STORYLINE

Case In Third Veilcorp Bombing Suspect Faces Legal Roadblock

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The case against the third suspect in the Veilcorp Luau bombing has hit a major roadblock. While she is still being held for trial, attorneys for 35-year-old Sierra Tabot have alleged that major pieces of evidence in the case against her were obtained improperly as part of a wide-ranging illegal rendition program. They contend that the government colluded with Veilcorp officials to wrongfully hold and interrogate dozens of suspects in undisclosed locations. If proven to be true, it could have a devastating effect on the State’s case not only for Tabot, but also for her alleged conspirators.

The Veilcorp bombing back on May 4, 2041 shocked the world. 39 were injured and 10 people lost their lives including founder Eric Oeming’s wife and young daughter. 3 days later Ben Drakes, a Veilcorp employee with ties to the radical environmentalist group Gaia Guard, confessed to the crime and released a manifesto accusing the company of “tearing her [the Earth] apart with gateway technology.”

The arrest so soon after the attack led much of the public to expect a quick resolution to the investigation but it was over 6 months before the next suspect was apprehended. On January 15, 2042 Richard Yates was arrested for his involvement in the conspiracy. A branding associate at Reality Machine, Yates had moved to Lahaina to work on the inter-island rail project and blamed Veilcorp for the project’s early end.

The case seemed to be picking up momentum again when earlier this month the government released some additional information about their case against Yates and arrested a third suspect, Sierra Tabot.

The state says that Tabot was working as a Barraloha instructor at the Kokua Wellness Center when she met Richard Yates. The two seemed to bond immediately over their shared hatred of Veilcorp and the company’s leader, Eric Oeming. The pair were soon inseparable and Sierra’s fellow employees began to worry about her stability. Ascended Pali-ites Master Autumn says,

“Sierra began to travel down some troubling paths. She became obsessed with the idea that the Veilstation was powered by draining the Ch’i of the living things around it and the people passing through the gateway. She talked about how the scientists and engineers working at the station were spiritually hollow and that they were trying to make everyone else hollow too. It began to affect her work and we had a few complaints from guests. The final straw came when she burst into another instructor’s class one day with a handful of her crystals, screaming about how they were no longer attuned and tried to evacuate the building. Management had to let her go.”

After her dismissal, Tabot found work with Kaiwi and Sons catering. The State says that it was at this time that Sierra and Yates became heavily involved with Gaia Guard extremists and met with Drakes for the first time. They contend that after discovering Kaiwi and Sons was scheduled to provide food for the annual Veilcorp company Luau, the trio began to craft the plan that would eventually claim 10 lives and stun the world.

Any forward progress in the case was stopped over the weekend however, when Tabot’s legal team accused the government and Veilcorp of participating in an illegal rendition program. They say that dozens of possible suspects were taken and improperly held at secret facilities, where they were interrogated and in some cases, tortured. The backlash has been quick and overwhelming.

U.S. Rep. John Kildee has been very vocal about the allegations and just this morning has called for a congressional investigation into the charges, “I think the American people deserve to know if Veilcorp has decided that it’s OK to snatch people out of thin air. As troubling as that idea is, I think it would be even more disturbing if it turned out that someone in this government gave them a green light or was working with them. These are not the kind of ideas that this country was founded on and I intend to find the truth.”

Veilcorp attorney Harold Breen counters, “Veilcorp works with government or law enforcement officials from time to time, by providing personal or travel details about certain customers when presented with the proper orders or writs. Nonetheless, to be clear, and for the record, we do not grab people while they are veiling and transport them to internment camps. These allegations are categorically false.”

At this point, while she sits waiting in her cell, the future of the case against Tabot is on hold until the courts rule on her lawyer’s allegations. If even some of her accusations prove true it could have huge ramifications. Yates’ case has already been slow and mired in motions, but this could derail the case entirely. There have been calls for the President to put a temporary stay on Drakes’ execution by a small but growing and vocal group. Any hope that the long investigation might finally come to an end seems all but lost at this point. Tonight, there is still no peace for the victims in Lahaina.

STORYLINE

Information Released About Second Suspect As Bombing Case Moves Into Penalty Phase

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On May 7, 2041 a shocked world could finally put a face to the tragedy that had dominated the news for days. 37-year-old Ben Drakes confessed to the bombing attack at a Veilcorp company Luau that left 10 dead and dozens injured. Veilcorp’s founder Eric Oeming was seriously injured in the explosion and his wife and daughter were among those lost. As Drakes’ case moves into it’s final phase this week, officials have announced new details about his alleged accomplice and say more arrests are soon to come.

A member of the radical environmentalist group Gaia Guard, Drakes turned himself in a day after releasing a manifesto to the press in which he claimed, “Oeming and his followers thought they were above Gaia’s law, so we made them answer for their cruelty.”

Although Hawaii abolished capital punishment before it was granted statehood in 1959, a decision was made to try him federally, making him eligible for the death penalty. While unusual, the move was not unprecedented. The government did the same back in 2014 when they sought the death penalty for a soldier who had murdered his daughter. Drakes plead guilty and represented himself during the speedy trial. He has pledged that he will not seek to appeal the decision of the court during this final phase, and is ready to “sacrifice my life for our mother Gaia.”

From the very beginning investigators had their doubts that the Veilcorp lift operator had acted alone. The arrest of 31-year-old Richard Yates early this year seemed to confirm that suspicion. However, officials have been tight-lipped about the investigation and little information has been released until today.

Yates moved with his family to Maui in late 2039 to work as Lahaina’s marketing specialist on the inter-island rail project. Friends say that he was devastated by Veilcorp’s sudden departure from the project and blamed the company for the loss of his job. Mayor Albert Cravalho worked closely with Yates and says he was shocked when he heard about the arrest. “Richard was a bright and positive young man. Together we had a beautiful vision for what the rail project would become. Of course I was disappointed when the project fell through but what he’s done is unconscionable. I don’t know what would make a person so twisted.”

