Chapter 3 — The Journey towards Marinagua

Bohdie doesn’t hesitate to add his thoughts. I recommend full Action Stations from Jump Emergence until we are safely on the surface. Two years is long enough that we could waltz right into a hot welcome, especially if there is something to Wilbur’s concerns." Bohdie looks around the room. This is a binary system, which presents its own complications. I am not certain what any scan might turn up after more than half a year unless there was trouble. In which case, the best case scenario may well be a negative result. In my opinion, we should set a hard departure time consistent with refuel and refine operations plus any scan time we want to allocate. I am almost of the thought that any time beyond our refuel is wasted time."

Edrin has been quiet, eyes tracking the rotating system model as Chaala and Bohdie finish. When he speaks, it’s measured and precise—the voice of someone who lives inside orbital mechanics.

"Like Chaala said, the scan isn’t about what’s changed in the last two years," he says calmly. "It’s about what hasn’t."

He gestures to the projection, fingers tracing an orbital arc.

"We’re not trying to map Touxilay as it is now. We’re trying to reconstruct where it was twenty-seven weeks ago, when the Harrier would have arrived."

Edrin shifts the display, bringing up the older stellar survey.

"We take the two-year-old system data, roll the astrogation program forward to the Harrier’s transit window, and solve for Touxilay’s position in orbit around Touxilay III at that time. From there, we extrapolate the most likely arrival vector, then project forward roughly ten hours—their known turnaround time."

He looks up briefly.

"That gives us a probable ingress and egress corridor. If the Harrier left any drive emissions at all, that’s where they’ll be densest."

A pause.

"Assuming those signatures survived the background radiation from the binary stars."

Captain Halsson nods slowly, absorbing it.

"All right," she says. "So we’re not casting a wide net—we’re threading a needle."

Her gaze moves across the table.

"We establish a probable path in and out, then focus our sensors along that corridor. That means pushing our arrays to cut through the stellar noise and background radiation to find anything Scout-grade that doesn’t belong."

She taps the display once, decisive.

"That aligns with speed and discipline. We don’t go hunting ghosts—we check where a ship like the Harrier would have been, and only there."

Her eyes lift to the group.

"Assume Action Stations on jump emergence, as Bohdie recommends. We set a hard departure clock tied to refuel completion and scan window. If we find nothing, we leave."

A brief pause, then:

"Now—given that plan, does anyone see a flaw in the assumptions? Or a way to tighten the window further?"

The system model continues to rotate, binary stars flaring softly behind the ghost-line of a ship that may—or may not—have passed this way.

Virel listens without interruption,. Nothing he’s heard contradicts his own thoughts. For a moment, it seems he’ll let it pass.

Then he speaks in a quiet and measured tone.

"We’ve seen nothing so far that challenges the assumptions you’re working from," he says. "Up to this point, the Harrier’s movement has been consistent with a routine Scout transit."

A brief pause.

"If that remained true, following the established path will confirm it. If it didn’t, if something changed, then there’s no reliable way to predict where they diverted."

Another pause, deliberate this time.

"Reasonable scans make sense. But I don’t believe we’ll understand what happened until we reach Marinagua."

He stops there. No embellishment. No argument.

Wilbur nods once.

"Nothing further to add, Captain."

With a nod, Jeem acknowledges the information, having nothing new to add.

Bohdie turns to Virel and nods. Nothing further to add, he, too, remains silent.

Captain Halsson looks around the table, meeting each set of eyes in turn. No one speaks. No one shifts uncomfortably. The plan has settled.

She nods once, satisfied.

"Good."

She straightens slightly, hands resting on the edge of the display.

"When we emerge from jump, we will conduct an immediate hard scan of the system. I’m not optimistic we’ll find anything definitive—but if there’s debris, residual emissions, or an anomalous powerplant signature, we’ll see it. At the very least, the data will support an IISS survey update of the system."

Her finger traces a narrow corridor across the projection.

