History Main / SendInTheSearchTeam

* A variation in ''Series/TheSilentSea'' as the search team are sent to retrieve a sample of unknown material from the Balhae Lunar Research Station, abandoned five years previously due to a radiation leak that killed the inhabitants. The team are actively discouraged by their superiors from finding out what happened, even though the lack of radiation quickly makes it apparent that they're covering something up.

-->-- '''Ripley''', ''{{Film/Alien}}''

[[folder:Fanworks]]
* [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/29152848/chapters/71570283 Plague Ship]], a ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' Fanfic begins this way, when a Federation ship is found dead in the space where it shouldn't be. The Enterprise team beams in to find what is happening...and things go downhill from there.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/{{Predator}}'', though those participating don't actually know it. Their mission -- supposedly to rescue a cabinet minister shot down by guerillas -- is actually to find a special forces team that had been sent in to stop a guerilla offensive.

* ''VideoGame/BlackSnow'' takes control of an IT four-man team sent to investigate a scientific research station somewhere in Greenland. It's suspicious from the start - one of the group notes that gas masks and protective gear aren't standard repair equipment. It, of course, goes to hell as ''something'' kills all but one of the team - you.

* ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'' parodies this ''twice''.

** ''Film/{{Alien}}''. The crew of the Nostromo must investigate a scrambled alien DistressSignal. [[spoiler:Ripley notes after observing the partially translated message while the away crew is investigating the crashed vessel, however, that it looks more like a ''warning''.]]
** ''Film/{{Aliens}}''. The Marines are dispatched to LV-426 to determine why contact was lost

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[[quoteright:230:[[Film/{{Sunshine}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rescue32_8616.jpg]]]]

* ''Film/{{Sunshine}}'', sort of. The crew of ''Icarus II'' passes ''Icarus I'' in space, and initially decides ''not'' to stop. However, [[spoiler:they are forced into this situation after their own ship suffers catastrophic damage and they are unsure of whether their payload is still functional.]]
* Miranda of ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', though in this case the protagonists are there for a slightly different reason and only found out that a search team had been sent after they arrive, by which time all that's left is a wrecked ship and an ApocalypticLog.

* ''Film/{{Predator}}'', though those participating don't actually know it. Their mission -- supposedly to rescue a cabinet minister shot down by guerillas -- is actually to find a special forces team that had been sent in to stop a guerilla offensive.
* A hardly heroic version occurs in ''Film/BlackDeath'', where a local bishop sends a group of violent inquisitors to seek out another group of inquisitors he had previously sent to cleanse a village rumoured to practice paganism.
* ''Film/TheAbyss'' has the main cast sent to search a sunken submarine.
* ''Film/Ravenous1999'' is about the garrison of a BleakBorderBase launching a rescue mission for a snowed-in wagon train in 1840s California. If the phrase "snowed-in wagon train in 1840s California" sets off alarm bells for you, [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty you probably have a pretty good idea]] [[HorrorHunger what this movie]] [[CannibalismSuperpower is about.]]
* ''Film/MissionToMars'' is about a group of astronauts who are sent to the Red Planet to find out what what happened when contact with the previous team was lost, and to rescue them if possible.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** "[[Recap/StargateSG1S1E5TheFirstCommandment The First Commandment]]". SG-1 is sent to find SG-9, who have failed to report in from their offworld mission. [[spoiler:The leader of SG-9 has gone mad and set himself up as the god of the native people, having discovered a piece of [[LostTechnology abandoned Goa'uld technology]] that will shield them from the extra-strength sun of their world]].
** "[[Recap/StargateSG1S1E10TheTormentOfTantalus The Torment of Tantalus]]" has SG-1 discover that a team studying the stargate in the 1940s managed to activate it and send a man through. They travel to his address to bring him back, only to discover that [[spoiler:the dialing device on the other side is broken]].
** "[[Recap/StargateSG1S5E8TheTomb The Tomb]]": SG-1 and a Russian Air Force squad go looking for a Russian team that went missing during a period in the last season when the Russians had a stargate. [[spoiler:They got eaten by a critter in the tomb of the Goa'uld Marduk.]]
* In the ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "The Invisible Enemy", astronauts are sent to Mars to learn why the members of the previous expedition vanished. [[spoiler:They were eaten by "sand sharks", who go on to menace the current expedition.]]
* In ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', an expedition to climb the twin peaks of Kilimanjaro (and build a bridge between them) is being assembled. The purpose: to find out what happened to last year's expedition.
** It's worth noting that the guy in charge of the expedition suffers from double vision. Given that his brother was running the previous expedition, it must run in the family.
* In the first episode of ''Series/BlakesSeven'', a prison transport encounters an unidentified ship floating dead in space. After the first two parties sent to investigate fail to return, the captain assembles a team of disposable prisoners to investigate. This group contains the founding members of the eponymous seven, who take command of the deserted ship and escape.

