Shore Leave: The Security Office

After she finally manages to politely leave the very awkward conversation with her parents, Alira makes her way to the security office. It is in view of the cafe but it doesn't look as if her parents are watching her. After she left the table, they want back to talking to each other as if they had already forgotten she was even there.

Alira enters the security office. It is much larger on the inside than the outside led her to assume. There are people working on desks, some in resort security uniforms, some in civilian clothes. After looking around for a moment, she spots Lt. Mars, who is sitting at a desk close to the back of the room, wearing uniform and chewing on a pencil as he is working on a computer in front of him. He doesn't notice Alira and she doesn't draw much attention from anyone. There is a front desk but the attendant there is talking with an older man in civilian clothes who seems very upset about something.

"Miss Vitan, it's not a problem at all. Thank you again for your help. There has been a disturbing development in the case and we will need your help in finding the woman that you told us about, this Neeza. A blood test on the cadets we arrested showed that they have been drugged. The specific drug is still being analyzed but from what he have gathered so far, it might have been used to influence their behavior, make them more open to suggestions. And unsurprisingly, we have no guest registered under the name Neeza on our lists."

"You can search through the visitor database and see if you recognize her face from the photos. Meanwhile, we can interview the bartender and see what he knows."
He rubs his eyes and you can tell that he looks tired. "We've been thinking about it, too. It really does sound more like an idea a drunk teenager would come up. Why would this woman, if it was her, drug a couple of cadets and convince them to steal a hover transport. The only way this plan makes sense is if this was only meant to be a test of our security measures, which in turn would mean that this Neeza probably has something else planned."

Mars doesn't reply right away. He turns to his computer and does something on it for a minute, then he hands you a datapad. "This is a full list of every registered guest on the planet at the moment. Have a look and see if you recognize her."
As you start browsing through the long list of pictures, he speaks up again. "A virus? If that was the goal then hacking into the hover transports wasn't the best choice. They are not connected to the main system on the island. She might not have known that, though. I will have someone check that out again."

Alira scrolls through the pictures for a while, sometimes pausing longer on one photo, quickly skipping through most of them. Eventually, she stops. She was already about to scroll past the picture but something in it catches her eye. The picture is of a woman that doesn't really look like the one Alira saw at the crime scene during the night but her instincts tell her that this is her. She inspects the photo closer. The woman in the picture has short brown curls, very different from the long black hair that she saw during the night. She is also wearing no makeup in the photo while she definitely was at night. But something about the shape of her eyebrows and the slant of her eyes sticks out between all the other pictures. This is definitely the woman you noticed at the crime scene. Alira is certain, despite the woman's disguise during the night.

He takes the tablet back and takes a look. He then types something into his computer and turns it around so Alira can see. The screen shows the same picture that she had seen on the tablet before. Below it, there is a name, Endra Learse, as well as some additional data. Apparently, she is 3/4 human, 1/4 Locan, born on a human colony not far from Earth. Her criminal record is completely clean.
It also lists her address, a cottage only a few houses from the one Alira is staying at.
"What do you think, should we pay her a visit?", Mars asks. "To find out what she wants"

"Give me five minutes to finish up here", Mars says and turns his monitor back to himself. Alira waits for him to get ready, then they leave the station together. Alira notices that Mars is carrying a phaser. He must be pretty nervous about this woman and what her plans on the planet might be.
Together, the two of you move into the village and walk to the house that was indicated on the profile. Only fifteen minutes after Alira recognized the woman on the photo, she is standing in front of her cottage.
There is no light on inside but it is the middle of the day so that gives no real indication as to whether anyone is home.
Mars hands Alira a commbadge. "I'll try the front door, you stand guard at the back entrance. Don't put yourself in any unnecessary risk and if you see anything, comm me."

Alira gets into position and shortly after, she hears Mars knock at the front door. He calls out: "Is anyone home?"
There is no response so he asks the same thing again. Still, nobody responds but Alira hears movement from the inside. Assuming the layout is the same as her own cottage, someone is moving in the living room.
Suddenly, the window facing to the back of the house breaks open as a chair is thrown through it. Immediately after, the woman from the photo jumps through the shattered window. She looks around and spots Alira who in turn notices a small handheld phaser in the woman's hand.

