Captum: The Story So Far - Part 2
October 15th 2952
The Cobro’s hit a wall with the investigation into DeadBolts whereabouts, with the audio messages he sent being far too corrupted to discern any real meaning of the messages. All the Cobro’s know to be fact right now is that DeadBolts is indeed missing and that all hope of finding him currently resides in clearing up those messages. To do this, the Cobro’s surmised that the corruption is a result of a copying process that happens when the message passes through the main hub of the communications network for Stanton. So in going to that hub, they should be able to restore the files and fully understand the intent of the messages. The messages have been leaked and cleaner versions of it shared with the Cobro Force community & while some people may be able to find some clarity of words in the message, the fractured message pointing to one outfit might seem like reason enough to act but picking a fight without knowing exactly who to fight, could result in a feud at best or worse, war.
The Cobro Force tech team, headed by Fochs & Jeg86 have been working with the Stanton Comms team for the last 72 hours under quarantine. They have not yet stepped foot into the hub, this entire time has been spent providing credentials, confirming clearance, decontamination routines, blindfolded transports to unknown places, stripped of everything but the skin on their bodies and handed clothes that would make a Hurston employee be thankful for the Hurston line-up of clothing.
That’s all coming to a head now though as they are about to step off the Carrack transport, through the docking collar into the hub itself. This is an achievement that no other organisation in Stanton can compare. The Stanton group, a coalition of the big four corporations in Stanton, come together to form and maintain certain technologies that benefit all of them. The communications network being on of such joint ventures that helps the big four better invite and secure investments and data trade in the system. This was not an easy achievement though.
Even before the 72 hours quarantine for this Cobro team, countless red tape had to be signed off and talks had in various board rooms with representatives of the big four, Crusader, Hurston, Microtech, ArcCorp. Even the Advocacy were in attendance in all those meetings but unlike the big four, the Advocacy were the only reps in the room that supported the Cobro’s. Advocacy allegiance aside, no one was too thrilled at the thought of letting an organisation like the Cobro Force delve into the heart of the communications network that four huge corporations spent billions of credits acquiring and modifying, to suit each individual planet & corporations needs. It was close to letting any yahoo touch the book of trade secrets or giving access to the ‘How to be successful at world dominance’ or at least that’s the feeling Jeg86 had during these meetings.
It took almost seven days to gain the authorisation from them and in that time strict conditions and terms were set. In the end though, access was given to the main array located at an undisclosed and very classified location within Stanton and the Cobro tech team were able board the station, albeit with a one to one security personnel to escort them anywhere on the station watching their every move.
The Main comms array was an enormous station that would fit nicely into a comic book or a video game. It has three arms with each the length of a Bengal Carrier but more than twice as wide. The base of each arm connected to a circular ring that not only supports all three arms, but also serves as the base for tens of server rooms & a open planed control room.
The outside of the ‘ring’ as the staff of the station called it, was so big you could easily sit an 890 Jump or something of similar size in the centre of it and still have room to turn the ship in any direction without scratching the paint off of the ring.
Inside the ‘ring’ was simply room after room after room, each filled left to right & front to back with server after server. However there is one section of the ring that is different. Open planed by comparison of the server rooms, it’s the control centre or a monitoring station, over watching every aspect of the stations operation, from external thrusters, opening or closing the arms, to internal air conditioning, this control centre could operate it all. This would be the place the Cobro’s will do their work.
Arriving at the control centre Fochs & Jeg86 felt a sense of pride in getting to this point, all the talks, all the fighting and all the meetings it took to get to this point of to gaining access the station, and all the traveling to purchase advanced equipment to enable better restoration of the fractured files, it all seemed like this was the focal point of that journey to date, that now we can end this investigation and get on to the action part. When Corbin walked though the door at Cobro HQ and said “we’re gonna work on gaining access to the comms hub” it seemed like a pipe dream so many days ago. It felt like a conviction sentence during the board room meetings and posturing given to the big four reps but now, now it felt like a proud achievement, a badge of honour and a testament for just how far the Cobro Force is willing to go for one of their own. The pair stand with pride and if the moment was captioned by a historian at the time with no other facts beyond this point, the caption would say something like ‘We did it, here is the time we stuck it to the man while also getting what we needed to get done, find one of our own’.
However, as the ancient proverb says ‘all good things must come to an end‘, not that any of it was good. After less than an hour aboard the Main Comms Array, the beating heart of Stanton’s communications network, one of the CCT’s (Cobro Communication Technicians) Nemesis_One turns to Fochs & Jeg86 and says “guys, the files cant be repaired here, there’s nothing this station or the equipment we’ve got can do with them”. Both Fochs & Jeg86 hearts sink, it’s like each of them just took a P6 round to the chest. They can feel the odd movement of something happening in their chest and are simply waiting for the blood to trickle out.
For Fochs’ point of view he has been at this saga from the start. He’s naturally a patient and calculated man, a man of resolve, but as centred as he usually is the last few days are beginning to take its toll. He didn’t spends days awake with minimal sleep doing passes on the messages at Cobro Force HQ or days away attending meetings after meetings pandering to blue collar pecker necks who’s only major daily issues were ‘which suit to wear’ each day or ‘which side to start eating a Torpedo Burrito’.
