Ethan: [comm static then signal beep]

"Alright, Phoenix II, this is Ashford. Kicking on primary dredge systems now. Sea's not in a good mood today. Feels like it's got something to hide."

Marcus: [chuckles] "Maybe it's hiding your sense of direction again."

Ethan: "That was one time."

Alex: "Focus, team. Keep comms clean until cycle sync is complete. Ethan, you good on drift comp?"

Ethan: "Drift's minimal, Firehawk. Compensating with lateral thrust now. Let's go find some debris."

Ethan: "Ashford here, just launched. Firehawk’s got the good chair again. I swear he’s bribing base control."

Alex: "It’s called seniority, kid. You’ll understand when your back hurts every time you stand."

Samantha: "Eyes on the scan, Ethan. Less whining, more winning."

Marcus: "Let the man breathe, Nightshade. Let him cry about his lumbar placement."

Ethan: "Thank you, Ironclad. At least someone understands me."

Ethan: [chuckling] "Note to self: don't leave sandwiches unsecured in zero-G hold compartments."

Samantha: "Reed's the only one mourning that loss."

Marcus: "It was a burdkin melt, Blake. It deserved a proper burial."

Ethan: "Consider it an offering to whatever gigantic seafood lives down here. Back to sweep pattern Bravo-2."

Ethan: "Team Phoenix II, scanning trench sector Theta-Four. Lotta static today. Something about this place puts the hair on my arms up."

Alex: "You’ve got an overactive imagination, Ashford. Keep your head on."

Samantha: "Or your eyes open. Whichever’s easier."

Marcus: "Ethan, didn’t your wife say the last time you ignored a trench ping, you found a crashed Arvadan probe?"

Ethan: "Yeah. She also said if I ever came home with another dented hull, she’d weld me to the inside."

Ethan: "Marking coordinates. We've got something—structure-like, but half buried. Looks... religious? Weird carved symbols."

Alex: "Log it, leave it. We're not poking holes in someone's cursed chapel."

Ethan: "But Firehawk—"

Alex: "Nope. Not doing this again, Ashford. Last time it took us a week to flush the hallucinations. for the other crew members."

Samantha: "Copying glyph patterns for CERBERUS archive review. Moving on."

Ethan: "Lunch break out here is always so bleak. Marcus brought cold noodles again. Alex is eating those protein bricks like they’re not drywall."

Marcus: "I like 'em. They crunch."

Samantha: "You say that like you weren’t chewing gravel on the last drop."

Marcus: "Psh, you're just jealous of my hella jawline." [Samantha can be heard sighing]

Alex: "Any luck on scans, Ethan?"

Ethan: "No, just more old wreckage. Some odd readings, but no movement. Emily pinged something further down though. We’re shifting course."

Ethan: [softly, to himself] "Been down here too long. The silence between pings is louder than the machines. Think I’m starting to hear things again. Not words. Just... pressure."

Emily: [softly] "You always were too sensitive to the ocean. That’s why I like you."

Ethan: [smiling] "I’ll take that as affection."

Emily: "It is. Focus up, hon. We’re approaching trench lip."

Ethan: "Recovered a derelict frame, emblem looks old—Alleycat Orders maybe. Emily says it’s too pristine. No corrosion. Doesn’t make sense."

Emily: "Running diagnostics now. Signal logs are wiped, but power systems have traces of recent reactivation." Samantha: "Which means it wasn’t dead when it got here."

Alex: "Be ready. Just because it’s still doesn’t mean it’s safe."

Marcus: "Just like my ex."

Ethan: "Oh god, here he goes again."

Ethan: "Ashford reporting. We’ve got wreckage—nonstandard. Doesn’t match TRC or Empress manufacture."

Marcus: "Scans are reading biologic trace among metallic scatter. Not recent."

Samantha: "Something was living in it. Or made from it."

Ethan: "Copy. Sampling struts. Be advised, some parts look melted. Not by fire—by pressure."

Ethan: "Recording from beneath cloud cover. Storm’s rolling in heavy. Sol readings spiking beyond normal. Waves acting unnatural. Like... they’re being pulled."

Alex: "Team, form up. Samantha, Emily, close ranks. Marcus, you’re shield."

Samantha: "Visual contact with a structure beneath the trench. Looks manmade. Possibly Research Court."

Ethan: "They always leave things behind they shouldn’t have."

Emily: "So do we."

Ethan: "Firehawk, you drifting off comms range again? You’re reading fifteen meters outside the safe bubble."

Alex: "I see something, Ethan. Give me another minute."

Ethan: "I don’t like it when people say that."

Emily: "Ash, I’ve got him on thermal. He’s not alone."

Ethan: "...Say again?"

Emily: "Something’s moving behind the silt. No signature. Just shape."

Ethan: "We’re not alone in the trench. Sonar’s showing consistent movement—spiraling, slow, deliberate. Something knows we’re here."

Marcus: "Ironclad ready. No movement topside."

Samantha: "Ethan, maintain high altitude. You’re the only ship-mounted heavy rail left."

Ethan: "Copy that. Holding pattern... Emily’s reading high EM spikes."

Emily: "It’s not electromagnetic. It’s something else. Something old."

