Consisting of little more than a cramped spartan chamber with a long table running down the middle and a holodisplay in the center, this room is for the Officers to take their meals and discuss ship's business out of the ears of ratings and the rest of the crew.

----WEEK ONE----

It's been a long week, everyone pulling extra shifts and shaving a few hours off their sleep whenever they can spare it to help each other and make up for lost time and crewpower. Rations have been cut moderately to try to stretch out resources for as long as possible. It makes you all feel unhappy and unpleasant but you know the alternative is much worse...

Master Farhenra sat at the head of the table, befitting his acting status as Star Commander. He had a holo display in front of him, tracking his retinas so that as long as he was seated it would display the information he wanted in his peripheral vision no matter where he looked and such information was confidential.

Around the table sat what were now the senior members of the Crew.

Representing the engineering department, Voidmistress Annabel Grey sat at the opposite end of the long metal surface.

Representing the security department, Proven Warrior Desna Hargrieve sat to acting Star Commander Farhenra's left

Representing administration, Voidmaster Lanik Greist sat to the right of Zenner Farhenra

Representing the bridge, Astra Prime Samenus Donell, Astra Aloysius Logan and Astra Prime Luthar An'bhaird sat arranged around the table

Representing special departments, Mistress Maire Doiteain, Mistress Selana Venn and Master Justor Reson

"It's been a long week, everyone. I want to thank each and every one of you for showing such tireless devotion to your duty and courage in these difficult cirumstances." He is grim and tired, much like the rest of you.

"Good news first." He sets his jaw and starts reading his reports. "Thanks to the tireless genius of Voidmistress Grey here, our computer system is back on line and our intership network and comms have been fully restored. The attack virus the saboteur used has been completely purged from the system and a few other fragments of malcode were quaruntined and removed as well. We're weeks ahead of schedule on this our computers and you're all responsible for that, so keep it up."

"Next up, repairs to the ship. Mainly the engine room." He looks a little less cheerful at this. "We're proceeding according to our original estimate, thanks to everyone who has pitched in, especially the Deck Chief who has been working double shifts to bolt this ship back together one rivet at a time. He's sleeping right now, but when you see him give him our combined gratitude. We'd be weeks from done now if he hadn't put in the extra effort."

"You probably all want to know how Commander Valna is doing and likely Prince Aesgar as well." He eyes the room and continues. "Both of them are looking promising. Voidmistress Gray retrieved some data from the planet indicating there is an operational medical suite down there. That's a pre-tech medical suite, mind you, so we will likely be able to get them up and active again soon. The medical prognosis from our Special Advisor and Medical Officer Venn suggest that we can repair much of the damage and replace a few key organs with cybernetics that Master Reson is working on designing. It will take some time, but the outcome looks good for right now."

"Now the bad news. Security Chief Hargrieve found an object a few days ago hidden in the bulkhead panels in the XO's quarters, where our 'Observer' Janus Meyrink was staying. I was able to decrypt it and uncover the following message, as you can see here." He pressed something and the primary display unit lit up, projecting several three dimensional holoscreens into the air above the table, each showing the same simple text.

\\Agent, your assignment is as follows.
Eliminate commander if she shows disloyalty.
Record findings beyond the Dead Zone.
Do not be discovered by the crew.
In the event of encounter with a hostile force,
do not allow them to follow the ship back to Hegemony space.
If they can not be destroyed, you MUST destroy the ship.

\\Instructions Priority 0
112CA27B983-HV1-R1\\

The officers stare at it in shock, Selana's jaw drops and Samenus' lips purse angrily as he blinks at the words floating in the air above you all.

"It had been deleted from the device, but I was able to pull the data from the port buffer bit by bit and reconstruct it."
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:53, Wed 20 Feb 2013.

Emerging from deep thought, Lanik cast a quick glance around the room before speaking. "Where would these orders have originated? We would have reported any findings from the Dead Zone to the appropriate offices upon our return to Hegemony space." He pauses to consider his next statement, before continuing, "And I think I speak for all of us when I say that we would consider destruction preferable to supplying pursuers with a dekker's run straight to the core worlds."

He purses his lips together and glances around the room again, scanning the expressions of the other assembled officers for reactions. Steepling his fingers, he drew a deep breath before delivering his next statement.

"Another noble house must have been responsible. It's the only probable answer."

"Did Meyrink ever say anything regarding what house he came from?" Luthar finally spoke up after mulling over the news in his head.  Sabotage, lies, self-destruction? These were not things he wanted for the Shackleton.  They were doing important work for the Hegemony, and damn anyone else who wanted to stop them.

