View source for Comm-Link:Advocacy Archive - Waitaha

{{Infobox commlink
|title = Advocacy Archive - Waitaha
|image = Comm-Link-AdvocacyGallenIntFI 2.jpg
|url = https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/15827-Advocacy-Archive
|type = Spectrum Dispatch
|publicationdate = 2017-04-12
|series = Advocacy Archive
}}
'''ADVOCACY ARCHIVE'''<br/>
'''INTRA-AGENCY MESSAGES'''

'''2947-04-11_08:14 [[Standard Earth Time|SET]]'''<br/>
'''TO: [[SA]] [[Julie Nadir|JULIE NADIR]]'''<br/>
'''CC: [[SC]] [[Len Texiera|LEN TEXIERA]]'''<br/>
'''FROM: [[ASC]] [[Freddy Aguilar|FREDDY AGUILAR]]'''<br/>
'''SUBJECT: HIGH PRIORITY — DEVELOPING SITUATION'''

A strange one just came in from our friends in Customs. They had a hauling ship try to jump the line. After finally disabling the ship and establishing comms, they discovered that the person flying the ship was covered in blood.

Local law jumped protocol and moved in to secure the ship. They found the ship’s pilot, [[Jerome Flabian]] (PersonalFile #HS5-44246-773), bludgeoned to death on the cockpit floor. To make matters more interesting, the woman flying the ship, [[Naomi Thampi]] (PersonalFile #NB1-31452-081), hardly acknowledged the body or the armed police when approached, just repeatedly demanded to know how much longer it’d take her to clear Customs.

Considering the time it will take this information to reach SAC Texiera on [[Earth]], I’ll be overseeing the operation until otherwise notified.

Nadir — Take control of the crime scene. Don’t let the locals give you any flak over jurisdiction. The ship’s flight manifest shows that it traveled from [[Genesis]] into [[Corel system|Corel]], so it’s ours.

Let’s get to work.

''Freddy Aquilar''<br/>
''Assistant Section Chief''<br/>
''Office of the Advocacy''<br/>
''[[New Junction]], [[Lo]], [[Corel system|Corel]]''

'''2947-04-11_10:29 SET'''<br/>
'''TO: ASC FREDDY AGUILAR'''<br/>
'''CC: SC LEN TEXIERA'''<br/>
'''FROM: SA JULIE NADIR'''<br/>
'''RE: HIGH PRIORITY — DEVELOPING SITUATION'''

I’ve brought Naomi Thampi back to the station and put her in Interrogation Room 2. To say something is seriously off with her would be an understatement.

All she’s done since I picked her up is complain about the line at Customs and how her cargo’s losing credits. No matter what I ask, even a simple question like her name, all I get in response is something about the current market value of manganese or something similar. Getting anything worthwhile out of her, let alone a confession, may be trickier than expected.

That said, her hands and clothes are covered in physical evidence. Davis is with her now taking scans and samples. He’s also going to draw blood for a toxicology screening.

My immediate reaction is that she’s on something, but I’ve never seen someone so disassociated from reality but aware. Once Davis is done, I’ll let her stew for a bit and just observe. Let’s see what some alone time does for her.

''Julie Nadir''<br/>
''Special Agent''<br/>
''Office of the Advocacy''<br/>
''New Junction, Lo, Corel''

'''2947-04-11_12:41 SET'''<br/>
'''TO: ASC FREDDY AGUILAR'''<br/>
'''CC: SC LEN TEXIERA'''<br/>
'''FROM: SA JULIE NADIR'''<br/>
'''RE: HIGH PRIORITY — DEVELOPING SITUATION'''

My team finished a sweep through the ship and a preliminary records search. The pilot wasn’t the only victim. We found four more bodies in the bunkroom.

Evidence is still being collected so an official incident report is still a ways out. Local law weren’t exactly careful when taking the ship, so there’s a lot of contamination at the scene. Plus, we were delayed by Customs officials insisting that we clear the massive ship from the queue since it was causing major delays. Anyways, here’s what I have so far.

Regtags list the ship as Waitaha. It recently received a permit to mine the asteroid belt in Genesis. The government is stingy with those permits so it was a plum opportunity. Personnel files show the ship staffed a regular crew, but one of their usual engineers wasn’t available. Somehow Thampi landed the gig. We’re still looking into exactly how that happened.

