9,401, an SF thriller

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Rupert

Ishikawa (to Thórrson)

Inspector? I've just finished interviewing the marines and paramedics. The only thing I have is that they didn't do it. Their versions of events match the records as well as eye-witness recollection ever does.

Where to now? Anacreon?

Thórrson (on netlink to Ishikawa)

Aye, aye, Special Agent. We're going on a little trip. Take tactical gear, any investigative bots you might need and a SERE kit.

If something nasty starts while we're out there, I don't want to get caught in it with nothing but my... (awkward pause as he realises who he's talking to)

I mean, I don't want to get caught in it.

I'm just entering your briefing room. We'll take my car down to sally port five and suit up there.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by zorg

Lethe

Already done, sir. To sum it up:

The Sons of Patrick Henry is an interstellar NGO ostensibly concerned with publicising and bringing the pressure of public opinion against tyranny and especially restrictions of liberty. On paper it is a latter-day Amnesty International. Its slogan is Give me liberty, or give me death.

...

I suggest we have a talk with these people, sir. It is likely that they are engaged in some activity we can interrogate, maybe even arrest them for.

I'm checking J&B's financial records and accessible computer files right now.

The search for the blogger may a take a bit longer. Preliminary estimates suggest that there are quite a few bloggers concerned with the current situation.

Thórrson (to Lethe)

Great work, Agent.

Get me the name and contact information of the SoPH person whose area of responsibility includes Cockaigne. And the highest ranking person you can find within this 'net.

And suit up and get ready to go to Anacreon. We'll be taking full tactical gear, SERE kits and everything we might need for a few days out.

I don't intend to be stuck out there if things turn ugly, but I've learned that ugliness can develop without much of a warning.

Just ask my ex-wife.

[Agemegos]

Gamble (voice on the 'phone)

Secret operations? With the Sons of Patrick Henry?

Inspector, I'm not trying to fan the sparks of liberty on this dump, I'm trying to stamp them out. If this powderkeg of a reform movement explodes there'll be a billion people dead in a year, and a sorry set of ruins for the survivors to live amongst. You may think Cockaigne is a shabby squat now, but it'll be a bloody slaughterhouse if there's a revolution.

My people aren't running the Sons, and if anybody is I'll have his head on a charger.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Judge Gudunov (scowling in concentration)

'Sons of Patrick Henry'?! I'm a volunteer myself! Write a letter every month. This can only be a rogue effective, if it has anything to do with the Sons at all.

The murder is clear enough, but the question is getting it into DoJ jurisdiction instead of Home Office. I can give you warrants for Oak and Foxx for trespassing on the Imperial Enclave, and for fleeing jurisdiction, but I don't see how to bring in Lijmke or Assad. Hmmm. Perhaps you could get that monkey chap to ask for an extradition.

I can give you a search warrant for J&B Landscaping since it is the suspect's only known address. What do you want to find there? And for the locker at Hesiod Health since it goes to motive.

Phone at once if you need these warrants extended.

Thórrson (his face stern)

Whatever it is, I'm not so sure it's a rogue effective. Rogue chapter, maybe, but Foxx wasn't working alone.

I'll ask Inspector Fielding for an extradition post haste.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Gamble (voice on the 'phone)

Secret operations? With the Sons of Patrick Henry?

Inspector, I'm not trying to fan the sparks of liberty on this dump, I'm trying to stamp them out. If this powderkeg of a reform movement explodes there'll be a billion people dead in a year, and a sorry set of ruins for the survivors to live amongst. You may think Cockaigne is a shabby squat now, but it'll be a bloody slaughterhouse if there's a revolution.

My people aren't running the Sons, and if anybody is I'll have his head on a charger.

While he's talking, Thórrson nods to Ishikawa and walks with her to his car, driving to sally port five.

Thórrson (to Gamble over netlink, calmly, but with a hint of apology)

Sorry, sir, didn't mean to imply that your people were running them, exactly. If you got that impression, I spoke poorly and in haste.

I meant that stamping out the sparks of liberty would require knowing where to find them. It was my impression that ISS and other agencies ran secret operations for the purposes of ferreting out dangerous radicals.

This chapter of the SoPH seems like it could be a candidate for 'dangerous radical' status and I was wondering whether you had an agent reporting on their plans, a file on them or even a mole higher up inside the SoPH. Information like that could help me immesurably.

Much as you may dislike the independence of the DoJ, we share an agenda here. You're trying to avoid fanning the flames. So am I.

