The Leak - Encrypted Message

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[ENCRYPTED MESSAGE]

MESSAGE HEADER

To[REDACTED] - Independent Data Journalist Network
From[ANONYMIZED - 7-hop relay chain]
SubjectRE: Your inquiry about UMG substrate incidents
Date2407.03.22 - 03:47 SST
EncryptionPGP 4096-bit + OTP layer
RoutingTor-equivalent, burned exit nodes
Message IDa4f9e2c1-####-####-####-############

WARNING

This message has been routed through seven anonymizing relays and will self-purge from relay nodes within 72 hours. Do not attempt to trace origin. For your safety and mine, do not reply to this address.

MESSAGE BODY

You don’t know me. You never will.

I work for the United Mining Guild. I have access to things I shouldn’t have access to. I’m burning that access by sending you this.

Three weeks ago, you published an article asking why so many independent miners are going missing in Void Sectors. You cited “official sources” that claimed the incident rate was “within normal parameters for high-risk extraction work.”

Those official sources lied to you.

The incident rate is not normal. The circumstances are not random. And the Guild knows.

Attached to this message is a document. It’s the minutes from an Executive Board meeting held on 2407.01.15. Read it carefully. Read it twice.

Then ask yourself: if nineteen people have vanished under nearly identical circumstances, and the Guild’s response is to do nothing because it’s “economically unacceptable” to investigate—what happens when it’s thirty people? Fifty?

What happens when it’s you?

WHY I’M DOING THIS

I’ve worked for the Guild for eight years. I believed in the mission. Safe mining practices. Protecting workers. Industry standards.

I watched that board meeting happen. Not in person—I don’t have that kind of access—but I have access to the archives. I have access to the secure document system. I have access to the incident reports.

I’ve read all nineteen case files.

I’ve read Maven Cheung’s logs. I’ve read the others. Different people, different sectors, same pattern.

They all kept mining when they should have stopped. They all reported the same symptoms. They all vanished. And in every single case, the Guild wrote it off as “operator error” or “psychological breakdown” or “equipment malfunction.”

But the equipment was fine. The logs are clear. These people weren’t crazy.

Something is wrong in the Void Sectors. Something is happening to substrate miners. And the Guild is choosing profit over finding out what.

I can’t be part of that anymore.

WHAT I NEED FROM YOU

Publish this.

Not with my name. Not with any identifying details. But publish the meeting minutes. Let people see how the decision was made. Let contractors know what the Guild really thinks about their lives.

Let them know that Dr. Helena Sarr tried. She fought for a safety review. She presented evidence. She asked the right questions.

And she was outvoted 5-0.

“Acceptable loss ratio.”

That’s what Marcus Veld called it. Nineteen lives. Nineteen families. “Acceptable.”

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

  1. Dr. Helena Sarr is not the enemy. She’s one of the only people in the Guild who gives a damn. If you publish this, protect her. She didn’t leak this. She doesn’t know I exist. Don’t let them retaliate against her.

  2. There are thirty-nine people with access to this document. I’m one of them. The access log is audited. When you publish, they’ll know someone leaked it. They’ll investigate. I’ve covered my tracks, but I might not have covered them well enough.

  3. This is not the only document. There are incident reports. Black box data. Salvage logs. Psychological evaluations. Substrate composition analyses that don’t make sense. I have access to some of it. Not all. But enough.

  4. If you want more, here’s how you reach me:

    • Post a classified ad in the Meridian-7 Station Bulletin, Section K (Missed Connections), with the phrase: “Looking for the friend who left their jacket at the 03:47 shuttle.”
    • I’ll know it’s you. I’ll respond. Same encryption. Same routing.
    • If I don’t see that phrase within 30 days, assume I’ve been discovered. Burn this contact method.

  5. Do not trust official Guild statements. They will deny this document is real. They will claim it’s fabricated. They will threaten legal action. They will try to bury this.

Don’t let them.

