Curious findings

Posted on Wed Oct 19th, 2016 @ 3:43am by Commander Bertrand Cuprum & Captain Elijah Michaels & Warrant Officer Felix Kilvarn

Mission: Smoke and Mirrors
Location: Andrasi Vi

The Andrasi colony had been going for around 200 years now. This was plenty of time to have built a well established culture and infrastructure. However, the colony has remained small and clustered around a number of large mining facilities. The main city has been positioned as a central hub to all of the mines and so it made sense for the majority of the relief effort to be centred there, with wounded being shipped in.

Because the Andrasi were political refugees, a planetary defence system had been a high priority for them and the city supported a significant weapon battery, capable of firing on ships in orbit. It also served as the data repository for emergency situations, and so it was here that Kevin and his team would find their answers.

By the time the Security team from the USS Victory arrived it had been three days since the disaster hit. By now, the chances of finding survivors was dropping rapidly, and the workers digging into building ruins were beginning to flag on energy and motivation. Pulling dead children from a home can be hard for even a seasoned soldier, and the Andrasi were civilians.

The damage was widespread so it was decided to beam Kevin and his team next to the defense battery as a staging post.

Security and Intelligence Officers appeared out of thing air as the Transporter materialised them just a few metres from the main Battery. Warrant Officer Kilvarn lead one of the teams. "Alright Gamma Team set up a perimeter ready for Lieutenant Klibane and Lieutenant Wakeman, I want overwatch there." He said pointing to the locations.

Kevin's team had beamed in and as soon as the transporter beam faded, he'd said "Karadis, you, Smart and Tyler check that battery building, I want a structural analysis ASAP, but no heroics, got it, just in and out?"

"Aye Sir, we'll be shaking it all about and back before you know it" Karadis answered.

Kevin watched them go. As he looked around at the rest of the area, an uneasy feeling came over him, almost like a foreboding that there was something not quite right.

Certainly there was signs of building damage, but not widespread like you would expect from an earth tremor. Rather it looked like localized damage from explosions, as if the colony had been attacked. If the Colony HAD been attacked, why would they make up a story about an earthquake? A story that would so quickly be able to be disproved.

IF an enemy had attacked the sensor logs in the weapons platform would have something to show who or what was behind it. Alternatively, he could just ask some of the local soldiers who were still on guard.

Felix stood by and watched the area overlooking the Colony. "Nice place these Andrasi have built."

Tag: Checking the weapon or interrogating the locals.

There was a soft blue glow and Bertrand materialized near the team he took a moment to steady himself but the pounding headache had vanished as soon as he had left the Administration building. He looked around and saw Felix and Kevin together.

"What have we got, Lt?"

Kevin gave a quick overview of what they had found. Bertrand nodded in agreement. "It certainly looks like an attack. Let's check the logs."

Moving inside the pair were shown tot he main battery sensor logs.

"You can see here around midnight on the night of the Earthquake that the weapons systems were engaged and fired, but no record of any targets. I am sending the data to the Ship. I want security to do a tactical analysis. I have an uneasy feeling that we are going to find that the building damage corresponds directly to the field of fire of each of these weapons when activated. Not that they fired at the buildings, but that the shot, when targeted, simply landed stray. The heavy detonations may also correspond with the time of the earth tremors detected. Perhaps we are only dealing with a system malfunction?"

Bertrand rested back, "Except it still doesn't explain the widespread damage, the signs of small arms fire, or the after shocks."

"I am going to check out the medical station. Carry on here, Lieutenant."

Kevin nodded.