Jaru also rents an efficiency rather than a suite. While the others search the infosphere he enters a meditative state to refresh himself and then gets a night's rest.
In the morning he meets up with the others in response to a comm message from Tali.
"I agree wholeheartedly with Ras's suggestion. I see no reason to go involving ourselves in more of the station's gang activity if we can avoid it.
Antonius recalls that the Level 21 Crew are a street gang that claims (unsurprisingly) Level 21 of Absalom Station’s seedy lower decks as its territory. Their known criminal endeavors include theft, fencing stolen goods, gambling, prostitution, racketeering, and smuggling.
He doesnt know much about the Hardscrabble. Unsirprisingly, as they seem a reputable company.
The Hardscrabble Collective is a clan of stubborn asteroid miners that operates primarily among the scattered planetoids of the Diaspora. It has no offices or base of operations, but the clan members usually view the Armada—the ever-changing fleet of ships that orbit Absalom Station—as a
central gathering place. The Collective crews hire their ships out to a wide variety of business concerns, including Astral Extractions, which recently employed the Collective ship Acreon to scout for new mining prospects in the Vast.
Jaru tries to recall any details he may have heard about the Hardscrabble Collective as he sits and listens to the other's findings.
She'll hop onto the web and gather info on the Hardscrabble
Astral Extractions has its corporate offices in Bluerise Tower in the Ring, one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in Absalom Station.
Tali finds with some digging on some messageboards that while the Hardscrabble Collective calls itself a clan, it is more of a cooperative business enterprise, a coalition of dozens of ships’ crews who have banded together for mutual benefit and safety. While some of the Collective’s members are related, most of them are individuals from a dozen different races: humans, dwarves, androids, ysoki, and more. Nevertheless, the Hardscrabble Collective is as tightly knit as many families, and members fiercely look after one another’s welfare.
Following the arrival of the Acreon and Astral Extractions’ claim on the ship and the Drift Rock, the Hardscrabble Collective is rumored to have contracted with an Absalom Station street gang called the Level 21 Crew to protect its members and its interests on the station until the dispute can be resolved.
Contacting the Hardscrabble will be difficult. The Hardscrabble Collective has no offices on the station, and the employment firm that handles contracts for them only states that the Collective is not currently accepting any jobs.
"Very well. We can follow up with Astral Extractions though it sounds like they are no better than the street gang they hired to do their dirty work."
"We need to follow everything we can before we even think of going to the under station" but one can hear in her voice she is dreading the idea of going there
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"Ok, so we're goin' there, eh?" comments Antonius. "Yeah, we can use Kreel as a way in, I guess. We just need to talk t' someone of importance.
"Remember, though, dis Kreel was involved in a case against dose guys. Dey are probably happy to see him gone. Hells, dey probably were the ones that called the hit."
Antonius scratches his head, trying to figure out what's going on. "
We should talk to dese guys like we'ze gonna hire on or somethin'. Get 'em to pay us while we investigate. You know?"
Jaru nods in agreement."Actually, Antonius that makes a lot of sense. Your statement about the hit anyways. The relevant information so far seems to be that these two corporations are arguing over the rights to this ship. Then one of them hired a street gang as muscle and the other hired a gang for protection."
Jaru seems to be straining to make the connections as he speaks. His eyes are distant and he speaks hesitantly as he mentally connects the dots.
"Then the two street gangs shoot up the dock just after we arrive, and just happen to shoot Kreel the one person in the room connected to the disagreement. It seems more than likely that one of those two gangs was specifically there to murder Kreel while the other was there to defend him."
Jaru's eyes brighten and refocus. He looks genuinely proud of himself for piecing together the obvious connections. He looks back and forth between the others.
"What exactly are we planning to say when we get there? Accusing them of murder seems unlikely to get us anywhere and while Antonius' ruse is a step in the right direction I doubt they would let new hires snoop around their offices."
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"Offer better services," Ras said, "We not only killed off their hired goons but also the other side's. It'd be easy to plant the idea that we got a little curious after being greeted with gunfire, did some digging, and decided that there was gainful employment to be had. The gang was likely an external contractor, they shouldn't be too miffed about their loss."
After a moments thought Jaru nods."Sounds reasonable I suppose."
Tali was a bit uncomfortable but the idea did seem very sound
"I can then be the team technician. I keep our gear up to scratch!" the last part was much more confident. Mostly it's because it's something that she is most comfortable to do
Calling Astral extractions gives you a maze of automated menus. When you finally reach a person, its pretty clear you reached someone in a call center following a script. When inquiring about work, the rep on the other side informs you there there will be a recruitment meeting tomorrow at 10:00 absalom standard time, and that you are welcome to participate, and please bring an up to date CV.
"Well we can go down there in person and see if someone less insulated will meet with us."
When you arrive at the offices at 10:00, there are about 20 other people paitiently waiting.
Upon entering you are taken to a ground floor meeting room, where you can hand in your CV. You then follow a powerpoint presentation by a handsome lashunta woman who introduces herself as Ms Josh. You get a short history of the company, what the company is currently doing (nothing more then a good wikipedia search could have told you), and what the companies core values are. Different branches get a short explanation.
