Session #5 - in which there is a review of the case and plans made

It is the day after the events in the marketplace, the team having spent the rest of the day completing witness statements for the police and receiving medical treatment in the Æscuplaian Order's Beaulac Clinic. They reconvene in the Æon office and Terry starts to set up a briefing, he advises them that the ULPF have Aisha's body, along with the "octopus" that was found inside it and have scheduled an autopsy for later today and have invited a representative of Æon to attend. Aisha's next of kin have yet to be informed. They discuss the case and bring Zimwi up to speed with Bryant, who was late to the meeting, explaining the call he received from his contact at the Qin embassy.

Shortly thereafter they are interrupted by the arrival of the mysterious Mrs McAlister. She dismisses Terrance, shuts the blinds, locks the door and places a psionic scrambler device on the table. She asks that they bring her up to speed with what they know and present their current theories to her. They do so and Bryant suggests that he believes that the "octopus" is a Qin bioapp and he and Howie believe Aisha has gone on a journey with the Qin, the "Aisha" they found being some form of decoy.

McAlister explains that she thinks what they have found is a long-theorised and suspected Qin "infiltration suit" - a bodysuit similar to the encounter suits they wear when dealing with humanity but one that is designed to imitate human appearance and physiology. She is arranging for the ULPF to hand it over to the UN for further analysis. The fact that the team have found an example of the device is a huge coup. 

She also advises that the Poison Clan member that the team caught in the market is a Chinese national, Jonnie Chou, who is on Luna illegally. He is in ULPF custody but is facing extradition to China where he will face punishment for his crimes.  

Suzi still has access to the Poison Clan minicomp and uses it to trace the origin of the messages placing the hit on "Aisha". She is able to determine that they originated from the Qin Embassy.

Terry returns to advise that there is a visitor requesting to speak with Bryant; a Qin dignitary. McAlister tells Terry to let them in and he introduces Near Infrared Questbringer Society Hsiao Kuo and their bodyguard. The Qin sits and addresses Bryant, Emerald Whispering Elms has spoken to them about the situation and he has come to request the return of Qin property - a "Bánwu" - or Qin minicomp; the octopus like creature. They agree to arrange that but also discuss Carmine Truthsculpter. Near Infrared explains that they are an artist who was visiting Human space for inspiration but they returned to Qinshui on the regular Ananda Leviathan jump. With a pledge that the Bánwu will be delivered to the embassy Near Infrared leaves.  As soon as they do so Howie jumps into their seat and uses his psychometry to try to get a reading of the Qin. It appears that they came without malice and there is no indication that they are part of a larger plot, simply that they are trying to resolve a potential mess of a scandal.

McAlister agrees with the team that their next step will be to follow Carmine to the Qin homeworld and starts to put things in motion. Meanwhile she gets the Bánwu brought to Suzi so that she can try to get any information from it before handing it back to the embassy.  Due to the language barrier and alien nature of the technology she is only able to determine that the glyphs and pictographs that relate to ownership seem to indicate that the device belongs to Carmine.

Æon arrange for a Banji Peregrine scout ship to be made available to the team, with Suzi acting as pilot. They also call in some favours to arrange for a teleporter to open a warp portal to get them to Qin, but they will need to arrange jump ship transit, or similar, for the route home. The launch and jump is scheduled for two days time.

Aisha has now been missing for 90 hours...