LOG #059 - Commander A. Adair - TITAN Contractors
20 Sep 2021Aurora Adair (Radiumio)
INITIATING ENCRYPTED CONNECTION. . .LOGIN USER: tconscmdr3283aa3307top
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W e l c o m e U s er
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Initiating voice-recording...
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LOG: #059
RECORDING TYPE: Personal Log LOG PUBLICISED
What does Log Publicised mean?
In our squadron lore, these logbooks are not supposed to be publicly viewable by Commanders. However, in some circumstances, a log may be compromised OR publicised, allowing it to be considered publicly viewable - in this case, the information within can be used for story or discussion purposes in-character. Compromised implies the logbook has been leaked, whereas publicised means the logbook has been willingly released for story purposes.
In our squadron lore, these logbooks are not supposed to be publicly viewable by Commanders. However, in some circumstances, a log may be compromised OR publicised, allowing it to be considered publicly viewable - in this case, the information within can be used for story or discussion purposes in-character. Compromised implies the logbook has been leaked, whereas publicised means the logbook has been willingly released for story purposes.
RECORDING LOCATION: Paladin (Krait Phantom, PN-03X)
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Heyo.
So uhm... Yesterday was a bit of a mess, to be honest. In the operations briefing, I kind of declared that I'd be going out, back to the bubble, no matter what the operations crew thought... Which was obviously not the meaning I really intended to convey. And then the argument started... and for the next ten or so minutes the briefing room slowly devolved into a shouting match while I stood there contemplating what I'd done. At one point, Benjamin, CSF's joint operations commander, just kind of blurted out... "Why do we care what Aurora's doing?", and that they had other matters to focus on right now.
Let's just say that wasn't taken very well by our chief of operations, Avery, and she... yeah, she kind of lost it. I wonder if she has a family. I could really see that... 'maternal protection instinct' coming out. I can't really remember what she said to him, but the briefing room was dead silent after she finished... And I stood there. I didn't know what to say but... I couldn't hold back this laugh for some reason. I don't know why I found it funny... it was like a... kind of like a nervous laugh. At first, I thought Avery was going to chew my head off but... then Jaiden, our security officer, also laughed, and kind of shrugged, saying that it was my choice in the end. I've always liked Jaiden... He's a... Yeah. He's a nice guy. Really formal... diplomatic... smart... I'm glad he's on our side.
Anyway... uh... What he said seemed to ease the room a little. After Avery agreed and apologized, we continued our briefing for the day... and I already knew what I was going to do now that they'd effectively allowed me to get out there again. I went... well... Before you call me an idiot, hear me out, alright? I went back to Newton's Prospect in Gliese 113.1. I know... silly idea, but I needed to just... check something. I needed to see the settlement again. I don't know why... maybe I thought I'd find something or... get closure, I guess? I didn't really find anything... but it was... strange. The settlement was offline, but completely unscathed, essentially. And I'm talking like, maintenance panels welded back on, door ports repaired, electronic breaches on some of the consoles removed. Everything back to an untouched state.
It's weird... Does that confirm my arena theory? That they're using this settlement to mess with people, just like they did with me? Then kill them? It's weird. I visited the spot where I uh... almost... almost died... lost consciousness, rather, and there was no blood either... Cleaned up. The medkit rack was refilled as well with new medical kits. I stood there a little... and I can just remember barely being able to make out the medkits before my body gave out. Really messed up... That might've been the scariest thing that happened to me recently. Just... laying in my own blood, barely able to breathe... crying out for help and nobody coming... Ugh. Let's uh... change the topic.
So... I broke in, and used a spare regulator of mine to boot up the settlement. I uh... may... know a thing or two about jailbreaking consoles... Don't ask how, okay? When I got into the command building, where I woke up, even the cell and the security rooms were cleaned up. The more I think about it, the more I kind of feel like I'm right - that this was an arena. There's materials and gear left around, almost the same stuff I used to try make that improvised comms suite. So, what? They bring someone here... make them feel hopeless... Give them a little hope, and then tear it away and kill them.
It's disturbing. The auth scans in the security room were disabled last time as well, but nope, not this time. Oh, and I made sure to breach the settlement alarms console, so when I shut down the reactor, I wouldn't send out a big 'here-I-am' signal. After that... then yeah... I explored the settlement. Couldn't find anything, sadly. But I don't know what I expected to find anyway. Maybe something that would help me find Tori... lead us to Hivemind or whoever is orchestrating this.
So, I don't know. So much time has passed since Tori went missing... and I really don't want to assume the worst but... What do I do? This 'AC' figure, the guy who claims to represent Hivemind, is just playing sick games with us... Late yesterday, he sent a transmission, and demanded that only Commanders work to decrypt it... So, our own security teams or divisions who are designed for this kind of thing can't even get involved... or there'll be 'consequences'. Damn... What is his deal? It is a game, isn't it? Or is there an ultimate goal he's trying to achieve by only allowing Commanders to decrypt the transmission? I dunno... but I hope they manage. I have faith in them that they'll make the right decisions. So... if you're listening to this, and happen to be helping us out with this, thanks. Maybe... when this is all over, we could have a party of sorts, and I'll buy you all a drink? It's just an idea, though.
For now, I'm going to hang out in the bubble... and I'll stay safe, don't worry. I run diagnostics checks on the ship before I even start up the engine now, so I'll be fine. I just want to stick around, see if I can find any leads... so fingers crossed, and good luck!
We'll need it for sure.
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Credit:
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