Fragments dropped before each transmission

Ten names. A handful confirmed dead. The rest unaccounted for. Most held advanced navigation certifications — the kind rarely needed this far out. No correlation. No pattern. No suspects. The investigation remains active. Timeline: several months before Mission Alpha.

No name. No face. No mercy. When the Reaper calls, the debt is already due.

We Deliver No Questions Asked. Premium stealth drone delivery. 100% radar-invisible. Your secrets are safe in the sky.

The city blurred first. She never asked it to stay sharp. Some things only need to be exactly one thing: fast.

After Operation Twilight, a mystery rider on Elysium highways...

She never had difficulties to find sleep. Never. Until now…

Where shadows whisper names not spoken aloud. Masks welcome. Faces forbidden. THE ABYSS — invitation only.

Property of Pr. Sparks, Elysium Astrophysical Division. CLASSIFIED. "The stars were never meant to be reached this way."

No name. No face. No mercy. When the Reaper calls, the debt is already due. THE REAPER

Some choose their colors. Others are chosen by them. A pirate's coat, waiting for someone who already knows how to wear it.

The events of Orbital Deviation had consequences beyond what you saw on screen. Kaylen did not act alone. Someone was watching. Someone is still watching. The rest is in the transmission.

Before the launch. Before the mission. Before any of it. Dr. Sparks and her team, somewhere between a signal and an answer.

One black. One white. Both empty. Both waiting. The window does not know whose story this is.

Excerpt — classified log, United Terran Directorate. Approved. Won't take another co-pilot.

Tonight, a new fleet left charted territory, among the largest fleet ever dispatched at once.

The signature doesn't match anything in the database. Too large. Too consistent. Not geological.

Timeline: one day before the ball.
A few messages exchanged between two lovers.
Neither of them knows this is the last time it will be this simple.

Timeline: The eXpansion — first contact
[SURVEY LOG — SITE 12, PROVISIONAL DESIGNATION]
"Mural recovered intact, condition poor. Local guide showed me what it was.
Just a touch of his hand, briefly.
For a moment I saw through eyes that were not mine
his memories, memories of his kin, an infinite spiral of wisdom...
I swear it was neither a dream nor a hallucination.
I have not reported this to command yet.
They might think I have lost my mind."

Contact lost with Delta Colony.
An energy signature, twenty-four hours old,
only now received.
One unit available. Off duty. At a ball.
Someone reaches for a channel
that shouldn't need to be used tonight.

Timeline: Reactivation of Delta Gate (cf. the eXpansion)
Subject species: "human", exceeded model variance.
Delta Gate: activated.
Convergence timeline: shortened.
████████████ energy readings: fleet signature approaching Delta Gate.
Result:
Assignment: failed.
Estimate: revised upward.
Decision summary:
Contact with subject species: cease immediately.
Ongoing assignment: abort.
Resource reallocation: SECTOR 12.
Topic: concluded.
Next item.

Excerpt — classified session, United Terran Directorate, Earth
Channel: OPS-PLANNING-SEC
On the line: Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓, Shiro ▓▓▓▓▓▓ (in person) · two Frontier pilots (remote)

Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Delta. Status.
Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓: The colony holds. The village nearest to it does not. We found one survivor in the ruins. Her name is Chihiro. Then the rest: her people, from other villages, and four hundred and twelve of our colonists, alive, in their galleries. The allied people took them in and hid them there.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: They sheltered our people.
Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓: While the surface burned.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: And the enemy?
Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Gone. They took people with them, ours and theirs. Over two hundred. Then they left.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: A raid. Hostages?
Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Nobody has asked for anything.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Then Delta will be hit again. A detachment will be assigned.
Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Not a detachment. Me. I was in that village, General. I will not send anyone else to look at it.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: I need you where I can use you.

[CHANNEL INTERRUPT — PRIORITY]

Operator: Colony Alpha is not responding. Energy signature confirmed. Same pattern as Delta. First reports of civilians taken.
Operator: Colonies Beta and Gamma: signals nominal. For now.
Shiro ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Alpha is the largest colony we have. It will not wait for us.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Full mobilisation. All Frontier pilots to their posts.
Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Alpha has Shiro. Delta has no one.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: …
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Vespera: Colony Delta. Trace the origin of the raiders.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Shiro: Colony Alpha. Defence of the colony.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Pilot ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Colony Beta.
Pilot ▓▓▓▓▓▓ (remote): Beta. Understood.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Pilot ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Colony Gamma.
Pilot ▓▓▓▓▓▓ (remote): Gamma. Understood.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: All four of you leave tomorrow night.

