Silver waited until she and Rig were alone before leaning in and cluing him in.

"Looks like they took the bait. Mr. Buyer is in the stands and is definitely up to something."

Rig gave a nod and tapped out a message to Ledo.

Looks like a good day to race.

Ledo shook his head, pointing at a table near where the other auditor was hard at work.

"Do you mind if we sit down? I will probably be standing for most of the race. And no, I haven't been to Shrimp Fest before. As crazy as it sounds I'm actually sponsoring a racer."

He leaned in, putting his hand up and whispering conspiratorially while keeping an eye on the security guard. He was still trying to get in her good graces but tweaking local security was a bit too much to resist.

"Truth be told we don't plan on winning at all but it was the only way we could guarantee a docking berth with the line of ships waiting to land."

Nero cocked his head and smiled at Ansley.

"Why don't you come with me. Jewel Sector...inner core...whatever. There's no place I'm headed in particular and having someone to travel with who isn't paid to keep me safe would be a pleasant change of pace. I know you're busy with all this Pansy Paws stuff but when you're done with all that or you can't stand doing...all this..."

He waved his hands around for the whole scene. Her co-stars were all getting drunk or high or both.

"Look me up and I'm sure I can bring you along on my grand interstellar adventure."

Time for a bit of acting. Tepha continued to cough and clutch at her throat.

"Oh...oh no...where is the restroom. Please I need to..."

She slid off her stool and then tumbled to the ground continuing to cough. She reached up and grabbed the mans arm, clutching at him for support.

"<cough cough>...take me...bathroom..."

Rig just snorted.

"...but not really, right? No way they'd actually disqualify someone for something that simple, right? Wouldn't that mess up all the betting?"

Rig

Kastor glances at you before looking back at the disappearing biker.  "Oh no.  They are really strict about it.  The tunnel used for the race goes by the pumping station.  There's some kinda security check or somethin'.  I dunno.  Anyway.  No one was allowed to do a practice lap before hand.  Couple of teams had requested it.  I guess that guy wouldn' take no for an answer."

Someone buzzes Kastor on his comm.  He looks back at you.  "Your green light certificate will hit your comm in a minute.  Just reply back with any questions or concerns. Best a' luck."

He glances at your bike.

"You're gonna need it," he mumbles as he walks away.

Silver walks up as Kastor saunters off.

Insert Silver's comment and Rig's reaction here

---

Tepha

Mr. Desperate is back, looking panicked.  He helps you up and towards the back of the box.  There's a long hallway leading down to the restrooms.

---

Nero

Ansley laughs.  "That sounds fun."

She looks out the window, sipping her drink.  "Nero...you do know I'm a guy, right?"

She glances back up at you, a smile on her lips.  "Just kidding.  I've been watching some of your vids.  You're in a prank war, huh?  You want to score a big prank?  I just thoughta something."

---

Ledo

"Oh my!  That is the funniest thing I've ever heard!  Which isn't saying much since I'm an accountant."  Nassie laughs and joins you on the couch.

"That is insane.  How did you just happen to have a racing team on board though?  The odds of that seem kinda ludicrous."

---

BB

Trabor is a squat woman who looks like she's probably raised 10 boys, all of whom came out of her fully grown and all of whom are now cops.

She puts her hands on her hips and studies you up and down.  "You're one a' the private security details, huh?  Thought I recognized you.  Well?  Whaddya want?"

Things are coming to a point I promise.  We will be getting there soon.

Silver bristled but Rig put a hand on her shoulder and shook his head.

"Not worth it, remember? We're not here to win, just to race, right?"

Silver glared daggers at the departing tech but gave a nod and went back to focusing on her bike. Silver had entertained thoughts of winning the race but now looking around she realized that had been a stupid fantasy and her best hope now was to not be in last place.

With a sigh she reved her engine to test it and tried not to be depressed at the sound of her motor compared to the bikes around her.

Once they are out of the room Tepha starts walking a bit steadier but still leaning heavily on Mr. Desperate for support.

"Thanks...thanks for helping. I'm so sorry but I was not ready for that."

She continued to cough as they went down towards the bathroom. She gave him a weak smile before entering and closing the door behind her. Once inside she could lay off the theatrics but she did run some water to wash the taste out of her mouth. She didn't stay in there too long for fear he might get a different idea and wander back to the party.

Nero let a flash of panic cross his face but then he tried to play her joke off.

"Hey you know when the lights go out it's all good."

At the mention of a prank war he perked up. That really did mean she had been watching his videos. Things had just been kicked up a notch.

"Oh yeah? What? Our plan was going to wait for the bugga boys to try and prank our room and then get video of my guard over there making one of them piss themselves with her chainsword but I'm open to suggestions."