Fochs started pacing, an unusual thing to witness for those that know him. “Is there nothing here, at all Nemmy?” Jeg86 pleads seeing Fochs is starting to loose his cool. With almost a devilish smile and a slow raise of his head, Nemesis_One looks up and replies to Jeg86, “well, I now know the original CommRelay the messages were sent from. If there is any chance of restoring them, its going to be there! Comm array ST2-76, Yela”.
As soon as Nemesis_One said the word CommRelay Fochs stopped pacing, it was like the feeling in his chest changed from whatever it felt like to the rage of fire and brimstone but just as quickly as hell formed in his chest, his composure quelled it to the neutral realms of men. From the inside a battle of good verses evil just took place for ones soul traveling to either the gates of heaven or the gates of hell, from the outside Fochs simply stopped pacing. Fochs didn’t utter a single word, he just stood there, took a breath then headed to the air lock where the transport Carrack docked in wait. “Nemmy this is not the time to be fuckin’ around!” Fochs said while walking away, the sound of his voice echoing off the walls.
October 12th 2952
Corbin_Jones had used the Advocacy to put out a press statement back on October 12th, pleading with the public on SSNtv News to support the Cobro Force in bringing back DeadBolts by providing intel or clue that will help to locate him. This was not a usual occurrence on the Advocacy’s part. Press conferences were not something the Advocacy would allow non-Advocacy to participate in, but Corbin leaned on a few pressure points within the ArcCorp Advocacy office leading to another first for the Cobros.
Listing DeadBolts on the official Advocacy Missing Persons list, Corbin_Jones posted the info anywhere people would allow, and even places they wouldn’t.
Back to October 15th, Corbin has just closed his Mobi after a call from Fochs. The news of the Main Comm Array has Corbin_Jones now feeling deflated. Comm array ST2-76 is the last nugget of info, after a very long line in wait of more actionable info. The trail was cold before hand with the hopes that the Main Comm Array would heat it up again, but this simply was not the case. All hopes were pinned on the Main Comm Array and now it feels more like this is more of a goose chase than an investigation or rescue attempt.
Within the Corbo Force, all of the people that have been involved to this point feel the same, even Fochs though he hides it incredibly well is starting to show cracks in the armour of high spirits. Cobra has fell silent within the community as he talks to org after org trying to secure info or clues to whom may be responsible. Cobra is ready and able to mount a rescue or even take his forces to war, but knowing where to go or who specifically to fight are the first steps in any action here. Ploughing credits into security contractors pockets, speaking with the bounty hunter guilds and anyone with a means of tracking citizens down is Cobra’s focus and duty at the moment. Anything in an attempt to get a lead on DeadBolts or clarifies the situation that lead to his disappearance. Simply put there is just not enough information to act on.
October 16th 2952
“THIS IS IT!” Nemesis_One cries out through the comms in his vacuumed sealed suit. Nemesis_One, Fochs, Jeg86 and the rest of the team are all crammed inside the cramped Aciedo CommRelay class station, Comm array ST2-76 orbiting Yela. No gravity or shielding, just the whole team floating in the weightlessness of space, inside this tiny satellite. “What you got?” Fochs asks the usually troublesome but currently very focused Nemesis_One. “So this IS the CommRelay that first took the transmission from DeadBolts ship…. er… here we go, Tag number ERS956ASG8852 ahh, his Lancer Max. But it seems we had it wrong. The corruption is not from the relay infrastructure, it is from DeadBolts ship” Nemesis_One explains. Fochs is eager to learn more, he’s just about to open his mouth but then Nemesis_One continues “Okay, okay so I can clean the message right now, one second…. and play… “
Comm Array ST2-76 Original Files
“Wait, that’s it?!? It’s not much better than before!” Fochs cries. “I can also confirm that this relay had DeadBolts’ ship in the area at 04:56 SET on September 27th and then the ship either moved out of range or was destroyed or something because after 06:01 the relay lost contact with the ship….
The Comm array did not receive all packets of the message so it kept re-tasking the transceiver from DeadBolts’ ship for error checking but then when it didn’t get anything, it just held on to the messages for the standard 4 hours, then forwarded messages as is.” Nemesis_One says.
“grrrr…. ahhhhhhhhh” Fochs lets out a frustrating snarl and goes to hit the wall of the comm array but through sheer will clams himself down again. “This is getting ridiculous. Is there anything more you can get from here?” Fochs pleas. “Well from here and the messages, no. But, the comm array pinged 4 ships that were in the same area at the same time DeadBolts ship was here, but the ships had no IFFI so the comm array can’t say who it was.
Also…. with these files stored in the buffer have more data packets than what was sent to the main array, with this I should be able to write a program that will merge what we have with this new stuff, but the program will take time to process and before you ask probably a day to create the program and another 5 or 6 days for it to process them”.
“FUUUUUUCCK!!!” Fochs lets out, Jeg86 chimes in “no… Fochs”.