Looking at Viper, Titian shrugs. "Do you really know how to fly that thing?"
Viper grins, at Titian Its no worse than my old Chippewa that I ran in. I'm not the best pilot, but I get by.
He then straps himself in, activates the in ship comms.
Alrighty people, we are on the clock, ensure that you and your gear are strapped in.
He then starts the engine, and slowly clears the bay prior to engaging the main drive for the trip to the planet.
Titian shrugs, straps in and starts the pretake off procedures.
"If you need help, just say so."
Viper looks at the empty left seat.
You want to copilot, your more than welcome. I will never turn down help.
The older oriental man maintains his relatively expressionless face while the conversation flickers around him.
"If the clue is not physical, there is more than one way to retrieve it. Declaring we are on a supply run would allow opportunity to see what we can find, to find what we might need. What are we to shop for?"
His work coveralls and boots are clean and pressed, though stained, and he has both an impressive portable toolbox and rifle at hand as they load on the shuttle.
"I think we really need to know more about the nature of this "clue" Kyle makes air quotes with his fingers before we can really form a more concrete plan. He looks to Frau Hoffen. Do we know anything else about this clue?"
Frau Hoffen touches her index finger to the tip of her nose and gives Kyle a giggle and a wink. "I just knew there was a reason I hired you," the woman laughs as she helps secure the shuttle for launch. "My man Ling has been keeping an eye open for certain artifacts of interest to me. About a year ago he recovered a large portion of what was once a Swift class SLDF fighter with a serial number that matches what my research says was a patrol craft assigned to the Admiral Onyango. He said he'd hold the whole thing for me, but all I care about is the flight-data recorder module, which we can use to narrow down our search."
"Given the nature of the target, I assume we should leave a black box in the fighter containing less useful information. No need to tell anyone else who recognizes the craft's significance that it is less useful than they might hope." The old man stares into space for a few moments. "An SLDF black box is always recognized as significant, though. Constructing a decoy will be quite a challenge. We will have to adapt based on what we can find." He doesn't shrug, quite, but he does raise both hands in front of him, almost with both palms horizontal, but not quite getting them turned that far.
Kyle thinks for a moment.
"The way I see it we have a few options for what to do with the ship. Repair keep and repair the ship itself, turn it into scrap and use it for spare parts, or just take the black box and leave the ship behind.
If we keep the ship, it provides our group the motive of having a working SLDF fighter, while concealing the true intent of mining the black box for data.
If we disassemble the ship for scrap that, depending on who else might be looking for this data, we have either obfuscated our trail making it harder to track without an intact ship, or we confirm that we had no intention of squiring the ship, thus tipping our hand that we were only after the black box.
If we try to just take the black box, as Mr. ...?
Kyle pauses to give Chang the opportunity to introduce himself before continuing
... suggested that presents us with the added challenge of acquiring or constructing a counterfeit black box. If not done properly this could leave a trail of evidence pointing back to us, depending on how covert Frau Hoffen wants this thing to go off. If done correctly, and the next person to look into it lacks the technical expertise it could be centuries before anyone thinks to look at the contents of the black box. If they are more skilled however looking into the details of the black box's contents could reveal it as a fake."
"I see. I assume you have the C-Bills to pay for it?"
Hearing the swift, Titian can´t help but smile.
"I hope the computer is intakt. They used to call it b@**@ing betty... if I remember correctly. The swift was an exceptional fast fighter. A bit low on weapons though."
"' . . . a large portion of what was once a swift class fighter.' Don't expect something that we can make fly. It is likely to have considerable damage, but the black boxes are designed to maintain their integrity despite the sort of things likely to have happened to this salvage. Prepare for very low-quality salvage, or the information we seek would already have been identified."
As Hoffen's team discusses various options the shuttle debarks from Jenni Lynne heading for coordinates that Frau Hoffen indicates is the closest thing to a real settlement on the small moon.
The Dump orbits a ruddy-colored lifeless ball of rock just inside the habitable zone of an otherwise unremarkable system. According to your employer it was originally a mining outpost stripping various metals from the nearby asteroid belt. Even before the fall of the Star League, this world had fallen on hard times when the mining operations petered out. For a time the moon was largely forgotten until a colonial ship became stranded on it. Soon they were eking out a living selling the scraps of the abandoned buildings and machinery left behind from the mining days. Before long they had formed a sort of interstellar flea market, and things only grew from there.
