ic Praetorians: The Eden Program (IC)

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Officer Dressa had been contacting her headquarters as Barrier had asked when Traveller spoke addressed her once more.  The squat Signaian looked up at Traveller as she replied.  "If you are certain Praetorian.  She seemed sincere in her apology and this seems to primarily be a result of some youthful exuberance.  I would not want you to be lacking a necessary member of your team should the need arise."

 

The officer then turned to the more immediate request.  "Of course, we can return to the station and access the necessary information."

[Ari]

Her approach hadn't garnered much reaction from the coiled Praetorian, besides a slight raise of the head to turn two large, green eyes her way. For a little while the drone of the station and the murmur of the crowds filled the awkward silence.

 

Skirris cleared her throat "Uh...ssso, I'd like to apologissze. About the bar. Earlier. They never take me on misssionsss and every time they do it remindsss me why. Uh..." she squirmed, watching the passers-by as she fumbled for some way to proceed "Before you can leave my home planet, you have to take a tessst, ssso they know you won't ssshame the homeworld and dissshonor other haasssaan. I took it before the Incursssion War. Twenty-ssseven timesss. I failed every one. I only got to leave becaussse they got sssick of me."

 

Slumping her head onto the floor, the snake-like alien went on "And now they'll sssend me back. You've barely even been offworld but sssoon you'll have ssseen more than I ever will."

 

"I want to impresss them, let them know I can be ussseful, but that'sss never going to happen now."

[olopi]

Barrier nodded as Sitara turned to her. She spoke so that everyone could hear it.  “We will head back to the craft. Radio contact will be open at all times, we will be able to rejoin you should anything happen. I doubt we will run into trouble ourselves on the way back but should anything come up we will contact you.”

 

Then, she turned towards the Officer. “Thank you for your help. Should anything come up, I will make sure to contact you. I hope we will be able to get to the bottom of this, from the sounds of it, asking for our help was the right call. “

 

With that done, she walked out the door, after her two allies. She walked in on the conversation just in time to hear the last few words. Barrier knew some things about the young Haassaan, and it didn’t quite sum up with what she’d just said. But that was a concern for later. “There’s ways to change that. Let’s go, you might get to do it earlier than expected. “

[EternalPhoenix]

Queenie shrugged, having no unearthly idea what Hyperslice had actually said. But Sitara was here now, so… “Don’t worry too much, sunshine. Everybody’s dumb about stuff sometimes. Comes with being flesh and blood. The thing is to learn from it and keep doing your best. Anything happens, I’ve got your back.” The chef got to her feet. She had tuned her Ring to the Praetorian comm. Frequency so Sitara could give her a running commentary on what was going on in the room after she’d left it. “That said, I think we’ve got more work to do. What’s the plan now? Detective work really isn’t my strong suit. I’m a chef, not a cop. Space or otherwise.”

[Thevshi]

GM 

Queenie and Traveller left the bar with Officer Dressa, who led them back toward the central law enforcement headquarters.  Once there, the Sigian led the two Praetorians to one of the upper levels of the building, where they entered a large room that went down at least two stories by way of several terraced sublevels, each of which contained a row of stations where numerous officers were busy monitoring holo displays and handling communications across the orbital city.  On the far end of the room was a massive display screen that had dozens of smaller images within it, each showing different locations within the orbital city, the scenes occasionally changing from one location to another. 

Officer Dressa led the Praetorians a couple of sublevels down to a partially empty row of stations, and then to the nearest empty one.  Activating the interface located there, the officer looked up at Traveller.  "What information do you need me to access for you Praetorian?"  She asked. 

Down in the lower levels 

Barrier and Hyperslice had left the bar and started toward the hanger where their ship was docked, but they had not stopped at the hanger, but instead had descended into the lower levels of the orbital city, looking for the areas where Traveller had been told the Indigo Moon typically frequented.  The first dozen lower levels were still rather clean and spacious, just not quite as open as the upper levels.  Many of them contained living quarters from the city’s residents. 

But the deepest levels were much darker, more cramped and dirtier.  The passages were just tall enough for Barrier to walk through standing up, but from time to time she did need to duck her head to pass underneath an exposed pipe.  There were a number of shifty looking individuals within some of the shadowy passages of the area, but none seemed interested in bothering the towering Lyankan or the large Haasaan.    

