Catspaw Blackmarket [Open]

[zouichi]

Zouichi slipped past the human port workers, nodding politely in response to their apologies. A planet that forbade the Daligig from approaching it... how interesting. Clearly, their hosts' reach wasn't as all-encompassing as they liked to let on. There were things to do aboard the ship as well, but for now perhaps it was time to do some long-awaited searching for supplies.

Food, seeds, gadgets... and weapons. Afterward, perhaps he'd find a crew member or two to have a discreet chat with. It was now or never, now that they were finally (temporarily) out from under the ship's constant monitoring. He sent out a quick message on his Omnicomm, then made his way along a row of storefronts.

Weapons first, he decided. Then food.

Comments

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Figures that Howard can be found at the black market. He's more surprised to see Zouichi there, honestly. He considers just pretending he's not here, but for once he's not doing anything Zouichi would disapprove of at the black market, so he collects his and Orc's fake birth certificates and walks over.

"What're you looking for?"

[zouichi]

Zouichi blinked, turned. "Thought I'd pick up some weapons. Maybe even some nonlethal ones." You know, since the ones he had at his disposal were, by-and-large, the 'get hit and die' type.

"What about you? This isn't the nonperishables section, is it?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Finally decided you want something besides a coil gun if you're going to shoot something in a hospital?"

Howard rolls his eyes. "Ha, ha. I'm picking up these. We're bailing." He holds out the birth certificates and a pair of passports. "I need to find other stuff too, but give me another hour here and I'll be a citizen. On paper, at least."

[zouichi]

"Yeah, basically. I... what?" Zouichi's eyebrows shot up. "You're really leaving?"

Sure, Zouichi had encouraged Howard to leave, but... well, Howard always seemed to be putting it off until later. So it came as a bit of a shock. He took one of the passports, scanning it almost on autopilot.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

The passport is the most legit fake that money can buy. Howard's name on there is changed, to Chris Bridges, because he's fine forsaking his identity if it means its harder to track him down, should the Daligig decide to.

"Yeah. This is the place, man." He looks around, like he's not entirely sure of that. "The age to be a legal adult is fourteen, the immigration policy doesn't have any clauses about deportation, and the Daligig are never going to find me if they're not even allowed on the ground."

He takes a deep breath. "So...maybe we should do one last fun thing. Before I go."

[zouichi]

Zouichi nodded. "Yeah, it... sounds like it. And if anyone can make it out here on their own, you can." And he did mean that; Howard was one of the most resourceful people he'd ever met. Besides, the Daligig couldn't possibly think that tracking down one teenager was important enough to risk breaking a truce, right?

He hesitated for a moment. "What were you thinking of?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Thanks. That means a lot." And it does, really, give him some encouragement to know Zouichi believes in him. He keeps turning his head side to side, trying to take in the planet that will be his new home. This might be the last chance he gets, he thinks. He needs to stop doubting it.

"I don't know. The zoo or something maybe. A park or something. Just a good last memory, you know?" His last memory of his parents is one of arguing with them over using all the hot water before rushing off to the bus stop. Having a meaningful memory before goodbye matters to him now.

[zouichi]

Zouichi nodded. "Yeah, I think that's doable. Maybe there's an amusement park around here, and I could get you another dinosaur. Are you going to take your cats with you?"

He was already thinking of things Howard might need if he were living on his own. Or what might need to be moved off-ship. It might be rough living in an unfamiliar place like this, at least for a little while. Maybe he should make Howard something, too; something special, like a farewell cake.

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I think there's some kind of amusement park around here. Hold on, I got a map." He rummages through his backpack. "And no, I can't take the cats. I want to, but..."

He does genuinely look really broken up about this. "I'm going to leave them to Cedric. He seems to like them and then they won't eat Alan out of spite or anything."

He holds the map out. "Looks like there's a place called the Excitement Emporium around here."

[zouichi]

"Makes sense, I guess. I'm sure he'll take good care of them." And though Emergency Rations and Alan have been getting along, well. The cats would probably just be a slightly uncomfortable reminder that the person who picked them up and brought them to the inn wasn't around any longer. Besides, Cedric seemed like the responsible type. Maybe even the type who'd enjoy an ornery cat or two.

He raised an eyebrow, glancing down at the map. "The Excitement Emporium? Why do they always have to give these parks weird names?"

[futureisclear]

How interesting. Zouichi had something to say to her.

Well, that wasn't the surprising part. But what had he managed to find out? Ildraniath threaded her way through the market, carefully avoiding brushing against any of the... people... who happened to be doing their shopping.

He'd said he'd be here, hadn't he?

Ah, there he was.

"Zouichi," Ildraniath intoned quietly as she gave him a quiet brush on the shoulder.

[zouichi]

Zouichi turned, smiled, and for once, didn't seem to have anything cynical to say about the Daligig. Rather, he simply motioned to the nearby cafe and slipped inside, selecting a small table off to the side at which to sit down. As far as any onlookers were concerned, what of it? There were plenty of reasons for two individuals to meet at an establishment like this.

"Shortly after the battle at Lirath," he began quietly, "The Captain had a private meeting with a GIA Admiral named Kasna, at which the Council and some members of the Command staff were present. He had a few things to say; I thought you should know about them if we're going through with this rebellion."

He folded his menu open on the table, making a cursory show of examining it. "First of all, Kasna had his suspicions about the Daligig. He didn't seem to trust them and their policy of growing secrecy, though apparently the majority of the GIA is still in their favor. He claimed he wanted to get to the bottom of what happened on that moon... to the extent that he left the Captain with a device he referred to as a 'Quantum-entanglement communicator'. A means of communicating with the GIA High Command that is apparently direct and untraceable."

