BLEED/HAVEN

[XX] LEO

"They sent more people on the first team. Like around twenty personnel. That's another reason it's so weird that no one answered when the call went out."

Leo agreed, adjusting his grip on the metal weapon in his arms as he silently asked for Sage to analyze the ship and get a status report for the team, which she went to work on. Jet then called out,

"Alright let's take a look at their ship's first for their comm systems, see if we can dig anything up."

Jet and Charnita entered the aircraft while Leo followed along with Setton and Tina in securing the perimeter of the room. Leo walked about the large garage area and studied the cargo in tote on the ship. Most of it was latched down to the floorboards and spread out thinly across the room. More than likely these were just extra units placed in the airlock area and not that actual payload location.

Leo walked over to one of the cargo containers and read the wording on the sides of the off white colored crates. Serial numbers followed by location he had no recollection of. Likely cities of Earth documenting their contributions to the colony and the like. He continued to wander when he came to a large double door, with darkness on the other side of the window panes. Next to the door was a red lever that read 'EMERGENCY AIRLOCK OVERRIDE'. As Leo browsed, Jet's voice came over his comm system,

"Team, the crew of this ship sent out several distress signals and messages. Or more like they attempted, but nothing went through. We only received the initial distress from the Raphael's main communication system."

Tina's voice came next and Leo began meandering towards the crew who were starting to approach.

"What messages did they try to send?"

Leo was stopped in his tracks by the voice of a distressed man coming over his headset and stating,

"Mayday, mayday, this is Tyrant zero four two, the Raphael is compromised, everyone-"

The man's voice faltered and he dropped the formalities to state in a terrified voice,

"Please help us, anyone, please. I don't know what's happening, everyone is dead. There's something-"

The transmission became garbled before Charnita's voice spoke,

"What the hell? It's a recording not a transmission, why is it garbled?"

Leo could hear through the microphone the woman giving the machine a good smack to no avail. From then the two exited the ship and the group huddled together to speak. Jet started,

"Let's switch over to the Raphael's main communications line and see if we can contact anyone left."

Leo followed the instructions and switched to the line and heard Jet's voice,

"Crew of Raphael, this is the Lionessa, we have boarded. Is there anyone here?"

Silence. Jet tried this again across a few channels of the ship until he came back to the main one and spoke again to the team,

"Well. I think it's safe to say that there is no one left alive on this spacecraft."

The weight of his statement slowly sank in, causing the sweat running down Leo's back to send a shiver up his spine as the gravity of their situation weighed down on his shoulders. Something the man on the recording said threw him off and prompted him to ask,

"That soldier said some, thing. Like he had no idea what he was dealing with. What could that be?"

There was a pause, as likely no one had an answer and the uneasiness in the air made itself more prevalent before Setton signed,