You tackle the woman but because you warned her right before, she manages to react to it on time.
She steps a little bit to the side and and then takes your arm and uses your own momentum against you to throw you to the ground. She raises her phaser at you and fires, then immediately turns around and sprints off.
Lt. Mars comes running around the corner of the building right after her phaser shot.

You manage to avoid the phaser shot narrowly by rolling to the side. Mars runs up and stops when he is standing over you. "Are you okay? Did she hit you?", he asks with a panicked voice. You notice that he has his phaser in his hand. After you confirm that you managed to dodge, he tells you to hide somewhere and call in for backup, then he takes off running into the direction you pointed out to him but because he stopped to check in on you Learse already has a significant lead on him.

You receive confirmation and again you get told to get away from there and let on site security handle this, although they do thank you for your help so far.

As she goes back to town, Alira encounters a group of armed security guards moving toward where she came from. Just as she reaches the town, an announcement sounds out through the speakers:
"Attention all guests of Caspera-13. There has been a security breach in the cottage village. If you are currently in the village, go into your cottage. If you are currently in town, go into the nearest building. This is just a safety precaution and there is no danger to anyone. Please stay inside and wait for further instructions."

A couple of security guards are walking around, pointing wandering guests into bars and cafes and answering questions. They are doing a good job of keeping everyone calm. An officer comes up to Alira and points towards the closest building, the bar that she was talking to Nic in yesterday. "Ma'am, please move inside for the moment. We are dealing with a minor unexpected situation at the moment. There is nothing to worry about."

Day 2, ~1600 hours

Cass enters the security office. It's only a short walk from the bar so she arrives almost immediately after the announcement.
A woman in security uniform greets her at the door and leads her into a small conference room in the back of the building. There is one other person there already when Cass arrives, an older man in civilian clothes. He greets Cass but doesn't seem very interested in talking to her. Over the course of the next few minutes, more people arrive and are being led into the room by the same woman as Cass. Two people catch her eye during this. The first is a woman that arrives a few minutes after Cass. When she first enters, Cass immediately refisters her as Darcy before realizing that Darcy wouldn't have any business being here, but discolored chemical burn scars on her cheek and neck as well as the fact that she seems to be a few years older than Darcy correct that first impression. Still, she looks very similar to Cass' acting first officer.
The second person to catch her eye arrives a good bit later. He's very tall, well over 2 meters and extremely thin. Over his clothes, he is wearing a thin metal support structure that attaches to his back, arms shoulders and legs and even supports his head. He is walking on a cane and sits down on a chair as soon as he enters.

She looks at you from head to toe, then shakes your hand.
"Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you. Between the glowing praise from my father and the not so kind stories from my sister, I'm curious to see what you're really like." Her smile is warm and friendly. "Is Shawna alright with you? We're on shore leave after all. You can call me Helena"

"I can try Cass but if it gets too confusing, we'll have to think of something else. Do you have any idea what this is about? I saw some security officers in the village before the lockdown started."

Before Helena can respond, a bald, middle aged man in security uniform steps through the door. He does a quick count of everyone present and then walks to the front of the room.
"Good day, commanders, captain. My name is Lt. Matthew Norton. I apologize for interrupting your shore leave but at the moment we are dealing with an unprecedented situation. Last night, a woman, Endra Learse, has drugged a pair of cadets and convinced them to attempt to steal a hover transport. The attempt was unsuccessful and the cadets were apprehended last night but when we tried to capture Learse, she escaped and fired a phaser at a witness. We still do not know how she managed to smuggle a phaser onto the planet or what her plan is but we are investigating.
So far, Learse has been able to evade arrest and appears to be hiding somewhere in the vast forests on the island. We have dispatched additional security personnel and have moved our officers to protect the village and all sites that house off-duty officers and civilians. Until this situation can be resolved, we need to prioritize our guests' safety, even over their comfort. For that reason, we have decided to distribute phasers to every command level officer. We still ask you to stay safe and try to enjoy your stay here. There is no need for you to get involved in this investigation. With our increased security presence, there is no danger as long as everyone stays in the protected areas. This is just meant to be a safety precaution. The resort apologizes for this inconvenience."

