hexarchate_rpg | Chapter 2.3

yhlee posting in

[Housekeeping notes: we're fast-forwarding a bit to the security conference itself. Y'all can be assumed to have obtained anything reasonable during the shopping trip, from toys for the mothlings to jams for Sasha, and whatever else. We can also assume that Seyli more than adequately trained the Lanterner assassins in the use of the equipment sold to them.]

The Cantata docked smoothly in its assigned berth at the conference's hosting station. Remi promised that he would keep the mothlings out of sight, although it seemed suspiciously clear that he was looking forward to running intelligence tests on them in the guise of "games" manufactured with the aid of the matter printer and some toy schematics he picked up during the shopping trip.

Meanwhile, Fluffy the Vraselian pseudo-dragon keeps having to be shooed out of various public areas and appears to be building a nest out of scavenged materials.

It wasn't too difficult getting basic tools/implements/weapons past the conference's security. Paranoia is high, but so are distractions. The designated "dueling fan" is within sight at the far end of a hall with highly decorated vendor booths and poster displays. She is plump, wide-eyed, and deceptively excitable in affect, although Seyli knows from working with her during the trip that she's a quick study and she's really good with knives. She is, in fact, in duelist cosplay, complete with a hot pink Space Styrofoam boffer weapon.

Two booths away from the Lanterner "dueling fan," General Shuos Jedao can be seen with his aide, talking seriously to a highly muscular, tattooed, and decorative company representative. The banner behind the booth advertises "delicious hazelnut gianduja" ration packs laced with various popular stimulants.

[NOTE: So there are two big options for getting involved in this move!
(a) Part of the extraction team removing Jedao, or
(b) Staying behind and preparing the Cantata for extraction. In particular, Remi is looking for one or more volunteers to help him socialize and/or test the mothlings.

Obviously, you're welcome to take a third option if one occurs to you. If you need help brainstorming involvement, please feel free to message me or ask in the comments.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

yhlee

[The new assassin is not. She's wearing the rumpled suit and badge of a civilian analyst type.]

From:

venndaai

"I believe I've spotted a backup," Sulen says into the group comm channel. "Analyst under the QuickEat Ration Bar banner." They hope Sasha can see her from her camera angle.

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha pages Gerae with an image of the analyst, and asks whether he recognizes her from the trip with the Lanterners. She also starts running the face through whatever rebellion and local databases she can access, though she's not expecting a rapid match.

From:

yhlee

Gerae pages Sasha back and confirms that she was present as the "cook." He doesn't remember her doing anything weaponish, although of course that doesn't mean anything.

The rebellion/local databases are being sluggish.

From:

venndaai

"Would you like me to distract her?" Sulen asks, a little doubtfully. The Lanterners seem like the types to just shoot through any civilian distractions.

From:

hoardingpearls

"I'm so glad to hear that!" False enthusiasm is nearly as bright as the real thing, as Reshad approaches her newest mark. She maneuvers herself to watch Jedao over their shoulder, the remote tucked tight against one wrist.

"Would you like to hear about our upcoming features?"Anticipation channels into her sales persona, lending her versimilitude. She starts her patter, explaining to Pink Hair why their unique blend of options makes SkipTrack a deal at any price.

Buying time, until someone else takes a swing at her target and starts the real fun.

From:

yhlee

Pink Hair is enraptured by Reshad's list of features, as though each one were targeted to her company's situation. "That's so amazing! Can I--can I hug you? Or do your people not do hugs?" She wipes a tear away. "I just, you don't know how frustrating it's been, our intranet and the tech support and that one time with the ransomware and everything."

People around them are starting to notice; some of them are quite amused, and definitely distracted from the scene with the cosplayer, who is now brandishing a Jedao action figure.

From:

zuhrovet

"Watch her and the collector, and alert us the second either one starts to make a move," Sasha directs. "I'll move the cleaning drone up: looks like Reshad may have been enrolled in someone else's distraction. Seyli, there are more Lanterners here than we anticipated, and we don't want you recognized. Stay back until we activate the drug."

Sasha sends Gerae an image of the man with pink hair, and asks whether he's also recognizable. She lets the station cameras blink in and out, recording some of the scene, but also leaving obvious gaps.

From:

kese_seyli

Seyli doesn't respond verbally, if only because they're close enough that they know they could be overheard by any of the players in the scene by them. They shift, trying not to appear overly tense, while still being ready to move at a moments notice. A brief glance around to make sure they're not in any obvious lines of sight. This whole scene is fucking madness

From:

yhlee

Jedao points vaguely down the hall, in the opposite direction from Seyli. "Oh, look!" he says with enthusiasm. "I think I see the famous duelist Kel Isha. I bet you could get them to sign cards, too!" The moment the cosplayer (reluctantly) whips her head around to look, Jedao makes a dash for it.

[Jedao will be passing by Seyli--they could try to trip him or otherwise slow him down!]

Meanwhile, Gerae reports to Sasha that no, he doesn't recognize Pink Hair.

From:

zuhrovet

Bind this duelist up with burning wire. She's supposed to be a professional.

"Reshad, please confirm, can you activate?" Sasha asks. "Seyli, keep pace with the target." She directs the cleaning drone to amble in Seyli's direction, just in case.

From:

hoardingpearls

"And of course, for the bundle price-" Hell and void, he's making a run for it! Reahad tilts her head as if distracted. "Sorry, is that Kel Isha? I'm such a fan!"

