The Roads We Take

[That_One_Guy]

He gritted his teeth and decided to risk it. He began to move closer to the conversation, trying to time his steps with the conversation so that they didn't hear his movements. Hopefully he can make out the voices and possibly learn who's paying them or even negotiating with him.

[lilbooth]

Riya lifted up her revolver with her mind and floated it into the center of the large room. She angled the gun downward and fired off the cylinder. She wasn't particularly aiming at anything. She just wanted everything to notice at the same time, and a loud gunshot did the job pretty well. Holding the gun at her person was too risky though. With the gun several meters away from herself she would get a decent head start on her run. And that is what she did, run. She was shouting and sprinting and stopping with all her might. She kept her eyes ahead of her making sure to shift forward whenever the creatures got close. She kept her blade drawn, ready to take a slice at anything that wouldn't slow her down.

[TheUnknown]

Friday

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"Thanks" she says climbing back up under the panel. "Just a few more things to fix and it should be good" she says optimistically

Garian

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you manage to draw closer to them and pickup in the conversation. "Gentlemen everything is going according to plan. With your forces undermining the populous they will be blind to our reemergence. Though the historians may have routed our Ralerin allies we shall rise again and regain their support" the voice from the communicator calls out. It doesn't sound familiar to you, but the accent sounds like it is from the planet.

Riya

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the revolver sounds off six times and for six times the creatures all look about until finally seeing you. They start towards you, but you manage to keep a good pace ahead of them. You make your way back to the main corridor though may have some difficulty navigating the maze of piling corpses that liter the floor til you reach the safe zone

[That_One_Guy]

Hearing the conversation and its finality was all Garian needed as he stood up to his full height and looked down at those sitting before using his two swords to decapitated the two closest to him and then jumped onto the table to get at the others. He wanted at least one alive for interrogation.

[ZeroParadox]

"Ya know, this gets me thinking that perhaps I should see about hiring on an extra hand. Someone with your skillset could prove to be a lifesaver. Or better yet I can get a maintenance droid and just establish a good rapport with a trustworthy mechanic for the more involved tasks to keep a ship like this up and running.", the smuggler muses out loud, "I enjoy flying solo and another person always on board could lead to unnecessary conflicts or drama. What do you think?"

[devilbird]

"Excuse me," Tik-Tik asked, trying to get the attention of the young woman, "Miss, could I have a word with you?"

She made her way to the one with the geography department name tag and addressed her, "Miss, I'm looking for someone and I believe they are in the mountains to the north. I was wondering if you could tell me more about the mountains, maybe give a bug an idea of someone could start looking?"

[TheUnknown]

Tik-Tik

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She looks over at you a little shocked at first, but quickly recovers. "I haven't seen one of your kind in some kind so forgive me" she adjust her glasses. "What are you looking to know about our northern most region?" she ask.

Friday

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"Well imagine you're eager to get me off your hands when you have the chance so it's your call" Katherina says checking more wiring under the console and enjoying the now cooler interior. "You know I'm not even the most skilled out of the inner circle. My cousin Sophia is the actual scientist and always tinkering around with stuff".

Garian

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(15) You decapitate the two with ease and lunge after the rest. Most of them are shocked and dumbstruck by your intrusion and you meet little resistance. There is only one left an older man with an arm in a cast. Hardly seems like a threat to you. He sits there cowering in his seat at the other end of the table. "Please don't kill me!" he begs.

[devilbird]

"Well as I said, I'm looking for someone and I believe they are in the mountains to the north. I hoping you could tell me about ideal places to set up shelter if one got lost up there. Or maybe cave systems that run through the mountain? Anything that you could tell us to help us find who we're looking for," she said.

[ZeroParadox]

"Stop being such a fatalist. I'm not eager to get rid of you, I'm doing a job. If I'm eager for anything it would be to get you to your destination safely, alright?", Friday explains sternly, then in a lighter tone of voice adds, "But I would be interested in hearing about your cousin. What's her specialty? Where do her loyalties lie and such?"

