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After everyone gets back, Beauregard will have everyone sit down.
"Alright you mooks, sit down. It should, by now be clear to everyone with a set of eyes that something fishy's goin' on here on the ship, and I think it behooves everyone to figure it out sooner rather than later. Now, the faster everyone cooperates, the faster we can get this done, and the faster we can get out of here.
"Now, the first thing we gotta take care of is the obvious stuff. Someone here is futz'n with the ship and crew. So the easiest test out of the way first, make sure everyone here is who they say they are. Dr. Flint-Bridge can scan us all with a medical device and put the results up. It's strictly low-level stuff, just shows you basic medical data. I expect there's a few ways to fool it, but let's make sure we don't have an easy out. The doctor can put everyone's results up on screens to show she's not bamboozling anyone, and I'm sure she can leave out any information considered too private . . . capiche?"
There's a fair amount of grumbling when the captain makes an announcement that everyone is to gather immediately in the dining hall. The goblins and a hungover Grath are particularly surly about this.
Soon everyone is gathered--all of the passengers, and all of the crew (minus Algiada, of course).
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"Interesting. Interesting. Thank you all for bearing with us. As you can see, Trostinek has several contusions consistent from his run-in with a rogue pacifier robot, along with with Rar'gul for the same reason. A few callouses from the Goblins and Hobgoblins, no doubt showing off their excellent dedication to combat drills. But we see no other injuries. This is fortunate because, there are no magical healers on board except for T'sorkel correct? Oh, sorry, I forget myself. I am sure the esteemed doctor can whip up a healing serum as well. Is this correct, these are the only two magical healers on the ship as far as anyone is concerned?"
Everyone looks at one another and shrugs. You suppose they are agreeing with you.
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"Interesting, Interesting, then Captain, would you care to explain this?" Beauregard pulls out the Idari statuette. "This here is a small model of the Kasathan ship the Idari. Notice the discoloration on the front? That is from blood. Specifically Kasatha blood. We found this less than 72 hours ago caught in the incinerator chute. Notice how deep the puncture would have had to have been to get up to this level of the Idari. The good doctor tells me it could have been fatal if it was plunged through the right spot. Also, more concerning, when we found it, the blood was fresh. You can check the timestamp on Dr. Flint-Bridge's scanner and my own PI journal to verify that the blood was fresh when we found it, meaning that this object was plunged into a Kasatha after we left port.
Now, since there is only one Kasatha on board, whom we know cannot heal herself with magic, I'm wondering how such a deep wound disappeared from her medical scan? I'm assuming Dr. Flint-Bridge nor T'Sorkel treated her, we haven't had the chance to meet her before today!"
Captain Rameem responds, "Clearly I wasn't hit with that statue. As you can see, I'm quite fine. I agree, that appears like it could make a killing blow."
Doc goes along with Beauregard's monologue, sensing that the nuar is onto something.
She's had the opportunity to clean up a bit, projecting a professional aura, and she's carrying a piece of hardware that none of the other passengers or crew have seen before - slung across her back, it has the stock and foregrip of a rifle, but the body of the device is shaped like a lozenge, its smooth white surface broken only by a translucent lens at the tip and a series of small ports near the foregrip. The overall effect is an uncomfortable mix of medical professionalism and private mercenary, which may put some of the present company at unease.
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"So . . . it is your contention that there is, or was, another Kasatha on the ship? I should point out that we had thuroghly searched the ship from top to bottom and found no stowaways, this was one of the last things we found in our search. Well, there's an easy way to go about proving this. Doctor, do you believe you could do a genetic analysis between the captain and the blood we found on the ship?"
"I'm not contending anything. You found Kasatha blood on a statue. I clearly was not injured by this statue, as everyone can see. I'm not sure I can speculate why you found a statue that you believe has kasatha blood on it."
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"Are you sure that's how you want things to play out? You sure? Well then I suppose you contend that you did not suffer such an injury and find some other way of healing it? Alright. . . we'll take your word for it. Poor choice of cover story by the way.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have a few mysteries on our hands. One of which is clearly where this phantom Kasatha Blood weapon came from. Now, considering it was found perilously caught on the incinerator door, we can assume someone sloppily tried to get rid of it. But let's put that aside for now.
This trip has been marred with strange incident after strange incident. First, something confided in us by the professor, that chief of security Iom and the professor knew each other from a while back, and Iom had a reason to dislike the professor, yet she didn't seem to recognize him at all. Next, there was the bit about the geese getting loose and possibly hurting everyone. But after that things really started picking up. Iom met with Trostinik and talked with him about some sort of 'plan' being 'too dangerous' to go through with, and how they still needed to try. But then, the two big mystaries.
