|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 12, 2017 4:30:26 GMT -4
"I knew because I have contacts, captain. I won't always have them, though. We're only a small number of hours before we're officially unable to hold a conversation with someone in Keeper space. If it helps though, I'm a quick thinker, and I can promise you if you look at my campaign history it's blank because I made it that way. In the interest of honesty though I can assure you that for as long as I was on the Board any atrocities that the Keepers committed I certainly had a hand in. How do you think I got such reliable friends in the first place? And also, yes captain, I'm aware you read my file. I keep my eyes open."
Drake pours his tea and starts mixing in sugar.
"Now, my contacts told me that a little birdy that may or may not have been some hacker hidden away on the fringe of the Schallan domain shared with them the exact attack plan. It was simple: Blow out the weapons and the only reliable means of escape, send in some forces, nothing noticeable just enough to get the job done, and then blackmail the Keepers into keeping the investigation strictly within the Schallan's control, allowing them to get away with it. I mean, it wouldn't have worked without considerable support but Andrea pissed off a lot of people on the Board. I was the one that actually casted the deciding vote over whether or not she got to live, it was such a neck-to-neck scenario. Now the problem remains, how do the Schall blow out the weapons? It's simple, they snuck the parts in on one of the crew members, had him assemble the jammers there and then activate it. So, now the matter of where it is depends on how skilled the agent was. If the agent was William, which it is, it'd be in a hard to find place. Or even the cargo crates that William personally examined; I heard he was solely in charge of checking all of the technology crates himself."
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 12, 2017 4:51:29 GMT -4
"William's not currently our primary suspect; we're chasing down another lead. Now, I have several more questions for you if you don't mind. The first is regarding Andrea - why did you choose to leave her alive, and why did you put her on this ship? Next, if you knew in advance about the sabotage, why did you sign up for this mission? Hell, why sign up at all - you clearly had a pretty good life back in Keeper Space. Lastly, could you pour me a cup of tea if I'm going to be here a while listening to your answers?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 12, 2017 5:11:07 GMT -4
"Oh, I didn't choose to be on this mission, although this near sabotage attempt could be a good reason. Granted I didn't know about it until after we left the Bashrek. After all, until then my side of the Board hadn't known that the other side was whispering secrets in the Schall's ear, including the fact that Andrea was alive," Drake explains as he pulls out another tea cup, pours some more tea in and put it on a plate next to some sugar in front of you.
"Now, as to Andrea, well, it's because she's so damn powerful. Understand that the Keepers are always right. Our values are conceived of the highest degree of morality, even if I'm giving you a bad point of view over our politics. Anyone who defies them in the capacity that Andrea did deserves hell, no more, no less. At the time, how long has it been? Four years now? Was her insurrection that long ago? Huh. Anyways, at the time I was of the opinion, and once more, for the sake of honesty I still am of that opinion, that if you deserved hell, there were two kinds of hell to receive: To put you in a goddamn pod and drop you to Venus, or put you to work serving the values of the Keepers. I decided with her power she should serve the Keepers, even if it was against will. Which it isn't, actually. Believe or not, you're doing nothing by putting her in that cage. If she really wanted, she could turn this ship around right now from in her cell, no eyesight necessary. She isn't like other technomancers, believe it or not. We, by that I mean some colleagues of mine, struck a deal with her which is what's keeping her there in her cell right now. Hell, you're probably safe to let her walk around, she won't try any stunts. Anyways, why we put here is because here she's safe from the... what? Eight races she pissed off, of which half of them have religious beliefs that call out for her blood. That's why the Schall tried to kill us, you know."
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 12, 2017 10:54:30 GMT -4
"I am well aware that that is why the Schall tried to kill us. And, though I would love to debate the absolute morality of an organization comprised of people with radically different morals, I feel I should save that for another time. Do you have any idea at all where the jamming device may have been located?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 12, 2017 14:22:07 GMT -4
(Forgot something again but you asleep so it's cool)
"No need to ask that question," Miranda says, barging in. "My apologies for interrupting you two, but we don't have a lot of time and I was sure you'd like this matter finished fast, captain, so I just came when one of the crew said you here."
She drops a device on the table.
"We found it in Mateo's room," Miranda explains. "He's disappeared so we can't make an arrest yet, but we got this far at least. It has no off switch, but I'm sure we can give it to Kem to be dismantled. The Zathrelle are mechanical geniuses and from his file he's a cut ahead of them."