"There are designated hiking trails that will still be available but we will have to close some areas that we just don't have the manpower for. We can't allow hiking outside of those designated trails at the moment, however. I'm sorry."

"Yes, I apologize, I forgot to mention it. All of you will also be equipped with spacefleet communicators. If you notice anything suspicious, inform security. For anyone who is not present right now, they can reach security by the usual means or through you. You will also notice an increased security presence in the village so there will always be someone available to talk to."

Helena smiles. "Party games with live phasers? Sounds like fun until Cass...andra notices. She would probably call security on us and that would not be the most fun end of the party."

Some others present ask questions that get answered by Norton as well but Cass doesn't learn much more interesting information. After a few minutes, Norton ends the assembly and hands out a commbadge and phaser pistol to everyone present. Cass notices that the phaser has been modified so it can't be switched to kill.

As they leave the security office, Helena says to Cass: "I will see you later then. Make sure you're there"

Day 3 - 1100 hours

Zephyr, Moira, Alira

Not much more happens during the night. Let me know if you stay awake to supervise the search efforts or go to sleep or what else you do during the night. The situation at the end of the night is:
The terrorists have not been found despite extensive sensor sweeps of the forests and search parties looking for them all night. The planet guests have been confined to their quarters for the time being. While they are not happy about it, there have been no further incidents during the night.
The call for backup has been answered by the USS Orion who report that they were close by and will come to Caspera-13 immediately. They also report that they are currently carrying spacefleet admiral Samuel Tanner, who has agreed to take over the investigation personally. After Mars had informed him about Moira's decision to lead the investigation at least until his arrival, Tanner requested a meeting with her and her crew in the security office as soon as his ship arrives.

It is now late morning and you are gathering in a medium sized conference room in the security office. You can arrive in whichever order. Cassandra and Helena are already there with Lt. Mars and two more security officers when you arrive. Admiral Tanner is expected to arrive shortly. Cassandra is wearing her regular spacefleet uniform when you arrive, gold with the markings of a Lieutenant Commander on her collar, Helena is also wearing uniform but hers is red and the style is from a starbase, not a ship. She has the three dots of a commander on her uniform collar. Mars and his people are wearing the same resort security uniform you've seen the previous days.

"That's why spacefleet regulations enforce that every officer has to sleep for at least three hours every 36 hours, even in the most extreme circumstances", Helena responds. It doesn't sound like she's going anywhere with this, she's just saying what came to her mind.
Shortly after Zephyr, Max enters, wearing a blue uniform and markings of a Lieutenant. He orders an herbal tea from the replicator and sits down at the table.

Mars looks at the time display on the wall behind the Darcies. "I didn't expect an admiral to deal with this himself", he says after drinking his coffee. "This seems more like a job for a captain."

"Ensign Lloyd should come as well, as far as I know. I expect she will arrive any minute now", Mars says. "I did not invite the cadet since I thought we would keep her out of it. If you think she can be of help to this investigation, we can talk to Professor Vitan and get a special permission to keep her involved."
He checks his datapad and says: "I just received an update. Admiral Tanner will beam down in five minutes."

"We will, thank you for the recommendation", Mars replies. Before he can say anything else, the door opens and Julia enters. She walks stiffly, as if all her muscles are sore, and she looks exhausted. She's wearing her uniform and she quickly moves to the closest chair to sit down. Slightly out of breath, she says: "You never notice just how exhausting gravity is until you spend long amounts of time in Zero G."
She takes a datapad out of her bag and puts it on the table. After a few seconds of catching her breath, she says: "Theliak will be fine. Farredans are physically very vulnerable so even though the phaser was set to stun, he did not take it well. But he should be back on his feet by the evening."

"I will, once we find my mother", she replies. Her voice doesn't sound worried, more determined.

