Hiding in plain sight

[Jen]

[member="Fos Misao"] :: [member="Alicia Drey"]​

(So this thread is sort of a clue gathering thread, I will tag a few other people that will hopefully reply and then by the end Jennifer will based on that and the other clues left behind, propose a conclusion)​

Ever since Jennifer- or well, Node- had been contracted to find Damien Northstar, one thing had from the very beginning been apparent. The man was dead. Every single source worth any credibility had said so.

What initially had made Node suspicious of the true importance of the job was that even though a bounty on information regarding Damien Northstar already had been posted on the bounty boards, Node had personally been contacted and afterwards hired to pursue it. The contractor was Alicia Drey, a seemingly normal business owner and heart filled philanthropist that somehow, for some reason, shared values with the Formos based criminal group that had posted the bounty. It was odd, to say the least.

Drey was an interesting individual, both due to the type of jobs she had contracted Node to pull off, but also due the apparent and quite obvious power play she was partaking in. It almost seemed like she was playing dejarik with the galaxy. Nevertheless, she was the one putting credits on the table for the job, meaning that Node would have to investigate her at another point in time.

It was such, that under all other circumstances Node would after discovering Damien’s current status of being dead, she would simply have found a few documents that would have agreed with the declaration of his death and send them to her contractor for payment and moved onto more important matters. However someone had left a cryptic message on the bounty that the Formos based group had posted. Someone, that after the appropriate slicing on Nodes part had turned out to be an individual named Terrence Bossman.

The message had given clues to Northstars nature that Node had during her first round of research had been unable to dig up anywhere else. According to Terrence Bossman, Damien had went by a number of titles and nicknames. He was apparently also one of those hooded individuals that waved around red glow sticks and possessed some abilities in some thingy-ma-jig that Node was not even sure what meant. Molecular manipulation? Alchemy? Mentalism? She would have to contact someone that could explain that stuff to her…

A few days later​

Jennifer sat in her darkened room on Nar Shaddaa. For once, it was somewhat clean. She had been sober long enough to begin to find the mess disgusting, which in turn had made her use two hours on cleaning the small one room apartment. It had only been a day ago that she had contacted the supreme chancellor of the Republic or as she preferred, Jack, with the request of getting to talk to someone that knew about the force related topics at hand. He was after all an individual with quite a few contacts. In addition, as it stood, Jennifer was not really in the mood to try and get in contact with any of her old “friends” that were in that whole force thing. It would be a dumb move. It would incite them to come looking for her or other silly things. No one wanted that to happen.

Upon having planned the meeting with Jack, she had browsed through her small directory of stolen identities and found a small time artifact hunter by the name of Alex Dijamia. She was a little older than Jennifer was, but not by much. She had been unofficial been kidnapped while on an artifact hunt, yet her information had been up for sale and anyone was yet to file her as missing. Jennifer decided that it would be a good cover identity to use in case she needed to disclose any information.

Nevertheless, the request for a meeting had been forwarded to the Jedi institution and if the request had been handled properly, the meeting was set to begin in a few minutes. All Jennifer needed to do now was to call the holo number she had been given.

After having double checked she had set up all the proper security measures, Jennifer called her contact. What would show on the other side of the connection, would be the blury shape of Jennifer. However, almost as if a shadow had been thrown at her, no features would be visible, darkened either by the room or some tampering with the holo projector that recorded her, only her outline truly visible against the black backdrop of the room.

[member="Ylva Alfrún"]​

 

[Ylva Alfrún]

Ylva had arrived in one of the secure communication chambers of the Jedi Academy at the request of the Council. The request itself had been rather cryptic, and Ylva only knew going in that an expert of a certain field of abilities in the Force was needed to act as a consult on behalf of the Jedi. Upon inquiring as to the identity of the client, Ylva had only been told that the request came from the Chancellor's offices. Initially prepared to decline, this news had piqued Ylva's interest, and she had agreed to partake in the matter.
She gathered her robes and sat at the center terminal after securing the door behind her. With a datatablet resting on the table for reference to the Archives, Ylva logged onto the console and established a connection with the contact information she had been provided by the Council. After several moments, the connection was secured, encrypted, and opened. The holoprojection that appeared at the center of the terminal took a shadowy, humanoid form. Ylva could distinguish no facial features, only adding an additional layer to the curiosity of this request.
"Greetings," Ylva began. "I trust this communication finds you well, whomever you are." It was clear the client did not want to bother with proprieties, so Ylva skipped such things and cut to the chase. Her tone was crisp and curt. "I was told you require consultation on a specific field of Force knowledge. I likely have the insight you are looking for, but first I must ascertain what you intend to do with this information."

