The Disappearance of Jacob Scarlett

Adventure summary:

A system security officer from Ross 154 has mysteriously disappeared without a trace. His ship was spotted drifting in a neighboring system. What mystery lies behind his disappearance?

The Recap

Exploration ship

1 ton of cargo

Difficulty Beginner

Date

3308

Lore

Humanity

Duration

45min to 1h

Max distance

57 LY

The Disappearance of Jacob Scarlett

ByCMDR OptimusKoala
25 December 3308
300 points

You're taking a well-deserved break in the bar of Birkeland City station. You're in the Ross 154 system after a friend warmly recommended it for its planet Merlin, a beautiful Earth-like planet. Leaning back at the bar, you enjoy a cup of coffee. The warm and soothing aroma of the beverage puts you in a good mood. This day seems perfect, but the tide is about to turn in a few moments.

Thirst for adventure

Ross 154 bar

Hardly have you started your coffee when you begin to faintly hear the noise of the room behind you.
Across the room, the bartender appears to be putting away glasses he's just finished washing. You notice that he absentmindedly wipes the bar in front of him.

Listening closely, you hear a small sound, likely indicating that a new broadcast is about to begin. You've never heard this one before; after all, each station has its own sound engineer.

What you hear in the bar:

Galactic News: Security Officer Killed in Line of Duty

Security services are mourning the loss of one officer Jacob Scarlett, who was last seen in the Ross 446 system. Officer Scarlett was part of a multi-system initiative designed to target smuggling.

Scarlett's ship, which had been missing for several weeks, was discovered a few days ago drifting on the fringes of Ross 446 having suffered significant damage. Security forces are appealing to anyone with information relating to the officer's death to come forward.

A strange disappearance... You look at the coffee grounds at the bottom of your cup, and without missing a beat, you get up and head for your ship. This planet Merlin will have to wait!

According to the news you've heard, Officer Scarlett was last seen in the Ross 446 system. You're off without a hitch in search of a lead!

Thanks to your FSS scanner, you discover that a listening post is hidden near Ross 446 1.

Once you've found the track, go on to step 2

Up the track

Thanks to your detective flair and, above all, your scanners, you discover a listening post hidden in the system.

The ROSS 446 listening post

After a quick scan of the tag, the hidden message can be read.

Corrupted message:
…Scarlett, I'm in….bought my …alias…moved …their…base…to…Istanu…system…bigger…not…smuggling…trading…slavery…going on here. I'm…close …out.

The message has been damaged, but it's clear enough for you to have a new track.
Officer Scarlett seems to have left this system alive. Now, investigator, all you have to do is follow the trail!

Follow Officer Scarlett's trail and move on to step 3

Follow the trail

The Istanu system is relatively small, but even so, there's nothing resembling a smuggling base or even a slaver's base.

The Istanu system

As Officer Scarlett's message has been too badly damaged to provide any further information, you're going to have to search this system.

Find out where Scarlett could have gone...

With the FSS scanner you can find an 'unauthorized installation' near Istanu 1F

Once you've found the location, go there and proceed to step 4

Infiltration

'Bingo!' as Scarlett would say, you find yourself in front of an unauthorized installation. Be cautious and discreet; no one must notice your presence. You sneak quietly inside the base.

The unauthorized installation of Istanu

You discover that the station is equipped with data links. Scan them all for new information.

However, this base is peculiar. It appears that data links are hidden within it...

There are walls with a red triangle symbol on them, which are, in fact, doors.

By gently pushing them with your spacecraft, they open.

Once all data links have been scanned, proceed to step 5

Revelations

You have 4 messages in your possession (2 from the outside, 2 from the inside). You can finally understand what happened to Officer Scarlett.

Message #1:

This is Scarlett, I'm in. Looks like they bought my cover story and alias. Having me murder my own ship sealed the deal. Nothing screams criminal like killing a cop. They wear it like a badge of honour. Word got around and they think I'm some gun for hire.

We've moved about a fair bit, but their base of operations seems to be in the lstanu system.

This is bigger than we thought, not just a smuggling ring they are trading in people and not for slavery, something else is going on here. I'm not close enough yet, but I'll find out.

Message #2:

I'm not proud of what I'm doing, I just tell myself that it's not me. But it seems to be working. I've got more access. I got a glimpse into something that looked like a lab, they've got tech here that would be the envy of any hospital in the galaxy.

These people are well funded. But I still need to dig deeper. What are they really doing here?

Message #3:

Got it!

They are shipping people in and using them as mules. They wake up somewhere and are completely unaware of what has happened to them and have no idea what they are carrying. Drugs, data chips, organisms. I guess they ended up being smugglers after all, but I didn't see this coming.

These innocent people traffic the goods with no knowledge and then turn up missing when the goods are retrieved.

We've got to stop this.

Message #4:

There's not much more I can do.

They are starting to ask questions and I've run out of answers. I think they have made me. I'm going to have to disappear, there is no way I can get a ship out of here, so I've hidden one of the escape pods and I'm planning on hiding in there.

If you find this, my name is Scarlett, I'm a security officer from Ross 154, I need you to get me back there so we can stop these scumbags.

Shocked by the news, you realize that Officer Scarlett is alive and well. You must rescue him, but where is he?

While searching the nearby targets, you find an occupied escape pod. It's inside the base, so you open the doors blocking your entry by gently nudging them with your spacecraft.

Once Officer Scarlett is safe, proceed to step 6

A well-deserved comeback

You open your cargo hold and carefully retrieve the occupied escape pod.

The escape pod occupied by Scarlett

Once Jacob Scarlett is on board, you head towards the ROSS 154 system to safely return him to his people.
Once on the Birkeland City station, use the rescue operation service in the contacts.

Congratulations Commander! thanks to your perseverance you saved a security officer from a slow but certain death. Your courage has also brought to light a sophisticated trafficking and smuggling network which will now be stopped.
I think you've earned another cup of coffee before hitting the road again.

PS: Don't forget to visit the planet Merlin ;)

You can complete this adventure automatically by connecting to the site with your Frontier account.

You can also share your pictures on discord in the channel #trophées !

Proofreading: CMDR Ben Carter Jr

Thanks: CMDR Qo7 (voice)