Vaylar Rising — IC

[greysigil]

Jug looks up at the statue in silence, their internal parts whirring slightly. Face = familiar. Accessing data bank... Error, data not found or inaccessible. If the VI could frown, they would, but their face plate remains as stoic as ever.

After a moment, they look to the others. "Greeting: Good morning." they reply to the group. "Reassurance: We will certainly try our best." They say to Sven. "Transition: Shall we get this show on the road, then, as they say?" They look to Em, their head tilted slightly to one side.

[Fialova]

Em approaches the museum with no small amount of disdain. There before her towers the gaudy statue of the man behind her greatest pains in life, and she spits on the ground in disgust, the brown mixture of saliva and coffee forming a small puddle at the man's statuesque feet. When this is all over, we can tear this down and melt it. Would make some nice shiny toilets for us to shit on the rest of our lives. She let's out a single snort in laughter at the thought, before turning to her companions.

"Yeah, let's head on over I guess. Come on, Tug," she says, motioning for her least favorite companion to accompany her. I just have to seem as disinterested in this museum as I actually am, no one doing their job ever really wants to be. Let's hope there's no push-back, she thinks, as she begins to make her way towards the entrance, hoping that an annoyed look and a confident walk will keep anyone from paying much attention to her.

[Namelessjake]

Jug and Em

You make your way up the stairs towards the museum entrance. A few people glance at Jug but it seems to be little more than slight surprise at seeing a VI, rather than suspicion of any kind. Reaching the top of the stairs, you step through the main entrance doors and into the entrance hall of the Museum.

The entrance hall is a buzz with activity, as tour guides assemble groups before filtering out into the exhibit halls. Overhead, at the top of the stairs that flank the room, workmen appear to be installing decorations for the party. An information desk, staffed by a couple of women in museum uniforms, sits by the foot of the left most stair case.

Everyone Else

The mechanic and VI disappear off towards the museum, leaving the rest of you stood by the statue in the plaza.

"While we're here should we do some reconnaissance?" Jin suggests, in between sipping his own drink.

"We could check out the side doors, or even go inside ourselves to get the lay of the land," he adds.

[ratwizard]

"That back storage and loading area might be worth takin' a look about," Antoine adds to Jin's suggestion. "Could be we break into two groups... one to go inside... or, we just case the joint together."

[BartNL]

"I have a legitimate reason to be here; my boss would appreciate a refresher on the art pieces so he can impress his bosses during the party". John says in a joking tone keeping his eyes on his newspad."Let's not go in together today though, that could raise suspicion."

[greysigil]

Jug follows Em up the steps, their posture rigid, keeping their movements mechanical. "Statement: I will follow your lead." they say to Em quietly.

Once inside, they scan the room, taking stock of the layout, being mindful not to move their head while they do so.

[Fialova]

Em does not respond, instead choosing to focus on the task at hand and looking like she belongs. Choosing to avoid the second floor, she instead begins to make her way towards the main hall and, past that, towards the loading and storage area of the first floor. That thing can sit in a corner down there til it's needed, and if everything goes off without a hitch, they'll just assume it's a labor unit here to help with the festivities.

[Scratcherclaw]

"A trip down memory lane never hurt anyways," Sven says as they discuss further reconnaissance of the museum. "It's been awhile, so maybe there are some new exhibit I'd love to take a look at." He stands up with an exaggerated stretch before making his way toward the museum's main entrance. Wouldn't hurt to keep an eye out for cameras. Plan our moves accordingly...

[ratwizard]

"Gonna take a lap around, check out the back. Side entrances. Let's all meet back here in an hour," Antoine says, nodding toward the statue as Sven leaves, before heading out himself.

Mechanics

Antoine is going to case the joint, take note of all side entrances, and watch the loading area. If there is a cafe or park or something like that, he'd sit down and watch for an hour or so.

[BartNL]

John sits around for a bit while finishing reading the news and his drink.
Then he heads to the museums entrance.

[Namelessjake]

Jug and Em

Em leads the way as the two of you step into the central hall of the museum. It has high ceilings, reaching all the way up to the domed glass roof in the middle of the room. Above you is the 2nd floor balcony which encircles the entire hall, supported by a series of ornate marble pillars similar to those outside by the building's main entrance.

