First Reply Collisions

[Sentiri]

The Bilbringi Shipyards: Bilbringi I​

A freighter blipped into existence, exiting hyperspace. Before the ship lay the Bilbringi system. Asteroids, some the size of small planets and moons, hurled themselves about. Clear channels for ship traffic were lighted by buoys that sent tracking information as well as practical lighting. And there was plenty of traffic. Despite not having a traditional planet or moon as the center of the system, the notoriety of Bilbringi's shipyards have made them a hub of activity as production has soared over the decades. The system may have been a secret a long time in the past, but that was no longer the case. The yards themselves, once isolated to a few of the larger asteroids and a handful of orbitals, were spread throughout the system; gleaming metal structures that bounced sunlight throughout the maze of floating rock.

Filing neatly into line with the other vessels funneling down the channel, the freighter followed the buoys through the system until finally reaching Bilbringi I. The asteroid was the largest of all, easily the size of a moon or small planet. Steel dotted and streaked the surface but there was no external atmosphere. Instead, a large cavity in one side of the rockface both took in and spat out the orderly line of ships. As the freighter drew into Bilbringi I, the hollowed out asteroid opened up into an entire city. Spread all across the surface of the cavern were buildings and production facilities of all types, even skyscrapers without sky. There were places to set down all over and the once orderly traffic fragmented into a chaotic mess. And yet, somehow, that mess still seemed organized.

"Sposia Dreams. This is flight control. You're set to land on pad 67-338-G. Sending flight pattern now."

The navicomputer received a set of coordinates and the freighter's autopilot slipped cleanly through the mess. The freighter gradually oriented itself to what would become an upright position over the flight from the entry point into the asteroid to the landing zone until the ship landed softly on the pad. A few moments later, a Chiss woman stepped off the vessel. She looked up at the cityscape all around her.

"Sabosen Tir Inrokini." A human man spoke her name in a broken dialect that insinuated he had worked with Chiss before but had never practiced the language. He approached from an adjacent platform, a high-rise behind him. The high-rise seemed to be the central point of a series of platforms and buildings. The pad they were on was the only one directly attached to the highest level, and was large enough for several ships to land.

"Sentiri is fine." Once upon a time, Sentiri might have bristled at the man for his poor or ignorant attempt at her full name. But these days she accepted that everyone in the galaxy had a way, just as she had hers. The Chiss woman no longer concerned herself with such petty things.

The man nodded cordially. He wore a three-piece business suit, a nametag on his right lapel seemed redundant as he introduced himself. "Sentiri it is then. I am Haruski, Principal Aide to the Chairman. We are waiting for one other, and then he shall brief you directly."

 

[Venku Bralor]

A Tie Shuttle made it's way through the controlled chaos of ships to land beside the larger freighter. The hatch opened and Venku walked out, Eyes flicking to the two other people already on the platform. "I'm not late, am I?"

Sentiri

 

[Sentiri]

Just as Haruski was finishing his introduction, Sentiri heard a second craft approaching the landing pad. She turned to see a shuttle-sized vessel that bore the infamous bubble window and compartment of a TIE. Sentiri cocked her eyebrow but said nothing as the ship set down and, moments later, a Togorian stepped out. Sentiri hadn't met many Togorians. But the physical might of the being certainly lived up to the reputation.

"Not at all," Haruski said in response to the feline being. "This way, please." The Aide led them into the building and down a short corridor into an office setting. The feel was all corporate. A few plastic-looking plants sat on tables and in corners. Very drab decorations sparsely hung on a few walls. An awards cabinet displayed a plethora of trophies won from whatever a company of this kind could win. Everything was grey or beige or off-white. Sentiri didn't spend much time looking around. There was nothing to be learned from such a sterile space. "Chairman Teylinnti's office is here. She is expecting the both of you. You may enter." Haruski sat himself down at the desk outside the only door in the room save the corridor that led away from the office suite. He said nothing further and his attention turned to whatever he had been doing before.

Sentiri paused a moment before regarding the Togorian. She simply inclined her head toward the door. Turning the knob and entering the space beyond, the feeling suddenly shifted drastically. Royal blues and purples dominated the space through hanging tapestries. Busts of several people fit in between the tapestries and a falling water feature dominated the middle of the room, providing a sense of relaxation. At the far end of the room was a large desk with a single holodisplay shining up from the smooth, polished wooden surface. Behind the desk sat a severe-looking woman, dressed in a business suit. The Chiss went around the water feature and approached the desk.

