hexarchate_rpg | Chapter 2.2

yhlee posting in

[Sorry I didn't get this out earlier, y'all. Happy summer/winter holidays!]

The Cantata emerges from the rift on an approach to the Lanterner stronghold called Autumn Pyre. The Cantata hums very quietly to reassure the mothlings, then falls silent; it's been impressed on the Cantata that discretion will be necessary. For their part, the mothlings have free run of an enclosure with Fluffy the Vraselian pseudo-dragon, and both mothlings and dragonet seem to be entertaining each other with games of tag and hide-and-seek. They are happy to play with any humans who stop by, as well.

Scan reveals that Autumn Pyre is heavily fortified by the standards of the day, mostly with invariant weapons like railguns and missiles. A few dozen moths are already docked there, and several more are patrolling the area. Two small Lanterner patrol moths, nearly identical, veer lazily toward the Cantata.

Patrol moth #1 hails the Cantata in several different languages, including the high language. For its part, it transmits the Lanterner emblem--a stylized yellow lantern against a blue background--and the speaker is requesting that you halt and identify yourselves. "This is the Lanterner Federacy in the year 852," the speaker goes on, "under the benevolent rule of the Honorable Aramis kae Pharon. Are you human? What are your hospitality requirements?"

[Feel free to take advantage of the between-moves planning post if you need to, and to make whatever preparations, including rearranging the Cantata's variable layout, you deem necessary.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

zuhrovet

"It turns out, in addition to shouting at people, I also understand how fucking deadlines work. That's why I'm in charge, and not my chief engineer, here. We've only got the one heavy; we handle printers and calendars and the odd bit of explosives, usually." Her team's expertise also includes financial fraud and recruiting adorable mothlings, but Sasha's not volunteering to share those skills.

"When you say 'accompany', do you mean on our moth, or on theirs? And who else are you sending? Or who were you planning to send, before we showed up?"

From:

hoardingpearls

"There's 'deal with.' There's supply run, which was our mission description." She leans on the past tense just enough to make her point. "And there's 'infiltrate a fucking Kel moth and try to assassinate the one they all care about.'" Personnel has some answering to do, if Reshad has anything to do with it.

"So: our one heavy. Your...team." She arches a doubtful eyebrow at Flute. "And our excellent equipment, in multiple hands."

From:

yhlee

Flute addresses herself to Reshad first, since Reshad is nominally in charge. "I do apologize for the apparent mission creep," Flute says, somewhat formally. "There must have been a mix-up in communications, because I attempted to make it clear to Personnel that we were going to need a more hands-on approach to this particular mission. Merely throwing Lanterners at Jedao and seeing if anything stuck was never going to be a...preferred plan, however."

She pauses, then adds, "I do want to clarify that the assassination will not be taking place on a moth, but on a station where the conference that Jedao is attending will be taking place. In fact, the Lanterners' best hand-to-hand specialist will accost Jedao under the guise of a starstruck dueling fan who has rather inappropriately gotten themself invited to the conference in order to get an autographed duelist trading card."

To Sasha, Flute says, "I was planning on sending our people on the Lanterners' moth, for simplicity's sake, but if you can make a case for sending yours as well, wth your backup people, I'm all ears. We have three infantry who will be backup for the Lanterners on my team, one of whom is outprocessed Shuos, two of whom are mercenaries with border conflict experience."

From:

zuhrovet

"If you don't send another moth, your infantry will be depending on the Lanterners for extraction," Sasha observes. "And it's a security conference, so it makes perfect sense for a group of arms dealers to tag along and try to drum up business. I don't see why you wouldn't send us."

This means moving further away from the rift while open warfare is imminent; that might be why Flute isn't planning to send her own moth, but Sasha likes the idea of splitting the team and leaving the mothlings behind even less.

From:

yhlee

Flute smiles brilliantly at Sasha. "Well, since you're volunteering..." She quirks an eyebrow at Reshad, inviting confirmation. "You should be able to do late registration for a booth, if you want one, although perhaps you'd rather look less...legitimate, if that's what you prefer."

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha shrugs; sales decisions, even fake ones, are Reshad's department. "When are we leaving, who am I coordinating with, and what are your moths doing while we're gone?"

For that matter, how fucked is this mission, on a scale of one to seven? Must be at least a six, or Flute wouldn't be this cheerful about "volunteers".

From:

hoardingpearls

"Merely throwing Lanterners at Jedao and seeing if anything stuck was never going to be a...preferred plan, however."

Seeming mollified, Reshad returns the precise level of respect she - and her team- have received. "Let's see if we can get a little closer to preferred, then."

But, volunteering? She makes a regretful moue. "That's an enhanced level of service," she points out. "Would you prefer I send you an invoice, or is there someone I should discuss finances with-?" For of course, her demeanor says, Flute is above such considerations.

From:

yhlee

"If only there had been a proper briefing earlier," Flute says, a bit mournfully, "but that's not your fault." She taps at her slate, then produces a data solid and passes it to Reshad. "This is my finance person's contact information. You can direct your invoice to them."

From:

hoardingpearls

"I'll see it done." Reshad bows again, and palms the solid rather than inserting it into any device she carries. No, that's for Sasha, first.

From:

zuhrovet

"About my questions," Sasha says. "You have seven moths: what are they doing while the Lanterners try to assassinate Jedao? Also, how many assassins are there? You mentioned a duelist, and historically there was someone with a scattergun--who else? What kind of strength will the Kel have? What restrictions does the conference place on carrying weapons? How good are our maps?"

From:

yhlee

Flute smiles. "You ask good questions for someone with such a foul mouth," she says. Again with the deliberate, patronizing insult, continuing to see how far she can push Sasha with little digs. "The seven moths mostly contain network infiltration equipment in the form of grid support for my hackers, as well as some additional hardware toys."

She pauses to think. "As for the assassins, the duelist is largely a distraction and will be shadowed by an observer posing as a booth bunny. The Lanterners have two people with scatterguns--we're not sure, historically, what happened to the second one--as well as two people with conventional handguns."

Flute calls up a map of the conference. It's very crowded and has a lot of super tacky company logos for the various booths. "As far as we can ascertain, General Jedao will be escorted only by an aide. This is considered a fairly low-risk conference is the Kel assessment. Also, it seems likely that Jedao is...relying on his considerable combat abilities, which of course is his funeral. You have to realize, there are eight Kel officers actually signed up to learn things from the presentations along with their own aides, but these are largely high-ranking staffers rather than infantry."

She brings up a separate document. "Weapons are the big problem. The conference does not permit anything bigger than a utility knife or combat knife. The Lanterners claim they've suborned someone at security who will let them smuggle through suitably shielded or disguised hand weapons, but of course no one is getting in anything big like a sniper rifle. And as for our maps, they are as up-to-date as I can make them, but there are always last-second changes in booth layout."

From:

zuhrovet

"I regret the confusion, sir," Sasha says. "I wasn't aware that the word 'fuck' was rationed. What's their surveillance like? Why aren't you just bringing in a bunch of printers?"

[Are we still unable to print conventional ammunition?]

From:

yhlee

Flute laughs. "Touché. Their surveillance is...well, there's a lot of it. What it is not is well-coordinated, because all their security is busy trying to show off to everyone who's shopping for security services. Kind of silly but that's how it is."

She shrugs. "As for the printers...well, all printers are required to be surrendered to conference security and can only be used under the eye of conference personnel. The Lanterners did not want to deal with that and I didn't either."

[You can print conventional ammunition now. The new, improved printers that y'all upgraded to have removed that restriction.]