RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 2] - Choke

[Phe0n1x]

Makari took his cup of coffee, thanking Sura as he did. He made a point to avoid Tani, his aversion to Nekos still strong in his mind. He knew it was an irrational thing to do (same with the "encounter" prior to the giant blue croc), but it was something engrained into his being after his time on the NSS Acadia with the traitorous Nekos. He made his was to the chair he had napped in and enjoyed his coffee.

 

[miss_story]

Tapping a finger on his coffee mug he remained pressed against the wall until Enzo stepped back. It took a moment for the air to smell less like a dirty bar so he didn't dare take a deep relieved breath. "Right... maybe later." Phoenix blew at the liquid in his mug impatiently hoping that he could speed his coffee along to the proper drinking temperature. He was tempted to find a seat and listen to music until he could work up the nerve to talk again, but Zeta's question made him feel guilty. He had been a tad too quiet when he was introducing himself that simply would not do. Straightening up to his full... but miniscule height he walked closer to her and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I'm just not very good at meeting new people. You can call me Reeves, Zeta." He tried his best to speak clearly and at a good volume. Once he was done speaking he stood there awkwardly not sure if he had overdone it or not. To keep himself from making more of a fool of himself he pretended to take a sip of the drink in his hand. Once it touched his lips he held it there a moment before dropping it back down to its original position.

 

[Luca]

Luca was watching the proceedings with a smile on his face. There was a few odd jeers here and there, but any Nepleslian cultured crew knew that they could insult each other endlessly without really meaning it - still respecting the other's abilities when the chips were down. It was just the Yamataian crews that complimented you on your good work without really meaning it that you had to be wary of.

"I'll just have a tea thanks," Luca said as he took a cuppa and passed it under his nose to assess the richness of the tea. "Now, here's what we know. Lagrange was involved in poisoning Handler's Reach, the guy I interrogated yesterday claimed to be an 'observer'. He was using a construct body, probably so he himself wouldn't be infected by the chemical that spiked the plant," he took a sip from his cup before continuing.

"The questions hanging in the air are 'Why' and 'Who benefits from this'? Let's think of the location and who - Nepleslia Prime, second home to most Nepleslians, being experimented on by a Yamataian company without their knowledge or consent. Lagrange and Lazarus, to the majority of civvies are still one and the same when it comes to being shady," and maybe he was right on both counts.

"To me, it sounds like provocation, make Nepleslia go after Lagrange, who lays the blame on Lazarus, goading Nepleslia to go after Lor, and Yamatai piggybacking on it." He shrugged. "I could be wrong, but that's what this is looking like to me."

John raised his hand. "What would Lor or Lazarus have to gain from poisoning a backwater shithole on Nepleslia Prime? It doesn't add up."

"'xactly," Melissa answered his question. "Dun' make any sense."

"Correct - but think about how tensions are high between Yamatai and Lor. They'll jump to conclusions and ignore intelligence. You know how many people started protesting back at Ralt several years back when plans were unveiled to put a geothermal plant near some pristine parkland?" John nodded. "That's the nerve they're hitting." He held the mug towards John before taking a deep drink.

Luca then sighed once his tea was finished. "Still, I have no idea who's pulling the strings behind this, and their plans could be completely different." He then crossed his eyes, pointed his spare index finger to the ceiling and raised the pitch of his voice, clearly taking the mickey, "Maybe they're trying to summon the seven headed phlegm god" he was wiggling his midsection back and forth, "for the cult of bunnies and this is an offering."

Echelon snickered as best as she could express it. "H3H3H3H3H3." Allison tilted her head to one side and shrugged.

"So what's the plan then, boss?" John asked, leaning in.

"I need to get two things addressed - one, this kalopsian clusterfuck and shake a few of Lagrange's trees to see what comes out; two, I need to get a new body. We need to head to Planet Yamatai - right in the hornet's nest. If stupid head wasn't bluffing, Lagrange'll be keeping an eye out for us - and we'll have to fight with our hands tied behind our back." He then grumbled. "Stupid concealable weapons ban, stupid non-concealable weapons ban."

Vita looked concerned. "Yamatai? Right there, heart of the empire?" Luca nodded back.

