1453/F:NV - A Positive Outlook On Life

F:NV - A Positive Outlook On Life
Date of Scene:	30 January 2015
Location:	Mojave Wasteland (NewVegas)
Synopsis:	Johnny and the crew get to the bottom of a murder and more as the Mojave heats up. Who's been slicing into Lucky 38? Who killed Specs? And what the hell is going on?
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, 32, 571, 627, Starbound Flotilla, 673

---

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    The call goes out, even if Johnny doesn't want to make the call, that's for damn sure. But this is for the good of the Mojave, and if someone else is doing this, he's gonna want to know.

    The place is a ruined alleyway alongside the inner wall to the Vegas Strip's walls that separate Freeside from the Paying Section of New Vegas. There's a crowd of people not far away, being held at bay by a group of Securitrons with lights and sirens going over their head, grouchy looking stills of rough and ready beat cops on their flickering CRT displays.

    Closer to the action itself are a group of people all sort of milling around.
    Johnny is instantly recognizable as the fellow in the Riot Suit with the hat on. There's also a fellow in what looks like NCO NCR gear, complete with kevlar outer armor and the Ranger long coat. A tall, fit looking man in a striped outfit and a pompadour. Also present is Rose of Sharon Cassidy, sidling closer to Johnny than not, keeping a wary eye on the crowds with a heavy duty shotgun in her mitts.

    No one looks happy.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    The Starbounders are under the impression this isn't a pressing COMBAT situation, per se, and so they've come wearing their less combat-oriented outfits. They teleported down to their original place here, at the Lucky 38, and then walked on over to the incident in question. Patiently waiting to confirm their credentials with the securitrons, they subsequently head in towards the ranger and the courier. Since the non-human and non-robotic members of the Flotilla look like rubber-headed aliens from a 50s-era sci-fi movie, they shouldn't have any issue at all fitting in.

    "Greetings." Moonfin is the one who speaks up first. "We have come to offer our assistance again. How can we help, Johnny?" The crew looks ready to get the explanation about what's going on here, and how they can assist.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    This is less of a combat/survival mission than usual, and Alexis has shown up in a proper suit instead of just her regular combat gear. There's no need to come along armed for war either, so besides her sidearm and maybe something else, she's going light today. The cyborg adjusts her turtleneck a bit, nodding to Moonfin and the other Starbounders as she spots them upon arrival.

    "Afternoon, fellas. What do we got?" She asks Johnny directly, handshakes given about and such.

    That Ranger definitely gets Maaka's attention, not the kinda person you want to fuck around with. The pomadour can't help but strike Maaka as familiar for some reason, but she has no idea why. Not important, she supposes.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Behind Alexis, Rory in her human-masqueraded Synth strolls up. Several floating drones also follow her and one is on wheels carrying a box of who knows what.

    Her long blue hair sure is a weird thing in these parts, but it swishes about as she glances left and right at the crime scene and responders... "so... what happened?"

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji had established initial trade opportunities with the Mojave, and he has certain interest in making sure those connections develop and remain stable.

This means occasionally making a personal effort to create new contacts and assess local issues. Souji steps through the crowd, making his presence known. If they don't move, Souji has other options.

*Float, silly. Not murder. Murder is /messy/. And he's not wearing his murder suit.

One way or the other, Souji approaches the Securitron line, and once admitted through, approaches Sharon, the NCR man, the pompadoured man, and Johnny, looking over the present situation.

He doesn't comment yet, allowing them to provide the initial information.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone needs something far saner than the thing she saw in the Kingsmouth graveyard last night and yes this world right now has a higher view in sanity even with the horror of the stuff this Vault tech has done not to belitted it but this is horror by human hands at the veyr least and she follows up after Alexis and has a bit of a g decent look on her face she takes note of the NCR and their gear she takes note of the sort of gear this almost looks like it was produced in a uniform style rather than salvage. Also everyone is unhappy from the looks of things.

"So what just what's the problem here?"

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    Even if the Starbounds would be getting hassled, the Securitrons in particular let them pass, one even saluting Seft as she goes past. Hmmm.
    All the human-folk go right on through no problem.

    It's the african american NCR fellow who speaks up first, turning to face the group a-Oh my god that is a mustache and beard. He glances at the group and then back over at Johnny and the others. "Goddamn, Johnthan, you sure do know how to draw a crowd, don't you." He starts shaking hands back. "Major Dhatri, I'm with the NCR. Nice to see people taking things seriously out here."
    The man with the pompadour bristles at that. "And you think we ain't taking this serious? That's some nerve you got, you puffed up-"
    Johnny growls. "Chill out, Pacer. We're all here to be cool and figure this out, alright?"
    Pacer growls and looks at the rest with contempt, wandering back down the alleyway.