"Hold on, you read the crew's files? I'm surprised Miranda, I didn't know you had that kind of initiative."
"And what do you know about me?"
Drake smiles, and replies with a blatant lie.
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. What I do know is why give it to Kem when we have Andrea? We already have used her services once, why not again?"
"Pardon me if I'm not a fan of letting a criminal who should've been dead running loose around this ship," Miranda snaps.
"I don't think you have the position to be saying that one, Lieutenant."
"What?"
"Nothing."
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 13, 2017 9:22:20 GMT -4
"I'm inclined to agree with Miranda. I'm much more likely to trust Kem, regardless of how much you'll vouch for Andrea, simply due to the fact that he has never started a single war nor was he the one who inadvertently caused this whole debacle to begin with."
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 13, 2017 11:48:49 GMT -4
Drake sighs.
"Fine. Your the captain. So I guess it's a matter of finding this 'Mateo' person now. I would check William's quarters."
"Why are you so hellbent about that?" Miranda asks. "For your information because of you, I sealed William's quarters. No one can get in or out except me, the captain and Henry. I figured that it would be the safest thing to do since you were accusing him of espionage. I then checked with Henry and found out Mateo was on the search team formed after I did that."
"I would bet good money that William is a good spy. It wouldn't be hard for him to sneak Mateo into his quarters despite locking the door."
Miranda lets out a sound that seems like a hybrid of a sigh and a growl.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 13, 2017 12:02:07 GMT -4
"Drake, as of now your accusations against William are completely without basis in facts, or at least without basis in facts that you've agreed to share with us. Do you have any actual evidence to back up your claims that William is a spy?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 13, 2017 12:14:38 GMT -4
"Indeed! He has had a lot of contact with the Schall, the station he got on the ship at had a heavy Schallan influence, it wouldn't be hard to sneak the materials into the technology crates and he was the one who checked those alone!"
"Circumstantial," Miranda spat.
"And he didn't exist until seven years ago! I read the files on everyone here and I instantly pegged William as being too normal for someone wanting to get on this ship. As such I pulled some strings and got a full investigation done on him. The William Judge that is on this ship didn't pop up on the map until the year 2305. Back then, if he gave us the right age, he'd have been 34 years old, an age that should have merited at least some trace of activity. And not to mention whenever I look at him it sends shivers down my spine. He looks so much like someone I know but I don't know who beyond the fact it's a person I really don't like."
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 13, 2017 12:21:41 GMT -4
"Being acquainted with someone doesn't mean that you're a coconspirator in their plot to commit treason, and not having a record could just mean that you haven't done anything of note. As for your gut feelings - well, given that you've also advocated letting one of the most dangerous technomancers alive walk freely throughout this ship despite her numerous war crimes, I'm going to have to say that I'll take those with a grain of salt. Anyways, it wouldn't hurt to ask William where Mateo might be; Mateo does work under William, after all, and as such William may be able to give us some more insight than this conversation has."
At that, I put down my empty teacup and head for the door, back out into the hallway and towards William's quarters.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 13, 2017 12:38:15 GMT -4
"Agreed. I'll visit him right away," Miranda says. "Would you like me to seal this man's room or even better throw him in the brig so he doesn't cause anymore trouble?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 13, 2017 12:40:22 GMT -4
"We should seal Drake's room, but I wouldn't put him in the brig unless we can bring any actual charge against him. Being an asshole isn't illegal."
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 13, 2017 12:53:45 GMT -4
"Huh. I didn't know we had any laws on this ship," Miranda shrugs as she walks out and seals the room.
The two of you walk towards William's room, opening it to find the man himself lying down on the bed. He's apparently asleep.
"Uh-huh. Do you wanna wake him or...?" the lieutenant looks to you.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 13, 2017 12:58:20 GMT -4
"You can go ahead, if you'd like."
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 13, 2017 13:16:59 GMT -4
Miranda goes over, taps his shoulders, and is met with a prompt...
"Mmm... Huh? What the hell are you two doing in my room."
"Uh... The doorbell was broken."
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 13, 2017 19:33:58 GMT -4
"We want to know if you might be able to tell us the location of Mateo Abrantes. We found a device in his room capable of deactivating the ship's weapons and power and we are unable to find him at all."
