High Law and Low Justice, Part 5

[Wilphe]

The police ask everyone present if anyone knew the fugitive, no one admits to doing so and as a result they let everyone go about their business. Of all the passengers from the bus very few are heading into the starport - mostly using here as a connection.
Getting back across the XT Line takes half and hour of queuing, sweeps and ID checks but passes without interest and you are soon back in safely Imperial Territory.

Eleanor Carnot looks at you in a satisfied way like the cat that got the cream, "I want a nice bloody steak; and if I can find a restaurant that serves horse meat I shall be in heaven."

 

[DrZombie]

"I second that motion, yer honour." Gwydion says.

"Let me get back to my ship, wash the stink of horsedung out of my hair and change into the cured hide of some dead animals. I'll book us a place in a restaurant. Call me at the ship in, say, an hour?"

He says his goodbyes and returns to the ship. He showers and tosses his new clothes in the garbage bin, changing into his comfortable, usual outfit.

He makes a short trip to the bank, transferring his credits to the ship, and then uses a public phone to contact Lt De Paulo, asking him to call back using a secure line. Next he tries to book a table at a fancy restaurant where they serve, if at all possible, horse steaks.

He then returns to the ship, sits in the lounge and pours himself a strong drink, satisfied with the universe in general and himself in particular.

(cue for saanath to enter )

 

[doghead]

Saanath wonders into the lounge from the direction of the bridge. He has a databook in hand, and takes a moment to notice G. is there. A moment later Saanath notices the satisfied expression on his companion's face.

Saanath pauses for a moment, tablet momentarily forgotten.

"Somehow I get the feeling that your day has been more interesting than mine. Care to share, or are you going to make me beat it out of you over a cup of mocha."

 

[DrZombie]

"Some painkillers would be better then mocha" smiles Gwydion, lifting his shirt to show a large purple bruise on his ribcage. "Police brutality, or secret service, or whatever. Not nice people. But not very competent, so it evens out in the end."
"I decided to follow up on the Lt's little cloak and dagger plan. Went rather smooth untill a swat-team busted in during negotiations. It added a little more realism to the whole thing, and luckily the money was allready transferred, so, all in all, things went nicely."

He tries a lazy, confident stretch but abruptly stops and rubs his ribs. "Ouch"

He wanders over, scratches his pet behind the ears and looks over saanath's shoulder at the datapad.
"So, you doin' anything interesting, or do you want to go out for a few beers?"

 

[doghead]

Saanath proceeds to make a couple of cups of mocha in silence. From the cupboard he puts an old bottle of 'pickling vinegar' and pour a generous shot of the amber liquid within into each cup. Returning to the table, he places one cup before G. before pulling out a chair, dropping into it and kicking his booted feet up onto the corner of the table. Saanath takes a deep pull of mocha, screws up his face, then sighs deeply.

"Well you obviously think you got away clean. Otherwise you would be shoving me back to the bridge and telling me to kick her in the guts and hot burn to the nearest jump point."

Saanath falls silent again for a moment, giving G. a chance to add anything should he feel like it. Eventually Saanath adds, "It was your play. So you can do what you like with any money you made. But if there is any comeback, more than likely it will come back and bite us all. Perhaps you should pitch something into the ship's kitty. There is plenty we could do with it.

"You can tell Ruzz'koff you won it gambling. I doubt that he really wants to know the truth.

"Anyway, I need to get these astro-nav figures to Trelene to check. Then I'll be more than happy to get off this ship for a drink."

With that Saanath swings his legs off the table and moves to leave. But at the door, he pauses. "Besides, I have a idea that I want to run past you." A mischievous grin plays across his face and then the young man is gone.

 

[Wilphe]

The rest of the crew are off the ship on business around and about, and the new cargo and passengers aren't slated to arrive until the day after - so the place is essentially deserted.

<bzz> <bzz> <bzz> "Gwydion?" {After her verifies it is you} "It's de Paolo, I hope everything went well? We understand there was a bit of a barney."


There are at least two places that can relied upon to sell horsemeat, one is Brzk's, an interstellar chain of restaurants specialising in the Vargr equivalent of sashimi. Fairly pricey, but generally very good. Gets a lot of Aslan and Vargr custom as you might expect. The other is The Orangery, which serves more traditional Solomani cuisine with a strong Terran and European bias - very upmarket, in so far as the menu is in French (which is almost the only place you see it thesedays) and it will be filled with corporate execs.

 

[doghead]

Saanath opts for The Orangery somewhat surprisingly, given his fondness for Alsan food. Saanath can't really image the corporate exec's having much interest in what he has to say. But at Brzk's it could be different a different story. Once settled at their table he launches into his idea fairly promptly. Hopefully they have managed to score a nice discrete table. Although, give the nature of the cliental, talking business here is probably the norm, so Saanath won't make an issue of it.

