Fool's Mate: Eleni Benacor
General Summary
It's been over a month, so what have we been up to?
I have been training with Reverend Mother Weiscz. I have been taking the Sisters on vacation trips that do not involve firefights with men. I met up with Simon Tam, and told him about the genetic restructuring monsters as well as how I healed Razak and Vanya brought him back to life. I have also been checking on the newly reformed Preena, and the other one. Luckily the temple is already rather large, hm. OH, and Jenna (Danar's chippie) is now being trained by the RM in the ways of the sisterhood. Also, I gave Vanya's report to Yoda (and the council, I presume), as well as checking on the ship, and having a stern discussion with Simon Illyan. Also I am trying to check up on Tik. What happened to him? Where is he? Was he found?
(Other one's name is Katya Soka )
Merglin is now Empress of the Tapani Confederation .
Vorhejeran has been busy. Reavers everywhere. That guy who married Ventress's son has been kidnapped. Spar. Yeah. That's him.
Simon Illyan wants to meet with us, but not where we normally meet him. Somewhere private. I wonder if we'll have aliases again.
We are all on Procopia (see above). I just delivered supplies – 10k in credits. Alliance credits. Yes!
ok. On that trip we ran into bounty hunters, pirates, and a mynock. (1000 credits left after the GM thinks up interesting ways to take it back.)
Vanya is on Procopia with Kenobi as he meets with Aral Vorkosigan.
The ship is ok, finally. Went to see RM.
Yeager can't get any tattoos for 2 weeks. His Daughter has a sharpie.
Danar is hobnobbing.
Tik Sandrell is scooped up by Major Crix Madine. He's in spec ops now. Tik is a decorated lieutenant. He doesn't seem to have changed much. Idealistic. He's won two crossclusters (silver stars) and three medals of valor. He saved an entire battalion in some classified thing. He's a serious hero! oo. I wonder if he saved people accidentally… (he tripped waving at me and leaving). At least he hasn't let it go to his head.
We get a texted emergency call suddenly. It gives coordinates, and Simon Illyan's name. He must speak with us immediately. He doesn't seem to plan things very well.
The building is in Embassy Row. Medium security building. We all arrive around the same time. I'm wearing normal smuggler clothes, since I was going through the checks on the Mismatch, and wasn't expecting any problems.
Davish Tam pulls up. He is under orders to find a lost member of the ambassador's something. Vanya likes those orders better than her orders, which are to not get arrested. Perhaps they could both be done in tandem. I hope so. His missing person is undersecretary to the ambassador Quin Forma. Older human, medium height, gray hair and beard. Davish hasn't been able to find him.
Yeager is following orders exactly. Odd. He must have gotten reprimanded about the thermal detonator.
We aren't allowed to go in. The guy that arrested us that time is now a captain, nice! His name is Caleb Jace. He meets us at the door, and looks surprised and uneasy. He has no idea why we are here, and wants to know when we received the text and if we stopped on the way. Captain Jace motions for us to follow – he says it's been a long day. He has a prime suspect in custody. We are all determined not to be arrested.
The place is crawling with police, and they are looking with DNA scanners. Staff is sequestered in a different room and being interrogated. We follow Captain Jace up a set of stairs and we arrive at a place wrapped with crime scene tape. We are to go into the first room but not touch anything.
The first room: is wrecked. Two armed police officers are holding the suspect.
Jace's prime suspect is: Simon Illyan. Okay. He looks really lost and his eyes are rattled. He doesn't know where he is. Covered in blood. His cane conceals a lightfoil. We need to deal with that woman. She's messing closer to home with every step. No, I don’t have anything but my intuition, but she’s involved.
There are two dead bodies on the ground, a wounded third in stasis. Two men and one woman. The woman is dressed as a sister captain. Soya Korentz. The man is the undersecretary to the galactic Imperium Embassy Quin. The man on the stretcher is Victor Vorkerellin (the party helped him get married. Marriage sanctioned by BG's). Fyn is in critical condition, and in a coma.
Since Simon is not in command now, his second in command is now in charge. Vanya asked what I wanted to deal with first, and I said Simon.
I used the other memory to go in and look for Merglin or that red crystal that whammied Luke and Leia. Simon has no defenses, and is very confused. He knew his name, he says, but has no idea where he is. Not amnesia. All memories have been wiped clean. A black, charred box that seems to be welded shut sits in the middle of a figurative room. He can remember things now, but not from before. He had eggs for breakfast, he says. He was supposed to meet a lady last night but canceled. Said there was an emergency. Today is Satunda. He thinks it's Natunda. He remembers I'm a captain. His lady was a captain. He won't tell who, because that is a secret. Calls Aral a Colonel. That happened a long time ago. I asked him to try to remember what happened after, and to write down anything that jumped into his mind. He's remembering the end of the Clone Wars. He does seem to have memories of childhood, but the last 20 years are swept away.
He is very confused and upset. There is no afterwash of Merglin or of that crystal. His memories are simply erased, down to neurotransmitter level.
I spoke with Vanya and told her about Simon. Davish is headed off to ask my Simon to help the one in the coma. He promised to get me holos of Simon at work. :) Vanya says that one of my sisters is very truly dead. This is very sad, as her memories are gone forever. Even so, Simon did not do this of his own accord. As Abbess, I will order extra tough training sessions to get the other sisters' tensions under control, and make sure they understand that no vengeance will be delivered until we know the full story.
