S2E6.1 - Hunting the hunter

[Katryna Shadow]

Kat lifted her shades and sat them on top of her head as she entered the establishment and immediately moved to the left placing her pistol and the visible sai in the weapons locker before turning back to the room.  The filter light from the windows showed a slight haze in the air though what it was from was uncertain.  Moving further in she scanned the patrons wondering if either of the pair she was meant to be meeting had arrived yet.  It was times like these the anonymity that went along with being Vox was more of a curse then a blessing.  All she had to go on was a couple names and a vague description.  It had not taken much for her to join up with Vox once she had identified their true motives of course that did not mean she was always impressed with the underground organisation.  Still she had read the brief on Ronin and had agreed to help out and pass on the information to the crew and help them out if that's what they wished.  Not seeing anyone meeting the descriptions she had been given she headed to the bar and decided to follow the secondary procedure. 

"I'm here for the South Side Hold'em game." She remarked to the bar tender when he caught her eye.  He rose an eyebrow and gave her the once over.

"Back left corner.  You're the first to arrive."

She gave a nod and started to push away.

"Can I get you anything while ya wait?"  The bar tender asked his tone turning almost flirtatious.

It was Kat's turn to raise an eyebrow as she cocked her head slightly considering the man. "Just a soda," She responded with a wink and a nod back to the table before turning and making her way to the designated area.  She appeared to have a relaxed demeanour but truth was she was anything but relaxed.  Being without her Sai usually did that to her despite the fact she could well defend herself without them.

[Natascha Santiago-Negron]

It wasn't long before the doors to bar were slammed open again, the tanned figure striding cockily into the room. If anything, Natascha knew how to make an entrance. Or more likely, she just didn't know how to be subtle. Sliding up the bar, she tapped twice on the counter and waved her hand near her mouth- the classic signal for "Give me a shot of whatever's closest to your hands right now." The barkeep complied, and Nat slammed the drink back before looking across the sea of faces.
"Alright Natascha, just don't get too sloshed before this potential job interview. No one wants a pilot or mechanic that can't hold her liquor, si?" She thought to herself. This was just step one. Hopefully she would not fail step one. Step on is easy. Super easy. So easy that she can convince herself that she shouldn't see anyone about her blatant alcoholism that totally isn't a problem, nope no-siree.
"So, where can a girl like me play a good game of cards at 'round here, compadre?" she said, adding an exaggerated wink. The barkeep raised a single eyebrow.
"You know... card games. Like maybe some South, uh..." Gou pi, what was that code phrase again? She just had it!
"South Side... something something, uh..."
Congratulations, Natascha. You didn't even MAKE it to step one.

[Nathaniel Kurigawa]

He had seen Kat come in, but he didn't get up form his seat at the bar. It wasn't until the second woman, Natascha, entered and butchered the name that Nate finally interjected.

"I believe the term you're looking for, baobei, is hold 'em." The man's voice spoke to her from to her left. There was no reason for her to believe he hadn't spoken the words directly as they had sounded perfectly normal, though when she looked at him he was taking a drinkfrom his glass. He set down his glass and tapped something into the pad on his wrist and a moment later that same voice spoke, only it wasn't coming from his mouth at all but the thing on his wrist. "They should be starting a game soon, fact, I was gonna head back there myself once I finished this." He pointed to his half empty glass when the very human sounding voice said the word 'this'.

[Rhiannon Sottomayor]

Doctor Sottomayor, had been spending her last months off the radar, avoiding her brother and everyone else in the universe. She had been helping in a far away colony. The dark-haired woman, had even been using an alias. Her life had been what she always wanted to be. To be able to help others by practicing her passion and love...medicine.

But, she always kept, her eyes and ears open...even by other means. She had made good friends in both the ships that had taken her in, when she was running from her assassin twin brother.
Ronin and Glory crews had wan her respect, trust and love. So, when she caught the sos message of Ronin, detailing the planetoid they had crashed on, lack of medical or mechanical resources, and requesting aid, Rhiannon knew that her old friends Victoria and Lin needed help, without hesitation, packed her things and left the colony.

Her rides had taken her to the present location. She had done like Lin once taught her too, so she wouldn't call attention to herself. Not that her height and looks usually helped on that matter...Wherever she went, she was bound to be noted. With her backpack on her back and one of her bags on a sort of a trolley, she entered inside the establishment and stopped looking around to sense the mood the room would give her.

She saw a table empty and decided to go there and take a seat. Only after being seated, she wondered if there was a table service. Sometimes she would fall into her old habits of thinking everyone was educated as her and that every planet and station was like the ones in Osiris.

