The Freelancer takes the card and studies it for a moment, glances back at Vanyra and again at the ID before handing it back. "Fair enough, welcome back. Now I'm not trying to turn you away, but there's procedure to be followed. The reason I'm here is so that the people in the back aren't interrupted every 5 minutes. So let's hear what you want to know first, and if I can't answer it then we'll setup an appointment with an officer."

"Well, OK, I do need some basic information," Vanyra replies.

"What can you tell me about the situation in the city right now?"

"If you keep you nose clean and stick to the essentials you shouldn't run into any problems. City's under martial law after a half-assed coup attempt, of sorts, among the ruling parties. With that said there are a lot of bounties out there now if you're willing to take a gamble, but you never know if the bounty you pick up now has a brother who will become the next leader of the country. So my advice is to avoid any of the too-good-to-be-true bounties; stick to the basics and let the rookies and fools chase the others." the sergeant explains, obviously annoyed at the idea of the city's in-fighting. He slides the bounty book over and then, unexpectedly, grabs a second volume of the same; it would certainly seem a lot of names have been added.

"Movement is somewhat restricted; they don't want people just running about, but if you have your Freelancer ID with you, you should be fine. I'd recommend keeping your weapons light as well; don't give the authorities an excuse to shake you down or mistake you for something else. The flip side of all this is that any one you encounter, save the Ossylian military, are likely to be equally or less armed than you."

"There is a limited curfew in place, from two hours after sun set until sun rise. It's limited in that it applies largely to residential neighbourhoods and a few less-commercial areas; they don't want to impact business any more than they already have apparently. Again, just make sure you have your ID with you and don't go looking for trouble and you should be fine."

Vanyra turns the books around, pushing one towards Zelpuz, and starts looking through one, paying attention for names she recognizes.  "So, is there a map of the areas with a curfew?  And do you think they will care about my blade?" while indicating the her weapon.

The sergeant glances quickly at Vanyra's blade and shakes his head, "I doubt it, though you come across the wrong guy and they may use it as leverage against you. Put you in a position where they can coerce some money or more from you, if you know what I mean. The Ossylian military is too professional for that kind of crap, but the local town constabulary is no better than anywhere else in Khayluhn."

The books contain a series of single page bounty dossiers, complete with pictures, last suspected location, known accomplices and haunts, any pertinent skills and then the reason for their bounty, which ranges from simple theft to grandiose statements concerning their ills deeds. The books are ordered chronologically, with the oldest Bounties being at the front, followed by any amendments (increase in reward) to said bounty, and then moving on to the newer ones. Given the time period of the couple weeks since their flight from the capital the two narrow their search to the later 2/3rd of total.

"As for a map, forget about it. They change their minds almost daily; one day there is no curfew, the next there is and then it's off again. Whenever some operation is planned they're likely to put a  curfew on that area, but they've been keeping their agenda quiet beyond that. With the check posts at all the major thoroughfares you'll be informed if and when a curfew is in place." the Freelancer continues.

During the first cursory glance through the bounty binders neither Vanyra nor Zelpuz find one for Yuu or his parents, at least as far as they know them. A more detailed review of the bounties may turn up something though.

"Wow, sounds complicated.  I'll be careful," Vanyra replies.  "So what did you mean by 'half-assed'?  Who won and who lost?"

The Sergeant shrugs, "Nobody as far as I can tell. If somebody had won decisively there would be martial law imposed. From what I can tell the Reforgers thought the Novians were gaining too much influence and decided to take them down a peg, only the whole thing seems forced. The Ossylian military is pretty well disciplined and effective, so if they wanted something done they could have done it. I'm guessing there was some dissension in the ranks, and/or someone pushed them to act before they were ready. Either way we're in the thick of it now. They never gave us any grief thankfully, be a shame to have to call in an orbital strike to a city like this."

"What's an orbital strike by your group? Is that what you saw? Maybe you should ask to be added to a 'keep-me-informed-list'." Zelpuz communicates to Vanyra telepathically.

Vanyra thinks towards Zelpuz, "I saw two meteors fall from the heavens toward the city." and shudders.  "I can keep checking in with this headquarters to make sure."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:10, Sun 12 Feb 2017.

