High Law and Low Justice, Part 4

[Maerdwyn]

edit: ack - somehow missed the post above this one, sorry. You can continue that conversation before the below takes place, if you want.

By the evening of the second day in jump space, the passengers and crew settle into a semblance of routine. Ktarle, moving with what appears to all to be her second (third? fourth?) wind. There were a few moments of panic by one of the decontamination teams until it was realized that baby powder had spilled out of the diaper bag that Varina Kenin had put together for Kiria. The repairs and clean-up progress well, at least as well as can be expected without the facilities of a starport, and pulses are just about normal, as people get used to their situation, despite its continued gravity.

With that comfort come the beginning of griping, with Armnand wanting to know why Ruzz'koff chose Dukh, and not Daramm, since Daramm was the ship's originally intended destination. Many people are having trouble dealing with all the deaths aboard, and Ktarle can tell that they are experiencing survivor guilt.

After dinner that evening Quinn asks Ruzz'koff to gather everyone to discuss some new information about what happened to the Dvonn. "As we keeping learning new information, it might be a good idea to do this each night, if only for a couple minutes to see if anything new clicks. Assuming he consents, and everyone attends, they arrive in the lounge to see Quinn standing behind a table that bears a battered wall safe, a burned briefcase (which is open and contains a mass of melted resin, which in turn contains an empty vial), and a dissected and partially melted handcomp. Next to all of them is a pair of other, smaller vials connected to bit of melted circuitry.

"All right, everyone, we've learned a little bit more since yesterday, and it's time to bring everyone up to speed. Some of this evidence was found during our escape," he says, pointing to the briefcase and the handcomp, "...and some in the course of decontaminating the ship, but a number of you have contributed greatly to what little knowledge we do have about what's going on."

"I was hesitant to bring this up with everyone present, as it could potentially present problems for you during any legal proceedings which may come out of this situation. But I believe much of that danger has passed now that we have left Tamandere. Now it's more important for us to figure out exactly what happened, so that we can protect ourselves, and seek justice for those of our friends and colleagues who have fallen. To wit:

"Armand Blair was a member of the Imperial Secret Service. I am unaware of his particular mission, but the fact that the crisis began in his stateroom and claimed his life first cannot be a coincidence in my opinion. What I would like to do is reconstruct, as near as we can, what happened, from his perspective. Some of you may have insights as others speak - I encourage you to be vocal about them. It may jog someone else's brain and get us closer to understanding. Saanath, would you mind starting us off? I'd like you to give us your thoughts on what Mr. Blair was using as his cover, and how he was supporting it. Then Trel, I'd like you to explain what you found behind Mr. Blair's wall safe, if you would be willing. We'll go on from there."

 

[doghead]

" ... we will need one hell of a lawyer, but so will they. And we have all the evidence. We might get offered a lot of money to keep quiet and forget all of this, but I'm afraid that just won't cut it. Not after the people we've lost."

"Hmm. You wouldn't happen to be or know someone who's an expert in interstellar law, would you?"

"Nope sorry."

Saanath is leaning in the doorway.

"Sorry to interupt, but when you have a minute, Captain Ruzz'kuff, there is something I wanted to go over with you.

"And you know, it might not be a good idea to dismiss the option of accepting an obscene amount of money from Mr Nels. I would suggest holding our cards close to our chest for a while, until we know a little more about whats at the table. Old gamblers instict I suppose," he concludes with a shrug.

If Ruzz'koff and Dorothy aren't yet finished, Saanath will offer to come back later. Once he gets a chance he will go over what he and Quinn have, and pass on to Ruzz'koff that Quinn is planning to inform everyone else at the next meeting.

ooc: Gosh, that all sounds very conspiritorial, doesn't it.

Doh! Maerdwyn's already told everyone everything in the last! I missed that one.

 

[Seonaid]

Survivor's guilt. We need a counselor. Ktarle does her best, but she is not trained to deal with what they face. As she's steeling herself to confront Ruzz'koff with all of the issues she can personally see, the summons to a general shipwide meeting is made. She marks a few notes for herself and heads to the meeting.

And to think this all started because I was looking for a bit of adventure! I will never wish for that again, she thinks firmly. As soon as we're clear of this mess, I will return home and settle sensibly on Hryo, find a mate, and secure a tenure somewhere safe. She laughs at herself silently, knowing the likelihood of those things happening to be quite low, and watches the others alertly as they react to the news Ruzz'koff presents.

 

[doghead]

Saanath, human male merchant

" ... Saanath, would you mind starting us off? I'd like you to give us your thoughts on what Mr. Blair was using as his cover, and how he was supporting it. ..."