A short time later, three people materialize in the conference room. You immediately recognize Admiral Tanner by the red admiral's uniform. He looks to be around sixty years old, bald with a dark grey beard. The iris of his left eye betrays that it is artificial but other than that he seems to be in perfect physical condition. The woman next to him is Alex' age and has dark blonde hair. She's wearing a red spaceship style uniform and the markings of a captain. The third person with them is a man with long dark hair, around thirty years old in a gold uniform.
The admiral looks around the room, his eyes resting on each of you for a few seconds, before he speaks up: "Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming. My name is Samuel Tanner, this is Captain Lillian Hawthorne of the USS Orion and her chief of security, Lt. Cmd. Carter Ferris. We have not been briefed in detail about what has happened yet, only on the broad strokes. Who is in charge of this investigation?"

Mars introduces everyone present by name and rank and then gives the spotlight to Moira as she has taken lead of the investigation.

"Endra Learse", Tanner repeats. "Doesn't ring a bell but I will have someone look at the file again. Maybe something has been deleted. We will also start scanning the planet immediately. The Orion's sensors are much better than the ones from CC1 so we should have a better chance of finding where these people are hiding. Find the commanding officer of the Neptune and have them start scanning as well. The Orion will search the resort island, the Neptune should make sure they did not escape the island by boat. It's unlikely but not impossible."
Julia clears her throat to draw the admiral's attention and once she has it, she says: "Sir, Captain Theliak has been injured in the attack yesterday and will not be able to return to duty today. I can contact his first officer, Commander Allen."
Tanner nods in response, then turns back to Moira. "You seem to be having everything under control here. I will take lead in this investigation from the Orion, you will be my right hand here on planet, LC Bruce." His attention shifts to include everyone again. "Any questions?"

Should we conduct a ground search. Start at one end of the island and just work it in a grid. Check every building? It is tedious work, but better than just sitting here.

"We are going to scan from orbit. That should be enough to discover anyone hiding out on the island but a ground search couldn't hurt either. Lt. Mars, provide Lt. Vitan with a map that shows all buildings and facilities on the island. Lt. Vitan, you will form and lead a search party. I trust you have training on setting up a sweep of an area? Start on this side of the island and move northeast from here. Make sure to check every building, abandoned or not, thoroughly and inform me on anything unusual you find, immediately related to the search or not."

"Of course", Tanner replies. His expression is firm but he gives Alira a short look that she reads as approval. "We will provide phasers to every member of a search party. The targets are armed and dangerous after all. It would be foolish to send unarmed officers after them."

Mars looks at Tanner who just nods, then he follows Alira out of the room. Tanner addresses everyone who is still there: "Thank you for your help. Hopefully, this situation will be resolved quickly and we will get your crew members back soon. Helena, Cassandra, I would like to have a word in private with you for a moment. LC Bruce, could you wait outside? I will have to discuss something else with you in a moment. Everyone else, stay on call in case you will be needed. Thank you."
He breaks up the meeting and everyone leaves the conference room except for him and the two Darcies. Moira waits outside the conference room for two minutes, watching the three talk among each other through the glass door. Soon, Helena makes eye contact with Moira and waves at her to enter.

Mars brings out some digital maps of the island. Looking at the size of the island makes Alira realize that a ground search will not be easy.
"We definitely don't have enough personnel for an effective search. There are a number of security officers here on shore leave that we can involve. I'm hesitant to call in cadets for this but if we pair them with experienced officers and have them keep an eye on the cadets, it would make the search more effective. Unless we want to have this search take weeks, we need to focus our efforts on certain regions, however. The island is too large to search it in its entirety."

Mars points out a number of buildings on the map. "There are a couple of structures on the island that have been taken out of commission but that still exist. If we're looking for possible hideouts, there are a few dozen warehouses on the island. If we're assuming that they are working on some bigger plan, we should possibly investigate the two decommissioned terraforming stations. They have been taken on the power grid and should be almost impossible to take back online without a full spacefleet engineering team and a lot of time but they might still contain sensitive equipment and data that could be stolen."