    The problem is pretty clear, actually once you're looking down there. Someone has been trying to tunnel or cut their way through the wall, and opened up what appears to be a darkened room of some sort in the wall itself. Also whoever that was is now missing their head as they lie up against the wall of the Strip. They are wearing a similar outfit to Pacer.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Major. Alexis Maaka, XCOM operative and one of Johnny's Syndicate contacts. It's a pleasure, sir." Alexis nods to the military man with respect, then kinda gives Pacer a look. The only thing she doesn't take seriously here is that hair. This world has a weird quasi-retro fifties thing to it, but this guy's something else.

    She then takes a peek at the crime scene itself, making a quiet noise as she observes the headless body. It's a grisly scene alright, and she notes how similarly the John Doe and Pacer dress.

    "We got an ID on this one?" She asks, kneeling besides the corpse as she begins to run some scans for anything in the area in her optics; fingerprints, spent casings, discarded blades, anything that can give the group some sort of detail as to what happened here.

    While playing CSI, she also takes a moment to inspect the hole in the wall as well for good measure.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Moonfin shakes hands with Dhatri, though he's going to make it a bit redundant with an eastern-style bowing gesture as well. "A pleasure, Major. I am Moonfin, and these are my associates. Seft, George, Pavo, Abert, Alexis, Rory, and Kotone, various members of the Starbound Flotilla." Huh, come to think of it, the only one here not an associated member of the Flotilla is Souji! "Ah, Mr. Murasame." Moonfin will recognize the face of one of the biggest industry heirs around, of course. "Good to see you. I had been meaning to speak to you eventually, perhaps we might after this is resolved."

    The Flotilla examines the scene here, for a while, peering through the hole and at the body. Moonfin sees the body's outfit. "Please, if you will excuse me, perhaps I can assist with some of the tension." He says, with a pleasant, friendly smile, and turns back towards Pacer. "Sir. A moment of your time? I notice you and the victim here seem to share the same stylish fashion. I understand you may belong to the same organization, and you seem a well-connected man, is there anything you might be able to tell me about what he was doing that you think might be relevant to helping us ensure other members aren't at risk."

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Although the Securitrons' strange design leaves Rory looking kind of nervous up until she reaches the one who called, she straightens up once she's actually there.

    The AGI executes a cute sort of bow, although that leads to her her weirdly draping over in front of her head! "E-er..." She brushes it back over a shoulder as she rises. "Rory White. Scientist. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this. Step one is gathering evidence and testimony. Is everything we see here the same as it was found?"

    She also shakes the man's hand of course. THAT she does much better. She's practiced!

    One of her hovering Saucers attempts to squeeze through the cut hole and have a look in the room... meanwhile Rory herself crouches down by the decapitated victim and loads up a bunch of software designed to analyze what she's seeing.

    For instance, estimating the time of death based on the status of rigor mortis and the blood clotting and drying.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Seft offers a wireless link to Alexis, Kotone, and Rory, intended to share data. "Offering. My suite of internal sensors should be useful in this context, in collaboration with Miss White. Please stand by." Her eyes blink several times, and then a light runs along the princess-bot's eye-visor, scanning the environment rather than the body. Chemical traces, energy signatures, anything that a robot's cool sensors could detect, Seft will try to relay to the group. Souji can get in on that too! If he's got any kind of tablet compatible with her wireless signal, anyway.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa pauses a pacer there's someone he reminds her of but she can't quite place it, she does see the contempt however on his face and the NCR officer does seem to be a bit more oen to talking for a moment.

"Major, I'm Kotone Yamakawa also an XCOM operative and someone from the Syndicate as well."

She pauses to take a look at the corpse and humm she knows enough to not touch anything at the moment. She also did shake Dhatri's hand a moment before.

"Also if there happened to be any recording devices that would be a thing to look at too."

Given New Vegas still having a fair bit of tech it wasn't beyond the possiblity there were some surveliance systems left operational.

"Tht be a good idea Seft."

Kotone will also open up a link to any of the other cyborgs and robots on the team while she starts to take a look at the corpes but hangs back.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Albert grunts a sort of apelike grunt when shaking the hand, and then gets to work. As a soldier, his experience is limited, but the Miniknog is notorious for things like unethically hunting down civilians like this man, and so he's got, at the very least, an intimate tactical understanding of the issue. The monkeyman immediately checks for signs of violence and attempts to assemble an understanding of the circumstances the man was killed in. Fleeing? Standing and fighting? Sudden assassination? Execution-style?

