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[Malek Deneith]

- "Very well.." - said Doran who returned at the beginning of explanation from what apparently was a trip to get something to drink - "That location does look like our best bet so let's check it out. Do save the readings coming from asteroid belt though - they might be worth checking after we finish... or quit... or current job. Also I'd want any of you that can operate any ship stations to do so and stay alert. We don't know what made the ships disappear so we need to be prepared to take immediate action when we do find out."

[Xander Morhaime]

"Confirmation: The coordinates have been logged for further reference, Captain. Statement: Preparing for departure. Retracting sensor array... complete. Alignment... complete. Initiating engine burn. Estimated time to arrival: twenty six minutes."

The flight was quiet and rather devoid of excitement - the greatest thing of interest was updates on passive and short-range sensors, checking for transmissions, signals, proximity...

Twenty minutes in, the proximity alarm went off.

You could almost feel the ship decelerate rapidly while the holographic display switched to show the more immediate surroundings of the ship. Nothing at first, but before long small blips began appearing... then more and more, and bigger in size.

"Warning: Debris field detected. Adjusting course," Carrion stated calmly. The "window" screens on the bridge still didn't show much of interest, but that changed as you approached the field. Initially just a single piece of metal floating by on one side or another, it got increasingly dense... and the pieces got bigger too. "Statement: Composition scan suggests outer hull fragments."

Before too long, you could see what the hull fragments were from. Though the field was becoming a considerable navigation hazard, forcing a crawl speed from the ship, the heart of it all eventually came into view. It looked every bit the battlefield... though it was hard to say who (if anyone) won. The very heart of the zone was occupied by a seemingly derelict ship of impressive size - while it wasn't quite the size of a space station, it most certainly wasn't far behind. It seemed to be holding together, but as you got closer, you noticed a number of gaping holes in its outer hull. Several looked like you could fly the Crow in without much trouble, even. Surrounding the giant wreck were the gutted carcasses of some smaller ships of a definitely different make than the big one. There were four distinctly larger hulls among the surrounding ships, and quite a few smaller ones, some not much larger than the Crow.

The Blue Crow stopped before it reached the boundary of what could be called the main warzone. Carrion was keeping quiet, though you could see from the control interface that it was scanning and trying to identify the various wrecks.

[Gargulec]

'Oh my.'

Elizabeth stared in awe at the battlefield.

'Well, sir... if I recall correctly, there was no mention about lost capital ships, right?' she asked, turning towards Doran.

She sighed, smiling faintly.

'I just hope that there will be no need to board it. And that whoever did that is no longer around.'

[S.K. Ren]

    The ship's deceleration and subsequent halt awoke Evedro. Normally it would be not be enough to notice but Evedro's bed was suspended above the floor, amplifying any motions and vibrations given by the ship. This practice was adopted to increase his response times in any mechanical problems occurring during his breaks. A practice that had served him well. He once had a water bed for such purposes but after a small 'pressure leak' incident, a water bed was no longer viable.
   Making himself presentable, he made his way to the bridge. "Hey, whats going... on..." Evedro's voice drifted off as he saw what was on the main screen. "Holy shit. This place looks worse than the aftermath of Tudor V."

[Malek Deneith]

- "Carrion, could you please perform a quick scan to ensure we are alone here. If we are then I want you to perform all possible scans - including one for life-signs to be on safe side - on the ships and cross-reference the results with what data we have on missing ships to see if anything matches."

[Xander Morhaime]

"Statement: I have been scanning the field for lifeboat beacons and message pods since we arrived, captain. Bringing results up to primary display now."

The scanner display took a side seat for the time being as the holographic display switched to plain text showing up at a casual pace. Apparently your AI had a taste for suspense.

+++ Fleet Carrier Cavanagh, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Fleet Carrier Andur, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Escort Carrier Hauberkan, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Battleship Kero, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Strike Cruiser Arhus 3, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Strike Cruiser Juno 12, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Strike Cruiser Juno 15, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Strike Cruiser Kalmar 9, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Strike Cruiser Andross 2, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Strike Cruiser Reno 4, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Destroyer Cherbourg-214, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Destroyer Cherbourg-215, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Destroyer Cherbourg-219, 2nd Fleet +++
+++ Destroyer Kiel-801, 2nd Fleet +++

"Statement: Cross-referencing with missing ship list confirms matches of primary objectives: carriers Cavanagh, Andur, Hauberkan, Kero, as well as secondary objectives of the carriers' escort ship complement. The super-capital ship is not listed in the mission parameters. Structural analysis: 2nd Fleet ships have suffered superstructure damage ranging from critical to catastrophic. Probability of locating survivors: 0.092%. Structural analysis: the super-capital ship superstructure appears stable, though weakened. Deeper scans are proving problematic, but suggest a bunker-type structure deeper within the main body of the super-capital. Scanner analysis: The debris field is littered with minor power signatures, I am also detecting a minor one from the super-capital. Unable to locate any life signs. Prospecting analysis: The collected value of the salvage present exceeds the yearly budget of the average Federation industrial world. If the captain will allow such a colourful comparison. Statement: I do not detect any other ships in the vicinity, nor any salvage claim beacons."

