Characters: Vincent, with a brief visit from Slade
Location: Vincent's stateroom on the Miishakaal
1125.6.4 - 20:30 / 00:30 local time (18 1/2 hr day)
Vincent's tools are all laid out on your desk and he's about to start work on
the laptop when his door comm buzzes. It's followed by Slade's voice saying,
"It's Slade."
"Come in Slade..."
The door slides open and in walks Slade. "Hey Vincent, I was just stopping by
to see if you needed any help with that laptop."
"Nah, I think I can handle it. I'm only disabling the power source so it can't
reboot until we're in jump space. Then I'll try and get rid of the worm on the
computer that was downloaded when I botched my hack attempt. Anyway, I might
take you up on your offer once I start trying to clean up the hard drive and
get all the info from my snooping."
"Ok, no problem." Slade leaves.
Vincent gets to work on the laptop. He opens the case and locates the power
supply. He disengages it from the laptop. To double check that it's not a
wireless power supply he attempts to turn the laptop back on. It stays off.
Task completed.
Characters: Vincent & Shiraamer
Location: Crew Lounge on the Miishakaal
20:45 / 00:45 local time
Vincent finds the captain right where he left her, in the crew lounge.
"Hi Captain."
"Hello Vincent. Come to tell me what you've found?"
"Yes. I searched the Oriole City Police website. I searched for any mention of
Mersshon or Linnachre under 'criminal records' but I came up empty.
"I hacked Wellesmoor Diversified Products and found Mersshon and Linnachre's
personnel files. Mersshon was listed as having been with the company for 10
years. He's been in the purchasing department as Chief Purchasing Agent of New
Products the whole time. His file says that he's been an exemplary employee and
manager. No complaints in his file.
"Oda Linnachre was there too. It said that she has a bachelor's degree in
business administration. After college she went to work for Wellesmoor and has
been there ever since. It mentioned how she rose through the employment ranks
via meritorious promotions. Ten years ago she transferred into Product
Development. Five years ago she volunteered for the role of New Product
Acquisition Agent.
"In her employee files were several reports regarding her discovery of, tracking
down of, negotiations over, and subsequent stealing of the bioscanner. I saved
all of these files on my laptop hard drive to read later.
"I'd hoped to find more information about the bioscanner in other spots. I
checked R&D and Product Development but I came up empty. I did find a couple
of staff meeting notes where Mersshon talks about 'Oda's Bioscanner' but that's
about it.
"I tried to hack the Oriole city government's network but I couldn't get in. I
then tried for the Larkardan world government network and I thought that I got
in but I got caught in a hack trap. Their network downloaded a worm onto my
laptop and locked me out. I managed to turn it off and walked back to the ship.
I checked to make sure that I wasn't followed.
"Once back in my room I disabled the power supply so that the worm couldn't send
out a tracking beacon. I figure that once we're in jump, I'll turn it back on
and try to extract the files I downloaded. If I can't remove the worm, I'll
destroy the laptop."
Shiraamer: "Thank you Vincent. So far it sounds like the data you found matches
what Mersshon gave us and told us."
Vincent: "Yes it seems to validate what we were told. If I find anything else
when I try and de-worm the laptop, I'll keep you informed."
Shiraamer nods to Vincent, "Is it safe to wait until we're in jumpspace before
getting rid of that laptop and the worm? It's your call. I just don't want
uninvited visitors now."
Vincent replies confidently, "Absolutely safe. The worm needs power to send out
its tracking signal. With the power supply removed from the laptop, it's
completely held in check."
Shiraamer: "Ok. Think I'll try and get some sleep and sort this stuff out when
my head clears a bit. Good night Vincent."
"Good night cap'n." Vincent returns to his room and goes to bed.
Shiraamer remains in the lounge for a moment after Vincent leaves. She then gets
up and heads back to her room. She tries to figure out what it all means while
she gets ready for bed. She lays down for a bit, but her mind refuses to
immediately shut down. Eventually though, the days events catch up to her and
her eyes slowly close.
NEXT: Morning Briefing