Twisted Starpaths

Posted on Sun Jun 26th, 2022 @ 5:40pm by Commander Raiden Kosugi & Commander Liala Ziyal & Lieutenant JG Eira Cortez & 1st Lieutenant Kyle Walken & Captain Callisi Verra

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Holo suite USS Gladiator
2158 words - 4.3 OF Standard Post Measure

//ON//

In another holodeck, Raiden looked at the various star charts that had been brought into play. At the moment it seemed like this was more of finding a needle in a haystack, trying to figure out a pattern in the strikes of the Unholy Trinity.

"Okay so the Gladiator got hit in this section of space, and then there was the booby trapped Civilian ship over here." a light shown from Raiden's hand as he utilized a laser pointer to hit the various areas he was referring to.

"Just how far and wide did they end up going on their search for blood?" Raiden asked, as he pulled up even more maps just to do some comparisons. He looked at those who were there as part of this investigative team.

"Is there a central area that these people could have come from?" Raiden asked in a somewhat rhetorical question.

"Possibly." Callisi was the next to speak up, "But that really all depends on what they do with the blood. If it's just a part of some twisted ritual at the scene, then that's one thing. If they bring it back for some reason, then they'd have to have the equipment to transport it while keeping it... I don't know, fresh?" she offered with half a shrug. She wasn't a hematologist. "Though if I were a blood cultist, I'd want to do the harvesting as far from my temple as I could, to keep it hidden for as long as possible."

"So the question is, where else have they hit? Right now we have a line. she motioned to the two data points.

"Well we are on a starship in the system of now two attacks, has anyone thought to look into their logs to see if any other attacks of the same nature have been recorded. Because if they are, we can use that to narrow down potential locations of their 'Temple.'" Walken was sure to use air quotes around the temple.

"If the vector of their departure post-attack was recorded we could narrow down the search some." the cyclopean rabbitess offered, looking closely at one of the points in space. "Either to a hub, a staging ground, or back to their... as you put it.... their temple." a pause, "Either that, or see if their approach was recorded, unless it was an ambush in the truest sense."

"They always seem to hit along major trade routes." Liala broke from her deep thought. "They go where they know there is going to be good 'traffic', so they must have a copy of the routes ships take to go through sectors nearby." She paused for a moment. "And I have noticed that all the attacks seem to be on the Human species. Maybe it is someone with an agenda against them?" she asked the room.

"An agenda maybe? However maybe since we are close enough to the base, we can correlate the routes even more." he looked upwards towards the ceiling. "computer what are the last attacks that happened in the nearest sector starting near the star base then expand from there." Raiden looked towards Ziyal, "Maybe if we use the station as our center point we may also find a clue there to chase down?"

"Also I am wondering if they utilized the trojan horse method as to luring ships in in an attempt to gain more access to others. Much like they did at that Cargo ship we came across."

"Makes sense, most people would go out of the way if a distress beacon of some kind were picked up." The marine followed with.

"It actually *is* the oldest trick in the book." the cyclopean rabbitess offered. "Maybe search the logs to see if anyone logged a distress call or a deviation from an intended course." she suggested, cupping her chin in thought. "I hate having to think like a bandit."

"Sadly when we get tasked with something like this we have to think like them, Captain. Old Earth general once said if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." Walken quoted Sun Tzu as he rubs his temples.

Thinking over what Calissi and Liyala said, Raiden spoke up, "Computer, bring up distress calls along major trade routes, and radiating from that to a few parsecs outward? And mark the deviations from the normal routes"

The computer brought up the maps in the holo-deck the attacks not seeming to fit a pattern.

"There are quite a few but... what is the connection here? Any ideas how this could be accomplished without being traced? Warp signatures, any traces of them." Raiden asked.

"Stolen stealth tech? Could be possible that their temple may be close enough that they might not use warp, or they go on impulse for a day before they warp." The marine offered up his very limited knowledge.

"That is truly an outstanding tactic!" Raiden exclaimed, giving a look of respect towards Walken and also wishing he had thought of that. "Go on impulse then go to warp after a day or so. "Brilliant. And even the possibility of stolen stealth tech would actually make sense of how they are able to just sneak in and attack. Will have to ask the Captain if he knows of that possibility and even search the records."

"The fact that it didn't occur to us until this long is something they're possibly banking on." Callisi mentioned, giving Walken a nod. "They wouldn't need stealth technology if their cloak is 'no one would ever look here'." she mused aloud. "The modern day variant of hiding in plain sight."

"That makes sense." Raiden mused. "If they did do that, it would make things a bit more difficult to trace them." he frowned. "May have to expand a bit more in the search pattern."

He turned to the others. "Have any of you encountered these Unholy Trinity Zealots before?"

Callisi shook her head, "No. I've seen terrible, but nothing like this."

"Been neck-deep in Gorn before coming here, they did some terrible things but never dealt with this group before." Walken answers.

