A Breaking Point

[Cat]

Sprague Orbital Control
Several minutes earlier

- Did you identify the ship?!
- Yes, it was a Voyager class... the Pathfinder... registered as an Ajax Solutions vessel.
- Inform them. Tell them there was a radiation leak or something, our scanners went haywire on this one.

Sprague orbital supervisor Joshua Randall cursed to himself. Why did everything have to happen in his shift? First there was a report of a Corsair patrol in the area, now this crashed ship... That certainly wouldn't look good on his resume. Joshua sighed, as Ellen Ashcroft, his assistant finished talking to the Ajax Solutions representative over comms.

- Done. They insist on sending their own recovery team first though.
- Right... Those blasted bureaucrats and their corporate secrets...

Joshua didn't really mind someone else doing his job for him, but he needed something to grumble about, and the company was a perfect target. However, he was interrupted by Ellen, who sounded surprisingly concerned now.

- Tracking an unidentified heavy vessel entering orbit...
- Hail them. - This sudden event made Joshua forget about the previous problems. He now focused on the matter at hand, signs of tension on his face.
- No response. They vessel is changing course... It's going for the planet...
- Radio to the defense grid control and alert the Norfolk battlegroup!
- I... I can't get through, it's like the signal... is jammed...

Joshua and Ellen could only watchthe dot on the radar as it approached the planet. Then they saw energy signatures similar to weapons fire, but surprisingly, they hit the nearby canyon instead. Then the dot simply disappeared. The operators were so busy monitoring it that they paid no attention to other traffic, including the Marauder.

---

New Frontier Canyon
In the meantime

The already-damaged Voyager shuttle didn't take yet another full-speed planetfall well. The hull survived the collision, but the engines didn't. The ship wasn't going anywhere in the nearest couple of months at least... Let alone the fact that the pilot's face was lying on the control panel now, a trickle of blood running down the console and dipping on the floor. But even if Linn was awake, she couldn't have done anything before the Rheinland gunboat appeared and bombarded the canyon.

Lucky for Linn, the Rheinlanders didn't have much time to aim. However, they did succeed in burying the Pathfinder under more rocks as one of the shots hit the cliff above the ship. Now only a small frontal part of it was visible from under the rubble.