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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shadowdancer" data-source="post: 1983510" data-attributes="member: 515"> Chapter XXIIIDate: 174-993Location: Fonnein OribitalShortly after 0800 hours, both Sare fan club teams return from their meetings and reboard the Bray Keaven — again, after some negotiations to convince Vasilii that it’s safe to let them enter the berth and the ship. The crew then gathers in the lounge to briefly review the meetings before heading off to stations during the ship's move to the Stork & Sons yard. "Well, Kevon. It took some effort for me to maintain my composure when you agreed to the exchange after Sare No. 2 uttered the incorrect pass phrase. I’m interested in hearing your plan!" Ian remarks while flashing a wide grin. "Plan? I’m making it up as I go along," Kevon admits, clearly lost in thought. Ian bursts out laughing, then says, "Not surprisingly, I didn’t get a warm fuzzy feeling from the guy during your conversation. He obviously doesn’t trust us and I think he is planning to pull something during the transfer. This guy is just a pleasure to work with." "What we should do is contact Ms. Clegg as soon as possible and deliver the second cube to her before we meet up with the correct Sare at 1200," Kevon says. "My thought exactly," Ian replies. "I didn’t want to take the chance that Sare No. 2 would get ugly before we had a chance to prepare for him," Kevon explains regarding his earlier comment. "I seriously doubt that his goons were more than 50 meters away, and that if we didn’t sate him for at least a few hours, we could’ve had a fight on us right there." "That was basically what I was expecting," Ian says. "Good thinking though. Gives us a chance to regroup and maybe figure something out." Turning to Swann, Ian asks, "You think there is a chance you could dig up anything on the computer networks about this Sare No. 2 guy? Didn’t know if it would be possible working from a description or even a photo derived from his comm yesterday if we have it saved? Would be nice to know something about him." Swann says, "It might be better if we go for a drink and ask around. I’ll bet his two goons make him highly visible." "I was hoping we could find out some info before the meeting at 1300 today," Ian says. "Didn’t know if hitting the bars this time of day would be very fruitful. Then again, we ain’t in Kansas anymore, eh!" Swann seems puzzled. "Kansas? Don’t believe I’ve heard of that system. What sector is it in? "Never mind. Why don’t you, Aidan, and I go for a stroll when the others move the ship to the repair berth, and catch up with them there?" "Kansas was a state in old . . . yeah, never mind," Ian says. "Sure, I’ll tag along. Might stop and have a chat with Mr. Dirty Overalls." After a bit more thought Kevon says, "Personally, I think we should do the meet, pick his goons off with a couple of snipers, and work the false Sare for as much information he can give us. Maybe I can get a favor from the local military officials to intervene against him?" "That’s why I was wanting to find some info on him," Ian says. "Hell, he may be on the local authorities’ most–wanted list. Just tell ’em where and what time he’s gonna show and let ’em nab him! Is it ever that easy, though?" "I think that Sare the First would appreciate knowing that there is a Sare the Second running about attempting to hijack his cube using false ident numbers and pass codes," Saro says. "We could let him know about Mr. The Second when we make our delivery at noon. Unless — do we have a means to contact Sare No. 1 before our noon meet? Perhaps he’d like to know as soon as possible about his ‘twin.’ " "Good idea Doc. Worth a try," Ian says. "And since we all have a bad feeling about No, 2, has anyone considered that he may be watching the ship even now," Saro asks. "And that when we leave with a suspiciously large package before noon, he may attempt to try something — unpleasant?" Swann says, "I think we should try to find out who he is and how powerful he is, first. But I agree that we should complete a deal with Ms. Clegg as soon as possible. As long as she can verify her offer is genuine." "Swann, how about if we go out, you can ask around, and I’ll try the electronic side?" Aidan says. "Fortunately, Sare No. 1 seems quite on the up and up. Hmm, I need to get some wrapping paper for the cube for him. Guess we could pick that up while we’re out. "How do we want to handle the transfer to Sare No. 1? Seems that we should have a couple of folks watching from a distance. "By the way, has anyone chatted up that gentleman in the rather hideous coveralls who’s watching us? Might be worthwhile." "So many people to interrogate, so little time," muses Vargas. "Perhaps our friend out there is interested in Sare 2 also? Maybe he's even the local law? Who knows?" Grinning at the comment, Aidan says, "I was curious if our friend in overalls was watching us for the Marquis. Swann and I could swing by on our way to investigate Sare No. 2." "Anyway," the former Scout continues, "as much as tapping him from long range is appealing, we might want to be careful of Two. He may have heftier friends than just the four–armed wonders at his disposal. Kevon, do you really think you can enlist the aid of the locals?" "I don’t know, Mr. Vargas," he says. "It depends entirely on how much pull the Imperial Navy has here. But the worst they can say is no. We’re legally in possession of the cubes, with Mr. Silver’s writ, so there’s nothing we can get in trouble for. "Further, if the authorities — Imperial or otherwise — intervene in this operation, it will hopefully deflect attention from our own involvement in his detainment," Kevon adds. "Of course, he is impersonating someone to illegally gain access to property. Maybe we just make a complaint to the locals and let them go from there?" Martha chimes in. "If you’re looking for a way to move cubes out of the ship, perhaps once we get over to the shipyard, we can hide one or two in spare box containers, and shuffle them outside secretly there." She pauses. "Nah, probably won’t work if they’re watching that place, too. "What if we all took a package out, of the appropriate size and shape, wrapped as a present? And better, what if none of them were the right package? We could arrange for some postal deliveries, and the cubes, to be picked up and sent somewhere after we all leave the ship with the multiple packages, to split up the various forces looking after us. Hell, we can probably even have one of the engineers do it for us, about an hour after we’ve left and everyone’s following us. Risks leaving the cubes alone with someone else, but they wouldn’t suspect that. It’s not something anyone else has suggested, so it might not even be on any of your minds, either." The young engineer pauses. "Or we can go with Plan C, and have the two parties interested in the cubes come pick them up from us at the shipyard, and let them deal with the security hassles of getting the cubes where they need to go. Then we find some creative way to deal with Mr. Sare–Two." "The first thing we need to do is remember to keep this entire thing simple," Kevon warns. "Multiple decoys will only serve to split the party up and weaken us if it comes to a fight with Sare–Two. "I agree that we should first speak to the Mr. Coveralls," he continues. "At the same time, I’ll contact Ms. Clegg about her offer and arrange an 1130 appointment. Once I’m done scheduling the meet with Ms. Clegg, I’ll contact the local authorities about the impersonator. While I’m doing that, Mr. Silver will contact Sare–One about the impersonator, and ask him to be vigilant. Does that sound reasonable?" "Seems reasonable." Aidan heads to a console to contact to Sare No. 1 and warn him.</blockquote>

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