"H4NG 0N, H34DCH3CK ," Echelon said. "1 W0N'T G3T P4ST CUST0MS W1TH TH1S 0N M3." She pointed to the large recoil-less rifle on her shoulder. "N33D T0 F1ND 4N 1NC0NSP1CU0US B0DY." Gears in Allison's brain began turning and her eyes lit up. She pulled out a communicator and flicked through the messages to an Origin Industries catalogue that she subscribed to and put it under Echelon's nose. "4H4."

"We'll probably only be able to bring a pistol on planet. The rest will have to stay on the ship." John recalled, familiar with burban Yamataian gun laws for offworlders. "That and did you see this on the news recently?" He turned on the TV screen.

A pair of armed Nekovalkyrja guards emerged from the shadows and tackled Reinhart, throwing him down to the ground while a third showed up seconds later and repeatedly and violently whipped his body and hand with a stun baton until he dropped the offending pipe. "PUT THE PARAPHENALIA DOWN! STOP RESISTING!" While the senate looked on, the man was forcibly cuffed and dragged out of the senate chamber by the stronger Nekovalkyrja. "You are under arrest for violating the Yamataian Planetary Anti-Tobacco Act! You have the right to remain silent, anything you say is being recorded. You have the right to attorney..." the words faded as the security team removed the perpetrator from the area.

"They're really going for utopia by any means aren't they?" John commented offhandedly. Luca winced at the footage and looked at Enzo and Bronzi.

"Yeah you're gonna have to butt out or they'll rub you out." He the paused for thought and looked at Seiren with a grin. "Seiren, tobacco bombs. Make some en route. Give those Cops something to hunt down when we need a distraction." Then to Tani. "You could still have personnel clearance and hide in plain sight. Just don't bring anything too huge along and you should be good." He then looked to the others. "Any other ideas to make our trip to the 'nicest' place in the galaxy a memorable one while we attempt to uncover the truth no matter how bad it hurts?"

Allison and Echelon got up from the couch with the Origin catalogue on Allison's communicator. A humanoid looking robot was tagged and favourited. "We're going to go shopping for ours, who wants to come with us?"

 

[Phe0n1x]

Makari frowned at the part about only bringing a pistol onto the surface of a planet. Growing up in the bosom of Nepleslia, he'd grown accustomed to being equipped with an asernal: HHG, Peashooter, SiZi 30, Standard General Assualt Rifle, and a Sterling Auto 12. He'd probably bring along his ol' faithful Peashooter. While it lacked the versitility of the HHG, it was far easier to get passed security....especially with those Black shells he had squirreled away. Granted, they were worthless on the newer models.

"Sure, I'm up for some window shopping. I'm going to need to pick up some more ammo while we're out since I imagine it'll be quite hard to smuggle any of my more versatile arms into the Brave New Empire."

 

[Yoshi]

Tani's eyes grew in fear at the idea of going back, what if they found out about her, They could take away her body, or worst put her in jail or something. "I..." She was about to say something when the question of shopping came up.

"I would love to come, but I would need a hat and all I have is my KS chit, is there a money changer around?" She started making a list of explosives and weapons she would need to help out aboard and equip her Mindy, "Uhh Sir? would you be able to smuggle some equipment out of Yamatai? I could use a could of Gauss rifles and maybe a Submachine Gun. And well maybe a few other things?"

She started getting excited about shopping in general, she looked over at Echelon, "Maybe a fake Neko body, or worst maybe you can share mine?" She blushed at first thinking it over

 

[Moogle]

"Righty-o, Captain!" Seiren declared to Luca's order, straightening his body into a mock salute. Customs may be difficult on Yamatai, but for a native like him, it was easy to prepare ahead of time. The tobacco bombs could be assembled the same way he figured stink bombs were made, albeit with less processing and more jury-rigging of tinfoil. Still, somebody would have to bring in tobacco, as that's the sort of thing that wouldn't pass customs.

One hand fiddled with his arm tracks, removing both and the guns attatched to them. The GP-13 was completely illegal (It had been modified from the civilian version into a military equivalent), but a Little Killer? Everybody and their mother could have one of those.

"Hey, um, Rebecca? You wouldn't happen to have a lead container on-hand for smuggling wo- wait, I'm asking the wrong person. HEY ENZO!" the inventor corrected, turning his attention to the large Nepleslian native. "You got something to smuggle some tobacco in?"

