(BSN Atlanta, entering Tsk’neth system, Free Worlds Alliance)
Captain Arun Veleth did his best to keep his breath steady as he watched the reports coming in on the screen. Technically, the Atlanta, an Assassin-class corvette assigned to the Fourth Group out of Madrigal Base, was not supposed to be in the Free Worlds Alliance. The Black Star Company didn’t have any contracts in the Alliance, and there were no legitimate reasons for him to have taken the corvette across the border.
Of course, when the owner and admiral of the fleet asks nicely for a mere captain to ‘just sneak over and check things out’, well, that wasn’t exactly something he could say no to. Whether it was through the business side of things or the chain of command, the guy at the top was the one who made the decisions, at the end of the day. If he refused without some damn good reasoning, that he could back up with facts, he’d be lucky if it just tanked his career.
Still, it wasn’t all bad. If he had to pick any warship to go galivanting around with, spying on the neighbors, then he would pick his Atlanta, for sure. Well, a Raven-class or a Starhunter-class would be better still, but those weren’t warships, even if the owner in the Starlight Raven had chalked up more warship kills in a freighter than some cruisers could lay claim to. But, out of all the warships in Known Space, the Assassins made the best spies, and he knew it.
He was a little concerned about going out into… aggressively neutral territory, such a long way from any kind of logistical support. There was too much that could go wrong with a little ship off on its own, too much that they couldn’t plan around without the increased cargo and manufacturing capacity (to say nothing of mass and weaponry) of a Wrath-class. They couldn’t even bring a logistics freighter with them, because the freighter would get spotted straight away.
Well, there was nothing for it. He had a job to do, and complaining in his own head wasn’t going to help matters. With a sigh, he turned his attention back to his tablet, to review the mission brief.
Captain Veleth,
You are to take the Atlanta into Alliance space, under full stealth protocols, and make your way to the Tsk’neth system. Upon arrival, conduct an investigation of the system. Your discretion on the methods used, but it would be preferred to not reveal our presence in Alliance space.
Tsk’neth IV is an agricultural world, responsible for the production of 29% of the food production in the sector. However, market analysis teams have noted that food prices are rising across the Alliance (already reaching 30% increases in some markets), due to sudden shortfalls in deliveries coming from Tsk’neth. Official news sources have reported no reason for this shortfall.
Further, Tsk’neth IV has little manufacturing capability. 90% of all manufactured goods sold in the system are shipped in from outside, even including black market goods. In recent weeks, company contacts familiar with the Alliance criminal underground have reported that total shipments to Tsk’neth have dropped in volume by 79%. This is after considering a 230% increase in imports of medicine and weaponry (all categories).
In addition, there has been a dramatic rise of ships going ‘missing’ after making port at Tsk’neth, with only the ships hauling medicine or weapons going untouched. Only 7% of ships not bringing medicine or weaponry into the system have been seen at their next port after going to Tsk’neth. 99% of those surviving ships are owned either by the Tsk’neth government, or by wealthy individuals on Tsk’neth.
Black Star Intelligence has begun an investigation, but information coming out of Tsk’neth has always been sparse, but now it is getting harder to come by. Initial reports attributed the lack of information to a sedentary political and economic climate. The Tsk’neth colony, founded by Ihm separatists before the first Empire-Ihm war, has always been isolationist in outlook, so little attention was paid to the lack of information coming out of the system.
Recent information from the Nomad communications networks suggests that there is more at play than a colony of loners simply wishing to be left alone. We have hearsay reports that individuals with family members on Tsk’neth have been complaining about the length of time since their last communication, or how their family member seemed nervous while on the comms. There are multiple stories of individuals appearing to be about to give details on the situation inside Tsk’neth, only for their connection to be terminated suddenly. When family members tried to reconnect, their family member’s account had apparently been deleted.
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Because of the fractured nature of the Alliance, there is no overarching authority like in the Confederacy. While this is good for individual business interests, it also means that there is little to keep internal situations from getting out of hand. Initial analysis is that a totalitarian regime has assumed control of Tsk’neth IV, and is clamping down on all travel in or out of the system.
While Alliance politics is not our purview, the current actions suggest that there is some kind of buildup going on. Your orders are to find out what is going on in Tsk’neth, and report back to command, so that we might be prepared for threats as they come. Absolute radio silence to be observed unless mission critical.
Captain, your ship was chosen for this mission for two reasons. First, out of all the Assassins in Fourth Group, Atlanta is the first to have been refitted with the X’thari drive. Second, your Lieutenant in charge of Communications is a Nomad, allowing you to send regular reports without breaking radio silence.