Friends of Yates say the cancellation of the project began a year-long downward spiral. “He had just moved his entire family to Lahaina, and within a few months he was jobless. They struggled quite a bit and he blamed Eric Oeming personally.”

Eventually Yates and his wife separated and he was forced to take a job as a branding associate at Reality Machine. “It was a blow to his ego. He became even more preoccupied with Oeming and his family. When he wasn’t working, he was spending most of his time is some pretty dark corners of the internet. It got so bad that his parents took a trip to the island to have an intervention but he flipped out when he learned that they had veiled there,” says an anonymous family member.

Officials say that Yates began making contact with Gaia Guard members at this time and became convinced in a number of conspiracy theories. He was obsessed with the idea that Oeming was a time traveller, SSHAM was made from unnatural products brought in through the veil, and Veilcorp was secretly conducting experiments on residents. It was these beliefs and his hatred of Eric Oeming that investigators say led him to work with Drakes.

One of the biggest questions up to this point has been how Drakes got the explosives used in the attack. Authorities now say that part of the puzzle was solved by Yates. “We believe that Mr. Yates provided access to an unrestricted RMIII machine in order to make the explosives used in the attacks. These two, along with at least one other accomplice, broke down various safeguards in the machines in order to produce the raw components needed for the bombs.” This is the first time officials have publically announced that there are other suspects in the case, and they say they are close to making more arrests.

Veilcorp COO Lisa Hunt praised today’s announcement and said, “They say that for every cockroach you see there are 100 hiding. I want everyone involved to know that we’re working closely with law enforcement and we have not forgotten what you’ve done. There is no place you can hide. Our reach extends to some very bad places across the globe. Places where justice is harsh and swift. It would be in your best interest to turn yourself in. It’s just a matter of time until we shine a light on you too.

STORYLINE

Our SSHAM Issues Just Took a Strange Turn

from: Richard Yates
to: Bill Stewart
date: Wed, Aug 08, 2040 at 11:53 AM
subject: SSHAM Issues

I’ve been told that you’ve been made aware of our SSHAM issues already but wanted a detailed description from me. I have to tell you that this thing has gotten stranger and stranger by the day. What happened this morning has me wishing that I was never assigned SSHAM as a potential client. When this is all over could you please give their account to another associate? I don’t think I’m overreacting. I’m sure you’ll agree when you hear the whole story. Let me start at the very beginning.

As part of our Preferred Partnership Branding Program, we reach out to a select group of well known companies and explain how Reality Machine wants to sell their name brand products. We explain how we can offer them unique branding opportunities and expand their reach into markets they might not have access too. They are told how our design teams will work with them to craft logos and create tailored marketing campaigns to launch co-branded, exclusive lines of their products.

I was thrilled when I saw that SSHAM was on my list. While it’s not something I eat on a regular basis now, it was one of my favorite foods as a kid. I reached out to them with the number and contact info that I was given and that’s when things started to get strange. These aren’t cold calls. At this level there has already been a lot of communication back and forth. I’m used to either closing the deal in a few minutes or sending a bunch of legal/branding questions up the chain. This was different.

I was transferred a number of times and spent over an hour on hold with various people inside the company. Finally, one of their lawyers came on the phone and asked me to explain again what we proposed. I gave him the whole spiel and the response I got back confused me. It went far beyond the cold shoulder and wandered into what I would consider as hostile. I didn’t think much of it at the time and moved on to the next step. I went down to the lab to make a can of SSHAM.

We’ve found that on occasion a potential client says no to our offer because they have concerns about quality. The best way to dismiss those concerns is to show them what the RMIII can do. I noticed that we didn’t have a SSHAM recipe in the database so I chose another canned meat product and started to add different amounts of shrimp. I spent a few hours down there but couldn’t get the taste or smell right, although I wouldn’t say the smell is a strong selling point. I asked a tech for help but it was no use. I decided it would just be easier to buy a can and run it through the recycler to see what I was missing. I know it’s hard to get an exact recipe using this method, but I was hopeful it would give me a clue as to what I was missing. The weirdest thing happened when I put the SSHAM in. I got an “Unknown Quantity” error.

I’d never seen that before. I asked the tech who was helping me and she was at a loss too. We asked around and found that the error was common in the older models before we updated the internal recyclers and upgraded the database. Nobody had personally seen the error come up with the new RMIII models but there were a handful of similar user complaints on file. I tried a couple more machines but I had the same results. I tried 4 different machines in total and none of them could fully recycle a can of SSHAM. I decided it was time to get the the recycling specialists involved and see what they could figure out.

This morning I got their analysis and turned it into my director because it didn’t make sense. The lab guys couldn’t tell what was in the SSHAM either. In addition to everything that you’d expect in a canned meat product, there was some quantity of unknown organic compounds. They​ said the discriminator circuitry was coming back with undefined errors. Their best guess was that the product was made, in some part, with something containing unique or synthetic DNA that was confusing our recyclers. Then things got really weird.

Just a few minutes after turning over the report I got called back into my director’s office and was asked if I had contacted anyone at SSHAM since our discussion. I answered no, and asked why he was asking. I learned that we had just received a cease and desist letter from SSHAM demanding that we “stop any testing, analysis, experimentation, or any scientific examination of all SSHAM products immediately.”

I’m not usually one for conspiracy theories but I’m beginning to think the rumors about the shrimp-pig hybrids are true. I can only assume that someone from the lab contacted someone over there, but this is starting to enter a tinfoil hat area that I’m not comfortable dealing with at my paygrade. I’m not sure what our responsibility is at this point. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and being taken off this account.