Session 84 - Just When You Thought You Were Out
It has been two days since the final moments of Tennil Neardi's life, and fortunately, nothing has happened.
To speak to the actors, of course, one would be informed of a great many things that had happened. Empires have risen and fallen in the span of forty-eight hours, though no one was present to truly chronicle the moment that the cities burned. Culinary experiments left few survivors. Disagreements became heated arguments became passionate making-up became scandalous falling outs. Celeste caught a fish.
But for the officers, nothing has happened.
Linnet's winds have been strong. Bast has been terse. Isa has been busy. Orrey has been distracted. Yves has been incredibly intense about humidity levels.
It has been... nice.
So nice, in fact, that when the Captain called for an officers meeting over breakfast, the thoughts going in were less "what does the Captain want" and more "do you think the cranberry or the blueberry scones are more appropriate."
We join our heroes at that moment of truth (which is almost certainly blueberry-flavored)...
**
Bast leans forward, looking unusually engaged for one of these meetings.
"We've got a new job. Moderately urgent. And - here's the interesting part - it involves lifting something from the Seventh Dawn."
That's a predatory smile if you've ever seen one. Yves has not yet worked out how to acquire an advanced degree in fluid dynamics with an eye toward gravity issues and magitech while also being an active officer of this ship... but he does have most of a proposal for such a thing worked out and tucked away in his satchel, just in case. "...something, or someone?" he asks, on the faint chance that it's a defecting professor of engineering. You never know. "The ship, or the organization?" Isa asks, for clarification. "And good morning to you too. Sounds dangerous. I'm in!" Linnet has, in fact, brought both blueberry and cranberry scones, because of course. "Long story short, apparently one of the things they're carrying is a weapon called the Frost Fair Blade. Something special, I think?" Bast looks over at Orrey and Linnet. "Haven't had time to find out more about it myself, but it's described as 'legendary'." Linnet continues laying out breakfast with one hand, but starts humming a tune and conducting in the air with the other, closing her eyes in distraction. "I thought that was just a story," Yves says, a touch bemused. "Like the hat of never-ending biscuits, or that one cloak that's supposed to make whoever wears it carry any tune perfectly." “All stories have some truth in them.” Orrey says quietly. "...it clove the tyrant's helm in twain / and rent his force asunder / the Frost Fair Blade the battle made / with smite as loud as thunder..." Linnet opens her eyes. "Yves, either of those would be significantly more useful than a sword that changes its capabilities with every telling." "But, whatever they're carrying, we want it because it's shiny and because robbing the Seventh Dawn lets us spy on them and/or annoy the hell out of them?" Bast directs an amused nod at Linnet. "Also, Chmurka's been gathering some information about them since she joined us, and it gets better. You know how Alterna chews ships up and spits them out? And how the Seventh Dawn seemed to calm it right down during our last visit?
Apparently they have a relic that protects them. And that relic is stored in their vault. The same vault that holds this weapon." Isa lifts an eyebrow. "Well that is just fascinating." "...so we're going to make lots of trouble. I assume you have some sort of plan for how we get in without them skewering us like inconvenient flies?" "...a plan other than skewering them all first, because tempting though the prospect is, we're trying to be all, uh, what's it called. Something about the high ground." Yves snaps his fingers. "Ethical." "Got some information, let's see what we can make of it." Bast puts down a sizable stack of notes on the table. "For some reason, they've been following a fairly rigid route. They spend three days in Alterna, then dock in the Triad for a day to sell their haul and resupply - then it's a day in Yinha, another day in Mechon, and for their last leg they've been stopping at a different city in Machanon each time before swinging by the Triad again on the way back to Alterna. Takes a week in all." “Where’s the best spot to intercept? Interdict? Inter-steal-from-them?” Orrey asks. Linnet squints at the notes. "This is far too neat to be your handwriting." Isa leans down over the table. "Right before the Triad, after Alterna." She puts a finger down on the map. "They'll be on guard right after getting out of Alterna, but by the time they've made it to the Triad they'll be tired, on edge, and low on supplies." “Do you want me to contact and/or involve Cassiat?” Orrey asks with a hint of trepidation. Yves makes a vague disapproving noise. "I'm not keen on making this a ship battle. They have more crew, with more experience between them, and probably better cannons than our castoffs. And I'd rather not roll the dice on that harpoon cannon of theirs if we can avoid it. And Orrey, it's an interesting suggestion, but I doubt Cassiat will be keen on going against them on anything that doesn't directly involve keeping you alive. Let's see if we can keep this quiet."
There's some shuffling of notes involved. "So were you planning to hit them while they're in port?" asks Linnet. "Well, Alterna's a non-starter," replies Bast. "It can kill us well enough by itself; besides, they have protection there and we don't. I don't think we have a quiet option here; it'll be our cannons against theirs plus whatever old magic decides we look like a tasty snack that day." "I hope we don't need to pretend to be other people to get on board, because that's... I mean..." Yves tries to put this delicately. "Maybe that's not one of our real core strengths. Even with the actors, but they're mostly good at pretending to be very specific dramatic people." Linnet pats Yves on the head and hands him a scone. "We will do our best to avoid needing to call on your bullshitting skills."
