It's all Nilan can do not to roll his eyes at this tinfoil hacker.
Glitch sits down an gets his pocketbook out. As there is nothing else to do, but eat not-gruel he decides to work a bit on Kitty. Adding a camera to the drone is long overdue and now is as good a time as any.
As Jink still stands and the host also eats this cheap excuse for a meal, Glitch tries it, but decides that he isn't that hungry yet.
"You need some help with this food-maker? I could take a look at it." Glitch offers Longshot.
"So how do you plan on finding out what these 'reptoids' want? And if they want some flea-bitten backwater planet, why should we care? There's lots of planets out there."
"Well... That's the trick, right? It's easy enough to snoop on civilians - the whole GoldNet infosphere is basically made to amass data on consumer usage, so if people are using that, you can get a wealth of knowledge: browsing history, location data, other apps on their comm units - but the Consortium uses a private intranet for internal messages, so there's no information cross-network unless someone screws up and posts to a GoldNet address instead of an internal address, like they did here." She pulls up the same message that Glitch tracked down earlier. "That said, getting answers is going to take more than vague messages like this. Internal access to the Highestrise intranet would probably reveal something - alternately, might be that people outside of the Aspis can give us some information we can work with without anyone needing to go right into the belly of the beast."
"You need some help with this food-maker? I could take a look at it." Glitch offers Longshot.
"I mean, it works now," says Longshot. "You can give it a go if you want."
"Oh! I just remembered something I've been wondering about, and you seem like the right person to ask. Do you know the names Ren Obo and Tenzo Hyshi? Take a look at this," Caloo says as he pulls up the infosphere page he had found back at Rotgut when he was researching the local science scene.
You look into what biotechnic research is happening on planet, but catch a peculiarity - the currently open biotech shops are purely consumer-grade stuff, but just seem to be creating and installing fairly common tech, not researching or creating new tech. You don’t recognize any of the technicians who are creating anything - so they’re not ‘household names’ in biotech.
Looking into the physical sciences, though, you find something even weirder: you see a picture of a reasonably well-known scientist, Tenzo Hyshi, a human scientist with a focus on studying mystic and technomantic spellcasting variations when employing rare elements as reagents and materials. However, you heard a few years ago that he had died of radiation poisoning - and the picture claims to be of ‘Ren Obo,’ a technician at a simulated reality entertainment complex towards Prosperity’s center.
Nilan rests his hands on the pistols sitting in his gunbelt. Belly of the beast huh. Sounds dangerous.
I'm in.
"... alternately, might be that people outside of the Aspis can give us some information we can work with without anyone needing to go right into the belly of the beast."
"Hm. Know anyone in particular? I only just got to this planet a couple days ago."
Glitch finishes the work at the drone and then gives the food processor an overhaul. "At least the food should be good in this brave new world." he mutters.
Blask stands there, taking the scene before him in.
This is well hidden, secure electronically that Jink or Glitch couldn’t crack. The theories of the reptoid race is interesting, but what if this is all a trap? What if our employer here is actually a Reptoid, and is using us as a ‘patsy or fall guy’? Hmmm, I better stay sharp
He whispers to Longshot, My “other” boss is gonna start wondering why I haven’t checked in. More so now that the debacle in he desert as hit the media. Got any ideas to soothe her natural pissy demeanor?
"Oh! I just remembered something I've been wondering about, and you seem like the right person to ask. Do you know the names Ren Obo and Tenzo Hyshi? Take a look at this," Caloo says as he pulls up the infosphere page he had found back at Rotgut when he was researching the local science scene.
"See, I know this is a picture of Tenzo Hyshi, who's supposed to be dead, but this is saying his name is Ren Obo."
"Never heard of 'im," says Longshot, peering through her goggles curiously. "Says he's working at Worldspinners? That's some ritzy sim-world playground for the rich - he ain't doin' half bad for himself if that's his gig."
"... alternately, might be that people outside of the Aspis can give us some information we can work with without anyone needing to go right into the belly of the beast.""Hm. Know anyone in particular? I only just got to this planet a couple days ago."
Longshot shrugs. "I don't get a lot of social calls down here - seems that all the living off the grid and hiding my existence from the Aspis might be hurting my networking prospects. Plus, you know, it's been a few months since I've been surface-side."
He whispers to Longshot, My “other” boss is gonna start wondering why I haven’t checked in. More so now that the debacle in he desert as hit the media. Got any ideas to soothe her natural pissy demeanor?
Longshot sizes up the vesk for a moment. "Yah, I can get you a private channel - I just need to know whose comms to add the program to. Who'm I hacking?"
Glitch finishes the work at the drone and then gives the food processor an overhaul. "At least the food should be good in this brave new world." he mutters.
Triune's blasted firewall, this thing is old - and the fact that it's running on cave mold instead of UPBs isn't helping. While you don't break anything, you can't figure out how to get the old hardware working better and the software code base is too old-school for you to do much without risking rendering it functionally useless, so you make a few minor tweaks. On the bright side, at least now the output is closer to just gruel, instead of some watery gruel-like.
