The files had been transported back to base successfully and dumped in one of the many empty rooms present, Zen had taken it upon himself to start reviewing the files one by one sorting as he went. The files were a mix of actual crime records and some general info about Oreallis itself, it seemed like Ard wasn't the best at keeping the general library and records room separated.
There were a few curious files Zen lingered on, one of them was even a cold case which Zen would definitely study in the next few weeks. It reported on a series of thefts of a grand scale; hundreds of robotic workers disappearing at once, leaving no trace in either arrivals and departures from the planet or the scene of the crime. They just left it seemed like, this was fifteen years ago so it was in the time the corrupt officer still worked here.
The case was a mess without even proper photo's and statements, which if what Zen heard about his predecessor was true, wasn't all that surprising. 'Hell. That asshole might've just been bribed, scrubbed the departure with the robots and called it a day. Hardly a cold case, just a less than obvious record of bribery.' Zen grumbled throwing the file in the trash, it was not worth it to keep such a reminder of the broken justice system.
The next file was a report from the extremist war which occurred fifty so years back in 2284, it was the bloodiest conflict ever since humanity took to the stars. A group of scientists and sympathizers went crazy and started constructing a massive military force in the outer reaches of the galaxy. Their motivation for starting their uprising were unclear but unfortunately their aggression was not. As soon, they started raiding outer colonies for resources, slaughtering any resistance they came across.
This didn't go unnoticed and the Coalition of Colonies was formed and started their military campaign to combat the threat. The fighting was brutal both in the void as well as planet-side. The extremists were notorious for their endless mechanical legions known for razing colonies in a matter of days, only being able to be stopped by overwhelming forces or complete orbital supremacy.
According to this report one of the bloodiest battles happened right in orbit of Oreallis, a five day long battle in which the extremist proved: extremely tenacious as if fighting to protect something, to quote the rapport. But there was never anything found in the wreckage or on the planet, so after cleaning the orbit of debris the coalition forces left, and left this file behind. Or at least a copy of it.
'I was born way before the war, I never knew it got that fierce especially in orbit around this rock. Makes me wonder why they fought so hard, reading the file I'd guess I wouldn't be alone with that train of thought. But if a complete military fleet couldn't find it how can I.' With a sigh he put the file aside, it wasn't that important but throwing it away felt wrong too.
Just as he got to the next file the door swung upon letting in a beam of light from the brightly lit corridor, Effy stood in the opening looking down at Zen.
"We got a call from the spaceport that there might be some problem with an unidentified vessel, we've been requested to investigate." She spoke fast but still clearly with a sense of urgency, whoever was on that vessel could be in serious trouble.
"Got it! lead the way." Zen quickly rose and followed Effy to the X3 where Robert and Amelia were already present preparing for atmospheric exit, checking the ship's systems and auxiliaries. They moved so quickly that Zen hadn't even noticed his heart skipping a beat when he saw Effy standing in the door explaining the situation.
Amelia saw that they were complete and started the final phase of checks. "Commencing final checks ready to depart in five!" Amelia was surprisingly professional if the need was high enough. And Robert was even awake for once which was maybe even more surprising. "Roger! Zen strap in. Effy, help me with the physical checks" Robert quickly divided the roles accordingly and seeing as Zen was new and not yet familiar with the craft he could only sit and watch.
Five minutes later they were strapped in and Amelia was allowed to do what she does best, fly really fast. The ship accelerated extremely fast trying to escape the planet's pull as it ascended ever upwards, finally using the maximum thrust for what it was designed to do. Zen felt like he was being compressed in his chair by the force of acceleration, the ship vibrated a great deal as it neared its destination.
Within minutes they reached orbit and after some quick system checks, made way to the current coordinates of the vessel with tremendous speed, for Amelia this was a field day, the vessel was located near an asteroid field so elite maneuvering was needed. Amelia didn't even bother slowing down and dodging and weaving the many Asteroids. Each being many times bigger than the ship itself, of course because of the ship's speed it felt like being stuck in a washing machine.
After what felt like hours the vessel finally came into view, it was a heavy freighter used to carry mainly minerals offworld. It was massive compared to the X3 but compared to the true giants of the galaxy it was miniature, with the freighter now in visual range Robert picked up the comms and attempted to hail the vessel.
"Unidentified freighter, this is the protection force. Come in." Robert was apparently capable of being professional if the situation required it.
Only static came back over the comms, Robert pushed some buttons on the control panel and pulled up a visual feed on one of the screens. "No control of any external apparatus either, they either have no idea we're hailing them or they have lost control of their systems." Robert concluded.
