Robotech - Southern Cross Adventure

[Purr]

Gabi recorded the room with Hummingbird, getting top-notch video and audio (with no one speaking) to capture the state of the room and everything in it to great detail. She took the time to look for any concealed items, preferably anything looking like a datapad, phone, or computer.

 

[D. Rex]

Unless ordered to do a different task, Marlon would stay out of the room and simply stand guard at the door to make sure nobody entered without proper GMP credentials, including the police.

 

[Purr]

Sherwood "Sergeant Conway," Gabriela called over the younger woman. "Take a look at this. Battery-fed, flash-drive-style camera hidden in the air vent. Real likely whatever it's seen hasn't left this room. You wanna know what it knows, ma'am?" Gabi pointed at a terminal in an offer to make the camera's contents known and copy the entire contents of the flash drive to her own data storage.

 

[Sherwood]

"Absolutely! Punch it up!" Deunan is quite happy with the skillful work and sharp eyes of her squad mates, and is now hoping that this video will give them some clue as to what happened to Antonia.

 

[Purr]

Gabi checked to see if the camera was still recording at the time she discovered it. If it was, she stopped recording. She had many questions. How long had the camera been up here? Who put it there? What did they expect to see and did they have something to do with Sgt. Antonia's death?

After copying the flash drive, Gabi scanned the contents for video and sound from very beginning, pausing at intervals where there was something beside an empty bed to look at or listen to. She also looked through the drive to see if there were more recordings.

Once she had something, she gathered everyone. "Okay, amigos. Let's see the big show, shall we?" She reached over and touched the Play button.

 

[Psychie]

The video file is very large, and it has clearly been in place for quite some time before Gabi discovered it. It has over twenty hours of video, apparently triggered by motion in the room. The first images you see are of a person dressed in the uniform of a maintenance man, putting the camera in the air vent, aimed at the bed. In later scenes over the course of several days, you see other people coming into the room, some as guests, then the housekeeping staff cleaning the place.

It is not until closer to the end that you see any signs of Antonia. She comes into the room with a small overnight bag that she drops on the bed. She then changes into the outfit that you found scattered on the floor, and heads out of the room and the lights go out. Later, she comes staggering back into the room, obviously very drunk. But this time, she is not alone. There is a second woman with her, helping to carry the drunken (or drugged) Antonia into bed. As Antonia passes out, the other woman pulls a small needle from her purse, and gives her a quick injection in her neck before covering her up with a pat on the head.

Coming up with a cell phone, the woman dials and quickly says, "Its done. No loose ends. Right. I'm on my way now." She ends the call, then goes and picks up Antonia's overnight bag, turns on the tv, and leaves, hanging up the 'Do Not Disturb' tag on the door. The next image on the video is when the squad makes their entry into the room and discovers the body of the First Sergeant in the bed.

The video is good enough to be able to get a good look at the face of the woman that injected Antonia, good enough to be able to attempt facial recognition on it to see if this person has any kind of record in the GMP files. No one of the squad recognizes her.

 

[D. Rex]

Can we tell if she is Zentraedi, half, or human? Psychie

 

[Purr]

(For D. Rex)

Spoiler: Meant for OOC

D. Rex If she were not micronized, she would be 40 feet tall and her feet would have been undoubtedly sticking out the window of the building, saving us the trouble from trying to find her room in the first place! I can just imagine her complaints when she was alive ('Boy, this bed is small! And the drinks! You know how much they charged me to get drunk?!"). =)

As a future note, to my knowledge, nearly all (or perhaps all!) of the Zentraedi and Meltrandi that allied themselves with the RDF and ASC underwent the micronization process. My usual disclaimer applies (this is Psychie's game, therefore Psychie may have changed this). Also, I thought I read earlier in the story that she was full-blooded?

 

[D. Rex]

D. Rex If she were not micronized, she would be 40 feet tall and her feet would have been undoubtedly sticking out the window of the building, saving us the trouble from trying to find her room in the first place! I can just imagine her complaints when she was alive ('Boy, this bed is small! And the drinks! You know how much they charged me to get drunk?!"). =)

As a future note, to my knowledge, nearly all (or perhaps all!) of the Zentraedi and Meltrandi that allied themselves with the RDF and ASC underwent the micronization process. My usual disclaimer applies (this is Psychie's game, therefore Psychie may have changed this). Also, I thought I read earlier in the story that she was full-blooded?

Was not thinking when I wrote that part lol.


Also, Antonia was micronized. And clearly her loyalties are in question. It wouldnt be far fetched for a tactically inclined Zentraedi to go through micronization to better trick humans. Or wall among the traitor zeeks and try to recruit or gain information.

 

[D. Rex]

Also. If the woman is human. It means we have bigger problems. As the Zentraedi would not be the only force against us.

 

[Purr]

Something nagged at Gabi concerning the beginning of the video and the "maintenance man."

 

[Purr]

Psychie Gabi examined the beginning of the video. She took long looks and listens at the person in the maintenance uniform. Was it the woman he was with Sergeant Antonia? Was it someone else? And when was the camera activated?

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan does her best to commit the details of this video to memory. "At a guess, we have a pervy maintenance man trying to get some video of people undressed that just happened to catch a murder taking place. Good eye for spotting it, Gabi. Now we need to find the employee and interrogate him, and there is the woman that gave Antonia the shot. At least we have a few directions on which to proceed."

 

[Psychie]

Psychie Gabi examined the beginning of the video. She took long looks and listens at the person in the maintenance uniform. Was it the woman he was with Sergeant Antonia? Was it someone else? And when was the camera activated?

