The Incident at Kruger 60, Part 2

By Christopher Rehm

Follow the adventures of Laura and Alex as they search for the answers to what really going out there...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christopher Rehm
• Release date: Nov 22, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310954061

Christopher Rehm

Writer, Musican, Painter, Engineer. i write and paint because I love it, just like I love engineering. please visit my website to see what Im working on. Your basic out of control adventuresome life. Its good for material... Visit my website for more info, and write me if you are curious, I always reply. See you around the net!

Book preview

Part Two

Commission Mobilization

We waited, along with everyone else, at the spaceport on the planet, to see what would happen next. The landing had been uneventful. Laura and I were standing in the spaceport center, while I looked up the contact information for Paulo on my portable computer. The news screens in the spaceport center were abuzz with the news of the movements of star command ships, and the disappearance of the Volga. Ships were already on route to Kroatzys' Station, but we were still waiting for the public announcement of what policy was going to be pursued in regards to the disappearance of the Volga. Word had already leaked out from Kroatzys', and it was impossible to keep it a secret that the commission had lost a frigate, under mysterious circumstances on a distant planet on the edge of the open zone. The news had spread fast, especially since all the larger ships in the fleet were on alert, and the big cruisers, the ones currently in the open system, were underway to Kroatzys' Station.

I pulled up the comm program and contacted Paulo, Jochim's contact man at Johnson center. He answered in about ten seconds.

Allo, Paulo Vinsa here, can I help you?

Yes this is Alex Schaufelaufer. Jochim told me to call you when I got here. I'm working for him, he said you can fill me in on whats the situation on Morda Prima.

Ah so! Yes I have been expecting your call. We can meet immediately. I'm sure you are planning on moving quickly on this project. Meet me at the travelers cafe in the spaceport center. I'll be there in twenty minutes. Is that good for you?

Great. I have a partner with me. So there will be two of us. How will I know you?

I'm Portuguese. About 170 centimeters tall, stocky build. Black hair, forty years old. I have a mustache. You cant miss me. You?

187 centimeters tall, salt and pepper hair, thin, blue eyes. Short hair. I'll be with a woman, early twenties, reddish brown hair and thin build, she is about 160 cm tall.

Fair enough, see you soon. And the line went dead.

OK Laura, you ready to go find out more about this place?

Sure, the more I know the better.

We hurried off to the bar.

It didn't take anytime to find Paulo. The place was half empty, and he had picked out a table in the back, as I expected. He was easy to spot, only guy alone even close to that description. We introduced ourselves and sat down. A waitress came by and we ordered some coffees.

So whats up, or are you not at liberty to say? He asked. He eyed Laura for a second. It was clear we struck him as an odd combo at first, but he didn't say anything.

We are investigating these stories about a supply of high quality UUP coming from the closed zone. And the rumors of where the stuff came from. Beyond that I really can't tell you anymore right now.

OK, fair enough. He smiled. It was clear that if he spent significant time in the closed zone that he was some kind of undercover SC man, and knew not to ask too many questions. Well, there is definitely a supply of very, VERY pure UUP coming out of closed zone. Rumor has it, its coming from Trajians 7, and that it comes from, shall we say, a non human source. You need to go to a bar on Morda Prima called Phil's, and ask around about UUP. At some point someone will contact you. It's not a well kept secret there, but then little is. He gave a little laugh.

I'm curious about these rumors about the source. What do you know about that?

He shifted in his chair, and looked me up and down once. Well you don't want to ask too many questions about where its coming from, but the local scuttlebutt on Morda Prima is that its coming from Trajians 7, on the other side of the open zone. He paused. Now this is were it gets interesting. The rumor is that it comes from a source that is way way out, and that the pirates at T-7 have got a otherworldly source. In other words, they have established some kind of contact with an extraterrestrial race, and that is where the supply comes from. Rather incredible, eh? And he looked straight at me in my eyes. Then he looked at Laura's.

OK. What have you heard about this alien contact?

"Well it's all rumors. Lots of them. Most of them sound like the usual spacefarer drinking bullshit, but there is a common thread. Somehow an extraterrestrial race made contact with the people out there. Basically they are some kind of pirate too, in their own society, and a decision was made to work together for mutual benefit. There are rumors that this guy who calls himself the lord of the darkness managed to get a few small ships out of them, but no one has ever seen anything. The traders that do the T7 - Morda Prima run are a pretty rough lot. They don't talk much, but sometimes you hear stuff from the whores out there, and it winds it's way back into the general populace. Up until about a year ago there was little contact between the Morda Prima outlaws, who are basically a bunch of rugged individualists who run their lives outside the open zone, and the criminals at T7. Then some freighters started showing up with small quantities of this really pure UUP and selling it, supposedly, to trusted members of the Morda Prima insider crowd. It's not easy to get, I haven't actually gotten a hold of a sample for testing, but I have heard a couple of space miner types talking about it. They use it to push further into the closed zone, and according to them its