Week 9 - Can the Real Cal Marx Please Stand Up?

The Stockholder Kal Marx had gained the role of director only a few months before. As was custom, he would give a gift to each of the Iron Republic Board Members and the Stockholders, 100 in all. Though only 99 were present after the death of Stockholder Maxim.
He gave them each hunting gear including side arm and identical tactical gear with their names written on the chest.
Some like Director Nishi Yamada were so large and cybernetic that the idea of such a bit of clothing was a joke, but most stockholders were still human in form. As the Tacticool Suits were not the real trap, and neither were the weapons, most the stockholders were wearing their presents. Respect was an important thing on the Board, and normal stockholders like to follow lockstep with any Director who paid attention to them.
Stockholder Kal Marx stood up to thank the Stockholders and Board members for coming, and introduced them to a beautiful world of verdant bioluminescent fungus, home to Dos Marx brewery. It was Nilos and they were all invited to a business retreat hunting Nilosian Nightstalkers.

As the Stockholder prepared to sit down after giving his speech, Kal Marx said one final thing, "Sirs and Madams of the Board of Directors, we have a problem. The Opiate of the masses has become the combat drugs of the masses. Not only have religions like Kasanthianism poisoned the minds of one third of the Polar Expanse, but now the Church of One spreads from the planet Infernus. I would like to bring it to the attention a little bit of information about the church of One."

As Kal Marx sat down he placed the helmet on his head and motioned for the holoimagery presentation to begin. As it continued to show the imagery, Kal Marx reached down to the space on his cybernetic hand.
A small compartment opened up and released a poison gas. It would cause an immedaite quarantine.

At the same moment all the drinkers of the Dos Marx Select specificially found the sediment in their stomachs actually had were nanites designed to rebuild a small creature. That creature made its way through their stomach lining into the heart and up the back of the head. Once it was safely in the brain it began to change the drinkers of Dos Marx Select into Magnavores.
It brought shock and violence to countless worlds at once. The worst part was the Magnavore's first urge was to birth an egg to start a new Estrain Hive that would self perpetuate. Many planets would have full out breaks within days.

As reports of the attacks spread to the Stockholders they all wished to put the trip on hold, but Quarantine had been established. Kal Marx activated a hidden button and his cybernetic hand launched out under the center of the table and began spraying out smoke filling the room. Bodyguards moved to take control of the situation. However almost all the stockholders looked alike in their tacticool armor.

80 Men and Women who couldn't told apart.
Kal Marx allowed the doppleganging artifact to stop its power, but kept its obscurements up.
A deadly copy of Angel D was now sitting there inside the tacticool armor. She prepared to activate the doppelganging artifact again. It was time to steal some memories.

On the opposite side of the galaxy in the Polar Expanse, keeping his attention centered on the planet Refuge, was Fleetmaster Deer.
All of his attention and awareness was on that tiny penal colony spinning on the edge of known space. The rest of the universe was in turmoil, but seeing the horror, the sheer destruction unleashed on the galaxy over two years by the former inhabitants of Refuge when they got offworld, Refuge was currently the biggest threat to I.R stability in Known Space.
A small red communicator began to blink and emitted a shrill warble.

The standard checkpoints had set up on Mars with Brethren Betas with Leyas scanners, and Cybernetic K9 units. Sector General Deer thought between the Leyas Scanners and the Dogs enhanced sense of smell they should be able to track the instigators.

The Fleetmaster contacted his clone and asked what was his plan. The Sector General presented his plan to Fleetmaster Deer.
The Fleet Master scoffed and laughed in the Sector General's face.

"Standard Checkpoints? You have got my memories but none of my cunning. You don't pay attention to what's going on in the Universe right now do you? What if it is a Kias? They will have the memories of the victim and come up on DNA scans as a perfect match. I'm pretty sure your dogs won't be able to tell. Because biologically a shapeshifted Kias is no different than their target.
Look at every enemy we face.
The TRILAT? Their Sanguine Lords are Kias spawn.
The EEF? Their General Vufrym was declared a rogue Kias time Shredder by the Temporal Empire.
The Fort Lendill? Half their leadership is Kias.

There is a growing conspiracy Sector General. And if I am not mistaken there is a growing threat of Shapeshifting Kias. I want a biological sample taken from everyone who passes through a checkpoint. That sample will be stored. If the potential Kias tries to change forms the biological sample has got to change as well. Then we will have our intruder."

Fleetmaster Deer began to cackle maniacally.

Sector General Deer excused himself to put the plan into action. Another 2 million Beta Brethren would be sent in, all carrying stunners along with normal loadout. He also informed security that Sector General Palomedes and Le-a HiveQueen would be aiding in the investigation and threat response.

Meanwhile on Mars, in the depths of the Alpha Dome, was the Board Room where panic had ensued.

The first few seconds of the panic would be most important.
Still dressed in the Tacticool marked with F.KalMarx's name, the deadly copy of Angel D was ready. She would move from one Stockholder to another resting a hand here, and laying a hand there.
Anyone watching the video, would see a person in tacticool, wearing the name tag Kal Marx helping people who were in shock.
She would spend no less than thirty seconds with each, holding and maintaining physical contact so the artifact could steal their forms and memories.
The targets were 3 Stockholders, 1 other Director, and any bodyguards who got close.