"Iom goes missing, and our ship is sabotaged and unable to move. Both Kiiv and Yariel confirm the only reason for the engines to fail in such a way is sabotage. Then a rogue robot goes on the loose injuring Trostinik. Captain locks themselves up in the bridge and refuses to see anyone despite the fact that we aren't able to go anywhere after that. Then we find out about some shady payment and correspondence. I think I'll let the Abdaran explain about that part. Finances were never my strong suit."
"Doctor, do you believe you could do a genetic analysis between the captain and the blood we found on the ship?"
Doc delicately clears her throat .
"First Officer Lozu. I presume you have spent at least some time in the captain's personal quarters. Do you ever recall seeing a novelty model of the Idari?"
"Trostinek. You admitted to visiting the captain's quarters just last night. Did you, perchance, notice an item similar to this one?"
Doc makes deliberate eye contact with each person as she speaks to them, searching for any signs of deception .
T'sorkel places the twins' carrying case on a table so they have a good view of the events. Then he watches the crew and other passengers as Beauregard lays out the facts, looking for any signs of odd reaction or tell-tale behavior. He merely shakes his head at the question of whether he treated any of the crew.
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... Then we find out about some shady payment and correspondence. I think I'll let the Abdaran explain about that part. Finances were never my strong suit."[/b]
John is surprised to be called upon. He lurches upright from where he'd been leaning against the wall and steps closer to Beau so that the assembled sentients won't need to crane their necks to see him while he speaks.
"We secured and examined Algaida's data pad and personal ledger. In the ledger Doctor Flint-Bridge discovered a 10,000 credit transfer to an 'LP' for 'ship repairs'. The first officer later confirmed that she received those monies.
Officer Flash and I cracked the datapad. On it there be a series of messages to a blind address on Akiton. The messages be innocuous on the surface; they concern Uncle R and the acquisition of his memories. One can easily interpret them as a veiled references to Captain Rameem and the Chimera."
"Doctor, do you believe you could do a genetic analysis between the captain and the blood we found on the ship?"
Doc delicately clears her throat .
"First Officer Lozu. I presume you have spent at least some time in the captain's personal quarters. Do you ever recall seeing a novelty model of the Idari?"
"Trostinek. You admitted to visiting the captain's quarters just last night. Did you, perchance, notice an item similar to this one?"
Doc makes deliberate eye contact with each person as she speaks to them, searching for any signs of deception .
Lozu replies to your query, "Yes....yes, I'm certain I have seen that in his quarters before."
Trostinek is less sure. "I don't know. Wasn't in there long, and it was just the one time. It could have been in there."
[dice=Sense Motive]1d20+8
T'sorkel places the twins' carrying case on a table so they have a good view of the events. Then he watches the crew and other passengers as Beauregard lays out the facts, looking for any signs of odd reaction or tell-tale behavior. He merely shakes his head at the question of whether he treated any of the crew.
As the crew and passengers gather in the dining hall, Rar'gul takes up a position by the door to the hallway. Leaning against the wall, he watches over the assembled crew and passengers, looking for signs of trouble and readies to spring to action should it come to that.
Listening as Beau lays out the evidence, he tries to get a read of those who respond.
Lozu replies to your query, "Yes....yes, I'm certain I have seen that in his quarters before."
"Interesting." Doc pauses for a moment, allowing the gathered passengers and crew to come to her conclusions moments before she speaks them out loud. "First Officer Pahir. If what you say is true, then clearly Captain Rameem Vi Siala Corsen would recognize this item immediately, would he not? Clearly, it is an item of some personal value, kept in his personal quarters, and yet he does not notice its absence. Moreover, when shown the item, he does not profess to recognize it in any way, nor does he find it particularly disturbing that said item has obviously been used to deal a mortal blow to a kasatha person within the last 36 hours and then found jammed in the mechanism of the incinerator."
"Would you call that unusual? Have you or any of your fellow crew members noticed any other unusual behavior from the captain in the past two days?"
"During our investigations, we happened to discover that the ship was sabotaged to be unable to continue moving. My friends also discovered some sort of biological residue in the vents. Doctor? Care to elaborate?"
"Yes, thank you." The halfling hops up on a table to help focus the crowd's attention on her.
"We first came across this delightful piece of evidence in the cabin of Algiada Iom." Doc holds up a small vial of mucus. "The grating to the circulation system was knocked ajar, and we recovered this organic sample, which indicates the presence of a ooze-like creature - a creature, coincidentally, what would be capable of using the ship's smallest mechanical passageways to move between rooms unseen."