We pulled IDs on the ship’s remaining four crewmembers: [[Ben Lateef]] (PersonalFile #OH8-31148-310), [[Cian Parker]] (PersonalFile #LW5-47162-163), [[Julia Lai]] (PersonalFile #BW8-43201-947) and [[Aisha Mehldau]] (PersonalFile #XE2-71582-349). All died of asphyxiation in their berths. Looks like Thampi cut off oxygen to the bunkroom once she was in control of the ship.

Finally, we searched Thampi’s locker and personal belongings. The only thing of note was a small lockbox that we had to hack open. Inside was a plastic vial filled with some kind of fermented substance shaped into small balls. It’s been sent out for analysis.

Will keep you two updated on any further developments on my end.

''Julie Nadir''<br/>
''Special Agent''<br/>
''Office of the Advocacy''<br/>
''New Junction, Lo, Corel''

'''2947-04-11_14:36 SET'''<br/>
'''TO: ASC FREDDY AGUILAR'''<br/>
'''CC: SC LEN TEXIERA'''<br/>
'''FROM: SA JULIE NADIR'''<br/>
'''RE: HIGH PRIORITY — DEVELOPING SITUATION'''

My initial interrogation of Thampi is complete. It took mere minutes to get her to confess.

Honestly, “confess” may be the wrong word to describe what happened. She feels like her actions were completely justified. I wouldn’t say she bragged about it, but she freely admitted to what she did. In fact, she actually seemed annoyed that I was “fixated on it.”

During Thampi’s period of isolation, she repeated, ad nauseam, a list of ores and their market price. When I finally entered the room she demanded to know their current values at the New Junction [[TDD]]. Since she ignored anything else I said, I finally decided to look them up for her.

Upon hearing the answers she grew agitated, and then repeated the phrase, “I told them they’d drop.” When pressed on what she was talking about, Thampi admitted to arguing with the rest of Waitaha’s crew over their return to Corel. She was convinced commodity prices would fall and insisted they return as soon as possible before it happened.

Thampi never articulated the position of the rest of the crew. She only said they didn’t share the same urgency as her in returning to Lo. So Thampi grabbed her wrench, “took care of the pilot,” and then commandeered the ship. She also admitted to cutting off oxygen to the bunk to “keep everyone else from waking up.”

Following this matter-of-fact confession, Thampi asked when she could return to the ship and sell the ores. Her only concern was that their prices would continue to drop and that she was “missing her window.”

When I left the interrogation room her tox screening was waiting for me. Looks like there’s a significant amount of a foreign substance in her system that’s been identified as “[[E’tâm]].” Are either of you familiar with it?

I’m not, but whatever that stuff did to her is just terrible …

''Julie Nadir''<br/>
''Special Agent''<br/>
''Office of the Advocacy''<br/>
''New Junction, Lo, Corel''

'''2947-04-11_15:18 SET'''<br/>
'''TO: SA JULIE NADIR'''<br/>
'''CC: SC LEN TEXIERA'''<br/>
'''FROM: ASC FREDDY AGUILAR'''<br/>
'''RE: HIGH PRIORITY — DEVELOPING SITUATION'''

Same shit that’s in Thampi’s system is in the lockbox. Here’s what I’ve dug up so far on E’tâm.

It’s a [[Xi’an|Xi’an]] drug, goes by the street names ‘Flow,’ ‘blinder’ or ‘ticktock’ by Humans. Side effects include hyper awareness, cognitive enhancement and hyper focus, so it’s become popular among students and workers.

Recently, there’s been an increasing number of cases involving E’tâm in Corel. Most involve people so engrossed in a task that they neglect to eat, sleep or take care of other basic bodily functions, thus prompting a call to authorities from a friend or relative in an effort to get that person help.

So far, no other cases quite like Thampi’s have popped up, but I’ll keep looking. Let’s hope this is an isolated incident.

''Freddy Aquilar''<br/>
''Assistant Section Chief''<br/>
''Office of the Advocacy''<br/>
''New Junction, Lo, Corel''
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