Aftermath полностью

Overhead point lights illuminated a semi-circular table and the five people sat around it. They were sitting around the curve, dressed in the stark military uniforms of Her Majesty's Space Navy, bearing no indication of their true position in the service, that of agents of Naval Intelligence. The chair at the flat side of the table was placed upon a slight platform, and was currently unoccupied.

The man who entered to take the chair was older and was dressed in a richer uniform with admiral's stripes around the cuffs. The five stood to greet him.

"Please, sit." He sat and continued "I'll be brief, because that's all I can be with our present knowledge. The Constrictor dilemma has reared its ugly head again. It was a remarkably well-built ship, not only in its shielding but also in its hull, and it appears that its destruction wasn't total. Various pieces of unusual duralium recently appeared in a scrap sale. GalCop always keep an eye on the trader in question and fortunately they recognised that there was something odd here. They passed on the metal to us and it as been positively identified as coming from the Constrictor. The scrap merchant confessed to having obtained it from a known pirate who was then traced by GalCop. It turns out that the pirate was killed a month ago. And with him went the last known link to the debris. We don't know if there was any more of it and where it might have gone, although judging from the state of the pieces we recovered it is quite possible that someone somewhere has some."

The admiral stood and walked to the wall behind him. Pressing a pad on it caused a portion to illuminate. "This is the TS-ComDirect footage from the Cobra that destroyed the Constrictor." The screen showed the mysterious vessel swerving around trying to avoid the incessant military laser from the pursuing vessel. Its screens having nearly failed the stolen craft's only hope was to try and outrun the slower but more manoeuvrable Cobra. The laser fire caught the Constrictor again, penetrating the now-failed shields. The explosion of the doomed ship lit the screen but the victor had rolled his ship out of the line of sight before the aftermath of the Constrictor's destruction had died away.

The admiral continued, "The Cobra did not stay to investigate any further. Image analysis was indeterminate as to whether or not significant solid debris was left behind but the likelihood was considered low and the matter was not pursued. Upon its return to a station we had the Cobra's logs of the event wiped as a precaution. The commander of that vessel is believed to be trustworthy but unfortunately we dare not risk interviewing him at the moment since he is involved in the current Thargoid campaign and drawing attention to him at this moment in time would most definitely not be a good idea."

"I guess we're to track down whatever may be left of the Constrictor, then?" asked one of the five.

"Correct. Its technology must remain secret. It was impressive enough on a ship that size. If it were to end up on a full-sized warship the results could be catastrophic for the Co-Operative. A transport will leave here at 1600 to transport you to Orarra. Vessels have been made available for you there. Good luck."

There must be some genuine concern that some critical aspects of the Constrictor had found their way into the wrong hands to warrant this treatment. The Navy was usually too busy caught up in engagements with the Thargoids to spend much effort on slender-seeming risks such as this. The five agents thought so too and were pondering events as they waited for the transport vessel to leave the naval base at Xeer. The uniforms had been put away and they were now dressed casually. Four of them were human, the other an alien with a slight feline appearance, a native of the world Diso, unusual in an organisation dominated by the Old Earth species.

A slight movement in their ship signalled the start of its flight. The giant gantries and arms of the Xeer New Devonport Naval Docks were seen drifting by as the the craft was slowly manoeuvred towards clear space. Xeer was a major naval base and shipyard and was bustling with more activity than would usually be seen outside the busiest civilian space station. To the left the skeletons of three half-completed Asp MkIIs lay enclosed by a web of metal. Small points of light showed where robotic construction equipment worked on the ships. On the opposite side was a squadron of new Sidewinder Scout craft that had just arrived from Onrira Orbital. Alongside them was one of the Sidewinder's heavier squadron leader ships, the Bushmaster (an oversight in its naming resulted in it being given the identical designation to the common mining vessel).