CSI: Mia

Oct 22 2008

Oct 22 2029

United Kingdom

Bounded by the rugged, wind and weather-carved Shetlands, shining sea lochs, and mist-shrouded moors of Scotland in the far north; the rocky shorelines and sandy beaches of the Channel Islands off the south coast; the rolling hills, stately churches, ancient forests, and green hedgerows of England in the east; the glaciated mountains, secluded valleys, deep, clear lakes, and wild, windswept beaches of Wales; and the blue mountains, marshy plains, legend-haunted lakes, and white Atlantic sands of the north of the Emerald Isle in the west, the United Kingdom offers a huge diversity of landscapes. Along with the lovely scenery, the UK boasts more material resources such as shipbuilding, dams, and aircraft building in Northern Ireland; coal mining and refineries in Wales; hydroelectric generating stations, petroleum, natural gas, coal, zinc, and iron mining in Scotland; iron mining, world financing and investment, and trade in England.

Penumbra drives towards the landed shuttle Golden Age, returning from London after an extensive leave of parking with the posh. The Bugatti Veyron transforms and walks onto the landing field the rest of the way towards the vessel. A large metal case gripped by a handle at his side.

Dee-Kal is just admiring the October night skyline, with a slightly chilly Sam being toted, probably slightly reluctantly, in her arms. At least he's warmer there.

 Penumbra says, "I'm borrowing the Golden Age to sort out this crime business Kup suggested me for. For the record and for elimination purposes, I'll need the names of

everyone known to have come into contact with the crime scene."

 Teletraan II says, "WORKING..."

 Teletraan II says, "42,341 INDIVIDUALS IDENTIFIED. FORWARDING TO YOUR INBOX, PARADIGM. HAVE A NICE DAY."

 Rodimus Prime says, "Uh, I think that was Penumbra, Teletraan."

 Teletraan II says, ". . . UNKNOWN ERROR DETECTED."

 Rodimus Prime says, "Hmm."

 Rodimus Prime says, "That's probably not good."

 Steeltread says, "Sounds like even a supercomputer gets it's processor jammed occasionally."

The little Junkion grins at Penumbra after overhearing Teletraan on the Autobot channel.

 DepthCharge says, "Don't look at me, Teletran II has been reverted back to his default settings for some time now. Bags not me having broke him."

 Penumbra says, "Halt and narrow inquiry to significant time frame 3 days before incident until today."

 Rodimus Prime says, "Penumbra, I don't think we should be overloading Teletraan right now. Not until Computron can debug him, anyway."

 Penumbra says, "Fine fine. I've got field work to do. I'm thrilled."

 Rodimus Prime says, "Nightbeat doesn't trust computers at all, and he does alright. You'll be fine."

Penumbra turns to Dee-Kal. "You hitchin a ride?"

 Red Alert says, "The official reports list the two primary witnesses. You may want to question them." He pauses. "Well, one of them. Shockwave isn't likely to co-operate."

 Nightbeat says, "Considerin' computers tried ta kill me..."

Dee-Kal shakes her head. "I smurfed. Err, walked. But thanks anyway."

Penumbra shakes his head. "No, I mean to Mia. Ever been there?"

Dee-Kal says, "No, cannot say that I have."

 Steeltread ponders. "uh.....Rodimus Prime? is that your name?"

<Autobot> Rodimus Prime says, "That's what they call me these days, anyway."

<Autobot> Penumbra says, "In Italy you're known as Primo Roddo."

<Autobot> Steeltread says, "Nice to hear from the leader of the Autobots......at least that's what I'm assuming since your name is 'Prime'"

<Autobot> Penumbra says, "In Italy you're known as Primo Roddo."

<Autobot> Steeltread says, "Nice to hear from the leader of the Autobots......at least that's what I'm assuming since your name is 'Prime'"

<Autobot> Rodimus Prime says, "Right... I take it you're new around here?"

<Autobot> Dee-Kal says, "In Khazakstan, you are known as Hot Rod..."

<Autobot> Rodimus Prime says, "Hot Rod? You can't trademark that name."

<Autobot> Rodimus Prime says, "Too generic. I already looked into it."

<Autobot> Hollywood says, "Hmmm."

