Declassified bridge communications from UNS Tsiolkovsky, released alongside the 25 December 2131 UN Weekly disclosure. Timestamps in Mission Elapsed Time (MET). Signal degradation and timestamp irregularities consistent with the Charon gravitational anomaly are preserved as recorded.
MET 214:06:12 — SENSOR OFFICER: Commander, we’re getting the same drift pattern the independent-explorer reports described. Nothing’s reading clean past this range. Instruments are stable enough to fly by, not much more than that.
MET 214:06:40 — NOVÁK: Understood. Keep flagging anything that resolves into a real contact versus noise. CAI, confidence on current readings?
MET 214:06:44 — CAI ADVISORY: Confidence degraded relative to standard operating range. Recommend treating all contacts as unconfirmed until visual or close-range radar corroboration is available.
MET 214:11:03 — SENSOR OFFICER: Three contacts, bearing — [SIGNAL DEGRADED, 4 SEC] — resolving now. Three vessels, no IFF response. Not ours, not listed in any registered UN or Colonial Development transit manifest for this approach window.
MET 214:11:22 — NOVÁK: Hail them. All channels.
MET 214:11:51 — COMMS OFFICER: No response, sir. They’re not answering and they’re not squawking anything.
MET 214:12:09 — SENSOR OFFICER: Commander — weapons bays open on all three. They’re not waiting for a response either.
MET 214:12:14 — NOVÁK: All hands, brace for engagement. Point defense to full active. Helm, get us moving, do not sit still for this.
MET 214:12:31 — TACTICAL OFFICER: Multiple inbound, missile and torpedo signatures, no energy weapon launches detected. [SIGNAL DEGRADED, 2 SEC] — repeat, conventional ordnance only, no beam signatures from any of the three.
MET 214:12:33 — NOVÁK: Copy. Point defense, take them as they come. Helm, keep us moving, don’t give them a fixed solution.
MET 214:13:02 — TACTICAL OFFICER: Point defense intercepting — good hits, good hits, we’re clean so far. Helm’s reading their fire pattern better than they’re reading ours.
MET 214:13:44 — TACTICAL OFFICER: All first-wave ordnance neutralized. No hull contact. Second wave inbound.
MET 214:14:10 — NOVÁK: They’re spending a lot of hardware for no effect. Return fire. Beam, designate lead contact.
MET 214:14:15 — WEAPONS OFFICER: Beam laser online, target locked, firing continuous.
MET 214:14:52 — WEAPONS OFFICER: Contact one, propulsion and weapons bay disabled. She’s dead in the water, not destroyed.
MET 214:15:20 — TACTICAL OFFICER: Second wave neutralized, same as the first. They are not adapting their approach, Commander.
MET 214:15:33 — NOVÁK: Then we don’t need to adapt ours either. Beam, contact two.
MET 214:16:41 — WEAPONS OFFICER: Contact two, catastrophic hit, she’s breaking up. Contact three is peeling off, attempting to disengage.
MET 214:17:02 — NOVÁK: Belay that. Beam, contact three, don’t let her get clear.
MET 214:17:38 — WEAPONS OFFICER: Contact three disabled. Propulsion and primary weapons offline. She’s not going anywhere either.
MET 214:17:44 — NOVÁK: Cease fire, all weapons. Comms, hail contact one and three again. Let’s find out who’s shooting at us before we finish the job.
MET 214:18:15 — COMMS OFFICER: Contact one is responding now, sir. They’re — [SIGNAL DEGRADED, 6 SEC] — they’re identifying as Argus Extraction Defense security personnel. Requesting terms.
MET 214:18:40 — NOVÁK: Terms are you power down remaining systems and prepare to be boarded. That’s the only offer on the table.
MET 214:19:02 — COMMS OFFICER: They’re complying, sir. No further transmission from contact two — she’s not answering, and given what weapons reported, I don’t think anyone’s left aboard to answer.
MET 214:19:10 — NOVÁK: Log it as destroyed with unknown survivors, not confirmed casualties, until boarding parties can confirm either way. Prep boarding teams for contacts one and three. I want every one of them in custody, not a body count.
[End of engagement excerpt. Boarding action and prisoner intake logged separately.]