On October 25, 3309 the Pilots’ Federation sent out a communication to all pilots stating the following.

Signals in Shamash

Commander,
A troublesome situation is developing in the independent Shamash system. The Garrett Orbital output sent a distress call recently, claiming to be under siege. The supposed assailants aren’t xeno, but we don’t know much else. Given the ongoing Thargoid conflict few naval forces are available to investigate what is a relatively unimportant outpost.

Pilots’ Federation assistance has been requested, so I suggest heading there if you can.

One more thing: there appears to be a problem with the system comms network in Shamash. The distress call arrived distorted, and cut off suddenly. You might need to pull infuriation from a few beacons to uncover what is going on.

Vincent Prowse
Pilots’ Federation

After arriving in Shamash, Commanders found several Ship Log Unlinks and Listening Posts scattered throughout the system. Scanning these Beacons awards various spooky scary Halloween cosmetics.

Name	Location	Logs
Shamash Comms Beacon 1	Main Star	Logs 1, 2 (Listening Post)
Shamash Comms Beacon 2	Body 4	Logs 5, 8 (Listening Post)
Shamash Comms Beacon 3	Body 5 c	Logs 6, 10 (Listening Post)
Garrett Orbital Comms Beacon 1	Body 5	Log 3 (Ship Log Uplink – Manually Scan)
Garrett Orbital Comms Beacon 2	Body 5	Log 4 (Ship Log Uplink – Manually Scan)
Garrett Orbital Comms Beacon 3	Body 5	Log 9 (Ship Log Uplink – Manually Scan)
Garrett Orbital Comms Beacon 4	Body 5	Log 7 (Ship Log Uplink – Manually Scan)

At the time of arrival and of writing, Garrett Orbital has an outpost that can not be docked with nor will Apex Interstellar Transport take you there. The following are the 10 logs obtained so far. It was observed the number of dots did not change in different languages which could indicate they represent a system name, not words in the English language.

Shamash Signals 1/10

*EMERGENCY BROADCAST*

To all pilots entering Shamash

A distress call has been triggered at Garrett Orbital

Hostile pilots have been detected attacking civilian ships

Piracy has not been observed, no motive has been given

Extreme caution in this system is advised

Shamash Signals 2/10

*Fleet Exercise GREY SWAN*

*Command Room: Transcript Begins*

Squadron 33, move into position.

Squadron 34, move into position.

Good.

Squadron 35, move into position.

Squadron 3- dammit, who has their comms open?

Testing, one two. Squadrons 30 to 40, sound off.

Testing, one two.

Ugh, that noise…

Mukandi, are you online? There’s interference on the command channel. Clear the comms array.

Can barely hear myself thing.

Repeat.

Here we go. Confirmed. Squadron 38. Confirmed. Squadron 39.

Think we’re back.

Okay. Let’s get on with it. Mukandi, find out where that sound came from.

Squadron 35, confirm position.

Good. Squadron 36, move into position.
* Transcript Ends*

Shamash Signals 3/10

*Personal – Sejk, D: Transcript Beings*

They’re killing everyone!

I was fixing a console error on the express lift when I heard the first scream from the other side of the corridor. Turned around to see Captain Veliz pounding a man’s head in with a wrench. The rest of the command crew were right behind her. Some were fighting each other, others were charging at people on the desk. Two security guards on duty tried to stop them but it was too crazy. They were overwhelmed.

All I could do was hit the call button. The lift took forever, and I had to duck when someone fired at me. I think it was Lieutenant Quails. The look on his face, it was like he wanted to tear me to pieces. I thought he was going to reach me by the time the express lift door opened. They shut just as he reached me. Heard him banging on the doors as the lift started moving.

I’m still shaking…

If security can’t contain it then I’ll have to get on a ship. Fred owes me a favour. I’ll call him.
*Transcript Ends*

Shamash Signals 4/10

*Personal – Cowley, F: Transcript Beings*

It’s just me and Alejandro now.

There was so much chaos out there in the corridors. Something kept playing on the tannoy, some kind of recording. It was so distorted, hurt my ears. There were – are – bodies strewn across the floor. So much blood.

I grabbed Alejandro and took him with me. He had a black eye, something must have hit him quite hard. Unconscious but breathing. I took him to my quarters and locked the door. When I called for help the noise from the tannoy was on the other end of the comms link. Suppose its broken. Can’t shut it off.

There’s noise outside. I want to see who it is but I have to keep Alejandro away from them. They’ll kill him if they find him. I know they will. Just like they killed the others.

But I’m scared that Alejandro will wake up and try to escape. Head injuries can be bothersome, they make people confused. If he panics and runs into the corridor they’ll snatch him up. I have to keep him here. I have to keep Alejandro safe.

I don’t want them to get him.

It’s important that he doesn’t wake up.
*Transcript Ends*

Shamash Signals 5/10

*ATTENTION ALL SHIPS*

GARRET ORBITAL HANGER ACCESS HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY SUSPENDED.

NO SHIPS ARE PERMITTED TO ARRIVE OR DEPART.
THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT THREAT TO LIFE ON THIS PORT. MULTIPLE DEADLY ASSAULTS BY GARRETT ORBITAL INHABITANTS HAVE BEEN REPORTED.

THE EXTERNAL COMMS ARRAY HAS BEEN DISABLED FOR SECURITY REASONS.

