The fab unit that you were at was in the middle of a much large unit, and Soryn's quick look around said there was nothing on this side of the building. The other side might have a rear exit, but that was the better part of a block down to the end of the units, and then back again. He may have done it anyways, but the door opened a crack at Kadef's words.
"What do you want? And why are you scaring the boy like that? What's wrong with you people? He's just a kid! And what's your deal with the tomatoes?"
The speaker was an older woman, someone easily of an appropriate age to be called 'gran'.
"I love tomatoes. Fresh tomato sauce is good. Maybe we could buy some, and talk about how you are aiding and hiding some hacker in there. Probably that geeky grand kid of yours."
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"My friends can be a rough lot. They mean well, and thought they were talking nicely. And apparently Pangea here, really like tomatoes."
"My name is Kadef. As I said, we're from the Starfinders. Is anyone here interested in computers? Our Venture Captain heard that someone did some very good computer work at the Bluerise Towers, but that some data was lost. The VC would very much like to see that data, if a copy is available here, and offer whoever did the work a job."
The old woman looked uncertain, but said, "I am sure I don't know what you are talking about, but please, come inside for some tea. Maybe you can explain things better if you aren't having to shout them through a closed door...and get that woman away from my grandson's tomatoes, please."
The woman looked distant for a moment, then stepped back and motioned for you all to come inside. The living area was completely filled with gardening supplies, making it difficult to find any place to sit.
"I'm still not sure what this has to do with either of us, but go on. Jubair, why don't you make us some tea?"
"Tea... why not tomato soup? Oh, tea is nice, thank you. Oh, can we move some supplies to sit? Where do you keep all your computer things, Jubair?"
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Kadef follows the woman inside and looks around. "Tea sounds lovely, madam. I gladly accept your hospitality. May I have your name? Are you all gardeners? Gardening is an ancient and well-revered vocation among my people."
"I believe I've told you everything we know, <insert lady's name here>. Some computer work at the Bluerise Tower has aroused the admiration of one of our venture captains. The work was apparently done remotely from this address. Does anyone in your family work with computers? "
"Computers? Oh dear, oh dear."
The woman's eyes assumed the thousand-yard stare that is common with someone accessing an internal memory bank. For a moment, she said nothing, then her shoulders slumped.
"I...there's some files in my short-term storage. I have no recollection of how they got there. It's happening again, isn't it? I'm...I'm sorry. I must seem like such a freak right now. My name is Ceren, but in my younger days I was known among hacker circles as C3r3x. I was quite a good data slicer. A dozen years or so back, I was diagnosed with an incurable degenerative brain disease, which forced me into retirement. I moved in with my daughter and her husband, and gained guardianship of Jubair when they were killed in a flyer accident. Sorry, my mind wanders sometimes. Anyways, I have some gray market augmentations that have halted the damage and keep me functional, but I occasionally have blackouts and sometimes slip into a younger mindset. One that is a little freer with other peoples' information than is wise...or legal. I'm guessing that's what happened here. Do you know whose files I have? I don't want to access them in this state, for fear of activating sniffers."
"From data slicer to tomato dicer... well... I think you might still be a really good hacker. It seems you stirred up a hornet's nest, and they're out to sting you.
We are Starfinders, and are here to help if you want."
"What are you offering?"
"I can show you what were not offering... but we're offering it all: everything you want! Just ask away, lady! Just give us the files and your wildest dreams will come true!"
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"Indeed, our Venture Captain, Historia-7, was most impressed with your work. If you came with us to interview for a position, you would have an inestimably strong bargaining position. You'd certainly be able to move from this neighborhood, send Jubair to an elite academy.
And you may have other concerns. If Historia could trace you here, others will be able to also. The Society may be able to shield you from pursuit. "
"It doesn't look as if I have too many options. I can't evade Corporate Security in my state, but you have to know that they won't stop looking for me just because I joined the Starfinders. I would be looking over my shoulder every day for the rest of my life. That's why you have to kill me."
From the kitchen came a strangled "What?!?!?!?!" and Jubair rushed back into the room.
"Settle down dear, I just want them to fake my death. A few false certificates, maybe an ID swap on a body in the morgue, a new identity. Nothing too difficult. Then, once I have been spirited away by the Starfinders, we can do a more permanent fix. What do you think? Do the five of you have the skills to pull that off?"
