Attache Flow waggles two tentacles in a way that suggests a humanoid nodding. "Indeed, one of the things that makes this system so appealing to so many species is the abundance of these elements. But terra-forming (mental chuckle) in the system is mostly finished. The Lor used a series of stations in the asteroid belt to harvest an abundance of minerals. Why not just seek the elements there instead of stealing them?"
Tess seems to be thinking, which means her main AI core was thinking.
"If the elements are abundant, then it's not those they are after BUT a specific artifact, whoever is behind the thefts may have a limited description of what the artifact they may be after is. Just that is expanse and mostly made form these three elements. So they are stealing too and checking if they have the right object."
"I am inclined to think there is an agent provocateur sent by you know who to stir up trouble in a place they don't yet control. We just need to find him. Given the scope of their activities, they may well have super powers. "
"Yes, with the element being so rare, I suspect a KEY of some kind. To who knows what? But Money does not seem a motive if they are from where we think they are, they have cash aplenty. If they aimed to start a conflict, there are much better ways than to steal odd artifacts. And that would not explain the elements these artifacts are made from. So using my insight and deducing that they are looking for something in particular."
"As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy, than to create." GENESIS
technology: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18
As he is watching the holo-show, and still focused on weapons, it occurs to Roy that the metals could also be used to disrupt the fusion reactions in a star, which could lead to the issues with the system's star.
"That's diabolical! Is it possible to cause a nova that way really?"
"Do you have any idea how much material they would need to disrupt a sun? But that is not really the point! The point is Just having a big pile of elements is not enough If you wish a sun to mega fler. You need a delivery device, one that will dig deep into the sun and then scatter that matter over a large area. A such as an anti-matter field effecter torpedo, and they are not small, think Mega scraper-sized round slamming into the sun, worming its way deep, and then exploding to set off a chain reaction. "
She moved her hands out when she added.
"BOOOOM!"
"That is my point, to even disrupt like that you need a rapid delivery device. Just dropping it into a star will note give you that."
Flow makes an audible squirking sound before telepathically transmitting, "What about a high powered long distance industrial teleportation device!?"
Nods
"Yes that will do it, port the elements into the center of the start and you could even direct the mega flare."
"So you're saying we're in this deep. Are those teleporters common? Is there a way we can monitor them?"
"No, no, they aren't common. There is only the one. And it isn't operational. It hasn't been used for 100 years or so, but there was one, built into a large comet out in the Oort Cloud. It was there when the first colonists showed up, created by some long gone civilization."
"We absolutely need to investigate that site. "
Hearing there was an abandoned facility on a lone comet that could actually be used to do exactly what they were talking about, Roy, mouth agape, looks from Flow to Tess. "That sounds like something we should investigate." His instincts screaming he turns towards Rock trying to stay calm. "If you all don't think it's that big of a deal, I guess I could go alone." Looking towards Rigel he continues. "But it does seem to be someplace that should be secured."
"I don't mind flying out there to check things out, but I feel that we should all go investigate once we have as much information as we can get here."
"I suggest we don't do an in-system micro-jump close to it, but keep at range, Jump to just within TP range, Fast Teleport and have the ship jump back out again. If they have TP-blocking shields around the roid, It may need a good old-fashioned space drop, ... just need asto map location site intel."
She says.
"Intersystem jumps have to be careful, just under two hours say, we are trying to sneek close."
Rockhead will see if he can figure out what might be needed to re-activate the teleporter and if there's any trail to someone acquiring such things.
"Maybe there's some trail here to pick up. " and he pokes around on the data screen.
Rockhead maneuvers holograms of the various components stolen and sabotaged on the different colony worlds. He doesn't think any of the thefts or sabotage are high tech enough to get the actual teleporter working, but looking back at the systems that were sabotaged, its possible that components of the sabotaged systems could be used to restore life support and maneuvering systems on a small space station like the one Flow describes.