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George can't stomach being around anyone with a military rank TOO long, and so after pretending very hard to be respectful and upbeatly helpful, he tries to go see what he breached, and if George himself can get into it. Can he? He'll at least peak, if he can't, but definitely directly investigate if he can.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji nods in greeting to the NCR man. "Good to meet you, Major Dhatri. I am Souji Murasame. A pleasure." He glances at the man named Pacer at the exchange, and as Pacer stalks away, Souji walks closer to the 'crime' scene. There is a glance at the tunnel and the room beyond. He kneels next to the murdered person and looks over the clothing. "Hmm." He comments noncommittally.

He stands, and Moonfin addresses him, He nods to the alien, apparently taking it all in stride as he is spoken to. "I am always interested in pursuing opportunities. Please, consider my doors open to you at any time." He moves with Moonfin as Pacer is addressed and he listens attentively. In the meantime, he does touch the side of his glasses, the magitech attempting to negotiate a common signal with Seft to gain the relevant scanning information. It's less obtrusive to display it on his glasses' HUD than to pull out his tablet.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Biteblade gets down on all fours, and... Sniffs at the body, and the surrounding areas, seeking out scents. As an expert TRACKER, they try to discern the "predator" of this scenario, and determine what sort of smell they might have to track later. Maybe there's something here they can use to track them later?

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    TALK DHATRI:

    The Major... somehow doesn't seem to mind shaking Moonfin's hand as Alexis and Souji and Rory join in on the actual talking. "Thanks for coming out. This is actually a little more tense than we might be letting on. The fellow who's dead down there was one of the Kings, the tribals that run most of Freeside. But we've got plenty of refugees from Outer Vegas moving in and those folks are NCR's responsibility which is rubbing the locals all sorts of wrong."
    He crosses his arms, and grumps. "Though I think whoever that was might have been digging somewhere he ain't supposed to be." Dharti looks sidelong at Johnny who has taken Cass off to the side to talk into his radio.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    TALK PACER:

    Pacer seems less cool with a Fisman than Dhatri does, though he's not about to do something Very Rude with the courier right over there. He growls a bit. "Yeah, he was one of ours. The Kings ain't ones to rock the boat or step on suede shoes when it comes to this place. We've got it good here and those Army pukes are trying to move in on our turf."
    He looks down at the corpse though, and grumbles. "Pretty sure this was Specs. He was one of our egghead fellows, trying to find out more about the First King. Kept telling him not to dig but... he thought something was there."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    LOOK SCENE:

    The body has been dead for about 6 hours at this point, thankfully the day had been cool that it wasn't baked all the way through already. Flies are starting to gather a little more though, a few larger bloat flies now hovering over the top of the group. Whoever this was had their head blown clean off with something like buckshot or larger. This is borne out by the blast marks on the ground. That likely wasnt' the killing blow, hoever. There's also a set of bullet holes in the man's chest. Roughly 9mm or something similar, in a nice neat grouping in the middle of the man's chest.

    The Room:
    Someone's been cutting into the wall, and has found themselves in what looks like a power or data counduit, just large enough to crouch in and move around semi-comfortably. A pair of heavy cables run along the ceiling, and a rats nest of other smaller cables loop off of them. Scans suggest the heavier one is a power conduit, the other one with fewer runs leading to it is a data line.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    ALBERT:
    This man hadn't been armed, and probably didn't put up much of a fight. Also there is a lack of whatever might have cut the rough hole in the wall.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    BITEBLADE:
    Sniff sniff sniff. Smalles like the robots that you went past though there's been plenty moving around here. Also ozone from the heavy cables. It is a crime scene and the smells are muddled right in this area. Maybe try somewhere else?

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa lkooks to the dead man for a moment and frowns for a moment. She thinks for a moment and wonders the Kings well a gang or a tribe? They are likely somewhat civilized or Mr. House would have chased them out of town, this isn't good the more she thinks about it. She looks to the major aand then to Pacer as he chips in on things.

"I see so he was one your rearchers sorts? He was also following some sort of lead humm?"

Shhe milling this over. She now focuses upon the body looking over the blasts she's just guessing this but she has to think it was the 9mmm and not the shotgun blst from the looks of it.

"looks like someone killed him then took his head off with a some sort of shotgun?"

