Salvation, Making the world a better place Options

[Sedna]

12:10:19 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

"I think we'll need to start with communications fairly close to immediately in any case," says Sal, leaning back a little in the chair so as to invite commentary by either of the other two. "We can pull up some equipment if you can get it in; and then, once inside, we can get it set up. But first, the medical supplies -- and I'm thinking that would work best if we stagger it. Say, a small van's worth to begin with? but not currently in a small van?"

[WinterRat1]

12:11:33 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

“That amount shouldn’t be a problem. If you want to tell us where to pick it up, we can send two of our local guys over to pick it up and handle it from there.” He smiles and grins a bit sardonically. “Unless you’d rather deliver it to us yourself?”

[Sedna]

12:13:33 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

"Thing is, I haven't confirmed location yet, only existence." Absolutely true, as far as it goes. "So whatever time and place you give me, but not before tonight ...?"

[WinterRat1]

12:14:07 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

The ork scribbles an LTG number and an address to a warehouse on a piece of paper. “Call this number two hours before you plan on arriving. You can drop the stuff off here and we’ll have people waiting to pick it up and ship it out.”

[Sedna]

12:14:48 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

Sal nods shortly, hands the piece of paper to Blaze without looking at it as she shifts slightly in his direction again. "Since you'll remain on the outside, your LTG, I think? And you might also want to arrange to meet here in Seattle with the person you'll be working with, get a sense for how much distraction-damage can be done with the available resources at minimum risk to yourselves and those in the camp."

She pauses slightly in case Blaze has anything to add, her hands on the table preparatory to getting up.

[paul_HArkonen]

12:15:11Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

Blaze takes the paper, and scribbles his LTG on a seperate sheet. "I think that would be good. Knowing who you're working with always makes things work better." He hands the paper to the ork, "Have whoever I'm to coordinate with call me here and we can arange a meet ahead of time. If that's ok..."

He moves to stand up with Alleycat.

[WinterRat1]

12:15:26 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

The ork shakes his head. “You’ll meet with that person down in CFS. I just handle the biz and administration up here in Seattle.” He writes down another number on a piece of paper. “Call this number when you get down there and set up a meet. Unless you have any administrative or strictly financial aspects of the biz to handle from here on out, that’s the person you want to talk to. Is there anything else we need to take care of on this end then?”

[Sedna]

12:16:48 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

"Establishing lines of communication into the camp; established and continuing lines of supply from here for at least two more days, after that from CalFree, specifics of the shift to be determined via phone call and with 12 hours notice; a more exact schedule to be supplied as we know exactly what can be established, and by when." She's recounting what's already been said and adding a bit of detail, rather than adding anything particularly new at this point: her voice takes on a vaguely apologetic tinge for the necessity.

"We've already finalised the mutual exchange of information: whom should we be talking to here about this? And we've already discussed your willingness to outfit the people there" -- again that haunting echo -- "as well as that you don't really have enough to outfit everyone in there, and that we'll be trying to keep the C12 to an absolute minimum" -- and her voice takes on the exact same tinge of dry irony it had carried before. "We've agreed on numbers, although not on specifics of final payment: give me a suggestion, we'll see if we can't make it workable. Once we finalise these points, that should cover all the administrative and strictly financial aspects?"

[WinterRat1]

12:17:23 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

“The number I gave you is for our operations man near your area. You can call him to determine how you want to work the sharing of information. He’s down there now, so he’d be better to talk to than anyone up here. As far as payment, you’ve got the retainer, right? We don’t know how many vehicles we’ll have for you yet, that’s the variable part, and the retainer covers the smuggling and the diversion, which we’ve set a price on. So as far as payment goes, that’s set. The way I see it, unless you have anything else, once you hand over that retainer, we’re pretty much set.”

[Sedna]

12:18:00 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

A nod. The slightest shift of her shoulders indicates the credstick lying between the two of them, in such a way as to suggest it's now lying on "his" half of the table. "Anything you wish to add or amend?" she asks Blaze and Tin Star directly.

[paul_HArkonen]

12:18:00 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

Blaze stands up only a hearbeat behind Alleycat. "Only good luck with the supplies."

He takes a step back to head for the door unless Tin Star or Alleycat voice an opposition to it.

[WinterRat1]

12:18:15 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

Tin Star shakes his head in the negative, so the ork simply nods, stands up and pockets the credstick, and says, "Very well, it was good doing business with you. From here on out, the guy you'll deal with is the number I gave you, and that includes paying him the balance due when the job's done. Good luck on your job."

With no further words wasted, he nods to his bodyguards and the three of them walk out, leaving the team alone in the room.

[Sedna]

12:18:50 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

"Guys," she says quickly, "come with me? I've got some supplies I'd like you to check out. We can talk on the way, and there." To Tin Star: "Bring your truck, follow us on the bike?"

[paul_HArkonen]

12:18:50 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

Blaze turns on the spot and heads for the door, a fraction of an instant Alleycat turns and follows. Tin Star stands and begins to walk out as well. When they reach the door to the street Tin Star stops for a second.