"Thank you," says Yves fervently, and bites into the scone. Isa considers Bast. "A raid in port is going to draw a lot of attention." Bast absent-mindedly scratches an old scar with his thumb. "I'd prefer to avoid a fight altogether if we can help it. And yeah, undercover is probably not how we want to run this either.
Triad's an option, but not the best. They mainly stick with the ship, and keep an eye on anyone coming and going; sneaking on would be...not impossible, but not smart either. Plus the handoff is supposed to happen in the Triad, which is not great if we have to clear out in a hurry."
He glances at another page, then goes on.
"Since we started keeping an eye on them, they've gone through Itami, Kuganepo, Koehnta, Somnus, Saroni, and Thalatte as their last stop in Machanon - Thalatte was the week we met at the Edge of the World. Last week was Caelonde, and they should be heading for either Turon or Yoshuelje about now if that pattern holds. If it does, we'll know which city they'll be visiting next week." "They're specifically handing off the Frost Fair Blade? Do we know to whom?" (Linnet may have missed something.) He looks to Linnet again. "Our handoff to the client, once we have it. Do we have anyone familiar with Yoshuelje or Turon? Whichever it ends up being, we'd probably have to play it by ear. Main advantage here would be that it comes last, so we get a little more time to prepare."
"I'm thinking we might not want to leave it to the last day, though. There's Mechon; Mechon's weird. Most of the crew stays on, the officers go on shore, no idea why. We could lean on Aurin for some local info.
I think the most promising stop is Yinha. It's a big port, but it's downright prim and proper compared to the Triad, so that's where everyone gets shore leave. Seems like our best chance for sneaking on, or finding out more from the crew." Yves raises a tentative hand. "I'm sort of from Yoshuelje, but... I haven't been back much in the last decade and change. I don't know how much that would help."
"Oh?" Yves definitely has Bast's attention. "How much ship traffic does it get? Visitors? Easy to blend in?"
"Uh." Yves blinks a few times. "I spent a lot of time there in caves or at school, so... yeah you should ask someone else for help with that part." Linnet shrugs gracefully and goes back to breakfast service. “Are we wanting to do this without letting them know we did it? Like swap out the sword with a fake one?” Orrey asks. "Without knowing what it looks like?" Isa wonders. “There’s good descriptions in the poems, but not exact specifications I suppose.” Orrey says. Isa gets a nod from Bast. "Unless you have a really solid description of it somewhere, I don't see how. Plus that there's that relic, and anything else of interest we might run into - like any masks they have. I'd call it perfect if they don't know who did it and don't know it's been done until we're done and away." "So...you want us all to be invisible and the ship to be unoccupied." Linnet looks skeptical. "I don't know that I can fake my way out of being recruited again, but if it comes to that..." "Could set fire to something so they'd all go put it out," Yves suggests. "I mean, that's what me and my classmates did that one time we needed to--uh--I mean, that's a backup plan, maybe." Bast returns Linnet's look with a wry grin. "Sure would be nice. I don't think we're quite that lucky."
There are still more notes. Chmurka's been thorough.
"As far as who's on board, we have confirmation on most of the dinner party: Cid, Byakko, Suzaku, Genbu and Seiryu. Cassiat's still on. So's that sailor you charmed our invitations out of - Serge-something? And apparently they recently picked up some VIP who's not doing ship work. Besides the captain, they've got six officers - so we don't have those fully accounted for - and general crew's just short of a hundred. About a quarter of those, they picked up in the last couple of months, and they had five or six people leave."
Isa oofs, softly. "Okay, so our backup plan is to set something really big on fire," Yves suggests. "Just, uh, putting ideas out there." "That's why I figure our best chance is when most of the crew is away," replies Bast. "Minor point." Linnet is still looking very unsure about the idea of talking to Serge Harman again. "Our best chance might also be to take the Meteor, so there's the least chance of the Dawn crew getting wind of us and trying to strike against our friends in Yves' cabin."
"Not that they know about them, but frankly, if Chmurka has that much information on them, I'm not willing to completely rule out a Chmurka analogue on their crew."
"...though hopefully not one nearly that skilled. My goodness that girl is thorough. And she has great handwriting, too." "She's been making some contacts for us around the Dicelan." That's an almost fond smile, for Bast. "I'm hoping our days of flying blind and hoping to find trouble before it finds us are mostly behind us.
And yeah, if we're playing this quiet we probably don't want the Starfall in the thick of things. Easier to stay out of sight that way." "All right, Captain, I think we've established we're mostly flying blind regarding any of the cities you're aiming to strike in, so the decision is entirely yours instead of just mostly yours." Linnet settles another cup of coffee in front of Bast and stands back. "Where are we going and how are we going to sneak aboard?"
