Episode 7 & 8: Investigation

Niisha Military Base, Zhuge and Zhuge High Port
088-221 through 094-221

Flying back from Marugaya, the commandeered transport was directed to an outlying military base with a good hospital. Sometime during the flight, the terrorist leader regained consciousness long enough to commit suicide with a concealed poison capsule. On landing, the Baron was rushed into surgery, while the uninjured members of the group were debriefed. The next day, while Jordan and Thiel were recovering, Henri and Harim volunteered to help with the investigation and took a shuttle up to the high port. Thiel joined them the following day, and Jordan the day after that.

The group discovered that there were 4 agents working under cover of a corporation called the Myers Investment Group. They had arrived in Zhuge approximately a week prior aboard a Keshiigma Charters ship - the Duchess Esmeralda. Two of the men - James Weimar and Bryan Franklin - made an appointment with Baron Iskendu. The other two - Justin Vaden and Ronald Gooden - remained on the High Port, but their activities during this time remained a mystery.
Immediately after their meeting with the Baron, Weimar and Franklin returned to the High Port and communicated with someone in the city of Sharogo. They left the following morning, two days before the assassination attempt, on the same ship that they came in on.
During this time, an autopsy was performed on the terrorist leader revealing a couple of interesting facts. First, the man had high-tech neural implants which apparently self-destructed at approximately the same time as his suicide. Second, his body showed signs of a high-level of radiation exposure in his youth. Meanwhile, the other prisoners - known criminals from Sharogo - were being interrogated. They quickly revealed everything they knew about their leader - an offworlder named Jesse Reiff - but nothing about their own organization. Reiff had come to Zhuge several months ago, and had bought his way into a criminal organization with a shipment of offworld guns. He had recruited and trained a squad of local thugs. A month ago, they stole military uniforms from a supply company and the transport from a low security military compound. They then kept a low profile until a call came in the day before the assassination attempt, Reiff had apparently expected a little more time but managed to rush the operation.
With this new information, the group continued their investigation on the high port. They discovered that Reiff had travelled from Howotro on Buchannon Lines - a small independent passenger service on a regular route. The weapons were shipped separately and were slipped through customs under the guise of agricultural machinery, Reiff picked up this shipment and took them with him on a shuttle to Sharogo. With a little bit of hacking into communication systems, Jordan discovered that Reiff had communicated with Myers group, and that they had sent him a message immediately before leaving the station. They now had proof tying the "businessmen" to the assassination attempt.
The group began making arrangements for travelling back to Howotro to follow the trail. Harim arranged the use of Cassandra's Victory once again, and - seeing no sense in turning down an easy profit - he and Thiel began looking for passengers and cargo. Before their departure, the men returned to Togoshun for a dinner with the Baron and for an official ceremony thanking them for their service to the Iskendu family. All four men were made honorary Captains in the Baron's service and given beautiful - and quite functional - power swords and gauss pistols as symbols of their rank. After the ceremony, Lady Naoko spoke to them again about their business proposition and arranged for a shipment of the highest quality beef to be delivered to the ship for both their own private enjoyment as well as distribution.

Jump Space, from Zhuge to Howotro
095-221 through 101-221

The jump between Zhuge and Howotro was fairly uneventful. More than half of their passengers consisted of young men and women on their way to the Naval Academy at Howotro. This group was fairly rowdy but mostly entertained themselves, while the remaining passengers were reclusive businessmen.
On arriving in the Howotro system, the ship almost immediately picked up a distress signal from a free trader - the Khaiza Lukhinesh. The trader Captain - Elena Voegeli - explained that their power plant began malfunctioning shortly after she jumped into the system and that they required assistance. The group was initially suspicious - the damaged freighter being a classic pirate ploy - but Thiel's detailed scan seemed to confirm her story, and Harim - sensing a "damsel in distress" - was eager to help. Jordan expertly piloted the yacht to dock with the aging freighter. Despite Harim's disappointment upon discovering his "damsel" was in reality a grungy, middle-aged woman, he and Jordan encountered no trouble coming on board the damaged ship. Captain Voegeli explained that her "worthless, soon to be ex-Engineer" was passed out drunk in his stateroom, and Jordan volunteered to take a look at the malfunctioning systems. The damage was beyond his ability to repair, so Thiel performed a brief spacewalk to mount some towing clamps and they towed the crippled ship into port.

Howotro High Port
102-221 through 112-221

While Harim worked on a detailed report of the Zhugean events for the Duke, Henri and the others began investigating the Myers Investment Group and the four men that they had followed from Zhuge. Myers Investment Group had been founded approximately six months earlier. The company had rented a warehouse and office on the high port, and conducted a small speculative cargo business. In just a few days after their arrival, Weimar and the others had managed to sell off all of their assets, clean out their offices, and disappear into the chaos of the busy port. Breaking into the empty warehouse and office, Thiel and the others found no traces of the men or their business; everything had been thoroughly and professionally cleaned out.
The next day, Jordan began working on a dedicated search program designed to trace the men and their activities, while Thiel lingered around the seedy docks area learning what he could about the company from the stevedores. He learned that the contents of the warehouse had been sold at discount rates to a variety of speculative traders, most of whom had already shipped out their cargoes. In the meantime, Henri and Harim began discussing how to follow through on their agreement with Lady Naoko to open new markets for Zhugean beef. They spent quite a bit of money hiring an event planner and PR firm, and began interviewing local chefs.
Over the next few days, Jordan's search program proved to be exceptionally useful when paired with Henri's investigative skills as they began uncovering the activities of the Myers Investment Group. The company had contacted a number of local manufacturing firms and purchased small lots of personal weapons and starship components. Evidence was also uncovered indicating that they had provided the weapons that Reiff had smuggled onto Zhuge. They final burst of sales that cleaned out the warehouse seemed to be all legitimate business. Attempting to track down the agents, they eventually uncovered evidence that all four men changed their identities and left the station over the course of a few days. Bryan Franklin became Russell Jefferson, and booked passage on the independent trader Siskara Shagmur to an unknown destination. Vaden seems to have completely disappeared, while Gooden changed his identity to Steven Johnson and took shuttle down to the city of Shunquan, which is currently considered a war-zone. Weimar re-emerged as James Garmon, and booked passage on free trader “Hammerman’s Folly” to Droshas.
They had little luck using the same techniques to track Reiff. His trail was months older, and he seemed to have been much more careful. Remembering the evidence of radiation exposure from Reiff's autopsy, they began compiling a list of nuclear incidents in the sector over the last 40 years. Thiel began haunting spacer bars trying to dig up rumors related to any of these incidents, while Harim followed the same pattern in high end establishments frequented by Imperial and Naval personnel. Although they found no definitive leads, they were able to discount a number of the events and began focusing on two of the oldest events - rebellions on Kakugad and Rozurchar - where nuclear weapons were detonated.

During this search - and partly to distract themselves from the grim investigative work - the group found time to interview a few different chefs for the event. They eventually settled on Alexander Moya who had presented them with an impressive set of dishes that properly showcased the quality of the Zhugean beef. Having hired the chef, they set a date for the party and began compiling a guest list. Henri, a connoisseur of fine foods, knew a number of restaurateurs and food writers. Harim, with his reputation as both party goer and host, brought in a number of chefs and caterers specializing in service to the aristocratic set. In the end, the beef was very well received, and a number of buyers approached the men interested in placing orders.