The floor is equally ornate made of patterned mosaic tiles, however the full design is obscured by a large stage that is being constructed by several workmen in the centre of the hall. It appears to be nearly ready, with just the finishing touches being added for the event tomorrow night. The various smaller museum exhibits that would normally be spread around this room, have instead been moved aside for the stage, and now line the walls.

Some groups of guests slowly make their way around the hall looking at the exhibits, while others skirt the stage as they move from one wing of the museum to the other. You start to head towards the doors to the right, above which a sign reads The Jungles of Sarma, however you are stopped in your tracks as a man steps directly into your path.

"My goodness! Where did you find such a specimen?" the man asks Em, before his gaze turns to Jugs - a sparkle of wonder in his eyes. He appears to be in his 60s at least, with what little hair he has left having long since turned white. He wears a pair of round spectacles and a blue and silver plaid suit jacket. His accent is clearly Escriosian but you are able to pick out a few hints of Vaylan influence.

"I can see there's been several repairs, but its amazing this thing still works," the man says, turning his attention back to Em after his visual examination of Jugs.  "We have a couple of units in our collection but neither are functional. Would you ever consider donating it?" the man asks eagerly. 

"Where are my manners? I seem to have forgotten them in my excitement. Julian Lynwood, chief curator here at the museum," he adds, extending Em a hand as he regains some composure.

Sven and John

One after the other you make your way up the stairs towards the museum entrance. Reaching the top of the stairs, you step through the main entrance doors and into the entrance hall.

The entrance hall is a buzz with activity, as tour guides assemble groups before filtering out into the exhibit halls. Overhead, at the top of the stairs that flank the room, workmen appear to be installing decorations for the party. An information desk, staffed by a couple of women in museum uniforms, sits by the foot of the left most stair case.

As the doors to the main hall ahead of you open, you are able to catch a glimpse of Jug, as the VI towards over the crowds making their way through the doors. Looking around the room you are able to spot a camera in the South-Western corner of the room up near the ceiling.

While the doors ahead of you, both on this level and atop the stairs, lead to the main hall, you can see the glass door leading to the gift shop to your right, while to your left is a door marked as Staff Only, which you know from Thoras' plans of the building is the museum's records room. The door appears to have a simple security lock built into the handle, likely requiring a staff keycard to grant entry.

Antoine and Tristan

As Antoine heads off towards the left of the building, Jin silently heads in the opposite direction towards the right. After a few moments Tristan follows after Antoine, as the others make their way inside the museum, although Antoine doesn't notice the man's pursuit of him.

You both make your way to the Western side of the building, which lies on a fairly quiet pedestrianised side street - home to a couple of small stores. The foot traffic here at this time of day is steady but light, mostly just people on their way to the main plaza at the front of the museum. Antoine is easily able to locate the side entrance and is surveying it when Tristan catches up to him.

The door is a simple metal door, however it appears to have a simple security lock built into the handle, likely requiring a staff keycard to grant entry, knowing that the area on the other side is likely a staff only area based on Thoras' plans of the building. A single camera sits on the wall up and to the right of the door, angled to provide coverage of the door and likely some of the street to the North. To the left of the door sit two large dumpsters.

[ratwizard]

Antoine stares at Tristan a long moment, before nodding toward him expectantly. "I recommend you don't follow me like that again," he says in a neutral tone. Spooked the shit out of me, walking up on me like that. Dangerous, this kid.

He signals towards the camera with a side-eye, not moving his head. "Single cam, good coverage. Got a keycard slot on the door. Couple dumpsters beside it might come in handy."

[FinalTemplar]

Tristan catches up to Antoine, and pretends to be unphased. "Maybe if you don't walk off so fast, might not have to. No reason to go off alone." He says, looking deep at Tone for a moment, not wanting to be the one to look away first. Was that good? Did I stand my ground? I don't want him to think I'm like... some kind of wimp, or something. I can defend myself! Tristan thinks to himself. He catches the camera Tone was pointing out. "Yeah, the dumpsters could always be useful." He says softly before giving another solid look around.

Mechanics

Giving a quick Spot/wis just to see if there's anything more we might have missed: [2d6-1]=9-1=8 probably nothing but was worth a shot

 

[Namelessjake]

Tristan

You are able to spot that a couple of the stores on the other side of the street also have cameras, although they look to be angled to keep watch over the stores themselves, so shouldn't prove to be a problem.

[ratwizard]

There's every reason to go off alone, Antoine thinks. I hope this clown is handy with a gun, because he sure ain't the brains of this op. However, he simply stares at Tristan for a moment, deciding to drop the issue before drawing the attention of anyone in the plaza.