Vanya has sent a message to all Beskar Aran that if they are in a bar and see a Sororitas there, they are to get them out of the bar and into the botanical garden.
Yeager has found 2 security systems cut off that look over the two rooms in question. Danar has found a datapad that is wiped of memory and short-circuited. Even the memory stick is blank.
Vanya has a good handle on local law. Captain Jace has papers for me to fill out, in my role as Abbess. 32 pages. I call in one of my sisters to help out with the paperwork, since I hate it. DELEGATE DOWN.
Danar says that there are laws to protect those who have no minds from punishment for things they have done without knowledge. It could be a clone of Simon somehow.
I am still wondering how he managed to kill two people. Even in a blind rage, I am not certain that he had the skill for these murders. What was our sister doing here?
The sister I called in to help with the paperwork has lost control. She is shouting about retribution, and the in-house guards are all over her, ready to fire. I managed to get in and tell her to stand down. Scorched Earth policy as was written in the scriptures is to be withheld for now. She seemed ok with that. She also seems interested in being Yeager's concubine, even though she's not been trained. We will discuss that back at the Temple. I will discuss it with Yeager as well.
Yeager and Sparks are talking about the security feed – this was very well thought-out, and planned down to the minutiae. Vanya is trying out her precog.
I went to see the sister's body and effects, and consulted the other memories in my head about this mess.
They mentioned Naboo sword fighting techniques having been used. This style is based on geometry and the study of astrogation. The cuts were very precise and skilled. BG assassin suggests – she may have been tortured, then killed so she could not talk. It would have to be a RM if it was a BG. They don't know about the box in Simon's mind. That bothers me. No one's ever seen it before.
They all arrived at different times, and a delivery kit arrived, cube/box arrived. Scanners and security were all passed without incident. Vorkerellen answered the door. The delivery guy left on a speederbike. Captain Jace didnt' find any box, package or wrapping paper.
I got a bee in my bonnet about living machines coming out of boxes. There are odd marks on the carpet. They remind me of tracks I saw on a tomb werld. Smaller giant armored worm tracks.
I also helped Yeager find a secret cubby hole that had detritus from the roof in it. I sent him to look on the roof with Thumper while I crawled into the cubby to see if there was a direct way to the roof.
There was a grate in the ceiling. I managed to get up there and the grate slid easily, so I started climbing.
Durable camouflage cloth torn in the vent system. Military issue-type. Our sisters use it. An empty container, the aroma of a strong acid around it. I took both to show whoever was interested. Yeager is allowed to speak freely to me ad infinitum, until the end of time. So sayeth the Abbess. He suggested that Illyan wiped his own memory to protect the secrets from an adversary. I told him it was possible, although surely scars would be visible.
Someone sat on the roof, possibly for days, without moving, then climbed down the vent shaft and hit themselves in the cubby hole. The fabric is not technological, only the way the colors are woven together to provide camouflage. Security cameras have a problem seeing this fabric. Yeager calls it infiltrator cloth. Gov't issue.
Simon gives my datapad with his random jots on it to Vanya to give to me.
(VorBobsioni!)
Quin was an Emperor's Hand. He died first. Whoever entered the room made sure they dealt with Quin first. They had anger issues, so they might not have enough patience for meditation.
On the Datapad: Simon wrote his name, Aral Vorkosigan, someone with the last name Illyan, maybe parents. A woman's name that ends in Vorkosigan.. hm. Not sure who that is. Different types of food, place names, one thing catches the eye – evening dinner behind the mess with the captain. Things from his Vor past, as well.
[Danar said the last chess move Illyan made, and suddenly smelled something on fire behind the bookcase. He pulled out the orange catholic bible (and found religion!), revealing some kind of surveillance video. Somehow, Illyan had a camera IN the temple, and was watching the goings-on. It wasn't a spycam, it was a transmission hotline to the temple, but also all over the city. Danar is never going to tell us about this. Unfortunately, it all burned.]
Simon is messing with Yeager's head subconsciously as they play chess. So he's in there somewhere. They are exchanging stories, and Simon's story has to do with a female smuggler captain, but he won't say her name. She's run afoul of a Hutt or two. The canceled date was due to emergency leave. He was also supposed to report to a new post on Procopia. He says he has a bad leg, and admits that Aral has helped him get the new position. Simon finally surrounds his king with a rook, 2 knights and a bishop, playing to stalemate.
I''m talking to Lady Cordelia Vorkosigan on the holovid. She says Aral is coming by force. Vanya will pay me 5 credits to order Yeager to grow up, 10 credits to order him to grow a pair. I said I'd consider it.
Aral is marching in, trailing an attny, and glares at all of us. ok... what. I really want to ask him what stick is up his butt. He is yelling at Captain Jace, so I slipped into the meeting. Aral asked where Danar was, and I told him about the comm. So he bellowed a bit, and I gave him mine, then moved over to Captain Jace because loud is really just very loud.
Yeager and Vanya and Sparks, Thumper, and Jenkins got the heck out.
The gentleman from Naboo – the person Simon played with most often. He also played with d'Arcy. There are forms all ready to go for promotion of Yeager. Simon has bet d'Arcy that Yeager wants to be demoted. D'Arcy says theft, then transfer to noncom and get himself arrested, Simon says he can't give up being a Drop Marine – he'll try to be the best of the best before he becomes the most awful. Simon bets that Yeager's worst will make him into the very best. He is their favorite source of amusement.