"Oh, this reminds me of the good old days. Tell you what, I'll give you five hours to do what you need to do, while Jubar and I pack up the essentials here and go into temporary hiding. I know of a place not far from here where we can hole up for a bit. Then, in five hours, we'll meet you on the footbridge in Jatembe park. Sound good?"
If you choose to try and fake Ceren's death, you'll need to get a Death Certificate for her, and a New Identity set up.
Death Certificate: There are many ways to do this, so use your imaginations and creativity. Beg, borrow, or steal a body. Hack the morgue. File false reports. You'll think of something. Just back up your actions with appropriate rolls. You'll need several successes to make this work, so everyone should contribute what they can.
New Identity:" Papers, please! Ceren needs a new identity, backstopped with a career and personal history. Again, be creative. Obviously a strong hacker is of use here, but so would calling in a favor with an old friend, bluffing an employment office about missing records, etc. Again, multiple checks required, and everyone should try and contribute.
"Oh, FAKE kill..." says Pangea, as she stops going for her shield.
"So, how we gonna proceed... there's this big mouthed guy who blabs too much, the one at the music store, we could waste him and use his body. Nah, just joking."
Pangea is ready to go to the local Absalom Station Clerk and try to give a sob story about her mother passing away, falling into the trash compactor.
"This all that's left!", showing a crushed tin can.
To get a death certificate.
"I WAS JOKING!" Pangea yells as she rushes out of the Clerk's office, before the same security people from the music shop arrive.
And for the new ID, well, she does know some, well, shady people.
"If six fingered Bob is still around, I think we could see him to get some papers for Ceren and Jubair, well, actually, for Lady H. & Tomato Boy... those are good names, right?"
It seems six fingered Bob is exactly where Pangea left him last time?
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Soryn taps Seven on the shoulder, "I think Pangea had a good idea. I'll id a body and distract the morgue staff. You hack the morgue computer and make their records match up with Ceren."
Picking a larger morgue in the area, Soryn enters asking if there are any unidentified females, a close friend has been missing. A missing person report is filed, but he fears the worst. She had no family, was older, and her mind was slipping... He begins crying, and becomes more and more upset as he talks... Appearing even faint... "Oh Desna, it's her. It's her..."
Pangea's contact pointed you to a specific morgue in a poor section of the Ring. He said that the morgue worker would be either stupid enough to fall for anything, or greedy enough to take cash to leave you alone in the room for a while. Pursuing this, you got to the morgue and found a suitable body. Soryn distracted the tech, hoping that Kadef or one of the others would be able to do the computer work while he sobbed away.
"Tis a good friend who can tell you where to find a fresh body!'
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Seven of Eleven recalls stories about a hacker named C3rex that fell off the grid twenty years or so ago. C3r3x was hailed as one of the best in the business.
As soon as Soryn got the man's back turned, Seven of Eleven slid over to the unobserved computer terminal and began typing. Within minutes, he had the older dead woman's personal identifiers swapped with those of Ceren, and the death certificate was complete. He had barely slid away from the terminal when the attendant came back, completely ignoring Soryn's theatrics now.
"Sir, please, I understand your grief, but this is not the place. Now, please, I am going to have to ask you and your friends to leave so that the dead can have some peace, and I can provide them the attention you would want me to give your loved one."
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"Ok, let's build a background for Ceren... I can get some new documents for her. Seven do you think you can help shore up the story. I'm think we can make her a retired freelance programmer that now does tech consulting in retirement? Pangea if you've got any friends in low places see if they can lend a helping hand?" Soryn takes out his comm unit and uses it to make some calls, reaching out to old friends and contacts he tries to wrangle in owed favors and debts to get a new id built for Ceren Mk2.
"If six fingered Bob is still around, I think we could see him to get some papers for Ceren and Jubair, well, actually, for Lady H. & Tomato Boy... those are good names, right?"
Culture: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 But -5 DC to recall knowledge re. black market locations, known smugglers
It seems six fingered Bob is exactly where Pangea left him last time?
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"It might be easier if we make her from another world. For example Akiton isn't very strong on paperwork. If we can alter the passenger manifest of an incoming ship, we'd only have to forge travel documents. I can inquire through the Kasathan ministry about typical information available on off-world travelers."
"I can also inquire to see if there is a Kasathan ship that would be willing to change its manifest."