"Good day," the woman said, very cordially. "I am Chairman Eshae Teylinnti of the Bilbringi Shipyard Consortium. I'd like to dispense with the pleasantries and get right to business. We have a problem. We've tried figuring it out on our own and have been unsuccessful. That's why you're here. The problem is... confounding." The holodisplay turned off and the woman stood and turned to look out the window behind her desk. Beyond was the interior of Bilbringi I, nearly all visible thanks to the nature of its being a hollowed-out asteroid. "Orbitals have been moving autonomously. Sometimes discarded scrap. Sometimes larger components. Sometimes a whole dock. Sometimes a whole asteroid. And the problem has been getting progressively worse. You're not the only team we've brought in. We can't keep the problem quiet for too long. Miners and space engineers tend to be a superstitious bunch already. Rumors are starting to spread. The problem needs to be resolved and quickly." Sentiri saw the woman's facial expressions shift. Irritation but also calculation, determining just how much these disruptions would cut into the BSC profit margins.

"Here are pads," the executive said, holding out two pads "That contain all relevant information regarding the case thus far. Questions?"

Venku Bralor​

 

[Venku Bralor]

As they walked through the building, venku turned to the Chiss woman, holding his arm up for a Mandalorian handshake, arm angled for her to grasp his elbow, before catching it and shifting it to a grip for a handshake, whiskers twitching as he let out a soft, distinctly feline chuff. “Venku Bralor. Nice to meet you.”


Eyes skimmed the beige room, finding it obnoxiously lacking in personality. His opinion of the office however, was quite the opposite, even if the water was annoyingly loud for his sensitive ears, making them pin against his head for the fraction of a second.

Listening to the woman, he frowned, a hard to discern expression when it comes to the mouth, but easy to see if one watched the tail drool slightly and ears ears twitch back before pinning themselves onto the business women. “What happened to the previous teams?”

Sentiri

 

[Sentiri]

“Venku Bralor. Nice to meet you.”

"Sentiri," the woman would have responded as they walked through the building. She gathered that the Togorian was going for a handshake and began to react in kind. But then she would be slightly surprised to suddenly be going through the motions of a Mandalorian version. Sentiri was familiar and followed the Togorian's lead with practiced ease. The Chiss woman had made a point of studying some basic Mandalorian culture back when the Ascendancy was allied with the amorphous culture. Of course, the possibility of any species to be accepted as a Mandalorian was well known. But the lack of helmet had caught the Investigator off guard.

The investigator listened to the executive's presentation with an attentive ear. And Venku's question seemed to prickle the woman's already irritable mood. "The first few gave up. They all indicated there was nothing to find. We stopped paying people up front at that point. Teams were harder to recruit, to the point where no one was taking our offer. We started offering a small stipend and bonus for completion instead. Two other teams are currently active. But they've each been around for a few weeks and have turned up nothing. They'll be fired if we suspect them of using the assignment to get free food while parked on Bilbringi without having to pay docking fees." The woman sighed. "Consider that a warning. Now, like I said, everything else you need is on the pad. Get to work."

The executive sat back down on her desk and the holodisplay reignited. Feeling dismissed, Sentiri turned and left the room without a word. The office space was empty. The assistant was waiting for the two hired hands as they exited. "Your pads also contain docking coordinates where you can berth your ships while you are on Bilbringi I as well as approved docking locations throughout the system. You'll note that the credit account you provided has received a deposit that should cover your quality of life costs while you are with us. Provided Chairman Teylinnti is pleased with your progress, you will continue to receive similar weekly payments until such time as the case has been solved or your services are no longer deemed required. Good luck. And please, take this seriously. We're not just paranoid spacers."

The assistant waived them out of the office and back to the landing pad where their ships were set down. The Chiss woman turned to the Togorian. "I'm going to plug this," she gestured with the pad, "into my ship's computer and have it analyze the data. It should sort through faster than I can by eye. I'll meet you at the docking bay."

Venku Bralor​

 

[Venku Bralor]

The first few gave up. They all indicated there was nothing to find.

That was good. Not the giving up part, the fact that they were still alive if this woman was to be believed. He'd rather avoid taking a job where all the other teams ended up dead. Or at least he'd prefer to be prepared for a possible dangerous job. The Chairman continued to speak, drawing Venku out of his thoughts. Ears flicked back, twisting around in a one eighty as his whiskers twitched in the prequel of a snarl. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Drifting off in thought at the soonest chance. Maybe he should get more sleep.