Danar found information on Dervish – Simon's files. Dervish is terrified of Simon. The hunter plays his game but the hunter will become the hunted, and the bishop will fall.
Simon's girlfriend – Aral saw her, but he doesn't' know her name. She was a very good fighter. He sent a bounty hunter and brought associates. 8 in all. Aral helped a bit, and Simon's lady smuggler took out two Mandalorians and two Rhodians, a Wookiee. She had to leave.
Aral says we have until tomorrow to get all of the sisters sequestered in the temple for funeral and mourning, and mostly keeping them from killing and enacting the scorched earth policy. Then he got loud again and wanted Vanya and Yeager. Simon was left alone with an attorney. They still don't show up. Danar's looking for info.
Vanya has gone to the palace. She finds Ivan Vorpatril. (a pretty pretty pretty young man). She gets him to help her in a very interesting way.
Danar is sitting in Simon's chair, and a call goes through – the person calling Is an asterisk. The person on the other line seems to be reporting on Vanya's interesting machinations in the palace.
I talked to RM and we agreed that getting the sisters of battle into the temple for a week or so would be good. Mourning will affect them a bit poorly.
And then I collected the Sister who was helping me with paperwork, and went to the temple to start preparing for things. I have responsibility now, no matter how much I do not wish for it.
10/8/11
Vanya is speaking with people at the palace. Emperor Alexander Kane has been visiting with Gregor, and they have been sparring while discussing treaties.
Yeager arrives at the palace, and is there to locate Vanya. So he asks. Thumper somehow becomes British. No one seems to know where Vanya is. Either that, or they are veing very Vor-like and evasive.
Vanya has a plan to get Gregor and his girlfriend alone away from security. Ivan begs Vanya over text. Vanya calls Shenanigans. Ivan is close to having an apoplectic fit. Yeager is about to start trying doors. We have 2-3 hours before Gregor has to get involved with Simon's difficulty.
At the temple, I managed to steer the sisters (20 now) into holding a vigil for their fallen sister. Many of them are trying to find someone to blame. Luckily they have not settled on any one group to focus their rage upon. The Reverend mother agrees to do testing on the fabric and the acid. She's not seen that kind of acid before. Bob (the blob) had a very interesting discussion with me. He apparently can duplicate anything he swallows. He's been working on goblets. I tested him with a credit. - he reproduced 4 more credits! Not usable because of the serial numbers, but it gives me ideas.
Danar is fiddling around in Simon Illyan's office. Someone called and said that something is being tracked to the vicinity of the temple. Should the samples be returned to the laboratory or should they be disposed of? He says they should be returned. What of the doctor? He says monitored. I think he's digging a very deep hole. Yep. The guy doesn't believe him. Says “director” with the quotes. Danar gets thirsty for some reason. Danar's been hastily closing all of the panels he was messing around with earlier. Ohh.. he's numb.. this should be fun. He slaps himself with a stimpack – the SPECIAL ONE Simon Tam gave us. Weee! He's suddenly much more alert.
There's a disturbance in the Force. I feel alarm from the other memory, pain. Uhoh. Vanya feels it, too. I look around, trying to get an idea of direction sense.
Danar's locked in the office with the gas. GM is evil.
I tried to talk to Vanya, but she didn't respond. No one did. Ok, I think Yeager said something. Imp Sec people started freaking out. The others almost run over me outside of the palace, but at least we are all on the same footing now.
The fracas is happening at the building that contains Simon's office. An aircar speeder drops down out of nowhere. Thumper and Sparks are headed to the roof. Did you know they made armored speeders? Interesting. Backpacks containing canisters on the armed troopers.
We run in, with the others. Danar's trying to escape (it was all him, afterall) but he's sealed in, and unable to go down the stairs. Only to the roof.
I slipped into the elevator with the “guys in the suits” who are first responders. Vanya walked in and Yeager clanked in. They see us, but are ok with us being here as long as we go do “decontamination duty” afterwards.
The smell of burnt electronics. Also a flowery smell, which I recognize as genetically engineered knockout gas. Very rare. We wanted some, but didn't make it. This stuff is actually a biological creature that communicates directly with the victim's mind during the process of knocking them out. There are counter agents, but the animal remains even after they have worn off. It is inhaled. I tell Vanya, the 4 guys, and Yeager.
The four guys see Danar, and take off running. He's waggling his finger at thin air.I tell the guys that the poison causes hallucinations. Danar isn't listening to Vanya or Yeager, so I use the Voice to get Danar to lie down on the ground and listen to me. The hallucination that Danar is talking to turns into a man-i- gesserit, and he tries to shoot the secretary (hallucination) but I got to him in time. He does what I ask for a change.
He passes out, and we all get showers. Yay. Danar gets 3 showers and detox.
Simon Tam is apologetic about the Force Lightning and his sappho juice and spice additions to the stimpacks, kinda. I told him my ancestors are mad at him. He wants to make amends. Isn't that cute?
Danar's in for 2-3 days.
Simon Tam lets me have one sample of the stimpacks for analysis.
Simon Illyan is being brought in under armed escort for a medical exam. We're not in the same room.
His body language makes him seem smaller. Same as he was earlier when he'd just been arrested. His confidence is gone, and his brain, which always seemed to be thinking and … scheming, has changed to a mentality of loss and sadness.