THE PATTERN THEY WON’T ACKNOWLEDGE

I’ve been pulling data from the incident reports. Here’s what the Guild doesn’t want you to see:

Incident Timeline (last 18 months):

  • 2405.06 - 2 incidents
  • 2405.08 - 1 incident
  • 2405.10 - 3 incidents
  • 2405.12 - 2 incidents
  • 2406.02 - 1 incident
  • 2406.04 - 3 incidents
  • 2406.06 - 2 incidents
  • 2406.08 - 2 incidents (including Maven Cheung)
  • 2406.10 - 1 incident
  • 2406.12 - 2 incidents

Total: 19 incidents in 18 months

But here’s what they’re not telling you:

All nineteen incidents occurred in five specific Void Sectors:

  • Sector 19-Kappa: 6 incidents
  • Sector 33-Mu: 4 incidents
  • Sector 47-Theta: 4 incidents
  • Sector 8-Delta: 3 incidents
  • Sector 52-Omicron: 2 incidents

These sectors share common characteristics:

  • High substrate concentration
  • Navigation anomalies (documented)
  • Sensor drift (documented)
  • Black box timestamp errors in 73% of recovered vessels

The Guild knows this. They have the same data I have.

And they’re about to approve new extraction operations in Sector 33-Mu.

WHAT I’M RISKING

If they trace this back to me, I’m done. Career over. They’ll make me disappear.

The Guild has legal departments. They have security contractors. They have people who make problems disappear.

I’m doing this anyway.

Because I read Maven Cheung’s logs. I read the part where he realizes the ship won’t leave. Where he hears footsteps in an empty corridor. Where he sees himself standing outside the viewport.

And I read the board meeting minutes where Marcus Veld called that an “acceptable loss ratio.”

I’ve spent eight years filing reports and updating databases and watching the numbers go up.

I’m done watching.

A WARNING

If you’re a miner reading this—if someone forwards this to you, if it ends up on a contractor forum, if it spreads—please listen:

The Guild’s safety guidelines are not adequate.

The 21-day exposure limit? Twelve of the nineteen victims were within that limit when incidents occurred.

The psychological screening? All nineteen passed their most recent eval.

The recommended practices? They don’t work.

I don’t know what’s happening in the Void Sectors. I don’t know why substrate miners are vanishing. I don’t know where the cargo goes.

But I know the Guild has decided it’s cheaper to lose miners than to find out.

So if you’re out there drilling into a substrate seam, and your HUD starts glitching, and you hear something that sounds like breathing, and your nav display says you’re in two places at once—

Get out.

Don’t trust the guidelines. Don’t trust the scanners. Don’t trust the Guild.

Trust your gut.

Maven Cheung didn’t. He kept drilling because he thought he could handle it. Because the seam was rich. Because he was so close.

They found his ship with the clock frozen at 03:47.

They didn’t find him.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I don’t know if publishing this will change anything. The Guild is powerful. They have lawyers and lobbyists and friends in the Galactic Regulatory Commission.

But Dr. Sarr tried to change things from the inside, and they shut her down.

So maybe it’s time to try from the outside.

If this reaches one miner, and that miner decides to stop drilling when the warnings start, and that miner makes it home—

Then it was worth it.

Even if they find me.

Even if I end up like Maven Cheung.

At least I tried.

ATTACHMENT

File: board-meeting-minutes-2407-01-15.pdf (encrypted) Size: 847 KB Hash (SHA-256): a7c4f9e8b2d1c5a6f3e9d8b7c4a2f1e9d8c7b6a5f4e3d2c1b9a8f7e6d5c4b3a2 Encryption Key: (Provided via separate channel - check your secure drop)

Verify the hash before opening. If it doesn’t match, the file has been tampered with. Burn everything and assume the channel is compromised.

AUTODESTRUCT NOTICE

This message will self-purge from relay nodes in 72 hours.

Save what you need. Download the attachment. Then let this message disappear.

If you try to trace me, you’ll find burned relays and dead-end proxies.

If you publish this, don’t use my words. Use the document. Let the Guild’s own words condemn them.

And if you see a miner about to run a substrate extraction op in Sector 19-Kappa or 33-Mu or any of the high-risk zones—

Tell them about Maven Cheung.

Tell them the clock stopped at 03:47.

Tell them the Guild called it “acceptable.”

Good luck.

- [UNSIGNED]

[END MESSAGE]

Message Metadata

Received: 2407.03.22 03:47 SST Relay chain: 7 hops, all nodes burned Origin trace: FAILED Encryption: VALID Attachment: VALID (hash match) Auto-purge: 71 hours, 43 minutes

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