On approach the moon seems to be marble of rust and gray. Three ancient geodesic domes of immense size are surrounded by warehouses and industrial-looking buildings in various states of repair. In the center of the domes is a large patch of rock that has been blasted flat and black from numerous craft using the area as a spaceport. Beyond the line of buildings are massive piles of junk. Metal and ferrocrete. Translucent plastic sheets. Torn jumpship sails. Hollowed-out spacecraft.
Ling's little slice of the moon is near one of the domes. It seems unremarkable except for the presence of some newer industrial vehicles and a sort of tower that looks to have been fashioned from the bow of some sort of spacecraft.
"Let's keep off comms until the Jenni is on the ground. Go see Ling and find out what his damn issue is. Remind him I've already paid him a substantial 'holding fee' for this damn thing," Frau Hoffen radios to the shuttle before it enters atmo. "Good luck down there. See you soon."
Ling is waiting as soon as the shuttle touches down. He is a tall and lanky man of Chinese heritage wearing work denims and a hardhat. He looks to be about fifty. Both him and the imposing looking woman standing beside him have deep scowls and an air of annoyance surrounding them. The moment the shuttle doors are opened he begins to go off.
"I told her not to come right now! We will hold the damn thing, but now is a really bad time! These damn CyBulls are going crazy down here! A purge! A zǔzhòu de purge!"
Chang bows to the "trader." "We were told nothing abut this, I am afraid. Perhaps if you tell us what our mutual employer left out, we can find a way to solve the difficulty?"
"It's the CyBulls." Ling replies after a healthy burst of profanity in Mandarin. "They're a local gang, kids of nomads and itinerants, and they've gone crazy! It used to be that the pirates and bandits would keep the peace here, but since the cursed Clans came, the old guard has been mostly eradicated and the CyBulls have grown in power. A week ago they made a move. They hit the last few holdouts of the old ways hard and wiped them out. I don't know what they want, but we are all afraid they're not done with violence."
Kyle holds out his hands, palms out in a calming gesture.
"Lets not panic just yet. I'm sure everything will be fine. It sounds like they were going after some specific people, and already got them. Why would they concern themselves with us? Or are these generally homicidal types? What can you tell us about them?"
"Up until a few weeks ago, I thought they were just gutter trash, but they executed their purge in a very organized and quick manner. Old Pinkie they jumped in front of everyone. Stabbed him to death in the streets. At the same time they attack the Jenkins compound with tanks! They might have gotten a 'mech from Jenkins, or more tanks!" The woman beside Ling grabs his arm and turns him about. She looks at him with an unreadable poker face, but he nods as if she had said something. Ling takes a moment and continues in a voice that's much more calm, but the fear is just below the surface. "I don't know that they would be worried about you, but me? I, uh, might just be one of their targets for round two. I have been here a long time and have deep roots in the community. Such people seem to be their targets," he glances at the woman who smiles at him.
"That does sound troubling. Maybe they have new leadership? Well, why don't you lay low for a few days until we finish our business? Do you have anywhere you can go where they won't expect you to be? Maybe get a hotel room and enjoy a few days of vacation?"
"Hotel? Ha!" he laughs without mirth, "Yeah, let me check into the Lyran Grand! Look, even if there was a 'vacation' spot I could go to, this is a small moon. There is nowhere I could go that they couldn't track me down. I'm...safer here."
Wendelin allows his hand to stray to the butt of his pistol, "You think we chummers are morons don't you? Spill it...else you won't be safe here, git my drift?"
"Obviously, your fear has convinced our employer that the property is no longer safe. Take us to it so we can do our job, and we can take you off this moon with us." He looks past the man to his companion. "Do you know where the property is? If fear owns him . . .." the old man DOES shrug this time.
The woman twitches some when the demands are made and she grabs Ling roughly by the arm. Ling's face goes white as a sheet and he shouts at the woman, "No! I did what you wanted, don't kill them!" He turns to you and begs, "Just surrender, they have my wife and son!"
The woman gets ready to reach into her coat for something.
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Wraith had really wanted to be part of all the boring talk-talk with the man-who-was-obviously-going-to-betray them, but her comm had downloaded this app and she wanted to try it out. Fortunately, for the good of the 'verse, she was, definitively, able to say that, yes, those birds did look angrier.
She looks up, something caustic and witty on her tongue, just in time to see things suddenly get really interesting.
"Oop, here we go," she interjects, going for her SMG.
Orpheus shakes his head as the man speaks, 'Mechs and tanks... I would be more likely to do damage throwing my SMG at that then firing at it... He blinks as the sudden change of situation, but the years of 'sudden trials' with his sibkin have him moving and ready, his eyes scanning the room for threats even as his hand reaches down to the SMG on his belt. "Surrender? You cannot be serious."
