Okay, I've been thinking some more... Let's go to the roof.
You make it across the roof and back into the passenger carriages, and begin to blend into the crowd for the time being.
*****
The flashbacks in this encounter serve two purposes. First, they give the PCs a chance to retroactively cover their tracks in ways that might not have occurred to the players in the heat of the moment; second, the players get to demonstrate how and why their characters are good at what they do.
The GM is the ultimate arbiter of what can be accomplished in a flashback, but players should be encouraged to come up with creative uses for their characters’ skills. If faced with a question about where to find their name on the passenger registry, for example, a PC could describe a scene from minutes earlier where they used Computers to edit the registry while waiting to be interviewed or a scene from the previous evening in which they Intimidated a passenger into giving up their seat and took their place.
Flashback scenes should be short, consisting primarily of some roleplaying and a single skill check; these scenes should mainly focus on the PC who triggered the flashback, but other PCs can be present if appropriate. A flashback can’t rewrite the past in a way that breaks previously established continuity, and a PC who has already exhausted a limited resource (such as daily uses of an ability) can’t use it in a flashback without GM approval.
*****
The grav-train glides to a stop with a low hum, and the darkness of the tunnel outside the windows is abruptly replaced by the bright interior lights of the Steepshore train terminal.
A pleasant robotic voice comes over a comm speaker mounted somewhere in the car. “Good afternoon, and welcome to Steepshore. The train will remain on brief lockdown while we perform a quick threat assessment and investigation. Please cooperate with station personnel so that everyone can be on their way as soon as possible. Thank you.”
A few minutes later, the door slides open to admit Police Inspector Deb Ungort. Deb is stern-faced and wears a battered brown duster. She briefly confers with the security guards, who provide a brief synopsis of the situation. She turns to the assembled passengers and expresses her intent to interview them one at a time in the lounge area. “Just a few questions,” she drawls, “and I’ll have y’all on your way in no time.”
Kevan is the first interviewee.
Deb looks Kevan over for a moment “Can I get your name, please? I would like to check the passenger registry to ensure nobody’s on board this train who shouldn’t be.”
After they traveled on the roof Kevan finds a few spare minutes to create fake files for himself and his allies. Kevan in his new disguise that makes him look like a Witchwyrd sits on a tool small chair trying to look comfortable
"My name is Blinky Bluegum, I was traveling on the train as part of an escort of some of the cargo. I was hired to keep an eye on Master Broom. During our work we discovered a thief who stole from Master Broom his device to unlock the crates and we locked him in the security locker, by moving one of the crates to his exit. Then we were jumped by 4 thugs who used weapons to stop us. We defended ourselves but the thugs, unfortunately, did not survive that..."
"Blinky....blinky...bli...oh there you are"
"So you were in the carriage when the robbery took place? The actual scene of the crime! Fantastic! You are now our prime witness. We're going to need to take you into protective custody - the four fugitives are part of an organised crime organisation and we need to ensure you survive to provide evidence in any trial. Should only take a few months. I'll need to interview your friends as well - We'll get their names, and your fingerprints, in just a moment".
She chats into her comm unit and asks them to investigate some crates and a security locker.
Kevan now has several well-armed guards around him. The forgery was good, but he's now in the frame as a potential suspect.
***
"So" Deb approaches Barat “Can you confirm your whereabouts over the last, oh, three , for me? Oh? Now let me just confirm that by pulling up the security camera feed on my datapad here.”
A narrow alley. Dark night. Torrential rain. There are two creatures under a small canopy - spathinae and shiren. Words are not heard, the conversation is telepathic. Shiren is smoking an electronic cigarette a little nervously. Spathinae, wearing a leather raincoat with the collar turned up and a hat pulled over his eyes, stands with his hands in his pockets - possibly clutching a pistol.