* ''Manga/KingOfThorn'' begins with 160 people waking up from cryogenic sleep, hoping to be cured of a horrible disease that may turn their bodies to stone eventually. However, when they wake up, the entire facility is covered in thorny vines and infested with horrible monsters. Nobody's sure if it's been a hundred years or only a few days, what happened to everyone else, or the true nature of their disease.

** The backstory of ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' starts with a research team sent to [=SR388=] to investigate Metroids going missing. A search-and-rescue team is dispatched to find them, which also goes missing, and then a military team is dispatched to find them... which also goes missing. The Galactic Federation then simply dispatches Samus to exterminate all Metroids. Its remake, ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'', omits the plot points about the research and SAR teams, and only mentions the military team in its introduction. Conversely, in the ''fan'' remake ''VideoGame/AnotherMetroid2Remake', it's Samus who gets sent after the missing SAR team [[spoiler:and reaches them just moments too late to save them.]]

** The backstory of ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' starts with a research team sent to [=SR388=] to investigate Metroids going missing. A search-and-rescue team is dispatched to find them, which also goes missing, and then a military team is dispatched to find them... which also goes missing. The Galactic Federation then simply dispatches Samus to exterminate all Metroids. Its remake, ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'', omits the plot points about the research and SAR teams, and only mentions the military team in its introduction.

* ''Franchise/Halo''

* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': Ragnar's chapter starts with the king sending all his soldiers to investigate why children are disappearing from a nearby village..

* ''Film/CannibalHolocaust''.

* The first ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' had the [=S.T.A.R.S.=] Bravo team sent in to investigate the murders in the Arklay Mountains, and the Alpha team sent in to find out what happened to the Bravo team after ''they'' went missing. [[spoiler: Or at least that's what they tell you. In reality, [[BigBad Albert]] [[TheMole Wesker]] sent both teams in to be massacred by [=B.O.W.s=] so he could collect combat data.]]
* In the video game ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'', you're a mechanic sent out after receiving a distress call from a mining vessel. When you arrive, you discover a GhostShip... [[{{Metaphorgotten}} only the "ghost" is actually a]] "[[RecycledInSpace space]] [[NotUsingTheZedWord zombie]] [[TheVirus virus]]". What ''actually'' happened to the people on the ship is detailed in {{Apocalyptic Log}}s both in-game and an ExpansionPackPast comic and animated movie released alongside it.
* ''[[VideoGame/SystemShock System Shock 2]]'' does this, sort of. The story begins as the maiden voyage of the newly-minted FTL-drive ''Von Braun'', but when they get to Tau Ceti, it turns out that [[spoiler: SHODAN escaped with her mutant progeny at the end of the first System Shock, and traveled in an escape pod at sublight speeds to Tau Ceti, where the mutants evolved into The Many.]]
** Also, your character comes out of stasis to find [[spoiler: almost the entire ship's crew have become infested with mind-controlling symbionts, becoming part of The Many.]]

