LOG #090 - Commander A. Adair - TITAN Contractors
16 Dec 2021Aurora Adair (Radiumio)
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Initiating voice-recording...
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LOG: #090
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: Templar (Krait Phantom, TR-03X)
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Heya. So... wow... Things have been certainly been a rollercoaster ride around here, though I'm starting to feel a bit better about everything, which is nice.
So I suppose I should start off by talking about that mysterious sender I mentioned last time... someone who wanted to meet me in relative secrecy. Even talking about it now is... hard... hard to understand and... wrap my head around it, I guess. So... on the 14th, I decided to go ahead and meet him, after spending like... two days on the ammonia world I settled on. Just didn't know what to decide... but eventually I worked up the enthusiasm, despite everything, to go see what it was all about.
Honestly... I doubt anyone could've predicted what happened next. We arranged a meeting in LHS 2094, aboard the Patterson Vision starport, and it's an industrial starport, so I tried to pick a... uh... slightly shabby hangar. Apparently, starport maintenance doesn't like it when you make explicit demands to have a certain pad, but eventually they gave up and let me move my ship. Thought that the maintenance they were doing, and my request, would mean that the hangar would remain relatively unmonitored... and it was. No guards, no workers. Guess they either just didn't care or wanted to see what would happen... besides, they screened my ship anyway.
So... I wait there in the hangar for a while, waiting for this 'contact', trying to keep my cool. I said I'd be careful, so... concealed my Tormentor and covered it with my jacket. That detail's a little important because... when this contact walked in eventually, and we met, they were acting all strange. Black outfit, visor covering their face, and some kind of modulator installed on it, so I couldn't hear his voice. Hell, he even had the cheek to say I looked 'stunning', even though we'd only met once, and I had no idea who he was... or so I thought.
But, things changed very quickly when I started to get impatient that he wasn't revealing his identity, despite my questions... and eventually he agreed to remove the helmet he had on. He got a little desperate, warning that he wanted to 'ease into it', so I thought I had the upper hand but... then he removed the visor, and... revealed his face. It was... well... literally... Quinton Marshall... he was just... alive. Standing right in front of me.
So that whole thing about me thinking I had the upper hand... fell apart very quickly. Couldn't believe it, honestly... He was supposed to be dead. Killed in a terrorist attack aboard the Solaris... his Krait Phantom's bridge was destroyed by an explosive they planted. The same Phantom I fly now, just... mine is... kind of brand new. Refitted and all that. But, anyway... here he was, alive and in front of me.
First, I... I dunno. I kind of felt really overwhelmed. So many thoughts... and... then he said... that if I 'believed his death was real, then it worked'... and that it was necessary. I understand why he wanted to ease into it, because next I just felt... anger. Maybe even hatred, honestly. Started to think that him making me SC - everything that had happened - was all just a lie. Something to cover for his death. He started to say he wanted to talk about my father... why he died for the information that datapad... but I just...
... I was seething, honestly. I... we... almost lost so much in the war against Paladin, against the Venators. And to find out it was all for this, for him... yeah. That messed with me a little... and I drew my Tormentor. I honestly don't know what I was prepared to do but... I've never... felt so angry in my life. Drake comes close... but this...? This was something else entirely. I... I do regret what I did... but thankfully he didn't get hurt, I guess. He was trying to talk me down, to get me to put my sidearm away, but then he... said the wrong thing, told me to 'be reasonable', and... after everything, to be told that, I just... snapped.
The round missed him, thankfully... and he... managed to step in and disarm me, pushed me back against the crate - hard. My back can still feel it, for sure, but... him doing that brought me back into reality, I guess... and it's a good thing the pistol was suppressed too. After he disarmed me, back came all the overwhelming thoughts and... the fact that I had almost killed him... was just too much to handle, honestly. And you know how I am... maybe just a little bit too sensitive, so...
Part of me kind of gave up there, didn't know what to do. Couldn't hold back my emotions, as [#$@!]ing usual... But that gave him an opportunity to start talking to me... to explain himself. How he was still alive, how he knew about my father and the information on that datapad. Why he made me Squadron Commander. After his whole conversation, things... finally made sense. For once.