"Ideally without too much fire, though thanks for the suggestion, Yves?" “Sneak. Oh boy. We’re so good at that.” Orrey says with a grimace. "If it was just mine, we wouldn't be having this meeting." Apparently done with the notes, Bast restacks them again. "Anyone think open battle is the better approach?" "That would probably end with people we like getting killed, or people liked by people we like ditto, and it's just funerals and awkwardness all around," Yves admits. “Depends on how many and how effective the people we’re fighting are. And whether reinforcements would get there too quickly.” Orrey doodles an airship battlescene while he thinks out loud. "...there's still that 'they have three times the people we do' part," Linnet points out. "So what, then, makes you think we can pull this off?" Isa's tone is plain and direct. After a quiet moment, Bast is the first to reply. "We've gone against worse odds at Jozech and came out with most of what we were after." "I am a smidge concerned about the possibility of, you know, death," Yves says. "I don't mind long odds, but I feel better about long odds with a plan, and maybe one made by someone other than me, because I'm back to just thinking of different things to set on fire. I can tell that's not useful past a point." "It's not the odds," replies Isa. "Although that's part of it. We're seriously short on intelligence, the only apparently viable lines of attack are way out of most of our skillsets, and, yes, we're amazingly outnumbered." “A raid, not a straight up fight? Get in, smash it up, get out before they can react?” Orrey asks. “We’re good at fast damage."
"I sort of thought that was the plan from the beginning," pipes up Linnet. Which brings us back to, where and when?" "Smash and grab while the crew's on leave is the likely option, yeah. I just figured we'd have that as backup if getting in and out quietly fails. Linnet, how much do you remember of the layout belowdecks?" asks Bast.
Linnet exhales warily. "Um. I...might be a little help. Maybe."
"Any recollection of how the hold is secured?"
"Not from me, certainly. I don't believe they let new potential recruits wander that far." Linnet looks a little chagrined.
Isa nods. "I think I'd respect them less if they did." She keeps looking at the notes, forehead wrinkled. “What information do we need to know to pull this off? The layout of the ship, who will be on it, how much time would it take their other crew to get back once the alarm is raised, what kind of lock or safe the sword is in?” Orrey jots down notes as he ponders. "So, broad outline: Yinha, wait for most of the crew to leave, try getting in and out quietly, go hard and fast if that fails. We have a better alternative for any of that, before we start filling in the details?"
"Detail away, Cap'n." Linnet makes a sweeping hand gesture of open possibilities.
“I’m in favor of your plan.” Orrey agrees. "Can we outrun them in the Meteor, if it comes to that?" Yves asks. "...if not, I might be able to change that, but, uh, I would want permission before making improvements, given that one time with. You know. That ship." "Worked that one time." Now that they're not on that ship, Bast allows himself a grin at the memory. "Let's see what we can rig up in advance so it's not so hard on the structure. And the sails. And the engine."
"And the crew," admits Yves, recalling the acceleration.
(Linnet starts rehearsing her "just stay out of his way, Jasper, we'll clean it up later" speech. In her head.)
"And the paint job." Orrey adds. "Gotta mask it a bit, eh? What do you guys think about a giant meteor shower on the side?" "I should be able to put together a thing or two to help us get in fast. We already have a couple of gadgets for quiet, I'll see if anything else happens by." Bast is taking on an abstracted, engineering sort of look. Isa nods to Yves. "We'll figure it out. I think I'm going to have to stay on the 'hard and fast' squad." "Oh blowing hells, wait, I DID see the hold. Um. Or at least the room with all the masks in it. Not a lot of other artifacts, though, and not a lot of time to inspect their security in any detail; Doctor Cid kinda just threw it open for me to go 'this is where all the stars will be when we have tamed them.'" Linnet appears to be combing her brain frantically for any more details. "That might be my squad too," Yves says. He flips past a through pages in his notebook--mostly the ones about starting an advanced, specialized engineering program on board--to start sketching out engine improvement ideas. "Should we try to rescue the masks while we're in there?" Orrey asks. "I think-- I believe--" Yves frowns intensely at his paper. "This is why I shouldn't be on the sneaking side of things. I would want to get them out, before anything else. It's probably not tactically sound." "I think that falls under 'attack of opportunity,' Orrey. Sword first, masks if we have a convenient moment but don't get captured looking for one." Linnet looks to Bast for confirmation. Orrey writes down "Secondary Objectives" and under it draws a bunch of masks. "I figured that would be one of our stops in there, yeah - Linnet, the more you can remember about where that room is within the ship, the better. The job's important, but so's our...mission?" Bast looks like that word has a weird taste. "Locate it, sure, locate a sword within it, maybe less so." She looks doubtful. "But sure, once you get us onto the ship, I can help you make trouble within it." "Bast, who are we working for? Who's the client?" Orrey asks suddenly. "I know this isn't legal; is it good? Will we be doing the right thing here?" "Anonymous so far." Bast scowls at that slightly. "Yeah, I know. But a job's a job, and this one has all sorts of side benefits for us." "And they're being terrible, so undercutting their resources is a moral positive unless we're selling the sword to a mass murderer or the like," Yves says brightly. "I did the math! ...admittedly some of my formulas are a bit tentative at this part, but still." Linnet wraps an arm around Orrey's shoulders and gives Bast a sidelong look. "Do I ask how much you're getting paid for this, or do I just assume it's enough for you to take the bait without asking more questions?" "I'm all for sticking it to the Dawn, but I'm not comfortable handing off an artifact to an unknown person." Orrey says. "Orrey, until half an hour ago, we thought the Frost Fair Blade was a myth," Linnet points out. "We can always swipe it, meet up with Anon The Mouse, and then decide about handoffs from there," Yves says. There's genuine mirth in the look Linnet gets from Bast. "It's like you've gotten to know me, Leveche. I think Yves has the right idea, myself." "There won't be time for background checks if we meet up with the Mouse for a handoff. Are we just going to go with a gut feeling, or..." Orrey's eyes widen. "I might have a way to get me on board with this plan." Yves looks generally pleased to have a Good Plan, but continues sketching out extremely ethical ways to traumatize the engine of the Meteor. For the greater good. "I need to ask..." Orrey trails off thinking.
