Communications with Aretak

Shortly before the Prodigal Turtle leaves [insert name of planet upon which we beat up the teenage goth-sith gang], Artemis informs the captain that he needs to run a quick errand, and that he won't be long at all. He ties his long white hair back, covers his features with his overly-large green cloak, and heads to the closest public communications terminal. He asks for an encrypted line that conceals the location from which he is calling. It won't buy him much time, but he hopes that it will buy him enough. (OOC: If he cannot get an encrypted line like this, then he'll do something different from this point on, so let me know if that's the case. He can bribe if need be.)

He contacts the same government office that he sent both his cure and his message to and waits for them to pick up the other end of the line.

A young female Defel shows up on the viewscreen and answers your call.

"Defel Eugenic and Viral Infection League, how may I direct your call?"

Artemis tugs the cowl of his hood further down over his face and then lowers his hands to conceal their violent tremors. "I sent a small parcel to your department about a week and a half ago. To whom would I speak to confirm its safe arrival and status?"

"If it wasn't addressed to any particular department it would be scanned and then delivered depending on it's contents. What was the nature of this package?"

Artemis breathes in slowly and shakily before he replies. "Two vials containing the same sample that I engineered as a cure for the Trevore Virus. I would like to make sure that it has been received and examined yet."

Two red eyes light up in surprise underneath the shadowy fur.

"Oh yes! Dr. Da'ryan said to patch you through directly to him. One moment."

The view screen goes blank for a moment or two and the when it comes back online you see an older male defel in a white labcoat with a cybernetic left eye and a rather grim look on his face.

"Dr. Vox I presume? I hope this means you'll be turning yourself in before Ansed's trial. Things aren't looking well for him at the moment I'm afraid."

OOC : You did identify yourself when you sent the package right? If not I'll edit this post.

[OOC: Yep, he identified himself when he sent the package.]

Artemis is silent for a moment, taking in the cybernetic eye and the expression on the Defel's face. The overly large cloak hides his guilty flinch. "I can imagine," he replies softly. "So, this means that you know. I do plan to return, but I cannot just yet. What I'm working on goes far, far beyond myself, or Ansed, or the Trevore virus. Please, tell me, does the cure that I sent work? Is it safe?" Desperate hope seeps into Artemi's voice and his fingers tighten around one another beneath the sleeve cuffs of his cloak.

"Well you have to understand Dr. Vox, after Ansed's rush with his 'cure' we are having to take many precautions before we can even conceive of releasing this to the public. It will take months of testing before we'll know for sure if what you sent us is safe and viable. Rest assured we'll be working round the clock on it until we know for sure. Unfortunately your colleague doesn't have months. Regardless of whether your samples work or not his trial is set for about a month from now. I'm afraid talking with his lawyers, your statement sent to us is inadmissible as evidence for his defense. If you have testimony that can help him, I'll trust you plan to do right by him and be there."

"I..." Artemis twists his fingers more violently and bites his lower lip. He knows that, right at that moment, the encryption on his transmission is being hacked for the location. If they get it, they'll call the local authorities to have him apprehended. He cannot allow that. Not yet. His place was with STARS Alpha preventing the end of the world. After that, if they lived through it, then he could end his life by standing before the Defel and testifying.

"I understand. Would it be possible for me to testify via commlink with my location secure? I'm not exaggerating when I say that I'm needed, right now, to preven something far more dire."

OOC: I assume the local authorities bit is Artemis being paranoid as even if he's being hacked for a location there is no such thing as "local authorities" on Nal Hutta.

"I'm afraid that would be out of the question Dr. Vox. What with holographic technologies and Jedi illusions being so prevalent in the galaxy these days, unless a person can be present at a court hearing to verify their own identity any such testimony would be considered insubstantial. I can't speculate as to how many lives may hang in the balance in your present situation, all I know is there is one here you may hold the key to saving. As I hear it Ansed Trevore is prepared to enter a guilty plea, yet you seem to know something that contradicts this. His lawyers will try to argue to lessen his penalty, but I don't believe he will get away with anything less than death. If any public sentiment plays into this I do not doubt it will be Death by Ritual of the Claw."

