Harold looks at the young lady.
[b]Well, I am actually here to meet young ladies like yourself.[b]
He then gives the code phrase
He looks around for hazards as he comments on the phrase.
The woman looks at Harold after he just blurts out the code phrase and says "You're not who I was expecting. Tell me how you got the data disk *now*, or you won't leave this planet alive."
If she hears the threat, Wren sets down her drink calmly and stays watchful, figuring this mystery woman must surely have backup somewhere nearby. She subtly checks her knives to make sure they are in easy reach as she waits for imminent violence.
You know, I dont take to well to threats. However, lets just say it fell into my hands
"Well, we don't take well to strangers intercepting our...messages. I repeat, tell me how you got the data disk."
Arabella watches the interaction in her mirror, tense and ready to react, but trusting Harold to handle the situation.
Daisy will take a casual look around to see if anyone else is showing any extra attention to the situation.
Arabella will do the same.
So far, both Harold and the woman have kept their voices at normal conversation level, which is quickly drowned out by the noise in the bar. No one appears to be paying attention.
well lets just say your other courier wasnt as discrete as he could have been. Now we are at this impass do you have any suggestions that dont involve me turning this drive over without a finders fee.
"Our other courier said that someone stole the drive from him in a crowded bar - sound familiar? And we've already set up another meeting with the intended recipient. So, why are you here?"
Daisy speaks softly to the group, "Maybe tell him the guy was drunk and dropped it and wandered off?"
"When dealing with potential psychics, it's perhaps best to go with the truth. We seek an alliance with the psychics, if they are willing."
So maybe our willingness to drop your drive off with you shows that we are willing to work with you, and not with the alliance.
After all, the last person with this drive, seemed more interested in female companionship, than delivery of this drive.
The woman pauses for maybe 20 seconds, as if thinking, then says "Gather your friends and come with me."
"Well y'all, there it is. For some reason I think we should go..."
discretely raising his hand as if to order a drink, Harold switches to transmit.
Hey everyone, they want us to come along. so come on down
He then turns his attention back to the woman.
Just give us a few, and we should be here
Wren finishes her drink and then gets up, taking a look around before moving to stand next to Harold. Her smile that she directs to the mysterious lady is not exactly warm. "So. Where are you taking us? Someplace with better food and less watered down drinks, I hope?"
Daisy will saunter up with a sunny smile, "Pleased ta' meet ya! I just hope that at worst we part ways amicably."
Arabella finishes her drink, leaves a tip, and puts away her mirror and strolls toward the others while pretending to be just heading elsewhere in the bar, not wishing to call attention to the group.
Brook will walk around from the back and come in the front
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Once everyone is near her, the woman says "My name is Lynx, or at least that is what you can call me. Please come with me so we can talk in private."
To speed things along, I'll assume that you all do. She takes you to a small office building that seems to rent suites to small businesses. She takes you down a hallway, opens a door, and brings you into a room which seems to be a reception room, with several other doors in it. She turns to you and says "I represent the group of psychics you have not-so-subtly been trying to find. That datastick had a worm in it that even your hacker could not find that gave us access to your ship's computer system and comms, so that we could determine what kind of people you are, and what your true intentions were. Once we decided that you were probably trustworthy, we decided to keep the meeting so we could meet you in person, otherwise you just wouldn't have found anyone in the bar that was looking for you. Needless to say, we scanned your minds to confirm that you really are against the Alliance. So, any questions so far?" she finishes with a smile.
Daisy lets a relieved breath out, "Oh good. So ya know why we been tryin' ta find you. And if ya know it all, we ain't sure we completely trust the ones who sent us. Or at least I don't."
I also am of the thought that I am not to fond of the group that sent us. But I do follow the principle of I give my word, I follow it to the best of my abilities.
Arabella is reminded of the old joke of the psychic who asks a person who comes to her for help what her question is and the person replies, "You're the psychic. Shouldn't you know already?"
Arabella is prepared to tell Lynx her life story (the short and sweet version), enough to show she has not been a friend of the Alliance except when expedient.
Was roughly 53 weeks ago, December 3rd of last year. Truth be told, my re-read looks kind of positive. No one said anything negative at the time, or inferred distrust descriptively either.
Cleb's post reads kind of like "an enemy of my enemy must be my friend"
So, any questions or comments so far to Lynx?