"Saroni." He says with a nod. Bast looks somewhat skeptical, but nods. "Seems like a solid choice." Yves makes an encouraging gesture towards Orrey's decision to ask literal deities for answers to questions about dubiously ethical and definitely illegal contract work. (Linnet disappears briefly to grab another urn of coffee and rummage through her notes from her Seventh Dawn trial by fire.) While Orrey makes his preparations, Bast's attention strays to Isa.
"Do you remember much of the dinner party? I was mostly keeping track of Cid; it'd be good to compare notes on what we might expect if we run into a fight with the rest of them." Isa shakes her head. "Every last one of them can handle themselves, that's all I remember. If it turns bad you're going to want to make for an open deck as quick as you can; guaranteed they know the layout of the ship better than you do." Linnet returns with more coffee just in time to catch this question. "Best answer is 'don't.' I wouldn't count on diplomacy to hold them off, unless maybe it's the armored fella Yves was friends with, and even then likely not under pressure." "Plan A, yeah." Bast gets a faraway look in his eyes. "I wonder what the specs on their vault are..." Isa nods. "That'd be good information to have, yes." Orrey approaches one of the windows in the room, standing in the sunlight and holding his symbol of Saroni: a golden sun shining in the light with those regularly spaced triangular rays.
He murmurs while bathed in the light: "Goddess of the sun, please grant me your truth today. Is it good, right, and just to give the Frost Fair Blade to the one who is hiring us to obtain it?" The sunlight streaming through the window intensifies. Orrey's pupils contract to the point of vanishing. He is eerily silent.
(As is the room around him.)
Occasionally, his lips move, but no sound emerges. Orrey steps back, slowly, and collapses back into the nearest chair holding his head. When he looks back at the rest of the officers, his eyes are blazing with golden sunlight that is ever so slowly fading. And everyone who hears him KNOWS he speaks the truth. "The Blade is alive. The Blade is a mask." Isa turns to look at Yves. "...oh well we're hecking stealing it," says Yves, blinking rapidly. "And then asking what it wants to do, not just passing it on to someone else." Bast tilts his head at Orrey's pronouncement. "So. Not a secondary objective after all?" Orrey nods agreement to both of them. "Well that simplifies things considerably." Linnet cracks her knuckles and hugs Orrey from behind, then presses him to drink more coffee. He smiles his thanks and sips the cup, eyes still glowing a bit at the level of a bright gas lamp. "Captain, requesting temporary approval of plan 'steal first, work out the end game later,' but also requesting that Chmurka keep pressing for client details as much as possible. Acceptable?" "If it's not the Dawn wanting a mask, could it be Apoc's people? Or Perilune's?" Orrey asks. "It could well, but I'm not ready to just up and ask Perilune until I have more details. And I don't think any of us are getting a straight answer out of Apoc," Linnet mutters. "I can." Orrey says. "With another bit of help from Saroni." "Oh she's already on it." Bast answers Linnet with a rather satisfied smile. "And let's keep Perilune out of this for now? Given the different goals and all." "Agreed. And, wait, you have a direct line to the goddess in your head now?" Linnet looks impressed. And slightly terrified. Orrey grins. "Not exactly. One of the boons of the Oracle job is to know when someone speaks the truth, for 12 statements." "...we should probably be quiet, then, for maximum efficiency."
"...or, wait. Was your plan to turn those twelve statements on Bast, or Chmurka, or heaven forbid Apoc, or..." (Linnet's confused.) "I could ask him questions, he could answer." Orrey says. "Though even knowing whether he was speaking truly, he might be cagey enough to deceive through leaving things out or heavy implications." "Are we interrogating people now?" Bast looks amused. Orrey shrugs. "No need for an inquisition when a more or less friendly conversation would do."
"I suppose he might know something about this Blade, if the legend's been around that long." As no other suggestions fill the post-visitation silence, Bast turns on the intercom and calls for Apoc to join the meeting. Roughly six minutes later, Apoc drifts in. "O Captain, my Captain?" "Hey, Apoc. Came across something here you're probably the best person to answer. Do you know the stories about the Frost Fair Blade?" asks Bast. Eyes still glowing faintly, truth still emanating Orrey says “Answer truthfully and fully.” He does not say or else. Apoc blinks.