"We have transporters on CC1, they can beam us directly to where we need to go. Do you want to join the seach team yourself or supervise the mission from here or the station? And how about you, Mr. Borealis?", Mars asks. "If you have any special requests for members of the search teams, let me know. I will fill up the rest with suitable officers since I know my people better than you do."

Mars laughs at that. He's been completely professional but in his reaction, Alira can sense some tenseness being released. "I understand, Lieutenant. You were asking for this cadet earlier, Lisa Wilde, do you want her to join your search team?" He turns to Zephyr. "What about you?"

"Close the door, please", he says and after you do, he gestures for you to sit. He sits down as well and so do the Darcies. "I apologize for making you wait but I have sensitive information and I needed to make sure you can be trusted with it. Cassandra told me that you are trustworthy and I trust her judgment."
He smiles warmly at Moira, looking more like a friendly uncle than an admiral, before he explains: "It was no coincidence that I was close enough to quickly respond to your distress call. According to spacefleet intelligence, the Naplicans have been planning to send a strike team to this planet to steal the terraforming technology we used to create it. The information did not seem very reliable but I'm afraid it has been confirmed. The name that was mentioned, Endra Learse, is a weapon smuggler in the neutral zone. She has been selling weapons to the Naplicans and our intel suggested she would be part of this mission." He pauses before continuing. "We also have information that Naplicans may have infiltrated certain key positions on Caspera, which is why I couldn't speak about this openly. According to our information, security on this planet might be under Naplican control."

"We have reason to suspect Lt. Mars himself may be compromised but no proof as of now. Lt. Vitan will lead the search for the missing people and the kidnappers under my supervision. You will officially also be running the search but what I actually need you to do is, together with Cassandra, investigate security. If you need any other help, pull someone from your crew, someone you can trust, and only report to me personally." He scratches his beard as you ask your last question. "If you have a plan to draw them out, great, but submit it for my approval first. This is too important to allow for any margin of error"

Tanner beams up to his ship after telling Moira to "stay in contact".
Helena raises her hands in defeat. "I'm not trained for this kind of thing. Give me a job and I'll do it but you two should come up with a plan."
Cassandra nods at her sister, then turns to Moira: "If Mars is working with the kidnappers, his reaction if we tell him we caught them might be interesting. We would have to make it believable, though. Or we can try to look through the databases, see if we find any inconsistencies that might support the admiral's suspicions."

"I'm sure we can find some excuse to access a computer in here and access a database. As for getting into files that Mars wouldn't want us to see and not getting caught, you and Helena know more about computers than I do. You two should handle that."

Cassandra nods and leaves to find someone who can direct her to the prisoner.
Moira and Helena get to work on a terminal. They quickly find out some information:
1. The island is currently on lockdown. Guests are beind held in their accommodations and, by order of Admiral Tanner, are not being evacuated yet. There is information on all the attacks that have happened. If you want to know anything more specific about them than what Mars told you, ask me. What you do discover is that the attack on a bar that you were told about happened at Stone's. The one person who died there was Ensign Geoffrey Simmons. He got pushed to the ground and trampled. Stone is among the injured but only lightly and he'll be fine.
2. There are pages after pages of intel on Naplicans. You know all the basics. You don't find any information specifically about the infiltration/conspiracy or anything relating to Caspera-13 but if Tanner is trying to hide the fact that he knows about it from the conspirators, that's not too surprising. There have been some fleet movements along the neutral zone recently but if you want to interpret what they coul mean, you would need to roll for that. It's all highly technical in an area you're not an expert in. Again, if you have any specific questions I might be able to answer them for your roll.
3. You find a total of eight officers who have had previous encounters with Naplicans before. Nothing unusual. Patrolling along the neutral zone, attending diplomatic meetings with them as security staff. There is only one officer on the planet security staff list, a Lt. Drzenu Onac, who has been on board of a vessel during an open fight with Naplicans.
You discover that, in his function as security officer of the USS Spirit, Mars has attended a diplomatic meeting with some Naplican officials, only two months before he was reassigned here.

