The Call

[Eclecticon]

Paul, do we push our ideas forward or do we need to wait for some of the inquiries we made to come back?

A little info on the structure of a shift and how you see it work would be helpful here.

The rulebook is pretty clear that a shift is enough time to visit a single location, though there might be multiple scenes that happen there or in the near surrounds.  For example, I certainly wouldn't move on to another shift on if you wanted to look over the building outside this particular warehouse compartment.  If you want to head somewhere else to follow up a lead, though, you're likely moving on to another shift by the time you finish up here, log an initial report, upload any evidence via your KIAs (note that you don't need to do this bit if you don't want to!) head on to your next destination, stop for food etc. Exceptions to this would be something like a spinner chase that takes you halfway across town before resolving.  If you're ever unsure, ask and I'll be happy to let you know. 

Most of the investigation will be driven by you guys - what are your ideas, and what information do you need to validate them (or otherwise)?  For things like forensic testing of physical evidence, you may well need to get samples back to LAPD HQ, where the Crime Lab is, and wait a shift for results.  That doesn't mean that you can't make use of the other HQ facilities (Mainframe, Esper Wall etc.) while you wait. 

Alternatively, hit the streets.  Just because you don't have many specifics yet doesn't mean that nobody knows anything, or that they wouldn't tell you with the right incentive.  Varela, you may have noticed, isn't the best at people skills, so someone might open up to you when they wouldn't to him.  If you're ever genuinely stuck, this is a decent excuse to get a much-needed pointer in the right direction. 

For example, right now you have:

• Varela's old case files, which will take someone (not necessarily both of you) a shift to read over.  As you've noted, the prototypes may be significant.
• a question from Elly: how did the perps move the crates once they got them through the blown-open door, and where did they go from there?
• Officer Phirel mentioned noticing 'suspicious activity' on a restored esper feed.
• forensic samples - any 'subassemblies' you take back to the Crime Lab might have useful information.  There may also be explosive residue from the doors.

[Posterboy]

Elly watched Varela withdraw with the tired resentment of a man whose case had just become someone else's problem. "Detective Varela," she said, before he had fully turned away. Her voice wasn't sharp or conciliatory... just precise. "Forward the prototype case files to Rep-Detect and flag anything that involved restricted biotech. I'll want the original scene images too, if you have them, not only the summaries."

She paused to give the detective a moment. "And from the other raids, I'm looking for the entry points, surveillance failures, witness statements, and anything your people dismissed because it did not fit burglary."

She looked to IRIS. She knew the hologram would make Varela look more competent than he was... She can't help it. It's in her programming. "IRIS, make sure you preserve the original scene capture here as read-only, and duplicate it to Rep-Detect. I don't want any enhancement overwrites or perspective corrections without retaining the raw source."

Elly turned from the room to the north-west wall, where the craniums had been stacked. Time to wrap this up... "Evidence collection," she called to the nearest uniform. "I want one sealed cranium unit transferred to RIT under chain of custody. Don't break that factory seal in the field. I want photographs of all sides of the crate, label, serials, seal markings, and position before you move it."

She glanced across the rest of the scattered inventory. "And flag any opened or displaced crate, or incomplete lot from the same wall. If there are any ocular, hand, dermal facial, vocal, or spinal-interface assemblies present, I want you to photograph them too and hold one representative sealed sample from each category for possible RIT review."

"And, if anything appears recently handled, don't move it until prints, trace, and contact residue are cleared. Understood?"

Her eyes moved to the ruined doors. "Explosive residue next. Make sure you swab the inner and outer edges of the breach, the blast-facing floor, hinge housing, locking mechanism, and any embedded metal fragments. Make sure you bag those fragments separately, and mark orientation before removal. When you got all that, I want you to compare the charge signature against Detective Varela's previous raids."

