Stranded

“Computer, begin transcript as follows.”

In the cabin a screen jumps to life, his words being transcribed and the images recorded into the systems files.

“Log Entry Date 3313.6.13 and it is 23:11 hours galactic clock time.

Approximate local time… morning, maybe... no night/day cycle is listed. Commander Zeke Borto. E-0 Retired. Independent engineering adviser for Blue Sun Corp. Aboard the ship Lizzy Constant. Renamed from register number NC-9925. Original Lizzy Contstant, register number IR-7369 self-destructed in hanger of Zal-Furn Industrial station near N-01992 asteroid cluster 19.”

He takes a deep breath.

“I’ve landed, if you can call that a landing.”

Alone in a dimly lit cabin the balding commander sits holding his bandaged hand. He looks tired and beat up, bruises on his forehead and chin are plainly seen. His reddish beard is stained and matted with blood at the lips. His blue company jacket is open and the white undershirt has a few drops of red staining it as well.

“ They say any landing you can walk away from is a good landing, but there’s no place to walk here. I can see out of the canopy and all I can see is a vast still ocean, Scanner tells me the air is thick, um, extremely humid, but breathable, though only in short intervals. I’ve been searching the database since I got here trying to figure out what system I’ve jumped into. My best guess is LHS 2482, its the only planet around with a habitable atmosphere.”

The room brightens somewhat as he takes the solar shielding down off of black to look out across the vast void to his left. The edge window of the cockpit is the only part visible to the camera but it shows the vast flat sea behind him.

“Its also one of the last worlds in this sector to be scheduled for full survey, only the atmospheric scan and a probe transmission from an old explorer drone is available. It reads out habitable planet, entirely covered in water. Salinity is similar to earth. Possible organic indigenous lifeforms.”

A three dimensional image of the world pops up in front of him, the poles missing as the image was just a long picture digitally wrapped around a globe.

“The orbital images that are available show an entirely blue planet, small patches of green can be seen when images are enhanced. The notes on the maps say that they are possibly large groups of floating algae-like organics but further analysis is necessary.”

As he continues the images and notes appear on screen briefly, to give anybody watching the ability to read what he has read.

“I will be beaming all information about this planet into the net via emergency FTL communication. Unfortunately I have no way of receiving information as the console seems to have sustained damage.”

He pauses, sits forward and picks up a piece of a blue circuit board. Its usually glowing transistors are dark and burn marks are plainly seen.

“I have crash landed on this planet after an altercation with the Corporation Zal-Furn Industrial. Two ships followed me through whisper space, one of which was incapacitated in the local asteroid field, the second was damaged during decent onto the planets surface and whereabouts are unknown. I have secured information which has been broadcast on wide-wave FTL to any Independent stations in range. I used the self-destruct on the old Lizzy Constant to implode the Zal-Furn station approximately four days ago. I have been jumping from system to system without stopping. My fuel scoop required repair and I had yet to reach inhabited space. I had been followed by several different classes of ships from the Zal-Furn but manged to out run or destroy most of my attackers before running too low on fuel to jump out of this system.”

His face changed to anger for a moment while saying, "Those bastards chased me the whole way, always just a few jumps behind. I thought eventually they would stop." His face slowly relaxed until a grin flashed across his lips again. "They weren't expecting me to turn and fight. That's why I'm here, and they aren't."

Data flashed across the screen after he pushed a button, "This is what they were after, its encoded with my cipher. Only available at Mother Base. Its all of their notes and the instructions for the cure to a virus designed to wipe out anyone who didn't pay into their company for the company's anti-mutegen."

Again he looks out to the sea pausing for a moment. He’s preparing what he needs to say next, and a faint smile crosses his lips for a moment.

“If this communication has been intercepted by Zal-Furn, don’t bother trying to come and get your ship back. I have it coded to my own personal omni-controller. Its going to go when I do. If this ship reaches Blue Sun or any other corporations in The Independants, I will try to survive on what I have available for as long as I can. I know I’ve gone way out of bounds though and I understand if rescue is not an option.”

A sigh escapes his lips as he looks down for a moment then back up at the device.

“The rest of this message is personal and for my wife, Nikita Borto.” another pause “I’m sorry.” he almost whispers. “I… I know you didn’t believe in the movement like I do. But for our children’s sake I had to try. I had to try to stop them before they could spread this filth across the galaxy. Its worse than I thought, its an extinction level microbe. They,” choked up he continues, “they we’re going to release it in the sector hubs. They were going to let it spread and then hold the galaxy hostage for their anti-mutagen. They would have infected everyone, including Salli and Rez. And theres no way we could have gotten the money up to buy the cure. If they would even sell to Independants like us.”

There was a long moment of silence while he regained his composure. He continued, “Keep Rez in school. He’s going to want to quit and join the corps and they’ll take him because he’s my son. But, tell him he’s going to do more good if he finishes and becomes an engineer and helps out with building up the colonies, or stations, or designs new things to help people live. Tell him they have enough pilots, they can win the war but not if they don’t have the support structures. He’ll listen because it will make more sense to him than anything else we can say.”

He took a breath, “And tell Salli, tell her I love her. Tell her I finally understand why she left and why she lives on that station. We did it right with her baby, our little girl is helping people, regardless of creed or lineage.”

“I’m sorry if I didn’t make it back like I promised you. I just couldn’t let them do it. You’re probably not going to get this for a while but by now you will have heard about the station exploding. I don’t know if they will paint me as a terrorist or a hero but I sent the data for the cure to everyone I thought would use it to help if they had more. I hope I didn’t make things worse for you and our kids. I only have a few seconds left before I have to crank this charger again and then I need to beam this out. I want you to know that I’ve always loved you and know that I’ll always be with you. And I hope I finally made you proud. I hope you can forgive me for leaving. All I’ve ever wanted is for you guys to be safe. And this is the only way I’ve ever known. I love you babe.”

End Transmission.

Relayed via Indepandent Crusier class NC-0081 “Panacea”

Attached intel indicates ship is intact, no survivors aboard. Monitors indicate signal still intact, lifesigns normal. The Cruiser “Panacea” is in orbit and search teams have been dispatched. Additional support requested.
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Request Approved. Arenal class ship IR-1020 “Midway Prize” and Warframe Titan class ship “The Ajax” dispatched to site, arrival imminent. Warp field wakes detected in neighboring systems.