[That_One_Guy]

Garian cleaned his blades and looked at the man who was begging him. "I'm not going to kill you. You're going to tell me everything you know, from who you were talking to the Ralerins to your goals here. And then I'm going to have you order your mercs to stand down." He told him. "Is that clear? So lets begin. Who were you talking to and what are the Ralerins?"

[TheUnknown]

Tik-Tik

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"the many mountain valleys make the area idle for hiding though if someone really wanted to go unfounded I suspect that they might try for one of the abandoned shelters built into the mountains. Great metal tombs of days long past. Wouldn't be hard to find any if your robot has the right calibration for his sensors"

Friday

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"Hey after traveling thousands of miles through space where almost everyone and everything is looking for me my nerves are still a bit on edge" she says apologetically before taking a deep breath. "My cousin Sophia use to be the head of the Ralerin tech department. She made many wonders and upgrades to the forces for the emperor. She also spearheaded the reverse engineering efforts for star voyager technology though it never really took off. I heard that she had tried to defect as well though I have no idea if she escaped, was captured, or even killed. Maybe one day I'll find her" Katherina says sadly. "I finished the wiring repairs. I'm feeling a bit numb now so I'm gonna take that shower now. Can watch or join I really don't care" she says apathetically before slowly making her way off the bridge and towards the shower.

Garian

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"I'll talk I'll talk! The plan is.." Before he can continue you hear a beeping from the circular communicator on the desk and a few moments later it starts to spray out a thick gas. The one man starts to choke and it draws closer to you. Doesn't seem like a good idea to stick around and find out what it does.

[ZeroParadox]

"No, you go ahead and I'll be keeping an eye out for trouble.", Friday will tell her as she leaves. Once she's gone he'll sit down and unlock the ship's systems before beginning a search for a Ralerin female named Sophia who has attempted to defect. Underground contacts and networks are better sources for these sorts of things.

[TheUnknown]

Searching through the logs you find old reports detailing the event and that she was intercepted and incapacitated before she could be received. Though there are a few documents on the matter from Restricted Section that are marked as classified and beyond your viewing capacity.

[ZeroParadox]

"Restricted Section? Curiouser and curiouser. Let's see where this rabbit hole goes.", Friday will mutter to himself. Needing help with this he'll search for a hacker who'd be willing to crack into these files. Or better yet, someone who already has access and would be willing to share the files for a price.

[TheUnknown]

The first person that comes to mind who'd have access is Lorraine. You recall her boasting about the promotion one night and about all the data she had access to. She would be a possible source though no telling if she would be willing to help you out or help you out for free.

[ZeroParadox]

"At least she's someone I know. Better than nothing.", Friday says before ringing Lorraine up on the comm again. Once connected and secured he'll run down the situation. Basically, Sophia is the VIP's cousin who also tried to defect and the only leads available to find her are in the restricted files.

[TheUnknown]

You raise her on the comms and find the bridge line is busy. You check the personal comm line she gave you and get a response in a few moments. "Well twice in one day. To what do I owe the pleasure this time?" Lorraine ask. You see her combing her hair and sitting around in casual fatigues

[ZeroParadox]

"Well, for one I've found myself needing some assistance. Here's the situation.", he'll start with before explaining about Sophia, the VIP's cousin and the restricted files. "And you're the only one I know that can access them. Plus, this is a good excuse to see you again so I couldn't pass it up."

[TheUnknown]

"I think the incident with the VIP happened when I had first joined up. Heard whispers of some coverup, but the records have been obscure at best. I'll see what I can find for you" Lorraine says with a pause. "So what were you looking to see?" she asked smugly unbuttoning the top two buttons of her fatigues.

[ZeroParadox]

"Why, Lorraine, can I not just enjoy looking upon thy angelic visage?", he says with mock offense,"Just seeing your smile helps me weather my journeys among the inky black emptiness of space!", he concludes melodramatically.