Rhiannon took another subtle look at the crowd and noticed two people on the counter talking with the bartender. Think Rhiannon...how are you going to get your next ride to get to Lin and Vicky. Use those brains of yours, woman. She thought to herself.

[Natascha Santiago-Negron]

Natascha snapped her fingers, "Yeah, yeah! That's the one! South Side Hold 'Em!" She shrugged, "Usually more of a dice kind of gal, but you know what they say." It was after this that she noticed that the very helpful sir was speaking through a computer. Weird- but not beyond the weirdness she was used to. You take these things in stride, you know?

She gave Nathaniel a cheeky grin, "At least buy me a drink before busting out the pet names, eh?" She slid off the stool and started towards the table, "Hope you've got lady luck on your side, shuài gē."

[Nathaniel Kurigawa]

Nate smirked and at her request, he ordered Natascha a drink on his tab. "My name's Nate by the way." his wristpad declared for him as he slipped off his barstool and invited her with a nod of his head to follow along as he made his way to the back room, and Kat therein. He gave the woman a smile and joined her at the table.

[Katryna Shadow]

Sat at the back Katryna had kept an eye on the room sipping on the soda that a waiter had brought her over.  She had seen a woman enter that vaguely looked like the description she had given.  But she had gone straight to the bar and slammed down a drink next to a guy with dark hair.  Maybe not then.  Another woman entered with long dark hair.  Again not whom Kat was expecting so she passed over her taking notice but not taking notice at the same time, after all the woman was rather hot and Kat took notice of hot people whether they were male or female. The girl and guy at the bar seemed to be striking up a familiarity which caused Kat to groan slightly when they turned and headed her way.  Yep that was them, how on earth had she missed the guy.  She straightened slightly hoping that she was not going to have to be babysitting a bunch of amateurs on this trip along with the Ronin crew.

"Subtlety not part of anyone's vocab I take it." She commented when the pair approached and indicated for them to join her.

[Rhiannon Sottomayor]

A waiter come and took Rhiannon request. She didn't request anything with alcohol. The raven-haired woman needed to keep alert and with all of her wits in place. Once she was back with Lin and Vicky, she would gladly indulge herself in something stronger, but right now she couldn't.

Discretely, Rhiannon tried to take a good look of everyone that was in there. Maybe one of these could be her ticket to meet Ronin and help the crew. The good doctor noticed the hot man that was talking with a woman in the bar. For a moment, Rhiannon smirked. Lucky girl, talking with such handsome man.

Returning her focus to her situation and how was she going to find someone to take her to Ronin was something much more important than drooling over some hunk. When the couple moved Rhiannon followed them with her eyes taking notice that they were joining the woman who was seated not very far from herself.

[Nathaniel Kurigawa]

Nate eyed Kat a little and tapped another message into his wrist. "Subtlety is my nam de plume."

[Katryna Shadow]

Kat rolled her eyes at the words uttered from the wrist pad.  A quick sizing up of Nate led her to believe those words were anything but true.  She gave him a shrug.

"So are we going to do pleasantries or would you rather get down to business?" Her tone clearly indicated that Kat would prefer to get down to business but she also knew that that generally was not the way things went.  In her personal opinion they would be having a flight to somewhere soon and they'd be plenty of time for pleasantries then.

[Natascha Santiago-Negron]

"Natascha," Nat replied on their way over to the table- heheh, Nate and Nat. This was gonna be interesting.
When they finally made it, Nat smirked, sitting down at the table and folding her hands behind her head, "Aw, who needs subtlety? Everything seems pretty shiny so far." She said, as the drink Nate ordered for her was placed down. She winked, taking a swig of the beverage- refreshing!
"But yeah, might as well get down to brass tacks, get that out of the way." Nat replied. Always better to be done with the boring bit first- business before pleasure and all that, "What's the job, mòshēng rén?"

[Katryna Shadow]

Kat raised an eyebrow.  She assumed Vox would have at least given out names to everyone.  Of course there was a saying about assuming wasn't there.

"Kat," She said shortly as an introduction.

"Your job is simple Natascha, Nate and I have some information for Ronin.  It's your job to get us there.  I am assuming that you have the transportation ready?  The issue is we know that Ronin was heading to an outpost on one of this planets moons, just not which one.  Don't suppose either of you have any further insight on this tidbit?"

[Natascha Santiago-Negron]

Natascha took another long drag from her drink, "No need to fret, I've got your transportation all ready and rearin' to go." She says with a wink, "Only question is which one of you know where the destination is."
She takes another drink, "Multiple moons- it's a lot of ground to cover. Keeping a boat in the air, even a temp one, ain't cheap."
So this starts off with an information trade, eh? Well, this certainly brings Nat back. While the others continue talking on, she focuses on her drink. She certainly doesn't think about her failure in the war. Definitely keeps Benedict Chipman out of her thoughts, the backstabbing, wángbadàn turncoat thinks he can get away with joining up with the Alliance behind her back how DARE HE-
Nat takes another drink and definitely thinks about none of this and how it could possibly all go wrong.

