"Like I told your man there, I don't ride, no. I'm afraid no beast will carry me." He pats his ample belly. "Tell you what, since we're taking all the risk to save your daughter, make it 1200 total, 600 up front, and we'll make sure she gets back to you safe and quick. Deal?"
Perry figures this is a good deal on both sides since the rancher has no idea how many crew work aboard Stargazer and he left his offer open ended in that regard.
Stepping back from the negotiation, Harold just listens to the terms, while he goes over everything in his mind.
"Of course, what can I help with?"
"Would it be alright if my girls go with you? They've been couped up in the ship a bit too long, and they're wantin' to get some fresh air and see something besides a bulkhead or a viewscreen."
Daisy smiles, "Well of course! Sounds like an easy safe trip, I can look after them!"
"Thank you. I owe you a big favor."
The girls are as excited as ever to see planetside while mark exacts promises of good behavior from the twins.
|
"It's a horrible idea, don't let them leave the ship," Emma pipes up at Mark and Daisy as the idea of the children's field trip is discussed. She's walking across a seam of the floor pretending she's on a balance beam. "Letting minors loose on a dis-civilized planet opens up the catastrophic possibility of them disappearing and us having no capabilities to find them. I would consider it decimating to have a small child of mine suddenly disappear, knowing that the best possibility is death, but the worse, and more likely possibilities include a lifetime of servitude to cruel masters that traffic humans and force them into a miserable lifetime as a slave of se--"
Emma's mouth snaps shut, as if trying to stop a horse that has already left.
She stops and looks directly at Mark.
"Would they much rather like to play a game?" she asks, tilting her head and giving him her full, wide-eyed attention.
"It's called 'Number Animal Color'. I play it all the time. I just know they'll like it."
Twin sets of eyes stare at Emma as their owners' horror grows. After a long moment of silence, the twins look at Mark.
"W-we changed our minds. We wanna stay," they tell him.
Relief mingled with a bit of annoyance colors Mark's face as he gives Emma a glower.
"Well, thank you anyway, Miss Daisy. I'll hold things down until you get back," he says and waves the others off.
Once the crew has set out, Mark turns his attention back to Emma.
"We've got a few games of our own," he says. "Would you be interested in playing them?"
"Oh we know better games than that," Hailey tells Emma as Holly gets a wicked gleam in her eye.
"Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into," Mark mutters under his breath.
Harold eyes Perry carefully for a few seconds and then says "How many people will be actually participating in her rescue? I'll want them all here and see them starting off towards Fred's property. And sorry, but I won't pay you anything up-front, what's to keep you from just taking off with the cash you have in-hand? Nope, payment on delivery only."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"The other half of the money! What's to say you won't stiff us in the end? We don't know you same as you don't know us. You want my team at your door, I need to go to them cash in hand. Look, we both know you wouldn't be asking us to do this if you had any other options. I've shown a willingness to help, which is more than you're going to find again anytime soon if I walk out that door without a deal."
Perry puts his palms heavily onto the rancher's desk. "With respect, sir, you need us, but we don't need this job. So what's it gonna be?"
"With respect, sir, your argument is flawed - if I give you money up front, you don't have to come back to me. But once you've got my little girl, you do have to return her to me to get paid, and if I don't pay you in full, well, you can shoot me. And how many of your crew will be on this job, again?"
"You're the biggest ranch on the planet, you say?" Perry sighs, then walks over to the buffet and helps himself to three fingers of whiskey out of an expensive-looking carafe. It's good, much better than his usual cheap swill.
"I guess you'll find out how many of us there are if and when I come back. Good day, Mister Farnsworth."
Perry returns to Stargazer. He calls for the crew to assemble in the lounge.
"Well, there's more work for us here if we want it, and the good news is that there's no overhead involved, so it's all profit. The big rancher on this lump of clay is offering us one hundred platinum each if we go save his daughter from a rival. He's making it sound like a stealth infiltration, so expect there to be gunplay.