If multi-billion funded guerilla fighters with revolutionary goals are willing to chase someone into Imperial territory and kill him there for something he has on him, chances are that whatever it is, it won't exactly calm the waters if it gets to light.

If you share all the information you have with me, it makes it more likely that I'll get home safe with me team before dinner and that I have with me whatever it was that the SoPH are willing to commit murder to get.

[Agemegos]

Lethe is still sitting cross-legged on the glacis, ten metres from three marines who are picking up and bagging every single bit of trash Asnbless's neglected bots discover.

Pursuant to Thórrson's orders, he tries to pick Wong up on the Spaceport perimeter north of the subway station. No soap. Nothing at any of the subway stations between the Spacport and Venusberg, either. Nothing at the Spaceport Airport. He tries the airport at Anacreon: no Wong, but Assad and Lijmke were hanging around there for several hours three (local) days ago.

Can Wong have run eight hundred kilometres through trackless waste? In ninety hours?

[Agemegos]

Gamble (a voice on the 'phone)

Inspector, I'm afraid that you have a lurid taste in movies. The Secret Service is mostly concerned with keeping an eye on me, and my staff have their hands full spying on the local government. Meanwhile Naval Intelligence is up to its armpits monitoring manufacturing and R&D. The shadowy men of the Imperial Service who keep their eyes on two trillion citizens of the Empire are entirely imaginary. You can ask Major Ariel, but I'll bet you it's not his operation either.

Put on your showshoes, Inspector, and start stomping.

Oh, and Inspector? Your Marines escort will be under orders. Don't think you can countermand them.

She disconnects.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Icelander

I'll ask Inspector Fielding for an extradition post haste.

Unfortunately the interview with Fielding doesn't go well. Thórrson is liberal with the soft soap, Charisma 25 * 5 = 125, d% = 90, QR4 (marginal success) but Fielding takes the line that a murder of a civilian by a civilian in IDJ is his case, and that Grail ought to have handed it over to the police, not DoJ. Hostile demeanour, cross-referenced with QR4 charisma to give a Hostile outcome: no persuasion is possible. If Thórrson will hand over the case, body, crime-scene, and evidence, Fielding will give it due attention. If he wants anyone extradited he'll issue his own requests, and Thórrson can serve the warrants and hand the suspects over to him. Otherwise, Thórrson can pursue his trespassing case. Fielding is busy with the refugees flooding the spaceport. There is a revolution imminent, doesn't Thórrson know? In a week's time one more murder will be a teardrop in the rain.

[dscheidt]

Ashbless: (To thorrson, via netlink)

I'm on my way back to sally port five. We'll take my car, eh?

Ashbless: (To Dr. Galen Huei, via datalink)

Hi. I'm leaving the compound on an investigation. I'll probably not make it for dinner.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Unfortunately the interview with Fielding doesn't go well. Thórrson is liberal with the soft soap, Charisma 25 * 5 = 125, d% = 90, QR4 (marginal success) but Fielding takes the line that a murder of a civilian by a civilian in IDJ is his case, and that Grail ought to have handed it over to the police, not DoJ. Hostile demeanour, cross-referenced with QR4 charisma to give a Hostile outcome: no persuasion is possible. If Thórrson will hand over the case, body, crime-scene, and evidence, Fielding will give it due attention. If he wants anyone extradited he'll issue his own requests, and Thórrson can serve the warrants and hand the suspects over to him. Otherwise, Thórrson can pursue his trespassing case. Fielding is busy with the refugees flooding the spaceport. There is a revolution imminent, doesn't Thórrson know? In a week's time one more murder will be a teardrop in the rain.

Thórrson (to Fielding by netlink)

Brown, I'm sorry that free Grail handed it over to me and not you, but he did and that's that.

Maybe one more murder ain't gonna matter in the long run. Maybe this Wong is nobody special. But he ran a hell of a distance to talk to us and someone was willing to pursue him into IDJ to try to get something he had.

I don't know about you, but if there is any chance that what he wanted to tell us has something to do with the impending revolution, I think it's something we need to hear.

The murder may have been done on IDJ, but it was planned outside it. There are apparent links to terrorism, to inciting revolution and to all sorts of other unpleasantness. Just think, Brown, what if the nutjobs at SoPH are trying to kick off the revolution here? Shouldn't we all work together to stop them and avoid a ******* contest over jurisdiction?

I need a warrant for Lijmke and Assad. Judge won't give me one unless you ask. That's all I need from you. Just ask for those warrants.