C47 Raging for Blood
Raging for Blood.
Vanguard Station, in orbit around Mars.
“ This is the NH 02 of the INC Hope, we are unarmed, we have colonists on board, please cease fire ! “ A Female voice spoke, clearly synthetic in nature.
Walter watched the recording of the incident, an unknown vessel that had drifted into the Logan system around 920 years ago, before the foundation of the Terran Commonwealth.
“ You are sure it is the same ship ? “ Karlo Parker demanded.
Karlo was an Admiral at High Command, and the current leader of the Intelligence devision. And ever since loosing his only grandson in Vigla, he’s been looking for reasons to mobilize against Eden, firmly believing that they could ground that world to dust.
He was enraged by the loss of his Grandson, and he wanted blood for it, thinking the incident an elaborate scheme, and the singularity in Saratoga nothing but a new weapon created by the Seltran.
He had been Marshalling every contact he had, and burned a few bridges in the process, only for the war against the Siren’s to be reignited. And he seemed to have found another reason to bolster his claims of foul play, with Walter Petrov’s return two weeks ago.
“ By the imagery, yes. The IFF those ships gave off identified them as INC Hope, and NH 03. “ Walter admitted, there was no point in lying anyway, Karlo already had the TMS Warden’s logs, he was simply seeking further confirmation.
The TMS Warden had picked up the signal only as they moved to head back out of Cradle, and they managed to aim the ships Telescopes at the source, which resulted in the unknown vessels to be recorded.
Had it not been for the Warden’s broadband sensors and communications, they would not even have picked up these ships signal, as it was standard for an Envoy ship to keep all channels open for communications, and the IFF channel of those ships were on a whole different frequency then known Terran ships, Seltran, or EDN.
And Karlo, he was spinning himself a reason out of all of this that Siren and Seltran had conspired to crush the Terran’s. The current ceasefire was merely an excuse to build up forces in Karlo’s eyes.
And Seltran movements seemed to support his claim as they still where in an Uneasy ceasefire with them. Seltran seldom ever attacked unless they seen a tactical advantage in it. Right now, they were building up new defenses in those three systems that connected them to Terran Space, and the number of ships there was increasing daily.
From a Tactical viewpoint, if Karlo’s claims were true, then his reasoning to attack Eden, before the war with the Seltran restarted, would be sound. But Walter could not get Queen Marianna’s sudden anger out of his mind. It did not feel like they were involved. And Thomas, he looked just as surprised, it simply did not fit.
“ Find me that ship. “ Karlo commanded one of the two guards that where in the room with them, and the Guard saluted briefly before he turned to leave.
Walter guessed that, if Karlo could file it under security concern, he’d have an expeditionary fleet reach Logan in two days, more if Bureaucracy got in his way, but as head of the Intelligence devision, he had ways to circumvent a large part of that. But that still would leave the problem of finding that ship, if it was still there to begin with.
Logan was a scrapyard, a place where Military vessels get dragged and dumped for an eventual disassembly. And few of the ship wrecks there had been touched in Decades as it was deemed save to dump the wrecks there. Safer then to let them float in space where pirates could reach them.
Most of those ships were so bent and warped that building a new vessel would be cheaper then repairs, and mining resources was often easier then trying to pry apart a wreck for scraps. So Logan had accumulated thousands of them by now.
“ Why have you not reported this sooner, Commander Petrov ? “ Karlo demanded.
“ It seemed of no relevance, our Mission was to arrange a ceasefire. “ Walter defended himself.
“ Everything is relevant in light of what happened to Saratoga and the fleet in Vigla. I could have you court-martialed for this ! “ Karlo proclaimed, his face beat red with anger.
“ I followed my orders to the letter. Espionage was not part of my Instructions. Acting against my explicit orders to arrange a ceasefire would have me court-martialed by High Command. “ Walter responded formally, deflecting Karlo’s anger by stating the obvious rules that he had to operate under.
“ And yet you did. “ Karlo countered.
“ The Warden’s system registered a new IFF frequency, it is standard protocol to catalog them, what to do of that data is up to High Command. And there was no indication of those ships Involvement in the incident. “ Walter simply reported, sticking to Code on Conduct rather then to let Karlo’s obvious anger get to him.
“ No involvement you say ? “ Karlo hissed, quaking in anger, and then resume the Video to let it move to the point after this first rail-gun had struck the ship, shattering part of it’s hull, only for the hull to warp back into place.
And to make his point, Karlo would have another display then show the ship that attacked the fleet in Vigla, blowing up, and then pulling itself together again with strings of black matter.
The NH 02 vessel did not show these black strings, but the angle might just disguise them behind the wreckage, and if that was being ignored, then it looked eerily similar.