"Now we ain't in the business of saving damsels in distress, but the coin isn't bad. Not as good as it should be, but not bad. If you're all interested, we can go back as a group and make the deal. If not, we'll just blast outta here and go find work that doesn't involve getting shot at.
"Whaddaya think?"
"I think you'll see for yourself soon enough," Mark answers a curious smile curling the corners of his mouth as his daughters come back with a stack of boxes.
As the others enter the ship, they are greeted by a jubilant cry of "You've activated my Mana Trap Card!" followed by a groan as a rapid-fire explanation of what was going to happen now is given. Emma, Mark, and his daughters are around the galley table with an array of cards and tokens spread between the four of them.
"So, I hope things went better for you than me with these card sharks," Mark says with a laugh.
His good humor quickly evaporates as he hears Perry lay out the job.
"And what made you think I wouldn't do this," he asks, his expression dark and his tone dangerously level after he sends his girls away. "Hell, Perry! I'd do anything to get my girls back from something like this. What makes you think this guy will be any different?"
"Well, for one, he's low-balling us," Perry replies. "I'm sympathetic, but I don't know this guy from Adam. We have to decide if we trust him enough to put our lives on the line."
Perry chews his lip. He wants to challenge Mark: Would you risk your life - risk depriving your daughters of their father - for a lousy hundred platinum? But he can't say that in front of the girls.
"If the job is as he says, we wouldn't all need to go. But I think we should at least decide as a group whether to take the job, majority rules. You should all know that the rancher, Farnsworth, believes his daughter was kidnapped by a rival who wants to buy some of Farnsworth's land. We may be getting ourselves mixed up in a land dispute between a couple rich guys with private armies. Honestly, I wouldn't be opposed to go talk to the other guy first to get his side of the story. We might open up future business for ourselves here if we can find a way to appease both players."
Mark glares at Perry, trying his best to reign in his temper.
"Right, and what if we piss off Farnsworth by tipping his hand? For that matter, just going to the other guy could put the girl in more danger. I don't know this guy either, but I am I father and I would not be willing to negotiate with someone that took one of my girls as leverage. As a matter of fact I'd be looking to rip the bastard's throat out. What makes you think this Farnsworth fella is any different?"
Somewhere along the way, Mark stands up and his voice rises in volume as sympathetic fury burns in his eyes as they lock with Perry's. Mark takes in a deep breath and lets it out before making for the hatch.
"Talk it over if you want. You know my say. I'm getting some fresh air," he tells the others as he leaves.
Even in his anger, Mark can't deny that they need a fuller picture, but going to get it from someone with a vested interest in the matter is stupid. If you want something close to the truth, you find people without a dog in the fight and that, preferably, make their living trading information. Even on a backwater, there was bound to be someone that would be willing to cough up what they knew for the right price.
However, there were also ways of gathering information that cost nothing more than a few drinks and some smooth talk. He thought he'd be done with this kind of work after the war ended, but there was no way in hell he was letting a child suffer if he could help it. He set his jaw as he went looking for the local watering hole.
"His daughter could be twenty-five years old for all I know. She could have run off with the neighbor's ranch hand. Farnsworth's information could be rotten. The only thing I know for sure is he's being awful tight with his platinum for a guy who's apparently super rich and whose daughter may or may not have been kidnapped by some other super rich guy.
"Harold, you were there. What's your assessment?"
|
|
Emma had found herself more in the spectator role as the two young beasts of pure chaos seemed to throw cards not so much as to rules that they only understood, but more at random with rules that changed with greater velocity than a planetary cyclone.
"And what made you think I wouldn't do this,"
Emma watched the brief exchange between Mark and the captain. When Marc left and there was silence enough to speak she spoke.
"Because its a horrible idea," she pronounces stoically.
"Ranch. Land. Space. Labor. Men. Horses. Men on horses. Men on horses with guns. Big ranch, many guns."
"Percy, what is the daughter's name? How old is she? More importantly...does she even exist? I've found the most basic facts can be overlooked."