To speak to the actors, of course, one would be informed of a great many things that had happened. Empires have risen and fallen in the span of forty-eight hours, though no one was present to truly chronicle the moment that the cities burned. Culinary experiments left few survivors. Disagreements became heated arguments became passionate making-up became scandalous falling outs. Celeste caught a fish.
But for the officers, nothing has happened.
Linnet's winds have been strong. Bast has been terse. Isa has been busy. Orrey has been distracted. Yves has been incredibly intense about humidity levels.
It has been... nice.
So nice, in fact, that when the Captain called for an officers meeting over breakfast, the thoughts going in were less "what does the Captain want" and more "do you think the cranberry or the blueberry scones are more appropriate."
We join our heroes at that moment of truth (which is almost certainly blueberry-flavored)...
**
Bast leans forward, looking unusually engaged for one of these meetings.
"We've got a new job. Moderately urgent. And - here's the interesting part - it involves lifting something from the Seventh Dawn."
That's a predatory smile if you've ever seen one. Yves has not yet worked out how to acquire an advanced degree in fluid dynamics with an eye toward gravity issues and magitech while also being an active officer of this ship... but he does have most of a proposal for such a thing worked out and tucked away in his satchel, just in case. "...something, or someone?" he asks, on the faint chance that it's a defecting professor of engineering. You never know. "The ship, or the organization?" Isa asks, for clarification. "And good morning to you too. Sounds dangerous. I'm in!" Linnet has, in fact, brought both blueberry and cranberry scones, because of course. "Long story short, apparently one of the things they're carrying is a weapon called the Frost Fair Blade. Something special, I think?" Bast looks over at Orrey and Linnet. "Haven't had time to find out more about it myself, but it's described as 'legendary'." Linnet continues laying out breakfast with one hand, but starts humming a tune and conducting in the air with the other, closing her eyes in distraction. "I thought that was just a story," Yves says, a touch bemused. "Like the hat of never-ending biscuits, or that one cloak that's supposed to make whoever wears it carry any tune perfectly." “All stories have some truth in them.” Orrey says quietly. "...it clove the tyrant's helm in twain / and rent his force asunder / the Frost Fair Blade the battle made / with smite as loud as thunder..." Linnet opens her eyes. "Yves, either of those would be significantly more useful than a sword that changes its capabilities with every telling." "But, whatever they're carrying, we want it because it's shiny and because robbing the Seventh Dawn lets us spy on them and/or annoy the hell out of them?" Bast directs an amused nod at Linnet. "Also, Chmurka's been gathering some information about them since she joined us, and it gets better. You know how Alterna chews ships up and spits them out? And how the Seventh Dawn seemed to calm it right down during our last visit?
Apparently they have a relic that protects them. And that relic is stored in their vault. The same vault that holds this weapon." Isa lifts an eyebrow. "Well that is just fascinating." "...so we're going to make lots of trouble. I assume you have some sort of plan for how we get in without them skewering us like inconvenient flies?" "...a plan other than skewering them all first, because tempting though the prospect is, we're trying to be all, uh, what's it called. Something about the high ground." Yves snaps his fingers. "Ethical." "Got some information, let's see what we can make of it." Bast puts down a sizable stack of notes on the table. "For some reason, they've been following a fairly rigid route. They spend three days in Alterna, then dock in the Triad for a day to sell their haul and resupply - then it's a day in Yinha, another day in Mechon, and for their last leg they've been stopping at a different city in Machanon each time before swinging by the Triad again on the way back to Alterna. Takes a week in all." “Where’s the best spot to intercept? Interdict? Inter-steal-from-them?” Orrey asks. Linnet squints at the notes. "This is far too neat to be your handwriting." Isa leans down over the table. "Right before the Triad, after Alterna." She puts a finger down on the map. "They'll be on guard right after getting out of Alterna, but by the time they've made it to the Triad they'll be tired, on edge, and low on supplies." “Do you want me to contact and/or involve Cassiat?” Orrey asks with a hint of trepidation. Yves makes a vague disapproving noise. "I'm not keen on making this a ship battle. They have more crew, with more experience between them, and probably better cannons than our castoffs. And I'd rather not roll the dice on that harpoon cannon of theirs if we can avoid it. And Orrey, it's an interesting suggestion, but I doubt Cassiat will be keen on going against them on anything that doesn't directly involve keeping you alive. Let's see if we can keep this quiet."
There's some shuffling of notes involved. "So were you planning to hit them while they're in port?" asks Linnet. "Well, Alterna's a non-starter," replies Bast. "It can kill us well enough by itself; besides, they have protection there and we don't. I don't think we have a quiet option here; it'll be our cannons against theirs plus whatever old magic decides we look like a tasty snack that day." "I hope we don't need to pretend to be other people to get on board, because that's... I mean..." Yves tries to put this delicately. "Maybe that's not one of our real core strengths. Even with the actors, but they're mostly good at pretending to be very specific dramatic people." Linnet pats Yves on the head and hands him a scone. "We will do our best to avoid needing to call on your bullshitting skills."