"Where are the ruling families in all this?  Is there still open fighting, or is that going on in secret?", Vanyra asks the freelancer.

The sergeant looks quizzically at Vanyra and Zelpuz for a moment before answering, "I take it you guys are pretty new here. First, the ruling families are the ones behind this whole mess, at least a portion of them. The King is officially neutral, but that's mostly because he has limited power without support of the majority of the houses, and it's those houses that are battling each other. As for fighting there was never any 'open' fighting, not real fighting anyways, it's mostly just political maneuvering... locking up the right people, making others disappear or putting them under house arrest, and then trying to muscle your agenda through the handicapped government."

Vanyra smiles at the sergeant.  "So of the ruling families, is there any way to know who is free and who is missing or locked up?"

Vanyra is thinking back to Zelpuz that it sounds to her that the coup is still ongoing and causing a lot of chaos.  She is trying to get information on Yuu's family and will ask to see superior officers if the desk sergeant doesn't know as much about that sort of thing.

"Well I suppose you could just go and ask the Ossylian guard, they may tell you who they have locked up, but maybe they won't. Plus there could be people locked up secretly all over; they naturally aren't making announcements of it. At the end of the day it's not worth getting involved in, even for good money. Freelancers don't get involved with local politics; it's bad for business. Likewise I suggest you stay as far away from this mess as possible." the sergeant replies.

"I'm just hoping to find out who to avoid at this point. Any chance anyone knows more about who might be in charge of what in the middle of this mess?"

"For that I'd look low if I were you. While all the action is being played out between the upper echelons of society the underbelly is taking note and names. They've always had their ear to the ground, but now it's a wellspring. You two look like you can handle yourself, and most won't try to pull one over on a Mespah, but be careful... things are on a knife's edge in some parts."

Zelpuz smiles at the sergeant with the most innocent look he can muster.

"Ok! Well that was very helpful, thank you." Vanyra replies happily.  "I'm going to take a look at these bounties for a while."

"Knock yourself out; if you find any you're interested in just let me know and I'll log your number one them."

While Vanyra and Zelpuz are busy inside, Yuu has found himself a comfy wall to sit against, watching the crowds and traffic drift by. He pulls out a notepad, and scribbles idle thoughts into it... ideas for inventions, basic mechanic schematics, the blueprints for a planet destroying space station that would include a vent port as its only weakness. Basic stuff. It's also a distraction from dealing with his feelings on returning. He's home, but there's an element of real danger that had never existed for him before. An uncomfortable itch keeping him from the comfort of familiar surroundings. A thought that occurred to him, did this danger arise with the latest coup or was it always there and he simply grew up completely unaware of it? Schematics are definitely easier to puzzle over, he decides.

Vanyra and Zelpuz leave the Freelancer compound and find Yuu not too far up the street, minding his own business with a notebook in hand as the myriad of passersby go about their day.

Zelpuz taps him on the shoulder. "Hello again friend, are you lost in your world again?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:55, Thu 23 Feb 2017.

Yuu looks up, and greets the Mespah with a smile. He then stands, stretching out stiff legs and tidying away his thought book. "Find out anything?"

"Well, none of us or anyone that Vanyra or I know is on the hitlist. Other than that, there seems to be some continued fighting between houses to adjust the power distribution, thus the random curfews. Let's head to Vanyra's place, it's close, we can all use some rest and a place to chat."

With that the group heads back to Vanyra's apartment in the waning light of the day, arriving just as the twilight retreats into the clear darkness of a late summer's night. The apartment, save for a slight accumulation of dust here and there is as they left it a couple weeks past. There is a small pile of notices and flyers in the mail dropbox, none of which seem important save the reminder that from the building manager that Vanyra's 6 month lease is up at the end of the month and thus she should notify them should she wish to extend.

In the quiet calm of the apartment things seem relatively normal, giving the trio time to gather their thoughts and formulate their next plan of action.

Vanyra looks around the room, making sure that everything is as she left it.  She also goes to the window and looks out, around, and up.

As she starts this, she asks, "So, what first?"