"Could help block the exit if we have to come out this way," he offers, eyeing the dumpsters. Good escape plan if shit goes wrong for me. I bet I could move those from afar, even.

"Let's check the rest out." Antoine continues to make his way around the building from afar, looking for what serves as the rear loading and storage area.

[BartNL]

John walks through the museums ground floor with a notepad in a fast pace, taking quite notes of all the important museum pieces.
After making notes of the important pieces on this floor, he moves upstairs.

[Scratcherclaw]

Sven cracks a smirk as he spots Jug in the main hall already. Damn, guess it was easier than I expected. Hope the two of them can pull off the rest of it. He looks around the room, feigning interest in the displays while taking mental notes of the cameras and the staff rooms. Wonder if anything useful is even in there. He pauses before stepping further, studying the staff uniforms and wondering how easily they might be replicated.

OOC

What do the museum uniforms look like?

[Fialova]

Em is caught off guard by the curator's approach. She'd expected to potentially have a run-in with security, or even with some of the folks setting things up for the upcoming event, but never a museum employee, let alone the head of the entire facility. She pauses as he speaks, trying to work out how best to respond to avoid suspicion. 

"Siri," she responds, as the man introduces himself by name. It is a nickname her parents used to call her in childhood, one she imagines is better in the moment than her full first name. Not like I have the time to think up a whole new persona for this guy.

"Nice to meetcha," she continues, doing nothing to hide her more laid-back, commoner speech patterns. "And I don't really know about donating, I'm just the operator. You gotta ask my boss about all that, but he got it for a bargain - cheap bastard - so I doubt he's too attached." What's so special about this hunk of junk anyway? A rare model or something? Must have something interesting for this guy to want as soon as he sees it.

[greysigil]

A pulse runs through Jug's circuits, the intense scrutiny from the curator raising the VI's apprehension levels. Curator = Julian Lynwood = interested in this one. Why? Immediate reason = not found. Their thought processes race behind their still faceplate, yet they remain motionless, dedicated to the role they are playing.

[Namelessjake]

Jug and Em

"He's a man of business then - In that case I'm sure we could work something out. I have a discretionary fund available for such acquisitions," the museum curator replies. "Come let me show you something and then you can put my offer to your boss," he adds, gesturing for you to follow him.

He leads you out of the main hall via the Western doors, into an exhibit titled The Barbarians of Soxaerdi. You make your way through the room towards a staircase in the far corner. The glimpses you get of the displays reveal that the exhibit shows how the Escriosians brought security and order to the planet of Soxaerdi after its society collapsed completely following the Scream.

He leads you up the stairs an into the exhibit The Triumph over Adu. In the centre of the room a holographic display of the moon slowly spins on its axis, showing various elements of the Escroisian efforts to conquer the moon.

"I don't know if you know your history, but when the Grand Marshall liberated the system from the oppressors on Adu it was the navy's ship that did it, however Adu had powerful shore guns that would have wrecked havoc on the fleet. Ground forces were sent in first to disable them. A combination of special forces and a unit known as the Iron Tide. Their losses were heavy but ultimately their sacrifice was not in vain and the moons were freed from Adu's chaotic and backward governance," Lynwood explains as he leads you through the exhibit.

"Here we are!" The man proclaims as you arrive at a large glass case. Inside are two VIs. One is missing its head and an arm while the others' chest appears to have been blow clean through by a projectile of some kind, however both bear a striking resemblance to Jug, clearly being of the same design.

Jug

As you look at the two damaged Juggernaut units on display, faded and fragmented memories surface in your memory banks, transporting you back to them from the museum.

You march alongside countless others identical to you, up the cargo ramp of a starship. Then a volley of arrows bounce off your armoured body as you charge at a wooden palisade, smashing through it with ease. You take cover from the a hail of laser fire coming from the concrete bunker ahead as you watch an enormous rail gun firing at drop pods which burn through the sky as they rain down around it. You turn the corner at the end of the corridor to see two soldiers locked in hand to hand combat, their rifles knocked aside on the ground. You quickly identify one as friendly, designating the other as a foe. As the enemy gains the upper hand your fists make contact and the man goes flying into the concrete wall behind him, the impact killing him. 