Felt like a relief, I guess. To get some closure for my father's death... how it happened... that the information wasn't what I thought it was. So, it turns out that Quinton's father... Adrien, used to be a Federal Navy soldier. Got dishonourably discharged, and shortly after worked as an automated mining extractor specialist in Holo... until he was killed in a 'pirate raid' when Quinton was 19. When he mentioned it... I could just... see the pain in his eyes. Something I can still... really sympathise with... I really miss my dad already...
... [#$@!], uhm... sorry. Anyway... he... uh... then mentioned that after his father died, it became hard to get by, and he tried to apply to the Pilots Federation so he could pay for his mother's medication - since she had a terminal disease. But she didn't make it either... she passed a year before Quinton got his Commander license... and that kind of set him off on a path of revenge against the same pirates who killed his father.
So... that explains how TITAN started... I knew this backstory, but with the additional info he provided further into our discussion... things started to make sense. Not long after Quinton started the squadron, my father contacted him... apparently my dad knew Quinton's father, Adrien, and wanted his help with some odd jobs. So, Quinton obliged... and eventually, my dad approached him one day with a much bigger request.
Turns out Quinton's father got dishonourably discharged because of a laundering scheme within the Federation... yeah. He knew about it, and wanted to expose it, but those behind it picked up on it very quickly and basically had him exiled. No-one believed the story. And my father knew about this too. That what Quinton's father claimed before he was discharged was true, and my dad wanted Adrien's help with exposing it, but he ended up being killed by in a 'pirate raid' shortly after he was discharged. Quinton implied that he thinks they weren't pirates but... couldn't really prove it.
So Isaiah... my father... continued to try collect information on the scheme... trying to collect what he could so he could eventually expose it. I guess to avoid blowing his cover, he needed help, which is why he ended up approaching Quinton eventually... but the very fact that he shared the information tipped off whoever was behind the corruption. They didn't know my dad was behind it at the time, but they knew the information had been shared to someone close to it - Quinton.
And that's... why he faked his death. That's how Hivemind attacks started. They were supposedly being secretly supplied by an unknown Federal-based supplier, who was giving them orders and equipment, with the ultimate goal of taking out Quinton. So, Quinton faked his death... the day they were supposed to bomb his Krait Phantom, and everything had been set up, they detonated the explosive, assuming he was onboard. We thought he was too... and... yeah...
But he used that as an opportunity to fall into the shadows, and continue to help my father to expose the corruption... which meant I just became their contingency plan. Things seemed to fall in place perfectly. By luck or... some manipulation, I was hired as a CSF soldier for TITAN, at the time, and supposedly... my father believed I would be the perfect person for the job of Squadron Commander. So, Quinton made the choice to make me the contingency plan, to hand everything over to me... Literally everything, as the will dictated. The squadron, his assets... so the squadron could hopefully continue to thrive without him.
I... I guess... it worked? Part of me is... scared to wonder what might've happened if it didn't. If I wasn't successful... I'm just glad I only found this out now... I don't know if I would've been able to do it back then, if I knew what I did now. According to Quinton... my father knew everything, really. After Quinton faked his death, they followed my progress... everything that happened, my father knew. That he was... proud.
And Quinton was too... He... uh... he said that... I did more than he could've ever imagined. That I 'pieced the squadron back together, again and again, even if I couldn't do it for myself'... that I'm really... really the leader of the squadron. That 'I'm the only one he would trust for the position'...
It seems so... surreal... I guess. Hard to believe. But things... finally made sense, I guess. Why my father died... for... for that datapad... why I became SC... and how Quinton was still alive - though, I... y'know... almost shot him...
Then he continued to... explain why he left behind the datapad, how it had the information on it. Basically... they took what my father knew already, encrypted it heavily and hid it on the same datapad that had the will... so that I would unknowingly... hopefully... keep it safe. That's going so great so far, clearly... but anyway... After he faked his death, that's when he started to work with my father to obtain... 'new information', I guess. Up until the corrupt agents realized that the information was stored on this datapad... somehow... and they stole it.
