Ask I'm tellin' y'all, it's a sabotage

[Theo Magna]

Theo wasn’t precious when it came to combat, he didn’t think that shooting someone was less “honorable” than stabbing them with a vibrosword or something. He didn’t think that gas or explosives were “wrong” or anything like that either, despite several years of being trained to defuse bombs as part of his protection duties for the Queen of Naboo.

What he did class as cowardly, however, was sabotage.

Causing something to go wrong with lethal consequences wasn’t something Theo liked to think about as a valid tactic but it could be in war. This though? This wasn’t war, this was a group of thugs who were pitching a fit because people were bucking back against their stranglehold on the goods needed to produce painkillers.

They were scum enough that Theo was entirely focused on the mission as he flashed his badge to be admitted to the factory floor where the sabotage had taken place. The scene had been secured by the locals and the factory had been shut down for fear that further sabotage would be discovered only when things started exploding.

The corpos were breathing down their necks already over the lost credits but Theo didn’t give a damn about them. Datapad in hand, Theo moved onto the main factory floor and stared at the main machinery that filled the space. It was clear to see which one had been sabotaged because it was the one with the jagged hole in its side the size of a grown human man.

Half a dozen bodies were lined in chalk on the ground, the corpses covered with sheets. Theo stared for a long moment before letting out a deep sigh.

“What a damned waste of life… this is just disgusting…”

Who even did things like this?”

@Wit

 

[Kalen Ultor]

Kal had taken a little detour to talk to some of the locals who had gathered outside the factory, to try and get some first hand accounts of the incident. He hadn't found anything that seemed particularly useful, but the most insignificant of details could prove pivotal in cracking open a case. It was always better to have more information than missing something because you didn't spend some time asking the right questions.

He flipped through the little notepad where he had taken down his notes, an actual pen and paper relic from the past that wasn't very popular in this day and age. He had received more than a few intrigued looks when people saw him scribbling down notes in a barely legible handwriting on actual paper. Sure, he could record the full conversation on his datapad, and take electronic notes just as easily, and standard procedure demanded that he do those things anyways. He had the entire interview recorded on his datapad, but having the key points jotted down on actual paper just helped him process the information. It felt right, in a weirdly real way.

"Had a chat with some of the folks gathered outside," he said as he walked up to his partner, attention still on his notes, "looks like there's a..." he stopped mid-sentence as he finally noticed the full extent of the damage caused by the explosion. He had read the details on the way over, had known what to expect. But no matter how many crime scenes you walked into, the first look was always like a gut punch. In a way he was glad it did, meant he hadn't turned into some machine that no longer felt anything.

"Looks like there's a shift change early in the morning," he continued, picking up the line of comment he was going down, "the outgoing workers reported nothing wrong, so we might have a window where the saboteurs struck."

He glanced at the bodies once more, noticing the uncomfortable looks on the faces of some of the local shields standing guard. "Did the forensic droids go over the bodies?" He asked as he waived one of them over. They had probably been instructed to leave the scene untouched for them, but it was probably for the best if they moved the bodies, they didn't need to be out here like this any longer than needed. He'd turn to Theo as the officer pulled out his datapad with the reports from the droids. "You wanna do a once over?" He worded it like that on purpose, letting the officer think he meant the reports. But Theo would know what he meant, they should inspect the bodies as well. The droids were pretty good at what they did, but there were things they missed.

@Nefieslab

 

[Theo Magna]

Theo might not have been a Ranger for very long but he had been involved with the Royal Guards long enough to know the look Kalen got when he walked in. It was the look that everyone got when they walked onto a crime scene that had violence and the results of said violence scattered around it. He'd seen plenty of people have that exact same expression on their face, as it had been on his own.

In his experience, it was the ones who didn't react you had to be on watch for. It was a visceral, human, reaction and the lack of it was usually the first signs that the person was numb to the typical human experiences. He didn't say anything about it, giving his new partner chance to collect himself because, well, it'd probably be a dick move not to.

Taking the datapad from Kalen with the results the droids had come up with, he nodded.

"Either they timed this very badly or exactly as they wanted but regardless of their intent to actually kill people, they knew enough about the comings and goings to know when to best accomplish the sabotage." he agreed, drawing on his own experience in planning routes to avoid giving people chance and opportunity to sabotage his operations, "The droids went over the bodies before the machinery - nothing on the machines themselves yet."

Looking over the data on the datapad, he spotted what he expected. Lots of puncture wounds and heat from the exploding machinery as the "likely" cause of death. Some of them had chance to try and crawl away but died of their injuries before help could arrive. However...

