Aberrant: Triangle Nova Investigations, Book One, Chapter 3: Initial Results

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Game Date: 06 Apr 2014
Present: Tabby, Sara, Paul, and Maer
Canon Date: 11 Mar 2010 - 13 Mar 2010


Having stuck that deal with Zero Cool, we head back to TNI to plan our next move. It's readily apparent that some of us will have to go to Calcutta and some of us will have to chase down the evidence offered by the suspect's apartment in Morrisville.

The team splits up. Irina and Javier will fly to Calcutta—not teleport or warp—and Gemma and Chad will investigate the apartment. There is some doubt that Chad can be left unsupervised but Irina vetoes chipping him in favor of trusting not to screw things up.

Gemma is left in charge. She sets roll call at 08:00 in the cafeteria on the Utopia campus. She and Chad will meet there before going to the apartment together. Meanwhile, Irina has Sara make arrangements for the trip to India. They will have to hurry, a flight leaves in just a few hours out of RDU for a connecting flight out of JFK. Irina bids Gemma and Chad good luck. She and Javier leave to pack.


Friday, 12 Mar 2010
Utopia Center campus cafeteria
0800 hrs, local time

Looking over the evidence so far, there doesn't seem to be any LEO interest in the apartment. The coast is clear for the team to do some snooping. Chad suggests a good story for gaining access: they're the suspect's relatives and are looking him up because haven't heard from him in a while. Plan made, the two eat breakfast and get underway.

When they get to the apartment complex office in Morrisville, they tell their cover story and the manager on duty is willing to chat with them. It turns out that the suspect (John) had prepaid the rent a year in advance and that he's done it before. Water is included in the rent but the other utilities (phone, power, OpNet access) are not. Mailboxes are provided on-site but most tenants use off site boxes or email. The manager agrees to allow them access to John's apartment and accompanies them as a witness.

Chad and Gemma notice that there are no spy-craft tricks on the door to show it's been opened. That's a good sign that there probably aren't booby traps inside. Walking in, they find a lot of computer equipment. The fridge is clean in that it's mostly empty of food, though there are indications that it's been used for storing food in the past. There are some canned goods in the pantry but no bread. Stereotypical computer geek food, the kind that's shelf stable for years, is present: ramen and the like. No soda or beer.

The apartment has two bedrooms. One is used as a computer room, the other for sleeping. The power is still on, ostensibly for the sake of the computer equipment. The computers are custom rigs, not common parts and components. One wall has multiple displays but there are more computers than monitors. There is a gravity chair in the room for the user to sit in.

Chad goes through the clothes in John's closet: geek chic. Nothing really unremarkable there.

The manager watches the team carefully and is inclined to tell them a little more about John when asked. His water bill looked normal, no high spikes or anything. He couldn't vouch for what the phone, power and Net bills were like. He says that John was a good tenant, always working or reading something on a hand held unit he had with him constantly.

Chad asks for contact info they have on file for John. He also looks under John's bed and finds a box with a sensor unit. He discreetly takes a picture of it. Gemma, meanwhile, sees that the gravity chair has contacts in it that have been tied to the I/O ports of the computers. She also discovers the displays have recently been on and are currently showing blank screensavers (in black).

Much like a warm kettle on the stove in an empty house, it suggests someone might have been here fairly recently. But who? When?

Gemma takes a picture of the room.

She also notes that there are wireless pinhole cameras present in the apartment, too. Where do the feeds go? Who's watching them on the other end? Why is the apartment wired for surveillance?

Chad discreetly looks for but does not find secret compartments or spaces, no false walls or hideys.

Search completed, everyone returns to the office. On the walk back, Chad notices a car driving away from the parking lot, going rather fast. He notes the make and model and shoots a call to the police about it. He falls behind the others making that call. Gemma walks ahead with the manager.

She gets John's car and contact info from the manager. She texts her findings to Irina, who is en route to India. She gets a return text to take pictures of the manager's office to search them for evidence of pinhole cameras there.

Looking over the emergency contact info, Gemma realizes that it's incorrectly filled out. The hard copy is blank and the e-copy has been wiped from the system.

Hmmm.

Gemma gets the name of the manager: Shane Smith. Shane gives her his business card, with a little bit of flirting. Chad walks in and asks if John had any friends in the apartment complex. Shane says no.