I believe we might be on our own chaps. Who know's where the Aspis' got informants. Hell, Longshot might be secretly videoing everything here... Nilan says with a wink to the halfling
Not one to easily give up, Glitch continues after the minor success.
"So this Tenzo Hyshi or Ren Obo... is that our only lead?"
"I believe we might be on our own chaps. Who know's where the Aspis' got informants. Hell, Longshot might be secretly videoing everything here..." Nilan says with a wink to the halfling
Longshot laughs at this. "I don't think the Aspis do plea deals for cooperation, but I'll hold onto the idea as a 'just-in-case.' Worth thinking though, if you have an idea of who's talking to the Aspis, that means you can control a certain amount of what they hear..."
Not one to easily give up, Glitch continues after the minor success.
Glitch, undeterred, keeps tinkering while the others are talking. After ripping a couple of conduits that had originally been to prevent surges but were now just needlessly throttling energy to important systems, the synthesizer is actually producing some of the food options - as long as it's noodle-based, for some reason; still seem to be some software issues. Want an ellicoth burger? Too bad, it's coming out as noodles with ketchup. The Akitonian casserole, however, is tasty.
"So this Tenzo Hyshi or Ren Obo... is that our only lead?"
Glitch tries out some of the options and chooses the Akitonian Casserole for his meal. "You got appetite for something else than nutrition slime? We got pasta, pasta, pasta, and Akitonian Casserole for now."
He takes a seat and listens to the others discussing options. It's clear anyway where this will lead. Go in where the bad guy sits and get the info. Maybe take care of some of the threats on the way. It's not like they were hired for their diplomacy skills.
Blask pokes his comm unit and stares at the message left to him by Slivvy, and shudders at the end.
How the hell do I get that leech off my back. I’m sure she’s got her own people tracking my ass down already. I suppose Longshot is all I got at the moment
He thinks for a moment, Longshot, my other boss Slivvy is rather pissed off at my current situation. She’s likely to turn my ass in for the credits just as she is to use it as leverage to screw me over later. Can you get details about any bounty on me?
Longshot doesn't seem to recognize the name Slivvy, and goes back to investigating the bounty. "Looks like it's a cool 500 credits per head on each of you, related to the murder of some Aspis PR rep - says that evidence at the scene of the crime links you to the murder. Thankfully, none of you have been here that long and you haven't exactly been on the Aspis radar - best they got for shots of you are some action shots from the furry starfish back there and a couple grainy closed-circuit cameras." She pulls up some stills of the fight against Padre and his goons, and a few computed composites.
"Don't look at me - we're just lucky we hadn't gotten to headshots yet," says Scrambles from the corner.
"I mean, these are still pretty good composites," Longshot says philosophically.
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"500?" shouts Zhor in disbelief. "THAT'S IT? A MEASLY 500 CREDITS? MY TICKET TO THIS BLOODY DUST BALL COST MORE THAN THAT!"
Zhor kicks a pile of junk, sending bits of old computers flying.
"I'm worth 5,000, at least!" Zhor grumbles. "No serious assassin is going to bother for 500 credits. We'll get all the cheap gutter punks taking shots at us though."
Nilan waits patiently.
Yeah Zhor. I'm a bit unimpressed by our bounty also. 500 credits is garbage.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, plus Kindu." Glitch counts, pointing at the members of the group. "Shall I do the math for you?"
"Why would you put security robots in front of a dead person's appartment?" Glitch asks nobody in particular.
"Dunno. Could be lots of reasons. Protect the estate. Still gathering evidence. Maybe someone wants to take the place over and needs to keep out squatters. Why?"
"Shurami's appartment still seems to be guarded. I thought such contracts ended with the one paying being dead. And it's no Peacekeepers yellow tape kind of guarding." Glitch tells, showing the slightly blurred shot of a security cam monitor in the entrance hall or the building - obviously made with a handheld device.
Why it slipped Longshot's notice is also clear. Its a thread on a site about mutilated corpse fetish where some weirdos complain WTF, why there no footage of the crime scene of S. in P? Shitty Peacekeepers! With a conspiracist posting in between that this death is all fake, with the screenshot as "proof". With no name given and the address way down in the comments wrongly naming the crossroad its hidden well in the depths of the infosphere.
"Or it's all false flag stuff, keeping the lashunta girl alive somewhere and away from all of you," Longshot says. She's taken advantage of the reprieve from nutrition slop and has a huge bowl of ramen. "Hey, do you think she's a reptoid?"
"No," Scrambles says shortly. He's tried twice now to get some sort of stiff cocktail out of the nutrisynth and has settled for some spicy-smelling dish and massaging his temples with his top arms.
Longshot tilts up her goggles and stares at him suspiciously. "That's exactly what a known associate with a reptoid would say," Longshot says.
As the party discusses options and plans start to coalesce, it seems like the plan is to visit Shurami's apartment and get some info as to why they're guarding the place with the peacekeeper bots. Listening for a bit while she eats, Longshot chimes back in. "Hey, I actually got something that might help for that!" She ducks off into a side room and you hear some crashing. She comes back with one of the control hack mods that you've seen on the security bots she's controlling.
