Hilda
The Pathfinder class Cruiser wasn’t full manned, but over two thousand prisoners were transfers to the waiting cells of the brig on ‘The Jade Grip’. Another thousand were killed in the attack that disabled the ship.
The away teams were combing the cruiser for any and all intelligence, but so far the most surprising thing had been the prisoners themselves. They weren’t the much feared Furse which often such a threat to the Commonwealth, and all nations of the Dragon’s Head Nebula, at least non from Furse Space.
The prisoners from the cruiser were mostly from the Commonwealth. There were even Fabian priests on board the ship which had condemned the souls of the crew of ‘The Jade Grip’. There were some Tutha from the United Worlds of Kaledon and Walhaz space. Even some from the Holy Fabian Protectorate and the Kingdom of the Salians outside the Dragon’s Head Nebula.
The computer banks had information on several of the prisoners, much to Hilda’s surprise. Others that the computer banks had little to no information on, their follow prisoners were all but eager to supply in the hope somehow bettering their position. Maybe they were just scared of being interrogated and tortured. The fear of such things was more effective than the action itself.
Some of the prisoners were also ex Commonwealth Forces. That had sickened Hilda, and made her glad that her crew all belonged to the King’s Guard Forces. They might not have been full oath sworn companions to the King of the Commonwealth themselves, but for most of them, their loyalty was every bit as strong as Hilda’s and her twelve brothers and sisters who stood with the King.
“Captain we have been hearing chatter from some of the prisoners about something called the Fabian Order of Drala,” Commander Glass said.
“Fabian Order of Drala?” Hilda repeated. She had never heard of such a thing. It didn’t sound like something the Furse would have, who were so fond of Orders for this and that. “Does could explain the priest,” she said to herself. That had puzzled her from the moments the reports had come in.
“It makes sense captain, but I can’t be sure until we get more information. We are questioning prisoners about it now and looking for more information on it in the computer banks. The ship has make more than a dozen stops in the Halesworth system in the last month. Might have answers there.”
“Halesworth?” Hilda asked curiously. She had never heard of the system before.
“Yes ser,” Commander Glass continued. “It’s a minor system sworn to System-lord Ironstone. Computer banks don’t have much about it. Eight thousand people live there. Hardly a wealthy system to draw non stop trips from a bunch of raiders.”
“If they are raiders,” Hilda countered. She was starting to believe otherwise. The Cruiser was reported to have some wealthy in stolen cargo, it had clearly been acting the part of pirates and raiders, but thing’s weren’t starting to add up.
“Indeed,” Commander Glass said.
“We have a report on the damage to the cruiser? Is it FTL capable?” Hilda asked.
“No ser,” Commander Glass said quickly. “She is going to have to be towed if we want to keep it. I mean we can repair it, would likely take close to a month, but Commander Zero could likely have it FTL ready in two weeks, but it would take us that long to tow it to Grimm Hearth… or we scuttle it.”
Hilda thought for a moment from her seat on the Command Deck of ‘The Jade Grip’. “No, the ship will be worth a small fortune, even in a ruined state. The crew deserves the bonus the cruiser will fetch.”
“Yes captain,” Commander Glass agreed.
“Keep the interrogation going, and let me know if we find anything else about this Fabian Order of Drala. This Halesworth system will have to wait until we get the cruiser back to Grimm Hearth. After that we will continue the hunt.” Hilda said as she brought up files on her command console built in her seat to study what had been learned so far.
