| abstract
| - Marcuccilli Parade - Marcuccilli Parade appears to be the major shopping district of Odysseus City, with several large storefronts with several ritzy displays being on show from the larger merchants. Several cafes mingle with shop that enjoy a steady stream of pedestrian traffic. The street seems to be dwarfed by the buildings that reach up to the lower limits of the atmosphere. Bea does alter course, moving for the fellow, with an easy nod - never going faster than that easy, slow saunter. No words - not yet - just that odd, small smile. Oliver is about twenty feet from the Upper Reach. "It'll be showtime soon." Oliver says. "Got to get y'all into costume and everything for it, too. Looks like you have your props, at least." Kestrel strides out the door of the Upper Reach, rifle case in hand, and a faintly satisfied little smile in place on her lips. She too heads over toward Oliver - not that it's all that far, mind you. "Costume?" That gets a raised brow - "I don't do thongs." Apparently, that has to be said, as Bea takes up residence leaning on the wall next to him. Oliver is about twenty feet from the Upper Reach, "Not that kind of costume." he says. "Metaphor." he explains. "We're wearing costumes?" Kestrel asks, as she in turn leans on the wall beside Bea. "I don't do thongs, just so you know." "Oh. Metaphor. You have to be careful with those - dangerous weapons, metaphors. Figurative speech gets a soul in trouble." The Akarite elbows Sabra - not hard, but pointed. "I already said that." Harano stepping from the tavern, Haruno walks past the others on the street, trying to avoid the eyes of those out and about. Pavel comes wandering in from the Point of No Return, his plaid jacket covered up by another for once, a long and heavy leather coat. Not that he seems hot, despite the double insulation, heading for the tavern quickly. "Right. I get it. It's a fitting one in any case today. Just wait until Bri shows up and we can head to the destination. I'll give the briefing on the way. Better to not have anyone cut into the work at the last minute." Ollie explains. Sabra winces at Bea's elbow driving into her ribs. "Ow," she notes. "Who needs a sword when you've got elbows that sharp?" she asks, rubbing at her side with one hand. She nods at Oliver then, apparently in agreement. Bri follows Pavel out of the point of no return and looking a bit out of breath, she slows her pace just a bit, as it seems she was running before that. Noticably she has her black blazer on over her outfit and one hand inside a pocket of the blazer. Bea falls silent, with a low snort - and just.. stands back up, languid, easy... giving Sabra a roll of her eyes, then growing more businesslike as Ollie starts to pull things together. "Sorry we are late," Pavel tells the group as he approaches, not seeming too worried about it. "Was trouble in the Market, but here we are, da?" And then he falls silent himself, evidently waiting for instructions. where "So here's how it works..." Oliver begins, heading towards the landing field at this point, "We get on the ship, I give you the briefing, we go in, all of you do what you're being paid for here, get out, come back and call it done for a day, for those who are new to this." Bri changes direction quickly to follow Oliver, no words spoken yet as she just seems to listen for now, her hand finally coming out of her pocket and she clasps it behind her back. The pink-haired La Terran girl nods in reply, and smiles. "Sounds like a plan to me," Kestrel declares, if quietly. Bea just... walks along with Kestrel, behind Ollie - agreement in action, at least. Pavel falls into step near the tail end of that group, hands idly finding their way into his pockets, the Ungstiri seeming perfectly content to take orders. Deserata Spaceport - Landing Pad - The planet Deserata is a tourist-centric world where most anything is possible, with themed amusement zones where guests are invited to explore worlds of the past and accomplish impossible feats of daring. The spaceport is a great palatial structure of blue-green crystal domes and spires, seeming almost like a medieval castle carved from ice. Landing berths form spokes of tarmac around the port. Within the berths, landed vessels are tended by technicians in preparation for their coming journeys. Unloaded passengers stream into the spaceport proper to claim their luggage before proceeding to the theme parks. The ship, once in place, is a rather small affair. Enough to hold a few passengers and a few belongings. Oliver himself heads onto the ship. "We'll do this on the way in. A milk run, anyway." "Every time I hear you say that, I wince," Kestrel notes, chuckling faintly as she follows Oliver up into the ship. "Cause it never ever goes according to plan." "There's no such thing." Bea is third, murmering that in agreement - "Your ship?" Bri follows