 

[Lamb]

"I thought yous neve' ax." Enzo replied smugly, "In fact, I'm surprised all of yous' juss asked Cap'n Pavone fer helps, when dis is clearly my cup o' teas."

He looked around the room and shrugged, as if to say, 'But hey, that's why I'm better than you.'

"But hey, that's why I'm yous pal, best bud in the whole stinkin' galaxy today." Was what he said aloud. That, along with, "The Lady of The Night has everything yous needs to moves everything yous needs. I gots a million little hidey-holes, reflective containers, and spooky stuff. Not to mention, I can forge commercial cargo tags, customs tags, an' tax-ID tags."

Enzo smiled again and bowed, not a Yamataian bow, a butler's bow. "Vincenzo Bortelli, at yous service."

 

[ShotJon]

Zeta gave Reeves a nod and friendly smile, but then Luca came up with what was going on. To her it was clear why Lagrange picked small tiny town and did it there. What a better place to conduct a large scale experiment on the drug. A question is if it worked as considered or not. And in what phase of design was the thing. She frowned though.

"Luca honey, why can't we just give the info to IPG. They have way better resources to deal with it. Plus, Nostrovia is not a moron, she will know it has to do with Lagrange and not Lorath. Lagranage is not even based in Lor anyway." Zeta shruggeda and walked closer to Luca. "I just think we should not stick our heads into something like this. This is not open fight we are used to. Lagrange is big and shady. NXM cruiser is one thing, but political and economical power is something else."

"As for Yam-land I can't wait till we go. It is actually pretty nice place. Just when you see some people fuck on a street don't stare, it is rude." She said and looked at Enzo in particular. "I lived there while Luca was dead. Still have an apartment in the place. As gun-laws are actually fairly okay. Personal firearms are just fine, I was surprised too, but no one batted an eyelast when I walked around with gun at my belt. Grenade launchers and shit like that is a no-no though."

"Oh and Ech, why don't you get a bloody JANE body finally? I think Al might like it too. It is not like you cannot jump back to your original body back on ship." Zeta pointed out to the Freespacer and her lover.

 

[Ira]

Bronzi stood up after watching the banter and walked over to the now refilled coffee pot. He grabbed it by the handle and pulled it out of the cradel. He glared at the murky black liquid and gave it a wiff, as the steam curled up into the air around his head. "I ain't plannin on hidin mah weapons." He snorted just before opening his maw and pouring the hot coffee down his throat. He finished it. "I don't guess i'll be needin the rocket launcha fer this."

Sura on the other hand was not even paying attention. All she heard was YAMATAI. Which meant to her, lots of highly advanced technology for her to witness, and possibly get her hands on. She waited for all the questions to quit flying at Luca and made her move. Luca would find him self nose to nose with Sura, her blue eyes locked on to his own. "Uh, can I come?". Her facial expression was intensely serious.

 

[Luca]

Luca paused for thought. He hadn't told much to the IPG of what transpired aside from a friendly hello to Nostrovia at the bar. He clasped his hands and watched Allison and Echelon get up from the couch. "0H 4ND Y0U C4N C0M3 T00!" Echelon told Reeves. "1 N33D T0 L00K 4S Y4M4T414N 4S 0K1N0M1Y4K1."

Taking Zeta's suggestion, Luca nodded at her. "I'll go talk to her, if she doesn't already know the situation." Luca stood up from the couch and bumped into Sura, taking a step back when he saw the blue face. "If you want to go planetside, just make sure your da stays close."

Vita tilted her head and rubbed her neck. "I'll stay on ship. I'm content to remain in orbit rather than coming down and risking getting discovered." She looked over to Sura, "Tell me all about it when you get back, bring some toys too."

Luca walked down the hall, took the elevator down to the cargo bay and stood in the middle of the makeshift sparring area. He stood in the middle for a few moments before looking out onto the loading ramp past the hangar. He moved onto the loading ramp and looked out. "Hey, have any of you seen a woman, black hair, red tips, murderous streak a mile wide, super good at being shadowy?" He asked a passerby.

They pointed behind Luca. "Figures..." he mumbled as he turned around. "You are an easy woman to find."