Ledo skewed up his face and shook his head.

"Racing team? Are you kidding? All we have is a bike we pulled off an abandoned smuggler port and a crew member with very poor impulse control. We don't have a racing team."

He nodded out towards the window facing the track.

"I'll be shocked if she even finishes the race. Then again she's getting the best seat in the whole planet to see the race."

He grinned and leaned in, letting his face grow serious.

"Let me tell you though the story of how we got that bike? Shocking. This smuggler had gone crazy with jealousy and basically went on a murder spree. The whole port looked like the set of a horror movie. It was full of booby traps and blood and gore and robotic assassins and the whole time there were these holo clips playing where he blamed his partner for it all thinking he was the one that was going to find it.

Then as we're packing up to leave having finally disabled all the traps and finally getting off the haunted mansion freak show do you know what drops in on us? Pirates. Two pirate cruisers drop anchor."

He raises his tone a bit as he goes on to describe the battle, using his hands to help tell the story.

"Right there in the hangar bay point blank they open up on us, we open up on them. Fuel ignites so half the hangar is burning, they unleash this boarding robot the actually called Killbot and it opens up our hull like a tin can so we've got a beam turrets and missiles firing outside the ship, inside the ship we're trying to stop this robotic death machine and the whole hangar is seconds away from exploding.

That is how we picked up that bike."

He paused, leaning back to see how well his exciting tale of carnage and derring-do was landing. He looked around and caught sight of the woman on her laptop and frowned.

"Who works at a time and place like this?"

Did you forget BB? Not that it matters.



Rig and Silver

As you prepare the bike, you notice what looks like a security team head into the tunnel. Probably chasing Mr. Test Drive.

About fifteen minutes later, things change.

There's suddenly seems to be a number of security people converging on the grounds.  Another team heads down the tunnel.  Than another...

---

Ledo

Nassie oohs and ahs over the story about Clesing's little love nest o' horrors, and the giggles at your question.  She seems to be lowering her guard.  "Me?  Well.  My firm was hired to audit the betting results of...Oh.  Sorry.  Hold on."

She takes a comm unit out of her pocket and frowns.  "Hey...uhm...is your comm acting funny?"

You glance at your comm line.  Instead of your normal wallpaper, there's a picture of a lobster eating a baby.  Under it are the words

HOW DOES IT FEEL?

Then there's the sound of breaking glass behind you...

---

Tepha

Mr. Desperate is standing across the hall, leaning on the wall, one hand in a pocket and the other looking down at his hand comm.  He is frowning.

From upside down, you can see the picture of what looks like a lobster eating a baby.

"What kinda sick prank is this?" Mr. Desperate mutters.

At that moment, the men's room door opens.  A man steps out, facing away from you.  He has some kind of headset set on his forehead.  In one hand he has a long plastic tube that he's locking into what looks like plastic base of some kind.

It's almost like he's assembling a rifle.  But like a prop one.  Since it's made out of plastic.  Which wouldn't be detectable on most scanners....

Shit...

---

BB

You open your mouth to respond when suddenly your earpiece squawks.

Parket is shouting.  "Shit!  Code 10!  Code 10!  Package 2 is renegade!  Repeat!  Package 2 is renegade!"

Trabor turns as people in the security box start getting animated.

---

Nero

Ansley giggles.  She leans in closer.  "I promise.  It will get you ratings.  Go ahead, stand up, and turn on your stream.  I need just a second."

She looks around, holds up a finger indicating Just a sec and heads over to a nearby table which has a champagne bottle and glasses.

She picks up the bottle and walks back to you, grinning coyly.  A couple of steps from you, she suddenly pivots, holding the bottle by the neck and smashing the bottom open.  She grabs you by the collar, pulling you down and towrds her while shoving the jagged edge of the bottle against your neck.

<b>"ALL YOU IMPERIAL BASTARDS BETTER FUCKING FREEZE!  TIME TO PAY FOR YOUR FUCKING CRIMES AGAINST THE OCEAN!"

---

Meanwhile...on the face of everyone's comm unit across the city of Wyltz, the picture of a lobster eating a baby is replaced by a timer counting down from 60....59....58....

Logistics:

Silver and Rig are at the race field.

BB is on the first floor.  The party is on the fifth.

Nero has a broken bottle pointed at his neck.

Ledo is aware of Ansley's little episode, but not about the guy with the plastic rifle.

Whether Ledo, Tepha, Rig, Silver, or BB know about the countdown timer at the moment is completely up to you.

Tepha is behind Mr. Plastic Rifle.  He hasn't seen her yet.

There's been a lot of interesting sychronicity in this one thus far.  The original scenario has really changed due to the choices you've made.  I'm quite interested to see what happens next.

