"Well then. Let's start at the begining. When did you come into contact with Rear Admiral Knight?" Sader turned back to Hemclok and walked to the table grabbing one of the sandwiches and started to eat it. "Man, i would seriously suggest you try this out. It's really well made"
He simply eyed him as he moved, not so much planning, but more trying to emphasize his distaste for Sader's whole persona. "I'll pass. I never actually 'came across' her. My last CO said he was planning on transferring me to her command, but I never got any confirmation from her. As far as I'm aware, he sent the papers, but she never actually signed them."
He crossed his arms, leaning back in his seat. He looked comfortably unhappy, but handled the situation well enough for his own sake.
"Not long after Anderson told me about the transfer. He heard about the incident in Delta, but ultimately gave the order for us to move out. Once we got back, we were to report to either him or Knight if she had signed the request."
He took a deep breath. "Apparently it never got that far.."
"Why did they send you and your ship to conduct a humanitarian mission? Why sending a warship wich is needed on the gallic front instead of a transport convoy with esccorts?"
"Operatives, let the XO in, hold anybody else. I have a couple questions that I need answered right now." Nova stood at the case, inspecting the locks. He sure didn't want anybody getting into here. This is an awful talkative artifact, especially with telling me how to get to it. I hope Hemlock doesn't keep the keys on him. As she waited for the XO to find her, she took notes and a description of what the stone has said to her on a datapad.
Maybe the crew knows something about this artifact. Though I should be cautious, I don't know who all has come in contact with it.
He sighs, looking a little annoyed. The question had been asked of him numerous times, almost more than he could count, and it likely got to the point where it was just annoying to hear it. "Because the Bay isn't meant for front line combat. Her whole damn history is bad news, and both myself and Anderson knew that with the kinds of 'friendlies' we could've had out there she would've survived better than she would on the battlefield. Not only that, but she's not even equipped for it. She's got more medical gear than most Overlords, even your Odyssey." He took another quick sigh, continuing to look straight at him. "It was a matter of logic over effectiveness."
After being let in, Reyes looked around to see if anything had been moved. She approached the entry to Hemlock's study, eyeing Nova as she logged what the stone spoke. "Agent..? You know, he's not going to be too thrilled with the fact that you're going through his stuff.."
"I understand that but we have to cover everything. I must ask you, do you know what this is?" Nova pointed out the stone. "This stone.. spoke to me. That's.. strange, to say the least. I need to ask you, has he shown this to anybody on the ship? According to some notes he took, it's been talking for the better part of five months now. At first I thought somebody was here and readied my weapon, and it.. asked me not to. Do you know where the keys to the locks on the case are?"
Nova's voice was quiet. She was thinking, calculating, she eye'd the stone intently after finishing her notes. "This stone may be a key piece in my investigation. We also need to know the extent to your crews connection to the Order. We have overwhelming evidence and I suggest we get to the truth quickly, Sader is questioning Hemlock now and only has information that may lead him to believe you and your people defected. We know what will happen if I can't get the truth to him in time."
"That stone..? He found it near Toledo.. near a wreck.. I still don't know why he took it, but he said it had something to do with his wife."
She walked in, stopping near his desk and sitting on the edge of it in a spot free of papers. "As far as I know, he's only told me about it. You might try talking to him after he's done speaking to Admiral Sader, though, since I think he carries the keys with him.. I don't think he has as much dislike for you as he does for Sader.."
She suddenly coughs a bit, raising he sleeve to her mouth. She took a deep breath, continuing on. "Cap's got ties to the Order, but I think he's tried to distance himself from them. Sure, we ran into trouble out in the fringes, and he used some of his friends to get us up again, but we never defected. He'll tell Sader the same. He loves this place too much to just abandon it."
"Alright, one thing I want you to know. I'm not here to pin blame on anyone here, just to find out precisely what happened. I'm not like Sader, I'm not trying to lock you up, quite the opposite." Nova now had clear reasoning. The ship sustained heavy damage and Hemlock called in a few favors.
"One more thing my medical team noticed. You're running a skeleton crew, did.. did you lose half your people out there?" Nova had to account for the reason they only have half a crew before going to the transmissions.
