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Nobody, who was just about to return to the club, notices the Ysoki and Vesk. Waiting in the restroom a moment longer, he slides out and follows the group in. He then stealthily follows the Ysoki and company into the bar.
As he moves in behind the Ysoki, Nobody queues up the sound of a powering up lazer pistol on his computer and then shoves a stylus into the small being's back and says "That would be a lethal mistake for your boss here. Everyone should just take a breath and calm down."
Unfortunately, Nobody is not nearly as stealthy as he had hoped to be. Razor and her bodyguards turn to see him holding the computer and stylus, taking the sting out of his threat.
"Cute, kid! But you better put your toys away before you do something you're gonna regret." She draws a semi-auto pistol and points at the operative, while the vesk unlimber autotarget rifles. "My beef's with Envar, but I won't hesitate to light you up."
"He owes me for the latest shipment of transdimensional pesh he's currently high on." Razor gestures to Envar, who is staring at the backs of his hands intently, oblivious to his surroundings. "His debt is in excess of 10,000 credits. I'm willing to accept a down payment of 1,000 now, as a gesture of good faith. Otherwise, my boys are gonna teach him what happens when you don't pay for what I provide."
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'Gertrude' who has hung back during most of the talking, presses the mute button on the music Video she had parked herself in front of.
"Dude! Mom controls his trust fund. You mess his pretty face up, do you really think she'll stand for that? No way. You're much better off making him pay cash in advance, and pay off some of his back tab each time he does it."
She turns back to the latest Strawberry Machine Cake video. "And if you do need to do some surgery, can you try to keep it down? This is their best song yet."
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Stell approaches the gangster and tips her head sideways to suggest stepping away from Envar, saying "We might be able to help each other out and avoid a messy fight."
Assuming Razor agrees to listen, Stell speaks quietly so Envar won't hear. "We were hired by Envar's mother to keep an eye on him and keep him from embarrassing her. She also wants us to find out where he's been getting his drugs and report back to her. Here's the thing. She's not paying us all that much, so we were in the middle of sweet talking him into taking us behind the usual firewalls so we can pad our paycheck by doing a little creative accounting with his mother's money. If you're smart, you'll let us do that and we can also withdraw the money you are owed. We both get our money and no one gets hurt. We can even tell her Envar gets his drugs from someone you don't like, so she will send her corporate muscle after a rival drug dealer. Everybody wins. Besides, I'm betting you saw us fight today and so you know a fight with us would force you to hire some new debt collectors."
"Alright. Say I believe you," Razor says. "I can wait a bit longer to get my money. But I was still hoping for a bit of fun here. So here's the deal. You face my boys in a game of strength or me in a game of wits. Win, and we walk out of here with no bloodshed. Lose, and we get to take out some frustration on your boy Envar."
"Nah," Razor scoffs. "Strength or wits."
"One of you will square off with me at one of my favorite vidgames--Farley's Crossing. It's a simulated space combat pitting the Pact World fleets against the Swarm!"
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"Oh, I think I can handle this one.." says 'Gertrude'.
'Gertrude' hits the pause button on the screen gets up from her chair.
"You'd best be good at this, I'm missing an awesome video."
She flexes her fingers. "Give me a moment to get used to these controls..."
She starts off a little conservatively...
"Alright, now we're talking!" Razor says as she sits across the holo-table from Gunnz. A short song plays as the title of the game flickers to life above the table, then it makes way for a star field with tiny armadas arranged on either side. "I'll play as the Swarm. You go first. Let's see what you got!"
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Stell keeps up a constant string of comments and asides designed to distract Razor at points Gunnz is making critical attacks.
"Oh! That was a pretty explosion. Are your ships supposed to go all purple when their drift engines implode, Razor?"
"That looks like the Waxinwicker Gambit. I heard that was particularly effective when the enemy captain doesn't have a strong command of multi-dimensional targeting droids."
"Razor, are you sure you want to deploy all your weakest fighters in a V shape? I'm jus' sayin' that makes the attack arrays easier to block."
"Whoah! Clever! You left your port flank unprotected. You meant to do that I assume to concentrate your fire power. Thing is, then the enemy can .... do what Gert just did!"
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As the game begins, Envar wanders over, staring at the holographic ships. "Wow! They're so small, man! How do you find pilots that can fit in them?"
Razor takes an early lead, blowing up one of Gunnz's squadrons. But then Stell's distractions and Nobody's hacking start taking their toll, and the operative seizes the advantage, destroying two of the ysoki's squadrons. The latest round ends in a stalemate.
"Damn thing is busted! Come on, this ain't over yet!" Razor says.