along behind Kestrel and Bea, still not saying a word as she just listens to the others. Pavel brings up the rear, chuckling quietly. "I have delivered milk for the syndicate before... and it involved guns." But he doesn't seem truly to be complaining, his attention actually rather focused. Oliver heads onto the ship now. "If I were a fan of excessive risks I could make this a one man job." he says, "And no, arranged for the ship." inside the ship, well... it looks like the outside. Not much to it, a few seats, a cockpit, engineering, and a small room that passes for a lavatory. Kestrel nods, looking around the ship curiously. "Good to hear you're not fond of excessive risk," she observes. She shrugs and takes a seat, then watches the rest as they file in. Seraph drops in next to Kestrel, leaning forward to keep the blade on her back from digging into the seat - or her - and watching Ollie with undisguised, quiet curiosity. Bri moves on inside and finds a place to sit, once this is done she smoothes her dark skirt out and looks up to Oliver, her expression only slightly nervous. Pavel eschews seats as the ladies take them up, and instead sits Indian-style on the floor by Bri's chair, propping his chin on a fist and his elbow on his knee. And he, too, turns his attention to Oliver. Oliver takes a seat himself, the shouts to the cockpit, "Hit it!" and with that the ship starts to take off. Once that's underway, Oliver begins, speaking rather loudly to be heard over the takeoff. "I speak of showtime and costumes because we're going to Deserata." he explains. "Got a warehouse to go to. Got some ID to get you in with your 'props.'" he explains. "That part'll be easy so long as no one blows it. So all you have to do is go to the warehouse, neutralize the occupants. There's a shipment inside. They told me it's food meant for elsewhere. Think what you like. Damaging the shipment is bad. Once that's done, you call me. I call a couple other people, they come in to secure the place, and we leave." Kestrel nods, but stays silent, apparently content to listen for the time being. "'neutralize'?" Bea raises a brow, at that word - the question there very pointed. Bri looks across to Bea, "I think that means we're supposed to try and not kill anybody if we can help it," she says then looking over to Oliver nods. As she does all this, her hand moves to Pavel's hair, her fingers plaing in it lightly. Pavel perhaps looks -just- a bit downcast at that, but brightens again as Bri decides to play with his hair... and remains silent as well. "I don't much care how you do it." Oliver explains. "Kill 'em all, get 'em all to run away, stun 'em all, leave 'em dying and loot their weapons. Whatever works. I just need the call when it's done to call in some people to secure the goods." "Got it," Kestrel says, nodding. She tilts her head slightly to the side. "I take it we're to expect opposition, then. As in they're most likely not just going to surrender." "Do you know any numbers, by chance?" Bea asks that softly, seriously. Bri looks up at Oliver then, "And what is it exactly that you're wanting me to do, love?" she asks, her fingers still playing lightly in pavel's hair. "And armaments," Pavel qualifies onto Bea's question, his head leaning into Bri's touch, though his expression remains focused on Oliver. "Nine to fifteen opposition from what I know." Oliver answers. "Think of the armaments as loot, and a bonus." he adds. Then he looks at Bri, "What I need you to do..." he begins, "is make sure they can't use their comms and if they have monitoring equipment we're going to have you invite Akari herself to come play with it." Bea smiles. "She'll appreciate that." And Bea's eyes close, he woman leaning back (a bit uncomfortably). She murmers - "Lucky you found your new toy, mm, Kestrel?" Kestrel nods, closing her eyes for a moment. "Hm..." she muses, again apparently content to listen - until Bea addresses her, that is. "Definitely," she says, offering a grin at that. Bri nods, "I can do that," she says with a wicked little grin, "No problem." "So... I suppose we need to put our costumes on, then?" Pavel ventures, chuckling. "I hope the purple hair is not a problem, da?" "Getting in won't be hard, the IDs and a conveniently lax gate'll help you for the next couple hours, so don't spend too long on it. More time can be bought but that'll be a real pain." then Oliver pauses, "And questions on what needs to be done and how to do it?" he says, taking out a piece of paper with a crude, but effective map giving directions to the location in question. "Seems pretty straightforward," Kestrel says, nodding and looking over at the map. Bea shakes her head slightly, her eyes opening - and she starts unbuckling the sword on her back, working to get the entire set of harness and sheath off, laying it across her lap.. and then looking to Ollie. "I think