Elly left the uniform to do their work, while she pulled out her KIA and stepped carefully through the breach. "Officer Phirel, Detective LE1." She paused just beyond the doorway and looked down the exterior approach. "You said suspicious activity was captured after coverage was rerouted. I want the unedited feed, timestamped from five minutes before restoration all the way through until the first uniform arrives. Give me the node failure report, as well."

Another pause, her gaze moving along the corridor, tracing possible exits. "And I want to know where the feed places the suspects after they left this door."

Elly returned the KIA to her belt and stood still for a moment, letting the building speak in its small ways. She kept her eyes low first, looking for any boot impressions, pools of moisture, disturbed grit, or scuffs where a heavy load might have shifted against a wall. Then her eyes searched higher, now looking for service hatches, stairwells, cargo doors, maintenance rails, blind corners... any place where the building might swallow people and give them back somewhere else.

Where did you go?

[Telcontar]

Crowe looked out over the scene again and at Detective LE-1.3 doing her work. He knew no one really liked having them around, even if they could begrudgingly accept that their abilities had an edge over humans. He also knew that no one really liked him either. If Varela didn't know his name already he would know his reputation once it was known he had shown up on the case. 

Crowe felt that everything was in order here, nothing more for an experienced detective to add that wasn't already being done. Tools that could see better, process faster, and record what they saw. Crowe however, wasn't out of tricks just yet. There were still things he could do that his partner could not, human things.

Crowe gave a low whistle signal to his partner to call her attention. He held up his hand and fluttered two of his fingers, she nodded. Detective Crowe was going walkabout.

Specials.

The word sat wrong in his mouth even when he didn't say it. A bureaucrat's little mercy. A soft label for the ones too sick, too poor, too damaged, or too honest to buy their way off a dying planet. Crowe had known plenty of them. Some were informants. Some were victims. Some were worse than the people he hunted. If people were honest when they used the term only stubborn pride kept them from applying it to themselves. Every noodle slurper on the street was someone's Special.

He adjusted his coat and the collar. This building looked empty, but that just meant those who lived and squatted here knew when to be scarce. They were here, they were watching, and they saw things that optics didnt. A recorder or a security eye was doing a job, these people were surviving. Their motivation was different. Detective LE had the scene it was time to see what blood and desperation saw.

He stepped out of the floodlights and onto the walkways. Right now this was a crime scene, but soon it would go back to them, it would go back to the realm of the Specials. They had eyes and ears too and Crowe wanted what they had that would never make it on a camera.

He fingered the vendor tokens he kept in his jacket; noodles, stims, booze. Chinyen wasnt the only currency, and he was buying. 
   

[Eclecticon]

Alright, the scene is set, the trail is laid and it's time to see where it leads.  Lemme do some rolling to see what you both turn up.  Elly is doing some straightforward crime scene examination, so that's obviously Observation.   
Elly
Skill: Observation  

Rolled 1d10 : 6, total 6
Rolled 1d8 : 8, total 8

Crowe, I'm going to say, will be rolling Manipulation - As Tom has guessed, it's not a matter of whether there are Specials around, it's a matter of whether or not you can get them to come forward and tell you anything.  I'll say that the effort will cost a Chinyen point (he had to buy the tokens at some point) but let him roll with advantage (i.e. roll a second one of whatever his lowest die is). 
Crowe
Skill: Manipulation    

Rolled 1d8 : 2, total 2
Rolled 1d6 : 2, total 2
Rolled 1d6 : 3, total 3

[Posterboy]

  Paul, I'm assuming you'll be writing a follow up post interpreting these dice results?

[Eclecticon]

Yes indeed - just got called away by other responsibilities. 

Since you're here, though, let me know whether you want to push your roll (at the risk of suffering a point of stress for each that might turn up). 

[Posterboy]

  don't I already have 2 successes with the 6 and 8?

[Eclecticon]

That was pretty dumb - for some reason I though you were Tom!  Elly does indeed get from her roll, for a bit more information than a basic success would've turned up.  Update to follow shortly.