"Remember, I was hired as security for Count Cromwell mainly because I have local knowledge," Tolman adds.

"As I understand what you've been saying, the scientists here were given data that was considered to be proprietary to your... client. There's no way to know--or prove if we did--whether these scientists were actually aware that the data was stolen."

"Given the nature of it, I would think they might have guessed it, though. I think it's one of those situations where everything was fine unless and until the shrack hit the fan. That would be us."

"There aren't really any laws being broken, just minor infractions. The grendals are protected, but that's still being batted around in the courts. At the most, they'd get a hefty fine."

"The scientists might have been using the grendal for their research, but I doubt if they actually killed it. That would be the guards' doing."

"I don't really see any point in tying anyone up. If I was one of the scientists, I'd take the submersible and bug out... cut my losses. The corporation they are working for probably already got a couple of shipments, so from here on out, they'd just write this place off."

"They'll tap the scientists for what they did find, but they don't have any incentive to be vindictive. I'm sure the corp already has someone lined up to take the blame for the stolen data."

"We have what you were supposed to get, probably with a bit more. All you need to do now is leave and deliver."

"Unless I'm missing  something."

Sam doesn't find any weapons systems in the facility, not even any sensor controls that could detect an approaching craft. There are no controls that she can find that would activate any hidden weapons.

There is a pair of harpoon guns on the large submersible out in the garage.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 200):

[[Well alright, then!]] Vonon says good naturedly, [[If our local legal expert, here, says we're golden, then we're golden!  He says we should jet, so we should jet!  He's the expert.  However...]]

Vonon walks over to Justev and grabs him up by the scruff of his shirt collar,

[[I don't care what anybody says, I'm gonna take this one with us -- as insurance.  As long as nobody here in the dome does anything funky, we can just drop him off on the beach.]] Vonon leans his white skull-painted helmet close to Justev's face, and in a slightly less amplified voice says [[But I do hope somebody tries something...I don't like you...]]

Then, momentarilly shutting down his external speaker, Vonon sends via comm to everyone on the team coded channel,

"Just kidding, folks.  We promised Justev we'd get him out of here, and I'm laying a cover that we took him so he won't get sued for breach of contract, later.  Of course, at the moment, he doesn't know that, but all of you play along."

Sharik paused before taking the last still photo that she was going to of the grendal corpse.  During that pause, the diminutive, cosmopolitan brunette call over to her shoulder to Tolman, asking rather idly as she lined up the shot with her dataglove's camera, "Why the change of heart, Mr. Jackstadt?"

She knew that he was 'simply' hired help, and that he was the local expert on customs and seemingly certain aspects of the Beowulf legal system - but only moments before he had questioned her desire to pack up and leave.  And now he was doing an about face; which did puzzle her slightly.

Her photography done, Shar returned to main group and unholstered her stunner again.  Personally, she would still have liked to have taking Dr. Vanager with them, or barring that, secured (and possibly even stunned) any remaining personnel that they were leaving behind in the facility.  But having voiced that opinion already, the diminutive operative was willing to go with the majority opinion on those matters (even if it went against her personal desires).

And she was ready to go.  Looking to see if anything else needed to be carted away - though she definitely wasn't the strongest of the group, Sharik surveyed the evidence and pile of computers and files.  "Shall we?" she prompted the rest of the group.

Sam wanders back into the area the others are in, in time to hear some of Tolman's spiel

"The reason for tying people up is to stop them interfering with us as we leave. They may not, your right, and you she gestures at Tolman can bet your life on that if you want. I'm not going to."

Pointing at the prisoners shes continues "If one of you watches them, I'll see if I can find some restraints" and heads off towards the laundry looking to grab some sheets and towels to tie people up with.

"What change of heart is that?" Tolman answered Sharik, clearly confused by her question. "I go where the Count goes, or where he sends me."

"I heard three different proposed courses of action from three different people. I was just suggesting a bit of focus."

Quin stood there, feeling a lot more angry and bored than she looked, which was plenty.

*smack*

She leaned down and smacked a doctor.

Annoyed be the more and more Aslan like behaviour of Vonon and now Quinzellas rising aggression Khea feels the need to finish this as fast as possible, or at least get them to do something.
Just hit them with a sleeping dart. That should quiet them long enough for us to get everything we need and leave

OOC: When I said securing the prisoners...that meant tying them up and rendering them unable to interfere with our tasks.

Glances at Quin's abuse of an unarmed and defenseless scientist, "Does that serve a purpose?" Shaking his head, the Count (if no-one else helps)personally makes sure all appropriate mission/task oriented materials are taken back to our sub.