"Thank you," says Yves fervently, and bites into the scone. Isa considers Bast. "A raid in port is going to draw a lot of attention." Bast absent-mindedly scratches an old scar with his thumb. "I'd prefer to avoid a fight altogether if we can help it. And yeah, undercover is probably not how we want to run this either.
Triad's an option, but not the best. They mainly stick with the ship, and keep an eye on anyone coming and going; sneaking on would be...not impossible, but not smart either. Plus the handoff is supposed to happen in the Triad, which is not great if we have to clear out in a hurry."
He glances at another page, then goes on.
"Since we started keeping an eye on them, they've gone through Itami, Kuganepo, Koehnta, Somnus, Saroni, and Thalatte as their last stop in Machanon - Thalatte was the week we met at the Edge of the World. Last week was Caelonde, and they should be heading for either Turon or Yoshuelje about now if that pattern holds. If it does, we'll know which city they'll be visiting next week." "They're specifically handing off the Frost Fair Blade? Do we know to whom?" (Linnet may have missed something.) He looks to Linnet again. "Our handoff to the client, once we have it. Do we have anyone familiar with Yoshuelje or Turon? Whichever it ends up being, we'd probably have to play it by ear. Main advantage here would be that it comes last, so we get a little more time to prepare."
"I'm thinking we might not want to leave it to the last day, though. There's Mechon; Mechon's weird. Most of the crew stays on, the officers go on shore, no idea why. We could lean on Aurin for some local info.
I think the most promising stop is Yinha. It's a big port, but it's downright prim and proper compared to the Triad, so that's where everyone gets shore leave. Seems like our best chance for sneaking on, or finding out more from the crew." Yves raises a tentative hand. "I'm sort of from Yoshuelje, but... I haven't been back much in the last decade and change. I don't know how much that would help."
"Oh?" Yves definitely has Bast's attention. "How much ship traffic does it get? Visitors? Easy to blend in?"
"Uh." Yves blinks a few times. "I spent a lot of time there in caves or at school, so... yeah you should ask someone else for help with that part." Linnet shrugs gracefully and goes back to breakfast service. “Are we wanting to do this without letting them know we did it? Like swap out the sword with a fake one?” Orrey asks. "Without knowing what it looks like?" Isa wonders. “There’s good descriptions in the poems, but not exact specifications I suppose.” Orrey says. Isa gets a nod from Bast. "Unless you have a really solid description of it somewhere, I don't see how. Plus that there's that relic, and anything else of interest we might run into - like any masks they have. I'd call it perfect if they don't know who did it and don't know it's been done until we're done and away." "So...you want us all to be invisible and the ship to be unoccupied." Linnet looks skeptical. "I don't know that I can fake my way out of being recruited again, but if it comes to that..." "Could set fire to something so they'd all go put it out," Yves suggests. "I mean, that's what me and my classmates did that one time we needed to--uh--I mean, that's a backup plan, maybe." Bast returns Linnet's look with a wry grin. "Sure would be nice. I don't think we're quite that lucky."
There are still more notes. Chmurka's been thorough.
"As far as who's on board, we have confirmation on most of the dinner party: Cid, Byakko, Suzaku, Genbu and Seiryu. Cassiat's still on. So's that sailor you charmed our invitations out of - Serge-something? And apparently they recently picked up some VIP who's not doing ship work. Besides the captain, they've got six officers - so we don't have those fully accounted for - and general crew's just short of a hundred. About a quarter of those, they picked up in the last couple of months, and they had five or six people leave."
Isa oofs, softly. "Okay, so our backup plan is to set something really big on fire," Yves suggests. "Just, uh, putting ideas out there." "That's why I figure our best chance is when most of the crew is away," replies Bast. "Minor point." Linnet is still looking very unsure about the idea of talking to Serge Harman again. "Our best chance might also be to take the Meteor, so there's the least chance of the Dawn crew getting wind of us and trying to strike against our friends in Yves' cabin."
"Not that they know about them, but frankly, if Chmurka has that much information on them, I'm not willing to completely rule out a Chmurka analogue on their crew."
"...though hopefully not one nearly that skilled. My goodness that girl is thorough. And she has great handwriting, too." "She's been making some contacts for us around the Dicelan." That's an almost fond smile, for Bast. "I'm hoping our days of flying blind and hoping to find trouble before it finds us are mostly behind us.
And yeah, if we're playing this quiet we probably don't want the Starfall in the thick of things. Easier to stay out of sight that way." "All right, Captain, I think we've established we're mostly flying blind regarding any of the cities you're aiming to strike in, so the decision is entirely yours instead of just mostly yours." Linnet settles another cup of coffee in front of Bast and stands back. "Where are we going and how are we going to sneak aboard?"
