In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 603):

May a flying Appa fall on your head.

And I was wondering what you were going to do with the cart.  Looking forward to your answer.

The second tech studies your leg and then kneels down.  "Let me take a look at it at least.  What if it damaged your suit?  Better you find out about a tear in your lining here then when you try to go airborne in your ship..."

He's referring to your uniform which doubles as a radiation suit

He points at your calf.  "Yeah.  See?  Looks like you got a tear right there.  C'mon. I'll take you to the Quartermaster and see if we can get you some new pants.  It's the least we can do."

“Uh…” Rei glanced at her calf, but she still didn’t look too convinced. Oh, it was certainly important, but…still…

She glanced at her cart. At least the speaker should be hidden by then, but she didn’t really want to leave it where it was for anyone to find. “Alright I guess, but…” she pointed at her cart, “I’ll have to bring that with me, I can’t leave it alone, my boss would kill me.”

In fact, she looked around, trying to see if she could spot Rokzi. She hadn’t heard about another commotion so she assumed things had gone fine on their side, but she’d feel much better if she could find him.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 605):

He frowns at your answer.  Like you just said something he wasn't expecting you to say.

"Your boss?  Why would-"

"Hey Jacksey!"  The one who'd knocked you over and was shoveling ore back into your cart gestures behind the two of you.  All you can see are more miners, buyers, security people, no Rokzi or Peri of course, a rather put out looking squat woman with yellow mustard stains all over her jumper which probably got there through circumstances that would make an amusing story if only you had time to hear it.  Alas. You do not.

The second tech frowns and glares at you.  Then shoves something into your hands.

"Get out.  Now."

Then he and the other one walk away quickly.

And you're left holding...a data stick.

This century's version of a thumb drive
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:42, Mon 06 Mar 2023.

“What?” Rei blinked in clear surprise, with a bit of a whiplash at the sudden change of behaviour of the tech she was talking to.

She glanced briefly at the data stick in her hand, clearly a bit lost: either she had missed a big part of the briefing - which she was pretty confident hadn’t happened - or this was completely new. Looking around for a moment, she decided she was going to wonder about it outside so she went back to her cart and started to push it back towards the exit, trying to not put too much weight on her injured knee.

“_{What the hell happened?}” she muttered as she looked around, wondering how and why that stick had ended in her hands.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 607):

"HALT!"

Several beefy looking security personnel come running out of the crowd right at you!

And then past you!

They barrel through the crowd, knocking over prospectors without the slightest show of remorse and seem to be chasing someone.

Huh.  Seems they might be chasing those two technicians you were just talking to.

Well isn't that kind of a crazy coincidence?

Oh well. Has nothing to do with you.  You resume your leisurely stroll towards the exit...good thing you don't have to rush with that ankle of yours.

You hear some shouts behind you.  Maybe those security guys caught those techs.  Who knows?

Hey!  Maybe you have time to stop for a soda!

Rei froze, her heart threatening to escape her chest. It took her a couple of seconds to breathe again when it finally registered that the guards hadn’t been after her. But considering that they were - apparently - after the technicians, from whom she had obtained a data stick which - and she was going to go out on a limb - was likely closely related to the guards’ presence…

Well, it didn’t take long for Rei to decide that the farther away she was from there, the better. Had her knee not hurt that bad, she may even have done so at a jog. But between it and that damn, now worse than useless, cart the best she could achieve was highly unlikely to draw suspicions.

While she did consider briefly to stop for a soda, she considered longer to take something quite a bit stronger than that, but in the end compromised with a coffee…while she tried to call Rokzi or Peri’s ’links.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 609):

You punch out your half caf-double decaf-with a twist of soy lemon order on the vending machine and check your comm line as the machine fills the cup.

Your call isn't going through.  It seems like signals are being scrambled.

Rei hesitated for a moment while drinking her coffee. What should she do right now?

Pretty soon however, she came to the conclusion that the best she could do was to get out to not complicate even more the situation for Rokzi and Peri. To that end, she simply stashed her cart not too far from nearby bathrooms, went in there for a couple of minutes - taking advantage of her presence in there to use them for what they were made for.

When she exited, she left her cart where it was and headed towards the shuttles to take one back to orbit.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 611):

What a great plan.

Wouldn't it be great if it was that easy?

There are all kinds of guards around the doors right now.  The prospectors and buyers are all clumped up in small groups, talking amongst themselves.

It seems no one is being allowed outside.

I certainly wouldn't have complained!

“Uh oh...” Muttered Rei.

The guards were - for some reason - more likely looking for the technicians and their accomplices than for her, but considering that she was the one with the data stick...

Gripped by indecision, Rei spent a moment to look around. Well, first things first, she discreetly tucked the data stick into her bra. Not the best hiding spot ever, but she refused to even consider putting it in other places.

Now... She might go wait with everyone else, but odds were the guards were going to check rather thoroughly everyone's IDs. Which was kind of a problem since Rokzi had told her hers wouldn't fool anything but a cursory inspection.

On the other hand, she didn't really know the place enough to formulate a plan. In fact... Well...

Her decision taken, Rei began to walk around, almost as a touris, trying to not look like anyone but a bored worker waiting for the all green to be given while looking for a way to get out of ghere.

