Ghost Ship Spotted in the Spacelanes

2003.09.25 | Svarthol

CRIELERE - Yesterday evening, over a dozen pilots reported intermittenent sensor contacts with a ship that later vanished. Accounts vary, but agree in one respect: the vessel was large, perhaps an industrial; it appeared without warning; and disappeared from all scans when approached. I interviewed several of these pilots, and present the following account as a generalization of their stories.

"My trade route has a stop in Crielere, and I was on a docking approach when I saw the blip appear on my sensors. Aligning the camera drone for a better look, I could see the vessel hanging in space, but without a visible warp trail. Sensors confirmed that the ship had not emerged from warp. When I attempted to access the infonet for the ship's data, there was an inexplicable hang in the system response. That's when I saw that blip disappear right in front of my eyes. And again, there was no trace of a warp signature."

Sensor logs offered by the pilots in question corroberate the story. However, the logs are remarkably indistict with regards to class and type of the vessel. "It's as if I suffered a sensor malfunction," one pilot said. "But I fly a deep space mineral scout. My sensor suite is my lifeblood. If they aren't properly configured, I don't make money. And they'd just undergone a complete diagnostic during a refit. They checked out fine."

Some pilots are holding to a superstitious belief that the vessel was the ghostly apparition of an Industrial ship that was lost recently, claiming the lives of all hands aboard. The Industrial was apparently destroyed, while transporting a load of Minmatar children. "They come back for revenge," spoke one man darkly. "They was killed unjustly. That's what makes ghost ships. They gonna hunt the galaxy till they find them as killed 'em. And I say, let 'em. I'd help em if I could."

CONCORD officials could not be reached for comment.