[member=Jen]​

 

[Jen]

Light sprung from the holoprojector, its blue glow spreading across the darkened room as the shape of an elderly near-Human Epicanthix appeared in front of Jennifer. At first glance, nor second, would she have been able to differ the woman between that of an ordinary Human or an Epicanthix.

Nevertheless, the Jedi had chosen this scholar because of her abilities and that was all that currently mattered. As she was greeted, Jennifer returned the gesture by a short nod, an invisible smile appearing on her invisible features as they quickly proceeded, ignoring the formalities.

As Jennifer spoke, even those that knew her best would not have been able to recognize her voice. Through Ylva’s communications equipment, a bizarre digitalized voice would be heard, as if it had been send through a standard 3PO vocabulator, emotionless, matter of factly. “To put it simply; I’m doing research-“ Well, that wasn’t far off from the truth: “-and have encountered subjects that I am currently unable to obtain information about through any other means…” She paused for a second, as if judging whether to tell about the rest of the so called situation. “The reason for my diligence is due to the region of space I’m currently in. Here, I would rather not have it known that I associate with the Republic. Or investigate force related subjects.”

[member="Ylva Alfrún"]​

 

[Ylva Alfrún]

Ylva arched a wrinkled eyebrow in response to the distorted words that sounded over her speakers. With an equally wrinkled frown, Ylva expressed her clear distrust. Still intrigued, however, Ylva remained a part of the conversation. "Considering the lengths to which you've gone to shroud yourself, I'm sure terms like research are merely euphemisms for other things. Yet most knowledge is meant to be shared, so by all means, continue. Tell me what it is you need to know, and I'll decide from there if it is something I can bequeath to a stranger." She nodded for the individual to state their inquiry.

[member=Jen]​

 

[Jen]

Jennifer nodded slowly, she had not exactly prepared for the skepticism, but she could understand why the Jedi was wary. Information was power, after all. Preparing to speak once more, Jennifer reminded herself to talk as sophisticated as possible, that would display some sort of ethos, hopefully. “Thank you. I appreciate the trust a lot. These subjects are mostly related to what one of those sith things with proficiency in the subject would be able to do. I need to know what molecular manipulation is, what alchemy is and what mentalism is.”

[member="Ylva Alfrún"]​

 

[Ylva Alfrún]

Ylva shifted her hips uncomfortably in her seat, something the holocam would not pick up. She brought a wrinkled hand to her mouth, coughing slightly into her fist, and glanced at her datatablet. Typing in a few commands off screen, Ylva drew from a selection of annotated papers she'd written over the years. She still had no idea who this individual was, but they came as a reference from the Supreme Chancellor, something Ylva had not forgotten. She would dig into the details of the referral later, but now decided to share the knowledge being sought. Ylva laced her fingers together and rested them on her stomach, leaning back in her chair as she began her recounting.
"Sith Alchemy...Mentalism...these are a class of knowledge that finds its way in and out of history. Molecular manipulation is something entirely independent of the Sith, they did not discover it, nor do they often utilize it. The machinations of Sith ideology favor individual strength and power, such subtle talents are beyond their scope of interest as they ply for the command of entire civilizations. At its core, molecular manipulation would be more accurately labeled particle manipulation, as those most in command of this knowledge are capable of influencing the activity of atomic and subatomic particles themselves. However, only three have ever been alluded to having accomplished such a goal, and such allusions are suspect to historians, as no first hand record of such beings exists. In essence, the ability is a cousin to the Art of the Small."
Ylva reached up and scratched her brow lightly. "Such detailed manipulation consists of focusing ones presence within the Force to such a finite point that they can control entities, and of course molecules, atoms, on a minute scale. It's akin to zooming in on a holoimage in order to manipulate its content via individual beams of light projections. Of course, this is much more complex, and requires an ability to focus that few beings can ever attain. Such individuals risk losing their minds, as conscious comprehension of such a drastically different plane of existence is difficult for the typical sentient brain to shoulder, much less exist within, even for short periods of time." She paused for a moment, in case the client had any new, specific questions thus far.

[member=Jen]​

 

[Jen]

The obscure shadow figure went quiet for a second, a long fingered hand and thin forearm appearing on the holo to scratch what was presumeably the cheek of the individual.

To Jennifer, all these force-related topics had always been nonsense. They claimed people could do all sorts of incredible miracles, yet often enough no one that was currently alive was able to do them. Surely most of such records had to be fakery. Nevertheless, she knew that on some level or another there was some legitimacy to their abilities. After all, Jennifer herself had witnessed things float and pushed about. If one tried to further interpret on such tricks, one could imagine them taken to the extreme. Perhaps.

”Huh. So what you’re saying is one could change.. Ermm..” A quiet laugh was heard as the gaze of the shadow seemed to look about. ”A soda can into a bantha?”

