We’ve gone over logs, and verified with future Widget as much as we can. He…knows things. And he doesn’t blame future me for leaving him behind, as he had to keep what remained of our ship from blowing up. In the future. The future I-9 is too fused to the section of wall to even attempt to wake him.
At least we know the Please Don’t Shoot Us survived the skittermander crew working on it right now.
We also found a report sent out by Venn, verifying his arrival here and authentication of our ship (though I wonder if he knew it was from the future). Worse, he said it looked like the weapon from L746 is somehow operational, and that there was possible activity at Osiris Station.
Our (future!) logs paint a horrifying picture, on 4 Desnus 325, in the Alder System. We had just departed High Station, when we suddenly got several incoming ships reported: a Corpse Fleet armada. Before we could so much as make a course correction, they shot at the planet. Not a single life sign remained. Just like that. Knowing they would turn on us, we plotted an escape to drift space. Nearly made it, but they got some missiles aimed at us before we were in drift. Looks like plasma damage and a resulting powercore instability. I think future Widget decided to stay with that. The Drift drive malfunctioned, so perhaps that is where the traveling back in time occurred. Poor future Widget had no way to get to my future self, if I was even out there.
The Stewards we are working with are fairly certain Venn’s ship went to Osiris Station. We were able to convince them to draft a message to their headquarters on Absalom Station to apprise them of the situation, and we left our future shipwreck alone. If we fix things, it won’t be there when we’re done. May not be there even if we don’t.
We headed to Osiris Station, taking six days in drift to get there. Then, so as not to alert anyone looking for interloper, we used passive scanning only, while hiding in the asteroid field. It took us three days, but we found the station and four ships: three Eoxian, and one Steward ship. Hoping the temporal energy we are sporting will keep them from noticing an additional ship floating nearby, we got close enough to float ourselves over to the asteroid Osiris Station is on. We set remote activated charges at each entrance.
We were doing pretty good! Then we found a ghoul in a tattered uniform. Luckily, he doesn’t really want to be a ghoul, and we have offered asylum if he helps us. Talis was only recruited to come here by Aries Industries due to an “industrial accident,” and turned into a ghoul when he got here. And he knows where Venn and his crew are….