"Listening to others, considering well what they say" (Part 3: Maingate Hotel)

[cityship]

The Maingate Hotel was pretty extravagant, and an entire section of it had been eked out for the crew's use during their stay. They had several suites, three communal areas, a conference room, their own kitchen with a chef on call if they required her.

They were all teleported from the main teleport pad of the hotel into the conference room, which was a large enough room to be able to hold a group their size and had plenty of chairs arranged in a circular pattern so they could mostly all face each other or whoever was in the middle of the room.

Everyone had to settle down so they were all able to talk, and the meeting itself would have to be carefully controlled so they wouldn't all talk over each other. But they were up for the task, right?

[ooc: Guardian Setup, General Mingling, Clone Checkup, Newbie Briefing, General Briefing, More Mingling, Back to the Meeting, and The Idea Guy sections are open. Backup characters introduced to the plot can join in the mingling subthreads if they want. The opening of new subthreads will be announced here and the ooc. Please read the linked OOC post for a plot timeline.]

Comments

[death_adept]

Jalith simply watched the discussion go back and forth from his spot at the wall, running through the possible situations in his mind. He personally had little care for the situation, so a few clones and xeno had been branded, that was of little matter to him, even the Technology had little matter to him, only his duties held any weight.

"Of all these plans, has any of you considered extraction options once the technology has been stolen or otherwise? The shuttles and transports that dropped us off, are still on station aboard the Macross Quarter currently in orbit," He noted nodding to the four 'backup' crew members he had been sent along with.

"However should the Government catch wind of this plan, or even a lack of cooperation, they may well jam any communications between here and those we have available in orbit, I propose if we are to move on this 'plan' we will need to take out the source of any jamming, whether by subtle, or less than subtle means,"

Letting a hand drift down to pat the case beside him as he looked specifically to the lt commander, like it or not Grayson had a Vindicare assassin waiting for orders "Should any targets be required to be taken out, be they facilities or personnel, I have the appropriate equipment for the job,"

[needs-release.livejournal.com]

Mindy's comments started some gears turning, but Jalith inspired an immediate reaction. "I really don't think assassinations should be anything other than a last resort. But there's a couple ways I can get someone to do something for me without arising much suspicion. I'll need a volunteer to help me practice one of them because I haven't done it before.

"But, obviously, my focus is on the technology. I'd like to have my whole team come with me to check it out as well as one or two others to act as bodyguard. I know most of my team is capable of defending themselves but if things go pear-shaped we'll need all hands on deck to grab what we can.

He paused a moment before continuing. "I do want to make one thing clear. I will have no part in gaining this technology at the expense of the clones. Nor will I allow any ill-gotten equipment to enter my lab. I, and I hope I speak for the entirety of us when I say that there's no value in this if we have to sacrifice a whole race to gain it. I still have my wife to look in the eye when this war is over."

Him setting the ground rules like was fairly rare, as was him speaking with such resolve. Since the deaging problem anyway.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Sam doesn't speak for all of them, but Howard's not going to pick a fight here and now that'll only make him look more heartless.

"Medical's going to be the group that'll probably have to grab stuff and run, too. If we could get someone with techie skills that'd probably help with any security systems we run into, but we should put who's best with computers with Lex's group, looking for the DNA."

If he's being honest with himself, Howard would admit that this whole plan makes him a little queasy. Not for any moral reasons, naturally, but because of how much of it rides on all these different crewmates cooperating and not trying to do the heroic, world-saving thing.

And if it all comes crashing down, well. He'll blame it on Lex.

[imperious_lex]

God, this group was so damned wishy-washy. If the plan fails, it'll be because several spandex clad nutjobs couldn't shove their egos aside long enough to make the best of a bad situation. But that's what they get for sending heroes to do a politician's job.

"Smuggling the items off world is remarkably easy. Given that we need to pick up supplies anyway, we can hide it in the supplies. So long as the weight load matches whats on the manifest, they'll do little more than a cursory inspection. If the government thinks that we've helped them, it'll be easy to convince them to expedite the process as a favor to us."

