HS> Hyperspace Communication Network: Malta Hyperspace Starfleet

[Corvo Gotti]

Malta Hyperspace Starfleet

Sender: Don Corvo Gotti
Report: Status Report
Stardate: 06/06/834

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Salve, fratelli e sorrelle.

What an eventful few weeks it has been. In just under a month I've watched my family's operations expand almost exponentially. Porto d'Anzio's cardamine production has nearly tripled and my chief smuggler "La Volpe" has personally delivered over one hundred thousand units of cardamine into Liberty alone. From this newfound prosperity and with the aid of Starfleet engineers, I have commissioned and put into service the L'ombra del Corvo, a Sarissa-class battleship - Il Lupo Nero, a Hasta-class battlecruiser - the Sognatore, a Corvo-class explorer and an Aspis-class transport for my chief smuggler. As of yesterday morning I have also secured a Hegemon-class mining and hauling ship to aid in the maintenance and supply of our starbase assets.

* Don Gotti tenderly swirls his glass, aerating a faintly glowing blood orange liquid within - kept chilled by a single large ice cube. He brings the glass to his lips and savors the aroma for a moment before closing his eyes and knocking back the liquid. Whatever this seemingly alcoholic drink is, the Don appears to enjoy it greatly. He exhales a satisfied sigh as he slowly re-opens his eyes, and for a brief moment his damaged eye seems to glow brighter. *

All of this could not be possible without Commandantes Alpha and the rest of Starfleet. As the Gotti family grows, our gratitude shall see Starfleet repaid in kind. I have instructed Il Lupo Nero to patrol our neighboring systems and hunt down our enemies and traders foolish enough to enter our system(s) without paying proper respect. The L'ombra del Corvo has been tasked with protecting Omicron Alpha and assisting in large-scale engagements. Their performance thus far leaves room for improvement though I expect this to improve as their crews gain experience and automated systems aboard are replaced with our kin. The small size of my family leaves the L'ombra del Corvo, especially, in the unfortunate position of relying heavily on automation as we cannot yet fully crew such large vessels. An unexpected benefit of this, however, has emerged. As Ms. Gomez' report details, the L'ombra del Corvo suffered significant damage and was disabled during the recent craven attack of la sporcizia cannibalistica on our home. Capitano Francesco Gotti, my nephew and Gotti capo, detailed in his report that the L'ombra arrived to find our forces significantly outnumbered and to save Outcast lives, ordered his crew to the most heavily shielded sections of his ship, allowing automated systems and robotics to manage ship systems and regions most likely to be damaged or destroyed. Il buon capitano goes on to report aggressively engaging and drawing away three capital vessels, the "Diablo Gris", "Diablo Inferno", and the "Vizier", buying time for our forces to focus fire and reduce the savages' numbers. After destroying the "Diablo Inferno", Capitano Francesco reports the remaining two vessels disabled his ship and turned back towards the battle to find their compagni consanguinei falling in droves to their betters before being butchered themselves like the animals they are.

Capitano Francesco and his bridge crew suffered significant injury, while the remaining crew ordered to central, shielded areas of the ship reported few injuries and zero casualties. The good captain and his bridge crew have earned a few new scars but after three days of recovery, he and his crew have returned to their duties. I have instructed the crew of the L'ombra to log their experiences with ship automation going forward to see if there are other practical implementations we might use to safeguard the sons and daughters of Malta.

Per la gloria di Malta e il sogno arancione,

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Don Corvo Gotti - Esploratore da Ricognizione

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Attached Files:

Attachments

[25.05.2024 11:06:08] HS>Il.Lupo.Nero: RO: That's far enough, capitano. Cut your engines. Now.
[25.05.2024 11:08:29] HS>Il.Lupo.Nero: RO: That was a mistake, savage.
[25.05.2024 11:09:58] HS>Il.Lupo.Nero: RO: Cut. Your. Engines.
[25.05.2024 11:10:47] HS>Il.Lupo.Nero: RO: Very well..
[25.05.2024 11:10:54] F.Staniol died to HS>Il.Lupo.Nero (100%)

[25.05.2024 21:33:12] HS>Il.Lupo.Nero: RO: That's far enough, capitano. Cut your engines. Now.
[25.05.2024 21:33:38] HS>Il.Lupo.Nero: RO: Cut your engines
[25.05.2024 21:34:05] HS>Il.Lupo.Nero: RO: Release your Outcast captive and you're free to go, Gaian.
[25.05.2024 21:34:36] FlyingPig: Nope, I bring back them to my base
[25.05.2024 21:34:54] HS>Il.Lupo.Nero: RO: Final warning.
[25.05.2024 21:35:02] FlyingPig: In that case, prepare for fight
[25.05.2024 21:45:07] FlyingPig was killed by HS>Il.Lupo.Nero (100%)

