"I am not sure how someone in a low berth got aboard with none of us knowing. Interpal, report to medical with your sidearm and assist the Doc please." Sir Walter said before letting the Captain know on the link to the explorers.


+++Vonon, [*].+++
* Varg merchant slang term for stowaway.

In reply to Walter Zeller (msg # 28):

OOC: My name doesn't mean "Stowaway"!  Does it...?  Mom...?

"Well, as I said, Tescha, I don't think you quite fit the definition of stowaway," Reese says, "as that implies a certain amount of intent."

"Besides, I've never heard of anyone trying to kill himself, then climbing into coldsleep to stowaway. At best, we might say someone stowed you away aboard the ship."

"In any case, it's not my decision to make. It's at least the Captain's call, but we tend to be rather democratic here, so the crew could decide differently. One word of caution: Captain Vonon is a Vargr, but his bark is worse than his bite... unless you cross him."

"So, even if you can't remember what happened, that's not unusual. Most people tend to have a bit of amnesia for traumatic events. Sometimes it comes back, sometimes it never does."

"Let's start with... what's the last thing  you remember?"

In reply to Reese Hardsimm (msg # 30):

"Sure, 10 days ago, I was speaking with an information broker named Falko Devlin on Invermory. He indicated he had been working with Darrel Cromwell and he was interested in finding out information regarding a series of highly unlikely events that have occurred in the local subsector. Specifically a Duncinae report he picked up about 100 people vanishing from Coventry and being spotted elsewhere in the sector. Second, a survivor of the dome flooding that he indicated teleported out of the dome & spent time on your ship. Third, the reactor detonation of a ship that had just had it's reactor overhauled. Finally, a rockhopper being crushed between 2 asteroids in the Cassandra Belt."

"8 days ago I was approaching Longshot to board on the berth he said he arranged. At about 10m out, I lost consciousness and woke up in your cryoberth."

"I've heard about the incidents, and the person from Sarrad was one Evelyn Darque," Reese replies. "She was on board our ship when we made port in Invermory, but for some reason, she felt she needed to leave the ship then."

"I suppose she could have let you aboard. Never heard of a Falko Devlin. And Count Cromwell use to be the captain on this ship until he got injured. He left with the previous medic, which is what opened the door for me."

"So, somewhere between your approach to the ship and the cryo-chamber, you were attacked. It seems more probable that you were attacked on the ship, which is why you would have been put in the cryo-chamber. I wonder why not the autodoc, though? Maybe to delay your discovery. Well, that certainly worked!"

He didn't feel like it was his place to reveal any more information. Not only hadn't Tescha been vetted yet, but most of the information was second-hand.

In reply to Reese Hardsimm (msg # 32):

'Whether I was attacked on the ship or brought in, given the nature of the wound, there should have been quite a bit of blood to clean up"

"I would suggest checking with the service drone logs & find out which one cleaned the medbay 8 days ago & track it back. That should tell you where the attack happened."

Inderpal received the instruction to report with her sidearm to medical and acknowledged. She had a TL8 stunner in her personal locker and that would hopefully prove sufficient.

COMM START >>> "Understood. On my way." <<< COMM END

Outside, those in the medical bay could hear footsteps in the corridor as Inderpal walked down to the ship's locker. About a minute later, there was a polite knocking on the door.

In reply to Inderpal Kumar (msg # 34):

Raising his voice, Tescha says "come in, I'm dressed and promise I haven't taken Doc hostage."

Checking the holographic projector on the medical table, he finds it accessible & projects the digital equivalent of his passport, resume, and copies of his 3 books (Recovering Drexilthar through the Ruins of Traneer III, Duncinae's Lost Colony on Luushakaan, and A Guide to Yarhfahl's Iltharan Ruins)

Reese walks over to the door and opens it to find Inderpal there.

"This isn't a private room, Indy," he says. "You don't need to knock before you enter. If there's a quarantine symbol on the door, though, you might want to think twice before you enter."

"This is Tescha. He's got a bit of amnesia. I found him in the coldsleep chamber undergoing healing. There's no record of how he got onto the ship, how he got injured, or how he got into the coldsleep. According to the coldsleep log, he would have been in no condition to have put himself in."

"So, technically, he might be a stowaway, but I'm not sure the legal definition supports that. Someone else clearly put him on the ship."

"Anyway, he needs to go talk to the Captain, and, until we know more about him, he needs an armed escort. Just to be on the safe side, though, I'll go with you."

"It's polite to knock", Inderpal replied, "You never know what someone might be doing behind a closed door. They could be naked for all you know."

She looked over Tescha, trying to get a read on him.

"What more can you tell us about yourself, Tescha?" she asked politely, "Also, the Captain's a Knight, so we need to work out who should be doing the bowing."

She waited for his response, where she would analyse his accent to see how posh he was.

In reply to Inderpal Kumar (msg # 37):

"Bowing seems a bit formal, but as a Knight I would be bowing to him."

