The Alliance Salvage Guild is an Allied organisation that oversees salvaging operations and investigates salvaged craft in Alliance space. On October 29, 3306, the Guild took charge of the investigation of the Adamastor, a ghost ship that had set out from Chukchan almost 200 years earlier and returned to the system abandoned, with no records of its original mission or owner.
Timeline[]
08 APR 3307
- *Pilots Federation ALERT*
The Adamastor, a 200 year old 'ghost ship' in orbit around Chukchan 5 b, has received a mysterious encrypted signal. The derelict vessel has been undergoing investigation by Alliance Salvage Guild teams since its discovery last October. They released this report: "Months ago, we cut open one of the Adamastor's damaged cargo holds to find an undeployed communications beacon. We managed to power it up, but it contained no data and had never been used. This beacon has now automatically activated, and is receiving and rebroadcasting a long-range signal. The transmission's source cannot be identified, but is definitely of interstellar origin. Its encoded content has yet to be deciphered." The Adamastor vanished in 3111 after an incident that may have involved the first historical encounter with the Thargoids. It reappeared in 3306 when it entered the Chukchan system at sublight speeds on autopilot, with no sign of its crew. It was recently learned that in 3113 the Adamastor's sister ship, the Hesperus, also disappeared. Both were owned by a corporation called Azimuth Biochemicals, which was absorbed by a rival named Pharmasapien. Little is known about either company, but it is believed they were competitors in the field of xenological research.[1]
10 MAR 3307
- Erik Gunnarson and Francesca Wolfe, two detectives from the Wallglass Investigations Agency, examine the background of the Adamastor megaship.
Gunnarson: "When Wolfe and I started this project, we knew this case would come first. We're both protégés of Benjamin Chester, creator of the Wallglass Archive. He retired years ago, but that old spark kicked in when a 'ghost ship' turned up on his doorstep! The Adamastor is a 200 year old derelict that drifted into the Chukchan system on autopilot. It's still there, with the Alliance Salvage Guild poking through its guts. Chester investigated its owners, a super-secretive company called Azimuth Biochemicals. We don't know what they were searching for, but what they found was possibly the first recorded Thargoid encounter. I've since tracked down evidence that the Adamastor had a sister ship – the Hesperus – which in 3113 was sent to… somewhere! Neither ship returned, but we only know what happened on the Adamastor mission. Of course, Wolfe had to go see that with her own eyes."
Wolfe: "Musca Dark Region PJ-P b6-1 is a busy system nowadays, but was unexplored when Professor Carver's survey team were there. Listening to their logs from two centuries ago while examining the research base was chilling… ghost voices from a ghost ship. There was evidence of blast scars, but I've seen enough battlefields to know what exchanged gunfire looks like. Azimuth's mercenaries weren't just firing at Thargoids, but at someone who shot back with laser rifles. Gunnarson tells me Azimuth was swallowed up by a rival called Pharmasapien. Did they infiltrate the Adamastor and try to take over? Or did the thing that Carver captured drive everyone insane? This is a seriously cold case, even for us. But maybe one day, more tantalising clues will emerge. And that’s what we live for."[2]
29 OCT 3306
- A private investigator has uncovered some background to the derelict megaship that recently arrived in this system. Little is known about the Adamastor, which returned on autopilot after two hundred years with no sign of its crew. But an experienced detective has come out of retirement to tackle this mystery. Local resident Benjamin Chester, who was a founding member of the renowned Wallglass Investigations Agency, told journalists: "I convinced the Alliance Salvage Guild to pass on some serial numbers that they discovered inside the Adamastor. Then I started scouring databases, interviewing sources and, well, doing my old job. The megaship was owned by a corporation called Azimuth Biochemicals. This was taken over by a similar company called Pharmasapien, but both were liquidated long ago. No mission records exist, but service crew reports mention that the Adamastor's passengers included scientists, engineers and some kind of military. Eventually I unearthed a flight plan, logged in October 3111. It plotted a course toward Barnard's Loop with fuel for approximately 370 light years, and was scheduled to pass by the HIP 39748 and HIP 33386 systems. I'm way too old to head out there myself, but l hope someone can use this info, and help satisfy my curiosity about what happened all those years ago."[3]
29 OCT 3306
- *Pilots Federation ALERT*
An abandoned megaship that set out two centuries ago has returned on automatic pilot to the Chukchan system.
Local security forces were scrambled to intercept an unidentified vessel that was detected on a collision course with Chukchan 5 B. The megaship displayed no signs of life, so tugs were deployed to wrench it into a safe orbit. This caused onboard power systems to overload with explosive results, damaging cargo holds and spilling debris. The name of the ship was confirmed as the Adamastor, but no further information is available in the public domain. Specialists from the Alliance Salvage Guild boarded the derelict to conduct an investigation. Their preliminary report stated: "The Adamastor has been travelling at sublight speed through interstellar space for nearly two hundred years. There are no remains of the crew. All escape pods and secondary craft have been launched, and several airlocks were manually opened from within. A complete absence of identification suggests that this ship was intended for clandestine operations. All data drives have been deliberately erased. There is evidence of a reinforced cargo hold, fitted with what looks like the remains of environmental equipment. Recent fire damage makes it impossible to be more specific. The ships' original destination is unknown, having returned to its launch point on autopilot. Calculating its trajectory implies that it passed near the HIP 61595, HIP 64011 and HIP 65201 systems." The Adamastor will remain in orbit for further examination.[4]