"You don't make yourself difficult to find either." She replied. "I saw what you did to the 'bag boy'." Luca raised an eyebrow. Oh, right, the interrogation. "Heard every word too."

"So you know who we're going after."

"Yes, but there's no way you could do it alone without serious collateral. You need to find the head of this snake and cut it - and that's something neither of us currently know."

"Well, Aiesu's getting the bagboy's modem checked and scoured for information, we should know in a week." Nostrovia shook her head. "I'll be doing my own two-fisted investigation too."

"That's too long, even with the both of you. The situation at Handler's Reach was contained and the cover story is simply a disgruntled worker who poisoned the supply himself and committed suicide." She groaned. Those cover stories were always so trite to write and set up, "I have the feeling it'll balloon if word hits Yamatai of who did this."

"So you know what'll happen if this hits the presses..." Luca mumbled. Nostrovia nodded her head gravely.

Allison and Echelon walked by and into Sargasso with a smile on their faces, heading towards the Ori-Mart. "4PP4R3NTLY TH3R3'S 0N3 L3FT H3R3! JUST F0R M3!"

"Yeah but who'd have bought the others?" Allison asked. Echelon shrugged.

 

[miss_story]

As Luca began to speak, Phoenix relaxed against the wall and listened to him speak. All the traveling he had done in the past he was confined to the ship he was working on. This trip the Yamatai would probably be his first where he had a chance to experience the empire for what it was. He blew at his drink again, then smirked at the mention of tobacco laws and stricter gun laws. He didn't own a gun so he wouldn't have to worry about his weapon stash offending foreign laws. He certainly did not want to be arrested for something he wasn't aware was illegal.

When Allison asked who wanted to come along for shopping he merely stood there hesitant to speak up. He didn't have any funds to buy anything. He was also wondering if the fact that he didn't own a gun would become a problem for the rest of the crew. They'd probably thank him for not owning one if they knew how bad he was at aiming. Phoenix was busy contemplating whether or not he should convert what little money he did have into Yamataian Currency and if it would be worth it, when Zeta said it would be rude to stare at people fucking in the street. He gulped back some coffee before clearing his throat. "Er... they don't actually do that do they?" To avoid the awkwardness of the situation he drank down some more of his drink now that it was a much more comfortable temperature.

Echelon's offer was well received by the miniscule technician. "I'll just stick with you folks to keep you company. I'm not in the situation where I should be buying anything at all. Things will be better after I'm paid." He explained. He felt more comfortable talking with Alison because they had spent some time playing NSS Deathwish together and cooperation in games often involved talking amongst each other.

 

[Ira]

Bronzi stiffened at Luca and Vita's encouragement of Sura's desire to accompany the motley into Yamatai. He did not approve, but any objection on his part would result in Bronzi having to listen to Sura use words he did not understand. This made his head hurt, so he just snorted. "Yamatai ain't all sunshine and rainbow farts. I went ta visit it once, an it reminded me of home."

Bronzi huffed, and reached down to his ankle and removed a small pistol from under his shin plate. He tossed it to his spawn, who caught the weapon and and looked up at him in confusion.

"Anybodeh else need a weapon, just ask." He said with a snort.

"Aye Lewks, speakin of wich, if da shit hits the fan on this one, and we ya know...scatter, where should we meet up?"

 

[Luca]

Ori Mart, Sargasso

"S33 TH4T?" Echelon said as she stood outside the window and pointed at what appeared to be a mannequin. It was the Origin Mimicom, or Mimic Computer.

"What of it?" Allison asked. Echelon began interleaving her robotic fingers and if she could've, she would've been grinning.

"1TS 4 HUM4N R0B0T. 1T'S 4 B0DY 0F SYNTH3T1C FL3SH L1K3 Y0URS. 1T'LL MY C0NC34LM3NT." Echelon waxed lyrical as she approached the door. "4ND 1T W1LL B3 M1N3."

A bell tinkled as Allison, Echelon and Reeves walked in (Echelon had to kneel down to avoid hitting the building). Compared to other Ori-Marts that sprung up on Nepleslian and Yamataian territory alike like commercial mushrooms for your money and time - all from a strain of commercial fungus that produced markets that were cleanly, well kept, welcoming and well stocked. This particular Ori-Mart, however, if we are to remain mycological, had a few mutations because of its host environment.