"I...why would anyone want to sabotage our mission? I mean, I understand not allowing this ship into the hands of the enemy, but..also...what disloyalty would Commander Valna have shown to warrant execution?"

Logan smiled broadly at Grey. He had relished the opportunity to work alongside her, repairing the ship's computer and systems. He had considerable respect for her prowess. During his time in engineering that week Logan became a little fascinated by her - her social skills, her sense of humour, her likeability... One night Logan had toyed with the idea of asking her to mentor him, but decided against it in a mind-swirling fit of anxiety.

Logan listened to Lanik. Another house? Interesting theory. he conceded to himself. Eyes on Greist, he nodded in agreement with the point of preference of self-destruction over leading hostile forces inside Hegemony perimeter.

After his new friend's final question, Logan added, "Mmm - There must be a crew manifest for the Commander's eyes only? What does that tell us of Meyrink? His behaviour ssseemed like that of a ps-ps- psychic; from where I sat, at least."

A gangly arm took a thin, spidery hand to his scalp and his fingers ran through his fiery hair.

"If the sabotage of our drill destination was pre-meditated... m-m- maybe there's something here that Meyrink was after? Maybe the Commander refused to help him? M-m- maybe..." Logan slunk back in the chair, with wide eyes staring into holo-display of the decoded transmission. "We need to talk to her."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:46, Thu 21 Feb 2013.

Maire sat back in her seat, deftly hiding any uncertainties she felt behind a mask of quiet contemplation. "Him being a psychic is possible, but even then..." She said slowly, clearly highly doubtful. "What's so important about this sector that someone would purposefully redirect our gaze to it? There has to be some reasonable explanation. And if it was a Noble House, why not just set up an expedition of their own? It might save them money to redirect us themselves, but the amount of political issues that would bring up if we ever made it back would be far more tolling than any expense ever could be..." Her gaze flicked to each member of the table in a slightly spaced manner, but her tone was clearly focused.

Desna leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.  She managed to almost look dignified for a change, the jacket of her Astral uniform done up properly with all of the pins in place, though she ruined the effect by tucking her hands behind her head as she pursed her lips in thought, opening her gray cloned eye to look over the holographically projected text a second time as the others began to talk.

"Mmn . . . I don't know, whether or not Meyrink was a psionically gifted could be an important detail.  His efforts to destroy the ship seem a little premature for six atmospheric drone fliers, don't you think?  If he was a .  . .ah . . .  Precog, then we might want to consider what his act of sabotage has diverted us from." she opened her other eye and tried to give Maire a meaningful look.  While Dizzy had been searching the ship top to bottom, in the back of her mind, she'd kept thinking about the mystery left unexplored surface-side. "Is it too late to do an autopsy on him and check his neural pathways for psionic scorching?"

Dizzy kept her own council on why she thought one of the noble houses might seek to sabotage their mission.  They didn't have enough information to do more than speculate wildly, after all.  However, whether or not the Captain was a traitor . . . that weighed heavily on her mind.  She leaned forward a bit to prop her elbows on the table.

"Regarding the Captain . . ." she said, pausing a moment as if uncertain if she should say anything, "I noticed something, when we arrived in-system.  The Captain seemed very nervous and kept checking around, as if wary that someone specific would appear on the bridge.  I didn't think much of it at the time, I thought to check with her during a private moment sometime after the mission and make certain that there wasn't any enmity brewing between the Captain and another crewmember." she folded her hands in front of her, "But, she wasn't worried about Janus being onto her.  He was already on the bridge, it had to be someone else." she drew her back up slightly.

"Are we certain it was Janus who sabotaged the spike drive?"

"I have been... keeping an eye one him since he got on board the ship. Valna did not consider him a threat but..." He cuts himself off as if he were about to say too much.

"He did not have ample opportunity."

His gaze focuses on the Junior Engineer.
"Voidmistress Grey, you've been silent so far. What are your thoughts?"

Annie sighed, unsteepling her hands and leaning forward.

"In all honesty? When you get down to it, I'm a simple woman. I like simple things. Maybe my definition of simple is a little different to yours, but I generally consider anything beyond the auspices of technology and history to be beyond me. Inter-house politics? I could regale you with stories of the rivalry between Meyrink and Kolta, or the twinning of the merchant guild and House Andrik, but anything more recent than a decade ago?" She shook her head.