Waving at the hologram, "Everything else important is there: Born and raised on the Cassandra Belt, 12 years doing archeological digs: 8 at Iltharan ruins, 4 at an post Drexilthar Empire Duncinaen colony that had been originally mis-identified. Finally, 4 years as a field negotiator for the Confederacy of Duncinae." As he speaks, the relevant portions of his passport and resume are highlighted, though he makes no motions to manipulate them.

His accent is hard to place, the core is definitely from the Rich side of Rockport in the Cassandra Belt, but there are inflection variations that appear borrowed from Duncinae. His posture and bearing indicate that he's not overly impressed at the imminent prospect of  meeting a knight, but his casual air suggests that either he didn't grow up in high society, or he's since lost interest in such things. His current clothing is pressed, well made, and highly functional - though the bloody robe folded on the 2nd cryoberth appears to be made of either spider silk or a very good facsimile of it.

"What's archeological digging like?" she asked, "It's not really an area I've had a chance to bone up on. I used to be in the Scout Service myself."

Inderpal slipped the little pun in there, not drawing any emphasis on it. She noted he was a field negotiator, so he might definitely have a way with words... and half-truths.

She let him answer, then moved to open the door for him.

"Ahh, just lick it, the answers will  come to you," Seeing her confusion he clarified, "It's how we determine if it's a bone or a rock, you lick it - if your tongue sticks, it's bone."

"In reality, mostly dirty. You spend a year researching a site and putting a team together. Argue with locals about details you already have signed contracts over. Then you finally start digging in the dirt and argue over whether that's an artifact or someone just tossed it out a window 2 decades ago."

Waving at the display, the hologram vanishes. "Of course, you find some interesting things you don't expect. For example, we opened up a collapsed hallway on Traneer and found Lord Bran Richardson's corpse - a continent away from where he disappeared on his own dig almost 100 years ago."

Slinging the bag over his right shoulder, he grunts as he lifts the long black case. "We'll need to stop at your weapons locker for this."

"It would be a lot more exciting if it were like the holovids, but the truth is that it's 90% boring and details with an occasional find that makes things exciting. The sad part is that nobody really wants to know what you discovered anyway. For the Iltharan's, people are happy with their holovid villains who shoved wires into the brains of people with psionics and amped the power until their brains melt. Nobody is all that interested in knowing that the tech was originally developed to treat brain injuries."

"That's true enough," Reese says. "There was a time when medicine was as much accident as knowledge. You're trying to do one thing and suddenly you're doing something else that's better."

"While we still don't know everything, research isn't as hit and miss as it once was."

"Okay, here we are: The Bridge."

"Sir Walter this is our unexpected patient, Tescha. Tescha, meet Sir Walter."

Spinning his chair around to see the unexpected "guest", Sir Walter was not sure how the prison would react if there was a new prisoner that showed up on the planet with no paperwork. "I am Dr. Sir Walter Zeller, acting Captain of the Longshot. Normally I handle the administrative and commercial side, while Captain Vonon deals with the day to day operation of the ship. He will be returning shortly, and have the final say in this matter. I would say welcome aboard but there are a few questions about how you ended up here in the first place." he said, turning his attention to Dr. Hardsimm, getting the details on how Tescha ended up in a low berth.

Once done, he started to scratch at his chin in thought "Hum, may I see your identification and TAS form 2 please." Sir Walter asked, trying to get an idea as to his skills and if Tescha was a plant from some criminal organization.

22:57, Today: Walter Zeller rolled 8 using 2d6+2 with rolls of 4,2.  Investigate.

Still sitting in the pilot's chair, Valeska listened to Tescha as he told his story again, trying to find any holes in it.

"We have a few... umm, problems? Issues? Puzzles? ...here. We don't have any low berths on the ship," she begain. "At least, we're not supposed to have any. We purchased three back on Invermory, but, according to Khea, we didn't have time to wait for them to get delivered. She certainly didn't install them."

"On the other hand, the type of unit we bought doesn't take a lot of installation. Put them in place, drop the magnetic clamps, and then plug them in. Installation normally requires putting in the outlets and routing power to them. Medical was already configured for them... or for similar machinery, so appropriate outlets were already there."

"Still, wheeling in three low berths without being seen is a pretty nifty trick."

"Then there's the problem of ship access. If we don't have anyone on guard or watch, then the ship's security is supposed to be engaged. I'm looking at the logs here, and there is a gap where ship's security wasn't on... and the person on watch was Horatio. Pretty much anyone with minimal credentials could have gotten on at that point, particularly if they were delivering the low berths. We did have an authorized delivery scheduled. If it came a bit earlier than expected, I don't see why there would have been a problem. Most problems are when they are late."

"And then there's Falko Devlin. I don't know him personally, but I know OF him. He's an information broker. Or so he claims. Everyone seems to think he's with one of the intelligence services, and, of course, the more he denies it, the more people believe it."

"He did have dealings with the Count. Kind of the same thing he presented to Tescha. Only, the Count was in a position to actively pursue the puzzle. It certainly seems reasonable that he would have wanted to get someone aboard the Longshot as a sort of replacement for the Count."