Perhaps the reach out had been all for nothing after all. At least it didn't seem like a lot of this could tie into the death of the man. Either way, it would not put Jack in jeopardy as she had made sure almost all virtual traces of the request send to the Jedi were gone and that the request transferred with Jacks' approval was just another standard secretary procedure. Hopefully that would cover their rears and make sure further investigation was dropped.

[member="Ylva Alfrún"]​

 

[Ylva Alfrún]

Ylva considered the other speaker's analogy briefly, then arched her eyebrows and nodded in concession. "Essentially, though the likelihood of managing that specific example is...rather dim." Ylva keyed her datatablet once more and moved on to the topic of Sith Alchemy, of which she was particularly knowledgable. "Alchemy on the other hand is a more ethereal practice, though shares a root with particle manipulation. The nature of the practice has more to do with the Force itself, however, which has mystified its particulars. Sith Alchemy allows one to imbue a variety of properties into materials, objects, relics, what-have-you. Oft times the driving factors are emotional more so than quantifiable. You are not manipulating particles so much as channeling certain currents of the Force through a filter of your own desires into an object. Sith commonly alchemize their physical weapons, like vibroblades. The energy alchemized within these objects, as they are the energies of the Force itself, retain their potency for a time in proportion to the intensity of the passion that drives them. A Sith with a true purpose will be capable of imbuing an object with a lasting characteristic, whereas someone with a weak will or scattered conviction may only manage to craft an object that maintains its properties as long as the individual remains alive. Revenge is a weak motivator, for instance; it's driven by unfocused rage. This volatility can bestow a certain might to an object like a sword, though may weaken the blade."

[member=Jen]​

 

[Jen]

Weeks later ...​

​

After weeks of non-productivity where half of her time had been spend in a hallucinating coma and the other half in a depressive sobbing state, Node decided to get back on the case and further investigate Damien “Northstar” Daemon. Just so that she could seal shut the casket for good and possibly get rid of the weird stench that surrounded this entire dealing.

After spending an hour digging through corners of the HoloNet, another used on eating cereal, one of the first useful things that was revealed about Damien was that he had been the CEO of JAC and had even started it. Such a clue lead Node to investigate the company. It turned out, that they had financial success and prosperous days until they suddenly, without warning they had decided to merge with Merr-Sonn Incorporated, a company that on the corporate food-chain were much below JAC. One did not need a diploma in economics to see it did not make much sense. Merr-Sonn kept its name and its CEO, while Damien Daemon seemingly did not get any benefits from the merger.

This only made Node even more skeptical and in order to continue the clues left behind by Damien, she decided to attempt to get access to Merr-Sonn’s servers with the intent to rummage through them for any possible information on the merge or Damien in general.

Taking the proper cautionary means so that she could not be tracked, routing all traffic through the Cryptnet and physical relays set up on Nar Shaddaa, Node set up a HoloNet tracked call to the secretary of the Merr-Sonn headquarters on Tera Lush. As soon as the call was picked up on the other end, she disconnected, watching the call information and holonet addresses appear on the screen of her computer.

Considering that she was not about to blindly launch an attack on the server architecture of Merr-Sonn and did not want to leave traces of her own style on the servers that in the end could end up linking Node to Phoenix or any of her other net handles, she would for this job bring out the big, pre-manufactured, guns. In this case, Blue Phoenix. It was always bittersweet to use the software coded by her old friend. She wondered what he spent his time with these days…

​

She found that the security was rather rudimentary to bypass and via some advanced slicing measures Node was able to inject the malware into the system through her remote HoloNet connection and directly onto the secretaries’ computer. By now using the infected computer as a link between her and the Merr-Sonn servers, Node was able to almost freely dig through the structure, needing to break some encryption barriers every now and then. After hours of work, she was able to procure a very interesting piece of information.

What she found hidden at the upper layers of the database was a stored recording of a meeting between Damien and a man by the name of Valashu, the owner of Merr-Sonn Incorporated. The recording contained the verbal contract and criteria of the merging between the JAC and Merr-Sonn. During said meeting, it was disclosed that while Valashu would on the surface seem to be the sole owner, Damien would secretly keep 50% of the company and a monthly big fat paycheck to go with it.

The really interesting part however, was that the records related to the recording showed that by the date Damien was declared dead, his ownership percentage was transferred to an individual by the name Fos Misao...

Spoiler

Due to Jen not being able to put the clues together of Damien having switched bodies, she was not able to claim that Fos and Damien are the same person. She would only know that it is very probable that Fos Misao knew Damien Northstar. It is that information she would send to Alicia and be expected to be paid for. @Alicia Drey @Fos Misao