Babylon 5: Outrageous Fortune

[Vertexx69]

The Centari's eyes narrow ever so slightly for the shortest of moments. "Now you and I both know that there were never any exlcuive contracts signed you old squid. I was simply in the right place at the right time." Croft casually uses subltely dismissive gestures as he speaks. "Who could have known studying stellar drift patterns of ancient racial migrations could have saved a weeks travel time? And shouldn't that tip about that garba...er salvage location I waved you, have more than made up for any misunderstandings?"

Croft plops down into a chair, very much like a hurt child crossing his arms. He looks around at the floor for a few moments before looking back at the Purple pudding pop that is slobbering down the front of himself. "We all have to make a living out here Quaisak. And this job isn't house business anyway, you know that the really old stuff is what I'm after now, so how about giving us a break? You know it could take us a really long time to track down. And that whole time I won't be around the trading colonies at all. Someone could make quite the tidy profit during my 'studies', if we had right bit of info to point us in a direction. What do you say my old friend?" He flashes his pointed teeth in his smile as he says 'friend', but it couldn't be any kind of threat could it? He leans forward as the tentacles of the Pac'mara slither around above the semi-liqiud meal. "But if your not interested, I'm sure Sull'quon can find me the same info we need, and would be happy to take any opportunity to establish a couple of new routes..."

 

[Leif]

Kirth Warren

"Eloquently put, Mr Warren" says Vector, smiling despite himself.

"Eloquence is one of my middle names, Sir!"

 

[Shayuri]

Ashley shakes her head slightly, without looking at Vector.

"That won't be necessary," she murmurs. "We're not going to open any doors that way. Let us talk to him and see what we can do."

 

[Dr Simon]

"Well now, business is business" says Quaisak. "I know the thing you're looking for, and I know that plenty of people find it very valuable." It reaches into its robes and pulls out a datacrystal. "This'll give you details on where the one I last sold was found, up on the planet's surface. If you go up there, you'll need a guide as well. Since it's you, Mr. Callo, I'd be happy to throw in an introduction to one of the best crawler operators in Tribon City, all at no extra cost."

[sblock=OOC]
Raising 1500 credits can be done through some contacts, with an Influence check DC 12 (Influence is rolled 2d6 + Influence), assuming nobody has that in ready money.
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[Dr Simon]

See this thread

 

[Dr Simon]

OOC: So, I'm still around at the moment. Don't want to get this thing too bogged down in the negotiations so I'm moving it forwards a bit.

IC:

Dealing is concluded with Quaisak, and the bloated pak'ma'ra hands over a data crystal giving details of the place on the surface of Lison where several of the Shadow "bugs" have been found. Getting out onto the hostile surface of Lison, however, requires a crawler, and someone to drive it. Through Quaisak and Vector's contacts you arrange to meet with one.

And so the group arrives in Garage 2-Gamma, situated near one of the large airlock exits at the very top of Tribon City. The crawler is a large truck on heavy-duty balloon tyres, and the driver a blond male human in overalls who is performing some last-minute checks as you arrive. He turns round, wiping his hands on an oily rag. A name badge on his overalls declares him to be "Sorensen", but he holds out a hand and introduces himself as "Lars. Pleased to meet you." He glances around the hangar. "Your friends are already here," he adds.

The obvious question is "What friends?", and the answer appears around the side of the crawler - a slender Asian woman and a burly man with cybernetics, both dressed in similar overalls to Lars Sorensen. The woman seems familiar, then you realise. The LNN newsreader...

"Kathy Sakura, and this is my all-seeing eye, Max," she says. "I got your message. So what's the big story?"

[sblock=OOC]
Don't worry if you are confused about sending Kathy Sakura a message. You should be
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[Leif]

Kirth Warren

Seeing what he thinks may be a kindred spirit, Kirth pulls Lars Sorensen aside for a bit of a chat. Kirth engages him in a discussion of the technical specifications of the protective devices needed to survive outside on Lison, and then moves on to other things. "So what's it like working for this Ice Princess? Is she as bad as mine, I wonder?" says Kirth, indicating Ashley.

 

[Shayuri]

Ashley gives Kathy Sakura a raised eyebrow, then shakes her head.

"I think you've been mislead, Ms Sakura," she says. "I never sent you a message, and there's no story here that I know of. All pretty much business as usal."

She shrugs and spreads her hands in a 'whaddya gonna do?' gesture.

(OOC - I'd like to do a 'surface' scan of Kathy as she responds, to see if it gives any clues or hints about what she's after, and what sent her here.)

 

[Vertexx69]

Croft comes strolling along with his newly acquired space suit neatly folded and strapped to a little wheeled trolley he rolls behind him. There isn't the slightest hint of confusion as the slender woman starts speaking to the group as if they knew what she was talking about. He leans in whispering to Ashley. "Did you let me drunk com her last night and I just don't remember it? I would think even bombed I wouldn't have forgotten her."

 

[Dr Simon]

Sorensen to Kirth:

"Up there, its terrible and beautiful. You've got a temperature that fluctuates between 40 to 60 Kelvin and the surface is mostly rock and dirty ice, but you get to see gases boiling off out of the ice and raining back down again as they turn liquid and that, my friend, is like nothing else."

He looks over at the two women talking and chuckles at Kirth's comment on "Ice Maidens." "I wouldn't know, she's only just turned up. Paying passenger like you lot, but how often do you get to meet the woman on the news?"

Sakura to Ashley:

Sakura glances at a datapad and frowns.

"Oh. Well, I guess that's the thing with anonymous tip-offs; you don't know who they come from. " She gives a humourless smile and reads from the screen. "'Have information regarding disappearance of oxygen runners. Meet at garage 2-Gamma, 1800 EST. AL.'. I thought one of you might be Al, or A.L., or whomever. Still, do you know anything about missing oxygen runners?"

[sblock=Ashley]
It takes a moment for Ashley to get a handle on Sakura's mind, but then her thoughts come through loud and clear. Confusion, annoyance. She seems genuinely confused, suspects Ashley might be lying, might have sent the message and is now having second thoughts, wondering who else might have sent it and why, and also a sense of eagerness in hunting a story.
[/sblock]