"It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that Falko brought Tescha aboard the ship. He probably has the credentials, real or not, to have convinced Horatio that it was okay. After that, it's pure speculation. Someone could have been trying to stowaway for real to get to Coventry. Tescha got caught in a crossfire."

"The final question is: who put him in the low berth? I suppose Horatio could have done it, but why wouldn't he have reported it to someone?"

"I can think of only one other person that might have done it: Veronika."

Inderpal stood next to Tescha in case he tried anything stupid, in which case a firm kick would occur.

"We could also bring them in and ask them. See how they react when face to face with him."

She waited for Tescha to get out his papers, which she would hand over to Sir Walter.

Setting down the black case and ship bag, Tescha pops off his wrist comm and sets it down. The integrated holoprojector immediately begins displaying his Identity Documents, TAS membership logs, and planetary Visas.
Addressing Walter he says, "That's the basics of who I am."

Turning to the pilot, "From my limited medical experience, the cryoberths in medbay appear to be proper medical bays rather than low berths, so your low berths are probably still out on the tarmac on Invermory. Let me sync my medical response to ships time and show you exactly when I was attacked and you can compare that to your system's gap."

The holodisplay changes to a medical readout initially showing Invermory time then resyncing to ship time. At just after dawn Invermory time, the medical record shows a massive spike in heart rate accompanied by a huge drop in blood pressure. Secondary records of drug injections of combat slow, trauma drugs, and anti-shock drugs all appear within seconds. Within 2 minutes, the records show a spike in metabolism accompanied by increased body temperature just before rapid cooling - consistent with the application of medical slow and a cryoberth.

"Your doctor here can confirm the trauma and provide you more details from the berth's scanners if you're interested. I'm not sure why the medical slow would have taken over 8 days to finish, but whoever injected it might not have known about the combat slow and there could have been an interaction." As he speaks the appropriate elements highlight.

"IF Falko is currently MilInt, I don't know who he's playing for. From what he told me he is, in fact, former MilInt and currently working alone. However, I doubt he is entirely divorced from his former employer. The fact that he is aware of over 100 people vanishing from Coventry tells me his fingers are buried very deeply into Duncinae Intelligence." Tescha pauses while gauging reaction to the last bit of information.

"I doubt putting a huge hole in my chest was Falko's plan to get me a berth on the ship - especially since it does not engender any good will towards him or his goals. However, since nobody is aware of my supposed berth, it doesn't appear that his plan was entirely above board either."

At that point, there was a General Broadcast across the ship from Captain Vonon.

^{COMM START>>>} "This is Vonon.  Sam and I learned that each lab was assigned a lockable cabinet.  Everyone who thinks they can open a simple cabinet lock--without using explosives!--go to a lab, locate the cabinet, get it open, then bring the contents down to the Entry Level.  There are four labs on each of the lower four floors, so that's sixteen cabinet contents to be collected."

     "Anyone who doesn't think they can unlock a cabinet, coordinate with someone who thinks they can.  You can at least help bring the contents down here." ^{<<<COMM END}

Inderpal heard this and figured that she knew how to open a simple cabinet lock. Or to carry thing.

"If I'm not needed here, Sir Walter", she said, "I will go down to the site and assist Captain Vonon."

She waited for his response, which she assumed would be one of consent.

"Well, that answers why Falko was confident he could get me a berth. Am I correct that that is Vonon Ronkunu - formerly of the Cassandra Belt Space Patrol, and is he looting a pre-penal colony location on Coventry?"

In reply to Tescha (msg # 47):

OOC: No-o-o-o-o....he's looting an active Penal Colony location...
     Oh...you mean that the Base pre-dates the Penal Colony...well, then...Yes..?

Sir Walter frowned a bit as he reviewed the paperwork and then heard the broadcast. "Take him with you to Captain Vonon. For all we know Tescha was supposed to be a prisoner here." he said to Interpal."Grab a vacc suit for him please." he added indicating Tescha.

"Yes, Sir Walter", Inderpal replied obediently, then turned to Tescha, "You're not a prisoner here, are you? Because if you are, we won't be very happy.."

She indicated for him to follow her back to the locker, where the vacc suits would be.

In reply to Inderpal Kumar (msg # 50):

OOC: So...will the two of you just show up over at the Base, already! ^_^

In reply to Vonon Ronkunu (msg # 51):

After Inderpal opened the storage locker, Tescha lifts the large case and backpack on a bench.

Opening the pack, he pulls out a combination mask and a thermal suit - keeping the jacket, he folds the pants back up and sets them aside. Digging a bit deeper, he pulls out field & survival kits and attaches them to his belt.

"We're on Coventry, so a suit would be extreme - unless this is a hot zone of some sort?" With her denial, he continues, "Unless you'll let me have my kukri, I just need access to the comm channel and I'm ready to go."
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:13, Fri 08 Jan 2021.