Crossfire Theta
Traveller
Name: Kyrisanthenum D'Lakre
Race: Raloi
Occupation: Criminal Consultant
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Post by Crossfire Theta on Mar 30, 2015 19:10:40 GMT
Marduk's, a distinctly human pub, filled with the homey touches of the aging Irish couple that ran it, was the last place that one would expect anything suspicious to go down. The hearty food and friendly, prompt service was not something one would be enjoying while trying to conduct shady business, add to that it's popularity with the local law enforcement, and the place was really somewhat of a safe haven. None of this, however, had deterred the couple sitting at a booth near the middle of the tavern, waiting for their guest. Out of place anywhere, the pair had drawn eyes all around coming in, a soft pink asari accompanied by a deep, almost black, purple raloi. As if her very race wasn't enough of an eye-grabber, Kira had worn a faded yellow t-shirt, proudly displaying the human retro cartoon, Pokemon.
The shirt clashed with her plumage, but she didn't seem to mind, she was happily chatting away with her companion in her native tongue. The asari, Mira, was dressed much more simply, in ratty, faded old blue jeans, sporting many holes, and a tight t-shirt displaying a popular asari grunge metal band. They were on assignment, waiting for an asari diplomat that, if properly coerced into supporting the Krokodil, would be strategically placed in the embassy to help them gather information through more official channels, an invaluable asset one a station such as the Citadel.
After another sip of her tea and a beaky smile to the server that passed by them, Kira turned back to Mira and spoke again in her native tongue, a language not available for common translators, "Where is she? I said 1945 hours." She asked pointlessly as her communicator's display read 1950 hours, the diplomat was five minutes late. "You would think the threat of blackmail would bring a politician running.." She said, stirring her tea while the asari beside her nodded her head, taking another sip of the Danahagh that the server had boasted on as being the finest, smoothest whiskey they served.
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on Mar 31, 2015 15:08:58 GMT
It had been an ominous message in an inbox she thought was little known outside her work. The sender had used a cloaked address and forwarding system. The content had been alarming enough to not alert internal security immediately. Alarming and outright concerning.
Now Arina Caenis, systems analyst at the asari embassies on the Citadel was taking the long way around the block on her way to the bar that had been mentioned. She was over the time already but she didn’t care. If they were serious, they’d wait for her.
Attached to the message had been a picture of a strange yellow cartoon animal. It had looked as if a lightning was hitting its butt (yeah, that was a lightning up her own butt right now!). She would recognize that somewhere they said.
Arina took a deep breath as she suddenly found herself in front of that bar. This was not a good idea… She entered and her eyes caught the yellow T-Shirt immediately. She was barely able to contain her shock
The couple she had seen a while ago in that Cantina de Miami. They weren’t exactly unremarkable, that asari’s skin tone was on the very rare end the raloi… well. Raloi were about as rare as they came.
Had they been following her since then? Who were they? She clenched her jaw as she stepped to their table, sitting down in a free seat without much ceremony, not saying a word. Her hand rested on the table, totally relaxed and patient on the outside.
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Crossfire Theta
Traveller
Name: Kyrisanthenum D'Lakre
Race: Raloi
Occupation: Criminal Consultant
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Post by Crossfire Theta on Apr 1, 2015 2:10:16 GMT
Kira noticed their guest first, shortly informing Mira of her arrival. The duo waited until Arina had sat down before speaking. "Hey Ari!" The Raloi exclaimed, switching to Flotilla Standard and greeting the asari like a sister. "Good evening, Ms. Caenis, we were worried you wouldn't make it. Was Mira's warm, slightly formal greeting. The pair were trying to be as friendly as possible, considering they were blackmailing Arina into supporting a crime syndicate. The Raloi flagged down the server, indicating for the diplomat to order whatever she liked. "How have you been?!" Kira demanded of her, like they were old friends, really selling the act to anyone who didn't know that this wasn't actually a reunion of old aquaintances.
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on Apr 1, 2015 15:18:25 GMT
Tides, what a freakshow. Seriously… Ari? Arina felt like she was on the wrong monorail here. Heading out of the city into loon county.
She appeared unmoved on the outside, years of diplomacy with ranting hanar and raging krogan across the table paying off. The Asari had the best diplomat training in the Galaxy after all.
“I’d like a glass of melk please” she said in a very calm and friendly tone to the server. She raised an eyebrow but only said “okay” and went back to get it.
“I have been doing quite well. I am sorry, I was caught up in traffic.” An outright lie, presented with a smile. “How were you two doing? You have been wardrobe shopping, right?” Compared to Arina’s speckles office wardrobe they looked like grunge.
This was getting funny. What could they want from her? What exactly did they know and how dangerous were these two clowns exactly? Arina would probably find out soon and then she could decide how to get rid of them. She kept smiling, nodding when the server put the glass in front of her.
