Investigation Day One
24 Aug 2020LilliSWE
"News had reached my desk about a Beluga cruise liner that had been abducted by Thargoids in the Pleiades. I was, of course concerned, but they had their own authorities down there. It wasn't until I was approached by Imperial High Command as well as Fleet Admiral Patreus' personal assistant. They asked me to conduct an investigation on behalf of the Empire and Nova Imperium, respectively. The missing liner wasn't just any missing ship, it was an Imperial-ran liner to which a high ranking officer was aboard. I made it my personal mission to see this investigation through."As I walk through the hallways of the derelict Beluga, I take notice of the visible blast marks on the interior hull. Very faint to the untrained eye. These marks seem to originate from one particular cabin, a luxury class cabin. I skim the manifest for REDACTED and I see that this is indeed their cabin. This was an assassination attempt. There are no caustic blast points which rules out Thargoid assassins. This was done by man-made weapons. No bodies nor surveillance makes my day longer. The ship is littered with luggage, papers, garbage and a little child's stuffed Coriolis toy. It's hard to not tear up in this situation, but I must remain strong.
I examine the outer hull of the ship, just for documentation purposes. I need to report that I visually saw every Thargoid breach. Corporal, "Where is this tube's escape pod? She replies, "Sir, that is the pod that was recovered by the hunters." False. That tube is located on the port side. This tube has no pod. All the other tubes, aside from the recovered one, have been targeted and destroyed by the Thargoids. "I'm sorry, sir. Let me touch base with Cooper Research to see if any of their crews touched it." I want that information ASAP. She's a good kid. A little clumsy, but she's got a good head on her shoulders.
As I await the response from CR crews, I review the black box entries again to see if maybe I may have missed something. Yet again...all pods except for the one rescued pod have been destroyed. This can't be accurate. Anything that happens on these ships is recorded on those boxes. Could this box have been altered? Impossible, that too would have been recorded as well as noticed by my tech teams. I've got the best nerds in the Core Systems. "Sir, Cooper Research reaffirms us that none of their crew interfered with the ship once it was brought to dock." What about prior to docking? "The chief confirms that no one entered, tampered with, nor interfered with the vessel. He brought the ship into the docks, himself." Thank you, Corporal. Wait! I need you to do something for me. "Anything sir." I need you to head to Paresa, Dyson City in particular, and check the dock security recordings for the the entire length of the ships presence there. I want you to put a name on every single frackin face that interacted with this ship. I want a list of all dock workers and security personnel who were on duty the duration of the ship's time there. You are acting on the words of the Fleet Admiral Denton Patreus and Hadrian Augustus Duval. "Sir yes sir!" Dismissed!
I have another theory about this, but I'm going to need some serious nerd power on this one. Time to call in the expert.
(To be continued....)