Gemma and Chad thank Shane for all his help and leave to analyze the data they've gathered.


Saturday, 13 Mar 2010 (given the time difference)
Calcutta, India
Oh-dark thirty-ish

Javier and Irina arrive in Calcutta after a fairly exhausting length of air travel. First class is comfy, but even it will pall after a while. They deplane, get through customs and check into a hotel. Javier opts for a non-chain alternative but the standards gap between chain and non-chain disqualify the non-chains. There are certain standards they need to investigate effectively. They check into the Hilton. On Javier's advice, they grab some cash to have on hand and store it in the room's safe.

They discuss their immediate plans: find Elim Garrick's tailor shop, by name of Gaddala, and look into his business habits. They find out that the shop is near the Tourist district where the Hilton is. It's in a border area between international business and travelers, and the native neighborhoods—perfect for someone dealing in information, even espionage. Javier suggests they get a few hours of sleep before going out to investigate further.

At 0600, Javier rises and dresses before waking Irina. She gets pulled together quickly and they grab breakfast on the way to the tailor shop. It's walking distance and going on foot gives them a way to scope out the area. The shop is closed when they arrive. The lock can't be picked. Javier and Irina decide to loiter creatively, buying food from a street cart across the way. As they eat, Javier pumps the vendor for info. Irina meanwhile keeps an eye on the street.

She sees a kid get up and run from where he'd been loitering near the tailor's shop. Hinked, she quietly tells Javier that they've been made. Javier crosses the street, thinking that perhaps Elim Garrick is inside but not accepting customers. He knocks on the door—

BOOM!

The shop explodes. Wood and glass and metal go flying. People and property in the blast radius are knocked down, damaged, or flat-out killed.

Javier was right at the door. He has no time to dodge. He gets the blast full on in the face. Luckily for him, he's wearing a full suit of U-fiber. It soaks most of the damage, Javier soaks the rest and regenerates immediately. His U-fiber suit is toast. He'll have to recharge it with Quantum to bring it back to functionality. For the moment, it's just like any other clothing.

Irina was standing behind Javier when the blast went off. He shielded her from most of it, but not all. She's concussed, barely conscious, and bleeding out: a shard of wood has embedded itself in her left thigh and has nicked her femoral artery. Javier uses first aid and stops the bleeding, saves her life.

He looks up and sees a lot of others in the same state—injured, dying, dead. The vendor's cart is obliterated, along with the vendor. Windows are shattered. Glass is everywhere. Little fires are burning all over the street.

Javier drags Irina cleaer and dives into the shop to look for Elimn. There is no one in the shop. No remains of a person. It was not a directed charge but a bobm set off in the middle of the floor. Killing the building was not the goal. Destroying evidence, was.

The kid Irina saw is long gone. It's probable that the blast missed him entirely. Sirens wail, rising above the screams of the injured. The Fire Department arrives to put out the fires and rescue people trapped in Elim's building, which is currently on fire, and to dig others clear of the blast rubble. Medic accompany the Fire Department and they go from person to person rendering aid. As Irina has already been stabilized by Javier's work, the medics leave her for last.

Moments after the first responders arrive, there is a sonic boom. A Nova from Team Tomorrow arrives and Heals people in need. As with the medics, triage puts Irina at the bottom of the list. The Nova goes to the more critically injured first, lays his hands on them. The victims wounds appear on his body and are absorbed, leaving the victim healed in exchange. When the Nova gets to Irina and heals her, she feels an intense hot-cold-hot rush from head to toe. Irina moans and when it passes, blinks and tries sitting up. All her injuries are gone. The Nova helps her upright and tells her to get U-fiber for protection.

She thinks it's a really good idea. In fact, it's an imperative idea, practically a compulsion. Her current clothes are hanging off her in tatters, at any rate, and she'll need something to wear. Unknown to her, as side consequence of the Nova's Healing power is the ability to absorb and borrow another Nova's powers as well. The Nova has just Dominated Irina with the order to buy U-fiber. Not fully comprehending that she's a Nova herself (with Dominate), the significance of the order, the compulsion behind it, or the U-fiber's inherent qualities are still lost on her.

Then again, she was blasted to within an inch of her life and though she'd been instantly healed, it'll take a bit for her head to catch up.






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