Cornflakes_91 wrote: ↑

Wed Jul 31, 2019 3:17 pm

"Sooo... Men'ko now that you got us in your back room and filled in on the situation... what do you want with us? We're still out for some work to do and arent exactly picky about who we work for..."

To Men'ko:
"Yuuji is correct. We are indeed still looking for work.
Ideally we'd like a job that will pay hi-plat, so that we may complete our glorious mission.
Of course, we're also willing to work some of the other jobs you might have in mind.
Can't really say no to a little extra plat!"

Nilo, way to make this sound way more shady than it is...
"Aye, Maki m-mentioned he was a bad fellow and t-that sound like something we want to know about b-before setting foot there..."

There was a little feeling in the back of Frank's head telling him that Maki just ran out to inform the peacekeepers.
Things went bad enough already, and he started getting even more nervous.

And now everyone stands around the grandpa...and from his reaction, he liked us a lot less now after that first interaction...

Frank looks back to the medkits, trying to figure out if there's different versions available.
If there are, grab a hiltorel-kit that seems better stocked / more general purpose
If not, just grab one random hiltorel-kit ((:V))
On the way back to the counter, throw the shevar an apologetic look
When there's an opportunity (nobody else talking atm or such)
Fish out the plat to pay for the medkit and lay them down on the counter
"I'll have this one, please. I'm sorry for just dropping in on you and maki with that."

Caleb and Saoirse already said what had to be said, so Frank steps back a bit, trying not to make the shopkeep uncomfortable by standing too close

Beta
Noting Kiibar's apprehension, Caleb steps forwards quickly and tries to rectify the situation before it gets out of hand. "We just need directions to another shopkeeper," he reassures him.

"Another shopkeeper?" Kiibar asks, his eyes bulging to examine Caleb's expression closely. He glances between him, Nilo, and Saoirse cautiously. "Which shopkeeper would that be?"

"Hosef'Wa," Caleb answers.

Kiibar looks immensely troubled by this, and shifts his eyes away, changing money for Saoirse's pod and giving it back to her. "Is this why you came here? To ask me this?"

Saoirse takes the pod and places it in a pouch. "Maki m-mentioned he was a bad fellow... and t-that sounds like something we want to know about b-before setting foot there..."

"We were hoping you could tell us more about him," Caleb adds. "We'd be willing to pay if you want, and you can rest assured that no matter what, your name won't come up. We don't want to cause you any trouble." Then, as an afterthought, he holds up the little egg-thing he's picked up. "By the way, what are these things, anyway? Cooking timers?"

The old shevar's face softens somewhat. He leans on tiptoe over his counter, reaching forward, and plucks the egg from Caleb's grasp. Then he grips it firmly and twists it open. The top half of the egg swings back as if on a hinge, and a tiny diorama raises itself from the interior like a pop-up book: a little asteroid with tiny figures (oversized) figures on it and an orbiting spaceship "flying" around it on a tiny rod; all of this rests above a multitude of gears. He flips a little switch on the side, and music begins playing - Fysarian music - as the little figures dance across the surface of the asteroid, and the ship orbits it above.

"A m-music b-box?" one of the inmates asks in surprise. She wasn't expecting this.

"My wife makes them," the old fysar explains fondly, giving a slight nod. "Or she used to... before her hands got the shakes. She was so good at intricately arranging the tiny gears inside. I tried once... it didn't go well. Ah - and it's also a computer, in the top half. She didn't make those, she just installed them. I'm sure it has a timer somewhere, if that's what you need." He flips the switch back and gently closes the egg, and then hands it back to Caleb with a soft sigh.

"Hosef'Wa," Kiibar says, reluctantly returning to the subject. "He's a weaponsmith, and a well-known one at that, with a small army of weapon fanatics at his disposal. He mostly sides with the mercenaries - or, more accurately, he's sided with the Outer World League ever since his daughter... well." His voice trails off. "Anyway, rumor is that even the Fuhodo Mercenaries are afraid of crossing him. He's been around a long, long time, and made more enemies than he has made friends. But none can touch him."

"We're sorry for dropping in on you and Maki with this," Frank apologizes, squeezing between the other inmates to set a hiltorel medkit on the counter. "I'll have this one, please."

The shopkeeper rings up Frank's purchase, followed by the medical kit Caleb picked out. "That's all I'm going to tell you," he says with finality. "You're foolish to seek him out. He despises humans more than most."

---

Gamma
"Yes, it is definitely an idiom, and it would be too much to explain now if you don't want to be late for dinner," Teaw says, with the briefest glare at Glory.

Glory notices and nods. "Yes, definitely an idiom," she agrees. "For a certain group of people. Hmm... Perhaps, do you have work for two mercenaries?"