Getting Ceren a new identity proved to be even easier than providing a death certificate. With Pangea's and Soryn's contacts, they easily set up a backstory and the Akiton idea was a good one. Kadef managed to convince a charter pilot to fudge his manifest so that a Serena Kadefrian (he couldn't resist the name) did indeed show up as a registered passenger from Akiton. The backstop might not hold up under scrutiny, but the pilot said he was heading back out again tomorrow, so it only needed to hold for 24 hours before confirmation would be impossible.
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You headed over to Jatembe Park, a large, open-air park in the Eye of Absalom Station, one of the many public parks put in place for those who desired to immerse themselves in a bit of nature in the midst of a moon-sized space station. Ceren’s meeting point is one such forested portion of the park, specifically a spot often ignored by citizens due to the winding path required to reach it.
As you approach, you can see Ceren waiting at the center of the bridge, occasionally dropping leaves into the water below and looking like she hasn't got a care in the world. Only a perceptive eye could see how she occasionally looked from side to side, as if looking for trouble or awaiting friends. She spotted you and stood a little straighter, opening her mouth to call out just as another group approached from the other side of the bridge. They were focused on Ceren, and not really paying attention to anyone else. One of them said "That's her, Kip," and pointed directly at Ceren. All three of the newcomers pulled pulsecasters.
The leader, Kip, saw you and said, "Don't get involved citizens. This is StatSec business. Lady, you're coming with us. Please don't make a scene." Despite his words, the trio looked more like scruffy thugs than Station Security.
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*Ninjaed by the DM*
Working on the Starship manifest to have her come from another planet.
"This unit knows a programmer that traveled quite a bit. I can use that info to create a profile. And then add some jobs by a few different no name wanna-be hackers that did do some real work before a crime boss became displeased with their work and now they can not be found. That should work for a background with some extra fluff."
"You the officer told me not to go around bashing people in the mouth?"
Pangea starts moving towards the trio.
The leader sneered at the poor attempts to interrogate him. "Get lost kiddies. You don't know what you're messing with. My friends won't hesitate to shoot you if you interfere with us again. Come on lady, you're coming with us, no matter what this band of do-gooders thinks."
He grabbed Ceren by the arm and started to drab her off the bridge, keeping his gun trained on Pangea.
Pangea s her shield to align it with the leader and gain some protection from him, and keeps on moving towards him, hurrying up when he touches Ceren.
"Looks like we're doing this the hard way. Get 'em!" The leader looked ready to fire, so Pangea knew what she had to do.
R1: pangea, kadef, soryn, thugs, seven
current status:
kadef 7/7 SP, 10/10 HP
pangea 12/12 SP, 12/12 HP
seven of eleven 6/6 SP, 10/10 HP
soryn 6/6 SP, 10/10 HP (fatigued)
Pangea charges at the one holding Ceren the fake-dead-lady and rams him with her shield.
The leader took both a beating from Pangea's shield, and then a shock to the nervous system from Soryn's static arc pistol. He stepped back, dropping Ceren's arm and opened fire, causing his companions to do the same. One of the shots hit Pangea, coming in just under her shield. Another took Kadef in the right arm, leaving a small electrical burn.
Kadef takes 4 damage
Pangea takes 4 damage
R1: pangea, kadef, soryn, thugs, seven
R2: pangea, kadef, soryn, thugs, seven
current status:
kadef 3/7 SP, 10/10 HP
pangea 8/12 SP, 12/12 HP
seven of eleven 6/6 SP, 10/10 HP
soryn 6/6 SP, 10/10 HP (fatigued)
Pangea, hurting from the shot, steps in between Ceren and the man, and again swings the shield at him.
Pangea's strike missed the thug's leader, but Kadef's didn't, his baton dropping the man with a loud thunk. Soryn's shot missed, but beside him, Seven of Eleven drilled a round right into one of the other thug's chest, stopping him in place. He tried to fire off a shot back, but the pain and blood loss had him arms shaking like a branch in a heavy wind. The third thug, seeing their leader fall and her companion so grievously injured, turned an ran, darting into the woods on the far side of the bridge.
in bold may act
R2: pangea, kadef, soryn, thugs, seven
R3: pangea, kadef, soryn, thugs, seven
current status:
kadef 3/7 SP, 10/10 HP
pangea 8/12 SP, 12/12 HP
seven of eleven 6/6 SP, 10/10 HP
soryn 6/6 SP, 10/10 HP (fatigued)
Pangea moves
Standard action
Pangea moves over towards the bleeding thug and tries to hit him, in vain.