Session 4 - The Downward Spiral Report

General Summary

Feldman's Report

The investigators interrogated Feldman, the security chief for Linwa Telecom, who had been running the secret vault and reporting to the Huang-Marr Project Board. Feldman reported that he was hired by Board to get the Aberrant, Doctor Fiore, to develop the biorg implants from Aberrant DNA. His job was to just get supplies and ensure that the product was produced from the lab, and shipped to Wrocklaw for testing.   Feldman found Doctor Fiore arrogant and hated working for him. He was also terrified of the Aberrant. He witnessed Fiore growing more unstable as the project progressed and warned the Board on their communications. Feldman came across the dead bodies and immediately suspected Fiore. He knew that all of Boltzman Crater was nervous about the cults, and so he sent around an email talking about cult activity, and messed up the crime scene so people would suspect an cult rather than an Aberrant.   Feldman rang the Board, and suspects that’s when they sent in Option 8 to wipe out Linwa Telecom, and by extension, the Bealac Clinic project. He rocked himself back and forth. “I shoulda done something. Done something better.”   The investigators decided to travel to Mars to see if they could find Fiore, without calling in the Legion or Section Proteus.  

Life on Mars

Fiore's pod had been picked by automated ore carriers around the Tharsis Bulge section of Mars, in China-controlled territory. The nearest settlement was Wanjing, while Shihuang Port was the main spaceport for the area. The area was dominated by large mountains, in particular Olympus Mons. While mostly used for mining, the territory was also developing as a tourist area.   The investigators met their contact, Robert Wei, at the spaceport. He advised them that Fiore might be heading towards the Martial Terraforming Conference at the Summit Centre a jewel of architecture, a glittering tower that travels around the rim of Olympos Mons on a magnetic railway. (Members of the Natural Mars Society viewed it as an abomination.) Wei got the investigators into the conference. They travelled up Olympos Mons on the maglev railway, ignoring protestors who were complaining about all of the Chinese constructions.   Booking into the hotel, the investigators enjoyed the delights of their accomodation. Rickard made friends with Elara Wills, a robotics expert who was specialising in nanotechnology. Desiree chatted to the Qin ambassador, Ambassador Chen and its two guard, Officer Chen.   Meanwhile, the other investigators tracked down Doctor Ashiluna who had no memory of working at the Beaulac Clinic; she only recalled taking on a contract for a year which netted her a large payment but with a conditional mindwipe so she didn't remember what she had actually done for the duration of the contract.   They also noted suspicious activity at the conference, as two people were going around with a strange scanner. They tracked the suspicious people to Doctor Ashiluna's room, where she was in bed with her graduate student, Jacob. Fiore, the Aberrant, appeared in a ceiling hatch, telling Ashiluna he wanted to speak to her. Ashiluna panicked, just as the two strange operatives arrived, followed by the investigators.   The two operatives said they were from the Solar Justice League, the Aberrant-friendly group that worked to save Aberrants that needed assistance. Fiore fled up the ceiling hatch, and Andromeda gave chase. The two Solar Justice League operatives were imprisoned. They revealed that they had been hired by an anonymous OpNet entity that they were to give Fiore shelter and guide him to a special shuttle that had been secretly concealed in the Martian wilderness by their mysterious employer. They were supposed to tell Fiore that the 'Judicar' was assisting him.   After debriefing them, the investigators handed the Solar Justice League over to hotel security.   Desiree brow-beat Ashiluna with the fact she'd worked with an Aberrant as part of her secret project. Ashiluna repeated she didn't remember anything and was going to call hotel security. Meanwhile, Rickard was enjoying time in a gel vat with Elara Willis. Having learned that there was action going down, he left Elara and showered, joining with the other investigators. They weren't getting far with interrogating Ashiluna, and she was getting tired of them, so she got up and left with Jacob. But then she screamed and fell down dead in the corridor outside of her hotel room.   Lawrence confirmed that Ashiluna had been killed due to a nanite infection. Rickard was concerned - he had spent a lot of time with Elara Wills, the nanotechnologist. Had he been the vector for the nanite infection; a patsy in the assassination of Doctor Doris Ashiluna?   Meanwhile, Andromeda had cornered Fiore in the hotel's ducts. He surrendered to her, and said he didn't know anything about 'the Judicar' - the name that the Solar Justice operatives had been instructed to tell him.   Then she heard people also coming through the ductwork - it was a group of black-clad operatives lead by Elara Wills - she had been an Option 8 agent all along! Andromeda took the Aberrant into protective custody and guided him through the ductwork. Desiree arranged to have her shuttle appear on top of the summit, and the investigators managed to escape into it with Fiore, leaving the Option 8 agents below them. The Chinese government agents dealt with Option 8, while Desiree landed the Black Hawk back at Shihuang Airport, having taken Fiore into custody.   The investigators went off to look at the concealed spacecraft that the Fiore's mysterious benefactor had been trying to smuggle him out in. The technology was strange and highly advanced, impossible to investigate without pulling the entire spaceship apart. There was a cryo pod inside, indicating that the shuttle would have transported Fiore to a distant space location for a second pick-up, but they were unsure of where that location would be without further investigation.

Rewards Granted

3 XP