Alicia Log One
29 Jun 2021Rsimpson500
This is Alicia. I'm writing this log now, since Rufus.... since he isn't able to at the moment... So much has happened in the past few weeks, I don't know where to start....Well, let's see. the last time Rufus left a log was as we approached Colonia. I was injured and needed treatment. We arrived there, headed for the Canonn faction but they refused to help - said they were a different faction and his standing with Canonn in the Bubble was no good there. He almost despaired, but in the end decided to trust in Jacques - he had good relations with them going back years. Jacques delivered for us, getting me specialist treatment whilst Rufus ran cargo and combat missions to help pay for it. After that we headed back to the Bubble together, stopping in Gandharvi. Whilst there we got nervous about some ships that we kept seeing, so bought and outfitted a Vulture. Turned out we were right- they attacked but we managed to destroy them. After that we headed out quickly and didn't stop until Rohini.
Did some more combat training there - turns out he was a pretty good combat pilot, so we swapped tips and helped train each other.
We arrived back in the Bubble a few weeks ago. We'd got very close on our trip together, felt like we were almost a couple, but neither of us had said anything. I decided to take him to see my aunt. He got more and more anxious as we got closer to meeting her. I'd told him she was powerful, but couldn't quite bring myself to reveal the full truth in case he started thinking about me differently.
As we approached Achenar, then headed for an Interdictor-class cruiser, he started looking really anxious.
It was only when we walked up to the doors of the Imperial Suite that something seemed to click in his mind. "Alicia, your aunt is called Risa, right?" he said. "Er.... yes...." "Please tell me her full name isn't Arissa?". I looked at him, slightly panicky, and said nothing. As the doors opened, the footman announced our presence: "Rufus Septimus, Duke of the Imperial Navy and her Highness Princess Alicia Verrus Duval". I thought Rufus was going to pass out. I'd never seen the blood drain from someone's face so quickly, but he managed to recover himself as the Emperor rushed towards me and threw her arms around me.
"Alicia, my darling girl, we've all been so worried!" she said. "I've had the IIS looking everywhere for you, but we lost track of you after that terrible incident at Beagle Point". I wasn't surprised that she knew about that - she seemed to know about everything - but I told her I was sorry that we'd had to go deep undercover and break contact. I introduced Rufus, telling the Emperor how he'd saved my life at great personal risk, and recounting all the things he'd done to save me. She seemed deeply impressed though, predictably, seemed to know everything about his backstory already. She revealed that his parents had been passing their findings back to the Empire and that the IIS was deeply suspicious of their sudden demise. She said that thanks to our chance meeting the IIS was now very interested in Rufus’ attempts to find his parents and would offer more substantial help in future. They suspected superpower involvement. We stayed with the Emperor for a few days - during that time the data from the attacks on us was analysed. The IIS thought it likely that the drone came from the Alliance, but the Kraits were more difficult to pin down.
The Emperor and Rufus seemed to get on well - he was a high-status Imperial after all, and loyal to the Empire - and after his initial shock he even forgave me for hiding my identity. Only a handful of Imperial courtiers and senior figures knew who I really was, and it would make me a target if the news ever leaked.
Rufus and I decided to continue the search together. Before we left, Aunty Risa had a quiet word and wryly commented that we made a good couple. She didn’t disapprove, saying he was a good match for me. She even suggested that we might work out some new agreement together, saying that Rufus had offered to do some work directly for the Empire on Guardian research in exchange.
After that, we set a trap for our pursuers. The IIS had managed to plant a report about Rufus’ location - what they hadn’t mentioned in the false report was that Rufus would be in a top-spec Federal Corvette. Sure enough, we were ambushed as planned, and this time the ambusher was flagged as Alliance. We obliterated them, then the IIS sifted through the wreckage for clues.
Soon after the Thargoids attacked the Pleiades in force. That’s when things started to go wrong. Rufus was furious - I’d never seen him so worked up - when the pictures of burning stations starting appearing. His rage at the Thargoids was intense. He insisted on helping the victims and we headed out there in a modified Type 7 full of passenger cabins. We called it the Pliny the Elder after the Roman general who attempted to rescue people from Pompeii.
We managed to rescue a few hundred people before some Thargoid scouts appeared and we had to flee.
The same day, the news broke about the Thargoid-Guardian battlefield. We headed there straight away in Rufus’ Thargoid research ship, hoping it would give us some more clues in the search for his father.
At the site, Rufus headed off alone in the SRV - there was some sort of signal interference and the remote-control terminal wasn’t working. He stepped out of his SRV and approached a Guardian data terminal. That’s when he was ambushed.
I saw it from the cargo ramp of the ship - Imperial troops appeared, dozens of them, but from behind Rufus. He never saw them stun him - he just toppled unconscious to the ground and they dragged him away. The troops them activated some data terminals and four Guardian Sentinels rose menancingly from the ground. They opened fire but several were vaporised. They managed to get Rufus into their ship, but the Sentinels had them on the run. After their ship left the Sentinels turned on my ship.
It happened so quickly I didn’t have time to flee - they quickly stripped the shields and knocked out the thrusters. I hid in an escape chamber in the cargo hold as the ship detonated around me. Luckily I survived unharmed. After waiting for a couple of hours I carefully climbed out of the wreckage - the Sentinels had gone. That was my darkest time, alone on that moon with no hope of escape. Luckily the site had become famous - another explorer appeared and I flagged them down. They agreed to take me to the Pleiades in exchange for some Guardian wreckage tech I’d scavenged whilst alone at the site.
I didn’t know who to trust - perhaps some Imperial faction or a hidden black-ops cell within the IIS had taken Rufus. Maybe it was a false flag operation, but I couldn’t be sure. So I decided to go deep undercover and do this myself.
I changed my appearance, clothes, name and ID - like I’d been trained to do - and got myself a stock Sidewinder.
Gradually I built my way up, managing after a few days to get a Viper mkIII. I used it to track down an Imperial convoy that had been ambushed by Thargoids, retrieving intel from the site and even an occupied escape pod. I interrogated the operative inside then wiped his memory and replaced him at the site. It seemed the Empire was as confused as I was about what had happened, and didn’t think it was one of theirs. It seemed the Alliance was most likely to blame after all, so I decided to infiltrate their operations. It would be a long road, but I had the outlines of a plan.
I had to find more information - I scanned surface sites, tracked down leads at Guardian ruins (and almost got myself killed before fleeing) and searched through Thargoid uplink devices in their bases.
My investigations confirmed the IIS suspicions - it seemed that the Alliance was behind this.
At the moment I’m based in Diaguandri, building up my own small fleet and gaining technology and money. My end-goal is to build a coalition of freelancers and criminals, perhaps with IIS support if I can trust them, to rescue Rufus. But first I have to find him by infiltrating the Alliance. I’m taking my latest ship to Mahon’s territory…