"All I know is that with all the repairs and fixing that needed doing, I haven't had a chance to look at the spike jumper that threw us off course. Until I do that, I can't tell you anything about the sabotage." She reached into the bag beside her chair and put the device on the table. "That's not to say I'm not prepared to go into it now. Hell, maybe one of your military types will recognise stuff that I never picked up on back home."

Selana Venn, as beautiful as ever, responded to Dizzy.

"Proven Hargrieve, I have not yet had ample opportunity to examine Meyrink myself, but Hael has been assigned that duty. I expect a report from her by tomorrow at the latest."

"However, it is my... professional opinion that Meyrink was not Sensitive."

No one in the room seems to recognize the device but several of them peer at it curiously.

Before he spoke, Logan's face contorted into a grimace and he fiercely rubbed his forehead as the past week of anxiety finally culminated in an emotional outburst. Aloysius stood quickly, knocking his chair over backwards.

"This doesn't make any sense. We're not going about this methodically enough." Logan observed anxiously, now rubbing his temples.

"We've been so busy repairing the ship... we haven't even come together for a thorough debrief!" A little squeak of a laugh punctuating the end of his sentence.

"What was the series of events that led us here?
What was the Commander nervous of when we arrived?
How did the Commander and the Prince end up in a critical condition?
What hard evidence do we have, that Meyrink is the saboteur?
Why was Meyrink slain before being put to courtmarshal, or trial, or anything?
Since the systems have been repaired, has their been a full report on this system? The planet we're in orbit of?
When can we speak to the Commander and the Prince?"  Logan breathed heavily as he paced in the small space available, chewing his nails. The panic attack had truly set in.

"I mean, this coded message," Logan wildly gestured to the holo-display, "is circumstantial, at best..."

"With all due respect, Master Farhenra," Logan pleaded, "why have you called us here, if not to review the facts of our situation?!"

Ludo grimaced again, sweating, and rubbed his temples with shaking hands. His face began to blush, as he realised he may have stepped over the line... but had he really? The ship had been rendered useless in a mere manner of minutes - they'd been sitting ducks! They all could have died - it was a miracle they hadn't!

It had been an eventful week - not quite what anyone had expected upon leaving. Though, Logan dared not say aloud, maybe a couple of the crew had known what was coming...
This message was lightly edited by the player at 02:00, Fri 22 Feb 2013.

"Calm down, Logan." Grey sighed, without looking up from the device as she pulled out a screwdriver and started removing the panels carefully, wary for traps. A brief examination brought out another sigh. "This is a beautiful piece of kit. Completely custom and therefore useless to our purposes, but beautiful none the less."


20:11, Today: Annabel Grey rolled 8 using 2d6+1. PosTech.

[Private to Annabel Grey: -The device comes apart easily enough, but there's no indication that it was manufactured anywhere in particular. The components you do recognize are common enough you could find replacements in the ship's locker and the components that are more specialized appear to have been custom fabricated partially by hand and partially with an large automated workshop.

-It's a rather efficient design, intended to exploit the power couping by sitting between the pins and offering resistance which causes the safeties to reduce power and avoid blowing out the circuit, reduced power causes the spike drive to spin a few microcycles slower which put you off course by about 10LY.

-It had to be custom designed to offer the right amount of resistance to this engine and fusion reactor and put you this distance away, otherwise it might have dropped you off in a random spot in space, so it was likely intentional or either you were very lucky.

-Anyone could have installed this device. It doesn't require any technology knowledge, just removing the coupling when it's not in use and snap in the device and go about your business.]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:31, Fri 22 Feb 2013.

Lanik casts a disapproving look Logan's way, then watches quietly while Voidmistress Grey begins deconstructing the device. "Another house would need more than just money to launch a mission anywhere near similar to what we're doing. They'd need technology, advanced shipyards, experienced ship-builders - and an experienced crew if they wanted the mission to have a decent chance of success." He  rubs his forehead as he continues, "While infiltrating an agent on board as a crewmember, along with their equipment, would be difficult it is vastly more achievable. Why spend years designing and planning your own exploration mission when you could just piggy-back along with the Shackleton?"

Lanik pauses as if finished, before a flash of realization reaches his eyes, sending his hand from his forehead to rest flat against the table. "I've just thought. The instructions on that datapad gave specific instructions in the event that we encountered a hostile force, right? Now I'm not a paranoid man, but isn't it odd that they would mention that specifically? Unless whoever planned this knew there was a strong possibility of us encountering such a force in this region of space."