Ask Watching the Detectives

[Thel Xeros]

Balosar

Thel had been greatly concerned when he had heard that Endron Maxil, his contact at Fergriss Pharmaceuticals, had nearly been assassinated. Whilst the other shareholders had agreed to cooperate with the Sith, Maxil was still their biggest advocate. With him gone, the arrangement between the company and the Sith could be threatened. Luckily, he was recovering from the attack and in decent condition. Maxil had specifically requested that Thel investigate the assassination attempt, to find the culprit.

Thel stood in the main hangar bay, at Fergriss’ factory on Balosar. He was dressed in his robes. He had hired a mercenary to assist him, as he didn’t want other Sith involved. He’d heard good things about the one he had chosen. Of course he hadn’t made her aware of his Sith background. She would just believe she was here to do a job for Fergriss, and that he worked for the company. He kept his saber clipped at the back of his belt, concealed by his cape. A blaster hung from the left side of his belt, where his saber usually would be.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

Maeve had recently noticed that due to skilled networking, she was earning quite the reputation. It wasn't yet bad enough to get her recognized in public places, but it was just right to attract new jobs without having to look for ages. She knew she wasn't alone on this, but hired by Fergriss and the payment was relatively decent.

As far as she knew, she'd receive more details from her companion for the day, but the contractor had made it obvious that a variety of her skills was probably needed. What she already knew was that it was about some kind of an investigation and as she was usually the one carefully committing crime, she also knew how to find traces...

She approached the set coordinates, fully equipped and in her regular mission outfit. She was prepared for several eventualities, but had gathered some investigation stuff from a contact versed in such things. She was soon about to approach her partner and gave him a curt nod. "Hey. My name's Alice". A name she went by in this sector and a name she hadn't used that often in general.

@Maeve

 

[Thel Xeros]

Thel glanced around, waiting for the mercenary he would be working with. Eventually, he spotted a woman approaching him. Short, fair-skinned and dark-hair. “Pleasure to meet you Alice. My name is Thel. I work as a security contractor for Fergriss. I’ve heard good things about your work.”

He gestured for her to follow as he provided a summary of the situation. “Endron Maxil, a shareholder in Fergriss, was the subject of an assassination attempt. Fortunately he survived, but security couldn’t find a trace of the attacker.” Given the rivalry between different companies on Balosar, the obvious answer would be an attempt by a rival. Not that anything is ever necessarily so straightforward.

“I have spoken to Maxil. The attack was in his room on the top floor. He has a bedroom up there for when he works late hours. It’s more convenient for him than returning to his penthouse,” he explained. “He woke up to find the attacker looming over him with a vibroblade. They were masked and he thinks they were male. After a struggle, he managed to fight them off. Though Maxil did sustain quite bad injuries.”

Thel paused, taking a look around. “It seems strange. The way in which the attacker covered their tracks suggests that they’re competent. However, the manner of the attack would suggest otherwise,” he speculated. “Anyway, I’ve arranged for us to take a look at the room. See if we can find something.”

Maxil’s room was on the top floor. A security officer, accompanied by an astromech droid, waited at the door. “Sir. Madam. I’m Security Officer Quinn. I’ve been assigned to assist you.” Thel acknowledged the officer’s greeting. “Thank you. Why don’t you and my colleague here take a look at the room. I want to check something else with the astromech.” When Alice entered the room, she would probably notice that there was no obvious sign of forced entry.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

He hears things. Ugh. That was always bad. It meant she'd have to stick to one of her already established personas, at least to some extent, and that meant while focusing and getting the job done, she'd also have to be extra careful.

He looked old for a contractor of this kind but she didn't bother, what mattered was that he immediately started giving her intel as she appreciated those straight forward approaches a lot. She listened intently, nodding every now and then before she crossed he arms in front of her chest, pondering on the input.

"Now that's interesting. The attack sounds like it could have also been staged. What if the attacker wanted him harmed and aware of the looming danger?", she suggested, sharing her assessment. People were cruel and twisted, she knew a lot about that. "The room might be our best bet, maybe we can find something they have overlooked". As she had been in this business for a while, she had tricks up her sleeve, too.

She followed Thel and curly nodded when he suggested she'd go with the officer. She found it suspicious that he immediately wanted to go split up like that, but while she remained on her guard, she did go with him. She took a thorough look, checking doors, windows, even the floor, but there were no signs of struggle or violence, which was more than odd. Someone had let the attacker in and they had entered on light feet.

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

While Alice went to investigate the room with the officer, Thel instead focused on the panel used to open the door. He had an idea. “Droid, I want you to remove the panel from the wall. Then I want you to check if there are entry logs for this room,” he instructed the astromech. The room required a keycard. He thought there was a possibility that a record of anyone using a key card to enter the room would be kept stored. It was something that was often overlooked.

He waited while the droid did its work. Fortunately, there was a record of entries into the room. The droid projected a hologram of the record. “Show me the night of the attack.” He could see the time that Maxil entered the room that evening. Every keycard had its own identifiable code. “There it is,” he said, focusing on the next part of the record. Around the time the attack had taken place, someone had entered the room. The code for the keycard they used was identical to Maxil’s, with the exception of two added digits at the end.

D1

A duplicate perhaps. He wondered how Alice was getting on. “Found anything,” he called out to her.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

Maeve was obviously no hired professional detective, but she was a home invasion professional and thus she didn't just know countless possible hiding spots for valuables, but ways to find an access point, where to sneak in unnoticed, what to do to remain undetected and much more.

