Intergalactic Summit

A gun couldn't be used because of the security, mister Catillah. At least, that's how I've understood it...

If I can assist...

If I'm remembering right - someone do correct me if I am wrong - there were dectors in place for weaponry, one would assume exhaustive ones.

The barbs were made of slender lightweight bone or a similar material that likely wouldn't show up on any sort of scanner as a weapontype.

The launching system - unless I am skimming all of the writing here too quickly, again I am concentrating on several things at once at this time - is unknown or not stated in these reports, I'd guess from watching it go off as something that likely wouldn't have registered as a launching device powerful enough to operate or register as conventional or detectable weaponry.

The neurotin - well. Drug, poison, and exposive sniffing devices aren't exactly cutting edge tech, even to a miniscule ppm, which means that either there is no such device in operation at the establishment, or the assassin took a chance hoping that particular formulation would not be detected because it was not registered in the machines databank as a known neurotoxin or an analog of a known toxin.

As the toxin wasn't immediately identified, and is also not being identified now, I would suspect personally there are such sniffers in operation at the club, but they were not programmed to detect this specific drug.

Therefore I'd guess it was formulated or selected specifically for this purpose with the assassin knowing the brand and general programming of the machine in use, and the drug was an available lethal option not on a database.

(EDIT) There seems to be a a possibility from the supplied information here the cloning facility didn't realise there was an issue with the clones until they took a physical look instead of letting the automatic computers handle - this could support that the drug was largely unknown.

The rather slow and physically calm effect (they weren't in seizures, vomiting, etc, or anything that would have insinuated imminent death) would encourage a less medically inclined capsuleer to immediately put the victim in a pod and hit the snapshot button, sending the memories to a clone whose neural pathways would not record them and causing a reanimation failure.



Based on my viewpoint of the incident:

The man stepped out of the crowd in the front row behind Ava, which at that time was close to Anslo, I believe within a quick and dangerous arm's reach. The positioning was likely to be able to strike as much surface area as possible on his intended victim -- though the combatants had been moving around and turning during the course of the contest, at that moment they had not moved for some time as Ava was trying to choke Pieter from behind, demanding his unconditional surrender.

The man pulled off his jacket. As people were busy yelling and trying to un-lemonlime and whip-cream themselves this act in and of itself wouldn't have attracted much attention in the chaos, it was only because for my own reason I was.. averting my eyes from what was going on that I noticed at all. He was covered in a lot of tattoos - ones unfortunately I couldn't identify by eye -- they're simply not my expertise. He then raised his left arm toward the stage and Ava and Pieter who at the time were I believe at 'one one's knee' level in the pit - there was so much standing and falling at that point I truly can't remember.

Anyway at this point the assailant stated something about sending regards to Midular and the Sky Mother, addressing Ava as Shaman (as I assume Pieter is not a Shaman, he had to be addressing Ava). At this point a device attached to his wrist ejected a fine cloud - a cloud - of barbs toward Ava (and obviously as the cloud has a trajectory, anyone else in the way).

The force with which they ejected could not have been terribly great, or that many barbs would have struck quite a few people in the crowd that were sitting in the front row beyond the stage-pit and the two combatants. The pair were at least partially kneeling at the time, meaning the projectiles were fired straight ahead or close enough angle-wise.

Ava was hit with only eight of a cloud of these thing, and Pieter with one - his back mostly shielded by Ava. Most of the barbs in the cloud must have have fallen only shortly around and beyond the pair either into the pit or to the floor beyond the stage, only bouncing off of or lightly catching into the material of the clothes of those in the front row, having lost too much momentum to penetrate fabric or skin at that moment to the point of delivering poison. No one was struck hard enough to be poisoned at the moment of attack save those in the center of the stage-pit area -- I purposely walked around the stage to attempt to check and make sure no one was overlooked.

Ava collapsed as if simply unconcious, and Pieter began to drift clowly in that direction, having recieved less of a dose (simply based on one barb versus eight as mg/kg is irrelevant with a neuroactive drugs.)

