Player Plot: Even the Odds

[harlequinchimera]

Who: Cid, Donnie, Oki
Where: Materiel Storage/Acquisition Outpost 14
When: Nine days after the Emperor's broadcast.
What: Recovery of Oki's Powered Armor and A-M Rifle as well as any other available materiel.

The days following the Glorious Imperial Lipflapping Official Imperial broadcast had seen Oki increasing the amount of reading and indeed, intelligence-gathering about specific subjects, not merely weapons and food and materials, but also the methods by which the Empire pulled people from other worlds, about which the Corsairs had just very little. So she had written down everything she could remember about her captivity and where she had been.

She had also spoken to some of the others concerning it, Donnie for one - she still valued the turtle's expertise and friendship - and Cid for another.

She met them nine days after the broadcast with sheafs of notes and a couple of maps, at a table of all places, laid them out and spoke in concise language.

"Gentlemen, I have a plan and favors to ask. I have strong evidence of the location where they first captured me and good intelligence," she began without preamble. "I'm not planning on messing with either the power generation facility they're using - the draw seems to be pretty formidable and I don't want to wind up causing the kind of trouble that goes along with monkey-wrenching a bloody reactor. I'm not a spikey-headed terrorist, not like that." A single snort.

"But I found that they do keep some of the things they take from us. Not usually clothes, but they found me in... all of a duffel bag and my skin. As close as I can sniff out, they could make neither head nor tail of my equipment, since one is a nondescript black box that could turn anything short of outright explosives and has no hinges or locks in the traditional sense - and the other would look like a peculiar wristband. And to anyone else, that's all they are."

She looked up at the pair.

"If I am right about this, we might be able to find anything else that the epaulettes didn't understand and did not find valuable enough to hoard, but not pedestrian enough to destroy or throw away."

Comments

[purplexing]

That anyone's able to track down where their belongings might have been stashed is impressive in Donnie's book. He already knows it's not impossible given that Link's already succeeded multiple times in reacquiring bits of his inventory.

The Emperor's broadcast is still at he back of his mind, and while Harlock had managed to talk him through his initial fears and suppress any anxiety buildup that threatened to keep him from doing anything, the turtlekin knows they need to tread even more carefully now. He studies the notes and the maps, taking a few images of the latter with the modified ENC he wears on his forearm.

"They might just keep things for curiosity's sake. Or things will end up as some centerpiece that someone will claim to be from another world." He's suggested as much before and frankly wouldn't be surprised, given how he's seen nobles to be.

[harlequinchimera]

Oki was thorough in her ways and her ways involved a good deal of listening and a great deal of stealing of information, part of the job she had, really - though it had become more of her work lately than before.

"This was not easy information to find, and I didn't dare do anything involving whatever it was that brought us here in the first place. The site was blacker than my left asscheek after landing in pitch, so I've been snooping around the periphery and hoping I did not raise enough interest to give the security forces any cause to turn me and everything around me into so much gooey charcoal." She chuckled softly - as much from nerves as from honest mirth.

Donnie's words lightened her mood at once. "Very good. That is very much the case. Always some powdered bighatted ninny that wants the shinies for their nest, like magpies with money and armies. My own things - the associated description of me was unmistakable, I mean..." She tilts her head, opens her wings wide, arms as well in a characteristic gesture. "Look at me. They did not seem to care much for the duffel, or the oblong box they could not really do anything with or the wristband. So far, I could find out that they were in a bulk storage facility that is de jure supposed to be storing preserved meats and rations, but..."

She taps one of the maps. "But it gets the odd visit from one of the Big Hats. The type that would probably lose control at being in the same room with canned foods. Strange, don't you think?"

[thunderwarden]

Oki did have an impressive way of finding information. It reminded him of a certain lad who did scouting for him back home, truth be told, and she had a damn sight more resources at her disposal than Gav did.

He remembers a conversation he had shortly after arriving in Flotsam, though, about maybe getting his swords back from the bastards who'd taken him from their portal.

"Aye, strange unless it's a cover."

[purplexing]

"So...what're we thinking? Off-record otherworld trinket shop? I'm sure someone could make some nice side earnings by 'looking the other way.'"

Donnie studies the map that Oki points out in particular. "If it's a cover for bigger, we'll probably find out pretty quick depending on how tight security ends up being. Are we sneaking in or something else? You and me stick out pretty easily otherwise," he notes dryly, but not without a crooked grin.