"From there, we’ll focus our attention on the highest statistically probable locations, using the assumptions we’ve laid down for the Harrier’s arrival and departure vectors."

She pauses, then adds more quietly:

"Truthfully, my instinct says that if the Harrier ran into trouble here, Junior Administrator Dominicus would have gone to the dark side of Touxilay. Low berth. Sensors on passive. Wake protocols keyed to an IISS scan. That’s the best-case outcome."

Her expression hardens slightly.

"Worst case, the Jaibok intercepted the ship, and we’ll find fragments. If so, that still gives us confirmation."

She continues without drama.

"The third possibility is the simplest: the Harrier refueled quietly and proceeded on to the next system per her flight plan."

She steps back from the display.

"So—execution order is as follows:

1. Jump emergence


2. Active system scan—focused on debris fields and residual emissions


3. Transit to the dark side of Touxilay


4. Wilderness refuel — approximately six hours


5. Sensors set to passive throughout refuel and processing


6. Return to orbit


7. Proceed to the 100-diameter jump point


8. Jump to the Seital system"

She looks around the table once more.

"Any questions?"

The hum of the ship continues around them, steady and patient.

With no question, the plan is set.

"Just in case your 'best case' scenario is true, we should make one, potentially very loud, active scan of the dark side on our departure. Somewhere between 5 and 7 in your EO. If we get a ping back that matches your speculation we can act, if not, we'll at least gather additional data."

Jeem gathers his notes and prepares to carry out his usual tasks on the ship.

Looking at Chaala;
"Excellent point."
The Captain add the active scan of the dark side of Touxilay after lift off to the plan of action displayed.

1. Jump emergence
2. Active system scan—focused on debris fields and residual emissions
3. Transit to the dark side of Touxilay
4. Wilderness refuel — approximately six hours
5. Sensors set to passive throughout refuel and processing
6. Return to orbit
7. Active scan of Touxilay dark side then planet itself
8. Proceed to the 100-diameter jump point
9. Jump to the Seital system

She looks around
"Anybody else?" asking for confirmation before lock-in

I would take Medic for this period, studying with the Doctor, if possible.

Aboard the Azure Voyager — Data Core Access

Touxilay System | Dark-Side Refuel | Late Cycle (0300 in 24 cycle) 123 hours into the 168 hour Jump

The ship is in its quiet hours.

Most of the crew is off-shift. Power draw is steady, minimal, optimized for jump operations. Outside the hull, the jump space quantum fields tries to penetrate the Jump bubble, unseen but felt through the faint variations of the ship’s power grid.

Virel sits alone in the secondary data alcove, lights dimmed low. The core’s background hum is constant—present enough to notice, easy to ignore.

He isn’t searching broadly.

He’s following references tied to Junior Administrator Silva Dominicus’s assignment parameters—cross-links, side notes, commercial entities mentioned once and never again.

Most results are routine. Old surveys. Obsolete charts. Fragmentary trade notes with no apparent relevance.

Then the system pauses.

Not a fault. Not a delay.

A hesitation—the kind that suggests the query resolved somewhere it wasn’t expected to go.

A file header appears, consolidated from multiple low-priority indices:

IISS–TB–COMM–NIP–Δ

Virel stills.

He doesn’t open it immediately.

Instead, he re-reads the header, eyes narrowing slightly at the classification date. The confidence rating. The revision gaps.

Only then does he pull the file open.

(IISS Dossier: Niparoo Trading Companies to follow)

IISS INTELLIGENCE DOSSIER
SUBJECT: NIPAROO TRADING COMPANIES / CORPORATE ENTITIES

File Designation: IISS–TB–COMM–NIP–Δ
Clearance: IISS INTERNAL / FIELD GRADE
Last Consolidated Update: 1114 (Partial)
Analyst Confidence Rating: LOW–MODERATE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Multiple commercial entities operating under variations of the name "Niparoo Trading Company / Corporation" have been identified in scattered reports across the Theta Borealis periphery and adjacent regions. These entities appear to engage in infrastructure development, resource extraction, and trade facilitation in systems with limited local governance or pre-industrial economic profiles.

