Zaeli slowed the
Ionera down further and opened the ship's intercom system. "
Prudent is in visual range. Come on up to the cockpit if you want to take a look." Zaeli supposed they had no captain, so she wasn't about to order anyone, but they definitely needed to discuss some and gather information before taking action here.
"MIRAGE, did the scan pick up any hull damage to the
Prudent?" Zaeli asked. "Any signs of an attack?"
“Negative.” MIRAGE immediately replied, “there is no significant damage anywhere on the exterior of the ship. No breaches or other abnormalities in the
Prudent’s structure can be detected.”
Valiane eyed the
Prudent before her as Zaeli communicated with the others. Despite MIRAGE indicating there was no evidence of an outside attack, that did not mean that nothing happened inside.
"We should be cautious." Valiane atter-of-factly stated, standing up to await the others before they made any decisions. She would need to prepare anyway.
"Cautious? What happened to the
Prudent and what do we have so far about the state of the ship?” Rif, after spending time doing what he could do while waiting for them to reach the
Prudent, made his way to the cockpit. Curious about the state of their target. Once at the cockpit, Rif heard the last of what Valiane said and was concerned.
"That," Van said dourly, “is a trap. Even if they lost the main generators, there should be auxiliary generators powering sections of the ship, power banks for emergency systems. No lights mean everything's been turned off or disconnected.”
Van waved his hand, “And where's the rescue ships? There ought to be more than just us looking for this ship. This is a bad sign."
“You're right. Which actually makes me less worried.” Temash chimed in from behind Van. Whether he had just slipped in or had been there the whole time was unclear. The engineer and his robot companion had a habit of popping up places when he didn’t have work to occupy his time, something the crew had become aware of in the past ten hours “I've done a few ambushes in my day, anyone who knows what they're doing wouldn't make it this obvious. So either we're dealing with a bunch of amateurs, or there's a legitimate reason she's gone dark. Either way, we should be able to handle it.”
"Anyone know why it's just us out here?" Van asked, glancing at the rest of the crew, "’Got anything to share, MIRAGE?"
“According to the uploaded mission briefing First Seeker Ehu Hadif informed the Stewards that the Starfinder Society would investigate the signal, given that two Starfinder Society personnel were involved.” MIRAGE said. “It is most probable that the Stewards or the First Seeker informed nearby security and search and rescue services of this as well.”
“As for the absence of any other spacecraft,” MIRAGE added, “the
Prudent is in fact in deep space and several light seconds off course of the direct route between Absalom Station and Verces.”
Zaeli began to tap methodically at her wrist-mounted computer screen. "Gonna try to search for any comms link I can establish. MIRAGE detected five life signs aboard.
Prudent's systems are down, but maybe one of them has a personal device I can link to."
“Incoming transmission from Absalom Station.” MIRAGE announced, “It is from Venture-Captain Arvin.”
While the First Seeker, Ehu Hadif, had sanctioned this mission Venture-Captain Arvin had been the one to brief the crew of the
Ionera on Absalom Station and was responsible for overseeing the investigation into the
Prudent and the two unaccounted for Starfinders and their package. Arvin had in fact selected the five crew members himself when the
Ionera was ready for duty as of recent. By all intents and purposes he was the “handler” for the crew of the
Ionera.
Due to the short distance between Absalom Station and the current coordinates the transmission would be live instead of a recorded burst message.
Valiane remained silent as the others joined them in the cockpit. This was clearly something more than a 'find a ship and figure out what happened' mission. It was either a trap or it was going to become one. As MIRAGE indicated an incoming message from Venture-Captain Arvin, Valiane stepped back a bit, eager to get things underway. While she did not mind being set up as the ship's co-pilot, she was better with a rifle in her hand or a computer in front of her.
"Concerning.” was all that Rif said with his arms crossed. The situation with the
Prudent did not look good. Either this was a trap or something very bad happened. Which made him wonder if the Starfinders and their package were still on the ship.
When MIRAGE spoke about a message from Venture-Captain Arvin, Rif kept silent, waiting for the message to play and see what the Venture-Captain wanted to say.
