We be Moving, A smuggling game Options

[Zyerne]

Dec 20th, 2073
Val logged off from the company node, pacing around her apartment to clear her head. Fetching a fresh mug of soycaf, she stretched out on the couch, feet up on the somewhat battered coffee table.

"Ok, Jessie's probably heard of it, gotta be a lot of mercs in Caracas right now. No idea what the hell time it is down there right now though. Zeke, maybe not, but if he has, he's more likely to know a way in. Joe's a longshot but the Quonset's only 10 minutes away....

After firing off a quick message to in Caracas and her fixer in Denver <<<Heard of the Outpost? Call me, Val>>> she called Joe at the Quonset Hut.

[SleepIncarnate]

Dec 20th, 2073

"Working on finding our friend About to be Fired first, then I'll maybe look into Miss X a bit more, if we decide that we may still give the job a shot."

[LurkerOutThere]

Tex watches the others for a bit from the AR window his status display indicating he's currently working in the garage area. In virtual reality space he begins to build out a 3D representation of the cargo capacity of the ground and air based options they have. The more sketchy cargo is gonna be a heckuva lot more compact especially when we figure in the ice, on the other hand we're less likely to get shot up over fish. He says stating the obvious.

[Xiuhaun]

Dec 20th, 2073

Hotuaekhaashtait logs on to an anonymous forum to send a coded message to Jaime Patrick...

Forum post is as follows:

[ Spoiler ]

Red Queen,

up the rabbit hole shortly
contact if you need
articles
see you upon return

-White Pawn

Then, with a deep sigh, makes the hardest call of the day... Mom

[ Spoiler ]

Hi Mom. Yeah, its me, Hotu. Yes I know I should call more... yes, I should stop by and visit the next time I am in town. Sorry for missing your birthday, I was busy with work. Could you... Yes, I know mother. I... I do, after every meal. Look, can you just tell Dad to give me a call. I love you too mom... bye

[Chance359]

Zyerne

[ Spoiler ]

"Val, you gone merc on me all the sudden? The Outpost was set up back in the '60's for merc's to sit around shoot the shit, and do business in general. You looking to improve your rep?"

SleepIncarnate

[ Spoiler ]

Holmes whips out his magnifying glass and begins following data packets through the matrix. "Back in a jif." he says before leaving your sight. A few cycles later he returns with a large sack over his shoulder. "Soon to be fired appears to be this man, Marcus Jensen. He was co-owner of a mid sized catering company until his partner and brother Lewis Jensen "fell into the lake and was run over a dozen times" according to the police report. It appears that Marcus has only one client now, a Mr. Colton Hughes.

[SleepIncarnate]

Dec 20th, 2073

Turning to Holmes, she smiles and bows slightly. Thank you for your help, feel free to return to the Resonance, your help is much appreciated.

"Looks like our other customer is the full time owner of a catering company after his partner, who was also his brother, had a bit of an "accident." He also only has one client right now, a Mr. Colton Hughes. Looking into him now to see if his end of this job is remotely legit. We already know our direct customer, the middle man here, isn't legit."

[J. Packer]

"Ah, well, that's business in the cutthroat world of catering, I guess. Sounds pretty amateurish to me - if he were a real threat, he'd have disposed of the body better. Sounds like something worth looking into, but I'm not too impressed with the level of danger..."

One more drag on the cheroot, and Padre continues. "I do want to hear more about Mr. Hughes..."

[SleepIncarnate]

Dec 20th, 2073

Grinning to herself and shaking her head, she looks up.

"Ok, this is more what I was expecting to find. Hughes is a lightly cybered, specifically headware, former employee for Horizon, working out of New York New, known for being agressive. Six months ago he took early retirement and started doing freelance stuff. Our other associate, About to be Fired, also known as Marcus Jensen, and his brother Lewis, running their own company, were approached by Mr. Hughes about 3 months ago for a limited partnership in the catering world. Two weeks later, Lewis had a nasty boating accident, where he fell into the lake and was run over a dozen times. Lewis's shares of stock in the company moved to Marcus, but Hughes is still the majority holder, and Marcus is looking for a way to edge him out. My guess? Hughes wanted something impressive like lobster or filet minoin and Colton's ordering fish instead to make Hughes look like an idiot, especially if someone important at this meeting is allergic to fish and would take it as an insult. And he's working through us because he wants plausible deniability. Any questions?"

While waiting for a response, she thinks for a second and sends a message off to the members of her tribe.

<<@COTR [Rifter] Hey, any of you know anything about the Outpost? You know, the merc node. Trying to broaden my horizons a bit.>>

[Zyerne]

"Maybe. Might be somewhere worth looking for work, mercs have to move stuff like anyone else."

[LurkerOutThere]

Dec 20th, 2073
My guess? Hughes wanted something impressive like lobster or filet minoin and Colton's ordering fish instead to make Hughes look like an idiot, especially if someone important at this meeting is allergic to fish and would take it as an insult. And he's working through us because he wants plausible deniability. Any questions?"

"Well don't that beat all! Doesn't seem like the sorta fella that would pay his transport bill on time unless pressed. I think if we're going to take that job we should look into an escrow or something so we don't get gyped. Hmmm maybe I can help, i'm more a barbeque man but if we do take this gig I might be able to select our fish in such a way to hedge our bets, make sure we've got something we can sell if he stiffs us.

[Xiuhaun]

Dec 20th, 2073

Hotuaekhaashtait heads out of his shack to the local gym to put an hour or two into the weights. Getting ready to wrap up after about 90 minutes of various weight exercises, a rather large ork steps up behind him and hollars, "Hey, Hotu, up for a spar? Been itching for a good rumble lately".

Hotu grins, and turns around to shake hands with the local trainer, Jared. "Sup J. Gonna mop the floor with me like last time?" Jared replies with a chuckle, "Nah, I'll take it easy on ya this time."

Not being particularly skilled at hand-to-hand, Jared had a fairly easy time putting Hotu to the mat plenty of times over the next 45 minutes, though the troll was able to use his size advantage to get a few lucky knocks in. Finally, Hotu, lying on his back for the last time today, gave the mat a hard smack and announced, "I'm out... whew you just like pickin' on the big guys dont ya Jared?" Jared replied, "Nah, its good for business" making reference to the crowd that had gathered to watch, half of which would probably be paying for lessons by the end of the week "but, sure... I miss tossing trolls around" he finished with a wink.

A quick shower and a change of clothes later, Hotu heads down to the shooting range to take out his frustration of getting manhandled by an ork out on some paper targets with his Pred4, a box or two should do it.