13/08/2501: Murder At 700 Km/h.

Tendou couldn't help listen in on the conversations around her, which was just as well because being aware of her surroundings was kind of a important part of her job, wasn't it? "It's called a panthapus." she muttered to herself very much under her breath as Devlin's train of thought sort of trailed off, just above the cutoff point for her smeaker. More important than his lack of BIO knowledge, however, was the topic of the punks' discussion with each other. "By the sound of it, they're planning on meeting up with some group of people in Australia, in that avoiding-using-names-in-public kind of way. Hard to say if it's to take actual action or just trying to live the sovereign freestater lifestyle, but... Best keep an eye and an ear on them, yeah."

And then the UIG fired the shuttle out of what essentially amounts to a very high caliber railgun.

From the perspective of those inside the shuttle, it felt like someone was pushing them back into their seats, the sound of the wind blowing around the craft as it barrelled it's way down one of the four express lanes of the Skybridge every so slightly audible even through the layers of sound proofing. And then, after about thirty minutes the acceleration and the feeling stopped, and the seat belt sign went off. The shuttle cruised down the lane.

The first one to get up was Asima, opening the locker above her and pulling down a book. The drunk woman took this chance to slip out of her seat, plonking herself down in the front row on Harvey's side, leaning over the back of the chair. "Heeeey. Where'd you get that drink you had from?" she said, tilting her head. "What's wrong with him?" she leaned right over and poked the unconscious Saalax.

Behind her, both the trenchcoated woman and her partner got up and headed towards the toilet at the back. The man got there first with a surprising burst of speed, and the woman leant back on the wall, glancing around the carriage moodily. ((Perception+Obs if anyone watches))

((Pass Pobservation by 2))

((Pass Per + Obs by 3))

To both Sergei and Tendo, the woman appeared to be merely glancing around the carriage without any particular goal.

Harvey looked over the drunk woman, raising a brow and taking a breath. (Deep inhale, Pass per+psych by 8 to figure this drunk woman out.) "A gift from a friend. Sadly, I have no more. And he..." He glanced at Saalax, and then reached over and fixed his collar. "He's had a tough time. I think this is his first time travelling like this, poor thing." The gentleman was soft, his words more gentle than patronizing, though he wasn't making too much eye contact with the drunk.

The woman was definitely acting far more intoxicated than she really was, but Harvey could smell the alcohol on her breath, as well as another scent he didn't quite recognise. She lent over the seats even further, nearly falling over the top entirely as she brought her face down. "Aah, poor little baby..." she paused for a moment. "He might be right though. I've heard people die on these things sometimes, ya know?" she looked at Harvey, her right hand stroking Saalax's chest before she pulled herself back up. "Who gave you the booze then? I want some."

Mister Verma shook his head slightly. "I don't think it's wise for you to keep drinking, especially on such a high speed trip. It may be in your best interest to sober up." He favored the drunk with a little smile before continuing, "What's your name, ma'am? Mine is Harvey."

Krikta looked at Harvey and the "drunk" woman, "That had nothing to do with travelling." He hissed, before getting up. He gave the UIG Officer a look that told her that though he was indulging her this time, she shouldn't to push her luck. (pass prattitude by 8 ).

As the gladiator made his way down the carriage, he watched the other passengers for suspicious activity, especially the woman stood at the back, who seemed to be looking for process sockets. (pass Pobs by 6). As he passed Tendo on the way to his new seat, he said "Your friend fainted." There was a snort of derision. "Weak." He was then on is way, though he carried on the conversation over the smeaker. The woman in the trench coat is checking people for process sockets, why don't you see if she or her friend are telepaths? It would help us to actually find the target, instead of just making guesses. The lizard was beginning to sound a little impatient. And before you start complaining, if they try to kill you I will open their throats, so there is no need to be afraid... Of them at least.

"Hey, I'm completely fine. I can way more. Way, way , way more." Replied the drunk woman, before looking slightly surprised. "Didn't I say? I'm Valerie." pointing to herself as if  to emphasis the point. "What's youuuurs?" she asked, leaning slightly over the seat again and nearly losing her balance as the shuttle hit a slight bump. Salaax rolled sideways in his sleep, chin lolling against his chest.

The UIG officer did not react to Krikta, being too professional to start stripping rank for bullshit reasons, unlike some officers in the Eastern Bank.

The punks at the back also did not take notice of Krikta, continuing to talk to each other eagerly but quietly. Occasionally people listening in would hear mentions of "An Eighth Way" although what exactly this is remained unclear. They both occasionally looked at the two people in front of them and muttered something even more quietly.

At the back, the woman's partner swung out of the toilet door zipping up his fly, grabbing the wall of the toilet for balance. The woman slipped in after him, shooting him a dirty look which he ignored, before sitting down next to Kida and setting up his screen on the fold down desk, and starting to watch a recent weltball game between The Berlin Reapers and the newly returned to the game Dead or Alive team. He nudged the agent next to him. "Want to watch?" he asked, a friendly grin on his broad face. He was still wearing his eyepatch screen.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. Just got to wait for the right moment, no need to rush everything as soon as we get on the shuttle. Act too suspicious and the UIG won't be so happy about it." And wait she did, closing her computer and just following her various social feeds on her eyescreen until the woman in the trenchcoat returned to her seat looking unhappy. Tendou slid across into the seat next to her with a friendly smile. "So, what takes you to Australia?"

"While I'm sure you have the capacity, Valerie, you may wish to enjoy life in a more sober state." He flashed a brief smile, though it didn't exactly meet his searching eyes. (Pass L&A by 7.) "My name is Harvey. Or Herve, if you wish. Why are travelling to the Freestate, though, Valerie? It is a rough place, and you seem like a woman who enjoys having fun."