Thanking the assistant as they passed, he found himself agreeing with the Chiss woman. "Sounds like a plan. How long d'you think that'll take? I think the hyper-lag just hit me. I need to go pass out for a few hours 'fore my brain is anywhere near functional again." As he spoke, his tail drooped and his ears sat facing the sides of his head, angled somewhat downwards. Someone well versed in the body language of a togorian or a cat, although the latter was much less accurate, would be able to tell that Venku was beyond exhausted and it was likely much more than just hyper-lag. Even those not familiar with his body language could tell he was tired.

Sentiri

 

[Sentiri]

"Sounds like a plan. How long d'you think that'll take? I think the hyper-lag just hit me. I need to go pass out for a few hours 'fore my brain is anywhere near functional again."

"The computer should filter through everything in an hour," she replied matter-of-factly. "But I could use some rest as well. I've been to Bilbringi a few times. There's a little market near our pad called "Rockgrown." They usually have decent food. Let's meet there in four hours?"

The Chiss woman would wait for confirmation, then board her ship without much else to say. Even for a Chiss, Sentiri was short on words. Though unlike a Chiss, that lack of communication wasn't out of xenophobia. She had never thought her people were superior. Growing up with a pair of incompetent parents and a pair of incompetent siblings had been enough to teach her that. There were simply some Chiss that were exceptional and others that weren't. Her adopted sister Karisa was one such case. A brilliant scientist and doctor, the younger woman deserved her status as an elite member of the Ascendancy. Sentiri did not automatically award that respect to other Chiss. No, respect was earned; a philosophy that Sentiri had come to learn that she shared with many humans.

The freighter banked slowly through the interior traffic of Bilbringi I, mostly following an autopilot course set by the local government to keep fliers from getting into accidents. Sentiri continued letting her mind wander to the last time she had been on Bilbringi. She had brought Karisa to a few nightclubs as a way to get out for a bit. Let loose and just enjoy life. Things had been simpler then. The Ascendancy had been stable. Sentiri had a home, even if she spent most of her time away. And she had a family. Now the Ascendancy was set upon by other governments once more, Sentiri was on a mission she wasn't sure she would ever complete and her family was elsewhere. No matter what, she knew she needed to make time for her sister.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the bump from the ship's landing gear as the freighter touched down. Sentiri shook off the nostalgia and got to work on the datapad. Setting up a separate partition on the shipboard computer, Sentiri took no chances with the pad. If the thing inadvertently or intentionally had a virus, that could lead catastrophically. As soon as the partition was done, Sentiri plugged the pad in, and started running the ship computer's analysis program to comb through and organize all the relevant details.

Satisfied with her work, Sentiri turned and made for her bunk.

Venku Bralor​

 

[Venku Bralor]

“Sounds perfect. I’ll see you in four.” With that, Venku turned and made his way to his own ship, directing it towards his own doc.

tired eyes gazed out the viewport as the ship flew. He had never actually been to the ship yard before, and all the moving pieces kept distracting him. So many ships going in so many different directions. Maybe once this job was over, Venku could see about getting a bigger ship from here. One he could modify easier. Although he wasn’t sure what he’d due with the tie if he did. It was a gift, and he didn’t want to just get rid of it. Yawning, venku was drawn away from his thoughts in time to see the ship set down.

He went through basic checks, powering down the engines and making sure everything was in working order before he trudged off to his room. He hadn’t been sleeping much and even without the hyper lag he was exhausted. True to form, it took Venku an hour to drift off in a restless sleep, plagued with nightmares he wouldn’t remember come morning.

 

[Sentiri]

Sentiri didn't get much rest. Thoughts of her recent trials were fresh in her mind. She rolled over on the mattress in her ship's quarters and was faced with nothing but the silver sheen of wall plating. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't empty her mind. She'd come to Bilbringi to take her mind off of her troubles. The pursuit of the missing Rhéala couldn't be the sole motivation that drove Sentiri. A job was as good as a distraction as any. But any break just brought back the torrent of questions.

Where was Rhéala? Why had she disappeared? Why hadn't she kept in touch with Sentiri? Why was the woman leaving a trail to follow if she was spending so much effort to avoid her former boss and friend? Were they still friends? But especially, what about...?

A growl escaped her throat. Enough was enough. If sleep wouldn't come, she would busy her mind with other things. A look at the wall-chrono indicated that only a half-hour had passed since she lay down. Sentiri threw on some light sweatpants and a tanktop and returned to the cockpit. The analysis of the pad was still far from finished so she busied herself with reading local news reports, looking for anything worth reading.

