Log started on Monday, 24 Apr 2000, 7:49 PM EST by "Duffy" at "Holodeck 5"

The Dawn Alert Precinct House has several conference rooms, but the better-looking ones with real wooden tables are reserved for the use of lieutenants and captains, which leaves this room, just a bit bigger than two broom closet, for the use of 'mere' officers. The table is a scratched plastic affair as are the chairs, and there's a single lightbulb dangling from a naked wire overhead as its illumination. The chalkboard on the wall shows much signs of figures being drawn and redrawn, mostly football strategy diagrams, but the occasional cryptic word like 'MASSEY' and 'STAD', which by themselves are unidentifiable. Its only saving grace is that the door seals reasonably well so sounds are held in rather than leaking out to the office at large.

Behind the farthest corner from the door, a Rottweiler-patterned dog-man leafs through folders endlessly as if hoping something new will show up in them. There are crude hand-drawings of skulls and maps with symbols lettered liberally over them, attempts to correlate patterns of activity in Luna City.

The door opens to admit a young woman with close-cropped curly black hair and a folder tucked beneath her arm. She glances over her shoulder before closing the door again behind her. "Heya, Duff. Which files have you got out there?"

The scuffing of booted feet comes down the hall, and a few moments after, Officer Watterson rounds the doorframe after Jet. Under the harsh light of the room's only bulb, his face looks deeply lined and careworn, and his eyes disappear into cavernous hollows. "What's the score, Chief?"

"Hey, Jet, Jay! Glad you could make it," the dog-man replies. "Oh, these maps are the drug-related incident reports. Just trying to see if there're any patterns, but so far, it's coming up a bust. Anyway, Jay, this is about what I learned from the Patriarch Marcus Payne, over in Quietside. I didn't want to say anything on the way back, because I didn't want to spook out the coachman, but it looks like those four skulls were pretty important after all..."

"Siddown, have a seat, close the door, and let's get to it," Duffy continues.

Jet pulls out a chair and flips it around to sit straddling it, her front to its back. She rests her elbows on the top of the back. "I'm all ears."

Jimbo nods, closing the door behind him and hooking a chair with his leg so he can sit in it backwards. "Yeah? There wasn't much talk going around where Taro and I went... Taro asked around about the talisman, and we got a few insights from it, but that can wait. Maybe any questions I had'll be answered by what you've got for us."

Duffy pulls out a set of scribe-copied articles. "There's a lot of old historical stuff... If you remember your old Brotherhood Kids programs, well, it goes back around to when Earth was still the homeworld, and not well, a blasted cinder. There were these nations on it, and they seemed to think they had some right to Luna City's trade and technology. It got to saber-rattling between Earth and Luna... Stop me if I'm going too slow?"

"Pretty standard fare so far," says Jimmy, leaning forward in his chair. "The Lutheran book in their church had about the same thing in a slightly different light. Go on."

The woman rests her head against her palms, listening. "Earth threatens Luna, Luna threatens Earth, Luna blows up Earth before Earth can get Luna," she murmurs.

"That's right," Duffy acknowledges. "But, here's the catch: these four national leaders planted a superweapon on Luna, and each of them had five hundred digits of a two-thousand-digit code inscribed on his skull. Why, don't ask me, I could think of safer ways to keep a code, but I guess they wanted to make sure the other parties couldn't set off this weapon without their cooperation. Their skulls still exist, and Lutheran legends say they're hidden in different places on Earth. And there's a cult of people dedicated to putting this code back together and using it on Luna. That's these Armageddonists."

Rocking back in her seat and planting her hands on the back of the chair, Jet nods slowly. "Yeah. Of course they would be."

Duffy leans forward. "It wasn't clear from what Payne said whether they wanted to use it to blow up Luna, or whether they just wanted to keep the codes safe until it was needed-- don't ask me how they were supposed to know when to use the codes, it's all mystical sandblast on the 'ol goggles. But, the way I see it, some people are smuggling Blue Heaven up, and stirring up these Armageddonists. And maybe these people are promising them they've got the skulls, or maybe offering help. And there's another thing."

Jimbo's forehead creases under his goggles, but he just nods silently.

The dog-man shuffles more papers and comes up with a scribe's rendition of a skeletal mother-figure, compared with a halo-wearing mother-and-child picture. "Lutherans all belong to one of three Kins-- sorta like Bauhaus houses. The pouch I found in that ice cream truck of yours, Jet, was Lutheran make; it's an invocation of one's ancestors. Except, unlike all the pouches Payne knew about, it was Kinless, no markings for any of the Kins. And that suggests that it belonged to a Kinless Lutheran."

