RP: Pisces Episode 01 - 'Under A Blind God'

Yaichiro's eyes narrowed as he heard the beating. With his height, he could actually see the heart over the edge of the box, and found the situation disgusting...how long before an innocent person was killed? He pushed this to the back of his mind...

"I and my team are still required free access to the station to get the KAMI's sensors installed, though I understand if added measures are necessary...I still recommend those tracking cards."


Yuichi, fortunately, didn't have enough height to see the beating heart in its box; but indeed heard it...

"Is someone beating a drum? It sounds funny..."

"Why naturally anyone with medical knowledge is suspect; you just happen to be the only one whose whereabouts we can be sure of at any given time. As for that house arrest was only a suggestion; I'll leave it to the chief of security to make the call on that."

Chief sighed and rubbed her temples, coughing slightly. "Too much stress."

Caine sighed, leaning against the wall, he could hear the beating as well but didn't want to see what was causing it. Ugh talk about disgusting, whoever did that is one fucked up individual, seriously. He thought and sighed. "I guess we'll have to get an ID on who's that is and turn the station upside down and backwards to find who did it." He said, his blue eyes still looking away from the box. Personally he was wondering why nobody had done that just yet instead of sitting here spazzing over it.

Terry could not immediately see what was in the package, although the sound of a heart was familar too him. How many people would not recognise that double-beat? However he could not see what was in the box, for all he knew it could be come practical joke which was elliciting an exsessive response - but as he did some quick jumps to look over the shoulders of some of the people in front of him he saw the heart beating and began to understand the situation. Of course it would have been a lot easier if someone actually explained it to him ...

"I am a suspect, then, in lieu of all rational logic?" Delight was not enjoying this situation at all. Someone had been killed expertly, yes. He understood that. But him? A suspect? "You do realize that I only arrived a few minutes ago, correct?"

He yielded after a moment, realizing with a start he was being somewhat viciously confrontational with superior officers. "...can't you just track me electronically, or something?"

Kitty shook her head at Yuichi. "...no, not a drum. Come on, let's go..."

She led him away from the medbay almost feverishly, now not caring so much whether the Taisa acknowledged her request or not.

With an exasperated growl that encompassed pretty much everyone Chief rubbed her temples some more and coughed again. "Look, I'm just a logistics expert given the job of being the XO for an entire station when my last job was a warehouse in the Doldrums. If anyone more experienced wants the task I'd gladly give it up and go back water-side."

This was the first time that Chief had openly expressed her reluctance to assume second-in-command status of something like a star fortress; it also promised to not be the last. "Any volunteers?"

Yaichiro raised an eyebrow before speaking to the superior officer in a carefully measured tone, intended to show respect.

"With all due respect Chief...This station likely isn't expected to normally deal with this sort of thing. I doubt any of the people of the appropriate rank envy your position at this time anyway, assuming any have the experience to handle this better...also, this may not a topic to be discussed in front of lesser officers and soldiers, rather just those you may wish to select to replace you. We can't show any signs of weakness here...lives are riding on it, Ma'am."


Yuichi blinked as he was gently whisked away...

"But...I like drums!"

For most of these proceedings, Marina had been quite absent. Though no one noticed (she could be surprisingly sneaky), she had gone off to the side of the room and grabbed a receptacle so her vomit wouldn't go everywhere.

A heart...a human heart... The atrocity, the sheer madness of it all disgusted the Taisa. How a person could do such a thing, and taunt the crew while doing it, was something she couldn't hope to comprehend - and something she hoped she never would.

Tears began to stream down her eyes; not of sorrow for the one who was lost, but of fear for those who had not.

"In any case we should analyze those notes more closely, they may provide some clue as to what this person is really trying to do." And, Tetsuko was forced to disagree with the assessment that "you touched the box, the prints are ruined;" she'd been with the captain for awhile, had seen how she handled the package.

"The perpetrator's prints may still be intact...run a full spectrum on the box with whatever equipment you have. And hey, Del? Sorry about the house arrest thing. I'm a little...paranoid you might say."

Yaichiro glanced over the note, careful not to touch it, and his eyes narrowed...

"First, a pair of eyes while KAMI was disabled...and now a beating heart and a reference to the 'life-blood' of the station bringing 'sustinence' to all sections?"

He thought a moment.

"Sounds almost like these body parts equate to systems of the station, and that this one is indicitive of the HSCS system...that's the best I can think of. I strongly suggest keeping a close eye on the HSCS system. It's already strained from the added people, and any manipulation could cause...issues. The 'high blood pressure' could be a reference to increasing the HSCS pressure to dangerous levels. I am not certain I am interpreting correctly, but it's the best I can think of...does anyone else have possible interpretations?"



Yaichiro then saw Marina heaving in a receptacle, and his eyes softened. He was uncertain what to do for a moment, but soon walked over and began to carefully rub her back as she vomited...

"Doctor...please get a mild sedative for the Taisa..."

Caine looked over at Yaichiro and blinked a bit, giving him an agreeing nod. "It's totally possible." he said. "I think it's pretty clear that this psycho wants to get found." Caine said. "But not by any of us, but by her" he said thumbing over to marina. "It'd be easier if we could somehow contain this situation further, perhaps by closing the blast shutters and try to corner him before he hurts more people." Caine said loud enough to get heard, or so he hoped.

