Log:Guild Expedition, Scene 8

Guild Expedition 2016/06/07 	 Psyn Wasp Assistant Ambassador McLeod Robe Spirit Star Girl Cleb Inforcer Sel Revenant - Assassin

8

The heroes have arrived at the Guild station of Cerule One, a large cylindrical structure orbiting the planet Cerule. It's approximately the size of a small Earth city. While Dorian went with the diplomats to speak to the Guild Council, the team split up into two groups. Star Girl, Grimm, and the Torus went to the underlevels...the seedy part of the station, where after some dealings with the alien Ekhena, an exchange of knowledge was brokered. Meanwhile, Vicki and Dragonfly went to the Bastion district to meet with Inforcer Diviak. They toured the medical facilities and stopped a crazed gunman.

The group has now reunited aboard the ship with Dorian as well so that information can be exchanged with the rest of the team.

The team is in the main lounge area on the ship. Dorian paces back and forth, "...the council seemed to be pretty receptive to our overtures. So far, so good. We've been invited to go on a tour with one of the high ranking Auht'ora officials. This will be a more formal kind of tour, though. So, I'd like everyone along, but we need to remember that we're in a diplomatic role."

Star Girl has been quiet since the meeting with the Ekhena. "Got it, boss." she says, adding a nod for emphasis.

A woman from the diplomatic corps, with short red hair and perhaps in her late 20s, walks over to where you are, joining Dorian. "I'll be the official diplomat along on the tour. I'm Assistant Ambassador McLeod."

Robe diffidently raises a hand then murmurs in a deep baritone, "Ask of the Assistant Ambassador, who are the Auht'ora?"

Psyn nods her head as she listens, taking things in. She doesn't have too much to add herself.

The Mechanic- and not The Torus attends today's meeting with the Ambassadorial Officials. He nods at Assistant Ambassador McLeod, and smiles at Robe's question, but otherwise has been quite silent since their adventure exploring the virtues of the Buddy System.

Star Girl smiles slightly, appraising McLeod with a glance. o O ( Assistant Ambassador... Not bad for someone who's not too much older than am I! )

Miss McLeod says, "They are an avian race, or at least one that's descended from such. They have a warlike culture, with a stress upon order and caste. There are three primary castes: Warrior, Scholar, and Commoner. They don't have wings, but their bones are hollow, and their armored ridges on their body are layered like a bird's feathers."

She adds, "They have a number of their people in law enforcement, due to their predilection toward order."

Robe nods slightly as Miss Mcleod speaks then asks, "Specific rules of protocol to follow while in company of this high ranking Auht'ora? Castes, rules, order indicate strict etiquette, yes?"

Grimm murmurs to herself, "Warriors with hollow bones. Huh..." She's reclined comfortably as she listens to instructions.

Dorian shrugs a little bit. "The Auht'ora are aware that their own culture rules don't necessarily apply to ours. However, I'd suggest just being respectful toward any clear high-ranking member of either the Scholar or Warrior castes. When in doubt, err on the side of courtesy."

The Mechanic looks to Grimm and shrugs. He whispers to her, "Evolution is a funny game, Ms. Grimm. Take the human Uvula. A strange little thing to have." Behind the glasses its hard to tell where he's looking, but it is clear his attention is on the debrief taking place.

Star Girl nods, paying close attention. Her gaze does wander up towards Robe for a moment though.

Dorian smiles. "At any rate, we'll head out in about twenty minutes. You can relax until then, or take some time to get ready. Whatever. Any questions?"

Robe bows slightly to Dorian then Miss McLeod. "Of course, Commander, Ambassador. Follow your lead it shall be."

Dragonfly reverts back to normal form.

Twenty minutes later, the group gathers again, and the team heads out with the Asst. Ambassador and the Commander. They're met by a small contingent of what must be Auht'ora at the entrance to the docking bay. There are four in total. Two are dressed in simple lightweight clothing. Another is in a more formal outfit, with a long jacket over it. And lastly, one is in the uniform of the Inforcers. All have similar facial and body structures, with inverted legs and a swept-back head. Their skin appears to be a series of overlapping armored plates, and their eyes are glossy and solid black.

The formally dressed one speaks up, and bows his head slightly, "I am Cleb, and I will be your guide today. This is Inforcer Sel, our highest ranking member of the law enforcement on the station."

Ms. McLeod says, "I am Assistant Ambassador McLeod. I'm sorry that the Ambassador himself was unable to attend, but I am here in his stead. This is Commander Perrault of Starguard Gamma, and these are those under his command."

Sel in particular seems to look over the team, appraising each person in turn.

Cleb says, (auto-translated like so many things on this station) "It is good to meet you all. If you will follow me, we'll start with discussing the founding of the station. We'll head to the top level, where..."