[thunderwarden]

"Hell of a black market, hardly any trace, too, I'd wager."

But Donatello made a good point. He looked between the two of them, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "Aye, that won't do." But he smirked as an idea occurred to him.

"Think I can pull off Imperial wanker? I might be able to get us through the door. If it's illicit, I doubt the sods running the place are expecting real names."

[harlequinchimera]

For the first time since beginning, Oki showed a true sense of humor. "Stealth and deception are our tools and bring us our meat. You my friend understood in one blow the weakness of the operation and a possible solution."

She paused and laughed there, dryly, showing those pearly-whites of hers, conical and sharp alike.

"That seems the best idea - from what I have gleaned, they never use anything but aliases ranging from the simple to the preposterous. Do Chainbreaker and I pose as baggage handlers or conceal ourselves in the shadows? Or did you have a different proposition?"

[purplexing]

Donnie arches a brow at Cid, not that he hadn't considered that angle. He grins crookedly. "Work on your accent- or less of your other accent, and I think you'd manage." If that's the easiest identifier for the turtlekin in regards to who's not native to Esthere, he knows he can't be the only one who notices such things. "-unless they think you're putting on a fake accent to further distance your true identity from your illegal-dealings one."

He glances at Oki then before looking to Cid for his thoughts on her inquiry.

[harlequinchimera]

Oki looked from Donnie to Cid, her demeanor once more focused on the task at hand. "If you do it so much that it becomes obvious, you may make it paradoxically, more effective - since you're someone that even if you were in fact, Duke Hardcheese of the Third Tower of Republican Meatheads, Seventh of the Name - you might be expected to do a bit of subterfuge beyond a piece of cloth wrapped about your eyes." She gave another small smile, this one looking oddly - a touch hungry. "That sounds like it may work. Once you are in there, you know what to look for - and what looks worth carrying as well as my particular objective as well."

She let out a long breath.

"Getting there is a challenge, but not a tremendous one."

She shifted the sheets of paper and showed a map, and a space off away from the bustle of a city, just outside of it.

"This is the place. The ground's relatively level and there's a surprising amount of forest nearby and a road - wide of enough and used for traffic, but certainly not a thoroughfare."

"My thinking is to approach with some stealth, especially in a carriage or something else covered or the like. The treeline is good, but might be watched... Hm."

She flitted through some notes. "Hm. The next delivery is in a month, so that won't be a good cover."

She looked down, hands on the table and raised her head again, smiling - this time there was absolutely no mistaking the look in her eyes or the set of her jaw. She looked fully predatory in that moment.

"Gentlemen. Let's lighten the Empire's coffers, shall we?"

[thunderwarden]

"Work on my accent, shall I? Everybody's a critic." Cid shook his head but there wasn't a hint of annoyance in his expression as he looked between the two of them. Making things uncomfortable for the oppressors? Taking what they want, giving nothing back? This was Cid's bread and butter, he lived for tearing down establishments.

Or at least he had before, and damn if being kidnapped and enslaved didn't ignite the firebrand in his chest.

He leaned over the map, noting locations of landmarks, committing what he could to memory. Wouldn't do to get lost on the way to a raid, now would it?

"Aye, lass, let's get on with it. Might do well instead to get eyes on the doors, see which one's the least guarded, slip in the back when no one's looking."

[purplexing]

The turtlekin only grins at Cid at his reaction before he looks at the map Oki brings out next.

"There should be enough clearance under a carriage..." Donnie considers aloud while he studies the layout. "I'm good at sneaking, but it'd be better having a designated way out, depending on what we do." He glances between the two, unsure what to make of Oki's look and only glad that it's not directed at him.

"I mean, that's what we're here for, right?"

[thunderwarden]

Cid looked apprehensively toward Donatello at the implication. "I hope you're not thinking of lashing me to the bottom of a carriage, mate. I'm not as spry as I used to be."

He nodded, reaching into the pocket of his jacket, pulled out a cigarillo, and lit it, taking a drag before looking back to the map.

"Aye, it's why we're here, but plans never survive first contact. They've got to be flexible. So, scouting out the entrances and exits, knowing where they are when we need to get out in a hurry? That's important." He looked to Oki to see if she agreed.

[harlequinchimera]

Oki nodded firmly. "Under the carriage, or being looked at as a porter, simply not being seen, while being seen." She snorted softly.

