The ARK was meant to cross the wormhole into the Andromeda galaxy and start building new homes for the human race. Over a century has passed since the ARK disappeared into the void leaving no trace except for a lone distress signal, not even a real message. Just ones and zeros. When search and rescue ships arrived at the distress signal origin they were shocked to find nothing, the ARK was nowhere to be found. Searching every planet, moon, star within 50 light years and yet nothing was ever found.
After 115 years the SRS Arpex was commissioned to search for the ARK, a task long forgotten, thought to be a legend after all this time. The Arpex searched the star system the ARK went missing in for almost a decade before finding new evidence of what happened. A new distress signal echoed over the comms channel stunning the crew in disbelief. The signal was coming from the frozen wasteland of a desolate planet.
The Arpex descended through the atmosphere smashing into the raging blizzard below. Battleing against cataclysmic winds they successfully landed plunging into the snow. Hail batted the hull knocking paint off with each hit, the crew tried to send a distress signal but to no avail, the storm blocked every signal with the antenna eventually being bashed off by hail. The storm grew stronger yet they persisted through until it passed.
As the snow slowly settled over the wasteland the Arpex crew watched as the towering snow covered ARK slowly became more visible. The colossal ship looked almost like a mountain after decades of abuse, the bridge stood sentinel watching over the icy desert. The wind howled as the airlock opened letting the crew feel the snapping cold.
Light shimmered into the ARK as the Arpex crew cut a hole into the hull, wires slung down like creeping vines being brushed aside as crew members entered the derelict ARK. The rows upon rows of shattered cryogenic pods lined the vast majority of the ARK with pipes and cable network's running alongside. Their small flashlights barely lit half way across the open hull.
The Arpex rescuers gradually grew more and more unsettled as they explored the ARK, they didn't expect survivors but the one question they all asked was "Where are the corpses?"
The entire cryogenic array was empty, no trace of the occupants that were meant to colonise Andromeda. Broken construction bots scattered the ARK appearing in sections of the ship they should never have been.
"We've landed near the distress call but I fear the ARK has taken damage, this damned blizzard hit halfway through our descent essentially blinding our sensors. Once this blizzard passes we can send a recon team to search for whoever's stranded here." It was the only audio log the they could find that wasn't corrupted.
Exploring the ARK further the Arpex crew slowly become more aware of the horror surrounding them. Thick slime covered the life support systems reaching into the crew quarters, whatever this substance was it definitely wasn't natural. Trudging through the slime they finally found a lone skeleton in the crew quarters standing upright encased in a blob of thicker slime that seemed more like stone. The ARK shook like there was an earthquake right as they made contact with the slimy blob, whatever truly happened when the skeleton was disturbed the Arpex crew will never know.
The slime turned almost acidic eating away at their protective suits making the unfortunate ones who couldn't escape the slime freeze to death in mere seconds before the slime consumed them. The remaining crew quickly abandoned the ARK returning to the Arpex to process what happened in there, at first their delusions was that it was their imagination but reality soon set in. Their friends, the ones they've called family, people who put their lives at risk for others. Dead in seconds.
They couldn't send a distress signal and after running ship diagnostics they discovered that the ship's systems were damaged beyond repair. The remaining crew argued on their next course of action, some argueed to investigate the distress signal that brought them here while others protested wanting to stay in the Arpex. Ultimately only one left to investigate the signal. Cutting through the ARK the lone individual found themselves upon a frozen lake, they could see a faint pulsing read in the distance.
It was the distress signal origin, it sat upon higher ground making it look like a crashed ships beacon. Once the individual reached the beacon however they discovered the same slime coating it, the red pulses of light made it seem alive like a heartbeat. Curiosity took hold as they extended their hand to touch the beacon, no rumble, no acid, just silence as wind howled past. One second passed then another and another before the ground trembled throwing the individual to the ground, looking down at the shifting snow on the lakes surface they saw a faint light growing closer.
The light shot away being replaced with darkness as the ice cracked, the ARK shifted slightly as the lake opened up pulling everything into the abyss before returning to silence. The individual was swallowed alive by something colossal, larger than the ARK, a true leviathan. The Arpex landing gear failed under the earthquake like trembles causing it to collapse trapping everyone inside, they fought for weeks killing each other in the name of survival but they all died eventually.
The pulsing red beacon wasn't a distress signal it was a beacon some creature learned to mimic eons ago. The ARK fell victim like the dozens before it, just like the Arpex. Now this creature lays in wait for its next victim who decides a beacon is worth dying for.