At the end of the presentation you each get a small goody bag. It contains a small paper notebook and a pen (for the hipster crowd), some mints, a pack of tissues, a lanyard and a stress ball.
She listens attentively to everything you have to say and confirms that Astral Extractions has had business dealings with the Hardscrabble Collective in the past, but declares that the company is currently awaiting arbitration over the disposition of the Acreon and its cargo and has no further statements to make at this time. After thanking the you for your interest in Astral Extractions, Ms. Joss ends the meeting
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[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+7[dice]
"As my small friend so aptly pointed out, that was all common knowledge. We did our research before coming here unlike, say, those we had to deal with in the docking bay 94 probably did. We figured you would want some warm bodies to replace your recent losses, maybe even some that were of slightly sterner stuff as well."
Miss Josh smiles coldly. "I'm sory, but I can give you no statement regarding our legal affairs. You would need to contact our legal department."
She hands you each a goody bag. "Now, if your CV is up to date, you can leave it here, and if we have suitable work, we'll contact you"
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"Hmm, I don't think so. Good day, Miss Josh, do enjoy the rest of your existence, devoted as it is to your masters," Ras said, peering at the goody bag rather archly but not accepting it. He turned to consider the others, "I don't think there is anything productive to be achieved here, shall we depart?"
Jaru nods."Indeed. It is clear we are not going to get what we need here. Perhaps it is time to pay their hired guns a visit. At least they are upfront about their criminal activities."
Being an Outlaw, Antonius manage to gather quite a bit of info.
The Level 21 Crew may be a criminal gang, but they have a reputation in their territory (and neighboring levels) for promoting community empowerment, and many neighborhood residents tolerate or tacitly endorse their activities. The gang has also been known to hire itself out to defend marginalized and threatened groups or factions.
A grizzled ysoki called Jabaxa currently leads the Level 21 Crew.
Fearing retribution from powerful corporate interests, the Hardscrabble Collective has recently hired the Level 21 Crew for protection.
Astral Extractions has recruited the Downside Kings to threaten the Hardscrabble Collective and pressure the miners into handing over the Acreon and the Drift Rock to the company without dispute.
The Downside Kings are known to use a nightclub called Fusion Queen as a front for their illegal activities.
"Agreed. The Level 21 crew are likely to be the group most likely to deal with us."
"Well they aren't called the "Level 21 Crew" for nothing right?"Jaru turns to face Antonius."You say you are familiar with crews of this sort. Should we just head down to level 21 and ask around? Or do you know of a better way to get in contact with them?"
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Ras led the way down to Level 21. If nothing else, the strange solarian certainly seemed to have a consistent level of confidence about how things would turn out. On the other hand, he might simply be utterly at peace with the idea of terrible things happening to himself or others. It was hard to tell.
After moving a little off the main drag of the level, Ras picked a nearby noodle stand and settled in. It was not until after placing an order for four hot bowls of whatever was most popular did he even bother to broach the subject with the person running the stands.
"My friends and I are looking for someone," Ras started, his worrying countenance softened by an easy smile.
Taking the elevator down to 21 is a short and uneventfull ride.
Around the central elevator shaft is a small park. Children skate and play ball games, while a lot of people hang about talking. Behind the park you can see the high rise apartment buildings, rising to the roof of the level.
With his keen eye, Antonius spots some grafiti around the park that are actually gang tags marking this as territory of the Level 21 Crew.
The noodle stand is a small cart, which looks like the proprietor cobbled it together from all sorts of left over parts. Portions come in small, medium, large, and halfling.
Sets of foldable chairs and tables, non matching, stand in front of the cart, inviting people to sit and eat.
At Rasalhagues question, the human man leans on his cart. "Sure man. Know my way round these parts. Who you lookin' for?"
The man gestures with a spoon. "Aw geez man, your business is your business. I dont know much 'bout the Crew. But since you been all nice to me, why dont you go talk to the 'nomes? Those old gossips know how to contact anyone 'bout anything. They will be hanging in the next block, by the swingset. Just dont go telling them I send ya, all right?"
The man gladly serves Antonius a 'halfling size' bowl of noodles.
Bowl in hand, the group makes it over to the next block, where some enterprising residents have rigged a playground from scrap metal. A swing set in the frame of an old hoovertrike. A slide made of roofing panels. Monkey bars, with none of its bars matching the other.
A group of children are playing noisily. A few adults watch them from makeshift benches. Promomently in the middle are threee old gnomes, their colorfull hair standing out amid the drab colors of the tenements.
When you approach, the middle one smiles wildley. "Oh, hello there! Some new faces! Welcome welcome, are you new residents?"
The gnomes look bashfull. "Ow sir, you give us too much credit! We're just the local babysitters, you know? The only protecting we do is against bruises and scrapes."
During this time Tali had been keeping to herself. Feeling a bit awkward with all this talking. Talking to machines were so much simpler after all