Dying Star Arc
10th May 2052
The wreck of the largest spaceship ever built lies smattered on the regolith, though it is more intact than might be expected. Other than the engine and the surrounding area, the rest of the ship seems salvageable. If the same thing had happened on Luna, it would've been possible to rebuild the Persephone, however there's no way that would be possible out here. I heard that a similar thing happened to the largest ship ever built. The ones on Earth that travel on great bodies of water rather than space. That on its' first ever journey, it crashed into a floating chunk of ice. The sheer size of the ship meant they couldn't move out of the way in time.
There's only three of us out here. Centurion Maynard (the same soldier who me and Zayd went to see the old lady, Maya, with), and I, both sit within the lunar rover. Sayyad bin Osman, who I became acquainted with last night, is the third among us. He was outside of the lunar rover, most likely digging through the wreckage. Not that there's anything for him to find onboard. An interesting man, as expected. Interesting, but foolish and cowardly. It probably isn't nice to describe someone so much older than me as such, but that's the only way that I can think of him. It's definitely the best description for him. Not that I'm the one who's been fooling him. From the story he told me last night, however, he has been fooled by a great many people.
Centurion Maynard was against the idea of just the three of us going out to here alone, but I was able to convince her that there was no need for extra security. 'Who are they going to protect us against?' I had asked, to which she had had no answer. Sayyad had stiffened when I asked her that. The Centurion and I are waiting upon Sayyad's return. He's started walking back by now. We can see him, as a tiny dot, approaching from the wreckage. Driving him all the way out here was something like a service to help gain his trust. Or rather to seed distrust between himself and whoever it is that has been fooling him most recently.
It's important to me to find out who's moving the puppet strings pulling at his limbs. Whoever that puppeteer is, is trying to kill me. The only clues I have are that they are part of either my new council or the old council, and that they have some connection to Sayyad. And probably to Seine Montague as well. Those are the only things that I know for sure. And whilst that does narrow my possible enemies down to six, there's the chance that more than one of them are involved. All of them are powerful figures within the colony in their own right, and it would be quite difficult to challenge them without definitive proof. Since one of my suspects is the Garrison Commander himself, I can't trust the soldiers, including the Centurion here. I need to work it out by myself, even whilst I'm kept under constant guard, or perhaps surveillance, by soldiers. Therefore, the only thing I can do, is use my hidden enemy's own puppet against them.
Sayyad re-enters the lunar rover. There's no airlock on the rovers, so all three of us are equipped in bulky suits, though they are a lot better than they were back in the old days. Technology has drastically improved over the last ten years, though there are few signs of those technological breakthroughs out here in the asteroid belt.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" I ask Sayyad over the radio.
"Only what you told me I would," he replies.
As expected, there was nothing out there for Sayyad to find. I don't think I've gained his trust just yet, but at the very least, I doubt he still trusts his puppet master. I should move forward in my plan. This might end up backfiring on me, but it still seems like the best choice. To push forward despite the consequences. It's my duty as Governor to find out who was behind last night's incident. That is part of my responsibilities as the leader of this colony.
Upon our return to the settlement, we make our way through one of the airlocks in the hangars, and then struggle out of our space suits. Centurion Maynard is the first to take off her suit, easily managing it within a second. That's a soldier of the Freehold for you. Once she's finished helping me out of my suit, she turns to help Sayyad. I thought he would refuse the offer, or at least look awkward being so close to a member of the opposite sex that he's unfamiliar with, as many of the Palestinian men here are, but he barely flinches even when she touches his bare skin. I guess that's Seine's influence on him, I think to myself. He doesn't seem to consider me a freak, the same way a lot of the Palestinians here do.
The three of us make our way down back into the settlement. A crew from a mining ship called the Hawk, just came back from an expedition so the elevators are busy. Since the colonial offices aren't too many floors down, we decide to take the stairs rather than wait for the elevator.
When we reach the offices, I dismiss Centurion Maynard. She gives me a salute, then continues down the stairs, presumably to the barracks, which are just a floor down from here. After giving her a reasonable head start, Sayyad also begins making his way down the stairs. I assume he intends to go all the way down to the tunnels, but who knows? Maybe that wasn't enough to convince him that I'm on his side.
The only other thing I could possibly have done to try and convince him, would've been to show him the plan that I'm going to implement in order to save the colony. I can't show it to him, however. Because it's against the rules. Only members of the council have the right to view it. Those are the colonial law of the Freehold. On Luna, under state law, it would be different. But out here, I can't show him. Because those are the laws of the land. The laws that my father made. I don't have any intention of breaking them.