She sits down and begins drawing circles on the floor. "Did he offer a flat rate or a per-person payment? An honest offer will be flat-rate. To wit: A person will offer as much as they can to get a goal. A per-person offer is because someone wants a head count to make sure their own forces outnumber us 3 to 1.
Do you know this man to have a large trust bank with you? Or did he establish trust by at least offering to pay some up front? Without trust, and outnumbered 3 to 1, he has no motivation to follow through on remuneration.
So too, Mark, I believe, will not want to go on this mission. Even assuming a girl is missing, what would he do if he went on this mission and died?
Other than be dead, I mean.
I think once he evaluates the end of his own existence and what that means to his own family, the offer of going against a kidnapper with enough resources to keep a big rancher at bay, he might think he's not being paid enough to die."
By know she's drawn a figure-eight on its side and keeps reinforcing its pattern.
Perry breaks out that bottle of brandy and pours himself a glass. He sets out another half-dozen glasses and leaves the bottle open between them.
Mark is all heart and Emma is all brains. It would be interesting to see where the others sided on this.
Yes, I was there, and I think we should help. Only cause I cannot stand a damsel in distress. Plus if we ever want to do business on the rock again, we need to do something
He pauses.
Another thought, is with him living here, he might want plausable deniability as to who attacked the other rancher.
Daisy had been sitting back, listening and taking it all in.
"We do need more information. Basics on the daughter. Some recon wouldn't be a bad thing either. If we went in strong and it was a case of a young woman willingly running away for love or such... it'll end badly."
She sighs.
"However, if the daughter was taken, we don't want them to know we're coming. A fine line indeed."
She looks to the floor for a second. Looks back up with almost a sheepish look on her face.
"Um. If it does come to force, I'm a decent shot with a rifle but... I do not currently own one. I could be useful for covering fire if anyone has a spare they'd allow me to borrow."
Perry nods with Daisy's measured approach. He turns to face Able.
"Doctor?"
Perry shifts his considerable weight from one leg to the other, balancing the considerations of the crew.
"I guess I'm for it, but I like Daisy's approach to things. Emma, if you come to the ranch with us you'll count another hundred platinum.
"Alright, make whatever preparations you need and we'll head out in fifteen. Daisy, talk to Harold about a rifle, or the ranch owner probably has one he might let us borrow."
Perry returns to his room and secures his Uzi and a couple extra clips of ammo. Then he draws his armored vest and empties his flask down his throat before refilling it from an open bottle stashed under his bed.
"Ready?" he asks once the crew returns to the hold.
Harold quickly returns to his bunk and grabs both shotgun and rifle along with ammunition.
He then offers Daisy his hunting rifle.
Keeping his shotgun and Deagle with him
Ready Boss
|
|
"Unity in the face of a bad idea is greater than singularity in the face of a good one," Emma says before leaving the area.
Other than the tool kits, she retrieves all her worldly goods and rejoins the others later.
"The meerkat is in the bag!" she happily states.
If she has any weapons, they must be small enough to fit in her pockets, for she does not appear to have anything other than her over-sized duster.
Daisy takes the rifle with a smile. Gives it a quick once over, checks the action and looks like she has actually shot a similar rifle before...
Mark - sorry, I missed your Spoiler button...
After buying a round of drinks at the local saloon, make a Persuasion roll.
ALL - sorry, I'm going to have to put your going to Harold's on Hold, as the information Mark gets might change the situation significantly (or not...), and it would be too hard to ret-con.
"Good arguments all 'round. I agree we'll be needin' to confirm a few points, but it doesn't seem all bad on the face of it."
He draws his ever present Revolver, and pulling the hammer back to half cock, runs the cylinder down his arm to check that all the chambers are loaded. Returning the hammer to the dropped position, he flips the gun back into his holster with deft, almost unconscious movement.
After that he just puts on his overcoat, and draws on his wide brimmed hat.
"Ready."
