Hugo Kelemen

Lieutenant Hugo Kelemen was an employee of Azimuth Biochemicals and a member of the security team of the Hesperus. When Pharmasapien sleeper agents hijacked the Hesperus during its expedition to the Barnard's Loop region in search of alien technology in mid-3113, Kelemen, Private Adriana Velasco, and several scientists were the only Azimuth personnel who managed to avoid capture. While Velasco elected to remain behind and take revenge against the Pharmasapien agents for their massacre of the Hesperus's other crewmembers, Kelemen and the scientists escaped aboard the secondary exploration craft Proteus and decided to continue the Hesperus's mission.

The Proteus arrived in Trapezium Sector YU-X c1-2 in July 3113, where it found several Thargoid shipwrecks and Guardian ruins on planet 1 A. While the scientists began studying the alien artefacts, Kelemen continued keeping official logs for Azimuth, although the group had no means of contacting Azimuth headquarters or returning home. Kelemen and the scientists were killed on September 26, 3113 when an experiment on a Guardian artefact accidentally triggered a lethal release of radiation.

Logs

Hesperus Logs

Log No.

Log Text

1/1

The Hesperus was a research vessel that vanished in 3113. It was the sister ship of the Adamastor, a derelict megaship in the Chukchan system. Both were owned by Azimuth Biochemicals and were investigating evidence of alien artefacts. The wreck of the Hesperus was discovered in April 3307 with its entire crew missing or dead. It had been salvaged by the Scriveners Clan, who removed its cargo and data drives. Log 1: Introduction: This is the first of two encrypted logs they discovered within its main computer but were unable to decode. File contents: Timestamp: 12/07/3113 21:05 Emergency log. This is Lieutenant Kelemen, deputy... acting security chief on the Hesperus. I have to report that the ship has been overtaken by enemy soldiers. Most of the crew are either dead or in hiding, like us. It's Pharmasapien. Has to be. They had sleeper agents onboard, including some of my own troops. How the hell did they avoid our checks? They must have been waiting all this time, but today they just... opened fire. Cut down most of security first, including Major Umaru, then the bridge crew. The rest were marched into the cargo holds at gunpoint. In an hour, they controlled the Hesperus. Private Velasco and I managed to gather about half of the science team, and we made it to the aft engineering levels without being spotted. I've disabled the sensor suite so they'll have to search for us in person, which should buy us a few hours. I've fought Pharmasapien mercenaries before. Infiltration is their speciality, but this is the biggest operation they've ever pulled. Unless... maybe the same thing happened to the Adamastor? Makes sense. If they attacked either them or us using ships, proximity sensors would have automatically sent a distress signal to Azimuth. Pharmasapien must know about our probes then, and that they found signs of nonhuman artefacts. And that means they'll kill anyone to get to them first. The scientists are asking me what's our next step. That's easy - we survive. But I don't have a clue how. How can I save these people? Log 2: Introduction: This is the second of two encrypted logs found in the Hesperus's data drives. There was no further evidence to explain the fate of the original crew's survivors. File contents: Timestamp: 13/07/3113 02:32 Lieutenant Kelemen, emergency log, final entry. We've managed to move around undetected for several hours now, although it feels like the ship is deserted. The cargo holds had hundreds of people imprisoned there, we could hear their shouts ringing through the corridors, but suddenly they all went quiet. Did Pharmasapien... my God, those psychopaths! We have a plan to jump ship. Velasco has volunteered to use explosive charges to create a distraction, while I lead everyone to the launch bays. I've ordered her to rejoin us and not be a hero. I can't afford to lose her. They haven't managed to block my command codes yet, so I'll be able to get full control of all the secondary exploration craft. A few of the scientists have piloting experience, fortunately. Some of them even want to continue the mission, saying there are systems within range that may contain alien artefacts. Let's see if we get out alive first. I'm going to encrypt these logs in the central computer, so Pharmasapien won't detect them. But Azimuth will, and at least they'll know what happened... assuming they ever manage to retake the Hesperus. Log 3: Introduction: This log was found in the internal drive of an empty EVA suit, which was discovered aboard the Hesperus by the Scriveners Clan. As with the previous logs, it defied their efforts to decrypt it. File contents: Timestamp: 22/07/3113 09:40 Recording... this is... this is Junior Engineer O'Neill. I've just come back into the ship and found everyone poisoned. Gassed. They're lying on the floor with their eyes and mouths all... oh my God. Something's killed them all! I was... I was out on the hull. We've been searching for nonhuman signals, using Azimuth's data to try and locate what they were looking for. The chief started wondering if the sensor arrays were damaged, so I went out to check. Lost all comms. Came back through the airlock and found... Can't risk taking my suit off. If this is poison gas then it's probably still in the air. I might be the only one left alive, unless anyone else is suited. I have to go looking. There has to be someone else! Wait... was this done deliberately? I know some of the Azimuth crew managed to escape. Have they got back onboard? Is this them retaking their ship? I should encode this log, in case they patch into my suit comms and track me. They might already know where I am. But I'm just an engineer, that's all. I'll tell them. I'll tell them that Pharmasapien only brought my team along to keep the Hesperus operational after they took over, that's all. They won't kill me too. They're not murderers. They're not... not like us. Log 4: Introduction: This is the second of two encrypted logs made using an EVA suit's internal drive. No other logs or data were available aboard the Hesperus. File contents: Timestamp: 22/07/3113 13:08 I've found out what's happened. The original crew didn't come back, it's just... one woman did this. I'm looking at her body right now, poisoned like all the others. She's wearing a security uniform, ID badge says 'Velasco'. She must have been left behind. And she killed everyone on board. I'm in the life support control centre. I realised how someone could have fed gas to all the living compartments - by feeding it through the primary atmospheric processors. And I was right. I can see the chemical tanks marked TOXIC... they're from the scientists' storage hold, I think... being piped into the ventilation network. That's how she did it. Wiped out every living thing. Including herself. Everyone but me. I could tear this all down, but I can't decontaminate the entire ship. There'll be pockets of these chemicals lingering everywhere, and just a few breaths would be enough to... My suit's running low on air. We have spare tanks, but how many? How long can I stay here? How do I... what do I do now? What do I do?