"Thanks for the assist," the friendly says, the young soldier picking himself up off the floor and collecting his rifle. A helmet covers his face but his voice sounds familiar. Suddenly you feel yourself hesitate. Another soldier lays in front of you, your fists raised above him. As you pause he takes the opportunity to jam his laser rifle in a gap in your armour. He pulls the trigger and you find yourself back in the museum looking at the mangled corpses of your fellow machines, only a fraction of a second having passed.

"These are the two units from the Iron Tide we have here at the museum. As you can see they are heavily damaged, but by some stroke of fate here you are with a fully functional model. Think what an addition it would make to the collection! A piece of living history, so to speak," Lynwood explains excitedly.

"My offer would be 4000 credits. If you could contact your boss I'd very much appreciate it. There is a function being held here tomorrow which would make arranging a delivery tricky, but if he's willing to part with it today I could simply give you the payment and store it in my office," the curator proposes.

John

You head upstairs after making your way through the exhibit halls on the ground floor.

As you wander through the Triumph over Adu exhibit, you spot Jugs and Em talking with an elderly man by a display case containing two damaged robots which bear a striking resemblance to Jug.

Stepping out on to the West Veranda you find that the doors appear to only have simple locks and appear unalarmed. The verandas also could be climbed up on to with the right equipment you surmise.

Making your way back inside and over the balcony towards the Weaponry of the Unification Wars you note that it provides a good vantage point of the stage being set up in the main hall below. Inside the exhibit you find that it contains a plethora of weapons and ammo. Enough that you will be limited only by what you can carry when you raid it tonight night.

The display cases appear to be locked and alarmed as Thoras said and this room too contains a camera in the Southeastern corner, however it appears that it may have a blind spot beneath it that includes the doors to the East Veranda. You find Sven similarly scoping out the target of your future heist.

Sven

Walking around the museum, you see that the staff all wear the same black shirt, emblazoned with the museum's logo on the left breast. They all wear a lanyard around their neck which looks to hold a keycard or ID of some kind.

You note that most of the rooms have at least one camera, presumably monitored from the security office you recall seeing on Thoras' plans of the building. The staff areas in the West wing of the building are secured with the same keycard lock you noted on the staff door in the entrance hall.

As you wander through the Triumph over Adu exhibit, you spot Jugs and Em talking with an elderly man by a display case containing two damaged robots which bear a striking resemblance to Jug. Making your way over the balcony towards the Weaponry of the Unification Wars you note that it provides a good vantage point of the stage being set up in the main hall below. Inside the exhibit you find that it contains a plethora of weapons and ammo. Enough that you will be limited only by what you can carry when you raid it in tomorrow night.

The display cases appear to be locked and alarmed as Thoras said and this room too contains a camera in the Southeastern corner, however it appears that it may have a blind spot beneath it that includes the doors to the East Veranda. You find John similarly scoping out the target of your future heist.

Antoine and Tristan

You make your way to the rear of the building which appears to be a small service alley. A small fenced off area surrounds the museum's loading bays, where currently workers are busy supplies from a truck bearing the logo of a catering company. You spot two cameras. One covers the three loading bay doors, while the other covers the smaller door around the corner, which appears to be the same type of door as the other side door you found.

You spot a small mate shop with a few tables outside, a little ways away back on the main road, which has sight lines to the loading area. Sat in one of the chairs in Jin, who watches the loading area as he occasionally drinks from a cup.

[BartNL]

After making a mental note of his findings, John heads out.

[ratwizard]

Still sipping from his own mate, Antoine meets eyes with Jin and nods imperceptibly. "Damn, leg's acting up again," he says to Tristan with a faux grunt and shake of his foot. "Let me find a seat for a few minutes." He leads the two of them toward the cafe, sitting on a bench for now — glancing toward the loading bays every so often. Ambulance is a good idea. Nobody gets in the way of a first responder when shit goes down.

[greysigil]

Memory Accessed, beginning playback.
Jug stands before their former comrades, their deactivated, inoperable, Lifeless forms echoing through their memories. Unit #42015 and Unit #42013. Units = Repairable? Recoverable? This one = Dismayed, Distraught, Does not want to see This. These Units = Family--Brothers--Allies. These Units = On Display for All to See, Their Sacrifices Acknowledged, but not the Toll. The surge of memory causes a chain reaction in Jug's cognition, thoughts temporarily unbound by cause and effect, the increased load activating a cooling mechanism with a soft whirr-hiss. The Chaos and Death we Wrought. They Think This Honors Them? To Display Their Corpses So Vulgarly, So Flagrantly? And What If We Were Human? Would They Display The Broken And Mangled Flesh Of Their Heroes? No, They Would They Choose An Image, An Icon, A Symbol, Anything To Blunt The Horrors They Inflicted, On Their Enemies And Their Own. And This Man Is Proud? Proud Of The Atrocities, Proud Of The Corpses He Acquires? Proud Of The Mountains Of Bodies He And His Society Stands On Top Of? This Cannot Stand. I Will Not Let It.

