The MetaDrives Mystery Part V
06 Dec 2016Jellicoe
The Corvette Resolution dropped into orbit of Alioth 4's small moon, the pilot checked his display, adjusted his course, opened the throttle and the ship headed towards a range of distant mountains."Course is bang on, depending on when you want to come out of orbit we can be there in minutes." The first officer announced into the strained atmosphere on the bridge.
"Right." The pilot answered tersely and his co pilot and tactical officer exchanged a concerned glance. Their commander had not been himself since returning from Argents Claim, on the face of it the trip planetside had been a great success not only had he come back with the precise co-ordinates of Raan Corsens crash site but a holo-map of the area and authorisation from the Alioth Independents to make a full search of the site as well, yet since coming back he had not been himself, his humour had gone and his conversation was short and terse before lapsing into brooding silence. Clearly something had happened but both knew better than to ask what.
"Coming up on the site." Claude Marsaud said from the nav station a short while later. "You sure you want to drop right on top of it?"
"Yes." The pilot answered brusquely. "Starting glide now." With a judder the ship re-entered normal space and glid with as much grace as a ship its size could muster towards their destination. "Any contacts?" The pilot barked at his tactical officer.
"Two Vipers directly over the location." Sachin Vikash replied exactly matching the commanders tone, if his friend needed help Vik would give it willingly and unconditionally but he had little patience for the pilots apparent sulk.
"The lead ship is hailing us." Claude put in. "Putting it on speakers."
"Corvette Resolution." A voice came through. "This area has been placed under strict quarantine. Please vacate the area immediately."
"Viper Dragoon." The Resolutions' pilot growled. "I've no idea who you are but you have no jurisdiction in Alliance Space, I have permission from the system government to search this site and if you interfere we are willing and able to defend ourselves."
"Commander Jellicoe." The Viper pilot answered "You have no idea just who you're dealing with, I warn you to withdraw immediately if you value your life"
"I am investigating a suspicious crash and have every right to be here." Jellicoe almost exploded. "But if you fools really want to die I am more than happy to give you your wish." To add weight to his words Jellicoe deployed the Resolutions hard points.
"Our superiors will hear about this." The Viper pilot blustered. "You're in a lot of trouble." He and his wingman jumped out. Jellicoe set the Resolution down as close to the wreck as possible without risking disturbing it.
"We may not have much time. Mr Soames is in charge of the search, I want the wreck going over by hand while the four SRV's fan out to cover everywhere within fifteen kliks, fighters to maintain combat air patrol at all times. If I'm needed I'll be in my ready room." As soon as Jellicoe left the bridge Vik got up and followed him.
"I wouldn't." Claude warned.
"He needs to hear a few home truths." Vik muttered darkly.
"Maybe, but he won't thank you for telling him."
"He is commanding a powerful warship in a very sensitive situation, he can't behave like a moody teenager."
"Vik." Claude said gently. "He has history with someone in Alioth, I'm guessing seeing her again has hit him harder than he expected. Give him time he'll come round without water."
"Not if he puts this ship and crew in danger till he does." The turbaned giant replied.
"If he does that I'll go in there with you but so far he hasn't, his orders have been sensible he's just been an arse giving them, a few days and he'll be fine."
"You'd better be right about this." Vik grunted sitting down and returning to his scanners.
"Nothing?" Jellicoe growled at the marine officer standing in front of his desk.
"That's right sir." Lieutenant Harry Alexander Soames replied, his face a mask of soldierly reserve. "We went over every inch of the wreck with a fine toothed comb and the SRV's have covered every conceivable search pattern several times. Absolutely nothing."
"No body?"
"No sir, but from the state of the wreck it hit the ground at some speed, it's quite possible it disintegrated on impact."
"Escape pod?"
"We've not found one sir, the wreck's too badly damaged to tell if it was even carrying one let alone whether it launched. There's no sign of one coming down within the search area."
"Any data? Ships computer, data slates even old fashioned paper documents?"
"Nothing. The ships computer was clear, no sign of anything else either, again it's more than possible that anything like that was destroyed in the impact."
"Might our friends in the Vipers have got to anything before we arrived?"
"No, the site hasn't been disturbed until we arrived, those ships appear to have been keeping it secure, presumably till a search and forensics team arrive."
"So we should be prepared for visitors at any time." Jellicoe breathed deeply and thought for a moment. "Extend the search perimeter to twenty-five kliks and have the fighters assist from the air. If there's anything at all to find I want it found."
"Very good sir." Harry Soames saluted and left.
Two hours later the search had still yielded nothing solid but one of the teams had found SRV tracks leading away from the crash site causing a great deal of speculation but with nothing concrete to back it up.