Proteus Logs

Log No.	Log Text
1/2	Proteus Log 1 Timestamp: 21/09/3113 18:25 This is Lieutenant Hugo Kelemen. I was deputy security chief aboard the Hesperus, working for Azimuth Biochemicals. I've decided to resume my reports, even though the chances of us being rescued seem to be shrinking each day. After Pharmasapien's sleeper agents took control, I managed to get some of the science team off-ship using the Proteus. For the record, Private Adriana Velasco performed her duties exceptionally, and her family should be informed of her bravery. We only escaped thanks to her. I just hope she found her own way home. I wanted to set course for an inhabited system, but Dr Farrell insisted on investigating readings sent back by one of Azimuth's deep-space probes. She believed that Pharmasapien would focus on all the probes they'd sent to the California Nebula, but that we might find something interesting in the opposite direction. Well... she was dead right about that. There's no doubt that the structures on this moon weren't built by humans. Those strange arches and monoliths are over a million years old, according to molecular scans. Ackermann, the xenoarchaeologist, said it felt like he was walking through the ruined temples of forgotten gods. I just felt like a trespasser. We've also found even stranger things, half-buried in the ground as if fallen from the sky. But they look more like starfish than starships... the sort of deep-sea creatures you find on ocean floors. What the hell flew around in those? Farrell thinks we're looking at an ancient battleground. The structures and the starfish-things are nothing alike, suggesting totally different species. Two intelligent races on the same world - incredible! Both far more technologically advanced than us, but not so advanced they didn't try to kill each other. This is exactly what Azimuth has been looking for, although I doubt they ever expected a discovery like this. I'm more concerned about surviving long enough to tell them about it. We've been here for two months now, living off recycled air, food and water. The scientists have turned the Proteus into a research facility, and all I can do is keep out of their way while they analyse their findings and test samples. They've almost forgotten that we barely escaped mass slaughter. I spend a lot of time monitoring the sensors. If those Pharmasapien mercenaries find us, we won't stand a chance. But I can't understand why Azimuth hasn't sent out rescue parties. Unless... the sleeper agents sabotaged our beacons before they were dropped? Did they pre-program them to stop transmitting? If they did, then nobody knows we're here. We're alone. Just us and the ghosts of the gods.
2/2	Proteus Log 2 Timestamp: 26/09/3113 04:04 This is... this is Kelemen. I've just given myself the last of the stimulants. That should... should keep me going long enough to record this. To tell Azimuth. How we died. Three days ago, I went with the survey team to the structures. Ackermann and Zhou had brought something to life. I saw this pillar rise up from the ground with a large crystal inside it, blazing a brilliant light. After a million years, their machinery was still functioning! They fired up some kind of high-energy particle accelerator, which shocked the crystal from its moorings. This didn't feel like archaeology to me - more like grave robbing. I should have known there'd be defences, but the hovering drone caught us by surprise. It vaporised Ackermann along with three others. I managed to destroy it eventually, but there were more of them gliding around the structures, and we got out fast. I offered to take the crystal back, thinking the drones might come looking for it, but Dr Farrell already had her experiments ready to go. Weapons experiments. She told me that was always the priority for both the Adamastor and the Hesperus. Locate non-human technology that could be developed for the military market. Azimuth wants to be the first corporation selling alien weaponry, which will make them bigger than Sirius. That's all they care about... that's who I've been working for all these years. No better than Pharmasapien after all. A few hours ago, I was woken up by this intense blue flash - it seemed to come from everywhere. I thought we were under attack. Then Farrell came stumbling out of her lab, her clothes and body burned black, and dropped dead. The others started collapsing within the hour. I think there was some kind of radiation surge from the crystal we stole. I tried to get the ship's drive online again, but... too weak. Can hardly stand now. Pain in every muscle, vision is blurred. My skin is... like everyone else's. God knows what experiments Farrell was running, but... now there's three... three dead races on this moon. We shouldn't... be here. Humans... don't belong. If Azimuth finds us... Please... don't find us...

Timeline

11 JUN 3307

• *Pilots Federation ALERT*
  Commanders in the Chukchan and Perseus Dark Region KC-V c2-2 systems have reported being contacted by 'Salvation'. The anonymous individual is known to have an interest in the Adamastor and the Hesperus, the 'ghost ships' within those systems. Both of the derelict megaships were operated 200 years ago by Azimuth Biochemicals. Commander Tyler Thorsen told Vox Galactica: "I was taking some sightseers on a trip round the Hesperus, and getting as close as I dared to the Scriveners Clan dredger. I scanned the tourist beacon for them, and suddenly received a direct message from this 'Salvation' guy. He asked me to track down some old signal beacons, which are listening posts configured to retransmit long-range comms. Apparently these could help locate the survivors from the megaship. But the Hesperus is ancient history. Surely there can't be anything or anyone left to find?" In April, 'Salvation' unofficially recruited independent pilots to locate the Hesperus, and to deliver its surviving logs to Taurus Mining Ventures. The Pilots Federation is running an inquiry into 'Salvation' and his associates. Commanders are being cautioned against undertaking tasks for what may be an illegal enterprise.

Gallery

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  The Proteus, the final resting place of Hugo Kelemen and the Azimuth scientists