Uriel confirmed our suspicions today. The signals we are receiving are from a 1st Wave source. The ship has poured over records and can find no reference to any 1st Waver coming this way. An mPod has been sent back to Europa Base with all the data we have. I have informed Mission HQ of my intent to alter course and investigate.
From what Uriel can decipher, we are hearing a distress signal. Triangulation places the sourcepoint in the system Gliese 876. And yes, if you are reading this, you read it right. A system that still bears its ancient designation, given in the 20th century! Given how close it is to Earth – a mere 4.69pc distant – I am surprised it was never fully charted or even colonized.
Once our course is altered, we expect system arrival in about 90 days. Planetfall should be possible 20 days after, give or take. As soon as I am done with this entry I will be heading down to Medical for arcoma.
Addendum: The ship found a few old references to the system. Curiously, in the early 21st century (Old Common Era), this star was an early target of planet-search attempts. The large, rocky worlds in the system had people on old Earth tagging it as a possible host to life. Uriel had no knowledge of why the original interest in the system waned, or why such a proximate system would have been ignored in all the centuries since, except possibly the more dense clustering of candidate systems in other areas of the galaxy turned their attention away.
Staff Commentary on this Fragment can be found here.