One of my Physicists is Missing

[John Niska]

The adventure started on 2353-087 and ended on 2353-090.

[John Niska]

One of My Physicists is Missing.

2353-087
Knight Investigations were hired by Dr. Carolyn Davis of Ibis Scientific Institute to find a missing theoretical physicist and the entire research data of Ibis Scientific Institute. Doctor Joel deSteffano was the missing physicist and the data was removed with his access code. The group interviewed the other researchers: Lonnie Radice, Hillary Whitehill, Kurt Nylander, Chandra Ortiz, Oscar McCotter, and Esme Smothers. The head of Ibis Scientific is Dr. Rosa Ming. Dr. Ming was being interviewed by a journalist named Milo. Milo finds out from Dr Smothers that the company suffered a loss of all its research data and she thinks it is the SolMet research facility on Pharos Station. Dr. Ming steered Milo away from Hillary Whitehall but he manages to talk to her. She is worried about Dr. deSteffano as she saw that he had bruising on his lower back and he recently showed up for work with his arm in a sling. Hillary also mentioned that he started going to Ishtar Station in last few months. Dr. Davis also advised that while deSteffano was unfriendly, he never fraternized with the others, even though Dr. McCotter and Dr. Ortiz both tried but deSteffano didn’t rise to the bait.

Working with the journalist, Knight Investigations checks out deSteffano’s apartment. The apartment was neat and orderly. Upon investigation, they found evidence of several past hobbies of deSteffano. He studied painting, robotics, crochet/knitting, chess and several months ago – mixed martial arts. Checking his internet habits, he was monitoring the blood sports that take place on Ishtar Station. His finances showed that he withdrew all of his money from the Pharos Station bank via an ATM on Fort Linda Calloway two days ago.

The group travelled to Ishtar Station and started asking around. They checked the morgues but there were no unidentified bodies that matched deSteffano. They also checked his last arrival on Ishtar Station and the time stamp proved that he was not on Pharos Station when the data was stolen. They started talking to fighters and eventually, they found a knife fighter named Jensen Lucas that fought and injured deSteffano. Lucas said that deSteffano was like fighting a program. You do this attack and he parries with this maneuver. DeSteffano had no innovation or adaptability. He also said that he seemed to be a little off his game. DeSteffano was injured and taken away to a nearby med center. The admitting clerk said, after a hefty bribe, that a woman checked him into the clinic and asked him to be sedated for four days. DeSteffano had traces of anti-coagulants in his blood system. The clerk identified the woman as Esme Smothers.

When the group went to return to Pharos Station, they found that the shuttles were delayed due to a large number of Myrgha armed merchant ships in the area. The group rented a conference room to wait for their shuttle when a group of thugs attempted to take back deSteffano. The thugs were working for Lonnie Radice, which turned out to be Esme Smother’s dupe. By the time the group returned to Pharos Station, Esme had left through the wormhole for Bubastis Station.

The group followed her to Bubastis Station. They tracked her down and found she hadn’t left the station yet as she was meeting a buyer. The group staked out the buy and after a little bit of a tussle managed to nab Esme Smothers. The buyer, a man named Cameron Horn, said he had no idea that the research material was stolen. He even rewarded the group for preventing him from buying stolen merchandise.

The adventure ended on 2353-090