James nods, sitting back upright a bit. "Yeah ... when we asked around, there'd been no reports of anyone in the district missing their talisman ... and since the Lutherans are so close-knit, that'd be big news in their burg."

"This mother-and-child picture, it's a holy symbol for Lutherans. This other figure, the skeletal one, it's not. It's a symbol the Gaians force upon any Lutherans they capture and turn into slave soldiers," Duffy says grimly. "Those kinds of Lutherans, I expect, are Kinless. And that makes me think that it's the Gaians behind this latest outbreak, both because of the Blue Heaven they're sucking down and because these Armageddonists we captured are talking like nature nuts."

"These Kinless Lutherans -- do they undergo that same 'Cleansing' business that the regular ones do, Duff?" Jet asks.

"So that's what I've got. These Armageddonists are seeking out or have the four skulls they need to trigger the Megabody -- which is either a big doomsday bomb under Luna City, or some kind of mystical apotheosiswhatsitsky. And it looks like the Gaians are likely the ones behind all this," Duffy finishes. "No, matter of fact, they get a regular nose and face like every Joe Human. Their eyes're the only way you can tell 'em apart. This paper...," he shuffles it out, "sez that they have the same pale irises and skinnish covering that most Lutherans do."

"Rex." The woman massages the bridge of her nose. "The driver, Rex. The skeletal-woman figure on the dashboard was his -- that pouch probably was, too. He's your 'Kinless' Lutheran."

"Frak, all that running-around and he was the dead guy," says Duffy.

Jimbo says, "The driver got fragged, then? Nobody showed me the reports."

Jet nods to Jimbo. "Yeah, he died in the van crash."

The man's mouth quirks off to the side. "Mmf," he grunts.

"Here's some more 'Gaian' connection for you, Duffy," Jet comments. "Remember that fortune teller you went to see? Horace knew her -- not well, but had seen her once. Gog-Magog mentioned 'The Wall of Flesh' to her and she didn't like it. Y'know, Gog-Magog's body was too mashed to tell, but I'll bet that he was a Templar of Gaia, based on all this."

The dog-man stretches, bumping the crutch which is leaned against the wall and which promptly falls over. "Darkin'," he swears as he picks it up again. "What's a 'Wall of Flesh', anyway?"

"Anybody manage to catch Genoa?" asks Jimbo. "Or is she still at large?"

"Still at large, I think. I'd like to turn our Armageddonists loose and track 'em back home; I bet they'd find her," responds Duffy.

Jimbo scratches at his stubble. "Eh ... I dunno if they'd lead us to them, but it's a thought. Nobody's come to visit them or represent them? Have they used their phonecalls yet?"

With a grimace and a shake of her head, Jet answers the canine's question. "'Wall of Flesh' is what the Gaians call the slave troops they use. They're basically a mobile wall; march them out and let the Gaian troops behind use them as cover while the slaves get ripped to shreds by the enemy."

"Yeah ... These slave Lutherans, they'd be part of that wall," Duffy says. "Our perps sound lovelier all the time. Wonder what upset Genoa?"

"Horace probably couldn't lead us to his own home, much less anyone else's. Ursula might, but she's paranoid and mean -- I wouldn't put it past her to kill herself just to spite us, or something equally useless. Besides, I've still got questions for them," Jet finishes thoughtfully.

"Hard to say," replies Jimmy, his eyebrows lowering over their hollows. "You say she had a bad reaction to references to the 'Wall of Flesh' tactic? Who's Gog-Magog and Horace, and when did they have contact with Genoa?"

"Gog-Magog is the one who OD'd on Blue Heaven, from the van. Horace and Ursula are the two survivors," Danzwyck clarifies.

Duffy shakes his head. "I was thinking about the Gaians we caught when we spooked out Genoa. Kor Verago. You can have a go at him and his friend, if his friend has recovered from that suicide attempt."

The female detective grins toothily. "Hey, I didn't know we had more suspects for questioning. Keen."

"Unless we can get some more solid evidence, I'm of the mind we're going to have to turn 'em loose eventually, but you might be able to get something from 'em first," Duffy muses.

After flopping the folder she brought in with her onto the table before her, the woman begins leafing through it. "Here're some more odd pieces for you, Duff. Remember Trombone?"

Jimbo nods at Jet. "Oh, yeah ... the fracas right after Genoa slipped through our fingers. We got jumped; that's where Duffy got his lead tattoo. A couple suspects made it out alive. Did Horace and Ursula actually speak with Genoa before all this happened?"

"Oh yeah. We had nothing on him, so I let him go after that little incident with the Tanaka killing," Duffy replies.

