Chapter I: A Ship in Peril

In the time between chapter I and chapter II, Cass has received the information she had asked Lt. Mezron for. This sector of space has always had some pirate activity in it but it really started picking up four months ago. Since then, about three dozen privately owned spaceships have been reported stolen or missing in this area.
Even more shocking, in the same time frame, there have been three incidents involving small Consortium ships in this sector. Ten weeks ago, the USS Verdun, which matches the description of the ship you had assumed was the USS Sigma, was attacked by pirates. The ship’s warp core got damaged and the crew had been forced to evacuate the ship. They did not get pursued but when Spacefleet returned later, they did not find a wreckage.
Three weeks later, the actual USS Sigma, a similar but not identical model to the Verdun, was destroyed very close to your location. According to the reports, the entire crew, including Captain Ery-An, were killed.
Another week later, a small fleet of pirate ships attacked a convoy of trade ships led by the USS Antarctica, a Solar Class starship, much larger and better armed than even the Potential, which is well-known for being especially well armed for its size. The Antarctica succeeded in beating back the attack but one pirate ship had managed to attach itself to a convoy ship that was carrying almost a dozen Void Crystals and took it with it into Warp.

Lt. Mezron was unable to find any hint as to the location of the pirates’ hideout or the identity of the rumored Pirate Queen.

The monitor next to you lights up and shows the Captain's personell file. She had a successful career, joining Spacefleet Academy a bit later than most cadets but catching up quickly and graduating with almost perfect grades. She joined the crew of the USS Sigma right out of academy where she quickly rose through the ranks, finally taking over captain's duties on the Sigma after the death of the previous captain. Although this is not standard protocol, Spacefleet allowed it because of her crew's noted respect for her.
The file finishes with a note of her death in active duty - a casualty of the USS Sigma's destruction.

Looking at the photo attached to the personell file, you definitely recognize her face from your encounter before, so it is the same woman - with one key difference: The woman you had talked to during the battle had completely white skin while this photo showed the captain's skin as a pale red.

Edit: Spelling

"Commander. Zlam. Gas complete. Small problem. Only enough for 2 of the ships." Marbo states over the communicator.

He heads towards the decontamination room, and begins scrubbing down, afterwards he goes to his office, opens the locker there, and begins to don his space suit.

Once he is fully dressed in the custom space suit, and has One of the tanks of the gas strapped to his back across his shoulders, he picks up the second tank using his lower arms and heads to the bridge.