"Work." said the woman, glancing sideways briefly at Tendo before huffing and returning to her PDA. Across the corridor, her associate leaned over and gestured to Tendo. "Don't mind her, she's like that. Come over here, the games getting good." he gestured at his screen.

Tendou pouted briefly before Trenchcoat-san's associate spoke up, at which point she fluttered over in his direction cheerfully. Most of the time she would have had to ask what game he was talking about since sports were never really her forte, but her right eye was currently filled with reactions to the Reapers-DoA match. Standing behind the seat and leaning over his shoulder to see the screen, she had to admit it was quite thrilling to watch... And while sports rivalries could flare up aggressions, they could also be a good way for people to let off that steam. "Do you have a horse in this race?"

Krikta scoffed at the Japanese woman. There's only two of them! We could take them. The giant lizard took his seat, openly sizing up the punk couple as he did so. So, does anyone else have any leads? Or are we just waiting for Tendo to void at someone?

"Well, frankly, other than just openly attacking the people we suspect inside this shuttle, I'm not sure there's much we can do at this point."  Sergei sighed to himself softly and glanced out the window.  "And sure, we probably can take them both, but do you really think our new employers would be too thrilled with us for pissing off the UIG on our very first assignment?"  Despite his best efforts, a slight frown made its way across Sergei's face ((fail pres + lying & acting by 1)).  "However, I do agree somewhat with our scaley friend; we need to provoke the enemy into action somehow."

((OOC:  A total failure as a roleplayer has left me sadly bereft of any actually useful ideas.  Sorry guys.    ))

((OOC: It happens, no worries. It makes perfect sense for us to not find and kill the target in the first five minutes of an hours-long shuttle ride anyway, right?))

The man laughed at Tendo's question. "Sure do. Gotta support your Corps team right?" he asked, gesturing at the Dead or Alive team logo on the screen. "Greg Nelson, Lanzas, at your service." he said, extending his hand to Tendo. Across the corridor, Greg's partner softly groaned.

---

Valerie made a face at Harvey as he suggested the idea of not drinking. "No thank you mate. I'm pissed and I'm fairly certain I'm having the best time on this goddamn shuttle. Everyone else is just wandering around, pissing themselves cause a lizard is on board or they're staring at everyone like they want to kill them."

Tendou shook the offered hand (failing her Void roll as she did so). "Mika Tendou, freelancer. It's a pleasure."

At the mention of Lanzas, Krikta took more of an interest in the Weltball fan and his partner. "Lanzass? Are you here to hunt?" Well they certainly had a motive, Amanita was moving in on their territory, but did they have the means? Maybe they would find out if Tendo would actually do her void thing, but apparently she wasn't up for the idea. But in any case, he should be prepared to kill them. They would be likely to try and intervene once the team finally struck. The Gladiator paid close attention to the pair, trying to see what weaponry they were carrying with them on the shuttle. (Pobs pass by 7)

Greg laughed. "We're always going somewhere to hunt. It's kind of what we do." He was openly carrying two pistols at his belt, while his partner, underneath her trenchcoat, was covered in pouches filled with various weapons such as grenades, knuckle dusters, handcuffs...essentially anything one could fit into a pocket that wasn't a gun. "So how about you then? Heading back to the arena?" he asked, nodding at Krikta.

The Lanzas Agent was met by the reptiles cold, inhuman eyes. "Of corsse. I won't go too long without killing someone." Here there was a significant look at the UIG Officer at the front of the shuttle, and Krikta flicked out his forked tongue to scent the air. "I've developed a tasste for it."

"The freestate is rumored to be fairly grim, by most standards, so you can understand our cohort's somber nature." He glanced around with Valerie, then made eye contact and flashed a smile. "However, I would contest that you might not be having the most fun; that young couple have been enthusiastically groping and making out for most of the time I have been in their company. It looks very enjoyable."

To his compatriots, he merely said, "Someone check the this woman I am talking to; she has a chip in her process socket that could be what we are looking for."

Greg grinned in response to Krikta's declaration. "Well, be sure to keep it legal, or I might end up bringing you in myself!" he threw his head back and laughed, a deep booming sound that made other passengers glance back at him. He clapped Krikta on the shoulder. "You know, you might want to look into weltball at some time man. I've done a few games myself, good clean fun. Well. Good fun, you know?" Across the aisle, his partner made a tisking noise. "Ignore her, she's a stick in the mud." he said, waving his hands and turning back to the game.

---

"Eh, they're just brats, they'll probably break up by the time they come back." replied Valerie, waving her arm in a dismissive manner. "I'm gonna see if they've got anything good to drink." she ducked her head below the seats and began hitting the in-built screens in the back of the chair in front of her. After a moment, there was the pinging noise of a successful credit transfer, and a small trolley bot wheeled itself to her, handed her a drink, then deposited itself back in it's alcove in the front of the cabin. (Trolley bots are like a refreshment cart crossed with a sir helpsalot, except not as smart. Please do not deliberately attempt to confuse the trolley bots)

---

((OOC: We are now going to have a time skip of about an hour to give you guys chance to do things. Please post your actions below.))

Krikta hiss-laughed at the idea that this Lanzas Agent could take him down, he wouldn't even be a challenge! But he scoffed at the idea of Weltball, "Why would I do that? There'ss no hunt, just fighting, no time to savour your killss. Bessides, they don't allow this kind of thing in Weltball." With that he brandished his blade launcher, not quite aiming at anyone, but making sure everyone knew he was well armed.

((OOC I just wanted to reply, I will come up with more detailed actions in a bit.))