HELION DISPATCHES 07

EPILOGUE: PILGRIM'S END

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[SIGNAL LOCK]

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[BROADCAST WIDE CHANNEL]

[ORIGIN: PILGRIM SEED]

[VECTOR: STARWARD]

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[TRANSCRIPTION ACTIVE]

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[NOISE]

This… Cyrene Sabir…

[NOISE]

…we are seeking assistance…

…Pilgrim Seed… attacked…

[NOISE]

Can anyone… hear me?

[NOISE]

Kimbal we need to boost the…

[NOISE]

…that’s better.

Repeating the message: anyone receiving this message within the Starward Belt, we are aboard the refugee ship Pilgrim Seed.

Conway Drones are attacking our flotilla, one of our sister ships, the Wind’s Long Shadow has been hit. We both require immediate evacuation.

I Repeat…

[NOISE]

Fuck it.

[NOISE]

This is Cyrene Sabir. I’m tired. I’m scared.

We’ve been running dark for a long time. Running silent, which isn’t easy for a pirate radio station.

Conway drones have been on us for as many cycles as I can remember now. following behind us like hungry wolves. Waiting to see if our drive fails.

The theory on the ship is we aren’t worth the munitions they’d waste to bring us down. They’d rather just wait for us to collapse under the pressure.

But we haven’t. We’ve made repairs, kept the drive spinning. Farmed our food from the stacks. Held out.

But we are close now, at the edge of the Belt. And we need someone to help bring us in.

[NOISE]

Last cycle they hit the Wind’s Long Shadow. We don’t know why. Maybe we are too close to making it, too close to leaving Conway territory and making it out into the Belt.

Or maybe a drone just didn’t like the signals that ship was sending out.

Either way, there’s a whole set of new holes in it now.

[NOISE]

There are thousands of us here, and we’ve been crammed into this tin-can cycle after cycle, waiting for someone to catch up to us.

And now it’s happening, and we need help.

[NOISE]

I don’t know what things are like in the Belt, but the war is coming to you now. It’s coming behind us, like a wave. Carrying us onto your shore.

Helion is no longer a system forgotten by the corporations, no longer living in the shadow of Solheim’s collapse. We are at the center of something now, and something bad is rising in the inner system.

We need to change how we think, how we act. We need to find each other now, on the edge of this system…

[NOISE]

…and right now, we need someone with a GOD DAMN SHIP to answer this call!

[NOISE]

…

[NOISE]

…

[NOISE]

I don’t think they are coming Kimbal.

We are on our own now.

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[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]

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[SIGNAL LOST]

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[TRANSPONDER [PILGRIM SEED] NOT FOUND]

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[SEARCHING…]

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[SEARCHING…]

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[SEARCHING…]

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💫 Turn your Eyes Starward

The story of the Pilgrim Seed, Cyrene, and Kimbal continues in Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector.

The game releases Jan 31st 2025. Wishlist it here!

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💬 Join the Citizen Sleeper community!

Looking for a community to discuss the Helion Dispatches with? Feel like speculating on the future of Citizen Sleeper? Have a burning question to ask me? We’ve recently expanded the Fellow Traveller Discord to include a whole new Citizen Sleeper section for fans to hang out in.

Click here to join!