Thing walks into a small room off the bar with a coffee. The room had no windows and the only thing in it was a large table in the center. Thing plugs her PDA onto a port near the seat at the head of the table, and bites her lip as she plays with some buttons before smiling as a projector lit up the blank wall on the other side of the room opposite her, displaying a map with some distinctive red crosses scattered across it.
Taking a seat, she sips her coffee before sighing and leaning back in the seat, looking blankly at the map. After some time she shook her head and looked across at the door, muttering "Lets see if he is on time....." She was dubious about letting someone else take control over finding Moka, but she knew it had to be done. She was just hoping she had chosen the right man for the job.
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Lance guided his Sabre into dock at the remote station. He continually glanced at his wrist-clock as he popped the hatch on the ship and climbed down from the cockpit.
"Running late. Come on, Lance, kick it into gear."
He disregarded the maintenance crew as he began to jog down the primary corridor to the remote meeting room on the other end of the facility. He stopped outside the door, punched a small code into the keypad, and walked in.
He saw Thing and stopped, doing a small, two finger salute against his helmet. He began to pop the seal on his helmet and walked towards the seat across from her.
Thing nodded as he saluted her. "I take it you have read over the communication I sent you?" she waited as he sat down before continuing "Unfortunately that's all the information we have. The crew is gone, Moka too. There was no real signs of a fight, but the ship is looking.... Well, we have engineers looking over it now to see just how bad it is. There was nothing showing which direction they went, no signatures to show who attacked, nothing." She takes another sip of her coffee before looking across at the map projected on the wall again. "The big cross is where we found the ship.... The smaller red one by the jump hole there marks where the ship was last seen, and the black one marks where we lost contact with it...."
She shakes her head, she really had no idea how anyone was going to find Moka, and a part of her realized it was possible he was already dead.
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Lance sits, thinking carefully. He tries to use all the different pieces of information to come up with a plan.
Once Thing finishes, he takes a hard look at the map before returning to her. "Whoever went after the ship was interested in Moka and the crew, not the ship. Right there we can rule out Navy or LSF or any of that kind, because they'd scrap the ship too." He took a moment to think before continuing. "A good step is to ask the Rogues in that system if they've recently sighted Moka or the Disaster. As for the other groups...I'd look into possible Hacker implication. I'm not saying the organization is responsible, but maybe one got paid off by someone with deep pockets. The lack of conflict or scarring on the vessel other than system damage leads me to believe someone with...serious knowledge took the Disaster offline. And of course, there's always the Xeno base, so it's possible they had some involvement too..."
Lance sighed, turning to the system map. He took a long, hard look at it, and began to point. "Whoever took him, and I'm saying took, because otherwise there'd be some kind of clue as to his departure - I mean, it's not like he'd just run off without saying anything. Anyway, whoever took him had to go one of four ways. First option is south, into Liberty. Unlikely at best. North into the border worlds of Kusari is a possibility, and since we've been a bit...involved with the Chrysanthemums, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a hand in this. But it's still a stretch." He takes a look back at Thing, and continues: "That leaves us with two options: Either they took him west, through Bretonia, or east, through Rheinland. At this point it's unrealistic to think that whoever took him is still in House space, as we'd have an easy time of finding him there." Lance leaned back in his chair, deep in thought, as he waited for Thing to chime in.
She nods "That is a good point about the lawkeepers..... They have been trying to get that ship back for a while now...." Thing looks across at Lance. "I've contacted the Congress, waiting on a reply there. I figure it can't hurt to see what they know as they have eyes everywhere." After a moments silence she added "Going further into Liberty would be a rather.... It just wouldn't make sense. I mean, hijacking the Rogue Warlord and going further into his territory?" Thing rubs the back of her neck. "Whoever took him obviously isn't stupid, so I think it would be safe to say they wont be in house space."
She looks up at the map again "What I don't understand is why there is no sign of a fight inside. I highly doubt they would just walk out like it happens every other day..... And I don't think we've really upset anyone lately..... Well, short of traders and stuff." She shrugs as if to say 'I have no idea'.
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Lance nodded in agreement. "Congress is a good first step. They operate to the borders of the Omicrons, and even beyond in some cases. If anyone has a chance of finding him, it's the Congress." Lance sat back in his chair. "We also have contacts in every House, that should be able to more easily scout out the border worlds, if you feel it's needed. Unioners, GC, that sort of thing."
"When it comes to who did it..." Lance sighed, looking at the map, then back to Thing. "It really could be anyone. A trader that got a bit too ticked off with the Rogues, a higher-up in some corporation who was looking for a way to get rid of piracy...we can't even rule out that someone in the Rogues betrayed Moka. It's probably best we don't dwell on who did it until we find him."
She looked across at him, when she spoke it sounded more like she was thinking aout loud rather then directing it at him. "Rogues, Unioners, GC.... I'll send a transmission out to all of them, even just getting them to keep an eye open. The Liberty Rogues wont be too much help, I'm guessing. But at least they'll be on side...."
After his comment about one of the Rogues betraying Moka, she frowned "I didn't think anyone would be so stupid, but I guess it is a possibility....." She nodded in approval. Already she was beginning to feel more at ease with her choice.