Dark Deeds and Black Flights - Part VII
02 Oct 2017Jellicoe
Hip 17725, Planet A3The survey ship Victoria's Song hung in the void, dark and silent, he systems powered down even her habitation rings still. She was a huge ship built for long range, long duration survey missions following up on initial exploration data to make a fuller assessment of planets and ring systems for the potential commercial exploitation of their mineral resources. These vessels were quite capable of spending months at a time transforming initial system and planetary scans into the kind of detailed studies that the hard nosed men of business who directed the mega-corporations could use for their long term strategic planning. Operating on, often beyond the edge of human occupied space reliability was a, perhaps the prime consideration in the design and construction of these ships and any malfunction was rare, the loss of one of these vessels was unheard of yet the Victoria's Song drifted apparently dead in the deep.
Nearly invisible against the hull of the vast, almost station sized ship were the functional, predatory lines of a Federal Corvette, its lights off, its dark blue paint blending in with the survey ships hull.
"That's the last of the data nodes scanned, I'll have them cleaned up in a minute." Claude Marsaud told the bridge crew of the Resolution.
"Clear signs of weapon strikes on the hull." Vik said from tactical. "Looks like quite heavy damage."
"Got the data unscrambled." Claude broke in. "Do you want me to play them or give you a run down?"
"Just give me the gist of it." Stannis Jellicoe replied. "I'll go through the whole thing when I have more time."
"Okay, it was a survey ship on a routine job for some Fed corporate interests, all standard stuff but they found something, something big, it doesn't say what but the captain thought it'd make them rich and have their names up in lights across the bubble. Anyway days after they called it in they were attacked by what the log describes as 'security vessels', the last log is their surrender."
"Nothing about what happened to them?"
"No but from what we found in Celaeno presumably any survivors were taken to this 'Overlook'."
"Whatever that is."
"Something else you'll want to know." Claude continued. "I picked up a news report from Pleione, says this ship was smuggling drugs and was seized in a police operation."
"So these people have the local flatfoot in their pockets, that's hardly a surprise."
"No but it also says the ship is quarantined so we may want to be going soon."
Jellicoe nodded. "Alright let's go, I think we've got enough, signal Craddock and arrange a meeting, I'll be in my ready room."
There was a knock on the ready room door and Doctor Firman strode in without waiting for an invitation and sat down.
"Doctor?" Jellicoe asked with mild surprise.
The doctor took off his optical enhancers and looked the commander straight in the eye. "The road to hell is east Stannis, very easy indeed."
Jellicoe raised an eyebrow, a look of surprise playing fleetingly across his face. "An interesting philosophical observation I'm sure but I believe I hired you as a doctor not a padre."
"Not so very long ago I saw a man spare an enemy who'd been paid to kill him just because he fought a particularly gallant engagement, yesterday I saw the same man ready to torture a prisoner before ordering his body thrown out of an airlock. As your doctor I'm worried about you, as your friend even more so."
"That thing we captured was a brainwashed drone, a criminal and a murderer who didn't even value his own life."
"He was still a human being."
"Debatable."
The doctor began deliberately cleaning his optical enhancers, something he always did when needing time to collect his thoughts.
"Stannis when we dehumanise our enemies then even the most bestial cruelties can become acceptable, how many of histories genocides were made possible because the victims were considered inhuman or subhuman? Whatever that man was he was still a man, what if he was a brainwashed drone? That makes him a victim not a criminal, deserving our pity not out hatred and either way he still had a family, a mother and a father. There's a darkness in all of us Stannis, don't let yours consume you because just as our humanity has got us into this mess so only our humanity can get us out of it.
Another gratuitous Babylon 5 quote that was fully intentional if anyone picks up on it