HMSS Broadside Day 316: Tellasion Minor

Personal Journal Serene Falk Captain, HMMS Broadside

Mission parameter – Hunting Ghosts

Classification – Secret (Captain’s eyes only)

Following yesterdays discovery of the empty hulk, that was the HMSS Penrose. Crew moral fell to an all time low as the realisation of our isolation became palpable even amongst the lowest ranks. Also our inability to communicate with the Earth Bridge is going to become shipwide knowledge soon. As even out here, the crew send and receive messages to their loved ones via the subspace relays that hang off the Earth Bridge. And although the lag can be up to 12 hours due to distance its a slender thread that binds them to home.

But all that died with the deceased quantum transmitter.

So far, the only other person on this ship party to this information is Engineering Chief Hux Mayhew, who also doubles as my comms operator. He has been officially warned to keep it classified. Unofficially, I have also told him that mentioning it to anyone will get him pushed out of the airlock in his underclothes.

It is a thin line I am walking between honesty and need-to-know. As at the back of all this there is the horror we witnessed on Tellasion Minor. That hangs over everything we do like a burial shroud.

*Refer Log 244.*

But regarding the Earth Bridge. We, I am going to have to come clean any day now about it.

And I know how that will go down.

Log 244. Tellasion Minor

**Classification: Restricted**

Tellasion Minor, or Tellas for short, is, was a Class Four Earth colonised planet at the edge of the Third Habitation Ring.

For reference no one can remember who dreamed the Habitation Ring construct up, but it does mean that every time someone asks, “Where is that and how far out?” you just say it is in the second or third ring and they go, “Oh yeah.”

Still none the wiser.

But I digress, and apologise in advance for my blatant procrastination.

As I am already struggling to write this report.

Planetary record : Tellasion Minor

| Measure | Recorded value |

| Classification | Class Four Earth colonised planet |

| Mean temperature | 16.5°C |

| Atmospheric pressure | 1.08 bar |

| Axial tilt | 17° |

| Ocean coverage | 78% |

| Land coverage | 22% |

| Day length | 25 hours |

| Year length | Approximately 380 Earth days |

| Gravity | 0.98–1.0g |

| Atmosphere | Approximately 77% nitrogen, 22% oxygen; argon, CO₂

| Average rainfall | Approximately 1,100–1,200 mm/year |

| Ice coverage | Permanent polar caps, smaller than Earth’s |

| Climate | Predominantly maritime and temperate, with tropical equatorial belts and limited extreme desert |

| Population | Approximately 20 million souls |

Due to her proximity to the primary-system star Avorada, Tellas has an ambient temperature average higher than that of Earth, providing perfect growing conditions for grain and vegetables.

Consequently, she annually ships over ten billion tons of mixed cereal, grain, wheat, and maize into the supply chain, and is considered one of the major breadbaskets of the Near Galaxy.

This also gives a view of her highly distributed population: small settlements, villages, and farms.

It also made her an easy target.

Whatever attacked her found no Navy or land forces to speak of. Her only defence had been her planetary shield.

Which was rendered inoperable by a neutron burst of such magnitude that it not only knocked out her planetary shield, but took with it our quantum transmitter and four communication relays twenty-five million kilometres away.

This event alone would have been enough for us to divert course and investigate.

But just before the neutron burst, we received multiple automated distress calls from a number of merchant vessels in close orbit.

Operational timeline [SE Point Singularity Exit Point]

SE Point + 00.0**

The Broadside trans versed the nearest singularity exit point to Tellas.

SE Point + 01.00**

Tellas eta twelve hours at full burn.

SE Point + 11.0**

We encountered the first debris field at a range of fifty thousand kilometres from Tellas. There is a 94% probability that these were one or all of the merchant vessels that sent automated distress calls.

SE Point + 11.1** We made planet-fall. As per regulation, on approach the ship moved from Defence to Action Stations, with two Firestorm fighters running point.

**SE Point + 11.3**

We dropped the re-con drones and made ready two squads of armoured non-bios for immediate deployment.

**SE Point + 11.7**

The first feeds came back. The comms officer, a young man on his first outing, had to be escorted from his workstation in an unconscious state.

**SE Point + 11.9**

As commanding officer, I called the officers to the tactical ready room, where we examined the live feeds from the surface.

*Note: At this point, two space-hardened officers also asked to be excused from the briefing.*

As what was relayed to the ship was not a war or combat zone. We have all seen those. But a slaughter on a scale of ferocity the likes of which none of us have ever seen.

It was not a massacre, as there are generally recognisable parts of living anatomy left.

No.

This was far beyond that.

It was killing for pleasure, born from an insanity I cannot even bear to consider.

As we dropped more drones and let them map the surface, searching for survivors, we eventually found a single farm left untouched.

Ten souls out of an estimated twenty million.

**SE Point + 18.1**

We stood down Action Stations. After securing the survivors’ safety, and pulled the drones out.

---

Personal Entry : Restricted

Like the others who were party to what happened on Tellas, I am fighting the nightmares. And have found that my consumption of Carrision Rum has subsequently increased five-fold.

It drives me to unconsciousness.

But it does not keep the endless re-runs of what we witnessed from playing in my head. And the horror that must have befallen all those innocent souls.

The official line is that it was the Ghosts.

But I know their mode of operation.

I was there as a child when they destroyed my home

I can feel the traces of them.

Like I have some sort of connection with them

And it was why they chose me for this mission.

Only, if it was not the Ghosts…

Then who the hell was it?

End log.

Corrupt data 317

text

00000000000XXX11111XXXXX1111111100011000110100010001001XXXXXX100011001000100100000000000XXX11111XXXXX1111111100011000110100010001001XXXXXX100011001000100100000000000XXX11111XXXXX1111111100011000

```

Unrecoverable data.

Corrupt data 317 -318 00000000000XXX11111XXXXX1111111100011000110100010001001XXXXXX100011001000100100000000000XXX11111XXXXX1111111100011000110100010001001XXXXXX100011001000100100000000000XXX11111XXXXX1111111100011000

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About the Author

HMSS Broadside is created, authored, edited and published by Rob Frankson. Artificial intelligence is used to assist with research, initial drafting and supporting imagery. All articles are reviewed and, edited by Rob Frankson before publication. The opinions, editorial position and final decision to publish remain the author's.