Vrish raises an eyebrow, and decides Glory's question isn't worth responding to. "Interesting dialect. I will remember to look up the meaning of 'frogs' later. I've not heard the word before.

"Now," he says, changing the subject back, "Why don't we start back at the beginning, before we get too distracted. Could you both give me a synopsis of the events that have transpired since you arrived at Fuhodo Station? That might be a better way to go about this. The more detail, the better." He doesn't seem remotely satisfied with what they've said so far, although if they're trying his patience, he's not showing it. His face is the same mask it has always been.

---

Alpha
"Get what I'm saying?" Men'ko asks, having finished his explanation of Fuhodo-ian politics.

Silence reigns as the three inmates present ponder whether or not to explain that they honestly couldn't give two shits about the station's politics.

Yuuji finally speaks up, just as the silence begins to get a little bit awkward. "So... Men'ko," he says, straightening up in his seat. "Now that you got us in your back room, and filled in on the situation... What do you want with us? We're still out for some work to do, and aren't exactly picky about who we work for."

"Ideally," Brom adds, "We'd like a job that will play hi-plat, so that we may complete our glorious mission." (Men'ko raises an eyebrow at the "glorious mission" comment.) "Of course, we're also willing to work some of the other jobs you might have in mind. Can't really say no to a little extra plat!"

"To business, then," Men'ko nods, grating the stick between his teeth. "All right. I do have two separate jobs for you to choose from - or you could choose them both, if you'd rather.

"The first one will take you a bit into the Exclusion Zone," he begins, straightening up. "See, some clients of mine were setting up a private colony, or research base, over there. Fysar, mainly. They were handling most of it themselves, but they wanted to procure a rugged all-terrain vehicle for exploration and border patrol. Lovely piece of tech, too - artigrav systems, top of the line shielding, built-in 2G-rated jump thrusters, and a light cannon turret... just in case." He pauses, to make sure the inmates are paying attention, and then finishes, "I never heard back from them. Not a single payment. So now I want it back." He snaps his fingers in the direction of one of his bodyguards. "Likari, go fetch my holopad, will you? I think I left it in the kitchens."

Likari nods, and leaves without a word.

"That's in the Nektox system," Men'ko goes on. "You could take that one, or, alternatively, a little 'evacuation mission' for a small Azquad colony down on Opalius, in the Aphenar system. From what they said, they have these big flying bugs that keep breaking into their facilities and venting them. They can't keep up anymore, and they wanted me to find a way to get them offworld in a hurry. Offered a surprisingly good payment for it, too."

Talvieno wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:11 pm

"The first one will take you a bit into the Exclusion Zone," he begins, straightening up. "See, some clients of mine were setting up a private colony, or research base, over there. Fysar, mainly. They were handling most of it themselves, but they wanted to procure a rugged all-terrain vehicle for exploration and border patrol. Lovely piece of tech, too - artigrav systems, top of the line shielding, built-in 2G-rated jump thrusters, and a light cannon turret... just in case." He pauses, to make sure the inmates are paying attention, and then finishes, "I never heard back from them. Not a single payment. So now I want it back." He snaps his fingers in the direction of one of his bodyguards. "Likari, go fetch my holopad, will you? I think I left it in the kitchens."

Likari nods, and leaves without a word.

"That's in the Nektox system," Men'ko goes on. "You could take that one, or, alternatively, a little 'evacuation mission' for a small Azquad colony down on Opalius, in the Aphenar system. From what they said, they have these big flying bugs that keep breaking into their facilities and venting them. They can't keep up anymore, and they wanted me to find a way to get them offworld in a hurry. Offered a surprisingly good payment for it, too."

Contemplate the fact that we seem to be unironically about to do a job for a squid, but decide to grit my teeth and go along with it, seeing that there is no other option and this particular squid seems just a little less bloodthirsty and malicious than normal
Upon hearing the evacuation job, remember the info I found about it earlier and say:

"Huh, I've read somethin' 'bout that, too."

If I remember any pertinent info that the squid hasn't mention yet, relay it myself

"You know, I dun' really like this refu- ugh, refugee's the word, right? - kind o' stuff. Usually, they ain't got shit to pay you, n' if they do n' are willin' to make it worth your time, they're either lyin' through their teeth, or dealin' with somethin' so nasty that you dun' want no hand in it either."

"Now, that first thing you mentioned, 'bout that holo-car or whatever - that sounds interestin' to me. You dun' go out to some haunted shithole with equipment worth a fortune just to do "research" - you're goin' out there 'cause there's some ancient alien tomb filled with crap worth n' even bigger fortune, or one o' them rare, what's them called..."

Snap fingers while thinking

"Anomealous tins? You know what I mean. The way I see it, we go out there, fetch that car, kill whatever horror's skulkin' down there, loot whatever the hell else we find, sell it on the black market n' make some nice dough."