Saanath climbs to his feet.

"Right. The datacomp was fairly heavily damaged, and the files encrypted so the recoverery has been slow, and to a degree only partial. The files relate to his hunts on various worlds across the domain. One of which was on Kansas, my home dustball. Thats were he took the Afeakhtorow, er, that's the large, rather dangerous jumping cat that's down in storage. The Aslan hunt then with spears, 'cos the Aslan are a bit mental like that."

Saanath grins at Trel. He falls silent for a moment and his gaze takes on a far away look. With a shake of his head, he resumes.

"Anyway, the story doesn't gel. According to Blair's itinery, he was on Kansas about a month ago. In the city, around the starport, that would have been summer, it's true. But Afeakhtorow live in the northern hemisphere, where it would have been deepest, which is pretty deep on Kansas, winter. The cat down in the hold had it's summer coloration. Unless the dates he was on the planet are wrong, which seems unlikely given the rest of his itinery, Blair did not take this cat as he said he did.

"And then there's another thing. Blair says he met with the Wardens of the Office of Game and Fisheries, to arrange for taking his quarry off world, pay his export tax, and stock up on some antivenom for an upcoming reptile hunt. He describes the Warden he met with as a young Solomani man with blonde hair, blue eyes by the name of Carl Martin. The thing is, on Kansas, Warden, like most other titles in planetary government, is hereditary. For as long as I or anyone else in my family has lived on Kansas, the Wardens have been members of John Wardens' family. in other words, John the Warden. I went to school with John. On a planet with only one major town and only 7,000 sentients, it difficult not to know all the families at least in passing. The Wardens aren't blonde and they certainly aren't Solomani.

"It doesn't really tell us what or why, but it does seem to confirm that Armand wasn't who he said he was."

Saanath glances around the table to see if there are any questions. If not, he resumes his seat.

 

[DrZombie]

Ruzz'koff leans back, arching an eyebrow at the stories told by his crewmen.
The plot thickens. Well, just pretend like I know what I'm doing, and hope noone notices.

 

[Seonaid]

Ktarle shakes her head slightly to clear it, wishing she had had more time for rest and recuperation. She barely registers Saanath's "crazy Aslan" comment, but when she does, she gives him--and Trel--an appraising look. Interesting relationship there. Who would have thought? Her eyes narrow to slits as she continues to listen and observe. Unconsciously she sinks into "hunt" mode, sitting motionless and silently.

 

[Maerdwyn]

Hector speaks up. "Mr Blair was real careful about that case. When he came aboard, he wouldn't out it on the luggage cart I was using for the other passenger. Wouldn't even let me carry it to the room. When I walked him to the room, he went right for the safe. As soon as he got it put away, he was a different person. Friendly, talked a lot, big tipper. The kind of guy Captain Gergh said he was."

 

[Guest 11456]

Trelene Scrautigue : Luriani Navy 2/Prof 7/Trav 1: Retired Makhidkarum Vice President

Trelene takes her turn. "Well! The good news is that our destination hasn't changed. We are still going to the Dukh system. The bad news is that we will be about a week late and several hundred diameters out from the planet. This will add a couple more days of conventional travel to get to the starport. I also tracked down the bug in the astrogation system." She turns and looks at Rerg'Shael and smiles. "No matter what coordinates were input, the destination would end up as Tamandere. Also, after the jump, when the maneuver drive automatically engaged, it triggered a program in the engine subsystem. That program caused the power surge that fried the m-drive's power regulator. I had to reconstruct the code on the bridge. But the engineering code is still intact. Unless corrected there could be a similar power surge in the future. I'm not sure of when that might happen since the original trigger in the astrogation computer is gone. I will be removing the code from engineering but first I want to make a copy to be used as evidence." Then she turns to Saanath. "If you are having trouble recovering the data from that datacomp, I would be glad to add my help. I know a bit about data encryption." She yields to the next person.

 

[doghead]

Interlude

Saanath flushes slightly at Ktarl's look. He had forgotten she was a Aslan when he made that crack.

Over the last 48 hours, Saanath had discovered that Trel was in many ways similar to one of the Aslan Saanath had grown up with, and Saanath had kinda just slipped back into the old patterns of behaviour from his boyhood. But they had mostly been born out of his time with male Aslan.

Saanath hastily gathers his scattered thoughts and continues.

End

 

[doghead]

Saanath, human male merchant

Saanath nods in Trelene's direction.

"That would be great. Thanks."

He turns to Hector.

"It might not be important, but did you say that Captain Gergh knew Armand from before? Did the Captain give any indication as to from where, or how?"