| Genesis 2, p. 6 |
| “Could be,” said Mansel, straightening up and leaning on the console next to Lieutenant Talaj. “It’s the only sound reason I can come up with for attacking a UNSF ship. The Carolina wasn’t carrying anything special besides the Ambassador, was it Lieutenant?” “No sir.” “It makes sense,” said Commander Vaughn. “After all, the Carolina is an escort ship.” “Obviously they didn’t do that good a job escorting,” said Lieutenant Lamb for his post at Tactical. Mansel ignored him. He was thinking of a way to be able to trace the people responsible for kidnapping Ambassador Wilson. “Lieutenant,” Mansel said again, “can you do a long range sensor sweep of the area? Look in particular for any kind of translight or warp signatures.” “Aye, Captain.” “Terry, round up the senior staff. I want to discuss this over with them.” At the long table in his conference/study room, Mansel saw his senior staff assembled again for the second time. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, “the last few minutes have seen some fairly exciting moments. A distress call from an escort ship. The wreckage of that ship. A kidnapped ambassador. We’re the closest ship in rescue range. Lieutenant Talaj has found at least thirteen different translight signatures that lead away from this place.” On the screen behind Mansel was a list of names. “On this list of names,” he continued with his briefing, “are the UNSF’s known terrorists. Some of these names might appear familiar to you; some may not. That’s not the point. Our job is to narrow down this list to figure out who is capable of such an act.” Lieutenant Commander Fleury, the Chief Engineer, pointed to two names. “You can count Marcus Maradine and Anarcha Maradine out. Kidnapping isn’t their style. Total destruction is.” Mansel nodded. “Good job. Computer, eliminate Marcus Maradine and Anarcha Maradine from the list.” The screen that Mansel had projected on the screen changed as the two names of the terrorists were taken off the list. That still left them with about twenty names to cycle through. “Computer,” said Commander Vaughn, “eliminate all the people on this list who do not resort to kidnapping or ransom.” To Mansel’s surprise, the list was cut from twenty to nine. “Why didn’t I think of that?” Commander Vaughn smiled and shrugged. “I’m here to think about all the stuff you don’t,” was his only answer. Cross-referencing the warp signatures that Lieutenant Talaj had found with the signatures from the remaining terrorists’ ship, they were able to narrow it down to only two different people. “Universal terrorist Kman I’Suar.” Mansel pointed to the last picture that UNSF Intelligence had taken of him. The picture was two years old. It showed him in a crowd of what was essentially a terrorist convention. He had been talking to someone else, presumably another terrorist, in some wild and exaggerated manner. The picture showed him with a mop of brown hair and a goatee. Though, despite the ludicrous nature of the man’s posture, the bridge crew could see the coldness in his wide brown eyes. Mansel continued his briefing of the terrorist. I’Suar has been frequently connected with the GART crime syndicate, as well as independent jobs. He’s resorted to both kidnapping for money and total destruction. He was linked to the bombing of the hospital on Saturn a few years ago, if you all remember that incident.” They did. While most had still been in the Academy at the time, the news had spread like a wildfire. A hospital on Saturn had been bombed on Christmas Eve. The investigative officials had linked the catastrophic event to a “singular crime,” meaning that only one person had been involved with the operation. There had been no survivors in the bombing. The operation pointed heavily to I’Suar, but officials could never find the circumstantial evidence that linked him to the bombing enough to satisfy the Saturn courts. I’Suar had walked away free on that charge. “Who’s the other?” Ensign Hardy asked from her seat from her seat at the far end of the table. It had been her first sentence since the meeting had begun. Her voice had almost startled Mansel. Mansel hit a button and the screen displayed another picture. “A terrorist known as K’Tesh. He’s Uranian by birth, but he is known to be operating somewhere on Venus.” “Intelligence can’t confirm that?” Lieutenant Commander Lamb asked. “No,” Commander Vaughn answered for Mansel. He held up an infopad that contained the same information that Mansel had in front of him. “It seems as if K’Tesh moves his base of operations every few years. Two years ago, they raided an empty base that he used to operate out of. All they found were empty crates and dust.” “So it’s narrowed down to these two?” Lieutenant Commander Fleury asked, leaned back in his seat with his legs crossed. “Seems that way,” Mansel said, leaving K’Tesh’s picture on the screen. “How can we find them, though? That’s our problem.” |
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