[Gargulec]

Elizabeth whistled quietly.

'That's a whole lot of money you're talking about, computer. But tell us: what are the chances of us actually benefiting from this vein of scrap-gold? And why are we first on-site...? It was not especially hard to find, after all.'

[Xander Morhaime]

You could almost hear Carrion shrug in response

"Deduction: It may be that most captains operating prospecting ships out in this area have enough sense to realise that a high concentration of processed metals a sizeable distance from any major stellar body, while having a high probability of being a battlefield, may yet contain the side that won the battle, thus discouraging mining vessels from investigating such places. Side Comment: Private salvage operations rarely involve more than one prize ship at a time," the AI explained patiently.

[Malek Deneith]

- "Actually Elizabeth does have a point - your deduction explains why random ships could avoid this, but there should be Federation patrols searching for the ships, and I don't see why *they* wouldn't check the place out. Either way since we found the wrecks, it's time to pass the information - Carrion, please establish communication with Parthia IV station, I'm sure that there is some official that we can tell we found their ships. Also place salvage flag on the super-capital wreck. Unless authorities have something to say against it there is no reason to pass on that." - Doran turned to his companions with a smile - "Which means you might as well start preparing for boarding Elizabeth - that 'bunker-type' structure Carrion mentioned will require checking, and with any luck we might find something inside to clue us to what this ship is doing here"

[Xander Morhaime]

"Repeated Statement: Military ships rarely carry survey sensors, captain, especially ones sufficient to tell processed metal apart from raw ore at long distances. Deduction: With no major power signatures present, it is likely the area would have seemed like so much space junk to any military ship in the area. Further deduction: It may also be that any locals who saw the search contract offer smelled a death trap and did not take up the job," Carrion explained. There was a pause afterwards, as the ship maneuvered in through the debris to approach the derelict.

"Query: Will that be a single-burst transmission, or a live feed, captain?" Carrion asked once the Crow had cleared the worst of the junk.

[Gargulec]

Elizbateh smiled and nodded, leaving the bridge.

She made her into her cabins, and there, opened the lockbox. Inside, she stored her combat armor, biggest memento and biggest asset she got. It was damaged and subsequently repaired over a course of a few dozens engagements, and served her faithfully from the year she was introduced into ODT. It was once painted in standard camouflage patterns, but when she- along with it- got demobilized, she ordered it to be recoloured stark white, and all the unit insignia removed. With a short sigh, she donned it, double checking all the joints before actually starting computer weave inside. Soon, the HUD displayed on the faceplate glared to live, giving her all kind of interesting readings on the suit integrity and such.

Taking off the helmet, she grabbed the bandoleer with ammo and strapped it to the armour. Finally, she reached for her rifle, trusted gauss carbine, reliable and powerful.

None of these items brought fond memories. She sighed, and returned to the bridge.

'Reporting for duty. Should the duke also don his suit? I would like to have someone behind me.'

[Malek Deneith]

- "You're the resident infantry specialist. If you say you want backup, then you get backup. Which means you're going in too Yurij" - Doran turned back to Carrion - "Make it a single-burst, live feed might be hard to acquire here."

[Silhar]

"??, ? ?????.", answered the Russian shortly, bouncing off the wall, strapping on his helmet and reloading a combat rifle. The clip answered with a loud click, as Morgov's hand pushed it into the slot.

Appears that he was standing there idle like that all the time, dipped into his thoughts, wandering distantly. Who knows, what occupied his mind at a time? Perhaps not the battlefield you are on, not the matter of ships lost and found. He seems strangely neutral on what you got to discover a while ago.

"Already locked and loaded, zir. Let'z kick zome zeriouz butt."

Keeping things short and simple. Matvieyevich at whole.

[S.K. Ren]

    "Give me a few minutes to prep 'Charon'." Evedro yelled to the crew, his scrawny figure already running back to the cargo hold. Being the only ship's boat on board, he knew he would have to give up his living quarters but didn't expect it to be so soon. Packing his cot and belongings in a small lock box, the interior seemed to quadruple in size.
    "Hey! Everything is all set to go so come on down when you're ready to leave." Evedro's voice crackled in over the comm lines. His communications set was a little out of date but at least it worked. Returning it to the ship's locker, he removed several harnesses. A bit old fashioned but the got the job done.

[Xander Morhaime]

"Confirmation: Salvage claim and notice of ship location sent," Carrion said in its usual emotionless tone as the Blue Crow glided slowly past the derelict's side, scanners sweeping the surface for possible convenient points of entry. "Statement: Automated reply from Parthia station received, confirming arrival of data packet at their end," Carrion added after some minutes of silence.

The Blue Crow wandered along the hull of the derelict for about half an hour before finding something promising, in the form of a small docking port that had apparently been shot open. Plenty of room for a ship's boat to enter, though parking a destroyer in it would be difficult... and the bay's ability to hold air was definitely in question due to the lack of doors.

"Statement: Salvage claim beacon has been deployed. Access point located, awaiting confirmation from hangar," Carrion announced. By now the Blue Crow was close enough to the derelict that it nearly took up half of the bridge's "window" screens... the forward-facing half, to be more precise.