After minimal surveillance effort, there's no indication that the two Vargr kidnappers are going back to their 'warehouse lair'... at least for the foreseeable future. It was kept rather austere anyway, but it seems reasonable that it's the same location where they held they other captives.

This seems like an appropriate place to turn the tables on them... poetic justice in a sense.

Reese suggests that a sleep gas be used to knock them out when they park their work van at home. You can then use the same van to transport them to the other side of the warehouse where the lair is, return the van while the deed is done, thus leaving the Vargr to make their way home via public routes.

It's currently Friday morning and the two of them will be off work at 1730 hours.


Indy gave Reese a rough estimation of the Vargrs' weight so he can adjust the sleep gas appropriately. Too much and they might never wake up, which was going to cause a lot more problems then they'd really like. Best to err on the side of caution.

She asked if there was anything that she could do to help the others while waiting for the shaving to begin.


Walter is expecting to meet with Serge's business associate on the morrow, and the ship is scheduled for departure on Sunday.

Sylvester was giddy, it was like hazing in college! He would help however they wanted him too. He hoped Val had a good time like he planned to.

"Thanks, Indy. Those numbers are better than my estimate, though for the amount I'm using, it won't make a significant difference, but it's always better to have accurate data," Reese answers.

"Did you have any particular pattern you wanted to carve on them? The area could affect the result."

In reply to Reese Hardsimm (msg # 3):

     "Y'know, Reese," Vonon says, having overheard this discussion as he's headed to get a cup of Kaff, "There's a chemical weapon we used to use, back in my Patrol days, called...Vor-Gas, I think it was--it's something the Imperium whipped up centuries ago, that lets security teams safely take down bad guys who're holding hostages.  I'm not one hundred percent certain about its availability here on Duncinae--I know the Caledonians make their own version of it but I don't know if the Confederacy does, as well.  It might be an imported item."

     "Anyway, you could have Pablo or Jack see if they could use their credentials as Longshot's Security Team to see if they can purchase a couple of grenades of the stuff."

     "As I understand it, Vor-Gas has a centuries long history of safe usage against multiple species.  Not doubting your skills, Doctor, but a mass manufactured chem-weapon might be safer than what you can whip up in our small MedBay.  Just saying..."

- Oh, Capt'n, are you talking about this? - Serge pulled out of the pocket and demonstrated him a tranq gas grenade as if it was an everyday thing he was carrying around in the pockets, like a spare change.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:53, Sun 19 Mar 2023.

In reply to Serge Baklanov (msg # 5):

OOC: "demonstrated" a tranq grenade?  Y'mean you just popped the sucker, right there in the Wardroom?!  ^_^


     "Yeah!" Vonon exclaims, pointing at the cannister-shaped grenade Serge is holding up,

     "I don't know if that's Vorgas, or some other substance, but yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about.  How many of those do you have, Serge?"

In reply to Reese Hardsimm (msg # 3):

"I didn't want any particular pattern," Inderpal replied firmly. "I want it all shaved off."

She saw Serge pull out the grenade and smiled. That seemed a great idea.

"That's a good idea, but we'll probably need masks or something to avoid being knocked out ourselves once we enter the room. How long would it put these guys out for? Enough time to tie them up?"

In reply to Inderpal Kumar (msg # 7):

     "If that stuff is like the Vorgas I've used," Vonon responds, "it usually dissipates to ineffectiveness in a few minutes--five, ten minutes at most.  Then, for the first fifteen to twenty minutes, it'll take a medical team to wake up the subjects of the gas.  After that time, though, it wears off fairly quickly, and the subject can awaken as normal.  About thirty or forty minutes and they're awake.  Longest I've ever heard of Vorgas lasting on someone was a whole hour, no longer."

     "If we wanna keep 'em down after the first twenty minutes, while we work on them, I'm sure Reese, here, could give them a light sedative to keep them under until we're done."

     "Also...I've been thinking about something.  Even though we'll still be on-planet for a couple of days after this is done, I think it's important for all of us involved to not try to hide our faces when we record this."

     "This whole operation is based on truth--the truth that those two did mean to kidnap someone for ransom, the truth that they did kidnap Inderpal, the truth that they held her against her will, and the truth that we're doing all this to balance the scales between Inderpal and the Two Idiots."

     "I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but I believe that it will lessen the credibility of our Truth, if we make any effort to conceal our identities.  I'm not saying that we introduce ourselves, or anything like that--in fact, everyone should try not to mention anyone else's name!--but no masks."

"Sounds good to me Vo. And bald is a good answer for them Indy!"