...

An alarm buzzed in her ear and the Chiss woman's head snapped up. She slapped the alarm and massaged her sore neck with one palm. The investigator had the forethought to set an alarm to get ready for her rendezvous with the Togorian, Venku. Still, she was surprised to have dozed off. The news reports had yielded little of interest, but boredom rarely put her to sleep. She sighed and shook off the added frustration. At least she had managed to get some sleep.

She changed again into a practical yet professional outfit: a white long-sleeve v-neck with a black jacket and black slacks. Grabbing the pad, she disembarked and walked along towards the little market, browsing the pad as she went. The data but the results were less than promising and before she reached the market, she turned the pad off and just took in the sights of the city surrounding her.

Eventually, she pulled up to a little stall in the marketplace, ordered something local that she could barely pronounce and sat at a table, waiting for her new partner.

Venku Bralor​

 

[Venku Bralor]

There wasn't a definite point at which Venku went from asleep to awake. He drifted slowly from one to the other, awake long before the four hours were over. There was too much to think about. So much had happened lately, and as Venku sat on his bed in his darkened room, he couldn't help but think about his family.

Hopefully Riil was okay. Mandalore was a mess right now, and he had yet to hear if he'd left. What would he do if Riil died? Nothing good, that's for sure. With a sigh, Venku heaved himself up before his thoughts could spiral any farther. He made his way to the passenger hold which he had cleared out and made into a sort of multi purposed room. One of which was sparing. Taking his staff from the weapons rack, he began to practice, moving slowly to work on his stamina. Togorians were a feline species, and unlike humans they weren't a pursuit predator. Meaning any long term stamina he had was hard won and hard kept. An hour of practicing left him tired and shaky, and very glad that cats couldn't sweat.

Soon he found himself heading towards the market place, dressed barefoot in a yellow wrap and loose, knee height teal pants. Maybe it wasn't the most professional outfit for most species, but it was a simple outfit to do and with the wrap he could adjust the tightness to keep hi fur from being pressed in uncomfortably. Making his way over to Sentiri, Venku ordered himself what looked like some kind of bird meat on a stick, and turned to Sentiri as he waited for them to return with the food. "Any luck with the pad?"

 

[Sentiri]

"Only if you consider not having to waste our time fortunate." Sentiri slid the pad over to Venku for their own perusal. "As far as real data or evidence goes, there's barely anything. The only things that are useful are the eye-witness accounts of objects seeming to move autonomously. But only so useful."

There were a number of articles and reports on the pad referencing the events. Some, clearly, were accurate. Others were far more questionable.

"There's no clear corollary between any of the incidents. Timing, location, distance moved, the type of object moved. There is no perceivable pattern. On top of that, there is some question as to the complete accuracy of the reports. Certain reports only had a single witness without any corroboration of unusual movement. Those accounts could be faulty due to paranoia or superstition on the part of the observer. Enough of the events were witnessed by multiple sources to confirm that there is actually a concern. One: the shifting of Drydock Station 752, was significant. Caused a significant chunk of structural damage to the dock when it collided with an asteroid. The people in charge of the dock's orbital position indicated that there was no command input to cause the movement and their accounts were confirmed after checking the station's log.

"There's definitely a problem. But, as of now, the general consensus is no more duracrete than chasing ghosts."

Venku Bralor​

 

[Venku Bralor]

Tags: Sentiri

"Hmmm... That is an issue." That was always a problem with these cases. When superstition was involved, it could become almost impossible to tell the truth from the fiction. "You mentioned some credible sources?" That was a place to start, see if there was any information they left out of the report. "We could talk to those, see if there was anything they didn't want to tell their boss." His tail flicked and Venku lapsed back into silence, thinking.

The problem was not enough duracrete evidence. But almost every superstition had a truth in it. Sure sometimes the truth was they wanted the attention, or ate the wrong kind of food, but there was always a chance. There could a small grain of truth pertinent to the case that kept repeating in a good amount, if not most of the dubious and non dubious cases. Bringing his attention back to Sentiri, he voiced his thoughts, asking if there was any small minor pieces of repeating facts in most of the cases.

No wonder the other investigators had had such a hard time finding anything, there was hardly any decent evidence. Hopefully, they would be more successful.

