Corruption Submerged

Nicole Taylor

## Meetings

With the primary agents of Antwerp Construct thrust in the limelight after the events of Trial of the Void, each is summoned to a meeting.

Franklin Salisbury is summoned to CERN by Chairman John Blackmane, Syndicate, to talk about the future of the SPD. With efforts well in hand to rid the Syndicate of the old, corrupt, SPD, there is a need to fill that gap with a new research division, in which Blackmane sees a role for Salisbury as a consultant.

Patricia Jane, meanwhile, is summoned to Henri de Lorre in Paris. De Lorre resides in a subdimensional space on top of the Eiffeltower. With de Lorre's secondary identity as Levi now in danger of being revealed, he is planning on handing over the reigns to one of the two methodologies under him - to Jane. To her the choice - Operatives, or the Feed.

Nicole Taylor's meeting is the most remote - Low Venus Orbit - and brief. She is given a portfolio of documents, detailing the full operational status of the Void Engineers, to study.

## To the Trench

Meanwhile, the team as a whole is preparing to receive Jennifer Thorne of the Progenitors. During the meeting, they are requested to escort her to TUS Nautilus, a joint Progenitor/VE base in the Mariana Trench. One of the inhabitants there was placed in a cell following some irregularities, and to be extracted for interrogation in a more suited locale.

While designed primarily for deep space and umbral travel, the TUS Resilience is, as a side effect, also rated for deep sea travel (umbral travel specifically requiring a lot of shielding). With some quick adaptations to mission protocols, the ship is prepared for the mission, and the team is underway.

While en route, they're briefed on one of the issues they'll face - increased hostility by "were-sharks" inhabiting the region. Similar to other were-creatures, some quick information gathering by Salisbury (from his girlfriend the were-tiger) teaches them that these "Rokea" are more violent, and less susceptible to diplomacy, than most were-creatures (in general already fairly hostile). Still, the increase in hostility - especially the direct attacks on the Nautilus - are atypical.

Reaching the area of the Trench without incident, the Resilience starts it's decent. While the initial dive again proceeds smoothly, soon after reaching the area of Rokea influence, they attract the attention of some of the creatures. While the ship proceeds, Jane tries to communicate with the creatures, but receives no response.

As a precaution, knowing the capabilities of were-creatures, Nicole strengthens the Dimensional Barrier around the ship - the barrier significantly weaker this deep into the ocean. Shortly after, the move proves fruitful - a number of Rokea try to breach the ship by slipping through dimensional space. While they are ultimately succesful, the reinforced Barrier gives the marines on board, and Salisbury - time to prepare for their arrival and ambush the creature. Shortly after, the ship's defensive batteries open up and drive the remaining creatures away.

While keeping an eye out for the rest - who keep trailing the ship at a safe distance - Jane proceeds with a more in-depth "discussion" with one of the captured creatures. While no meaningful communication can take place, she does pick up some splinters - the unbridled rage of the creature, and the belief that our teams (and the base) are agents of the "Wyrm" - their term for a powerful entity of Entropy and corruption.

The rest of the journey proceeded without further incident, except for a minor skirmish at the base itself; quickly dispersed by the Resilience's defensive fire.

After arrival and docking, the team was greeted by Justin Case, member of the Sidereal Strike Force on temporary assignment to the Nautilus. Keeping Case's unique situation in mind, the team got the main story out of him - the target of extraction was seen acting suspiciously, going so far as to attack fellow staff members (although Case reported that he never saw this behavior, and he believed the target to be an upstanding Technocrat.

Once at the target's cell, it didn't take long to determine the cause of the recent issues - a routine Dimensional Analysis by Taylor revealed that the target was infested by a Bane. After learning this news, Thorne took immediate steps - knowing Bane infection to be not practically reversible, she ordered the cell to be flooded with deadly gas. While this didn't kill the EDE inside the target, without it's host it was powerless - and a quick containment field set up by Taylor ensured it would stay in place until it could be permanently dealt with.

The immediate problem thus identified, the team went to report to the base commander, who reacted with shock. The evidence was clear enough, however - the only thing that remained was finding out how the Bane got all the way out here. To that effect, Jane tapped into the base's security camera's, and managed to retrace the Bane's time of arrival - just after Case's arrival. After arriving, the resulting infestation proceeded as neutral - the target was already feeling resentful, and the bane exploited that opening, with no Dimensional Science staff on site to notice the problem until it was too late.

Case himself was investigated, but soon ruled out as a plausible suspect. Still, to eliminate that avenue, Taylor contacted his superior, Captain Philip Broughton. While he could vouch for Case, the two deduced that Case's method of travel - by portal - did provide a possible method of arrival for the Bane. A quick investigation of the portal site did indeed find evidence for that, so it's source was now also positively identified.

With the picture clear, followup activities could now take place. One issue was the dangerously low Dimensional Barrier which made it easier for the Bane (and possible future EDE's) to infiltrate, so Case - who had DS training - was set on the task of resolving that until a more permanent Stabilization Engine could be requisitioned. Meanwhile, the Bane could also be dealt with - with Saisbury constructing a mobile containment field which could be launched to the Rokea as a "present", with the added communication that it was the source of the "wyrm" corruption that they felt. Following this, the Rokea became much less hostile (relatively speaking, anyway).

Thus having handled the incident, the team set back on returning to Antwerp, and starting on their prospective works after the earlier meetings.