The following footage is presumed to be a distress call transmitted from the Unified Federation of Earth research facility located on the ice world Axis Mundi in the Kelvin VII star system. The facility lost all contact with the UFE three days ago, and this transmission was only picked up by the UFE Dauntless-class scout ship Hannibal when it jumped in-system to investigate.
*Note that inserted [bracketed] italics are footnotes and descriptions.
//BEGINNING_TRANSMISSION\\
/|DATE: APRIL 11, 2677|\
/|TIME: 113H|\
[It is of note that this log was recorded two days before the facility went dark. Timelogger appears to be malfunctioning]
/|LOCATION: <ERROR: UNABLE TO LOCATE>|\
[Satellite transceivers were found to be operational during initial arrival and scan. The cause of this error is unknown.]
[Footage begins, shows man in dark room wearing a lab coat, his face lit by the glowing holorecorder. Upon closer inspection, he appears to be tired, with bags under his eyes along with several injuries on his face. Records identify him as Doctor Winston Cornell.]
Okay, is this thing on? [Cornell taps recorder] Oh, good. Look, I don't know how many of us are left, but my name is Doctor Winston Cornell. I'm a researcher in the Axis Mundi Research Facility. We were sent here to research the anomalous properties and unnatural ice storms on this planet. The storms normally lasted for an hour or so, they kind of acted like blizzards that seemed to go all directions at once, sweeping over the planet. For some reason, they became more frequent and destructive when the facility was set up. Uhhh... [Cornell pauses and quickly glances around the room] Everything was fine until around two weeks ago. See, we uncovered a large cave in the ice some time ago, and it strangely seemed to be protected from the storms, just that one feature. Of course us eggheads were driven by curiosity, and we delved deeper and deeper into the cave.
[Cornell stops again and takes another quick look around the room]
Well, about two days after we began our expeditions, someone slipped and smashed into an ice wall, causing it to break down. We noticed that it lead into another cave, and we decided to explore further. At the end of the cave we... we... [Cornell pauses, with a look of slight joy on his face] We found some sort of spacecraft, frozen in a massive solid lake down below! It was incredible! It was a sign that we were perhaps not so alone in the universe after all! The higher-ups began organising multiple expeditions into the alien craft. Each one brought back more and more pieces of technology. Then something happened. Several days after the discovery, a team found a functioning piece of machinery. In an attempt to move it, they accidentally disabled it. The thing was, the ice storms seemed to cease just after its removal, leaving us to draw the conclusion that it was the cause of the storms. We hastily retrieved it and began our study, wanting to see if it was a sort of weather control device. But...
[Cornell looks around nervously]
Just a day after the storms stopped, everyone on the research team began experiencing horrific nightmares, me included. I dreamt that I was alone in a frozen white void. I wandered for a bit, and then the void started to fall apart, distorting and warping into a frightening hellish world, where I could hear tortured screams. And there, in front of me, were the heads of the team that had removed the device, stuck on sharpened poles. They said something that I could not make out in some gibberish language. I awoke after that. Not allowing this to get in our way, the thirteenth expedition was sent in. When they did not report for more than a day, a rescue team was sent in. They searched, and eventually found the members of Expedition 13 all in one room, dead with lacerations all around their bodies. The leader was still alive, but traumatised belong measure. The rescue team brought him back, but he didn't say anything, just repeating the same thing over and over again: they see us.
The next day they found him in the Level 2 bathrooms; he had hung himself. He had also apparently non-fatally cut his wrists and written the same thing he had kept repeating the last night on the walls in blood. Strange things started happening after that. People started going missing at night, scientists disappearing from their bunks, guards vanishing from their posts. Each one without a trace. Security was tightened, but the disappearances kept happening. We attempted to send out a distress call, but satellite transceivers wouldn't respond. By the sixth day there were only six of us left out of the original twenty-eight. We took to locking ourselves in whatever area we found safe. I decided to lock myself in my personal quarters.
[Cornell motions to his room, showing his standard quarters]
I've boarded up the windows and pushed my drawer to the door. I've been in here for what, four, five days? I don't know. System clock seems to be broken. [Date and time was working in the received message, except the timelogger.] Tyler [Presumed to be Doctor Tyler Webbs] and I managed to communicate for the first few days, but then he just went silent. I think he's gone. I... I don't know who else is left. [Cornell takes a deep breath] I... I think there's something in here with us. When we removed the device, we freed the... the thing. [At this point, an air vent can be seen slowly opening behind Cornell.] Please, if anyone hears or even gets this, then this is a warning. I know there's something in here. And we released it. We- [The air vent cover drops to the ground, startling Cornell and causing him to turn around.] Huh? What the-
[Something shoots from the opened vent and slams into Cornell, sending him flying into the recorder, likely breaking it and abruptly ending the transmission.]
