Chapter 1 - The Crash

Graham doesn't have the time to be disappointed with the results of his call, and quickly focuses on the task at hand. Statton said that Elan and Taelor "have Tamara", whatever that means.  Bound? Boxed? Dead? Alive?
"Not sure what we'll find when we get there, but it sounds like pretty good news. It's better than hearing 'They killed Taelor' or 'Elan has been encased in intergalactic goo' or 'This is Diogenes, come pick up your zombies' or some such."
He digs the stun baton out of his backpack just in case, and makes sure his pistol is properly holstered. He's a little surprised that he's enjoying this excitement, and he briefly wonders what awaits him when he leaves Astyoc for good.
He smiles at the thought, and picks up his pace.

The door to the room at the end of the hallway is open. Mike must have already unlocked it. Or it was never locked. Either way, Elan opens the door and finds a dark room with large pipes on the ceiling that disappear in the distance. After checking left and right of the door, he finds a light switch and one by one the light turn on starting at the door and going towards the back. The room is low, long and full of pipes, cables and machinery. It looks like the ventilation system, water heating and likely all other maintenance machinery.

Taelor lifts Tamara to lean her against the wall. A quick frisk reveals a knife, mostly for utility purposes by the looks and knuckles on her fists.
After a few moment she comes to. "What the fuck was that. Man, my head hurts" She leans forward, leaning her head in her hands.

Elan comes back to Taelor. "Ventilation system," he confirms.

He's disappointed to see Tamara awake already, if only because he's not quite sure what to do with her. He considers her an ongoing threat, and her being conscious complicates the next steps. Of course, an unconscious Tamara would be a separate complication. She's just complicating in general.

"Do you know what you're doing here?" he asks to begin the interrogation, trying to stay out of range of her straight jab. He nudges the crate with his foot. "Do you know what this is, and what it would do?"

"Ah, what are you? Robin Hood? We were gonna release some gas during the meet tomorrow, a few people get scared, some mommies whine a bit and the community is reminded that there are things out there that threaten us. And that a strong powerful leader is what we need to face that. Big deal! That's politics. Why do you even care? "

"You're right," Elan agrees, sympathetically at first as he gears up to tighten the screws. "Politics does involve lying to idiots," - ramping up, fiercer now - "which is why Strong Powerful Leader is lying to you!"

He grabs the bioscanner and points it at the crate for dramatic effect so it can scream with its readings for Gamma and Beta Thanotic radiation.

"It's not just some gas. It doesn't just smell funny. It's The Cloud! This is a sample of spores that lodge in your brain and turn you into a mindless husk, which, in your case, might not be that much of a change!"

Okay, he's got that out of his system. He laid that on nice and thick, so now it's time to bring it back down. Deep breaths. Calmer now.

"Strong Powerful Leader is a Strong Powerful Idiot. This halfwit was going to turn the entire populace into zombies, including you, including himself."

Elan kneels down to be eye-to-eye with Tamara. Not so close that she can punch him, mind you, but close enough to convey some personal attention.

"You don't want us here, we don't want us here. Give us a day or two and we'll be gone and you can have the place to yourselves again. But when that time comes, think about who you want in charge." This punctuated with a firmly pointed index finger. "Because Diogenes in charge, your future looks a lot more like what's outside the wall than what's inside the wall."

A flash of worry and doubt shows on Tamara's face. Then her smug look of defiance returns, albeit with a hint of doubt. "He wouldn't do that." Would he?
She returns to her thoughts. It's working in her, her expression switches multiple times. After a while she looks up. "Fuck, we need to stop him!" she says with resignation in her voice. "I know where he is right now."

"Look, level with me here: Is he evil or just an idiot? I'm guessing the latter, because why would he infect himself - or, failing that, why would he want a fiefdom of empty-headed serfs? But you know him better than I do."

He points at her again for emphasis. The effect of this may be somewhat diminished by the low-light conditions.

"This is your bed; you have to sleep in it. If you want help making it... well, you need to reciprocate. We have some hunters scrounging up a new plasma regulator for us so we can get off this rock. You help us with that and maybe give us a little push out the door..." He rubs his fingers together in the international sign for credits... "...and we'll be on our way. You can have Astyoc back to yourselves."

