[End Act Two] LtCmdr Jovenan – Investigation takes time, but the time is what we lack
Jovenan
((Holodeck 2, Deck 2, USS Artemis))
Jovenan: Thank you, Ensign. This is all…
Jovenan’s voice trailed off. Individually, all the details and clues they had gathered didn’t seem too concerning. It was entirely plausible that the Kobyar had bought, stolen or otherwise acquired scrap materials from other worlds – they had warp drive, after all. It didn’t seem unreasonable to say that the Grunden were tracking their own troops with similarly off-world equipment. And so on, explanations could be created for every single discovery they had made. But together, she was seeing a pattern emerge, on that implied something far more sinister.
Jovenan: So. Both the Kobyar and the Grunden have been in possession of outside technology. On both sides, the outside technology is identical and built from materials that are nominally easy to get hands on and therefore doesn’t reveal much of the constructor. Much of this technology sends a signal to something or someone who has a receiver in the system. This outside party is apparently capable of tracking said technology, and with the telescope, monitoring the system. They are either unaware or uncaring about the effects the technology may have on the soldiers in the field. And… just when a ceasefire is declared for the duration of our visit, the drones – which use said technology – attack locations in the Grunden side and near our locations, and another drone explodes near us, causing the war to resume.
There were some conjecture thrown into the mix, but Jovenan had omitted the most drastic deduction out of her summary of their discoveries. It could still all be a coincidence that the evidence happened to line up perfectly to point out someone or something that would have otherwise seemed out of the equation. The Ensigns had fallen silent for a moment, but eventually, Doctor Bancroft broke the silence.
Bancroft: Commander, I think we may need to consider the possibility that this conflict between the Grunden and Kobyar is being managed – maybe even cultivated. Maybe war isn’t the side effect – maybe it’s the whole point.
Imril: ::Nodding:: It would explain why the same evidence is showing up on both sides of the war. A single source distributing the goods where they can do the most harm. And if the Kobyar are adapting frontline gear for civilian use all on their own like I think they are, then they’re sowing the seeds of their own sensory blindness. The Grunden choppers had to get past a lot of surveillance drones and city defenses to start their attack where they did.
Tho’Bi: Response
Jovenan wasn’t sure if she wanted to go so far as to declare the war was being driven by an outside force, but it would have been negligent of her to dismiss the hypothesis. Not only negligent, she would have denied herself something that she had in the short while started to believe in. It was all too convenient a coincidence. She sighed. It wasn’t her duty to make the verdict yet, just to find a suspect to investigate. She handed over the device from the Grunden general to one of the Ensigns.
Jovenan: Regardless of the intention, there’s clearly a single group behind the interference with the societies here. They might be hiding their identities, but they might have made a mistake somewhere. Dirt on components, techniques used only by a single faction, DNA… ::pause:: We have to figure out who they are.
The Ensigns returned to work. Jovenan observed them a for a moment in silence. If they were correct, the outside operator had prolonged the war and made it even more brutal than before. Whoever it was, they were responsible for thousands and thousands of deaths and ruined lives. She couldn’t believe someone would want to do that, but she reminded herself that even if the universe didn’t subscribe to her black-and-white Edo morality, there were still those that leaned towards the grim side of the spectrum.
Imril: Has anyone else noticed that the Atlas is headed for the moon?
Jovenan looked at Ensign Imril’s readings. The runabout had indeed moved from the planet towards its moon, the very same that Imril had identified as one of the possible locations of a receiver for the signals. She hoped that Vitor, Doctor Sadar and the others knew what they were doing; if they were right, the outsiders might have already targeted them once.
Bancroft: Commander, Imril, Tho’Bi… I might have something. A thread for us to pull on.
Imril: ::intrigued:: Let’s have it.
Tho’Bi: Response
Intrigued, Jovenan joined the Ensigns around Doctor Bancroft’s station. The outsiders had been crafty in fooling them with technology that resembled Pakled Clumpships in their construction ideology, but considering the haste in which the team had gone through the evidence, she had high hopes for what they had found now. The Doctor projected a representation of molecules.
