20030506

9.24.4786 Republic Reckoning

As Igashu pockets the Alter?TM an older woman walks up beside him in an elegant evening dress. "You don't have to be paranoid, Igashu. Our employees are our most valuable asset." She pauses, then turns with a wry smiles, one hand absentmindedly playing with a simple silver necklace, an oval, about 4cm along the major axis with an offset cross with a small stone of obsidian at the center?. "Or didn't you go to the training session? In any case, you have done quite well in coming this far. J'ror and I have had our eyes on your for quite a while." She picks up one of the beverages and opens it, drinks a bit, then Mister Kobayashi comes up to her, says something about the "Grovian Ambassador" and with a small wave she and he move back into the crowd.

Igashu stands completely still, like a deer caught in the headlights, while the woman speaks. Not sure if he's in trouble or not, and not use to being caught off guard his brain slowly catches up with his current situation. "I attended all...."

internal monologue

Think Igashu, Think! You're not in trouble she's just toying with you. Who is she? Obvious answer is Dormamu. What's the evidence. The necklace? absentmindedly twirling it. Does it have some personal significance? Unknown, file for later. Next... She knows who I am. Before we ever really even figured out what was going on with J'ror, Dormamu sent Mister Kobayashi to bail us out. So she would know my name, and probably what I look like. This woman is important, rates Mister Kobayashi actually speaking to her, and she's talking with an ambassador. She at least rates on the level. Assume nothing... Crap! all circular... if she is Dormamu things make sense, but she could be someone else and things would still make sense. Even if I'm a bone head and she's not Dormamu, she seems to be involed quite heavily. So the question becomes... What's her plan? She could be telling the truth, maybe it's not the production model to throw us off course early, then slip the whammy into the drink later... not enough data, don't jump to conclusions yet, save for later. What do we know? She's important, she's knows about J'ror and our gang, she's going to take care of something having to do with the "Grovian Ambassador". That's it, course of action, follow and collect more data... doh! she's getting away...

/internal monologue

"... the training classes." Igashu finishes as Dormamu slips away at Mister Kobayashi's request. Seeming to have regained his senses Igashu puts on a smile and slips into the crowd following along, trying to trail Dormamu. As he mingles his way along Igashu runs into a pretty young girl, and does his best to act natural. Striking up a quick conversation, and dividing his attention momentarily until he has to move again to keep the tail going.

internal monologue

easy now, blend, slide through the crowd you can do this just follow along nice and natural.. Oh, say hi to the pretty girl... yes very pretty, act natural... ok Old lady on the move again, get the number good... excuse about work... excellent ok get out of there.... where'd she get to... ah! Ok didn't loose her keep going.

/internal monologue

Igashu follows her across the room toward a group of dignitaries, where she chats for a while about surpluses for purchase and import/export restrictions, then excuses herself and she works her way over toward the ladies' room.

A minute passes, then five, then ten and she hasn't come out. Igashu eventually sees her across the hall talking to the new President and VP. How'd she get over there? He was right here all along... But she does look like quite a bit like the one picture of Dormamu that Igashu saw months ago. Maybe. But soemhow she looks younger if that makes any sense. Probably just a good plastic surgeon.

The party is beginning to wind down as most people still have to be at work tomorrow...

Game opens with the group still attending the reception, which is quickly drawing to a close. Quindo and Igashu discuss his conversation, and subsequent tailing of a woman he believes to be Dormamu and then decide to leave, and discuss plans over breakfast in the morning.

Over a nice breakfast cooked by To'iir the group discusses the pro's and cons of staying on Byblos vs. chasing to find J'ror. There seems to be a lot of frustration, good points for both sides, and no one quite knows what to do. Altair's argument of "They released J'ror into our custody, he is our responsibility. It's our duty to go find him." seems to take the lead. Igashu takes the time to schedule a meeting with J'ror's replacement in hopes that he can get the group an assignment since they seem to be leaving. So off to the first day of work it is... what does a planetologist? do anyway?

Davin finds himself right at home in the motor pool equivalent in Starburst Corporation, happily spending hours on end recalibrating hyperdrives. Igashu finds the translation dept. to be easy going, though he's got lots of work to do to get his language skills up to the level they need to be at. Quindo finds himself hopelessly lost in the planetology dept. At least he makes a good strong pot of coffee, but it seems obvious that he won't last there.

During lunch Igashu meets with the boss man and convinces him to push through the paperwork for a mission so they can leave to follow J'ror and not lose their jobs. Altair, Elbram, and Bro'jen failed to show up for work, and Igashu tries to explain that away as well. Poking around, Igashu gets 3 names, of people who ate lunch with J'ror frequently and who were fired for as little reason as he was. A little legwork shows one of them, Mira Semblas, to fit the description of the woman who delivered a message to them on Coruscant.

In a moment of less than perfect judgment Igashu took Quindo with him and found Mira's apartment. Realizing he needed help with the electronic lock, he called in Davin. Together the three of the broke in, and searched her place. Finding that she was at an interview they decided to cook dinner and wait for her. Needless to say she was a bit spooked by the whole situation. A short conversation followed, during which Mira denied ever being on Coruscant. She seemed to not posses any special connection to the force, as well but something wasn't right. Quindo insisted on searching her for a Sigil of Shamala?, like the one she had given Elbram on Coruscant. Luckily cooler heads prevailed as Igashu and Davin convinced Quindo to walk away from the whole thing. No answers were gained

After the botched confrontation with Mira, the three returned to the ship to discuss their plans with the others...