Suddenly, as Vanya was speaking with Danar, I saw a red dot on the back of one of Illyan's guards. I ran and tackled him to the ground, but another guard was hit. Simon was left standing with his mouth open, a sitting duck. Vanya used the Force to grab his collar, and he fell out of surprise and Vanya's skill. Danar got in the way of the sniper. Plasma blasts and solid – slug… The slug hits Danar's shield and is opening. A powder comes out, and a deafening hum like a million insects surrounds Danar. (GM is a VERY BAD MAN).
I looked around, finding a protected corner, and helped Simon Illyan to get to safety, at least for the moment. It wasn't far away, but it was better than being in the fire fight. It was obvious that Illyan was the intended target. I didn't turn his shield belt on, as I didn't see the slug hitting Danar's shield.
Vanya gets to work on the shield-eating bugs with her lightsabers. Yeager “Supermans” through the window, launching his grapple as he goes. There's a fight on the roof with someone wearing a shield belt. (Superman music!), and Yeager lands on the roof , hish and clanking down (Iron man!) WOO. His dreams of being demoted are evaporating quickly.
The bugs are chewing up Danar's shield.
The bugs turned into a humanoid form, and attacked a guy who was trying to shoot them. He's probably got less than a minute to live.
Yeager and his badassness self is being threatened by the guy with the shield belt on the roof “You shouldn't be here.” “Where the hell should I be?” “not here” Force Lightning. ow.
I see all this. I really should have distributed the man-i gesserit vaccine to the others.
Vanya is ONE WITH THE FORCE!
Danar tries to tractor the little bugs, but that only draws them to him. He holds up a light foil, ready to fry them as they line up in spiral, moving towards the “tractor glove”.
I hotwire an aircar, trying to swipe it. Because I'm so good at swiping. I see the evil guy with his hands raised, and Yeager in a ring of burnt smoke and clothing. He's smoking. The other two Beskar Aran are knocked out. Yeager gets out his concussion grenade to throw at the dude. He throws really badly and the grenade goes off, setting off car alarms everywhere.
Danar is able to kill much of the bugs with some kind of flash-frying thing in the hospital. Vanya's lightsabers are shorting out for some reason.
He's managing Force Lightning around the shield belt somehow. I see four figures, independently moving. (Yeager sees 2).
Yeager shoots the extras with shuriken, and one stays the same, one goes poof and one gets out of the way. I jumped on the one that moved, and was able to get Simon Tam's syringe in through the shield belt. Yeager unmasks her – she's wearing an infiltrator suit. It's a woman. We get the stuff to tie her up from the Beskar Aran. She has no identification on her. The fabric of the infiltrator suit – the cut of the outfit reminds me of the cut of the Cetagandan suits we saw on Geidi Prime. The mask comes off, and well. … Soya Korentz, already dead Sister of Battle, is lying there. She was already dead. Yeager wakes up the brethren. Ok, so .. she isn't dead anymore. She's just unconscious. At least the sisters will be happy. She opened her eyes, and looks really confused. She doesn't remember. Just like Simon Illyan.
Yeager happily agrees to carry Soya (over his shoulder) back to the temple, so that we can start figuring out what is going on.
I need to talk to Simon Tam about these syringes.
Illyan is being carried and is struggling against whoever is rushing him down the stairs and probably out of the building. A figure in a lab coat, a rebreather mask. Simon Illyan is tied up. Vanya tried to untie him with tk, but a discouraging thought bothered her, and she wasn't able to.
Another man behind a mask – VIctor Vorkerellin – Danar recognizes him. Vanya and Danar are catching him, and saving Simon Illyan. (we are in a hospital).
Vanya catches Victor, and something says through Victor (in someone else's voice) “No, this one's mine. You don't get to have him!” Vanya puts the whammy on him, and he screams, and a blast of Force Lightning runs through Victor from the inside out. Very powerful. Scorches the walls. Vanya shoved the controlling force out! Yay! She put herself in the path of the Dark Side, though. It's Merglin's voice. I knew it. I wish I had been there. We could have driven her out of this existence. Victor says, very weak - “just let me go. She will do it again. And there's another.” So he's being controlled, and knows it. His mind is still there.
Yeager and I fly to the temple, and land. We wander into the medical area. Yeager gets to see how cool the place is. I sent one of the guards in the front to get the RM. We get Soya settled. Yeager gets a small square of Soya's infiltrator suit. She's so different. Her personality is gone, just like Simon Illyan's.
She's a clone! She came from a station somewhere. If she helped the other two, she would get to have a reward. She thought it would be to see her parents again. There are a lot of them in a pen on this station, kept there for some reason. “when they take the others away, they don't come back.”
RM suggests that Soya's clone stay in an unused part of the temple. If Simon Illyan is a clone, where is the prime? RM policy – we don't murder clones. Everyone is welcome at the temple. No kicking anyone to the street. (we are trying to explain BG policy to Yeager).
Vanya got Danar to deliver her report to Kenobi, and THE fleet admiral was also there.
Obi Wan, regarding Yeager's and my part in things: “I have no doubt there was a sound trouncing.”
Obi Wan says that Applause is in order for Vanya :D
Vanya is checking Simon out – he says his hip hurts. His shoes are new, and something is missing. A tracking beacon is in Simon's shoe.
He remembers an explosion “she wore a perfume that day”.
