Posted by Commander Mwezi (Executive Officer) in Main Sim: Step One Done… Step Three is Profit! (Tag All)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Bethany Kovra Gadi (Chief of Security) in Main Sim: Step One Done… Step Three is Profit! (Tag All)

Posted by Gamemaster Alias Smith N. Jones, Esq. (Gamemaster) in Main Sim: Step One Done… Step Three is Profit! (Tag All)
Posted by… suppressed (17) by the Post Ghost! 👻
It had been a day travelling at Warp 8 to get the Pelican and her crew to a place they could lay low for a bit. The asteroid field they were currently in was home to thousands of individual space rocks, a few hundred of which were large enough for the Rabid Pelican to actually land on and stay hidden.

Once they were safely tucked away, it was time to discuss their last ‘outing’ and then sort out their take. To this end, Agent Blue had requested the Command Team and all participants of the freighter theft to meet in the cargo bay after everything was secured and all non-essential systems were either set to stand by or taken off-line entirely.

GM

Sara took her place early, before most arrived. She looked somewhat somber, the reports of events as they had transpired on the ship beginning to trickle her way.

Bethany arrived early along with Ridad and the rest of the team that has gone. She and Ridad had talked and she had a full sitrep from him. There were questions.

But one Jr Lt Samuel Patton couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “He shot him! Point blank. He wasn’t armed. We are supposed to LOOK like pirates, not be them!”

Gadi and crew

Miranda slipped in just behind Gadi and Ridad, staying near them like a sable shadow.

Silent movement behind them drew Shara to the group. “Wrong. We’re supposed to be exactly as we need to be to convince everyone we mean business. You were warned that this would get ugly. We did exactly as we needed to- no more, no less,” Calloway said, her steely blue eyes gazing hard at Patton. “You don’t have to like it, but that is our reality. This is bigger than anything you can wrap your mind around. You’re going to have to trust us.”

~Shara Calloway, CIO

“No actually, ma’am I don’t have to trust you. I trusted Captain Kiernan. Death and wounds are part of it, but killing an unarmed man point blank with illegal weaponry. I’m not paying for your man’s sins when this is over. Just because you two think you are better than the rest of us because you play these sick games all over space. That you have secrets and blackmail to keep yourselves out of trouble, doesn’t do the rest of us one bit of good. You can take your maquis past, his marine swager, Blue’s creepy intel crap and shove it. I don’t believe the means justify the ends.” He took a breath to continue but was interrupted.

The deathly glare from Calloway was almost followed by a few well chosen words, but luckily for both her and Patton, the captain’s presence made Shara bite her tongue.

“She’s right.” Sara cut in. She wasn’t looking at anyone in the room, just staring at the center of the table. “It may be distasteful to our starfleet sensibilities but if we don’t act the part, in every way. We will blow the hole thing. Your objections are noted Patton, but they cannot be afforded right now.”

-CO

Patton clamped his mouth shut. The captain was a sell out to everything they stood for. He had stayed because he trusted her to do the right thing, not the easy thing. Bethany watched him and made a note to talk to him later. Some people weren’t cut out for this. But her discussion with Ridad made her think Piklesimer was simply showing off and making a point because he could. Because HE and Blue had rushed things and made a choice because Micah just wanted to use Shara for this mission. Knowing the emotional investment Shara had in the outcome because of her daughter. And she came close to hating Piklesimer right at that moment.

A voice came down from the top of a stack of crates. “Lieutenant JG, you are free to discuss the matter with him if you like.” Agent Blue said as the door slid open and Pikelsimer walked in. “However before you judge him, make sure you have all the facts.” Pikelsimer looked up at Blue and said “You talkin’ ‘bout me?” and he looked at the assembled crew. “He is, ain’t he?” and he shook his head and grabbed a seat on a crate.

“Alright…” Blue began, “…objections aside the operation went well. So now we have in our possession several locked crates belonging to the Star Fleet Marines. ‘What could be in them?’ I hear you all say in your minds, so I will answer that question with an answer. Kilo-Echo-Tango-Seven-Niner-Seven-Eight-Four. That is the combination to the locks, so… open them up and take a look.”

Miranda entered the code quickly on the cases after coming forward. Better her to do it than one of the Security team. And well, if the code was wrong and there was a nasty trap, then it wouldn’t be her problem anymore. Nor would the mission. She’d probably be a nice, superheated vapor.

Once the crates had been opened, it was obvious what they had done…

Powered armor, sniper rifles, phaser rifles, grenades, mortars, three Tetryon Pulse Launchers, and more handheld phasers and demolitions kits than you could count easily. And there was a lot of everything. Crate after crate of munitions and armaments were now set on the floor of the cargo bay… more than enough to start a small war. “This is our ticket into the Syndicate. This is our calling card. By now, word has reached them. They know the shipment was taken. And they know it wasn’t one of their folks that did it. So make sure you are paying attention. Anything out of the norm and you let the Command team know immediately. Got it?”

GM

Shara immediately began to inspect everything, her practised eyes knowing exactly what she was looking at, and for. Nice…” she said.

“Are we looking for them to buy the goods or just take interest in us because we have them?” Sara asked.

