ASSIGNMENT: AREA MONITOR
Location: Secure Conference Room 1A08 - UFS
GENSTAT number: N/A
Date Assigned: 01/02/2223
Monitoring Period: Permanent.
Transcript ref number:000ABG-9876AGA-000302.A
Date: 11/06/2358 Time: 20:55
Visual Scan: Everyone in the room stands as the President enters and takes her seat at the head of the long conference table. The rest of the room sits. The people seated around the table are as follows:
Admiral Richards
Lexington Stryker
Ms. Cannon
Partab Sing
Jack Ironwood
Louis Varchone
Colonel Iverson
Fong Wu
EM Scan:No weapons are evident.
The President looks over the shell shocked faces in front of her. She clears her throat. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG I've spent the morning going over all of the reports that document the events leading up to this tragedy. I want you all to know I hold no single person responsible. I'm afraid this was unavoidable. Colonel Iverson turns ten different shades of red before he explodes. COLONEL IVERSON What! You're just going to sweep this under the rug! I've lost close to a thousand marines! I'll be damned if they get glossed over! ADMIRAL RICHARDS They were my men too, Andy. Nothing's getting glossed over. COLONEL IVERSON Then why'd you send them into this egg hunt unprepared? The Admiral looks physically pained. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG Colonel Iverson that is enough! The Colonel backs down at the president's tone of voice. JACK IRONWOOD Why don't you cool your thrusters until you get all the facts... Andy. The Colonel turns to Jack with a look meant to kill. Jack smiles at the man that was once his CO. The Colonel fairly spits. COLONEL IVERSON Would someone tell me what these CIVILIANS are here? PRESIDENT GOLDBURG Mr. Ironwood was conducting the investigation that lead up to the discovery of the... craft. COLONEL IVERSON I should have known you'd be involved in this. Some of those men were your supposed friends, Ironwood. Jack's expression turns to one of menace and he stands with murder in his eyes. Louis grabs his arm. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG Gentlemen! That's enough. Sit down Mr. Ironwood. ADMIRAL RICHARDS Stow it Colonel, NOW. Try and listen for a change. The Colonel slumps back into his seat with a scowl. Jacks sits and lets the steam burn off. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG Mr. Stryker? LEXINGTON STRYKER Mr. Ironwood was hired by me over a month ago to investigate the Donovan murder. Ms. Cannon and Mr. Varchone have been assisting Mr. Ironwood. For your information Colonel Mr. Ironwood was almost killed a few nights ago by the same people who are responsible for the deaths of your marines. If Mr. Varchone had not been there he most assuredly would be dead. The Colonel betrays some surprise, but says nothing. LEXINGTON STRYKER Mr. Ironwood's investigation has surfaced an old... nemesis. Shadow. Worried looks transform most faces in the room. Partab Sing looks confused. PARTAB SING I don't mean to sound dim, but what is Shadow? Some kind of gang? LEXINGTON STRYKER I'm embarrassed to say we don't really know what Shadow is. They could be a gang, cult, extremist group or who knows, but one thing is for sure. They've been around for a long time. PARTAB SING How long? LEXINGTON STRYKER Since Genesis left Earth. More nervous looks go about the room. LEXINGTON STRYKER My predecessors have logged incidents attributed to a group called Shadow for the entire ride. COLONEL IVERSON What kind of incidents? LEXINGTON STRYKER Murders, suspected espionage, sabotage, blackmail and we think they started the crystal trade. Louis shifts uncomfortably. LEXINGTON STRYKER These are really bad people. We've only every caught three of them. All three were dead with in hours. ADMIRAL RICHARDS What's their charter Lex? Disorder? Chaos? LEXINGTON STRYKER So it would seem on the surface, but my gut tells me there is more. COLONEL IVERSON What has all this to do with yesterday's explosion? LEXINGTON STRYKER Mr. Ironwood has been instrumental in uncovering this Shadow organization. He's helped us corner someone who calls himself the Walking Dude. We believe the explosion was caused by the Walking Dude's transport. A stunned silence blankets the room. PARTAB SING Transport to where? LEXINGTON STRYKER We don't know. COLONEL IVERSON Please don't tell me this is an alien thing. LOUIS VARCHONE He was human. