STF

The Hunt for Red October,

Posted Aug. 12, 2020, 6:58 p.m. by Captain Parker Xavier (Lt. Governor) (Sidney Parker)

Posted by Civilian Joseph Karlson (Head of Police Force) in The Hunt for Red October,

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Preston Longstreet (Chief of Security) in The Hunt for Red October,

Posted by Civilian Joseph Karlson (Head of Police Force) in The Hunt for Red October,
Posted by… suppressed (25) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Snip

Johann watched the woman leave with a smile, he resisted the urge to say ‘If only I were forty years younger’.

Johann Karlson

OOC: To make this work I propose we take the character of James and rp him for now or the thread will die and I don’t really want that to happen. As long as Sam has been LOA its the only way to work this.

Longstreet

OOc: Alright, so long as it’s fine with Sam I’m ok with it, I’d very much like to see this go on.
Hjortur

OOC: I will email her but in the meantime I am going to use her character in a real benign way so we can continue.
IC:

Intel Officer James made a few quick stops on his daily routine. The series of paid underground low level operatives kept tabs on him as they had been paid to do. If he noticed them he gave no indication of this. At one point he came in but not out of a small shop on Riodosa Avenue in a zone that could not be called low level but it was far from the government district. The shop appeared to be a replicator repair shop and other tech repairs. Given the distance from other planets etc..these shops were not uncommon on OED. Givent he operatives orders were to watch but not make contact he did just that.

Later that day through a series of couriers Apollonia received the information and using the agreed upon method left a note for the Karlson not a Cop as she liked to refer to him as. What if anything did he know about this shop?

OOC: Hjor feel free to make some things up on the shop. Basically I am making it a front business for Intel or whomever. You tell me???

Apollonia

Later in the day, Apollonia would find a small data crystal in her pocket. It had been quietly placed there sometime earlier but who exactly placed it there was unclear. When accessed she would find several files with various bits of information. At the forefront was a summary; The shop was a possible front for intelligence gathering and equipment smuggling. The shop received spare parts each month from a private shipping company but occasionally did special orders. On three other occasions, he had made a stop there the company made on of those special orders. A single intercepted message gave no information so it was hypothesized that they used a previously agreed-upon code during Subspace communications but received verbal orders from James. Other than that according to Colonial records the power generation in that store was slightly above expected parameters. Although not suspiciously so it was theorized that the store was also a surveillance hub. A surveillance Hub in that location had the potential to tap into Government, Law enforcement, and Civilian data streams. All this was conjecture as no actions have been taken to confirm suspicions.

A small P.S. on the end of the Summary said simply ‘What’s next’.

The Conclave

She made a paper note that read “We need to pay it a visit. I will be at Washington Park tomorrow at 6pm. I will be walking a dog near the south end.”

Through a series of couriers she had it delivered to the agreed upon place for Karlson Not the Cop to find it.

Apollonia

During the evening of the next day in the agreed-upon place a man sat on a bench, he was a balding overweight man and looked to be at least a few inches shorter than Johann but he was smoking a pipe, it was the same pipe Karlson had been puffing on when he met with Apollonia.

Johann

Apollonia recognized the similarities and the difference and also knew Karlson had a brother, Chief Karlson, who very much fit the description of the man on the bench. Which it was said they resembled each other a little. She was wondering what kind of game this was. However she saw no danger in finding out. If one Karlson had given her up to the other Karlson at least she would know. So far she had done nothing illegal. So she sat down on the opposite side of the bench, extended her hand that had a cigarette in it between fingers. A real, and quite contraband object.

“Light?” She asked.

Apollonia

The short man looked over to Apollonia, he was a complete stranger, sharing none of the facial characteristics of either Karlson. He smiled slightly and lit a match, raising it slowly to the small deathstick “OF course dear” His voice frail and slow” After the Cigarette was lit he shook out the match and placed it gently to the side. Then suddenly he twitched for a moment, a high pitched ping came from him and his postured suddenly changed, straight back and confident demeanour, he looked at the Orion and smiled “I do apologize for not being here in person, I don’t perform manual labour” His voice was that of Johann Karlson, the businessman and apparent information broker “Now you want to approach this business front, do you have a plan? He asked.

