should we help or hinder the assassination of Jedao?

[zuhrovet]

[In the current move, Flute has just informed the team that they are to accompany a group of Lanterner assassins to a conference where the Lanterners will attempt to assassinate Jedao. This post is for reactions and plans, both in and out of character.]

Sasha's quiet as the group heads from the Catastrophe Axe back to the Cantata. She wants to have a cup of tea and spend a few hours working her way further into the Axe's grid, but work comes before play, and figuring out how to handle Flute's instructions will be a fuck of a lot of work.

Once everyone's safely on the Cantata and the lock has closed behind them, she starts issuing orders. "Grid, please ask Sulen to meet me in my office in twenty minutes, and inform everyone there will be a team meeting in the common room in one hour. Reshad, I'll want you in the meeting with Sulen."

She pulls her memory stick out of her pocket and gives it to Alaric. "Find Aymad, stick this in the minigrid--not in the main one--and see what you can find out about the watchers in Flute's system in the next hour."

Then she turns to Seyli. "I know you want to yell. Go ahead and do it. You've got twenty minutes." [These are heptarchate minutes, so it's more like ten minutes in our calendar.]

Comments

Re: how not to kill Jedao? - paging everyone

[zuhrovet]

"The hells, Alaric, you know dressing up isn't enough. There are six moths full of surveillance equipment we have to fuck, or they'll just read off our haptics. I'll take that as a proposal for sedative gas or Lanterner assist, though. Ione, I'm assuming you have a stronger tranquilizer available? Seyli, any thoughts on recovering Jedao?"

*shows up late*

[venndaai]

Sulen enters the office quietly. "Apologies for my lateness. Have we decided who we're sending to train our allies? It sounds like they might need to perform some sabotage."

Re: *shows up late*

[kese_seyli]

Any thoughts on recovering, Jedao? That almost is enough to make them want to punch someone.

"He was well liked by the his soldiers, if we can't pose as medics, is there the same issue posing as Kel?" They ask, as Sulen enters the room. "I don't doubt they'd close ranks around him." They nod toward Sulen. "I think that would be me."

[posing as Kel]

[yhlee]

[Note that this is an era before formation instinct, so Kel do NOT all have the same body language and y'all don't have to worry about that, if posing as Kel is an avenue you wish to pursue.]

[hacking the station]

[zuhrovet]

[Will Sasha be able to try to hack various systems (the conference center, tests of the Rahal accesses, etc.) while the Cantata is in transit? Or does interstellar travel mess up grid access?]

Re: [hacking the station]

[yhlee]

[Interstellar travel will mess up grid access--for reliable results she'll basically want to be on-site.]

Re: [hacking the station]

[zuhrovet]

[But Spider and Firecracker are staying in this system, right? Are the six moths basically holding a giant ansible collection?]

Re: [hacking the station]

[yhlee]

[Yes, that's a good point, thank you. Let's say that Sasha has determined that Flute's people are sitting on a giant ansible collection to compensate.]

Re: *shows up late*

[zuhrovet]

"Also Reshad, Gerae, and Aymad, in my current thinking: Reshad to talk to people, Gerae to memorize what they say in answer, and Aymad to act as a tech and work his way into the Lanterners' systems. If the Lanterner assassins are going to be wearing our armor, we may be able to sabotage them by glitching its software, though I'm open to other suggestions."

Sasha taps her fingers on her mug. "And I'm not saying we can't pose as medics. We'll need to fuck a lot of rebellion surveillance, no matter what we do. I like the Kel idea, though, because that explains why Jedao would end up somewhere that Spider's eyes can't see."

Maps and accesses

[zuhrovet]

[How much do we know right now about the conference center layout? I'm particularly interested in how closely they monitor the outside of the station, and in what the docking process will look like. Could we conceivably end up on the same corridor as other ships? Or will exiting through customs point directly at our moth?]

