High Law and Low Justice, Part 5

[Wilphe]

"However," the Commodore lets that cut through the air and leaves it hanging, "Off the record, we have a proposal to put to you."

There's a pregnant silence.

Massena sounds uneasy, "You want me to do this ma'am?"

"No, let the snotty do it. It's his idea. Come on kid, this is your big scene, make the pitch."

"Thank you Maam," the Ensign, who has hitherto remained silent, stands and addresses the gathering. "We believe, but we cannot know for sure, that Mr Antonescu intended to sell this information to the K'kree gathered at Shirgegge. That this has been thrwated should be a cause for satisfaction, however, I propose that we exploit this opportunity that has fallen into our lap and mount a sting operation."

"The plan is thus: we will alter the information so that it appears correct but in fact is subtly wrong, the crew of the Yyrkris will then sell the disks to the K'kree for whatever they can get. Done well, this will mean that we have severly disrupted their own intelligence assesments of Imperial capabilities."

 

[DrZombie]

"Sell false goods to the horsies? And I guess we are deniable assets when they wanna trample us, right?"

 

[Wilphe]

"They might want to trample you, if they find out. I don't expect they will, I wouldn't suggest this if it meant heading into Centuar space - at least not without a greater incentive for you. But they are guests in Imperial territory, so they have a vested interest in keeping this quiet too. They are a trade mission, not a spying mission at all. No sir. Getting caught trading for classified data would be an embarrassing diplomatic incident at the very least; resorting to violence would be another matter, and if they start shooting at your ship," the Ensign grimaces.

"The Coronel would vaporise Lashing Tail in under an hour. Even if they manage to jump out, it's a long way back to K'kree space. So no, they won't try anything direct. The patriarchs Bodyguards might rough you up a bit if they get hold of you, but cooler heads will prevail and that'll be it. You might have made some interesting enemies, but you stand to make a decent amount of money, and if you play it right, they'll never know they were duped."

 

[DrZombie]

Gwydion looks at the Ruzz'koff, then looks back at the Navy people.

"We might wanna discuss this in private, if you don't mind, sirs. You'll have your answers in a few hours."


Later, when they're more private.

" I've seen what those 'vegetarians' have done to the planets they've pacified. I can honestly say that giving 'em one up their @#&&éç is something that I wouldn't mind at all"

 

[Watus]

"I've never seen K'Kree in person," Tuan says. "I suppose I'd be up for it."

 

[Wilphe]

"That will be fine ladies and gentleman," replies the Commodore, "Ensign hault Propter will be your liason if you accept, and he and Lieutenant de Paolo will undertake to answer any questions you might have and brief you accordingly. We not detain you further, you are clear to depart."

They take thier leave, and you are ready to begin your descent to Shirgegge.

 

[Wilphe]

Shirgegge down port is not the largest or the most modern port you'll ever find, and it certainly lacks any charm whatsoever. Traffic control direct you to what is possibly the grottiest, smelliest berth they can find, apparently out of spite.

About a dozen customs and environmental health personell are waiting for you, apparently Maxine Zdrac wrote out a lot of complaints about you, they inspect the ship to see if said complaints have any validity. Given that they are all groundless they find nothing and leave, almost apologetically.

A vid-message from administrator Gudeli tells you that he and his party have checked into a four star hotel and plan to spend some time ashore seeing the delights of Shirgegge - this shouldn't take long.

Your new cargo and passengers will be ready to come aboard over the next few days, so you've at least that long to get everything done before arousing suspicion by hanging around for no readily apparent reason.

 

[Maerdwyn]

"I've never seen K'Kree in person," Tuan says. "I suppose I'd be up for it."

When they make planetfall, Ktarle finds herself glad to be on solid (even if completely backwater) ground. Being on the "informed" side of this operation has her intrigued as well.

"How shall we proceed? I somehow suspect that an Aslan may not make the most believable K'kree agent - is there a way for us to use that to our advantage somehow?"

 

[Radiating Gnome]

Back!

OOC: Just a quick note to let you know I'm back and I'm trying to get caught up. Sorry to have been away for so long. I'll make an IC reply in another post.

 

[Radiating Gnome]

The ensign's plan (for review):

"Thank you Maam," the Ensign, who has hitherto remained silent, stands and addresses the gathering. "We believe, but we cannot know for sure, that Mr Antonescu intended to sell this information to the K'kree gathered at Shirgegge. That this has been thrwated should be a cause for satisfaction, however, I propose that we exploit this opportunity that has fallen into our lap and mount a sting operation."

"The plan is thus: we will alter the information so that it appears correct but in fact is subtly wrong, the crew of the Yyrkris will then sell the disks to the K'kree for whatever they can get. Done well, this will mean that we have severly disrupted their own intelligence assesments of Imperial capabilities."

Once alone with his companions, Ruzz'koff curses and rubs his temples. "I don't like this at all. There's much more going on here -- there must be -- and I have far too many questions to feel safe taking this mission.

"First of all, I don't understand imperial security's assumptions about Antonescue and the data discs. Their supposition that Antonescue planned to sell the data to the K'Kree is unsupported, as far as I can tell. And not particularly valid. Antonescue could have been the buyer, and making his way back to handlers with the stolen data. He could have been an agent of a sovereign power or a mercenary trying to sell the data to the highest bidder.

"But the most troubling thing is that someone still on board that ship took the disc and discarded it when the dragnet was closing in. That person knows we have the data, and will know that it could easily have been compromised. And, given our obvious willingness to play by the rules and report this obvious espionage to the imperial authorities, if we approach the K'Kree there's a far too good chance that they will be aware of our behavior and very suspicious about anything we try to sell to them.

"So. I'm not going to sign us up for a plan sketched out by a young ensign on his brand new 'The Navy is Wicked Cool' trapper-keeper notebook, especially one that puts our ship, passengers, and our own lives at risk. But I'm not opposed to refining the plan, amongst ourselves.

"I want to do the right thing, and I want to help with the Navy's efforts in this matter, but I am troubled that the Commodore would toss such a poorly-planned scheme at our feet. It is hard not to suspect some deeper motives moving behind the scenes -- what if Antonescue was already in the employ of imperial intelligence, and was trying to sell misinformation to a K'Kree spy -- and his death was either the result of his real motives and affiliation being discovered, or the activity of a third party, neither Antonescue or his K'Kree buyer. Antonescue is dead, and I prefer not to follow his example.

"So, the first question for the group is whether or not we want to be any further part of this particular shell game or not. I'm willing to go either way, but if we do get involved, I think we need to rewrite the scheme significantly, and I think that we keep some details to ourselves for our own protection. What are your opinions?"

-rg