Mayday

This addendum has been added at the request of many instructors so that trainee pilots may find some context to the universal distress call “Mayday”, and explain why we use a Human language (English) for it. The fact a vast majority of republic member species can produce the sounds required is a common misconception. It is out of respect for humanity, the bravery and honor they showed the galaxy at large, and in this author’s opinion because Humans can rewrite the laws of physics upon hearing that simple word repeated.

The term has been used by Humanity for hundreds if not thousands of years. It dates far before first, or second, contact with Humanity, and was adopted with its lesser form “Pan” (also covered in later trainings) as their universal distress call. It did not matter what type of communications system, type of craft, or situation. If you were in trouble and needed help. Pick up the transmitter and make the call.

Upon Humanity’s first friendly contact with the galactic community, back in the early days of the republic, there was little to no standardization in distress calls or their urgency. A Thraxian red call wasn't seen as the same as a Moriltainan level 5, a Yorld Urgent wasn't equal to a Kaldorian priority 1. Likewise there was no set communications protocol for emergencies. With a to the species specific way to get help depending upon which species was governing that portion of space.

This changed as soon as Humanity started to mingle with the early Galactic Republic. Humanity was doing fleet exercises with the Republic fleet when a Yorld Urgent message was received by most participants. Humanity’s ships respectfully asked what they should do and were disgruntled when told to, “leave it to the proper authority.” However they listened.

The Urgent message was from a Yorld bulk freighter who had lost their hyperspace drive and got dumped out in the exosphere of a Type B gas giant. The urgent message was as follows:

This is the Yorld freighter Bountiful Harvest. We have lost our hyperspace drive and are in need of retrieval. Any capable vessel please come to our assistance.

To most in the Republic this was read as that it was, a urgent request, but not none that required people to drop everything and help the stricken vessel. Hyperspace drives so go wrong from time to time, this was likely something a local towing contractor could deal with. Not something anyone or everyone would need to worry about.

However the Humans kept “an ear out”, to borrow their phrase, and the galaxy is glad they did. For a hour later another message came through that changed the course of history.

Mayday Mayday. Mayday Mayday. This is Third Officer Natasha Nelson of the YCV Bountiful Harvest. We have lost our hyperspace drive; are trapped in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant. We are holding position best we can. We have many wounded; leaking atmosphere.

The Republic fleet received this message and assumed it was same as the previous except with some more information. Thus it was dutifully filed away, and again left to the correct authorities. However once that was done it was noted that all of the Human vessels had started charging their hyperspace drives aligning themselves to the origin of this new transmission. The Human communication vessel UES Sato sending a reply.

YCV Bountiful Harvest. UES Sato. Mayday received. We are on our way.

After that message did it seem the Human vessels were now ignoring all orders from Republic command. The Human observers aboard Republic ships were all but pleading with their Republic counterparts to follow the Human ships.

We issued demands that the Human vessels return to the exercises, and ignored their officers. The Humans ignored us. With a series of bright flashes they jumped to Bountiful Harvest's location. Only then did we follow. The Humans thought this singular cargo ships was important enough to derail a fleet exercise for that was worth looking into for nothing else than to see how Humans respond to ships needing assistance.

Thus a pair of destroyers were detached to go after the Humans. When they arrived they were stunned by what they saw. The Human military was engaged in a rescue operation. All three destroyers were charging into the gas giant with the light cruiser and Sato holding position above the stricken freighter. When our destroyers asked the Sato what they were doing they were ordered to go and help the Human destroyers pull the Bountiful Harvest from the gas giant.

After some explanation and apologies our destroyers were “permitted” to watch. The Humans saved the Bountiful Harvest, the human destroyers grabbed it from three sides and pushed it out of the gas giant. The images captured by both the Human cruisers and our destroyers went viral and a two inquiries were started. One for why the Human insubordination happened and another to look into how the Humans managed the rescue.

The rescue came out fairly quickly. Humans are from a rather high gravity world and as such have much stronger engines. Couple that with heavy armor pushing the freighter out of a gas giant becomes a matter of how much damage will be done to the freighter and how many lives will be lost on the civilian side. Now why the humans dropped everything and went charging to the rescue took a lot more history lessons, and a second example.

This second example came in the battle of Throan Prime. A primarily Thraxian outpost was under siege, the defensive fleet was broadcasting a sea of Red Alerts. Then a Human freighter sent out a Mayday.

Mayday Mayday Mayday. This is CSS Cornucopia we are under attack and require immediate military intervention.

With those words human ships came in force. Not just human warships, human ships. While human freighters were better armed and armored than the republic average none would call them warships. Yet they came, as did human warships. They then organized a break out of the Thoraxians and evacuation of as many as possible. While it was still a defeat, the humans said it had become a pyrrhic one. The lives saved demanded we adopt a similar system. So we went to Humanity and asked. They gave us their protocols:

• The Mayday silences all other traffic.
• Anyone who can help helps.
• Anyone who can’t gets out of the way.

This was brought to the galactic senate after many committee meetings we adopted Humanity’s standard. Now all Republic pilots were required to learn and use the Human standard. At first it created utter chaos until the adopting of the previously mentioned Pan call. However that is a story for a later addendum.