Doc pauses again to allow the implications to sink in. "This was the only piece of evidence we found of this mystery ooze. Until this morning." The halfling nods to Beauregard, allowing him to continue with his monologue.
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"Yes. An ooze like creature. Then last night, in an effort to make sure that no more harm befell this ship, we posted guards in this cafeteria to monitor the passageways. Our vigalance bore out this morning when Yariel and Rar'Gul came across what appeared to be Kiiv going down to fix the engines, said they had a brainstorm about fixing the engines only . . . when they got down there, Kiiv did something odd. Yariel, can you explain what this supposed engineer did?"
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Yariel looks up from her tablet as her name is called. The flashing screen (visible mainly only to her) simply has a single large flashing box that says 'run program x48' on it.
"Hmm... yes? Oh yes, Dopplekiiv was very insistent from the start that I wasn't needed down in engineering, that they were just checking on something. Well, as some of you may have noticed I've been working tirelessly with Kiiv this whole time trying to get the engines running again. So them telling me to stay away just made me want to go even more. I get down there, they try to send me back so I plopped my furry ass down to watch what they were doing. They get annoyed and leave, so I take a closer look and finally realize the spot they were working had no benefit to fixing the ship and in fact, could easily have led to further sabotage!"
Yariel eyes everyone in the room closely, trying to catch a reaction or uneasiness when she reveals her information. Her paw hovering over the tablet the whole time.
Probably not seeing anything excessive, she continues, "Dopplekiiv bolts up a set of ladders and a few seconds later I turn around to see this Kiiv coming down a different ladder. I knew something was crazy at that point and chased Dopplekiiv up the ladder to the crew deck, where I found more ooze by a vent up there."
Rar'gul shifts his massive frame from where he had been leaning against the wall. Stepping forward a couple of paces, he chimes in as Yariel finishes.
"Something didn't seem rright to us about the whole thing. So, I waited on the Main Deck by the aft lift, monitorring comms trrafficc and kkeeping an eye out for anything back up here," the trox rumbles.
"When I hearrd the commotion, I headed strrraight up the aft lift to Crew Deck. I would have got therre much the same time as Flash. I had a clearr view rrright along that whole corridorrr from aft to the Bridge the whole time. Nothing went by." Finishing, he returns to his post, leaning against the wall.
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"So as Yariel pointed out, two Kiivs, one apparently trying to further sabotage the ship. And with the addition of the slime trail, we can also assume this ooze is some sort of shapeshifter. At this point, I think we can reasonably assume what happened.
"I think, perhaps, that Security chief Iom never made it to our little ship here, instead being replaced by this shapeshifter. This explains why Iom didn't recognize the good professor. I suspect that this shapeshifter was working with Trostenek, that would explain their conversation the first night. Now this shapeshifter must have wanted to do something to the ship, cripple her for some reason, and the security chief would have been the perfect cover for that. As security chief they would have had access to security cameras and the ability to erase or even doctor the recordings.
"But something must have happened. Maybe the plan was always to kill the captain, but I doubt it because the weapon was improvised. I'm guessing the captain recognized that her Security Chief was acting peculiar, and so called her into his office. The shapeshifter, the jig clearly up, grabbed the nearest weapon-like object and killed the captain. Then using their knowledge of the security holes in the ship, dragged the body and the weapon to the incinerator to dispose of the body and the murder weapon. Unfortunately, the murder weapon got caught on the hatch of the incinerator. Then, of course, the shapeshifter took the form of the captain. Obviously this would give her leaving us down one security chief. It also explains why the captain became so reticent to talk to us.
"At this point, it's pretty obvious why we have a murder weapon with Kasatha Blood and yet the only "Kasatha" that could have taken such a wound is uninjured. As for why they want us disabled in the drift, I can only guess, but evidentally one day is not enough, or they wouldn't have bothered to further sabotage us. Now, I don't suppose you would like to fill us in?"
Beauregard turns on the captain.
T'sorkel chitters as Beauregard reaches the climax of his exposition. Psychic speech flies between the twins and their father as they discuss how the Nuar is unveiling the facts. He turns to the Captain watching the Kasatha for his reaction and how he was going to address the accusations.
Captain Rameem responds to Beauregard's accusations. "I would encourage you to forward your findings to the appropriate authorities when we arrive in the Pact Worlds. Honestly though, I'm not sure what they'll think of your fairy tales. Meanwhile, I am still captain of this vessel, and if we have any hope of making it back, you'll need to stay out of my way, and out of the way of the rest of the crew. I'll be on the bridge."
He storms out.
