STC Syren
In the space around Nouvelle 

“Ma’am! unencrypted signal originating close to our position……and the recon pair we sent hasn’t checked in yet.” the radar operator said with a slight sigh “ They haven’t checked in at any of their checkpoints and based on all the activity around the planet I have to assume the worst.”. Commander Vellais sighed and dropped her head for a moment, trying to shake the thought out of her mind. Loosing two members of a special forces team was like loosing your two front wheels in a car, part of their support structure was gone. She refused to believe they were dead, she would of heard something; a mayday call, secondary extract location or something regarding their status. The fact that they just disappeared was odd and made her wonder why the enemy ships left in such a hurry, this was all pushed to the back of her mind however as she thought about this new alien contact. “ document the vector the enemy took on the way out of the system and trace that transmission back to an area.” she said flatly, watching her bridge crew go about their tasks. “ The signal originated somewhere behind us, we didn’t intercept until it had already past the Syren. Who ever sent it obviously knows what they are doing” the radar officer said, sounding a little worried. “ Why is that?” Cmdr Vellais said, lifting a brow as she turned towards her star chart to study possible locations. “ They sent the transmission and probably turned off their systems, keeping the source unknown unless………” was all the officer said before getting cut off by the commander “ Yes yes, unless we were deliberately looking for it. Play the message…..” she said, sounding a little annoyed. 

	The harsh alien language played through the speakers on the bridge as the message played before abruptly cutting off. No one understood anything of what was said but it was obviously somebody new to this galactic mix. Once agin the decision rested with the lone ship captain, making Commander Vellais chuckle as she remembered part of her training.

 “ You will make decisions that will mean the life or death of your crew and you will make decisions that will mean life or death for the Concordant as a whole. As ship captains, you are fathers, mothers, leaders and ambassadors. Placed on your shoulders is the weight of our entire existence, you will be asked to make decisions that are far above your station. So listen when I tell you this ladies and gentlemen, you MUST make the right decision.” 

She would never forget that speech for as long as she lived, but Vellais never thought that it would happen during her first command. “ Power up just the rear short range communications array and send a burst message, just to let them know someone is out here” the message was sent in an area behind them, able to be picked up by whoever was back there.

Message: This is the STC Syren, please identify yourselves