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

Posted by Gamemaster Alfredo Linguini (GameMaster) in Main Sim - Ask And You Shall Receive… For A Price
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
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

“I read Lt. Mado’s report. I suspect that is a replica of the 1982 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am from 1982 American Television series, ‘Knight Rider’ – the car in the show had a functional Artificial Intelligence supercomputer named ‘K.I.T.T.’ and supposedly had the ability to use an Electromagnetic Pulse Projector which could disable and/or drain power from an electronic device. Now, you might ask me how a fictional object might actually be responsible for the Captain’s loss of power drain… to do that, I must explain the fundamental public understanding of the universe is … let’s just say not precise. On Stardate 41263.1, the USS Enterprise-D was thrown beyond our galaxy in an area of space where thought and reality blurred. That thought and reality blurred does exist in our corner of the galaxy, but it presents itself uniquely in antiques and objects which are imbued with … for a lack of a better description … powers. We do not fully understand how an object is imbued with powers or rather specifically, gaining properties of the universe where thought and reality blurs, but we have managed to be able to develop methods of detecting such. I belong to a division of Starfleet Intelligence whose job is to collect, catalog and properly store away said objects for safekeeping to insure they are not misused. Lieutenants Mado and Fihnrilkk’Hob”ledn-ardol are agents who have been assigned to this task. The USS Wolverine has been known to cross ethnically gray areas more than once, and so I have decided to evaluate her Captain and its crew for agent status – the first in a long awhile being assigned to entire Starfleet crew. Most objects which have been imbued tend to be old and/or ancient… there are rare exceptions to this rule but that has been mostly the case. Not every old or ancient object gets imbued with said properties and some require special conditions to trigger.”

GM

Reilly listened and paid close attention. When the Admiral finished, he said “Allright, Ma’am. Let’s say that I buy into the whole ‘strange objects imbued with powers’ thing. A few questions arise. You say that your department does indeed ‘collect, catalog and properly store away said objects for safekeeping to insure they are not misused’… a line I have heard used by dictators and oppressors all over when confronted with threats to thier power, by the way… the question then becomes: One- where are these items stored? Two- can these things be neutralized, at least temporarily, in the field? Three- how can we detect them? Surely there has to be a way to, oh I don’t know… ‘ping’ them, for lack of a better term. And four- who else knows of these objects and how do we circumvent their advantages in using such objects?”

He crossed his arms on his chest and looked at the Admiral expectantly.

Reilly, XO

“As for your first question, that’s classified until your ship passes evaluation on your mission, but if the need arises, Lt. Mado will contact me for authorization should you need to visit the main facility. For your second question, yes, it can. Supplies are waiting for your ship to be picked up to help artifact neutralization. Lieutenants Mado and Fihnrilkk’Hob”ledn-ardol can train who you deem necessary to use the proper equipment. Lt. Mado has plugged in a special tricorder that is processing long range sensor data to ‘ping’ objects in Main Engineering. The only people who know about this are my division and the civilian committee that is chosen by the facility that houses these objects. And by facility, I specifically mean the building itself has a mind of its own. I am 99.9% certain that Section 31, the Obsidian Order, the Tal’Shiar or any other major space power intelligence agency is not aware of these objects existence, as my division tirelessly works to ensure the secrecy of this information. But there is that 0.1% there is another group at work, I can not say for certain,” replied Admiral Frederic in a matter of fact tone.

GM

Rielly smiled slightly and said “Well, I can. Either that or one of your group kidnapped our Chief Engineer. Here, Ma’am… take a look.” and he turned to the desk and took the optical disk of the security feed that the store owner gave them and inserted it. “See here? Looks like someone is using one of your objects to keep us off-balance.” and he looked back at the Admiral.

“0.1%? I should have played the lottery this week, Admiral.”

Reilly, XO