Chapter 3.3: a belated meeting

[yhlee]

At 0800 local time, Ashari sends out a notice that everyone [= all the PCs and associated NPCs] should assemble for a planning meeting at 0830 in Conference Room A (the ballroom from last night).

At the same time, Ashari specifically messages Dar and asks her to set out a quick breakfast for the meeting, "nothing elaborate necessary, sorry about the short notice." [Dar is free to argue with this over the messaging system.]

Ashari will be in Conference Room A at 08,00 themself, pacing around and muttering and looking agitated, for anyone who shows up early. Among the early birds are Gerae, who keeps checking a nanny-cam app on his slate that keeps an eye on Fluffy and the baby Vraselian pseudo-dragons, and Istradez, who is looking around wistfully for non-sweet food.

ETA:
When most of the group has assembled, Ashari, still clearly ill at ease, says abruptly, "Some of you may be aware of the staggering emptiness of this timeline. I have decided that we need to evacuate, and soon, even though it means abandoning the base. Discuss."

[Please feel free to continue/wrap up threads from the previous move, Ch. 3.2. I will be responding to some threads there shortly.]

[Jedao's report to Sasha and Reshad will be forthcoming in a comment to this post shortly, once I remove a certain catten from my desk.]

Comments

more about the next mission - paging everyone

[zuhrovet]

[Starting a second meeting thread for general organizational purposes.]

Sasha squares her tablet with the edge of the table. Its screen is currently dark.

"Ashari, can we loop back to the details of our next mission? I have two sets of questions. First, you said we would have two contacts, an analyst named Kesser and an assassin named Mae. What do they know about us? Are they aware we are part of the rebellion? Have they been in communication with Quill, or do you think she would have contacted the hexarch through other channels? And second, where is the rift we will exit through? Do we know whether it is watched?"

Re: more about the next mission - paging everyone

[yhlee]

"Certainly," Ashari says, perhaps too pleasantly. "They're aware that we're connected with 'disaffected elements,' and have almost certainly figured out that we're connected with the rebellion, but they don't know which part of the rebellion we're associated with. They are not in communication with Quill; my agents selected them particularly for this reason. That doesn't mean that it isn't possible that she won't have taken action by the time you arrive."

Ashari goes on, "As for the exit side of the rift, it is in fact monitored as it exits within scan distance of a listening post held jointly by the Kel and the Shuos. Be prepared to do some fast talking. Kesser has assured us that they can be of assistance once you arrive, but there's always the possibility that something will go south."

Re: more about the next mission - paging everyone

[zuhrovet]

Oh, bright stars, of course Ashari is keeping an account. Worse, Sasha has half forgotten that the others will be watching her, which is an unpardonable form of recklessness, with this many Shuos in the room. She smiles her best company smile.

"What do Kesser and Mae expect us to offer them? And how technically inclined is Kesser?"

Re: more about the next mission - paging everyone

[yhlee]

Ashari's eyes light up. "Kesser wants information, rather boringly. Mae wants adventure, revenge, or both. Preferably both. My kind of person."

Also: "Kesser is not a grid diver, more of a strategist, but will have access to grid divers, so that's a consideration."

Re: more about the next mission - paging everyone

[zuhrovet]

"She might be bored by our smooth and sedate operations." Sasha's demure look is shattered by a grin. "What kind of information does Kesser want? About what?"

Re: more about the next mission - paging everyone

[hoardingpearls]

"And revenge on what or whom?" Reshad puts in, with the air of someone taking notes.

[Sorry for my slow responses, will try and post more today!]

Re: more about the next mission - paging everyone

[stormglass]

The mention of revenge likewise hooks Xiulan’s notice. She leans forward slightly. “And about what - how much detail do we have there?”

Beckhart would probably be proud; his part of the Bureau had thrived on weaponizing trauma. How well she knows it.

Re: more about the next mission - paging everyone

[yhlee]

Ashari says, "As of last contact, Kesser wanted more information on alternate government systems in other time streams. They were cagey about any other interests, but perhaps they'll be more forthcoming when you get there."

They add, "As for Mae, there is apparently some sort of recent grudge regarding her last mission for the Shuos. She hinted that she might be willing to 'wreak jungle cat havoc' among more indiscriminate targets for the right incentive."

let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[zuhrovet]

"Fucking hells," Sasha says, conversationally.

She gives Strashik his formal name, for the benefit of the new team members. "Istradez, were you working for your brother in 1211, in your own timeline? Does this situation with the dead cadets match anything in that history?"

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[yhlee]

Istradez stirs. "I was indeed," he says. "I suppose since my loyalties are no longer to the hexarch's office," he says, a touch ironicallyi, "I should mention that the case of the dead cadets was wildly overblown, mainly by the hexarch's own orders. He didn't assassinate them out of fucking whimsy, he had them assassinated because they were at the center of a terrorist plot and it was a threat to public order. And then he decided that it was useful to have people think that he was"--Istradez waves a hand--"'dangerously erratic.'"