: Bro, it's very dangerous to get such documents, bro. They'll get you later. And they'll get me. And they'll get my wife. And they'll get the host, too. Seriously bro, I'm not going to do it. :
: It's good money. I'll bring you your percentage after a successful operation. You can get out of that hangout where you live now. You work for the state and barely make ends meet. You'll be fine. :
: I don't even know bro. I'm scared. And what should I do again. Repeat please. :
: Investigator's certificate. I'm a special operations agent. I have to be in the database and I have to have a ksiva*. Leave the rest to my skill as a negotiator. :
*ksiva - the criminal name of police certificates in the jargon of some races.
Greetings colleague. I'm Jordan Popudopupalas. An undercover special agent. Here are my documents. This wichwird was working on my orders. I will conduct an inquiry myself and draw up a report. Aramesh mints words and demonstrates an officer's bearing.
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Barat spend the intervieing time thinking back to his time at the bar, and the trip from car to car on the way to the loot, the people, the notable items in the area, and most importantly, the camera placement.
He then weaves and increadibly detailed and meandering acount of where he was, making sure the people, things and events he describes would be caught on camera but the vantage point of where he was at the time would be just out of view.
"Jordan? Jordan is it? Sorry you are out of your jurisdiction and I don't see your name on the passenger manifest, nor are we aware of a special operation - you can just wait a minute 'til I finish interviewing people but let me assure you - your agent is currently our main witness - and chief suspect. We can untangle this in a moment, I have to interview a few more people"
She turns back to Barat, squinting at the screen continually as various locations are pointed at and it appears the observations are spot on, at almost every point there is a grainy figure, non-descript body, or another potential ambiguous shape that could be an Iji. "Hmm these cameras seem to be at all the wrong angles, but that seems like it is probably you"
She seems satisfied that Barat's story checks out.
***
LNA is next up "Can you tell me your business in Steepshore? And where you will be staying if I have any more questions?"
Beep boop. - Multicoloured lights on LNA's back flicker as she runs closer to Barat. - Escort protocol activated.
In the past, LNA spent time to alter her appearance to look like a mindless drone rather than a sentient being. Now she pretends to just follow Barat's commands.
The detective looks at Barat, "What is wrong with your valet-drone's Virtual Intelligence?" she asks accusingly.
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"Nothing, unless you consider a drone programmed to allow anyone who asks a question to invade you're privacy as malfunction. I don't, as I value my privecy. Now if you'd like us to move on from the admitadly embarissing but understandable mistake you made of confusing my valet drone with an SRO or similarly sentient constructed being, I would be happy to do so and address your question directly. However, if you were in fact attempting an illegal search of my device, I will need to insist on your badge number, your suporvising officers name and badge number as well as my legal counsle being present before we continue."
"A Virtual Intelligence system for a valet drone is the sort of obvious upgrade any person of importance and wealth would normally have considered, I see you have gone for the base model. My detective skills suggest if you are buying things at the entry level you probably can't afford a decent lawyer anyway - take that hunk of faulty junk and move on." she waves Barat and LNA off dismissively as her comms unit buzzes back to life.
"It checked out? Found in a security locker? And is alive?" *pause* "Detain him immediately, I'll be right there"
"Jordan, take your agent - the witness - and register them with the duty sergeant, we can finish this discussion later"
Deb turns to the crowd "A suspect has been apprehended in a cargo car - you are all free to go" - law enforcement (and some Ixo heavies) move towards the cargo car you know all too well.
With the law enforcement and Ixo syndicate now all focused elsewhere, escaping is as easy as slipping into the night. You swagger away from the train in slow motion after framing a rival for your crime — you’re home free.
A mile outside of town, Arda’s enercopter waits at the predetermined spot to pick you all up and make off with the score. What happens next is up to
you. Turning in the artifact to Aramesh’s buyer probably means more than enough money for each of you to retire to a quiet life of better decisions. Or has this success only whetted your appetites for even riskier and more lucrative capers?
It was an honor to work with you, friends! By the way. Don't think anything bad. I've heard about a money deal in the Vescarium. Adventure for 20 minutes, go in and out...