Stepping away from Pink Hair, she cues the confirmation, then the release of gas. Jedao should still be in range, and Pink Hair won't be a distraction for much longer.

From:

yhlee

Jedao's choice of Kel Isha was not (for anyone familiar with famous duelists of this era) entirely random; one of the passers-by has a reasonable if coincidental resemblance to them.

The gas jets out spectacularly. There is screaming; people start to run or duck for cover. The cosplayer's face crumples as she clutches her binder full of trading cards and runs after Jedao.

Jedao, with perfect Shuos logic, is making for the nearest booth and brought up a contemporary communicator to call security.

From:

zuhrovet

[Does the communicator belong to the booth, or to Jedao?]

From:

yhlee

[He nabbed it from the booth--thanks for the catch!]

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha, who has worked her way into most of the station's systems, re-routes the call and pages Virmad. "I've got Jedao on Line Seven. He thinks we're station security. I need you to stall him until the drug kicks in."

From:

lleullawgyffes

Alright, Virmad, be cool, he thinks, brushing a hand through his hair to make sure it’s Rahal-presentable. “I’m ready.”

[IT'S TIME.]

From:

yhlee

Virmad can clearly hear Jedao's distinctive drawl over the link, as well as shouting, footsteps, and the occasional scream. "Hello, Station Security? You've got a situation down in"--Jedao rattles off the name of the hall. "Some kind of gas leak right by the SkipTrack booth. Not sure if it's toxic or what, and people are panicking."

From:

lleullawgyffes

Fuck, it’s really him. Deep breath. Aaaaaaaaaaaa — “Of course, sir, we’ll send someone to look into it right away; in the meantime, please remain calm. You said you were at [hall name], is that correct?”

From:

yhlee

[Let's make up a hall name! I dub it Hall of Bird Masks."

"Yes, the Hall of Bird Masks," Jedao confirms. In the background, he's conferring with another bystander who's concerned about the situation; anyone present on-scene or viewing the station feeds can tell that it's Pink Hair from earlier. "This place doesn't lack for people with technical expertise, but we're concerned that we'll set off your internal security if we try to fix the problem."

It's hard to tell at first because of the drawl, but starting with "but we're concerned..." Jedao's voice starts to slur as the drug kicks in.

From:

lleullawgyffes

“You were right to be wary,” Virmad says. — aaaaaaaaaaaa — “We wouldn’t want to trigger an alarm and set off even more of a panic than what I’m hearing. I’ve dispatched someone to handle things — I’ll stay on this line until they arrive.”

From:

yhlee

The slur becomes more pronounced: "Glad to hear it," Jedao says. Then: "I'm sorry"--his voice is friendly but mildly puzzled, as though he can't remember where he put his tea--"what were we talking about again? Did I miss a date or something?"

Anyone on the scene will see Jedao meditatively staring at the "gas leak." The panic is subsiding as people start wandering aimlessly. Pink Hair is staring at the toolkit in his hand as if it belongs to a stranger.

From:

zuhrovet

"Drug is active," Sasha reports. "Seyli, grab Jedao and let's move. Alaric, please retrieve Reshad."

She sets the cleaning drone to an erratic pentagon pattern and lets the station cameras see it.

From:

bariolage

[Appearing to OOC note more about effects as requested!

Right now, it is definitely going to seem like an incredibly bizarre gas leak, since it's not just odorless but definitely doesn't seem to be doing anything. Because wandering aimlessly is pretty much all it's going to make people do; this is a neuroanesthetic, so those affected will either just be really tired and out of it, or think everything is completely normal. They may be a little bit slower to respond to things. Standard anticholinergic side effects may apply, as poor Jedao is demonstrating for us.

"Completely normal" is not the case, because even those who aren't feeling sedate are going to be very responsive to suggestion! Whereby 'very' I mean 'completely,' so this part of the plan is not utterly madcap unless anyone besides our team was somehow immunized beforehand. Since Ione made this variation specifically for this purpose, only other time-travelers or people in hazmat gear are going to be protected ...

In retrospect it will seem completely pointless to all these people, because they'll have just gotten some GI problems, slurred speech and vertigo at most for their troubles, since it's as if none of this ever happened. Not everyone will even remember the gas being released; this is a variant of Different Brains Remember Different Stuff. Some might. No one will recall what happens while it is active, which absolutely means Virmad can now say whatever he wants, and Seyli could tell Jedao they have to go round up some cattle and a) he'll think this is reasonable, b) won't recall later thinking this was reasonable or being told it, and therefore won't have any idea who Seyli is in the first place.

Ione will have requested to be on hand for when the effects wear off, in order to take the blame for side effects and also make sure there haven't been any scary reactions ... in Jedao, she's pretty sure no one is concerned if someone gets really sick back at the convention hall since they'll have access to medical care that isn't her.]

From:

lleullawgyffes

“Actually,” Virmad says, his heart pounding as he switches gears with a smoothness that surprises even himself, “it was me — I just wanted to let you know I’m not sure I’m going to be able to make it to dinner tonight.” He smiles to himself, then adds, “I hope we’ll be able to see each other soon, though.”

[couldn't resist the opportunity to hit on Jedao, sorry not sorry!!!]

Edited (adding an ooc note) Date: 2019-04-06 01:30 am (UTC)