Elaine Boyd

Elaine Boyd was a Federal Times reporter. In August 3301, she went missing after she was named a suspect in the murder of Presidential Protection Detail Agent Susan Monroe, who she had been in a relationship with. Boyd was found dead from apparent suicide in the Wyrd system days later. Following Boyd's death, however, various newsfeeds received data packages that detailed the suspicious deaths of key members of the investigations into the losses of the Highliner Antares and Starship One, including the late Vice President Nigel Smeaton, and identified Susan Monroe, who had worked on Smeaton's protection detail, as her source.

Although further investigation by the Federal Times and other media outlets found disturbing implications that Smeaton, Monroe, and Boyd had all been murdered to cover-up Core Dynamics sabotaging the Highliner Antares to undermine Sirius Corporation, the allegations could not be proven. The circumstances surrounding Boyd's death became fodder for conspiracy theorists.

Timeline

23 APR 3302

• Imperial investigator Cornelius Gendymion has released a statement to the Prism Herald addressing accusations that Imperial agents were responsible for the destruction of Starship One. "It seems Federal Times reporter Elaine Boyd's investigations are being ignored by her countrymen. You may recall that she highlighted the suspicious deaths of key individuals involved in both the Antares and Starship One investigations before her alleged suicide. Her data detailed an off-the-books investigation into the Antares by Vice-President Nigel Smeaton, and also alleged that he was murdered. Congressman George Fallside's apparent foreknowledge of Smeaton's death was waved away, but I suspect Jacob Harris might have better luck finding Starship One's saboteurs if he searched within the Federation – perhaps starting with folks who have ties to Core Dynamics."
  Commander Corrigendum | Loren's Legion

15 MAR 3302

• Various media outlets throughout inhabited space received an anonymous communiqué this morning. "The galactic community is in peril," the message began. "They just don't know it yet." The transmission asserts a connection between Core Dynamics, the destruction of the Antares and Starship One, the Emperor's Dawn insurgency, and setbacks in Unknown Artefact research. It also claims that the deaths of Federal Vice-President Nigel Smeaton, Sean Richards, Arnold Lowe, Susan Monroe, Elaine Boyd, Emperor Hengist Duval and the disappearances of former Federal president Jasmina Halsey and Professor Ishmael Palin are similarly connected. The message concluded: "Many of those who have tried to connect these seemingly disparate events have been silenced, along with their sources. That is why I have chosen to remain anonymous. So far, only pawns have been revealed in this shadowy game. We must discover the king." Neither the Federation nor the Empire has chosen to comment on the transmission.
  Commander Corrigendum

01 SEP 3301

• In another shocking revelation the Federal Times today posted a story highlighting possible links between a non-exec member of the board of Core Dynamics and Vice President Nigel Smeaton's death. They first referenced an interview on January 28th with Congressman George Fallside who appeared to have early knowledge of the Vice President's death. The Congressman refused to comment on the article, but it is public knowledge of his non-executive directorship of Core Dynamics and several other major arms manufacturers. More damning was the evidence concerning one of the crew of the Starship One, Flight Engineer Nick Baron, who had previously worked at Core Dynamics before joining the President's Crew. From the information package sent by Elaine Boyd after her death, the Federal Times published extracts of financial records of the flight engineer. When tracing these records through a convoluted series of transfers, one of these transfers was through a shell corporation in which Congressman Fallside was involved. The trail of the payments revealed that Boyd must have obtained a high level clearance access, possibly provided by Agent Monroe. When asked about today's story, the Chief Editor for the Federal Times commented: "There does appear to have been a conspiracy on several levels. We believe that the destruction of the Highliner Antares so many years ago may not have been an accident. When the Vice President was investigating the death of his relative, he must have discovered some of these details, and possible the dark forces killed him, and when our reporter Elaine Boyd did the same, she too was silenced. We are still not clear how it relates to the present day. Our reporters continue to investigate. At the Federal Times we always seek the truth and we will discover the truth here."

29 AUG 3301

• The Federal Times today revealed the latest article in their ongoing investigation into the apparent suicide of their reporter Elaine Boyd. They revealed that Agent Susan Monroe, who Boyd was accused of murdering, was part of Vice President Nigel Smeaton's protection detail at the time of his death. It already seemed obvious to many that Agent Monroe was the source of the reporter's information, but now there is greater likelihood that she provided it willingly. Officials from the Federal Security Service insist that Agent Monroe was an unwilling participant and they had evidence to link the agent's death to the reporter. The Chief Editor of the Federal Times responded by claiming this was 'nonsense' and that he would not rest until the truth was revealed.