Captain Reena Weicsz
11/19/11
She (Soya) is a clone, but has almost all of the real captain’s memories. RM and I agree that this person has to come into her own identity and does not need to be the “sister captain” who is dead. No one needs her going psychotic in the armory. There are holes in her memory, but also holes in her psyche- a missing puzzle piece. The way the neurons have been constructed in the clone means they have predisposed her to make her susceptible to certain forms of mind control- being used to hold a second personality. RM found snatches of memory that are nightmarish. These seem to belong to a second and much stronger personality, which is gone. Lots of skill and strength, to the point that it is on a par with a RM. And it was artificially placed there. Someone had placed a 2nd personality and induced MPD. The 2nd supplanted. RM has no idea how this has happened. Trying to subvert the other memory and using it as a template.
There is a visitor at the temple for me. A Solicitor. Exuberant. One is in all black body armor. So there are two of them. All black undersuit. The other guy is in the red and white robes of a solicitor. OHHH eyeahh. Solicitor likes to hug. Solicitor Mollari likes to hug.
A black package with a holobadge that says “Investigator.” We have been promoted. The Ministry of Information was going to take the captain and Simon, but now we are in charge. Yay. The navy wanted to take Simon Illyan, too. I will be reporting to the Grand Solicitor – Londo doesn’t know his name.
It is in the regulation to bring a badge with a guard. I have access to the Book of Law – the badge is a datapad. We are to be compensated.
A young man Kip Hoban. Is being investigated by Vanya and Yeager. They have been gone a while with no word. He recommends going armed. My badge knows the way. I say goodbye, get hugged again, and go off to get my armor and my weapons. Rain check on dinner with Londo.
I mess around with the badge, clamping it onto the taxi as I head there. I commandeered a vehicle! Suddenly the taxi driver drives much faster. There’s a hologram on the outside of the taxi – like a shield belt. Yay.
They can’t have Simon or the captain. I think I made myself very clear to Londo. We are now reporting directly to the “grand solicitor”. Simon had the package sent to himself, via proxy (captain). It was Simon’s voice somehow. They are examining Simon to see if he is fit to stand trial.
Vanya and Yeager interrogated Kip Hoban. There’s a Mandoa girl laughing.
Spacer’s row is where we’re headed. And a police siren is blaring. I managed to turn off the badge thingy. Everyone in the bar is now antsy. Bartender’s armed. Everyone’s all excited. I tuck the badge down my bodice and head in. There’s a lot of tension.
Mandoa woman has red armor. Vanya is in the center with her hands raised and Yeager has all of her weapons. The woman has been laughing. Black trim on mandoa woman’s bodysuit. Our fanclub made trading cards and are working on action figures. Woman’s name is Huntress Tervho.
Danar found the courier and he’s a part of our fan club. So we’s famous. Neighbors were murdered and the person who did it slipped away.
Yeager wants to date the mandoa. The badge is making him follow the rules. Hahahaha.
Sister was Cuy’val Dar. She might be pretending to be this Huntress Tervho. I got out of the way and went to bring back beers. One of Jango’s boys is in the corner “I’m an action figure!”
Yeager is being 15, with the whole puberty thing going on. Vanya’s course on boys is probably not the same as my course on boys. :D
The huntress pulls out a holo device with the building that the murder was in. The building has a higher than normal power draw on it, and she thinks that this building is where her sister his hiding. Two other places might also be Ministry of Information, and the Bene Gesserit.
Victor Vorkerellin – getting through wedding ceremony. He was force sensitive – his teacher was a “drama vor”. He learned dramatic gestures. He has been in the custody of the Matresses (nightsisters). While we were in Impsec HQ, Victor attempted to kidnap Simon Illyan. He was under the direct control of Merglin (ptui!). Vanya was dealt a double dose of Force Lightning. Victor tried to confirm that Merglin has another puppet/agent in the immediate vicinity. Don’t know who. Or where he was supposed to take Simon. “Downstairs”.
Vanya thinks we need someone on the inside to help us look around. I suggested Dragomir, Danar is out playing with the fan club. Surely someone would want to help us in order to help Simon.
Vanya emails Davish to ask him to look for hidden tunnels or whatever in the Imp Sec Building.
Vanya asks the Book of Law about Miles Vorkosigan. It is quick to give everything it knows. Book of Law is going to let us connect another case to our case –ooooh. Vanya doesn’t bite, wanting to be a little more careful.
Ok, we head out to the building. Very tired Captain Jace who wants to know what we’re doing back. I show him my badge, and he’s already up to date.
What “they” found: cap’n says he doesn’t know the details, but he has a friend who works for cyberforensics department. There was an attempted security breach – out of date encryption codes, but it still happened. They belonged to Simon Illyan. Miles VorK’s personal security ID. Data was nonsensitive, and it deals with the waste recycler system and how to reach it. Miles is very difficult to find at the moment.
Bartender isn’t “Just” a bartender. OH? Then what is he? Eep.
Vanya is reaching out with the force, trying to find Bothari, who is twisty, so he should show up, right? RIGHT? There’s a ship in orbit, and Vanya finds a knot – tangled – of the dark side that has a thin veneer coating wrapped around it. That’s him.
I take off the badge and give it to Vanya, then go out and look on my smugglepedia to see what I remember about what’s up there.
2-3 smugglers stay in orbit up there, refueling stations/satellites for smugglers up there, and they sometimes leave things up there in stasis tubes if they need to hide something. Stations don’t have names, but do have coordinates.
3 ships belong to the navy, one is a smuggler ship – obviously – Cap’n Bibfort Fen. He’s a twi’lek. Name translates roughly to “hard working sob.”