Johann Karlson

OOC: Joseph is the taller of the two brothers and also has a muscular build, Johann is tall but thin. This man was short and pudgy :)
HI

OOC: I’m a little confused. Is this a go between or a robot/synthetic or something?

Sidney

OOC: Or something, although the voice is Johanns it isn’t him. Right now all Apollonia sees is an old man that suddenly changes his voice, if you want to investigate you can but I’m leaving it vague for a reason :) also apologies for the late response.

Hjortur

Apollonia was about to get up and leave. She had no idea what was going on nor did she like it.

“I’m not sure if you find this funny, mysterious or cool but I am about 5 seconds from walking off. I’m not even sure if your who you say you are and voice synthesizers are a dime a dozen.” She said as she sat and stared straight ahead.

Apollonia

The man laughed or at least appeared to laugh but his eyes showed no Joy, in fact they seemed completely blank “I told you I would give you support from the shadows my dear and I was serious when I said we wouldn’t speak again, at least not directly.” THe old man removed something from his jacket and handed it to her “This is his Ident card, you’ll find he’s just some old man, lived on Oed for longer than most. I use him when I need to move covertly around.” he placed the pipe in his mouth again “He’s not a member of my organization so my hands are clean and there is nothing of interest about him, consider him a clean conduit between us. If you wish to leave then do so.” THe man turned his head slightly towards her “The man you are after is far too dangerous for me to be running around in the open trying to hunt him down, you want my help this is the price.”

Johann KArlson

Okay thought Apollonia. It sounded legit and he knew more than he should so it was Karlson Not a Cop. Pretty tricky. She thought this was probably a robotic entity of some sort but it might be a man or a shape changer. Who knows.

“Ok I buy it. Whatever works for you. I can accept that. Any idea how we get inside without triggering suspicion. Certainly I cannot. Unless of course I go in to draw attention while you snoop around?” She proposed.

Apollonia

The old man nodded stiffly “I would recommend that you snoop around and allow Phillip here” He patted his belly “To distract them whilst you snoop. I can take the opportunity to bug the main storefront without their knowledge and you can gather intelligence” He suggested “But I will relinquish operation command to you, You’re the client”

Johann

“No I lean on your handsome looks and charm.” Apollonia said cooing and moving closer.

Who or what the heck is this she thought.

“I can go around to the adjacent areas and see if there are any hidden doors or what’s happening while using a microdrone above.” She suggested.

Apollonia

AS she leaned in closer she could see the faintest signs of surgical scars at the base of his neck, unusual as modern technology never left many traces, it was as if someone left it there to be seen. The man nodded slowly “Well then I’ll get to work” THe voice of Johann KArlson said, the strange man shook his head and looked at Apollonia with curious eyes “Excuse me madame” A wholly different voice said, far more frail and old “I have some replicator parts to purchase” He half nodded to her and moved towards the store at an insufferably slow pace.

Johann KArlson

Apollonia decided to stay in the area she had been in and give the “man” a chance to enter the store. It took some time for this to happen because he moved slower than a snail but when he did she covertly launched a micro drone the size an insect and sent it toward the store to do some recon on the perimeter as she milled about taking it all in through a camera in the contact lens she had in her left eye.

She saw no movement in the side alley and the back of the store appeared accesses through a very narrow alley and the store had a single old style door with a L shaped handle. This was a good giveaway that something was not right. People only used old doors like this to reinforce them and to keep tech experts from opening them. If you wanted to get in it would have to be old style.

Apollonia

The micro drone had an array of sensors inside it. It could see inside the walls of the building and see the old man moving in. However to the rear there was a square black zone. This told Apollonia there was some type of tech or material blocking out a section of the building. She had no depth perception with the drone sensors so it could be a room under the floor or a room to the back. Either way it was a clear clue something was happening inside.

Apollonia

Bumping for myself

She need to tell the old man but she was afraid the place had communication shielding as well or some other detection device.