When Moira takes off to join the interrogation, Helena comments: "I was wondering if you were going to join her. You're a counselor now, after all. You should be great at getting people to talk!"

After closing the door to the interrogation room behind her, Cassandra says: "We got his name, Trevor Lennik. He has a file in the spacefleet database but it is locked behind a command level security clearance that I don't have access to. Sam, I mean Admiral Tanner should be able to access it. I sent the file to him but haven't heard back yet. I just started the interrogation five minutes before you came in. He's not very cooperative, the only thing I've managed to get out of him so far is a confession that he's working with Endra Learse, the woman who drugged and later kidnapped the cadets. No motive or other names so far."

"He's my mother's cousin. We're not particularly close but we meet from time to time at family events. That's why he asked Helena and me if you're trustworthy before he told you about this whole... conspiracy." She looks at the prisoner on the screen next to them. "Do you want to go in again together?"

Cassandra's look in response to Moira's smile lets her know that she is not happy with how much about her private life Moira is learning on this shore leave but she doesn't say anything to that.
"I was neutral cop so far. You know I can't let you actually rough him up but if you go in ahead of me, you might be able to scare him a bit before I stop you"

After keeping his face neutral and ignoring Moira when she first started speaking, he looks into her eyes when she makes this claim. He searches her eyes for a moment to see if she's lying but from his expression, it looks like he can't find anything that convinces him that she is.
"I would be surprised if they died from the drugs. They're nothing unusual. If they are dead, it must have other reasons. Are you sure they weren't shot? Maybe it was self defense." Although he is putting on a facade of not caring, Moira can see that his brain is working hard to process this information and to find an explanation for it.

"Interesting choice of words", he says. "Are you trying to imply anything?"
He doesn't seem caught off guard or disturbed by your metaphor but it definitely caught his attention.

"The Naplicans are not behind our actions", he says with an audible emphasis on the word 'our'. He subtly turns his eyes towards the security camera in the corner of the room to draw Moira's attention to it. "I wish I could tell you more but you never know who else is listening", he says in a quiet voice, almost whipering. Then he focuses back on Moira. "I don't know why those cadets died but I can assure you, everything that is happening on this planet is happening for a reason. For a reason that you would understand and accept if you knew it. Unfortunately, under the current conditions, I can't tell you."

Trevor hesitates. He definitely did not expect you to do this and now he's trying to determine whether you're bluffing and people are still listening or not.
He leans forward and whispers: "Security on this planet is in the hand of the Naplican Empire. They're planning to weaponize the terraforming technology used here. We are trying to figure out how exactly that would work and how to stop them."
He then leans back and says, much louder than before: "You can threaten me all you want, I'm not telling you anything!"

The door to the interrogation room opens and Darcy enters. "This is in complete violation of all protocol, Bruce. I will have to end this interrogation now." Her voice doesn't sound angry or even annoyed. She doesn't disagree with your methods but she won't break protocol herself by letting you continue.
Trevor just says: "I don't know what you're talking about, lady. I have nothing to tell you."

"Maybe Admiral Tanner doesn't know that they're here for the same reason as he is", Cassandra suggests. "We don't know who sent this man, and why."
Helena adds: "Or if he's even telling the truth. If he's really here to prevent Naplican espionage, why kidnap Cass and Alex?" She stumbles a bit over the name Cass when she says it. "I don't know who Sam reports to, if anyone, on this. I can talk to him and try to find out where he got his information. Whoever told him might have also told these other people. But why?"

"Spacefleet might have some spies on the Naplican side as well. It's against the treaty but I wouldn't be surprised if both sides are bending the rules slightly. Still, I would expect the Naplicans to hold on to their secrets better than that", Cassandra says.
Helena thinks for a moment and then asks: "How do you even weaponize terraforming technology? If they're just trying to render a planet's atmosphere unlivable, wouldn't it be cheaper, faster and easier to just bombard the planet? What's the point in stealing the technology from this planet?" To Moira's question, she says: "We should talk to him. I don't know if he can tell us where the information is from but it's worth a try. Should I talk to him alone or do you prefer we go together?"