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Grimnach Alliance Database: File 8762; Shadow's Honour

Note: All records sealed by order of Admiral-Marshal Bendewick, Third Exploratory Fleet as of Y3436 M11 D17.

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The following files are all that remains of the light frigate Shadow's Honour of the Third Exploratory Fleet of the Grimnach Alliance. It, along with its sister ship Torrence, which was dropped out of the expedition for engine troubles, was tasked with charting the planets of subsystem Tenebris, at that point marked as X3-102, being the one hundred and second system to be mapped by the Third Exploratory Fleet. Torrence's problems marked the expedition from the start as troubled, and, citing lack of replacement ships, the then-admiral Forrest O. Ewing (Ret.), sent Shadow's Honour alone, taking the Torrence with the main task force. Early, preliminary reports of the system came through from Shadow's Honour soon enough, though they were fraught with static and ghost images. Eventually, though, the reports stopped altogether, and Shadow's Honour was presumed lost to the void. When the ponderous body of the main fleet finally arrived in the Tenebris system, they found the missing frigate, the empty hulk of Shadow's Honour floating dead in space. Their scanners revealed no signs of life on board, and a squad of the famed Trokorian Naval Guard was launched from the Torrence, finding the entire crew missing but all tech in place, escape pods included. The squad did, however, find a large number of video logs in the cargo hold as well, and these revealed the awful truth of what happened to the unfortunate Shadow's Honour.

After two of the seven veterans from the squad committed suicide soon after going through the logs, the head admiral who watched them retired, and several scribes who rerecorded the videos disappeared, the tapes were placed under layers of code-locks in the archives.

An official story was circulated that pirates had raided the ship, taken the crew, and presumably killed them or sold them into slavery, and so the Shadow's Honour itself was turned to scrap.

None remained who would contradict the statement or speak up - everyone who had viewed the ship's logs either died, disappeared, or refused to ever speak of it again. One by one, the people who had seen them faded away. The remaining members of the Torrence's squad of Naval Guard went berserk on shore leave on Haethon V, slaughtering a number of civilians before being put down by Enforcers (See file 8771).

The retired admiral Ewing went into seclusion on his private island on Haethon V - the very same planet where the marines had gone mad.

In a final disturbing coincidence, the vanished scribes were found one by one, each one dead by a different means - some by their own hands, some by those unseen. All of them were found on Haethon V.

But the videos remained.

[The video screen blinks into life. It is blurry and unfocused, pointed towards the ceiling at first, but it is adjusted so the screen is focused and clears up, pointing off towards a man in an old-fashioned naval uniform.

It would seem that the camera is set up on the bridge of a small ship, perhaps a frigate or light cruiser of some sort. The bridge itself is built out of cold, plain metal with no ornamentation whatsoever, excepting the long banner of the Third Exploratory Fleet hanging up behind the man in the shot. An observation port on the far wall lets in the light of the stars, though they are in the very background of the video. It is apparent that the bridge of the ship is tiered, judging by the descending order of various stations and their operators.

The man on screen is probably the commander of this vessel, cruiser or frigate. He is pale and rather unhealthy-looking, a slight puffiness to his cheeks speaking of having gone some time without being on land, and is dressed in the more old-fashioned grey uniform, trimmed with electric blue piping that wouldn't have been out of place in a dress parade. This uniform, a naval uniform, hasn't been used for years, having been replaced by the more modern black and red uniforms. This man appears to be a full-grade lieutenant, with two naval stripes - one thick, one thin - marking his rank on his sleeves, and then two silver bars on his shoulder boards in a different manner, as though his uniform has been cobbled together from multiple sources and ideas. His collar is heavy with adornments - a silver three and a green triangle on one side, signifying that he's been in the navy for five years and that he's part of the Third Exploratory Fleet, and then a gold sigil and a four-pointed star on the other half of the seam. The gold sigil is the mark of the Trokorian Naval Guard, hinting that he's served on one of their teams, and the four-pointed star indicates his command rank. He begins to speak in a deep, authoritative voice.

"This is Lieutenant Borinx, commanding the light frigate Shadow's Honour of the Third Exploratory Fleet of the Grimnach Alliance Navy. This is video log one of our newest mission of the sector. Admiral Ewing has dispatched the Shadow's Honour and her crew, and we are to map out system X3-102." He pauses for a moment, seeming to lose his cool composure for a brief moment before continuing.

"The Torrence has had to pull back due to engine troubles, so we're alone out here. Things are bad, though. Supplies are limited, the crew is tense and strained, and our scouts have gone missing. The ship psychiatrist has also reported two members of the crew have gone mad despite his assistance. I'll have to bring this matter to the admiral when we regroup and try to get a replacement." He pauses again. "I don't know what in God's name we'll find out here, assuming anything in this system knows the name of God, but I'm keeping shields and weapons powered up at all times, and I've already talked to the Naval Guard and armsmen about setting up patrols of the decks. Again, this is Lieutenant Borinx, signing off." He reaches out and turns the camera off with a click.]