Thanks.

Silver looks at Rig who just shrugs. He comms back to the ship, assuming those are working.

"Uhh...Fritz? You seeing this?"

Out of instinct Ledo ducks down, reaching for his laser pistol...that...isn't...there. It's a party and he doesn't even have his ceremonial sword either. He peeks up from behind cover and then ducks back down in surprise. Looking around he grabs the audit woman that he was chatting to and drags her behind cover. Locking eyes with her he speaks in a clear and calm voice.

"You need to find cover and stay down. If people start shooting you don't want to make yourself as small and flat as possible."

He turns away, scanning the surrounding to see if there are any other threats and asses the situation.

Sadly this wasn't Tepha's first rodeo at a party turned hostage situation. She was unarmed and even if she had her taser that guy had a rifle. She grabbed Mr. Desperate by the collar and dragged him into the restroom before shutting the door and slapping the boltlock in place. Looking around she moved the two of them to the side away from the door and she brought out her own phone. Grimacing at the wallpaper she tried to send a text to Ledo.

Shooter in hallway. Plastic rifle.

Hopefully it would send.

BB is honestly caught by surprise and wastes valuable seconds juts reeling trying to make sense of the command. Luckily her training kicked in...intel. She needed to know what was happening and she couldn't jam up the lines asking stupid questions. She pulled up her camera feed of the hallway outside to see if that had anything interesting that might clue her into what was happening.

Nero had his camera out and ready, streaming her action. As she popped the bottle and pressed it against his neck he flipped the camera around to frame him, her, and the bottle perfectly.

"oH nO! nOt My ImPeRiAl NeCk!!!"

Nero thought it was still a joke because why wouldn't it be so he was putting on the most exaggerated performance ever to kick the comedy up a notch. He was trying to look scared but watching the people in the party dive for cover and the security guards freak out made it almost impossible for him to stifle his laughter.

All he could think was that this was going to be another amazing stream.

Silver and Rig

Surprisingly, the comms are working.  Fritz sounds distracted.

Sorry Engineer Rig.  Kind of got problems here.

The whole low port is on lock down.  Uh...you know that gift we dropped off?  Seems someone is regifting it to every terminal at the port.  It's feeding in a Trojan to stall any lift off procedures.  That useless shit Mainframe's down.  I'm trying to reboot it while having to constantly re-inoculate the system cos the gift just keeps on getting give-

Oh hell.  It's spreading through the comm lines now.  We need to terminate.  Will ping you once I've got things under control

Fritz signs off.

Security is now pouring into the tunnel like light into an event horizon.

From where you stand, it's faint.  But you can both hear it.  That unmistakable Pow pow pow of a firefight.

---

BB

The hallway cam swivels, giving you a fairly decent view of that Ansley Pawny Paw holding a broken bottle to Nero's Neck.

Parket seems to be lining up to take a shot on one of his employers.

Then...

---

Everyone Up in the Judge's Box

Ledo your comm line dings.  Tepha sent you a message.  Nassie nods and crouches down.

Tepha, there's no bolt lock on the door to the hall.  The stalls are of course easily secured.

Mr. Desperate looks at you, stunned.  "What's goin' on?" he whispers.

Nero, you don't have to hold back your giggles any longer because Ansley breaks into laughter.

She steps back, holding up the broken bottle away from your neck.  "Whoa whoa.  Okay Parket! No worries!  It's all good! This prank brought to you by..." She grins at you Nero "Nero Madigan and the Bugg...a...boys?"

Her voice trails off and her eyes go wide as she stares over everyone's shoulders towards the back of the room.

---

BB Again

You see Ansley look shocked after starting to announce a fucking Bugga Boys prank.  Before you can cuss, you hear Trabor scream

"How the hell did that rifle get in?"

"It looks like it's plasticene!  Scanner wouldn't pick up-"

"SHIT ON TOP OF SHIT! I TOLD 'EM TO SPEND CREDS ON A HALF DAMN DECENT SCANNER!"

Whatever she's referring to, you can't see it from your camera.

---

Ledo

You see the direction whoever that is with the broken bottle is staring and turn.

She's seeing a guy coming out of the hallway to the restrooms with a rifle.  You recognize it right away:  A plasticine stealth sniper high powered assault rifle.  It dismantles easily, can be smuggled past low grade scanning tech as innocuous looking parts, and then reassembled.  For long drawn out gunfights they're a joke.  They'll jam after about thirty seconds.

But as an assassination weapon, they're the bees knees.  Whatever bees are.

The rifleman is shouldering the rifle and aiming at the older guy who rode up with you and Tepha on the elevator.