we've got it, mostly." She holds out a hand for the paper, looking back at Pavel and Bri. Bri nods, "Sounds straight forward to me," she says, "What are the 'costumes'?" she asks. Pavel rolls to his feet and wanders over to sweep his gaze across the map as well, committing it to memory- following it, if it passes hands, for the time it takes to internalize the page. Oliver hands it to Bea first, "The costumes were a joke. What I'm saying is just don't discharge weapons before you're backstage." and with that the ship begins its final decent towards Deserata. "... Backstage." Bea shakes her head. "This is going to be /interesting./" she passes the paper on, after studying it for a moment. "Indeed," Kestrel notes, taking the paper, studying it carefully, and then passing it to the next person. "Aw. I sort of liked the costumes, da?" Pavel shrugs it off, moving back to his place next to Bri- making sure he's sitting for the final descent. Bri moves to look at the map from beside Pavel, "Right, my poor sense of humor I suppose," she says with a shrug. Warehouse District - Hidden behind a large pair of double doors along the Street of Dreams, the warehouse district is part of Deserata's backstage area. Most of the industrial buildings in this complex are in rather good repair, but a few appear to be centuries old, ramshackle and rusting. The map indicates a warehouse in one of the dilapidated areas of the district. Notably, as the warehouses become of lower quality, so does the lighting. Currently various characters and props are being moved about, making the group able to blend in reasonably well, currently. Kestrel makes her way in the direction the map indicated, nonchalantly striding along as if she'd every right to be there, that black case of hers at her side. She is, however, pretty reasonably alert to her surroundings. The Akarite keeps her hands firmly in her pockets, the sheathed blade carried under her arm - just another prop in the resort's streets. "Over there, isn't it?" She pauses, glancing back to Bri, then to Pavel. "I know you have a better idea what you're doing than we ever would... careful with your toys. The cargo's not to be hurt." Pavel again lets himself trail near the end of the group, blue eyes flickering slowly from side to side, keeping up their own watch. Both hands are in the pockets of his leather coat, a cigarette (no surprise, there) dangling from the corner of his lips. "Five foot radius," he says calmly Bea's way. "For this, I will probably be best as a distraction." Bri looks to Pavel as he explains then to Bea and nods, "I need enough time to concentrate that's all it takes for me," she says softly as she continues to move with the crowd, her hands in her pockets also. And the warehouses become more dilapidated, things get darker, and a lot more random bits of debris, old stairways, scaffolding, and other odds and ends that make the area something like an urban jungle exist. The target warehouse itself seems rather poor in quality as well, though it can be noted there's more than a bit of electrical equipment added to it that looks relatively new compared to the rest of the area. "This looks like it," Kestrel asides quietly to Bea, nodding slightly in the direction of the target as she picks her way through the debris. "Looks like something straight offa teekay, too, now that I think about it. Huh." Bea nods... and then starts for the warehouse proper, murmering to Pavel. "Keep Sabrina safe, and keep them from making it out of the door." She looks to Kestrel. "I don't think you'll have a clear fireline until you're inside.. but if you're going to go look for one.." A shrug. "You tell me when to go in." Pavel frowns after a moment, and tugs absently on one of his curls, uneasily shifting his weight as he moves onward towards the target. "Something feels... funny," he hisses lowly. "I cannot say how or what. But they are doing something... and it is... funny. Keep your eyes open." He moves to stand at Bri's side, pulling out a surprise from one pocket and holding it ready. Bri follows along seeming to listen to the conversation for now, but her expression one of calm and perhaps almost meditative, but her eyes scan the area taking everything in that she can. "Mmmmmmh," the pink-haired La Terran muses, taking a look around. Sabra nods to Bea then, and asides to her, "Gimmie a sec. Lemme get this thing together and get myself up there." She points to a somewhat dilapidated bit of scaffolding with a good view to a broken window, then heads off in that direction. Bea reaches up to turn on her comms - glancing back to Bri and Pavel.. and then drifting on, in the direction of the warehouse, fishing a battered cigarette case out of her coat, selecting one of the tobacco-sticks within with an easy nonchalance. Just another wanderer here, yup. "I am serious," Pavel reiterates, remembering to