"This is the last one I've got and it's a prototype - we'll need more parts from intact bots for me to make any more of these bad boys - but if you can jam one of these into the chassis of one of the bots, we can add it to the fleet."
"Does it need some wiring, or is it plug&play?" Glitch asks.
I think I might be able to get close enough if I had to.... Nilan says
"Well ring-a-ding-ding, we got a winner," Longshot says as she tosses the hack to Nilan.
After the party has made any final preparations they need to, Longshot has Stomper lead you back through the tunnels - Scrambles opts to stay behind, saying "I'd rather not see Shurami's place like... Like however it's going to be when you find it." The journey is long and twisting, but uneventful - though occasionally you'll still hear strange sounds through the tunnels.
Stomper eventually leads you to a corridor that is clogged and choked with debris and dust, and stands there impassively. With nowhere else to go but back, each of you needs to crawl through the narrow gap - Blask gets a little caught on the rocks, but is able to push his way through.
The narrow gap eventually opens into some sort of electrical station, filled with wires and piping. There's a ladder heading up to a hatch. Comms ping with a message from Longshot - Jackpot. Should be the prefab building across the street - security is closed grid so you're on your own for access.
"So... That was... interesting." Jink says
Glitch takes a look out of the hatch to get an idea where the other building is and then checks if he can find cabling here that is relevant for that building. No matter what - electrical power, network, water, heating, sewer, anything. "Let's see where that baby is hooked up."
Jink stares into space, calibrating himself for a moment before he starts to scan the area for any wireless networks that might be coming from the other block.
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"Oooooo, I hate ladders!" Caloo complains.
Nilan says I'll get on over there.... and he creeps across the way
Glitch takes a look out of the hatch to get an idea where the other building is and then checks if he can find cabling here that is relevant for that building. No matter what - electrical power, network, water, heating, sewer, anything. "Let's see where that baby is hooked up."
Engineering: 34
The building, as Longshot predicted, is right across the street. It's one of those prefabricated nubmers that uses shiny enough materials for yuppies to think they're living somewhere luxurious while using cheap, easy-to-find materials for maximum profit margin.
The good news is that the electrical for the building seems to be contained in this little room - but the piping leading out from the transformer looks to be way, way thicker than just the one building you would need. You can cut it, but it would be a pretty sizable outage.
Jink stares into space, calibrating himself for a moment before he starts to scan the area for any wireless networks that might be coming from the other block.
Comp: 16
Being in a stone bunker, surrounded by electrical interference, seems to be more than Jink is able to overcome. Maybe he's tired from the past few days' excitement...
Nilan says I'll get on over there.... and he creeps across the way
Stealth: 29
Perception: 23
Nilan slips out of the hatch and across the street, watching as he goes. He's able to get close enough to see the observer-class Peacemaker robot hovering by the door. As he watches, a shirren host walks up and presents their comm unit to the robot, which scans whatever is displayed on the comm and gives a tinny "Enter, Prosperity Citizen. Have A Good Day." The shirren bustles through the door and heads into the apartment.
"Would be not exactly be surgical precision." Glitch comments, watching the cables.
"Was anyone actually at Surami's flat?" Glitch asks. Without waiting for a reply he messages Scrambler about a description of the way to get to her flat. Floor, corridor, doors, entrances, lifts, whatever.
A message back from Scrambles:
No idea - there's an elevator up from the lobby? She's on the fourth floor? Place is a two-bedroom, whatever that's worth. I didn't realize tactical infiltration was going to be in the cards or I would have paid closer attention.
Glitch sends Kitty outside to check on the building on the other side and climb the facade up to the 4th floor. He checks the progress via the camera.
"Think the Drone could lower a rope or something?" Zhor asks as he watches the street for anyone suspicious (other than us).
"Probably could." Glitch replies.
"If it had a rope."
Kitty's surveillance of the far side of the building reveals nothing out of the ordinary - a narrow alley backing into an identical pre-fab building. The fourth floor has a fire escape into another apartment. If Kitty climbs around to the front, the drone can observe that Shurami's windows have privacy cels running through the window, blocking sight into the apartment.
You do know that the shade in the smart windows would be disabled by cutting the power to the block.
Nilan creeps closer to the security drone and attempts to attach Longshot's scrambler.
Kitty clings to the front with the camera on the window.
"If you want to go inside I can give you a power out in the whole block and probably a live report of what is going on inside the apartment. You just have to tell if you want to go that route and when to start." Glitch offers.
Nilan creeps closer to the security drone and attempts to attach Longshot's scrambler.
Nilan jams the hacking kit into the observer's chassis. There's a pop a brief smell of ozone, then the robot corrects it's hovering. "Identification A-a-accepted. Welcome C-c-c-citizen!" the robot says. Looks like it's still trying to run it's prior programming even with the override in place, but there's some... side effects.
Nilan sends a message to the others
Go now! Hurry. Got security bot hacked.
and then he peeks inside for more bots or cameras
Peering around the corner, Nilan doesn't see any other robots, though there is a security camera up in one of the corners.
Jink joins Nilan