Available intelligence suggests coordination between several nominally independent firms, though no unified corporate charter has been verified.

NOTE: Despite the shared nomenclature, no conclusive evidence exists that these entities operate as a single legal corporation.

KNOWN FACTS (CONFIRMED / HIGH CONFIDENCE)

-Entities using the Niparoo Trading designation originate from, or maintain strong ties to, the world Niparoo/Ventura (Theta Borealis 2226).
-Niparoo is an industrial, high-population world with extensive shipbuilding and manufacturing capacity.
-This absence is consistent across IISS trade logs, port registries, and third-party mercantile records.
-Reported activities emphasize:

• Long-term infrastructure investment
• Control of logistics chains
• Debt-based or concession-based access to local resources

-These entities favor non-aligned systems with:

• Weak regulatory oversight
• Developing or fragmented governments
• Limited access to offworld capital

PARTIALLY VERIFIED / INCOMPLETE DATA
- Corporate ownership structures are opaque.

• May use Shell companies and layered holding firms are common.
• No definitive board, executive cadre, or controlling family has been identified.

- Starport construction and upgrades attributed to Niparoo-linked firms often:

• Potentially exceed immediate local economic needs
• Prioritize freight throughput over passenger traffic

- Several systems report transfer of port authority or operational control following loan defaults or contract renegotiations.- Contract language recovered from independent brokers suggests/unclear on arbitration clauses .....(file corrupted).
- IISS presence in regions of Niparoo Trading activity is limited or delayed, often arriving after projects are already operational.

DATA GAP: No verified internal communications, corporate doctrine, or strategic planning documents have been recovered.

---

UNCONFIRMED / MISSING INFORMATION

-No confirmed intelligence on:

• Long-term political objectives
• Relationships with major interstellar polities (Jaibok, Verstand-Jugartha Colonies, Trooles Confederation, etc.)
• Ties to intelligence services, private military contractors, or state militaries

-Unknown whether Niparoo Trading entities:

• Coordinate with each other strategically
• Compete internally
• Are franchises operating under a licensing framework

-No reliable estimate exists for:

• Total fleet size
• Annual freight volume
• Capital reserves

- Personnel vetting standards remain unknown.- It is unclear how disputes between Niparoo entities and local governments are resolved in practice.

ANALYST NOTE: Absence of data may indicate deliberate information control rather than intelligence failure.

ERRONEOUS / QUESTIONABLE ENTRIES
(Flagged for review – confidence LOW)

• Previous IISS summaries identify Niparoo Trading as operating within the Verstand-Jugartha Colonies.
• These reports are contradicted by later, higher-quality data and are assessed as false attribution.
• Several commercial digests describe Niparoo Trading as a state-owned enterprise of Niparoo.
• No evidence supports or does not support that formal government ownership exists.
• At least two sector reports claim Niparoo Trading maintains armed convoy escorts equivalent to naval patrol craft.
• These claims are unsubstantiated and likely conflate private security with military assets.
• One outdated file suggests Niparoo Trading avoids shipbuilding worlds.
• This is contradicted by multiple verified shipyard contracts linked to Niparoo itself.

BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT (ANALYST CONSENSUS)
Niparoo Trading entities exhibit patient, systemic behavior rather than opportunistic trading patterns. Their operations suggest:

Preference for control over profit margins

They do not display overt hostility, but their presence often correlates with loss of local economic autonomy over time.

[/list]
IISS ASSESSMENT — STRATEGIC RELEVANCE

While not currently assessed as a direct threat, Niparoo Trading entities represent a structural risk to developing systems within Theta Borealis Sector.

RECOMMENDATION:
Increased monitoring in regions where Niparoo-linked firms intersect with IISS exploratory or survey missions.