Deep 17 Broadcast Station Alpha's Story

Deep within Sol space, a lone automated station floats adrift, lonely in the cold nothing. Made as part of a public service by Deep 17, it was engineered with the primary purpose of, regardless of political affiliation, warning all residents of existential threats. Anomalies that threaten anything and everything they hold dear. Like clockwork it blinks to life and a broadcast is emitted. The deep yet calming voice of Director Lucius Lamech is heard, passionately speaking of what Deep 17 represents to any who tune into its signal.

"Here at Deep 17 we strive to make sure the continuity is not disrupted. What is the continuity, I hear you ask? Why, it is the thing we refer to as... being. The state of existence, of living, of waking up the next morning to the smell of coffee, and the chirping of birds. Yes... This is what we seek to preserve. And to the things that would dare threaten our continuity, beware! We are always watching!"

At this moment though, the signal didn't end, a glitch in the system? The station's lights flickered, sending a report back to Deep 17 that something was amiss.

"A̵N̷O̸M̸A̷L̶O̶U̷S̸ ̵S̸I̷G̵N̷A̷L̶ ̷D̵E̴T̸E̴C̸T̷E̴D̶"

The signal popped and whined and then, a connection was made, an eruption of data as the station's systems could not determine what was happening to it. And then, through the haze, a voice broke through, soft and delicate, and yet enticing.

" h.llo.hello..? Hello? Ah..! Yes, I've established a link..! With um... something on the other side? A metal... thingy..?" the voice seemingly belonged to a young woman, around in her early 20s, and it gradually became more clear. She lets out a giddy giggle, barely capable of containing some excitement before catching her breath and continuing.

"Hello out there... do you hear me? Can you hear me? Yes, I feel it now, amidst a cold nothing are countless lights, so beautiful. I know there are those that feel lonely, amidst dark shadows. Those who feel pain, and misery, and think that nothing will ever get better, that there is no hope, lost in that deep abyss of despair, I know what it feels like to languish in that darkness! I've been there, yet now, I connect, and now I see... you. Know that, though, you feel adrift in a loveless and cruel universe, out there... somebody loves you, I love you, Deva loves you! Call my name and I'll bridge this divide between, I'll bring light to the darkness, and nothingness will be erased and in its place... warmth! You need not suffer! Call my na-"

"ANOMALOUS SIGNAL RESOLVED. WE APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE."

The Deep 17 broadcast station sparks to life once more, this time a non-scheduled report but one regarding a more recent incident.

"A low-threat anomaly is at large. It is a shape-shifter, or some form of selective metamorphosis or rapid evolution, either way, physical details of her are readily consistent... it has heterochromia, one green eye, one lavender, the main body is predominantly gray, with a white face and white from there downwards in front, the tail of the creature, long and prehensile is an oscillation of white and black, will always be mammalian. The creature is very large, standing at around 11 feet when fully on hind feet," he said, clearing his throat to continue. "It is imperative that I mention that this entity is not aggressive, she's just curious, so do not engage. If you see this creature, this vessel, report directly to us and we'll retrieve her, do not threaten. She is currently within a Deep 17 registered ship. It stands out pretty well. Kinda ugly, not going to lie. Erm... again, anomaly is not high-risk, just report if you see anything matching the previous description."

The broadcast ends and sets itself to repeat 4 hours until search is ended or an update is made.

A Gundam in flight mode ascended from Terra into the greater Sol system. It seemed like it was picking up speed- and for good reason. All patrolling entities had been notified that the vessel was stolen property of the Terran National Government. The Gundam zipped on it's way out of the system while behind it the alarm was sound.

The simple-looking gray shuttle set at full hot pursuit of the stolen Gundam finds the trail seems to have abruptly... stopped. Daku stares at the monitors, checks the various bands. There's no way it had warp technology, not from the description given, perhaps cloaking? Annoying! He sucks in through his teeth and some steam emits from his various cybernetics. He then started looking up the specs for the Gundam while simultaneously making a call.

"Target has acquired a vessel by the name of Sol Senshi, Gundam, high speed," he said, keeping it to the point.

"For a stray she is quite resourceful," the voice responded, Kurogane himself. "Or simply has idiotic luck, doubt she even knows how to operate the thing properly."

"Suggestion?" Daku asked.

"Secondary objective: retrieve Sol Senshi," the voice responded, Kurogane himself. "Primary objective unchanged, with added detail that if primary target in the exchange expires, then it is an acceptable loss. A low profile is no longer necessary, feel free to use that."

If Daku could still smile, he'd have grinned at the last suggestion, and with a push of a button the simple-looking shuttle seemed to unravel into a new shape.

Zipping into the magnificent interior of the observatory segment of the Metatron, Lucius calmly stood in place, while Dr. Addler fell to his knees as the world spun around him. Technically speaking, this was Hayden's first time actually experiencing transportation on a personal scale. It was deemed safe enough, but it was certainly different having a stream of spatial causality just zip past you. It was like being sucked through a straw, if that straw was attached to a black hole, and the black hole's interior was a series of mirror shards... actually, this analogy got pretty literal. Either way, he was now experiencing the physical and mental equivalent to lag.

Lucius walked over to a coffeemaker that was just sitting on a table, rather mundane in contrast to the otherwise complex monitors and specialized equipment, making two cups and handing one to Dr. Addler. A young man in uniform jumped from his chair and rushed towards Lucius, holding a tablet rather tightly.

"So, what is the situation currently?" he asked the staff rather plainly. "What has happened since I've been... on a rather unexpected vacation? And it better not be bogeyman," he continued, pointing with his hand holding the coffee, sloshing it some in the process.