David Takeyama was doing double duty. He was not only responsible for maintaining Sargasso's city-wide Mesh-Network, but he was also responsible for keeping the communications for interplanetary and interstate of both solid and wireless intact and functioning. These duties, combined with keeping the Ori-Mart stocked, functioning and clean meant that the Ori-Mart had some things visibly missing or absent.

Notably, there were no weapons for sale in the Ori-Mart. The shelf for storing guns that came with the franchise license was bare and empty. It had a sign on it that read in block letters: "FOR ORIGIN GUNS, TALK TO KARL, JUST TO YOUR LEFT AND DOWN THE ROAD - CAN'T MISS IT."

From behind the desk, the Trio could hear someone cursing from behind the desk, the sounds of whirring fans and running electricity; and some distinctly engineer-like cursing in a cant they could understand. One whack of percussive maintenance later, and a jubilant "Eureka!" could be heard as a man shot up from behind the desk, wearing an Origin Industries uniform without the sleeves and a smile on his face. He had a thin face of stubble, brown eyes, black hair tied back into a neat ponytail, and blemish-free skin. He did, however have a layer of grime on his face - his job did demand that he got his hands dirty to keep the infrastructure working.

"Hullo hullo!" David said, voice breathless as he put his hands down on the counter to treat his favourite customers. "hi Ally, hi Ech, hello there new person."

Allison waved politely. Echelon nodded and turned around and grabbed the display Mimicom from the front window and hoisted it. "H1 D4V3 1 4M BUY1NG TH4T M1M1C0M."

"Hang on that's just a display piece. " He turned to his computer to see if there were any in stock, and he nodded. "It's your lucky day. I'll get you a box with everything you need," he then put a manual on the table, "need an installation guide?"

Echelon emitted a whirr that could've been construed as a dismissive sneer. "1 C4N D0WNL04D 0N3."
"She can download a car." Allison told the cashier.
"I tried that once - car didn't go far before its internals decided to spontaneously disintegrate." He rolled his eyes as if spontaneous component disintegration was a common occurrence.
"MUST'V3 B33N 4 BUGG3D 0N3 S3NT 0UT BY TH3 M4NUF4CTUR3R T0 DUP3 PR1NT1NG P1R4T3S. N0T UNC0MM0N."

"Alright, alright," David replied before going around the back to find a Mimicom in a box.

Looking around the rest of the store, Reeves could see various pieces of Origin made appliances and technology at discounted prices, including household objects, computers, electronic entertainment and radio equipment. In addition, there seemed to be infrastructure items like cable sold by the metre and wireless nodes to people who thought they had the know-how to help maintain Sargasso's city-wide and city-only mesh network, or perhaps create their own connection node to it. They'd be easily affordable after the first paycheck Reeves would receive from his service. It was a risky job after all.

-

Lounge, Crimson Kestrel

John answered for Luca, since Luca was down in the cargo bay with Nostrovia. "If we scatter, I have a rally point in mind. It's far from home, and cold." he replied, "there's a place up in the countryside called Ralt. It's where I was raised when my parents migrated to Yamatai with Luca's."

The mention of Ralt made his heart heavy. "I hope it's still as beautiful as when I left it." His lips pursed and he looked at the floor.

John sighed and reconsidered. If whatever Luca was planning was going to escalate, he didn't want his home to be put in the crossfire. "Alright, reconsideration. We'll meet here," he leaned onto the table and tapped it twice to bring up a hologrpahic map and pointed it to a lot with a warehouse, some branded delivery shuttles and some office-like buildings. "It's on the city outskirts, so it ain't far if we're only staying in Kyoto. I used to do courier jobs there, they'll keep us safe."

-

Cargo Bay, Crimson Kestrel

Luca had ruminated on what his shadowy IPG contact had told him and the consequences of failure. It wouldn't just be her going after him, it'd be open season for everyone he could think of to put a bullet in his head. She was resting her back against the shipping container Luca had used to torture the Lagrange bagman. He was looking down at the floor before he looked up. "Nostrovia, I have an idea."

"Regail me, hero," she replied, looking around the cargo bay dismissively.

"Come with us and keep an eye out on us. You have a very good way of just being invisible and oh-so tangible when the situation demands it."

