"That would make sense...after all we didn't exactly hang around to see what happened next" Harry replied. She briefly considered contacting Lyri to see if she had seen any cars leaving from her position only to remember that she'd only had a view of the two upper storeys so was unlikely to have seen anything. Of course there was always the possibility that she was laying low in a panic room somewhere on the property but somehow Harry could see Lucci wanting to hang around and risk being discovered "ok...we head for the civilian docks, she's liable to have ships there she can use, we can check the CCTV and the manifests to see if she's there, if not then it's down to the stem" Killing her in the stem would be far easier but on the other hand it would also be so much harder to find her so with any luck Lucci would have run to one of her ships in the uppers and all Harry had to do was to quietly deal with her.

  Frans  looked  around,well?  Chickie.. if You'er going..get changed.. I'll do what i can.. but you'er on your  own if Stefi steps in...

 There  was   some Fuss  at the  Door  as Dusk and the LT  came in...

 Beth  stood up from the CArd Table  and  Looked    down the Room and swore.....Dammit!... Shoey...  set the  Ground  rules...

  Shoey grinned  as he chewed his   Gum.. heading  off the   two and Pulling them to the Far side of the condo where the other hallways where.

  Shade   came in right  after.. Steele  Gave him a High Five... Kat    fuzzed him on the top of  His ehad.. He sat on the Couch and Looked  at the  Girls  and  Grit, giving them a thumbs up..

Roy shrugged.  "I don't understand what he's saying, but he has ways of communicating.  No more unsettling to me than, say, a three-armed Sanri or a Verian warlord who could probably rip me in two with her bare hands," he commented, giving Gresh a wink at the reference.

"If you'd like, Admiral, the Chief and I can go set a watch on those docks.  It's no guarantee that she'll run there...but if her reaction is anything like Olanni's was, she's going to be all about getting out of Dodge as fast as possible."  He thought for a moment and shrugged.  "He might have actually made it, if he hadn't been lugging that suitcase.  Dead giveaway that he wasn't just another guard or some stranger passing by..."

  Gresh chuckled, and Lilit  gave a slight smile as she   sipped from some Occui-purple  drink.

 Micca  shrugged,..I do not know, mucg about thier  opperations. I do know this.... If you fail the EDT  on a base, or  city or somesuch place.. they stick you in The Black..which means...while you'er  trying to raid a transport, and  ESN vessel could pop out of nowhere and end your  career..... If you  fail the EVOLs.. you will be sent to  care for slaves, and  do grunt  work...and?  there is a good chance you end up on a LArder Ship, if  they are behind their  quotas...

 ..Lady V has broken through on her  own... The  EDT and the  EVOLs aid her and the Empire listens to her.... Those who have  failed this night? might be better off  is you  shot them dead...


 There is a moment of though , The Admiral looks to Roy,..we  still have  Nona out there... we must assume Shadow has reached  Leena's  By now... Garrat and his team are engaged  with  Vinno... Ka-Li might  be on the move as soon as he hears of what is going on....He is  one person that might  be overly dangerous

 Micca  Looks at some strange   pastry of  Bura   origin,..I met  Ka-Li once... he came to buy 'Cutter rounds".. They are 45 cal,  hard ammo rounds   with a thin coating of  wax on the   bullet.. once  it  leaves the barrel, the wax  melts off  allowing the   4  tiny  blades..like an arrow head.. to bore into the target.. its worse then an Arrow, because, you must  cut  a  'plug' of  flesh to get it out of the  ruins it caused going.. if it reaches   an organ...  she shrugs.

 ..I had  two boxes  a company sent to  sample... he bought  them both. 100 creds a round...50  rounds a box....so..yeah.. he has Creds.

As the teams started returning Justin relaxed he didn't need to keep up the pretence needed to cover their activities any longer. Crossing to the buffet table he plied several interesting portions on a plate returned to the chair he'd positioned in the corner and sat eating and listening to the chatter about the different peoples activities.

