09-30-2025, 06:45 PM
The trading hub was a perfect smokescreen. Ships came and went by the hour, flagged from every corner of the quadrant. If someone wanted to vanish, this was the place to do it. The Ambassador’s shuttle had filed a flight plan—standard protocol—but that plan only led to the hub. From there, it was a blank slate.
“Captain,” the officer said, eyes scanning the console, “on further investigation, the flight plan checks out. But it ends at the hub.”
That was the problem. The hub was a crossroads, not a destination. The second question wasn’t where the Ambassador had gone—it was who had received the flight plan. Someone had to log it. Someone had to authorize it. And if that someone had been compromised, the trail could already be cold.
He leaned over the console, narrowing the filters. “We need to know who processed the arrival. If there’s a gap in the logs, a delay, or a reroute—anything that doesn’t match protocol—we follow that.” Everyone had protocol to follow that would leave a trail, following it would lead to the answers needed.
==Tag and GM input please.==
“Captain,” the officer said, eyes scanning the console, “on further investigation, the flight plan checks out. But it ends at the hub.”
That was the problem. The hub was a crossroads, not a destination. The second question wasn’t where the Ambassador had gone—it was who had received the flight plan. Someone had to log it. Someone had to authorize it. And if that someone had been compromised, the trail could already be cold.
He leaned over the console, narrowing the filters. “We need to know who processed the arrival. If there’s a gap in the logs, a delay, or a reroute—anything that doesn’t match protocol—we follow that.” Everyone had protocol to follow that would leave a trail, following it would lead to the answers needed.
==Tag and GM input please.==