The Diary of a Space Scoundrel: Needles and Haystacks
24 Mar 2020Seth Bradwell
07:00 - Moon Dock"This is Marlon Briggs calling Commanders Captain Morgan and Seth Bradwell. You are clear for take off. Proceed when ready."
"Roger, Briggs. We are ready to leave". I confirmed.
"Confirmed. Ready to go." replied Morgan.
I lift the Edge of Sanity off the pad and point her directly upward, the quickest route out of mass lock, Morgan following closely behind in his own Python, the Revenge.
"Bradwell to Morgan. Confirm initial plan as green."
"Morgan to Bradwell. Confirmed as green. Meet at designated rendezvous point at 14:00 hours. Maintain radio silence till then. Over and out."
10:30 - Col 285 Sector MF-R b20-1 system (aka "Col Muffer" )
I complete the first phase of our mission, searching for signal sources around Col Muffer. Mostly I saw nothing but scrap, scattered wreckage, and private data beacons which yielded very little but old firmware data. The Thelingi Party was the most common source of the wrecks, followed by the Huldr Free and HR 5473 Blue Vision Int. On one occasion I came across a derelict Eagle, a eerie monument to a long forgotten battle, or more likely, ambush:
I also saw several distress calls during my search - originating from the Brothers of HR 5473. I just noted them and pressed on - pirates often use fake distress calls in order to lure unsuspecting pilots into an ambush, and even if it was genuine, intervening would blow our cover. The private beacon scan data all told sad tales of routine logs followed by a noting of abnormal activity in their drive (which lead to a catastrophic failure) or that most ominous of last words, "Unknown vessel detected". It is clear the Brothers of HR 5473 do not take prisoners. Yet nothing directly points to the attack on Moon Dock. I go to the next phase of our work, surface reconnaissance of the Brothers' settlements - which Morgan has been doing all morning - we will now switch roles and compare notes.
13:50 - Col Muffer A 5
I blast off and set course for my rendezvous with Morgan, at the Blue Pineapple bar, Okorafor Port, Taweret system. I did a recce of the two main settlements in my SRV, scouting the perimeter of their trespass zones. Hillary Installation, which I just visited, was small and I couldn't see anything too obvious there, although they had a nice, juicy data point which I could have feasibly hacked from outside the trespass zone, but doing so would have meant the Brothers knew we were on to them. On the sixth planet is Effinger Vision, a large, high-security installation. I could not get within 2km before I got a trespass warning, and quickly scurried outside. Yet I found a ship stationed there - an Alliance Chieftain. Not one of those that attacked us but it proves they have other facilities for stowing ships. Anyway, time to have a discussion and plan the next step.
14:00 - The Blue Pineapple
"So you couldn't find anything, either, Seth?" asked Morgan as he sipped his rum.
"Only an insight into how ruthless they are. There must be a dozen wreckage sites in that system, and I was interdicted twice, fortunately I was able to evade without any bother." I replied.
"Go around looking at signal sources at any system and you'll find wreckage galore. The galaxy is a dangerous place, remember, and sometimes it isn't necessarily foul play. I too had to evade interdictions - I would have normally throttled down and kill warrant scanned them before getting the bounty, but that would have caused too much of a scene."
"There is something else, Morgan - I only found this out when looking Col Muffer up on Universal Cartographics - but the Brothers are at war with HIP 73321 Purple Electronics Inc at present. I am starting to have doubts about whether the Brothers are the real culprit."
"Piracy and criminality doesn't stop because of war, Seth, in fact it often thrives on it, and if the Brothers can sustain a fleet to fight a war, it will certainly be able to muster the kind of ships that attacked Moon Dock."
"Maybe this was some kind of quid pro quo venture? Attack Moon Dock in return for supporting them in the war effort? Marlon did confirm it was the Brothers' ships that attacked us."
"Quite likely. You may be on to something Seth. Now, we need to look at a faction that is a rival to the Partnership, who has backed the Brothers in the war."
"They may not be providing pilots to fight either - just supplying them with arms and other key material. I am certain none of the factions of '931 have the fleet to provide any significant war assistance."
"True, also both '931 and '938 are extraction economies, so they need to get any weaponry from elsewhere, so we are looking for someone who has animosity with the Partnership, who also has a presence on a station or settlement which exports weaponry."
"Hang on," said Morgan, "didn't you say that the Brothers were at war with HIP 73321 Purple Electronics?"
"Yes," I replied, "but I doubt they'll offer much other than moral support -"
"Purple Electronics have a presence on '931, as most likely do the people who sanctioned the attack on Moon Dock. There might be a deeper connection between their war with the Brothers and whoever is attacking the partnership." said Morgan.
