A mystery for us to solve..... continued
27 Nov 2020Sheronimo
I arrive at the bridge, the Captain sees me enter from the main door, and walks over to greet me. "How's it going' she says. "I hear you brought back some curiosities from the ring." I nod, she then adds, "Seems to be a day for mysteries." She points at the main navigation map on one of the monitors on the wall. It shows 3 ships in a loose formation, hovering a few 1000 meters off our bow, just sitting there. I glance at one of the officers near me, "Can I get a visual?" The officer nods, and hits a few buttons on his pad, a large screen comes to life, and we can see an Imperial Clipper, and 2 Asps, sitting side by side in the distance. Suddenly, as if on cue, the Clipper raises hardpoints, and attacks one of the Asps. It lasts about 5 seconds, and explodes. The other Asp, turns and runs, the Clipper pursues it. About 10 seconds later, a second explosion in the distance. The Clipper comes about, lowers hardpoints, and approaches the carrier again, but this time, requests permission to land. The Captain looks at me, "Well, they didn't shoot at us, I guess it's alright if they land, however, XO, send a security detail down there and hold them until we arrive." The XO nods, and talks into his headset. I think to myself, this is getting interesting.......The Captain and I don't even make it to the door, and an officer calls out that there is a disturbance in the cargo bay. I tell the Captain, "I'll go to the cargo bay, you can deal with the Clipper." She smiles and says, "Good luck." As I am walking to the cargo bay, my head is racing, aliens, bugs, riches, disease, Lavian Brandy, what could possibly be in those containers. Well, wasn't but another minute, and I started to find out.
I enter the deck where the main cargo bay door is and I can hear what they called a "disturbance." Metal on metal banging, yelling, and sounds of, wait, did I just hear a dog bark? I come around a corner to see the containment area lit up, with a shield around the center. Inside the shielded area is 2 crew members, trying to get a boy, and a dog under control. The boy is beating on them at every turn with some kind of metal rod, and the crew members look angry and in pain. Every time they turn their back on the boy, the dog bites their ankles and hands. I watch this amusing, though confusing scene for a minute or so, until I see one of the crew members really get angry with the boy and grab the rod in his hand. At that point I yell, "ENOUGH!" The crew members, apparently unaware of my presence, stop dead in their tracks and look at me. "Stand down, everyone!" I walk over to the control panel in front on me and disable the containment field. The crew members walk over, and explain that they heard noise, came into the bay to find the 2 pods open, and the boy and dog in the field, screaming. I call the ships doctor and walk towards the boy. The dog immediately reacts with fear, and steps in front of the boy, growling. I kneel down, and stretch out my hand to the dog. It sniffs my fingers, looks at the boy, then calms down, as if it can sense I mean no harm. The boy collapses, and starts to sob. I hear the Doctor enter the bay. "Doctor, please see to it this child, and his brave dog are checked over, and given anything they need or want." "I will check in with you after we know everything is ok, and, these 2 crew might need some attention as well, thanks to that little dog." The Doctor smiles and says, "Of course sir."
As the Doctor and the rest of them head out another door towards the Sick Bay, I head back towards the bridge, and I am met at the Cargo Bay door by the Captain, and another stranger with her. It's an Imperial Soldier of some sort, dressed in full Imperial garb. He salutes and stretches out his hand to me. I shake it and the Captain introduces him as Duke Morgan, a Commander in the Imperial Navy. When she offers my name to the Duke, he responds by dropping to one knee. "Your Majesty, I am honored by your presence." I reply, "Stand up sir, I may hold the rank of King, but, I do not practice the ways of the Empire. Your respect is acknowledged and appreciated." The Captain looks at my with a smirk, "King eh?" The Duke replies with an almost sarcastic tone, "Yes, King. I wanted to attack the carrier, and take whatever you removed from that Cutter, but, when I ran your registration, it told me who you were. I would be dishonoring myself if I didn't at least allow someone of high rank a chance to explain why they have royal belongings on board this ship." Royal belongings? I assume he is referring to the pods we brought on board, this is getting really interesting. "Ok, It has been a long day. Let us rest an hour or so, and we will sit down and talk over a meal." The Captain gives me a agreeable nod, and with a hand on his shoulder, she escorts the Duke down the corridor.
I can't help but think, why were a boy and his dog placed awake, in 2 modified escape pods, in a Royal Cutter, and then have someone dressed up as a Royal soldier, hunting them, and destroying ships that apparently came with him. Were the pilots of the wrecked ship criminals, did they steal the child, or, were they protecting it? With such a big Galaxy, and so many people in it, you always assume the easy explanation. A family, working together, mining a planets metal rings, meets an angry alien, and they are forever, forgotten to the dust. Makes sense most of the time, but this? Perhaps I will send a pilot over to the wreckage, see if there is anything there that could help explain all this. No, I will go myself. No need to put anyone else in danger until we know more. Time to clean up for dinner.......