Ethan: [tired] "Been thirty hours. No sun, no stars. Just grey on grey. The dredge keeps spinning up old tech, half-organic composites. None of it makes sense."

Marcus: "Starting to think the sea’s not hiding things. It’s trying to forget them."

Samantha: "Let it. We record, we rise. We sleep off the memories. That’s the rule."

Ethan: "Yeah... right. The rule."

Ethan: "It’s not tech. The signal—it’s not mechanical. It’s rhythmic. Alive. Not like anything I’ve—"

Emily: "Ethan. Pull back. Now."

Alex: "Retreat protocol Delta-5. All units."

Marcus: "It’s following us."

Samantha: "Too fast. It’s cutting signal relays."

Ethan: "What the hell is this thing?!"

[LOG FAILED TO CAPTURE RECORDING]

Ethan: "Ugh, way too close."

Marcus: "Fuck me that was too close."

Ethan: "Ashford here. Recalibrating lateral sensors. Hold pressure’s leaking again."

Emily: [background] "Did you tape it again?"

Ethan: "What do you think? I’m a professional."

Emily: [laughs] "You’re a menace. But you’re my menace."

Ethan: [softly] "Damn right."

Ethan: "Reporting a low hum from subdeck resonance layers. Might be a sonar echo, or something else. Whole frame's vibrating like it’s got a heartbeat."

Alex: "Clock it, log it, ignore it."

Samantha: "Easier said than done. My teeth are rattling."

Marcus: "If this sea starts singing, I’m out."

Ethan: "I hate doing this work. Why do we need to keep doing this again? And why do we have to keep getting our memories burnt when we go back?"

Marcus: "Listen brother, I am right there with you, but I am trying to focus on not getting swept up by the damn giga-current headed right at me."

Alex: "Top commanded the new orders for our safety Ashford. Are you recording these logs on your personal device again? You know you're not allowed to do that."

Ethan: [clears throat] "No, I know I'm not allowed to do it so why would I. Besides, they pay my bills so what do I care? I'm just tired is all."

Samantha: "Ashford focus on the lines, I can feel too much slack on my end."

Ethan: "I've got you, don't worry."

Ethan: "This is Ashford, log mark... timestamp irrelevant. We've recovered something. It's... humanoid, ish. Looks almost like a mech suit, but biological. Part of it’s moving, not in pulses, just... twitching. It’s big. Real big. Pulled it up on Crane Two with the dredge magnet—barely."

Samantha: "It’s watching. I don’t know how, but it’s watching."

Marcus: "I got a bad feeling. Let’s bag it and bounce."

Emily: "It’s beautiful. In a terrifying kind of way."

Alex: "All units, retract EVA. Ashford, lock it down for Kanno. We're heading back."

Ethan:** [quietly, to himself] **"Whatever this is... it gives me a bad feeling."

Ethan: "It’s on the deck now. Everyone’s staring. "

Emily: "It’s still warm."

Marcus: "That's it. I'm sleeping in my frame tonight."

Alex: "Nobody touches it until TRC clears it. Ethan, lock the dredge. No exceptions."

Ethan: "Copy, Firehawk. But something tells me it’s already awake."

Ethan: "Nothing’s moved since we hauled it up. But there’s a pressure in the air now, like it’s watching. Like it knows."

Samantha: "One of our oxygen tanks emptied overnight. No breach, no leak. Just... gone."

Emily: "Maybe it breathes." Ethan: "Don’t say that, Em. Not even joking."

Marcus: "I’ve got overwatch tonight. I don’t sleep when monsters stare."

Alex: "We’ve got a shadow and no sun. Welcome to Phoenix II."

Ethan: "Cerberus response team delayed. ‘Unexpected complications,’ they said. So we wait. Just us, and this thing."

Emily: "I think it’s not alone. I heard it whisper in my dreams."

Samantha: "Get your head checked."

Ethan: "No... I heard it too. A name. Or something like one."

Alex: "We lock this thing down and move operations to Secondary. That’s an order."

Marcus: "Aye. But you don’t un-hear it. You don’t un-know it."

Ethan: "We’re under attack. A Kingmaker. I repeat—a KINGMAKER is here. I don’t know how it found us, but it did. They’ve come to claim whatever we found."

Alex: "Team Phoenix! Hold positions! Ethan, cover Emily!

Marcus, keep the flank—" [Audio distortion — static burst]

Ethan: "Alex is down. God—Marcus is gone.

Samantha—Samantha, where—?"

Samantha: "Tell Emily… she was right… about the…" [Signal drop]

[LOG FAILED TO RECORD]

Ethan: "Log, I’m the only one left. It’s just me and Emily. She’s—she’s begging me to launch the CERBERUS FAILSAFE. Says she doesn’t want to die like the others."

Emily: "Ethan, please. I love you. Let me go. Don’t let them take me."

Ethan: "I CAN’T. I won’t. Don’t ask me to do this!"

Emily: "Please. Ethan." [Silence. Then distant screaming on comms, followed by missile ignition tone.]

Ethan: "Coordinates locked. I love you Emily."

[The sound of a distant rumbling impact is heard]

[Several seconds of nothing. Then the sound of sobbing, rising into screams.]

Ethan: "I hate myself."