<> <> <> <> * Tomas is in the galley revolutionizing modern cuisine while the others presumably research the guy with the funny haircut. * Hestia is Hardison-ing it up, pointing at the big display in the ship lounge that is showing the net site with all that bracketed exposition info. "They might as well just slap a big label reading 'SUSPICIOUS' on their entire company." * Lexi sighs and after a lot of waiting with her phone in her hand she dials the number listed as "Eddie". (I'm drinking. This will get me into Lexi's mindset for this) (Is it something with an umbrella?) (It's actually Lemonade with Sweet Tea vodka and rasberry vodka.) (I don't think that's safe. Those umbrellas can hurt people.) (That sounds umbrella worthy.) (So it's sort of hard rasberry lemonade iced tea) (Your father is very disappointed in you, Lexi) (Just so you know.) (What else is new?) <> * Zeke has his pad in one hand, holohead looking at the net site. "I have heard of this company before. From previous work in the geological domain." (#atctoo, Lexi) * Hestia raises an eyebrow. "And?" * Tomas enters from the galley with a dusting of flour on one cheek and looks at the large display, "Anything new on helmet?" * Hestia makes the 'go on, citizen' handswirl motion. Heck, is there anyone that even works for them other than CEO Helmethead? * Zeke shakes his head. "Simply that they were involved in the market and had an actual presence." I was not exactly... in sales. * Kyle raises an eyebrow. "What were you doin' then?" Okay, so to recap, we have a mysterious company under the radar based out of what is effectively a murderous slum, in everything from cutting edge tech to... geology... with a staff of, like, 10 people. And conveniently, the duekti are terraforming geniuses. That the three massive corporations haven't either absorbed or crushed into the dirt. * Zeke tilts his head at Hestia. "There are numerous experimental technology companies that the corporations have not absorbed. That is the purpose of the corporate incubators in Red NYC and Twilight City, among other places." * Amadeus nods. * Lexi is talking into her phone. "Yeah! Hi, Eddie. It's Lexi!" (nix one of those Lexis... and I'll drink slower) (I find it hard to believe any long-term success stories stay in Twilight City.) (Well, they're not a long term success story yet.) (My point is that once they get their foot in the door the first thing they probably do is leave Twilight City.) (Are you kidding? The tax situation is probably awesome.) (Yeah, the savings you get on taxes means you can pay for all the utilities and stable workforce and attrition you get from being there in the first place.) (Labor is cheap, land is cheap, production capabilities are high.) (That's what Zak is trying to fix. :|) (Emphasis 'trying') Like... yeah. Anyway... How have you er... been? (It's not like there was no industry in TC. It IS a little weird that something this high tech springs up there out of nowhere.) (Exactly.) (Especially when the home of cutting edge tech dev is RNYC.) (It's not like giant suspicious, I don't think. But it's a little odd.) (Nod.) Well you know... It's just been a while. I've been out of the loop. Been out chainjumping with a bunch of crazy cats. I'm betting you've seen some of the pictures. Anyway, have you ever heard of ErichTech? (So what is this insanely expensive, revolutionary tech that they make? Do they have, like, a catalog?) (And can I record "I'm Tia Richter, and this is my favorite black tech dealer on the Citadel" for a discount?) * Amadeus looks over at Lexi's phone conversation. <> (When did they roll it out?) <> <> Yeah? What do they do exactly? * Zeke looks down at his pad a moment as the birdsect glances around, then he looks to Amadeus. "The terraforming link you identified is a significant coincidence." Huh? What kinda coincidence? The duekti are terraforming geniuses, like I said. And the people who sent us there? Terraformers. It is, but it isn't at the same time. Yeah? That's schway. They employing TC guys? Like do you know anyone who works there? I mean, did we actually bring anything back that would help them in any way? No, but they may have hoped we would. Have they hired anyone else? Oh, yeah. They are cutting-edge too. <> * Zeke shakes his holohead slightly. "Nothing immediately stunning, other than geological data on the terraformed planets." Which could be of use to them, but we do not have significant information about what they needed. So why bother? If their tech is so revolutionary, is it worth the massive expense and risk? Though it does suggest they knew about the Duekti beforehand. (Also does the sleythinpedia mention the Duekti as terraformers?) * Lexi sighs and rolls her eyes. "Yeah well... you get me someone who works there and hook me up with them and I'll make it worth it. Sounds good, yeah?" <<(No. The Duekti planet mentions are slim and consist mostly of warnings.>> * Hestia taps away at her pad for a second, then adds, "And not from the sleythin, either. Their data doesn't mention terraforming... it's all pretty much 'danger! dragons!'." You know. We've never heard of these guys before. ("Possibly dungeons!") Yeah. You can call me here. Make it quick, though, right? and the only source we have that says their tech is the best ever is uh them * Hestia checks the news. Has anyone put this ErichTech... tech... to the test? Could they have sent us to fetch their baseline tech? <> * Lexi hangs up her phone and sighs. * Hestia glances over at Lexi. <> * Hestia blinks at something out of the corner of her eye. Then she turns away from Lexi without even hearing anything. THEN there is furious typing. Then she walks over to Amadeus and hands the pad to him with a dazed expression. * Lexi stands up and puts her phone away. "Okay. So I got some information on ErichTech." What'cha got? * Amadeus takes the pad and looks at it, and his eyes widen. He pushes his glasses and looks at it again. Then clears his throat. "So..." * Tomas turns and listens intently. (DUAL INFORMATIONS) * Amadeus stops himself and turns his attention