A nod to Jim from Jet answers his question. "Horace had seen her once before, but didn't hear anything he remembers apart from the 'Wall of Flesh' reference. Ursula won't talk about it."

Continuing her line with the other detective, Jet says, "Horace had seen him before, too. Guess where?"

Watterson sets his head back at this information, grasping his chin thoughtfully. He doesn't comment immediately, instead listening to this new thread.

Duffy scratches behind an ear. "The Apollo? The Pagoda Garden? One for the Road?" The last is plainly humor.

"At the drug meet. Trombone was smoking the Diamond cigarette butt we found there. And, according to Horace, he was carrying his gun. But during that whole chase, the limo never returned fire on the ice cream truck. Remember?" Jet says rhetorically.

"I wasn't there -- just caught up with you two at One for the Road -- but Durand, if you're right, it sounds like Trombone's mixed up with the dealers behind this mess," Duffy exclaims. "So, how come the limo never shot back?"

She lifts her hands palm up in an exxagerated shrug. "Don't know. But this whole thing stinks to me. Until we got the 'four skulls' connection, I would've bet on the Armageddonists being somebody's puppet."

Duffy shakes his head. "That's not counted out yet, by a long shot. Maybe these people who're funding the Armageddonists are using fake skulls, or tricking them somehow... Maybe they're curious enough about this Megabody that they want to know if they can use it to hold up Luna City for ransom. But the Darkest thing I can think of is that Heretics are thinking they can manipulate Corporate greed into blowing up the heart of the Brotherhood."

"I think we gotta follow up all the leads we've got," the dog-man continues. "I'm going in to the Brotherhood hospital soon for a check-up on my leg, and once that's done, I'll want to see what we can spook out of our Armageddonists, but I'm thinking we need some good talkers following up Trombone and the Apollo lead."

Turning another page, Jet continues. "Here's another good bit about our smugglers. 'Dice Domino' -- that was the head guy at the Blue Heaven meet, and a smuggler of non-drug goods as well -- is really Candice Frazetti, and related -- albiet distantly -- to the Apollo's manager. Who, I might add, likes to purchase Dark Eden artifacts for the Apollo."

Jimbo feels around behind his ear for a moment, muttering when he finds nothing there. "No sense speculating that far out, but yeah, there's potential for things to be pretty hairy. Do you think the Brotherhood could interrogate anything out of Ursula if we convinced them it was important enough to warrant their attention?"

Pausing, Danzwyck looks at Duffy. "Where'd you say those 'four skulls' are again? Reputedly somewhere on Dark Eden, but no one we've spoken with knows where, exactly, right?"

Duffy perks his ears up. "A good lead... You might talk to Farad, a Crescentian merchant. Odds are good he's sold some things to this Candice." He pauses. "Well, the Armageddonists we got weren't exactly forthcoming on the subject, but maybe you can shake loose something. There're legends about where they're hidden of course, but you'd expect that after all these years."

Jet leans back in her chair again, her fingers curled over its back. "Ah...," she exhales. "Maybe this is big enough to warrant Brotherhood attention, especially if this 'four skulls' threat is serious."

She makes a face. "I'm worried that maybe Dice has smuggled back one or more of those skulls already. That's probably unduly paranoid of me, though."

"The Brotherhood get on this, they'll pull their 'This is a Brotherhood matter, run along now and play with the other little boys' line," Duffy warns Jet.

"Yeah, but I'm starting to feel like one of the little boys," Jet says wryly. "Maybe we should run along and play. Maybe not. I'll check out the Apollo and Farod first."

"C'mon, man...," says Jimbo, opening his hands to either side. "We're supposed to be working alongside them... for them, kinda. If this is as serious as you suspect, it might not hurt to at least get a little input from them."

Duffy shakes his head. "I know, we shouldn't play games with Luna City maybe at stake, but this is still happening in our precinct, and I want to have a hand in bringing these perps down. Besides, if they muscle in blindly, well, they don't know the territory like we do. Picture them surrounding the Maze with a hundred grunts and turning it into a bloodbath. Could lose a lot of good information."

Jet runs through the details in her head again. "Did I mention the Bauhaus connection yet, guys?"

"Yeah, you said the limousine was Bauhaus registry? Come to it, Trombone's gun's got a Bauhaus registry," Duffy says. "Seemed suspicious to me; someone who just got out of jail shouldn't be able to get a gun registered and everything the very next day."

"Oh, and there's more than that. The Apollo is House Borgia-owned. That's the least savory of Bauhaus's Houses. 'Dice Domino' is a Borgia employee and high-up enough that they've been shielding him from punishment for his laundry-list of convictions." Jet runs the fingers of her right hand through her hair, and then adds, "Oh, and here's the best part. Do you know what megacorp Ursula talks most about bombing and destroying? Bauhaus."