Graham senses the upper hand swinging the group's way, as he and Statton enter the community center. He sees Elan, he sees Tamara sitting on the floor, and he approaches Elan. "Is everyone ok?"
"Diogenes is a snake, a political animal that lives and dies by rumors...he won't like this one bit", he thinks to himself.
Graham gets to one knee and looks Tamara in the eye, not too concerned that he may be interrupting Elan.
"I have to know. Diogenes' old girlfriend used to say it, but I have to know."
He pauses for effect, looking her straight in the eye.
"Does he still wet the bed?" He tries to keep a straight face.
He nods slightly, trying to coax the answer he wants. He knows the urgency of the situation will quickly pull the group away from his silly question. And he knows that will leave doubt in the room, and the rumor will take hold when it isn't answered.

At the question, Statton glances at Graham for a moment, eyes widening slightly, his eyes swivel over to Tamara. He quickly shifts his attention to his main objective - the spores. Picking up his bioscanner and reading the contents of its display, he walks closer to the crate, looking it over, without touching it, for a latch or another way to open it to get at the sample case which should be inside. after a few seconds of looking it over, he starts having second thoughts Perhaps this should wait until we're back at the safety of Sonia's house... and her pressure masks... he really should have bought a pressure mask months ago, or "requisitioned" one from the medical office.

Remembering Sonia, he pushes out a quick message to her, telling her that they had recovered the Spores.

He whispers to Elan "Ask her what happened to the stolen antidote, is it in the crate too? Oh. And also ask her who broke into Sonia's house."

"He wanted to create a situation and then handle it. So people realise he is the one helping them. I didn't realise it would be so dangerous. He probably has a plan how to not turn everyone into zombies, but... This is too much of a gamble.
He is at home and right now, probably preparing his speech or something. There is are a few guards. What will you do now? " turning to Statton, obviously having heard at least bits of his whispers, she continues "I picked up the container from Sonia. Is it really breaking in, when the door is open? The antidote is with Diogenes. I thought it was neutralizing gas our something."

Taelor stands back, happy to let the locals (well, at least more local than her) take care of questioning Tamara. Despite her eyes being opened, Taelor figured the bad blood between them wouldn't go away so quickly.

"So, now what?" she asks the others. "Go to the cops? If Tamara and Matt testify, we might make this stick. Or we could take him out, but with him priming the good people of Astyoc against outsiders, I worry a vengeful mob would come for us, even if we manage to keep it quiet."

Taelor yawns. The buzz is starting to wear off, as is the adrenaline from the fight. "Back home, when someone threatened the safety of the community, they'd be sent out for a walk without a suit. What do people do here?"

"Let's just go talk to him," Elan says. "Tamara will back us up. Or, if she has a concussion and can't speak, her presence will at least get us past the guards, get us an audience.

"Maybe he can be reasoned with. Maybe things will get violent. Either way, we need to get to a place where we can get our plasma regulator and get out of here."

He looks to Statton. "Doc, can you look at my nose? It hurts like hell."

"You know, Diogenes is dangerous when he's cornered, but up until now, he's been operating in the shadows. He'd really be on the back foot if the press was looking for answers. Just say the word, I may be able to scare up some negative coverage via local news sources. Come to think of it, the threat of local news coverage may be even better..."
Graham throws that suggestion to the room, casually scanning the others' faces, waiting for lightbulbs to appear over their heads.

Elan nods. "Sure everyone is dangerous when they're cornered.

"But think about his position right now: Mike goes running back and tells him what happened. He knows his plans have been foiled. How does he react? Like he's cornered. So my approach - direct engagement - is intended to diffuse that feeling and bring him to the table as a rational actor.

"But if you think it's too dangerous, then maybe we can send Tamara here as an envoy. She can convey that we are reasonable people who can do a deal. Then he's not feeling cornered and he and his goons aren't tearing up the place looking for us, worried about what we might say or do next."

"Why not do a deal while he's cornered, and leveraged? There are things he wants, say, to maintain his position, and not be exposed publicly for his plot to turn the citizens into zombies. And there are things we want, such as the plasma regulator, to get off the planet safely and quietly......and about 50,000 of his credits."
The last bit hangs in the air. Graham knows this carries some risk, but he waits to see what wheels are turning in the heads of his new-found friends.