* The ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' series has several quests along these lines, including the deadly circus tent of illusions in ''Shadows of Amn''. When you arrive, all people know is that since the last performance started, no-one who has gone inside has come out.
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', you're sent to find out what happened to the research facility in the Hrakert Rift on Manaan. They were all [[spoiler:eaten by Selkath who had been driven insane by a giant Firaxan shark]].
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsRepublicCommando'' has Delta Squad do exactly this for their former ship, the ''Prosecutor'', which has actually been taken over by Trandoshan slavers. The rest of your squad is captured; you have to free them and fight through the burnt-out remains of the ship.
-->'''Boss:''' I hope this flight recorder data gives us a clue as to how these stupid lizards took over a Republic Assault Ship!
* ''VideoGame/ConquestFrontierWars'': In the intro, a ship was lost shortly after going through a wormhole. After that, a small search team sent through the wormhole was also lost. They then decide to send in the protagonist commander.

* One part of ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'' has you searching for a missing SFOD-D team. In the end, [[LateToTheTragedy you only find]] [[StrippedToTheBone their skeletonized remains]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Odium}}''. You're a search team out to find the previous search team which was out to find out why were all communications with the city cut. ([[WithThisHerring You'd think they'd give your team some heavier firepower after the previous guys failed...]])
* ''{{VideoGame/Deadnaut}}'' has you doing this in order to retrieve crew data and ship logs from various assorted [[GhostShip Ghost Ships]].
* The third ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}}'' game has your party assigned to take over the mission of the first surface exploration team. While your primary goal is to deal with problems on the surface, you're also asked to figure out what happened to the earlier team if you can.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': Ragnar's chapter starts with the king sending all his soldiers to investigate why children are disappearing from a nearby village..

* ''VideoGame/ColdFear'' begins with the Coast Guard receiving a DistressCall from a Russian whaler and sending the veteran Tom Hansen and a team of three to investigate. [[EverybodysDeadDave They're slaughtered in the first minute of the game]] leaving Tom alone.
* Chapter 25 of ''VideoGame/TheLastStory'' sees the main characters' mercenary team being contracted to look for a group of 4 knights who went missing after investigating a new cave network that opened up on Lazulis Island [[spoiler: after the magitek cannon was activated.]]
* ''VideoGame/RyseSonOfRome'' has the 14th Legion sent into northern Britannia to find the emperor's missing son Commodus.

* A frequent occurrence in the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series:
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'': This is the reason Samus is dispatched to Aether: the Federation lost contact with the GFS ''Tyr'', a ship full of Marines sent to the planet, and needed someone to investigate. By the time Samus gets there, all of the Federation troops are dead, their corpses occasionally possessed and puppeteered by the Ing.
** The backstory of ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' starts with a research team sent to [=SR388=] to investigate Metroids going missing. A search-and-rescue team is dispatched to find them, which also goes missing, and then a military team is dispatched to find them... which also goes missing. The Galactic Federation then simply dispatches Samus to exterminate all Metroids. Its remake, ''VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns'', omits the plot points about the research and SAR teams, and only mentions the military team in its introduction.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' starts with Samus receiving a distress signal from the Bottle Ship and going to investigate and finding the Federation Army's 7th Platoon already there. Together, they must search the Bottle Ship for any survivors and find out what happened.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' sees Samus sent to the Biologic Space Labs station to find out why the whole station went dark without warning.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' begins with Samus going to the planet ZDR at the Federation's request to investigate why they lost contact with 7 cutting-edge EMMI robots, which were themselves sent to investigate the possible presence of X Parasites on the planet.
* ''VideoGame/Area51FPS'' has [=HazTeam=] Bravo being sent in to recover the ''previous'' search team, [=HazTeam Delta=].
* A cinematic in ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' has a demolition team investigating a science vessel after it was attacked by Zerg, bringing a bomb to blow the vessel apart if the Zerg are still present. The team is attacked by Zerg and quickly surrounded. Realizing there is no chance to survive, they hit the [[BigRedButton button]] to [[TakingYouWithMe blow the ship up]].
* In ''VideoGame/ThePaleBeyond'', an expedition was sent out to find magnetic north, but was never heard from again. Several years later, the crew of its sister ship (the player's base) are tasked with finding out what happened to the first expedition, and completing its work if possible. A DrivingQuestion is ''why'' so much money is being poured into finding one small ship, especially since the identities of the sponsors providing that money is a closely-guarded secret.