[Nathaniel Kurigawa]

Nate was typically a silent observer in many things, so he'd been content to sit for a spell and listen to the women banter off details about their "job". He sipped casually on his drink as he checked out one of the serving girls from afar. He'd been listening intently though, despite his seeming disinterest and when they got to the destination game, Nate raised his hand to his wrist where he started typing speedily into it. "I guess, that's where I come in. Don't worry ladies, I should be able to ping their exact location once we're in the region."

[Rhiannon Sottomayor]

The raven-haired doctor kept her wits on alert, while trying to think, how she was going to find a lift for Ronin location. She had been hitchhiking through the galaxy and had now reached a dead end. As the hot guy and the woman that was with him, had joined the woman on the table near her, Rhiannon kept her ears open. There was curiosity in her about the guy, but Rhiannon was also trying to find a way to reach her destination.

It seemed that fortune was truly favoring her. She was taking a sip of her drink, when she heard, the word Ronin being talked by the two women, for a couple of times. Very unlike her usual self, Rhiannon turned her head towards the trio. Realizing that she had been beyond indiscreet, Rhiannon cheeks flushed red heavily. She wasn't used to make this sort of faux-pas indiscretions, but if they were  really trying to find Ronin, maybe she could help them and they could help her.

Rhiannon was still blushing slightly, as she stood up from her chair and moved towards the trio. "My apologies for the indiscretion, but you have mentioned Ronin...are you talking about the Ronin captained by Lin Kuei?" She asked with a soft nervous tremble in her voice.

[Katryna Shadow]

Kat was about to respond to Nate by repeating Natasha and asking about which Moon they wanted to start at and the time it would take to get to each one when the hot woman from earlier approached them asking about Ronin.  She eyed the woman suspiciously her hand slipping under the table to the Sai that was no longer at her hip.  She flexed her hand nervously on the empty space but her face showed none of the emotions she felt.

"Well that depends, who's asking?" She asked with a tilt of her head.  If they got a name, Nate could probably do a quick search to find out more.

[Natascha Santiago-Negron]

So Nate's the techie- figures, what with that walkie talkie on his wrist. And with Kat as probably the hirer-on, Nat had to wonder how many other little birdies were in on this job.
And it seemed this new chick might be another, as she walked up and started asking questions. A bit blunt- no codeword or nothin'. Mighty suspicious. Nat's thumb lightly brushed the leather of one of her holsters. Never sensible to go anywhere without a good gun or two by your side.
At Kat's own obviously suspicion, Nat took another sip, giving Nate a raised brow. Someone in this jī shǐ outfit had to have some sort of list of who's supposed to be here.

[Rhiannon Sottomayor]

The doctor intervention surprised the trio, though only the woman who was seated first on the table talked. Rhiannon observed the three of them, as in her mind, she was doubting that jumping in the middle of their conversation like that was the brightest move.

She noticed that the other woman was also eyeing Rhiannon with suspicion, while the only male was aphasic and not showing  any surprise or emotion through his body language. Rhiannon remained silent for a few moments after the woman question, deciding what was the best way to answer her question or if she should retreat. Rhiannon mother, had always taught her daughter that the brightest and most intelligent thing one could do, was to listen to their intuition. That was the reason, why the cold and logic doctor always surprised others with her intuitive insights. Unlike most people think, intuition and logic are not opposites, but complementary traits humans possessed.

Her gut intuition had made Rhiannon move from her table to be standing in the front of them. She should keep going. What was the worst thing going to happen? They were mercs going after Ronin? If that was true, she could use them to get to the ship and let Lin and Vicky handle them, if they were truly foes.

"I'm Rhiannon Sottomayor and I was a former medical doctor of the ship." The raven-haired woman answer with the utmost truth, looking at the woman who had made the question. She was gambling that they were friends and not foes. Fortune favors the bold as the old saying used to go, so here was all or nothing. "I know where the ship is. I just need to get there to help my friends." She added keeping her eyes on the woman.

[Natascha Santiago-Negron]

As a gambler by nature, Nat was pretty well versed in picking up on other people's tells. And from what she reckoned, this Dr. Sottomayor was being honest with her- Nat relaxed a bit, and finished off her drink.

"Seems like she's on the up-and-up with me," Nat said to her table-mates, "And if she's the map, then looks like we're all set to sail."