"The nobles rarely carry their own wares, their own materials, in fact they barely seem to even carry their own clothing. It's another way." She nodded to Cid at once. "That's right. First and foremost is knowing them." She gestured to the map. "One large way in, smaller way in alongside it in the front, and a side entrance." She drew a nail over the perimeter of the square. "Windows at the upper level, not the lower. They're either the tilt kind or the crank-moved kind, depending on their size." She tapped the center of the square. "The roof is stone and slate, from what I could gather - most of them are in that area." She also took a stylus and marked a coup[le of points. "The plans show these as light sources, but you know how it is. GUard likely as not carrying personal lanterns or similar."

She moved the map again, drew a nail around and circled a nearby rectangle. "Local barracks is there, usual unit of guard, about 24, from what my sources told me. It's a quarter that sees very little military action, but that doesn't mean they won't come at speed if someone sounds the alarm." She nodded again. "Let's not let them see anything but a pompous noble in a face scarf out to stick his fingers in the unwatched chest, shall we?"

She laughed a bit. "And I apologize for my outburst, my friends. This is my first real hunt since I was taken and bound, you see. And part of this is taking back things they took from me. I am what I am, and some part of me will always look forward to a hunt."

[purplexing]

Donnie arches a brow back at Cid. "I mean, only if you want to be stuck under there, otherwise I was the one volunteering," he says dryly, although he can't quite keep a smirk from his face at the thought of Cid being tied to the bottom of a carriage.

He leans against the table to follow Oki's detailing as she goes over the rest of the locations.

"Anyway, whichever works better." He's up for keeping out of sight or playing at being a servant. Not like he hasn't had experience there, but Cid's thankfully nothing like the nobles he's had the misfortune of dealing with.

[thunderwarden]

Cid listens to Oki's explanation with a nod, crossing his arms, and glances to Donnie before responding.

"Aye, so, here's the plan. I'll walk us right the hell on in. Donnie, mate, you'll be the one they don't expect, keepin' to the underside of our carriage as you are. Oki, you're my muscle." He clears his throat, and when he speaks again, it's with a serviceable Imperial accent. He's an outlaw where he's come from, too, and if there's one thing he's damned good at, it's charming his way into places he doesn't belong. "My name is Septimus Gradian, the seventh son of some lesser house who finds his amusement in collecting oddities."

He grinned and spoke normally again. "Sound passable enough?"

[harlequinchimera]

Oki nodded. "That works, Cid, that definitely works." She nods, lets out a breath, looks at Donnie. "Carts are a dime a dozen, but there's something I need you to do if we are going to sell this, and I've anticipated it."

She lowers her head, and her jaw tensed a bit. "Donnie, you're going to need to chain and padlock my wings. Being a servant to the Empire means being visibly... subservient."

She looked at Cid and spoke again, tone more serious than before. "While we are before their eyes, I am a slave, I am bound and limited - I cannot speak or respond without your explicit permission. I move where you say to move, lift what you command me to lift and sleep when you command me to sleep."

She looked the man in the eye, then to Donnie as well.

"These are the fine tools by which we unlock our treasure and add to the means of our liberation, my friends. No words may pierce my hide and no slaps or humiliation will turn me from this purpose."

She let out a long breath. "If we do get compromised, cover blown, then we strike fast and run, take what we can. I promise you this, from the heart. If they surround us and try to imprison us again, every single one of them dies, even if I use only the tools I was born with, that is a promise."

She straightens up and nods. "First, a simple carriage acquisition. Then, we advance."

(Next post from me will begin the sequence of events proper)

[purplexing]

The turtlekin nods at Cid, grinning with a barely contained laugh when the man switches up his accent. "Wow, that's pretty good. I was almost ready to smack you right there," he smirks.

The expression vanishes when Oki makes her request of him, Donnie looking startled at the suggestion. He knows full well why, but he's never put chains on anyone. He remembers the ones that had first bound Oki's wings, tensing.

"...okay," he says quietly, knowing how much of an ask this is. At the very least he'll be so much more gentler than the Imperials might have been. Perhaps he can include a weak link in the case of an emergency, so that she can at least break free without waiting for a key.

But it seems they've otherwise made their decision, their plans set. Donnie looks from Oki to Cid, nodding.

[thunderwarden]

Cid understood necessary evils, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Looking between the two of them, the moment for levity passed, at least until they were able to get in and out without getting thrown in real chains again, he nodded.

"Right, then. Let's go irritate some Imperials."