June 1, 5004

For the last two weeks or so, everyone has been searching for information in their own particular ways.

An-hetep-f's Findings:

One of the first things An's probing information network discovered was that he's been blacklisted in general by Petros. There are few Eduardos left that An knew personally who don't care about what Petros thinks, but there are quite a few that point-blank just don't respond to An's entreaties or send form letters in return. Any company owned by those individuals is reticent to take An on as well. Thus, at the moment, An's information network is made up largely of Justus Hazat, with a side of Rolas, Bursandra, Dulcinea, and Estancia. Any offworld contacts have yet to return information, but that is largely due to the fact that letters could have, at the fastest, just reached them in the last few days.

Some suggestions for knighthood come in from the contacts that know you're interested in it. Some suggest that serious help with the Kurgan problem would endear you to the house, getting you more Hazat to speak for you in the future. It might net you an Estancia title, but that's hardly enough to compete with Don Tyrone in status. For an overwhelming coup of personality, they suggest that your hope to get titled by the emperor is on track. In the past, Imperial titles have been granted for overwhelming service in the defense of the empire or amazing discoveries for the empire. Overwhelming defense is something like your course to uncover a world-spanning conspiracy, as there are hundreds of imperial guardsmen that protect the emperor every day without getting titled. Amazing discoveries would include lost world jumpcodes or very rare artifacts. St. Bernardo's globe only kind of counts, as it is not lost to history, merely missing from a known location. Finding the Globe would, again, give you great status with the Hazat, but its real value would be in proving the beginnings of some conspiracy involved in its disappearance. They do tell you that the only known discovery that has a guaranteed imperial title attached to it would be the grail of Vladimir's Philosopher's Stone, the long-lost artifact that allows inter-system travel without a jumpgate.

On the conspiracy front, they let you know that information is still sketchy. They can't tell you a whole lot, as most of what they know is classified at the moment, but the details don't add up. Besides the flight recording, there is an extreme lack of information about the accident. Nobody has records of the trajectory or point of origin of the ship. It could have been one of any number of military ships that came through the gate from Vera Cruz on a normal week. No one will fess up to knowing who the captain was, why it was there, what it was doing, or whether something went wrong. Without a ship ID all they can do is do an extensive inventory of ships in service and hope one is missing; if it was a ship reported lost in the Kurgan conflict, possibly commandeered by a Kurgan, then there is no way to know unless the Kurgans claim credit. While this could have been just a tragic accident where those who knew the truth died, it could also be far more sinister. This could be a new method of attack by the Kurgans, or it could be a conspiracy within the house. The Justus you talk to claim that their family was not involved, to their knowledge, but of course they *would* say that wouldn't they?

You've spent the last several days freelancing on the books of the contractors that worked cleanup at the crash site, with some side-work trying to reconcile discrepancies and insurance losses for non-Eduardo families that had assets involved in the palace. The chaos provided an excellent chance for you to cook the books; you've skimmed quite a lot of money while still actually finding a good deal that was owed to the people you're working for. Everyone is pleased, though they'd be less pleased if they knew that you made out about as well as they did. You've completely paid for your high-rolling of the last few weeks, and you've got enough stashed away in various accounts to keep you in rent, bribes, and travel for at least the next month unless something really expensive comes up.

Using your correct copy of the books, things all seem to balance. You've seen all the books involved in the cleanup, in the name of "reconciling payments", and there don't appear to be any phantom crews. Access to the site, beyond the initial chaos, was tightly controlled due to the possibility of finding very valuable furnishings in the wreckage. Found items were logged, contractors were registered, and everything seems to be accounted for once you've figured out who was doing what. There were no reports of the orb or any slag resembling the orb. Further, any item that could have hidden the orb was carefully searched by Hazat overseers and the contractors themselves. In short, if the orb was stolen, it was stolen before the crash or before the contracting crews got organized. Since the orb was prominently displayed in the throne room, in the center of the palace, logic suggests that there would have been a very slim window during the chaos after the crash and before the collapse of the throne room when the orb could have been stolen - any later and the thief would have been crushed, and the throne room was not unearthed until near the end of the cleanup. Thus, the thief is almost positively someone at the party - so tracking it down may just be a matter of finding a correct list of all attendees and servants, comparing it to the death roster, and then questioning the survivors about where they were during and after the crash. Time consuming, yes, but quite possibly more information than the noble inquiry has at the moment.

Lan's Findings:

Using his credentials to get work at a clinic near the Port Isabella main hospital (with "humanitarianism" as the cover story for why a renowned doctor would work part time), Lan has been able to uncover a lot of raw data. Especially after An mentions the usefulness of a list of the dead and survivors, Lan is able to put one together with a bit of digging. He has the list of confirmed dead, reported missing and presumed dead, and survivors. Most of the survivors list includes symptoms/injuries and contact info. While the list can't track survivors who didn't seek medical aid, or the presumed dead who might have snuck away, it is a substantial step towards narrowing down possible culprits, especially since noble lists would be likely to forget the servants and helpers that are tracked by the community hospital.

Incidentally, within the last couple of days, Lan had an interesting visit. Don Marcos Frederik Dulcinea came by once he found out about Lan's dabbling in genetics work. He began asking pointed questions about gene-locks, sequencing, and related tech. From his queries, it sounds like he may have found something interesting that's sealed with a gene-coded lock. Since those are hard to build, it's entirely possible that it could be a cache of something from the Second Republic. An artifact like that may be useful in gaining legitimacy for the group, especially if Lan can figure out how to fake-out or bypass the lock. It may require subterfuge to get the actual location from Don Marcos, however.

Vasili's Findings:

Vasili is covered in the aura of "old soldier" and tends to attract other such folk whether he tries to or not. Over the last two weeks there's been a lot of driving and a lot of waiting around in Vasili's life, and assuming he doesn't chase off the other loitering bodyguards or soldiers on leave, he learns a few interesting facts. The big S is beginning to be a problem on Aragon again after several years in which the Eduardos were particularly diligent about rooting it out. The military seems to be hit especially hard. Over the past few weeks several soldiers in the Isabella area have already been relieved of duty due to proven Selchaka use, and a number of other soldiers are suspected of using due to their slacking off of duty. Vasili's acquaintances think that maybe the chaos and the depression of not having clear chain of command is getting to them, but he gets the impression that the stuff has also been suddenly a lot easier to get a hold of recently.

Budi's Findings:

There's nothing else that jumps out at you in the news. Please give me something more specific that you're looking for or doing over the last two weeks.

Martel's Findings:

I've no real idea about how you're doing your inquiries. Gimme some specifics so I know what information to give you.