<Autobot> Hollywood says, "Hot Rod. That's not a bad idea."

<Autobot> Penumbra says, "I'll require a witness to my work... Since we're pointing fingers at an Autobot, the possibility of another Autobot being involved somehow cannot be yet eliminated, there for there is the chance I am guily myself and ya can't trust a word I'll say. Heavy, huh?"

<Autobot> Steeltread says, "Steeltread, Omega Squadron.....from Alteron."

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "...didn't anyone debrief you?"

<Autobot> Rodimus Prime says, "Nightbeat, debrief Steeltread."

<Autobot> Hollywood says, "Holly Rod... hmmm..."

<Autobot> Hollywood says, "Hollidus Prime."

<Autobot> Nightbeat grumbles, "...yessir, Boss."

<Autobot> Dee-Kal says, "Oh, it is not that. It just takes a while for news to update in Khazakstan. Please leave Steel-chan's underpants in tact... he is is my new cousin!"

Penumbra walks up the ramp of the Golden Age. All aboard thats going offshore.

<Autobot> Steeltread says, "I can be debriefed later Rodimus. I'm currently learning about earth with a terran female named......Andrea Lassiter."

Later...

<Autobot> Penumbra says, "I better not see anything under a black light..."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire yawns. "D'you need a fox, by any chance?"

<Autobot> Penumbra says, "You're welcome. Just ready to lift off."

Autobot Shuttle <Golden Age>

The interior of the shuttle is very roomy. There is a highly technical cockpit that seats numerous bots at various stations, and a huge cargo area for additional troops or equipment.

.....

Some time later, after a space journey...

Mia

Drifting erratically through the Centauri System, Mia has a diameter of 2000 km, slightly smaller than Pluto. Its rich reddish-orange surface blazes in the bright sunlight of Prima Facie and Altera like a red-hot coal, but the color is due to iron oxide, not heat. Pock-marked with craters from millions of years of collisions, it bears a strong resemblance to the planet Mars in Earth's solar system, but minus any ice caps.

Contents:

Autobot Shuttle <Golden Age>

Spacebridge Triangulation Terminus 1

Penumbra powers down the shuttle and gets ready to disembark. "Thanks for coming along, Foxfire. I need a witness for validating my work findings and who knows if I'll need an extra pair of... paws." He picks up a big metal case with a handle.

Foxfire stands up in his seat and stretches his joints. "Sure, no problem. Didn't have anything else to do, anyway." He jumps down and starts heading for the shuttle hatch.

Penumbra hits a wall switch and the hatch opens, lowering the ramp to the surface. Just outside less than half a kilometer away is the spacebridge. "This is about evidence gathering, of course... and evidence gathering is patient gentle work... mostly... Key rule. Touch nothing until it's been documented and cleared for contact. Have you got optical recording functionality?"

Foxfire snorts quietly. "I think I know how these things work..." At the question, he flicks his ears, then nods. "I have a hologram system. Does that count?"

Penumbra smiles. "Three dimensional imagry photography? Yes, that's better than my Two dimensional image recorder. Guess I won't have to figure out how to get you to use mine when yours is better. Alright, we're ready." He walks down the ramp and heads towards the Spacebridge ahead.

A bit of a smirk crosses Foxfire's muzzle. "I haven't had much of a chance to use it lately, but it's still good." He follows Penumbra down the ramp and toward the spacebridge, his paws sounding lightly on the ground beneath him.

Spacebridge Triangulation Terminus 1

Where most spacebridges feature a massive smooth and shiny 'donut' shape with hardened steel and sliding blast doors, it's obvious that this is no ordinary bridge. The superstructure is made up of ten connecting arches that wind around to make the donut shape. Overall, it does not appear to be very safe, and one can't help but wonder under what trying conditions it was created. To one side of the door is an abbreviated form of the main spacebridge controls, which are still very complex.

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, as himself, "Light's a lil' painfully bright for anyone with enhanced optics, Kup."

<Autobot> Smokescreen says, "Whiners!"

<Autobot> Hollywood says, "Yeah! Whiners!"

<Autobot> Hollywood says, "What're we talking about?"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "What are *you* guys talking about?"