His southern accent slipping in, "I need to grab my truck, where you parked?"

Blaze stops as well, "It'll be easier if I just meet you in the parking lot here, it won't take me more than a few minutes to get back."

Tin Star merely nods, and then walks through the door. Blaze catches the door, holding it open for Alleycat, and then once she's through leads the way to the lot where his bike is.

Stopping at the entrance he feeds the money into the teller to pay for the spot, then hops onto the bike, pausing to let Alleycat get on behind him. He pulls out and heads back for the Parking Lot of the Big Rhino.

[Sedna]

12:19:45 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - At the Rhino

She slides in easily behind Blaze, tucking in the loose leather tails. Before he gets his helmet on and the bike really revs up, she says in his ear: "After he joins us, we'll make a quick stop at the McHugh's six or so down. We'll pick up soykafs on the way." And it happens to be cross-direction from where we're heading in Snohomish, just in case anyone gets curious.

[paul_HArkonen]

12:19:45 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - at the parking deck

Blaze nods as he revs up the engine and heads out.

[Sedna]

12:23:30 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - McHugh's drive-in

Tin Star follows them, a bit more quietly. Old truck, maybe: but a well-maintained engine under that hood. An icy wind whips her face, anticipating the storm all the newscasts have eagerly been predicting for almost two days now. In other places, the store shelves would already have been stripped bare. Here, no one's paying attention. The clouds are heavy, teasing with the possibility of more cold, winter rain. She can feel the hidden sun piercing through her back.

When they all pull in at the McHugh's drive-in, she takes the tray of hot soykafs over to the truck: "You've got the space," she adds with a smile. Checks all around quickly confirm their tail is clear: the attention Blaze is getting has nothing to do with either their point of departure or their destination. Have to keep that in mind for next time. You'd think the guy was a follower of the Path of Cuchalain. But we take precautions regardless, each and every time; because it's an absolute certainty that the one time we get careless is the one time it'll matter.

"We'll catch the I-405 through the loop south, then hook back north near Yarrow Point." The question doesn't show on Tin Star's face and then he nods before she can explain it: in case anyone is asked, they'll remember Blaze heading south. "Everett?" he hazards, and she smiles: "Close enough. Snohomish. Long-term truck lot. Blaze has the ticket. We'll go through what's there, and then (since you've got your papers) we'll set things in motion. Talk about that there, though."

He nods, and Sal walks back to Blaze's chopper: only it's not exactly Sal anymore, the red lenses replaced by a familiar visor, ebon-black skin just a little more faded toward the Alleycat Blaze remembers. She repeats most of what she just told Tin Star and then hands him the ticket Durin had given her: "Lot 13, storage area 412. We'll check through the supplies, see what he might want to take with him when he leaves today." She anticipates another unspoken question: "Storm building." More than one kind. "Don't want to get stranded."

[Sedna]

12:38:17 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - a truck lot up in Snohomish, lot 13, storage area 412

While definitely longer than it could have been (and starting to become colder than it should have been for this time of year, much too cold for Seattle): the end of the drive comes suddenly, more quickly than Blaze expected. Turning in at the rough, surprisingly wide road, met suddenly by extended lengths of barb-tipped reinforced chainlink fence and a locked gate on rollers as Tin Star pulls in his truck behind them --

"We're here," Alleycat confirms. And to the shaman, "I gave you the ticket?"

The ticket consists of a small electronic chit that rolls aside the gate to allow the three of them access to the main compound, and then again within their lot. Their destination, they discover quickly, is a larger garage-style slip among a row of undifferentiated garage doors. After confirming the number, Blaze quickly swipes the chit into the reader by the right-hand side of the door. After a couple of seconds, the garage door begins to move creakily upward. Stepping into the gloom quickly and to the right, Tin Star soon finds a thin chain dangling alongside the wall and yanks it, the sudden light making Blaze's eyes water and revealing a middling-heavy pickup truck and a neatly backed-in semi with small trailer.

"Long-term truck lot," she explains. "We have this slip for a week. Didn't expect it to be enclosed though ..."

"Doubt a lot of traffic happens here during the daytime," Tin Star says laconically, practiced eyes examining the vehicles and then moving to note the various new and old sets of tire tread marks.

Yes ... during their initial meet he had mentioned standing border patrol, hadn't he? "So Durin tells me," Alleycat answers in a matching tone and a bit of a smile, supporting the guess that the CASan had already pretty much confirmed.

Sensing the unspoken understanding between the two of them, Blaze looks from one to the other, slightly irritated (and not altogether playfully this time), before letting it go as irrelevant: "Are all the supplies here?"

"That's what we're about to determine. Stuff should be in the back of the pickup." She pulls aside the tarp covering it. "He mentioned medkits for the original team, MREs, some other stuff. Anything you want to take with you, heading south?"

Tin Star shrugs. "Medkit, maybe. Day or so rations. Radio you talked about, before, 'less you're planning on smuggling in to me later." In her mind, Alleycat silently supplies the rest of the phrase a heartbeat before he says it aloud: "Mostly got what I need."

