Quoted By:
The stealth ship that you captured was strangely underwhelming. The name “October Squall” was printed across its hull in a human dialect, or at least human adjacent dialect. The <span class="mu-i">Squall</span> was a frigate sized vessel armed with a simplistic arsenal of missiles tipped with nuclear warheads and supplemented by a few small laser turrets good for little more than interception and desperate knifefighting. The whole thing was almost… primitive.
None of that was important though, the real prize, the stealth technologies were intact… Well, intact enough to be reverse engineered. Radiation absorbent hull composites, sensor diffraction topography, heat reservoirs and drive baffling; all the technologies that had allowed the ship to slip under the noses of the Pact pickets and straight at the heart of their research and development initiative.
There was also something else. A mangled device, something that clearly used exotic matter, an FTL drive perhaps? If it was, it didn't match anything you knew of. A mystery for another time.
—-------
The guards nodded and stood aside as you approached the holding cell where the prisoner was being kept. No salutes, no snapping to attention, no military deference for you. Still, your title carried enough weight to let you indulge in this little whim. You were curious, you wanted to know who it was that had assassinated your predecessor, almost killed you in the process and why.
The person in the cell appeared to be an old woman, despite her apparent age there was a sharpness in her eyes and straightness to her posture that spoke of a robust will, but also something else… a kind of confusion.
For a moment the two of you just stared at each other. Social interaction had never been your strong suit.
“Hello.”
No response. You sigh and recall the dialect you had assimilated in your last data trance.
“Hello, I am Director Harris Glasner, what is your name?” The words of the dialect felt strange yet familiar.
The woman frowned, as if asserting some supreme mental effort.
“I..I am the Executive Auditor of the <span class="mu-i">October Squall</span>.”
“That’s a title not a name.”
“I can’t remember my name. There are many things I can’t remember.”
“Can you remember why you attacked this very station and almost killed me in the process?”
The Auditor glared at you. “Your people were harbouring a monster.”
“Are you talking about my predecessor, Director Shivre?”
“That alien is responsible for the destruction of my entire civilization, my entire race!”
You’re taken aback by the sheer venom in her voice.
“I… I am sorry for your loss, but whatever the fate of your civilization the human race is clearly alive and well.”
“I can see that, and I-I’m glad…”
>cont
