Episode 2.02: Rivulets of Copper, Eyes Aflame

[Chev ch'Valk]

The Andorian ensign looks to the CO as they stand before the doors. "Shall we, sir? My intent is not to disturb the proceedings, only to enter and do a tricorder scan of the space to quietly announce our presence, try to confirm Kavoran's still inside, and allow him to see us scanning so he knows Starfleet is here for some reason."

[Renny]

Cole makes a quick visual sweep of the room, looking for any sign of technology which could account for their suspects movements, before his eyes settle on the trunk. Noting the lack of a lock, he opens the lid cautiously.

[socrates200X]

Voshen clicked ruefully through his vocoder as he attempted to compensate for the disturbance.  "The storm continues to conspire against us." 

With one last look at the fluctuating readings, he let the scanner drop against his torso.  "Well, there's nothing for it.  Come, let us rejoin the captain."  With that, Voshen and Drake made their way towards Capt. Trevya and Ens. Chev across the courtyard.

[Nolmir]

"Well, there don't seem to be many places in here to hide the device," Tobin notes drily. Nevertheless, he begins running a scan for it on his tricorder.

[Davy, aka GM]

No obvious device presented itself. The monk's room has little in the way of any distinguishing features.

The chest lid opens to reveal neatly folded clothing and a simple Vulcan-style data padd on top of the left stack. Nothing else can be found, and Tobin's tricorder can reveals only the visible device. The contraband isn't here.

Treyva and Chev step quietly into the sanctuary. They find not a group of monks in meditation, but instead a group of monks cleaning the chamber. Most are silent, but one or two seem to be reciting some prayer or meditative rote as they tend to their duties. This is what the second-master meant by meditation through labor.

[Chev ch'Valk]

Chev takes out his tricorder and begins scanning for thaleron radiation. Not because he expects to find any, but because he wants to move the tricorder across the room to see if he can spot Kavoran, and more importantly, for Kavoran to spot them.

[Renny]

No obvious device presented itself. The monk's room has little in the way of any distinguishing features.

The chest lid opens to reveal neatly folded clothing and a simple Vulcan-style data padd on top of the left stack. Nothing else can be found, and Tobin's tricorder can reveals only the visible device. The contraband isn't here.

Cole allows himself a brief grunt of frustration, having hoped to have found something to incriminate Kavoran. He picks up the padd and examines it in the hope it may reveal something, although he realises the chances are slight given how successfully their suspect has hidden his movements so far.

[Davy, aka GM]

Cole & Tobin
The padd lights up with Vulcanian script, but Cole isn't versed enough in the Vulcan language to know what it reads. That said, Tobin's tricorder probably can translate for them.

Chev, Treyva, & Voshen
As Voshen and Drake slip into the sanctuary behind the captain and Chev, the ensign's tricorder balks at the search parameters for the purely-theoretical thalaron radiation, the three successive staccato chirps telling the young comms officer that what he wants to find isn't real.

OOC: Nothing to see here...

Rolled 2d20 : 8, 14, total 22

[Davy, aka GM]

Chev, Treyva, & Voshen
As Chev is fiddling around with his search settings (he swears he's been able to get the tricorder to do this without protest before!), Voshen spies the briefest hint of movement at the far end of the sanctuary, near a group of statues. He isn't certain, but it may have been the fluttering of a cloak...

[socrates200X]

Voshen's masked face was impassive.  "Ensign ch'Valk.  I believe I may be able to augment your readings using the data we gathered outdoors as a cross-reference.  Will you observe this?"  Lifting up his tricorder, he switched it to a basic lidar mode, centering the simple three-dimensional scan on the statues at the far end of the room.

Without looking up, he said, "Specialist Drake, please verify these readings.  I believe they warrant further investigation.  Wouldn't you agree?"

[Davy, aka GM]

Voshen, Chev, & Treyva
Momentarily confused, Drake scrunches her nose as she leans in and squints at the tricorder's display. The warp core finally ignites in her brain and her expression changes to one of (slightly over-exaggerated) concern as she nods.

"Yes, sir. These are very anomalous," the specialist replies, not sounding very genuine. She seems to be aware of the shortcoming and cringes as soon as the words come out of her mouth, then gives Voshen an apologetic look.

[socrates200X]

Ingrid Bergman she's not, got it... 😅

"Standard triangulation pattern then," said Voshen neutrally, continuing the ruse.  "I'll take center.  Ensign, if you would follow my lead along the left wall.  Mr. Drake, maintain visibility from here and mind the captain, please.  Ensure the both of you remain well-clear of the monks' efforts to cleanse the sanctuary."

With a small beckoning tilt of his head toward ch'Valk, Voshen held his tricorder out and walked forward with measured steps, sensing the weight of the phaser on his hip...

Above the table, Voshen's trying to flush out whoever may be behind the statues, hoping to signal this surreptitiously to both ch'Valk and Drake, leaving Drake covering the captain in case things break bad.  He's going to take point and approach the location head-on, signaling ch'Valk to follow on his left.  Phaser isn't drawn, but he is poised to do so, as necessary.

[Nolmir]

"No sign of our contraband device, lieutenant," Tobin says, walking up and peering over Cole's shoulder at the padd. The disappointment in his voice is very evident. "The tricorder should be able to translate that for us."

[Renny]

"Yes sir", Cole replies, fiddling with his tricorder to bring up the UT interface, "Let's hope there's something here. I'm beginning to think this bloke is having a good laugh at our expense."

[Davy, aka GM]

Tobin & Cole
The text translates pretty quickly and the pair discover that it is an extensive instruction manual of sorts, regarding the care and maintenance of blades and other edged and sharpened weapons of the atomic age. The file itself may have been a scan of an ancient codex or scroll, later optically recognized and put into a more-standard font for easier readability - but the syntax and sentence structure certainly reads as something very, very old.

The section being shown on the screen covers the repair of nicks using various techniques, depending on the type of edge and length and thickness of the blade. Certainly relevant to their investigation, but also something that can easily be explained away as "routine" work.

Treyva, Voshen, & Chev
Drake instinctively repositions herself ever so slightly to ensure she has a good view of all angles of fire and quickly get between any assailant and the captain.

The navigator and communications officer move forward through the sanctuary, largely ignored by the Vulcan ascetics. They reach the area of the statues, and Voshen sees a corridor beyond the portal that extends to the left; Chev similarly notices the corridor also extends to the right. Otherwise empty of any thinking being, they each notice doors at each end, which appears to correspond to the outer walls of the building. Considering there was no rush of hot sand and wind coming from either direction during their approach, it's not likely their mysterious cloak-wearer left the building by those means.

However, as they step into the corridor itself, they find doors that appear to connect to the side rooms that flank the chancel and nave.

OOC: And, just for clarity, the flit of the cloak that Voshen thought he saw was to the left of the statues from his perspective.