Sharik had been listening to the discussion, sitting at Indy's side.  Her left hand rested gently in the small of her fellow ex-scout's back.  She cleared throat, when Vo mentioned no masks not to conceal their identities, "I am not sure about the legal angle here, Cap'n.  Unless we are filming, the perps are unreliable at best.  From what I can tell from Indy's debrief, they mistook her for another woman - the wealthy socialite, Astrid Cumberbatch, who was also at the winery that evening."  And to remind the others, she brought up a recent stock picture of Astrid to remind the assembled just how different the two looked physically - matching primarily in height and hair color/length and little else.

"If they couldn't tell the difference between humans then .... " she posited, "it's unlikely that they will distinguish them that well now."  The thin astrogator paused for a moment, before sitting up, "Another vargr, however..."  And she got in line with Vonon's thinking.  It may be impossible to mask his scent from their targets; so, the Captain would likely remain immediately recognizable to them afterwards; Shar shrugged and simply noted, "Your call."  Ultimately, she had to trust her Captain (as she had many times in the past) with respect to ways of his racial brethren.

She was gonna carry her stunner and her brass knuckles, `just in case`, anyways.  She was ready, and would be carrying a balaclava anyways, for when they were moving to and from the site; it went with the rest of her outfit.  A dark set of fitted, coveralls with accent piping and tactical webbing for equipment; all covered by long, dark, high-necked, double-breasted, groat-skin trench coat and gloves.  Somehow the ensemble was extremely fashionable (well, the custom tailoring definitely helped) and functional all at once.

Lol. But, I'll be grateful if you will be offering a better wording every time you feel it is appropriate.




- Three of those.



Serge looked over Sharik's shoulder.
- She's pretty. Are there pictures of her in a magazine spread?

Sharik simply snorted, playfully dismissing off her ex-marine companion's remark.  "Not as pretty as our girl." the auburn-haired astrogator chirped, giving Indy's hand a gentle squeeze.

"And pretty much irrelevant, anyways." Shar refocused on their attention back to the task at hand, "You can try and hit on Astrid Cumberbatch after our successful sortie."  All of the pics that her agent had dug up were stuff from the Duncinae equivalent of Architectural Digest - which meant that the girl and her family were old money and liked old stone architecture.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:22, Tue 04 Apr 2023.

Indy looked at the photos.

"Can we drop off some leaflets for an opticians while we're there? She looks nothing like me."

Astrid was definitely pretty, but Sharik was prettier by far.

     Vonon is standing nearby adjusting the vest of what looks suspiciously like a Police Tactical Uniform--he seems to be un-doing then re-doing several Velcro adjustment straps around the vest...

     "What, you didn't know?  All of you Humans look the same to us Vargr..." Vonon says, then throws his arms up in frustration over the vest.

     "Okay, I admit it!  I've gained a little weight since I last wore this, and I'm having trouble getting it to fit right..."

     Vonon is wearing a single piece jumpsuit made from a heavy looking material--likely ballistic cloth--colored a dark "lunar gray".  The vest, looking like the same material, has many pouches--front and back--and clips for hanging gear, it even has an integral pistol holster, located under his left arm.  Right now, with the collar at his neck and the cuffs at his wrists, covered and sealed by Velcro straps--though the pant legs seem to be fitting well, tucked into his black Space Boots--Vonon is looking a little like he's stuffed himself into a suit that's one size too small...

     Vonon looks back to Inderpal,

     "Oh, we get the big details right--we can tell a blonde from a brunette from a redhead, and we obviously can see differences in height and weight and skin tone--but it's the little details we sometimes don't catch!  Eye color, cosmetics use, tiny distinguishing marks, body art, that kinda stuff."

     "And that's because Vargr don't rely on our eyesight as much as your people.  Oh, yeah, all that stuff about Vargr having sharper eyes than you?  That's a load of crap!  On a Human vision chart, the average Vargr would test out at something like...mmmm...twenty/forty.  But then, we don't count as exclusively as Humans do on eyesight, in order to interpret the environment around us."

     "We augment the processing of environmental stimulus with both our hearing and our sense of smell--we hear a faint sound, we turn our eyes towards that sound, then we catch a faint scent from that direction--without conscious thought we process all that together--and we tell our Human friends that there is a feral animal hiding behind a bush, over there, a hundred feet away.  Even though most of us can't see with full clarity, that far away."

     Vonon yanks down on the front hem of the tactical vest,

     "Now, would somebody please help me with this vest!"  Vonon growls in frustration.

- We'll fix that now!
Serge grabbed the strap of the vest and put his knee on Vonon's side.
- Exhale, captain!
And with these words Serge pulled the straps and tightened the vest. Then for a few seconds Serge looked at Vonon in embarrassment.
- Eh.. What?.. Are you trying to say something?.. Why did you bulge your eyes?..

