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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1571360" data-attributes="member: 515">The holiday quartet decides that a speedier departure from Kingan is wiser than a delayed departure. The group hurriedly pools information that they remember about the border crossing. Ian seems to recall that the one person who left King George’s Land while they were at the border station received a minimal documents inspection, and their car was not searched. The border crossing is about an hour from the hotel and 45 minutes from the outskirts of Kingan. The area near the border is mostly agricultural in nature with a collection of small and medium sized farms with a number of small dirt roads branching off from the main highway and heading out of sight. The border itself appears to be comprised of two parallel metal link fences about 20 meters apart (one on each side of the border), at least within eyesight of the border crossing. Ian does remember noting paramilitary border guards in the area of the border crossing itself and a couple of lightly armed hovercraft parked in the guard station area. Ian’s suggestion that the crew contact the Bray Keaven sounds like a good one to the others. Swann suggests that Vasilii should be the one to contact the Bray Keaven while the others prepare to depart. "In case anyone monitors the transmission, it will be more in keeping with our cover. Just don’t give away too much, in case the transmission is being monitored." -----Vasilii sits down at the comm panel and opens a long-distance channel to the Bray Keaven. He sits stiffly in front of the video unit and talks in a modulated tone. Marcus answers his call. "Bray Keaven, Captain Argent speaking." "Ah, Captain. Trader Vasilii Matahara here. I wanted to let you know that we’ve concluded our trade mission here and will be looking to leave as soon as possible. I have instructed my personnel to be ready for departure as soon as possible. "I have a request. En route here, we stopped at a little town called Neilsen, I believe. I saw some very fine local art there and am looking to purchase it. Unfortunately, our vehicle will be quite loaded with the items we’ve acquired here. Would it be possible for you to meet us for pickup? I would be most happy to compensate you for your trouble." "I think we can arrange the proper compensation, Mr. Matahara," Marcus says, playing along with Vasilii’s formality. "We can negotiate arrangements when we arrive. When would you like us to be there?" "We’ll be leaving here in about an hour, which will put us at the border an hour and a half after that." Vasilii pauses for a second, fixing Marcus with an intent gaze. "I hope you understand the gravity of our trade mission here. It is imperative that my mission gets our samples back. Time is of the essence, so please be on time." Vasilii leans back, giving Marcus a languid wave. "My corporation is most interested in off-world trade. These trade samples represent millions of Imperial credits and could be the key to establishing a prosperous trade route with this world. Please forgive me if I seem a little intent on the subject, I’m just eager to get headed back home. As your Mr. Darishun would say, ‘Uuaariirihirare ira raa rkher aauun deuikeshiairaa.’ ("Meet us at border, be prepared" in Vilani). "Well, if there isn’t anything else I’ll be signing off. I look forward to seeing you again, Captain. I’m sure my assistant will be pleased to be back onboard, he says your cargo area makes a wonderful acoustic chamber." "I’m sure he does," Marcus says, tempted to look for his earmuffs on the trip out. "I’ll file my flight plan and be out there as soon as possible. Bray Keaven out." When the signal goes dead, Argent turns to the rest of the crew. "Suit up, people. We need to meet Vasilii at the border in an hour. Martha, get your babies fired up." With that, Marcus heads for the bridge. -----Vasilii disconnects the comm line and leans back, a small sigh escaping him as he realizes that they’re committed now. "Mr. Middleston, if you would be so kind as to start the packing. I think we can be out of here within the hour." "That would be prudent," Saro says. "I’ll hurry." -----While Vasilii is contacting the Bray Keaven, Ian heads downstairs for a little walk around the hotel. The man that he saw the previous night is now sitting by himself and using a laptop of some sort. The middle–aged brunette that he was chatting with earlier is nowhere in sight. A walk around the grounds of the hotel reveals nothing of note except that there appears to be a mid–sized non–descript neutral–color car (favored by surveillance teams everywhere) with a man in his 30s in the driver’s seat parked with a clear line of sight to the hotel lobby entrance and the Amadel. The location and the general scene just screams surveillance to Ian’s counter–intelligence–trained eye. On the other hand, the donut truck is nowhere in sight. -----Saro packs as fast as he can, placing two cans of soda inside his baliset. Swann suggests to the Doctor that he cushion each can of soda by using a pair of socks — can inside one sock, then both placed inside another sock — before placing it inside his musical instrument. Swann takes two cans of soda and places each inside a small