Their body remains motionless, they say nothing, the only indication of their internal seething is a flicker in their eyelights, the blue accented with a soft red for a fraction of a second. I Will Come Back For You, My Friends.

[FinalTemplar]

Tristan follows Tone, looking around as he pulls in the situation around him. "Yeah, sure. Let's go have a seat." He said in response to Tone, noting the cameras across the street. He puts his hands in his pockets and follows behind Antone. "I mean, hey, I have to keep an eye on you. The old man shouldn't be out walking alone, you know?" He says.

[Scratcherclaw]

Pretty simple uniform. Bet they've got their logo online. Shouldn't be too hard to replicate it. Sven thinks, wondering if impersonation might be another route to get inside. Getting our hands on a keycard would be pretty slick too. He mentally takes notes, already eager to share another idea with the rest of them.

Strolling through the busy exhibits, he makes his way toward their target, eyes widening slightly as he sees just how much ammo and weaponry is stored there. Holy fuck, can see why Thoras picked this. What goddamn moron thought keeping live fucking rounds here would be a good idea? Fash gonna fash. Never were the brightest types.

[Fialova]

Em listens as the curator prattles on, finding it difficult to feign interest in the museum pieces he is so proud of. She does her best to make her disinterest seem neutral, so as not to give away her inherent disdain for the empire as the true cause, though were the man to stop talking and actually pay attention to her demeanor, it would be clear that she is merely going through the motions as he shows off.

The last of the man's words pique her interest, however. 4000 credits, that's a hell of a lot just to take an old piece junk like this. And this guy doesn't even realize he'd be helping us rob him by paying me that. Guess we just lucked into the sucker of the day, she thinks, as a plan begins to formulate in her mind. She nods along as the man finalizes his offer, and she grabs her compad.

"Well I can't make any promises, I'm just here on a job," she continues, as she pulls up a list of past numbers, and scrolls down until she finds the most recent one that is in no way connected to her - the number for a takeout place she ordered from once while working, well on the other side of the city from her apartment. "I'll let you know what he says," she continues, as the number rings, eventually being picked up by a worker on the other end.

"Yeah, so I'm here a the museum like you said," she begins, much to the confusion of the man who'd just asked for her order. "Yeah I know, just listen man. This guy here - says he's the curator - said he wants to buy your bot... Yeah, like just outright... Nah, I don't think it's a scam, he just offered 4000 credits, said he could pay now." As she speaks, the man on the other end continues to ask what she is talking about, his patience clearly growing thin by the tone of his voice.

"Yeah that's what I was thinking too, you could more than one new bot for that price, and this one's a real piece of shit anyway... Alright, so you wanna do it?" she asks, as the restauranteur gets fed up and hangs up on the other end. "Alright, I'll tell him," she continues, as she clicks to end on her own side, before placing the pad back in her pocket.

"Well he seems cool with it," Em says, offering the curator a relatively disinterested shrug. "I can walk it to your office if you've got the creds now. Otherwise I'll just wait here, I guess," she continues, looking to the man to see what he will do next. Now I guess we'll see how gullible you can be while making it to such a position, she thinks, as she glances over the dilapidated VIs in the display case beside her.

[Namelessjake]

Jug and Em

The curator looks on eagerly as Em fakes a phone call to her imagined superior.

"Excellent," he says as Em reveals the outcome up her faux conversation. "My office is actually just through here," he says, gesturing to a door along the Southern wall of the room.

He leads the two of you over to it, swiping a keycard against the lock to gain entry to the staff area. Inside is a short corridor, with a large window at the far end which looks out on to the museum's West veranda and the plaza beneath it. Two doors line either side of the corridor, which you recall were labeled as three offices and a storage room on Thoras' map.

Lynwood leads you down the corridor to the second door on your left.