[03.06.2024 01:40:45] ChubEBoy: I would rather die with honor. FOR KUSARI
[03.06.2024 01:41:10] HS>Il.Lupo.Nero: RO: Die you shall, insetto.
[03.06.2024 01:43:14] ChubEBoy got divebombed by HS>Il.Lupo.Nero (100%)

[01.06.2024 20:35:05] DTR-CNS>Santa.Trinison got divebombed by HS>L'ombra.del.Corvo (37%)
[01.06.2024 20:35:05] Assisted by: Core|WV-Invictus (12%), Softball (12%)

[01.06.2024 20:39:05] CNS-Vizier perished at HS>L'ombra.del.Corvo's hands (43%)
[01.06.2024 20:39:05] Assisted by: El.Tarxien (24%), MNS-Comino (17%)

[03.06.2024 19:32:27] DTR-CNS>Diablo.Inferno perished at HS>L'ombra.del.Corvo's hands (39%)
[03.06.2024 19:32:27] Assisted by: MNS-Tridente (18%), LG|Cardamine.Field (12%)

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[BobMacaroni]

Malta Hyperspace Starfleet
Sender:Hector Harabero
Report: Expeditions
Stardate: 19.09.834

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Buenos tardes.

As you know, the Starfleet has recently been reinvesting into more expeditions toward foreign and uncharted space. I have been placed with the mission of overseeing the exploration of the Omicron Pi system. Our forces have already added this system to the Maltese star charts, however further expeditions past the Planet Knossos have been neglected. As per the orders of Commandantes Alfa, I was given the command of five Asesino personnel, designated Asesino Pi-1 to Pi-5, for the dedicated charting of the system. We are currently operating out of the destroyer Cazador hidden within the Palau ice cloud, which oversees the security of our operations and provides a launching point for us.

Due to security and defense reasons for our home base, the Cazador, we operate only out of squadrons of three at most at a time. These are the results of our expeditions to Omicron Pi.

Expedition I

Asesinos Pi-1 and Pi-2, as well as my own vessel, entered the Omicron Pi anomaly and entered the other side. We quickly spotted Knossos and marked down the coordinates as a rendezvous point. After venturing further within the system, we noticed a collapsed jump hole with the wreckage of a vessel nearby. There was nothing but empty space on the section to the right of the Delta anomaly, so to complete the sweep of the lower section of the system, Asesino Pi-2 was sent past Knossos to scout what, if anything, lay beyond. Myself and Pi-1 went toward the large nebula on the northern side of the system. As we approached, we found it to be filled with explosive ordinance, and all further exploration was prohibited for the time being. We returned to the rendezvous point at the Planet Knossos, however Pi-2 did not return in the allotted time frame.

Upon exploration to his last known location, we found an incredibly dense field that prohibits the entry of light. A single "SOS" signal continuously radiated out from deep inside the cloud. We were unable to venture further into the cloud without losing our orientation. We recorded the SOS signal and returned to the Cazador.

Upon evaluation of the signal we found no message, only a single broadcasted recording from the view of the pilot.

Expedition II

This time, exploration began with Pi-3 and Pi-4. Instead of charting the lower sections of the system, they were ordered to explore the green nebula which we found in the prior expedition and were told was known as "Dolos". Upon arrival, they found that it was laden with mines not just on the outsides, but all through the nebula, and the ordinance was assumed to be lethal to the touch. They were not constructed by humans. However, there was a winding pathway through the nebula. A faint outline of a structure was spotted in the distance deep in the minefield and they were ordered to attempt to go to it. They ventured as far as they dared, but were unable to make the rest of the way through the pathway and were forced to return to base. They reported their findings once docked at the Cazador.

Expedition III

Asesinos Pi-5, Pi-1, and myself were sent to this time chart the northern sections of the system. Skirting around the nebula "Dolos", we decided to make our way to a planet in the far reaches of the system we had spotted earlier. On our way there, Pi-5 noticed a comet in the outer edge of our course. We noted it's location and continued.



The planet - identified as the planet Moros - was surrounded by an asteroid field. On closer examination, we noticed a large alien structure on the northwest side of the planet. Interestingly enough, while Moros is littered with frozen carbon dioxide crystals, some have been spotted melting around the alien structure - an impossibility due to its distance from the systems solar. This will have to be explored further.