do it into his comm headset this time, continuing to stand guard over Sabrina- though the way he moves just a bit too close and the way he scowls at any other guys in range makes it more look like heinously overprotective boyfriend than guard. "Something feels -funny- and you need to watch out." Bri leans in toward Pavel, "Pasha, I need you to be my eyes here. Tell me if you see anything, I'm taking care of something really quick," she says softly, and with that she gets an expression of concentration. At this point it might be noticed that the little red lights on all the areas cameras suddenly go off. It might be noted that Seraph doesn't bother to light the cigarette, just tucking the case back into her jacket and moseying still in the direction of the door. Taking her time. Kestrel, on the other hand, is concerning herself with rifle assembly, and then climbing up into that scaffolding. She does pause to ask "Funny how?" of the comm headset before she starts her ascent, trying to stay as quiet as she can - there is, after all, a broken window fairly nearby. "Got it babe," Pavel tells Bri, and drapes an arm over her shoulder casually, though it serves to give him an excuse to somewhat shield her from side- other hand with the Surprise, jammed in his pocket. Lowly into the comms, he notes, "Like... Something is humming in the air, da? Energy." "Five inside that I can see," Kestrel says quietly into her comm, even as she's slipping a power cell into place in the rifle's scope. "Make that seven - five by the cargo, two more walking around, and one outside, approaching our position." She draws a bead on one of the ones patrolling inside. "Ready when you are, Seraph." And at this point it's pretty obvious that someone is showing up, though he seems rather casual about it, not seeming to realize what's going on just yet. "You want me to go after the one outside, or leave him be?" Pavel asks lowly, turning his head for a casual surveillance of the general area- trying to judge just where this one outside is. And, while he's at it, attempting to gently guide Bri to a nice, non-conspicuous location in case someone does look closer. The Later swordswoman stops by the warehouse door. "Let's see what he does." And then.. she tries it, with a tattooed hand. If it's open? She'll quietly saunter right in. Bri is easily led wherever Pavel takes her, "One more thing," she says softly to him and with that seems to focus all her attention. Her eyes seem to loose focus for just a moment and then with a little smile she looks up to him, "Done," she says softly. As Bea heads to the door, he begins to draw his pistol and open with a "Hey, yo--" Unfortunately he's interrupted by an explosive surprise thrown by Pavel, which is a bit off the mark, but distracts him, allowing Bea an easy opening to slice at him. Ultimately, the goon ends up on the ground, not quite dead yet, but certainly well on his way without medical aid as blood spills from him. Kestrel simply holds her ground, looking over the main warehouse floor from her perch. "They haven't moved," she notes into her comms. "Doesn't look like they heard it in there." She's keeping the rifle aimed at one of the guys patrolling around, yet. Bri snickers into her own comm, "They won't either," she says softly, "No comms for them right now, they were bad boys." Pavel smiles in visible satisfaction as his Surprise lives up to its name, quickly retreating back into the dark cranny he's adopted for cover. "I have an eye on you still, Sabrina," he murmurs lowly. "Make sure you stay out of sight, da?" Bea solves the 'unless he gets a medic' problem by a simple thrust of a blade, cheeks flushed and with a quiet, appreciative sigh. And then? If that door's opened, she drifts in - murmering softly into her comms - "Where, Kestrel? Left?" "Cargo's in the middle of the room," Kestrel notes into her headset. "Five there, not very alert. One to the left, patrolling. I've got the one on the right." That warning given, she pulls the trigger on that rifle of hers, its barrel resting against the scaffolding to hold it steady. And the man on the right Kestrel was aiming for goes down. Bri nods to Pavel and keeps as close to him as she can, "No problem there," she says softly, her eyes however are on that door that Seraph sweeps through. Pavel keeps his own gaze on Bea's entrance, murmuring into the comms, "Tell me if you need them confused about -where- you are. I can bomb the walls directly, get them running to one side or another." Bea goes left, inside, moving to take the patrolling fellow at an easy lope, trying to stay low, to catch him out of sight of the rest. Intent, serious - and focused - she wears a tight, expectant smile. The later bladeswoman must have made some noise, scraped a boot on the floor or that blade against a crate.. but her target turns, eyes going wide - drawing and firing