Roy glanced over at Lyri.  "Good for another op, Master Chief?" he asked.  He wasn't sure how they'd run this one...it might end up being a sniper shoot-out, as he had almost no ammo left for his machine pistols, and only half the power-cell charge left on the Verian pistol.

"Maybe on this one, you go fishing and I'm the backup.  I wouldn't want to hog all the fun..."  He chuckled slightly and,added, "Besides, with the price on my head, he's bound to be keeping an eye out.  You might actually get a little closer before he decides to start shooting."

"Can't say fairer than that...besides I'm sure I can deal with Stefi if it came to it" Harry replied with a mischievous smile before casually getting up and heading for her room so as not to raise any suspicions. Once there she would quickly change into a fresh pair of jeans and T-shirt, along with a leather jacket that would conceal the weapons she carried including the Uzi that was awkwardly tucked under her arm. She was taking no chances this time and if she wound him running...well...hobbling, around the illegal ports in the stem then she'd need the extra firepower.

Armed and ready to go, Harry would then make her way to the service lift she'd used at the start of the night, intending to ride it down to the bottom so she could acquire a car and leave before anyone noticed that she was gone.

   As Justin   sat down, Gia smiled,... they  have good  food at these parties..You..ever  take part..in the  Ops?

.......................

    while HArry walked   passed  the Couch  , Grit  when to stand Up  and Eckles    put a firm hand on his shoulder,..not this time, fly boy.. i think you've   do enough today...

  Shade   Jumped off the Couch and stared  Following  HArry and Frans.. as they reached the Door  Frans  Turned  around  and looked at Shade,..Oh....no no no no.... you'er not going.... that's all we need is  for the Ambassador to get waxed.... stay.. Your    Dad should be  back soon...

 there was a low  whining  sound from Shade

  Frans  turned  back to HArry,.. I'll get you a ride?... then you'er on your Own....

  They walked to the   elevator..Shade  just stared   sadly at them.

   Lyri  nodded,..sounds  good to me....What do we  Know  about Ka-Li, Admiral ?

   ..From  what  Si has  said?..  Not much, but... She  did  say  he was like Shadow, if Shadow could shoot...


 Looking  towards the wing of the  building  Si went  down with Melia.

 Hennings looked at  Hack, in shock...You are saying, he's better then Shadow?

 There was a  dark smile on Hack's  face as he took  the  sip of his beer,..I said he was like  Shadow, if Shadow  could shoot. Even with the  decades of practice, I don't think he's better..but.. I am a bit Biased... Si was  returning  from getting Melia  and Orria   situated

  Nil?  what can you tell Roy and Lyri about  Ka-Li...

 Si   shook her head,..he likes  close  combat.. sidearms and   blades... he is very good  with a rifle and normally uses it  to take out  perimeter  guards  and such... then he movs to  to finish the   job in a more personal  way. He was feared  by the Empire  for  decades, but he grew ...upset.. with Ge-Fi's handling of the war... he became a  Gun for hire.... and? if i understand it... still is....Pure  neutral.. only killign for creds...and..of  course..the sport of it.

 ..great....  we should just ice him on general principals....

 Si took  a glass of wine from the server,...yes... you should.

 Lyri   turns to Roy with a smile,..and i thought  all this party stuff would be boring!

Roy's grin was a little too tight to be genuine.  "Oh, I knew it wouldn't be boring...but it's not exactly what I'd call a party, either.  We should stop and grab my other rifle...unless you're more comfortable with the Barrett and the more limited ammunition covering you..."  He sipped the soda...this wasn't his preferred method of going after a target, but it wasn't so different from counter-sniper operations.

   Lyri shrugs,  with a bit of Bravado in her voice she  says. ..if you  and  10 rounds   can't  save me? I'm Pretty much dead...

