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Cally and Teela had found their way to a bar instead, ditching their guide halfway through in the process. It was a good place to talk... unlikely to be bugged, and loud enough that any conversation would be drowned out.
Just make sure your drink hadn’t been spiked before trying it.
Teela was still brooding about the discussion between Cally and Sato. On the first look the Senshi had been quite nice, but there was a smoothness with how she suggested the insane credit rates for Cally... or how easy the word ‘pet’ for Teela herself had rolled of her tongue. But at least the Furby had been a nice touch to the office. It was cute and humanising.
The bar itself was a rocky cave with a large counter and a number of small tables distributed over the area. Indirect lighting rising up along the edges was giving the whole bar a dim touch in the otherwise well lit asteroid station.
“Get me a table,” Cally ordered “I’m getting myself a drink,”
Teela watched her waiting at the bar for a moment, before picking a table towards one of the edges of the cave. She was hoping Cally would order her something to drink too. A few passersby gave her odd looks.
They probably weren’t expecting to see a feral cat in their bar.
Cally came back with a cheap looking beer, and a litre glass of rehydrated milk for Teela.
Teela smiled and pulled the glass towards herself, the long wait in the truck and later in Satos office had made her thirsty. It didn’t quite smell right, but then nothing in Fenspace did ever match the creamy goodness of Earth milk.
“Wait!” Cally snapped, sharply snatching the glass back. “Got to check it first.”
Teela looked a little bit puzzled, but then nodded, still staring possessively at her glass. Cally just popped open a small compartment in her right arm, taking out a Leatherman, and a small plastic dropper, and a tiny booklet of test strips.
“Thionite,” Cally explained. “They might’ve spiked our drinks,”
It wasn’t a case of being paranoid, it was a case of being paranoid enough. Even if they didn’t know who the pair really where, chances are they’d do it just to get ‘em both hooked on the stuff. It wouldn’t be the first time Cally’d heard of it being done.
First she tested the milk. The spot paper turned red. Cally snapped the red part off.
Teela looked alarmed for a moment. “Is that?”
“It’s okay,” Cally assured her. “Just means there’s iron in the water.”
Now for her beer. Take a small drop and place it in the box. It came up a slight pale yellow, tinted solely by the beer itself. Cally just nodded her head with satisfied approval.
“Also clear.” As well it should be, she saw him open it.
Cathy grabbed her glass of Milk a second time, sniffed at it for a last time and then took a large gulp. She hesitated for a moment, but then she took a second one.
“Thank you Cally...” she said with a smile.
“It’s cruel not to feed pets,” Cally answered with a hard grin. “Ain’t you glad to have such a kind owner?”
Teela put an arm around Cally, pulled herself to her side and purred loudly for a moment... Cally tensed up noticeably, looking a little uncomfortable for a few brief moments before remembering that Teela was supposed to be her ‘pet’. Forcing herself to relax, she started to stroke the catgirl gently under the chin.
God how she hoped Jet didn’t find out. That thought gave her the devils own grin.
“I see you’ve got it well trained,” An woman’s voice said. They both looked up, a little startled, pushing off each other.
Glasses, golden-brown hair and a pair of straight pigtails like motorcycle handbars. A blue bodysuit, a figure that suggested ‘biomod’ and a white cape with grey furred collar. Beside her, a bewildered looking tabby catgirl with weird boatlight eyes, stuck in what looked like well-worn overalls.
Cathy looked at both of them suspiciously, but stayed silent. There was something terribly wrong about their scent, and it wasn’t something she could easily place.
“Who’re you?” Cally demanded.
“Kua tro,” The woman answered with a cheerful smile. Her eyes were hidden behind Cally’s reflection in her spectacles. Cally saw the roman number IV engraved on a plate just beneath her collar bone, and assumed it might’ve been ‘Quattro’ that she’d said.
Beyond the Audi reference, it meant nothing to her.
“Whad’ya want then?” Cally snorted.
“I hear you need some cash,” Quattro answered, still smiling.
Cally quickly figured the whole cuteness was an act... but covering what? Something wasn’t right, not with that stylised lab coat. A zwilnik mad?
“What about it?” she asked, forcing herself to look uninterested.
“Well, I need a new feral, this one’s getting a little too worn out.” Quattro explained, still in that creepy alto-vivio of hers. “Vivio,” she snapped.
The tabby catgirl stared blankly at her. The lights were on behind her eyes but clearly, nobody was home.
“It’s not worn out at all...” Cally scoffed. “It’s blank.”
Teela looked like she’d bitten a lemon. The catgirl hissed at the newcomer in her bodysuit.
“And my, some spunk,” Quattro commented approvingly. “Just what I need!” she beamed. “I’ll give you 70 thousand Australian for her. I’ll even throw in Vivio here for free, since I need to get rid of her anyway and Sato doesn’t let me just dump them.”
70 thousand. Just enough to cover her debt to Naoko. Interesting.
“No deal,” Cally said quickly “Besides, I don’t know where that’s been.”
Teela was nearly on all fours ready to pounce.