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Crossfire Theta
Traveller
Name: Kyrisanthenum D'Lakre
Race: Raloi
Occupation: Criminal Consultant
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Post by Crossfire Theta on Apr 1, 2015 15:56:44 GMT
"Right then," Kira opened her disk-like communicator and swiped it a couple of times, eliciting a quiet beeping tone. Arina's Omnitool then activated, its color shifting to a blackish-purple before beeping in time with the Raloi's communicator. She switched back to her native Turvessen, the asari's omni having been hacked and updated with the software for her translator to understand the language. "We called you here because you are in a unique position to be of great aid to the Black Krokodil. We are prepared to pay you handsomely for your aid, but if you are so morally disinclined, we have other, less favorable methods of procuring your aid." She said, the childish, happy tone having completely left the Raloi, replaced by a ruthless business woman, set on getting what she wanted, no matter how hard she had to stomp on feet. As if for reinforcement, Mira sat down her drink and cracked her knuckles, biotic power crackling over each digit in time with the pops.
"We don't enjoy such nasty business, but we really would appreciate your service, it would help save many lives." Kira said, somehow managing to not make that the most hypocritical thing she had said in her life.
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on Apr 1, 2015 16:48:29 GMT
Now would you just listen to that. Alright, she sighted inwardly, let's just have them feel like as if they were in charge here.
She raised an eyebrow when the pram transferred to her omnitool and even more amused was she when she realized what it was. As a diplomat of a council race at the hub of the Galaxy Arina Caenis had access to databases of ever language known to asari and then some. But she appeared shocked and then in awe at what had happened, not giving away her true ideas. "What are you do... oh... oh wait. That's a language file. Nifty hack, I give you that."
Eventually the pair gave away their true intention, nothing sweet about them anymore, nothing modest. Would that asari really try to do to her what she was implying with her cracking knuckles? Despite her turian style markings she appeared much more like a krogan now. Familiar territory, but those two punks sure looked and sounded way more dangerous now. Arina sipped her melk, smiling nervously.
"I don't think I'd want that, okay? No need to get all excited right away. I am all aurals, so what do you propose?" and more important what would they know that would make them think they had such a leverage?
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Crossfire Theta
Traveller
Name: Kyrisanthenum D'Lakre
Race: Raloi
Occupation: Criminal Consultant
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Post by Crossfire Theta on Apr 2, 2015 2:37:30 GMT
Mira smiled, her true strength wasn't in her body, but her biotics, then again, it was a simple display that held a lot of meaning, not a specific threat of physical violence. Kira's beak twitched, her approximation of a smile, but it probably looked a lot more sinister, given the situation. "We would like you to provide our organization with intel on the various movements of several persons of interest to our employer, and in return, you will be paid a base amount of 22,000 credits, more if the information is good. Should you refuse this offer, we will have to resort to publicly smearing your image through the release of classified information about a string of.... unsavory decisions you and your compatriots made during your Reaper war. If even that is not enough, we also have details on some rather unpleasant "acquaintances " of yours we could add to the release. If still you are not convinced, Mira would be glad to give you a "massage"." Kira took a break from her speech to take a sip of her tea before continuing.
"You have been informed of you choices, I hope you make the right one. You have five minutes to decide." Kira told her, flagging the server down again to order a plate of bacon cheese fries. Mira remained ominously silent through the exchange, merely staring at her kinswoman with a piercing look, it seemed like she was staring into Arina's soul, trying to will her to just accept the money and pass on the information, because really, was it so hard to copy and paste bits of her usual reports and send them in an anonymous mail? for no more than five minutes work, she was being paid more than most people got in a year.
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on Apr 2, 2015 15:02:03 GMT
Arina’s mind raced. Wait a minute! Why would they offer her money if they had leverage? This was fishy, maybe she had a chance there.
“Wait… wait, you can’t. What, five minutes?” she looked truly shocked. She continued with a lower voice, hissing with a slight tremble. “And what would it be that you guys know about unsavory decisions or acquaintances? I don’t have any unpleasant acquaintances! This is nonsense.” Of course she had, moving among politicians on the Citadel made that unavoidable. But how could any of them be connected to her? Her private activities were no real secret and she wasn’t in the public spotlight, nobody would care about that. What did they really have?
“And what information are you talking about, what persons of interest?” Where they planning to assassin public representatives and wanted her to give away information for that?
Would they really mess her up in a dark alley at night? Arian guessed that was no empty threat for an organization like theirs. She knew only very little about the Black Krokodil, other than it existed. Like so many other gangs or whatever they called themselves, nothing special probably. She sure would dig around now though. She needed to buy some time here. But it became painfully obvious to her that she was alone and had no backup.
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Crossfire Theta
Traveller
Name: Kyrisanthenum D'Lakre
Race: Raloi
Occupation: Criminal Consultant
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Post by Crossfire Theta on Apr 3, 2015 3:37:37 GMT
Mira finally spoke, "Four minutes, thirty-eight seconds, is it so hard to do as we ask?" She asked Arina, an incredulous expression on her face, would they really have to ruin the woman's life this evening? Kira opened her comunicator once more, the display expanding marginally, showing a data stream with file folders, the file names all very familiar to the diplomat. Next came images, first of her with some rather un-popular public figures, then of her in some... compromising situations. following the images were video clips, apparently hidden surveilance cams, that had caught her, or someone similar in appearance, in said situations, as well as a few clips that looked to be from the war. Finally, were audio logs, there titles listing both her name, then the names of people she would rather not publicly associate with. A few had the caption "threats" or "bribes" in the title.