Lex had to wonder if he was the only person in the room who actually knew how to run game on a government. It's really not that hard.

"But, seeing as how the only thing the lot of us can agree on is that we need more information, which is the next phase of the plan in either event, I suggest that we cut off this discussion here and now. Grayson can assign the teams, and while my group buys everyone time and stalls the Council, the rest of you can go out, ask questions, and gather intel. At the end of the day we compare notes once again and finalize whatever plans we decide to make." A reasonable suggestion.

[goddamnwingman]

Most of them were more used to working on their own. Running a game on a government wasn't always a good guy's thing.

"As long as your group doesn't make any promises," Dick reminded him. Because he had no doubt that Lex would conveniently forget that if he could. But he trusted Fate to keep it in mind, at least. "Also. Please everybody keep in mind that any plans are going to need to be flexible. There's a lot going on here that could change at any moment, especially considering that we've basically been placed between at least two factions.

"And at the end of the day, I'm more interested in getting this team out of here alive. Even if that means leaving behind the stuff we've been sent to get." That included a hard look at everybody. "You don't put yourself in danger that you cannot get yourself out of."

He took a moment for that to sink in, taking a moment to fuss with his omnicomm before making a disgusted sound. "Lash? Brainiac 5?" Dick raised his omnicomm. "It would appear we're being blocked again." It was hardly a surprise. "I'd like you to look at ways to get some sort of communications back up at least between those of us on the planet. Because I'll feel better if we're not all going our separate ways and unable to actually contact each other."

[theboywhowaits]

Rory had been silent for the most part. He had listened, and he had watched, hands folded under his chin, willing to fade into the background next to Sakura and not speak until he had something to say. The thought that the comms were being blocked was a disturbing one, but not one that he or most of the people here had any ability to help with. He agreed with Doctor Henderson, for the most part, and Sakura. He had let them argue medicals side and simply watched, kept his eyes on the people around the table and who had the strongest argument. It might be necessary later, and he should at least keep his eyes open. If nothing else, traveling with the Doctor had taught him to keep an eye on those who spoke the loudest and those who kept the quietist. Both extremes might be important at a later date.

This was almost depressing, almost as frustrating as Amy’s conversation with the reptiles. Neither side was willing to concede anything, and though at the moment they might agree on a nebulous goal, none of them were willing to agree on the nity gritty bits and pieces of everything. The way they were talking it wouldn’t be a fake conflict at all, but a real one drawn very clearly between the crew.

He gave Howard a quietly disappointed look, but kept his peace. They were willing to let this go, because it wasn’t important. Not to the grand scheme of things, and while he could see that, while he could understand that the universe didn’t allow for heroics all the time… As a nurse, this felt wrong. It felt wrong to sit here and so casually discuss leading an unknown amount of people into a death trap. He wouldn’t be sad to see Kanner dead, or any of the Councilors. But they were talking about involving people whose only real crime was a desire for freedom. That bothered him quite a lot. Hate the ruling populace or not, the thought of setting up a death trap shouldn’t be considered, and not with as much relish as some of his crew mates were considering it.

“I think.” He paused, and then raised his voice to talk over the chatter, hating agreeing with Lex, but knowing better than to ignore a good idea when it came from someone he despised. “I think that today was a long day, for all of us, I agree with Mr. Luthor. We’ve had a lot of information thrown on the table, and nothing we knew about this situation going into it has held true. Any decision we make tonight will be colored by the fact that we’re all exhausted and it is very late. We’ve got loads of information, and we only have one side of it, but I don’t think anything can be accomplished tonight. I think we should get some rest, reconvene in the morning, and talk things over with clearer heads. “He glanced at the Doctor, uncertain what the other man might be thinking. “It will give us time to process and think things over; all we’ll accomplish tonight is further convincing ourselves of our own points, it won’t convince anyone else. We’ll miss things, obvious things, because we’re tired and stressed.“