 

[Sentiri]

The Chiss woman nodded in response to the Togorian as a waitress carried over a steaming hot plate which she set in front of Sentiri. A silent glance and another nod conveyed Sentiri's acknowledgement and thanks and the waitress walked back to her food stand. The warm food smelled incredible and Sentiri's stomach growled in response. Some time had passed since the last time she had had Csillan cuisine. Bilbringi was one of the few places outside of the Ascendancy where the food native to the Chiss homeworld could be found. Even if the recipes underwent heavy variation under human preparation, Sentiri was appreciative to be able to have anything close to resembling the real thing. Other Chiss might not be as flattered.

She dug into the nostalgic pile of sautéed greens and roasted bird with a small bowl of broth to the side as she considered their options. The investigator spoke in between bites of food. "No. Nothing seems to repeat in any significant way. Once moved, an object has never moved again outside of normal parameters. Timestamps are spread sporadically. Not even the witnesses themselves are repeating."

With one hand, she flipped back through the data on the pad as she maneuvered her chopstick with the other. "Since there aren't any other leads, and we have no way of predicting when the next incident might occur, we don't have much choice than to start with witnesses. Since Station 752 had the greatest number of eye-witnesses. That seems as good a place as any to start."

What useful information the pad contained was in the form of normal local operations. Public transit would be faster and more convenient than flying their personal vessels from place to place. The Chiss woman said as much to her newfound partner. "There's a transit leaving a terminal not far from here in just less than a half hour. We should be on it, if that's acceptable to you?

Venku Bralor

Spoiler: OOC

Feel free to take the lead on the credible sources. I have some ideas for what is causing the mysteriously moving masses but am also more than happy to go along for the ride! Sky's the limit as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Venku Bralor]

Tags: Sentiri

He frowned. That definitely made things harder. None the less, he had a job to do. "That will work. It'll give me time to go get my gear from the ship." It wasn't anything major, just a small forensics kit. He didn't have a lab on his ship, so much of the more fine tuned stuff was out of the question. He had a finger printing kit, but never really used it unless it was a job for someone who had a matching database to insert the prints in. They were practically useless on their own. He did have a camera for any photos needed to be taken and different types of containments for any evidence he found. That way he could take it back to the ship or any labs he was allowed to use to test it.

"Although we may want to look into cases with evidence aside from witnesses. They're not the most reliable source." Truly there were thousands of ways to fool a witness, ranging from malicious to accidental.

_______________________________________
20 Minutes Later​

In the end, he arrived at the terminal early. A bulky looking backpack slung over his shoulder. He hadn't changed into his full armor, but he had on his vambraces and greaves, just in case. Shifting the backpack, he turned to look Sentiri. Hopefully the transit would show up soon, this thing was bulky, and while not exceedingly heavy, it wasn't the most comfortable to wear while in a crowded street. Typically he did without it, as most of his jobs didn't give him access to the labs needed for most types of evidence. Sure, he had stuff for most trace evidence, dna testing, enough to tell species and blood type without a database to match to. The problem often isn't so much determining what the evidence is, such as figuring out what kind of explosive were used in bombs, so much as connecting the evidence to a suspect. He couldn't exactly get a warrant to search their homes for matching shoes or shirts or the murder weapon.

A sigh escaped his lips as the transit approached. Shooting a glance at Sentiri, he made his way onto it and settled himself down in his seat, backpack held in his lap. "Hopefully the workers haven't messed with the evidence much. I really don't want to deal with extra finger prints or trace evidence."

 

[Sentiri]

Whoever had planned to put Sentiri and Venku together had put some thought into the pairing at least. Sentiri was not skilled with forensics. She was a slicer with knowledge of computers and terminals and all manner of tech. But Venku seemed accustomed to the more practical methods of investigation, methods that Sentiri could understand but not garner or interpret. Whether their pairing was the result of learning from the teams that had failed in the past, a clinical decision based on the strengths of the investigators, or just blind luck, the Chiss woman was thankful.

"Very well. Hopefully there will evidence for you to analyze instead of more dead ends. I'll see you at the terminal."

In short order, Sentiri finished the rest of her meal and deposited her tray to be cleaned. Hands in jacket pockets, she walked alone around the area for a few minutes while Venku collected his gear. Bilbringi hadn't changed much since the last time she was here. But then the system didn't have much ground for growth or much space for building. Bilbringi I was the largest asteroid in the system, hollowed out long prior for material and then repurposed as a habitation. The thick rock walls of the asteroid's exterior provided excellent and inexpensive shielding from the radiation of the system's star. But due to the limited space, there was only so much businesses could do to grow beyond their means. The other orbiting stations and asteroids were often outfitted as additional habitation. That was where most of the growth occurred. But that kind of dispersal made face-to-face communication with each individual habitat exceedingly cumbersome.