in one smooth motion... That isn't /quite/ smooth enough. Seraph moves inside the shot, the gun going off right at her ear as she draws that longsword across his stomach.. and then she brings the stroke back, taking his throat as she shoulders him into a wall. No time to stop, for that one. Her first target felled, Kestrel moves on to the next, drawing a bead on one of the remaining men in the center of the room. "Still five in the middle of the room. One's drawing. I've got him." she notes quietly into her comms, then pulls the trigger a second time. That poor guy may have been getting jumpy and drawing his weapon -before- he was shot, but he's certainly not doing anything of the sort now. That's rather difficult to do when one's been shot smack in the middle of the forehead with a high-powered rifle. It's quick, it's awfully messy, and it works like a charm. He drops like a stone, his half-drawn pistol simply slipping out of his grasp. Pavel waits for any instructions to move- and if they don't come? He just serves as Bri's guard, looking back and forth between the warehouse's entrance and the street at large for reinforcements. With only four people left, two of them finally begin wising up, and seem to figure out where the latest shot came from, pointing their pistols and trying to fire in that direction. Both seem to miss rather badly, one firing into one of the canisters and, well, it seems like a strange green mist begins to come out of it. This seems like rather nasty stuff, too, as three of the remaining four just collapse within a few seconds. The red lights on the cameras that went out before suddenly come back on, but at this point they swivel to watch in a radius outside of their immediate area. Bri speaks into her comm again, "Watch your backs, there're more on their way," she says softly. Pavel gets both hands around a surprise each, but doesn't yet throw- waiting to see if those possible reinforcements decide it would be a good idea to come any closer before he strikes the first blow. "I have some sort of chemical agent - " Seraph steps out of cover long enough to send a knife spinning at the one that remains standing, "How many incoming?" Clinical. Detached. The last standing man manages to dodge the knife, taking out a pistol, now, and aiming at Bea, squeezing the trigger. "There's just the one left standing," Kestrel says softly into her comm. "Three of them dropped to that chemical, whatever it is. Getting out of there quickly seems like a good idea." She turns away from the window, this time using the rifle's scope to look outward, away from the perimeter of the cameras. "What direction, Bri?" she asks quietly. "We're pretty well surrounded," Bri says into her comm, "but they've stopped at about fifty feet or so, they don't seem to be coming any closer. I'm making the call to Oliver," she adds. "Are you sure?" Pavel hisses over the comms. "I would not say we have anything secured while we are still surrounded by a ring of men. Sabrina babe- can you get us some exact numbers? And Seraph, Kestrel- are we taking them on?" The bullet that last fellow fires spangs off of a crate.. and in response, Seraph mutters, "Busy." And she's off, darting around one row and pounding up on the fellow near the containers, that sword - and her - moving into a deadly, glittering spin... "Hmmmm," Kestrel muses, seemingly to herself. "She's right. They're not moving. They're not doing anything. I don't quite get it, but I'll take it anyway." She shrugs, and keeps her rifle aimed at one of them, but apparently isn't ready to fire on them yet. "You alright in there, Seraph?" she asks instead. Bri nods, "We have the main objectives taken care of," she says to Pavel as she takes her phone out and starts that call, speaking very softly into that phone." "If he is only calling a couple people to secure the place..." Pavel murmurs, but it doesn't seem to be a serious protest- he keeps his eyes on those sword-wielding men and Surprises ready, but not yet launched. Over the comms comes a metallic crunch, a gurgled scream - and, after a moment, Seraph's breathy voice, in a very low, satisfied purr. "The interior's clear." The later woman crouches to wipe that blade on the dead man - sighing softly, almost disappointed. "Are you certain the ones arriving are reinforcements?" "...good question," Kestrel reasons. She'd nod, if she wasn't, you know, looking through that rifle's scope at someone's head. "Still nothing from these guys." A pause. "Nice kill, by the way." Bri nods to whatever’s said over the phone and then quickly speaks into her comm, "Stand down, They're friendly. This is the recovery crew, wave them in." Pavel nods Bri's way, visibly relaxing... and lighting up a new cigarette. "Whatever you say, babe," he murmurs, smirking slightly. "This -is- a lot neater."
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)