All right, Adhan thought to himself, let's see who this Zazu is. He scanned for the name to see if there was any contact information, recordings, older communications, notes, etc.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 14:16, Wed 25 Jan 2023.

Kira frowned at the strange readout and clicked on the comm. "Aisha, can I ask for your help with something? I was running a diagnostic on the ship's systems and the sensor array is giving me an error about a circuit I've never even heard of. It's not a critical issue, but I'd like to have it looked at. And maybe disconnect it to prevent any potential problems. I'll forward you the error message."

She also informed Asa about the error.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:18, Thu 26 Jan 2023.

Zazu's contact number was readily available, so Adhan copied it into his own communicator. He then went through the device's contents much like a vulture going through a carcass, looking for the tastiest tidbits.

He found that either the comm was fairly new, or the previous owner had a habit of deleting old information, because the data went only a couple of segments back. Zazu seemed to be a regular contact, a sort of supervisor for the boy. There were a bunch of text messages detailing various tasks - deliver this, pick up that, get payment from those, so on and so forth. Adhan couldn't help noticing that the person was very careful not to include any blatantly incriminating information in the texts. He found a couple of voice messages that confirmed that Zazu was a male, obviously an adult, but of a rather indeterminate age. Much to his chagrin, Adhan was unable to find any visual references to the man - no photos, no videos.

Without a great deal of optimism, Adhan ran a scan of publicly accessible data to see if he could cross-reference Zazu's name or contact number with anything else that might be relevant - gang activity, the antiquities trade, church business, even just a public listing of his comm number somewhere.

Aisha had returned to her thinking space on her bunk when Kira's question came through. She answered back flippantly and headed down to the engine bay while still considering their current challenge.

"I'll have a look... But it's probably that same sensor error that came with the ship. I know you like things perfect, but I've come to consider it part of the crew. Is your knee touching the panel? I'm running a log..."

Adhan was fairly certain that Zazu wasn't a real name. Either that, or the guy's parents had a penchant for stupid names. Still, Adhan tried to run the nickname and contact number through several search engines in hopes of finding something relevant. The initial search was fruitless, but after he mucked about with the settings of the heuristics module, Adhan came across a databank with assorted images collected by some industrious net spider program.

The image in question had been taken a couple of cycles back at some night club and had the caption "Had a blast with Zazu and the bro!" There were three people in the shot - a rather attractive girl in her early twenties flanked by two young men several years older than her. The lighting wasn't ideal, but at least the faces were recognizable. Adhan checked the image's auxiliary data and found that it had been made by a comm registered to the same contact number. Bingo! It was impossible to tell which of the two men was Zazu, but Adhan saved the image to his comm.

* * *

Aisha, meanwhile, got off her bunk with an inward sigh and headed down the corridor to the section containing the sensor array. Once there, she activated the status panel and punched in the details from the error message that Kira had forwarded to her. She wasn't surprised to see that the circuit in question was not exhibiting any deviant behavior. Typical. To clear her conscience, Aisha ran a quick diagnostic, but it showed nothing out of the ordinary. Must've been the knee.

"Uh no, my knee's not touching any panels, habibi," Kira snarked back. "I just thought it'd be fun to pour my kawa into the instrument board." She stretched out and grinned. "But thanks though. The ol' dame is overdue for a checkup for sure."

"And how's our wizard of the data streams doing?" she asked Adhan. "Find anything apart from smut and dance videos?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:16, Mon 30 Jan 2023.

"It wasn't even good smut," Adhan complained. "But the kid clearly seems to be doing errands for some kind of gang, reporting to somebody called Zazu - one of these two guys." He showed the rest of the crew the picture. "I've got his comm number if somebody feels like confronting him, but haven't been able to track down anything else about him."

He pauses thoughtfully for a moment. "We might even be able to send him a text message spoofing the kid's comm code, assuming the real kid hasn't contacted Zazu yet."

Asa raised an eyebrow as she looked at the picture. "Zazu, huh? That name sounds straight out of a children's movie," she remarked drily. "But hey, if it's good enough for some low-level gangster, it's good enough for us."