Elan nods. "Now you're talking. It might end up being more like 5,000 credits, but I like the way you think!"

"No."

Taelor is no longer leaning on the wall. She's standing straight, her hands balled into fists, visibly seething.

"We are not making a deal with that fucking asshole. He was willing to poison his own people. To blow up the only shuttle who supplies them regularly. He lied to his most loyal followers," she says, pointing at Tamara. Taelor lowers her arm, her hand straying to her pistol's grip. "We could never trust a word that snake said. He has to go down."

"Either we get our evidence and witnesses to someone who's not in his pocket, we expose him publicly at the town hall tomorrow, or we get rid of him tonight, but I'm not gambling our lives on that dick's word."

Graham looks at Taelor, smiles a bit sadly, and nods.
"Yes, he does have that effect on people. I've had a few years to seethe about him, so the fire isn't quite as hot. You've known him for what, a day? And he already has this effect on you. He's quite the charmer, in a 'scorpion with lipstick' kind of way", he says with a smirk.
His gaze drifts to Tamara, trying to gauge her facial expressions. "Much can hinge on her, she may be a great (if unexpected) ally", he thinks. "Watch her reactions to the things people say in the next few minutes."
He waits, scanning faces, meeting gazes.

Statton listens quietly to the conversation as he brings out his medkit. Taking his bioscanner, he scans Elan's face, looking for burst blood vessels, bent cartilage, bone microfractures. The work is calming, routine, he remembers his days at the University of Vlipolis, testing his technique on brainless vat-grown simulacra. He can still hear the emergency medicine instructor's voice in his mind. "Major incident declared?, Exact location, Type of incident, Hazards, Access and Egress, Number/type/severity of casualties, Emergency services present and required." He glances back at the crate of Spores behind him, images of the Cloud circulating through the packed community center flashing through his mind. He carefully pulls a few hypo-patches and a mild topical pain reliever from the medkit and applies them to Elan's nose. "This may sting a bit." pulling back a bit, he says "How does it feel now?"

As graham looks around, Statton looks down at the ground as the tension of the moment stretches.

I-

He gulps, part of him is agreeing with Graham and Elan, just leave, take what you can and _run_, but... it wasn't just his life on the line this time, was it? To leave the people of the planet - to leave Sonia - behind, in the grips of that maniac...

Graham and Elan wouldn't be as easy to convince as Taelor had been, he suspected.

I- I agree with Taelor. he says "Diogenes needs to be confronted. Look at it this way... I suspect Diogenes would be vulnerable to blackmail, however, that leaves a few valuable things on the table... His stature becomes slightly less cringing and more conspiratorial. "consider the value of an Alstyoc free of the Cloud might be to certain powers in the sector, how much would Staconago or one of the Corps would pay for exclusive access to the antidote for study?... certainly more than Diogenes could muster. A-and" He gulps again and looks down at the ground "You might have a few vials of anitdote yourself, but consider its value once diogenes figures out the value of his antidote, or even if someone were to broadcast the formula for free..."

Oh hell, did I just make a threat? Fuck fuck fuck fuck...

"And, Graham, Elan" He says, looking into the eyes of his friends, "You know what the right thing to do is..."

He slumps over a little and looks at the ground, exhausted.

Graham's calm demeanor belies the hint of urgency in his voice, as if some new reality had dawned on him.
"It appears we have slight disagreement on the next course of action, but no worries, we can sort that out shortly. Where we might find more agreement is that we just spoiled Diogenes' plot (for now, anyway), Mike is on the loose, Diogenes probably knows what happened, and his goons may be converging here as we speak. Time to either leave, or set a trap. Also, could Sonia be in danger? Someone call her quickly, please."
He looks at Tamara. "Has Diogenes given you anything? A commpad, or any other device other than the spore-bomb? If so, let's assume he's tracking it. We either need to get rid of it, or use it to lead his goons away."

Tamara looks up, her eyes tired, showing the turmoil behind them. "He didn't give me anything, nor does he track me, he had no reason to. But Mike likely told him and its easily possible that he'll send some guys here.
I don't think he'll just see you off once your ship is ready. And he is not one to fall for blackmail. I haven't heard him actually killing or having someone kill before. But now I'm not so sure anymore...