[Tiffany Korta]

 

"If you were just a cook Ms McQueen then you wouldn't be here on this mission. Though if you have time later I'd be honoured if you'd cook some of Earths delicates, been a very long time since I've tried the food from home." Sitara explained on there private channel as they made their way to the available station.

 

Once there she explained to Officer Dressa what she had in mind.

 

"Nanites, wet or dry, can happily make more of themselves once active. But they first need to be assembled and that takes a lot of power and a data feed. If we're very lucky the station's system would have recorded such a thing from an unexpected location."

 

She always enjoyed the legwork, but science and engineering were always a good second option.

[EternalPhoenix]

Queenie grinned. “Now, now sunshine. I never said I was just a chef. But you all are welcome at the Southern Queen any time. I’ll give you the Praetorian discount.” Private channels had their perks, one of which was preventing a perfectly fine policebeing from knowing how frivolous the topics of conversation among professional superheroes could be. Though Maybelle suspected Officer Dressa wouldn’t disapprove of good food. Few beings did. But now they had arrived at the local police precinct. “Like I said, this detective stuff isn’t my strong suit, but I’ll give it a shot. What am I looking for, exactly?”

[olopi]

Barrier “escorted” Hyperslice back to the ship, and then a bit further. After all, if they had the information that the likely culprits were acting within distance that could be travelled on foot, there was no reason not to pursue them. Perhaps they’d find something that confirmed the suspicion, or led them towards something that would prove productive. And if nothing else, it gave Barrier some time to get to better evaluate her Haassaan colleague.

 

She wasn’t entirely sure what they were looking for. The info had been sparse, the Indigo Moon were operating in the area, but that was about as much as Barrier had gotten. There was always the potential of being reactive. Two strangers intruding on their turf was likely to alert the gang. But chances were being more proactive was a good thing.

 

“So, what do you suggest? Should we let them know we’re here, and if we do, who are we going to be while doing it?”

[Ari]

Skirris had utterly forgotten the tavern incident by the time they reached the ship, and had been a bundle of energetic seven-foot serpentine muscle ever since. The trek through the lower levels of the city had sparked her like even the dingiest corners of the upper levels hadn't. Brought up in splendor and elegance, the world of the disadvantaged represented the "real world", of real struggle and real chances to make a difference. That most of those chances had little to do with punching people through walls didn't dampen her spirits in the least.

 

While Sri Melek was content to be her usual silent, ominous pillar of discipline and power self, Hyperslice stopped to strike up a conversation with absolutely everyone they so much as passed by, blithely ignoring the uneasy or hostile looks that usually were her only response. Barrier had to collar her more than once to get them moving again.

 

But when the merely run-down was replaced by actual misery, that changed. Soon Skirris was also silent, watching the city's descent as they left the well-maintained core and upper levels. Some of the damage from the War was still here, something that made her flinch involuntarily.

 

So when Barrier asked her what she thought they should do, it was a bit of a surprise to hear her say

 

"We find one of their people and make them an offer." She cracked her powerful claws "One they can't refussse: with their help, we'll clear their name."

[olopi]

Barrier let Skirris have some fun. This mission wasn’t as urgent as many she’d been on, it wouldn’t come down to a few minutes so long as they kept moving in the general direction they were going. And besides, there was the small chance of her picking up something that would come in useful at a later point, you never knew.

 

The further down the two got, the more familiar Barrier got to the environments. She’d never been one for the fancy, clean streets in the first place. It wasn’t her style. And ever since she’d awoken again, it had been even less so. Her environment of choice were the slightly run-down and cramped streets, where people actually realized their position. She’d spent most of the past few years in them, because as different as they were all around the galaxy, some things remained the same. Even after 2000 years.

 

Barrier didn’t show any real reaction to the even more run-down places, where the debris hadn’t even been properly cleaned up or picked apart yet. She’d seen it before. It meant that they weren’t as desperate as in some other places she’d been, at least. Skirris’ suggestion was an interesting one, even if Barrier didn’t really support it.

“An interesting suggestion. Do you believe they are the target of false flag attacks or do you mean offering them immunity or amnesty?”