"So, this group asked us ta find you guys. Do you know of them?"
"I think our hacker owes us a refund." Wren mutters, shaking her head, then turns back to Lynx. "Well, turns out you're right, I've got no love for the Alliance. Not convinced you're a reader though, but that aside, I'm interested what ya think of these Unseen Sleepers? Seems as though they've heard of you, anyway. Sent us to find you, just as Daisy here says."
Harold steps back to let the ladies carry on the conversation.
He will remain near, as he continues his looking around of the loacation.
"I won't bore you with stuff you probably already know about my past, but the alliance never did me any favors. It was some former browncoats who rescued me from doing slave labor on a salvage ship. The justice system did give me a second chance when I was caught with a group of illegal salvagers, mostly because I was underage, but they kind of balanced that out by saying I could only get leniency if I agreed to be trained by a companion guild. I always suspected the guild got some kind of support in exchange for being a place they could dump trouble makers like I was."
"Not that being a companion was that bad, but that led to a bad marriage, an ex-husband who kidnapped our daughter, a legal system that did little to pursue him because he was connected within the Alliance, and my later life spent mostly on ships, generally dodging anywhere that spent capital keeping watch on everything."
"I suspect there is a lot of secret stuff we proles never see. We've had a few run-ins with the Alliance recently that suggests they may be trying to create something like a reaver for their own uses. We can tell that story if you like. I guess my question for you is, what do you know about the Alliance that we should know but probably don't? What are you fighting for?"
Wren keeps her game face on, though she is startled when Arabella speaks of the Alliance using Reavers? The thief has heard the stories of course, but never seen one herself. In fact, she's often wondered if the stories are perhaps only based partially in truth, spiced with a whole lot of rumor and fabrication just to keep folk on the border planets tetchy. Wouldn't that be just like the Alliance, after all?
She makes a mental note to ask about it later, and concentrates on Lynx.
Lynx pauses for a full minute, staring blankly ahead, as if thinking very hard.
"We know of the Silent Sleepers, they have been trying to find us for some time. We didn't trust their claim that they were anti-Alliance, until we got an operative aboard that asteroid-space-station of theirs, and they were just recently able to confirm that the group is what they say they are. So are we, but you would have no reason to trust us without proof.
If you all agree, we'd like to enter into a light telepathic communication with all of you - you can't lie when speaking thru the mind, and you'd know it if we were trying to influence you. We'll show you the depth and range of our organization, and you'll know our true intentions towards the Alliance. What do you say?"
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Daisy only takes a few seconds to think about it.
"Bein' around our own ship board special guy and how awesome he is, i'm fine with it. Just don't dig into what myself and another young woman did ta' Mr. Barnaby's farm when we was 15. He deserved that...."
Arabella smiles at Daisy's comment, and then agrees to the mental confab.
Wren finds herself wary, but also intrigued. After a few moments thought, she nods.
I got no liking for the alliance, but I am a bit nervous of people poking around up here. But other than that, as long as you aren't changing anything, go ahead.
Lynx invites everyone to sit around a round table in the room and says "Just relax your minds - you don't have to 'not think', just keep your minds idle and not focused on anything in particular."
After a few minutes, each of you "hears" her voice in your mind, saying "Good job - now wait for a few minutes for the others to join us."
A couple of minutes later you all hear her in your heads. "This is the one method of communication that we are pretty sure the Alliance can't tap in on - altho we don't know the numbers or strengths of their telepaths.
We call ourselves the Circle of Moths - because we have learned to move in the shadows, and not to get burned by doing anything too dangerous. Our infiltration of the Alliance is so far pretty shallow, but deliberate. We have dream-walkers that can walk the corridors of an Alliance building to get its floor plan, and have planted empaths in bars adjacent to Alliance military centers to spot the "hard-liners" and those who harbor a seed of doubt that they're not doing the right thing. So far, we've just brushed up against the fringes of the Alliance (and only in the Border, not the Core), but as long as our existence remains undetected, we are willing to do more.
We don’t duel secret police in alleys or topple Alliance statues with a thought. We trade in misrouted memos, malfunctioning gates at precisely the wrong moment, a printer that spits out staff IDs when no one is looking, and a gentle nudge that convinces a patrol to linger one street over.
Any questions?"