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG You say that with such certainty Mr. Varchone. How can you be so sure? LOUIS VARCHONE Let us just say that I am very familiar with the sound and feel of breaking ribs. I managed to illicit this sound from this Walking Dude. COLONEL IVERSON Too bad you didn't finish the job. Admiral Richards thumbs a control section on the table in front of him. A picture of the transport plays up on a screen on the opposite wall. ADMIRAL RICHARDS This was the transport that exploded. This was the last thing Sergeant Scagnetti saw before he was vaporized. Jack winces at the name of his dead friend. ADMIRAL RICHARDS It does not match anything in our database, but by the same token there is nothing to suggest any alien technology. COLONEL IVERSON Well, where the hell did it come from? We're a couple hundred light years from the nearest star dock. LEXINGTON STRYKER We don't have all of the answers, Colonel. What we do have is proof of Shadow, the Walking Dude and ill intent toward Genesis. COLONEL IVERSON And a thousand dead marines and sailors. Silence settles over the group again. PARTAB SING Is it possible someone or maybe someone's is using the surface of Genesis to defeat our security measures? Maybe someone is evan living out there? All eyes turn to Partab. The President smiles. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG That's what I like about you Partab. The obvious seems to elude the rest of us. ADMIRAL RICHARDS That might explain how this Shadow group has managed to hide from us all of these years. Genesis is a big rock with lots of craters. There are plenty of places to hide. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG Well, that's going to end. Admiral I want you to work with Partab and come up with a sensor grid that we can lay down across the entire surface of Genesis. Maybe we can pin these rats down where they live. ADMIRAL RICHARDS That's a tall order Madam President. That's a lot of area to cover. I don't know if we have the equipment. PARTAB SING We might be able to reduce our requirements by multiplexing several different kinds of arrays. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG Like I said, Admiral, work with Partab on a solution. I'm sure the two of you can come up with something. LEXINGTON STRYKER I would suggest that you tell no one what you are working on. Keep it all compartmentalized. We are also quite sure that Shadow extends throughout Genesis and into the administration. COLONEL IVERSON How deep? LEXINGTON STRYKER We're quite sure Donovan was Shadow. The President does not betray her emotions. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG Mr. Stryker, you and your team are authorized to use what ever resources you need to conclude this matter. Admiral that includes your services. COLONEL IVERSON What!? Jack smiles. The President ignores the Colonel and turns to Stryker. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG I also expect you too keep the Admiral up to date as well as myself. Maybe information can protect us from future tragedies. Stryker nods in agreement. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG This meeting is classified. Any information about Shadow is classified. We'll meet again in a week to go over our progress. ADMIRAL RICHARDS There's one more thing. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG I hesitate to ask. ADMIRAL RICHARDS My navigators just gave me some very bad news. The blast knocked us half a degree off of our course. Our calculations determine we'll miss New Terra by ten light years. JACK IRONWOOD Shit. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG Why can't we just make a course correction. ADMIRAL RICHARDS Obviously we'll have to. It's just that we have run into a dry spell for hydrogen. We have long term needs and short term needs. This course correction was not figured into the equation. PARTAB SING The longer you wait to make the correction the more fuel it will take. ADMIRAL RICHARDS I know, but we dont' want to hit the New Terran solar system with no ability to break. We need to find more hydrogen before we make a correction. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG How long before the situation is critical? ADMIRAL RICHARDS We have a couple of weeks before we start to approach the point of no return. Of course if we run into a substantial hydrogen source that all changes. PRESIDENT GOLDBURG Let us all pray for substantial hydrogen sources then. Until our next meeting then. The President and her secretary stand and leave. She is soon followed by the Admiral and the Colonel. Stryker turns to Jack and Ms. Cannon. LEXINGTON STRYKER I want you two working with my analyst on the data we got out of hacker. Styker looks at Louis. LEXINGTON STRYKER I don't remember hiring you. LOUIS VARCHONE That's because I don't work for anyone. LEXINGTON STRYKER You do now. I want you watching Ironwood's back. JACK IRONWOOD Now wait a minute! LOUIS VARCHONE I'm already looking after my cousin. LEXINGTON STRYKER I'll get someone else for that detail. The way I hear it you've been made. We're better off shuffling people around. Louis relents and nods in agreement. Jack remains silent. The quartet leaves the room.
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