-CO

“Hopefully both.” Blue replied flatly.

Bethany shook her head, “Nope I wanna play with these. Gear like this will make sure no one messes with us, and keeps our teams safe with minimal damage on either side. At least keep enough for one assault team. Then again that would be the smart thing to do.”

Gadi

“From what I understood, we were looking to arm ourselves with this, not get into business. That comes after we hit the liner and take whatever goods from it. This was prep for that,” she murmured out the side of her mouth to Gadi and Ridad, having taken her place once more. It was hard not to take one of the new sidearms for herself.

Martel

Blue shrugged and said “Everyone gets two of their choice. After that, I’ll change the combination and lock these back up.” Blue said.

“Two is better than one,” Shara said, shooting Strickland a smirk.

Sara walked over to a crate, reached in and withdrew a hand phaser. She looked coldly at it. “Very well. We armed ourselves. And we got some attention while we did it. The other part of being pirates, this job is never the last. We have to move on quickly, keep the eyes on us that we have, and gain some more.” She turned her gaze behind her towards the agents. “What’s next?”

-CO

Pikelsimer spoke up and said “We lay low for a few days, then we hit the passenger liner. Once we got what we need from there, we can expect somebody will wanna to reach out to us. And we’ll just put ourselves somewhere that they can do just that.”

GM

“What’s the plan for the hit?” Calloway asked easily, firmly in her ‘Elaine’ character, who by anyone’s guess might have been an arms smuggler herself from the way she sauntered about the weapons.

~’Elaine’ Calloway

“I think the pirate captain needs to make herself known.” Sara returned her gaze to the stolen weapons. “Through the history of the golden age of pirates, the ones running the crews were at the face of the trouble. And I’m already on the federation’s wanted list.”

-CO

Mwezi listened to the discussion silently - as was his usual way of things. It was difficult to remember he wasn’t supposed to vanish into the background anymore. He definitely didn’t look like he was in the background anymore. He’d exchanged mismatched pirate armor for slightly more matched pirate armor and a many-pocketed brown leather jacket with a bunch of decorative studs. His regular ceremonial earrings were gone, the pair on the right replaced by a small black chain that looped from one hole to the other, and the trio on the left replaced by three spikes.

His posture was also changed. Gone was the straight-backed military man. Mwezi was slouching slightly, although it didn’t hide much of his eight-foot stature. It just made him scarier, especially when he gave that winning smile, all full of teeth…

“I agree with the Captain,” he commented, grinning and glancing over to Blue.

Blue inclined his head to her. “Indeed. After the next job, we will make sure everyone at our… ‘stopover’… knows exactly who you are.”

GM

“And what of our next job? How much in the way of details do we have right now?”

-CO

“We know the target is a passenger liner,” Mwezi echoed something he’d heard earlier in the conversation, wanting to contribute.

Mwezi, XO

Pikelsimer spoke up this time. “The luxury passenger liner Argon Winds, to be exact.” He stepped forward and took up a position in the middle of the room so he could be seen and heard by everyone. “She has a crew contingent of almost two hundred. Passenger-wise she carries about triple that. Our target is to rob the safe in the main reception area… and we will be adjusting the vacation itinerary of two of the passengers. Sol’n and Harold Muscatain. An older couple, human, in their late eighties. They will be coming with us and will be offered up for… well, let’s call it ‘tribute’… to our potential partners for ransom. The Muscatain’s are quite wealthy, well-connected politically, and very closely guarded by private security. They will not come quietly or be cooperative. And their guards will most definitely try and kill every single one of us.” and he cast a glance at Patton. “So keep that in mind when you start feeling squeamish about things.” He held his look for a split-second longer than normal, drilling the young Lieutenant with a look that had made battle-hardened Marines squirm, and then addressed the rest of the room’s occupants.

“So it will be multiple teams to be determined over the next few days.” Pikelsimer continued. “One to hit the safe. One to hit the passengers and cabins. And one to escort the Muscatains off the yacht and into the Pelican.”

GM

“Do we know the background of their security?” Calloway said, seeming more interested in the weaponry than the conversation, but astute eyes would see she was still very much following the conversation as she mentally catalogued everything in the crates.

~’Elaine’ Calloway

Micah grinned. “Oh, just your run-of-the-mill ex-Bajoran Special Operations operatives… with a smattering of Federation Force Recon Marines and Andorian Royal Commandos. You know… high-end. Disciplined. And very expensive.”

GM

Bethany cocked a single brow. “Good, they tend to use a lot of tech in their armor. I’ll hack it. I’ll have to be close though. May even have to put a wireless connector directly on the armor. Anyone wanna play tag with ‘em?”

Gadi, CoS

Mwezi grinned at Gadi, a glint in his eyes. It was strange to look at the woman who had been his superior only a few hours ago, and realize that now he was technically her superior officer. Nope, too weird. “Most times I’d jump at the chance to play with Spec-Ops and Marines,” he turned to look at Sara, his face still holding that manic grin, “Unless there’s somewhere else you’d like me, Cap?”

Mwezi, XO

“No, you go and make yourself an imposing presence. Add to our notoriety a bit.” Sara knew Mwezi would leave a very real impression in the passengers’ minds.

-CO