All of the businesses were geared toward mining operations, shipping operations, and shipbuilding operations. There was no need for anything else as there was no room for anything else. The commercial centers were almost all geared towards providing the locals with something to do to take their minds off their jobs and the emptiness of space. Tourism was negligible because there wasn't all that much to do or see. What little civilian traffic the system saw filtered through Bilbringi I as the main economic center and visitors mostly were mingling with those that they knew. Though, occasionally, travellers would come from other more remote places just as a way to experience something new, especially aliens like Sentiri and her sister had.

So the streets that Sentiri had walked were the same as they had been the last time she had been there. Hopefully, that would give her some edge around Bilbringi I. But her knowledge of the docks was rather limited. She would have to spend more time reading up about the other orbitals.

Sentiri found herself at the terminal before Venku, but not by much. She didn't have nearly as much gear as he, needing only her datapad as an access point to any computer or tech she might come across. They were silent while waiting for the transit to arrive, but was glad for the conversation once they were seated. The more they mulled through possibilities, the better prepared they would be for the expected and unexpected.

"The incident occurred ten days ago. As the most major disturbance related to the mystery, it seems to have been the event that immediately preceded the overseer's decision to hire another external team. Which led them to hire us. The dock itself is a major part of the shipyards though. And the executives didn't want to halt production, so the dock is being used again to full capacity."

Venku Bralor​

 

[Venku Bralor]

Tags: Sentiri

People milled across the dock. Workers shouting to each other from across the space. Everywhere he looked was another pair of feet, another hand leaning on on the wall, another dirty footprints hair trailing to floor. Someone tracking in crumbs of their lunch and taking out any possible explosive residue or dna evidence. To summarize, it was a nightmare. Venku was beyond mad. There was police tap blocking off the bigger pieces of damage, but no droids guarding them. He couldn't use any of this!
"Osik! Those di'kutla shabuirs couldn't even protect the scene right!" He tail lashed as he stalked up to a piece of taped off evidence, pushing the worker off it and flashing his licences - which verified him as a qualified forensics expert - at him before he could argue. Ranting the whole time.

"I'm gonna need the fingerprints, dna, hair samples, and so much more from just about everyone who passed through here. It's a nightmare! They better hope they have an osik court system if they want to put the perpetrators away. No self respecting court would recognize any of the evidence I get from here!"

He swung his backpack to the ground with a viciousness. Snarling at the worker that tried to cut through the scene. "They better have at least had a sketch droid come through to sketch out the crime scene and take pictures."

Carefully, he began to remove any evidence he found. clothing fibers from many of the workers uniforms were found. Most was left, though he took some to be thorough. He took pictures and set the mini sketch droid to making sketches of the structural damage. "Ka'ra, I am not getting paid enough for this. At this rate I wouldn't be surprised if they did it themselves and kept the docks open to hide the evidence."

Another worker, this one a female togruta tried to cut through the scene, only for Venku to round on her, ripping his helmet off and pinning it to his chest with his arm. A snarl built in his throat, teeth flashing and ears pinned back in an obvious threat even to those that couldn't read togorian body language. "Get. The kriff. Out!" His golden eyes seemed to glow, though the exact cause was hard to determine. Pupils were shrunk to the size of needles and he was barely restraining himself from tackling her. The only thing holding him back was the evidence he would destroy. His tail flicked, curling tight around his waist in barely brindled rage. Around him, loose tools and other items started to shake. His eyes flashed brighter, and the togruta was sent stumbling backwards at the image.

Then all haran broke loose.

His tail whipped back around, and with it the power he had unconsciously built up in the force. It was like cutting the jugular. All that pressure went spewing forth into the world. Except this time the range was much farther - and it left the evidence untouched. The togruta was sent flying. Someone's tool kit, lighter than the average sentient, went barreling across the room. Slamming into a person and eliciting a cry of pain. Other similar sounds soon followed from other debris and clangs could be heard from loose items hitting the walls and bigger, heavier things that hadn't moved.

As for the people, those within a six meter diameter went sliding back at least a meter, depending on their weight, away from the furious togorian with his glowing eyes and tarnished crime scene. Those closer, such as the togruta, were sent flying. People crashed into each other, eliciting more cries of shock and minor pain.

Silence.
Even a human, with as poor hearing as they do, could catch every stuttering breath.