  A deep frown   and   a finger that held his  beer p, pointing at Lyri,..the thing here is..not to get  dead. It is  to get the others...Dead...

 Micca's eyebrow raised  at this...that's a bit extreme.. don't you  think, Admiral Hack?

 ..no.... no  i do not.  1 second  after  we  saw the Birthing chambers.. I realized this  was total war....and? You do not win, total war...by being   'the nice guys'. As things progressed, and we heard of the  eating  of  Humans and other   APF people... and  saw the horrors on the Nest ships...I vowed that there would be nothing, I would  not  do, to win this war....So.... Ms  Florine. We fight the enemy on  every kind of battlefield you can imagine ...whether its in The Black..in Commerce .. or  planet side..or... running through  Carrier stations  , cleaning out the  refuse...

 Micca   looked around  , then  held Up her COM,..then... let me   shjow my first sign of Goodwill..this one is free... the rest?..well.. A Girl has  got  to earn her  creds..right?

 ..Ferdinan?  This Is  Micca. I want 1  of the  Loot cases  delivered to the   service entrance of  the Etna Star.. make sure ithas what it needs to make noise...

 ..right away, Micca.. is all well?

 ...so far?   I think, we  will be alright...

  She looks at  Roy and Lyri,..the 'gift' is for the Hermes..... I am sure you  will find use  for it...

"You don't want to be following me mate, I'm liable to be in serious trouble over this" Harry said to Shade with an apologetic shrug, knowing that it must suck to be cooped up and forbidden to do anything even remotely risky, sadly however it wasn't her place to go against his fathers wishes. That and it was never wise to break more than one rule at a time "...another times perhaps...if your dad says yes of course" she finished with a friendly smile knowing that it wasn't much of a consolation but it was the best she could do.

Willingly taking Frans up on her offer of a car, saving her the job of having to steal one, Harry would continue on her way to the lift with Frans.

---> Etna Ops

   Shade's eyes  turned  grey and he nodded  slightly, turning back  to the party, returning to his  seat on the Couch next to Grit, Gia and  Justin.

 .............

 down at the Vans  frans  wiggled  a  finger  at  one of the SEC 'drivers". Will Call ( willy) came over smiling at frans  and her  dress.....whatca  need, Frans?

 ...Harry here, needs  to  finish up on her Op?... You wan to  drive her?

 He looks around  at the other Vans and Drivers,..sure?... I was  Just waiting around for some one to tell me what to do...

 Frans    gave him a  hug, then turned to  Harry,...don't get  killed.. Shadow  would go ballistic if he found out   I helped get one of his pilots  killed!

 Willy got in,where to?
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:06, Fri 23 Feb 2018.

"I'll try not to...after all I'd hate for you to get in trouble" Harry said with a smile. leaning in to give her a quick hug before climbing into the van "The civie docks in the the uppers...oh and if anyone asks you took me to a bar to drown my sorrows ok?" Harry replied when asked where she needed to go. With any luck she'd learn what she needed to know without any real problems and would be able to take it from there, with it definitely being a case of the quicker she finished the job and got back the better.

  ..all right..Uppers  we  go..... as they lift off he says,..i don't know a whole lot , of what's going on...but..the Uppers?... aren't the Folks you guys  hunting , down in the lowers?... Think they would stay to thier own kind.

Roy grinned at Lyri.  "Remember, 'No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country...'"  He finished his soda, then looked at Florine.

"'...he won it hy making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country.'"  He flashed a grin, and added, "An old Earth general said that...he wasn't a Marine, but he shoulda been."

He looked back at Lyri, and jerked his head toward the door.  "Let's go take out some trash..."

  As Roy and Lyri  reached the  service  garage. The saw a  very Italian lookign  fellow, oddly enough, he had  glasses on top of his head.

   Seeing  Roy and Lyri, he  went to teh back of  his car , opened the trunk, then waved a Hand at the case...Micca.. she says,  bring you somthing from the loot.. so?.. I bring you somthing   from the loot...  There are not many like this..no.no..not many..so?  She says  Give you one... i give you one... He picks up a   shoebox like container.

