Log:Wasp Venom, Scene 16

Wasp Venom 2013/09/26 	 Liam Allison Porter Rose

16

Champions Mush - Thursday, September 26, 2013, 9:06 PM

Liam says, "So do you want the gate in Johannesburg, in Saldahna, or somewhere else?"

Ebon Star replies from where she hovers. "No smash and grab, we go in, we discover where the vault is with no conflict, just a bit of telepathy on people or computers and both. Then when we get the location of the vault we check it out quietly. If Katsumi is there we try to get her quietly too."

Nodding, Interface gestures to Mage, "That's a good question. Where -are- we going?" she asks as she leans back against the sim room's walls.

"Saldanha is where the second vault is, or was, so we can pick up the trail there." that was my thinking, but if other people have other ideas just speak up, I'm small and easily pushed around." The cloaked figure declares.

"I think some of the plan was not having much of a plan. Keep them guessing. So which one are we trying first?" Porter looks around. "We can always flip a coin or something."

<> mutters Allison mentally to Julius. "Look. What the hell are we doing?" she asks, standing there with her electronic sensors cast wide. Right now, after all these hoops she's been trying to avoid, she's feeling paranoid, so... <>



<< I think that these guys seem to be trying to make themselves appear omniscient. Heck, if you can start working on some sort of white noise for electronic communications... I wonder if they are monitoring via satellites or whatnot. >>

"Anyhow," she just asks impatiently, "Where are we going? What are we doing? Are we infiltrating? Are we going in guns blazing? At this point I really don't care. As long as we manage to do what they are -not- expecting us to do. They've planned for everything so far.... even for me getting a wild hair up my backside and flying off to New York on a total tangent, just to give me a message to give to others. Right now, I just want to do something they're not expecting.... for a change."

[To Porter] Mage says, "I think the ladies need a man to take charge."

The darkened cowl looks to Interface in silence for a heartbeat or two before responding. "Ok, so we are going to Sandalha, there we will go to the docks where the vault was unloaded, you will contact their computer system and work out who signed for the thing and who paid for it." We track down those guys we read their minds and their computer's minds until we know where the vault is. How does that sound?"

Porter looks over at Mage and smirks. "You can try if you want..." then Ebon speaks up, "or we can just go with that. Works for me." He shrugs. "That's more plan than I have most times."

The diminutive figure holds up a hand. "Scrap that. I don't give a flying *** how it sounds. That's what we're doing." She turns to Mage. "Outskirts of Saldanha... Please."

"That sounds like a plan. Let's do it." mutters Interface's digitized voice. "Are we going subtle, or costumed?" she adds.

"Costumed for the trip, remove costumes on arrival. Go softly, leave the big sticks for later, or if we're lucky, not at all." Ebon replies. "We need more stuff we can buy it there."

"Well, I can be sneakier... with the costume these days. Installed a cloaking device, and I don't even need to turn left to use it." offers Interface, her mood improving.

"I'm hoping no costume..." Porter smirks, "or I'm going to have to find one somewhere." He isn't a spandex monkey. He's just, well, Porter. "I can try and do subtle, though."

Mage opens a portal. Through it can be seen the outskirts of an urban area and the smell of the sea.

"Invisible to sight?" Ebon asks, "that would be very handy." She nods to Porter. "Awesome. Good we're all on the same page." As the portal opens she looks through for a second. "thank you very much." She grants the Doctor before stepping through.

Liam says, "Please don't start any wars."

Porter gives Mage an impromptu and militarily-incorrect salute. "See you on the flip side, or whenever we get back." Then he's walking on through to the great wild lands of Zu.

Saldanha, also known as Saldanha Bay, is a town of a little over twenty-one thousand people, located 110 kilometres (70 mi) north of Cape Town on the northern shore of Saldanha Bay. September is spring in Saldanha and a few brave (optimistic) people can be seen wearing shorts despite the 55 degree weather. It is morning there.

Mage closes the portal after the trio passes through without further comment and without waiting for replies.

Saldanha is not a small town, but it is much smaller than Colonial Bay. Most people in the town work at the port, whose major export is ore. There are some *big* ships docked.

Rose peels away her robe to reveal a tiny teenager. Shoving the robe into a satchel sewn on the inside she loops the shoulder strap bandolier style over one shoulder and starts trooping toward town with a determined gait. on arrival at the port she moves to the dock's management centre.

Porter hasn't seen Rose without the all-encompassing cloak. He tries not to stare, though, as they continue on. "So, we ask around about the big vault on a big truck?"

A brief check of their briefing material and an internet search reveal the location of the trucking company that delivered the vault to Saaldanha. As they approach Rose briefs Porter. "So what's going to happen is you're going to walk in and ask them to see the delivery invoice for this consignment." they're going to pause for a moment and then they're going to print it out for us. If there's multiple people in the front office try distracting them while I mind control ok, doesn't need to be an explosion, a spilled cup of coffee will do the trick."