"Here we are," he says, opening the door and stepping inside. Like the corridor, his office also has a view of the plaza through a large window, with the other walls being decorated with an assortment of paintings and smaller artefacts. A large ornate wooden desk sits in the centre of the room, which the man makes he way around to begin rummaging through the desk draws. A portrait of the Grand Marshall hangs on the wall behind the desk, next to an Escrosian flag on a pole.

"Let's see," he mutters to himself and he rifles through their contents. He pulls out a dataslab and a small thumb sized credit chit. He types on the dataslab for a few moments before the chit emits a chirp, signifying it has been loaded with credits. He continues typing for a little longer before turning the dataslab around and offering it to Em. "I'll just need a signature here, just so there's a record and all," he explains.

The dataslab displays a short bill of sale document, specifying the credit amount and other details of the sale, with a blank box at the bottom awaiting a signature.

"I'm assuming there's a way to shut it down? I probably won't have time to deal with it until the new year," he asks, looking over at Jug.

John

You make your way back out of the museum, returning to the plaza again. The crowd of commuters has dissipated somewhat by now, but despite that you are unable to spot any of the other members of your Rising cell.

Sven

You spend some time in the exhibit, during which you notice John make his way back out onto the main hall balcony, headed in the direction of the stairs in the entrance hall.

Antoine and Tristan

You take seats at one of the tables outside the mate shop and surveil the museum's loading area for a while.

The catering truck finishes up unloading and pulls away. The workers finish up carrying the delivery inside and the delivery area is left empty. From here one of the loading bays appears to still be half open, and you can make out the several figures moving about inside, however it is hard to see any details.

[BartNL]

John makes his way back to where he got Kaioi maté earlier, and orders another one of the poor quality beverages.

[ratwizard]

"Best guess is they're shutting down any shipping operations tomorrow on account of security," Antoine opines, watching the workers through the half-shut bay door. "Delaying some old pottery or war propaganda vids is a hell of a lot easier than trying to work in a routine delivery during a high-profile event. Even still, we should be able to exit from inside the loading zone if we bug out that way."

He sighs, finishing his mate and tossing the container in a nearby bin before turning to Tristan. "Think I've seen enough. I'm going to circle around the rest of the walls and then wait for the others."

[Scratcherclaw]

With his mental notes ready to share with his companions, he makes his way back to the statue where he'd met his companions earlier. Got something more to go on now at least. Should be able to figure something out for the party.

[greysigil]

Jug barely registers their associate's conversation, focusing on keeping their processors from overclocking and overheating. After the moment passes, they regain control over their spiraling thoughts, and their cooling fans spin down to a lower rate. Sale = not the worst fate. Credits = beneficial. Escape plan = in place, plausible.
The thought still causes a feeling, the signals coursing through their circuits seeming to sting where they pass. They choose not to focus on it.

The VI follows the two humans to the curator's office, a feeling of apprehension building as the curator draws up the contract of sale. Signature = record, traceable. Contract = official. Is this really happening? They shift their focus again. Credits = more options. Escape = plausible. It will be worth it.

Using their integrated compad, Jug sends Em a message, their body not moving in the slightest.

Jug >> Em

>Pass this message off as unimportant
>The credits will be helpful, even if I am disabled.
>It will be OK

[FinalTemplar]

Tristan makes a subtle gesture towards the bay door. "Wonder if they'll notice before they close today." He says, tossing out the empty container for his drink as he nods at Antoine. "I'll finish out the walk with you. Might as well." Tristan says, giving a small stretch as he stands. 

[Fialova]

"Ah, yeah, I got that for ya," Em responds, as she steps over to the dataslab. She pauses a moment, catching herself before she signs her own name, and feigns reading the document. Once she has acted like she's skimmed the words she otherwise does not care about, she messily scrawls the name 'Zephyr Min' on the signature line. Doubt it'll come to anything, but would be nice for that bitch to get taken away for this after tomorrow. 

With the signature done, she takes the data chip and pockets it. She glances at her own dataslab briefly, as if she'd just received a text from someone, and sees Jug's message. She almost nods to her companion, but manages to put the slab back without otherwise acknowledging the machine before her. She then steps over to Jug and finds a small interface terminal on them to interact with.

"Alright, let's get this thing nice and cold for ya," she says, before she taps through a few screens. She allows Jug to do the real work making it seem like they've become dormant - having seen them do it before. Once the facade is in place, she turns to the man and offers a wan smile. "That all ya needed? If not, then I guess I've no more work to do here, I'll go get this chip to the boss. Maybe I can get him to toss me a little for the lost hours," she continues, looking as annoyed as she can about the situation. Hopefully that weirdo doesn't try to dismantle Tug overnight. Last thing we need is our muscle being gutted before the big day.