... then they decrypted it. That's how they killed my father... the data pointed towards him as the whistleblower. With... w-... [#$@!]. Sorry. With my... uhm... dad... gone... Quinton didn't really have any more leads to follow... which is why he revealed himself now... that he needs my help to find the datapad again. Not necessarily... my help, but the squadron's...
... So yeah... it's... I kind of understand why the Crimson Venators stole the datapad now, though it seems... kind of ironic. It sounds like Paladin Interstellar, Hivemind, the Crimson Venators - all of those groups were being supplied orders and equipment by rogue Federal and Imperial suppliers... and they might not even realize that the former is the very people behind the corruption. So... the information they now have could be... even more dangerous. Either it backfires heavily for them, and they get taken out by their benefactors... or... they gain even more power and leverage.
... I dunno. I hope this made sense... I'm just really tired. I went back to the Solaris after meeting Quinton, had some rest before telling the squadron about it the next day, but I'm still sooo exhausted... I honestly thought revealing that he was alive would... maybe remove me from Squadron Commander... but after a lot of back and forth... apparently the will still remains legitimate, and Quinton just truly doesn't want to take back his position. Hell... he's even giving up his Pilots' Federation license... So I guess this really is a permanent thing.
I feel relieved but just... so... drained, I guess... On top of worrying if I'll be able to continue leading the squadron, I can't stop thinking about my father's death. Constantly thinking that maybe I could've done something to prevent it but... that just makes me upset and... yeah. And I know I've... sometimes run off and... done stupid stuff, or made it seem like I'm not committed to the squadron... but... I really, really am. Things... just... Ah... nevermind. You probably get it. I'll change the topic.
So, since I kind of cut myself off for several days, I've been trying to catch up on stuff happening... and since the squadron is still busy with the investigation and there's not much to talk about, I kind of paid more attention to some... 'worrying' stuff, I guess. The Thargoids... and this 'Salvation' figure.
I don't talk about stuff like this much because... honestly? I really could care less... right about now... I got my own stuff to deal with. But, the recent deployment of this... superweapon of his... Just like the one in Cornsar. I... I had to check it out again, okay? Besides, the Solaris was jumping down there anyway for a little bit... for 'anti-xeno combat support'... some team needed urgent supplies or whatever.
And... no, I swear it wasn't an excuse to take one of CSF's new Scorpion vehicles for a spin. Apparently... when Vodel announced a new line of combat SRV, the squadron immediately snatched up a whole bunch for CSF use. I wasn't consulted but... who cares... these vehicles are really cool. Much heavier, controllable, and... they certainly have some power behind them. I... uhh... may or may not have asked for them to install some on my ships...
Anyway... I'm no xeno specialist, so I didn't want to try my luck with the wrecks too much. I know the stuff's corrosive, and... I've been around Thargoid tech before... but I've never actually seen a proper, alive Interceptor, I guess. Maybe some day... though the stories don't exactly instill me with confidence. Didn't get hyperdicted on my way to the Pleiades to check this out, though... not that I want to be, anyway.
Was a cool view, though. If it wasn't filled with literal aliens... the Pleiades Nebula would be a nice vacation spot. Anyway, sounds like I'm rambling again, so... I should get some rest. I still need to... well... talk to Alexis. About kicking her out of my quarters... I shouldn't have done that. But hey... maybe her having her own space would be nice for her too. I dunno.
I'll think about it later... for now, I should stop staying up late and just get to bed... though I wanted to share this first. So, thanks. I hope it made sense... I guess. It's just bizarre to think about, but... oh well. I'll go to sleep now... could use it...
Thanks... see ya around.
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Credit:
This story is only possible thanks to our squadron and community. Join TITAN Contractors, a diverse and talented squadron, and experience our custom lore and events. This logbook as well as associated images and story is property of TITAN Contractors, CMDR Radiumio. A special thank you to CMDRs Alexis Bright and Isabella Levine for allowing me to use their characters in the story!
INARA page here.