We were forced to withdraw after noticing multiple artificial intelligence vessels approaching from far away. We decided not to stick around. Instead we drew the other way. However, we were stopped by a strange minefield of inhuman design. It was massive. With the earlier encounter or AI units, we decided not to explore it without further backup, in the case there was a hostile encounter. We returned to the destroyer Cazador, where we remain now.

Expedition II has highlighted something of major interest... further investigation of the anomaly will comprise our fourth and final expedition. I wanted to report back everything I found thus far at the quickest available notice, as my squadron is currently operating out of the destroyer Cazador in the depths of the Omicrons. We return once every few weeks to Freeport 11 in Omicron Delta to purchase fuel and supplies and we are there now to send a secure communication back home to you. Our Cardamine provisions were well stocked at the beginning of the voyage, though recently our provisions have been running scarce. Expedition IV is to be commenced soon and once it is completed we will return to Malta. I will report our findings at the earliest available time.

Until then I will attempt to check in at least once every week as I have done previously. We will be forced to return to home in five weeks, when our Cardamine storages will begin to near depletion, if we have not yet returned sooner.

Arrivederci, fratelli.

Hector Harabero - Buscador

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[BobMacaroni]

Malta Hyperspace Starfleet
Sender:Hector Harabero
Report: Expedition IV
Stardate: 13.11.834

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Buenas tardes, hermanos.

We have returned from our expedition. It took longer than expected for everything to be sorted out, but now I am able to compile the finished logs of Expedition IV.

Together with the Asesinos Pi-3, Pi-4, and Pi-5 we set out for one final search of the Omicron Pi system, this time searching for the secrets of the Dolos Nebula.

EXPEDITION IV

We set out from the Cazador one final time. Regardless of the outcome, this would be our last venture, as resources were running low following an impromptu maneuver away from the battleship Delos, who's recent movements began to threaten to reveal our operation. As we approached the nebula Dolos, we once again noticed the large central structure, and began searching for the entrance to the maze.



We found a wrecked vessel. No telling who the captain was, it appeared to be a dromedary. Speculation occurred whether it's untimely demise was caused by the minefield, but none can say for sure. On board we found some supplies of food, water, oxygen, and fuel. We proceeded onwards.

Inside the nebula, we faced several different pathways, sometimes misleading dead ends. It was weird; almost as if who, or whatever made this thing had designed it to keep anyone, friend or foe, from breaking their seclusion.

But why?



We were lost. We couldn't make much more headway. There were several different ways to go, and the risk of getting seperated was too high. By this point radiation began taking its toll on our vessels, so we found a semi-stable pocket for a meeting place for the others to take point. I would continue on alone.



After seemingly an eternity, I came across an opening in the minefield. What I found inside however...




The structure was massive, even host to it's own slight gravitational pull. Oddly enough, it seemed to have markings across it, almost as if it was carved into the structure.



I found a very intriguing structure on top. On closer inspection it appeared to have Nomad or Dom'Kavash symbols.

There was an entrance on the side.



A pathway to a Nomad generator lay inside the formation. I was shaking as I approached it.



Something inside me nagged against this act against the... spirits. However, I pressed on, there seemed to be something inside of the generator, powering it. I unleashed my weaponry and destroyed the generator in a burst of light, cracking it open to reveal a Derelict Nomad Artifact.

I was pleased with what I had gained, though it did not last long. I realized my provisions were running short, and I needed to return immediately. However, when I came to retrace my steps, I found that I could not backtrack. I was lost.

In an act of desperation, I skipped through the minefield, cutting across it to another opening. A mine tore through my ship, sending sparks into my cockpit. I was fearful that it would catch fire, but I did not run into another, and was safe. Thankfully, I found my way back to the main path, and regrouped with the rest at the meeting point. From there, they escorted me back out of the nebula Dolos, and we departed from it, never return to that dreadful death trap.





We managed to return to the Cazador with little difficulty following. On our return to Malta, I never felt more relieved to be back at our sole provider of life, our orange planet.

And yet, with something to bring back from the depths of the uncharted...

When I had returned to Malta, I found I had been badly burned when the mine cracked my ship. My ship tended to, I was able to compile everything I found. I sent the Artifact down to our scientists in the Starfleet Headquarters for examination, perhaps we may be able to discover something new from it. It may prove its usefulness in research and development.

That is all.

Arrivederci, fratelli.

Hector Harabero - Buscador

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