Finding the v-mail in question is not a problem. However, assuming this Adelstein is telling the truth, it's an amazing forgery. Everything, IP addresses, routing, the avatars involved, look like it's a legitimate v-mail.
The routing, of course, has gone through decentralization in order to avoid determining the location of the ARM representative being communicated with. That's to be expected when dealing with covert organizations. Of course, it could also conveniently be used to hide the source of a spoofed v-mail. So while there's really nothing here that points to Adelstein's innocence, logic doesn't dictate his guild, either.
Krema will have to begin crawling across Terranet, tracking off the bounces one by one. It's a long process, involving several hacks. Could take hours.
"I am working on determining the source of the V-mail. It may take quite some time though. I will be devoting the entirety of both my biological and mechanical processing power to locate said source. If I am needed, please ping my personal com on the emergency line, or if it is more urgent, slap me across the face." With that, Krema slips into cyberspace.
Motive...
What changes? With Adelstein, with you gone... what actually changes?
You get taken away and... you're not on the Guangzhou. So, someone steps up to take your place.
Who, why do they want to?
RAW: you can spend your actions to work in concert with your exocortex, counting both your action and the exocortex’s effective standard action toward the total time required.
Who, why do they want to?
"I have no...you guys get...crappy sandwiches?" Adelstein looks truly confused.
Crappy sandwiches aside... what else does someone in your role have access to?
And, if getting you out of the way is so important to... someone. Perhaps they didn't stop at a hack and framing you... they'd want you silenced.
We should check your vitals and blood, make sure you weren't poisoned... some agents are slow acting. Sorry, just read an article siting true stories... part medical and part forensic.
Legion admires the scenery, "It is beautiful here, doctor. Who's cabin is this, if you don't mind my asking?" As they take in the view, they say rather unprompted to anyone who will listen, "My home when I'm off duty is on Ganymede, in a little android enclave there. There is a stark beauty to it's ice sheets, and plenty of life in the subglacial seas, but it certainly lacks in greenery aside from our hydroponics."
They quickly pivot away from their reminiscing to the task at hand, "It's also possible that Adelstein is just the beginning of a larger scheme. A probing attack to test our mysterious malefactor's capabilities, and perhaps to find the limits of the Terran Security Agency's."
Pausing for a moment before continuing, Legion says, "The use of the ARM in particular seems too strange to be a coincidence. If they wanted to get you in trouble Adelstein, I am certain there are more dangerous groups. If they are as adept as they seem to be, they must know of my views on the necessity of android liberation, hence my concern at the choice of ARM."
"It belonged to my husband's brother. When he died, it was passed along to him. Now it's mine." She responds to Legion, listening to him turn. She makes a comment before he fully pivots away, "I'm not much of an 'outdoorsy' person. Helmheim is much like Ganymede was with it's caverns and lack of sunlight."
As the android moves onto the most pressing matters, she pays an amount of attention to both it and the others before she could add her own thoughts. Hm. If you're that concerned for his well-being I could take a sample. For some reason I doubt they'd go so far as to have him killed when having him alive and resisting puts far more suspicion towards his guilt. No sense in not being over-cautious however."
Upon landing and getting settled in the Cabin, Dr. Yusil tests Adelstein's blood for common anomalies. With the exception of a slightly elevated HDL cholesterol count, he's within the normal range on everything. No pathogens, toxins, or other such oddities are found.
Krema, meanwhile, has managed to move past the first hurdle; he's followed one of the decentralized datastreams to a dead end, leaving 9 more to travel down, one or more of which must lead to the true origin point.
Do you, um, have any knowledge of these ARM people, Commander?" Adelstein asks Legion.
Oren isn't sure where this will lead, but chances are... weapons will be involved. She checks the shuttle for weapons and armor.
Oren isn't sure where this will lead, but chances are... weapons will be involved. She checks the shuttle for weapons and armor.
Krema plods along. Roughly an hour since he's started has gone by, and he's knocked out a total of 3 of the 10 datastreams.
"Progress is slow, but steady," Krema reports in.
The riffle that Krema proffers to Oren seems to have a Space Force insignia on it.
"You're doing good work." She tells the little Vesk. She's already read through his medical files, thr extensive invasive cybernetics he employed was almost shocking to some degree. Yet the results spoke for itself. "Adelstein brings up an interesting point. We should consider looking into ARM ourselves, on the chance they might be involved."
"Agreed."
They think for a moment before answering Adelstein's question, "The activism I've taken part in has not always been on the straight and narrow. I have not had any official dealing with ARM, but several of the groups I have been a part of before I joined the Space Force had some level of ARM support. I am not familiar with the organization directly, but the connection is tangentially present."