Session closed.

Recorder 7 — recovered from a holding site, outskirts of Colony Delta
Auto-transcriber: Voice 1 identified (human).
Voice 2: no match in any known language - closest known script substituted (extinct; confidence 11%).

00:04 Voice 2: "𐍚𐍬𐍔 𐍠𐍣𐍢𐍬 𐍐𐍝𐍐𐍥 𐍞𐍔𐍛 𐍩𐍠𐍣𐍝"
00:11 [silence — 6 s]
00:17 Voice 1: "I don't know what that is. I swear I don't know."
00:18 Voice 2: "𐍚𐍬𐍔 𐍠𐍣𐍢𐍬 𐍐𐍝𐍐𐍥 𐍞𐍔𐍛 𐍩𐍠𐍣𐍝"
00:25 [silence — 6 s]
00:31 Voice 1: "Ask me something else. Ask me anything else. I'll answer."
00:32 Voice 2: "𐍚𐍬𐍔 𐍠𐍣𐍢𐍬 𐍐𐍝𐍐𐍥 𐍞𐍔𐍛 𐍩𐍠𐍣𐍝"
00:39 [silence — 6 s]
00:45 Voice 1: "Anything you want. I'll say yes. I'll say yes to all of it."
00:46 Voice 2: "𐍚𐍬𐍔 𐍠𐍣𐍢𐍬 𐍐𐍝𐍐𐍥 𐍞𐍔𐍛 𐍩𐍠𐍣𐍝"
00:53 [silence — 6 s]
01:52 Voice 2: "𐍚𐍬𐍔 𐍠𐍣𐍢𐍬 𐍴𐍐 𐍐𐍝𐍐𐍥 𐍞𐍔𐍛 𐍩𐍠𐍣𐍝 𐍬𐍐𐍛 𐍢𐍬𐍔𐍡𐍡𐍣" [transcriber: root not found]
02:31 Voice 2: "▒𐍔 𐍠▒𐍢𐍬 𐍐▒𐍐𐍥 ▒▒▒▒▒▒ ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒" [transcriber: new element — no match]
03:07 Voice 1: [sobbing] "Please. Please. Make it stop. Whatever you want, whatever it is, I'll do it — I'll give you anything — just —"
03:08 Voice 2: "𐍚𐍬𐍔 𐍠𐍣𐍢𐍬 𐍐𐍝𐍐𐍥 𐍞𐍔𐍛 𐍩𐍠𐍣𐍝"
03:09 [recording ends]

Excerpt - briefing minutes, Colony Alpha, sealed command bunker
Classification: TOP SECRET - PHOBOS PROJECT
Present: Brig. Gen. ▓▓▓▓▓▓ (Alpha command) · research division (4) · orbital division (3)

STATUS OF PHOBOS: PROTOTYPE - DEPLOYED - STANDBY
AUTHORISATION FOR USE: NONE ON FILE
ENERGY SOURCE: DERIVED FROM GATE RESONANCE - NOT UNDERSTOOD

Dr. ▓▓▓▓▓▓ (research): We did not invent it. When we reactivated the Gates, we woke an energy we cannot explain. PHOBOS is the first attempt to put it to use for military purposes.
Brig. Gen. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Does it work?
Dr. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: At test output, yes. Its effect covers a few hundred metres.
Brig. Gen. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: And the hostile line?
Orbital lead ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Four hundred and fifty metres from the outer districts. Within reach.
Dr. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Our positioning error is six hundred metres. At this calibration we cannot promise which side of the line it lands on.
Brig. Gen. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Meaning?
Dr. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Meaning we may hit them... or hit the colony.
Brig. Gen. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Civilians in the outer districts?
Orbital lead ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Between eight and ten thousand.
Brig. Gen. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: And if it is not used?
Orbital lead ▓▓▓▓▓▓: … we... don't know.
Brig. Gen. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Nobody touches it without my signature.
Dr. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: And will you sign, General?
Brig. Gen. ▓▓▓▓▓▓: Not yet.

