Galdate 3-16-5625

Orion's Money Belt limped into the Aldeirook system needing extensive repairs. Dr. Delia Sanders explained it would take a substantial amount of time to resolve the calamity that befell Mining Outpost UMC-249AZ-1X. She had her medical records of the incident and asked Sawyer Blackwell to provide a deposition accounting for actions of the crew. She expected that this evidence would absolve the crew of any wrongdoing and at least result in payment for fulfillment of the contract with the mining company. Sawyer agreed to provide a deposition and sent it off with the doctor's incident report. Given that it may take months to get a response, the group asked if Dr. Sanders was willing to take a position as the ship's physician. Her request was that the crew give her notice in advance if she was needed (as she expected when planetside to be off the ship), and that she be able to relay any system destination when they jumped, in order to maintain timely communication on the outcome of the mining company's investigation. The crew agreed.

In highport, the crew found an enticing job and met Walker Kinnear, an antiquities dealer, on the planet surface. As the group walked into the warehouse of their patron, they passed a woman exiting. Once inside, he requested the crew destroy all research records from a remote archeological dig. The researcher leading the excavation, a Dr. Gavin Brint, was to be captured or killed. This was a site deep in the desert, at a remote region on the planet, offering the group some flexibility in tackling the job.

Under the ruse crafted by Ethan to pretend to be a diplomatic party affiliated with an academic program, the crew visited the site to better understand where and what type of research was to be targeted. Dr. Brint freely discussed his work revolving around the great mystery. He represented scientists that believed not only did a powerful alien race spread humans and select species among the stars, but likely provided fledgling sentient species a universal primer of physics and mathematics, which would provide the foundation for jump space travel. An older site, recently excavated from remains of a previous civilization that died off on the planet (likely due to some calamity such as comet impact), had indeed provided evidence that supported his theory. While talking with the doctor, a flier landed with his research assistant emerging, Kona Frakes, the same woman the crew had seen earlier that day leave the office of their employer, Walker Kinnear.

A nighttime attack of desert creatures provided an opportunity for the crew to execute their plan. The sparse security was eliminated by the beasts, and using malfunctioning sentry lasers as a cover (along with some carefully planted excavation explosives), the physical destruction of the site was attained. Dr. Brint's research data spool drive was in their possession, with the crew discussing the fate of the scientist, whether to kidnap him or not. Kona resolved it by calmly shooting Dr. Brint in the head. Immediately after, her face was overtaken by shock. She dropped to the ground on her knees and gave an immense wail of grief.

The crew of Orion's Money Belt quickly vacated the destroyed camp with Kona Frakes in tow. She was at a loss for her actions. She remembered seeing them after her brief discussion with Kinnear to arrange a sale of some artifacts recovered from the dig. She distinctly remembers meeting him later that same afternoon in a private business center room, but afterwards there were some slight gaps in her memory. She had no idea why she killed Dr. Brint other than some unconscious compulsion to do so.

At the main capital the group split off, one to secure the remaining half of their payment for the job, the other to get a medical grasp of what had happened to Kona. After a thorough medical examination, no obvious indication could explain Kona’s behavior or lack of memory. The slightest inclination was some over activity of various regions in the brain, but this excitation was sparse and diminishing. The crew gave her contact information of Grand Dame Vera Allister, and explained that the Imperium noble had someone close to her that experienced a similar incident. She would likely be sympathetic and offer Kona help. Kona agreed and secured her own passage to the Intherald system.

The other party visited Kinnear's office to see it being ransacked by some underworld thugs. Apparently they were supposed to meet for a deal and Kinnear never showed. The group left the warehouse and did their own investigation, discovering the previous night he went to an industrial transportation hub. Once there, they discovered law enforcement were investigating an apparent suicide. Kinnear appeared to have stepped out onto the tracks of a freight transport, killing himself instantly. The crew further traced his movements and contacts prior. His meeting with Kona looked innocuous enough, with video footage of him entering a private room, and several minutes later Kona following inside. After approximately five minutes she left, and then he left the same room minutes later. It appeared they were the only individuals that entered the private meeting room, but Nexus 7 discovered a strange energy spike several minutes after Kinnear had left. It was only milliseconds and the slightest of a power surge, but the android was convinced something happened after the two people had met and then parted ways.

Looking through Kinnear's recent contacts, he had a communication with a mysterious Mr. Seni twice. This was once several days prior to him posting the job opportunity on USIN, and the same day that he met Kona Frakes (later killing himself that night). The group decided to further investigate the hotel business center to learn more about this Mr. Seni only to be confronted by the underworld thugs they had met earlier. After a brief firefight in public (that ended in Sawyer resolving the conflict with extreme prejudice), they decided it best to make a speedy jump out of the system. While they suspected they might have some means to explain the dig site destruction due to being overrun by desert beasts, and claim Dr. Brint died from friendly fire, the public firefight outside the business center would likely bring them into the spotlight of law enforcement.

Orion's Money Belt had only sparse repairs, and still needed more extensive work, so the crew sought to get as much distance as they could from the Aldeirook system. Making a copy of Dr. Brint's research data, the group did a deeper investigation of his findings and were astounded. Not only did it provide further proof that an alien race provided an evolving species with a universal primer of various mathematical and physics theories, but that an additional jump space dimension exists. It was always a theory that more jump dimensions were possible beyond the known six (translating to established jump drive technologies which traversed them). But the ancient alien hieroglyphics indicated there was also a seventh jump dimension. While the excavated work only presented a basic theorem. It could be further studied and extrapolated to define this other dimension, and likely result in the creation of another jump drive.

The crew made several jumps, spending weeks in deep space, to arrive in the Cambrinocon system. The crew landed in the starport in hopes of a brief respite to conduct repairs and look for employment opportunities.

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