It's been a Long Trip, I Know

The sound of the wind protruding from the Anhur-class gunship gave Flint a moment to relay what had happened. Back on Daiban, with almost no warning at all, he was told to be stationed off-planet on a mining colony located near the FS-176 system. His file had been heavily modified to include very specific attributes, yet he didn't know why. On top of that, the team he was assigned to supposedly "didn't exist." And now, they were on their way to some mission that he, once again, didn't know anything about.

"So..." Marx was the first one to break the ice. "Am I the only one curious about what it is we're actually doing out here?"

Thank god. Flint was slightly pleased to know that he wasn't the only one out of the loop. If only for a moment, it alleviated the tension a tad.

Commander Vince stood up. "Seth, you wanna do the honors?"

In the center of the gunship, were mounted chairs for each soldier. Seth was the only one sitting down. After looking back at the commander with a jarring look of helplessness, he stood his towering mass up. "Alright, ladies... listen up."

"Speak for yourself. You're the one strapped down in his safety belt." Audry was laughing in the corner.

He paid her no mind. Instead, Seth stood tall in the center. "Nine hours ago, Commander Jason Shepherd of Alpha Team supposedly picked up traces of an unidentified vessel on his scanner. When they went to investigate..."

"Let me guess," Marx blurted out. "They went missing?"

"No." Seth continued. "Actually, they came back fine. The problem, is their mission report."

Back at the academy, it had been hammered down that each detail of every mission be recorded in the Logbook. In extreme circumstances, failure to do so could result in an investigation warranted by the GF chain of command. Is that what we're doing now?

"And exactly what did they record?" Flint leaned back towards the main doors.

"A scanner malfunction," Seth barked. "They spend all of those resources sending out an elite squad for it to be a scanner malfunction."

Flint felt a hint of confusion piling up in his stomach. "Sometimes, it is what it is."

"Except it isn't." Vince broke his silence from behind and walked over to Seth. "We picked up the anomaly, too. Right before you showed up, Audry and I confirmed with the G.F.S Loannina that we could go forward with the investigation. Seth was the one who received the final word."

"So, the short version" Audry walked up. "is that we are meant to find out why Alpha Team lied on their mission report."

"What about the blip on the scanner?" Marx looked over to Seth. "You think it's the Space Pirates?"

Audry looked over to Commander Vince with a hint of worry. "It can't be... They normally stick to small raiding parties on cargo ships."

Flint had heard a lot about the Space Pirates in training. They, along with the Kriken Empire were two of the major threats against the Galactic Federation since their formation. Space Pirates were the leading cause of the formation of the Galactic Federation Police. They are notorious for being in and out of their targets, leaving little survivors. However, if it WAS the Space Pirates, they would have made themselves known by now.