He un-strapped himself and floated behind Amelia, weightlessness was something almost everyone was accustomed with at this point in humanities existence, so for most training was unnecessary. "Start boarding procedures." Robert grumbled, he had a somber look on his face, preparing for the worst.
Amelia masterfully matched the vessel's speed and rotation and the docking procedure started, it took a minute and Zen could once again not do anything. He also elected to stay seated instead of floating around as then he would just float in the way of Robert and Effy. Something strange happened, Effy who was holding a screen, suddenly interjected.
"Bad news guys, we can't board." She looked genuinely concerned
"Why? Bad lock?" Robert asked
"No. Not with Amelia's skills, no I've run diagnostics five times and it keeps popping up. According to my test the air inside the freighter is not breathable."
"Not breathable? how's that possible?" Zen unbuckled and floated behind Effy checking the screen from over her shoulder.
The screen's air test clearly displayed: AIR: not breathable, Effy pulled up the details seeing it showed the following composition: Nitrogen 78%, Oxygen 11%, Argon 1% and Carbon DiOxide 10%. A lethal amount of Carbon DiOxide was present inside the vessel, unless they made it to independant breathing devices the crew was probably dead or at least near.
"Carbon DiOxide is in the lethal levels, If I'd open the airlock we'd all faint and die" Effy looked up at Robert who hid his emotions behind his new found professionalism, he considered the possibilities for a while then said:
"Effy, Amelia grab an air mask and plug it in the on board air supply. Zen you're with me, have you ever been diving?" The question threw Zen for a loop unsure how to answer when Robert threw a backpack hidden in one of the compartments of the ship at him. It had a large airbottle on the back that connected to a facemask with all sorts of valves and hoses connecting them both.
"Emergency air supply in case of fires on board." Robert explained "But they work fine for what we need to do." Struggling to put on the heavy air supply due to zero g, Zen finally succeeded after a very embarrassing five minutes. "Ready!" Zen signaled Robert thumbs up and Effy opened the hatch through the ship's console.
Air rushed from the ship to the freighter for a couple of seconds and then calmed down, Robert looked at Zen then said: "we're going in." Descending down the hatch was a tight ordeal with a giant air bottle on your back but they made it work, once inside they had surprisingly small amount of room. "Freighters prioritize cargo capacity over living room, usually they only have a crew of two. So let's see if any of the people survived." Robert said.
Traversing the craft was surprisingly easy and within the minute they found the cockpit. And the bodies. Two bodies seated in the two chairs upfront both buckled tightly in front of the ship's console, Zen quickly moved up and checked their pulses. Nothing these men were truly dead, Robert moved to the console and ordered a system diagnosis.
The computer sprung to life starting its startup protocol.
"Weird." Robert commented.
"What is it?"
"The computer, it's booting up. it's not supposed to do that, not in space at least."
"Why is that?" Zen asked, walking around the cockpit looking for clues.
"While spaceborn the computer is only allowed to enter sleep mode, or have a slave take over its master for redundancy." Robert explained "If it booted up, it was turned off. And if it was turned off, vital systems shut down with it. Including the air filtration."
"But why did they turn it off?" Robert scratched his head, the system diagnostic reported no catastrophic errors prompting the shutdown.
"What if they couldn't?" Zen said kneeled in front of the two corpses.
"What do you mean?" Now it was Robert's turn to ask questions.
"Look here, the seatbelts, notice anything weird?" Zen pointed at the computer startup button "From their seat they couldn't have reached it. Also look at their fingers."
The corpse's fingers were mangled like someone had put a cheese grater to them. "These wounds are common for people who get stuck in caves and try to feel their way out. And look" Zen pointed to the release mechanism of the seatbelts, which were electrically controlled. "Covered in blood."
Zen remained silent for a while.
"My theory was that something happened causing the computer to shut down and prevent the seatbelts from releasing them."
Robert looked at Zen and back at the control panel. "Yeah, good guess kid, but these bodies are already cold and if the computer truly crashed and killed them, we'd be walking around in an emergency light and it'd be cold as shit." Robert looked out in the distance. "Whatever shutdown the computer happened after their deaths."
Zen felt a little bit embarrassed, he was an investigative officer after all yet he missed such a loophole in his own theory. Still he had to give credit where credit was due, Robert was full of surprises today. His nose was strangely sharp for a rowdy exiled officer sent to live out his days on a glorified rock.
Both of them couldn't keep occupied with their own thoughts for long, as their communication earpiece suddenly buzzed to life. Amelia's voice came through, slightly distorted due to electrical interference.
"Uhh guys,I'm picking up some contacts heading our way."