The First Stockholder had been Ms. Sforza of the Gunpod Starfighter Dynasty. She had automatically run into Kal Marx's arms. Her relationship with him had been close a few decades before, and Angel D knew Fred had loved the girl as a friend and confidant. She was easily copied.
Then leading her over on her shoulder, Angel D motioned to another pair of stockholders to help him with Ms. Sforza. In the handoff she was able to touch both Stockholder Joshi who had significant holdings in the free trade zone known as the Chameleon Alliance.
As well as the Stockholder Harold Port who had holdings in the UK Dome on Earth. She walked away before they could see her face.

But leaned as if exhausted on their two bodyguards, who were back to back scanning the crowd with their thermal sensors.

Moments before the smoke cleared, after the deadly copy of Angel D had doppleganged her targets she moved in towards the Chairman of the Board. He was the real prize, and she wanted his form and memories, and command codes.

But she hadn't been the only one to think like that. The Resistant had smuggled a clone of the K'ias Abraxas, whose memories had been reprogrammed, onto the surface of Mars three years earlier. The Time Shredders had opened the way. The deciding vote not to fire planetkiller missiles or glass Refuge and countless other rebelling planets had come from the Chairman of the Board. He had selected the mad man, Deer, and lifted him through the ranks to Fleetmaster as a warden. So when Angel D touched him, her goal of a six month under cover operation, she reviled in the feeling of a memory of Abraxas coming into her head.
She could not copy a K'ias True form, and she couldn't copy the memories the Abraxas clone had stolen from the now missing Chairman of the Board.

Her outrage was extreme, when his clawed hands grabbed Angel D and began to copy her memories. And from her out into the K'ias who did not know what he had pulled inside of him, was the Ancient Evil known as the Creeping Darkness. Angel D fell backwards in spasming pain, the first time she hadn't held the infenal core of that demonic entity inside her. She had her prizes and fled back into the smoke turning back into Kal Marx.

Angel D prided herself on backups and the Hand had been artificed as an Eye Spy when she first affixed it those many months ago. While her backup plan required the Guards who found the cybernetic hand of Kal Marx under the table to be taken in by her secondary plan.
There were blood storage areas closest to the wrist, but instead of her blood they had a tiny bit of K'ias blood taken during the Border Wars. It had been her plan that it was a red herring the investigators after the K'ias. Then she realized she had just betrayed her former patron in his current Avatar. The humor of it made her press a few buttons on her armor and the hand came running back to her, depositing a bit of K'ias blood before it arrived.

Angel D made it out into the hallway in the form of Kal Marx with his cyberhand back on. She ran down the corridor to the next checkpoint as the Leyas scanner was offset by her obscurements, and the cyberdogs were already drawn away by the smell of K'ias in the board room.
DNA came back as Fred, as Angel D had doppleganged the Director for hours making ring after ring of his form. Farmed him out if you will.

She realized that the fake chairman had changed a few I.R. Protocols to allow him and other doppelgangers free passage through Iron Republic space. Angel D had doppelganged Sector General Deer during the funeral of Alice Clegg and knew something was up. Now she knew what it was. And she had just set up a cataclysmic situation in that Board Room.


Pt 1 of 2

(OOC- None of the information in this mission is known in character outside of F.KalMarx and TheSectorGeneralDeer who watched it play out.)

Pesh was stunned they had to sedate or kill a number of blackheart personnel in the past few hour as they turned to magnavores. The planet was quarantined but they still got the news from across the galaxy through underground channels of the violence and the outbreaks. The vector was still unknown, but Pesh had a troubling feeling this was the start of something horrible.

Then the call came that Three leaf lodge had sent a broken transmission and now went silent. Pesh's heart stopped. The stock holders were there along with wealthy from around the galaxy.

Pesh began barking orders. “Get the QRF birds over there stat. Switch bird two for STRIKE team 6, if the magnavore plague got them we are going to need their expertise”
The two night hawks were off the pad and in the air seven minutes later.

Pesh was in the ready room since Childeen was away at the party at Casablanca station.

After the two teams breached and cleared each floor, all they found was a single man in tacticool armor tied to a chair. He claimed to be Freidrick Cal Marx and was obviously a clone to the medics blood scanners.

Pesh didn't how it was connected to all of this, but he had a hunch.

Losses

Angel D's location has been revealed OOC to all and in-character to the Sector General Deer.


Rewards

Angel D gains the Form of 3 stockholders and 1 Director.
Angel D gains a foot hold on Earth in the UK Dome
Angel D gains the form of two bodyguards
Angel D is no longer Avatar of the Creeping Darkness she is now Freed
Angel D gains true ownership of the blue patch on the map, both in control by Manslayers on the planets and by taking the Deeds through Doppelganging and learning codes.


Sector General Deer gains a larger starforce
4 IR Motherships
5 IR Heavy Frigates

Sector General Deer gains the Chairman's Secret.
Sector General Deer gains the secret location of Angel D.


Blackheart Security Gains Key to a bigger mystery - ???
Blackheart Security Gains Insurance payout 1 Million ghaz.