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[zuhrovet]

Since when did Mishka have to fake being dangerously erratic? "As a threat to public order, I am tremendously reassured."

Sasha eats another bite of duck. If you ignore the bread's squashiness, it's fine. "How strict is the monitoring, for ships that visit the Citadel of Eyes? Are they going to inspect our living quarters? For that matter, will they let us dock at all, or do we have to rendezvous with Kesser somewhere else?"

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[yhlee]

Istradez can't help grinning at the thought of Mikodez being faced down by this small but fierce "threat to public order."

"You need a security preclearance just to visit," Istradez says. "I assume that's part of the point of going to this Kesser person, and even then I think it's highly unlikely we'll be allowed to dock. They would totally inspect our living quarters if we were, though. More realistically, we'll probably have to rendezvous planetside or on one of the ancillary stations."

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[hoardingpearls]

There's a sense of pressure that has nothing to do with the conversation, and everything to do with its subject. Not only the call of loyalty, but the tangle arising from whether this is even the same Mikodez - very likely he isn't, Reshad reminds herself.

And even if he is, they won't have met; and so he isn't.

Istradez shows the same sardonic face he'd used before, and she wonders again at what she doesn't know. Yet this hardly seems the time to dig in!

"The Citadel's one of the most highly surveilled places in the Hexarchate, in my time," she adds. "An ancillary station or something else nearby would be wise for that alone."

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[zuhrovet]

"So either Kesser has the information that we want, or we find a way to extract data from the Citadel of Eyes." Or they let Strashik and Strashik have a heart-to-heart, but Sasha doesn't know who would come back from such an interview. She likes the odds she can sweet-talk the Citadel grid into spitting out Mishka's calendar rather better.

"What about this Mae? Does she have clearance for the Citadel?"

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[yhlee]

"She hinted that she had 'backdoor clearance,'" Ashari says.

Istradez groans. "That means, 'Yes, but it might be revoked if there's any bureaucratic irregularity whatsoever,'" he interprets. "Still, it might be worth a try. The Citadel's staff are usually so overworked that backdoor clearances get through more than you'd think."

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[stormglass]

Tapping an occasional query into her tablet as she listens, Xiulan smiles a little at hearing of the ‘dangerously erratic’ Shuos hexarch and how he came to be viewed that way.

What Istradez and Reshad say of the Citadel of Eyes is a convincing argument to not head straight there as Plan A. Istradez’s assessment of Mae’s ‘backdoor clearance’ stresses an existing consideration.

“Sounds like it would be best to avoid anything that might raise an alarm at the Citadel if we can. Such as anomalous behavior in front of a rift listening post.

“So what might minimize attention?” Throwing something in the ring herself for consideration, she goes on, “Play that we’re Shuos from their timeline, returning from a need-to-know mission and well, they didn’t need to know. Think we could spin that one well enough to get us out of there?” Xiulan looks across the faces of the various former Shuos around the table.

She glances down at her tablet and then back up. “Are we likely to need to convince the Kel directly as well? Anyone know anything about protocols for joint Shuos-Kel listening posts? Seyli, any ideas?”

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[kese_seyli]

Seyli looks surprised to be called on, and had been quietly listening still half playing with one of the mothlings, or perhaps fidgeting with one of the mothings.

"I would think the Shuos would be a bigger issue at hand. The Kel should be easy if we can invoke formation instinct. Failing that, well..." They look around the table. "You and I can pass for Kel." Their eyes flicker to Jedao and then back to Xiulan. "I would lean on playing up the Shuos angle, that will annoy the Kel I'm sure, and then give them something else to be suspicious about beyond where and when we're from?" It's clear from their tone that Seyli's feeling out of their element.

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[zuhrovet]

Nobody would mistake Sasha for a Kel, and she's going to fucking bite the next person who suggests she would make a good fox, so it's a good thing her preferred identity is Not Appearing In This Picture, right along with the mothlings.

"Sounds reasonable. Ashari, what are the protocols for contacting Kesser and Mae?"

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[yhlee]

Ashari's smile suggests they can intuit Sasha's thoughts. "Code word for Kesser is 'artichoke.' Code word for Mae is 'honey badger.' Any other questions?"

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[zuhrovet]

"May I have the files on our past contact with them, please?"

Sasha could get them without asking, of course. But digging through Ashari's headache of a file system isn't at the top of her priority list.

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[yhlee]

Ashari's smile broadens. "Of course."

[Assume Ashari has passed over accesses and Sasha can dig through them at her leisure.]

Re: let's check with Istradez - paging everyone

[hoardingpearls]

"Your past contacts will help immensely." Knowing what's expected of you is key to building a good pretext, after all. "Do we know what they want of us? Or is that yet to be ascertained?"

"I like the sound of this plan." She grins at Seyli and Xiulan. "Use a good dose of Shuos mystery to distract the Kel; perhaps a dose of authority to distract the Shuos."

A pleasing symmetry, if it can be done.