Posted by Gamemaster Alfredo Linguini (GameMaster) in Main Sim - Ask And You Shall Receive… For A Price

Posted by Commander Jason Reilly (XO) in Main Sim - Ask And You Shall Receive… For A Price
Reilly entered his quarters, locked the door, and went to his desk. Encrypting a link to SF Intel, he began to scour records. Suddenly, his comms buzzed with a secure and encrypted communication. He smiled and activated the call.

A familiar yet panicked face peered out from his screen as Reilly’s eyes flitted through files and contents. In a very harsh whisper, the face on the other end said “Reilly?!?! What the hell do you think you are doing?” Reilly grinned and said “Good to see you too, Nathan. Long time no see. How’s the wife and kids?” Nathan’s lips clenche together in barely suppressed anger. “You know I’m not married anymore!” Reilly paused for a moment, and then chuckled. “Oh yeah. Told you she was a cheat.” and the face went read and looked over it’s shoulder and then Nathan said “What are you doing, you &^%$&&^%?!?!?” Reilly grinned and said “Oooo… such language. There could be kids around, Nathan. Think of the children, won’t you? And as far as what I am doing… I’m searching through Intel’s current uploads from Risa. I’m looking for something…” The vein’s on Nathan’s head popped out and he said through clenched teeth “But you are using my security code!”

Reilly smiled. “Yeah… so you might wanna scrub this search when I’m done. How would that look? You doing a search form a ship you aren’t even on?” Nathan tried to speak but the rage kept anything from coming out and then finally he just exhaled. “Fine.” and Reilly’s search froze and crashed. “You’ll never find anything that way. What exactly are you looking for?” Reilly smiled broadly. If anyone could find a needle in an inter-planetary hay stack, Nathan McCall was the one who could do it.

“Anything weird. Can’t be more specific than that, really.” and McCall shook his head “I see nothing changes…” and he began working on his end. For several minutes there was nothing, then a confused expression came over his face. “Well…okay… that certainly classifies as ‘weird’.” Reilly leaned forward. “What have you got?” Nathan looked at something and then his confused expression grew deeper. “Well… there were some files from Risa that we pulled as part of regular traffic analysis… but… man… this doesn’t make any sense.” Nathan said and his voice drifted off. “Nathan… just tell me. What is it?” Reilly said a little more forcefully.

“It’s… it’s like… ok… so we got some files, I can see them right here… but they’ve been scrubbed. Like… someone tried to delete them in a hurry and was a little sloppy. But the odd part… Reilly… there’s no orders attached to this. Like… at all. Someone got in our downloads and pulled info… but I have no idea who. And the only people who coul-” and he stopped short and looked at Reilly.

“Okay, I’m sending you what I found. I don’t like this, not at all. Just keep me out of it, Jason.” Reilly nodded and said “You got it. Mum’s the word.” Nathan’s face whipped to the screen. “And leave my mother out of it, too! She still talks about you and the night of my wedding!” and the line went dead. Ten seconds later, an encrypted file arrived.

Reilly, XO

A voice spoke out, “Mr. Reilly. You remind me of someone I once knew a long time ago. Could not resist to put his hand in the cookie jar to grab a cookie, so to speak.”

Reilly turned around to face the voice to find Admiral Frederic in front of him. Whether she was physically there or a holographic projection, one couldn’t say. “The file you received is useless anyway. You are far better off asking your questions from me. But I warn you, Mr. Reilly, you are about to open the door to the universe of endless wonder. Knowing that, do you really still want to know?”

GM

Reilly looked at the Admiral, then the door, then back at the Admiral. “How di-… you know what? Never mind.” and he stood up and put his hands behind his back.

“Yes, Ma’am. I still want to know. ‘Endless wonder’ aside, what ever is going on almost killed my Captain, so I want to make sure whatever it is going on gets handled. So if the file is useless, I imagine you have pertinent information that isn’t… and that would certainly be more useful than our last instruction of “Find weird antiques.’ Doesn’t really narrow it down, Ma’am.”

Reilly, XO