"Ideally without too much fire, though thanks for the suggestion, Yves?" “Sneak. Oh boy. We’re so good at that.” Orrey says with a grimace. "If it was just mine, we wouldn't be having this meeting." Apparently done with the notes, Bast restacks them again. "Anyone think open battle is the better approach?" "That would probably end with people we like getting killed, or people liked by people we like ditto, and it's just funerals and awkwardness all around," Yves admits. “Depends on how many and how effective the people we’re fighting are. And whether reinforcements would get there too quickly.” Orrey doodles an airship battlescene while he thinks out loud. "...there's still that 'they have three times the people we do' part," Linnet points out. "So what, then, makes you think we can pull this off?" Isa's tone is plain and direct. After a quiet moment, Bast is the first to reply. "We've gone against worse odds at Jozech and came out with most of what we were after." "I am a smidge concerned about the possibility of, you know, death," Yves says. "I don't mind long odds, but I feel better about long odds with a plan, and maybe one made by someone other than me, because I'm back to just thinking of different things to set on fire. I can tell that's not useful past a point." "It's not the odds," replies Isa. "Although that's part of it. We're seriously short on intelligence, the only apparently viable lines of attack are way out of most of our skillsets, and, yes, we're amazingly outnumbered." “A raid, not a straight up fight? Get in, smash it up, get out before they can react?” Orrey asks. “We’re good at fast damage."
"I sort of thought that was the plan from the beginning," pipes up Linnet. Which brings us back to, where and when?" "Smash and grab while the crew's on leave is the likely option, yeah. I just figured we'd have that as backup if getting in and out quietly fails. Linnet, how much do you remember of the layout belowdecks?" asks Bast.
Linnet exhales warily. "Um. I...might be a little help. Maybe."
"Any recollection of how the hold is secured?"
"Not from me, certainly. I don't believe they let new potential recruits wander that far." Linnet looks a little chagrined.
Isa nods. "I think I'd respect them less if they did." She keeps looking at the notes, forehead wrinkled. “What information do we need to know to pull this off? The layout of the ship, who will be on it, how much time would it take their other crew to get back once the alarm is raised, what kind of lock or safe the sword is in?” Orrey jots down notes as he ponders. "So, broad outline: Yinha, wait for most of the crew to leave, try getting in and out quietly, go hard and fast if that fails. We have a better alternative for any of that, before we start filling in the details?"
"Detail away, Cap'n." Linnet makes a sweeping hand gesture of open possibilities.
“I’m in favor of your plan.” Orrey agrees. "Can we outrun them in the Meteor, if it comes to that?" Yves asks. "...if not, I might be able to change that, but, uh, I would want permission before making improvements, given that one time with. You know. That ship." "Worked that one time." Now that they're not on that ship, Bast allows himself a grin at the memory. "Let's see what we can rig up in advance so it's not so hard on the structure. And the sails. And the engine."
"And the crew," admits Yves, recalling the acceleration.
(Linnet starts rehearsing her "just stay out of his way, Jasper, we'll clean it up later" speech. In her head.)
"And the paint job." Orrey adds. "Gotta mask it a bit, eh? What do you guys think about a giant meteor shower on the side?" "I should be able to put together a thing or two to help us get in fast. We already have a couple of gadgets for quiet, I'll see if anything else happens by." Bast is taking on an abstracted, engineering sort of look. Isa nods to Yves. "We'll figure it out. I think I'm going to have to stay on the 'hard and fast' squad." "Oh blowing hells, wait, I DID see the hold. Um. Or at least the room with all the masks in it. Not a lot of other artifacts, though, and not a lot of time to inspect their security in any detail; Doctor Cid kinda just threw it open for me to go 'this is where all the stars will be when we have tamed them.'" Linnet appears to be combing her brain frantically for any more details. "That might be my squad too," Yves says. He flips past a through pages in his notebook--mostly the ones about starting an advanced, specialized engineering program on board--to start sketching out engine improvement ideas. "Should we try to rescue the masks while we're in there?" Orrey asks. "I think-- I believe--" Yves frowns intensely at his paper. "This is why I shouldn't be on the sneaking side of things. I would want to get them out, before anything else. It's probably not tactically sound." "I think that falls under 'attack of opportunity,' Orrey. Sword first, masks if we have a convenient moment but don't get captured looking for one." Linnet looks to Bast for confirmation. Orrey writes down "Secondary Objectives" and under it draws a bunch of masks. "I figured that would be one of our stops in there, yeah - Linnet, the more you can remember about where that room is within the ship, the better. The job's important, but so's our...mission?" Bast looks like that word has a weird taste. "Locate it, sure, locate a sword within it, maybe less so." She looks doubtful. "But sure, once you get us onto the ship, I can help you make trouble within it." "Bast, who are we working for? Who's the client?" Orrey asks suddenly. "I know this isn't legal; is it good? Will we be doing the right thing here?" "Anonymous so far." Bast scowls at that slightly. "Yeah, I know. But a job's a job, and this one has all sorts of side benefits for us." "And they're being terrible, so undercutting their resources is a moral positive unless we're selling the sword to a mass murderer or the like," Yves says brightly. "I did the math! ...admittedly some of my formulas are a bit tentative at this part, but still." Linnet wraps an arm around Orrey's shoulders and gives Bast a sidelong look. "Do I ask how much you're getting paid for this, or do I just assume it's enough for you to take the bait without asking more questions?" "I'm all for sticking it to the Dawn, but I'm not comfortable handing off an artifact to an unknown person." Orrey says. "Orrey, until half an hour ago, we thought the Frost Fair Blade was a myth," Linnet points out. "We can always swipe it, meet up with Anon The Mouse, and then decide about handoffs from there," Yves says. There's genuine mirth in the look Linnet gets from Bast. "It's like you've gotten to know me, Leveche. I think Yves has the right idea, myself." "There won't be time for background checks if we meet up with the Mouse for a handoff. Are we just going to go with a gut feeling, or..." Orrey's eyes widen. "I might have a way to get me on board with this plan." Yves looks generally pleased to have a Good Plan, but continues sketching out extremely ethical ways to traumatize the engine of the Meteor. For the greater good. "I need to ask..." Orrey trails off thinking.
