In reply to Hammer (msg # 113):

Porter shakes his head at the Mechanon.  "I was talkin' about the Sathar, big guy.  What those shadow things were was my next question."

The party explains that they are called the Qantariate, and they are preparing for war against this universe/dimension, within the next 30 days or so.  The sphere was a method of communication and transport between the dimensions.  It is unclear if there are any more.

(I will let players tell more details as it comes out.  The Qantariate are black because they do not exist as normal corporeal substance in this world, and they sometimes leave a trail of the black substance behind, which is like acid or worse to the touch.)

Desiraye tries to take off whatever clothing and equipment she can when she starts to feel the burn of the liquid on her shoulders and head.  She can feel her breathing start to get frantic and that whatever this fluid was, was the cause of her feeling like this.  Instantly, when she felt the hand come in to try and calm/control her, Desi feels the relief of the injection begin to calm her down.  Looking up/back to the man, she hears that he's part of the responding security element trying to help her and her team.  Desiraye tries to control her breathing as she addresses him, "Thanks for the assist.  You got her just in time, finally!  I'm Desiraye and what the Sathar took was a long story."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:11, Thu 03 Apr 2014.

Desi and everyone else injured are taken to a medical facility for healing and observation.

Sergeant Min, meanwhile, gathers what information he cans and meets them at the medical facility to talk to them.  Here is what he found out:

The sphere is gone, nowhere to be found.

Both Dr. Nuna and Dr. Matsuhara were found dead, killed by the strange extra-dimensional Blackness, which apparently hunted them down.  There is no further trace of the two Blackness shadows, nor of the Sathar that disappeared into the temporary portal when they took the Sphere.

Teliko was shot in the face and head.  Her goggles were destroyed by Desi's shots, but they appear to be of a design that is alien--perhaps of Sathar origin. It is unclear how she breached security or even got into the labs with her associates.  In fact, it appears as if she may have entered through a portal like that the Sathar came through.

Research is going on to discovery the true identities of the terrorists, including Teliko, as well as why the Sathar were involved.  A few items of equipment were confiscated, including the weapons, and the robot is also being examined.  There are no updates on that yet, but they do not appear to be UPF issue and could also be of Sathar or other unknown origin.

Currently...

Sergeant Min is standing next to all of you while you are finishing up to be released from the hospital.  It is evening now.  Everyone has been fully healed, except that it is unclear what effect the contaminants had on Desi and her DNA.  Hammer, as a Mechanon, was not affected by the container that was destroyed over his head.

Zeb Draxxon's death is also being investigated, but you have been cleared of his death.

Feel free to discuss and strategize.

Porter waves a holofile sheet absently as he considers things.  "I'm currently on assignment with Star Law.  They're a bit short on manpower at the moment for one reason or another.  Don't ask me.  Anyway, I've been tasked with tracking down any leads related to Sathar infiltration or espionage at that lab, or any other criminal activity that might be or have taken place.  It seems like you are all working toward the same thing.  I know I could use some help with my investigation.  I'm a marine, not a detective.  Shall we pool our resources in this?"

Desiraye reloads her K-Pulse pistol with a fresh magazine and places the empty one in a pocket, re-holstering it when it is complete.  "Wish we ran into you the other day when we ran into a bunch of the worms.  We zapped about five or six of them and we couldn't get the RIK security to believe us that we actually ran into them.  They're obviously looking for something around here because this is the second time we've run into them in a day or two.

Me and my people are an investigative unit, not so much soldiers.  Me and Hammer have been the shooters, S'Krllk and the Doc over there have been the support.  WE just met this other guy Zeb who said he had some security background but, he didn't last too long with us.  We could use someone else who knows their way around weapons and some sound tactics.  We help each other out see what the hell is going on around here."

"I've got a fairly open mandate to investigate criminal activity, especially regarding the Sathar.  I think we may work well together."

Porter will inquire with the security chief as to whether any of the confiscated weapons could be released to him, since he only has his personal automatic pistol at the moment.  He wasn't able to take any military gear on this assignment, and Star Law hasn't requisitioned him any equipment.

Desiraye smiles and extends her hand to the Marine, "I think we will.  I'll tell you now, we haven't had a good success rate with recent people who have partnered with us.  As long as you're up for it?

I'll let the rest of the team introduce themselves to you and what their specialties are.  I've been the muscle and shooter by default over time."

Desi looks back to the rest of the group and motions for them to introduce themselves to their new partner.

"I think I may stick around a while.  I saw service in the war..."  Porter gets a faraway look for a moment.  Then he snaps to attention, waiting for the rest of the group to introduce themselves.

"We've seen a little action ourselves.  I was on Volturnus when the Sathar attacked.  I lost a lot of good friends on that planet between Pirates and the worms!"

Hammer says, "I am a Mechanon, from Volturnus.  I met the group on the Pegasus starship when we escaped from the first group of the Black shadow creatures.  I am a xenobiologist and am just aching to really know what these shadow creatures and the Sathar are all about.  Don't let my mechanical frame fool you.  I've got plenty of emotion and sentience going on here.  Anything biosocial, you can talk to me.  I handle a gun okay too."

