20/08/2019 - Assassination (2)

The Morgue

They head to the Morgue. After a long wait in line, Grant is able to get them to see the body. It is in a posh cryotube. They are given a forensic report and his belongings, which do not amount to much except 13,000 Credits.

They also get his outstanding messages and discover an interesting message from a Professor Ujinka of Regina University, inviting Vlen to her home in Dencado, the posh Green Belt of the Moon, to discuss a mutual interest.

Grant arranges for the body to be transported to their shuttle in Highport, while they investigate this professor. In the meantime, they arrange accommodation to rest for the day, one room each, expenses to be claimed back once they get the delivery of the body bond.

A Secret Meeting

While at the bar at their accommodation, a mysterious stranger in a coat and hat bumps into Drent and tells him he knows who killed Vlen Kennedy. Meet him at 10pm at the Flotsam bar in Startown. Don’t be followed!

It’s currently about 4pm local time, so they decide to sleep for a few hours. They re-assemble at 9pm in the hotel lobby and head for the Flotsam.

Flotsom Bar

Flotsam is a shady bar by Downport, smelling of stale beer and recycled atmosphere. There is no sign of anyone looking for them, so they buy shots and get funny looks.

After a while, Detective Oday sits down and tells him he believes that a local gangster, Van Yasha, killed Vlen Kennedy. Oday is nervous and keeps asking whether they were followed.

He has been trying to get something on Ven Yasha for a long time. The POC are useless. He believes Vlen Kennedy was working for Yasha and for some reason was killed by the gangster’s men.

He gives them his contact details and says they should share information about Vlen’s death if their investigation reveals anything. He knows nothing about Professor Ujinka. Then he suddenly ups and leaves.

Grant suggests they stay for a few drinks before leaving as it will look less suspicious. They get a little drunk, have some street food and go to another bar. They get back to the hotel about 2am.

In the morning, Drent has a bad hangover, while the food has disagreed with Del and he is up and down to the toilet. Cyrus distributes drugs to help them both out.

Oday has contacted them in the night, pointing out the cyrotube of Vlen Kennedy went to the wrong shuttle bay and he is arranging for it to go to the right shuttle bay.

Dencado

They look up Professor Ujinka on the InfoWeb. She is a resident Professor at Regina University, an expert in the field of Ancient Archaeology. Her reputation was tarnished a few years ago over an argument about the Ancient site on the planet Inthe.

They hire an anti-grav car and fly towards Dencado, only to find flying is forbidden over the Dencado, so they land and use the road. It is a thick forest with heavy vegetation and thin roads.

Grant calls ahead and Professor Ujinka is shocked to hear that Vlen is dead. She is keen to know more and invites them over, giving them a security code to get in.

They drive through the Green Belt, following narrow roads. They get to her estate and find it is surrounded by a high fence with gun turrets defending the entrance. They use the code they were given and they are let in. There is another kilometre to drive before they reach the beautiful house, which sits on the edge of an artificial lake.

They notice that security drones are flying around the estate. Grant comments that such things require very specialist permits in order to own.

Professor Laros Ujinak

They pull up at the house and knock on the door. A sophisticated butler robot answers the door and lets them into the sitting room. It is a beautiful room with sculptures and holo pictures of star systems on the wall, but the main feature is a glass external wall that shows a stunning view of the lake.

Professor Larso Ujinka enters, talking fast, asking lots of questions and chatting intensely.

They ask her how she knew Vlen. She says Vlen was a collector of finery and has more money than his poor accommodation at the TAS suggests.

Finding Ancient Sites

She tells them that her research lately has focused on trying to identify the location of new Ancient sites. All the obvious ones have been found and it’s now important to find the hidden ones. They are no easy to detect - unless there is a power source active at the site, there is little to detect.

Recently, she obtained a space farer’s log which suggested that there was a distortion in the G-band in the vicinity of an Ancient site on Yori. She tried to get a research mission together to look into this, but the University of Regina turned her down. No one listens to her any more since her problems with the Ancient site on Inthe 12 years ago.

She has a friend, Juni, on Beck’s World, a horrible world with a toxic atmosphere, who is looking into this part time, but she can’t work on it full time as she is working for the University investigating the Ancient site there.

Vlen offered to help fund an expedition, obtain a ship and help to pay for crew. In return, he wanted to have first pick of any Ancient artefacts found. He recently returned to Regina and she had been hoping to take him up on his offer.

She asks them if they are able to help her, but they are not

Assassination

Suddenly the lights flicker and all the electronics in the house suddenly go haywire then go off. Professor Ujinka is upset at the failure, but suddenly she is shot from outside through the glass wall, which shatters.

They all dive for cover. Drent draws his body pistol. Cyrus goes to the Professor with a medpack and manages to stabilise her. Del hears the sound of the front door being broken in. He grabs a nearby sculpture and waits by the door to the room they are in.

A hovering figure in body armour and gravboots, carrying a slug rifle, approaches the shattered glass wall. Cyrus spots him and jumps for cover, but it too slow and he is shot in the leg.

Drent then shoots at the figure with his body pistol. He hits, but the bullet does not penetrate the body armour. Despite this, the figure is surprised and backs off.

Taking Out Their Attackers

Del hears a figure approaching the door and prepares to attack. It is another man in body armour, carrying a slug rifle. Del beats the rifle out of his hand and it lands at Grant’s feet.

Grant grabs the weapon and shoots at the figure as he draws his knife. Drent has turned round and joins in, shooting the figure at the door as well. Del then runs out and threatens the man, who shouts a warning into his comms unit and Del smashes him in the face, causing his nose to bleed.

The first attacker at the window returns, shooting the Professor on the floor. Cyrus has been waiting for him and throws a Molotov cocktail over him, setting his whole body on fire. He drops his gun and flees, burning.

Cyrus rushes to the Professor, but he is too late. The medpack shows she has died.

Interrogation

Del now begins to interrogate the attacker that they have captured. His name is Mort Kinson and he is a thug who has been working for Ven Yasha for around 15 years. He was told to come kill some Professor.

Del says that isn’t enough and threatens to call the Police. What else has he been up to? Mort tells them he works for Harlen, who works for Yasha. His companion is Gaius and they were also involved in the death of Vlen Kennedy. Mort was asked to go get some Tempest but Harlan was the one who killed Kennedy.

They used “The Gadget” to disable the electronics, first at the TAS and now at the Professor’s place. Gaius has the Gadget and has most likely escaped in their vehicle.

He does not know exactly why Vlen was killed, but believes that Vlen was withholding something from Yasha.

Gangster Contacts

The last piece of information Mort reveals is that they can contact Harlan at the Winter Shipping Company in Startown. Ask for Exceedingly Discreet, a cyborg, and use the phrase “Seventeen tons of Flax.”

Del ties him up and gets Grant to call Detective Oday, who tells them not to involve the Police and he will come to them.

Meanwhile, Cyrus reboots first the butler robot, giving it orders to make drinks, then reboots the whole house system.

End of Episode Two