Episode 25: The Erasure Job, Part 1 - kaseido/NeoTokyo GitHub Wiki

19-20 Moskva

Paragon got a nice message back from Avrittas the Andorian bartender thanking her for the photo from the Violet Heart – too bad they can’t have the Gorn over, but please bring your friend Star by next time! Attachments are a 24-hour guest visa for Star and three drink-comp coupons. Paragon keeps the drink coupons, since Star has a distressing tendency to go right to the grain alcohol. And drinks for Vir are an adventure every time.

Working with Star, she starts the research and planning for the job for the Idanian. She gets lucky, and finds a copy of blueprints for the Exanic corporate offices on their architect’s promotional site, in addition to general background and travel arrangements.

Star asks her to book her a gig at a club on The Drift, then realizes Paragon is not actually Star’s personal assistant – she has people she actually employs for such things. She quickly lands a gig at Nightshade, the best club on The Drift. Star sends over contracts and stuff ahead of time: Strictly green beans in her dressing room, with specific cutting instructions. There’ s pyrotechnics in her show, so she wants to be sure the club staff can follow directions carefully.

The plan is to arrive two days before the show, for three days there and a day of lounging about before flying home. They book the Emerald Blossom Resort, the best hotel on The Drift: Vir thinks it’s inconspicuous, since criminals don’t stay in nice hotels. “Paragon, if there’s one thing you should be familiar with, it’s white collar crime.” Two suites for the team, one for Star and one for the roadies, at NB300/night for 3 nights.

They decide to travel by train and hydrofoil on the way in, and fly home: Vir wants to meet friendly pirates! And they saw a teen mermaid movie musical that Star, er, starred in, and has always wanted to have a beach vacay.

Star will pay for their hotel room as a business expense, they’re on their own otherwise. Sue advises that unless they need an alibi, don’t put them on the payroll for the show. Vir says if things go mildly wrong, it’ll help get them off the arcology. So yeah, they’ll be on payroll, and thus her property, so anybody else can’t just shoot them without paying for it.

Carbide wonders if Allspice should be on tap in case things go badly wrong. They’ll be stuck on a bubble on the ocean where the target owns a good chunk of the bubble. Star agrees to hire Allspice to be her bodyguard. She doesn’t need to be there for setup, but on the time they run the job, same day as the show. She’ll fly her out for the day.

Star suggests a final cutoff point, for go/no go on this trip. Star doesn’t want to blow the ability to come back EVER, because what if she gets even more famous? Carbide says they should arrange independent transportation off the arcology, some means of getting back that is not beholden to the target. Star suggests they talk around to find a boat for hire. Paragon finds it’s NB700 to rent a long range speedboat for a day. Everybody chips in. Otherwise, the team will all fly back, with Allspice taking the backup boat.

They head out the next morning, taking the Metro to Old Dome Station, then the maglev out to Haiphong, the port town. The train smells of bleach (there’s a body-sized non-stain on the floor in their car) and French fries. Star find a scrap of hotel notepaper with a work-in-progress haiku and a used disposable bento box still playing the ConBrands jingle. Star’shumming against her will and hands the box to Carbide. MAKE IT STOP. He does, cutting the connection to the speaker. Star starts whistling, unconsciously. “Star, I could disable your vocal cords too if you want.” “Don’t be a monster, Carbide!” “You said you wanted the song to stop…”

Paragon goes to the dining car and gets fries. It’s not the same brand as the one the guy was murdered for. Star checks for more rogue litter. She completes the haiku.

Haiphong is an industrial port town. You see stalls by the exit of the train station selling cheap ponchos and rain suits, and hawkers call out to you to get them – it’s acid-monsoon season. Ponchos are 5, coveralls are 10. Everybody buys coveralls at full price. Carbide checks them out, they;’ll be good for a day or two.

