Final Investigation

[airlockedmods]

[It's been about 24 hours since CT was killed. Blaze has made no other moves, and his robots are mysteriously absent.

In fact, it's almost too quiet.

But then there's a note in Pyrrha's PIP that...she didn't write.]

Comments

[power_of_dominance]

[Communications. Now that's a word he's glad to see. Let's try powering up that terminal and see if he can find any open channels.]

[airlockedmods]

[There are two options when you fire this screen up: Logs and Open Channels.]

[power_of_dominance]

[Hmm, logs might have information they can use, like maybe their current coordinates. Check those first.]

[airlockedmods]

[It looks like there's years' worth of saved logs here. They're only labeled with the date and time, no meaningful file names. Maybe you could open an early one and see what that gets you?]

[power_of_dominance]

[Yeah, that's a lot of reading. Start at the beginning, then. He can always skip a few weeks at a time and go back if he thinks he jumped past something.]

[airlockedmods]

[Blaze Dudely's voice is young, and tired. He sounds like he's trying to be formal, but is suppressing a great deal of emotion.]

This is an official statement from th'Ma- ...from Captain Dudely. Dunno when we'll be able to go back home. If you choose to stay, get in formation. Otherwise...godspeed. Flavortown'll always be your home.

[power_of_dominance]

[Ah, so this is before Dudely became the cruel psychopath they know? Maybe Soma will take these early logs in order, try to find where things went really bad.

So... next?]

[airlockedmods]

[Most of these messages are just the kind of general transmissions you'd expect from the head of an armada. Statements addressed to the captains of the other ships in the fleet, sometimes just one or two ("Grits, do you read me?" "Loud and clear, Cap'n.") and sometimes all at once. It seems they would check in regularly, sometimes just to make sure everyone was still good, and sometimes to exchange bits of news.

As Soma continues through the logs, it seems that there are fewer and fewer ships in the armada. They've been leaving, just as he said they could.]

[power_of_dominance]

[A shrinking family. Like twenty-five to nine, only no one was forced to murder. Maybe it still hurt, though, but so much of what Dudely has done makes it hard to feel anything but anger for him.

Soma's afraid that, if he understands the monster Dudely has become, he'll understand too well how Dracula came to be. A slippery slope, indeed.

So he keeps searching through logs, skipping a week here and there but ready to backtrack if need be.]

[airlockedmods]

[Near the end, four back, there's one that's much less business-as-usual.]

We're out of time. Radar's picked up some kind of satellite network. Supreme, Grits, Clyde, the four of us are gonna go in for a raid. Everyone else, stay back out of range and try to pick off or capture any runners. We're not going in to kill anybody, we just wanna make 'em listen. Godspeed, everybody. For Flavortown!

[power_of_dominance]

But you became a killer. Why?

[Maybe the answer's in one of the last four. How recent are these "newest" ones?]

[airlockedmods]

[Three are from late 6971 - last year, if you remember the date Price told you. The last one, labeled as an incoming message, is from 6972. Without knowing the exact date now, though, you can't tell how recent it may be.]

[power_of_dominance]

[Recent enough. He's going to check out all four logs, in order from oldest to newest.]

[airlockedmods]

[When you play the oldest, it's a woman's voice that speaks. She sounds angry, scared, desperate.]

This is Sunshine Voidfucker...acting captain. InterGal broke th’ fuckin' parlay, jettisoned the captain off somewhere, like he was just a fuckin' piece of space junk! All this fucked-up shit we did, everything they wrung outta us, and they still -

[She gives a shaky sigh.]

Don't know if there's anyone left to hear this, but broadcastin' anyway. We’re gonna try to steal th’ ship and head after. If they shoot us down, they shoot us down. You don't hear from us again, that's what happened.

Don't come lookin'. Don't any of you ever come to this quadrant again. And if...if Solar Flare and Sonsun ever hear this...Flare, Son, I love you. Me and Void both love you so much. That's why you can't come after us.

...we're gonna do our best.

[power_of_dominance]

["Have someone rip everything you've built and everyone you care about from you with the press of a button. Then ask yourself how badly you'd want them dead."

If this "InterGal" maimed Dudely and did something to Sun and Void, then it makes sense that Dudely would hate them. But what does that have to do with their group? What makes him so sure the shifter he thinks is responsible is among their number? He was wrong about CT.

Soma takes a deep breath and goes to the next log.]

[airlockedmods]

[It's the same woman again.]

Holy fuck - holy fuck! This is Sunshine Voidfucker, acting captain, we need - we need a doctor, asap! Those fuckers just... The captain's in trouble, but we got him on board. Sol, if you can hear this, it's real bad but... he's alive. Thank god, he's alive...

[power_of_dominance]

[Soma gets the feeling this is how Dudely ended up a cyborg. They did it to save his life. But with how the guy looked at the last trial, the fix might not have much of a warranty left.

... next log.]

[airlockedmods]

[Blaze Dudely's voice sounds rougher than they know, definitely rougher than the other voice logs on the terminal. There's a primal rage burning through it, and the log begins not with his voice but the sound of metal slamming against the terminal.]

This is Captain Blaze Dudely of Flavortown broadcasting on an open fucking channel.

[In the background, a young man speaks up:] Captain, you should be resting-

I'll rest when every last one of those network fuckers is dead! You hear me, you lying bastards? I parlayed with you! You told me you wouldn't hurt any more of them, and you went behind my back, boarded my ship, and killed my first mate! Y'dishonorable, lyin', schemin' snakes! You're not worth the scrapin's off the back of my stove!

[Another sound like a metal fist being banged against the terminal, and the sound turns to static, blurs out his next couple of words. Blaze heaves a great, rage-filled sob that shakes out of him and through the recording.]

...My girlie... What did you fuckers do to my girl...

...Come on, Captain, you're still healing. We'll - we'll find her, I promise.

[The recording cuts.]

[power_of_dominance]

....

[This network killed Dudely's "girl?" A wife, a girlfriend, sister, daughter... any of the possibilities is deeply unpleasant.

For the first time since this whole mess started, Soma feels sorry for the cyborg.

But it has to sit on the back burner for now. They have too much to do. They need to escape. And if that involves killing Dudely, well... maybe he'll be with his girl in the afterlife.

Last log, even though he dreads what he might hear.]

[induality]

[Guess who's here listening with you friend?

This... this is about what she guessed from his last outburst but it's still unsettling to hear.

...maybe the last one will shed some more light on the situation.]

[power_of_dominance]

[Thank you, best girl. He's glad you're here with him, for a lot of reasons.]

[airlockedmods]

[This one was an incoming text transmission.]

SUBJECT: Airlocked!

A new twist on the familiar formula, plus a special guest on set. I hear it's a hidden callback to Season One.

[All that follows is a series of three long numbers. There's no indication of who sent the message.]

[power_of_dominance]

What the hell...?

["Airlocked"? What's that all about? Special guest? Callback to Season One? None of this makes any sense.

With the logs explored, he's going to see if he can locate any open communication channels.]

[airlockedmods]

[It seems that all channels are currently being blocked by another signal.]

[thecounselor]

[Surprise guess who else is here

and who swears softly at that string of coordinates.]