The Missing Video Surveillance Footage
12 Mar 2016AVON NOVA
I explained to Ashley everything that had happened while I was on the station and then we watched the video surveillance footage. It would prove that Samuels had planted the bomb and destroyed the Sirius Navy iCutter and then perhaps she would forgive me for killing him.
It started by showing someone accessing the iCutters energy reactor room. I was distracted by the sparse interior, I had heard that Imperial Cutters were the height of luxury but this was far from that. Clearly the iCutters built under licence by Sirius Corp were function over form. Something else distracted Ashley, she noticed they were a woman's hands and not Samuels.
The face of Amanda Ripley looked down as she concentrated on arming the bomb. This didn't make sense, it was meant to be Samuels who had done it. I had killed Samuels but had not felt guilty because he was a murderer...that is what I had thought. My mind went back to the conversation in the corridor I had overheard between Ripley and Samuels. How had I got it so wrong?
Ashley toggled the video playback controls to focus on the device. It was a specialized fusion detonator designed to specifically cause a ships power-plant to overheat and explode. This was not an amateur job and it was clear that Amanda Ripley was not what she seemed. She was a federal agent, it was the only explanation. Federal agents are specially trained to undermine a enemy factions control of a star system or even a spaceport.
Amanda Ripley had killed the crew of the iCutter as part of a plan to undermine Sirius Corp control of Sothis Mining. Ashley reported back to Vice President Bowman and received orders to take Ripley alive.