Famed detective duo break another case

Another case has been solved by the sector’s most well regarded detective duo; Mal McNamara and Ken Kristofferson. Their latest achievement is recovering the stolen White Gardenia, a sliver of neutron degenerate matter encased in a force field reinforced diamondoid casing and kept permanently on display on Varim. This subtle flower shaped jewel is famous for its technologically mysterious mandate era force field keeping the degenerate matter trapped inside despite the enormous pressure that must be contained within. The White Gardenia masses almost 140,000 tonnes making it exceedingly difficult to move and has been the pride of the Burton family jewellery collection since it’s discovery on Nassan almost 70 years ago.

Despite its incredible weight, the White Gardenia was stolen from its specially reinforced display position out the front of the Burton flagship store on Varim. Extensive surveillance showed an individual walking up to and snatching the jewel before disappearing into a waiting vehicle which left the authorities and the public to speculate wildly on how they were able to accomplish what has been called the crime of the century. However, such hurdles proved to be no more than mere trifles for Mal and Ken who cleverly deduced that the gem had been swapped out with a fake almost month before the ‘alleged’ theft during the opening ceremony for the Jade Tunnel project, and that the individual caught on camera was merely a decoy. They demonstrated that the weight sensors around the gem had been tampered with to disguise the swap and that the Jade tunnelling machine had been used as the perfect cover and transport vehicle for the massive heist.

Now that the crime has been solved and the White Gardenia returned to the Burton family our most renowned detectives can enjoy a well earned break from crime fighting before turning their prodigious mental capacity towards the next great mystery.

‘Atlantis’ expedition declared lost

The twelve members of the joint expedition between the University of Dynassa and the Demarr corporation on the planet Octave has been declared lost three weeks after their last scheduled check in and two weeks after their supplies would have been exhausted. This marks the second time that a deep ocean expedition has been lost under mysterious circumstances on Octave and many now believe that a hostile force must reside deep beneath the waves. 

The planet Octave is famous for the extensive, and thus far unmapped, underwater caves that riddle much of the ocean floor and delve to at least 25 kilometres according to surviving probes. These caves have long been suspected to house a lost Mandate city according to records held by the University of Dynassa. Such a treasure trove would be an invaluable untapped source of wealth and knowledge but with this latest failure the existence of such an Atlantis is likely to remain a mystery for some time yet. 

Heir to the Tybold fortune killed in kidnapping gone awry

A tragedy has occurred today as the 32 year old Alicia Tybold was killed by armed assailants outside of Tybold tower on Demos. Police have reported that at least 12 heavily armed and armoured persons assaulted Alicia’s armoured convoy at 2302 last night as Alicia was leaving the building. Opening fire with heavy weapons they rapidly eliminated Tybold security personnel and blasted the convoy vehicles open before kidnapping Alicia Tybold and escaping under amidst the confusion. Police response drones were on sight within 60 seconds of the attack but where destroyed attempting to aid Tybold security personnel. 

Alicia’s body was found several hours later dumped in the ocean. Her cause of death has been determined as shock and blood loss stemming from shrapnel wounds likely incurred during the assault. Police speculate that assailants misjudged the use of explosives required for the assault and inadvertently wounded Miss Tybold during the kidnapping and where unable to revive her.

Police are devoting every available resource to bringing the perpetrators to justice and as part of that effort have imposed additional restrictions on all travel to and from Demos until they are apprehended. Meanwhile in a press conference only an hour ago Mortimer Tybold, the fabulously wealthy patriarch of the Tybold family had this to say: “This heinous and despicable act by cowards against my family will not go unavenged. I pledge a 1 million credit reward to whoever brings me those responsible, each and every one of them.”.

Alicia’s death leaves her younger brother Merrick Tybold as the new heir to the Tybold name.