Auxientian police are investigating the murder of Palani Bri, industrialist, after the destruction of his airship, Regata, last week. Regata departed from Steam Station Port on Monday with a skeleton crew. Bri’s planned to test a new hydrogen spanner he hoped to patent post-flight. The ship sailed the air for thirteen minutes before catching fire and plummeting to the ground. Neither aerobrakes nor parachutes were deployed, and the ship continued to earth unhindered.
Of the crew, twelve of the thirteen were discovered on the ground, having escaped in personal gliders. The Auxientian Investigative Module questioned the survivors, but AIM have yet to announce findings or declare criminal proceedings. Concerned that the crash might pose a future security risk to air trade and traffic, a Parastin council was summoned to cooperate on the investigation.
The Parastin Order claims to have uncovered evidence of a conspiracy among the thirteen surviving crew members to assassinate their captain over rough treatment and abuse of the crew. Allegedly, Bri planned to take the airship beyond the forbidden zone in Western Mutu, an act that would have crossed international borders and could potentially have sparked a war with Western nations beyond the mountains. The crew claims to have restrained the captain in self defense, but each has given testimony along the same lines: that the captain foiled their capture and set the ship aflame on his own, in hopes of murdering the crew and escaping as the sole survivor. Anticipating this move from their diabolical overseer, the crew released all the personal gliders apart from the ones in which they made their escape, leaving Bri to go down with his ship.
Parastin councilors continue the investigation, working in close concert with AIM.