Everyone else simply turns to one another with shocked disbelief. It appears some, notably Professor Benjam, find Beauregard's version quite credible. Some, like Trostinek or Lozu, remain stoic as they find something to eat and drink.
Song can be heard yelling as he heads to the kitchen "I hope Kiiv can get this bucket of bolts going--this is getting crazy!"
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”Hmmm, didn’t even stay for my piece de reisistance. Lozu, you are familiar with the captain yes? I’m told Kasathans tend to have religious ticks they go through daily. I assume the captain hasn’t been doing these since Iom went missing?
“In any event, I think our course of action is quite clear. Kiiv, would you agree we can’t let this thing out and get away? Good, then let’s Send a distress beacon. Give all the relevant information, including that we likely have a shapeshifting intruder on board and it is likely the captain, but everyone will need to be screened, than wait for Absolom Station to send someone to rescue us. After all, the shapeshifter is stranded here same as us. Until then we put a guard of at least three on the engine room and no one walks around alone.”
T'sorkel blinks. He just left? That has to mean we were getting close to the truth, right?! He stands and looks at the door. Should we go after him? I mean, he could be sabotaging the ship again or accessing some critical system. If this is all correct, it could be pushing him to extreme measures.
He turns back to Lozu. I'm uncertain to exactly your part in this, but I don't think you killed anyone. As first mate, though, if the Captain has been compromised, isn't under your authority to relieve him of command? Perhaps shut him into his room?
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*SNRK*
Yarel snorts after the Captain stands and walks out. She has trouble keeping a smile off her face, "I mean, that was a nice string of a theory, but did you seriously expect to have the villain admit defeat and surrender? I mean, this isn't a vid show or something."
She turns to the engineer, "Alright Kiiv, at least one thing is sure, we need to get the engines back up and get outta here. Guarding that location seems prudent too, so if you don't mind I'll bring some muscle to watch our backs."
The Ysoki heads quickly down to engineering in case the Captain was the slime and didn't actually head to the bridge. She eyes the professor with suspicion when leaving the mess hall, My money's still on you, buddy boy.
Many of the crew and passengers can only look on in shocked disbelief at the charges leveled against the captain. Trostinek leaves the dining hall, only shaking his head. The goblins quietly leave, but only after filling their pockets with various pre-packaged snacks.
As noted, Song heads into the kitchen, frustrated about being stuck in the drift under these circumstances. Kiiv seems rather melancholy about the whole situation, and grabs a quick beverage and protein bar before gathering his tools to head back down to engineering.
Lozu and Grath quietly confer before approaching Beauregard. "We're going to keep an eye on the captain. We'll both be on the bridge should anything happen. Let's exchange comm codes, so we can quickly message you if something crazy occurs...."
Professor Benjam gives you all a nod and some encouragement. "It seems almost all of us have our secrets. I think there is indeed enough evidence to get authorities on Absalom involved once we make it home. I'm afraid I am not much use down in engineering. Perhaps some of you can assist Kiiv and get us home. I'll be in my cabin, and I am happy to help if called upon."
[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+14
Benjam retrieves the following from his cabin and passes it along to you. "Share these with your group. They might be useful as you wrap up this investigation."
Microgoggles
Nanite Hypopen, Brown
Survival Straw
Dermal Stapler
Zipstick
2 rolls of Ion Tape
The Shirren looks to the others in his group as the others leave. That didn't seem to go as we expected. Should one of us go to the bridge to watch over the Captain? Or are we willing to let Lozu and Grath handle him?
He takes a bag of protein snacks from the kitchen, opening them and munching on the artificial insect bites. What do we do next? I suppose it's too much to hope for support to put the Captain into custody and search his cabin?
The doctor watches the captain storm off, keeping her expression carefully neutral. As the passengers and crew begin to disperse, she sets up shop in the corner of the dining room, watching the comings and goings as she idly tinkers with her medical supplies.
After a moment's thought, she pulls aside her ysoki roommate. "Yariel, dear. How much do you know about the ship's air circulation system? Would it be possible to purge or block the system of our gelatinous friend without asphyxiating ourselves?"
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Being grabbed as she heads to engineering, the diminutive Ysoki jerks away and then looks back, "Oh, it's you. Um... not sure? Probably not doable? These systems are made to not be allowed to be blocked, health and safety stuff and all that. Might be able to foam seal a vent or something though, but not sure if we have the tools or ability to close off enough to matter."
She takes the goggles, thinking they may help if she has to disarm a bomb or something... the way things are going she won't discount the possibility.