Vanya mentions that I’m her favorite smuggler captain. I shove the badge at the captain and walk away to contact Bibfort Fen.
Yeager’s date will be with Jenna Martovich
I was getting the ship ready for takeoff when Vanya called and said to get to the solicitor’s place asap. Something big was going down.
Hall of Solicitors has marble with gold trim and holographic laws being displayed. The one next to it has smoke coming out the side with a wrecked aircar that has smashed into the building next to the hall of solicitors. Fire crews are there. Another explosion nearby – down the street 2 blocks away. Thermal well? Vanya’s doing her force thingy.
The party is split up. Yeager finds a person in the car and saves him. Medic!
The explosion was not in the building, but attached to the air car that was in the building. There are workers that are burned but not badly. Only a few. The car struck into the automated portion, so whoever did this was trying not to hurt anyone. Took out the ability to lower all of the filters.
They can’t reroute because the other two backup systems have been exploded too.
Guy in 2nd crashed car is dressed like Simon Illyan. I wonder what this means for the transport plans.
Estimating the stasis tube that is flowing in the reclamation system is heading towards the Bene Gesserit temple. So I tell everyone and I head out.
Yeager gets to talk to the solicitore grande, just like I had to. Hahahahahaha. I hope he keeps his manners. He is soooooo with the nice manners. He’s making me look bad! Hehehe.
The stasis pod is effectively stopped at the temple, and Illyan is in there, heavily drugged. Yeager drops from the air and some of the Sisters had a lot of fun shooting him with an e-web and their blasters. Then they watched him take a shower. In the meantime, RM has done tests and has an antidote for the drugs in Simon’s system. She’s also positive that it is really Simon. When we return to the med bay, Simon is gone, the door is punched in, and the guards are badly beaten and on the floor.
On the way to the med bay, Yeager is hit by Force Lightning. I’m running. RM stayed at the med lab. Turns out that Merglin is possessing Miles, and throws two stun grenades at Yeager and me. I am still conscious, but Yeager’s out of it. I start singing as Merglin taunts me – saying she has the little one, and she will soon have the other. I sing to cause her intense pain, and she shouts that she will not release him, but she is weakening. Meanwhile the RM drags Yeager into the med lab to make him stay still, but he is begging her to give him a stimpack.
Vanya and Davish are wandering around the sewers and find their way to the palace as they are following someone with a shield belt. Miles isn’t really Miles but a clone.
I shot Merglin, but of course it wasn’t her. It was Katya Soka – former Emperor's Hand. Her eyes go from reddish-yellow to Katya’s own eyes. The voice half echoes in her mind “this isn’t over by any means.”
Her consciousness shifted to two locations at the same time. She’s using a temporary portion of herself inside someone to possess them. One person in the medbay. She’s jumped into someone ELSE. Possibly in the palace or ministry of information. Must tell Vanya. ARGH. She always has the last word and I can’t kick her in the head because it’s not HER.
A shadowy figure drops into the medbay and gets a syringe. Yeager threw his towel at RM, begging for adrenaline. Yeager dodged (fell off the gurney) as the possessed Sister Captain tried to stab him with the syringe.
Davish says that Merglin IS in the palace. He can feel it. He also says that she’s going to try to kill Aral.
Ack!
12/3/11
Danar is with Kip Hoban in the palace. *gets the popcorn*
Kip has carte blanche access as long as he’s with Danar. Guards aren’t around as they wander around looking for a place that Kip can nap. Rico’s ok. Danar lies about where he is – says he’s not at the palace yet. Tsk. Danar is filled in, and realizes just how alone he is. Security Fu. Danar haz it.
In the secret love nest that Ivan told him about a while ago, smoke curls out as the door opens. Blaster fire. The place has been tossed within the past 10 minutes. Danar is now a target because he lied. Haha.
And he pulled the amazing change of his shield belt out of THE FIRE! WOO.
And of course when he’s being sneaky, he isn’t at all. Even with a cloaking device. Oh well. Kip sticks his hand out of the device and points, saying “It’s the Regent!” Aral’s been trying to sneak, but the guards see him too! Aral’s got a weird headset on.
Kip and Danar are now completely exposed. Aral’s looking at Danar. Danar must seize the moment by taking command, and tells the guards to seize Aral. Cause he’s an imposter, of course! Aral is pissed. As usual. That’s nothing new. “Dammit Danar!” The guards are pointing their weapons at both. Ooooh. The guards belong to Merglin. And Danar’s shield belt is down. They fire. Then GM segues to us.
Yeager is unconscious being tended by several lovely women in the temple. Sister Lieutenant Jenna Martovich, especially. Vanya is dealing with the Miles Clone – and taking him to his mother to calm him down. She is near the palace, so she hears shots fired at the palace, and of course tells no one else.
Jenna Martovich comes in. Aliyah – the one attending the Emperor – sent a distress call. No response. Someone had been compromised. So this coincides with Davish’s report that Aral is in trouble. Possibly the Regent or Danar. Or someone else. Jenna offers to help wake Yeager. She is going to alleviate his pain and give him a bacta shot. She says he will have 4 hours. She starts working on Yeager, and has brought him armor. Mandalorian black armor. Dusty. Black helm with silver trim. Silver trim at edges of plates. Armor is jointed with power servos. Jenna made ‘temporary’ adjustments. It dates back from the time of the great Mandalore (before the Jedi Wars). “Is there an adeptus mechanicus I can speak with?” hehe.