The tour is informative, though mostly uneventful for the first half hour. The station was actually found, rather than built. No one is sure who actually built the place. It's far older than any of the races which occupy it currently. But its orbit has been solid, and is showing no signs of decay.

Psyn has just been following along with the tour, watching everything, she is by far the youngest one and this is quite fascinating for her.

The group continues into what is effectively a living quarters level. Cleb says, "On each floor, we house approximately 30 thousand sentients. We hope to expand the housing in the near future, as new immigrants show up all the time."

Grimm rolls her shoulders back and smiles with some amusement to herself. She doesn't even turn around to sense anything amiss. She stays where she is in the group, but a quiet whisper of her voice can be heard in Dorian's ear. "Commander, we're being followed by something in cloaking."

Robe pays attention to the tour but spends much of his time observing the various sentients in and around the group.

Dorian raises a brow and manages to not immediately look around. He just nods once. He makes a brief hand gesture of moving his hand in a horizontal circle. He says to Cleb, "So, how many different races are on the station?"

Star Girl's eyelets narrow. She's letting the higher ranking people take the lead in this tour. She looks around for someone close by to confide it. She looks over to Psyn. "Hey Psyn. Did you get a chance to see that alien on the station? You know, the one with the, ah, /tail/?"

Cleb replies, "Approximately sixty, all told. Numbers vary, due to the constant flux of immigration."

Jackie is making an effort to stay in the background. She's discovered a touch of xenophobia in herself that both surprises and disturbs her. Maybe because of previous events? Anyway she's feeling a bit uncomfortable and on edge.

Grimm's pace slows a little as they tour, acting interested in some of the architecture as she falls behind a little to the rear of the group. She tries to remember the training Malcolm gave her on hand gestures. . o O (Darn, what does that mean again? Circle around? Group up? Uhhhh...no, wait...that can't be right....)

The very tall figure of Robe chuckles deeply then murmurs, "Polity from which I come seems less, hmm, cosmopolitan than I believed. Only 13 known races."

Psyn smiles a little, "I think I have seen two or three with tails." she says softly. She noticed something following her but isn't sure what to do about it, since after all she knows most of what she can do is best against human minds. She nods, "It is interesting to see all the different peoples. I wonder how thier minds differ." it is something she has thought about.

The tour continues into a slightly more secluded location. Cleb says, "This is our engineering district on the level. This facility powers the surrounding 20 levels."

Robe glances over at Psyn or so one might guess given his head turns. He says from behind his veils, "Most minds of other species can, on a basic level, be touched by those with the proper Gifts despite any outward, hmm, differences. Some species are opaque though. Only the Gods kn ow why."

Jackie suddenly shrinks and pushes the assistant ambassador harshly to the side, ideally behind Dorian. "Sniper!" she shouts. All done on reflex.

Jackie darts with her characteristic dragonfly flight from where she was stood to push the assistant ambassador side-wards behind Dorian. Only then does her mind catch up with her actions... and she hopes she was impetuous. Because that would be less bad than an assassination attempt.

Seeing that Jackie gets the Ambassador out of the way, at least for the moment, Psyn turns and actively tries to find where the red dot was coming from, find the sniper.

Star Girl shouts, "Get down!" to the Ambassador. She leaps into action, trying to get immediately at the Ambassador's side, between her and the perceived direction of the attacker. She tries to scope out the gunman while she hovers protectively by the Ambassador.

A lance-like energy bolt sears through the air in the direction of where the Ambassador had been less than a second ago, only to strike the diving Star Girl.

The surface of Star's suit sparkles where the energy lance contacts it. She lifts her head from where she's landed on the ground. "I'm ok."

Jackie says, "I can't see who's shooting." Which is true. But she's fast. Very fast. Likely the assassin hasn't had a chance to move from where the shot came from. And 360 degree vision means she saw that. Blurring into motion she flies straight for the point where the energy lance bolt emerged.

The shooter is still clinging to the corner of the ceiling and the wall. She twists away, but Jackie almost manages to tag her, despite that and not quite having a good idea where she is.

Dorian shifts to his energy form, and creates a light-dome over the assistant ambassador and the Auht'orans, and himself.

Jackie flies by the spot without impacting anything and after another few meters reverses direction in a way that seems almost to defy physical laws and returns to her starting point.

Spirit says, "Anyone see where it came from?"

Psyn watches seeing the blast and then Jackie head there. She looks closer and manages to at least catch a glimpse of the fringe. She reaches out with her mint to try to grab a hold and paralyze the sniper.

The shooter freezes, still in mid-dodge...clinging to the wall.

Coming down out of the. 'sky?', Vicki is in her lightly armored appearance. She sees the goings on and lifts a brow, "Well, looks like you folks have this well in hand. But here's my question. Is that the one that we were supposed to see while another got the job done?" And she's scanning the area, looking for anyone else trying to use this diversion to get close.

"Well, looks clear." remarks Vicki as she lands. "But just in case... does anyone have any idea -why- this is going on? Aside from the whole idea that we are -here-?"

