Crossfire short stories IX: Jack Blinch's Revelation feature

Jack Blinch’s Revelation

Unearthed records on Sol unanimously pointed to the Colation’s complete and untimely demise. With the secrets of the dead well-hidden, few of the researchers on Earth realized the story of what had truly happened. One of the men who would come to learn of the events was Jack Blinch. He was a scoundrel, womanizer, bootlegger of data disks… and a hero? Mr. Blinch was one of the best in his trade. Bothered by the nuisance of destroying cargo to avoid endangering himself or his clients when apprehended, Jack found an alternative. A hidden computer aboard his freighter used personal encryption keys to discretely store and retrieve information. In addition, he personally read disks prior to shipment. Conviction of treason if caught by the Bretonian Police Authority is never worth the credits. This covered his rosy cheeks in a satisfactory enough way.

An offer he took one day on Earth was from a scientist. The report being transported explained her elaborate and unorthodox theories - ideas unlike anything he had read before. Jack learned about the ANS Hispania, and how its damaged propulsion unit had conclusively spawned the warp anomaly connecting Sol to Hyperion in distant Sirius. The report compared the consistencies of that disturbance with another recently detected and misidentified by the Order. If her reasoning were correct, the Eastern Coalition had to have built at least two sleeper ships. While CNS Stalin featured a knock-off of the Alliance sleeper ship’s propulsion design, this other vessel would have needed a uniquely powerful (yet faulty) alternative to produce the results observed. Blinch was intrigued by this revelation and saved a copy of the report before completing the contract. After departing Planet Cambridge it was difficult to go back to work as usual. His mind was racing in circles, scheming about how he might capitalize upon the scientist’s findings. Determined to find proof before carrying out his impulses, he paid a visit to the Nephele.

Everything needed to convince him was there. The proof was well concealed. It may take years for somebody else to come across it if he were not to say a word. Time was not on Jacks side, however, and he was well aware of this. The knowledge was golden but only temporarily. What could be taken to the Coalition that would garner the greatest reward? The credits would be his and his alone. No cuts for wingmen. No bribes for crooked cops to look the other way. No strings attached. Most importantly of all: no warrants out for his arrest. Laying out a series of clues for his brother to find in three weeks time, Blinch paid a visit to one of his LSF contacts in California and hit him up for a job. Anything sensitive in need of “discrete transportation” and relating to government would do. Piloting his freighter back to Sol was no challenge. Constables in Bretonia do not even patrol the jump holes anymore. The rest of his story is now a legend many know. Only days after Jack’s departure from Sol it would be Peter Abbot Blinch, a 28 year-old paralegal turned Orbital Spa & Cruise guide in Edinburgh, who came forward with what he knew and left Sirius completely dumbfounded.