The person in the maintenance uniform that put the camera in the air vent never says anything. He only rigs up the motion sensor camera. You do not have any date or time stamp on the video, so at this initial stage of the investigation, you are not sure how long it has been up there. You have seen three other guests staying in the room before Antonia, so it must be at least a week, if not longer that the camera has been there.

 

[D. Rex]

"We can try. But I doubt we will get much our of him. Or that he holds much relation to the case. Pervy or no. These foes, they seem pretty intent on going to great lengths to keep loose ends tightened down. They would not have recorded this."

"That woman, however. We got a time now. We can cross reference this person with the other cameras. To follow and see if that gives any leads too. Maybe we can get a better look at her face, body, and vehicle for us to get more information on her."

 

[Psychie]

With the video in hand, you now have a lead to work with, both for the 'maintenance man' that placed the camera, and the woman that injected Antonia with whatever concoction that killed her. With the room under guard, you are able to start the process of getting access to the hotel's security cameras in the security office, and the head of security is able to identify that the maintenance man is a fellow named Raul Vega, and yes, he does work for the hotel, but he is not working at the moment.

By this time, you get word that the forensic team from Brazilia Base has just landed at La Fuente's airport, and they are unloading from the transport now. Their ETA is less than half an hour.

 

[Sherwood]

Deunan gathers up all the tapes that she can, along with the personnel file on this Raul Vega and his address. This is probably just a case of him trying to record naked people in the room, but it has to be followed up on. She turns to the rest of the team, "Listen up. We need to be ready to wrap this up and hand it over to the investigators once they show up. Anton-17 needs us back before the place is hit again by another attack, especially with us here and away from our mecha. Good work, everyone."

 

[Purr]

"Anton-17 needs us back before the place is hit again by another attack, especially with us here and away from our mecha. Good work, everyone."

The GMP's words captured Gabi's attention immediately. "Que? ("What?") You expecting another attack on Anton-17, ma'am? This sorta thing happen all of the time there?""

(The following takes places only if Gabi, in the course of our waiting and talking, is aware we have the key to Room 314).

"Sergeant, you want me to check Room 314 and see if there's another little spy in that air duct? The more evidence we have, the better, you know?"

 

[D. Rex]

"The Zentraedi seem to try to hammer the base every couple of weeks." Marlon informed. " Should Gabi have asked that while up near the room. Of which Marlon would still be keeping guard. "I see no reason why they would stop now. Especially with us being several mecha down and cracking defenses."

 

[Psychie]

Gabi is aware that Ryuko rented out the room next to the crime scene, so you have full access to it in order to be able to examine it for hidden spy-cams. As you look it over, you don't see any signs of any cameras in this room so far, but you have just started.

Just then, down at the end of the hall, the elevator lets out a 'ding' and the doors open up to reveal six soldiers in their BDUs and carrying large evidence collection cases. A quick glance at their rank tabs shows a captain, a lieutenant, a sergeant, and three corporals. They head for the squad members standing guard in the doorway of 315. "I am Capt. Dennis Franco of the GMP. We have orders to take charge of this crime scene, along with the body. Which one of you is Sergeant Conway? Please give a full report of what you've come across."

 

[Sherwood]

Stepping forward, Deunan salutes. "Sir, I'm Sergeant Conway. I have a full briefing ready for you." She then goes into detail from the beginning of her involvement in this case, starting off with how she was given her orders by Lt. Hulsizer, all the way through the trail of evidence that led the team here. "Sir, we have video of a unknown woman giving 1st Sgt. Antonia a injection after she passed out on the bed. The face of the woman is clearly visible, and I am hoping that there is a database of images that we can access to try and match the image with facial recognition software."

 

[Psychie]

The captain listens carefully, asking probing questions of you as you talk. As this is going on, the other GMP soldiers begin to unpack their gear and slowly spread out across the room, some of them heading to the body and photographing it from all angles before rolling it over for more pictures. One of the corporals is then told to bring up the gurney, and they prepare to pack up the body.

What are the rest of you doing while this is going on?

 

[Purr]

Having left the "maintenance worker's" hard drive in the terminal for S.Sgt. Conway and the others to peruse in Room 315, Gabi continued to take stock of Room 314. Okay, if I were a camera belonging to some lonely little pecker-headed voyeuristic jerk-off perdedor ("loser"), where would I be? Probably facing the bed and bath. Gabi checked the air vents, the TV, the alarm (anything with a speaker), and anything aimed at the bed and bath first, then using her Surveillance Systems education, she broadened her search outward. While she was looking for a camera, she kept her senses open for anything unusual.

 

[D. Rex]

Marlon would go assist Gabi.

 

[Psychie]

After an exhaustive search of room 314, you do not find any cameras. It would seem that the one lucky room was 315 for that. As the two of you are tearing the place apart, the gurney is brought up, and Antonia is wrapped up in a body bag for transport back to Brazilia Base for a full autopsy. With the evidence collected, both by your team and the GMP forensic specialists, the Captain begins to seal off the room in case it is needed for future searches.

He then says to the team, "We have the image of the woman that gave her the shot, and once we get to Brazilia Base, we will run her through our database to see if we can't identify her. Sgt. Conway, your team may not be a CSI team, but you should be glad at the diligence that they showed to find this video."

He then turns to look at the Lieutenant. "Darlene? Find our maintenance man and bring him to me."

"Yes, sir." She taps one of the Corporals on the shoulder. "Coop, you are with me. Lets go." With that, the two head out to the elevators to go hunting.

Capt. Franco then looks back to Deunan. "We have what we need, and the rest of the investigation is now in our hands. Sergeant, you and your people can return to your duty post. We have things well under control here."