"Saroni." He says with a nod. Bast looks somewhat skeptical, but nods. "Seems like a solid choice." Yves makes an encouraging gesture towards Orrey's decision to ask literal deities for answers to questions about dubiously ethical and definitely illegal contract work. (Linnet disappears briefly to grab another urn of coffee and rummage through her notes from her Seventh Dawn trial by fire.) While Orrey makes his preparations, Bast's attention strays to Isa.
"Do you remember much of the dinner party? I was mostly keeping track of Cid; it'd be good to compare notes on what we might expect if we run into a fight with the rest of them." Isa shakes her head. "Every last one of them can handle themselves, that's all I remember. If it turns bad you're going to want to make for an open deck as quick as you can; guaranteed they know the layout of the ship better than you do." Linnet returns with more coffee just in time to catch this question. "Best answer is 'don't.' I wouldn't count on diplomacy to hold them off, unless maybe it's the armored fella Yves was friends with, and even then likely not under pressure." "Plan A, yeah." Bast gets a faraway look in his eyes. "I wonder what the specs on their vault are..." Isa nods. "That'd be good information to have, yes." Orrey approaches one of the windows in the room, standing in the sunlight and holding his symbol of Saroni: a golden sun shining in the light with those regularly spaced triangular rays.
He murmurs while bathed in the light: "Goddess of the sun, please grant me your truth today. Is it good, right, and just to give the Frost Fair Blade to the one who is hiring us to obtain it?" The sunlight streaming through the window intensifies. Orrey's pupils contract to the point of vanishing. He is eerily silent.
(As is the room around him.)
Occasionally, his lips move, but no sound emerges. Orrey steps back, slowly, and collapses back into the nearest chair holding his head. When he looks back at the rest of the officers, his eyes are blazing with golden sunlight that is ever so slowly fading. And everyone who hears him KNOWS he speaks the truth. "The Blade is alive. The Blade is a mask." Isa turns to look at Yves. "...oh well we're hecking stealing it," says Yves, blinking rapidly. "And then asking what it wants to do, not just passing it on to someone else." Bast tilts his head at Orrey's pronouncement. "So. Not a secondary objective after all?" Orrey nods agreement to both of them. "Well that simplifies things considerably." Linnet cracks her knuckles and hugs Orrey from behind, then presses him to drink more coffee. He smiles his thanks and sips the cup, eyes still glowing a bit at the level of a bright gas lamp. "Captain, requesting temporary approval of plan 'steal first, work out the end game later,' but also requesting that Chmurka keep pressing for client details as much as possible. Acceptable?" "If it's not the Dawn wanting a mask, could it be Apoc's people? Or Perilune's?" Orrey asks. "It could well, but I'm not ready to just up and ask Perilune until I have more details. And I don't think any of us are getting a straight answer out of Apoc," Linnet mutters. "I can." Orrey says. "With another bit of help from Saroni." "Oh she's already on it." Bast answers Linnet with a rather satisfied smile. "And let's keep Perilune out of this for now? Given the different goals and all." "Agreed. And, wait, you have a direct line to the goddess in your head now?" Linnet looks impressed. And slightly terrified. Orrey grins. "Not exactly. One of the boons of the Oracle job is to know when someone speaks the truth, for 12 statements." "...we should probably be quiet, then, for maximum efficiency."
"...or, wait. Was your plan to turn those twelve statements on Bast, or Chmurka, or heaven forbid Apoc, or..." (Linnet's confused.) "I could ask him questions, he could answer." Orrey says. "Though even knowing whether he was speaking truly, he might be cagey enough to deceive through leaving things out or heavy implications." "Are we interrogating people now?" Bast looks amused. Orrey shrugs. "No need for an inquisition when a more or less friendly conversation would do."
"I suppose he might know something about this Blade, if the legend's been around that long." As no other suggestions fill the post-visitation silence, Bast turns on the intercom and calls for Apoc to join the meeting. Roughly six minutes later, Apoc drifts in. "O Captain, my Captain?" "Hey, Apoc. Came across something here you're probably the best person to answer. Do you know the stories about the Frost Fair Blade?" asks Bast. Eyes still glowing faintly, truth still emanating Orrey says “Answer truthfully and fully.” He does not say or else. Apoc blinks.
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