[Namelessjake]

Jug and Em

"Perfect, thank you," he man says, taking the dataslab from Em and handing over the credit chit.

As Em fakes fiddling with Jug, the VI is able to power down into a lower power state, mimicking being disabled.

"That's everything," he says, looking over the now "depowered" Jug with pride. "I'm sure he'll be happy with those credits and he wouldn't be getting them if it weren't for you," he says while a light chuckle. "Let me show you out," he adds, stepping towards the door after giving Jug one more look over.

Em

Lynwood leads you out of the staff area and back to the public area of the museum. He says his goodbyes before leaving you to your own devices. Heading out of the museum, you spot the rest of your companions regrouping in the plaza and make your way over to them.

Jug

Lynwood leads Em out of the room, leaving you alone in your low power state. You know you'll now be on your own until the rest of the cell infiltrate the museum tomorrow night, although you are still capable of messaging them without alerting anyone around you to the fact you are not fully deactivated.

John

After grabbing another beverage, you head back to the plaza once more. This time you spot Tristan, Antoine, Jin and Sven. You head over to join them and soon see Em making her way out of the museum, no longer with Jug. The mechanic joining the rest of you in the plaza as you all reconvene, sans the VI member of your cell.

Sven

Heading back to the plaza, it isn't long before Tristan and Antoine appear. They are shortly followed by Jin, and then John. Soon you spot Em making her way out of the museum. The mechanic joins the rest of you in the plaza as you all reconvene, sans the VI member of your cell.

Antoine and Tristan

You finish your circuit of the museum, spotting no further entrances or cameras, and make your way back towards the plaza, noticing Jin following after you. You find Sven in the plaza and are joined by Jin and then John. Soon you spot Em making her way out of the museum. The mechanic joins the rest of you in the plaza as you all reconvene, sans the VI member of your cell.

[ratwizard]

Antoine gives a curt nod to the others as they converge, before his eyes fall on Em. "You good?" he says calmly. "We shouldn't linger. Let's get on home."

OOC

Let's regroup at Jox's agiv joint if we can, before we start talking shop.

[BartNL]

John trashes the cup, and walks off. John heads for Jox's, but not after stopping and taking a break at the shitty box apartment he calls home to seem less conspicuous.

[Scratcherclaw]

Sven stands and nonchalantly stretches his limbs, giving Tone a brief glance of acknowledgement before making his way toward their usual meeting point, sure to take a different route from the others. Not a bad run. Should've checked the gift shop though... Ah well, crap anyways.

[greysigil]

As they settle into their false shut-down, Jug's mind races. Thoughts of the wrecked VIs on the display floor, memories of the battle they fought in, the uncertain calculus of whether or not their plan will work, all flashing through the VI's processors.

They manually refocus, choosing to begin running calculations to pass the time, starting with running up a sequence of numbers: 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21...

[Fialova]

"Yep," Em responds, eager to share her tale of the events with the group, but knowing that now is neither the time nor the place. "Boss sold the bot so that's it for today," she continues, continuing the lie from before, in case anyone is listening in. That seemed almost too easy, I hope I didn't make a mistake and that curator was really that gullible.

[Namelessjake]

An hour later or so, you reconvene at Jox's agiv joint. It is now around lunch time and the joint is busier than it was the previous evening. Some of the regulars are trusted and when it is just them inside, Jox quickly waves you through into the backroom. However a couple of you have to wait for some unknown new customers to finish their meals before there is a window to sneak you into the back. 

Eventually though you are all assembled, and link Jug into the conversation by calling the VI's inbuilt compad.

Jug

You have remained alone in the museum curators office almost all of this time so far, with Lynwood only returning briefly to his office once to retrieve something from his desk.

You are alone now, however even if you were not, you are able to keep the call internalised and secret, interpreting the audio signal digitally without playing it aloud.

[FinalTemplar]

Eventually, Tristan makes it into the backroom with the others and finds a spot to sit, tapping his knee. "Alright, so, what did you all find? I'm assuming Jug is in position?" He asks, finishing his second question by looking up at Em.

[Scratcherclaw]

"Saw one cam in the exhibit hall with our guns," Sven says as they start divulging their findings. "Southeast corner, with a blind spot right under it." He pauses for a moment, pondering what else might be worth sharing. "Staff all have keycards around their neck too. Easy enough uniform to copy if we wanted. Black shirt with their logo, lanyard, ID card."

