Articles - Sworn to Secrecy - Part 5

Part Five

January 2nd, 29843
Omni-Trade District, Omni-Com Building (Unknown Location)
Basement 2, Gridnet Maintenance Division
4:47PM RST*


Chief Tanaka walks back into his office holding three datapads and reviewing his crew's reports of the day. Being so close to 5PM he wanted to make sure everything is ready for the next shift. His colleague Chief Osvaldo Rios was a much more relaxed man; in his mid 40's he had gained the position through charm and family connections.

Tanaka at the start had disliked him, but over time realized he was a competent engineer who just happened to be a bit more of a people person than he was. Chief Rios loved the night shift and it was something that few understood.

Once he had asked Rios why he had requested to work nights, his answer was simple, "I can see the stars when I work". Since usually a chief stays in the office to manage a crew, he could not understand his reply, until he found out that he goes out on the field with technicians doing regular work. He thought it was something admirable.

Placing two of the datapads down on his desk, he was about to put down the third when he noticed a strange report.

"Core Database was without a doubt hacked into using an unknown code. Trace leads to an old subway terminal. Scans indicate that the terminal was recently used and was purposely disabled. The damage is certainly not the work of a professional but the repair will be extensive and will take a few days to complete to verify the connection."

This was just too suspicious to ignore. He forwarded the report to Sergeant Nerkath with a priority code classifying the report as a possible security breach. He then made arrangements for all remaining cores to be inspected and scanned, just in case.

As he put the last datapad down on the desk he heard Chief Rios outside speaking with someone.

"Best to let him know about this" he decided, and walked out to speak with him.

Rome District, Omni-Pol Building
Holding Room 32, Basement
5:18PM RST*


Sergeant Nerkath leans back on a chair, looking across the table to the suspect he had apprehended after a short chase and a well placed throw of his baton.

The man had a bloodied face, it was obvious that the impact had taken place on the left side of his head and the basic first aid given to him was just enough to stop the bleeding, but the pain was increasing by the minute. Yet he tried his best to ignore the pain and keep a straight face.

"Listen here you moron, we caught you with the holodiscs. It's illegal to copy, buy or sell holo-vids without a license and you know it. You had fifty six in your backpack and we both know you didn't purchase them because there is no record of such purchase. But they did came up as part of a stolen shipment a few weeks ago. So, either you tell me who your supplier is, or you will get to know my baton a lot better." He then paused and winced just enough to make his point.

"Nobody can hear you scream down here."

Fear started to slowly creep into the mind of the suspect, yet he had a greater fear of his boss. Doctor Slayer would have him killed even in here and he knew it. Pain is better than perma death.

"Those were mine, I found them on some drunk guy outside Rompa, I swear. He was passed out and it was easy pickings. I figured I could make a few thousand creds selling them."

The officer stood up and was about to show his baton when his comm made a distinctive sound. It was a high priority message, one which he could not ignore.

"We are not done lowlife, I'll be back."

Walking out of the room he leaves his latest prey with a small sense of relief.

Standing in the corridor he thought to himself "This better be important". It was.

His eyebrows went up at first, surprised. This was some serious business, far more important than some stolen holo-vids shipment. He frowned and cursed his luck.

He quickly passed the case he was working on to another officer and made an urgent call to his superior and friend, Lieutenant Ricardo Uribe. They had been drinking buddies for years and it was their friendship that helped him get the promotion to Sergeant.

Now a potential crisis was knocking on his door, and he was set on proving his worth. It didn't take him long to explain and forward the report he had received from Omni-Com.

"Dammit Jay, this looks bad. I'm calling the Bureau of Investigation Division, Captain Caesar is familiar with this specific type of situation. We've worked together before. We'll get him and a few of his guys on board, they will be an asset to the case. I'm going to lead this one myself. I want you and two of your best men to meet me in my office in ten minutes. We'll start with a conference call to coordinate and take it from there. You're about to really earn your pay old friend." The call ended, but he knew a big hunt was about to start.