   Flipping the box open, there are 24 , 8 inch rounds.... I do not know how much you know of the  workings on Earth..but there are pon ngoing attempts  for   the best weapons to fight the Empire..this..is One of them..the Blue  tips  are  Termite .. the Red Tips  HE...12 of  each.....they are a New class of  Rounds..they are  Classed  as  2 ID.... 2 inch diameter .  Now.. to fire theses.. we have this...

  Opening the case.  a  Black-as-night  weapon sat.. it is ugly to some..beautiful  for others..The Old   Man took the weapon out of the case, lovingly

  Bipod... 8 inch barrel the  Middle is a powercell for the  propulsion of the Rounds...the  round can reach the speed of  an ESN HAmmer.... You Load  One  round , by opening the   top of the  mini stock.. then  slam in into the  chamber... when you  pull the trigger .. the Power  cell  fires off the  round......Both war head   with hit  the  target and penetrate , before the  heads explode with thier  payload..They were mand   as  Anti Vehicle weapons.. but  work  Wonders on Tanks or Stumps..This  weapon is   Called the  H 46 Jorge... troopers call it, the Hamburg Hammer.

"Not when your own kind are hunting you down too" Harry replied with a shrug as she re-positioned the Uzi to a more comfortable position under her jacket "...besides which the lowers are crawling with ESN which leaves the uppers and the stem" she explained, hoping that she was right about her suspicions and wasn't simply giving her the lead she needed to escape.

  Willy shrugs  as  the neared the entrance to the   Stem,..Yeah?  I guess?... but think of this? You'er  stuck in your house and some one's breaking in? You know for sure you have a way out at the Basement..... but if you go upstairs, you'll have to try to escape from the roof or something? Me?.. I go where I know i have friends

  the  Van  was  climbing now to enter the main traffic  stream to get lost in the crowd.

Roy took a look at the shells, shaking his head slightly.  "I hope she doesn't expect us to take it along for this op...this would be overkill, even for that target."  He looked at Florine's weapon-tech(?), and grinned.  "Not that I doubt the efficacy of the rounds, but we're not looking to penetrate the station hull.  And I've generally found an armor-piercing 7.62 high-velocity round to the face to be pretty effective against just about any Demon...although I can think of more than a few situations where something like this would have been very useful."  He looked at the relatively stumpy design of the 'gun', and shrugged slightly.  "What's the recoil like?"

  The  Fellow  nodded as  Roy Commented, and when he asked    about the recoil, The fellow smiled  , just a bit.

 .. this is designed  for clsoe quarters.. sniper  fights...  the small think housing  and ver small stcok,,take  most of the   recoil with buffers  inside the housing.  The range is limited to ..say...800-900  Yards  depending on gravity... it hasn't  been tested   in filed battles  yet.. You can carry this  in  a back pack.. fasten the  barrel when you are  at your  perch and rain down the 9 hells.... They  sent  2  to Astra.. Hamburg did...... They Took out  One EVOL fighter  aircraft with  an HP  round..they disabled  some  Demon Armor   as they  entered the City... some place  near the North pole of Astra?..  the shooter  eliminated   4  Mechs aand sent the other  two in retreat?... The  Suppressors  make it no louder  them most sniper  rifles.. and the  Muzzle flash is almost no9t existent...sicne the Power  cell send s the   Round  out ward,..most of the flash is contained in the housing.

Listening to the trooper Harry would hesitate several moments as she mulled over the logic to what he said. There was logic in going to the uppers too, then again maybe she was over thinking it and was consequently going in completely the wrong direction. Realising that she needed to make a decision before analysis paralysis set in completely Harry would turn to speak to the driver "alright...we'll swing by the lower docks first if only to rule it out then head to the uppers" she said knowing that without further information there was no way of ruling out either location other than the fact that it would be quicker for them to reach the Lower docks than the Upper docks "...of course if you're right and she's there then I'll buy you a drink" she finished with a smile as she settle down to enjoy the ride.