Then, he will ensure that the dome's and inhabitant's comm systems is disabled, then, he will disable the other sub's propulsion/comms systems, then, he will ensure erasure/destruction of all security systems audio/video, then, destruction of the total computer core, other than life support, to ensure any "back-up/keystroke/ghost" programs are utterly useless...after all that, perhaps lastly...say, "Anyone else have any ideas before we leave?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:48, Fri 07 Aug 2015.

Tolman looks around at the battalion of armed troopers that the Count wants to tie up and/or put to sleep. Oh, wait... there was no battalion!

"Just what do you think these people are capable of doing to interfere with us?" he asked because he really wanted to know what the Count saw that he didn't.

"They aren't armed, there are no weapons in the base other than what the guards had, and we've already relieved them of those. We've taken all the computers they have. They don't even have any communication equipment unless there is some on their submersibles."

"There's no explosives or self destruct system... that we've been able to find."

"They can't even take any pictures of you to sell to the media."

"I'm sure you've had many death threats, sir, but other than glaring at us as we leave, I don't see that they have any such capability."

"If Vonon keeps an eye on them, the rest of us can load up the submersible. When we're ready to go, Vonon can cycle the garage airlock, and once we're out, he can exit via the front door and we'll be waiting for him outside."

"That's my suggestion."

Sharik smiled slightly at Tolman's sudden expressiveness, but kept quiet herself.  She simply started to help pack up the equipment and information that they had ... er... confiscated; pretty much following the plan outlined by Darrel and Tolman - at least the parts about packing up.

Then she joined Vonon in cycling and then exiting dome.  She wasn't about to leave anyone alone, if she could help it.  And especially not her friend; she'd known Vonon for over two decades.  Shar apparently seemed to strongly believes in the Buddy System™.  At least, when it came to corporate espionage...

OOC: Ok, the Count has a tendency towards the dramatics, obviously ;-) ....but, has anyone actually checked if there was a security system, and if there was, do we need our faces splashed everywhere...Any serious scientific organization, especially dealing with potentially "illegal" or high-profit, there will be without a doubt, some sort of recordings...without audio/visual proof, everything is hearsay. Get my point?



"I'm just saying, let's make sure that we cover all the bases...there is no such thing as undue caution, correct? We need time, and the best way to accomplish that is to ensure these folks(pointing at the dome crew), can't communicate or leave for the next 8-12 hours. I am sure, if you give it proper consideration, that it makes prudent sense."

OOC:If there is anything I had mentioned previously that could be done, I'd do it. NOTE: I never mentioned drugging or shooting, only tying up and disabling comms and exit craft!

The Count boards the sub.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:17, Sun 09 Aug 2015.

Sam made sure the prisoners were secured with whatever materials she could find (ie tied up) regardless of what Tolman thought. He was right there were limited things they could do to harm them. That didn't mean they couldn't if they really wanted to and had time to think about it. Giving them something more to ponder - like free-ing themselves - removed the opportunity for them to interfere.

She made sure she left a knife nearby, and visible to them, though it would take them a while to wriggle over and get it and then get free.

She smiled as she left "Hope we don't meet again ...nothing personal" and then she too boarded the sub.

Heading to the cockpit she spoke to the pilot

"Home please, and quick as you like"

OOC: Last chance to do anything else before you all leave...


So the plan was for everyone but Vonon and Sharik to board the submersible, then Sharik would activate the airlock and let the sub out.

Vonon and Sharik would then exit via the main airlock and board the submersible underwater.

Leaving the garage flooded would require the dome's occupants to cycle it before they could leave.

Also, in the passage to the garage, there were lockers with SCUBA gear in them. So remember that a person can hold his breath while the main airlock cycled and swim up to the surface.

While Samantha is securing the prisoners Khea only mutters I still think we should drug them. They might even appreciate that more than being tied up.

When it looks like Sam is finished soon Khea makes one final round of the base to see if any of the machines appear to have been broken or are otherwise behaving strangely before getting back to the sub.

Khea's last sweep of the dome produces nothing of importance, though it does give her a bit of information about who was living where in the dome and other minutiae about living arrangements. Not too many clothes, but a lot of lab smocks.

The exfiltration plan, as simple as it is, works without any problems.


The submersible heads back to the dive shop. Grev calls ahead to make sure there's nothing wrong at the shop--there isn't.

Back in the hold of the submarine Khea yawns heavily. Ancestors be thanked it is over and not a moment too soon. Now if I could only get a decent meal and a long sleep among the tahiwihteakhtau

Walter headed to the engineering section so he could feel a bit more useful as he is the first to admit that he is too old to play at being a secret agent.

Sam turned and looked at the motley crew.

 "Well we survived, but that could have gone smoother. Anyone contacted our employer yet?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:03, Wed 12 Aug 2015.