He has got influence and connections in the community, but he doesn't own us. His strategy thus far was theatre and making people believe his stories. He's very good at that. But people won't follow blindly. "

Statton pushes out a followup message to Sonia. //Be careful, Diogenes knows that we've found the spores. There is a chance he might target your house again. Watch out and be careful  ! We're trying to figure out what to do next, but see you soon, regardless.//

He turns to the rest of the group, "Regardless of what our next course of action, I believe we should return to Sonia's house, she has a couple of pressure masks, and we need to extract the Spore canister from the crate, and if something goes wrong... Is this crate rigged in any way, Tamara?"

"No,it's not rigged. We were just gonna leave it down there and tomorrow someone would have connected it somewhere and open it. I thought it was some of kind of tear gas or something.
What should I do now?"

"Yes, but what did Diogenes think that it was?" Elan asks. "That's the question. Is he stupid, or diabolical? That might tell us how to engage with him.

"What were your instructions for stealing the cylinder? Were they specific, like someone knew the cylinder is? Or were you just trying to find something incriminating in the home of the off-worlder? Because why would someone think that Sonia would have a cylinder of tear gas just sitting around her house?"

He regrets the question as soon as he asks it, because if anyone is going to have tear gas just sitting around - along with refrigerators on wheels and coal-powered air conditioners - it was likely Sonia.

"Alright, Tamara, cards on the table. We'll be gone soon and you'll be here with Diogenes. Is this a one-time pooch screw or is he too dangerous to be left in charge? I get the sense that my companions and their better angels would prefer not to leave the town in the hands of psychotic madman. But what do you want?"

"We've talked too much already, we need to move. We can talk on the way to Sonia's. Make sure weapons are close at hand, in case we run into friends of Diogenes. They're not likely to be the talking kind."
Graham starts turning out the lights and checking out the windows, in case 'friends' have arrived.
"Who has Sonia's number? I have instructions for her now, and we'll call her again before we arrive in case they've gotten there before we do. If it looks clear after making the second call, I'll head to 2006 Meridian St, 2nd floor, Apt #11, and you all continue to Sonia's. If we can hide our connection for one more day, it'll make our lives easier. 2006 Meridian St, 2nd floor, Apt #11."

"I have it. Statton too." Taelor takes her dataslab and sends Sonia's number to Graham. "There you go."

She tucks her comm back into her pocket and walks to the back door. She peeks outside, looking to see if the way is clear. If it is, she motions for the others to follow and heads out.

"Instructions were relatively clear. I knew what I was looking for, just not where. But given the size and shape it wasn't too hard to find.

I used to think Diogenes is all talk, a politician, but I have a feeling he slipped more to the do side of things. Personally I don't want to live in a place where this kind of Diogenes is in charge. That ain't gonna end well. "

The call only rings short, then Sonia answers with a look that mirrors a mixture of worry and curiosity "Is everything ok? Did you secure everything? What will we do next?" Then she realises, she didn't let Graham say a word yet, so she stops and gives him room to answer and speak.

"Thanks, Taelor", Graham says, and immediately dials Sonia on video mode, hoping to see a face undisturbed by fear or trepidation.
She answers, and he takes a moment to scan her face for signs of immediate concern. "Good, looks clear", he thinks.
"Hi, Sonia, success so far. We're headed your way, but we're assuming Diogenes could be sending men either to the community center or to your place. I'll call again when we're close to your place. When I call again, if anyone has gotten into your place and they're forcing you to speak, I want you to say 'All is good', then blink once slowly for each person you've seen. Get it? Help will be on the way, and fast."

"Ok, I can do that." her voice tries to convey confidence, but her face reveals worry and a bit of fear.

"It may not come to that at all, and I hope it doesn't. But if it does, we want to be one step ahead. Fact is, we're not sure what he's doing next, or how far he wants to take it. We do know that we hurt his plan, and he's come after your work before. Top priority -- make sure everybody is safe, regroup in a place unknown to Diogenes, and plan the next steps. We're on our way. Keep doors and windows locked, and don't open the door until you get a call from one of us. Just so you know, Tamara has had a change of heart, and she will be with us."
It might be overkill, and Graham knows it. Like Tamara, he just doesn't know how far Diogenes will go, and he doesn't want to give up the upper hand by being careless.