Thinking and nodding, impressed with my own smart plan
Recall if any of the mentions of "disappearing colonies" I found earlier might be related with this

"Just... what if that holo-exploration thing's busted up? You know, eaten by some 500 foot alien monstrosity or some shit?"

While talking, as usual, at no point do I look Menko in the eyes. At the very most, look in his vague direction, but downward.

Fukc. Whatever happened to Hosef'wa's daughter doesn't sound like something that'd endear us to him. Hopefully Daneelo's name will protect us- I expect if we didn't have his name to drop, we'd stand a good chance of never walking out of his shop if we entered. Well, we already stand a good chance of that, but...

FSM, I hate this station.

On the other hand, at least Kiibar was willing to help us...a bit.

I give him a nod. "Thanks for your help, shevar, this'll come in handy."

I give the music box in my hand a look. It was oddly beautiful, despite Kiibar's obvious poverty. For some reason the little thing strikes a bit of a chord in me. Perhaps because Kiibar was one of the few friendly faces we'd seen since stepping off of the shuttle, or perhaps because I hadn't expected such a thing to come out of this shithole of a station...no matter. Almost on an impulse, when he tells Saoirse the price for it, I give him the plat for it as well, barely saying anything as I find it difficult to articulate why I'm purchasing it.

[IC]Vynkor[/IC]

Lisathl wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:11 pm

Could you both give me a synopsis of the events that have transpired since you arrived at Fuhodo Station? That might be a better way to go about this. The more detail, the better.

"Wait, aren't we supposed to be isolated if you want to corroborate our stories? Should one of us step outside?"
I watch Lisathl's eyes carefully, trying to determine the amount of time he's spending looking at me, compared to "Glory."

I turn to the squad at the counter.

“The more time and effort spent on Hosef’wa is less elsewhere. Should we continue looking for him or move on? I feel we won’t be welcomed by any means considering what we learned and already knew.”

I reply "Em, l-let's finish our shopping here and then we can look where we g-go next" while trying (and probably failing) to give Nilo a 'not in front of the shopkeeper' look.

Talvieno wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 01, 2019 3:11 pm

"To business, then," Men'ko nods, grating the stick between his teeth. "All right. I do have two separate jobs for you to choose from - or you could choose them both, if you'd rather.

"The first one will take you a bit into the Exclusion Zone," he begins, straightening up. "See, some clients of mine were setting up a private colony, or research base, over there. Fysar, mainly. They were handling most of it themselves, but they wanted to procure a rugged all-terrain vehicle for exploration and border patrol. Lovely piece of tech, too - artigrav systems, top of the line shielding, built-in 2G-rated jump thrusters, and a light cannon turret... just in case." He pauses, to make sure the inmates are paying attention, and then finishes, "I never heard back from them. Not a single payment. So now I want it back." He snaps his fingers in the direction of one of his bodyguards. "Likari, go fetch my holopad, will you? I think I left it in the kitchens."

Likari nods, and leaves without a word.

"That's in the Nektox system," Men'ko goes on. "You could take that one, or, alternatively, a little 'evacuation mission' for a small Azquad colony down on Opalius, in the Aphenar system. From what they said, they have these big flying bugs that keep breaking into their facilities and venting them. They can't keep up anymore, and they wanted me to find a way to get them offworld in a hurry. Offered a surprisingly good payment for it, too."

"Both of those offers seem to be very respectable!
My team will be happy to help, but I have a few questions regarding the jobs before we accept.
Firstly, what sort of resistance can we expect in the exclusion zone? We need to know what we're up against!
Secondly, how are we to aid the evacuation of the Opalius colony?
And thirdly, what payment can we expect with the two of these? The higher-ups will surely want to know."

TheMainMethod wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 02, 2019 4:32 am

"The more time and effort spent on Hosef’wa is less elsewhere. Should we continue looking for him or move on? I feel we won’t be welcomed by any means considering what we learned and already knew.”

I nod in Saoirse's direction. "We can figure out our next move once we finish up in here."

Beta
"How m-much for one of these?" Saoirse asks, pointing at the egg in Caleb's hand.

"That's 175," Kiibar replies.

Caleb looks the music box over. It's oddly beautiful, despite Kiibar's obvious poverty. It's easy to tell that someone put a lot of love and effort into it; even the blue and silver paint detailing on the outside, handpainting, is done carefully and with a high degree of professionalism. For some reason it strikes a bit of a chord in the soldier, and almost on an impulse, he pulls out 175 plat and hands it to Kiibar silently.

The old fysar nods and accepts the payment graciously. "I do hope you enjoy it," he says courteously.

Nilo, pondering what they've been told, turns to the others at the counter. "The more time and effort spent on Hosef'Wa is less elsewhere. Should we continue looking for him, or move on? I feel we won't be welcomed by any means, considering what we learned, and already knew."