  Willy Grinned,well?.. If   I'm Wrong  I'll take the Blame...The SM is  pretty cool  with making choices..not so  cool with plain screwing up.....

  The Van Tilts    away from the  Mouth of the  Stem..some Horns and Lights   flash at him, Willy  just flips them off...not that they could see in the dark.

 ..now?.. I  Gonna tell yuou somehting  about  a  Station that you  might not  Know.... You see.. to help protect them.. there are  Hanger s  On the Top of the  Uppers ... and the Bottom of the Lowers.... course , top  and Bottom is  not  real realtive in The Black... but you know what i mean.. Now then..The Uppers , for the Most part..have  all their Tech stuff  and High rollers... so the   Civie Docks up there are Limited..and Most of the Fleet Pulls in  on those docking arms or the Orbiting docks...

 ..Now the Lowers?.. that's folks Like me..Blue collar   folks..  the factories and such are below the  'living surface'..of the lowers....  about 90% of  CArgo  comes  and Goes  from the  Lower's  Civie Docks....Lost  of busy folks down there... good s comign in...goods  coming otu..SEC checking   Visitors..or   folks who are transferring in.....But..The Lowers  Tunnels....

 They  lead to  Refuse  chutes....Garbage scowls  get filled up  and  head off towards the nearest star.. and  eject the   refuse  so it  gets  sucked  in, or flat out  burned  up ....

 As he  Veered to the  eastern End of ther Beach he  grins,..now... if you were gonna escape..and yhou didn't want friends or  foes  ta know  were you were?..................

 They are Flying   over  a Fancy House   Just off the Beach.... The Harrys sees  the   hardly noticeable    oepnign that is  cleverly covered  by trees and such that asys "...Lowers  Doacks .."

  Beth Came on the COMs.......Shadow got  Leena, but he's Down..Nona  is still out there.... we  need  an Evac   for Shadow....

  ..Flores here.. I'm just outside  the Building.. I can get him..but..you know..I'm no agent..i can shot a side arm....

  ..That's  fine..go get him..if you see  a  woman in a white   1 pirce   bathing  suit  and smashed   face.. detain her..

 ..wait?.. what?...

 ..JUST GO!..get Shadow...

 Hack  breaks in,alright folks... we cast a wide net tonight... Lets try to get everyone home... if  we miss someone.. we miss them...I don't  want to lose  anyone  tonight...Now..Tell me you  all understand...

 Flores ..Understood....  Shadow....fu.... I mean..Intercourse... Sir....

Shadow's

 Beth  was    sending COMs, blocking COMs and   snapping out into  her Mic as she watched the  screens  and heard the Voices.

  Grit Looked   around and started to Get up,..mabbee I should Go 'ave a Look an'...

 Shade's  hand  came  down on his  left thigh.. the three finger hand  closed...firmly... he  just shook his ehad   as he watched the Vids while he Buzzed out  some noises...

 Eckles's  hand  was on his shoulder,..I'm thinking  he said... you done  enough for the Night...

 Grit  winced from the pain in His chest..Shade   Just watched  the Vids  as if he forgot his hand was locked on Grits  thigh.

 Shoey came  in Holding  His  rifle in  one arm, Up in the air,..Admiral's  party is breaking Up.... we're gonna be  getting some   Visitors  , i'm betting...

  Beth never looked up,as long  as they stay out of my way....

...........................................

Admiral's Party

  The Business  men were leaving, some  insulted or  disappointed that  they didn't get to Meet  Shadow and his pilots.

  Admiral Richards asked  quietly,..so what do we  do when  people leave...

 ..Then...Good Admiral. You will have a  peek at what goes on at Shadow's parties..well..some of it...