"A human safety rope, basically," Nostrovia nodded. "Not like you to ask for a safety rope when you're so unfettered."

The captain crossed his arms. "Thought you'd be a bit more understanding that I understand the risks,"

"I can't interrupt any ongoing operations in Yamatai to take time to keep an eye on you. The only IPG resource you're getting is me."

Luca looked at Nostrovia raised an eyebrow. "You spy on them?"

"They do it to us too," she sighed, rolling her eyes. A little spying tit-for-tat was common in the Kikyo Sector. Everyone spied on each other, even allies for reasons which could essentially boil down to 'just in case' on all sides. Just in case of what was the real question though. If a Nepleslian sneezed, would the Yamataians need to know? Luca didn't want to consider the extent of it, considering that he was probably a hub of (mis)information on two legs anyway.

He looked outside to Sargasso to see if the three amigos were on their way back. Looked like it'd take a while. "Alright, make yourself at home-" He looked back to where Nostrovia was. No trace of her. It was as though she'd stolen the image of herself, pocketed it and erased it from all onlooker's memories except for Luca, who mouthed a few complimentary expletives. "Damn..."

 

[Ira]

Bronzi never was high on intelligence, so it did not vex him when Sura had her data pad out and began doing a remote download of the map, and paths to both way points. "Uh...are you expecting violence?" She chirped looking over the hologram in front of her.

Bronzi huffed at his child's question. "Nah, but ya gotta be prepared fer tha worst."

 

[Moogle]

"Well, if Enzo's got the tobacco smuggling thing under the ropes, I better get to engineering those decoy bombs, huh?" Seiren asked Rebeka, not really expecting an answer. He tugged the tall woman along back down to his workshop. He'd teach her a thing or two about combustibles yet!

Or so he thought.

 

[Yoshi]

Mako stood there in the lounge lost on what to do. all she was told was that she would be find going back, but nothing about what she should do. She looked around at the others rushing off to get to work. Hell she could be doing something she was sure of it, you know besides keeping Enzo off guard.

 

[ShotJon]

"You better get ready Lass," Zeta said to Seiren with a chuckle. "Earlier I saw a report on the news. Some Yammie senator thought he was being rebellous so he lit a pipe in the senate. Suddenly two neko-cops ran there and tackled him as if her was lighting a stick of dynamite. You better be careful then if you carry tobacco around."

She then walked to Mako, "well looking forward to goin home again? How long since you were last in Yamatai?"

 

[Yoshi]

Looking over at Zeta, Tani frowned... "Ma'am Um... Since I left boot. I was given my first assignment and was shipped off world. though I can't say it's going home though. I have never had a place that I could call home." The purple headed girl looked around at the crew making their preparations to head out.

"It almost feels like we are prepping to go to war with Yamatai..." Her voice faded out as she moved on to a more pressing matter, "What could I be doing to help, I'm highly trained in combat and Explosives. And your people might want to be careful with what they choose for their decoy bombs... I'm sure that planet side scanners would detect bomb materials but there are a few tricks i learned in the barracks that can get a bang, no damage and untraceable."

She studied Zeta as she waited, not quite sure what to think of her or any of the folks she had fallen in with nowadays.

 

[ShotJon]

Zeta smirked. "Well I have no idea why everyone is preparing bombs. I am just taking my knife and revolver. I always expect a trouble, but that is the extent of what I will need. Seriously it is Yamatai, if we get attacked YNP will be there before you could even fart." The blond nepleslian joked, looking at Mako. "And don't worry, home is something you can make for yourself. I did not have any proper home for years."

 

[Luca]

"I hope not." John told Bronzi. "If things do go hot though, it'd be a good idea not to get anyone else dragged in. If the cops get wind of it we'd never hear the end of it." He adjusted his sunglasses a little. "Luca's ability to waive his activities is starting to stretch thin."

Bronzi shifted John a look and said "Pft, have ya seen this outfit Lewks is runnin? I can guaren-DAMN-TEE you bullets are gonna start flyin' the first chance somethin' weird happens." He spoke, Bronzi shoved Sura forward forcing her to smash into the table. The girl caught her self, preventing a fall. She scowled at her da, but did not offer complaint.

"Hope for peace, prepare for war," he patted an energy pistol strapped to his thigh. He nodded and reached for a cup of coffee.