OOC: Having lived among them you probably know that this ritual is only enacted for the worst offenses and involves being ripped apart by Defel warriors slowly as they tear chunks of flesh from the still living criminal prolonging a death to be as painful as possible.

[OOC: Yep, that would be the paranoa talking. Artemis has a bit of a problem with that ;) ]

"Oh no," Artemis moans softly, and he lifts his hands to cover his face beneath the hood, utterly distraught and torn. He's silent for fifteen full seconds. When he speaks, his voice is low, resigned, and filled with pain. "I'll be there. One month from now. I'll be there at the trial to testify." He breathes in slowly again and lowers his hands. "There is a problem, though. When I testify, you are not going to want to let me go afterward. But unless I'm done here--and I doubt I will be--I have to be free for long enough to prevent what's coming. If I'm not, then saving Ansed's life may very well be simply delaying his death as well as the deaths of uncountable others. I don't suppose that there would be any way to guarantee to you my return after my duties are complete?"

"That is completely out of my hands Dr. Vox. I am simply relaying to you what I have heard from Dr. Ansed's lawyers when I tried to submit your statement to them. As head of the Infection League it's unlikely I'll even be asked to speak at the trial. I can tell you that there is one thing his lawyers mentioned could get him off that might be able to prolong your involvement in his trial but I can't imagine you'd know anything about it. Most of this trial is built on Dr. Trevore's actions and his willingness to implicate himself. Going over all his notes that were confiscated however, they could not find any lab notes or a log of when and how he made his virus. Both sides of the case have desperately searched for those notes hoping to help them defend or condemn the man, even without those I think your testimony would be sufficient to free him if you could shed new light on the events."

Artemis is silent again, caught in thought, after the doctor finishes speaking. Well... it's all going to come out eventually anyway. He makes his decision and speaks.

"The reason that no one could find those notes is because I have them with me. If I send the originals, that alone might be enough to clear Ansed's name without me even needing to show up. If the notes clearly implicate that someone else created the virus, would that be enough to free him?"

[OOC: Queeestion! I know most logs are made using voice recorders and datapads, but what about research that's visual in nature? Would a typical virologist keep logbooks on paper, or would they keep datapads with video, audio, and text capabilities to record the data? If it's just text, that wouldn't help Ansed's case at all. If it's paper, that might. If it's photo and audio, then the log would be recorded in Artemis's voice. I'm just not sure what's the most likely here.]

OOC: I assume that Star Wars has proper scientific methods and such so that research can be official and verifiable. So if you believe that even in his heightened state of paranoia that Artemis would follow such procedures I would assume you could turn those in.

"If such notes could be confirmed as authentic the prosecutors would have no case to stand on, they'd have no choice but to let Ansed go and find the responsible party. If you really have such evidence I would not recommend you send it here again however. After your last package incoming mail is being monitored much more closely and I wouldn't trust that the prosecuting attorneys wouldn't try to intercept it and destroy such evidence. I can either give you the address of Ansed's lawyers or you could send it directly to me at my personal address and I'll make sure it gets to them. I may even be able to stall the trial if the package cannot get here in time."

[OOC: The logs will be......interesting. He would have kept records during his state of paranoia, and exceptionally detailed ones. He was so certain of his findings, and yet so sure that no one else would believe him unless he a) acted first, and b) documented everything such that the proof would be irrefutable. I'm actually planning (because this sounds like fun, and I have a feeling that Artemis might die so I should have as much fun with him as possible before then) to record his logs myself in voice format. I'll work out the details of that with you once I'm ready.]

"Hmmm." Artemis frowns and taps his cheek with one finger thoughtfully. "I'll duplicate the records so that I have a copy remaining for myself, in case the cure that I made up doesn't work. I'll send the original to...well, which address would you deem to be safest to send to? And has this communications line remained secure? Alternatively I could make two copies of the original and send both you and Ansed's lawyers a copy, but the verity of those might be held in question."