Grabbing his pistol Titian dives for cover
Viper unlimbers his laser rifle as he heads for cover.
He then starts scanning using the IR sight.
Double cross. We will have to deal with that afterwards.
Orpheus says, "We should try to keep her alive... but look out for any allies she might have. Make sure she won't run.", moving toward cover as he lines up the weapon with the woman's arm, the one reaching for a weapon... or a commlink.
Orpheus deals a solid hit to the woman's forearm, spraying blood and bone everywhere. Moments later Wraith's gunfire shatters the woman's femur and sends her to the ground bleeding and in shock.
Ling begins to freak out. "What are you doing? They've got my wife and kid! Not just mine, but Jenkins' and Kira's family too! They're going to kill them all!"
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As the lady falls Wraith is moving toward her. "Dude, chill out. We ain't done here," she shoots at Ling.
As the lady is beyond resisting, Alison starts rifling through her clothing, policing up the body, removing everything she finds--especially whatever the frag was in that pocket she was going for.
Unfortunately with all the blood around she squeems out and refuses to touch the body.
"Ew."
Orpheus says, "That is why we shot the arm and leg. Stopped her from signalling her allies and running away. Now, we just need to be sure she doesn't bleed out... At least before we have a nice talk with her, quiaff?"
He reaches down to tend to the woman's wounds.. and see what she was reaching for before he stopped her.
Wendelin curses his slow reflexes and nods in relief as the woman is dealt with. "Good job." He then silently reaches down to stop the worst of the bleeding.
Before Kyle can even react the fight is over. In a split second he takes stock of the situation; noting Orpheus's clannerism, Wraith's aversion to blood, and Jester's cool headed professionalism, filing the info for later before determining what is needed from him in the moment.
Kyle's eyes go wide at the sudden violence as he dives for cover with a panicked shout far too late for it to matter. "Ahhh!" After a few moments of panicked breathing he sticks his head out from cover timidly. "Is it over?"
Waiting only a few moments he sees Ling's panic and seems to steady his resolve. Heading over to the man he puts a comforting hand on his shoulder, positioning himself so that Ling would have to look away from the bloody CyBull to talk with Kyle.
He speaking in a calming tone. "Hey Lin was it? Look at me, not at the body. Not at the body" Kyle says as he struggles not to look himself. "We've got trained professionals here. They are going to take care of everything. Your family is going to be ok. I need you to focus right now. Look at me." Kyle gestures to his face. "You need to tell us everything you know so we can help."
Jester performs top-notch first aid, but he's unsure how effective his efforts are immediately.
He works on her for a long time. Eventually her vital signs begin to stabilize.
Orpheus rifles through the woman's clothing, ignoring all the blood that turned Wraith off. She had both a six-shooter and a commlink, though exactly which she was reaching for in the moment is difficult to tell. Her comm has a basic password on it and the pistol is fully loaded.
"Okay! Okay...oh," Ling sighs and grabs his head with his hands as if he is trying to keep his fear contained in his skull. "The truth is that this morning they started the second round of their coup. Just before you jumped in-system. They snatched up families from some of the bosses left behind. When Frau Hoffen's ship came they were worried at first someone had called reinforcements during the first purge so they left this yǎ niú here to keep an eye on me and find out what was going on. I don't know what they want other than taking control of The Dump, but they must have taken families for some reason."
Happy that he didn´t have to join the noise Titian stands up and dusts off his clothes. "Well, so you want us to aid you to return the families?"
"We don't have the manpower to take them on now. The CyBulls took over the grain dome as a head quarters, but I don't know if they are holding the families there or not."
Kyle comforts the distraught man. "We can figure out where they are keeping them, don't worry. We'll either ask our new friend here when she wakes up, or we can look around town. It sounds like there were a lot of people being moved around. There is no way to do that quietly. Someone will have seen something. And once we have figured out where they are being kept, we will be able to get your family back for you."
After ensuring that no one else joined the ruckus, Viper stands up and reslings his rifle.
He then ambles over to see if he can provide any assistance.
The old tech will assist Jester. "Are we saving her, or preparing her for interrogation?" There is no sign of either emotion or preference as he asks the question.
Jester looks up his face void of emotion. "What do you think?" His tone is emotionless, his eyes a void.
Orpheus nods in agreement, "I thought it best to take her alive to have that chat. I was not committing to her remaining that way. Ideally, we will get enough information to allow us to design a plan of attack... Preferably one that does not end up with the deaths of all the children."