"Aye. I dun even wanna know whats goin' on that has Lewks doin shit behind locked doors. 'Parrantly he needs my trigga finga, Still ain't got you figgered out yet pinky." Bronzi huffed.

He finished taking a sip from his coffee and sighed to cool down the fluid in his mouth a little. "I fly," he replied quietly. "No fancy schticks, no guns blazing, just A to B in one piece."

Bronzi nodded as he shifted his bulk away from the counter top giving John his full attention. "I just break shit. I'm Bronzi. That one is my spawn, Sura."

Sura smiled and waved as she gingerly fingered the pistol Bronzi had tossed her. "Why do you think a gun fight is going to break out?" She squeaked.

Bronzi snapped his head at her. "I'm fixin' on bein worried if one don't."

"Starting a gunfight on Yamatai means that you'll have half the planet's ex-Military population bearing down on you," John said. "I know Luca's a dangerous man, but he can't realistically take on that many people, not even all of us could."

"Just like home?" Sura said looking at Bronzi.

Bronzi nodded. 'Ya, not ta mention tha fact that a lot of em is Neko. I don't guess many in this outfit ever killed one."

"Not without some serious hardware. The last one had to be put down with starship weaponry - just be sure, of course." John groaned when he recalled the events of that blasted mission on Tami. One of the hottest flights in he'd ever done. "And otherwise those things are made of Iron."

Sura perked up. "Hey!" She said loudly reaching into her bag. "You got these!" She said dropping two patches on the table in front of John.

The patches were simple, but bore the orange star of the Union. It was a diplomatic seal identifying Bronzi and Sura as official visitors to Yamatai from the Union. As allies of the Empire this afforded Bronzi and Sura a degree of freedom that the other Gaijin normally would not have.

"Ya. But do ya realleh wanna hide out in the embasseh?"

John nodded in surprise. "At least the Nepleslian embassy will have a shotgun under every desk, if I were a Nepleslian citizen." Wasn't his decision, of course. His parents made it when they moved to Tami with him - his brother moved back to native soil as soon as he could to pursue a military career.

"As for embassies, I see no reason to hide in one with our guns sticking out the window and dragging politics into it - this isn't a political fight, this is Luca's," he tapped the side of his forehead towards Bronzi, "it's almost like you just want to fight for no reason."

"I don't want to see anybody get hurt." Sura said softly.

Bronzi shrugged at John. "Not for no reason. But it ain't me ya gotta worry about shootin when nothin needs ta be shot. Enzo is a twitchy bastard, and I don't guess he is gonna get yer memo."

The implications stretched over to Luca too, looked around the room and ensured that Enzo was out of earshot before speaking. "If they don't club him for smoking first, they'll shoot him," and he looked down at the floor, presumably where Luca was, down in the cargo bay, "and I'm hoping that the only shots fired meet the right foreheads and this is over as quickly as possible."

Sura held her gun improperly, with one hand, and aimed all wrong, and aimed it at the wall. "I've never held a gun. It is heavier then it looks." She cooed. Bronzi huffed. "Yer doin it wrong." He snorted.

The larger Gartagen walked over and turned her at John, he corrected her stance so that her weight was evenly split, and that she had the pistol held with both hands. "Arite, that is a nep. This pinky goes down if ya aim at his bodymeat."

Sura listened intently. "So hit them in the chest."

Bronzi nodded. 'or rip their throats or guts out with yer claws They dun do well against us. '

John sidestepped coolly towards some harder cover.

Sura realized what this looked like, and turned away from John. "I won't...uh...I hope Mr. John won't need that..treatment."

"Also, dun ever stay still, move move, always. An wait till they run out of shots, or their gun ova heats." Bronzi snorted. "But, if shit starts, just hide, I only want you shootin if all of us are dead."

"Wise words." John replied. "That said, I wonder how the shoppers are doing? Echelon said something about a new 'body'. Sura, could you contact her?"

Sura pulled out her data pad, and sent off a message to Echelon.

-

"TH1S 1S M1N3, D4V3. 4ND 1T W1LL B3 L0V3LY." Echelon said as she held the box in her hands like a shopper who'd managed to tackle their way through a crowd to get the literal last of something on a holiday season.

