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KDF and allies investigate the fate of the convoy that was lost with all hands…
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Shift Time: Sunday, Mar 28, Alpha -1
Audience: KDF and allies
Event Type: Bridge RP
Starting Point: Starship bridge
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GM: @gulremal
KDF CSI
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <FX> The squadron arrives at the site of the lost convoy - deep space, far from any stellar bodies. A large cargo freighter, IKS G’akog, almost as big as Tanik’s carrier, looms in silence, contrasted by the diminutive form of IKS Pnu’skok, a B’Rotlh bird of prey that is circling around the area, doing an occasional scan.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <FX> As soon as the squadron arrives within short sensor range, they are hailed by the BoP.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: bald, mid-aged klingon appears on the screen Commander Ho’ruk of the IKS Pnu’skok speaking. Good to see some friendly faces.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Ho’ruk! Good to see you too!”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: nods to B’Atar in recognition And good to see you too. I’ve been babysitting this empty shell of a freighter for a while, but no pings on long range sensors since I arrived on the scene.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Not surprised. They got what they wanted, then outta here clean.”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: I was told not to board the ship until the reinforcements arrive, but our sensor check shows that the warp core is inactive and backups are still keeping the atmosphere. No lifesigns of any kind.
Tanik@ropefish#1570 kept her tongue, she didn’t want to jump into anything to unknown yet.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: No signs of any warp trails, but then, this bird’s sensors are far from the top line.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: However, even they would catch on any energy discharges, and we found none in the area around the ship. Whatever happened, there was no ship to ship combat.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: Also, according to SB 151 OPS logs, this and two more freighters were travelling under the cloak. Older generation most likely, but more than enough to mask these ships from long range sensors.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Some kind of systems hacking, maybe? Even those Breen energy devices probably would’ve left traces…”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: shrugs I’m not a computer expert, but for that we’ll have to board the ship and see for ourselves.
Tanik@ropefish#1570 gave a concerned gaze at the ghost ship “Derelictssss alwaysss give me ssshivers.”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: Anyhow, I’m at your disposal. What’s the next move?
[Team]Ho’ruk@gulremal: up to you guys to investigate :
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Hrmm. While the science people work their magic, guess we go aboard.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “See what we can find.”
B’Atar@anncarise nods, “Sounds like boarding’s where we might get some answers.”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: nods I’ll meet you on the freighter’s bridge. Ho’ruk out.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <FX> The bridge of the freighter is lit by emergency lighting, and is eerily silent and empty. Most of the consoles are shut down, and the few active ones are blinking a warning in klingon: <Error! No OS detected. Contact your engineering department immediately!>
Egzo@HF_Mudd approaches the nearest console, and chuckles darkly at the error message. “Found the problem.”
B’Atar@anncarise looks beside Egzo’s shoulder, “How’d that happen?”
Tanik@ropefish#1570 crossed her arms, not being one to believe in superstition but she was creeped out by ghost ships more or less "No way to turn the lightsss back on?
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Dunno. We should look around some before we restart the system, though.”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: looks around, sniffs and grunts I smell no blood.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “See if we can find anything.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Any crew on this tub, or was it all automated?”
Tanik@ropefish#1570 squinted investigating the captains chair, hopping it wasn’t all too cold on this tin can shuffling the jacket on them.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: I know there was at least a skeleton crew, as most personnel were moved to fill positions on the task force’s combat vessels, for the incoming Sheliak fleet.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Could’ve all been beamed off. If the ship’s systems were sabotaged, that means no shields, nothing to stop a transport.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods to B’Atar, still working at the console.
[Team]Ho’ruk@gulremal: everyone who’s doing the searching, rolls plox
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: “But where’d they beam to…?”
[Emotes] Egzo@HF_Mudd: rolls 37 (1-100)
[Emotes] Aestae Vali@crystyll: rolls 94 (1-100)
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Taken prisoner, or just beamed into open space…”
[Emotes] Tanik@ropefish#1570: rolls 68 (1-100)
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “And why…” she looks to Ho’ruk. “Were they Klingons?”
[Emotes] B’Atar@anncarise: rolls 49 (1-100)
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: “Well we didn’t detect anything around the ship, so they weren’t out there. And no warp trails in or out of the area…”
[Tell]Ho’ruk@gulremal: ship has been abandoned in organized manner. everything is clear, maybe too clear to your liking, especially for a cargo ship. no trash, no padds laying around etc
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Could’ve been scatter-beamed. Don’t think sensors’ll pick them up that way. A coward’s way of killing, but if you don’t want to leave any evidence behind…”
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: “True enough”
Egzo@HF_Mudd stops and looks up, then around the bridge, as a thought occurs to him.
