Telstar Incident

The Telstar Incident was both the discovery of the ship and an engagement in deep space with aliens later to be called Goldfish

Prior Events
Prior to Captain Nicholas Seafort arriving at Hope Nation, UNS Telstar was due to make a stop at MiningCamp Station under the command of Captain Eaton. However, the ship did not make its scheduled layover and vanished for several months

Encounter and Battle
Hibernia defused for a navigational check before heading to Nope Nation on the return leg of her ​voyage and mission. After carrying out a routine sweep of encroachments, expecting nothing, the crew discovered something near to them. Closing in on it, they discovered the lifeless Telstar with a large hole in its side. Along with a party of three Seamen, Seafort boarded the holed and derelict vessel in order to get answers as she was indenticle to his own Hibernia. Whilst passing through the passenger sections, he encountered a life form of an orange colour. At first, he thought it might be an unusual coloured suit but then realised the "suit" was actually the creature's skin - something clearly not human. Ordering his party back to the gig, Seafort tried to escape himself but had to watch as the being sailed out, merged with a larger version and then proceeded to destroy the gig with the loss of the three crewmen. Vax Holser, in charge of Hibernia due to the First Lieutenant being ill, sounded battle stations and brought the ship in to attack - refusing to follow Seafort's direct orders to leave him and take the ship to safety. It was not for several minutes until Seafort was able to reboard Hibernia and the ship jumped away towards Hope Nation.

Aftermath
Darla, the ship's Puter, had recorded every image and audio transmission from the boarding party and Seafort and his senior staff watched it. After suspending Holser from duty due to not taking the ship to safety, Seafort sailed his ship as direct to Hope Nation as possible, docking and meeting with Captain Forebee, General Tho and the Mayor to inform them of what was happening. Setting up a unified command under the General, Seafort boarded all passengers and crew early and made a long fuse back to Earth with just one corrective defuse for navigational checks. Upon arrival, the entire crew was questioned and the images analysed and resulting in Seafort and most of his crew returning to Hope Nation as part of a Squadron under Admiral Tremaine.