"Yes, I believe that they're going to get the teleport station active and then badaboom. We better get out there pronto. "
"If we want to sneak in, can't just drop out of N space next to them, My plan is to come, shadowing another astroid that is outsdie their scanner range, and wait until it gets close, into teleport range and get you on there where there are no shields blocking teleport. ofter that its figer out a way and how to stop them."
Once she has a plat set.
"And we should have translated in 3, 2, 1, here!"
The image on the screens changes and they seem to be on the dark side of a large asteroid.
"Right this rock will be in TP range in 1/2 an hour, I suggest everyone get kitted out for wee space work. I need to get a scan of the Alian teleporter base to see where I can teleport is too. That means someone going outside to where they can see the target base and scan it without being seen themselves. My main ship body will have to be kept hidden as soon as it pokes its head up their scanners will light up just like a Christmas tree. So suit up and take this.
She hands them a suitcase-sized portable scanner.
"And let's hope they did not put something nasty here as an early warning system. Remember we are trying to sneak in. Sneek Sneek.. Sneek"
She looked at the others,
"Up to then, so long as you are in place in 28 minutes, and 20 seconds to do a scan all should be good. Not the rock is the size of a small mountain, jet packs or other means of preparation is a must"
The comet is an irregular spheroid of rock and ice roughly 1000 feet in diameter. A metallic docking portal awkwardly pierces its surface, giving the drab space rock the appearance of a petrified cyclops head. A soft artificial glow beams from the “eye socket,” marking the port of entry. A shuttered door a hundred feet in diameter spirals open in this socket, revealing glimpses of the comets hollow interior, lined with industrial walkways and equipment. You scan active power and an atmosphere.
You jump into a position of cover behind another comet, another ball of rock, dust, and ice. There is a dense cloud of similar objects of various sizes out here, more than you would see in most planetary systems. This far from the sun, the light is dim, but what light there is reflects and refracts from the ice balls in fascinating patterns.
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"Running the scan now.... got it"
She prosses the scans and finds a spot to send the other too.
You materialize in a hangar on the other size of the iris leading out into space, currently half open. In the hangar is a small freighter. On the side is a crude painting of a cyclops that looks somewhat like the comet, and painted on the side roughly is "Severed Cyclops."
The interior still has power and supports an atmosphere, suggesting someone has recently reactivated the derelict site. The inside is an ore processing plant, with a few corridors leading off for air scrubbers, powerplants, storage, a mess hall, and bunk-style sleeping quarters. Forcefields at the “eye” allow ships to enter and exit for loading without losing the station’s atmosphere. Massive stockpiles of stolen goods are stacked within the hangar.
The automated machinery softly hums as it runs on a power saving mode amid several flickering computer screens.
The stolen goods that you can see don't account for all of the things that were stolen.
Pondering the situation they were up against, Rockhead had forgotten to re-establish the mind link. He does so now.
in Cobb's head "That is a good idea. Switch to mind link to avoid interception. "
A small light bead detaches from Roy's suit, it's the size of a pee. It hovers in the air a moment before Tess comes into being, a 1950s house wife there in Holo -form.
"Mind link os a good idea, so how are things going?
The ship stands on 3 landing pylons. Next to the starboard one, Roy finds a keypad that opens a boarding ramp. The ramp is up, but doesn't appear to be locked.
The ship looks old and worn. It has dealt with some micro collisions and is pretty worn.
Whisps of fog float from the hatch as it opens and the two atmospheres mix, yours warmer than the interior of the small freighter. No lights shine within, but you can see an interior engineering station and a corridor wrapping around the center of the ship. The deck of the ship is scuffed and scored from years of use, but it is clean enough.
Rockhead finds the interior of the small shipping vessel to be well used but also generally well maintained. The cargo hold holds a speeder bike, an antigrav sled, two fighter sized ship engines. The cargo is some of the most recently stolen items.
The crew quarters are tidy with very few personal items.
"The vessel appears to be without any occupants."