Raiden took a mental note as to what Walken had said. At last a bit more information about the enigmatic Marine CO. That man certainly is locked up tight, though at times it seemed there was a sort of friendly competition or rivalry or.. Raiden wasn't too certain.

Raiden mentally shrugged and turned his attention to Liala "What are your thoughts, have you run into these people before."

Liala shook her head. "I have not. I know the Captain and Timia have, and Emmah. I know them to have experience with this group before but I haven't had any direct contact with them apart from what I saw earlier." she shivered a little as the feeling of what she had seen washed over her.

"I believe they have a need, a compulsion almost, to collect the blood from the bodies of innocents... but to them they may not be perceived as such. Their name suggests religious connotations, maybe they believe they are doing good, or punishing those they believe to be wicked. From the data we have gathered it does appear Humans are the targets... maybe looking into how many Human led vessels are in the area might lead us to a potential target of theirs." Liala offered her thoughts.

"What about you, Lieutenant Cortez?" Raiden turning his gaze towards the white haired operations officer.

"I know it may be a bit of a longshot in saying this, but could it be possible that they have spies hidden on ships along the trade routes?" Cortez looked to Raiden and the others. "Throughout history there have always been cults that used this tactic to achieve similar goals." She didn't know how helpful her bit of information was but thought back to her own time of being a spy and the techniques she used.

Kyle sighs, "We should also consider calling in another ship or two to assist us. Let's be fair, limited functions on the ship, only a portion of the crew, I don't even know yet if I have enough equipment to arm all my marines should we find them or they find us. If it comes down to it I will just start breaking chairs and give my people makeshift cudgels from the remains."

"Let's just hope it doesn't come to that, Lieutenant." Cortez offered with a slight grim look at the thought of it.

Callisi gave the matter some thought, "So, what kind of organization, religious or otherwise.... who called themselves the Unholy Trinity? Wouldn't you think they'd hold themselves as the Holy Trinity?" she asked, "Maybe just a mistranslation. Getting back on track, they might not need spies on the trade routes if they have something to monitor the routes. Or maybe they're listening to their own distress calls and when they go quiet, they jump."

"I think that is more of a name that those who have come across them would call these zealots." Raiden remarked. "And that also sounds to me like another plausible way for them to keep track of their decoys. Can't leave any stone unturned. Okay, computer bring up anyone else who has come across the Unholy Trinity onboard the Gladiator. Also, check the species ratio on the ships that have been attacked."

Raiden paused as he realized he hadn't answered Walken even though the Marine hadn't posed a question. "The Arcadia is around as well and can help out, also, I am sure that your marines will have the weapons that they need."

There is a chirp which echoed in the holo suite, as a voice coutd be heard. "Report log of Petty Officer Tia Smithy. I saw what happened to my crewmates on the USS T'sul, and I noticed the change in one or two of the crew, something was off about them. They didn't seem themselves at all. Once friendly person, now not friendly at all. One normally unfriendly too friendly, one of them was a superior officer. Now no longer around, this Trinity, this Unholy Trinity is awful why are they doing this?"

Raiden spoke up. "Computer end log." he frowned, "It looks like there were spies as well."

"Willingly or unwillingly spies thou, drastic personality changes could mean they were replaced or maybe someone screwed with their heads," Walken stated.

Callisi silently agreed with Raiden's assessment. It may very well have been a moniker they TOOK rather then they MADE. "So, sleeper agents of some form or another. Possibly there to monitor the ships in question, root out potential targets, and possibly ensure that the targets wind up in a position to investigate the trap." a pause, "So we have the who, the how, and then where, but not the where to... these agents would need to be in contact with the ambush party, if for no other reason than to report their position and readiness to commit. Any logs of unusual communication logs, maybe during odd hours or maybe even bundled up with conventional transmissions? Like the burst comm of a ship's log bundle offsite?" a pause.... "You guys DO send logs off site for archival, right?"

Raiden took a look at Callisi, then he nodded, "Yes we do, this means when we get to the Starbase, there will be quite a bit of reports to go through. Just to pin point any other details that are missing." he gave out a huff, as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Yes indeed, some good old fashioned treasure crawl through reports all to make sure we can find these people and come up with some sort of pattern."

Looking back towards the charts that had been pulled up, Raiden commented. "At least we're heading in that direction. Any small trail even one made of bread crumbs will help out."

Glancing back towards those there. "Are there any other ideas we can come up with? Or shall we call this brainstorming session over these Twisted Star Paths finished for now?"

"I think we're done here. Just looking forward to sifting through reports." she said, a roll of her eye to punctuate.

"I agree. We have enough here to keep us busy for a while with a good direction for our investigation to go." Liala spoke. "We can always reconvene if more data, or ideas, come to light."

Raiden gave a nod and dismissed the star charts in the holo suite, "Well, I don't know about the rest of you, I am hungry and really want something to eat. Thanks for all your input it was definitely an eye opener and all of your observations have given, what I think a possible course to head for." with that said, Raiden headed out of the Holo suite, the door closing behind him.

//OFF//