[Minutes sealed]

Timeline: three weeks into the siege of Colony Alpha

Excerpt — private exchange, Directorate headquarters, Earth
Present: Brig. Gen. L. Halford · Col. A. Morgan

Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Alpha has been burning for three weeks. Why is Shiro still on Earth?
Col. A. Morgan: Her deployment froze the moment the order was processed, sir. It is the first time she has been assigned without Vespera. The system opened her personal file. Nobody ever had.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Nobody?
Col. A. Morgan: I approved her assignment to Vespera myself, sir. I never opened it. Special Operations only released it this morning. I read it twice.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Who is she?
Col. A. Morgan: Shiro ▓▓▓▓▓▓. No unit. The soldiers who know her call her something else. The White Ghost.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: The legendary hitman of Elysium... is a woman.
Col. A. Morgan: Positive, sir. One hundred and eighty-seven confirmed targets.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: And you want me to put her in the regular ranks.
Col. A. Morgan: I want you to read who they were, sir. Traffickers. Pirates. Terrorists. Corrupt politicians. Mafia. Renegade officers we were too slow to touch. Some of them were civilians. None of them were innocent.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: She kills a lot, and she picks.
Col. A. Morgan: She picks.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Anything in there that does not fit?
Col. A. Morgan: One contract. Her latest one. Sealed client. The target was rated exceptional, the highest category in the file.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Who?
Col. A. Morgan: Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: …Ours.
Col. A. Morgan: The mission was never completed. Shiro stood down. That is why I held her, sir. I could not send her anywhere until I knew the contract was dead.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Why did she stand down?
Col. A. Morgan: The file does not say. My reading: she stopped when she understood Vespera was no criminal.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Her range results.

RANGE RECORD — qualification test
Distance: 1,400 m · Crosswind: 7 m/s
Rounds fired: 30
Impacts on target: 1

Brig. Gen. L. Halford: One hit out of thirty. That is not impressive at all.
Col. A. Morgan: With all due respect, sir, it seems you don't understand.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: What am I missing, Colonel?
Col. A. Morgan: Our ballistic experts confirmed it. Thirty rounds. One hole. Every single bullet went through the same hole.
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: [silence]
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: Lift the hold. Dispatch her on Alpha, at once.
Col. A. Morgan: As a pilot, sir?
Brig. Gen. L. Halford: No. Give her a rifle.

Recovered from Gallery 3, underground shelter, Colony Delta
Charcoal and ochre on tanned hide, pinned to the gallery wall

[Drawing: a small figure with a bandaged arm; a tall figure with long ears holding a bowl; a round room underground with a lamp and many sleeping shapes; a small door at the end of a tunnel; on the surface, three huge dark shapes]

this is me
this is the lady with the ears she gives me soup.
she does not talk like us but she knows when im cold this is where we sleep now.
its warm.
nobody shouts here the lamp never goes out the big ones are outside.
they cant find the door

Filed under: Delta relief — survivors register
Note: Human child, aged 7, taken into the galleries on the first night by the people who live there. She has not spoken since the raid. The drawing was pinned to the wall by one of the people who sheltered her. It is the ninth day.

Directorate Armed Forces — internal memorandum
Classification: RESTRICTED

From: Office of the Chief of the Armed Forces, Gen. ▓▓▓▓▓▓
To: Brig. Gen. L. Halford
Subject: Colony Delta — incident

1. The incident at Colony Delta is assessed as a localized security event of unidentified origin. No strategic escalation is anticipated.
2. No mobilisation is authorised. The Directorate will not be associated with measures that alarm the colonial population or the markets.
3. You have requested the file. It is delegated to your level, at your own responsibility. Do not escalate through this office.
4. Resources: existing colonial garrisons only.

ANNEX — appended to the file by Brig. Gen. L. Halford at a later date
Paragraph 1 above is withdrawn.

Colony Delta garrison command: commanding officer TAKEN · deputy TAKEN · operations officer TAKEN · signals officer TAKEN. Remaining: two lieutenants, one medical officer.
Colony Alpha: no contact. Reinforcement request: refused by the Office of the Chief — "a matter for the sector."
Mobilisation of the Frontier pilots was ordered on my own authority, in excess of paragraph 2. I will answer for it.

EMERGENCY ORDER
Colony Delta: the senior serving officer on the ground assumes command.
Senior serving officer on the ground: Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓, Frontier Pilot, assigned to trace the origin of the raiders.

