Johnston,

Maas Systems are pulling out of the Coyote system, and they're leaving a real mess in their wake. The indentured workers have been abandoned, and we are sending ships in to rescue them.

What worries us is that Maas are not just going to leave their hardware lying around to be plundered. They are likely to have left booby-traps or set up ambushes, so we have to tread very carefully.

One area that really interests us is in the Coyote Maas Restricted Zone, where several Maas research bases are located. There is one in particular we would like you to take a look at: the Maas Research Asteroid orbiting Ottowa. The sketchy reports we've had indicate something pretty unusual happened there.

Franklyn Hoffer.