Audio Log File #75267-Rho

Major Irisz Magyari: So they’re off?

Nikola Kardos: Apparently so. Air defence command tracked the launch of a single dropship from somewhere north of us, headed into space. While there was no solid ID on it, given the timing I think it’s safe to assume that was Carson.

Magyari: Agreed. It’s also what I would have done if I was in his position. He got to leave with most of his unit intact before he was at the devastating, unrecoverable losses stage. And I have no doubt that he pillaged as many of their supply caches as he could find before he left as well. Again, what I’d do.

Kardos: Speaking of, Stanley had a look at the cache we found his men at. It’s the same stuff; high-quality parts of standard manufacture. And while most of it was your normal, open-market stuff, there was a quantity of the mysterious ‘OB1/OB3’ stuff there as well.

Magyari: Interesting. We’ll have to look into that further, but for now I think we should focus on more pressing matters.

Kardos: Like the fact that two of the assault lance have bounties on their heads?

Magyari: There is that (chuckle). In this line of work, having somebody out to get you seems to be inevitable. And while I don’t know who it is who wants Zhen that badly, I agree with you that it’s likely tied to Stein.

Kardos: You’re not too concerned by it?

Magyari: If I ditched a member of this unit every time they had personal drama, then it’d probably be just you and me, if that. Like I said, this sort of thing is inevitable. I’d like you to look into it, but as long as this doesn’t become a regular occurrence or directly impact our operations, then we’re fine. (pause) Besides which, anyone who wants me dead died long before I was born.

Kardos: Very true that. I suspect I can pin this to the whole Stein-Royale investigation as well. There are a lot of things that are lining up there which makes me think that there might be some connection.

Magyari: So we’re going with the theory that Stein ditched the Royals and got out of town before we got to them?

Kardos: Yes. And we’re also assuming that whoever killed Royale did such on Stein’s orders. While we don’t have any solid proof, it does serve to nicely tie up loose ends for him. My going theory is he saw the Royals as a losing deal and got himself out of it.

Magyari: Speaking of which, did you see the final report on the autopsy?

Kardos: I haven’t had the chance to yet.

Magyari: LIC matched the bullet to the weapon that fired it. Apparently it was a Minolta 9000, a weapon designed for ands used almost solely by the Death Commandos.

Kardos: Interesting. Do you think that there might have been a Capellan connection?

Magyari: Given that their last major action before this one was an unsanctioned raid on Tybalt, it’s possible. But at this stage, who can say? It could just be that the sniper was surprisingly well-equipped.

Kardos: Worth looking into, regardless.

[Door]

Kommandant Angus Gilles: Major, Lieutenant.

Magyari: Kommandant. What do you have for us?

Gilles: I looked into the information you provided about where Carson claimed he was operating from.

Magyari: Anything interesting?

Gilles: Ja. Mount Sokol does match up with our information. It’s an extinct volcano, one that was long dead before humans ever set foot on the world. There was a large SLDF facility at the base of the mountain, one that was a centrepiece of their holdings on the world.

Kardos: And that the League nuked in the first Succession War.

Gilles: Also correct. The facility was abandoned as a total loss, and the ruins should have been left to decay long ago. However, it was also a very large facility, one that admittedly we still lack a full accounting of. It’s possible that a portion of it could have survived or have been excavated.

Magyari: A Sparsely populated, little-travelled section of the continent would mean you could do a lot of work with nobody to bother you.

Kardos: And it would fit with their having access to a large supply of apparent SLDF-issue parts that are ever so slightly radioactive.

Gilles: Agreed. All the signs suggest that Pelzer is there. I think that it’s high time that we ended this civil war.