DO NOT ATTEMPT ANY INCOMING TRANSMISSIONS FROM UNRECOGNIZED COMMS.

Shamash Signals 6/10

*Garrett Orbital Flight Control: Transcript Begins*

– Permission to dock, Garrett Orbital
– Sorry, pilot. All access has been suspended.
– Why? I haven’t done anything.
– All ships who were part of the Grey Swan military exercise have been ordered to hold position until further notice.
– Who gave the order?
–
– Don’t go silent on me, who gave the order? I haven’t done anything.
– The order came from Commander Coates.
– C’mon, just let me land. I have work to do.
– Stay in the air until further notice, pilot.
– This is Jack I’m talking to, right? We met a few weeks ago at the cadet introduction. You paint watercolours in your space time.
–
– Yea, I recognize that accent. Hi, Jack. You know I’m not a problem. If you let me land I can help. I’m keen to make myself useful.
– Stay in the air, pilot.
– Jack, I need to get back to the others. It’s important.
–
– If you don’t let me land I’m going to hold you responsible for what happens next.
–
– I’m not kidding around.
–
– I swear on everything you hold hear that I’m going to find you Jack. I’m going to find you and rip your STUPID THROAT OU-
*Transcript Ends*

Shamash Signals 7/10

*Personal – Marquez, J: Transcript Begins*

There’s something odd about the signal. It seems to bury itself in the comms network, generating its own feedback loop to maintain broadcast. I can turn off my headset and speakers, but the signal is gonna be the first thing anyone hears when connecting to most channels. Even making a direct call to someone else on this station risks exposure.

I don’t know what the signal does to people. All i know is that there’s a direct correlation between hearing it and the recent wave of murders that have taken place. It was played in the canteen, on the station broadcast network…

Given the time since Mukandi’s initial report and the first attacks, I think I have twenty minutes left until I start to lose my mind. Probably less.

I’ve locked the door to my office and changed the passcode. Just mashed keys when resetting so I don’t know the code. No idea if it’ll keep me in here. Just trying to prevent myself from doing something I would have regretted.
*Transcript Ends*

Shamash Signals 8/10

…..i.l….th……….o……………e….

Shamash Signals 9/10

*Personal – Moses-Daniel, K: Transcript Begins*

Baxter had me cornered in one of the locker rooms. The showers were on and I was trying to lost him in the steam. Crazy bastard had a shard of glass in his hand. No hilt or anything, just holding the thing in a bloody grip. The look in his eyes was wild, man. I’ve never seen anything like it.

I thought that was it. Then just a Baxter lunged at me someone shot him. He landed in a heap at my feet.

What I saw next is going to sound silly, but I swear it’s the truth. Through the steam, past the spraying water, beyond the blood swirling around the drains: I saw a skull staring right at me. Hooded, armoured, but a skull. It didn’t say a word.

Then a scream came from outside, and the skulled face left. More gunshots. When I was able to stand and get outside I found two more survivors. The skull had saved them too.

I don’t know who they are, but I hope they make it out alive.
*Transcript Ends*

Shamash Signals 10/10

*Personal – Unknown: Transcript Begins*

.. . . … .. . … . ..
they won’t let me off of the ship
I’m trapped in here
can’t leave.. .. . . … can’t go elsewhere
have to do what I’m told
have to find them
. … . …
*Transcript Ends*

The figure in Shamash Signals 9/10 bears a striking resemblance to a figure seen during the Frameshift Live Halloween Special, shown below.

In addition to the logs, audio can be obtained that is incredibly garbled and corrupted but if ran through a spectrogram, a chilling message emerges when checking the end of the 3rd log. Connections are being drawn to the Generation Ship Thetis with some speculating this signal is the same or similar to the signal that caused the disaster.

Additional analysis into some of the shapes seen in the bottom of the image are being looked at but it is believed there is nothing left to find at this time but it is believed that more will be coming soon. What exactly, is anyone’s guess.

Shortly after posting a Community Goal was started that asked Commanders to destroy the rogue Grey Swan pilots who had been killing civilians in the Shamash system. The CG was completed with over 3,000 pilots answering the call for aid, turning in 38.5 billion credits worth of bounties. Shortly after this, on November 1st, 3309, the Pilot’s Federation issued the following update which once again ties the signal to the Generation Ship Thetis disaster. Note that it is believed “Garret Outpost” is a typo and should say “Garret Orbital”.

Update on Shamash

Commander,

So you’re aware, the situation in Shamash is now under control. All comms arrays at Garrett Outpost have been rebooted and scrubbed clean. Residuals messages in nearby beacons have been classified as safe, even if the recordings are a little unsettling.

The source of the signal which sent so many people crazy is being investigated. I’m not sure what we expect to find – even if we detected the signal’s current origin it’d just cause trouble. These are similarities with the tragedy with struck Generation Ship Thetis, hundreds of years ago.

It’s easy to think we have the galaxy all figured out, but sometimes… sometimes I wonder just how much of it is beyond our perception. Just how much we should leave well alone.

Vincent Prowse
Pilots’ Federation

For now it seems this story is at an end, but who knows, maybe the signal will return someday. Perhaps to even more devastating effect.

An imgur album of the logs can be found here courtesy of CMDR LilacLight: https://imgur.com/a/p9r13hb. Header image courtesy of CMDR Firehawk894.