The Case of Jacob Scarlett
10 Jun 2018Robert Phillips
I was performing a routine delivery mission to Birkeland City in Ross 154. My ship was taking some time to unload it's cargo, so I started browsing the local news. Most stories were the usual Thargoid-related activities which I made a note to investigate at a later date. However, one story in the Ross 154 Herald caught my attention:Galactic News: Security Officer Killed in Line of Duty 26 SEP 3303
Officer Jacob Scarlett was last seen in the Ross 446 system. Officer Jacob Scarlett was part of a multi-system initiative designed to target smuggling.
Scarlett's ship, which had been missing for several weeks, was discovered a few days ago drifting on the fringes of Ross 446 having suffered significant damage. Security forces are appealing to anyone with information relating to the officers' death to come forward.
This was interesting - a missing person's case!
Since I was in The Cricket, a small nimble long-range hopper, I could get to Ross 446 easily. I decided to lay in a course and see if I could pick up any clues.
I departed Birkeland City and laid in a course for Ross 446. Upon arrival, I scanned the system. My ship picked up a faint signal around the first planet.
I navigated to the planet to perform a detailed scan. As I arrived in close orbit, I detected a Listening Post. I dropped out of SuperCruise and scanned it for any information. I received the following fragments of a degraded message:
…LISTENING POST SIGNAL DATA…
…Unregistered Transmission WAS-762-A Detected…
No Matching Signals Detected
…Scarlett, I’m in….bought my …alias…moved …their…base…to…lstanu…system…bigger…not…smuggling…t rading…slavery…going on here. I’m…close …out.
…End of Transmission…
Istanu, referenced in the message, was a nearby star system. Maybe I could find more information there. I laid in a course and engaged my Hyperdrive.
A system-wide scan of Istanu revealed an "Unauthorised Installation" on my scanners. I headed towards it and dropped out of SuperCruise nearby.
I was greeted by a huge installation, and several pirate ships nearby. The installation did not appear to belong to any of the minor factions in this region, so it must have been operating illegally.
Not wanting to be detected, I shut down all unnecessary systems to run as cold as possible. As I cruised around the installation I detected 4 Ship Log Uplink points which revealed some interesting logs left by the missing Officer:
UNDERCOVER 1/4
This is Scarlett, I’m in. Looks like they bought my cover story and alias. Having me murder my own ship sealed the deal. Nothing screams criminal like killing a cop. They wear it like a badge of honour. Word got around and they think I’m some gun for hire.
We’ve moved about a fair bit, but their base of operations seems to be in the lstanu system.
This is bigger than we thought, not just a smuggling ring they are trading in people and not for slavery, something else is going on here. I’m not close enough yet, but I’ll find out.
UNDERCOVER 2/4
I’m not proud of what I’m doing, I just tell myself that it’s not me. But it seems to be working. I’ve got more access. I got a glimpse into something that looked like a lab, they’ve got tech here that would be the envy of any hospital in the galaxy.
These people are well funded. But I still need to dig deeper.
What are they really doing here?
UNDERCOVER 3/4
Got lt!
They are shipping people in and using them as mules. They wake up somewhere and are completely unaware of what has happened to them and have no idea what they are carrying. Drugs, data chips, organisms. I guess they ended up being smugglers after all, but I didn’t see this coming.
These innocent people traffic the goods with no knowledge and then turn up missing when the goods are retrieved.
We’ve got to stop this.
UNDERCOVER 4/4
There’s not much more I can do.
They are starting to ask questions and I’ve run out of answers. I think they have made me. I’ve going to have to disappear, there is no way I can get a ship out of here, so I’ve hidden one of the escape pods and I’m planning on hiding in there.
If you find this, my name is Scarlett, I’m a security officer from Ross 154, I need you to get me back there so we can stop these scumbags.
I did a closer inspection of the structure, and picked up a faint signal from what appeared to be a cargo canister within the installation. Hoping that it might provide further clues, I entered the installation structure to investigate.
I carefully navigated around some internal tunnels and eventually found my target at an intersection between some tunnels. It wasn't a cargo canister though - it was Jacob Scarlett's escape pod!
I scooped it up into my hold and, not wanting to be scanned by the pirates in the vicinity, engaged Silent Running. Without any shields, I had to be very careful not to hit any of the super-structure of the installation.
I made it outside and quietly made my way away from the mass lock of the installation, whilst setting a course for Ross 154 to return the pod, and make a jump as soon as possible.
Some pirates made a close fly-by. Hoping that this was just a routine patrol, I cut thrusters and maintained my original course using just my momentum to glide to the edge of the installation's mass-lock zone. Hopefully they'd just think I was a piece of space junk.
They slowed, and turned their ships to face me. Had they seen me?
I waited in silence hoping they would move on.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when my COVAS announced those dreaded words: "Ship scan detected".
I was almost outside the installation's mass lock zone, so I re-engaged my thrusters and increased speed, but could see my heat signature rising. One of the pirate ships deployed it's hardpoints - I'd been discovered!
I dropped silent running and hit the boosters. The pirate ships began to open fire. My shields needed to recharge after silent running, and I started taking damage from their weapons.
I still kept moving away form the installation, but turned and deployed my hardpoints while maintaining my original course. I opened fire with a beam laser and a pair of multicannons. I managed to take out one of the pirates, but I was still taking fire from the others.
My shields weren't going to recharge in time.
I turned my ship around to resume it's original heading, away from the installation, and hit the boosters again. The mass lock was released! I closed my hardpoints and I engaged my Hyperdrive.
However, the remaining pirate ships were still firing on me while my Hyperdrive charged up. I avoided their fire as best as I could by twisting and turning, but I could see my hull integrity dropping rapidly: 50%...40%...30%...20%. My Hyperdrive seemed to be taking forever, when suddenly "...3...2...1...engage"!
I had made it, with just 18% hull integrity left.
I returned to Birkeland City in Ross 154 and contacted the search and rescue authorities.
The escape pod in question was indeed Jacob Scarlett, and I was rewarded for my efforts to bring him home safely. Sadly, the local faction were only authorised to pay me a reward that barely covered my repair and refuel costs. Oh well - at least I could leave with the satisfaction of having performed a good deed, and Jacob Scarlett lived to fight another day...