She's feeding the images she get to the other people hooks up to her.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "We'll do our best to make sure the army is out of your hair and back where both of you would rather they be as soon as possible." Moonfin says, pleasantly. Alien though he may be, he does have an air of genuine respect to him in... most contexts, anyway. "Men like that tend to take notes and keep records; if you find anything like that, which you feel we might be able to use to help you, please contact me, or Johnny with that."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @Moonfin:

    Pacer grumbles. He's okay for a fishman. "Yeah, thanks. He wasn't the most liked fellow, always asking questions and takin' up the King's time, but the teachin's are important, and he helped us find more of 'em."

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Shotgun rounds and nine milimeter bullet wounds. Alexis knows these all too well. She frowns for a moment as she inspects the chest area, noting how tight the grouping is. "Nine mill and a twelve gauge to top it off. Nasty work, whoever did this wanted to keep him down." She says, looking up at Dhatri. "What's the story behind the Kings themselves? Not exactly tribal material far as I know." She says, "WHat kinda rivals does your outfit have?" the cyborg directs that question towards Pacer himself.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    Courier Six gets a call out from George. "'Ey, Johnny, c'mere a sec." George, meanwhile, gets out his multitool and tests for power in the line as he slips into the tiny space. "Where's this run, exactly, do you know?" Johnny's a science man, maybe he's found out. He's gonna see what scale of machinery this might power, though.

    "Seft! Hey, come get a fix on this." Seft, for her part, finishes scanning the environment and tries to establish a lock on the conduit's powerflow. If there's any question of where it goes, Seft intends to follow it aboveground.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @George:

    Johnny, for once, is not showing the usual amount of glee and or hispanic charm he's known for. Something's got him really on edge, and he shuffles over towards George and Seft, ducking his hat down over his eyes as he crouches in.

    Cass, notably, starts chatting up Pacer to turn him away from the conduits.
    Johnny growls. "These are the feeds that run power to the defense grid around the Strip. That." He points to the data feed. "That is a secondary data line running to the Lucky 38." Oh dear.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @MAAKA:
    Cass steps to the side as Alexis comes over and asks about the Kings. The words 'tribal' seem to rankle the fellow, but he grouses. "We're a bunch of guys and gals who work to keep the dream of a man alive. We moved in to Freeside and found the remains of a temple to the man. Used to be a very important fellow. Don't know his name, but everything in the holotapes and stuff calls him The King. And he is the coolest cat in the Mojave."

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "Time of death was over 6 hours ago. Hard to determine which of the wounds was the terminal one, but I'd guess decapitation. The tear patterns on the neck suggest an uneven ripping, not clean cutting that a blade would inflict." Whoah, who made and went her a crime scene investigator?

    Well, she's being aided by a dozen of programs written FOR CSI-style work, so that probably helps.

    Her saucer cannot get into the hole and it instead goes to hover in a pattern down the alley, recording EVERY scrap of EVERYTHING. It especially focuses on the walls, checking for blood spatter patterns everywhere...

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Pacer gives a rundown on what's going on from his point of view. "Unfortunate. We will work to discover who is responsible for this killing as soon as possible." He reassures Pacer, and looks back at the corpse for a moment. His eyebrows downturn for a moment, but he looks back to Pacer. "We likely do not have time to recap the background of the Kings in this instance. If we wish to know more, where would we inquire?"

He contiues to listen to what's going on in the meantime. Souji tries to pay attention to his surroundings.

Once he is done with Pacer, Souji moves to speak with Dhatri. "Major, do you have information on the circumstances that led to the discovery of the body? Has there been a positive ID on the corpse?"

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George pauses a while, then peeks back up at Johnny. "So, I'm guessing you don't enforce excavation laws with ballistic decapitations, 'cause if you do, this would /probably/ already be solved." He says, with an eyebrow up. "Alright, plan A is easy, I just go through whatever Specs did and try not to die the way he did, right?"

    He starts following along the conduit, but then peeks back. "Hey, Johnny. I'm a guy who knows subversion when he's seeing it. Someone might be doing something with the infrastructure here. Weird pirate data on the conduits, jacking power for something awful, you know." And then he's off on his way along the conduit! As is Seft, from the outside, if she can follow the signal. Albert finsihes up collating the data. "The tool used to dig was taken. The man was actively hunted, targeted. But not assassinated, more assaulted. Likely pursued. Hmmm."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @SOUJI:
    Pacer shuffles around in his pockets and pulls out a flyer of all things. KING'S SCHOOL OF IMPERSONATION. "Any of our boys around here wouldn't mind having a classy looking kid like yourself in there." Hmm, for once, someone who's not put off by Souji's look.