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “This bridge’s /too clean./”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Someone came through 'n tidied up.”
B’Atar@anncarise checks her scanner and nods, “I’m picking up signs of disruptor fire, but there’s no marks anywhere. Someone definitely opened fire here though.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Maybe the crew were already neutralized and just executed, or maybe whoever boarded was /very/ accurate.”
Tanik@ropefish#1570 let a mild disturbed hiss “it wasss premeditated then yesss? i don’t like it one bit.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd turns back to the console. “Well, I’ve got as much as I can with the system like this… ain’t much.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Something done with this little evidence…has to be thought through.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Like I said at the meetin’, whoever pulled this is one sharp cutter.”
[Local] Tanik@ropefish#1570: “there hasss to be reason they cleaned it… no reassson for it to have been left behind, if itsss similar size to the zomok then it can’t be too slow of a bucket.” she lifted a claw from the chair, looking at the blank view screen.
[Local] Tanik@ropefish#1570: “unlessss they needed a quick getaway,” she spoke after a long pause
B’Atar@anncarise nods at Tanik’s statement, “Aye. We know this bridge’s been raided. A few scorch marks wouldn’t make us any less suspicious.”
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: “Sharp as they may have been in their cleanup, their retrieval was… questionable. See now, me; if I wanted the contents of a computer core, I’d just load in and take the data. Whoever hit this place though… they /literally/ removed the core. What’s up with that?”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Who would /remove/ the core? That’s like stealing a whole safe. No way they couldn’t open it, if they managed everything else here.”
Aestae Vali@crystyll keeps tapping away, “Lucky for us, they were sloppy enough to leave behind the backup. Rookie mistake! Looks like it’s running on an independent power supply too! Now just to cut through this security program…”. Thinks out loud while she works, “Why the hell does a simple freighter have a backup redundancy like this anyway…?”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: his commlink chirps Ho’ruk here
Tanik@ropefish#1570 crossed her arms “itsss a freighter in military service… not far fetched they’d have added security” she let a hiss out “perhapsss they found something they had not expected?”
Egzo@HF_Mudd observes to B’Atar, “If /I/ was gonna take a whole safe, it’d be so I could crack it on my own time, not standin’ around with my…”
Egzo@HF_Mudd coughs. “Anyway.”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <NPC> “Commander, we are down in the engineering. Warp core is completely shut down, all the dilithium and antimatter containers are missing. Reserve energy cells too. Team 2 reports that the computer core is removed, and expertly so. No signs of tears or damage.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods. “They /stripped/ this thing, and it wasn’t no hack job.”
[Emotes] Aestae Vali@crystyll: rolls 21 (1-100)
Egzo@HF_Mudd shakes his head. “Like… high-end starship thieves, not some /freighter/.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Why did they hit this freighter then, I wonder…”
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: “Wouldn’t be the first underworld operation I’ve seen to target passing ships purely for their tech. Lot of this stuff has a decent resale value after all”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Value or evidence. They grabbed it all.”
[Local] Tanik@ropefish#1570: “How competent wasss the ssships own crew? couldn’t be a mutiny could it?” she gazed at the fore panels, a spotless ghost ship. bit un-nerving.
Egzo@HF_Mudd looks grim, impressed, or both.
Egzo@HF_Mudd asks Aestae, “Y’got into that backup yet?”
Egzo@HF_Mudd thinks out loud, “If that was a recent install, they might not’a known about it. Could be important.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Might have some data on these mystery thieves.”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: to his comms Good work, keep me posted if you find anything else.
Aestae Vali@crystyll frowns, “These were no typical freighter jocks. This encryption is professional…”
Aestae Vali@crystyll crouches, plucking at Iso rods inside the console to create a more favorable bypass and tries again.
[Emotes] Aestae Vali@crystyll: rolls 41 (1-100)
Egzo@HF_Mudd moves to look over Aestae’s shoulder, as there’s nothing more he can do at this console with no core to connect to.
Tanik@ropefish#1570 just sorta wandered around the bridge, looking for anything out of place about the bridge. hopefully her experience on bridges would let her see something.
Tanik@ropefish#1570 ponders the situation.
