02/01/3050. Day 40, 02:00

CPO Lionel Barclay completed modifications to the Jaguar, implementing a more efficient structural configuration, switching the main-gun PPC to a pair of cutting edge ER Large Lasers, and adding an ECM suite. The modification, planned earlier, was possible using the facilities and cargo aboard the Xanthus.

02/01/3050. Day 40, 07:00

The airships Xanthus and Relentless took up positions to form a communications link. The Xanthus held position approximately 500 metres over the crash site of the DCS Hi No Kaze, and the Relentless rose to the top of the fog. Military communications could not be relayed from the surface to the Xanthus then to the Relentless and transmitted “in the clear” intercontinentally back to Fort Enyo on Ares continent.

The fact that this technique worked, and that the fog dampened communications, was taken for granted by Strata natives but communications experts Layne-Lars Kinnesson and Albrecht Hahn knew that this transmission dampening phenomenon was very unusual.

Layne-Lars Kinnesson took her concerns to Lt. Samara Hellstrom and between them they decided to request a dirigible to use as a dedicated communications relay for the crash site. The Relentless had one on board, but which would require readying before deployment.

02/01/3050. Day 40, 09:00

Following analysis of the communications discrepancies, Lt. Samara Hellstrom decided it was time to investigate Waystation 86 more thoroughly. The Hellstrom’s Hellions mounted their battlemechs and proceeded to the Eisen Mining under the cover of ECM. They approached undetected, and only broke communications silence to announce their imminent arrival.

Lt. Samara Hellstrom and Ruin Dmitar dismounted and were escorted to the command tower of the facility. They commanded the base superintendent, Madyson Cartwright, to cooperate and she in turn ordered communications officer Imogen Swan to give access to the communications system.

Linking up to the bases communications system, Layne-Lars Kinnesson detected a powerful but hastily implemented computer virus. She countered the virus and alerted her lieutenant. When challenged, Imogen Swan drew a laser holdout pistol and resisted but was subdued by Lt. Samara Hellstrom and Ruin Dmitar.

Layne-Lars Kinnesson saved a copy of the remaining communications logs and discovered most of the tampering was the work of Imogen Swan, and the traitors in Perdix were a second line of defence.

The laser holdout pistol was retrieved by Ruin Dmitar.

02/01/3050. Day 40, 10:00

A call was put in for support, and the Barracuda was dispatched from the crash site base with three additional squads of troops.

Lt. Samara Hellstrom interrogated the remaining base staff, and met up wiht Ruin Dmitar watching over the unconscious and restrained captive, Imogen Swan. Then the door partly opened and a grenade was thrown in. Ruin Dmitar bravely leapt upon Imogen (shielding her with his armour and body), while Lt. Samara Hellstrom expertly shot the explosive making it detonate prematurely (before reaching Imogen). The two moved into the corridor and fought Jim Hardy of the security team. Jim was badly wounded and was kicked down the corridor where Ruin shot him with the fearsome Zeus rifle, and the two grenades he was carrying detonated killing him and destroying the elevated walkway from the medical tower (and helipad) to the main complex of the base.

Meanwhile, another member of the security team, Craig Miller, was spotted sneaking for Layne-Lars Kinnesson’s Raven with a satchel charge. When challenged he charged, and Layne-Lars Kinnesson fired on him, killing him instantly.

02/01/3050. Day 40, 11:00

The support troops arrived.

Once cleared to return to the medical area, Nurse Jane Davis snuck into the ward where Imogen Swan was recuperating, and used an air filled syringe to execute her. She then moved to an unoccupied ward and set a trap.

When Jacques Dubois was sent to arrest her, he and two soldiers were caught in her boobytrap. She had rigged the door to close behind them, and she released the sample of Agent DC37 she had taken from the Sons of Brion before they proceeded to Argyre. Private Jenkins showed signs of succumbing to the exposure to Agent DC37.

When she triggered the trap, one of the soldiers (Private Carmody) opened fire and killed her with a burst of assault rifle fire.

02/01/3050. Day 40, 12:00

Searching the quarters of the uncovred traitors, Ruin Dmitar discovered two additional satchel charges in Craig Miller’s quarters, and these had been looted from a hidden weapon cache. He also discovered a concealed holdout pistol (loaded with makeshift AP rounds) disguised as a cigarette lighter and incorporating a micro-communicator. On closer inspection Ruin Dmitar discovered that Imogen Swan’s laser holdout pistol included a similar communications device. Unlike the disguised weapon, the laser holdout pistol was designed to be small and easily concealed.

Lt. Samara Hellstrom decided to leave a military presence at Waystation 86. The current garrison is the three squads (one each of LRM, SRM and Machine Gun infantry).