The offices of the Harrigan trucking company are easy to find. Trucks enter and leave a fenced gravel yard with a small shack in the center.

Moving up to the shak Rose opens the door and steps inside, glancing around the gloomy interior as her eyes adjust slowly from the glare of the sun to the confines of the office.

"Ok... I'm sure I can come up with a distraction..." Porter just hopes the malfunction isn't in the printer. He heads for the yard and then the shack after Rose. Ladies first and all that.

The Coloured man in the shack is alone, dressed in a plaid dress shirt unbuttoned low enough to show a white tank top underneath. He is smoking a cigar and smoke billows out when Rose opens the door. He looks a bit surprised to see a White girl in his office and hurries to button his shirt.

Rose turns to Porter with an expectant expression as though waiting for him to do something.

"Hey there," Porter puts on his best semi-casual smile. "Sorry, but we've had a paperwork snafu. I need to get another copy of an invoice. Don't have the number, since it was on the invoice I /don't/ have anymore." He gives a soft chuckle. "Anyway, it came in from Durban. A big giant space capsule. I'm pretty sure you remember that one."

The guy nods to Porter and says, "The big bank vault thing that went to the Academy cafeteria? Sure I remember it." He turns and starts to print up an invoice. "Where do you work at the Academy? Creepy, what happened with all those students."

Rose lowers her finger and turns to watch the door for anyone approaching, leaving Porter, the consummate man of the people, to deepen his rapport with the office manager.

Porter sighs. "Grad student. Internship. I work wherever I get told to... and yeah, things are really crazy right now. Thank you sooo much. Not much compared to everything else, but you've saved me."

The supervisor says, "Grad student where? You don't look like any of the academy kids. Their eyes turned all yellow and they stopped partying and such. The professors are doing cartwheels, of course, but a friend of mine that runs a bar nearby says that this will ruin him if it keeps up much longer. Do you know the students even petitioned the cafeteria staff for *healthier* food and to eliminate junk food from the menu entirely? Wish I could get my kid to do that."

Rose turns to look at Porter her brow furrowing sharply. She then looks to the office manager and smiles. "Thank you for your time." She then leads the way out of the office, striding rapidly across the carpark. Even as she walks she pulls out a smart phone and pulls up some pages. Once at the entrance to the truckyard she pauses a moment to get her bearings then strike out toward the campus.

"Some health kick, not for me, though!" Porter shrugs and waves. "Thanks again!" He then hurries out before his helpful mouth gets him in trouble and/or dirty looks from females. It's notorious for both.

As the two engage on their forced march from trucking office to print place to campus cafeteria Rose comments. "General rule: someone offers you a conversational opening to get more info than you have, take it."

Porter shrugs. "Sorry. Didn't want to stick my foot in my mouth by playing in too deep. We got what we needed... right?" He's not sure, other than her going to town on her PDA.

"Yeah, we did. So we're going to the cafeteria. If we are questioned we are health food representatives from Cape Town, if they ask for ID just hand over your driver's licence. They will see a completely normal Cape Town Driver's Licence with the right name on it. They may photocopy the ID, or scan it, but we if that happens we're going to have to deal with it." Rose looks to the tall man. "You're the adult, I'm the young intern so you do most of the talking. One of the people in our office in our Cape Town office is a nephew of Professor Tshehla. His name is Mkhaya, he heard about the new interest in health foods and we thought it would be a good opportunity to make contact, get to know them, get to know their operation and see what we can do to meet their needs. Express a strong interest in what they already have on the menu, it's nutritional qualities, if we forge a formal deal the last thing we need is our brand being associated with charlatan junk. Does that all make sense?"

Rose is armed with the best weapon that a female teen can have in a military academy: cuteness. The men at the academy may be on a campus-wide self improvement kick, but they are still teens and most of them include successful dating under the umbrella of self improvement. No sooner does Rose enter the campus grounds than a couple underclassmen in dark green and khaki dress uniforms veer her direction.

"Hi!" the more confident of the pair says immediately. "Can I help you find anything?"

Rose nods, looking between the two. "certainly, I'm looking for the cafeteria actually, we're hoping to talk to the manager there about upgrading the menu with healthier options."

Porter can't blame them... and yet she wants him to do the talking? Maybe it's so they won't really be listening to what he's saying. "Hi there, and I hope you can. We're looking for the cafeteria."

The underclassmen only make it a few steps before being shooed away by a slightly older young man with a red stripe down his green pants leg. He leads the pair to the cafeteria, which is mostly empty. Only a set of twin blonde bodybuilders are hanging out, playing cards. Everyone else passing through the cafeteria seems in a hurry to be somewhere.

Rose looks over the cafeteria, her gaze pausing momentarily on the twin body-builders and blinking. She then follows Porter up to the counter, poised dutifully to one side of the company's senior representative.