Star asks Carbide if she’s rated for lighting. Paragon says she’s got that layer of blubber. They’re approached by a rickshaw driver, and Paragon fails horribly at haggling him down. Star goes with the competition, who introduces himself as Jocky Lester. He’s working the gig to train for being an exotic dancer: he drops trou in the rain to show off his buns of steel. They arrive at the port, and Star takes him aside to record 30 seconds of his dance routine: he’s really pretty good. She takes his contact info and sends it to Sue along with the video. She’ll take a cut of any work he gets.

Before the hydrofoil leaves dock, there’s a mandatory safety video (which pops up on your eyeballs if you have an internal agent): if the ship gets hit, it’s dead in the water and at risk of pirate attack. Failure to contribute to active defense will leave you jointly and severally liable for the pirate attack – though you can purchase a LovingHands insurance rider to cover the risk for only NB50, for the next five minutes only, then the price goes up to 200, no purchases once the pilot has declared an attack in progress.

Paragon plans to shut herself in a closet in case of emergency. Carbide will offer services as the most qualified engineer. Star buys the insurance. Vir asks Paragon to take Eely and Squeeky to the closet in case of attack. She brought Squeeky because Mango was looking at her and licking her lips. Yes, Mango acknowledged Squeeky was her kit, but Vir and Mango have a relationship built on mutual distrust.

The seas are rough, due to the electical storm. Paragon spends the trip in the bathroom. Vir hands out anti-nausea drugs, Star tells them to charge for them. Having found something interesting under the seat on the train, Star checks here, and finds a plush Hello Kitty in a t-shirt that says LET THEM EAT CHAOS!, with something inside. She goes to the bathroom to check what’s in the kitty, and finds some sort of grenade. She closes it back up and goes to Carbide, but he’s a little green around the edges. She shows it to Vir instead, who identifies it as “some kind of bigass grenade.” Star records an image of it, and sets it on the ground by the seat, and sends the image to both Carbide and Paragon, knowing Paragon won’t look at it. More is coming out than went in. Carbide is most concerned to determine it’s not currently armed, but identifies it as a breaching grenade for armored doors or walls. They decide to keep it: there’s a security check for biologicals, but combat weaponry is Just Fine.

An improvised submersible breaches and trails the hydrofoil, heavily enhanced people with automatic weapons on deck. The sub follows along for a while, then the goons go back inside, and it submerges and disappears. Star starts casting the pirates to her social media profiles .Vir wants to throw the grenade at the pirates. Carbide wants to save it, unless it’s them or the grenade.

Carbide and Vir go tell the captain about the pirates. Vir shoves Eely and Squeeky into the stall with Paragon. “You have one weapon, and it is incongruously speckled with corn.” The captain has seen them, and reassures them they’re safe unless the power goes out. The corporate owners of the ferry line aren’t willing to pay to insulate the ships: it’s cheaper to replace a crew, and insurance covers casualties, in case of attack.

Carbide uses a throwaway email address to link the captain to darknet union-organizing branch of the 4I. Star uploads her pirate attack with a cute voiceover music and dance, and it goes insanely viral. It’s getting remixed for dances. The Gorn see it and are worried about the risk: they’ll be on the next boat out with Allspice: pirates are crunchy amphibians!

On arrival, they’re picked up by a robo-cab from the resort. Star comes on full-diva at reception: She needs a seamstress and six yards of black leather. Can do! Within an hour. Star now knows that outrageous requests will be performed at the drop of a hat. Next is a snowblower, just to see if they bat an eye. They do not. Now any emergencies are just another weird thing the diva is asking for. It was Vir who suggested security though extreme obviousness.

Paragon wants to survey all four locations. She rules out the power station. Corp offices probably where the main data hub is, she thinks the plans will be there. Next most likely is fab facility. R&D is possible. They expect the prototype won’t be in use, and the power station will be the hardest target.

Everybody but Star heads out to case Exanic Corporate. They note an Exanic Power team responding to a fluctuation from the electrical storm, and a lot of traffic in and out of the corporate lobby.