    Well, that an Dhatri, who appreciates the look of the boy. Also he's been informed of who he is. The NCR is Watching, after all. "We've really just got Pacer and the King's word that it's their Specs fellow. Not much more to go on other than that. We're still not sure what the guy was thinking cutting into the walls like that. But then again who knows what the hell these guys do and why they do it." The Major has no love lost here, it would seem. "I'm just worried this is going to get back to one of our men or have it assumed its one of ours. We can't afford to put people in danger here."
    "As to how it was found, a fellow stumbling out of the Strip stopped to have a piss on the wall and spotted the guy. He scrambled though, but not before the Kings spotted him runing. They do basic security work here in Freeside for the people looking to come into Vegas the hard way."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    RORY:
    The alleyway is dirty as hell and has likely been that way for 200 years. That said there is some new disturbances in the dirt. Someone, two people were here a while ago. One of them fell and tried to scramble away, and... yep, there's blood. Someone's kicked a shit ton of dirt over the spot though, covering up their tracks. There's also been heavier than usual Securitron activity through the alley way.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa is not as cesed as sme of the others but it seeks Alexis has a beter idea for a moment. She would more peg the Kings as a gang than a tribe her self but maybe the terms are interchangable here on this world? She can't be certain. Souji brings up a good point it might not have been one of the Kings for all they know if someone was trying to stage a way she has to wonder there. Still she's a bit out of her elment for the moment. She rises up and and humms over the link.

<<I'm going to see what witnesses I can turn up.>>

With that Kotones going to excuse herself and go hit the area and start asking locals question about Specs, his death such if anyone had seen anything or had Specs been up to something out of the ordinary?

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @GEORGE, SEFT, ALBERT:

    Johnny growls a bit, and shakes his head. "I'm certainly not in the business of murdering people this way. Specs had come to me a while back asking about doing 'archeology' in Freeside and I was impressed anyone knew that word. This isn't that though. Not by a long shot."
    George certainly has the experience in Maintenance Tunnels, though and can cleary spot that someone's been through here before. The conduit is too small to turn around in though, and terminates at a metal wall th-
    That shifts a bit, and falls away. Inside there is a little room. A computer has been dragged into the room, and someone has spliced it into both the power and the data line. Oh dear.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    SEFT: The data is... extremely encrypted. Far past anything else that should be possible in the sort of technological methodology that's in place here. Whoever this Mr. House is, he's certainly on the ball with security.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @ALBERT:
    Johnny and Cass both sigh and look around. Rory seems to be poking in the dirt, and finding stuff over there. "I'm not sure I like any of these implications, Albert. This shit is getting worse smelling by the minute."

Rory White (673) has posed:
    "There were efforts to cover the incident up. Significant amounts of dirt were moved to cover parts of the alley. At least two people's worth of tracks... but I don't know if one of them was the victim or not." She'll have to get a single track first, and match it to the shoes, to prove that...

    "Compiling all the other data... it's most likely that the victim was caught hacking and assaulted on the spot. The assailants used extreme force, enough to pulp a skull, but did nothing to hide the body. Only some of their tracks. Hacking what, though?"

    She looks at the others. "What do these hardlines lead to? The Lucky 38, it was mentioned?"

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji takes the flyer and tucks it into his suit, gaining a KEY ITEM. He nods in response to Pacer. "Indeed. Excuse me."

The Major gives him additional information. "You believe it was not one of your men. I assume you have a close eye on them given the tension in the area, and therefore your claim is credible to neutral observers. If it is credible, then the answer is that someone else must have performed the deed. If the evidence bears this out, there will be nothing to fear."

He looks over to the crime scene once more. "The question becomes, 'Who would have something to gain from starting trouble between the NCR and the Kings?'"

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @KOTONE:
    To get much in the way of witnesses, you head out past the 'police line' of Securitrons. There's a few problems with the 'interviews' though. Pretty much everyone here is now a rubbernecker as it turns out after a number of minutes talking with them.
    Everyone else 'hasn't seen anything'.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    A computer! Alrighty, let's see here... George knows all about this sort of thing, and so he's making sure to go ahead and take a look at the computer itself. His espionage abilities extend only to mid-range corporate systems, not high-level defenses like a hacker might come up with, but he'll ideally be able to get a solid look at whatever Specs had his eyes on before going down...

    Seft, meanwhile, tries to follow along, and identify any significant structures near where George might be. She also goes immobile to track, via her sensors, any signs of threats that might try to ambush George or otherwise pursue him the same way Specs was pursued.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @SOUJI:
    Dhatri rubs at his beard as a Securitron rumbles past the group, over towards the corpse of Specs and bundles him up like a burrito in a tarp. Off to forensics and the coroner with you, buddy.
    "That's pretty murky, though less so than some might think. I'm going to put out the idea that the Fiends or the other bandit or raider groups out there are in on it. Too organized for Jet-Heads. That leaves the Khans or the Legion and I don't like either of those choices. That's far too close to home for those folks being inside of Vegas."
    A look at the Heir. "You know about the Legion, right?"

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @INTRUSION:

    It's clear to George that whoever has been here has spent... a lot of time in this spot. There's a dirty bedroll in the corner, a pile of clothes next to the bedroll, a pile of canned food and also empty cans of said canned food, and more.

    The data line may have been spliced in but whoever has been trying to intrude into House's network has been doing a good job at it. Sadly, that connection is mostly broken now. Someone was thorough in cleaning their tracks at this point. The drive itself has been wiped and whoever was here pulled the hard memory. All that's coming up is the base operating system and nothing else. Dead end on the computer side.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
It's at this point that Souji does bring out the tablet, tapping on it in a businesslike fashion as he begins taking notes.

Face it, factional relation diagrams are a thing. He uses them at home!

There's an app for that. Ramuhan Politics (TM). "The Fiends and Jet-Heads are too disorganized. Understood. Tell me about the Khans and Legion." He looks up to the NCR man. "I have not spent enough time here to learn fully of the powers of this area."

The Securitrons rumble past, and Souji watches them intently. "Incidentally, is the security here self-aware?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa returns from what seems to have been an utter dead end, she hears over her cyber comm that George has a plan and she's going to run with it. She's not sure what to think on this end of things but well she's returning to the group now as there's nothing more she can do on that end. She start debating what to do now. She also does wonder about the drones but she's for the moment trying to consider what the heck might be of use here. Kotone returns and hopes to speak to pacer for a moment.

"Pardon me Pacer? From what I seen of the Kings? You done quite well for yourselves can you think of any rivals or other groups would gian from the Kings getting into a fight with the NCR?"

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @SOUJI:

    Dhatri blinks a at the notepad, but isn't about to argue. He puffs up a bit, and starts Lecture Mode like a true Commisioned Officer.
    "The Great Khans are one of the oldest tribal groups in the Southwest. Up until recently, they've been more than a thorn in the side of the NCR until recently. Not to say that they're out of the question, but..." Something there is painful and probably the first real emotion Souji's seen out of the man yet. "But just keep them in your mind. The Leigon on the other hand is a maurauding group of tribes from the East that have run pel mel across the country, lead by a man called Caesar." He uses the American pronunciation there. "The fellow's been riling up all of the tribes and run them across the country pointed right at New Vegas and the NCR. THey're on one side of the Colorado River and we're on the other, and New Vegas and the Hoover Dam that powers the place is stuck in the middle. That's why we're trying to curry favor here."
    A look over at the Securitrons. "Those machines are the source of House's power. We dont' know how many he's got, but each has the fighting power of 12 men, and have held the Legion at bay against raids i nthe past. But Caesar's been trying more underhanded shit now and I wouldn't be surprised."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    KOTONE:

    Pacer has been tossing a shit fit in Johnny's direction as the Securitrons are bundling up Specs' corpse. "FUCK YOU, JOHNNY, he's OUR BUDDY and we'll handle this! Get the fuck off-" The moment Pacer even LOOKS like he's making a move on the Courier though, Cass has got her shotgun out, and she's nose to nose with the man, standing between him and Johnny. The 'chat him up' mode is gone and the cowgirl hisses. "Pacer we're fuckin' trying to help but you've got to SHUT THE HELL UP. You fuckin' starting shit isn't going to help anyone. We've got people here now and you cna be damn sure we're going to find out who did this, OKAY?"

    Pacer misses the question, it would seem, as Johnny shakes his head quietly at Kotone.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George slips his insulated gloves on and gets to work, but eventually winds up swearing a bit. No dice. Up and at 'em, though. He's gonna take the computer now, figuring that if anything's going to have fingerprints, it's a damn keyboard. And the place is untossed! Logical thing is to toss it immediately, around New Vegas. SCOUR THE LOCKERS, PLUNDER THE CRATES. What is this for? Hmmm. Are there any sensors, maybe, that he could intentionally trip to tip off whoever's so insistant on covering tracks?

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @GEORGE:

    No sensors, no nothing. Whoever the hacker was, they weren't too concerned about being found up until they were. Though.

    As George tips through the pile of clothes... it's all lady's clothing. Casual style scavenged clothing from the wastes. Dresses and shifts and slacks and shirts with a spattering of men's pants in there as well. Our hacker was a lady.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    KOTONE:

    And then Pacer is walking off, moving to get up and alongside the Securitrons that are carrying off his buddy. "This is bullshit." He passes Dhatri and flips him the bird too, and then they're gone.
    Wait. Out of the corner of Kotone's eyes, though likely enough for the conversion to notice, there's a flutter on the CRT's of one of the Securitrons. The Cop face vanishes for all of an instant, and there's a bright, smiling happy face on the screen. Like one might see on a children's book. And then it's gone, back to being a cop, and then Securitrons are gone too.

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
Souji takes more notes. The shift in tone is noted in the form of a slight pause in said notes, but Souji does not comment, letting him continue as he wishes. "I see. I will have to gain additional information to analyze their potential involvement. Based on current knowledge, the Legion would seem a likely perpetrator, but I cannot say for sure without uncovering evidence. I will pursue possible leads on this shortly."

He glances to the side as shenanigans occur within the area, but simply waits for a possible report, instead focusing on Dhatri again, putting away the pad as if to signal this is separate from the investigation. "These robots are under the control of a 'House'? So he keeps this area neutral with the assistance of these robots? Where does he conduct his business?"

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    SOUJI:

    Dhatri blinks at that last question. "Mr. House? The guy in charge of New Vegas? Johnny's boss?" He blinks a few more times and leans forward. "You need to read up on your notes a bit more, I think. House is the one who kept New Vegas from gettin' hit by bombs in the War. Most of the Mojave too. I think... only three of the bombs got through in the end, and most of those are up north near Groom Lake."

    Johnyn can feel his ears burning and he looks over at Dharti, who looks back with a grin and a wave.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    SOUJI:

    Dhatri blinks at that last question. "Mr. House? The guy in charge of New Vegas? Johnny's boss?" He blinks a few more times and leans forward. "You need to read up on your notes a bit more, I think. House is the one who kept New Vegas from gettin' hit by bombs in the War. Most of the Mojave too. I think... only three of the bombs got through in the end, and most of those are up north near Groom Lake."

    Johnny can feel his ears burning and he looks over at Dhatri, who looks back with a grin and a wave.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa gets an update from Johnny over the Syndicate come about a few things as she sees that Pacer is in a really pissed off mood. Which is understandable someone he knew is dead, and was murdered brutally. Given the guy was concerned about recovering lost history related to the Kings that was a blow too them too on more than just losing a person which can't be replaced. She backs off a bit getting hte idea Pacer is just not with it for questioning however the note that Johnny gave her got her thinking. AS she's lost in thought she catches notice of something face on a Securitron changes to just a happy face for a moment, like the sort she'd see in a childrens book or an internet forum post. Then it's gone back to the cop picture.

She pauses at the image and brings it up still frames it then sends it out to Maaka, Rory, and seft.

<<One of the local guard drones just did something ... strange before it left, do you see that??>

Reference the image she brought up.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George finishes his fussing. "Well." He says. "That cuts us down to about half of New Vegas." He makes a derisive "pbbtthhht" noise with his mouth and wraps up. "Well, could get prints off of this." Tucking it into his Matter Manipulator, he's about to head back into the tunnel, when... A flash of inspiration hits him. Specs broke in the hard way, breaching one of the walls. So... There has to have been a /proper/ entrance, right?

    He begins checking around the hidey-hole. There's probably a door here. If he can figure out where it leads, he'll at least have a clue on about where the hacker probably lives in the strip, or something similar. While there's probably a proper door, he's also gonna check for hidden doors or similar structures.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    GEORGE:

    Cass is the next person to poke her head into the conduit. "Lady's clothes? Hold on, lemme get down there and see. Johnny, hold my hat and gun." And the Courier is suddenyl a bag man as the cowgirl is squirelling herself down the hole as well. "You might be too big for a lady sized hole, Mr. George."

    And as the Greysuit is tapping and pounding around for a door, there' eventually a more hollow thunking noise along one of the corners of the room. It's about this time that Cass makes her way inside, dusting off her jeans and blouse. "Howdy. What did ja find?"

    The trapdoor opens, and it's a bare shaft with a ladder. Somewhere up top, light shines through a crak in the shaft somewhere. Also, is that music?

Souji Murasame (627) has posed:
"I am from some distance away." Souji replies dryly. "But thank you for the information. I will be most certainly be paying my respects to Mr. House."

Respects of the profitable kind, not the murder kind. Again, not wearing the murder suit.

"Thank you for your time, Major." Souji replies, and steps away to free him up and observe the current surroundings. He has gained all the information that appears to be useful at the moment from his side. He will confer with others who looked into other leads in a bit.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    "Maybe. You feel like taking point, you go ahead and take it, lady." George says. He reaches into his Matter Manipulator and retrieves a crowbar to casually crank it wide open. "But trust me, I know what sort of person does stuff like this, and," He yanks the door open. "Not the kind you go at alone." He swaps to his radio earpiece for a moment. "Hey guys! Found something, might take us somewhere helpful. Get in the hole, we'll see what's up here."

    The Starbounders are gonna start heading through the conduit too! Makes sense to not split up in this situation, of course. When everything's settled, George is gonna ascend. He's not discussed why, precisely, he so intimately understands this situation, but he knows for a fact that he's gonna need to take a look at it.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    One of Rory's few Saucer sensor drones is tailing the Starbounders through the conduit. Did anyone thinks he WOULDN'T be investigating? The device is about the size of a small dog, silvery, and much like a flying saucer. It's utterly covered in sensory devices and doesn't seem to have any obvious means of prolusion. It just floats there.

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @ALL:

    The ascent is a decent one, taking them up and up and up the Ladder. That music is getting louder, with a thumping, if tinny, beat behind it. Cass is the first one up to the top, and... "It's a cabinet or ward drobe orsomething. Hold on."

    The Cowgirl steps out into the 'landing', and pulls a sawed-off from under her coat, waiting for the others. When at least George gets up to the top, she smiles, and looks at the Greysuit expectantly. "Take point huh? Alight, one... two... THREE!"

    She kicks out the door of the warddrobe and... And the group appears to be somewhere painted gaudy red, smelling like drugs and more drugs and also sex and there is a half naked lady and dude in flagrante delicto on a massive 4 poster heart shaped bed. Uh.

Starbound Flotilla has posed:
    George, for reasons best left unsaid, is dysfunctionally, psychologically averse to what he just saw. His face wrinkles in palpable disgust and mild initial hatred. "Wow, fantastic." He says, immediately drawing his stun baton and hefting it over one shoulder as soon as he emerges from the wardrobe. "Alright, you know what, I think I've figured what's up and how to do this. You, don't move and get some clothes on." He jabs his baton in the direction of the pair.

    And George takes the lead on scheming. The lead being the following: "Johnny, you've got credentials, right? We're gonna go find out who's been using this room more than everyone else." Unless the current inhabitants of the room plan in INTERFERING, George intends to take Johnny to the staff here, and get a name for their hacker.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks very embrassed as they crash in on this she attempts to be calm about iot but the stunned look on her face is well very much something she didn't quite expet things like this she just narrows her eyes a little bit Okay ya this was not expected...

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    And outside, with Souji and Dhatri and the rest... Johnny just leans against the wall of the Strip and sighs deeply. "Well this just got really fuckin' complicated."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    @THAT DEN OF SIN:

    I'm sorry, George, are you expecting a sane reaction from a pair of druggies who just had a cowgirl, a mechanic and a drone barrel out of a closet while they were getting their strange on?

    There's a snatching of clothes and stammering and hasty dressing and running out of doors from the pair. The fellow was wearing dog tags. That might be a start too.

Rory White (673) has posed:
    Rory's Saucer hovers around in the newly exposed room, turning slowly to map it with all sensors. In the alley her normal body's gone a bit glassy-eyed from being so focused on the one drone, so her expression's impossible to read, but...

    "O-our apologies, sir, miss! We didn't mean to intrude." She's just relying on her Muse's guidance here. Rolan figured out what she was looking at before Rory could, that's for sure.

    And she has a buch of handy pop-ups to view through detailing basic inforaton about the industry she just stumbled on. Huh.

    But they just go running off...

    ".... Did we say something wrong, Kotone?" The Saucer asks over a small speaker, hovering down near the Cyborg.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa looks over over to the Saucer and looks very sheepish.

"I think this is a bit of an organic thing we ... crashed on them while they were ahem indisposed to put it politely I think they are about as embarred as we are...."

Courier Six (32) has posed:
    NEXT WEEK ON NEW VEGAS ADVENTURES!

    A trio of mafia goons gets nose to nose with George and Souji in the lobby of Gomorrah, with gamblers looking on in tense anticipation in the background.
    A silhouette of a shapely lady holding a pistol on a beaten up NCR private. "You really should have kept your nose out of this, Mike." BANG.

    And then that smiling, happy CRT face again, flickering and wavering in place. "By my calculations, we're already too late to stop what's coming, Boss! Isn't that GREAT?"

    NEXT WEEK: PILLARS OF SALT