“You might want to control that,” Quattro suggested, pointing a single finger at Teela. The catgirl’s hair was standing on end.
“Cool it, Teela,” Cally warned, making a show of waving the remote control. Even on the small screen, it was obvious just how pissed off the catgirl was.
Teela froze, eyes locking on the device as she scratched at her collar. Unnoticed by either of them, Quattro reached into her pocket, clicking a single switch with her finger. A savage grin spread across her face for a moment, before she clamped down hard on it.
Vivio just stared with blank curiosity at the world around her.
“75,” Quattro said, “Along with Vivio. It’s a good deal, ne?”
“Yeah,” Cally admitted, “But I’ve had Teela for so long, I can’t bear to part with her.” She smirked. “I’ve got her just right,”
Teela shot Quattro a smug grin as Cally began to stroke her just behind the ears. Teela started to purr quietly.
Quattro’s expression blackened into a vicious sneer, her sharp golden eyes penetrating through her glasses for a few moments. Cally was reassured by the familiar wait of her gun pressing against her chest. She slipped a hand inside her jacket, making it obvious she’d defend herself and her property.
She wasn’t afraid to shoot first. Her heart began to pound... just draw, aim and squeeze.
Quattro exhaled a sigh “Well, your loss,” she said, making it as clear as possible that it really didn’t matter to her. The madgirl spun on her heels. “Vivio,” she snapped, “Come with me.”
She marched from the bar trailing a chilling draft, Vivio following mindlessly behind.
“I think we might’ve found our ghost hacker,” Cally commented, keeping her voice quiet. She looked down into her beer bottle. Suddenly, she wasn’t very thirsty.
Teela was just breathing in and out, trying to calm down again. Yes, Cally was right, maybe they were at the right place. Teela found herself hoping she was wrong.
The other Gliesbies in the bar hadn’t even bothered to look at them.
----
Quattro exhaled a long sigh. “Go back to the lab, Vivio,” she ordered. The catgirl nodded and disappeared. Quattro herself was heading to Sato’s office, doing her best to ignore the useful idiots around her.
She pulled the device from her pocket, just a little PDA with a few choice...’modifications’ and began to smirk as she ran through the data it’d collected.
Low level radio signals from the collar. Responses from the controller. Collar signals were encrypted. She thought for a few seconds, considering it thoroughly, reading the raw data.
‘Dane encryption’ she thought, with a contemptuous sneer. “Like opening into a child's toy box.”
It didn’t take her too long to break.
She didn’t bother knocking on Sato’s door.
“What is it?” Sato demended. glaring at her from behind her desk.
“I have the information you wanted,” Quattro answered. “It wasn’t hard at all. Just a basic mundane algorithm.”
She spoke like it really didn’t matter to her, like it was trivial.
“And?” Sato pushed.
“Biosignals mostly like you’d expect” Quattro said. She smiled with satisfaction. She knew something Sato didn’t, and wanted to drink deep of that feeling. “And something interesting. It sends back location data to the controller.”
Sato raised an eyebrow.
“Mmmm,” Quattro nodded smugly. “You know what that means?”
“That someone likes to know where her catgirl is,” Sato answered, crossly.
Quattro scowled. “You’re too trusting.”
“And you’re too paranoid.” Naoko snapped back at her. “If it was sending something more complex maybe, but right now, it’s a reasonable precaution for an owner to make. I knew people who sold collars like this for years.”
“Position, connections and the memory of the catgirl... the result could be a perfect map of the asteroid” Quattro said coldly.
Sato hated when she talked down to her like that. “I know.” she snarled through gritted teeth. “And every single shipment coming in through the hanger could be a Patrol sting... but if I turned away each ship that you found something suspicious about, then the only thing that’d land here would be cosmic dust.”
Quattro glared.
Sato leaned back in her chair. “Remember, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”
“If you even get three times. This isn’t the Silly Sailors.” she sneered.
Naoko shot her a hard glare. “I am responsible for making money to fund our operations. We have been unbothered by the Patrol for so long precisely because I have not given in to the same paranoia as all the other zwilniks. Bring me something concrete first.”
And by her tone, that was final.
Quattro snorted her contempt and left quickly.
----
Quattro's true nature is a mystery to all in-story, right until a specific moment that I set up way back at the shooting range in Part 1. Hopefully she's coming across as suitably malevolant and cutesy.... (Only got to ep 14/15 so far and neither Jet or Ford will be familiar with StrikerS because I had to specifically watch the show).
Jet's already got plans on hitting Nehallennia... ideally when Ford and Cathy have safely left with all the information she wants. The Nova isn't too far away at all... they're on a small asteroid within their passive sensor range, which really isn't that far at all. (The planned upgrade was cancelled in order to pay for the Melchizedek order.) They're within *plot* minutes in case things go sour and Ford sends an emergency signal. Which, this being something of a thriller, is always going to happen
Perhaps though, a stop by Prometheus to offload a slightly unwilling passenger may be on the cards towards the end?
Edit: Ack... ninja'd. What happens to the Nehallenians afterwards, I'm not sure.... most are just 'useful idiots' like Roland.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?