"There's a body further away." he started walking, walking around the other side of the machine that had exploded to reveal another covered body, "... cause of death was trauma to the back of the head. All explosion injuries were post-mortem."

He looked up from the datapad to Kalen as he knelt down beside the separate body.

"He died before the explosion... you want to check out the machinery?" he asked, explicitly giving Kalen a choice, "I can... you know... check him over."

Aaaand there was the social anxiety creeping in now. Talking business? Doing the work? Easy and familiar. Talking to someone about something they might find uncomfortable? Hellish.

@Wit

 

[Kalen Ultor]

Kalen wasn't idle while Theo inspected the forensic reports, taking the time to observe the crime scene. He didn't try to focus on anything, just letting his senses pick up whatever they would. First impressions could pave the way for deeper understanding, and he used the moment to get his. It took a lot of effort to not let his eyes linger on the bodies, he risked losing focus if he lingered too long there.

He was letting his eyes slip past a set of machines to the side when he almost noticed something. He made a mental note as he let his eyes wander on, but as nothing else stood out he glanced back at the machine that had drawn his attention earlier. He couldn't quite place what it was, but something about it felt wrong. Cataloguing it for now he returned his attention to Theo, who was kneeling by one of the bodies. The fact that one of the bodies had a different cause of death was important, and sometimes one break like that was all you needed to crack a case wide open.

"Yeah," he replied, wondering if his discomfort around the bodies was that evident, but thankful nonetheless, "I'll give the machinery a look-over." Besides, whatever was wrong with that other machine was still nagging at him. He wanted to spend some time figuring it out. "Just holler if you find anything, or if you need a second set of eyes or something." He was already walking towards the machines as he finished, driven as much by his discomfort as by the curiosity that he had spotted earlier.

Instead of heading for the machine that had exploded he made his way to the other machine and knelt in front of it. He spent a solid five or so minuets just staring at it, and just as he was about to give up he finally spotted it. Most of the machinery was pretty old, its surfaces worn out and dull in appearance. But when he looked at one spot at just the right angle it glinted, the same glint that he had noticed earlier on. He dug into his pockets and pulled out a small sachet full of a bunch of tools and withdrew a small pair of forceps from it. He plucked a small piece of something that had embedded itself in the machine. It took a fair amount of effort to pull it out, and it left a small dent in the machine when he finally managed to pull it out. Whatever it was, there was a good chance it had gotten embedded in the machine during the explosion. Maybe it was part of whatever device was used to set off the explosion.

He dropped it into an evidence bag and made his way to Theo. "Might have found something," he said as he came to a stop near the other Ranger, holding up the evidence bag in front of him, "could be nothing, but could be something. Needs some time in the lab to identify what it is. You find anything here?" He tried his best to address Theo without actually looking at the body, keeping his focus purely on his partner.

@Nefieslab

 

[Theo Magna]

Kalen was fine with him looking over the body that had fallen before all the others and Theo was glad he hadn’t offended the man or anything by suggesting that he take over the duty of checking the body over. Theo himself might not be a fan of checking over corpses but he knew enough to have a good idea of what he was looking for. So as his new partner moved over to check out the machinery involved in the incident itself, Theo snapped on a pair of gloves.

Thin gloves to keep his hands clean but not hamper his ability to feel and use the digits freely. Meant that when he touched the corpse it was almost exactly like he was touching it without the gloves – something that made him want to vomit.

“Will do!”

Checking over the body, Theo began to feel the bile rising in his throat as the smell of the body and the consistency of dead flesh began to take their toll on him. He got through most of the search before he was forced to call one of the droids over to finish up as he stumbled out of the crime scene to violently vomit into a nearby mop bucket. It… it hadn’t been empty which actually made him feel a little bit better.

Apparently he wasn’t the only one to lose control of his breakfast in light of the realities of so many dead and their brutal deaths.

Wiping his mouth with his handkerchief, Theo washed the taste away with a swig from a bottle of water as he made his way back over to the droid and took its readings before heading back over to Kalen. It seemed his partner had found something. He looked over the further data from the droid before giving a concise report.

“He was surprised when he died but not afraid like the explosion victims – he was surprised whatever was killing him was doing it but didn’t have chance to be scared.” He extrapolated from the data, “His employee ID badge was stolen, the clip and lanyard were there but broken off.”

He eyed the machinery for a moment before shrugging.

“Machinery isn’t a strong suit um… what am I looking at?”

@Wit