The alleged killing weapon didn't make any sense. It was an ineffective one, yet she stayed with her thesis. Maybe this had been a warning. What served as further proof was the complete absence of signs of struggle and as her associate called over, she replied, "I'm pretty sure this wasn't the regular assassination".

She carelessly kept rummaging through his stuff, not just checking for valuables but obviously looking for more evidence, but she wondered why Thel wasn't returning...what was he up to? The security officer kept watching her critically, yet he didn't question her methods just yet.

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

He entered the room to find Alice checking through things as the security officer watched over her.

“What makes you think it wasn’t an assassination attempt,” he asked, genuinely curious as to what had prompted that line of thinking.

He chose to not yet reveal the information he had learned from the astromech, instead waiting to hear from Alice.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

As Thel entered, she greeted him with a curt nod before she got back up and approached him. "Firstly", she began, motioning for the door, "the assailant had the codes and seemed skilled. He could have sneakily gone for kill". She then motioned towards the bed, where they'd both find the sheets disheveled, but no great signs of struggle.

"Secondly, this was well planned. They wouldn't have allowed him to wake up, they would have just done the job", she explained, tilting her head to the side. "Why do think it was an actual assassination?", she asked in return, actually curious about his findings. "Did you find anything?".

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

He listened as Alice spoke. She seemed to have worked out that the assailant had found a way of unlocking the door. Perhaps, she was right. Maybe it wasn’t a genuine assassination attempt. On the other hand, the attacker could simply have been clumsy.

“I haven’t reached any conclusion about the nature of the attack,” he replied to her first question. “I have found out, by using the droid, that the attacker more than likely accessed the room by using a duplicate of Maxil’s keycard.”

“Really? That seems unlikely,” Quinn replied. “Droid, show them.” The astromech projected the information, for Alice and Quinn to see. “The attacker used what appears to be a duplicate of Maxil’s keycard, to enter the room.” Quinn appeared puzzled. “We create the keycards in the security department. It would be very difficult to create a copy of one. Well, that is unless the person who did it had access to the equipment we use to make the cards.” Thel raised an eyebrow at the suggestion. “Take us to where you make the keycards. We can have a look at the records.”

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

Maeve crossed her arms in front of her chest as the security officer suddenly chimed in. For a moment she met Thel's gaze, her own look highly sceptical as things just got more complicated it seemed. Perfect...things were never easy.

"That sounds curious indeed...let's check it out". There were no doubts this had been an inside job and she hated the fact that they were apperently dealing with crooks. Being one herself, she knew their tricks, but she also knew they could be...resourceful.

Once the security offer would lead them to the department, Maeve would fall into step with Thel. When the guard decided to quickly adressed the droids, she leaned over, lowered her voice to a bare minimum and said, "if you want, I can test whether he states the truth". Truth serum was mean, but what if the guard was in this, too?

@DMCK

 

[Thel Xeros]

Thel followed Quinn to the security department, accompanied by Alice. They were led into a room were various service droids worked. “Let me check the records.” He watched as the security officer headed to the console to check things over.

He listened to Alice's suggestion. It was a sensible one. “By all means, go ahead,” he whispered. If Quinn was involved in some way, the serum would make finding out more straightforward.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

She was perhaps somewhat skeptical whether or not her suggestion was a good idea, but the 'boss' approved, too. "If I do that, he'll know and he won't be of much more use", she just quietly warned him, pretending to pluck a lint of his shirt to keep her voice low enough while leaning in.

Her attention was then back at Officer, quickly assessing his doings while she waited for Thel's reply. So far he seemed genuine enough, but who knew, maybe he was holding back something that could be of use for them. If Thel was perceptive, he'd notice that once the guard started searching, he became somewhat more nervous as his eyes eagerly scanned the screens.

@DMCK

Flip said he's acting a little sus lol

 

[Thel Xeros]

Thel kept a close eye on Quinn, as he checked over the screen on the console. Hopefully there would be some useful information in the records. It seemed more likely that any useful information would have been deleted. Thel nodded in response to Alice’s warning.

As Quinn continued to work, Thel noticed that the security officer appeared ill at ease. Something was clearly bothering them. “Have you found anything?” Quinn abruptly turned to him and Alice. “No, nothing. It all appears to be normal.” He sounded somewhat convincing, but something didn’t feel right.

@LadyRen

 

[Maeve]

Maeve held Thel's gaze until he nodded. An order was an order, so she went for it. She swiftly approached him and rummaged through her pocket, slowly opening the lid of her metal box and grasping the delicate dart because she pretended to trip. The result was that she stumbled right into Quinn, the dart landing right in his thigh and Maeve collided with him forcefully.

"Shit...I am so damn sorry", she convincedly said to him, her face and sheer shock and the apologetic face that followed perfectly faked. The dart was already off, carefully held in her hand and mostly concealed with her thumb with him apperently not even having noticed the prick. Just a few minutes and he'd willingly blab.

"Ugh I'm so clumsy sometimes", from his face, he gathered that he wasn't so keen on having her snoop around so closely, so she immediately stepped back. "I'm sorry...I thought writing could help you review the tapes". She apologized again as she took her place next to Thel again, gaze resting on the Officer. "You seem...unnerved".

@DMCK