Mark finds a particularly chatty bunch playing a friendly game of cards at a table. After buying a round and paying the ante, he begins to chat and pass news from off planet along, threading in questions about the goings-on as he graciously loses a hand or two.
Mark - I forgot to mention, the drinks cost 10p.
The entire group walks to Harold's ranch, you're greeting at the door by what looks like a butler, and taken to his study. He looks up, and without any greeting, just says "So...6 of you at 100 platinum each, that's 600 total. Deal?"
On the way, Harold loads his shotgun and slings it. He also checks the Desert Eagle on his hip.
At the Ranch house, he stands slightly back and keeps an eye out for unexpected developments.
Mark, now armed with both pistol and shotgun, finds himself a bit impatient as they meet with the rancher again. He had left his daughters on the ship, and he hoped that would keep them out of harms way if things did go poorly. It was not something he wanted to think about, and he didn't want to leave them alone any longer than he had too.
They'd spent enough time without him because of the way.
Perry scowls at the rancher. "We're here, but we ain't agreed to anything yet. Miss Daisy has some questions for you to answer first."
He helps himself to another glass of whiskey.
|
|
Emma was uneasy.
Reintegrating herself into society was hard. Much harder than she let on. She felt at ease when she could keep to herself, kitbashing together some kind of a working source box. When she was around other...people...her skin started to crawl and any moment she expected THEM. She had to concentrate on not twitching, on not turning away from reaching, grasping, grabbing, hand of blue, twisting, holding her down, strapping her in, applying needles....
She shook herself out of her revelry. Men. Men with guns.
'Target Acquired.'
Stop stop stop get away get away get away.
The man. They were talking to someone. He wanted something. Everyone wants something. He wants something personal. Close. A daughter. They were told that. She was someone's daughter. Who's? Can no longer tell. Does it matter any more?
'Kill him.'
Money. Coins. Filthy lucre. Concentrate on something else. Price. Price goes up, price comes down. Equal trade for goods and services.
Is this equal?
Time to find out.
She asks the man what his daughter is worth. In all the world, for all the goods, with everything else equal and in the world there is stillness and someone comes and says, here is your daughter
...can we trust you?
She doesn't ask with words.
= 15
|
|
Emma is eased.
So, at least he doesn't plan to gun us all down--always a danger, good to guard against.
But he is low-balling the price. Of course, this is the condition of being human--get what you can, but for the lowest amount that the market will bear. Or bare.
And he HAS bared! It is all known now. She knows that he will part with additional coin!
But how to get that information across? How to convey it without tipping the balance and shifting the focus of the conversation? How does "give us more money" -not- delve into "I read your mind with my spooky witch powers. Burn me at the stake!"
Perhaps another? Someone else? Captain or whore, they are better at making word-sounds. Professional danger/risk/courtesy.
And how to do that? One does not blurt out that I read someone's most inner thoughts and that we should take advantage of it! That leads to the stake and the burning of things upon it.
Emma's brain locks up like a giant truck's engine low on oil. Her eyes are wide and her head swivels around, as if looking for an invisible imaginary undead turtle.
It might be best to stay silent.
Daisy is a little surprised to be called on but steps up like the professional she is.
"Thank you Captain. "
She turns to our rancher friend.
"Now, could you fill in all the little holes so we understand the bigger story. How and when was your daughter taken? Has there been any ransom or other discussion? Do you know how many men this kidnapper has and how serious he and they might be about avoiding an armed conflict? Is there something that he values highly we could threaten? If it does come down to a daring rescue, one that may be dangerous for your daughter and you in the future if this man is hateful and evil, any information on his house and the lands around it would be helpful."
She looks back to Perry and the more er.. fighty type people.
"Anyone think of any important issue or question I missed?"
She sees Emma struggling to contain... something...
"Please think about those questions sir. I know some are not easy but the more information we have, the more likely we can get your daughter home safe."
She walks over to Emma, winks at her as she walks up and puts her arm around her, leaning in to whisper, "Did you notice something important? I feel like I missed something extremely important in my little speech!"