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Police Headquarters

 

Officer Dressa listened as Traveller explained what she was looking for, then giving a small nod when the Praetorian had finished speaking.  "Ah, I see, we can certainly craft a algorithm that can look for such fluctuations."  She then stated, and started typing on the unusual interface in front of her that looked nothing like a keyboard that Queenie was accustomed to.  As she was working, the officer briefly stopped the typing to reach one hand up towards a holoscreen to her right to turn what appeared to be a number of spheres made of light with several hexagonal shapes along the outside.  Appearing to find the one she was looking for, she seemed to "pull" it from the sphere with her finger tips and them moved it over to another holoscreen, where it instantly expanded to show what appeared to be some sort of collection of data.

 

"This is records for energy usage for the station for the last decacycle, I should have the algorithm ready shortly that will scan the data for any unusual energy spikes."  She then went back to typing on the interface in front of her.  After a few moments, she finished and was then moving some things around again on the holoscreens around her.  Finally, she looked back at the two Praetorians.  "Alright, the algorithm is starting the search, it should not take too long for this collection of data."

 

Down on the lower levels

 

With Hyperslice monetarily distracted by discussing a possible plan for their investigation with Barrier, the pair of Praetorians continued to pass along by other beings that the overeager Hassaan did not stop to try to speak to.  As they were going, Barrier noted that they had picked up a shadow that was falling about a dozen meters behind them.

[olopi]

Below her helmet, Barrier smiled ever so slightly. It looked like just walking into the gang’s turf was enough to get their attention, as she’d expected. Of course, it could also be somebody else. And then there still was the issue of talking to whoever was following them. She also had to somehow communicate this fact to her colleague, without Hyperslice making any disadvantageous move after learning of it.

 

Barrier assumed that Hyperslice would not know about some of the special signs she and some of her former colleagues had established back under the Deltrazi, so she just continued walking, interjecting into what Hyperslice was saying after a bit. “I believe I just had an idea which could work, follow me.”

 

With that said, she’d turn the first corner that looked like it would lead into a mostly empty alleyway, something that she assumed she’d find sooner rather than later.

[Tiffany Korta]

The Traveller

 

Sitara was used to getting her hands dirty and digging into a problem, she could have probably have thrown something in a couple of minutes. But for now she was playing diplomat so she had to play nice with the authorities. Still, she was missing getting her hand dirty.

 

"If it's a waiting game it might be a chance to try the local food and drink Ms McQueen." personally she enjoyed the experience of trying new things, and not just the alcohol despite what many might think.

[Thevshi]

GM

 

Down on the lower levels

 

As Barrier expected, it was not difficult to find a narrow alleyway that did not appear to have any other beings in the sections Barrier could see.  The large Lyankan led the energetic Hyperslice into the alleyway and off the main passage. 

 

They did not go too far in before the alley took a sharp turn, taking them out of view of the entrance where Barrier had seen their tail had stopped briefly to watch them before she had rounded the corner.

 

Police Headquarters

 

Traveller and Queenie were just starting to make their way back up the isle along the side of the room when Officer Dressa popped into view from the row of workstations.  "Praetorians…we are already starting to get some hits!"  She called out.

 

When the two Praetorians came back down to the workstation, the officer was back in her seat, pulling up holographic displays of information her algorithm had detected.  "See, there are several spikes in power usage over a number of microcycles.  Only…they are in a number of different locations with the orbital city."

[Tiffany Korta]

 

The Traveller

Sitara studied the display with some interest, yes this was serious but it was also a puzzle to be solved, and she loved the challenge of solving such things. She'd already considered the fact that something like this might have and already had a possible solution worked out.

 

"Hmmm, good chance they're moving around. Can you project them by time? If we see how they move we might be able to work out where they'll be next."

 

Hopefully, this would allow them to actually go into action, a puzzle was nice but she'd still like a little action.

[olopi]

So far, so good. Perhaps the one tailing them would follow, which would be the jackpot. Barrier got her shield ready, ready to throw up a barrier as soon as the moment was right….

 

She whispered something to her ally all the while, with things like this it was important that both of them were on the same page.

 

“Now we wait, with any luck they’ll turn the corner and we can take them. Get ready for that to happen. If it doesn’t, we turn around and check where they went.”

 

Barrier leaned back and took a few deep breaths. There was a good chance that the action was about to start, and she wanted to be ready. She could handle it without worries, hopefully, but these kinds of things weren’t what she’d been looking forwards to earlier today.