“ Cease fire, we are unarmed ! We Surrender ! “ The female voice spoke up on the display showing Logan’s past, and the ship repeated that self repair event a few more times, until a larger projectile outright beheaded the ship, at which point, it ceased to function entirely.
920 years ago, Logan was part of the Argos federation then, one of many factions that made up the Human territory, before the Commonwealth united them all. Walter guessed that the only reason this recording even survived, was because of that very repair event, so it felt doubtful that the Argos left it untouched, and even if, if the Commonwealth had this recording, then surely they must have been looking for the ship themselves.
“ I think their involvement is pretty clear. “ Karlo insisted then, tossing the remote control for the display onto the table.
“ Possibly. But that is information I was not made aware of. If I had known before, I would have brought this to the Intelligence devisions attention right away. “ Walter responded, watching how Karlo balled his hands to fists which seemed to clench in furious anger.
But Karlo managed to calm a moment later, enough to see that he was going nowhere with this. Walter was playing his role, and Karlo, unaware of Walters thoughts, could hardly blame him for following the rules, as much as he wanted to right now.
“ You’ll be debriefed in an hour. I want every detail you have on that ship. “ Karlo ordered, and then wordlessly left the room, leaving Walter behind there to wait for an Interrogator from intelligence.
Walter knew it was an act of spite, given that they could get the information of the Warden’s system. But it was likely just Karlo’s way of releasing some steam, and there was nothing Walter could do but to endure and be honest about what he knew.
Still, 920 years, that is a long time. Siren were supposedly immortal, but no one had any information about them repairing ships like that. The only indication they had, was that winged woman on the TMS Wrath, and she suggested Siren’s to be her daughters.
So, in the end it pointed all to the Siren, with the same result that led to the Ceasefire. What was Karlo trying to prove ? Or did he find something else ?
Meanwhile…
Karlo was boiling on the inside, the Siren’s had outside help, and he knew it, he just had to prove it.
“ Admiral. “ Someone addressed Karlo, and looking at the source caused him a smile.
“ Roland. “ Karlo greeted the other man, an old friend of his who had turned out to be a Psyker, one that turned himself in upon discovery, earning his rank and Karlo friendship through his loyalty to the Terran cause. There were few people who did not trust him, despite the prejudice towards Psykers.
“ What did you find ? “ Karlo went straight ahead to ask.
Roland Luggan, so Karlo knew, was an expert when it came to Psykers and psychic energy. He could detect it even on that old recording of the 02. It wasn’t his primary ability, as he used something he called, Shroud, an ability that could erase his presence, and the presence of anything he touched. It made him not only the perfect asset for the Intelligence devision, but the one guy you go to when you want to plan a stealth mission.
“ It’s the same. Same frequency, but it’s become more oppressive. “ Roland responded, starting to walk together with Karlo down the hallway to his personal office.
“ More importantly, is the source stronger then you ? “ Karlo asked.
“ No, whoever it is, they got a lot of psychic energy, but that is all, quantity over quality. But with that ability to repair ships, that person might become a problem. “ Roland explained, confident that he could take the other out.
“ And the singularity ? Think they caused it ? “ Karlo asked.
“ I can’t tell. The energy flow suggests some form of control, but it seems focused on those ships. The large one in particular, the energy was strongly centric on that one in the recording they took. But it’s definitely the same as that ship in Logan. “ Roland responds.
“ Hm. We need more proof. How long would this, energy, remain on that ship in Logan ? “ Karlo asked.
“ It may still have traces, but likely not much, if any. “ Roland noted.
“ Good, I want you on that Vessel to Logan, see if you can find that ship, and whatever there is about it’s origin. If we can prove they had help from a Psyker, it would give us the edge to flatten Eden. But we don’t have much time, who knows how long the Seltran keep their feet still. “ Karlo explained.
“ You could just let me go to Cradle. “ Roland offered.
“ No, you would need access to their gate structure, and other then Diplomats, I doubt we could get anyone through there. And using the Envoy vessels is a last resort. “ Karlo noted.
“ What did you mean by, more oppressive ? “ He then asks, as it seemed to important to ignore.
“ I am not sure. Like, more active perhaps, it is hard to describe. Lets say, the energy on the ship in Logan, it felt like, not even aware of itself. But now, it’s actively lashing out, firm, and demanding. “ Roland tried to describe.
“ Good. I get you the ship to Logan, and I will look further into the Singularity. If the Seltran have a weapon that can collapse a star, High Command will surely want to know about it. “Karlo uttered.
“ Got it. “ Roland responded, and then added a formal, “ Admiral. “ Together with a quick salute, before turning to leave.
Karlo would follow Roland with his gaze, a smirk growing on his face. He felt sure now, he always knew, those bastards, they where playing dirty tricks on them, and they took his Grandson from him. And by god, he was going to make them bleed for it.