Maybe she could find a good hiding spot for that data stick while she was at it... Put it in the mail? Was mail even available around there?

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 613):

Mail huh?

Pick a number 1 to 5 please

1 then.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 615):

Sadly, there's no bin marked Mail.

But you do see a large tray labeled Outbound.  There seem to be some packages with addresses off planet.  So it's possible you could throw it in there.

Now, if you only had an envelope.  Of course there isn't one just laying there, saying use me please!

You do see a couple of desks, one to the left and one straight ahead.  They might have some envelopes or a labeler you can use to make up a quick package.  But...you need to pick one.  Security is starting to corral people.

After a quick glance at the outgoing envelopes, Rei wondered if she couldn’t simply stick the stick in one of the packages without making it obvious. She decided to first take a look at the desk on the left though: if she found an envelope, she could send it somewhere safe-ish like the navy station or something without having to worry about intercepting some other parcel. But if she didn’t… Well, she was going to have to take that chance.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 617):

There are no envelopes.  Envelopes haven't been in use in fourteen centuries.  Get with the program.

But there is a box.  One end is open and it's lacking a shipping label.  The box is about the size of your palm.

It's perfect....almost too perfect...

No.  It really just a palm sized box without a label.  Nothing sinister about it.

Rei briefly hesitated: for all she knew, she would be able to bring back the stick just fine with no one being the wiser and putting it in the box would on the contrary ensure that it wasn't going to reach its destination.

But... Well, she didn't know what that damn stick was and she definitely didn't want to risk it being found in her. Who knew what would happen then? No, it was much better putting it in the box and ship it away.

Her decision taken, Rei put the stick in the box and closed it, then grabbed a shipping label to send it to the customs office at the navy station. She was merely guessing that such a thing existed, but worst case scenario it would be sent to the station for the people there to worry about finding said office. And hopefully, it wouldn't raise the suspicions a parcel addressed to the major would.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 619):

You seal the box as a security officer suddenly shouts nearby, "Everyone over here!  Line up!  You can leave once you've been searched!"

They search you.  But the guards who do so don't look at you again once they're done.  One of them just waves you through the door.

What does Rei do now?  I also need to know how she goes about doing so.  If that makes sense.

Thanks

Not having done anything wrong - obviously! - Rei didn’t mind lining up too much. She wasn’t going to pretend she enjoyed the search all that much, but… Ah well, it was done and over. Still, while she waited, she looked around to see if she could spot Peri or Rokzi.

Oh, she knew what she was supposed to be doing if they got separated - which seemed to be the case… - but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t prefer being with them even though the next part wasn’t supposed to be the most difficult one. Hopefully. Had she jinxed herself?

Uh… Well… Once through the door, Rei began to look for a ship she could get on to go back in orbit.

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 621):

We've accomplished what we need to accomplish.  Let's get you back in Kaya's headspace now

Kaya, you get a signal.  It's Rokzi.

...had some trouble...fine now. Heading...heard from Rei?

“Understood.” Calmly replied Kaya.

Before adding a second later in a deceptively calm tone. “And am I supposed to understand from your question that you have, somehow, managed to lose Rei?”

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 623):

...complication...security came down...not on us...lost sight of her...crowd...think she's...shuttle...hear me?...tracker...

Oh that's right.  Rokzi tagged Rei with a tracker which she didn't know about.  You flip it on.  You are getting a signal, though not a strong one.  She seems to be on a shuttle which is headed for...the high port.

“You're breaking up.” Kaya growled while she checked on Rei's tracker.

“She is headed to the High Port indeed.” The young lieutenant confirmed soon enough. “Are you getting her on the way or do I need to do it?”

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 625):

...it...interfering...you can...

Rokzi's signal is now officially lost.  As you check the transmission bands, you can see someone is pumping feedback onto all channels. It seems whatever went down at the planet has caused at least one of the companies to start jamming transmissions planet side.

Kaya frowned unhappily. She considered for a moment broadcasting a rather heated message about how jamming a warship's communications was an act if war - or piracy in this case probably - but decided not to do that...for now anyway. Not that she wasn't annoyed, but she wouldn't know if she hadn't been in communication with someone on the ground, something she didn't want to draw attention to.

So in the end, she 'simply' elected to head to the High Port to pick up Rei. And then... Well, she supposed she'd have to start by debriefing the nurse...

In reply to Kaya Wilden (msg # 627):

As you approach the high port, Rokzi's comm line clears.

Can ya hear me now boss lady?  Anyway.  There was a complication.  Not on our end though.  Seems like security clamped down on the hall.  They were looking for someone and I don't think it was us.  I saw them hustle a couple of tech looking guys out a side door.  And they seemed to be searching everyone.

I've been able to confirm Rei got off planet safely.  Sending you her tracking tag now.

Only concern I've got is from the chatter I'm hearing from the security here on the shuttle.  Sounds like we're gonna get searched again once we get off onto the high port.  I'm gonna ditch this comm.  But Rei might not know what's goin' on.  And if they find either her comm or the tracker...

You can see Rei's signal.  Laying it over a schematic of the high port looks like she's...in an office in the section housing ESC corporate staff.

You have no idea what she would be doing there.