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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1571355" data-attributes="member: 515">The quartet splits into two pairs, each man taking a can of King Sour soda, leaving three in the hotel and two in the Amadel (in the trunk with the regular sample cans). Each pair then exits the room separately and heads down to the lobby. -----Entering the lobby first, Vasilii and Ian note that the attractive blonde is still waiting in the lobby, but now appears to be chatting animatedly to herself (or making a call with an earbud speaker/mic as would be used with a personal communicator). Trying to be as casual as possible, the two walk out the lobby entrance and down the street towards a large enclosed mall about a kilometer away. After a block or so, Ian stops and glances about as if trying to get his bearings. He notices a well–dressed man in a distinctive dark red dust coat that he remembers seeing in the hotel restaurant who also appears to be headed towards the mall but is about half a block behind. Ian and Vasilii now take their time to wander towards the mall. The man also appears to be casually wandering too, sometimes a bit behind, sometimes somewhat close. Eventually, all three arrive at the mall entrance about the same time and enter. Once he enters the mall, the well–dressed man heads off in another direction from Ian and Vasilii. Ian and Vasilii purchase a couple of well–made pottery pieces and an attractive sandstone vase manufactured in KGL in a crafts/arts store. They inquire about shipping and are told that the store would be happy to try and ship the items, but it's not likely to be successful since Bromley is being unfairly paranoid about AHV and refusing all shipments from KGL. The pair pays for the items and look for a shipping service in the mall. They find one and are given the same indignant response to their inquiry about shipping to Bromley. On their way back to the hotel just before lunch, they notice that the well–dressed man appears to be heading back to the hotel at the same time with a shopping bag. The man makes a little bit of small talk about shopping for his wife but otherwise ignores Ian and Vasilii (though he keeps pace with the two). When Ian and Vasilii enter the lobby and head to the elevators, Ian notices the man from last night seated and chatting with a middle–aged brunette near the elevators. -----Swann and Saro head out in a different direction a few minutes after Ian and Vasilii leave. When they enter the lobby, the attractive blonde is back to reading her paper. As they are exiting the lobby, they decide to walk so that they can see the Amadel and the reported Sweet Crust Donuts truck. They find that the truck has disappeared. As they are walking down the street a couple of blocks from the hotel towards a smaller shopping/business area, Swann thinks that he spies the blonde a block behind him. It’s hard to tell though given the breather mask and basic black though stylish clothing designed to keep out dust. Swann and Saro duck into a few stores and purchase some KGL–made clothes, and the possible blonde in black always seems to come out of another store a little ways away a little after they do. The two finally find a shipping store and ask about shipping to Bromley where they are told that Bromley has gone crazy and stopped all shipments because of AHV. Also on his shopping trip, Swann locates a rather attractive, authentic imitation shierrhino hide laptop case that appears to be roomy enough for the laptop and two cans of soda. It also has several exterior pockets and compartments for holding peripherals and accessories, and other internal pockets and compartments for file folders and other business supplies. He also purchases a few waterproof bags, one large enough for the laptop and two large enough for a can of soda. Saro purchases four recordings by local musicians. Rather disheartened, Saro and Swann return to the hotel just before lunch. On the way back, Swann loses track of the possible blonde in black when she ducks into a clothing boutique and stays. The Sweet Crust Donuts truck is nowhere to be seen when the pair passes the Amadel. Taking advantage of the apparent lack of surveillance, Swann quickly hides the two cans that they are carrying underneath the Amadel. One can is inside the right rear panel (behind the rear tire), and the other can is in the same location on the left side. Both are secured with a little bit of insta-glue putty. -----After everyone gets back to the hotel, Vasilii becomes cheerful and animated. "Hey Mark, see if there’s anything on the radio." Once the radio is playing, Vasilii huddles with the others. "I didn’t anticipate obstructionism from Medway, but apparently diplomacy between Medway and KGL has strained to the point of refusing trade. I hope it won’t affect our attempted return across the border. "I seem to be running out of ideas. I have only one more and it's a long shot. If I contact the VP at the plant, I can order a ‘test’ shipment of King Sour brand colas for ‘trade goods.’ I’m thinking I can negotiate for a few tons easily enough. What do you think the odds of KGL allowing the Bray Keaven to come to us for cargo loading? Worked properly, it could be a media event for the trade ministry and the ‘shadows’ would probably choose to stay out of the limelight. "It’s not my first choice, but with the ship and the rest of the crew we stand a better chance of getting some of this back." Swann says, "I like the idea of the Bray Keaven coming to us, if the government will allow it. It would help us maintain our cover, if that is still necessary. But there might be a lot of red tape involved, which would delay things. And I know some of us want to get the sodas back to Medway as soon as possible. "I think we can get at least some of the sodas we have through the border crossing, but it would be better to avoid the necessity of doing that if possible." "My first thought is that bringing the ship in is too complicated a process," Ian says. "But after thinking a bit, if we try and cross the border, they could detain us and no one would know, at least for a while. If we involve the ship and several ‘officials,’ it would be harder for them to ‘cover up’ our detention. "I just don’t like the delay. If we can't get the ship here by tomorrow, I’d be tempted to say we try the border. I’d inform the ship before we tried to cross though, so they would know when to expect us." "Well, you are the security experts," Saro says to Ian and Swann. "If you all think that calling the Bray Keaven over is the best way to go, I’m in. It’s just that I thought calling a starship like that might attract the wrong type of attention or take a lot of time to secure permits and such. Like I said, though, whatever way you all feel is the best to get these cans over the border." Turning to Vasilii, Saro asks, "How fast do you think you can set this up? The more I think about it the more I like the idea of doing it right under their noses, although the extra attention unsettles me a bit. If Ian and Swann agree, let’s commit to this plan and make haste. I do not know why but I’m having visions of KGL Special Forces raiding this place." Swann says, "I like the idea if we can make it happen fast. If it’s going to take a lot of red tape and filling out forms, then we’re probably better off just going for the border on our own, today." Vasilii admits he just doesn’t know how long it will take to arrange to bring in the Bray Keaven. There probably are enough sodas at the plant to make the effort believable without having to manufacture more. However, the big unknown is the amount of red tape given the KGLP war footing, the fact that there is a government conspiracy involved, that Imperial visitors are highly uncommon, and that the foursome may already be under surveillance. All of those factors make any guesses as to the time required pretty problematic. The time required could be a day or a week. Vasilii thinks for a moment. "Even if we try it my way, it will involve a good chunk of our current capital outlay. Since a dton of canned beverages averages about 15k ICr, we’d need to outlay about 150k ICr to buy 10 dtons of sodas. I’m using that as a rough figure of an amount that would make the VP happy and make calling for the ship to pick it up feasible. "Maybe I could negotiate a better price, but that takes time that we probably don’t have. I also don’t think that I can commit that kind of credits without approval from those back on the Bray Keaven." Vasilii’s best estimate is that it will take a few days to arrange the deal. "OK," Saro says. "A few days to arrange you said? I feel that our best shot is to try crossing the border today then. The longer we wait the more chances we allow KGL to figure out what we are doing. It would have been priceless to pull the wool over their eyes and slip it into the Bray Keaven but I feel better about trying to move today. "We have been here for a very small amount of time. I think that works to our advantage. "As usual I’ll go along with whatever the group decides but my vote is to leave today and try to cross the border." Swann says, "I agree with Doc. If we knew we could get the Bray Keaven in here tomorrow, I’d say wait. But if it’s going to take several days to set it up, I say we run for the border today." Vasilii listens to each person. "I honestly can’t give anyone a firm timeline here. It could be as little as one-two days or as long as a week. Since everyone seems to have reservations about staying, I’m willing to go along with getting out of here today or tomorrow. "I like Mr. McConnell’s idea of contacting the ship first before we leave. If we give them enough notice, maybe they could meet us right over the border and save us some time getting the samples back to the proper medical facilities." Swann says, "It also might be a good idea to have them nearby in case we need some extra help getting across the border. Of course, they will have to time their arrival very carefully because I’m sure the KGL air defense system will be watching them closely. Maybe they could first land at the Bromlian military base we hitched a ride to aboard the cargo plane. That would cut down on their response time."</blockquote>

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