** This is part of a Sole Survivor Shepard's background. Some years before ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' Shepard's unit was sent to find out why the settlement on Akuze had suddenly gone dark. [[spoiler:The settlement was attacked by [[{{Sandworm}} thresher maws]] that eat Shepard's entire unit.]]

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Jacob's loyalty mission has you tracking down his long lost father to a planet where he crash landed a decade ago. [[spoiler:There, he's set himself up as a god ruling over the remnants of the crew, who are now mentally degenerate due to toxins in the food.]]

* The ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' series has some quests along these lines. There's at least the deadly circus tent of illusions in ''Shadows of Amn''. When you arrive, all people know is that since the last performance started, no-one who has gone inside has come out.

Story where a crew is [[DistressCall assembled]] to find out what happened to a previous set of adventurers, a colony, a lost ship, etc. Occasionally, the original people have [[GoingNative "gone native"]] in any number of ways. For whatever reason, the rescue does not go smoothly, and the rescuers find themselves struggling to save their own lives.

* ''Film/ResidentEvil'' film featured a team of commandos searching an underground laboratory to find out why the AI in control of the facility killed everyone.
* ''Film/ResidentEvil2'' saw Umbrella send in a ''second'' team to find out what happened to the first team. That went so badly it kicked off a zombie apocalypse within five minutes.

** ''VideoGame/MetroidDread'' begins with Samus going to the planet ZDR at the Federation's request to investigate why they lost contact with 7 cutting-edge EMMI robots.

** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2'': This is the reason Samus is dispatched to Aether: the Federation lost contact with the GFS ''Tyr'', a ship full of Marines sent to the planet, and needed someone to investigate. By the time Samus gets there, all of the Federation troops are dead, their corpses occasionally possessed and puppeteered by the Ing.

* One part of [[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]] has you searching for a missing SFOD-D team. In the end, [[LateToTheTragedy you only find]] [[StrippedToTheBone their skeletonized remains]].

* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2'': This is the reason Samus is dispatched to Aether: the Federation lost contact with the GFS ''Tyr'', a ship full of Marines sent to the planet, and needed someone to investigate. By the time Samus gets there, all of the Federation troops are dead, their corpses occasionally possessed and puppeted by the Ing.

* A cinematic in ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' has a demolition team investigating a science vessel after it was attacked by Zerg, bringing a bomb to blow the vessel apart if the Zerg were still present. The team is attacked by Zerg and quickly surrounded. Realizing there was no chance to survive, they hit the [[BigRedButton button]] to [[TakingYouWithMe blow the ship up]].

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* This is the basic plot of several ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' stories, particularly ''[[Recap/TintinTintinInTibet Tintin in Tibet]]'', in which Tintin forms a search team to find his friend Chang in the Himalayas, although he's not even sure Chang is alive. Chang turns out to have been cared for by the [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Yeti]]. In some other stories, Professor Calculus has the habit of being kidnapped, so Tintin and Captain Haddock, possibly accompanied by others, have to set off to find him.

* ''Film/ForbiddenPlanet''.

* ''Film/EventHorizon'' has the crew of the Lewis And Clark receiving a disturbing DistressCall from the title ship, which has gone missing for seven years. They soon discover that something has GoneHorriblyWrong with the title ship, and are soon thrown into a struggle to survive.

** ''Film/{{Alien}}''. The crew of the Nostromo must investigate an alien DistressSignal.