Razor tries her best, but even though Gunnz isn't used to the controls, her natural skills combined with the rest of your assistance allows her to destroy the ysoki's remaining squadrons in short order.
"Rats! You got me, kid!" the gangster exclaims. "Alright, Envar. Your friends here bought you another week to get me the credits. We'll be seeing you."
Before she leaves, Razor tosses a packet of transdimensional pesh onto the holo table. "Here kids, have a sample. First one's always free." The two vesk follow her out of the lounge.
"Bye bye, fluffy lady!" Envar calls after her. Then he turns back to you. "You wanna get out of here? We can go somewhere a bit more relaxing."
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Stell will try to snatch up the drug packets before Envar can further disable himself. "You've got to help us help you, so you'll get this later, if you're good," Stell says with a wink.
"Let's get to work," she says to the rest. She repositions her pistols and her survival knife to make them easy to draw in an emergency.
"Yeah, I remember. It's the same as it always is...EnvaristheBest69!" the lashunta says with a giggle. "Come on, guys, let's go!"
Envar staggers back to the elevator and swipes his card and scans his retina. The lift begins to rise as the holo-projection of Ilia Tamm announnces the floors. "Oh man, you guys are gonna love it up here! The view of the sun is magnificent! I'm glad we'll have the place to ourselves, too. The scientists who usually work here are a real drag, you know?"
Finally--"Level Six, Solar Observatory"--the elevator doors slide open to reveal a chamber with golden-hued metal floor and walls. Plasma screens on the south wall stretch from floor to ceiling and display crisp, breathtaking images of space. A fluorescent mural on the floor depicts the stages of a solar eclipse. Two silver doors to the east and west lead further into the observatory. Retinal scanners are affixed to the walls beside the doors.
Envar takes a few steps into the room and then stares intently at the screens on the south wall. "Whoa. I can see, like, the whole universe from here," he murmurs. He stands mystified in front of the screen.
Karish's inspection of the room doesn't turn up anything of real use, though the decorations and viewscreens sure provide a pretty sight.
Nobody looks closely at the retinal scanners. They seem quite advanced, likely beyond his capacity to hack.
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Stell admires the view for a short time, then she stands by Envar and says, "This is pretty but I've seen stars close up before. What I'd really like is to see the executive level. I bet if we look in your mother's office, we'll find a great big picture of you on her desk! Prove me wrong."
She leads him back to the elevator. If Envar needs prompting, she'll remind him to take the elevator to 3rd level.
Envar snaps out of his daze when Stell speaks. "Wait, babe, not yet! You haven't seen the best part!" He disentangles himself from her and walks over to the west door, using his key card and the retinal scanner to open it.
The sun blazes above the transparent, domed ceiling of this gold metal room. An enormous gray-and-silver telescope is mounted near the western wall and points up toward the ceiling. A half-circle desk and associated chairs rest near the northwestern wall. A dark-silver control station in front of the northern wall houses twin computer terminals. A set of silver shelves juts out from the northeastern wall, displaying various scientific instruments and tools.
"Far out, yeah?" The lashunta approaches the telescope.
A holo-projection of Ilia Tamm appears near the telescope and announces, "Guest safety is important to Arch Energy. Only authorized personnel may enter this restricted area."
Envar saunters over to the control panel and lounges in one of the hovering chairs within the console area, spinning it and giggling. "Mother," he addresses the projection of Ilia, "you never let me play this game when I was a kid. Finally, I'll get my high score! Check this out!" Envar mashes the buttons on the control panel.
A loud droning sound fills the room, and the floor vibrates. The sun above appears brighter as a shield lowers. Suddenly, two vaguely humanoid shapes materialize in front of the control panel, focused into being! They appear to be made completely of fire and burning solar radiation, and they crackle angrily as they lunge towards you!
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Gunnz almost giggles at how easy it was to get the password. Up on the deck she stays in the shade, and spends some time trying to spot the various security cameras while Stell works on the druggie.
Finally she follows him into the restricted area of the observatory.
"Gahh!" she exclaims as the creatures appear.
Huckle Jim draws his rifle and shoots at the nearest elemental, but his bullet goes wide.
Karish blasts the fiery creature with a trio of magic missiles, causing its body to flare and roil.
Stell draws her arc pistol and shoots the same creature, though it doesn't seem to hurt it much.
Turning away from Envar, the two creatures move to attack you! Stell narrowly dodges the first one's flaming fist, but the other scorches Huckle!
Nobody tweaks his computer to disrupt the elemental's stability and blasts the damaged creature. It flares brightly before burning out, vanishing as soon as it appeared.
Envar spins his chair to watch the fight. "Whoa! Are you guys, like, fighting the sun? You're gonna get a wicked tan!"