"Nothing whatsoever." Lieutenant Soames said as a group of the Resolutions senior personnel gathered in the ships briefing room. "If we extend the search area again we'll be stretching ourselves very thin and if hostiles show up the fighters will be unable to cover the Resolution, we'd also have no way of recovering the ground teams."
"What if we put the ship in orbit and co-ordinate the search from there?" Jellicoe replied.
"That puts the Resolution safe but again, if a significant hostile force shows up we'd be sacrificing the ground teams. We have to face facts, there's nothing here to find."
Jellicoe glowered at this. "What about the SRV tracks we found?" He barked.
"I've done a bit of digging into that." Claude interjected. "The local kids use this planet for racing, probability is that's where they come from."
"Only going one way? Away from the wreck?" Jellicoe demanded.
"Any number of things could account for that, meteor strikes, ships passing close to the surface, with nothing else to back it up it's not enough put our people in danger, let alone risk all of us."
"Doctor Firman should there be a body?" Jellicoe growled at the ships physician.
"Having looked at the condition and pattern of the wreckage plus computer models of the impact I'm certainly a little surprised there's no trace of a body, but disintegration of organic matter is well within the plausible possibility spectrum."
"Could Raan Corsen still be alive?"
The doctor exhaled slowly. "Stannis...one can always conjure up a scenario where someone could have survived almost anything, but if you're asking me where the evidence leads then it's pretty unequivocal - Raan Corsen died in the crash and the body disintegrated on impact. I know it's not what any of us were hoping for but unless we have good reason to doubt it there looks to be nothing more to it than that."
"And the data Raan was carrying? Destroyed too I suppose?" Jellicoe all but spat the words.
"Stop looking for ghosts skipper." Vik replied his voice tort with anger. "Look at the impact, any data slate or stick would have been smashed into a million pieces. We did our best but there's nothing more we can do."
Jellicoe scowled, rose from his chair and turned to the window to stare out at the crash site. "Very well." He barked. "Get everyone back on board then head back to Argents Claim, I think we've all earned some time off. Mr Skirving can handle the flight I'll be in my ready room."
"Got a call for you skipper" Claude's voice broke into Jellicoes' thoughts as he sat at his desk, "A Sky Marshal Beskov."
"Put him through." Jellicoe grunted and the hologram of a man in Federal field uniform appeared moments later across the desk.
"Commander Jellicoe would you mind explaining to me what exactly is your interest in Raan Corsen?"
"I'm a naturally curious sort of fellow."
"I am hunting a fugitive from Federation and Earth Defense Fleet space who is believed to be in possession of certain classified documents, what is your interest here?"
"I'm working directly for Admiral Craddocks' office, you're not the only interested party here."
The man smiled. "Your authorisation from Craddock is out of date and refers to a different mission Mr Jellicoe, and you're not the only one with contacts in Nannorum, no one in Admiral Craddocks' office knows anything about any operation involving Raan Corsen and the Admiral himself has not been seen for several weeks."
"Black op for the Admiral personally, secrecy is paramount, you know the drill Marshal."
"Let us stop playing games Commander, you are not working for Craddock here you are working for this mysterious Lady Salomé I know Raan Corsen was as well, perhaps we an help each other because believe me your Children of Raxxla do not need another enemy." Marshal Beskov remained deadpan.
"Very well what do you want?"
"I want to question Raan Corsen, I want to know what he has got on the Sirius Corp and I want to speak to Lady Salomé."
"Than may be rather difficult Sky Marshal, if you've been following the news you'll know she's in the Empires' securest prison."
"I know this, we may be able to help. Believe me Commander we know there are things being hidden from us and we are not against you. Help us and we will repay that."
"What are you offering?"
The Marshal smiled. "We will share with you anything we find, in return you will do the same - a mutually beneficial arrangement yes?"
"I'll need to run it by our consuls Sky Marshal, but I'll see that you're contacted by an ambassador. Out."
"So the inescapable conclusion is that Raan Corsen was killed when his ship crashed on Alioth 4A." Jellicoe finished his report to the consuls of the Children of Raxxlas' virtual conference. Their mood was grim.
"Thank you Juliet Echo Echo. " The man at the head of the table said gravely, using Jellicoe's code name. "I think we had all hoped whatever Raan Corsen had might have helped establish Salomé's innocence, his death makes that all the more difficult."
"We do have the offer of assistance from the Earth Defence Fleet, it hasn't been a total loss." Another man in a flight suit with the slightly far away look of an explorer put in.
"We must be careful how close we get to them though, we must not look like Federation stooges, especially with Salomé in Imperial custody." A woman put in.
"We will discuss that possibility should it arise." The man at the head of the table said firmly. "Do you have anything to add Juliet Echo Echo?"
"Yes." Jellicoe replied. "I know what the evidence points to, I just have a feeling that we may not have heard the last of Raan Corsen."