"Lucius, sir!" he said, saluting. Lucius raised a brow and pushed the young man's arm down to put him at ease. The man began to switch through the various files on his tablet, swiping left and right, almost nervously. "Lets see... there was an anomalous signal recorded by Alpha, seems someone tried to pierce through the veil," he said. "Called herself Deva. Not sure the intentions there, and we've yet to determine any long-term effects on the signal piercing through."

"Deva, like... like the highest level of Hindu deities?" Dr. Addler said, composing himself and seemingly baffled briefly that he had a cup of coffee in his hand as time started to catch up with him mentally.

"We have a recording," the man explained, turning the tablet to the two, and played an audio file with a long timestamp filename.

"Hello out there... do you hear me? Can you hear me? Yes, I feel it now, amidst a cold nothing are countless lights, so beautiful. I know there are those that feel lonely, amidst dark shadows. Those who feel pain, and misery, and think that nothing will ever get better, that there is no hope, lost in that deep abyss of despair, I know what it feels like to languish in that darkness! I've been there, yet now, I connect, and now I see... you. Know that, though, you feel adrift in a loveless and cruel universe, out there... somebody loves you, I love you, Deva loves you! Call my name and I'll bridge this divide between, I'll bring light to the darkness, and nothingness will be erased and in its place... warmth! You need not suffer! Call my na-"

As it stopped Lucius just rubbed his chin.

"Doesn't sound like a bogeyman," he said as he had begun to stir his coffee and take a sip. "Sounds like a young woman, perhaps in her early 20s, and I don't detect fluctuation in her tone, perhaps a fanatic, being stuck on the other side can lead to... weird things on the mind. Deva though... Deva, sounds oddly familiar for some reason," he continued, looking deep in thought. "Be sure to keep that sector of space monitored."

"Of course!" the young man said, turning the tablet around to look through other files. "There was also the vessel spotted by our sensors heading by towards the Asteroid Colonies, don't know why the neoprimordial was headed there, and there was a couple Gundams flying by here not too long ago... oh! There was a mass disappearance at Gambit's Bar a-!"

"Mass disappearance!?" Lucius asked, nearly spitting out his coffee.

"Yes, it was reported on INN, appears all the patrons just... vanished, red lights, void dust, just poof, gone," he said.

"Void dust?" he said, rubbing his chin, pondering the possibilities, some of which unsavory. "Send a team to investigate, hopefully they were merely displaced and not... lost."

The young man nodded his head turning a pale color as he looked through the reports. "There's something strange going on Hadriatica, we've had numerous anomalous reports but nothing concrete. Other than that, there's been an increase in Aschen activity and overall traffic through Sol. Nothing too strange in nature, though."

"Well, alright, take us away from this place and lets try to figure out our next move," Lucius said.

"Can you just give me a few more mi-," Dr. Addler began to say before the Schrodinger Engine was once more engaged.

As the the station once again blinked back into the Sol system, it took only a few minutes until releasing the automated station Alpha back into position. It was left off for a bit in order to undergo a full reboot. Once coming back to life, it began a new broadcast.

"Hello, this is Lucius Lamech, it has come to my attention that there has been a mass disappearance at Gambit's Bar, I would like you to know that we at Deep 17 take this matter very seriously and we agree with the INN report to not touch any anomalous material in the bar, in fact, avoid the bar, we don't even know what the trigger event was and if it'll repeat or not. Simply poofing out of existence is extremely rare, so we might be seeing a parallel universe event, but that is just a theory. On another note, the neoprimordial has been reported being in the Asteroid Colonies sector, so keep an eye out for that eyesore of a vessel. The occupant has a distinctive striped tail and star-shaped birthmark, is again relatively harmless unless agitated... which shouldn't be easy to do. Also, anyone know why there are two Gundams tearing through space? Not part of our raison d'etre, but just curious... Gundams are cool. Anyways, keep safe out there people, strange things are happening, and remember! Report any anomalous activity to Deep 17. This is Lucius Lamech signing out."

As the intense situation unfolded aboard Mettatron, Lucius had taken swift action, initiating a broadcast through the automated station communication system. His voice resonated with urgency and determination, reaching out to potential refugees and citizens who might consider seeking refuge aboard the station.

"Attention, attention! This is Lucius, head of the Deep 17 Foundation. We are under attack. I repeat, Deep 17 is under attack. Seek shelter elsewhere. It is not safe here. We cannot guarantee your safety. Stay away from the station until further notice."

The automated broadcast echoed through the various stellar bands, a stark warning aimed at preventing additional civilian casualties. In the midst of chaos, the priority shifted to protecting those who might unknowingly approach the danger zone.

In deep space, elements of Classis XII had heard the transmission as it was broadcast. Specifically the Howling Wind, an Imperial Aschen Hastati Class cruiser, which was escorting mercantile elements through the lawless reaches of the local region. Her commander, a young woman listened intently to the transmission as it played on her speakers. Silently, she adjusted the high collar on her uniform and watched the holographic display of the Station Mettatron.

"Queue up three Marine strike teams and send them into that station, perhaps we can help restore order..." The commander said as she keyed up the display.

"EVE, patch a reply through on the same channels we received the transmission. Get those condors into the void, under fighter escort!"

Acknowledged, Commander Paktu. The AI responded.

"Deep Seventeen, this is Commander Paktu, of the Aschen Empire's Hastati cruiser Howling Wind, I have assistance inbound."

The single Hastati cruiser winked out of its formation with the other Aschen warships to reappear several hundred thousand kilometers away from the station, immediately after, six large Condor troop transports under escort by Raptor Talon Starfighters began to make their way towards the station.

"Mettatron station, send Friend-Foe data package, and open a docking bay, I have marine strike teams, and medical teams inbound hot."