She nodded at Adhan's suggestion. "That's a clever idea, Adhan. I like it. Let's give it a shot and see if we can get a reaction out of this Zazu character. You've seen the lookout's writing style, I presume. Can we keep it short and sweet? Something like 'Discovered something interesting. Meet me at so and so in one hour"

"Hmmm...maybe," Adhan mused. "If we call a meet at a place they've met before, we'd have to expect gang presence, and if not, he'll be suspicious. We also can't know if the kid has contacted Zazu already, so if we go, we need to go expecting trouble. But I'll give it a shot..."

Adhan began reading through the pair's previous text communications intently, looking for any previous interactions along the same lines and a place they might call for a meeting.

Aisha chimed in.

"Where are you Adhan? I'll come help. No offense but... you're not the youngest-sounding."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Adhan snapped back. "I am fully conversant in the argot of the youths!" He broke up laughing, then said, "Come to the mess, we can brainstorm something."

Adhan scanned the boy's previous texts, looking for mentions of meeting places. There were a number of references to the usual hang and the crib, which wasn't very helpful, but a couple of messages mentioned the Juice or simply the J (as in "come to the J").

"Anybody know of a place called 'The Juice' or something like that?" As he spoke, Adhan started scanning the station directory for any businesses with a similar name.

Kira thought for a moment and then said, "I think I might know someone who could help us out. I have a few friends from the Zenith Academy who are now working on Corolis. They might have heard of this 'Juice' place. Let me give them a call."

She quickly took out her comm and started scrolling through her contacts. "Let's see... here's Leila, she's a pilot like me. And here's Amez, he's a mechanic. Oh, and this one's Arlo, he's a security consultant." Kira paused, considering each option. "I think Arlo would be the best bet. He knows the station inside out and he's always up for a bit of adventure."

She pressed the call button and held the comm to her ear. After a few rings, a gruff voice answered. "Arlo speaking."

"Arlo, it's Kira. How's life treating you?"

"Kira! Long time no see. Life's good, just busy as usual. What's up?"

"I've got a bit of a strange question for you. Have you ever heard of a place called 'The Juice' or something like that?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:56, Mon 06 Feb 2023.

Aisha scanned her memory. "The Juice... Hmmm... It's probably at one of the major nightspots on Coriolis. The name might've changed since I was there in study cycles, but it's probably one of the same old seedy few that cater to underage kids."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 12:05, Tue 07 Feb 2023.

It didn't take Adhan a long time to come up with a list of venues that had the word "juice" or its derivative in them.

The top search answer was a network of small vending kiosks scattered across Coriolis called The Juice Stop, dealing mostly in healthy food, snacks and drinks. Also, there was a small café called Simply Juice right outside the spaceport, a two-minute walk from the Spice Plaza.

The Ozone Plaza had a tech shop called Juiced. Another one, named Re-Juice, was situated in the Terrim block not far from Wahib's.

Next there was a list of drinking and entertainment venues. Wild Juice was a bar and striptease joint coreward from the Spring Plaza, right past the Stairdom. Juice Brews was a rather unsavory watering hole in one of the many alleyways surrounding the Market Plaza. In the Core, there was a rather affordable restaurant called Joyful Juice in the Student District and a men's club called Jingle Juice not far from the Stadium.

Finally, due to its questionable etymology, came Jussy, a joint catering to a specific clientele looking for porn holos and proxy trips. Adhan was almost certain that, for a price, the place had heavier under the counter stuff that would be considered illegal, if not for the Guard looking the other way for a slice of the pie. The place was located in the alleys between the Spring and Market Plazas.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:56, Tue 07 Feb 2023.

"Well, there's plenty of options...too many, in fact." Adhan stretched and rotated his neck. "I think we can rule out the healthy juice bars, but there's still plenty of regular bars, strip clubs, porn shops, and tech stores...could be any of them."

He paused a moment. "I wonder if he's ever called any of them on this phone? Maybe I can check the location tracking and see if he's been to any of those places..."