Statton gingerly picks up the crate and follows Taelor out of the community center.

Elan isn't sure how Statton got stuck carrying the crate, but more than that Elan is happy that it isn't his job. Elan's physique is lithe and lean, which is to say he has to watch out for sewer grates and shower drains.

Graham should be carrying that, he thinks to himself. He looks like he works out.

Elan follows along, his eyes and ears alert to danger. It's almost impossible to surprise him, which is a good skill for a thief. It's also valuable for when a tinpot dictator may want to kill you. Elan still feels like he could have a conversation with Diogenes - criminal to criminal - and come to an understanding, but it seems the others want to topple the little despot. To Elan it seems like a lot of risk for relatively little reward, but he acknowledges that different people are motivated by different things. While he might have hoped for some fellow scallywags that would turn a blind eye toward his occasional theft - and support him in his grander ambitions - he did admit that it was nice not to be suspicious of your partners all the time.

As the group gets almost within sight of Sonia's, Graham gets out his commpad, and hunches over the pad a bit to cover the light from the screen. He makes the call.
"Sonia, it's us. How are things?"
He hopes he doesn't hear the pre-planned words. He hopes Sonia is safe, and he's anxious to take the worry off her mind.

"So the plan is public confrontation?" Elan asks. "How do we convince people of a foiled plot? It's one thing to connect something that actually happened to the person who did it, but it's much harder when that something didn't happen. It becomes our word against his."

He looks sideways at Tamara, who could in theory support them, but to most of the locals they're still a scruffy band of off-worlders. Plus Graham.

Sonia picks up quickly. Her voice is hushed, a whisper and shaking. "There are people in the house. I think three, but I'm not sure. I hid behind the couch in the living room. Please hurry!" Then the call disconnects.

Graham hangs up, urgency filling him.
"We need to move, Sonia says there are people in her house, maybe three. She's hiding in the apartment. I hate to do this, but we don't want Diogenes getting the device, and I'm sure that's what they're looking for. Statton, here are my keys. Go."
He repeats the address for Statton, pulls out his pistol, and breaks into a jog.

Elan contemplates the wisdom of sending Graham off on his own. He'd be more comfortable if Graham went with him to help protect the cannister, but numbers are also important when confronting goons.

"Okay, Tamara, time to prove which side you're on," he says as he raises his telekinetic protections. His nose still throbs a bit, but an aching nose is better than a gunshot wound or a laser blast. Maybe the punch in the face was the warning he needed not to be too confident in a confrontation, and maybe find some cover. Bullets always have the right-of-way

"Talk first, shoot second. Statton, stay in touch, will ya?"

As the group reaches the corner to Sonias street they can see two vehicles in front of her house. One small and simple, one a bit larger and more comfortable.
The house is dark, as is the yard. Everything seems quiet and peaceful.

Elan moves to check out the vehicles to see if anyone is in them. "Cover me," he tells Taelor and Graham.

He looks for flashing lights or anything that might indicate if a security system is active. He is contemplating interfering with the vehicles to draw the people in the house out.

Statton gives a short nod at graham, he's worried about Sonia, but keeping the spores safe and out of Diogenes' hands is more important.