There was little time to waste. He started to run to his office as he was calling on two of his subordinates.

Rome District, Omni-Pol Building
Office 1, Bureau of Investigation Division
5:26PM RST*


The division had earned a shady reputation among employees, one which almost matched the Alpha Omni-Pol division in the adjacent building lead by Officer "Agentcora" Geers. Few would dare enter the BoI offices without a damn good reason to do so.

The fact that the head of the division had the walls painted black and rumors of a customized office being soundproof for "special" interrogations made BoI a respected part of the Department even though the rumor was false.

Due to an earlier drug bust Captain Darius "Gustavis" Caesar was filling a very long report in his office. Sitting at his desk, he was grumbling about one of his officers misuse of a grenade launcher which had served as a door buster during the operation.

He had personally picked and trained every member of his team after he had been promoted and given his own division a few years ago.

Most divisions have programs with a "hell week" to push members to their limit. The BoI training was far more difficult. Three weeks of almost constant motion with only three to four hours of sleep allowed.

Patience was a hard virtue to instill in his officers, so he tolerated the occasional "killing a fly with a sledgehammer".

It was annoying at times to have to explain in his reports the additional property damage or reclaim costs. Yet, his men were extremely loyal and would go to the ends of the outzone for him.

The report was almost complete, in a few minutes he'd be able to go home and leave the division in the capable hands of Sergeant Jackson for the night shift. It was then when he received a priority two encoded transmission marked urgent on his terminal. He knew exactly what that meant. Another night of work and wife aggro, again. It happened every few weeks for one reason or another, it was part of the job.

He inhaled and slowly exhaled getting ready for a long night, then he answered the call.

"Hey Gus, how you doing tonight?quot;

"I'm guessing this is not a social call Rick?quot; he replied seriously.

"I wish it was, but we have a situation and I'm cashing in that favor you owe me."

"Must be some case you got there; how bad are we talking here?quot;

"One of the core OP databases was hacked, we don't know the damage yet but it could be very bad. We got personnel, cases, shifts, Intel, operational and other info that could have been tampered with."

The last time something like that happened was almost ten years ago when a clan agent had managed to sneak his way into the Omni-Pol building undetected and hacked his way into one of the cores. He was never caught and many careers were ruined back then. Demotions, transfers to outposts in the middle of nowhere or worse, being sent to one of the many asteroid mining facilities across the universe, far away from Rubi-Ka.

This was heavy, it could make or end a career.

"So, how are we going to work this out? I outrank you but I highly doubt you're going to hand over your case to me, now are you?quot;.

Lieutenant Uribe knew exactly where this was going. They both were aware of the potential outcome; the case could strengthen or weaken their divisions.

"Alright Gus, I'll be the Chief Investigator but we share credit on anything that happens regardless of who discovers what. My guys, your guys, it doesn't matter as long as we work together and get this sorted out and cleaned up. If someone got their hands on personnel data, our men and their families could be at risk."

It was a valid point. No omni employee would dare mess with an Omni-Pol family, but those outside the corporation didn't have that respect.

"I'll need thirty minutes to get my best people Rick, we'll meet you in your office at 1800 hours."

"Sounds good, make a small team; we'll need to be discrete. This case needs to stay under the radar until we get whomever is behind it in one of our cells."

"Understood, I have two very experienced officers in mind, see ya in thirty." He ended the call and immediately sent an urgent message to Officer Leia "Darksmile" Dau to report for duty at once. He trusted Sergeant Jackson's vast field experience so he made a call to another officer to take over the night shift crew.

Captain Caesar knew this was going to be one of the biggest investigations of his division. It was time to prove once again why the BoI was one of the top investigative division in Omni-Pol.

*= Rubi-Ka Standard Time

Thanks to all the Rimor roleplayers who have agreed to appear in this mini-series. Everything which is done by their characters has been approved by the players behind them.

Last updated on 12.07.2011 by Khuri
Luis Odicio
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