046: The Tools of Acquisition – One
Even if they hadn't had a stealth ship at their disposal, getting into Necupole space was not a difficult task. As a society, the Necupole Plutocracy valued wealth over everything else, and so they were far more welcoming of the so called "Lesser" races of the galaxy, so much so that they even encouraged trade routes to be set up through their space.
(This wasn't done out of anything so magnanimous as galactic unity - trade across their borders just meant that there was money to be milked from whoever was doing the trading, and the Necupole Plutocracy was always looking for another metaphorical teat to suckle on.)
If anything, they treated most of the races and cultures across the galaxy in a similar fashion, nothing more or less than potential income sources of various worth. No matter who you were, or where you came from, if you had the cash to make you worth their time, they'd be down to do business.
And on the flip side, no matter where you came from, if you didn't have anything that made you valuable, you weren't worth taking up the space that you occupied.
However, despite this monetarily fuelled egalitarianism, those born to the Necupole Plutocracy always favoured their own kind above all others, which meant that having a member of their crew who, with a few cosmetic tweaks, could pass herself off as a necupole herself, meant that the Pelekys had the means of getting Rhea close enough to her Storlayacas to claim it from under the noses of the Necupole themselves, all without her presence raising suspicion.
Of course, they would need to come up with a way to get her into the event itself, and that was proving to be a trickier riddle to solve.
"How hard would it be to come up with a fake ID?" Elytra asked aloud from her spot on the floor of the rec room, staring up between the two data pads she had in her hands.
"The creating of one is easy," Malakh said from the opposite side of the room, her tail swishing in agitation behind her as she paced a groove into the floor, "It's the making it believable that's the hard part. We'll have to create an entire fake past long enough that it won't look suspicious to anyone checking on the veracity of who she'd be claiming to be, and I don't think we're going to have the time to set up something airtight enough before the auction goes down."
"Kidnapping, then?" Nevara suggested from the couch they'd dragged their low table in front of, "Have Rhea take their place?"
"And option, but the risk there being that anyone who knows who I swapped out with is gonna know I'm not who I say I am." Rhea pointed out beside her, flicking through different files and documents across the low table's digital display.
Lowering one of her data pads to give the other her full attention, Elytra said, "There's also the Kith route. Some organizations will hire Kith crews in order to stage thefts for stuff like insurance fraud, or rival firms will hire them out to do stuff to embarrass them. We could have a look around to see if anyone's looking to hurt their enemies at this auction?"
Pryseia hummed thoughtfully at that, searching up something on her data pad from where she sat sideways in the armchair next to the low table, legs kicking idly over the arm of her seat.
"I'm not discounting it," Nevara said with a frown, "But there is the potential that seeking Necupole allies could tip our hand to the wrong people."
Her floral avatar blooming onto her usual screen in the rec room, Viatrix suggested, "There is also the option of us just sneaking in without anyone going undercover."
"Also true," Malakh said as she completed another lap, "I was thinking of rigging up one of your new drones with the stealth tech that keeps the Pelekys hidden from sight, as well as what we used to hid us electronically back at the Bakiz Institute. Maybe all of your drones, actually. Give us the potential of sneaking in that way?"
"I certainly wouldn't be opposed to that!" Was Viatrix's excited response.
Looking up from her data pad briefly, Pryseia asked, "Vi, have you a list of the items up for auction?"
"Yeah, I'll send that to you."
"Greatly appreciated."
Barking out a single laugh, Rhea asked, "You wouldn't happen to have a complete schematic for all the security this place is going to have, would you?"
"Just one of its general layout," Viatrix told her, bringing up a blueprint on the low table, "Entrance and exit points are the only thing of note on here, aside from the basic floor plan of the place."
"Aaur Niikaschlde Centre," Elytra read off the blueprint, once she sat up off the ground, "Wonder what they did to get a building named after them?"
"Probably donated a shitload of money." Was Rhea's immediate response.
Giving up her pacing to plop down on the opposite side of the table, Malakh glanced over the layout of the building. "Lots of wide open spaces in here. Makes sneaking around tricky, if we go that route. No idea what security on that place is going to be like until we get close enough to do a scan of it, but if their security systems are anything in comparison to what the Zymeth had back at that museum, then we shouldn't have any trouble."
Flashing in amusement, Viatrix said, "Oh yeah, officials working for the Bakiz Institute are scrambling to try and spin our theft as anything but! They haven't had any luck, however, what with our video of the deed picking up traction, and the eye witness videos of Castore's ascent hitting the network! It's a real bad look for them."
"Good, they needed to be knocked down a few pegs." Rhea smirked, "Show'em who's really 'lesser' around here."
Pryseia sat up properly in her chair, glancing up at the others as she said, "There may be another potential avenue we can take in regards to the acquisition of our next Storlayacas."