Jimbo shrugs. "I'm just sayin' we should have some faith in the system, and not just us, 'cause it's not about us. Still..." He shakes his head. "That doesn't have to stop us from investigating, I guess, if we can set up some priorities." He massages his temples, trying to sort all this information out.

"But that doesn't make sense," Duffy protests. "Why bite the hand that's feeding her these drugs?"

Duffy sighs and nods to Jimbo. "Yeah. We should put together some information packets and hand 'em off. I'm warning you, they'll try and pry out every suspect we've got and lift the Evidence Locker off its foundation and pack that along too, so we'd better make sure that whatever we give them, it's timed to arrive after we've done everything we can with what we've got. Then we can say, 'So sorry, you wanted to interrogate Kor Verago? We had to turn him loose, lack of evidence, but maybe you can track him down...'"

Spreading her hands in another shrug, the other detective answers, "Don't know. But we might bear in mind that: a) Ursula and Company double-crossed Dice Domino at the drug meet, or they wouldn't have been running away, and b) House Borgia's been the branch that had all the Armageddonist ties so far. I was thinking Borgia might be running a powerplay within Bauhaus and using the Armageddonists as a tool."

Duffy rubs his chin. "Awfully dangerous. I think this hinges on one key thing: are the Armageddonists really getting their hands on these four skulls, or not?"

Jet grimaces at Duffy's reference to letting Kor Verago go. "Let's not turn anybody loose, okay? The last thing I want is the Brotherhood asking me why I let a person go after they've decided they want him. Verago was involved in a fight with DA officers, right? That's plenty enough to hold him on."

Jimbo nods at Duffy, and keeps working at his temples. "This is pretty confusing stuff. We should probably start a single case-file to organize this information in, spot leads that cross, and stuff. All this speculation is good and well, but there's no way to follow it directly... isolating our leads and concentrating on them might let us plan a more efficient method of investigation."

"Technically, we started it since I fired first," Duffy says with a groan and a likewise rubbing of his temples. "But I'm pretty sure they'd have shot first if they'd had the opportunity. All right, I'll wait on your interview with Kor Verago and we'll see what you can find at the Apollo, eh? After that, well, we should meet again and review our leads. Maybe at some place that offers drinks and doesn't ask too many questions."

"Yeah, I've been trying to get just my own ducks in a row, Watterson, and I confuse myself with it all." Danzwyck smiles wryly again. "Never mind trying to sort through what you've dug up."

Jimbo tilts his head at Duffy. "You mean in the alley, when they were drawing their guns?"

Jet flips through to the next page, and freezes, looking at a highlighted line. "Frak. No, Duffy, I think we turn this over to the Brotherhood, now."

Jimbo nods at Jet. "Maybe I can compile this stuff if everyone gives me what they've run up against so far. I'll make the report available to everyone." He leans forward. "What? What'd you find?"

"Ursula told me 'The sequence has almost been completed.' Didn't know what she meant until just now, but if she knows what she's talking about, then I think the Armageddonists have too damn many of those skulls already," Danzwyck states flatly.

Jimbo's face scrunches up. "Durand in a sidecar... yeah, we definitely need backup. And after we secure it, we'd best keep rooting around. The Brotherhood's got the power, but I don't think they can wiggle into cracks like we can."

Duffy nods to Jay. "I--" He looks at Jet's page.

Duffy furrows his brow. "Yeah, I can't think of too many possible meanings for 'sequence'."

The female detective wraps her arms around the back of her chair, hugging it to her chest. "Frag. I thought she was just another rantin' nutcase. And maybe she is, but her raving's just a little too close to reality for my comfort. Let's dump it all on the Brotherhood and see where they want us to go from there."

"Well, I agree we should give some of this to the Bros, but..." Jimbo scratches his head. "I don't think we should wait for them. You said that Dice was supplying the Armageddonists with drugs? Maybe some undercover is in order ... Catch some dealers in a sting, then offer leniency for info on some of the other customers. It's standard practice. If someone can work their way into the dealer's ring, even better. Then again, I don't know the heirarchy these dealers use. I'm just going on street junkie outlets."

Duffy hmms thoughtfully. "If we have that much time... Jay, you're the terrorist expert; do you think these Armageddonists use a cell system or do they have some base where they've collected these skulls?"

Rousing herself from her numb stupor, Jet replies, "I was going to try the 'sting' angle, yeah, Jay. About the Armageddonists -- Ursula won't talk about their structure, but Horace gives me the impression of a cell-based one. He didn't have much of an idea who was in the outfit beyond the four of them and a couple of other people -- the fortune teller, and a guy who drove a cleaning agency van."

