The Hunt for Reuben Gregnol

Posted on Tue Jun 2nd, 2020 @ 6:25pm by Fordyce Kirschler PhD & Jinx Jorasco & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers & Executive Officer Jake Ford & Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson (*)

Mission: Mission 11 - Prospecting
Location: New Laurium - Market
Timeline: MD 02 22:00
1150 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

It was getting late. That wasn't a good thing, Jake noticed. With these sorts of fringe colonies, the later it got the seedier it seemed to become. Their holo-imaging and scouting around the scene wasn't proving particularly fruitful. And their spirits were starting to dampen. He'd promised Jea they'd find Gregnol. He wasn't going to give up that, but at the same time they had very little to go on.

He looked over at the rest. Jinx was still processing scans, Fordyce was...well, he wasn't sure what the other man was doing. Everyone was looking at him expectantly for a suggestion. Which he didn't have.

"Any more clues coming out there, Jinx?" he asked, probably for the third or fourth time.

Cassie looked up and offered a small reassuring smile to Jake before glancing back at the tricoder she was trying to use to scan the area. It was about thirty years out of date and was barely working in regards to being able to see the basic chemicals that were normal in an alley it just kept fixating on the same area.

Jinx shook her head. “I’m used to the better Federation tech,” the tiny scientist admitted. “I’m not sure how good the resolution will be on these holoscans. And the tricorders aren’t picking up much else.”

Dr. Kirschler looked up from his own tricorder and sucked air through his teeth. "I tell ya what, this is all about as welcome as an outhouse breeze. Don't it seem strange to y'all that there ain't, I don't know, more? More forensic evidence, more physical evidence, more clues. You figure ol' Gregnol had some debts or something? We ain't findin' shit, and when you don't find shit that means somebody didn't want you to find shit. Common criminals don't think about all that kinda sorta stuff now, do they?"

"Easy now," Jake responded with a frown. The other Ford's rambling was likely not going to help the situation. "We shouldn't just assume that." Even though he was, in his mind, making similar assumptions. "We'll find something."

"That's right, Jakie is good at his job." Eden came up behind him and put her hands on his shoulders. "We will figure this out together. What can I do?" She was, of course, upset that Gregnol was missing, and that she was one of the last people to see him, but she cheerfully asked, "What can I do to help?"

“Ford might be right. It’s almost...staged. Like they want us to think he’s dead. I mean, how could he survive that much blood loss? It would be a near thing. Possible, but not without aid. Maybe they thought we’d give up?”

Jake grabbed Eden's hand and gave it a squeeze as it pressed against his shoulder. Although he was fully relieved to have her there and backing him, he also knew that he had to concentrate on the task at-hand. "We're guessing. Inferring. Theorising." He shook his head again. "We just need more facts."

Cassie listened to them arguing back and forth for a few minutes over whether Reuben had just upped and left them after everything, or whether her tricorder finally managed to identify. She uttered a few words under her breath before she stood up. "Guys.... guys... stop. Something in this alleyway is giving off bio-mimetic gel," she whispered, not able to believe it herself.

“Bio-mimetic gel?” Jinx said. “Expensive. And illegal. Definitely worth killing for. Or kidnapping. Was Gregnol making an exchange he didn’t tell us about?”

Jake scowled. "Equinox..." he mumbled under his breath. That made sense; after what the administrator had told them, someone might have talked too much. "The unusual cargo we picked up that was being smuggled with ours. It was a shipment of illegal goods, and organised by them. They're a major player here on New Laurium. If they found out Gregnol discovered the shipment they might want to stop him from blowing their operations here."

Cassie frowned as she shifted through thought after thought, trying to come up with a rationale of why anyone would want bio-mimetic gel. "Even attempting to obtain the substance is a felony for civilians in the Federation," she finally said, not sure why someone like a corporation would be wanting it. Plenty of other ways to do things when you were that big, surely.

"Unless you're a quiet backwater mining colony nobody really cares about," Jake replied. "We should go talk to the colony administrator, see what else he can tell us." He glanced over at Fordyce and Jinx, sensing they would be ideal to do some reconnaissance around the colony. "You two feel like taking a poke around? See if any more of that bio-mimetic gel is anywhere else in the colony? Surely it's being stored somewhere?"

Dr. Kirschler started to protest about why he was getting stuck in an alley with the little woman, but he thought better of it at the last minute. If he was Ford -- if Ford was Ford -- then he wouldn't send himself to go speak to a colony administrator either. He wasn't really the type to make a good impression.

"Yeah, we'll take a look around. See what we can find, eh, lil' sis?"

“Sure!” Jinx said. “The signature is pretty unique. If we're close enough, we might pick it up.”

"Cassie, Eden, let's go talk to the Administrator. He must know something.” Jake nodded.

"Yes, sir," Eden said in salute. She was only teasing, and winked at him. She was very willing to follow his lead. After all, what did she know about investigations? Nothing.

"Me?" Cassie questioned, rising to her feet, looking at the readings still on her barely functioning tricorder. She was not the type to talk to people at all.

"Yeah, you. I don't know anything about the science of all this gel, other than it's illegal. And I want Jinx to help Dr. Kirschler. So you're coming with us."

Eden slipped her hand into both Jake and Cassie's arms. "It will be fun!" she tried to encourage them. "Cassie is a great scientist, and Jake is great at investigations, and I'm coming along for moral support."

Cassie mumbled something under her breath, but put her tools back into her pocket and looked at Fake Ford for a second before changing her mind. "Fine. I will come to speak science for you." It almost sounded like it was boring to her, but she complied.

“Where to first, partner?” Jinx asked Kirschler.

OFF:

Jake Ford
Chief Armoury Officer
SS Mary Rose

Ka'see 'Cassie' Anderson
Biologist
SS Mary Rose
(PNPC Gregnol)

Eden Bowers
Chief Helmsmen
SS Mary Rose

Jinx Jorasco
Chief Science Officer
SS Mary Rose

Dr. Fordyce "Ford" Kirschler
Chief of Operations
SS Mary Rose