He starts casually walking in the direction of Graham's address.

~~~ A few minutes later ~~~~

As Statton walks down the dark Mani Losa streets, he tries to keep himself from turning his head to look behind, trying to walk as casually as possible. His heart pounds in his chest. Several times, he stops himself from comming one of the others - it might distract them.

Tecumseh wrote:

"Cover me," Elan tells Taelor and Graham.

Taelor nods. She wishes she had a rifle, but armed only with her pistol, she'll need to be closer if Elan needs some backup. She sneaks into the yard, taking cover behind one of the many large pieces of machinery littered about, and waits for the thief to do his thing.

Graham moves as quietly as he can to the front corner of the house, pistol at the ready. He has other ideas, but if somebody says "Cover me", it probably means they're about to do something that needs covering.
From the corner of the house, Graham can see what's across the front and down the side of the house.
He feels such a long way from his office job, but he pushes the thought out of his head.
"It's a new life, now. For better or worse, it's a new life."

Cat-like Elan almost glides over the ground to the parked cars. Using the shadows of the trees and other cars he is only visible to those that know he is there. Only once a small animal gets surprised by the approaching thief and runs of with a quiet squeak. Almost simultaneously Taelor rushes over to Sonia's lawn in a crouched fashion. She finds cover behind a barrel. After peeking over she turns around and motions she sees one person inside. Graham is impressed by the grace and the routine of the two. It's clear they have been in situations like this before.
Imitating Taelor's crouch run, rather clumsily, yet satisfyingly quick and silent, he runs over to the corner of the house. Peeking around he sees the deserted backyard of Sonia's. Whoever is here, is likely inside.

In the meantime Statton carries the crate down the road. It's a not too far to Graham's, but the crate becomes heavy with time. Stoically looking forward, as to not to draw attention to the people he left behind he takes step after step. It's silent, no one is around. In most houses lights are off, but ahead he sees lights shining out of the windows of a corner pub.
Suddenly the doors open with a bang and a young couple stumbles out, laughing and joking.

Elan checks out the cars. He momentarily contemplates stealing acquiring one extralegally, but he suppresses the instinct. It might not be a bad idea as a potential diversion, but right now the team needs more information.

He gets low, which isn't hard given his slight stature, and slips across the yard. The fact that they yard is full of machinery, devices, scrap metal and the like makes it almost laughably easy. He presses himself up to the side of the house and creeps over to the window to where he can get a good angle looking into the house.

The window Elan picked is not by accident. There is a bench below it, making it easy to look inside. Elan climbs on it and slowly lifts his head over the window board. It's dark inside, except for two flashlights. The window is to the office. Inside are two dark figures whispering to each other in what seems to be an argument. Elan cannot make out what is being said, but it is clear they don't agree on something. After a few moments, one of the two makes a dismissive hand gesture to the other and walks through the door, turning to, what Elan remembers must be the hallway. The other figure follows the departing person first with looks then also walks the same direction. On the way he or she waves his arm in the other direction in a sign to follow. Another flashlight becomes visible and follows the first two.

Elan is confused why they're futzing about with flashlights.

If you have numerical superiority and are in control of the situation, why wouldn't you just turn the lights on? Flashlight beams darting back and forth over windows are far more suspicious than just turning the lights on.

Although he wonders if Sonia, in a fit of inspiration, might have cut the power to her own house. If so, clever girl.

He slips away to relay to Graham and Taelor what he's seen. He knows some basic sign language but isn't sure if they do. Might be a good idea to have some basic hand sign in the future, if there is a future.

Taelor nods as Elan relays what he saw in Sonia's cabin. She peeks over her cover, looking for options. "We need to lure the fuckers out," she whispers. "Maybe we can hotwire Sonia's car? Make it seem like she's getting away?"

Statton nods nervously in the couple's direction and speeds up his walk a little bit as he repositions the crate in his hands to relieve some of the pressure. He'll be glad to be in the safety of Graham's house, he's never quite gotten over the mild discomfort of being under the open sky - a deadly preposition on his homeworld of Staconago.

He thinks about everything that has happened today, about Graham and Elan and the new sides that he has seen of them, about Sonia and her hopes for this wretched planet, and about Taelor, yet another stellar wanderer that had ended up in this little circle, trying to save this world.

He thinks of his plan for the Cloud antidote - convince Sonia to sell it to the highest bidder (then he would (probably) have the resources to get both the Halianti and the Syndicate off his back - he had even considered approaching the Syndicate directly to make an offer: the antidote for a clean book with them.) But now... with all these others involved... things were more complicated... He had explained his plan to Elan and Graham, but neither had seemed impressed. But that particular cat (the antidote) was out of the bag now, into several other bags, including Diogenes'...

Not waiting for an answer, Taelor slips out of cover and makes her way to the driveway and Sonia's car, staying low. She goes to the side farthest from the house, keeping the car between her and the cabin.

She grasps the handle, hoping Sonia's naïveté compelled her to leave it unlocked, and tries to open the car's door.