Apollonia

She did not want to blow the cover of the strange old man but she also did not want to risk him walking into a trap and being killed. She brought the drove down low over the building and located a small vent on the roof top. She dove the drone down into it using its advanced sensors and visual gear to see the vent as she went slowly down into it.

Apollonia

Inside the room, the old man had started a conversation with the staff, at the beginning they had been slow to respond and were almost confrontational but he soon won them over with energetic small talk. The storefront had all the necessary tools and equipment for the necessary repairs and nothing there seemed useful. He was entertaining them with stories of the Replicators of his youth and the fact that today’s youth had it so much better, he had even garnered the attention of several of the back office workers curious as to why there was laughter in the front.

Johann

One man, concealed in a very safe room just below the floor of the adjacent room viewed the old man through a view screen. He was curious of the old man but not overly suspicious as these type of people used the “shop”. Of course this shop was just a front for a sophisticated surveillance room and meeting place. It’s location was the main thing. It was near an underground communications hub and this allowed those who knew the skill to tie into a lot of coms throughout Oed. Not the super secure SF ones. However pretty much everything else was open to them.

The team outside was 2 actual employees who knew nothing of the operation and thought he was just one of the owners who used the office in the back. Of course that office had a trap door that allowed him to access the room below. Very old tech but effective. The other employee out front was an intelligence operative who behaved as the manager. James had inherited the shop from the last intel officer. It was an old operation that so far, as far as he knew, ran under the radar of SF. He was currently gathering intel on several offices of the civilian administration in order to use, in whatever form possible, to his advantage. It was what good intel officers did. They were not strictly speaking good guys. James so much less so.

As all of this happened a micro drone proceeded out of the shaft it had been in and through a vent that led to the back room. Apollonia took her time looking around and she could hear the Karlson operative making small talk.

Apollonia

Now that she was this close in she could detect, very small as it was, a little heat difference in the flooring. It appeared there was a hatch leading to below the floor. At least given the thermal radiation reading it appeared that way. However there was no way in that way. There had to be ventilation into the room below. However none of the sensors were picking up evidence of this. She knew, more than likely, her target was in that room.

Apollonia

The old man had finished his tale and could no longer distract without drawing attention so he shifted focus to questions regarding the equipment, he spun a tale about a broken replicator and told them about the errors he received. They showed him the replacement parts necessary for the fix. He carefully examined each item and asked about the price and durability comparisons.

Joseph Karlson

OOC: Hjor James is about to look through a device that allows him to see the old man in several spectrums. Included thermal, infared etc..So if his guise is susceptible to this you will need to indicate so I can guide the action.
IC:

James decided to take no chances and switched to the spectrum analysis camera to view the old man.

CIO James

The spectrum analysis showed that the old man had various cybernetic implants planted across his body to assist in mobility and extra neurological functions. There were no outgoing signals detected but it was theoretically possible for someone to take over the implants giving them control over the man’s mobility and other functions although probably not without him being aware of them. He was nearing the end of his questions and had decided upon which parts he was going to purchase and was inquiring about if they offered repair services to his home to fix his replicator for him or if they recommended someone for the job.

Old man

James was very cautious. However the man was old and this was not beyond possible especially out in the fringes of Federation space. His concentration being on the man in the viewscreen he did not notice that a very small drone, operating in stealth mode, had made its way, through a crack on the ceiling that it had finally detected and into other crevices until it had penetrated the room. The person on the other end was having a hard time maintaining the signal from the drone but it was in surveillance mode and the limited AI inside its core knew to gather data and exit quickly.

As it silently took in the full 360 it cut all signals to its host controller. This was because it had detected counter surveillance devices in the room. It would record and exit and then its host controller could get the data from it. All it would need is another few seconds of the ruse to work and it would be done.

However at this time James was about to send a message to his partner manager in the store. He could capture the old man, interrogate him and then make it look like a natural death and dump him. It was probably overkill but James had done overkill many times.

Apollonia, and old cyborg man, a stealth nano drone and a psychotic Intel Officer


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