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A Puzzle Indeed

Posted on Sun Jan 4th, 2015 @ 1:07am by Lieutenant Commander Maurelle Valentine & Commodore Kathleen O'Shea & Captain Jey Cleh

Mission: Bloodpath
Location: Blackstorm Station Charlie
Timeline: Backpost

"John! John! you've gotta see this." Kevin Luther called frantically to his friend waving him over to his station. "Something BIG just happened on Taranok Four."

At that moment just about every alarm that could activate in the Operations center did. Technicians appeared out of nowhere, manning consoles rarely utilized at the facility. Paul quickly made his way from his office to stand next to Kevin. "What the hell...is this some type of exercise?" Unannounced exercises were not unheard of, but they generally were not of this nature. "The whole system just went dark."

"I don't think this is an exercise sir. We have overrides in place for such thing so we can monitor the EXCON net. There's nothing sir." Kevin said as his fingers scrambled across the console. "Sir we are dark."

"And when he says dark, he means it." John said from another terminal. "Not receiving communications, transmitters, satellite images... Nothing at all from the Taranok system."

"Running scans of the planet to determine what happened." Kevin stated. He grunted at his console shortly after. "There's a lot of interference. I'm getting nothing."

"I'm getting similar reports from other posts." John said, as he sifted through the various reports. "It's as if the planet simply disappeared-" He stopped as he saw another alert on his terminal. "Sir, Starbase 80 just went to yellow alert. Something is definitely going on."

"Do we have communication with the Starbase?" Kevin asked.

"Yes." John replied, tapping a few buttons on his terminal. "I'm not getting all the information yet, but whatever it is, it's certainly getting some attention up there." He began searching through the sensor logs, to see if he could find anything. "Wait... I'm getting an unconfirmed report of a possible explosion on Taranok IV."

"Explosion? Do they know what it was? To knock out an entire system it had to pack one hell of a punch." Kevin replied sifting through the data coming in.

"I can't confirm anything based on what I'm getting here." John replied. Most of the intel he was getting on his terminal was a jumble of reports, and sensor logs, with spatters of communications. "I'm just not getting anything to work with here."

"Just finished polling the regional comm relays" John walked back over to the group. "All check out in the green. Whatever the problem is, it's originating at Taranok."

Kevin rubbed his chin for a moment staring at his console. "Contact the Starbase and see if they have anything of use. Start running scans of the area look for anything that could give us a clue as to what the hell went off on the surface. Radiation, particles explosive may be powerful but they are also dirty. They'll leave something behind for us to find."

Paul pulled Kevin aside, out of hearing range of the rest of the team. "We need to do everything possible to make contact with our.....asset in-theater. With their location, they should be able to provide us with a lot more detailed information. That is, if they survived. If necessary, we will send a team out in a cloaked Talon."

Kevin looked Paul right in the eyes and nodded affirmatively. "You're right. But first we need to make sure it's safe. If that was a dirty bomb I don't want to risk exposing more personnel to it. Once you give me the green light, take a team on a Talon and go to the planet."

"I hate to tell you this, but the only way we may find that out is to send somebody to Taranok. And..." Paul glanced at one of the status screens for Starbase 80. "...we won't be the only one sending a team. 80 is already making tasking orders."

Kevin sighed rubbing his chin as he began to pace. "Do it." He muttered under his breath waving his hand dismissively.

There was no way Paul was going to allow 80 to get in on the action whilst he sat back idly.

At this point, John spoke up again, looking at Kevin. "I can't get any scans, or information about surface conditions." He said. "No way to know what conditions are on Taranok, unless we send someone out there." he unknowingly confirmed what Paul had just said.

"Okay, okay you've made your point John. Get a team assembled and get down there and find out what the hell is happening. If we have someone looking for a fight, or some sort of hidden civil war I need to know about it." Kevin replied.

"Yes sir." John said, then headed out of the room. He'd grab one of the Talons, and enough crew to get it going, then head out to see just what was happening on Taranok.

Kevin returned to his console in search of new data. The system however was still dark. The numerous possibilities as to the perpetrator and nature of the attack began to run through his mind. As his mind delved deeper into thought, he began to worry if soon the times would become as dark as the system.

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Lt. Colonel Kevin Luther
Commanding Officer
Blackstorm Station Charlie

Paul Thompson
HUMINT Specialist
Blackstorm Station Charlie

Johnathan Speldin
Intelligence Analyst
Blackstorm Station Charlie

 

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