Exigency: The Old Guard

Darghibous toys with the communicator for a moment after he's read her card, bringing it to his face and tapping it on his lips as he considers her. He is torn; between the Arbiter and this Executive Administrator, signs are good that they could arrange some sort of contact with even more powerful people...like the people responsible for the Vault who must be stopped before it can be opened and exploited (as his vision has convinced him needs to be done). But at the same time, he's rapidly realizing that there's a lot going on here of which he knows nothing. Perhaps he should reconvene with the others before taking up Timea's offer? But how can he extract himself now without offending her? Should he draw her attention to the rest of the group?

He beams his card in return, leans forward again, smiles, and takes her hand in his. Maintaining eye contact, he kisses the back of her hand.

"Your invitation is irresistible. I must inform my companions that I've found better company. If I'm not back here to escort you back to your quarters in the next half hour, call me and tell me what an idiot I am." He steps reluctantly away, begins to move to the bar, and then looks back at her for a moment to smile at the sight of her. Then he returns to the rest of the group to fill them in on what he's learned.

Serana looks to Wilhelm and his drink, Pudge and the Arbiter, Darghibous and the Admin. "I used to be the life of the party," she mutters. "Look at me now."

"Having fun?" she asks Darghibous, more loudly.

"Wow, they don't let you have a personal life? That's even more controlling than I expected. But, as long as I have your permission to look you up... Do you have a last name, Lyra, or are you going to make me work for it? Or is telling someone your last name against policy, too." Pudge gives a wry smile and a wink.

OOC: While Pudge is waiting for her response he will start looking into her info. He'd like to get some information about her that might impress her with his computer skills; anything really private or personal would be fine, but he wouldn't share with her that he found something of that nature. Also, he's contemplating sending a minuscule spyware program along with his contact card in order to see what's on her phone. How confident is he that this would succeed and that she wouldn't discover the program?

EDIT: Okay, so no personal info. But, with her last name, I could certainly look up enough to be able to contact her in the future, yeah?

Pudge smiles wide. "Lyra Pollec. I'll look you up. In the mean time..." he sends her his contact card, "feel free to video, voice, or text me anytime." Pudge stands from his stool. "For now, enjoy your evening, and don't work to hard."

"Well Serana, it seems we missed the memo where everyone was supposed to grab a date." Wilhelm chuckles to himself as he finishes his drink. "So tell me, where you from? Got anybody back home?"

Serana shakes her head. "I'm from Lodor. And... no. Not anymore." She looks distracted for a moment, then frowns. "Enough of me being mawkish. What about you? I admit I can't picture you in a setting that doesn't involve wearing a hat and cutting people down."

"I was born on a burning hellscape called Yor. My parents were hydrogen farmers. The hat is my father's. He wore it outside to protect his face from the acid rain. Haven't seen my parents since the Council evacuated the planet when I was 16." Wilhelm turns and orders two more drinks. He hands one to Serana. "Well, what do you say? To lonely wanderers across the stars." And he raises his glass, chuckling to himself. "A few more drinks and I might even tell you where I got the scythe."

"To lonely wanderers." Serana raises her glass in turn. "When you say the Council evacuated your world... you mean the Highs, don't you? Not the Colonial Council?" Serana is thoughtful. "Almost sounds like the High Council committed a good deed. Didn't know we- they had it in them."

"The Highs can be quite charitable when it serves their purpose."

Pudge returns to Wilhelm and Serana, "Well, I've not gained any information that will help us currently, but Lyra may end up serving as a useful contact down the road. Did you guys come up with a plan?" Looking around, Pudge adds, "Where's Dargi?"

Serana nods in Dargibhous' general direction. "I think he's finishing up with a potential lead."

Having turned away from Timea, Darghibous rejoins the group at the bar. He hopes that Pudge is reliable in keeping them from being spied upon. He uses his glass to shield his mouth from lip readers.

Grimly: "I may have a way to get access to Lord Councillor Graves-Burton through that charming woman, but I don't know we have any actual leads that will take us to the Vault or keep it from being opened. That's what I care about - this thing called 'the Vault' - but do any of you have any better leads? Following up with her will take me out of here. Is there any information you want to try to get here, where so much action is at the moment?"

Serana's fists clench. She steadies herself before replying: "Graves-Burton? If he's here, it must be due to the Vault. There is no other explanation. He would never make this planet his business unless there was a pay-off involved.

"Crashing the meeting upstairs would just get us shot. But perhaps we can watch the meeting, if we can help Pudge tap the Mercenary mainframe."

"I'd love to get into that mainframe. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm going to have to tap into a terminal that's directly connected to it. Ideally, I could actually get into the same room with it, but I'm not really sure how that would happen."

Pudge closes his eyes and concentrates. "I can't think of a distraction that would allow us to slip in quietly and just hand out while the meeting is going on. I could probably take control of that bar-droid, but I don't know what I'd do with it after that."

"Hmm. Would it be practical to hijack the robot and use it to tap into the mainframe?" Serana looks to the basement hatch. "If they send it down for refills, you could program it to plug itself into the mainframe on the way by."

"Although that assumes there's no one standing next to the mainframe at the time. I don't know. It's tricky. Maybe we should pursue Darghibous' lead instead."

"I think Darg should hit up his lady friend. In the meantime, Pudge, try to see if you can send the droid down to access the mainframe. Do what you can, but our main goal here is to not get caught."

"Point taken. Maybe we should all leave this place once the drone is in position. If it can be worked remotely, we don't need to be in the thick of it."

Without a word Pudge goes into work mode.

Almost instantly, Pudge realizes something isn't right. He's gained control of the droid, but there's definitely something else going on with this network that he wasn't anticipating, and he's tripped an alarm.

"Umm... guys. We should probably, uh... we should probably find another place to be."

Pudge gathers himself and starts moving to the door, hoping to find a place that's less exposed to continue controlling the droid. He's still working while he moves, and he sends the droid down the access hatch hoping the other end of that shaft is the storage room that holds the military mainframe.

Wilhelm's face hardens as he returns to his business demeanor. "We leave one at a time. Going as a group draws too much attention. Pudge, you first. Serana's next. Then Darg. Then me. I'll hang out for a minute and make sure we aren't followed. We'll meet back up at the boutique we passed a few blocks back. Any questions?"