Message inbound...

Space Cruiser Excelsior

Destination: Unknown

~~ TELEMETRY SENSORS 1 AND 5 DOWN ~~

Stardate Beta Epsilon 7 Epsilon

[REDACTED AS PER PROCEDURE [REDACTED]]

[autotranslator on]

Corporal Sam Arnold, Systems Administrator

---

To Captain [romanization: Kiu Sercas] of the Malkonkordo:

I guess I was mistaken for assuming the Dekaoso are honorbound. I duly

apologize.

One thing the events on Hoffnung have made me think about is: I could do the

same thing. I am the only one awakened, as per Procedure [REDACTED]

requirements. If I really wanted to, I could kill everybody else on the ship

right now. One simple command in the terminal, and 500 people die in the

blink of an eye. The only thing separating me and the extremists of Hoffnung

is my honor. I would much rather fight a bloody battle than simply "squash

the head of weakness beneath their feet" as you claim the Hoffnung extremists

have.

At the same time, you continue your agression against me and the Excelsior.

Perhaps I was unclear: you will not find us anywhere in any star map.

In our desperate attempt to leave Terra for another inhabitable planet, we used

every last piece of technology to augment our Astroviator and ensure our safe

egress. When I said, "[we] have flung ourselves far from its reach," I was not

joking in any sense.

Normal procedure calls for an Astroviator to spend one whole day cycle in

warmup mode. This allows the systems to boot correctly and ensure a perfect

launch. However, given the circumstances, we were willing to accept a

less-than-perfect launch, as speed was of the essence.

After loading the Excelsior with all salvageable tech, we launched ourselves

with a high-powered cannon. Where to? We didn't particularly care at the

moment, as we were more concerned with fleeing. By the time we entered

cryosleep 8 days later, the Excelsior had fully booted and we selected a

patrolling program to find us an inhabitable planet once our speed ran out.

1252 Terran years later, and we still haven't even burned off half of it.

You can try to find us. You're certainly free to try.

Even the Dekaoso's supposedly advanced starmaps cannot find a target moving

faster than light.

And to the Melchizedek: vitamin deficiencies suck. If it weren't for the fact

that the Excelsior is moving so fast, I would send some spare supplies from our

medbays, which would include vitamin supplements. I hope that the issues you're

describing don't turn out as bad as it seems. Good luck.

-- TRANSMISSION END --.