<Autobot> Kup says, "Runnin' a trainin' op. Ehhhn, I'm having trouble enough with this new fangled holo slag, Nightbeat. Just turn your optics away, or squint, or sumthin'!"

Penumbra begins by 'working' the exterior. He takes out from his metallic case, or 'kit' a lamp that casts various spectrums of light and puts on a pair of goggles which filters light. He begins walking the outer perimeter at a casual pace, slowing down to avoid walking into any footprint path they may come across and having Foxfire snap small images of them, but he doesn't seem to give this any special comment or enthusiasm. He eventually comes all the way back around to near where they started and he approaches a control panel. "Hmm... How are you liking field CSI work so far?" He smirks but remains paused, looking over the panel.

Foxfire continues following after Penumbra, snapping holographic images whenever he needs to. All the while he keeps his ears perked and alert. "It's fun. I always wanted to be a detective."

Penumbra nods. "Healthy attitude. Thank you. Please now, a high res capture of this panel area? I believe this was the location of sabotage. I'll need to take samples and open it."

Foxfire slips around to Penumbra's other side, capturing an image of the panel. "If you need me to smell anything, just lemme know. I'm good at that."

Penumbra smiles. "Well, have you caught scent of Nightbeat on anything yet?"

Foxfire pauses for a moment, as if thinking back, then shakes his head. "Come to think of it, no, I haven't."

Penumbra nods and makes a note of that. He opens his kit and fishes out a spray can. He uses it on each hand, coating them with a fast drying latex. He puts the can away and leans in close to the panel. First the flat surface, and then slowly he moves his optics along each edge. He stops. "Hmm... something here..." He reaches into his kit and takes out a sample tube and a swab. He dabs at the edge and puts the swab into the tube, and holds it towards Foxfire. "Nightbeat?"

Foxfire leans in a little and sniffs at the tube. He lowers his ears slightly, frowning a little. "No...not him at all. I can't smell any trace of him here."

He nods and takes back the tube, sealing it and then printing a brief evidence label. "Looks like a bit of paint in the color spectrum range of somewhere between white and grey... chemistry analysis will determine what it is back at the lab." He sets the tube in the case and continues examinng the panel. Soon he pauses again. "I am now opening the panel." He gets out a couple tools and removes the panel gently. Looking inside, it's all really technical, but after a long examination he turns to Foxfire again. "Smell for me? And another shot please."

Foxfire takes another holographic shot before approaching the open panel. He smells it carefully, then shakes his head. "Still nothin'. No Nightbeat."

Penumbra nods and sets the panel back in place. He takes a moment to further document his proceedures and then resumes his slow walk around the perimeter. Only a few steps taken and he stops again. If he had not been wearing the goggles and using the lamp he might have bypassed it completely. Just a few /very/ light scrapes along the side of the spacebridge near the panel. He points directly to it and asks, "Can you capture an image of this targetting right there center please?"

Foxfire takes the requested shot. "This is all very suspicious," he comments idly. "Why do we have *witnesses* that Nightbeat sabotaged the bridge, when I can't even smell a trace of him?"

Penumbra smirks. "No trace yet... and you should know, as one with holo-tech... and even as a Cybertronian, looks can be decieving. Either way, we're here to let evidence speak for itself. No more. No less. Any fault from that is the error of the investigators. Theories help string evidence facts together. Imagination plays a small role. Reconstructing the crime. For now, we are just science geeks." He chuckles and takes out another sample tube and swab. "I see something more here than just scrapes... there is trace..." He swabs and takes the sample, putting into the tube... And then he repeats with yet another tube and swab near the first taken sample place... He labels both. "I'll need to magnify these along with chemical analysis... looks like two seperate colors. A light yellow... and a light blue. Spectrometer will narrow down precise colors for all the samples."

Foxfire blinks. "Right...that is possible. I've used my holograms to disguise me and others as Decepticons before, so it's not unlikely that someone used the same strategy to take on Nightbeat's appearance." A smirk appears on his muzzle. "And I'm a fox, not a geek."

Penumbra bows slightly. "Point conceeded, fox." He picks up his case and resumes pointing his lamp and walking. They finally reach where they began. "Alright. Perimeter of Spacebridge covered. Let us check out that crater the witnesses said they saw Nightbeat flee down." Its the nearest crater and the stroll is short.

