NEOMUNA HISTORICAL ARCHIVE ARTIFACT REF X0003; EXO-IND4b0082.log 090260163 TYPE: bridge audio recorder PARTIES: M. Sundaresh [IC-3612], C. Esi [IC-3977], L. Tse [IC-6055], C. Sanchez [IC-5438], A. Murib (IC-xxxx) //TRANSCRIPT FOLLOWS…// ESI: What was that? MURIB: We got hit. Engine 7 is down. SUNDARESH: We can't take another one of those! This is a colony ship! ESI: Hard aport. Put Hyperion between us and that— MURIB: Sir, the r— ESI: And flood the EM spectrum with— MURIB: CHIOMA! The round—the one that hit us—it's moving! ESI: What? SYSTEM WARNING//STRUCTURAL IMPACT SUNDARESH: He's right. I'm reading… arms and legs? It's attacking engine 6. SANCHEZ: I'll scramble a squad of Cloud Walkers. They can suit up and— MURIB: The maneuvers I'm pulling'll fling them into space, even with mag boots. TSE: Bringing point-defense cannons about. ESI: It's only three meters across. Sure you can hit that without peeling us open? SYSTEM WARNING//STRUCTURAL IMPACT TSE: Kinda have to, Cap'n. Firing. MURIB: Buset! That thing just took a fifteen-millimeter burst to the chest! ESI: Again. TSE: Firing. It's clear! MURIB: Mostly. Looks like it left a… is that a spear through our bulkhead? SUNDARESH: Not sure. It's some kind of exotic matter, spitting all my sensor pings back at me, amplified, like a… ESI: We can figure it out later, dear. Sanchez, how's the ECM? SANCHEZ: Not great. Whatever they're using to coordinate, it's not electromagnetic. Getting something weird, though. MURIB: Weirder than the three-meter hitchhiker knocking on the hull? SANCHEZ: Maybe. You remember those Vex signals you discovered? SUNDARESH: On occasion, Carlo. SANCHEZ: There's a big one! Recurring. Coming from the outer system. Think it's a distress signal. ESI: Ignore it and get me— SUNDARESH: No! Bring us back around into the moon's shadow! ESI: Maya! SUNDARESH: We need to break line of sight. I can feed that Vex signal into that thing skewering us—use it like an amplifier. It might trick these attackers into thinking we're a Vex ship. MURIB: It's a tightbeam transmission. We'll have to ride it back to the source to keep that up. You sure you want to meet whatever makes a Vex cry for help? ESI: Enemy of my enemy, Arief. We might just find a safe port in this storm.