Preparing it for use on Bremerton, the Marines repainted the APC they'd acquired from the Tokarev, and cleared its' computers down to the level normally associated with a civilian or mercenary vehicle. Then they fell to considering the options they'd face on arriving at the capital.
Jacques suggested that they clear down all the inciminating evidence from the Brazos' computers, and simply report in, as if nothing had happened. Stalker's response to that was that whatever story they concocted would have to be an extremely good one to explain:
As the jump field dissipated and the Brazos completed its' transition into normal space, Cassandra turned to the controls of the alien device and toggled the Arbiter Cloak. Something wasn't quite right, however, and it didn't activate. Reagan made a smart comment, and Cassandra offered to chuck him overboard for a practice target next time he wanted gunnery training. Muttering to herself, she adjusted the controls and tried again. Magically, the starship faded into the background and was gone.
Turning to the sensor arrays, Cassandra started collecting passive scan information about conditions in the system. She picked up some conversations on the Systems Defence frequency indicating that their brief appearance had been noted; a flight of SDBs was heading for their position. Captain MacLean lit the fusion engines, and the ship glided away as the shark-like SDBs flew past, scanning futilely for them and then returning to their previous course.
Studying the sensor results, Cassandra announced that the system contents were as follows:
Manoeuvre (click for larger image!) |
While the Brazos could easily avoid the many vessels in-system, there was nothing to stop one of them accidentaly running into her, so Captain MacLean brought her gently around and moved close in beside one of the titanic Tigresses, where they lurked, absorbing information. |
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Working as a team with Cassandra, Tamara took control of the communications array, and started filtering the mass of signals flooding the ether for information of use. In particular, they were hunting:
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Cassandra and Tamara (click for larger image!) |
The results were interesting. Local news and regular Naval open orders confirmed what the commander of the Tokarev had told them; Sirnoth had indeed been recently interdicted by the Navy, due to "hazardous local conditions" - although the news media reports of this were very understated, tucked at the bottom of pages; there was indeed a report of an accidental explosion at the torpedo capture facility on Sefur Highport, nearly two weeks ago. Of the Tokarev there was no mention at all.
Their next move was to try and nudge a reaction from the conspirators - whoever they were. Creating a message reading "The Zerg and the Ultramarines are loose - God help us all!" and wrapped in the enctryption code, they selected a hapless Beowulf class Free Trader, and spoofed the message as if it had come from their transmitters.
The reaction surprised everyone - not least the crew of the merchant vessel. Without hesitation or challenge, a medium cruiser changed orientation and almost casually blasted the ship to dust with its' spinal weapon.
Repeating the relaying trick with a commsat, they looped the message again, adding "Missed me!". A response snapped back this time. "Resume silence on this frequency immediately! Identify yourselves; who are you?" came the rather contradictory demand. It seemed to be coming from the vicinity of Slorfil Naval Base; but closer examination showed it itself to be a spoofed transmission, originating in fact from the palace of the Duke himself. When there was no answer, silence fell (as far as encrypted traffic went).
Duke Henry's Residence |
The marines gathered to plan their next move. It was time to have a word with Duke Henry Logan...
