That... Could Have Gone Better

Well, the trail I picked up on the entity that absconded with Lady Rowan... did not lead where I expected.

I suppose I should start at the beginning.

The team gathered at Vanishing Point at the appointed time. Some familiar faces; Lord Rasa, Lady Tammy, Mirage (The Gold Usher's assistant), The Collector (I must say, even after all these years, I can't understand why she accompanies me on these... adventures, but, honestly, I feel much better that she is), And a few I've not met before.

After a short pre-mission briefing, we all boarded Bifrost and I set her to follow the energy trail. All fairly standard at this point, of course.

Bifrost materialized in the cargo hold of a derelict star freighter. No discernible atmosphere and minimal gravity. We all donned our respective hard suits and disembarked.

The first thing we noticed, as it was fairly obvious, was the freighter was abandoned. No signs of life anywhere to be found. Most of the ship's systems were offline. It was decided we should split up and search the ship for any clue as to what had happened and why the trail led here.

Some of our party entered one of the crew cabins and, outside one of the view ports, we got the indication that something was even further amiss than we had initial realized.

This freighter was part of a larger fleet of some eight ships, all adrift in some manner. Smaller ships, perhaps runabouts or yachts spun and flipped in the void while a few larger cruisers and freighters hug more or less motionless, perhaps due to their more powerful inertial dampeners having functioned long enough to prevent the gravity-less dance of their smaller siblings. If pushed to fully describe the situation, the only words I would be able to come up with would be "ghost fleet" The number and distance between the ships made me glad I'd insisted our team bring some form of personalized propulsion along. Even still, navigation between the drifting hulks was hazardous, as we would soon find out.

After the freighter we arrived in, we moved on to a small cargo vessel. During this trip to the second ship, Lady Tammy miscalculated her entry trajectory and hit her head on the hull of one of the ships at speed. No one was aware of how serious her injury was at that time.

It was on the third ship we investigated, a larger star-cruiser, we got our only clue as to what happened on this fleet and to our Gold Usher.

An investigation of the star-cruiser's bridge, we discovered the "black box" flight recorder. It showed us... something. I downloaded the footage for study.

Yes, that is the same entity. It also appears to be Lady Rowan. I'm still examining this recording, and every detail to see what in it might help to recover our Gold Usher.

Once we had this footage, we returned to Bifrost and I set her to return us to Vanishing Point.

It was at this point, the severity of Lady Tammy's injuries became evident, as she began regenerating. Fortunately, we were able to get her to my Zero Room to help stabilize her.

So, in summary, we had the regeneration of one of our Cardinals, found evidence of the destruction of a fleet and the various crews thereof and we STILL haven't recovered the Gold Usher.

I suppose the only truly POSITIVE thing to come from this experience is my resolve to complete Project Aeropagus is much more hardened.

Trail of Breadcrumbs

You know, I've never understood using the expression "following a trail of breadcrumbs", since, in the fairy story that comes from, the characters were able to follow a trail of pebbles. When they had to use breadcrumbs, they got lost because breadcrumbs are a stupid thing to use to make a trail through the forest.

I'm digressing before I even start. That's probably not a good sign. Project Aeropagus has been exhausting, I admit, but also critical.

But, now, I find, I need to halt my progress on it.

As I've mentioned before, I have been in an active search for our Gold Usher and the alien entity with whom she is traveling, likely against her will, regardless of how it appeared at Beltane. I've had Isaac coordinating with the systems aboard Bifrost scanning time and space for any trace of the "Wild Huntsman's" energy signature. The search has been slow, due to the entity's unique and fluctuating signature. Frustration has become quite friendly with me lately.

The search seems to have paid off, however.

Recently, Isaac managed to detect a trace of the energy and is currently triangulating the location.

This seems a promising sign, but...

Okay, I'm no Seer.

I've got enough odd issues in my brain without having to deal with prophesies and the like.

That said, there is something inside my mind that is screaming that, once the location is triangulated, I must proceed with caution.

And not alone.

Call it worry on my part, I suppose, but dealing with an entity that, if I am correct, was able to mentally dominate one of the Sisterhood, DOES indicate the need to have some level of numbers on my side, should a confrontation become necessary.

So I'm going to need to try and recruit some others to join me. Since I'm not sure what we're heading into as yet, we're going to need to be prepared for anything.

PROJECT AEROPAGUS - CONTUNED - CLASSIFIED

FILE CLASSIFIED

EYES ONLY

PROJECT AEROPAGUS


... the work on Project Aeropagus continues, though it's difficult to continue this without exposure to... prying eyes from other Time Lords.

I realize this sounds like I am trying to hide what I'm doing, and, I am. I also realize that, given my recent troubles, it make be reasonable to presume I am working on this project for nefarious reasons, but that cannot be further from the truth.

In reality, I am merely working on Project Aeropagus in secret for one reason...

This is far too important to New Gallifrey to be languishing in committee.

In other words, it is better to ask forgiveness then to file forms in triplicate and wait for the subcommittees to convene and make a motion to consider meeting to take a poll to determine if there is enough consensus to hold a vote.

PROJECT AEROPAGUS- CLASSIFIED

FILE CLASSIFIED

EYES ONLY

PROJECT AEROPAGUS



In the recent history of our people, we have experienced hostile incursions from a number of species within our borders ranging from the Chronarchs to The Abbott. While some of these species have since been deemed more benevolent, it is my belief that such potential benevolence cannot be assumed from all potential adversaries throughout time and space.The recent revelation of the continued existence of the vampires within mad-space as well as the abduction of the Gold Usher from the Citadel of the Jade Dreamers (not to mention the Cyberiad incident on the original Vanishing Point), I have come to the realization that we, as powerful as we are due to our temporal sensitivity, still require... something more.

To this end, I have begun Project Aeropagus.

In the interest of heightened security.

The technology involved seems easy enough. At least, the base technology.

I just need to add some... spice... to it.