With a final snarl, the togorian shoved his helmet back on with a whispered warning - one that could be heard throughout the whole blast radius and far past.

Then it was over. The glowing eyes were hidden- not gone, for they still shone brightly under the visor, and the togorian was once again kneeling at the scene, carefully bagging a piece of shrapnel, though he was sure it had been moved since it had chipped off the source.

Still, silence reigned.
Slowly, ever so slowly, the people got back up and went about their way. Almost as soon as they were out of earshot, the whispers began. The story would spread fast. Of the togorian investigator that had knocked down a crowd in their anger. Eventually being exaggerated to the whole dock, followed not long after by the rumor that he had stolen their voices to, in an attempt to get them to listen. When all it had been was pure, blinding rage. If one looked close enough, they could see the togorians shoulders sagging in exhaustion. No one looked.
Venku loosed a silent snarl bellow the helm. Let them whisper. It'll keep them out of the scene.

Spoiler: mando'a

Osik: synonym for dung​

di'kutla: useless, stupid, worthless. In this case refering to the first two​

shabuirs: plural of shabuir, translates to someone of illegitimate birth​

Ka'ra: stars, the old kings of mandalore. used in place of "god"​

haran: hell, annihilation used as the first one​

 

[Sentiri]

Station 752 was a spread out metallic structure. The center of the structure was a cylindrical compartment that rotated to provide the central chambers with something close to normal gravity. From the central cylinder, numerous spokes split off at perpendicular angles, each with a variety of docking claws or bays where starships were actively being constructed or repaired. The gravity on the spokes was generated by well-projectors or was nonexistent. The latter was true especially close to the in progress ships. Many of the other stations in the system were of similar design, but 752 was particularly large. According to the documentation provided to the investigators, over fifteen percent of Bilbringi's production occurred on 752.

As their public transit closed in on the station, Sentiri mused to herself about the situation. There was no chance that a foreman would keep production halted on such a significant portion of the production process of the system. Time equaled credits. Not the kind of credits that lined the pockets of the executives. The kind of credits that kept a company in business, credits that paid their employees, credits that kept the lights on and the lines moving. No credits? No business.

If the incident had happened ten days prior, then the investigators were nine days too late to get a look at an unperturbed scene. Still, Venku seemed bothered by that. Sentiri thought it best to leave the Togorian to his pursuit of forensic data and instead focus on the computer logs.

Once they arrived at the station, the Chiss woman sought out the foreman in charge of Station 752. The man was a dark-complexioned, short and bulky human with salt and pepper hair by the name of Chumor. He definitely had the look of someone who had began his career as a dock worker and had stuck around, climbing the ranks until he made supervisor. He had strong hands, but soft features from having spent long periods of time in spacesuits. He repeatedly complained of not having the time to deal with the investigators, but was obligated by the directorship to provide the two whatever they needed to perform their work. In Chumor's opinion, however, that didn't mean shutting the station down or stopping workers from doing their jobs. The two investigator's split up to cover their separate areas of expertise.

Since Sentiri only needed computer access, Chumor was more than content to give her access protocols to the system and left her be in the server room. She plugged her datapad into an access panel, input Chumor's security codes, and she had complete access to the Station. The Chiss slicer already had sensor logs so looking through them again would be redundant. Instead, she set queries to pull all computer commands initiated between a week before to their present time and then filtering those queries down to anything that would have to do with the station's maneuvering thrusters.

The results came back quickly. Maneuvering thrusters are only fired after a regular yearly diagnostic determines the decay rate of the Station's orbit around the system's star in order to maintain a consistent orbit. That diagnostic had occurred months prior. The maneuvering thrusters had been silent since and there was no trace of tampering. The station had not moved because of a command input or as a result of any other internal systems. Sentiri created a new query, downloading all external security camera footage to her pad for the same stretch of time as her previous query. She'd have to plug her pad into her ship's computer in order to filter through the recordings in a reasonable timeframe.

Unplugging her datapad, Sentiri left the room and bumped right into Chumor. The man was frothing with complaints. Sentiri rose a questioning brow at the man but said nothing as she walked away from the foreman. Walking through the corridors, eventually, she found her way to where Venku was working.

"How's it coming?"

Venku Bralor ​

 

[Venku Bralor]

Tags: Sentiri

Hours dragged by and Venku processed what he could. It really wasn't much and only reaffirmed what he already knew. Really, he was almost grateful when Sentiri showed up. He turned to look up at her as she spoke, his hands busy with packing up his kit.