"Do tell." Nevara said with a resolute click of her mandibles.
"The Avvisi system is used by those wishing to solicit the services of the Kith of the Void," Pryseia began, touching something on her data pad in order to send it to the screen on the low table, "But it can also be used by the Kith crews themselves in order to seek aid from their compatriots. I had come across such a request when I was scouring the database for applicable items we could liberate from the Bakiz Institute, but it hadn't been pertinent to our interests at the time. But it may very well be now."
Another tap on her data pad and a listing for one of the items going on auction popped up, a military grade light fighter craft that had been heavily modified, all of its systems upgraded to make it that much deadlier in a fight, its hull fitted with armour that was both far more effective as well as stylish in comparison to its humble origins. Next to it popped up a summons for assistance in retrieving it, posted by a Kith crew some months ago.
"The Sudoxe requests the aid of at least one human Kith member for a retrieval mission." Malakh read before glancing up at Rhea, "Maybe they have a similar infiltration idea?"
"Can't hurt to give them a call." Rhea said with a shrug.
Elytra grinned at that. "And this might be our chance to enter into an official collaboration!"
"Exactly what I was thinking," Pryseia replied with a grin, "I shall send a missive forthwith!"
A response came only a few hours later, a request for a video call. The crew of the Pelekys gathered in their bridge to make it, leaving off the severe mood lighting and costumes for standard lights and casual clothes. The weren't making a performance out of this communication, after all.
Likewise, the crew of the Sudoxe were lounging around in more comfortable attire, their cosmetically rough-and-tumble bridge as well lit as their own when the call connected.
On screen was a motley crew, most of them deorviran, with a pair of koleopterans and a single usgaisjan rounding it out. Seated at the captain's seat was a deorviran with dark grey fur with black markings and mane, her eyes a bright blue. "Captain Saiwa’apobiternys of the Sudoxe, though Saiwa is acceptable."
"Captain Killzar Pryseia of the Pelekys, but Pryseia will do." Pryseia returned the greeting, "I hear tell you are in need of human assistance."
"We certainly are," Captain Saiwa said, her eyes darting to Rhea, lounging against the captain's chair as she was, "We'd been running out of hope that anyone would respond in time."
"Had a heist of our own to deal with, but we got that all squared away." Rhea said with a shrug.
"I saw the video. Stealing a mech right off a Zymeth world was a bold move for a first mission, but you certainly pulled it off." Captain Saiwa said with a nod, "I believe we may be able to help each other, for I did notice a mech up for auction that looks similar to the last one you stole."
"Would you be willing to discuss details now, or would you prefer an in person meeting?" Pryseia asked.
Motioning to one of her crew, Captain Saiwa said, "In person would be best. We're transmitting coordinates for an uninhabited world now, a couple hours out from us."
"I have them." Viatrix said, "Looks like its several hours away from us too."
"Excellent, let us know when you're ready to make planetfall." Captain Saiwa said before closing the line.
"Promising." Nevara said, punching in the coordinates.
The world they'd been sent to was a small one, out of the way from Necupole interests, and with an atmosphere they could all breathe in. Nevara sent out a signal to announce their arrival, and the Sudoxe responded a few moments later with coordinates on the surface itself. Nevara brought them down for a gentle landing on a wide, flowering field, the Sudoxe touching down shortly after.
"I'll take Elytra and Rhea with me," Pryseia said as she stood from her seat, "The rest of you I'd like to remain here in order to keep the ship prepared for any untoward situations that may arise."
"Expecting trouble?" Malakh frowned.
"Preparing for it, but hoping it won't befall us." Pryseia admitted as she left, Rhea and Elytra falling into step behind her.
"Want me to keep my senses open to them?" Elytra asked.
"If you could," Pryseia agreed, "I don't believe they are here to engage in hostilities with us, but I fear that the dealings with Lauter have put me on edge."
Rhea laughed humorlessly at that. "Yeah. Real great representation for the organization as a whole, that one."
The three of them stepped out onto the field, and saw that three of the Sudoxe's crew were coming out to meet them, the Captain herself, along with a powerfully built deorviran with pale reddish blonde fur, and a koleopteran in shades of dark green. Elytra could sense the same type of amusement bubbling off the two captains, no doubt at the fact that they'd each brought a team that consisted of an empath and someone who could physically hold off whatever threat the other might be bringing.
"Can't be too careful when it comes to tangling with any of the so-called Enlightened races," Captain Saiwa said, holding up a small device, "Mind if we scramble this?"
"Not at all." Pryseia said with a wave of her hand.
Captain Saiwa then touched something on the back of the device, after which it hovered out of her hand and floated a little bit above their heads. An instant later, it let out a little pulse, and the sky above them distorted slightly, the sound in the field growing slightly muffled.
