As they drew closer, the true scale of the damage before them became apparent. The ship had been torn in half. Its name - the Wandering Star - was barely legible in the ruins of the hull. Crystals of frozen air and fuel floated through the debris, having leaked from the countless holes which now covered its hull. One could occasionally spot a corpse of the deceased crew drifting amongst the floating metal. The scene sent chills down Jora's spine. Many in his crew would have had friends aboard the ship. He had personally known its captain and some of its officers. But whatever had happened, they were too late. The ship drifted through the void, appearing totally cold and lifeless.

Through the dismay of the loss, they nearly missed the faint signs emanating from a small part of the vessel. Heat. Power. Maybe even air. A remote chance of life, of survivors. Volunteers from his crew had leaped at the mission, perhaps just latching to anything that offered a glimmer of hope in this place. 

From the bridge, he watched as the shuttle drifted onward toward the ship. The debris pelleted its shield. Aboard sat their boarding party, if the hastily assembled team could even be called that. Nobody had expected them to need a search and rescue team in a place like this. The lost tended to stay lost here. Instead what they had was a motley crew of volunteers: scientists, medics, security officers, and an engineer. The nine-member team all looked out of place, strapped in with their EVA suits and weapons.

With the ship out of power and surrounded in debris, it was impossible for the shuttle to dock with the ship. The team leapt from the shuttle, drifting through space towards one of the many holes in its hull. As they floated out of view, Jora's focus shifted towards their camera feeds.

The metallic thunk of magnetic boots hitting the floor echoed through the audio feed. Vision returned as one by one they turned on their lamps. The corridors of the ship, so similar to their own, were eerie and lifeless. Loose objects floated in the air around the team, debris and lost belongings. A dark reminder of the loss surrounding them. Someday this could be us. Jora pushed the disturbing thought away. Better to focus on the present.

"Status check," called Security Officer Corve. A round of responses came out from the rest of the team.

"I've got a lock on the energy source," radioed Engineer Tanda. "We're on the right deck. The source is near the center of the deck, towards the aft."

They marched onward, toward their target. The small cluster of compartments that made up their destination was buried within the ship, away from the worst of the damage. It was quite possibly their last refuge. The scenes around them were gruesome. Bodies were spread around them, frozen and preserved in the airless cold. Some of the team gagged at the sight. Those in the hallways were the lucky ones. Most had died quickly, killed by the decompression. Behind locked doors were those unlucky ones who had suffered a less quick demise. Hypothermia, asphyxiation. A slow, painful, and hopeless death as the ship systems failed. Some had instead simply chosen to take their own life. In some damaged compartments, the bodies had been burned to death by fires. Cataloging the dead was a gruesome task. The images hung in his mind, haunting his thoughts.

As the team went deeper, the scene around them seemed to change. The halls and the rooms had been stripped. Bodies had been moved, some of the damage looked to have been cleaned up.

Doctor Baniea nearly screamed as they opened a door, only to be met by the floating pile of bodies that had been placed inside. They started to come across the remains of makeshift equipment.

"It looks like some kind of makeshift airlock," Engineer Tanda remarked, turning a corner to an open door.

Like the others, it too had been stripped bare. The bulkheads were covered in patches. The clearly rushed work of their construction had already failed in many places. 

Scientist Streni screamed as she shone her light on the wall across from the airlock, gagging and turning away before Jora could glimpse at the feed.

"Oh gods. So much blood. So much blood, and… Why? Why?" she muttered.

The rooms had been converted into makeshift living quarters. Abandoned beds and personal belongings were everywhere. He could hear and see the grief as his crew came across another familiar name. Friends, colleagues, former crewmates. Some of the beds still had their occupants. Frozen arms reached out from lifeless faces, as though they were still begging for aid. One still held an EVA suit in a death grip, air mask floating in their hand. Everywhere they went they only seemed to find more bodies.

They’d taken shelter here, in what was had probably been the last safe place on the ship. After surviving the disaster, losing most of their comrades, they had hidden here. Then just as quickly, it seemed, most of them had joined the others.

Security Officer Kafa pointed their gun at the ceiling. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Security Officer Corve. "The ship's a vacuum. There's nothing out here."

Kafa's gave slid down the roof of the hallway. "It sounded like… nevermind. Probably just imagining it."

Another airlock blocked the team’s path. Unlike the one before it was still closed. Beyond it, they could see only darkness. From Engineer Tanda's reports, they were getting closer to the source, yet Jora's hope seemed to dwindle with every step the team took. 

"Look at the door," said Security Officer Holou, pointing at the airlock in surprise. "Are those…"

"Bullet holes," Security Officer Corve confirmed. "From the damage, looks like there was some kind of firefight."

"But why would they be firing-"

"Everyone form up," Corve interrupted.

The four security officers took up positions around the rest of the team, their rifles raised. The team forced their way through the airlock doors. With any semblance of a seal destroyed, they saw no need to be delicate about it.

Inside, the scene was dismaying.

"Multiple casualties," Corve reported.

Doctor Baneia drifted over to examine the corpses floating in the room. "It looks like all of them suffered gunshot wounds."

"You think they got into some kind of fight?" Engineer Tanda wondered.

Corve shook their head. "This was no fight. None of them are even armed. Whatever this was, it was a massacre."

The security officers tightened their grip on their firearms. Slowly they crept forwards, their weapons ready. Unlike the others, the room had not been stripped. Damaged piles of equipment and supplies lay about, left behind by the crew.

"More dead," Corve noted as the team filed into the next room. This time though, the scene was different.

"It looks like some kind of battlefield," Kafa remarked.

Crates, shelves, and other large objects had been piled to form barriers, their front blackened by weapons fire. Clouds of blood floated in the air. A few corpses hung in front of the barriers, shredded by gunfire.

"Oh gods, what is that thing?" Scientist Streni screamed, pointing to the wall beside them.

The team turned in their direction. Without hesitation Kafa raised their gun, firing round after round.

"Kafa! Hold your fire!" Corve shouted. "It's dead."

"I'm sorry. But that thing… it… I had to… it…"

In the corner lay a single corpse. The body was almost unrecognizable. It had been shot dozens of times, burned. Its skull had been shattered by blunt force. Between all the damage, Jora couldn’t even identify its species. He felt a deep dread just looking at the body. There was something just wrong with it.

Kafa jumped, pointing their gun at the floor.

Though whoever - or whatever - it was had been killed, they counted at least eight survivors it had killed in the process. Some of those injured seemed to have been dragged away, a trail of blood on the walls and floors leading behind the barriers and towards a door. 

"If the readings are right, the power source should be behind this door," Tranda reported. "If anyone's still alive, they're in there."

"Do you guys not hear that?" Kafa whispered.

Tanda put their hand against the door. "It's still warm. There's definitely some source of heat and power in there."

Corve moved towards the door, but Tanda held up their hand. "This room's too small. I don't think they could have set up an airlock in there even if they wanted to. If we open it now we'd vent the whole compartment."

Tanda reached into their bag of equipment, pulling out the materials to set up a temporary airtight seal.

"How can none of you hear that?" Kafa asked again.

"I still don't hear anything," Corve noted with annoyance.

Baneia looked around them. "I-I think I hear it. What is that sound?"

Streni curiously stepped towards the door, knocking on it. The bang echoed through the ship.

"That sound. It's like it's…"

In the airless void around them, it took a moment for anyone to realize what happened next.