In reply to Serge Baklanov (msg # 15):

     "Gah!  Dats Goo...!" Vonon gasps, trying to get air back into his lungs, "That's Good!  Thank you, Serge..."

     Vonon shifts his tactical vest a little bit, just getting it to settle on his shoulders better, then nods his acceptance,

     "Yes.  Very good.  Now..." Vonon gestures towards Serge,

     "Serge, here, has three knock-out gas grenades--we should only need two--oh, and everyone must have a protective mask!  Filter Mask, Respirator, I don't care, just so long as it protects you from the gas."

     "Did we ever settle the question to hide our faces, or not to hide our faces?  I think we'll have enough time to get off-world if we don't hide our faces, and Indy just uses her first name, when she explains what's happening and why,"

     "Oh, and Serge, The Ship will replace those two for you, just not here on Duncinae.  The first world with decent tech that we touch down on, we'll buy you replacements.  I promise."

     "Okay, so, I've made arrangements to rent an airlorrie.  We use that to get all of us to where the Two Idiots are living.  We locate the Idiots--preferably we catch them someplace where they are together in a confined space--we quietly get close, then we pop one of the sleepy-grenades into that room, with them.  That should keep them knocked out long enough for us to set up the scene."

     "When the Two Idiots wake up--or, when we're ready, we wake them up...Reese?--when they're awake, they will each be tied to a chair with plastic sheeting on the floor under them..."

     Vonon pauses to chuckle, and adds, "hurr-hurr  If those Two Idiots are any kind of real criminals, that, right there, should freak them out!  A real criminal wakes to find himself tied up with plastic sheets on the floor, he expects to be getting his throat cut, soon.  hurr-hurr  I'm just doing it, so we don't leave a sloppy, furry mess on the floor  hurr-hurr"

     "Okay, when these guys wake up, they are tied to chairs and stripped to their waists--" Vonon looks aside to Inderpal, "To the waist, right?  Or you wanna do a full-body job on these Idiots?  We can always just dump buckets of hair remover over them, then use buckets of water to rinse them--no scrubbing involved!  Might even produce a better result if they look all patchy and mangey...everywhere..."

     "So, Inderpal," Vonon asks, "Have you given thought to what and how you want to present your case to the viewers of the Duncinaean dataweb?"

"I want to do a full body job on these animals," Inderpal replied. "Although they can keep their underpants on. I don't want to see Vargr bo****ks if I can help it."

She looked at Vonon's own vest and wondered if she could get one of her own. Then she smiled.

"As for presenting my case, I'll have to write down what I want to say... or we can get them to say it!" Her grin was slightly disturbing now. "Make clear that they did what they did for precisely no good reason."

She moved back to look at the photos and her face went back into a thoughtful expression.

"How much hair remover would you need and how long would it take to work? Also, we'd need to avoid getting it on ourselves. I don't fancy being patchy myself."

"Wear a boarding suit, sealed then. Or a shower cap." he grinned. "Then shower to clean the hair remover, before you remove the suit. or you might get it on you when you remove the suit."

In reply to Sylvester Jinx (msg # 19):

Inderpal did not respond to this, but mentally decided the shower cap would be the best option. She waited to see what Vonon would say in response to her ideas.

Sharik noted simply, her tone entirely deadpan and yet casual, "We have plenty of fully sealed masks in the locker, if necessary."  She and Indy had done the ship's locker inventory a while ago, and seen the two dozen or so life-support items first hand.  They were more than adequate given full-facial visibility as well as a complete environmental seal.  The lithe astrogator added, "We can cover the company logos as needed."

Her hand holding Indy's, Shar simply encouraged the dialogue, "Patchy, complete, or with added body art ... all will be fine and achieve the desired results, I suspect."  She was also noncommittal about any statements, "As for statements of intent?  They know they screwed up, but the physical shame is more likely to hit home than any forced statement.  Everyone knows words can be coerced."  Not that she was saying it shouldn't be done, cause it would be hilarious to have a record of - but, it just may not mean as much to their quarry as it would to Indy.

"Embarrassment by shaving just helps to drive home to them how idiotic they were." she noted, "And might.." and it seemed more dubious to Sharik, "curb future behaviors..."  Or, though she left it unsaid, the perps might just view the humiliation as the price of doing business with non-Vargr and then they would simply try to plan better next time.  And cover their entire bodies to foil/delay identification.

That is why they'd left the lawyer on retainer.  Copies of the recording as well as all of their own public findings were left with the attorneys.  You know, just in case, it would help in the future (and even if they were unlikely to be back this way for a while).

"So, when do we go to shave the puppies?" he asks with a grin on his face. His hazard suit was collected and ready to go, including the helmet and face mask, he didn't care to be bald himself, Val might not like it too much.