[A new, grainy image forms on the screen now. A long-muzzled head pops briefly into view, bearing a wide smile as it looks directly at the recorder, and then it pulls away. The camera would seem to be set up in a bedroom, with a clean, neat and simple bed and metal dresser with a few photos on top being the only indications that anyone dwells in the carpeted room. A young, lean female Phelgon pops back into the frame, shown to be the owner of the earlier head. She sits down on the bed, brushing off her lap. She appears to be dressed in an officer's uniform, adorned with the markings of a junior lieutenant, fresh out of the naval academies. She has soft-looking grey fur and a pair of bright green eyes half-hidden by a long brown mane. She attempts to look disciplined and staid, but her façade racks and she gives the optics of the recorder a joyous grin without holding it back anymore. She then starts to speak.

"Hey, guys, it's me! Junior Lieutenant Tanya Ellihen, of the Grimnach Alliance Navy's Third Exploratory Fleet!" She giggles softly before continuing. "Can you believe it? It sounds so fancy! I can't help but love it! Now, I can't tell you exactly where we are right now, since it's technically classified by Navy standards, but we're mapping out a new system, and it's just so exciting! I got put in charge of gunnery for the week, so I probably won't be doing much for a while, since this area's pretty much uninhabited, they said, but if I get lucky and things go well for me, I might even get my own command for a while! Probably just a little destroyer escort, but everyone's got to start somewhere, huh?" She pauses and looks around conspiratorially, and then leans in closer to the camera.

"So... you want to know something creepy? We've been hearing a bunch of rumours recently. Things like the scout ships going missing, people going mad, all of that kind of stuff. Not sure how much of this is going to get past the censors, but it at least gets it off of my chest." She offers another smile as she reaches forward to turn off the camera. "So, bye mom and dad. Say hi to little Joey for me, would you? I'll be home before you know it!" With that, the camera clicks off once again.]

["Uh, this is security log seven-six-two, sergeant-officer Batt speaking, we are live. Is this on? Is this thing working - ah! There we go." The screen would be black as those words play back, and then the video screen spools up and then flicks on, revealing a long metal hallway illuminated by strips of energy-efficient lamps overhead. It swivels around quickly, indicating that it is attached to Batt's head, and then bobs up and down as he nods in satisfaction. "Okay, so we finally have that working." He says this with obvious relief.

"You know, Harry, I don't understand why we have to keep these damn things." Someone just off-screen grumbles to Batt. After the man finishes speaking, the video feed blurs as the officer turns his head to behold another armsman. He is wearing, as is Batt, no doubt, a standard grey and blue deck uniform, with a black bulletproof vest over it and a gun belt, the holster at his side holding the standard naval sidearm, a Keldan Manufacturing HP-7 that had been specially modified so it fired subsonic rounds that wouldn't punch through the hull and vent the ship to the void.

"The reason, Parker, is so we have hard evidence to back up any claims of a crime we saw committed." Batt replies testily, indicating that he had gone over the same thing over and over again, a suspicion confirmed by the junior armsman's sigh and nod.

"Okay, so, we're on... ah, what the hell are we doing again? Oh yeah, patrol on Engineering. So from the engine room all the way up to the life pods? Sounds good to me... alright, people, get to the elevator, we're off."

The camera bobs as Batt leads his team towards the lift, waiting until Parker and another unnamed armsman step into it, following them, and hitting the button for the bottom level.

The patrol goes swiftly and uneventfully, the armsmen team moving at a fast clip and briefly interrogating anyone they met before sending them on their way and continuing on the patrol. Ghost images flicker at the edges of the video screen, and occasionally the camera's view is blocked as Batt reaches up to brush something away from his head or adjust the device.

"Looks like our shift's up, then, boys." Batt reports mildly as they reach the life pods without hindrance. "Time to head back and get some rest."

The senior officer reaches up turns the recorder off, and the screen goes black.]

[The camera opens up on a plain steel desk with a man in a white labcoat seated at it. "This is the medical report of day one on our journey, Doctor Eriss speaking." The man speaks calmly. "Not sure what to say so far, since it is just the first day. All that I could talk about has no doubt been covered by the psychiatrist, since they're his patients, going mad. No deaths yet, no wounds, nobody's come to me with so much as a stubbed toe since we got out here. Might have something to do with the commander's strict rules - curfew, patrols, passes, all of that. Still, not my job to complain. I don't even know why I bothered doing this." He shrugs and reaches up, turning the camera off.]

[Yet another video feed turns on, this time showing off a middle-aged, unshaved balding man dressed in black overalls with his blue deck uniform. He spits out a stream of tobacco juice from his mouth - the plant does very well in foreign soil, and so it isn't hard to find for members of the military, though most people avoid it. "Ah, this is my new diary, huh? Not much to look at, I guess, but it's mine, and that's what matters to me." He speaks roughly and pauses to adjust his plug of tobacco before continuing. "Engine's running fine enough, seems to me, nothing like what the Torrence's said to have been suffering. Poor bastards. Anyway, so... what to talk about. Ah yeah, that's it. Saw a nice Phelgon girl on the gunnery decks when I went to talk to 'em about ammunition. JL, it looks like, fresh from the academy. Ah, well." He sighs. "Been running my mouth long enough, I gotta get the hell to work again." He chuckles and disappears out of the frame, and then the screen goes black as he turns it off again.]