And he's still packed, still ready to leave right from here. That part doesn't even need saying; and this time, she'll take him up on it. Need to leave, now, before the smell of coming snow in the air becomes the reality. She nods, acknowledging. "Then let's get started."

[Sedna]

13:10:50 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - a truck lot up in Snohomish, lot 13, storage area 412

As Durin had mentioned earlier, the rest of the supplies do fit neatly in the back of the pickup truck. It turns out to be both more and less than she'd hoped for: rations, medical supplies -- but not all that much more than a team of six could (generously) use in a week. There's a dozen small arms there, pistols, SMGs, as well with reasonable amounts of ammunition to go with it, and a couple of small boxes of grenades: a sniff tells Alleycat they're mostly a fairly standard mix of offensive and defensive fragmentation types, with a few smoke/IR smoke grenades as well. "Colour-coded," notes Tin Star, as he begins sorting them by box type per Alleycat's suggestion.

She's asked both men to state aloud each item as they encounter it, along with its quantity, and then to sort it according to its type. She writes nothing down. Once or twice she double-checks what one or the other had just said, ensuring that what she's catalogued in her mind matches, that something hadn't accidentally been handled and thus counted twice. For now, the total is divided into two clear piles: foodstuffs, medical, and other support supplies going into the back of Tin Star's truck to drop off at their contact warehouse for smuggling south before he leaves town; weaponry back into the original pickup for now.

"We'll send this first shipment of food and medicine south in parallel with you; a second, larger shipment in parallel with when we leave (and we'll also toss in clothing and maybe a couple of luxuries for that one, we'll have to go shopping for that one); and a third for when we're there. We won't add in these items" -- indicating the weaponry -- "until we get there and get lines of communication set up and maybe another person in. I don't know about you," she says drily as they repack away the last batch of grenades, "but I'd just as soon be cautious about whose hands these end up in. Medicines and such are one thing, but I'd rather not have these things moving into the place until we've established the direction they're to be thrown in and who's best at doing the throwing."

Blaze glances over the two piles. "Not my area of specialty," he says matter-of-factly. "Destructive I can do, but if it's anything larger than a pistol it's going to be mostly between you guys."

Alleycat nods shortly. "Communications, check. Frequency confirmation?" It's confirmed that the radios provided by Blaze are linked and reasonably encrypted, and common frequencies and three backup frequencies are established. "We'll work off local time. You're going to try for an afternoon or night shift on guard duty? Check the radio everyday starting Wednesday at 0930; and then five minutes later at 0935. Thursday same pattern, but 0920 and 0925; and each day move it backward another ten minutes. You won't be open long enough to gather any kind of attention, and that's the time of day all the morning chatter is most likely to drown out a short, tight signal. When we're on-site and ready to coordinate, we'll send you through the contact info then. Even if we don't send anything yet, we'll have someone monitoring those frequencies straight through from Wednesday onwards. Subsequent communication will be either by radio or by astral manifestation, whichever works best around their security, at the same time unless we coordinate something different. Until then, we'll keep you out of that loop for your own safety."

Tin Star nods. He's done border security duty before, he knows about regular radio check-ins. It's a straightforward enough system she's set up. The small twist with the times moving backwards instead of staying the same or moving forwards ought to be enough to temporarily throw anyone who might have started to catch onto them; and temporarily's all they'd need.

"One final thing," she says. "Always a chance all our planning goes south, and we've got to bug out quickly. If any of us needs to warn the others that they're onto us, the code word is patsy, followed by the names of anyone who's already been identified. If you're needing to lay low for a while, code word is stability. If it's a pure bug-out situation and you're able to get out on your own, code word is bug-out if it's just you, all-call bug-out if it's for everyone. And if you're needing us to get you out," her lips quirk, "it's help, with as much detail as you're able to risk.

"Tin Star," she asks then, "what name will you be using, while working for them?"

The slight smile touches his eyes and his aura as he tells them. And then he drives off.

Alleycat yawns, but it's more reflex born of another virtual all-nighter and tightly condensed workload than actual exhaustion: something that surprises her a bit when she realises it. "Blaze," she says, "Got a fragginghellofalotofwork yet in those Melissa searches, especially now that we've maybe got a third player involved. Drop me off at the university library, and tell me what time you'll need me tonight?"

[paul_HArkonen]

13:30:50 Sunday, 07 January, 2063 - a truck lot up in Snohomish, lot 13, storage area 412

"Meet tonight at 5 outside the Paradigm Shift, I would advise a different outfit from the last time we were there. Will you need a ride there, or can you manage on your own? After I drop you at the University that is."

Blaze pauses only breifly, and then on top of that he says, "I can't thank you enough, few people really know how much finding her means to me... let's just leave it at a lot."

Alleycat nods slightly, "I can manage on my own to get back there. Tonight at 5, ok."

Blaze revs up the engine and heads for the university with Alleycat on his bike.