[BartNL]

"The balcony towards the Weaponry of the Unification Wars provides a good vantage point over the main stage." John adds.

[Fialova]

"Yeah, Tug's in place, just sitting in the curator's office. He offered to buy the thing as soon as he saw it, wanted it for a display of similar - more beat up - bots. Tug did its whole fake power down thing, guy handed me a credstick with 4k on it, and I went on my way. Honestly went a whole hell of a lot smoother than I was thinkin' it would," Em responds with a shrug. "Plus, now we got some cash for future missions. Might even get us some gear before this one if we can find a good dealer who won't ask questions about where the money's comin' from." As she speaks she takes out the credstick to show everyone, before popping it back into her pocket.

[ratwizard]

"Hot damn... four kilocred?" Antoine repeats, caught off guard by the apparent success of the two. "Sven, you gotta have a guy, right? Bettin' we can find some gear to help us crack the security and cams. We're lacking in that department, looks like."

"Found a side-door, keycard access. Didn't see much on the backside, except for the storage and loading area, and another door, same keycard system. A few cameras. There was a catering delivery, but I'm guessing they'll have any shipping or deliveries locked down the night-of. Easier to keep a closed system for security without a big bay door to guard. Good for our exit though, if the ambulance option works out. People always make room for flashing lights, I can tell you that from experience."

At John's discovery, he narrows his eyes in thought. "Balcony's high ground. It'll be like shooting fish in a barrel. Guessing the VIPs are gonna be close to the stage, maybe seated front row." If this guy's a Diktat plant, he's damn convincing otherwise.

Updated Map

C is camera, D is dumpster

[Scratcherclaw]

"Got a guy for just about everything," Sven says, crossing his arms and flashing a smirk. "And I'm sure some of that extra cred could sweeten the deal if they don't wanna play ball at first." He pulls out his compad, scrolling through the various names, discreet aliases, in his contacts list to find someone who might be useful with what they need.

Mechanics

Make use of Connected to call on a favor from one of my contacts, preferably one experienced in what Tone is requesting

[Namelessjake]

Sven

Looking through your contacts, you spot one Leif Avoya. A black market dealer in highly taxed consumer electronics, you know he often has more illicit goods in stock. You are confident he would have line shunts in stock, at least one of would likely be needed for a successful hack against the museum's network, and he potentially could have other hacking tools of use available.

In addition he owes you, thanks to you sourcing some League data protocol manuals for him through Yukon.

[Scratcherclaw]

Sven snaps with his free hand as he spots Leif's name in his contacts, recalling the favor he's owed. "Think I got a guy. Should have some tech to give us a leg up on hacking their network. Owes me too." He types up a quick message, asking if Leif is free to meet. Cashing in on those manuals. Hope it's worth it.

[ratwizard]

"Nice work, kid. Now's the time to call in all those favors," Antoine advises. "Good chance some of us don't walk out of that museum tomorrow night."

His throat tightens at the thought. Something loosens a memory from his hauler days.

"I might have got something, but I ain't sure how well it'll be received. Used to do a lot of long-haul routes, right? Piloting's easy as dirt, but staying awake... That's what the pay's really for. Used to run into a lot of ex-mil folk — real seedy guys, you ask me — who would pass around stims to keep morale and spirit on the longer runs. Apply that to our case here, you follow? We're breaking into a museum to steal some old guns to shoot some Diktat suits dead. Now I've never been much for the chems, but I'd rather chance addiction than getting shot in the head."

He shrugs. "If anyone's got a pharma hookup, might be worth looking into is all I'm sayin'."

Spoiler

In addition to Sven's hacking tools, Tsunami and Lift would do us wonders here, IMO.

[Namelessjake]

"Hopefully they'll be some healing stims in the ambulance we can use, but you guys still have to get out of there mostly in one piece for those to be of use," Jin says. "I could probably get my hands on some livestock meds, but I doubt they're much use on people," he adds.

Sven

Leif's reply comes only a few moments after your message was delivered.

"One Hour."

The message is followed by location data which appears to be a discrete out of the way alleyway about a fifteen minute walk away.

OOC

Anyone is free to make a Connect/Cha roll to see if they know a black market pharmaceutical contact or any other source of what Tone is suggesting. DC will depend on your background.