Bancroft: This ::gesturing at the top display:: is an analysis of the particles found in the Grunden’s bloodstream. And this ::gesturing at the lower display:: is a neurochemical agent last seen in the Vale of Saoirse. ::a beat:: Used by the Orion Syndicate.
Jovenan: ::raises an eyebrow:: They look almost identical, but with the quality of data we have, we can’t get a one hundred percent perfect identification.
Tho’Bi: Response
Bancroft: I thought it might just be a coincidence too, at first, but have a look at this…
Doctor Bancroft replaced the images of the molecules with that of an internal organ. Although Jovenan wasn’t a medical professional, she remembered enough of her biology courses to deduce that they were looking at a liver.
Bancroft: See this? Trace amounts of Lepiridizone. It’s a stabilizer – used to keep narcotics viable in non-native bloodstream environments. Not Federation standard – illegal, in fact. But it’s essentially standard issue for Syndicate narcotics trafficking.
Imril: Yet another specialized component that’s easy to acquire and difficult to track back to a specific source.
Jovenan wasn’t so sure. It was a large procedure to acquire and deliver legal-ish dual use equipment across the Federation to the Borderlands. Meanwhile, an industrial scale illegal drug delivery would have required a massive organisation just to produce, not to mention deliver, without risking the entire operation by getting caught. Of all the potential suppliers of components so far, the Syndicate was the likeliest.
Tho’Bi: Response
Bancroft: If I had to guess, they found this system a ripe peach for the picking. Two native powers, a war just advanced enough to be exploited – but not advanced enough to find out about it. Feed them black-market tech, fan the flames, and rake in the profits. Whatever the angle, it isn’t about who wins. It’s about making sure no one does.
Imril: No one, except whoever’s supplying these supplies. And the conflict itself. War on demand.
Jovenan pressed her lips tightly together. Such evil made her feel sick.
Jovenan: The Orion Syndicate would have the means and the motivation for such a project. It could indicate their interests in returning to their old playground in the Borderlands. ::pause:: Good find, Doctor! Let’s try and find even more evidence, for whichever party we can.
Tho’Bi: Response
The work resumed.
Imril: ::To the group:: We can add Nausicaan Scout Corps surplus to the list of generic contraband. Their energy cells are noted to be very powerful for their size, and tricky to insulate. Think of it like using a photon grenade to power a flashlight. It would certainly do the job for blasting a signal so far, and explain the overheating that Bancroft found.
Tho’Bi/Bancroft: Response
Imril: Computer, remove all transmissions to and from Moric that lay outside of the … semi-Nausicaan… device’s frequency ranges. Do the same with the space telescope.
Jovenan looked at what Ensign Imril had discovered. The lines, representing the communications to and from the moon, vanished one by one until only a few remained, including those coming from the telescope. Her attention was taken by the Atlas near where the lines converged. Would it be possible that…
Computer: =/\= All senior officers report to the Bridge =/\=
Jovenan acknowledged the message and turned back, just for a glimpse longer, to the simulation of the system. There was nothing of interest in the proximity of the Artemis, nor had anything changed dramatically anywhere else either. The only apparent variable had been the Atlas travelling to the moon. An unfortunate conclusion forced itself to Jovenan’s mind: her friends were in danger.
Tho’Bi/Bancroft: Response
Jovenan: Final reports, please. Keep them brief.
Tho’Bi/Bancroft/Imril: Response
She nodded to each of them.
Jovenan: Tell me the details on the way to the bridge. We better get moving.
Tho’Bi/Bancroft/Imril: Response
((OOC: Posted this a bit ahead of time so that you can all end the act now and we can get moving to the Act III. If you have any further details you want to add to the play, feel free to write your character talking to the others on the way up. If needed, I can backsim any responses. But any way, thank you for this act! I’m impressed by all of your creativity and ability to still keep it all coherent!))
TAG/End act 2 for Jovenan----
Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11