The antiseptic white lights form lines at the meeting point between the ceiling and wall. The straight lines and glassmetal-plated ceramic wall plates impose the repetitious feel of an assembly line despite the faux-carpeting to comfortably dampen footsteps. The same pull-slide door handle rests in every door from the airlock to the Cargo 3-4. The same meter-wide door greets Henderson and the others, and beyond yawns a storage space that stretches from the interior-loop hallway to the edge of the inner hull. The more distant lights shed more diffuse illumination that makes the shadows in the assembly seem longer, though the regular ratios of the wall panels give an impression that the room isn't large as much as everything in it has somehow become smaller.
Shortly after the last of the new personnel from the courier ship files into the cargo bay temporarily converted into a parade hall, the door whooshes back open and two marines in their iconic, heavy armour stride in with the faint leather-like groan of their artificial muscle fibers. Their polarized helms give the impression of robots, the smooth surface like an eye staring at everything at once. Following them strides a short woman with her straight black hair neatly combed in a short bobcut style. Her dark cloud-grey uniform displays the Alliance Eagle on the right shoulder, the crackling nebulae of the Fourth Spacer Group on her right. Her cuffs and nehru collar all carry the bright yellow band terminating in an exploding star. With deep strides clinking over the cargo room floor, she walks up to the podium and sweeps her gaze over the assembly.
"I am Captain Uriburu, commander of Wild Card Squadron. Spacers, both Alliance and contracted, you have chosen to embark on a journey into the unknown." She types into a keypad in the podium and a projector magnetically affixed to the ceiling glows to life. On the outer wall facing the formation appears a star chart of the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the galaxy with Alliance territory marked in blue. The splotches of the Confederacy's territory scroll in orange, and dots with symbols of Halpan kingdoms spring up in yellow and red to indicate their current relations with the Alliance. Another keystroke and the map zooms in to the coreward fringe of Alliance territory, at the intersection between the Orion-Cygnus and Carina-Sagittarius arm. Another keystroke and the territory markings fade to grey, with yellow diamonds marking seven points beyond Alliance territory.
"You may have heard rumors of lone vessels disappearing in the expansion towards the galactic core, or read news reports of the 'unusually high number of superlight drive disasters' resulting in lost ships in this area. These stories are only partially true. Over the past eight years, every ship that has been on recon or survey missions in this region for more than three months has vanished. Until three years ago we did not have definitive proof that it wasn't simply a series of unfortunate failures in warp drive. Over the past two years, a procession of planned rendezvous and investigation meetings has discovered a pattern in the disappearances." A keystroke causes a yellow line to connect to three of the yellow diamonds. "Loitering missions for long-term surveys have been vanishing after a period of approximately two months out of contact. Ships returning early as part of the investigation have indicated long-range sensor difficulties, with two science officers claiming to have spotted sensor ghosts. Infrared telemetry has not verified their claims."
Tapping precedes a much longer chain of orange connecting all of the diamonds on the far coreward end of disappearance locations. "Ships on long-range survey and recon have been disappearing much more quickly, with the confed Einhander missing its check in just just eight days after launch and the Alliance Brazen Fire on a two-day cartography mission that failed to return, with the Strauss sent to investigate it five days later also failing to report back in." Uriburu types into the keypad and the view zooms in to focus on the coreward expansion region, highlighting one of the hollow yellow diamonds. "The most definitive information we have is from the Wu Meng, which recovered debris from a Stellcorp long-term survey vessel. Analysis indicates a nearly one hundred percent probability that it was destroyed with high-energy particle weaponry. Now the corporate ships do not usually have significant armour, but the Brazen Fire and Strauss were both Alliance ships rated to survive military engagements." She leaned onto her podium and looked straight at the crowd for emphasis. "Our armour is the best in the galaxy, and the Strauss had capacitors to jump into warp minutes after dropping out. That so many of these ships are vanishing can only mean one thing."
"They're being destroyed by concerted effort from a hostile entity. Both Bentu corps and Halpan kingdoms have denied having any knowledge or involvement in these disappearances. Our mission is to determine the truth, drive off what threats we can and bring back information to the Alliance so proper defenses can be organized." She looks over the assembled crew and contractees. "We are the fastest, most adaptable people in the alliance. If there is something to kill we'll kill it, if there's something hidden we'll find it, and if there's something too big to shoot down we'll survive to bring word to the Alliance. Any questions?"