Signal
06 Aug 2021Prochaska
Zoe spent a few days in Delphi and destroyed several Thargoid interceptors during that time. It became apparent that the conflict here would drag on for some time, as the Thargoid presence did not diminish despite the best efforts of the pilots involved in defending the system. Zoe had docked the Sekhmet in The Oracle. The mission was exhausting; she lacked routine in fighting the Thargoids. The Sekhmet regularly sustained heavy damage in combat. This time was no exception. She had left the ship and was inspecting the completed repairs from the outside. "Your ship is ready." One of the mechanic crew had stepped beside her and held out the repair report. Then he eyed her body intrusively from top to bottom, grinned broadly at her and added: "Is there anything else I can fix for you?". She fixed him for a moment and returned annoyed: "Don't give me that shit, I'm not paying you for that." Then she grabbed the report, turned on her heel and went back into the ship. Zoe walked into the cockpit and put her legs up on the dashboard. She propped her head on one arm and exhaled heavily. The cost of repairs was giving her a headache. That's when the radio system came to life. The incoming radio message was heavily distorted, and before she could respond, it suddenly cut off. All that was clear was that it had been Julie's voice on the other end. Zoe cursed, flinging the report in her hand across the cockpit. She had known from the beginning that Julie would put herself in danger. She absolutely had to find out where the spell had come from. On Shen Terminal, the OSA had the appropriate facilities; she just had to somehow get Osbourne to give her permission to use the facilities for her purposes. She hadn't the faintest idea how to do that when she had already connected with Flight Control and requested clearance for takeoff. While waiting for clearance, she set a course for Guuguyni. Others had to take care of the Thargoids now.Throughout the flight back to Shen, Zoe's thoughts circled feverishly, searching for a story she could pitch to Osbourne to trace the origin of Julie's message. If she told him the truth, he would never allow her to use the resources of radio surveillance for her own purposes. The flight back had first seemed far too long to her after leaving Delphi, because she was losing so much time in which something could happen to Julie that she could never undo. Now it felt too short because Shen Terminal was already ahead of her, and she still had no idea. On final approach, she was distracted and impatient, the landing was rough. She jumped out of the seat and ran through the corridors of the station. The UC premises were already coming into view, when an idea finally occurred to her. It had been a distress call. She could make a case that the distress call would probably have to do with a Thargoid attack. OSA had access to ISS radio intelligence resources; there was a small office in the quarters on Shen with direct access to the allied intelligence database.
Arriving at UC, she entered Osbourne's office. He seemed to be in a great spirits, which was good. He welcomed her into his office, even smiling slightly. She regaled him with the story of the torn-off radio call, probably a call for help she had picked up. He was interested, let her give him the metadata of the call. Afterwards, they went together to the office of the radio reconnaissance; Connor was on duty here today, a young employee with whom Zoe had hardly had anything to do so far. Connor took the data and started the database query. Zoe could see that the computer was spitting out a result.
Then came the inevitable. "From where, please? HIP 22295?" asked Osbourne suspiciously, facing Zoe. His relaxation had drained from his face, and he looked extremely tense. Then he turned back to Connor. "Why don't you request the contents of the radio message," he instructed him, then turned back to Zoe. "This is a far cry from any recent Thargoid attacks. What does that mean?". Zoe realized that there was no point in keeping up the facade any longer. On the other hand, the name of the system wasn't enough for her either, she needed more information. She felt battered and exhausted, but she realized that she would not get out of the situation without a confrontation. She took a breath, looked steadily at Osbourne, and said, "The radio message came from my co-pilot. She has a young son who was kidnapped by criminals several years ago and sold into slavery. She had resigned from my service when she found a trace of her son, and is now apparently in trouble." A brief pause ensued. Zoe could watch as the expression on Osbourne's face growing more and more aghast. "You seem to have forgotten that you are in the Empire, slavery is legal here" he finally returned. Zoe was getting angry. "Slavery maybe, but human trafficking and kidnapping is not" she hissed back. Osbourne also lost patience, "Damn it, the OSA is not your personal toy for finding lost souls! This kind of thing is the responsibility of the IISS," he said. Zoe was completely slipping the situation. She felt defeated, her hope had drained away. "I don't believe the IISS will get them out alive," she said. A brief pause ensued. Osbourne looked at Zoe sharply. Zoe struggled with her self-control, despair creeping up inside her. Then Connor suddenly interjected, "Sir, isn't this the sector where the IISS has had an operation going against a human trafficking ring for years and hasn't made any headway?" Osbourne looked over at Connor in surprise and seemed to be thinking feverishly. Zoe had some hope again, biting her lip and hardly daring to breathe for sudden fear of drawing Osbourne's attention back to herself. Finally, Osbourne spoke, still facing Connor, "Ms. Prochaska was not here today. Enter as purpose of database query: routine check of database for functionality, radio message randomly selected according to check protocol. All query data properly deleted after check." He then turned and left the room. Connor grinned at Zoe and showed her the data set on his screen. Zoe almost had to laugh out loud as the tension fell away from her. She thanked him with a smile and left the room as well.
As Zoe entered the hallway, she saw that Osbourne was still standing there outside his office, looking over at her seriously. "Take care of yourself," he finally said. Zoe gave him a curt nod, then walked toward the exit.