By rank and by seniority, the highest of all personnel present.
No other senior officer remains on the ground. Her mission is amended.

Trace: SUSPENDED
Defence of Delta: ASSUMED
DEPLOYMENT ORDER — RELIEF DETACHMENT
Operation: COLONY RELIEF — DELTA
Destination: Colony Delta

Detachment: Carmilla ▓▓▓▓▓▓ · Valeria ▓▓▓▓▓▓ · Sylph ▓▓▓▓▓▓ · Olympe ▓▓▓▓▓▓
Clearance: STANDARD — SECTOR DELTA
Transport: Frontier vessel, single (no stored route: Frontier navigation required)
Pilot: ▓▓▓▓▓▓ ▓▓▓▓▓▓, Frontier Pilot — UNASSIGNED, AVAILABLE ON EARTH
Note: Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓ cannot be released from command on the ground.
Escort: REFUSED — Office of the Chief
Return protocol: detachment — ON RELIEF OF COLONY · pilot — WITHDRAW IMMEDIATELY AFTER LANDING
Communication blackout: NOT AUTHORIZED
[AUTHORIZED]

Signed: Brig. Gen. L. Halford
Countersignature: none available

Recovered terminal — holding site, outskirts of Colony Delta
Owner: Sgt. ▓▓▓▓▓▓, Delta defence force (captured — status unknown)

Source: Directorate access log, last session
03:12 Session opened. Credentials: valid (owner). Operator: not the owner.
03:12 Duress code entered by owner. Not transmitted.
03:13 Query: navigation record, route to Earth Gate. Result: NO RECORD.
03:13 Registry note: no independent record exists. Colonial vessels are automated and replay Frontier tracks. Route held by: Frontier pilots. Registered: 6.
03:13 Query repeated: 3. Result unchanged.
03:14 Registry accessed: FRONTIER PILOTS — ACTIVE.
03:14 File opened: corps portrait. Persons shown: 6. Captions attached: 6 names.
03:15 File copied to an unknown external destination.
03:17 Captions read: 6 names, 5 current postings recorded, 1 unassigned.
03:19 Output redirected: unregistered projector. Subject enlarged: Vespera ▓▓▓▓▓▓. Displayed 41 seconds.
03:20 Session closed by operator.
03:21 Owner: no further activity.

Excerpt — tactical log, Fleet Command, Delta sector watch

06:02 Long-range array: 3 unidentified signatures, bearing Delta Gate.
06:09 Signatures: 14.
06:14 Signatures: 62. Class: capital (estimated).
06:21 Signatures: 211. Formation: line abreast. Distance to Colony Delta: decreasing.
06:21 Watch officer: Confirm the count.
06:22 Array: Count confirmed. Count still rising.
06:23 Watch officer: The raids took people and left. This does not look like leaving.
06:23 Fleet Command: This is not a raid.
06:24 Watch officer: Forward to the Office of the Chief.
06:24 Fleet Command: Forwarded.
06:26 Office of the Chief: Noted. Handle at sector level.
06:30 Relief detachment: orders issued. Authority: Brig. Gen. L. Halford.

Relay buffer — Delta sector watch
Track: FRONTIER vessel, single
Departed: Colony Delta
Deviation: OMEGA (outer Delta system)
Cause of deviation: pursuit by hostile units
Track duration: 4 min 12 s
Signal: lost

FRONTIER SIGNATURE — LOST

Class: FRONTIER (single vessel)
Last position: OMEGA, outer Delta system, adjacent to hostile fleet
Identity: UNRESOLVED
Cause: pursuit, then capture (probable)

Cascade risk review: 90% → 94%
Estimated casualties: 300,000,000 – 3,000,000,000 (revised)

DIRECTIVE — FINAL INTERVENTION

Withdrawal from designated zone: SUSPENDED
Non-interference clause: VOID

Agent: REAPER — REACTIVATED (mission previously CONCLUDED)
Objective: establish the asset's identity and the means to reach it
What it carries must not be read.
Disposition of the asset: to be determined

This is the last intervention authorised.

Public terminal, Colony Alpha — canteen, Block C

Received 02:47 local. Origin: Earth. Sender: unregistered.

To: White Ghost.

One of you went dark in Omega. Hunted down. Probably taken.
Nobody in command will send anyone.
I am going. I cannot fly the route. You can.
I am on Earth. Coordinates attached. I will wait.

Leave your post.