"Okay, but Moon Dock is in '938, not '931, and Purple Electronics do not have a presence there. The main motive for the attack has to be a strike at the Partnership. Now let's think about this, Morgan, and take a look at all the factions on '931." I pulled up a GalNet search. "We have, in order of influence starting with the most powerful: the Partnership, Blue Vision, Purple Electronics, Nari People's Co-operative, the Dukes of '931, and finally the Camorra. Now everyone is rivals with everyone else, but some rivalries are more bitter than others. So, keeping an open mind here, who would have the most reason to sanction such a full on assault on the Partnership?" I said, taking a sip of my own glass.
"Well I still doubt the Camorra would be behind it, even if smuggling is one of their main activities. Criminal factions do not like to see competition muscling on their turf, and the Brothers would be competition. Also thanks to a sustained campaign against them their smuggling network is rather limited. You can rule out the Nari People's Co-operative, they would have no reason to try and violently oust a corporation. Did you say that the Dukes had been treading on someone's toes?" asked Morgan.
"Blue Vision put out a kill order on a few of their ships after they tried to muscle in on one of their refining operations. But if Blue Vision were the intended target then why drag the others into this? Also the Dukes are far too insular, far too locked in their archaic protocols to do this even if they had motive." I explained.
"So we are running out of leads, Seth. The only viable hypothesis left is that the Brothers acted independently of any faction in the sector. But why Moon Dock, and why the Partnership?"
"There is one possible motive, Morgan - a reprisal against those that support Purple Electronics in the war. Criminal and pirate factions can unite whole systems against them, and Purple Electronics would readily call in any allies against the Brothers, in fact everyone in '931 and beyond would happily rally to that call since the Brothers have proven to be a menace throughout the whole sector. Indeed, even the Camorra would happily call a truce in order to stop competition from edging in, had they not been scapegoated for every misfortune to befall a miner in the system."
"You seem to have a soft spot for the Camorra, Seth, and I strongly advise against such sentimentality. They would be just as great a threat as the Brothers if given the opportunity."
"I don't have to trust or feel sorry for the Camorra in order to not overestimate them, Morgan. But you must admit that people in Partnership space in positions great and small have blamed the Camorra from everything from the Thargoid incursion to Hector Martin's socks going missing. In fact, I suspect there is a lot of black propaganda going on in order to distract from the real enemy." I said ominously.
"So we are, yet again, back to some unknown enemy who wants to undermine the Partnership. But who and why?" asked Morgan, looking more perplexed.
"Whilst we have been going round in circles, scrutinising all the different factions, there is one faction we have not paid much attention to at all - the Partnership itself. Now, let's think about what happened, from the beginning." I said.
"Moon Dock was attacked, as part of a well organised assault, which quickly dispatched the System Defence Force Vipers stationed there. Communications were disrupted, no one knew what was happening. I met you in the Diamond Moon, we talked about the situation, and then Marlon called us because Tarquin Yates had lost his mind, supposedly, and was torturing a Camorra soldier who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and would have most likely had killed him have we not stepped in." stated Morgan. "Meanwhile Hector Martin, our not so illustrious base manager, is summoned to '931 to answer for his ineptitude. Later, Marlon asks us to go intel gathering in Col Muffer, which subsequently proves to be of little avail. So, Seth, if you suspect someone in the Partnership, who, and why?"
"Whoever that stood to gain from this situation - someone within the Partnership hierarchy who would benefit from their superiors' fall from grace. We know of two people who had their positions gravely undermined by this incident - Hector Martin and Tarquin Yates, and also know of one person who has gained - Marlon Briggs, who has sent us on this mission that is starting to look more and more like a fool's errand." I said, not liking the way this investigation was heading.
"No, Seth, not Marlon, I've known him for years, he is a man of honour, and what's more, he has been the most critical of the kneejerk accusations against the Camorra. Yates, on the other hand, was a key actor in pressing for more and more action against the Camorra, calling for wings of crack pilots to flush them out - and usually the only results of such actions were the demise of a handful of Mostly Harmless to Novice Pilots in Eagles and Asps, and another million odd credits gone from the Partnership coffers. Also Marlon would had to know for certain that Yates would lose it. That he is now the acting head of security on Moon Dock is coincidental."
"Fair enough, but that doesn't mean that Marlon isn't being manipulated, as was Yates, who's paranoia and zealous hatred of the Camorra would make him a useful idiot. But Yates is far too unstable to be the mastermind." I said, somewhat relieved at Morgan's vouch for Marlon Briggs - although my instinct now was still to trust no one.
"So that leaves us with those underneath Martin. Ambitious deputy managers, disgruntled understudies. People who's megalomania doesn't translate into emotional instability like with Yates, and are therefore much more dangerous for it. Hell, with such criteria three quarters of Partnership management could be considered suspects. Whoever it is, though, has ambitions far beyond taking control of Moon Camp, and he or she will not be acting alone." said Morgan.
"Morgan," I proposed, "I think it would be a wise precaution if we kept our distance from '938 and '931, till we have a greater idea of who we can trust and who to avoid. Also I suggest that Marlon is updated of our findings on a strictly need to know basis, for our safety, and his. Meanwhile, I feel our next port of call should be HIP 73321, where we can start asking a few questions among people at Purple Electronics..."