If even half of the things in this data packet were legitimate, the asari would be publicly ruined, unable to find work of any official kind in Citadel Space. These women were serious. With another series of swipes and taps, the packet was replaced by two, side-by-side bank accounts, one with her name on it, the other with a series of undecipherable chicken-scratch runes. While the name wasn't legible, the many, many zeroes definitely were. a quick tap and slide had a window opened, its contents reading, "Transfer funds [22,000c] to Caenis, Arina?" Beside that display, another had popped up, this one showing a loading bar at zero percent, the option window opened on it read, "Firestorm dispersal of file [Caenis, Arina] ready, confirm decision Yes/No?"
It was cruel, they were making her decide and implement her own decision. Mira spoke again, "Three minutes, twenty-six seconds remaining."
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on Apr 4, 2015 9:21:28 GMT
What was happening. She only caught brief glances of the material as Mira browsed it for her to get an idea. While much of the stuff seemed random, considering Arina wasn't a very important center stage person of public interest, rather an office worker behind the scenes, some of the smut could have fallout by the reaction of the other people involved.... and the sex pictures., Where the fuck did they get those. She recognized the place though and would have to be more careful when not on home turf... Her BDSM actives were hardly a secret, half the Embassies were frequenting the Authority more or less regularly. That could not really hurt her but she's still hate to see her ass dragged out into the spotlight of the press with various other, much more prominent ones. The war flashed by... well, what had to be done... but this was at least critical. But the batarian. How in all the voids did they get this bit on information? Now she was really concerned. That story was old, half a century old but this was bad, really bad. She had not seen this face in a long time and he was dead now. Serious leverage on her personally. This was private, personal, only she knew about what had happened. Or at least she thought so. Goddess, if this was getting into the wrong hands, it could end her career for real. “No, no, no, you can't do that to me... I... I need to know more, please.” She pleaded. “What do you think I could do for you? I don't have that much influence!” What if they were overestimating her? She was beginning to get a bit concerned. Stay calm, buy time. Rule number one in diplomacy, extend the time line with intermediate results. Time was running out, she needed an intermediate. “Okay, okay. Just don't release anything.” She raised her hands shooting glares at the two across the table. Arina then took a sip from her melk to calm herself. Her hand didn't shake.
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Crossfire Theta
Traveller
Name: Kyrisanthenum D'Lakre
Race: Raloi
Occupation: Criminal Consultant
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Post by Crossfire Theta on Apr 5, 2015 5:09:21 GMT
Kira's finger hovered over the upload button, her talon just breaking the surface of the display, if she sneezed, the packet would be uploaded. "All we ask is for specialized intel gathered by an organization that has near impunity in such matters, the Embassy. We know that you do such things often for the embassy, so it wont be a problem gathering the information we request." Kira told her, her finger twitching dangerously on the display. "Decide quickly, my knuckle itches." Mira just continued staring at her, a biotic spark jumping between her fingers every second.
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on Apr 7, 2015 14:15:34 GMT
“Alright” Arina hissed through her teeth, looking angry. “Deal.” For now, she thought. She needed time to think. She had to find out what it was they wanted, who the people were they were trying to look into. She still wasn't sure they weren't overestimating her pull but that couldn't be helped for now.
She added with a certain snide tone: “How do you think this is supposed to work? Will I get notes under the door and leave replies in garbage cans or what are you suggesting?”
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Crossfire Theta
Traveller
Name: Kyrisanthenum D'Lakre
Race: Raloi
Occupation: Criminal Consultant
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Post by Crossfire Theta on Apr 11, 2015 7:01:19 GMT
Kira looked at Arina as though she had two heads and buck teeth before she replied, "By... email?" She was clearly confused and missing the reference entirely. Instead, she made the transfer of the money to Arina's account and closed her communicator. "You will receive your first assignment in three days time, you should find it all very simple. Have some lunch on us." Mira told her, standing while Kira swiped at her communicator before closing it again. The raloi stood, and in Flotilla standard, said, "See ya later Ari!" in the most obnoxiously friendly voice she could manage. With that, and about six steps, the duo were gone once more from the diplomat's life, sure to return in the near future and to bring torment for the asari with them.
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stardust
Adventurer
Name: Arina Caenis
Race: Asari
Occupation: diplomat
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Post by stardust on Apr 11, 2015 15:22:10 GMT
Arina just sat there with her moth open. "Wait you can't just use my office mail... wait... hey!!!" But they didn't listen. I am fucked, she thought. Would they really just send her these kind of messages to her office address or what? Did they have her private address perhaps as well? Don't be an idiot, the knew about the batarian, sure they have your private address....
Arina didn't feel like eating though and so she just stood and left the place. She looked left and right but there was no trace anymore of that couple. She snorted and took a deep breath. The life on the Citadel was going on around her as if nothing had happened. She opened her omniotool and stopped the recordings. Nothing had happened yet, she would have to wait for what they had in mind for her to do and take it from there. She decided she would walk the few blocks back to her apartment and turned right, eventually disappearing into the stream of people as well...
~~
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