Well Daisy, you covered the majority of things that we need to be looking at. Big thing that we need to be looking at is the ground around the house, and how many people are in the house.
Harold's eyes open wide as Daisy fires off her questions. Then, with a frown, he says "I really don't see how and when she was taken affects your job in any way. I told you the first time we met, the 'ransom' is to get his hands on some of my land. I don't know how many ranch-hands he has, but I have about 25 working for me, so I'd guess around 20? I have no idea how much he wants to avoid armed conflict, he's hoping that holding her will make me cave. I don't know what he values, except his land. As I said before, the shack that my daughter is in is far away from his house and not strongly guarded on the outside, so you don't need to know anything about his house. You people don't listen very well, do you?"
|
|
Emma was pleased that Daisy was keen enough to ask her about her opinions, but the anticipated shame of blurting out everything in her head was still too great. 'Well I'm an escaped science project and can read a person's thoughts whether they want me to or not. Oh do please stop screaming. No, no you're right, I'll just tie myself to this stake....'
Perhaps if she had been able to ease into the topic with some card tricks things could have gone better? But alas the only cards she'd seen were thrown by little girls with such abandon that she could hardly have broached the topic.
In the middle of hot negotiations, surrounded by strangers hardly seemed the best time to really go into it. This needed to be handled gently. Still, she was allowed to have an opinion, yeah? What would be the way normal humans handled this? Wouldn't a smooth con artist be able to say something? Maybe something like...
"His eye is twitching in a manner that says that he understands that he is in a precarious position and would pay more for our services. My guess is twice as much, but I'm not very good at this and I might be wrong."
Probably best to stop there.
"Daisy gives Emma a quick hug and whispers, "Please tell Perry that while I keep this blowhard's attention." She smiles at her and turns back to the rancher, taking a few steps further into the room away from Emma and Perry.
"Very well then. I guess the details of the kidnapping don't really matter that much. My friend here" she nods towards Harold," is correct, information on the shack and the area around it is the most important thing we need. Do you have a map of the area this shack is? Is it open ground? Any details will help us get your daughter back safely."
She will talk slowly and evenly and use her hands to gesture, moving back and forth a little to keep his attention on her.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Perry has had enough. "Now you listen to me, Harold. We're taking time out of our busy lives to listen to you and maybe help you. But you better fix your goram attitude right now. Do not affect that tone with a lady, do you hear me? Now give us the information we're asking for so we can consider this job for what it is. If I think you're not trading fairly with us, or exposing this crew to risks you didn't feel the need to share, or you disrespect any of us one more time, we are done. Got it?"
Perry, don't be so harsh.
Yes, Daisy needs an apology for his statements, but I can see his point of view.
Lets us take a quick breather out side, and discuss this,
While we are talking, he can get the rest of the information we need
Harold walks over and opens the door to usher the group out to let the tension reduce
Once he gets outside (Assuming others follow)
Perry, you need to tone it down. I don't want to get in a shooting match with the biggest rancher on the planet in this area.
Perry takes in Harold's measured approach. "You're probably right. But we don't know what we're walking into yet and I can't help the feeling we're getting jerked around here. And I will not stand for some jackass insulting my crew. And anyway, if he starts shooting at us he doesn't get what he wants. We got the upper hand here. I get this is for the right reasons but we ain't no charity organization."
Assuming this conversation is happing outside.
Agreed, I don't like being called stupid, or having it thrown in our faces.
Yes, we don't know what we are walking into, but yelling at the guy trying to convince us that we want to do this, doesn't help.
How about this, we accept, but for us to do this with no info we ask for say 150 maybe 200 per head and if he gets the info we are looking for, we reduce that to the starting price of 100 per head.
"Let's hear what he has to say when we go back in there."
Alright, but try to keep a lid on your temper. We may not need this job, but antagonizing the most powerful man in this area on this mudball won't go well.
Lets counter with the higher price that I suggested due to no info, and if we get the info, we can lower it.
He takes a deep breath.
Now lets go back inside and actually talk to one another