Aestae Vali@crystyll mutters to herself as she works, “Yeah… these guys were good. I’m getting through but there’s a lot of firewalls in place. If I can’t get in soon it’ll likely start wiping the data…”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Here, this might help.”
[Emotes] Tanik@ropefish#1570: rolls 37 (1-100)
B’Atar@anncarise follow Egzo over to watch.
[Emotes] Aestae Vali@crystyll: rolls 91 (1-100)
Egzo@HF_Mudd digs into his pockets and comes up with an isolinear chip of his own. “My best cracker.”
Aestae Vali@crystyll “Hm?” she glances up at Egzo’s offer. Taking the chip with a curious look, “Well you’re just full of surprises aren’t you!” she smiles, inserting the chip and getting back to work with a crack of her knuckles.
Egzo@HF_Mudd grins. “S’why I’m still alive.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd points out, “I’ll be wantin’ that back.”
Tanik@ropefish#1570 popped the back hatch on the captains chair, pulling out a bottle of bloodwine. “ah… sssome thingsss don’t change, sssuposse the old captain won’t missss thiss.” she moved back to the rest
B’Atar@anncarise chuckles, “Good find.”
Tanik@ropefish#1570 grinned toothily “well can’t say we didn’t get anything out of this now.”
Aestae Vali@crystyll | The screen on her console flickers to life as she gets in, “Voila!” she stands back to watch as it plays footage from a set of hidden cameras, and data from sensors throughout the ship.
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: “Here it is; this should be the day of the attack…”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Great work!”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <FX> There are many sensor/camera footage files, and checking the ones from the day of attack shows the following…
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <FX> Bridge/main engineering: The crew is at their positions, and you can hear usual bridge chatter - complaining about boredom, who’s sleeping with who etc.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <FX> At certain point, a shift change occurs, and at the same time new folks enter both locations. At the same time, one of the entering officers makes a comment to another crewmember “we need some fresh air”, and at that point, they and a couple of other crewmen draw their disruptor pistols and expertly disintegrate remaining crewmembers in the room.
Egzo@HF_Mudd 's eyebrows go up, but that’s his only reaction to the sudden act of premeditated murder.
Tanik@ropefish#1570 crossed her arms once more.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <FX> One of the attackers stay in the bridge/main engineering and move to the main consoles, while remaining attackers leave while activating their comms
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Can we ID then, see if they were actual crew or infiltrators?”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <FX> Other cameras situated on the critical ship junctions/locations show multiple crewmembers repeating the same thing.
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: “If it is an infiltration job, it looks professional enough that they’d have modified the manifests. But we can try and check”
[Local] Tanik@ropefish#1570: “Thisss would have been planned for a long time… to ssso easily clear the ship. How could ssso many have turned againssst the resst though?”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <FX> Rest of the footage shows the attackers, 8 in total, coordinating the “clean up” and theft. You note a klingon on the bridge talking to someone via ship-to-ship comms, but only talking in ranks, never mentioning names. Person he’s talking to has female voice and is addressed as captain. She orders the “lieutenant” to take all the things of value, as the ship is too slow to be of use, as they need this equipment ASAP for the operations “back at home”. Further footage shows cargo, computer core and other stuff being beamed out, and lastly, the attackers are gone.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <FX> Entire action lasted about 30 minutes.
[Emotes] Ho’ruk@gulremal: rolls 9 (1-100)
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Could’ve been planted into the crew, but if they go through all that trouble…why not take a bird of prey or a battlecruiser instead?”
[Emotes] Ho’ruk@gulremal: rolls 76 (1-100)
[Local] Tanik@ropefish#1570: (( i hope that nine isn’t something bad ))
[Local] Tanik@ropefish#1570: "isss there no way find what the ssships manifest was?
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “If I’m right, this tub was probably carryin’ somethin’ that /wasn’t/ on the /official/ manifest.”
[Local] Tanik@ropefish#1570: “that doesssn’t ease my mind…”
Egzo@HF_Mudd waves at the console. "That’s why all… this.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: looks through the footage Hrm…no, I know that petaq points at the leader of the attackers on the bridge He’s Qol’turgh, one of those House K’lek bastards.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: He was commanding one of K’lek vessels in the task force, but was demoted for some reason and transferred to freighter duty.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Guess that’s probably why he went rogue.”
[Local] Tanik@ropefish#1570: “ssuposse he won’t misss hiss bloodwine.”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: That happened like…a month ago, just before K’lek withdrew their support back to homeland.
