Narrator: Welcome to a special Interlude episode for Beyond the Furthest Stars. The following scene takes place on the far off Hegemony world of Tartarus. Crius and Hyperion, two member’s of the Hegemony Council of 12, report to The Eternal One on the progress of the hunt for Hermes. This takes place a couple of days before the Big Race on Bragos. Enjoy!

The Eternal One: Crius… Hyperion… Report.

Crius: Yes, my lord. I have an update from my one of my agents on matters relating to the Terrans.

Hyperion: and I have just completed my interrogation of Captain Celia and Admiral Vos.

The Eternal One: Crius, Speak!

Crius: One of our agents embedded in the Crimson Chaos pirate crew has identified a ship that appears to have originated from Terran space.

The Eternal One: Is it operational?

Crius: No, my lord. The ship apparently showed up in the grave yard, near the base of the pirates. Our agents were able to convince Captain

Blitz that it was nothing special. They sent a recording of the S.O.S message the ship was broadcasting.

The Eternal One: Have you had it translated?

Crius: Yes, my lord. It is a bit jumbled up, but it is clear that this ship has been badly damaged. No life signs were detected on board. Shall I have our agents destroy the ship?

The Eternal One: Yes. We cannot allow knowledge about the Terrans to be discovered yet, especially by some pirate scum. Hyperion, you have information from the survivors of The Eos?

Hyperion: Yes lord. After our… interrogation of Captain Celia and Admiral Vos, intelligence indicates that before the ship was attacked by the Independent Systems Armada, it interdicted a ship operated by an associate of the Crimson Chaos pirates.

The Eternal One: The same pirates you spoke of, Crius?

Crius: Yes, your excellency. Captain Celia stated that the ship escaped the destruction of The Eos. According to my agents embedded in the pirate crew, this vessel is known as the Minos. The captain, Captain Byram, perished in the prison section of The Eos.

The Eternal One: So who stole it? The same people that took the ship AI and replaced it with that… mockery?

Hyperion: We suspect the thief was among those that escaped. Ship logs indicate that approximately 3 ship contractors and a service bot accompanied the thief and escaped just before The Eos’ destruction.

The Eternal One: Crius, you have agents with this pirate crew. Have they been able to track down where this ship of theirs has gone to?

Crius: I have, my lord. The ship was tracked at first to an unregistered planetary system a short jump from the last coordinates of The Eos. After that, it jumped to a Republic intelligence base and then to the

Calypso system. Records indicate that the system has been devoid of life for 200 years.

The Eternal One: Crius… are you telling me the Republic has access to Hermes?

Crius: No my lord. Not at all! The data from the back up crystal indicates that it was still connected to a ship’s system the entire time it was at the Republic base.

The Eternal One: Hmm, a strange but fortunate turn of events.

Hyperion: However, my lord, I feel it important to tell you that once the ship arrived in the Calypso system it was removed from the ship and interfaced with another AI. Additionally, it appears a Terran system was also utilized during this interface.

Crius: This is only conjecture, my lord. The analysis from the back-up crystal could be faulty of course.

The Eternal One: No… No I don’t believe it is. Crius, dispatch agents to the Calypso system and have them destroy everything there.

Hyperion: If I may, my lord, I have more information you may find useful.

The Eternal One: Speak quickly, Hyperion. My patience shrinks the more you.

Hyperion: The Crimson Chaos pirates did attempt to take their ship back. Reports from Crius’ agents indicate that the pirates and the thieves became allies of a sort. The agents then left some probes in the system to monitor any communications into or out of the system, in hopes of finding out where the thieves would go next.

The Eternal One: hmm… We could use this our advantage. Crius, instead of destroying that Terran ship, let’s play a more subtle game. You say Hermes interacted with a Terran based system?

Crius: That is correct, as far as I can tell.

The Eternal One: Calculating… Analysis of variables complete. Most probable scenario determined.

Crius… Hyperion… This is what you will do. Keep the Terran ship under CLOSE observation. Your agents will encode the distress signal with the translation we obtained and broadcast it within the radius of the crash site. This should stir up enough noise to catch the attention of whoever or whatever is operating out of the Calypso system. You’ll make sure that this damaged ship is tracked. Whoever this mysterious party is that has put a dent in our plans will certainly be drawn to the mystery this ship presents. We will then wait for the right opportunity to make or move. Rhea is meeting with our contact on Calydon soon. I am sure they will deliver on that AI hunter we requested.

Crius and Hyperion together: Yes, Eternal One. Your will shall be done! All hail Tartarus. All Hail The Eternal One.

The Eternal One: Now… Go.

***** Footsteps leaving the room *****

Crius: Of course, The Eternal One has to involve Rhea… She always seems one step ahead of me.

Hyperion: Yes, she certainly does. Perhaps its time to implement our plan?

Crius: No, not yet. Let’s see where this goes. We need all 12 of us for our Lord’s plans to come to fruition. But soon, Hyperion. Soon…