The Inquisition - Chapter 0: "Genesis"
13 Nov 2023Ryan "No0delZ" Franklin
The Inquisition - Chapter 0: "Genesis"It was just another day in retirement for me, when the message came in. My days had long since begun to blur with the routine of work and family life. It was the mode I had entered dutifully. How did that old song go? "Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids, in fact it's cold as hell?" I had chosen a less glorious life of planetside research in my retirement but it meant I could dedicate myself to my family first. It reminded me of simpler times with my own parents, back in Kadu Mist.
Simpler times that it seemed would once again come to an end.
In Ourmegacity, Founder's World, Shinrarta Dezhra, sitting across from me at Freyja's Tea Shoppe, my daughter Esther was telling me about her new quarters at the Imperial Academy. "Like father, like daughter." I thought, remembering my own excitement at all the new high tech things I was exposed to after finishing my basic military instruction… and all the freedom that came with it.
"Oh! Oh! And every cadet unit has their own Imperial Eagle assigned, just like you said!" she said to me, starry eyed.
Things were of course different for her. She was able to fast-track straight into officer training thanks to our family history and her extensive military education. Whereas in my situation, I started in the enlisted Planetside Ground Forces. Good ol' PGF. "Boots on the ground! POUND!POUND!POUND!" - I could still hear my instructor's voice and the echoing voices of us "Wing" grunts every time it came to mind.
"Incoming Transmission."
I glanced down at my GComm.
"From: Elton Collins"
Well… there's a name I hadn't seen in a long time.
"Who is it from, Dad?" Esther asked.
"It's… uhhh… from your uncle Elton."
"Oh. I bet he wants to talk more about his work. That's all you guys ever talk about.."
"Yeah… probably."
She wasn't wrong, but she had no idea the details of "Uncle" Elton's work. Elton Collins was a stellar cartographer working for a very "hush" competitor of Universal Cartographics. The project was kept under tight wraps since Universal Cartographics, and by proxy, their biggest shareholder Sirius had effectively outlawed pirated cartographic software from running on all publicly available Frame Shift Drives on the market. They seemingly did this through a series of embargoes, gag-orders, and contract agreements that allowed them to monopolize the market. Not to mention the very heavy encryption involved. All under the guise of "safety." Strange how the galactic "powers that be" continued to get away with supporting the monopoly. But, it allowed for them to lock systems behind permits and had the benefit of keeping ships from getting stuck in Witchspace. Probably for the best. Probably.
"I'll read it later. Anyway, tell me more about your first days at the Academy…" I said as I stowed my Gcomm in my jacket's inner breast pocket.
This would likely be the last time I would see Esther in person for a very long time. My attention would not be divided.
"Well, there's this girl…"
Later that night I opened the message at my home terminal, and decrypted it using my Quantum-Phase Key Module. It was a complex decryption module Elton had provided me when we first met that relied on demodulating audio playback of a Quantum Phase Modulated recording of a synthesized voice speaking a private key. The user then added their own voice speaking the key. It further rotated both the audio and the encryption key for the audio using a rotating algorithm known by local and distant ends. In simpler terms it was similar in some regards to the Time-based One-Time Passwords used in older authenticator software. The initial entropy was reliant on the length and complexity of the audio waveforms. The penultimate result was a very random and constantly changing string of values. The final "plaintext" then had to be decrypted with a one-time pad that was only available and usable within a certain time frame. The pads were stored separately and also known only by both ends. The pads were unknown to the users, buried in the encrypted mess of software somewhere. The devices IDs and communications addresses were constantly encrypted in this same manner. The combined solution made for "near perfect security." "Near perfect" in the sense that unless you managed to have the devices physically at the right place and time, the voice key, and the intended users voice profile, you were unlikely to confirm source, destination, and least of all its contents. I guess you just couldn't be too careful when it came to competing with giants like Universal Cartographics and Sirius.
"Ryan," the message opened.
"Apologies for going dark these last few years."
That's right. The last time Elton had been planetside was Christmas, 3306. Esther was 13 at the time. How time flies.
"We've found some friends who have aided our efforts into cracking into the encryption that Stellar Cartographics uses to interface with the FSDs… but we've hit a bit of a hangup. Look, I'm going to be blunt. Leene is gone and Esther has gone off to the academy. You're a damn good pilot and we could use your help now more than ever."
"Yeah. Thanks for reminding me, Elton."
Esther's mother, Leene, had passed away just a couple years back. I found myself visiting a stored copy of her Holo-Me far too often. Like the Raxxla before her, I kept yearning for a dream that was impossibly out of reach. One day I just decided enough was enough and said my final goodbye. A jewel burns no more.
The message continued.
"The Federal Navy is in the midst of authorizing encryption bypass for public channels, and it will only be a matter of time before our agents in Federation space are outed when they identify traces of our padded transmissions. Who knows how long before the Empire and Alliance follow suit. Before that happens we'd like to onboard you for an operation our friends are calling "The Inquisition.""
"The Inquisition? What in the name of religious zealotry…" I thought out loud.
"We're not entirely sure what they're looking for, and they haven't exactly been forthright about its nature, but they have given us some guidelines about the data that will help them in the search."
"Great, Elton. So you're sending me off to find the Raxxla itself."
"Join our mission, Ryan. It's your opportunity to get back out there and continue your own search. From what I can tell, it looks like a continuation of the kind of work you were doing right before your retirement.
If you do decide to join us, head out to Brookes Abyss. We will transmit the mission details to that system on
REDACTED
, 3309. Stay dark until then.Give Esther my congratulations!
Akbulun bulgunu, ak suu bolot.
~Elton Collins"
I left the message open for a moment to digest its words, knowing that the instant it was closed it was gone forever. Returning to the search wasn't even on my radar, but I guess Elton was right. There was no reason for it to not be. It just felt strange. Raising a child shifted my focus. Now that Esther was old enough to follow her own path, it made sense that old avenues were open once more. But trying to shift that frame of reference - from this life I'd been living to return to the old just felt… eerie. Like visiting a place you haven't been to in years only to find the landscape had changed, or meeting an old friend after a long absence. Except, the friend is yourself; The person you once knew best who became something completely unfamiliar.
That message remained open for the better part of an hour. I found myself leaned back, staring at the ceiling alternating between thinking about nothing at all and playing back memories of a previous life. Then, memories of the current. To some extent those memories would have to be put into a box and shelved if I was to move forward.
.…Just like with Leene.
I shook the feelings aside. The best way to get back into things is to dive headfirst. I'd take time to think after I was already in the thick of it. Now was another one of those times where asking questions wasn't clever.
Messages went out - resignations from my planetside research position, active status to the Imperial Navy, messages to various contacts and colleagues. Finally to the local hangar.
"Ready NO-24A for departure. ETD: 14 hours."
The response was immediate.
"Departure request received. Please arrive two hours ahead of scheduled departure to complete the "extended storage" preflight checklist. Welcome back, CMDR No0delZ."