//TRANSMISSION ENDS HERE\\
Following this disturbing message, the UFE Military has ordered a five-man special operations team to investigate, designate 'Shadow'.
*Note that inserted [bracketed] italics are footnotes and descriptions.
//BEGINNING_TRANSMISSION\\
/|DATE: APRIL 11, 2677|\
/|TIME: 113H|\
[It is of note that this log was recorded two days before the facility went dark. Timelogger appears to be malfunctioning]
/|LOCATION: <ERROR: UNABLE TO LOCATE>|\
[Satellite transceivers were found to be operational during initial arrival and scan. The cause of this error is unknown.]
[Footage begins, shows man in dark room wearing a lab coat, his face lit by the glowing holorecorder. Upon closer inspection, he appears to be tired, with bags under his eyes along with several injuries on his face. Records identify him as Doctor Winston Cornell.]
Okay, is this thing on? [Cornell taps recorder] Oh, good. Look, I don't know how many of us are left, but my name is Doctor Winston Cornell. I'm a researcher in the Axis Mundi Research Facility. We were sent here to research the anomalous properties and unnatural ice storms on this planet. The storms normally lasted for an hour or so, they kind of acted like blizzards that seemed to go all directions at once, sweeping over the planet. For some reason, they became more frequent and destructive when the facility was set up. Uhhh... [Cornell pauses and quickly glances around the room] Everything was fine until around two weeks ago. See, we uncovered a large cave in the ice some time ago, and it strangely seemed to be protected from the storms, just that one feature. Of course us eggheads were driven by curiosity, and we delved deeper and deeper into the cave.
[Cornell stops again and takes another quick look around the room]
Well, about two days after we began our expeditions, someone slipped and smashed into an ice wall, causing it to break down. We noticed that it lead into another cave, and we decided to explore further. At the end of the cave we... we... [Cornell pauses, with a look of slight joy on his face] We found some sort of spacecraft, frozen in a massive solid lake down below! It was incredible! It was a sign that we were perhaps not so alone in the universe after all! The higher-ups began organising multiple expeditions into the alien craft. Each one brought back more and more pieces of technology. Then something happened. Several days after the discovery, a team found a functioning piece of machinery. In an attempt to move it, they accidentally disabled it. The thing was, the ice storms seemed to cease just after its removal, leaving us to draw the conclusion that it was the cause of the storms. We hastily retrieved it and began our study, wanting to see if it was a sort of weather control device. But...
[Cornell looks around nervously]
Just a day after the storms stopped, everyone on the research team began experiencing horrific nightmares, me included. I dreamt that I was alone in a frozen white void. I wandered for a bit, and then the void started to fall apart, distorting and warping into a frightening hellish world, where I could hear tortured screams. And there, in front of me, were the heads of the team that had removed the device, stuck on sharpened poles. They said something that I could not make out in some gibberish language. I awoke after that. Not allowing this to get in our way, the thirteenth expedition was sent in. When they did not report for more than a day, a rescue team was sent in. They searched, and eventually found the members of Expedition 13 all in one room, dead with lacerations all around their bodies. The leader was still alive, but traumatised belong measure. The rescue team brought him back, but he didn't say anything, just repeating the same thing over and over again: they see us.
The next day they found him in the Level 2 bathrooms; he had hung himself. He had also apparently non-fatally cut his wrists and written the same thing he had kept repeating the last night on the walls in blood. Strange things started happening after that. People started going missing at night, scientists disappearing from their bunks, guards vanishing from their posts. Each one without a trace. Security was tightened, but the disappearances kept happening. We attempted to send out a distress call, but satellite transceivers wouldn't respond. By the sixth day there were only six of us left out of the original twenty-eight. We took to locking ourselves in whatever area we found safe. I decided to lock myself in my personal quarters.
[Cornell motions to his room, showing his standard quarters]
I've boarded up the windows and pushed my drawer to the door. I've been in here for what, four, five days? I don't know. System clock seems to be broken. [Date and time was working in the received message, except the timelogger.] Tyler [Presumed to be Doctor Tyler Webbs] and I managed to communicate for the first few days, but then he just went silent. I think he's gone. I... I don't know who else is left. [Cornell takes a deep breath] I... I think there's something in here with us. When we removed the device, we freed the... the thing. [At this point, an air vent can be seen slowly opening behind Cornell.] Please, if anyone hears or even gets this, then this is a warning. I know there's something in here. And we released it. We- [The air vent cover drops to the ground, startling Cornell and causing him to turn around.] Huh? What the-
[Something shoots from the opened vent and slams into Cornell, sending him flying into the recorder, likely breaking it and abruptly ending the transmission.]
//TRANSMISSION ENDS HERE\\
Following this disturbing message, the UFE Military has ordered a five-man special operations team to investigate, designate 'Shadow'.
------------------------------------------
