Babylon 5: Outrageous Fortune

[Dr Simon]

Gulati gives Kirth a strange look.

"I thought you were the ones who found it?" she says [OOC: Actually, Kirth wasn't.]. "Well anyway, no, the Lison Bug isn't old, which in itself is the strange thing. That it contains Shadow technology is without a doubt, but Dr. Sushar ran some tests and she reckons that it is merged with much newer technology. She found something that worried her, but she didn't share what it was with the rest of us. I think she wanted to tell us all at the same time - her sense of the dramatic!"

She walks over to a large wall screen and activates it with a touch.

"Here, let me show you." She pulls up a series of images with finger strokes.

"These are what we had in the vault. The Lison Bug, you know about. This one we called the Remote Control - it is evidently a control unit for something, but what that something is wasn't found with the artifact. These are, as far as we can tell, inert, or pieces of a larger device or artifact. We call them the TMJs - thingamajobs. My research student Solomon named them," she adds with a smile, cycling through TMJs 1-6. Then something like an ornate bowling ball filled with swirling gases or liquids appears on the screen.

"Ah now, this, this is our top piece. We call it the Mirror of Dreams, after an old Abbai children's tale. The Mirror of Dreams is a magical pearl that grants wishes, but always what the wisher needs, not what she wants." She glances at Kirth. "Kind of a morality tale, told in a variety of different ways. Our Mirror, however, seems to be some kind of psionic focussing device, but to what end we haven't been able to discover."

She deactivates the screen.

"I can copy this data for you if you like. You asked about value. There are certain collectors who will pay any price for XAs, and theft to order isn't unknown in our line of work. Even the TMJs would be worth something to somebody."

[sblock=Kevin]
Kevin notices that the locks to the lab and the artifact vault are both numeric keypad types. Neither door shows signs of having been forced. Someone may have known the code, although there are devices that can spoof these types of lock.
[/sblock]

 

[Jemal]

"I don't suppose we're lucky enough to have had any recording devices running in the vicinity this morning?" Kevin asks the question off-hand while he looks around, knowing that was likely the first thing local security would check.

"And is there a list of whoever may have had access to this room? Anybody with the code to the door could be a suspect. Though there are of course other ways they could have gained access, that's as good a place to start as any, and those who've been here would have had the knowledge of what to take and when to take it."

 

[Shayuri]

With effort, Ashley throws off the trancelike state that had fallen over her and glances at Kirth with more animation in her eyes and a humorless smile. "It's a sword of Damocles," she answers him. "As long as we're here, it's hanging over us. Maybe it'll fall, maybe not. No way to tell what its waiting for."

She starts looking around the room for inconsistencies or evidence as to what happened, touching nothing for now...

 

[Dr Simon]

"Of course," says Gulati to Kevin. "Aside from myself and Dr. Sushaa, our two other doctorate level researchers, Drs. Leshk and Kalika would have access to the vault. Our two research assistants, Mriva and Solomon Akele, have the door codes, but not those for the vault. Security would have the door codes too, but not the vault."

She turns to one of the security team and has a brief conversation in Abbai, which doesn't sound very friendly.

"Yaktal here has agreed to show you the security tapes. She says, however, that although this corridor is covered there is nothing on them."

 

[Jemal]

Kevin thanks the good doctor for her help, noting down the names "With your leave, we'ld like to take a look around in here, I'll take yaktal up on his offer in a short while, perhaps I'll notice something, perhaps I won't." He smiles appreciatively at her and then turns to Ashley "Is there any psychic way you know of preventing cameras from picking you up, or shall we be looking for another ingress?"

 

[Shayuri]

"I only know of one thing that could easily evade security monitors," Ashley replies. "And they all left the galaxy at the end of the Shadow War." She takes a deep breath, steadying herself.

"It's more likely someone avoiding the camera angles, or having some other way in. Or...maybe tampering with the recordings."

 

[Leif]

Kirth Warren

Kirth definitely doesn't like the creepy turn this investigation is taking. "I don't suppose that the rest of you could just continue on without me? I uh .... just remembered some urgent maintenance that needs to be done on the ship." Kirth's eyes dart nervously from side to side for a moment. "Oh, ok, then, I'll just die with the rest of you. Let's hope for a quick and relatively painless end to this investigation, shall we?"

 

[Jemal]

"I don't suppose either of you know anything about falsifying records? If you got ahold of the recordings could you find if they were altered? I'll look for any gaps in the system, missed angles where someone could slip by, but for now we should look around here and see if we can find anything that.. sticks out, before the trail gets too cold."

[sblock=ooc]
Not sure if it'd be an investigate check to search the room, or a Notice check to see anything unusual, but they're both +6, so either way the total's the same.. 16
[/sblock]

 

[Leif]

Kirth Warren

"If there were communications using computers involved in any of the falsifying or the cover-up, I may be able to find and exploit a weakness there that might give us a more tangible clue." Kirth will move to the nearest terminal and conduct a search for recent computer usage by Gulati, Dr. Sushaa, Dr. Leshk, Dr. Kalika, and also Mriva and Solomon Akele, specifically looking for any entries that appear to be double entries, or transmissions of previous posts/messages that seem to be inordinately smaller or larger in size, indicating that something crucial may have been left out, or conversely, that there has been a fabrication perpetrated.

 

[Shayuri]

"And if we can't find anything wrong, we happen to know an expert on recordings we might consult with later on," Ashley notes, thinking of the news crew they'd left behind. The cameraman, besides serving as host to a weird artificial intelligence, would probably know how to recognize tampering.