"Just what is in there?" Van demanded. "What is onboard that people were willing to divert this ship and kill those aboard?”
The options, as he saw it, that either what they brought knocked out the ship and killed the crew or that someone attacked the ship from the inside. And why didn't they want the Stewards to know about it? Why risk a rookie crew on a rush job?
Zaeli gave up on trying to reach anyone aboard the
Prudent, at least for the moment. "Patching in the transmission," she said, switching over to the ship's controls.
"
Ionera here," she greeted, once the live comms were open. "We've reached the
Prudent, sir, but from the outside it doesn't look good. Systems are down, only five life-signs detected inside. No sign of outside attack, though."
A blue holographic image sputtered to life atop the helm, a projection of Venture-Captain Arvin. Or rather his shoulders and head. The Venture-Captain’s usual stern expression was etched across his visage, the right side of his mouth was scrunched up revealing a thin dimple at the corner of his lips. Arvin could see everyone gathered in the cockpit on his end of the transmission. His piercing eyes moved between each of the assembled Starfinders; first Zaeli, then Valiane, then Temash, then Rif, and finally Van before settling back on Zaeli.
“I see,” Arvin spoke in a level tone of voice, “that is… very disconcerting.”
Despite his steady tone Arvin’s face showed immediately worry as he continued. “Have you managed to make contact with anyone aboard the
Prudent? Even with the ship dark there will still surely be portable communications devices aboard.”
"’Working on it now, sir.” Zaeli answered, eyes focused on her screen.
“MIRAGE,” the Venture-Captain directly addressed the
Ionera’s AI, “what are your readings within the interior of the
Prudent? Was there perhaps a chemical leak or maybe a compromising breach in the ship that may have killed most of the crew?”
“Negative,” MIRAGE replied, “my scans detect no hazardous or foreign bodies in the ship and there has been no damage to the ship that might have lead to depressurization.”
“Can you detect any active signals aboard the
Prudent?” Arvin asked.
“I am only detecting the signal first received from the
Prudent.”
“Understood.” Arvin’s voice wavered. “It is very possible there could have been a mutiny attempt aboard the
Prudent. Or maybe stowaways from back on Verces who ambushed the crew during the flight. But even then… There are… too many variables here. The only way to find out what happened is for all of you to board the
Prudent and see for yourselves.”
“And remember, your primary objectives are to recover the item from Verces and our two operatives. Or their bodies, Desna forbid. Time is critical. MIRAGE can send status reports while you are aboard the
Prudent so long as an uplink with the
Ionera is maintained. I will send MIRAGE the ID’s of the operatives so you will be able to identify them.”
Van's eyes narrowed as his jaw tightened. Whatever they were sent to retrieve, even the Venture-Captain was afraid to name it.
"MIRAGE," Van said quietly, "After this transmission, please prepare for me a complete listing of all ship's equipment that is currently on board, and a separate listing of all equipment we haven't received yet."
They were rushed out before a proper inventory could be done, only MIRAGE would know what they had and didn't have in the ship's locker.
Before they had a full list of equipment available to them, Temash was already going over what he had on his person to make sure he wasn’t needing anything from that list. Aside from weapons, most of what he carried for basic ship repair covered what he’d need to navigate a derelict like this. The only thing missing was a full layout of the ship, but that would have to come from the Venture-Captain, assuming it wasn’t classified.
“Captain. If you got any schematics for the ship you could send over, it would do wonders in helping us find our way around in the dark.” Temash requested.
“MIRAGE can access the Infosphere from your location and use the scans of the
Prudent to find a match.” Arvin said.
“I have just completed that very task.” MIRAGE said. “The
Prudent is in fact a retrofitted warship of orc design. This particular ship model has not been produced for decades but it was originally designed by a long defunct orcish manufacturer. Due to its large size and simple enough infrastructure that allows for easy expansion it made for an ideal merchant ship.”
The holographic Arvin nodded and then addressed the crew for a final time before the projection fizzled away. “Board the
Prudent, be swift, and find out what has happened. And find our operatives. I am transmitting their profiles to MIRAGE now. Desna watch over you.”
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