to Lexi. "I'm sorry, you first." (it happens a lot lately.) * Lexi shrugs. "They're based in some skyscraper up near Stargazer Hall. I have a guy who's going to track down somebody who works there and get them to meet with us. They're also promising to build some parks in TC in like five years." * Amadeus nods. "On Tia's end..." He raises the datapad. "According to the Sleythin's information, the Duekti don't just have one system." They have around two hundred. * Tomas's eyes go wide, "All populated?" That's right, they said 'Duekti space' when they were pissed, didn't they? * Hestia stretches her arms over her head. "Every time I looked for data I did it based on planet, but this time my search agent was looking for the word 'duekti' instead. Lo and behold..." (There, plausible explanation for my total stupidity.) It seems unlikely that they are all currently populated, given the status of the current Duekti, but the Sleythin files would not know. (Were the sleythin files pre or post bugwipe?) The idea that ErichTech is a front for conquering spacechickens is really entertaining. (Pre by many many years.) Why would they send us to their own people? So we could enact our unique form of diplomacy? (SPACE CHOCOBOS SEEK YOUR LIFE) I was kidding. (They have crazy terraforming tech from somewhere. Why not themselves?) (It is like an entire team of Isises.) (...what?) (I think he means in the conspiracy sense.) (Yes.) (Well, Isis was usually right, so I fail to see how it's a bad thing.) (Aaaanyway.) <> * Hestia turns toward Lexi's phone quickly! THe camera zooms in on her face! * Lexi answers it. (Back in ATCtoo?) (Yup) I wonder what split up the Duekti empire. It doesn't seem like they're in communication between colonies anymore. (Sadly, 'Peace Treaty with the Bugs' is not reasonable.) "Hello?" Could have been the bugs. You don't talk to a planet if there's nobody to talk to there. * Amadeus nods. I suppose. I mean, we don't really have a good lightspeed-level comm system, if the Bugs wiped out whatever it is they used to talk to each other... There was some evidence of a Bug invasion, as far as we could tell. * Hestia sighs. "Without going to all those other planets there's no way to know if the jerks we found are the only survivors or not and I frankly have no desire to talk to a spacechicken ever again." * Zeke looks back at the screen idly, before commenting, "It will likely remain a mystery for the forseeable future." * Lexi rolls her eyes and hangs up. * Hestia turns toward Lexi quickly! The camera zooms in on her face! * Kyle glances at Lexi. * Lexi shrugs. "He found some girl who works in filing over at ErichTech. He's going to try to arrange a meeting." A meeting where, exactly? Does ErichTech gives tours? * Lexi shrugs. "Fuck if I know. Probably in a club if I know Eddie." * Hestia deadpans, "In Twilight City." (PARTY WOOOO)( * Lexi nods. "Yeah." She looks over at Tia. "Why?" Because I'm not going to Twilight City. * Lexi waves a hand. "There are some kickin' clubs in TC. You could use some partying, I think." * Kyle looks at Hestia for a moment. "A lot of partying." * Hestia raises an eyebrow. "I don't care if I need an entire Walpurgisnacht of partying, I'm not setting foot in Twilight City." * Lexi rolls her eyes. "T, you are so uptight. Loosen up. TC isn't so bad." This has nothing to do with me being uptight, thank you. * Amadeus holds up a hand. "It's not a big deal; we don't *all* need to go into TC." * Zeke adds, "It would probably be more suspicious if we did, for a personal meeting." * Hestia nods slowly, but closes her eyes for a second and presses the fingers of her right hand into her temple for a moment or two... if you're standing near her, it's obvious she's taking a big breath in through her nose. Well, I can go with Lexi. I can go as well. I'm sure some muscle wouldn't hurt. Seriously. (Meanwhile, Mordin, Legion and I will go do something else.) * Kyle goes to the bar and gets something alcoholic to drink, then plops it in front of Hestia. (Er, sorry. Amadeus and Zeke. Ohohohoho.) Chillax. (So Tomas, Kyle, and Lexi are heading to TC?) (Gonna see the sights!) (And be shot by them!) ( ? Tomas can't be shot.) * Hestia just gives Kyle a look, and clearly does not take the drink. "I'm fine." (ohohohoho) (*pats Tomas* Sure you can't.) (What are the rest of you doing?) (Don't you think if he could be shot he would have been by now?) (*blank stare*) (Okay, before I suggest something ridiculous, the butterfly in the camera led us to SIG-ASP, right?) (That was the toaster.) (And we still don't know who Bidder-D-is-for-Death is, yes?) <> * Hestia glances over at Zeke and Amadeus. "Maybe while they're doing that we can try and track down the people who've been trying to kill us." * Hestia pauses. "Of course they also tried to kill Don Fernando, so I don't know if I should forgive them for trying, or hate them even more for not succeeding." <> * Lexi answers her phone again. "Yes?" Yeah sure. Where? * Lexi shrugs. "Yeah. Alright." Yeah yeah... okay. How about I meet you somewhere tomorrow night, yeah? * Lexi hangs up her phone. We're meeting her tomorrow around lunch in the plaza outside the building. * Hestia hnns. "Well... take the lander, I guess? We can take the ship back to dock." * Kyle thumbs-up. "Arright." (I would rather not find the Breaker up on blocks somewhere in TC with "LA RAZA" on the side ala that one Wonderella strip.) (Snort.) (Hahaha) (Hm. Dre, you and Ard are moving ... next week?) Yes (Yup.) (er yes) (Oy, and you're split so i can't run either side well.) (Can we send Amadeus to TC, or is he against that?) (Sure, we can do that.) (I think we could succesfully argue they'd need the terraforming specialist.) (Yeah.) (Yeah, and that way HEstia and Xeke can be alooooone.) (Okay. Then we'll table for tonight, do the Amazing Tia And Zeke Show next week, and the week after we can do the TC bits. Sound good?) (This will end well.) (It kind of takes the place of the mini we didn't get to have.) (Fine for me. I will probably need the week off when the TC stuff happens anyway.) <>