28 AUG 3301

• The case of reporter Elaine Boyd took an unexpected turn today as several respected newsfeeds, including the Federal Times, received encrypted data packages. It is claimed that these were automatically sent by Elaine Boyd from a public storage server with instructions to be delivered if newsfeeds reported her death. The data apparently reveals a connection between the death earlier in the year of Vice President Nigel Smeaton and the Antares Incident. His death was officially declared an accident, although many at the time suspected foul play. Those suspicions are likely to rise again with the revelation that he was related to one of the crew aboard the Highliner Antares when it disappeared on its maiden flight 50 years ago. Elaine Boyd discovered details of a private 'off the books' investigation by the Vice President into the incident and that he suspected it was caused by sabotage, rather than drive component failure. He had already spoken to a number of now quite senior officers involved in the original enquiry. Elaine Boyd's information implied that he may have been killed to stop his investigation. In a statement, the chief editor of the Federal Times said: "We hope that amongst the information Elaine has provided there is evidence to prove her innocence in the crimes she was implicated in. We are continuing to examine the data in detail."

25 AUG 3301

• The hunt for Elaine Boyd ended today with the discovery of her body in a low-rent hotel in Wyrd. Local law enforcement reported that they received an anonymous tip-off about her location and discovered her body as they gained entry. The former reporter of the Federal Times was accused of murdering her partner, Agent Susan Monroe. An investigation into her death is already underway and agents from the Federal Security Service have been granted special access to assist the independent local police. The police have so far refused to provide any details, but an off-the-record source has revealed that a suicide note was found. It allegedly states that she could no longer live with the guilt of killing her lover. The Federal Times has so far refused to comment on the fate of their reporter.

23 AUG 3301

• Following news of the brutal murder of Agent Susan Monroe, the Federal Security Services upgraded Elaine Boyd's person of interest status to 'suspect', and called for any information regarding the reporter's movements. "This was a particularly savage murder of a person who laid their life on the line. We believe that Elaine Boyd was using her lover to access confidential information. While we haven't yet ascertained the exact nature of the information she was trying to access or why she murdered the agent. It is also unknown whether Agent Monroe was a willing participant in the information retrieval, although we believe that her murder indicates that she was not. "We urge anybody who sees Elaine Boyd to report her location immediately. At this time she is considered dangerous and should not be approached." In a statement, the Chief Editor of the Federal Times said: "Having worked with Miss Boyd for seven years, I find it hard to imagine that she could commit the crime she is accused of. We are of course helping the security services with their inquiries, but I can confirm we have had no contact with Miss Boyd for several days."

21 AUG 3301

• The Federal Security Services today revealed that a member of the Presidential Protection Detail has been found dead in her home. "Agent Susan Monroe was killed in the early hours of this morning and there is evidence that her residence had been searched. At this time we do not know why, or if anything was taken. Her death was caused by several stab wounds to the chest and neck." When asked whether there were any suspects in the case, the spokeswoman responded: "We don't have a suspect at this stage and the investigation is progressing. We do want to speak with Elaine Boyd, who was romantically involved with Agent Monroe, and have identified her as a person of interest in the case. We urge her to contact us to help us with our investigation. If anyone knows the whereabouts of Elaine Boyd then they should inform us or their local law enforcement agency." Elaine Boyd is a reporter with the Federal Times, which refused to comment when asked about the reporter.

11 AUG 3301

• Two people died in a crash when a personal transport collided with a Lakon Type-9 Heavy transport vessel. The small ship, a type used to run between orbital facilities, was destroyed in the impact. The small vessel was ferrying two transport safety officials to the Laphria Shipyard in the Artemis system. They were on a knowledge sharing mission. The Transport Safety Authority issued the following statement from their headquarters on Mars: "This type of accident is always a terrible tragedy for those involved and the Laphrian authorities have promised full disclosure and co-operation with our investigation." They also reported that the pilot of the Type-9 was being treated for shock. She saw the transport break open only metres from her large window as she approached the station. Elaine Boyd from the Federal Times asked for the identities of the dead and was told that they wouldn't be disclosed until the next of kin had been identified. She pressed further asking if one of the dead men was Arnold Lowe, a senior investigator in the Starship One disappearance. She was told 'no comment' and no further questions were taken.

04 AUG 3301

• A Sirius Corporation shuttle was destroyed this morning when its docking computer failed on approach to Patterson Enterprise in the Sirius system. While such failures aren't unheard of, they are rare, especially among smaller craft. Elaine Boyd from the Federal Times asked a Sirius Corporation representative how the company was able to determine the cause of the accident so quickly. She was told: "The telemetry from the shuttle provided clear evidence of a stall in the computer's operation as the vessel approached the docking port. The boost protocol should have been disabled but was instead activated, causing the shuttle to crash into the station." The representative stated that the crash would be investigated further, and in particular why the software failed in this instance. Everyone onboard the shuttle was killed including Sean Richards, a senior consultant engineer who helped to compile the incident report on the recent disappearance of Starship One. Richards had also formed part of the task force some 50 years earlier with the Antares enquiry.