Re: Maps and accesses

[yhlee]

[Assume that you have a map of the exhibition areas. The exterior is fairly closely monitored, but things will also be chaotic. A little digging on space internet will reveal to Sasha that one of the things that attendees do to screw around and/or "advertise" is to hack and/or otherwise prank and/or take down station security, and there are multiple incidents every time this conference is held; Sasha should be able to exploit this to cover y'all's escape.

This portrayal may be brought to you by the fact that one of my friends is a security consultant and every time she goes to Defcon, she lets us know that if we get messages from her claiming that she lost her wallet and she needs to be wired money for a plane ticket home, it's NOT her, it's some Defcon attendee who's hacked her phone.]

Re: *shows up late*

[hoardingpearls]

"If I remember my history classes correctly, we should be able to be convincing Kel at this point in time. They didn't get the standardized body language until later." Reshad goes still, though her eyes continue to flick from face to face.

"I may be able to be a decoy," she suggests. "They know me as the captain of our little deception-" a smirk, fleeting- "not as anything else. So I can make a scene at the appropriate moment, or try to get close to their infiltrators. Whichever is more likely to help when we fox their plans."

The last verb sounds almost like another, similar word, the pun fully intentional.

Kel impersonators - paging Aymad, Seyli, Sulen, and Virmad

[zuhrovet]

But Seyli was Kel. Why wouldn't they be convincing? To people who hadn't traveled with them, at least? Oh. Right. Eight hells.

"You mean, the Kel aren't all bound together, yet," Sasha says, for Sulen's benefit. "Who are we using as our false Kel? If it's Seyli, we'll have to make sure the Lanterners can't report their involvement. But we could send one of the Rahal. Or Aymad, if I pose as a tech instead of him."

Re: Kel impersonators - paging Aymad, Seyli, Sulen, and Virmad

[kese_seyli]

"There is no reason I can't pose as Kel, a convincing one at that. I can do a crash course on current standards." Seyli's lips twist at their own wording. They don't particularly want to pose as Kel, but they can get the job done. "My options as posing for something other than a solider are limited, to be honest."

Re: Kel impersonators - paging Aymad, Seyli, Sulen, and Virmad

[zuhrovet]

"It's a security conference; there will be all sorts of people with military backgrounds, there."

Seyli didn't answer Sasha's implied question. She's not sure if they didn't notice it, or if they are simply more professional than she is. They must, after all, be used to killing people. But Sasha isn't some virginal apostle of the Prophet--not the apostle part, anyway, fuck, focus--and if someone needs to die to get the job done, Sasha can be responsible for that order. The people currently in question are assassins who, presumably, know what risks they signed up for. "Seyli, the question is, do you want to escort Jedao after we drug him, or do you want someone else to do so, to leave you free to deal with other contingencies? And if you are escorting him, how do we handle the Lanterners, and anyone else who might recognize you?"

Re: Kel impersonators - paging Aymad, Seyli, Sulen, and Virmad

[bariolage]

'After we drug him' is where Ione tunes fully back in again, as opposed to just processing the planning going past her: she is not likely to be posing as Kel, and on the other hand, she might need to --

"Who is doing the drugging, and how do we want it administered, because that changes formulation. Um, and the answer to the first also changes the answer to the second. Strength isn't an issue, I could do unconscious for five minutes or unconscious for five hours easily enough. Or five days, but that seems excessive."

Re: Kel impersonators - paging Aymad, Seyli, Sulen, and Virmad

[zuhrovet]

"We don't want unconscious," Sasha points out. "We want agreeable and following our fake Kel. And for administration--that depends on the number of targets. Ione, did you say your drug affects memory? If so, should we be planning to give it to the Lanterners as well? Because we have three choices, as I see it. Either we deceive them, or we make them forgetful, or--we disable them."

[Could whoever responds next start a new thread? We've moved very far sideways!]

Re: Kel impersonators - paging Aymad, Seyli, Sulen, and Virmad

[kese_seyli]

replied here https://hexarchate-rpg.dreamwidth.o rg/30246.html?thread=1063462#cmt1063462