It had been a quiet day for Miguel. He had received no new orders in the past week, and was running out of things to check up on. But briefly, he caught the faint signal of a young girl's distress call. The pathetic nature of her tears and sorrow struck him, and for a brief moment he felt pity. This was enough to make him see the potential in such a broken soul, and with nothing better to do he began plotting a course. After he was on his way, he relayed a message on the same frequency:
"Fear not, little one. Providence can help you, and take you into the fold. We can make your life as new, and turn you from sorrow. We can protect you and keep you safe. You need only let us find you, and Providence shall take you home."
Providence takes those who have fallen into despair and gives them hope.
Providence guides those who have lost their way to a new purpose.
Providence shall take you into the fold, and shall keep you safe.
Providence gives all to those who have nothing.
Providence has healed you of your wounds, and nursed you back to health.
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"Any luck?" asked Commander Haddock of his communication's officer.
He only grimaced and shook his head no.
"Keep trying," Haddock said, "no one should be left in perile."
"Retriever Miguel, this is the Man in White. Report your status."
"I've picked up a weak distress signal. Rather touching, in fact. It's mobilized a fair number of rescue ships from across the stars to look for it. Forwarding now."
A few minutes passed, then communication returned.
"Most interesting. It would appear that not only can we pick up another Agent, but we may also be able to get to introduce ourselves to Doc Holliday. That would be greatly beneficial, as I'm sure you can see."
"Indeed."
"Make contact if you can find him, and continue your search. This could be a most fruitful endeavor. Good luck. Providence is with you."
"I shall not fail."
Providence takes those who have fallen into despair and gives them hope.
Providence guides those who have lost their way to a new purpose.
Providence shall take you into the fold, and shall keep you safe.
Providence gives all to those who have nothing.
Providence has healed you of your wounds, and nursed you back to health.
[Once again the screen flickers to life. This time, an ominous sound only interrupted by sharp breathing. All you see is the girls hand strewn out before the screen. On the hand, you see marks covering her entire palm. Looking closer, you see they're words that have been etched into her skin, left bleeding and unclean.
There are only two words that you can make out for certain:
Damien, Dwight.
The bare sound of the first sends shivers down your spine. The hand shown seems to twitch slightly, before the feed cuts.]
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The sight of the bloodied hand hit Ensign Charles Kent like a ton of bricks. He stood back with a look of horror as he turned to his commander.
"Sir,....I....I don't know what to do," he said as he shook his head.
Commander Haddock sighed in frustration, "Nor do I, Ensign. Nor do I."
After a moment of though, Ensign Kent made a request of his commander, "Sir, if we transfer power from some non-essential systems, I can boost the signal strength."
"Make it so, Ensign," was the response. Shutting down some medical systems not in use and some weapons as well, he channeled the power into the com system and continued monitoring and broadcasting.
"To unidentified caller, this is Med Force One, please respond with your location." He repeated the message, hoping for a response.
"Med Force One, this is Miguel Romero. I understand you are also searching for the source of the distress call. Put simply, I'd like to help. While my Collector is not capable of any of the restorative services your ship can provide, two pairs of eyes are better than one, and I can slip about many places you might have difficulty in. I'm also working on a program to triangulate the source of the signal, but I need another ship with stronger communications arrays to help me with it. I'll continue my sweep while I await your reply.
Oh, and be advised that I've spotted several Outcast vessels with less noble intentions on the prowl. Please reply sooner rather than later... if they find her first, I'd rather not ponder the consequences.
Miguel out."
Providence takes those who have fallen into despair and gives them hope.
Providence guides those who have lost their way to a new purpose.
Providence shall take you into the fold, and shall keep you safe.
Providence gives all to those who have nothing.
Providence has healed you of your wounds, and nursed you back to health.
James LaBrie was sitting at his usual console onboard the Metropolis. The computer blinked to life and displayed the message.
Within a nanosecond of seeing it, LaBrie was conducting a full tachyon sweep of the signal, attempting to boost the signal and backtrack, and sent a ping through the transmission in attempt to bounce it off any relay stations.
LaBrie started to made odd clicking sounds as he worked. Once in a while he would let out a yell that would attract the glances of several of his crew members. Other times it will be slight giggling that drew the attention.
Several minutes later, the computer answered: NO TRACE FOUND.
"Oh he's not going to like this..." LaBrie nervously muttered.
LaBrie re-input the parameters and tried again. Once again, the computer answered: NO TRACE FOUND.
Nervously giggling to himself, LaBrie quickly hacked into the Libertonian Neural Net, accessed the personnel, medical, and dental records of everyone he could find in Liberty, and searched for four terms.
Alexa, Dwight, Novak, Damien
"Oh he's not going to like this at all..." LaBrie muttered nervously.
The captain sits before a wide, formidable-looking desk crafted from some alien species of flora that passes for wood these days. Its shape is an odd mix of smooth curves and sharp edges that continue down all the way to the floor. It is dark in color, possibly stained.
Captain Trogdor sits in a chair of similar make. Yet rather than having legs or wheels it hovers above the floor using a smaller version of the technology used to suspend spacecraft over landing pads.
His elbow rests on the desk's surface, propping his jaw up on the heel of his palm as he peruses the increasingly disturbing, grainy transmissions that were picked up by the Burninator's advanced communications equipment. The screen is inset into the desk's surface, with a glass plate over it.
The captain sighs to himself. He'd like to help the poor lass, but being a Guard ship, especially one of such size, limits his ability to go wandering around searching for distress signals.
He reaches for a button on a similarly-inset keyboard which detects the touch of his finger through the glass.
Comms?
Aye, sir?
Rebroadcast the communications we've been receiving. The ones with the girl. Leave them unaltered except for a brief message at the beginning indicating a rebroadcasted transmission. We wouldn't want anyone looking for her to come to our position instead.
Aye, Captain.
Another tap of the button closed the link to the communications officer. Moments later the transmissions were relayed, but this time from the vast broadcasting arrays of a Jinkusu. If anyone in Sirius had not yet known of this girl's plight, they do now.