The head office of OS&C on Curacao resembled a bee hive at this time of year, with employee’s toing and froing, orchestrating the many operations which ensured customers received the service they expected. It was a scene in stark contrast with the view from the office window, the large expanse of the light blue sky was blemished only with the odd vapour trail of craft making their way to and from the planet. Below, the ocean was calm, encrusted with sparkles of light reflected off the crests of waves caused by the light wind. A few large ocean liners in the distance provided the only discernible objects in the scene as they gracefully glided across the horizon.
In the hustle and bustle one member of staff seemed out of place, sitting quiet and still, staring out of the panoramic window which enclosed the office. Karen was in no mood to join the general goings on, it had only been a week since, Captain Daniel Simpson, had died in an accident in Pennsylvania. He had been the only solid dependable person she could reply on, her mother had died giving birth and her farther died 6 years ago in a ship fire. Now aged 32 she felt once again alone and helpless…
*ping*
The sound of a new message in the inbox interrupted the gloomy reminiscing:
“Miss Banks,
I’m sorry to hear the news of the loss of your close friend Daniel, his death was not only a personal tragedy but one for the company as a whole my condolences to you at this difficult time.
Although I can sympathise that you must be feeling down at the moment I have an assignment I want you to handle. I have received information of a missing person, one Moleigh Darksaint. She happens to be the mother of the CEO of a new supply company we are working with and was supposed to be delivering some contract information to us…
Her daughter, Lorleii, will be in contact with you shortly. I don’t want this to become a PR disaster, with us losing the mother of our new supplier! Drop your other work and concentrate solely on this case. I trust you have the connections to get to the bottom of this without causing too much of a scene so to say… Hopefully she will turn up unharmed or lost outside of our jurisdiction and we can move on. I’ll leave this with you.
Regards
Mr Pines
CEO”
Karen sat back in her chair, not quite believing the message, a number of thoughts quickly raced through her mind:
“Why has Mr Pines contacted me with this directly?”
“What does he see in me?”
“Why is this to be kept under wraps?”
“Who is this person?”
“Why is she so important?”
“Who would want to …”
A slight pang of excitement rushed down her spine, a sensation which had not been fully experienced since her early years with OS&C scouting and running courier missions to far flung luxury liners and remote planets…
The next few days were filled with communications with Lorleii and the start of the investigation, the first step having been cross referencing Moleigh’s ID with the security records. Had she landed on the planet through the usual docking bays the security logs would have some record of this. Unfortunately the system returned no positive matches. It was a blow for sure, with no official records of a landing she would be next to impossible to track down but Karen had never expected the case to be resolved quickly. The first break through occurred after Lorleii provided an image of her mother.
The photo showed a women in her 50’s and although her age showed, she was still, in Karen’s opinion a good looking woman. Red hair, which she had passed onto Lorleii, flowed down onto her shoulders it framed a pale slender face, her cheeks where scattered with numerous freckles, but what stuck out most where the piercing blue eyes. They seemed to burn through the screen, hiding untold stories and a life full beyond her years.
Karen entered the image into the security system, focusing on the progress bar as the face recognition program ran through all the CCTV footage from the many resorts. Karen had mixed feelings about the outcome, though she wanted Lorleii’s mother to be safe, truth be told the best outcome for OS&C would be for there to be no trace of her, Karen could close the case and return to a normal routine, but there was a part of her excited by the prospect of something more exciting…
“Target identified”
“Location: Bar Lounge, Diogo Resort”
“Time since last sighting: 72 hours 35 minutes 3 seconds”
“Playing video file” came the automated voice of the computer
Karen watched as the grainy CCTV footage played. It showed the inside of Bar Lounge, it was not the usual high luxury bar found on Curacao, certainly not drab, but dark and foreboding. It was frequented by the less sociable clients, people from the fringes, well off yes, but their business was often based beyond the laws of house space. It was a hotbed for gambling, drugs and less than respectable entertainment.
In the video Moleigh was sat alone at a small table not far from the bar, she looked around nervously, she had clearly spotted the camera and turned away. After about three minutes she looked down seemingly busying herself with something, then abruptly left out of shot, she had drawn little attention from the other punters and did not seem to make any attempt to talk to anyone there. It was not much for Karen to go on and left more questions than answers…
Why was she there?
How did she get there?
Why was the main CCTV cameras not working?
What was she using in her hands?
Where had she gone?
These questions needed to be answered, Karen knew the only way to make progress was to go to Diogo Resort and find out herself what had been seen that day.
The resort was named after the small remote island it was built on, it was at least a four day cruise from the headquarters but there was no time for sailing by sea, Karen decided to take her own transport. She opened her data pad whilst traveling to her apartment and quickly messaged Lorleii, it was not the update she had hoped to send but at least there had been a sighting of Moleigh. She was alive.
The doors automatically opened as she neared, the interior was a modest affair, a single bedroom, a small toilet and a kitchen. It was untidy, decorated only with a few dead house plants. Karen made her way to a door off the main room, slid her ID card through the scanner, a little green light turned on and the door opened. As she entered the dark hanger a few lights flickered and struggled to turn on, after the scene had finally been illuminated the outline of an Arrow class light fighter covered by some old stained sheets came into view. The craft had been a gift from her father back when she had first joined OS&C but after he died six years ago she had requested to be transferred from the courier missions to the public relations and human resources department… a safe … steady job … behind a desk. Since then the craft had remained unused.
Karen grabbed the sheets and pulled them off the craft, sending plumes of dust into the stale still air. She took a step back and surveyed the craft, it was just as it had been left. She climbed the steps up to the cockpit and pulled the release handle, the canopy slowly raised and as it did a plethora of screens and lights began to blink into life signalling the boot up sequence of numerus flight, weapons and navigation systems. Karen climbed down and stepped over to a locker in the corner of the room and unhooked a set of flight clothes, a leather zip jacket lined with animal fur, a leather cap and a pair of googles, which had been custom made to display the HUD inside, she changed, happily noting that they still fitted. During this time the craft had finished its start-up sequence, she drew in a large breath and exhaled slowly on the climb into the cockpit, the landing thrusters came online causing the craft to hover in the hanger, the gear raised and locked in to the smooth hull and the canopy closed. A bright shaft of sunlight raised steadily as the hanger doors opened, cutting through the dusty atmosphere, Karen thumbed the throttle control nervously, the doors locked open, full throttle!
The main engine roared into life jettisoning the craft like a rock from a catapult. The exhaust wake shattered the calm surface of the sea and sent spray high into the air, temporarily creating a rainbow in the failing droplets. Karen’s heart beat raced as she soared into the spotless blue sky…
“I hope my questions will be answered, I hope I'll have more to report to Lorleii soon” Karen thought as she entered the coordinates into the navigation computer. The Arrow pitched starboard and headed east, towards Diogo Island…