This just had to happen at a time when we don't have constant monitoring on this heap. He thought "Perhaps I can get the people to help us by reporting anything suspicious or anyone besides the crew heading for the Co's office.."

A warm pair of hands clasped onto Marina's back; she expected it to be the Chief (she was a caring, motherly woman, after all), but found that it was instead Yaichiro. The action still prompted a smile from the Taisa, though it quickly disappeared as she got to business.

"...enough. I won't allow any more people to die, so long as my heart still beats in my chest. Kage-juni, Terry-shosa, you two are to investigate the possibilty of HSCS sabotage and create the card-tracking system using KS cards as identification devices. Sarri-chui, Nozomi-taii, you are to install and fit this system on as many areas of the ship as possible. The Custodians are to monitor movements into and out of each checkpoint."

"Ionoche-shoi, you're on civilian damage control in case of backlash. The doctor will examine the package for any possible evidence. The rest of you, your teams are now under the direct command of Kage-juni and Terry-shosa, and I don't care about your rank."

"This killer's days are numbered. Make it happen, soldiers."

Camellia's eyes narrowed, both at someone else being told to investigate the apparent double homicide, but also at being told she was going to be doing meanial labor at that . "I'm not an engineer." She stated simpley in reply to HER being told to do that sort of work.

"I'm a former armor pilot, and currently you're out of the loop head of security. Not a mechanic, or an engineer." She said, making it perfectly clear she has no formal training in mechanics at all. "And now you're handing this investiagation off to non-security personelle while you tell ME to install card readers?"

Her only visable eye was twitching sharply, she was down right livid with anger over the fact Marisa apparently didn't even want this investigation to follow through. "I'm begining to think you want this to go on unsolved!"

Marina fumed. She hadn't even listened properly! Quickly, and quite hard, Marina backhanded her intelligence officer across the face. "You're a security chief. Start acting like it. I need you to organize the surveillance of the tracking checkpoints so that we can maximize the coverage. Or do you always only listen to the surface of your orders?"

"As for the supposed handing off of the investigation...the best people suited to handle any cases of equipment sabotage are the people who install the equipment themselves. I doubt you know enough about hemosynth to even begin to know how an attacker might use it against us."

"But all this is moot...question my orders like that one more time and I'm throwing you into the brig. Is that clear, Chui?"

Yaichiro cleared his throat.

"Everyone...I believe it is time for a brief lesson on Hemosynthetic Fluid as applied to a Starship or Station. Now....unlike the Hemosynthetics in the regeneration pods in the medbay, which is the connotation you are used to, there are actually three types of Hemosynthetic Fluid unsed in normal vessels and stations.

HSCS-1 is what most think of as Hemosynthetic fluid. It repairs organic damage, can make food packets and water, and can disolve objects. This fluid id bright red, and looks like blood.

HSCS-2 is a Waste recycle-disposal Hemosynthetic Fluid and is very dangerous. It can destroy organics, and is deadly if one is exposed to it. This type is brown....don't touch this type if you see it.

HSCS-3 is the last type and carries fetomachines to effect repairs to the station if damaged on the fly."


Yaichiro's head tilts up to the group, and he now looks serious.

"All three are crucial to Life Support function. Due to the increase in our population, HSCS-1 and HSCS-2 are already being taxed, and HSCS-3 is being pushed hard due to construction purposes. Manipulation of ANY of the three types could cause issues, especially if HSCS-2 were let loose into the environment...I highly recommend we limit access to the Hemosynthetic Conduit System to people of Santo Juni or higher, safe allocated amounted of HSCS-1 to Medical personnel."

Camellia went to the floor hard from the strike, the taste of copper on her lips. After taking a second to right herself and stand, Camellia rose from the floor, her hand over the cheek that was struck. She silently listened to Marisa, and then to Yaichiro, then silently excused herself from the room.

Terry nodded. That was a fairly good layman's explanation about the properties of hemosynthetic fluid.

"The largest problem currently is that the Hemosynthetic system runs all the way through the station - literaly hundreds of kilometres worth of conduits. Any of these could be used to by a sufficiently skilled operator to wreck havoc. I would advise we investigate a system by which we can monitor any penetration into the hemosynthetic conduits. I don't think the idea of HSCS-2 being released in large quantites around the station is an idea any of us cherish."

"...Ionoche-shoi, follow Sarri-chui and subdue her," Marina instructed. "She is to be placed in the brig until we can reprimand her properly."

Yaichiro looked to Terry.

"The first and easiest step would be to monitor HSCS pressure in each area. If there's an increase or decrease in pressure, or the wrong kind of HSCS, we know something's up. Also, we can seal off access to those of a specific rank. In conjunction with the tracking for the KS cards it's a start...though I agree we need a more preventitive measure."

Caine winced, he wanted to block the backhand for Cam but didn't. He was screaming at himself on the inside, his pointed ears ringing from the momentary surge. "Cam...." he said softly and watched his friend recover. He was losing respect for the CO quickly with how she was acting, by shoving out orders for jobs that people didn't have experience in doing. When she instructed him to subdue his friend Caine groaned to himself. "But ...." Caine started and watched her go. "Fine." He said and started after Cam.

Once out of the room he sighed, thankful to be out of the woman's presence. AFterward he looked for Cam and spotted her nearby and walked over to her "Cam, come on let's just go peacefully so the civilians don't flip out at least." he said to her, putting ahand on her shoulder.