I am sure Hegemony intelligence will find some answers but conveniently  neglect to inform us."

Zazan unshoulders his void carbine and gestures deeper into the outpost. "But we should press on, before our people lose sharpness. I will send a few men to ze transport."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:43, Wed 12 May 2021.

Oscar did a final check on his gear before gesturing towards the path that would take them to the station interior. "The place is a bit warmer than normal. If we can get to a data port or terminal of some kind, I might be able to see what exactly is going on. I'm no wire jockey but knowing how to read failing systems gets you much farther than not in the salvage business."

When they proceeded, Oscar made sure that his cybernetically enhanced eyes did their job, doing quick scans in multiple spectrums to ensure nothing major would be able to surprise them.

A quick check of the local display near the umbilical lift confirmed a higher temperature than normal. The system appears to have centrally overridden from the control bunker down at the lowest level of the base, buried in the rock of the moon. If there were any survivors left, that is where they would be, barricaded in the command room with the blast doors locked and barred, surviving on emergency life support. Of course if there was anyone there, why would there be no SOS message?

The center of the docking hub held the entrance to the elevator and the six pathways towards the docking rings, radiating out from the center of the hub like spokes of a wheel. You could go down to the main base or transfer over to the docked Elephant-class transport and start your search there or at least cover a possible retreat.

Security cameras dotted the hub and as far as you could tell, they were working still.

Oscar made a motion to the nearest camera for Zazan and then ensured that he could be seen fully in view. The insignia of the Hegemony was likely not a welcome sight if the pirates had holed up in the command bunker. Otherwise, the survivors of the raid would know that the Fleet would not allow themselves into a vulnerable position like docking with the station unless battle in the void was over.

“If you have men to cover our backs, I suggest we explore the base and find out who exactly is holed up here.”

Nodding to his NCO "Take 3 and ze snipe and secure ze transport. If possible get her reactor online. Fall back and comm if you run into trouble."

The Elephant-class transport is massive, by far the largest ship in the system as far as you know. It's not capable of FTL transit, but uses the same or similar gravitic drive system as your ships to move rapidly throughout the system. According to the briefing, there should be two system ships attached to this station but there's only one here. The others location is unknown. It could carry thousands of tons of cargo, but it couldn't do much else. A useful workhorse in a system like this, capable of setting the stage for further military expansion or colonization.

The elevator down awaits... do you split up your small forces now? Only Oscar alone and Zazan and his Troopers, plus a Medtech and Engine Snipe... a small group of agents.

"....wait, this outpost had two ships, no?" Zazan pauses to send a message out of the well.

"On second thought, let us clear out ze station first. If we can get access to ze control room, we can check ze security cameras and see just what happened here.

Would save us crawling around blindly inside the elephant."

“Agreed. If anyone is hiding, they will have to take just as long waiting for a search party to overlook them. The command bunker should indeed be our priority. Let us find those answers.”

The elevator ride down is tense, only the sound of the lift motors can be heard and the nervous shifting of the boarding party as they descend to the surface of the moon. The platform comes to a halt and the doors open, revealing an empty hallway and... the first signs of trouble. Bullet holes pock the deck, ceiling and walls... several overhead lighting units have been struck and shattered, no longer functioning. Spatters of dark red blood coat surfaces ahead.

There are no signs of defensive structures or preparations, but based on the location of the bullet holes and blood stains you conclude that someone exiting the elevator opened fire towards the hallway ahead of you, perhaps in a surprise attack. The lack of signs of energy weapon marks suggests to you that the attackers were armed only with projectile weaponry.

The obvious camera emplacements have been shot repeatedly, the glass and electronics shattered. There are no bodies, weapons or any discarded equipment here, just a corridor that according to your briefing material should lead to the main living quarters and leisure rooms.

Captain Mysh gestures silently to the traces and signals the Astral Troopers to set up overlapping lines of fire and cautiously advance.

He wishes that the station was voided so their advance would be silent but no use crying over slagged purifiers as the saying goes.

Pushing into the barracks and living quarters, you see this is where the bulk of the combat was. It was easy to imagine a hasty defense, as you saw crates and bunks overturned and scattered bloodstains and weapon impacts. The attackers took the defenders mostly by surprised, some scattered return fire was visible but aside from that, again, no bodies, no weapons. Personal monitors and data feeds were offline, showing only static and a [OFFLINE] message. No alarms and again, the cameras have been destroyed. Almost no sound but the life support system fans makes for an eerie sweep of the structure.

From here, you would have to descend via stairs further into the complex, the control center and armory being buried at the very bottom of this rock.

Oscar swept the room after the troopers cleared it. He set his optics to a broad spectrum scan, trusting the cybernetic interface to register any differences as a false color spike on his visuals. He turned to Zazan and pointed at the destroyed cameras.

“If they intended to hold this place, they blinded themselves on the way in. Secret knows why, but I have a feeling they weren’t planning on staying.”

".....hmm. I don't like ze lay of it. Back when we had Brotherhood Zealots to worry about, they had a habit of detonating ships when backed into a corner. Sure ze crew died but half of ours would be bits of char as well.

Ze universe would be worse off without our beautiful faces in it.

Oscar nervously flexed his grip on the laspistol near his hip. Realizing what he was doing, Oscar slowly eased his hand away and took a deep breath, giving Zazan a wry smile.

“Too true! Let’s get this done and get back to our ships. I’d prefer not to give these frakking mysteries anymore time to fester. After all, we have to get our faces back so the Fleet can make some proper propaganda posters for once!”