"Aldren Scott Tohmas!  Your corporation has committed crimes against the ocean!  In the name of justice for those lifeforms who cannot speak for themselves..."

Sounds like he's got a statement he's gotta get through.

---

Anyone who is looking at their comm units

22...21...20...

So.  Obviously lots to unpack here.

What I can tell you at the moment:

Ledo can tell the rifle is real McCoy.  As he noted, it's only good for a short period of time before it usually jams up.  The target seems to be the old guy who was on the elevator.  The old guy seems to be some CEO of something or other.

The rifleman isn't paying much attention to Ledo.  Ledo is about five meters away.  Your call on what happens next of course.

Apropos of nothing:  the racing grounds are two blocks north of the Judge's Box.

The racing grounds are seventeen blocks northeast of Nero and BB's hotel.

The racing grounds are on the other side of the city from the starport.  That's thirty seven blocks south of the racing course.

The tunnel leading to the pumping station starts right there at the race course, heading north out of the city and along the ocean bed pipe.

Just throwing all that out there.

Questions? Concerns?

Silver and Rig just turn and shrug at one another. There wasn't much they could do at this point but wait around and see if things work themselves out.

"Well shit. What happens if the race is canceled?"

Rig looked at the phone screens counting down>

"What happens when the counter reaches zero?"

The two shared a bit of panic and began looking for the quickest way out and back towards the ship.

Tepha puts her finger to her lips to try and get the guy to shut up.

"There was a guy with a gun. Stay here, I'm going to take a quick look..."

She crept over to the door and cracked it open, peeking out into the hallway.

Nero grinned at his phone, oblivious to the new threat that had just presented itself.

<perwinkle>"Pansy Paws Pranked! Don't forget to like and sub-what the fuck..."</perwinkle>

Nero's speech was interrupted by the assassin shouting. Acting fast Nero flipped the image around on his phone to capture the shooter. While everyone else was ducking for cover he was worrying about whether the reflection off the glass would interfere with anything.

BB bolted to the elevator then decided to skip it and went on to the the stairs. She could sprint up the stairs faster than the elevator and didn't want to deal with security chuckleheads holding the door up. Once she hit the stairwell she pulled her pistol and knife and checked the mag and slide while bounding up the stairs two at a time.

Her legs burned a bit from the sudden effort but it was nothing she wasn't trained for years to do.

"Here we go again..."

Ledo moved from cover to cover as the rifleman was delivering his speech. He just needed to get close enough to land the tackle and hopefully the rest of security would be able to help him out.

BB

You take the stairs two at a time.  There's a think trickle of people coming down them, which grows both in terms of number and their desperation to get out.  Moving through them isn't an issue for you.  As you reach the top of the fifth floor landing, you pass by two men who are standing by a door, staring at one of their pocket comms.

"Whaddya think is gonna happen when it reaches zero?" asks one.

The other guy shrugs.

Over your ear piece you can hear Parket giving orders.  As you come up to the door way...

---

Nero

You see the guy with the rifle and hear him pointing at some corporate type and shouting some shit about imperialistic seafood or something.  Ansley backs up, eyes wide.

"Brenner?  What the fuck are you doin' man?" she mumbles.

Then Pawny Paws security guys are grabbing the two of you.  One of them puts Ansley in a headlock.  The other one, the grumpy older one who runs things, pushes you behind him, getting between you and the rifleman.

You make eye contact with BB who seems to he looking in through the hall door...

BB and Nero see each other.  BB sees what just went down.  Parket is covering Nero.  Did not assume BB entered the room in case you wanted her to do something else.  She can see the rifleman, and she is also familiar with the plasticine rifle info from Ledo's last post

---

Silver and Rig

There's a main avenue, Sea Castle Street, that runs almost all the way from the race course to the Star Port.  It's the most direct route.

You can take a public transport tram.  There's a station in front of the race course.

Or you can head down Sea Castle either on foot or by vehicle if you have one.

It seems like a lot of people are getting the same idea, because quite a few are heading for the exit gates.

From out of the tunnel comes a deep THUUUUUUUMMMMM sound.  Like something blew up down the line.

---

Ledo

Rifle Guy isn't really paying you much attention.  So creeping up on him is easy...

Make an attack roll.  Rifle Guy is busy ranting so take a boon on the attack

---

12...11...10...

BB brought her gun up ready to fire but then she checks it as she sees movement happening. Mr. Uniform Conman looked to be making a nice tackle right into the gunman. Instead she started charging forward ready to secure the weapon instead.

As if out of instinct Nero moved to position his camera around his new bodyguard. If someone was going to be murdered or shot that was too golden not to capture. Livestreaming a terrorist event had to be his ticket to fame, right? It would all be worth it, right?