The assassin seemed to have no intention of escaping, so utlimately his positioning close to a man who stated plainly he'd murder anyone in the club who acted out of line didn't particularly matter -- as long as his mission as able to be accomplished his job was done. The assassin even bowed theatrically before he was rendered incapable of hurting anyone else -- quite brutally, I may add.

I hope this helps and doesn't simply confuse anyone.

A plausible reason for why the assassin did what he did was so that his message could be delivered to the people who were present at the time. He could've picked a quiet time when his target is alone and off her silently, but his statement would not have gotten out then. He is counting on the witnesses to carry out his agenda for him, so he had to make the act memorable, and the observers relatively unharmed, so they can talk about it afterwards.

Very interesting details indeed, which raise a couple important questions.

First, we have the weapons and killing methods used. Indeed, using a drug that bypasses the detectors in place but kills is an option, but I'm sure other drugs could have gone through the gate and killed quicker and more effectively sine the attackers knew the defense gate methods. And using a spray is indeed sloppy: effective, since the targets would be moving, but there are other ways much more effective to issue the drug as captain Farel indicated.

Then we have the statement. As captain Coventina pointed out, they clearly wanted to send a message to those present, and thus they used such a visible and dramatic method. This explains the choice of a spray weapon, but not the neurotoxin employed. The thing with this dramatizing is that it doesn't make sense. You don't make a perefct and careful plan to kill someone and then risk it by stating the intent ahead and making a public display about it. The best way to ensure the message gets through is to kill the target, and then explain why either by yelling it as you're subdued, leaving texts explaining it in your datapad, or statements by your partners.

The sacrifice of the pawn talks about a group that can clearly motivate their members in their duty, enforcing some sort of fanatism. It will probably also mean the pawn will know very little of what actually is really going on, as they knew he'd be captured and interrogated.

So, as things stand, I still believe the theory of an attack on captain Tuulinen to control him and on captain Starfire to put stress on Minmatarr-Amarr/Gallente relations (specially taking into account the declarations of the attacker) still holds most sense. At least with the data available, if the goal was really to kill captain Starfire there were more effective ways, even if a little bit less dramatic, but the drama can be enforced once success has been achieved via public declarations, notes, etc. And choosing a moment in which actually both were wrestling as oposed to before/after is a good way to make sure captain Tuulinen is sprayed while not appearing to be the target.

Come on, I'm not even through my second quarter as a Capsuleer and I've already got a grasp on their nature.

This was to be expected.

If they have to issue statements afterwards, it would give people yet another chance to trace back to the source. Not ideal for those who would wish to remain anonymous.

I mostly pointed out facts and oddities. People can make up conspiracies out of them if so they wish, but I am not especially fond of speculation myself, so I will refrain from doing so, as usual.

Captain Sepherim;

I'm sorry for not replying to you sooner on your lovely forensic review. Work has been a little hectic as of late. I would like to address a point which you made, however.

The neurotoxin in question does not have entirely the capacities which you are suggesting. Specifically, it is not nootropic or psychotropic in nature. The neurological effects it has are not targeted at certain structures or functions, as this is well beyond the purview of its (relatively) simple chemistry. As such, it cannot be used to cause a predictable or controllable change in the cognitive structures of a victim.

By our accounts, the introduction of this neurotoxin would create a disjunction between the victim and their clones. Applying the standard burn procedure would possibly result in the loss of significant data along unknown vectors. This could result in permanent memory loss, functionality loss, or brain death - the exact results would depend on the specifics of the damage done by the neurotoxin at time of burn. This disjunction condition is the supposed reason for capsuleer dementia, and is also a major factor in my own condition.

All of this said, however, there is still a lot we don't know about the effects of the neurotoxin, which appears to be tailored to some degree. It is certainly artificial and was no doubt made for this attack specifically. We will release further information when it is safe and prudent to do so Until then, we will take your suggestions under advisement. And thank you!

A conspiracy theory would certainly be wilder than a list of facts and primary opinions about them, but if that's inappropriate, my apologies. I will not extrapolate in regards to the ultimate backer of this act though, simply because the implication after the attack I got by the actvity around me was that it's none of by business. My apologies, again, if I read the body language of my fellow casuleers incorrectly. I am not one who often decants.