Egzo@HF_Mudd is still listening to Ho’ruk, as he answers B’Atar: “You could take a bird with just eight, but a cruiser? no way, even if you vented all the decks.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd sounds like he’s given this some thought
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “And if he’s assigned to a freighter, this was also a convenient target for him.”
[Emotes] B’Atar@anncarise: rolls 18 (1-100)
[Emotes] Egzo@HF_Mudd: rolls 48 (1-100)
[Emotes] B’Atar@anncarise: rolls 78 (1-100)
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <C> Shlaak to captain Egzo.
Egzo@HF_Mudd raises his gauntlet and talks to it. “Egzo here, go.”
B’Atar@anncarise looks to Aestae, “Can you play the bridge feed again?”
Aestae Vali@crystyll nods, tapping away quickly to reset the playback
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “That other voice…it sounds familiar too…”
Egzo@HF_Mudd was just about to suggest that
Tanik@ropefish#1570 waited some, wondering what could come of this.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <Shlaak> We’re running a databassse check on the attackersss…we have 3 posssitive, one offisscer and two crewmen, allied to House K’lek. Formerly from IKS Pe’gung, reasssigned to IKS G’akog 43 days ago.
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “All disgruntled warriors, probably.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd nods. “Good work, Shlaak. Lemme know if ya get any more.”
[Local] Tanik@ropefish#1570: “eassily manipulated? if dissgruntled enough, i mean… Plenty of thosse wanting the old wayss of the empire.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “That other voice…I think it’s another member of House K’lek. Captain of the IKS Arumso, Captain…Korrda! That’s her.”
Egzo@HF_Mudd asks his wrist, “Shlaak, you get that?”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “She didn’t like it out here, was celebrating being assigned back into core territories. She’s got reason to pick a fight with us. Could be personal, but with both their leaders being from K’lek…”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: <Shlaak> after a short pause Both Arumssso and Pe’gung are House K’lek ssshipss that were reasssigned from our tassk force back to their fleet.
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: rises eyebrow That makes no sense, why would K’lek attack KDF ships?
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Well Korrda definitely doesn’t like us, but no way she’d come out here and raid us like some pirate to settle personal grudges. I got a feeling House politics are involved.”
B’Atar@anncarise sighs, “I hate House politics…”
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: “Eugh, this is exactly why I avoided playing with you lot for so long. More politics than the Romulan Senate”
[Emotes] Tanik@ropefish#1570: rolls 17 (1-100)
Egzo@HF_Mudd shrugs. “Like the Ferengi say in one a’ their Rules, sometimes there’s profit in it.”
[Emotes] Tanik@ropefish#1570: rolls 15 (1-100)
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: “Oh politics /and/ profit? Could this mystery get any /less/ Klingon now…”
Egzo@HF_Mudd chuckles.
Aestae Vali@crystyll snap turns to Egzo, “And don’t you dare give me a Vulcan salute and logic quote…”
Egzo@HF_Mudd holds up both hands in a “wasn’t gonna” gesture.
Tanik@ropefish#1570 chuckled in a hiss like way. “itsss never a klingon mysstery without sssome… The Arumsso is familar… can’t plassce it further then that. Can’t ssay if i had a run-in with them or not.”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “Lotta KDF think they’re too good fer the likes a’us.” A glance to Ho’ruk, standing right next to him. “Not all.”
Aestae Vali@crystyll thinks some before snapping her fingers suddenly, “That’s it!” looking to Tanik, “You’re right! The Arumso; when we were last at the station the Chief mentioned it. Something about my repair needs being as bad ‘that damned Arumso’ or something…”
Tanik@ropefish#1570 opened her maw a moment before thinking “Ah, ssso that meansss the sssship would have been at the ssstarbase then?”
[Local] Aestae Vali@crystyll: “Yeah… something about their warp drive being cursed or something? And… and” her eyes widen, “…Chief said the Captain was complaining because it’s always leaving a specific warp trail that betrays his cloak!”
[Local] Egzo@HF_Mudd: “oh ho.”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: Well, good for us. If they were here, we can modify our sensors to track it!
[Local] Tanik@ropefish#1570: “well a lead as good asss any, we ssshould check for any logsss on it ass well. besst prepared if ssshe has any trickss.”
[Local] B’Atar@anncarise: “Aye, looks like we’re in luck!”
[Local] Ho’ruk@gulremal: – SCENE END –
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