plastic bag. He also puts a small amount of lukewarm tap water into each bag — from 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup. Then he sucks out as much excess air from each bag as he can before sealing it. He also places the laptop inside a large plastic bag and sucks out as much excess air as he can. The cans of soda go into the new carry bag first, lying flat in the bottom of the storage compartment, and placed end to end. Then Swann fills out the space around the cans and on top with some socks to give some cushion between the cans and the laptop. He places a black T-shirt over the cans and socks, tucking in the edges all around, making the bottom as flat and even as possible. Then he places the laptop into the storage compartment. Lastly, he places any other computer accessories and peripherals he has into the other storage compartments and pockets in the carry bag. What Swann is trying to accomplish here is two-fold. First, he’s hoping to create a secure, hidden "nest" for the soda cans that upon a cursory inspection will just look like the bottom of the storage compartment. Secondly, if a search does turn up the cans, he is laying the groundwork for an attempt to bluff the guards. He just hopes none of them are very knowledgeable about laptop computers. Swann asks the others for their advice on something. "When we get to the border, if we have to leave the car as we did before, should I take the laptop and carrying case inside the guard station with us, or leave it in the car? Taking it in might prompt a search of the bag that it might not receive in the car. But taking it in keeps it in my control, and might seem more ‘in character’ for a member of a business mission." The consensus opinion is to leave it in the car. Vasilii does a quick check of the giveaway cans. Two are inside a case of sodas in the Amadel. Two are hidden in the vehicles’ wheelwells. Two are inside Saro’s baliset, and two more are in Swann’s computer case. Vasilii takes a pill bottle from his toiletry kit and shakes out all the pills. He then fills it with contents from a can of King Sour. He repacks the toiletry kit in his luggage. Vasilii takes the last can and packs it in the sandstone vase he bought. He takes a lot of care to pad it so it doesn’t destroy the vase and repacks the vase with "fragile" markings. Ian will pour some of the cola from the opened can into an empty screw–top cola bottle (after rinsing it out) and reseal it. He will leave it in the seat of the car next to him. Vasilii collects his things and helps the others carry the items down to the Amadel. In the packing of the vehicle, Vasilii manages to put the long–range communicator in the passenger section. Also, he conceals a snub pistol and flak jacket there as well, in addition to the body pistol tucked inside the waist of his pants. The holiday group hurriedly packs up their belongings and prepares to exit the hotel. Saro, Swann, and Ian pack the Amadel while Vasilii checks out of the hotel. The bill for three nights is 3000 KGLP. Saro has his auto pistol in a shoulder holster beneath his suit coat. Ian, also sitting in the front seat, keeps his gauss pistol and spare clips within reach. Swann keeps his body pistol and auto pistol with him in the back seat, and places his flak vest and submachine gun beneath the seat in front of him. After checking out, Vasilii rejoins the rest of the group, and they drive off towards the border. The car that Ian thinks is a surveillance unit doesn't follow them, but Swann quickly picks up a non–descript neutral–colored hover car that seems to be trailing them. Just for fun, Swann tells Saro to take an exit and stop at a convenience store where he goes inside to grab a couple of snacks. While they are stopped, Ian grabs his combat suit out of the trunk and climbs back in the car. He dons the suit as best as he is able in the confines of the car. The hover car keeps on going, but shortly thereafter the ground car that Ian spotted earlier pulls into a fast food place across the street from the convenience store. Inside are the driver that Ian spotted earlier and the man that Ian saw in the hotel lobby on the laptop. Saro returns the Amadel to the freeway, and shortly afterward, Swann spies the original hover car following them a discrete distance behind. As the city fades behind the Amadel, the ground car now joins the hover car, and the ground car appears to be accelerating to close the distance to the Amadel and come along side. The highway here has two lanes in either direction with a wide dirt median separating the sets of lanes. There are dirt roads that branch off and head to the various farms/fields that line the highway. Swann observes the ground car speeding up to come along side the Amadel. "Looks like our ‘friends’ don’t want us to leave so soon," he says as he starts to pull out his flak jacket. "I wonder if we can get the Bray Keaven to land on the road ahead, and we just drive up the cargo ramp?" Vasilii turns and looks at the ground car, his eyes widening a little. "Oh, you’d think we were in a race or something." Vasilii wrestles his flak jacket on, making sure it's securely fastened. After that, he pulls the long-range communicator over next to him.</blockquote>

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