"That'd be Kor Verago," Duffy supplies. "Works in Squeaky Cleaners."

"Right," the woman responds.

Jimbo rubs his nose, his brow pinching together in thought. "I think you're right, Jet ... they probably do operate on a cell system. Since they're big enough, there might be a centralized organizer or organizer that gives them only what information they need to do their jobs ... otherwise keeping them out of the loop for security reasons."

Duffy swears a bit. "Frak! And we lost our apparent link-- this Madame Genoa. I should have sat on that woman."

Jimmy reaches around the table to prod Duffy in the ribs, grinning. "You'da crushed her, doughboy."

"This Kor Verago guy may be worth more than you think, Duff. How'd you end up in a shootout with him, again?" Jet asks.

Duffy makes as if to swipe at Jimbo with the crutch. "Ah, well, Jay can tell you about it."

"This was after we went to ask Madame Genoa, an informant, I guess, some questions...," explains Jimbo, sitting back in his chair and flipping his smacked hand back and forth.

Danzwyck listens quietly.

Jimmy continues, "We'd just gotten done talking to an informant at the shopping complex. Me and Ice were on hand to back Duffy up while he questioned her about Blue Heaven. I was just sitting tight, but Ice noticed this huge Gaian out in the complex while we were still in Genoa's fortune-telling shop. Kor, I guess. Ice picked up that Genoa was signalling Kor somehow, telepathically or whatever, who bailed. We tailed him, but I guess he was onto us, 'cause four cronies jumped us. They went for their heat, Duffy and Ice fired. They got Duffy in the leg on the return, and when the dust cleared, three were dead, Ice chased down Kor, and the last one was subdued."

Jet shakes her head. "Weird scene."

After a moment, she adds, "You interrogated him yet?"

"It did encourage me to lay off of the undercover work," Duffy comments. "You just can't wear a lot of armor when you're plainclothes. Yeah, Kor came off like a nature nut. He did talk about the four skulls, called Blue Heaven a 'tool, just like the four skulls'. I'm not saying this verbatim, I've got a transcript around here ... but you get the idea."

Jet nods.

"But, it seems like if they got this coded sequence, if Kor were the one at the button, he'd push it, no question," Duffy says.

Jimbo laces his fingers together. "Well, we weren't really all that undercover, Chief," he says. "We were in plainclothes to keep from disturbing anybody while we talked to Farad and Genoa, but we didn't have any roles."

"Just like Ursula," the woman observes.

Duffy nods. "Yeah ... I take the distinction."

Jimbo says, "Didn't the other suspect try to commit suicide? Or was that with your ice-cream batch?"

"Both of them, if I recall correctly, Watterson," Jet replies.

"No, you got that one right, Jay," Duffy responds. "He's being treated for the poison pill he tried to swig down. We should see if he's ready for questioning sometimes soon."

Jimbo nods, drumming his fingers on the table. "Well then. I'd suggest we get that stuff together, nice and condensed, alert the big brothers to the situation, then plan a subtle investigation of our own to back their sledgehammers up. The Brotherhood's methods might not turn anything up in this kind of tangled web, and I'm sure they're smart enough not to firebomb everything and hope that makes something float to the top. This way, when we dig something up, we can call down the thunder."

"Maybe we can have that report tomorrow, and think about it after Jet's concert," Watterson adds. He sits back, and grins lopsidedly. "If the city might get wiped off the face of this rock ... well ... I don't want to be kicking myself for having missed the last performance."

"Yeah, works for me. Here, I'll be heading up to the Brotherhood's hospital. Maybe I can drop a packet off along the way and put a fly in their ear about this," Duffy suggests. "Why don't we go monopolize the office mimeograph and get all this stuff copied?"

"One copy for each of us, and the Brotherhood gets the original," the dog-man clarifies.

With a nod to her canine counterpart, the female detective folds up her file and stands, moving to open the door and let her fellow cops exit to complete the paperwork.

Duffy levers himself out of his chair and braces himself on the crutch. "After you, Jay, after you," he says with a bit of a chuckle. "Looks like we've got overtime ahead of us this week."

Jimbo pats the table with his palms, and gets to his feet. "Uff ... one and a half pots of coffee ought to do for this one, I think..." He ambles out the doorway.

Log stopped on Wednesday, 26 Apr 2000, 10:01 PM EST by "Duffy" at "Holodeck 5"

*** GM Note: 1 point awarded each to Duffy, Jimbo, Jet for light RP session