Chapter 2B: Frostbound Couriers

"Um, guys, you're gonna want to see this."

Corbin shares the security footage when Douklan arrives.

Looking at the playback, Douklan swears. "Shit. Yeah, this supports what I was beginning to suspect." He communicates to the Marines. "No, don't cycle the lock; we'll probably be leaving soon." Turning back to Corbin, he says: "I was wondering where their ship was; ours in the only vehicle in the landing bay. This suggests that not only did they fly their shuttle out of here, but they took the personnel with them. We'll need to let the Captains Rael and Zaytsev know as soon as possible that there's a ship out there trying to stay hidden that may have hostages."

"Relay Station Theta, this is the ITC Orbital Station, please respond." - came the communication, as soon as the antenna finished the re-alignment. A lot of data started to flow both ways, in the background, as well.

"Douklan, we've got Theta." Corbin gestures to the comm panel and continues to monitor the stations systems.

Douklan nods, trusting that Corbin has already verified that it is, in fact, the ITC station. Then he uses the communicator to respond: "Postal Authority, this is Station Theta. You're speaking with Navy Lieutenant Douklan Paravides and Engineer Corbin McRogers. Our team has just eliminated a group of Separatists that had commandeered the relay to communicate with one of their ships hiding in the Belt. There is no sign of your station personnel; we believe that they have been taken off Nocturna, possibly as prisoners."

"Roger that, Station Theta. Please stand by, we are transfering you to the Sentinel. We kindly request your support in retrieving the prisoners."

Less than 5 seconds later.

"This is the Sentinel. Captain Rael, speaking. Lieutenant, report."

Before responding to the Captain, Douklan delivers a quick aside to his companion: "Corbin, was any information that was transmitted here logged in any way? I'd give a lot to know anything more about these secret communications..."

Then, pushing to talk on the transmitter: "Captain, we entered the relay station and encountered a hostile force of six mercenaries hired by Separatists of Draco I. Five dead, one captured. They were directing Theta's antenna to relay communications between Draco I and a ship hidden in the asteroid belt and were left here to hold the station until the ship completed its mission. Corbin has done good work in restoring communications; we're looking to see if any of the Separatist communications were logged. I don't expect we'll find much quickly, but I suspect we've stumbled onto something big. I think the station's personnel were taken off-moon, though I'm not sure that they were prisoners; there's no sign of a struggle here, which may be because they were taken by surprise...or it may mean that they were accomplices. I'm not sure what the Separatists might be planning with one secret ship in the asteroid belt, but do you think that dissatisfaction with Duke Voss is at the level that terrorists might consider redirecting asteroids to impact Draco I? I think that's a possibility, and so I recommend that we try to search the belt for any signs of craft that are trying to avoid detection. We could help in the shuttle, though if we do I would recommend that we leave at least Sergeant Anderson and Worthington to hold the station. They're good in a firefight and we're unlikely to get into one of those out in the Belt. If we have any personnel on Draco I we should communicate to them, too, to see if they catch wind of any suspicious activity. I expect that the Separatists or sympathizers there may be particularly upset now that they aren't getting updates from their ship; they might show themselves in trying to restore it."

"What do you think, Corbin? Am I missing anything?"

Corbin listens to Douklan's report while trying to see if the transmitted communication was recorded in the logs.

"The sit rep sounded good, I'm guessing you have more info on the local system than I do."

"One moment, Lieutenant Douklan.

Helms, take me towards the main asteroid belt. Full speed, 2G acceleration. Check with comms and the Postal Authority station the specific heading, based on Theta's communication data.

Sensors, find me that ship.

OK, Lieutenant, let me check your asteroid theory..." - answers Captain Rael - "I'm seeing here that Draco I has a larger than normal budget for its planetary defense forces. They have a lot of defense cannons, a well equipped army, a large orbital station with nukes and batteries and a huge amount of surface-to-space missiles. I don't think a single hidden ship would be able to do much.

But either way, leave the Marines in control of the relay station with the prisoner and catch up with us using the shuttle, we are going on a terrorist hunt.

Mr. McRogers is free to stay in the relay or come with you. The Postal Authority should send some technicians soon to your position, so our people can expect to bring the prisoner into orbit and be relieved by noon. I have also requested for the Celestial Voyager to stay docked until we rescue the prisoners or solve this situation somehow, as we can't just leave now. Captain Zaytsev understood and offered to help if we need. I'm putting you in charge of that. Talk to the crew and coordinate their help, if possible. We may be able to provide the gear.

In the meantime, the orbital station command will talk with Draco I to see what their government plans to do about this whole situation."

---

Corbin, the contents were encrypted and logs were disabled since they took over, but you are able to learn the source of most of the data (somewhere in Draco I's north regions) and its destinations:

1 - a regular courier service from Stellar Express, moving mail spinwards to Zyronis and back. That's one of the vessels that the ITC orbital station usually employs for its high priority mailing. They probably didn't realize the transmission was not from ITC.

2 - something in this system's main belt, probably the hidden ship. You have the approximate vector but don't have enough to pinpoint the 3 dimensional position. The Sentinel have that vector as well.

The same data, whatever it was, was sent for both.

"Corbin, you heard Captain Rael. I understand if you want to stay here. But I need to leave and help find that hidden ship before something disastrous happens. I'd be happy to have you along. It could be dangerous, but you're good in a pinch and I think the Marines can keep watch on Nocturna until their relief arrives."

Douklan relays the orders to Sergeant Anderson and Worthington, Ellis, and Piercey. "You're all to remain here with the prisoner until relief arrives from the Sentinel. I'm going to try to be extra eyes in the Belt, trying to find any trace of that mystery vehicle."

While they are unloading the prisoner, Douklan starts warming the engines of the shuttle again. Once that process is started, he sends a communication to the Celestial Voyager's shuttle at Draco I: "Gabe, this is Douklan Paravides. We found some Separatist mercenaries here on Nocturna who had replaced the regular personnel. They were using the dish here to relay communications between forces on Draco I's northern hemisphere and some vessel in Draco's asteroid belt. Here's the vector they were transmitting on. I'm taking the shuttle to help search the Belt, but you can see that you and Celestial Voyager's shuttle are closer to that part of the Belt than I am. Whether or not that ship has the missing station personnel, we suspect that it's up to no good, and we'd appreciate the help if you, Hank, and Jil are available to give it."

As soon as the prisoner has been offloaded and the Marines have themselves and all their gear removed to a safe distance (and Corbin is strapped in, if he's coming along), Douklan is going to take off again.

Corbin secures the data terminals. "Stay here my ass." he mumbles as he follows Douklan back to the shuttle.