I am not familiar with the organization directly, but the connection is tangentially present."[/b]
Legion can, now that he thinks about it, think of a couple former colleagues he might contact that could put him in touch with someone on that end.
Oren watches on, listening intently.
About 2 hours later...
Legion is able to confirm that ARM, in all likelihood, is not actually involved.
Krema is able to rule out the final false lead, and track down the origin point of the vmail. It came to an address in Winnetka, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. The house is registered to one Andrei Ionescu. A quick search of Terranet reveals Ionescu as a suspected high level captain in the Romanian mob.
"Excellent news. I've traced the origin of the v-mail to the residence of One Andrei Ionescu, a Romanian mobster. It is possible they are in contact with ARM, or that something more nefarious is going down. In any case, whoever made the forgery did an excellent job of it, it's virtually indistinguishable from a legitimate one. Legion-12, I joined this outing per your request, how would you recommend we proceed?"
"Wait, did you say Ionescu?" Adelstein says, his brow wrinkled as if pulling out an old memory.
"Old friend of yours?" She asked, looking at the human with a quirked brow.
"No, I don't know THIS Ionescu, but..." he pauses sheepishly. "just before I was due to ship out, when I was working at Mr. Deli Sub as a manager, I fired a young woman named Luiza Ionescu."
"Hm. If they're related to organized crime, it's possible she- and her family- held a grudge against you." She reasons.
Adelstein puts his hands to his head and grabs his hair in distress. "What am I gonna do? Does this guy have friends inside TerraSec? You guys gotta help me!"
"That was always a given." She assured the human, before looking to the others. "The key point is figuring out what we'll be doing to accomplish that."
Legion nods to Krema, ”Excellent work lieutenant. Already proving yourself a valuable addition to the crew. I say we try to find this Ionescu. If infiltration is required,” They stop and hold up their hand, smiling very slightly as their hand melts into a formless mass of nanites before reforming just as quickly, ”I’ve managed to reacquire certain talents I was originally equipped with. Should prove invaluable to covert operations.”
I can assist. I've some experience in... persuasion.
"It is against regulations to use Space Force weaponry for personal missions." Krema states. "So I will use my personal riffle to provide covering fire, or provide further assistance through my individual skills."
"That's great, guys! What's the plan? When do we leave?"
"You, Adelstein, should lay low here. If Ionescu truly does have it out for you, the last thing we want is him to get his hands on you."
They nod to the other people, "The rest of us should head for Chicago."
The trip from the Appalachians to Chicago takes about 45 minutes by shuttle. You land at O'Hare Spaceport around noon local time. From here, you can get to Ionescu's mansion in Winnetka in about a half hour or so.
"If you can think of any, perhaps we should make any stops beforehand to prepare ourselves for a worst case scenario." The doctor cautioned.
Should probably pick up some untraceable comms...
After purchasing some burner comms, the crew members approach the Ionescu mansion in Winnetka.
"Well," the woman sighs, fitting the dubiously legal comm against her ear. "Here we are then."
"This is your dog and pony show Legion-12. Call it, and we'll follow."
Oren looks to Zretaden. It's a mansion, so he's probably got his own micro power plant... but communication has still got to go in and out. Can we scan for types of transmission and intercept... outside his network?
There's a pretty normal amount of Satcomm signals coming out of the Mansion. The "Terraweb of Things" syncing all his electronic toys with the global network, a comm call here and there. Some of that's encrypted, and a 20 won't quite hack it (literally), but the comm calls in general, 2 at the moment, don't seem to be.
One is a call from Ionescu's personal kitchen staff, and appears to be ordering a delivery in Romanian (easily translated by software); the other is an older child or young adult female talking to a male (of similar age from the sound of it).
Security comms are not appearing publicly, leading Oren to surmise that they're behind Ionescu's firewall entirely (a common and wise practice).
Go in as the delivery staff, was it for today?
Go in as the delivery staff, was it for today?
Yes, the order was for ASAP.
Legion nods, "Excellent idea. I can turn into liquid, you could smuggle me inside in a pot or something."
Pulling a slight face, "I can't say I'm exactly.. adept at missions like this, but I'll try for the kid's sake."
We'll need to intercept... finding the address, now. GPS guidance, to see the most likely route.
Oren dishes with her personal comm.
We'll need to intercept... finding the address, now. GPS guidance, to see the most likely route.
They'll most likely be coming from the south, up Hibbard Road. You remember turning off Hibbard to get into the subdivision, and it fortunately seems the only way into the subdivision by land vehicle.
"We'd need uniforms... And only a few ways we'd be able to get those." She says, mildly disapproving. "Our options are limited however, as is our time."
The team has no problem identify and intercepting the incoming delivery truck. The large man behind the wheel is rather surprised when the rented utility truck pulls over in the middle of the road just inside the subdivision, blocking his path.