Your orders are to proceed to Tsk’neth, and conduct scans of both the system and the planet, while remaining undetected. Find out what is going on over on the planet, and stop whoever is shooting down freighters. The disruption in food prices have already started things going ugly. This mission is the best chance for keeping someone in charge from doing something profoundly stupid, like starting a war, while the rest of the sector inches closer and closer to anarchy.
--Admiral Mirikon Mollen
Veleth sighed again. Reading the brief, and the supporting evidence that accompanied it, was almost enough to give him ulcers. The whole thing was long on conjecture and short on hard facts. Or, at least, any of the facts that actually mattered.
In accordance with stealth protocols, they had come out of hyperspace a light day outside the heliopause of the target system. Now, six days later, they were just passing into the system itself. This was the reality of stealth missions. You had to have the patience of a god, at times.
“Captain, something’s wrong.”
That was never something he liked to hear. Especially when it came from his communications officer while we were on a stealth mission. “Report!”
Lieutenant Frank Stone, the Nomad communications officer, looked back at him. “Captain, we aren’t detecting any transmissions in the system. Either every communication is using secure laser comms, or something is very wrong. The only transmission I can detect is the Hypercom buoy.”
Veleth frowned. That couldn’t be right. A system, even an agricultural one, should have hundreds, thousands of transmissions at any given time. Laser coms existed, sure, but no one used them unless they were going for complete security, at close range. They just weren’t feasible over the breadth of a system!
“Sensors, what do we have? Any ships? What about the Tsk’neth Guard?”
“Yes, sir. Counting thirty-seven light and medium freighters, two large freighters, and five corvettes around the target planet. Readings on the corvettes match them to five of the twelve ships of the Tsk’neth Space Guard. All ships appear to be on minimal power and drifting.”
“Was there a battle? Do the ships appear damaged?”
“Unclear at this time, sir. We would need to move closer or switch to active scanning for more infor—Wait a minute!”
Captain Veleth’s eyes snapped to the sensor officer. “Report!”
“New contact. Sssketh-class Ihm Navy frigate. No identification. Ship appears to be dead in space. Currently in orbit of the outermost planetoid.”
A Sssketh-class? It wasn’t the newest class of frigate the Ihm had, but the class was barely twenty years old. Most of the ships were still in active service. So, what was an Ihm frigate doing way out here in Alliance space? And why was it apparently dead? “Are they playing dead, or actually disabled?”
“Unknown, Captain. Limited detail available at this distance.”
He took a breath, and considered his orders. He was supposed to investigate the system and the planet, under the assumption that the system was now being held by an extremist government. That was clearly not the case, now. “Helm, lay in a course for the frigate. Maintain stealth. Assume that it is lying in wait for any vultures looking to scavenge off the carcass.”
“Aye, Captain. Course laid in.”
“Engage.” He felt the thrusters fire. That was supposedly impossible, barring cataclysmic malfunctions, but any spacer would tell you that you eventually learned the feel of a ship. There was the micro pulses of the engine, pushing slow and steady, building acceleration without dramatically increasing their power curve or creating a noticeable grav spike.
“Sensors, I want all passive sensors locked on the frigate. Get me as much information as you can before we get close enough where it could catch us if we were discovered.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Comms, get on the Nomad networks. Inform Command about this situation, and see if there are any updates on what is going on. Something is very wrong in this system.”
“Right away, Captain.”
Under full stealth protocols, it took them six hours to get in range of the short-range sensors. In that time Lieutenant Stone had been in contact with both the fleet and the Admiral. There was some good news on that front, at least. The Shadowdancer, Simo Hayha, Artemis, and Shinokage had all been outfitted with the X’thari drives, and were being readied for action, with drives charged. If he found himself needing backup, then help could be here in a little over ten minutes, instead of a couple weeks. That went a long way to putting his mind at ease.
On the other hand, if that happened, the Admiral himself would be coming out. That was a sure sign that things had the chance to go from ‘creepy’ to ‘totally fucked’ in an instant. Everyone knew it wasn’t his fault, of course, but no one in Black Star could help but notice how many times that the Admiral had ‘just so happened’ to be right in the right place at the wrong time, and gotten dragged into all kinds of major events. Once was happenstance, twice was coincidence, but three times? And they were well beyond three times at this point.
The frigate came in range of the viewers. Bringing up the image on the main screen, Veleth couldn’t help but frown. The ship was most certainly dead in space, all right. No power readings, not even life support. And there were no life signs on board. Also, the frigate was doing slow flips, bow over stern, as it orbited the planetoid. And that orbit was decaying. At a guess, it was probably twenty-four hours before the ship’s orbit decayed to the point where it would crash on the planetoid’s surface.
As he studied the image, more things became clear. Some kind of energy had burnt long scorch marks in the hull. There were points that seemed melted in some spots, and others where the hull had apparently warped out of shape. The engines also looked as though they had been half-melted away.
Just what in the hell happened to this ship?