"Hang on-" David replied as he looked at his till. "it says here you paid me triple, don't you want cha-" And Echelon was gone, only signaled by the sound of the doorbell ringing as she left.

"I think she's eager to start playing." Allison replied as she looked out the window of the shop and saw the robotic Freespacer skittering down the street like a giddy schoolgirl. She gave a nod and a wave to David and left with Reeves, chasing the robot down the street.

Echelon would receive a text based message from Sura "Mr. John is wondering if you have finished shopping."

A holographic picture of John then followed up, The larger scowling Bronzi could be seen looming behind him.

From Sura's datapad, there was a slight crackle as the speaker seemed to act up, and suddenly there was a reply. "0H41 BLU3 G1RL - Y34H 1'M JUST H34D1NG H0M3 N0W T0 UNWR4P MY PR3S3NTS!"

John was rubbing his ringing ears after that outburst. "Well, can't fault her for being direct..."

Sura responded back. "Okay! I hope you like it! I need you to help me level up my mage when you have some free time."

Bronzi huffed. "Eh, well we are prolly gonna get laughed to death by the yams anyway. May as well be direct."

"F1N3 F1N3 1'LL H4CK TH3 GIBS0N 4FT3R F0R Y4." Somewhere in that transmission, the sounds of Allison's and Reeves' footsteps could be heard chasing behind her. Robots didn't get tired so it was very difficult for Echelon to be caught up with once she was up, up and away.

"So what do we know about them new peeps?" Bronzi said turning back to John.

"I ain't paid fer thinkin, but we have a lot of randoms just rollin in, and no one eva checks em out? Luca has friends, but he's gots enemies too. I mean, what if that neko pinky, is fixin on shootin ya in the back of da head while yer tryin' to land this bucket?" Bronzi said turning to John.

John rubbed his chin. "Who knows? She might be picked up and properly processed the moment she hits Glorious Yamataian soil - her story was that she was a miss-shuffle. If that happens and she wants to keep rolling with us, she downgrades and comes back - no big deal." He could hear the sound of the elevator moving, going to the engineering bay and skipping the lounge entirely.

-

Echelon had gone to the Engineering bay of the Kestrel and she closed the doors behind her as soon as she got in. She placed the human-shaped box down on the communal working bench and pried the lid off of it very carefully and inspected the goods, fingers twiddling in girlish anticipation. "0H TH1S'LL G0 D0WN L1K3 4 H0US3 0N F1R3..." she muttered to herself as she consulted an instruction manual for the OS installation. She plugged a few wires into a hollow in the back of its head beneath the hair and started getting the basics of the BANGLE and Consort AI's to grips.

She had to figure out how to subvert it. Every OS had backdoors and secrets and trickery, usually for the purposes of debugging or repair. Echelon's intentions were a little more off the hook though. "G1V3 MY CR34T10N L1111F3..." she moaned with an undercurrent of electronic whining as she started lifting the Mimicom out of its case. She then placed it feetfirst on the ground, keeping her hands on its shoulders while the installation was wrapping up.

The Mimicom's eyes opened, it smiled and said: "1'M 4L1V- W41T," it paused and rolled its tongue, "N0, H4ng on..." her voice started to modulate to something more pleasant and easier to read using the Mimicom's dedicated voice processors rather than Echelon's kludged ones. "I'm alive!"

Echelon herself moved over to a corner and sat down in the foetal position while the Mimicom remained standing, rolling back and forth on her ankles and the balls of her feet. "Now. I need to get used to this..." the Mimicom said to herself as she made some cursory self inspections while pacing around the room. "OS installed properly... and I appear to be naked," she looked down at the feminine body. She had no visible primary or secondary sexual characteristics, but she still felt the embarrassment of having her backside to the wind. "So this is what it's supposed to feel like," she sighed as she searched the room for a spare pair of coveralls. She found a spare pair that Allison used and slipped them on awkwardly. She never had to wear these things before. "It'll do," she conceded as she pulled the scarf off of the larger robotic body of Echelon and draped it around herself as an identifier.

-

Luca headed back up into the lounge and sat near Bronzi, Sura and John. He gave nods and hellos to the others as he passed by too and gave a wave to Rebeka. "Well then, any last minute preparations?" he asked the two sitting near him. John shook his head. He had his ships and shuttles. He didn't need anything else.