Two Sides of One Coin [Luke - Part 2]
19 Jan 2017Luke3107
Luke scowled at his scanner as he dropped from Supercruise.The sensor readings had been a bit off when he spotted the Unidentified Signal Source, which was why he dropped in to investigate in the first place. But apparently, there was nothing here except some debris from what he assumed must have been a small conflict between some Federals and Imperials. Judging by the larger pieces of hull there had been a Federal Gunship involved plus some Imperial Couriers involved, but it was hard to tell who had actually won overall.
Not that Luke cared. He'd opted to steer clear of the conflicts and was on good terms with both Superpowers, just taking the occasional courier or cargo mission from both sides specifically to keep it that way. His sensor readings were still strange, but the lack of sensor contacts seemed to contradict that.
He huffed, as he turned his Vulture to leave the field something popped up on his Targetting HUD. Still nothing on sensors though, which was weird, but his HUD had something very specific highlighted. Carefully moving his ship through the field, he was quite grateful for his shields as he gently bumped some pieces of destruction out of the way. Eventualy the lights illuminated the cockpit of an Imperial Clipper, just the cockpit though. Presumably the rest of it was buried amongst the collection of other broken ship parts.
This was the source of whatever his HUD had highlighted, so Luke enabled the targetting and his scanner began it's work identifying the source. Watching the small hexagonal symbol spin in his Target Info Panel, he sat back in his cockpit chair and waited. And waited..... And waited.....
*What the hell??* Luke thought. *These scans take SECONDS... So why is this any different??* His question wasn't answered when his scan finally completed and revealed it was just a black box with information that the Empire would undoubtably want back. A quick look at his transactions tab revealed that, indeed, the Imperials would pay a sizeable amount for the return of this data cache. Nearly 5 million credits in fact...
*Holy shit!! What's on thi....* His thought was interrupted by a message popping up in his Comms Panel.
Greetings CMDR.
A hardware scan indicates you are a Squire within the Imperial Navy and as such, we can regard you to be trusted with this data. However we ask that you treat this information as confidential and deliver this package in a swift and efficient manner.
This package is not to be delivered to the station marked in your transactions panel. Instead you are to locate an Imperial Cutter by the name of the 'INS Onyx' and deliver the attached file to the pilot. Inform him that Earl Macruik has failed and to initiate Protocol 19.
Understandably this lack of information may be frustrating to you but rest assured you will be compensated accordingly to the tune of triple what is indicated on your Transactions Panel.
Should you encounter any trouble in your travels it is imperative that you purge all data regarding this communication and deny any and all knowledge should you be captured. There will be no aid granted in these circumstances, you are on your own.
Good Luck CMDR. We hope to hear from you soon.
"Brilliant. I love conspiracies!!!" Luke said out loud to no one in particular. What annoyed him more though, was the fact that his Vulture was not kitted out for jump range. Which meant he had to go back to Serebrov Station, transfer the data to his Asp and hope they'd had enough time to fix her up so he could journey into the depths of Imperial Space.
A couple of hours later, he was back aboard the Insert Name Here and heading towards Achenar.
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Authors Note: Follow Liliths perspective here. Or alternatively, stick with Luke by clicking 'Newer Logbook Entry' below. As always, thanks for reading!!!