Now that he was safely aboard the other submersible and away from the threat of the guards, though he had to admit he didn't have any real reason to fear them, he breathed a huge sigh of relief.

He really didn't have any reason to trust these people, but so far, they'd played square with him.

So when he got a chance, he explained to the group everything that he knew about the operation.

"I was hired to be the lead developer on an anagathic program. At least, that was the way I understood it. The undersea dome was supposed to be for security, though they didn't really explain why they felt it was necessary. I think they hinted at corporate espionage."

"Once I was here, things turned out to be completely different! I was still sort of lead on the anagathic project, but not overall lead."

"Shenarra was working on psionic dampening serums, and Dr. Mataran was working on psionic boosters. While the grendals eat the seaweed from which I was supposed to be developing the anagathics, they were using the grendals for their psionic drugs."

"Dr. Volar, however, was working on his own side project. Most of us didn't know, or if the others knew, they weren't saying anything. He was making psionic stimulants."

Using the contact info, Darrel sends the following messages, "We met the other folks and have what you requested, will send details reference to transfer shortly. "

Listening to Justev, the Count was contemplating a number of factors...but, the one thing that stuck out...."Our goal is to get Ms. Blue her information and get paid for that task and anything beyond that, is not applicable.

One step at a time, there is no room for complications at this point."

EDIT NOTE: Have been thinking about things...will edit this post shortly.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:54, Wed 12 Aug 2015.

Sam listed to Justev attentively.

She appeared to be thinking carefully, but said nothing, yet

Khea only pays as much attention as politeness requires. Spending so many resources on pursuing fairy tales is silly, but when it finances her travels she couldn't complain.

Sharik had had the benefits of the buddy system drummed into for as long as she could remember.  Even simply swimming back on Gaargir required it - and, of course, almost a decade of Imperial service had definitely driven it home.  Even as a corporate operative, where there were many lonely missions and sociopathic colleagues sometimes, back-up was still part of the general SOP.  So, it was a natural pattern for her to simply stick with Vonon for the retreat from the underwater base; operating solo wasn't required and therefore was unadvised.  Besides, they worked well together; as if they'd known each other a long time.  Even if they'd served in different military organizations when they'd first met and hadn't seen each other in a while, there was a bond of trust there that allowed them to work well together.

The slog back to the others in the sub was slow.  Or, at least it seemed that way to the diminutive socialite.  Perhaps it was merely that she was tired and out of practice - either mentally or physically.  Or both.  The first thing that Sharik did once she was back in the main body of the submersible was to sit down and take in a deep breath to center herself.  Even the recycled tang in the submersible was welcomed into her nostrils, despite that it wasn't as clean as there air in her suit which had much more efficient filters.  That was probably the point, the air in the sub felt more lived in - which was not surprising given that it was crowded.

Sliding into the co-pilot's seat next to Grev, Sharik listened to Justev go through his spiel.  The corners of her mouth twitched and she muttered softly, "I knew we should have taken Vanager with us..."  Her tone was only a touch facetious.  The diminutive brunette cast a glance over her shoulder towards Dr. Wreedav when he discussed his area of expertise, making a mental note to talk more with him later.  It was a professional courtesy, of course; Sharik had more than a passing knowledge concerning certain aspects of the man's research.  She knew a lot about plenty of things - at least, on a superficial level - but, the topic of anagathics was not one of those superficial things.

"Well," she noted simply to Justev, "we will be meeting with our employer post-haste."  Sharik shrugged slightly, "And after that, who knows?"  The group hadn't really decided what to do after that.  Or even if they should stay together.  But, she knew that he'd taken a chance (at great personal risk, no less) and thrown his lot in with them; so, she extended the courtesy back, "You are welcome to accompany us, Mr. Wreedav."  The cosmopolitan socialite was more than happy to have him along - not just for the meeting with Ceruleanne, but beyond; and if she had any doubts about it - none of them surfaced.

"We should probably make sure that we have our own copy the available data..." Shar prompted the others.  If no one else stepped up to do so, she would eventually though she kept to the co-pilot's seat for the moment.

In reply to Sharik Kaagira (msg # 222):

[[Well, that was fun!]] Vonon says, as he starts removing his armor,

"A little slow, for a raid, but still fun!" he says, removing his helmet, then the torso clamshell, then stepping out of the lower section -- now only wearing fluorecent orange silk shorts and undershirt.

"Hey, Justev, sorry about the threats, back there.  Just giving you a cover for later, so your former employers can't sue you.  Y'know, you can always blame us for, y'know, kidnapping you. Hurr-hurr."

"So, you're into the anti-aging science stuff, huh?  You got anything for Vargrs? Hurr-hurr-hurr"