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 13, 2017 21:12:20 GMT -4
"Wh- What? Mateo did? That's... What!?"
"Do you have any clue where he is?" Miranda asks.
"No. I haven't even known the man longer than a day. Uh... I know he was looking at places funny but I didn't keep track of them cause I thought it was just him being weird."
"Would anyone on the crew know anything else about him?"
"Not that I know of. Mateo kept to himself today. The only thing I can think of is just... weird."
"Tell it to us anyway. It might help."
"Alright," William says, "I noticed there was one man on the crew he was making an effort to avoid. It's the security chief, Kaminski was his name I think."
"What kind of a connection could those two have?" Miranda asks you.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 13, 2017 22:40:23 GMT -4
"None that I can think of off the top of my head, but the Schall had to find out about Andrea somehow. Or it could be that he knew he was commiting espionage and didn't want to be caught."
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 13, 2017 23:15:15 GMT -4
"I'd choose the latter over the former, but even then, something's off about that. A spy wouldn't avoid a person unless they've known their cover was blown. I looked at Mateo's file while I was searching for you, he was sentenced and imprisoned, although he got off two months after and it didn't specify where, just on New Alcatraz, the prison planet. Kaminski managed a place called Building 143 on New Alcatraz before he was assigned onto this ship. There's no list of who was in Building 143 but since it seems to have housed Andrea for four years I think we can sketch a rough idea. Would you like me to go and check in with Kaminski to verify this theory? Perhaps he'd know Mateo a little bit more than William does," Lieutenant Greengrove replies.
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 13, 2017 23:28:48 GMT -4
"You go do that. I'll look around his quarters for anything there that might tell us where he's hiding or the nature of his communication with the Schall."
I then do what I said I would do.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 13, 2017 23:48:05 GMT -4
Mateo's room was pretty simplistic, unsurprising for someone who's been working a twelve hour shift since he got here. A lot of his suitcases were there, although it was all rummaged through. Miranda had a good job done, even the mattress was flipped over. However, the search was handled by maintenance, there may yet be a few things hidden here.
After a bit of searching you found a pair of similar parts. It occurs to you that these parts belonged to the fighters and were essential to their operation. You couldn't remember seeing those fighters in the air so it was likely that the pilots couldn't get them operative, and it had slipped Henry's mind in the midst of all the relief to report it. You didn't see any missing parts for the transport though.
Miranda comes in, "Captain! I got something! Mateo did spend his two months in Building 143, Kaminski told even me old stories about him. Kaminski explained that Mateo wouldn't die for his work, so he'd have a plan to escape the destruction."
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 14, 2017 0:40:32 GMT -4
"That would require leaving the ship, in which case he may very well be long gone. I'm headed to the hangar anyways due to finding these," I indicate to the ship parts which I found in my search, "and if he left the ship in some way he likely would have left through there."
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 14, 2017 0:56:51 GMT -4
"On the contrary, I'd argue that he's still on the ship," Miranda replies. "He was with Henry after we were fired from the slingshot. Right now nothing can leave the ship unless it wants to die. I don't know what those are, but I'll assume they have something to do with the ships. Mateo wouldn't hide on a fighter, but he wouldn't chance sneaking into the hangar bay when we're leaving. That leaves one final hiding spot. I think I know where he is, if you wouldn't mind following me to the hangar, captain."
|
|
|
|
Post by Bannanachair on Aug 14, 2017 1:07:43 GMT -4
I follow her.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tikobe on Aug 14, 2017 1:37:38 GMT -4
You follow Miranda down through the halls and into the hangar bay. She takes out her gun and climbs into the transport shuttle.
"Let me tell you a legend about these things, captain," Miranda says as she paces around the empty shuttle. "Supposedly, after a while the Keepers were concerned that too many Board members as well as race leaders were being kidnapped by criminals, so they personally modified the design of these shuttles. According to the legend, what they added was a small room, one you wouldn't be able to notice, and could seal itself up like an evac pod in case the shuttle was destroyed. No one beyond the designers, the Board and the leaders of each race should know about them but..."
Miranda fiddles around with a piece of the metal which causes a part of the wall to open like a door. Inside is Mateo, a figure at which Miranda points her gun at.
"... there's always a few exceptions, right?" she smiles. Mateo, lost for words, only raises his hands in a gesture of defeat.
|
|
