The MetaDrives Mystery Part III
03 Nov 2016Jellicoe
"Nothing again skipper." Claude Marsaud said resignedly from his station on scanners."Okay, prepping for jump." Jellicoe replied from the helm. For the last four hours they had been jumping from system to system in the increasingly feint hope of finding either Raan Corsen or the Earth Defence Fleet pursuit squadron, but the trail appeared cold and whatever route Raan had taken, whatever destination she was making for seemed to have to have eluded the Resolution and her crew. Jellicoe paused momentarily then cancelled the jump sequence.
"I think we've got to accept that we've lost her. By now she'll have either got away or Bestov will have her. Plot a course for Okinura just in case he has."
"You planning to spring her? Vik asked in surprise from the tactical station.
"No but Sirius might be so I want to keep an eye out, plus if we're going to get a lead from anywhere it'll probably be there. Mr Skirving will your watch take over the bridge? Claude, Vik join me in the briefing room please."
In the Resolution's briefing room a holographic star map showed the sector with Raan Corsens known movements displayed, the three men studied it in silence, each trying to make sense of it.
"Any ideas?" Jellicoe asked.
"No." Claude answered exhaling a deep breath. "If there is a pattern there I can't see it."
"That may very well be it." Vik said thoughtfully stroking his beard as Jellicoe and Claude turned expectantly to him. "She's been on the run for what, a week?" The turbaned giant asked. "That's enough time to get anywhere in the bubble or have been picked up but she's not, she's just hidden out on a barren rock. She isn't working for anyone, the reason we're not seeing a pattern is because their isn't one, she's alone, out of her depth and just trying to keep one step ahead of the chase."
"That does make sense." Jellicoe answered. "But if she's on her own who was she trying to contact?"
"I don't know." Vik replied with a shrug. "Trying to arrange a bolt hole or find a buyer for whatever she's stolen maybe."
"Or her contact's let her down." Claude said excitedly. "Vik's right; at the moment she's just running with no plan but if it was me I'd put as much distance between me and Chi Orionis as I could, find a backwater in the middle of nowhere and lie low."
"Who though?" Jellicoe asked. "If she's working for someone it'd need to be someone with a lot of clout to risk ripping Sirius like that so why would they abandon her now she's got the goods?"
"could just be small time crooks with delusions of grandeur." Vik suggested.
"Over ambitious data broker? Claude put in. "Someone Sirius could identify quickly and small enough to take out before Raan could get to them?"
"All this is useful but it doesn't help us find her." Jellicoe put in. "Call it a day for now, go and get some sleep and we'll start again in four hours."
"Sir? Lieutenant Commander Skirving's voice came through from the bridge. "There's a priority one call for you, maximum encryption on one of the Children of Raxxla frequencies can you take it?"
"Put it through to my ready room would you; I'll be right there."
Jellicoe arrived in his ready room to find the hologram of a sharp faced man wearing the uniform of an Imperial intelligence officer sitting at his desk.
"November Uniform Sierra." He greeted the man by the three letter code name the Children of Raxxla used to protect each others identity. "Is it too much to hope that you've got something useful for me?"
"I'm not sure how immediately useful it is." The intelligence man said smoothly. "But you'll certainly want to know. I got access to the reat of the Raan Corsen file, it's rather interesting to say the least, we accessed a lot of her personal data." Jellicoe smiled, it was amazing how much information the superpowers kept on even the most mundane of people. "Now around the time she was in the Plieades Raan Corsen started to talk a lot about a 'Lady S' and the task she'd been entrusted by her."
"Doesn't narrow it down much. "Jellicoe answered. "There must be hundreds of LadyS's running around."
"Far fewer than you'd think actually, it might become clearer when I tell you this, a few years ago after the reclamation of the Prism system Miss Corsen seems to have developed a fixation with a certain Lady Kahina Tijani Loren, subsequently better known to us as..."
"She's working for Salomé!" Jellicoe interrupted.
"So our people believe, and it explains why the access level of the file was upped given the current situation between her and Patreus."
"So now with Salomé in custody on Achenar Raan has lost her contact and has nowhere to go. Why didn't Salomé tell us about this?"
"We're far from the only resource Salomé has, and the more people who know about an operation the bigger the risk is of it being compromised." The unflappable spook replied. "It doesn't matter now though, the important thing is that we find Raan Corsen and get her to safety till the situation with Salomé is resolved. I've got her a new identity and a safe house in Darras ready if you can find her and get her there."
"That's the tricky part." Jellicoe said with a sigh. "Anyone who's anyone in this sector's looking for her, the trail's gone cold and the only people with any sort of lead are the Earth Defence Fleet.
"You're a senior Federal officer can you use that with them?"
"I think that dog's fought as much as it's going to. I'll do everything I can. Out."
Jellicoe had planned to get some sleep but instead spent the next two hours vainly trying to come up with a plan until he was cut short by Lietenant Commander Skirving's voice on the com link.
"It's Raan Corsen sir, they're reporting she's dead."