[futureisclear]

Ildraniath slid into her seat quietly, carefully examining the menu (and listening). Nothing that really piqued her interest. Zouichi's words, on the other hand, grabbed her attention.

"Fascinating," she murmured, "A pity this information wasn't shared with the rest of us until now. It would've been very useful to talk to the GIA and discover just what their history with the Daligig is. Along with even more information."

She glanced up at him, "How did you find out about this?"

[zouichi]

Zouichi shook his head. "The point was to wait until the Daligig left; I think there was some worry that as long as they remained a presence on the ship, they could still interfere with communications, or perhaps use the ship to ferret out the information from us once we'd received it. The Daligig were supposed to be a temporary presence; they were supposed to fix what they needed to and leave. But it hasn't quite turned out that way."

He glanced down at the menu, then back at her. "Shortly before the Lirath mission started, I became part of the Command staff, so I was allowed to slip my way in."

[futureisclear]

"Fortunate. I still don't think that excuses the criminal lack of action on their part."

Ildraniath calmly closes the menu. Nothing she really wants. She'll just have water.

"Far too much caution, not enough action. Not enough planning. I appreciate the concern in that caution, but it still allowed... timidity to control our actions."

[zouichi]

Zouichi shook his head. "I don't suppose you've had any bites from the Council or Command?"

When the waitress came by, Zouichi ordered a coffee, if only to avoid the inevitable glares. Unwanted attention, at this point.

"There are a few more things that turned up in that conversation. Kasna offered us his help, his support. I don't know the extent that offer would still stand if we were to shake off the Daligig, but it's something. And the fact that this planet even exists suggests people may be willing to help us under the table. Maybe we wouldn't be able to rely on that GIA High Command, but..."

He trailed off. "At any rate, he also mentioned that the GIA maintains a force of precognitives, who have had no success in predicting Ohm attacks. I'm not sure what that suggests at this point; it may be connected to the difficulties that psychics on the crew have experienced. But whatever the cause, the elders among the Rom are said to be able to see into the future. I can get you a recording of the conversation, if you'd like."

With the unspoken understanding, of course, that she be discreet in who she revealed the information to. After all, it would be a lot harder to pass her more details if people suspected he was the one feeding them to her.

[futureisclear]

"None. No responses. Nothing useful. Just silence, as always. It's maddening. Are they really incompetent or do they just act like it?" Ildraniath tapped a finger against the table in thought, lips turned down in a slight frown. After a moment, she glanced up at him.

"That sounds useful. I'd like to have that, if you don't mind."

She glanced around at the rest of the cafe. No one else from the crew was here. Or at least that she recognized.

"This whole war is one tangled mess and sorting it out is going to take quite a lot of work."

[zouichi]

Zouichi nodded. "I'll retrieve it once we get to the ship; I made a copy of it just in case."

He nursed the coffee, frowning a little as he looked into the dark liquid. "But at least now we have movement. Action. And if we do end up on the run from the Daligig, at least we have a lead or two to follow. I'd prefer if we had more of the crew to help out than less, but it's something."

[futureisclear]

"Good. I'll make one myself and hide it somewhere. Just in case."

Another thing she liked about Zouichi: he was prepared.

"Action is good. It's something. It's progress. If the rest of the crew wishes to wallow in inaction and apathy, then we are better off without them."

[thewunderkind]

Oh, there was Lash going around with so much weapons strapped to her person it looked like she could probably start her own war at this point. Screw buying food, she was going to arm herself to the teeth with everything and anything dangerous.

[zouichi]

Zouichi slipped through the crowd behind her, then tugged lightly at some sort of heavy weapon strapped to her back.

"Hey. Leave some weapons for the rest of us."

[thewunderkind]

"Hey don't worry," she replied all too good-naturedly, pausing to grin at him, "I'll build you guys some too!"

Seriously she was so happy you'd think it was Christmas. Maybe it was for her.

"There's so much good stuff here, I wish I had more things to barter in exchange! I could build soooo many things!"

[zouichi]

Zouichi raised an eyebrow. "No one's interested in your Emporium inventory?"

He picked up what looked like something like a short sword in his hands, selecting it from a pile of assorted weapons carelessly laid out on a shop counter one on top of the other. Apparently, there was plenty to go around. "So what kind of stuff are you building? More lasers?"

[thewunderkind]

"Oh nah, the Emporium's going pretty well. I just mean more stuff so I could change it for items here. Amongst other things." She waited for him to swing the sword around before speaking again.

"'Nyway, I've been getting that old inventing itch of mine. In Black Hole I used to make up a bunch of stuff whenever I felt like it, but with the ship and the limited resources it wasn't really feasible. But this place seems to have a lot dangerous materials I just know I can build something even more dangerous with!" She seemed pretty excited by the prospect too. "Did I ever tell you about the time I created the Black Obelisk? It could siphon the energy from the earth and transform it into pure energy to energize the troupes and tanks. Of course the side effect was it turned the earth into a desert, but I think I could fix that."

[zouichi]

Zouichi removed the sword from its scabbard, revealing a slender rectangular blade that didn't appear to be sharp. There was a delicate inscription on the metal: S.G.. He examined it curiously before turning his attention back to Lash.

"Yes, I'd say desertification of the area you're fighting for wouldn't really be a plus. What's the point in taking over a barren wasteland?" He slid the weapon back into its sheath. "You know, my company was in weapons development before it was destroyed. I was one of their weapons."