"Not well. There was too much contamination to really get anything. Though I was able to talk to one of the higher ups, they had a sketch droid sketch out the crime scene and take some evidence before they opened the place back up. Though I doubt the evidence will be that good. Those droids are made to sketch things, and regular police droids are just for arrests and other dangerous activities, they don't have the programming to correctly gather evidence" He said nothing of his little outburst earlier. He hadn't done any damage to the base or machines, and the workers had been avoiding the yellow tape like the plague. Not to mention it was embarrassing, for a professional job like this. "I am gonna need the finger prints and hair samples from everyone who could have walked through the crime scene since the place opened back up. Not looking forward to that."

Standing up, the forensics kit was swung onto his back with a grunt. "How about you, any more luck?" Hopefully she had found something, because right now, there was absolutely nothing he could get from the scene itself. Except perhaps stiff joints and a short temper.

 

[Sentiri]

"Nothing telling. There was nothing in the computer system that indicated any kind of change or abnormal activity that would have caused the movement. Sensors noted the abnormality in distance from the sun, but had no explanation. Proximity alarms triggered. But that was it. I downloaded security footage to be filtered and analyzed to check on any abnormal movement externally but I'll need to run that through my ship's computer again."

The Chiss woman paused for a moment. The whole situation was highly unusual. In the case of Station 752, an abrupt change in direction would have caused significant damage. Because the station, like everything else in the system, was orbiting Bilbringi's star, any change in direction would create harmful shifts in acceleration. The station should have experienced something akin to running into a brick wall if in reverse or being suddenly pulled by a swiftly moving water current if tangentially. Gravity should have been interrupted or changed in intensity. Cowlings and supports should have buckled. And that was only the outcome for the station. The workers could have been jostled and thrown. And yet, that wasn't the type of movement that had occurred. From the security footage that Sentiri had seen of the Station 752 incident from external cameras loaded by passing ships, the change in direction looked as if the Station suddenly grew a rocket engine that fired for about forty-five seconds and then burned out. Yet the only damage that had occurred was from collisions with space debris.

Station 752 had been very lucky.

So what caused the movement then? And why had the resulting effect been so smooth? Where could she even begin to figure out the cause?

"Do you want to try and get the rest of your samples while I conduct some interviews?"

Venku Bralor​

 

[Venku Bralor]

Tags: Sentiri

The crowd milled about, a noticeable bubble forming around Venku and the crime scene. He was sure rumors were already rampant, and largely over exaggerated by this point. Turning to Sentiri, he listened as she spoke. Another dead end, it seemed.
"It couldn't hurt. Just try not to lead the witnesses. I'm gonna find one of the managers."

He slipped away from the chiss woman, the crowd parting, as if there was some invisible shield around him. It was annoying, but he didn't really mind. After all, it sped up the walk to the manager's office immensely. A knock reverberated off the utilitarian door, simple metal with the twi'lek's name, Kat'hepur, painted on it in bold black letters. It would have been nice if the crime scene was as easily readable as that name. He understood why it wasn't. The scene was a major point for the company, they couldn't shut it down without severely dropping production. Didn't mean it wasn't annoying though.

The door opened, revealing a older twi'lek male in a worn but well cared for business suit. "What can i do for you?' The words themselves were polite, but the crinkle of the face, the slump of the shoulders suggested annoyance.
"Hello manager Kat'hepur, I'm Venku Bralor. " The words are spoken with a mando'a accent. Which became prominent at the comma of the man's name. The glottal stop sounded abrupt compared to the twi'lek's own language. "I was hired to investigate the collision of the asteroid. Sorry to make things difficult for you, but i'm going to need the files of anyone and everyone who walked through that crime scene since it was made. Things such as species and schedule. There's more later, i'll likely need hair samples from a couple hundred, but we can work something out later. Truly, i don't mean to inconvenience you." The young togorian gives the older male a sheepish smile. Venku really didn't mean to make his life any harder, but without the information his own job was nearly impossible. Maybe he could make it up somehow.

The man didn't sigh, but his shoulders deflated even more and his mouth set in a firm line. "Follow me, I can give you the crewmen's schedules and logbooks, but anything about meeting them in particular will have to be taken up with by superior. I don;t handle all the people that pass through there."

Led into the office, Venku watched curiously as the man pulled up the files. "That's completely understandable. Every little bit helps." Files collected, Kat'hepur asks for Venku's comm code, and receives a long string of numbers in return. Minutes pass in awkward silence as the files transfer, along with the comm code of his superior. It wasn't much, but it was a start.