I tried to reach Danar, but he was in a fire fight and would have rather dodged and turned his shield on than talk to me. Totally understandable. There are grenades. Yeager is almost done with the armor, so it’s time to go. Jenna is totally smitten with Yeager. “She uh.. jumpstarted my armor”. Hehehehe
RM gave me the runaround when I asked that she not go into the cell where the sisterpuppets are. She’s given me leave to tell her “I told you so” if she gets in trouble.
Vanya arrives at the palace just as the guards are putting some kind of mesh head-net on someone – Jenkins! and makes sure they don’t actually put it on. The guards are obviously possessed now. Vanya starts flinging and tk’ing and looking very jedi-like.
Grenades are flying and exploding. Third guard opens fire at Vanya. She’s shot, but she’s OKAY. Cause she’s strong. STRONG.
She talks to Jenkins. Conflicting orders. The Regent is sneaking around because the palace guards shot at him. Danar’s been compromised – standing arrest. He lied about not being in the palace. SEE? Lying is not always a good idea! Kip’s been taping the entire thing. Rampant security violations.
Rico and Sparks and whoever was with them are all Merglin’s pawns now. Ew. Vanya’s going to use the Force to contact other shiny Force users, including me.
Ok. Everyone’s been contacted, either by Davish or whatever. We’re on the way to the palace and are to meet Davish and Vanya at the princess’ suite of rooms in the central spire.
Aral is apparently NOT possessed. He’s all blustery and annoyed as usual. Oh, and Yeager, thanks to Jenna’s trying her mind skills on him, now speaks in an archaic form of basic, but can understand the helmet’s systems clearly.
Kip meets Aral. It is basically silly wave vs. hard frown.
Aliyah has not been seen by Aral or Danar, so we aren’t sure where she is. Hopefully she is with the Emperor or the Princess.
Media bots are meeting us at the palace rooftop, the Beskar Aran are arguing as we land and Yeager takes the loudspeaker angle.
Two of the guards come over to talk – Yeager scares them. They know nothing, but we find a hatch to get in. They will be vigilant, whatever that means for them. Yeager announces his presence. I follow behind with Jenna, mainly because he’s such a nice big wall. We head for the princess’s rooms.
1st set of doors – there should be a security checkpoint, but no one is there. The room is a big mess. Security desk has been wrecked. Clear fluid dripping. Bugs are here. A black pyramid , opened like a flower. There’s a bug somewhere. Not in this particular room. No safe rooms shown, so Yeager uses the badge. 57 secret passages. From the ground to the highest spire. There’s a lift just down the hall – concealed. There’s a safe room not far away. Lift to the left, saferoom to the right. Looks like there’s a running firefight down the hall way. Slime in the middle of the hallway and walls. Multiple trails. So hopefully we can deal with them.
Safe room – door is not fully closed. Cracked open. Yeager checks for bombs and stuff.
Power is going to the door, but nothing resembles explosives. Yeager says for people to stand and be recognized. He shoves the door open. On the floor is Aliyah, battered and bruised. No holes. No slime in the room. Jenna sees to her.
Well, on the comm there’s man’s voice, but it’s Merglin. Just on our comlinks. The blast doors close down, sealing us in. So we’re stuck, and she says it’s an experiment. And she says we can have a cookie if we press the right lever. And I will roast the bitch. Yes, I will. If Yeager doesn’t get to her first.
Vanya and Davish find us. Can’t open the door. She calls in Dragomir Harkonnen for help. I can’t believe it. NOT HIM. *sigh* Anyway, her badge seems to not be opening the door.
Davish starts to cut the door with the lightsaber, but there’s a sensor on the door and looks to set off a signal of some kind if the door is tampered with. So he has to stop. He wants to go down a floor and cut through the ceiling there. To the floor. We are most likely bait. Definitely a trap for at least us, possibly them. Merglin must be quite worried about us to do this. She wants us out of the way.
Vanya is doing something. (+2 to dodge block and parry and initiative from this point until indicated).
I hit the thing on the door with a vase and a sensor ping goes off. Uhoh. We all say uhoh. Yeager did something. Focused sensor ping. Yeager is very unhappy, and holding his head. Paperboy (one of Vanya’s) is also doing that. Danar sees the 3 Beskar Aran fall to the ground clutching their heads. Aral didn’t do it. his glare might be able to, but he didn’t actually do it. It happens all over the palace. So we’re now pretty much branded as people trying to attack the palace, I bet.
{NotKitKAT is behind it! EEE. Not the Kitkat that’s been with us, but the OTHER Kitkat. He was disguised as Krueger, the Emperor’s Mentat. The other person is possessed by Merglin, and is Ivan Vorpatril. They are talking about Merglin’s experiment. She meant to disable the clones. She asks where Simon Illyan is, after saying that she knew we can’t leave anything alone like the emitter. Kitkat says that he is at the temple, and that her co – conspirator is going to do that. Vanya’s badge now has a virus on it. It’s aimed at the solicitors. WHO is this man who is going to my temple? Argh. She has a partner. Who is the partner. WHO. They’re going to kidnap the Emperor? No, Merglin has a better plan. He must be isolated. We’re getting framed. Again!}
Merglin is taunting us again.
The worm things have gone into the arboretum above the safe room.