Kira could almost hear Arlo scratching his head on the other side of the line. "The Juice?" he said, his tone betraying uncertainty. "I've never heard of any establishment referred to by that particular name, although there are a number of places with similar names. There's Re-Juice, the tech shop in the Terrim block, it has slightly lower prices than those at the Ozone Plaza. I know students often gather in the Joyful Juice in the Core, it's not too expensive and surprisingly edible. There's a horrid place called Juice Brews near the Market Plaza, do not go there, the booze is nausea-inducing, and there's always someone itching for a fight there. And that's about everything that comes to my mind. You looking for a fun time, as always?"

Adhan, meanwhile, scanned the hoodlum's call log for anything resembling one of the locales he had found on the network. Unfortunately, none of the numbers seemed to match the contacts publicly listed in the station's directory. Adhan rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration, his eyes tired. As another thought flashed through his mind, he checked the comm's location tracking, only to find that it had been turned off.

Kira let out a deep sigh, frustration evident on her face. "Arlo, I appreciate your help, but none of those places are ringing a bell. I'm starting to think we need to try something else."

She leaned back in her chair, tapping her fingers on the armrest. "Adhan, is there anything else we can do? We need to find this guy. Can we run a facial recognition thingamajig? Maybe we can catch a glimpse of Zazu and figure out where he's been going or who he's been hanging out with."

Farah opened her eyes slowly. Her consciousness returned to her by degrees until she became fully aware of the minute beeps and creaks of the ship. She sat continuing to listen to these for exactly one minute rising to her feet. She had never fallen asleep during her meditation, but it took a moment to release herself from it. Especially since she spent the early parts inebriated.
She remembered the tasks of her companions and, dressed in basic civilian clothes that she would never wear outside the ship for their lack of combat capability, thought it good to see how they were doing. Farah exited her room and greeted the others with a bit more warmth than she would have shown outside.

"Hello, you all look like you need a ghraybeh and some sleep. Have we made any progress?"
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 21:34, Wed 01 Mar 2023.

Aisha made a sour face.

"No! But you're right about the drink."

She dropped her device onto the table in disgust, pushed back the chair, stood up and hit the comm.

"Ok Kira, Farah's right! This'll all look better in the morning. Break out your stash - I know you have some!"

"Sure, gimme a second," grinned Kira. "Meet up in the Temple room in ten."

Kira grabbed her tin box of ghraybeh and a bottle of wine from the kitchen before making her way to the temple room. She lit candles, carefully poured the wine into glasses and took a deep breath, allowing herself to relax for the first time in what felt like days.

As the rest of the crew entered the room, they were greeted by the warm ambiance and the delicious aroma of crumbly, buttery cookies. Kira took a sip of her wine, savoring the moment of tranquility in the midst of their mission.

Asa sat down on the soft pillow, letting out a deep sigh, feeling the tension in her body slowly start to dissipate and relished the sweet taste of the cookie and the warm feeling of the wine in her throat. She leaned back against the wall of the temple room, letting her thoughts wander as she listened to the soft chatter of her crewmates.

The flickering candlelight cast a warm glow over the room, and the cozy atmosphere was a welcome change from the sterile confines of the ship's bridge. Asa closed her eyes, letting the calming energy of the temple and the Icons wash over her.

"Thanks for doing this, Kira," she said, a hint of weariness in her voice. "I think we all needed a break from the stress of that job."
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:32, Fri 03 Mar 2023.

"Ah, bless you, Kira," Adhan breathed as he entered the Temple. He still had his tablet in hand, but he turned it off decisively as the room's calm settled into him. He pinched the bridge of his nose for a few seconds, then shook his head and reached for a glass of wine.

"I'm stuck, but I'm not going to think about it any more tonight. Let my subconscious work on it overnight and we'll see what the morning says."

It had been a long, hard day, and it was getting late. After meeting up in the ship's chapel and spending some quality time in each other's company, one by one the crew retired to their cabins. Asa and Aisha were the last to remain in the temple, offering their gratitude to the Icons for the day past, and asking for guidance in the day ahead. A calm descended over Asa as she tried to organize her thoughts. Everything would be alright. Tomorrow would be a brand new day, and they would find a way. After all, they always did.

Good night, my crew. Good night, my ship. And may the Icons watch over us as we sleep.