Foxfire stretches out his paws a little. "'Kay, let's go." He starts toward the crater in question.

Penumbra stops a couple feet away from the edge. "Kup said Nightbeat was seen jumping down the crater." He moves his lamp around, strolling back and forth this end of the crater and then returns. "Nothing useable up here... too many." He runs his chin with the back of his arm. "You good to be lowered down into the crater and be my optics?"

Foxfire peers down into the crater, ears perked forward. "Yeah...I can do that."

Penumbra smiles. "Excellent..." He raises a forearm at the elbow joint and a panel in his arm near his wrist slides open. A small grapplehook ejects attached to a cable. He circles Foxfire and then wraps it around his torso in balanced harness fashion. "Hmm... alright." He removes his goggles, adjusts the size on them and places them over Foxfires optics. He then clips the lamp to the cable just above the fox. Then finally he takes out a velcro armband with pouches in it and straps it to one of Foxfires legs. He places several sample tubes in the pounches and a long stick swab in each, easy for Foxfire to mouth-grip with. He explains what he's doing every step of the way. "We take it slow. Sweeping observation side to side evenly. No rush. Looking for signs of contact with the crater wall. Are you ready?"

Foxfire nods and crouches slightly, tail raised. "Ready as always. Let's do it."

Penumbra takes hold of the cable slack with both hands and lifts Foxfire up gently. His internal cable reel then feeds more line and his hands let it slide through, slowly lowering Foxfire down into the crater. "Just tell me when to stop if you see anything..."

"Nothin' yet," Foxfire reports as he's lowered. "Nothing, nothing...ah, hold up!" He points with a front paw. "I see some more paint scrapings!"

Penumbra gently stops feeding cable and calls down, "Heyyyy, I knew having you along was good luck. Are you near enough to take an image and then take swab samples? When you do, if theres more than one sample, put them in the tubes starting from your left to your right going from either left to right on the surface or up and down on the surface, whichever way the trace is laid out on the crater wall."

Foxfire squints a little, then waves a paw up at Penumbra. "Yeah, I can get a good shot from here. Just keep me steady." He records the image, then carefully opens the pouch with one paw, using his mouth as well. He gently holds one of the sample swabs between his teeth, reaching out to grab a samble with the swab he's skilfully holding in his paw. It's not easy, but he manages to get the samples, and places them into the tubes, then closes the pouch. "Okay, got 'em." Foxy goes quiet for a moment as he examines his surroundings. "Now that's weird... Penumbra, it doesn't look like anything that jumped down here ever hit the bottom."

Penumbra headtilts, thinking about this. "You mean... no prints... no further unnatural markings... no foreign objects?"

Foxfire shakes his head. "Nothing. Just...nothing. There's just those paint scrapings on the rocks and edges over here. It's like whatever *did* come down here just...vanished."

Penumbra nods. "Ready to come back up then?"

Foxfire waves his paw again. "Yeah, bring me up."

Penumbra pulls up the line with his hands moving one over the other, more slowly reeling the cable back into his arm until Foxfire is returned to safe ground. "Well done."

Foxfire sits on his haunches and lifts the goggles with a paw. "Glad to be of some use. Is there anything else you need me for?"

Penumbra smiles. "Not a thing. I'll just get you all freed up there..." He goes about un-harnessing and de-CSI-equipmentifying Foxfire, retrieving the armband of evidence carring pouches last and making documentational and proceedural notes for all of it. "And now we can go home." He packs his kit and evidence all away, turning back towards the shuttle.

Foxfire stands and bounds after Penumbra. "We really should hang out more," he remarks. "We could learn a lot from each other. Anyway, I didn't know detective work could be so satisfying."

Penumbra chuckles. "Sounds nice. Look forward to it... as for detective work... I find it calming. Just gotta cope with those times when you hit nothing but dead ends. That can be the most frustrating thing in the galaxy. Never finding answers. Now, if the evidence clears Nightbeat, there's someone who knows a lot about being a detective. I hope it does, but if it points to him, we can't let bias get in the way." He hits the ramp and heads up it. "Enough work... I need a cube when we get back."