I managed to make Ivan’s mind … inhospitable… to Merglin, and she had to leave. She left screaming. Why … do I get- enjoyment- out of that. Even so, Kitkat continued to talk to her, and Danar was about to be revealed, so Danar stabbed him with a sedative. Danar gets all the juicy information. There’s a general involved. The princess is being removed from the palace. There’s a metal that is melting to be a poisonous gas. There’s hellwalrus worms in the garden. We’re being framed. The solicitors are in danger. My Temple is being infiltrated – probably as we wait to be freed from behind the blast doors – by some MAN. Ugh. This is not seeming to get better.
1 force point spent.
Bah. Didn’t work.
We’re out of the door.
Transcript (so bracketed material is now known).so the original kitkat is the one we should all have been wary of! Oh well. Vanya uses her “sense princess” power. None of Vanya’s boys have either of them. The princess is below the surface of the palace. Gregor is “in the throne room” but he’s not. Princess is most likely not below the surface.
I send email to RM about the “infiltrator”, possibly a general.
Yeager gets to her chambers. The door is open. Cameras were around her desk and datapads, and she had been monitored carefully. Wireless.
Aliyah, Jenna and I continued down. We went towards the sewer, then to the temple. We see a lot of troops wearing the Ministry of Information (Simon Illyan’s group). The agency’s decided to secure things all by itself.
Ok. Some kind of Order Delta is being implemented by Imperial Security, the director General Lucas Haroche. A GENERAL. So he and Merglin are now taking over Procopia with OUR HELP. And there’s an order to separate and detain the sisters in the temple. OH, FUCK NO.
Talked to Mollari and he gave me some food for thought. Someone’s using Merglin.
I may be asked to be arbiter in this whole mess.
We seem to all be split up very nicely. I am still headed to the temple to keep the sisters from doing anything… rash.
Yeager has found the Emperor, and he can tell Imp Sec not to take over. Gregor and Yeager are headed to talk to the General dude that’s in charge of Imp Sec.
The military have tried to take over the temple. Armored vehicles, the sisters are in defensive positions. Someone reported a riot. Yay. Procopian Defense Forces and Captain Jace is defending the temple. He says pursuant to the law, I am arbiter and I am an extension to the Defense Force, so that’s why he’s helping. SWAT team was called in because the military is taking a dim view of him. In case of this type of arrangement, the Emperor asked a personal favor of Jace, and Illyan warned the Emperor of this, so certain people are tasked to make sure to prevent riots in the temple. Imp Sec is gathered illegally on the island. Haha.
This was all set up a long time ago. This whole thing is very typical of Vor “upward mobility.” Jace thinks that some great house is trying to overthrow the reigning house.
Obi wan is following the money.
Also another general is Crix Madine, so he might be doing it, but he hasn’t been on the scene that I know of, not even mentioned.
Captain Jace and I have tea, and try to relax a little in our secure and very nice temple that has a big dent in the floor from Yeager’s recent fall.
Merglin got to taunt Vanya this time, and then went into hiding, so she’s out of the picture for now. She did name General Haroche, though, and said he had a personal vendetta or something.
Yeager is now the Emperor’s personal liason for the military. He speaks for the Emperor! OOOOHHH. I bet the Emperor learns some new words.
Gregor’s taking over from Aral. That.. that seems a poor decision..but.. I guess that’s what is going to happen. “he put on his big boy pants”.
I might not get to be arbiter now, but one never knows.
Tsu and Dragomir are all buddy-buddy now, and agreeing on things, which bothers me. Ventress and the bounty hunter we contacted have been abducted. Faena Teruho. Full mando bounty hunter. Obi Wan is tracking that.
One of the greatest chess players in the galaxy- the one that is playing with Simon Illyan – but he does not compete.
Vanya wants Danar to drop out of sight and pack because we’re gonna go on a trip.
We all get a message (while arguing with Vanya about running off and doing underhanded things) from Merglin “I do love it when a story unfolds, don’t you?”
Fruit basket from Mollari! Congratulatory fruit basket. All the note says “Welcome to Tapani. Everyone has their agendas. You’re doing very well.”
Yoda sends a message the next day: he has something he has to deliver to all of us. Anywhere would be fine. I say “meet at the dent outside of the temple”. We bring him in. he pulls out an old holocron. 10,000 years old. Image of Simon Illyan appears out of the holocron. “If you are listening to this, then I suppose an explanation is order. I did what I had to do. I apologize for nothing. It was for my Emperor and for Tapani. My great opponent would say “check mate in two moves” I say I have sacrificed my bishop so my knights would block his. By now you have already discovered the chip. Captain Benacor, I believe you have probably already found it. RM should have a look. It was safer to plant a chip in his mind to protect his memories. One vulnerability – strong EMP. His opponent lured him out, distracting him, and he had one choice – to allow himself to suffer the chip being dismantled. I knew she had agents. I knew they were in temple, but I am not one to disrupt the sanctity to ferret out moles. At least one in the palace. He knew we would not fail him. Which is nice. Maybe we can fix him now. It is past time one person is in charge of the back channels of information. His opponent has one successor – and he chose 5 – us. We have all met his contacts across the sector, and they will be in touch. The orders are damaged, and the alliance is blind to the assassin’s blade. Vor are caught in the crossfire along with the innocents. We will do the right thing? Mandalorians are being stirred up. Don’t worry so much about him. At this point, the person who is probably most likely sitting in the garden at the bg temple at this point. RM and he have a date they never managed to finish awww <3 Tell Aral not to worry.
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