Session 1 - Remnants of the Dead

General Summary

Special Agent Paul Rickard (Aeon detective) and Andromeda Chase (Upeo wa Macho teleporting psion) were tapped for a special investigation into Aberrant activity on Luna. They met their contact, Hector Ramirez in the Blue Room, an upscale club in Olympus, Luna's main settlement.   Hector advised of an incident where Aberrants attacked the Cantor Mining Station, a location outside of LUA jurisdiction and leased by Aeroc Mining Corporation. Marines with the Orgotek and Norca psi-orders were doing manoeuvres at Harriot Crater, about 130 km away from the site but quickly responded to terminate the three Aberrants. One of the Norsa operatives, a doctor, did a quick field report are investigating the body.   The report said that:  

John Doe's body was noted to have been operated on previous to its discovery by the search-and-rescue team. Specifically, 12 striated muscles, including biceps, triceps, trapezius and gluteus muscles, were missing. incisions in the epidermis appear to have been made with surgical precision; best guess is that obsidian or glass scalpels were used.   Note: A check with the quartermaster indicates that were the only ones on this side of the rock who use these tools, and that it’s impossible to keep track of how many we have in inventory.   The muscles were already healed over, despite the fact that they seemed to have been removed with the same tools used on the epidermis. lt is my guess that a power similar to vitakinesis was applied to heal the cuts - however, l can think of no reason to do so. Nor can l think of any power besides vitakinesis capable of this sort of cellular regrowth, unless we’re dealing with some sort of Aberrant capacity - yet initial tests reveal no sign of taint. There is not enough information to confirm the individuals identity at this time.

  The agents contacted the Norca agent who made the report, and learned that the two psi-orders had been engaging in manoeuvres because of a vision from an ISRAn clairvoyant, Grenada Connors, stationed on Lunar Orbital, who had specifically mentioned Harriot Crater. The Norca agent expressed regret that they were not closer to the site, but psychic visions sometimes aren't precise, particularly with Aberrants involved.   Chase and Rickard visited the Cantor site. It was a mess of smelted rock, plasteel and bodies, and two Aeroc corporate operatives were onsite, doing a stock take of the remaining equipment. Despite their skills, Agents Chase and Rickard alienated the corporate operatives and were asked to return to their shuttle. They ignored the Aeroc staff and continued their investigation. Chase determined that the three Aberrants had been flown in via shuttle, rather than 'warping' in with any strange, mutant powers. The shuttle had left the site, and returned towards Olympus.   Chase teleported inside the base, and noted that the blast damage from the Aberrants was like an amped-up version of the psychic power, Electrokinesis. Further, one of the bodies had died from an explosion within the skull cavity. Chase noticed that one of the Aeroc staff was removing the mining station's black box. She snuck up and assaulted the Aeroc staff member, discharging an electrical charge at him, and teleported away with the black box, back to the shuttle. The Aeroc staff members started to radio in, reporting further Aberrant attacks. Rickard and Chase returned to the scene and managed to calm the stunned employee down, saying that he could dissemble to his employers and say that the black box was missing all along.   Rickard and Chase returned with the black box to Olympus and returned it to Hector, so Aeon could retrieve the data. They also requested that Hector arrange for clairvoyants to 'sweep' the area to see if they could sense Aberrant corruption. The team later reported that they did not sense any Aberrant activity at the crater, and one of the clears had a vision of a crane with beautifully coloured wings.   Aeon copied the data and arranged for the black box to be returned to Aeroc. Chase used his contacts to liaise with a Vitakinetic, Doctor Evelyn Crasher, who assisted with the analysis of the medical records from the station black box. The agents learned that 'John Doe' had through the airlock as one of the 'Aberrants'. Footage showed that he was bulky, and showed no signs of wearing any space suits. However, skin across his face possibly indicated a biokinetic rebreather. Crasher suggested that the damage to John Doe's body suggested that he was wearing some sort of removable bioware implants. Chase researched the flightpaths of the shuttle, but couldn't narrow down where it might have come from, only that it had launched from an area near Olympus.   The agents had also learned that private company, the Beaulac Clinic, had medical contracts for Aeroc. Beulac had visited the mining station a week earlier, after which the majority of the crew had reported being sick of a pathogen. Further, Beulac had collected all of the body's at the site of the incident, and were preparing to identify them. Of interest, Bealac also had custody of John Doe's body. The agents also learned that Beulac Clinic had made the news for its philanthropic assistance when they assisted the homeless residents of a squatter burrow, 'Freak Alley' after a dangerous collapse. Freak Alley was one of the oldest and best known of the so-named “pirate burrows” subsector complexes abandoned by the rich and colonized by those unable or unwilling to pay for authorized housing.  

At least 300 lives were lost today when the roof of the notorious pirate warren called ‘Freak Alley’ collapsed. Most of the squatters who lived in the Wroclaw Sector were either crushed or severely injured in the incident.   The collapse apparently came without warning. “We detected no activity, nothing of the report that would precipitate a cave-in in that area, said Dr. Raine Bourke of the Lunar Selenological Survey. Survivors said that they were awakened a sound like “thunder on a Earthside recording” shortly before the incident occurred. Several witnesses also reported seeing explosions or bright lights across the burrow’s roof just before the ceiling collapsed. As yet, investigators refuse to comment on the claim’s reliability. Thousands upon thousands of tons of rock showered upon the huddled inhabitants of the burrow, burying hundreds alive and crushing dozens more to death. A few survivors by the mouth of the warren escaped when the roof came crashing down, but most of the burrow’s inhabitants were killed. Fortunately for the surrounding sub sectors and the nearby clinic, the subsidence did not cause fissures on the Lunar surface and the region’s vacuum seal did not breach. “It was a near thing, though,” said one resident. “l swear l could see all the way up to the stars.”

  Chase and Rickard also learned through OpNet news feeds of disappearances in the area around Beulac Clinic:  

DISAPPEARANCES BAFFLE AUTHORITIES. The rash of disappearances in Olympus’ Downside sectors has left Lunar investigators baffled. A total of 14 people have been reported missing in the past two months from Yeltsingrad, Yutu Yinchon, Lejanas and even Camelot sectors. “lt’s a sad fact that many of the people who find their way to the underground slums of Yeltsingrad vanish without a trace," Police Commissioner Monika Richtig said today at a holocast press conference. “Such occurrences are much less common in higher levels of Olympus and the surrounding colony spurs. However, we treat all missing persons reports with the same degree of dedication, no matter where they are reported."   The Unified Lunar Police Force has fallen under criticism, having found no solid leads as yet. Although the body of Constance Duarte, a longtime resident of Lejanas, was found mutilated three weeks after her disappearance, officials refuse to link her to other missing persons.

  The evidence was mounting up against the Beulac Clinic. Chase and Rickard investigated the slum area near the clinic, located amongst the lowest levels of Olympus. Rickard found a survivor of the Freak Alley collapse, who reported seeing an Aberrant at the time of the accident. Meanwhile Chase explored the abandoned starship hangar that comprised a level of "The Pit". Working together, they found a small private shuttle bay that connected with the main launch shaft. A shuttle with a painted bird on its hull was docked at the station. Hacking into the flight recorder, Chase determined that this vehicle had left on the date of the incident with four people and returned with just one (possible one more, the ship was confused about whether it had scanned a second human being or not). There was also a recently constructed entrance to the hangar, tunnelled right through the lunar rock and sealed with a plasteel door.   Agents Chase and Rickard pondered whether to wait for back-up, or continue forward down the tunnel.