Star Girl kips up to her feet. She stands, her stance a little relaxed now that she's behind Spirit's protective barrier.

"It's probably karma for all the crazy hats that've gone after the Andromedan ambassador back home," Gabrielle mutters as she spies the assassin again. How'd she lose track of her?

A black field outlines Gabrielle, and from it a shadowy two-dimensional tendril stretches out towards the assassin. It's several meters long, and reminiscent of a Kraken's tentacle as it tries to wind around the assasin and pin her arms to her side while she's frozen by Psyn.

The tendril winds about the cloaked figure, trying to secure her tightly to prevent her from getting another shot off.

Robe says, "Robe was apparently unaware of the lurking assassin as the energy blast comes from up and behind him as it obviously startles him. The figure relaxes when it appears Star Girl and Miss McLeod are unharmed. The robed figure then murmurs in a resonant tone, "Sleep now, assassin. Pleasant dreams," as silver-gold sand twists through the air from his hands to engulf the invisible and bound assassin. He does not turn around to attack his attenton apparently on the ambassador and Star Girl."

Inforcer Sel places his hand on his sidearm, but doesn't draw it. He says into his communicator, "We have a Revenant on level 18. Send a team up for containment. She's already been detained."

Star Girl offers her hand to the assistant ambassador, to help her back to her feet. "Are you alright, Ambassador?"

"So, obviously, I was a bit late arriving. I was trying to be diplomatic and -not- move at ludicrous speed catching up to you all until I knew that a fight was happening." says Vicki. She shrugs and looks to McLeod, "Any idea -why- that... Revenant attacked?" Her armored appearance fades away, and her outfit shifts back to her blue version of her ship uniform.

McLeod nods. "I am. Thank you." She gets back up and dusts herself off. The Revenant's cloak drops after a few more seconds of being held. She looks like a humanoid figure of...slightly smaller than human proportions. Almost Elven-like. But she also looks like she has a lot of cybernetics. She's wearing a fully covering skin tight suit, and was carrying both a long curved sword and a rifle.

Jackie looks at the assistant ambassador, "Sorry for pushing you so hard." she says.

Spirit seems satisfied that the threat is taken care of. He lets his barrier drop, and he shifts back to his more mundane form.

Dorian(#2348POeACF?)

This man stands about five and a half feet tall, and is moderately good looking. He has blue eyes...brown hair cut into a crew cut, and a goatee.

He's currently wearing a standard regulation navy blue Starguard Gamma uniform with a grey inset stripe down the left side of the torso and a Starguard logo on the upper right side. The rank on the shoulder identifies him as a Commander. It's a far cry from his normal relatively casual mode of dress.

Psyn cocks her head to the side and frowns, she looks back, the question has already been asked but she is curious about the answer.

Robe glides over to look down at the Revenant, his robe swishing as he walks. His head tilts to one side, his hat and veils skewing slightly. "Curious..." He waves a hand as if clearing the air in front of himself.

Inforcer Sel speaks up, as McLeod looks unsure why she was targeted. "The Revenants are assassins for hire. Cybernetically enhanced, and quite deadly. Usually they are much more careful than this, though. And they usually have no compunctions about using explosives. I suspect that there was a reason she made teh attack in this way, but I'm not sure what it is."

Inclining her head, Vicki nods. She heads over towards the Revenant, "Perhaps there are some clues on the assassin?" she asks, "Also, can you give me any declassified files on these Revenants, and potentially on anything pertaining to the case at hand? Maybe I can connect a few dots?"

Grimm peels the Revenant off the wall, her tendril coiling and winding around in a few layers as it draws the assassin closer for the Inforcer to disarm.

Star Girl hms. "I don't know exactly when she started following us. How many people knew that we'd be touring here today?"

Sel nods to Vicki, "I can make that information available to you. They do tend to do a fair amount of work for the cartels. And based on your prior...dealings with the Nar'qu, well...that's my first guess." He disarms the Revenant as she's brought close enough to do so.

Psyn cocks her head to the side, "I can try to seek the answers from herself as well." she looks at the others and then back over at the Revenant.

Nodding, Vicki looks to Psyn, "We should wait and make sure that doing so won't violate local laws or regulations. But.. that is a very good idea if it's allowable."

But then she adds for the others, "What I am hoping, is to learn what specifically we did to warrant such attention, and to find out precisely who was doing the hiring."

Robe shakes his head. "She dreams of having died killing Ambassador MCLeod openly with her sword then being struck down by Inforcer Sel. There is more but I cannot see the dreams of machines."

A containment team shows up in fairly short order to take the Revenant into custody. While that is happening, Cleb bows to you all. "Thank you for your timely efforts. We are in your debt. I realize that the target was one of your own, but you all responded to protect us all, nonetheless."

Star Girl says, "Hunh. That's weird."