"From what Flash and I saw durring our drrinkks with Grrath, he is the Captain's man. Has a lot of rrespect forrr him. Loyal." Rar'gul rumbles. "Seems to me Beau's worrds must have made some sense to him to be even entertaining the idea of keeping a watch on the Captain."
"I'm thinking we can count on Grrath and Lozu to do rright by the ship and crrew, if not by us. It might be they need someone to watch theirrr backs, too."
"It might be worrth seeing if I can get myself back onto the Brridge, or at the verry least, stand watch on the Crrew Deck and kkkeep close by to the Brridge, just in case."
The Shirren thinks for a moment. I could come with you Rar'gul. I've never been on the bridge of a ship before. I would be exciting. And perhaps we can convince Lozu into action? He chitters a bit. Or I can stay with Professor Benjam and keep watch over him instead. Though I worry that we're spreading ourselves out, trying to keep watch on everyone. If something happens, that person will likely be all alone with the murderer.
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Realizing that someone has to stay on the passenger deck to provide quick support to either the bridge or the engineering crew, John elects to remain in the cafeteria. He nods to the doctor, "Keep an eye on whether the passengers return to their cabins."
Then he slips into the kitchen to see what Song can quickly rustle up for a breakfast snack. He is careful yto stay near the doorway where he can see Stone-bridge. Then asks the cook, "I had no idea where Beauregard was going with his disquisition. What do you think of his theory?"
[dice=Engineering (t) to know if what the doc asks is feasible?]d20+11
Yariel and Beauregard head for the engineering deck, following Kiiv.
T'sorkel and Rar'gul team up and head to the crew deck, perhaps to the bridge.
Dr. Flint-Bridge and John remain in the dining hall, watching as crew and passengers return to their cabins.
John opens the door to the kitchen. Song turns and says, "I suppose you'll be wanting something hot for breakfast." Song sighs, pauses, and suddenly looks toward the kitchen door leading into the nearby corridor. "Did you hear something?"
Song opens the door. "Hey, you can't be messing around with....". Before he can finish his sentence, there is a laser blast that narrowly misses the android and the sound of goblins giggling.
Chaos unfolds in the corridor. The goblins are running rampant. One steps through the doors to the dining hall and levels his junklaser at Dr. Flint-Bridge.
Another opens the door to the kitchen and shoots at Song.
One steps through the doors to the dining hall and levels his junklaser at Dr. Flint-Bridge.
Doc looks up as the goblin bursts into the dining hall, but she's not fast enough to avoid the laser bolt, which singes the shoulder of her white overcoat. With a grunt of pain, she ducks behind the table, grabbing for her comm unit. "Shots fired! Shots fired! Report to the dining hall and put down these bloody goblins!" Allowing her inertia to carry her forward, the halfling presses herself against the wall behind John's larger human frame.
"Rhetorical question; what are your opinions on combat stimulants?" Without waiting for a response, Doc produces a hefty syringe from seemingly thin air and sinks it into the Abadaran's thigh. "On second thought, tell me later!"
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Seeing and hearing laser fire, John reaches for his pistol and pulls it clear of its holster. "Song, run for the bridge! Starboard side!"
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"Rhetorical question; what are your opinions on combat stimulants?"
...
"I'd rather nAHhh!"
Without waiting for a response, Doc produces a hefty syringe from seemingly thin air and sinks it into the Abadaran's thigh. "On second thought, tell me later!"
"That hurt!"
While talking John looks left and right at two goblins, before pivoting toward the one in the dining room. He brandishes his cane, holding it high while he draws draws a bead on the little menace with his pistol and pulls the trigger.
...
He smiles with satifaction to see the shot arc into the goblin's chest. "Back up, Doc. There's too many doors to hold here."
Trick Attack: You can trick or startle a foe and then attack when she drops her guard. As a full action, you can move up to your speed. Whether or not you moved, you can then make an attack with a melee weapon with the operative special property or with any small arm. Just before making your attack, attempt a bluff, intimidate, or stealth check (or a check associated with your specialization; see page 94) with a dc equal to 20 + your target's cr. If you succeed at the check, you deal 1d4 additional damage and the target is flat-footed.
Two of the goblins seem to remain in the corridor, perhaps looking for something. When the imposing form of Rar'gul steps off the lift, one turns and fires
Another goblin is rather surprised to have Rar'gul step off the lift. He does manage to drop his pistol and pull out his dog slicer before slashing at him.
The goblin in the dining hall shimmies and shakes when John shoots him with his arc pistol. For a second, both John and the good doctor could swear they could see the outline of its skeleton flash when it was arcing with electricity.
It shakes its head, makes a funny sound, and levels its pistol at John.