Saoirse, hesitantly, replies, "Em, l-let's finish our shopping here first, and then we can look where we g-go next." She looks acutely constipated as she says this.

---

Gamma
Glory gives Vrish a rather short version of the events that happened the day - with no embellishment or lies - starting after Ishmael was already separated from them. "I really wish I had my hands free, so I could articulate my words with hand motions, but the fro - er, fysar were unwelcoming, unreasonable, and incredibly trigger happy! 'Shoot first, ask questions never' is a terrible policy!"

"Wait," Teaw says, interrupting. "Aren't we supposed to be isolated if you want to corroborate our stories? Should one of us step outside?"

Glory pauses, and then nods in agreement. "She has an excellent point, honestly. You want the prisoners close enough to hear each other's screams but far enough not to hear each other's words. Maybe occasionally close enough to see each other's broken, burned, ruined corpses carried out."

Vrish smiles in wry amusement, raising his eyebrows and straightening out his clothing. "Are you offering me advice on how to interrogate you? How charming you both are." He chuckles pleasantly. "No, no, I do understand what you're saying, but you see, that's not my style. No, you see - I find it more effective to have both parties in the same room, so each can watch as I torture the other. Even if watching their companion suffer isn't enough to break them, the knowledge that it's going to happen to them next typically is."

He pauses here to let it sink in. The silence is uncanny; it is so silent in the little cell that the two inmates can almost hear their own hearts beating.

"Now, ladies... I know for a fact that you didn't board the station alone. There are other Tartarus crew members here. You know it, and I know it. All I want to know is who they are, how they got here, and where they're likely to go. That's all."

---

Alpha
When Buck hears about the evacuation job, he interjects, "Huh, I've read somethin' 'bout that, too." When Men'ko finishes, he says, "Y'know, I You know, I dun' really like this refu- ugh, refugee's the word, right? - kind o' stuff. Usually, they ain't got shit to pay you, n' if they do n' are willin' to make it worth your time, they're either lyin' through their teeth, or dealin' with somethin' so nasty that you dun' want no hand in it either."

"It could be either of those," Men'ko says, nodding. "I'd expect you to be able to handle it if you accepted. Is that the job you're interested in?"

Buck shakes his head. "No, that first thing you mentioned, 'bout that holo-car or whatever - that sounds interestin' to me. You dun' go out to some haunted shithole with equipment worth a fortune just to do "research" - you're goin' out there 'cause there's some ancient alien tomb filled with crap worth n' even bigger fortune, or one o' them rare, what's them called... Anomealous Tins! The way I see it, we go out there, fetch that car, kill whatever horror's skulkin' down there, loot whatever the hell else we find, sell it on the black market n' make some nice dough."

Men'ko is staring in openmouthed confusion at Buck, one eyebrow raised in a very quizzical gesture. "...Huh?" He glances at the bodyguard standing behind his chair, but the fysar just shrugs. Giving up on deciphering Buck's apparent lunacy, he decides not to reply at all.

"I have a few questions before we accept," Brom says, providing a convenient distraction from Buck's ramblings. "Firstly, what sort of resistance can we expect in the exclusion zone? Secondly, how are we to aid in the evacuation of the Opalius colony? And thirdly - what payment can we expect?"

Likari shows up at that moment, panting and flustered, with a PDA in hand. "Your holopad, Mr. Mokila," he says, handing the device over. "Apologies - it wasn't, uh - it wasn't where you said it would be."

Disinterested, Men'ko takes it and flips it on. "Thanks, Likari. Where was it?"

"On one of the front tables in the restaurant."

Simulataneously, Men'ko's head and those of his other three bodyguards whip around to face Likari. "...The restaurant?" Men'ko asks, his voice low.

Seeming anxious, Likari nods mutely.

Men'ko frowns and says something in Fysarian to two of his other guards, and they quickly leave the room. Men'ko turns back with a smile, tapping at his PDA. "Sorry for the interruption, gentlemen. As to payment, I can offer you... let's see... 400 hype for the evacuation. For the recovery of my rover... 448 hype.

"So. As to the details: For the rover, there are no 'ancient alien tombs'." This is directed specifically at Buck. "It's an untouched, uninhabited world. No dangerous fauna, either. I do, however, want you to teach them a lesson they won't soon forget: 'You don't steal from Mokila.' You know... rough them up a bit. Make them regret it, but don't destroy them outright. It's all legal - it was part of the contract when they signed it." He gives an amused, in-joke sort of smile. "As to the evacuation, all they want you to do is protect the landing pad and the path there from the base. You should be able to handle it - after all, you escaped the surface of Nanyej, so the Nemesis clearly has some ability to handle high-G environments. You actually might be better suited for it than anyone else I have on hand."