S'Krllk brightens momentarily, "You're a military type, then. That's nice, one more small piece of the universe shooting in the opposite direction."
"S'Krllk, at your service. I repair stuff, and sometimes it works."

Kri'lik introduces himself as the "doctor" of the group, both in knowledge and healing.  He is a Vrusk.

OOC: I am NPCing Kri'lik until his player gets back with us.

"We've got a good spread of skills amongst us but, we've been running up against some pretty big guns.  You would be a big help.

We're looking into something for a, uh, friend we've made here.  It's kind of hush-hush and if you want to work together, we need to share some information with each other.  We can't mention them directly and this whole Sathar thing has come up on us kind of quickly and we don't know how deep it really goes.

We are looking into the Jack LeGrange assassination at the starport the other day."

As Desi finishes her sentence, a well decorated military man walks into the room.  He is human, tall and muscular and about 50 years old.  His dark skin and well cropped black hair contrast against his white military uniform.

"I am UPF consulate Grandin Spief.  I oversee operations in this sector.  When I ran your identities through our system, I found that you used false identification to enter here before obtaining proper IDs with Dr. Nuna.  I also read your report about the Sathar attack on the shop of Ejidali.  I know you are working with RIK Zzik'Ti out of Starport Security.  While I appreciate he has the best interests of Kraatar in his mind, I am concerned that he is too close to the matter.  So I checked your IDs further and found that you are cleared with the UPF on a security clearance.  The Vrusk on Kraatar won't care about the clearance, but I do.  Your file indicates your involvement on Volturnus, the discovery of the extra-dimensional invasion and the misguided attempt to thwart it using a bug virus that then got out of hand, and your final rescue and flight from the Starport Pegasus before it was destroyed by the Qantariate.  Your rescue then brought you to this godforsaken planet, which now sees you entangled in further problems."

He takes a deep breath.  "You have a lot more knowledge of the Qantariate than I do, first hand, at least.  Given their involvement, I wouldn't be surprised to see them also involved in other matters here on Kraatar, even matters related to LeGrange--or at least Sathar involvement.  Please continue to work on your investigation and to keep RIK Zzik'Ti apprised.  Anything you tell him, you can assume I hear about, whether through authorized or unorthodox channels.  And I report directly to the UPF.  They are keeping an eye on you."

He shrugs.  "While the UPF does not believe there is any connection between the Qantariate and events on Kraatar, I am not so sure.  That's why we need eyes on the ground here.  As UPF consulate general, I have little authority here on Kraatar, but the UPF stands behind your efforts.  If you observe anything related to the Qantariate or Sathar from here on out, please keep me informed."

He touches some buttons on his PDA, and your own PDAs go off.  "There's my contact information.  Digitally record whatever you deem important to these matters, as evidence for the UPF."

Porter stands and salutes when Spief enters the room, and of course listens to him respectfully.  When he asks for reports sent to him, he responds with an almost automatic, "Yes, sir!"

All the while, though, he's waiting for the consul to leave so he can get on with the information sharing with his new companions.

Hammer watches, reliving the past few days in his mechanical mind as the consulate representative speaks.  He does not say anything, but instead waits, thinking of what the next best step is.

Anyone else posting?  Are you going back to your rooms for the night?

If we can't get any more information from here or any of the weapons, I guess we turn in for the night?

Porter has no problem turning in for the night.  We can share some info in the morning and then decide on our course of action.

Just to get it out there to speed things along, Porter was originally charged with investigating the abduction of a Dralasite named Orvo, connected to the lab, and Dr. LaGrange's disappearance.

There are also reports of racial unrest in some areas, and general Sathar activities that he should look into if he has time.

Contacts have also let him know that there have been unauthorized landings in the Quazzt Depression that he would like to look into, but it goes beyond his investigative authority.

We don't have to follow up on any of these right away if you all know of some pressing matters, but if these do tie into your current investigations, we can plan how to best tackle them.

"We ran into Orvo in the lab.  He was connected to the LeGrange assassination?

As far as racial unrest, we've seen several issue's that this is a really bad place to be right now.  We were involved in an incident or two since we've been here.

We've also heard about the landings.  We overheard a conversation:  While recently at Quazzt's Depression, a Human saw starship lights in the sky, which was very odd since starships are only supposed to land at the starport.  The human thinks it was extremists or racists landing there.

At the starport, no one had records of unauthorized landings in Quazzt's Depression."

OOC: Sorry about the delay.  Grad school stuff kept me busy last week, this week too, actually.

Porter looks over his data file.  "My orders are to investigate the abduction of Orvo.  I don't have any information about his connection to the assassination, although that's a possibility.  When and where exactly did you see him last?  What do you know of him?"

Orvo is still somewhere in the laboratory.  He left the group to attend to his work.

OOC: In other words, Orvo's player took a temporary absence but never returned.

I'll assume we're going to rest and move on to Day 6.  If Orvo's player gets back to me, I'll let you know.  If you want to do anything else before moving on, please do so today.

Each of you receives 3 experience points to distribute as desired.

In reply to GM Heath (msg # 138):

DOes anyone need to shop or have any other questions while we're here?  If not, let's move forward and get this going!