"I apologize for the paranoia, things have gone a little awry for us in the course of this mission." Captain Saiwa said before motioning to her two companions, first the deorviran then the koleopteran, "Furista and Chela."
"Rhea and Elytra," Pryseia introduced, "If I may be so bold, what misfortunes have befallen you?"
Elytra was immediately struck by a heady swirl of emotions off the Sudoxe's crew: fury, betrayal, grief, a fresh wound that hadn't gotten the chance to heal. Chela frowned, looking away, while Furista went unnaturally still. Saiwa herself sighed, shaking her head slightly as she said, "A stress test failed."
This wasn't anywhere close to the actual story, Elytra knew, but she could also feel that the truth was too close, too painful for the Sudoxe's crew to be discussing it around strangers. But underlying all that was a desire to see this mission come to a successful end, and that was what she transmitted to her friends over their Longan Units.
"Well, as you said, we are after that Hyttan mech, and we would be more than willing to assist you in retrieving the ship you'd listed in Avvisi." Pryseia said before nodding her head towards Rhea, "I am also willing to assume that you were hoping to infiltrate the auction with a human disguised as a necupole."
"That indeed was the plan before things fell through on our end." Saiwa confirmed, her expression calmly professional while her sense of betrayal bloomed as hot as blood from a fresh wound, "We have a false ID with years worth of material to background check through, as well as details about every facet of the Aaur Niikaschlde Centre. The gist of our plan was to have a necupole disguised human go in with their personal assistant, our tech expert, with the human acting as a distraction while our expert hijacked the ship."
"We'd honestly been thinking along the same lines," Rhea said, motioning at herself.
"Providence provides," Saiwa said with a wry grin, "You lot are exactly what we were looking for."
"So, how'd it go?" Malakh asked nearly an hour later, once Pryseia's group had returned and both the Pelekys and the Sudoxe lifted off from that small world.
"Fruitfully," Pryseia told her with a grin, "They have already done all the surveillance we could possibly need for the success of their mission, they simply require the assistance of a disguised Rhea in order to pull it off."
"If that was the case, why hadn't they done so already?" Nevara asked.
"They didn't give details, but something terrible went down," Elytra told them, "Any inquiry as to what stymied them was met with deflection and a wall of grief. It felt like something happened to someone they were close with, a betrayal that they didn't see coming."
"We were looking into the exploits of the Sudoxe while we waited for you, and it looks like they used to have another member on their crew, a human, up to and including the broadcast of their last mission. There were no humans on their bridge when they contacted us, even though every other member of their crew was present." Malakh told them.
"Oof, that's rough." Rhea said as she crossed her arms.
"They're determined to see this mission through to the end, despite whatever happened to them," Elytra said, "Or maybe because of what happened to them. With betrayal happening so close to them, I didn't get the sense that they'd be willing to turn that betrayal around on us."
Nodding, Pryseia said, "As such, I have agreed to rendering them aid for the duration of this mission. A collaboration between our two forces."
"I've just gotten another transmission of coordinates from the Sudoxe." Viatrix called out.
"It's for a world closer to where the auction is to take place," Pryseia explained, "They've already set up a small base there to use as a staging ground, and we'll be joining them there to hammer out the details of our joint plan."
"I'll set a course." Nevara said as she brought up the coordinates on her console.
Looking over to Malakh, Rhea asked, "They seemed pretty chill in person, but what kind of image do they present for audiences?"
"Messy mercenaries with hearts of gold," Malakh summarized, "They're pretty popular due to how dramatic their interpersonal relationships are, and with how much that contrasts how competent they are when actually on a mission. Captain Saiwa and the other three dark furred deorvirans? They're all from the same litter, and family drama is a staple of deorviran media."
"Hm, might give us something to play with there," Rhea mused, "We're going to have to figure out what narrative angle we're going to go for with them. I should probably watch their stuff to see what we're going to be dealing with."
"It might not be a bad idea for all of us to watch some highlights," Elytra added, "They certainly seem to be aware of our own exploits, so that knowledge could go a long way to making our joint narrative more coherent."
"Are you saying we get to have another movie night?" Viatrix asked coyly.
Rhea laughed at that, saying, "It's probably going to be more like homework, but that doesn't mean we can't make it fun!"
Checking her console, Nevara said, "Our destination is several hours away, so we've some time to get some research in."
"Yes! I can't wait!" Viatrix cheered, "I'm going through their 'best of' files right now, and I'll have everything queued up in the rec room by the time you all get there!"
"I think a quick stop in the mess hall for snacks will be in order, but we shall be in the rec room not long after," Pryseia said with a grin, "It will certainly be a more productive use of our time than staring out at the passing stars, to be sure!"