"We've been on a very secure line, I had hoped you might follow up on the cure you've given us and feared you might not be so willing to talk if you felt it was monitored. I'll transmit my personal address to you which would most likely be the safest and fastest hope of getting this evidence submitted in time for the trial. The lawyers will undoubtedly ask me to verify the notes and act as an expert witness in this matter, so I can begin my analysis of the notes immediately. I would make a copy to keep for yourself and send out the original, a copy might only give the prosecutors more fuel against us."

"You know tensions between the Defel and the Arahn have been high since this whole ordeal started. Even I had begun to doubt my feelings on your people, but given your selfless efforts in the cure you seem to have found and willingness to help Dr. Trevore, you are truly a credit to your race. Thank you Dr. Artemis in restoring my faith in the Arahn."

[OOC: Oh man, can we say salt in the wound?]

Artemis cringes, his emotional anguish flaring to the point where it chokes his breathing and compresses his lungs with the weight of regret and longing. "No," he manages to say, shaking his hooded head slowly like a weighted windsock swaying in a lethargic breeze. "Don't thank me. Please don't thank me. I am only doing what I should have done the moment the virus was released. I waited years, and look at the cost to the Defel. I am a coward. Dr. Trevore, however, is someone with integrity. I think that he took the fall deliberately in the guilty party's stead. Why else would he be prepared to plead guilty when he is innocent?"

Artemis sighs shakily and unlaces his trembling fingers. "I will send out the records to you as soon as I've finished copying them. I hesitate to contact you on a regular basis, since it may make the prosecutors suspicious. Is there a secure, direct commlink that I can contact you at without anyone else knowing?"

OOC: Yeah I live for this kind of stuff.

"Very well doctor, if that is your wish. Rest assured I will do what I can and feel free to contact me on my secure line for updates and on the off chance questions my arise in verifying the notes."

With that the doctor transmits to you his private address and secure line for further contact. Unless there is anything further you have to add to the conversation.

"Thank you. I will keep in touch." Artemis collects both pieces of contact information and closes the communications link. He stares hollowly at the blank terminal before he heads back to the Prodigal Turtle. He keeps his hood up over his face to conceal the emotions tearing at his features and locks himself in his room for the rest of the day in silence.

[OOC: Oh, by the way, since the warning came in that there's a leak transmitting our goings-about to the Jedi Council, I realized that the rest of the crew might become suspicious of Artemis's brief trips away from the ship. He'd be checking to make sure that he isn't being followed, but if someone else in the crew wanted to try to follow him, they could.]

Looking around Artemis is pretty sure no one is following him.

Out of character (ish): Because Artemis is paranoid (and so am I) he's going to replay the conversation in his mind. The defel had a cybernetic eye--does it seem likely that he was infected with the Trevore virus, or does the virus tend to take out both eyes? Also, does it seem overly suspicious that the doctor preferred for the only piece of evidence to be sent to him rather than the lawyers? You have Artemis's character sheet, so if applicable could you roll perception (or whatever would be relevant) on this?

He did offer you the lawyers address so if you want to contact him again for that instead you're welcome to. He only said send it to him when you asked him for a preference and encouraged you to make a copy to keep for yourself. I have mentioned that the virus can leave people blind in one or both eyes on the write up for it. Given his position and what he does he would more than likely be exposed to that virus in the course of working with it, there's no way to know for sure if he lost it to the virus short of asking him or if he'd be petty enough to screw you over after the loss of one eye. I don't feel board rping should have to rely on dice rolls, so feel free to reread everything and draw your own conclusions from the conversation.

Fair enough! I'd forgotten that detail about the trevore virus write-up. My bad. I think that Artemis will decide to trust him and will start making copies of his research logs (written, voice, and photo in the datapads). He is, uh, not going to do this when Krad is in the room.

Understandable. The less Krad know about you the better.