"You remember the incident at Duhk? [1] I can't shake the feeling that Treth wasn't just ... what happened wasn'y just a simple overreaction by a rookie cop. There was something hard about that woman. From what we found out, Blue Mer seems to be tied in somehow. If there are answers, odds are they are there.

"Maybe," Saanath adds after a moment's hesitation. Saanath shakes his head to clear the doubts, and plows on.

"There are two ways we can do it. Go in, stay under the radar, nose around a little and see what we can find. But if Treth was disposed in some dubious play, then whoever runs the place now will probably not be so keen to talk about it. Its a big planet. It might be hard to get any traction.

"The alternative is to go in and shake the tree a little and see what falls out. I could set up a holding corporation for the ship; we go in as Valkris, registered vessel of the Trethxxxxx [2] Trading Corporation. That name should get some attention.

"Of course, what falls out of the tree might be quite heavy."

Saanath falls silent for a moment. It doesn't sound so clever when spoken out aloud. Still, Saanath holds his tongue for the moment. Gwydion, Saanath suspects, has more experience of this sort of thing than most. Saanath will let make up his own mind.

[sblock=ooc][1] I assume that Gwydion. would know about this through discussions on the ship since he arrived. It was one of the reasons they took the Blue Mer consignment, iirc.

[2] Can't remember Treth's full name.[/sblock]

 

[DrZombie]

<bzz> <bzz> <bzz> "Gwydion?" {After her verifies it is you} "It's de Paolo, I hope everything went well? We understand there was a bit of a barney."

"Eleanor Carnot. Is she one of yours? Because if she isn't she's someone elses. Just happened to be there, and as eager an me to be inconspicuous and part of a couple leaving town instead of a single person. The authorities were waiting for someone at the ET-line, and she helped him escape. In the off-chance you haven't seen the footage yet, it was 10 min after the arrival of carrier 12-36B, about 16.57hrs.
She'll be having dinner with me at The Orangery in about an hour, if you want to 'nap her.

The two agents following me at the K'Kree camp were dressed as tourists. They weren't very skilled and looked like (gives description).
Then there was a bungling K'Kree slave, but you wouldn't need to worry 'bout him.

So, how's the eye of that navy officer I smashed?"


********


The restaurant, 'bout twenty minutes before Eleanor is supposed to arrive.

"Sure, Saanath. There is a lot of fishy stuff going on, and you guys, and now me as well, are smack in the middle of it. Reminds me of my old scouting days" Gwydion says with a grin.
"Anyway, 'bout your holding. I understand you guys have all bought part of the ship. I can add 200K, which should buy me a part of the holding, and which gives us a bit of cashflow for repairs, maybe an upgrade in weaponry or sensors, whatever the rest of the crew decides, and we'll have the costs of repairs and such. And then I'll drop 50K in the crew funds for some speculative trading if we can't fill up the entire cargo hold."

"But going in under an Aslan Clan name? The Aslan Clans that are at war with the 'Trel Clan will try to screw us over, and the Clans that are united with the 'Trel will try to kill us as soon as they realise we're just assuming the name without permission from the 'Trel. Which means that, after a while, ALL Aslan will want to chew us up. We'll have to fight one duel after another, and I'm not all spit and vinigar in a fight anymore. Especially if you get one of these hardcore conservatives who won't even allow a sword, just these clawknives, I don't know if I can pull that off again." Gwydion says, rubbing one of his many scars subconciously.
He chuckles. "And that is before they realise we're doing this for an Aslan that was dishonoured and landless. That's when they'll get REALLY pissed off."

****

"Remember Eleanor, the trader that was our passenger on the last trip? She 'happened' te be at the K'Kree camp at the same time as I, was about as eager to get away unnoticed, and helped a man escape from the police at the ET-Line here at the starport. She'll be joining us for dinner in a few minutes. Horse steaks." He says with a big grin.
"I don't trust her a bit, but she's young, pretty and intelligent, so she should make for some nice company."

 

[doghead]

Saanath's face grows increasingly long as he listens to Gwydion's assessment of his idea. At Gwydion's description of it all spiralling down to hell in a hand basket, Saanath perks up slightly.

"Sounds just like my childhood," he retorts with a grin.

But it quickly fades away. With a slow sigh, Saanath settles back into his chair and scrubs his hands through his hair.

"OK. So how do you suggest we play it?"

 

[Wilphe]

Gwydion:
"That's disturbing. You know who you are dealing with don't you? Gunny* with two MCUF **. Recognise the other one? The horsies don't like their covert meetings turning into rumbles and the locals don't like the greatest thing to happen on little ball of mud since the the Old Emperor died going like anything other than clockwork. Glad to see you got out of it unscathed though.
Thanks for the tip, we'll keep an eye on her."

OOC:
*Gunnery Sergeant (Marines)
**Meritorius Conduct Under Fire

Treth's full name: