A Dangerous Direction
22 Dec 2020Sheronimo
Before Jeff leaves to find more information, I assign him 2 hired pilots to act as his bodyguards, giving them each a Cobra from our shipyard. They head out with a plan involving 3 ships, 2 stations, and some of Jeff's friends to try to hide the information request, and to avoid being tracked. What we did not know was that our previous actions had brought some attention to us, and we were not alone. As I am headed back to Tau Ceti from a moderately successful mining run, I get a message that Jeff has returned to the carrier, ship heavily damaged, and he is in Sick Bay. As I approach the ship, I see debris floating all around the landing pads, and, Jeff's Clipper sitting on Pad 11, heavily damaged. As I leave my Python, I am approached by several crew members who take me to a console and show me the security recordings. As Jeff approached the carrier, the 2 Cobra's I sent with him are attacking him as he lowers his gear, and attempts to land. The carrier's defenses destroy both Cobra's, but, not before the damage to the Clipper becomes severe. I hurry down to Sick Bay to find out what is going on, but, I am too late. Jeff has perished from his injuries. The Doctor looks at me, shakes his head, and picks up a pad, and hands it to me. On it is a message from Jeff, one he apparently tapped out before he passed. It reads, "Tried to get info, first attempt caused response...., bandits from everywhere, tried to run, pilots switched sides and attacked me, info still on board, read some..., danger, do not....." DO NOT WHAT? Oh boy, this is bad. Do not go, do not continue, do not..... what? He seemed to work hard to come back here, like, he really needed us to see this information. Ok, I need to know. I head to the Clipper to download the computer. Maybe he meant, do not download, huh, perhaps, so, just in case, I have some techs do some repairs on the Clipper so the computer is operational, and I sit in the cockpit. No doubt there is a bounty, so, I make sure the Clipper is not tethered to the on-board systems, and begin searching through his database. The computer is struggling, like it has a virus, or failed components. There is a blast of sparks from the adjacent console, scaring me half to death, followed by a warning light on my console. The computer just tried to blow up the ship by overloading the core, but, the circuitry is damaged. WHAT THE HELL! Now they are REMOTELY trying to kill us? I call the Maintenance Department and ask for 2 techs to come down here, tear this computer apart and extract all data from it. The danger involved here is reaching a new level, we must be getting close.Four hours later, I am sitting in my office, talking to John, explaining to him what has happened. He silently listens to my voice, almost as if his mind is wandering off, scared, and sad. He seemed to like Jeff, but, he probably didn't know him any better than I did. The two techs I gave the computer job to come walking in, carrying a piece of the on-board computer, and a portable power supply. They use it, with a portable monitor, to show me what they have found. Records going back 50 years, accounts of orphanages, prisons, far out outposts, ships, all attacked, and the children taken, among everything else they could carry off. Captains logs of rumors, reports of where the children are coming from. One ship, a Beluga, was reported attacked in the Tau Ceti system, owned by a Toredo family. The entire crew was taken, and the ship was abandoned, found 2 days later by security patrols. The ship had a bounty, but, here is the interesting part, the bounty was posted by someone in the Harma area. An assumed pirate, posting a bounty, for a family in the heart of the Federation. Suspicious, at best. Then, they smile, and begin showing me the rest of the problem. The info, when extracted, causes an immediate response by the device it is stored in. A virus, attached to the family info, causes massive failures of any device it is inside, and, learns, as it tried to kill me. As they explain this, it actually shorts out and a puff of smoke comes out of the computer. "Well done," I tell them. "Save everything you can safely on a data key, and then destroy it before it learns to send a message or kill someone." The techs smile, nod, and exit the room. John looks at me, I can sense his disbelief, his surprise, confusion. He is hearing his own story as we learn it, and it is almost unbelievable. "So, I was abducted, conditioned, and made to be a slave, by these people in Harma." I nod, he then says, "Sir, I don't understand, why do they do this stuff." "MONEY, always money" I add. "You are a lucky young man. Yes, your parents, both blood, and owners, are dead, but, you were with a caring family who was trying to help you, but, they just didn't have the resources to complete the journey." He nods, fakes a smile, and looks down at the floor. "I am scared, Sher, I am scared they will come for me, and everyone around me." And, he is probably correct. There are literally thousands of bandits out there, looking for their next bounty. No cares, no consequences, just money, money, money. I don't know what to say to him. As we sit in silence, reflecting on the events of the last few weeks, I feel his loss, his sense of abandonment, the sadness nearly chokes me up, and then, I say, "John, we need to make a choice. Meet me and my command crew in the conference room in one hour."