The Doom of the Annic Nova

Abernathy brings up old security footage from seven years ago. On it, a crew of 7 humans and 3 children bring aboard a a crate from an excursion. While in the cargo bay, 4 adults and 1 child surround the crate when it explodes outward. The Alien creature launches darts at the adults as they fire lasers. The combined firepower of 4 of the advanced laser rifles were enough to reduce the alien to a smoking hulk. They push the alien corpse out of the cargo bay while a forcefield keeps the atmosphere in the ship. One of the adults and the child were impacted by darts. They were stripped of equipment and quarantined. Samples of darts that remained on the cargo bay were collected and researched in the workshop. They can bee seen constructing the alpha particle guns. One of the younger children can be seen drawing the picture of the snake on the door of the quarantined room. When they return to treat the two infected, they find that a creature had consumed them both and had covered itself in the metal of the interior hull. Laser guns now bounced off the carapace. They tried to use the Alpha guns but it was still able to rampage through the adults outside. It grabs an adult and almost fully consumes him. One person takes a dart to the chest and flees toward the Bridge, apparently speaking on comms. The other adults round up the children and one takes a detour to the Jump Drive 3 room, emerging later and dropping a handful of wires. They try to use the Alpha particle guns to keep it inside the quarantine room, they succeed but 2 adults are skewered by tentacles. 2 adults and 2 children escape aboard a 50-ton Pinnace and undock from the ship. The last human onboard, nursing his wound and slowly being consumed by microscopic creatures, sets the controls of the jump-drive system, looks at the picture in his hands, and then the video cuts off as the jump is made.

Abernathy compares star charts and notes that these events took place in system 3 jumps spinward of the system 3227, Aiworlaisaoh Subsector, Ftaoiyekyu Sector.