noted.
Heskan
nodded in grim understanding. “This is bigger than a single sloop. The sloop
is just a tool that’s being used. The question is, to what end?”
“To
keep us blind, that’s what the sloop is doing,” Riedel stated. “Someone didn’t
want Renard to see what they were doing. Nor us, now that we’re here.”
“If
you’re a criminal enterprise, what do you do in a remote system with two high
emissions asteroid fields?” Heskan asked.
“You
hide something in it,” Vernay answered. “Then when the Republic has the
audacity to come here and buoys are positioned in the system, you ‘encourage’ them
to malfunction—”
Selvaggio
interrupted, “And when Renard comes here, accidents are ‘encouraged’ to happen in
a system where it’s already insane to attempt mining operations.”
Vernay
flashed back to her theory. “Sure, Joe Miner in his excavator is just minding
his own business, he’s not even looking for other ships let alone a stealth one
and then boom, he’s hit by the railgun and that’s that.”
Riedel
considered the possibilities. “That makes sense but some of the ships Renard
has lost have been a lot bigger than excavators. We’re talking surveyor ships
and a bulk cargo carrier and it would take a lot more than one tiny railgun to
destroy those and still stay unseen.”
“There’s
got to be more than a sloop out here,” Heskan said. “Jack, bring up a system
chart of all the ships that have been lost in this system.” Heskan waited for
the information to appear on the conference table. “Look, every ship larger
than an excavator has been lost in an asteroid belt. We know civilian ships
can barely see in the fields and without a functional buoy to transmit data,
they’re down to, what—a couple light-seconds’ worth of detection radius?”
Truesworth
agreed, “About that.”
“How
long would it take to kill a blind, unsuspecting freighter with an average
pirate ship, Mike?”
The
first officer thought for a few seconds before answering, “A pirate ship the
size of a ketch, roughly our size? Not long. They could cripple them before
they even know what hit them and once their communications go out, it doesn’t
matter how slowly they die.”
“A
ketch would also have more cargo space fer supplies but they’d still need to be
replenished. How’s that happenin’?” Brown asked.
Inspiration
hit Heskan. “Same way they killed those freighters, Boats.” Heskan zoomed the
system view on the screen to the Beta Field. “Any freighter that travels
in-system has to go through the Beta Field and unless we’re escorting it, we
don’t see it clearly again until it comes out the other side. They simply
rendezvous and off-load supplies inside the Beta Field. They have to slow down
to a crawl while in the field anyway giving them all the time they need.”
Heskan
rocked back in realization as another piece fit into the puzzle. “The RALF
base manager confirms this! The day I met him he had a freighter captain in
his office and he was complaining about why the freighter was coming in with less
than a full load. I’d bet two ensigns that it did arrive in-system with a full
load—”
“But
off-loaded supplies to our mystery pirate ketch in the Beta Field,” Riedel
finished the thought for him. “Damn, that fits together nicely but it still doesn’t
explain why they’re going through all this trouble.”
“What
if the asteroid fields aren’t just fer hidin’?” Brown said. “There are some
drugs that require high radiation environments to cultivate. This system is a
pharmacologist’s dream in that respect.”
Heskan
agreed, “That’s possible, Chief. It’s hard to hide an illegal drug facility
that’s emitting lots of radiation to create those drugs, that’s one of the
reasons they’re so expensive. System police can easily locate such a facility,
and there are so few places in a normal system
Heskan
nodded in grim understanding. “This is bigger than a single sloop. The sloop
is just a tool that’s being used. The question is, to what end?”
“To
keep us blind, that’s what the sloop is doing,” Riedel stated. “Someone didn’t
want Renard to see what they were doing. Nor us, now that we’re here.”
“If
you’re a criminal enterprise, what do you do in a remote system with two high
emissions asteroid fields?” Heskan asked.
“You
hide something in it,” Vernay answered. “Then when the Republic has the
audacity to come here and buoys are positioned in the system, you ‘encourage’ them
to malfunction—”
Selvaggio
interrupted, “And when Renard comes here, accidents are ‘encouraged’ to happen in
a system where it’s already insane to attempt mining operations.”
Vernay
flashed back to her theory. “Sure, Joe Miner in his excavator is just minding
his own business, he’s not even looking for other ships let alone a stealth one
and then boom, he’s hit by the railgun and that’s that.”
Riedel
considered the possibilities. “That makes sense but some of the ships Renard
has lost have been a lot bigger than excavators. We’re talking surveyor ships
and a bulk cargo carrier and it would take a lot more than one tiny railgun to
destroy those and still stay unseen.”
“There’s
got to be more than a sloop out here,” Heskan said. “Jack, bring up a system
chart of all the ships that have been lost in this system.” Heskan waited for
the information to appear on the conference table. “Look, every ship larger
than an excavator has been lost in an asteroid belt. We know civilian ships
can barely see in the fields and without a functional buoy to transmit data,
they’re down to, what—a couple light-seconds’ worth of detection radius?”
Truesworth
agreed, “About that.”
“How
long would it take to kill a blind, unsuspecting freighter with an average
pirate ship, Mike?”
The
first officer thought for a few seconds before answering, “A pirate ship the
size of a ketch, roughly our size? Not long. They could cripple them before
they even know what hit them and once their communications go out, it doesn’t
matter how slowly they die.”
“A
ketch would also have more cargo space fer supplies but they’d still need to be
replenished. How’s that happenin’?” Brown asked.
Inspiration
hit Heskan. “Same way they killed those freighters, Boats.” Heskan zoomed the
system view on the screen to the Beta Field. “Any freighter that travels
in-system has to go through the Beta Field and unless we’re escorting it, we
don’t see it clearly again until it comes out the other side. They simply
rendezvous and off-load supplies inside the Beta Field. They have to slow down
to a crawl while in the field anyway giving them all the time they need.”
Heskan
rocked back in realization as another piece fit into the puzzle. “The RALF
base manager confirms this! The day I met him he had a freighter captain in
his office and he was complaining about why the freighter was coming in with less
than a full load. I’d bet two ensigns that it did arrive in-system with a full
load—”
“But
off-loaded supplies to our mystery pirate ketch in the Beta Field,” Riedel
finished the thought for him. “Damn, that fits together nicely but it still doesn’t
explain why they’re going through all this trouble.”
“What
if the asteroid fields aren’t just fer hidin’?” Brown said. “There are some
drugs that require high radiation environments to cultivate. This system is a
pharmacologist’s dream in that respect.”
Heskan
agreed, “That’s possible, Chief. It’s hard to hide an illegal drug facility
that’s emitting lots of radiation to create those drugs, that’s one of the
reasons they’re so expensive. System police can easily locate such a facility,
and there are so few places in a normal system
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