"Sir, I have Commander McTiernan, the CO of the research station on Io, holding.
He was hoping to talk to you. Considering the tone, I think something might have
gone wrong out there."
"Patch him through...Commander, what can I do for you?"
>"Admiral, we have a research team missing." It was clear that Arsineau
was >not understating things when he indicated that the tone of voice was a bit
>excited.
"Missing...how?"
>"They had gone out in a Runabout to study some anomaly they had come >across.
While out there, the Runabout simply disappeared." McTiernan's >voice was
brodering on panic.
"Ok take a deep breath and settle down, Commander. Was there any communication
about the anomaly before they dissapeared?"
There was a pause on the other end for a moment. "The two scientists were followings communication procedures as they were running the mission. We have their reports as they were working, but that is it. Other than a ray of light, there does not seem to be a reason for their disappearance."
"There has to be a reason...ships just don't dissapear. Did they just leave
the system?"
>"No, they didn't leave the system, at least not under their own power.
The >station's sensors show that they were hit by a beam that came out of >Jupiter
and simply disappeared."
"All right Commander. Keep an eye out and raise your Security level. Start
doing full scans from the station as much as possible but no more ships go out until
we know what's happening. I'll get Fleet Security and we'll get a search party prepared.
Anything else?"
The station's CO just nodded in response. "Yes, sir." He seemed almost relieved that someone else was taking over.
"Renaud to Admiral Smallwood. We have a situation."
| 