[Stoneglobe]

"If I might make one more suggestion. Rather than going off half cocked perhaps we should take a little time to compare notes on what we've discovered so far and then put together a plan on how to approach and deal with these two guys."

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya smiles at Calico's exuberance.  She stands as she finishes her meal and nods to the others.  "Yes, I agree that the Rolls would not be optimum.  I have a Mirage bike that I use for getting around on my own, but I am not against riding with John in his car.  As for a place to sit and compare notes, I have just the place.  Follow me."  Tanya leads the others through the living room to one of the bedroom doors.  Opening a small hidden cupboard next to the door, she places her palm on the maglock screen and utters a code phrase.  The door gives a soft snick and Tanya pushes it open, going into the room beyond.

Flicking on the lights, Tanya motions to the large conference table in the room, then moves to the chair at the center.  She takes a seat and pushes a button on the table and a small console pops up from its recessed position and a section of the wall opposite slides away to reveal a large vid screen.  "OK.  We should be secure in here.  I am loading up the footage from my inspection of the lock and storage room at the temple.  When I am done, we can load up anything else that may be important.  And now...............OK.  Who is next?  Here is the code for the upload."  She sends commands to the viewer and the footage from earlier pops onto the screen.

[Señor T]

Great, Cal thought to himself. The girl that doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut is going to be our leader? Surely the only conviction that mattered in an op like this was keeping the team alive and accomplishing the goal. But since this was his first run he sure as drek wasn't going to rock the boat. He just hoped John and Tanya could keep her on track. And what was with that whole noodle thing? God, he hoped she took this seriously. There sure as drek are things worse than court-martials.

Cal waited for John to finish before speaking up. "I'm sure Calico will do just fine." He smiles to her reassuringly.

"The way I see it, we have four or five options. We go over there and talk to them nicely, we talk to them less-nicely, we break into their secure data and files, we break into their building and spy on them or we just run surveillance on them." He looks around the group. I'll be good for the whole asking less-nicely thing, and being a lookout and backup.And the longer we go without tipping them off, the closer we can get to the art before they know to start looking out for us."

*****

After they leave the table, Cal follows Tanya into her hidden room and seems absolutely befuddled by the setup, standing at the door and waiting for others to take the lead.

[trv123]

Sauntering into the secret, hi-tech room behind the others, Calico moves to the edge of the table and lightly sits, swinging her legs around to prop them up on an empty chair next to her.  Settling in, she speaks. "The only thing I have to add at this point is to suggest that we not get too attached to any plan we may come up with at this point. Getting a look at a target tends to change things sometimes."   She personally would've held off on this planning phase until a proper recon have been done, but then she had always been an action chick, leaning more on improvisation than extensive planning.  Though it has always worked for her, she knew some would view this approach as unprofessional, even reckless.  Which is why she was perfectly content to wait until everyone was ready before moving out to the address they had.  Besides, they still hadn't heard from their decker. Maybe he would come up with some real gold.

[Stoneglobe]

Whilst the room didn't quite rival some of the operations centres I'd been in before it was still impressive for a single person to have set up. Using the command code that Tanya had provided I uploaded all of the recordings and photos I had taken, both from our meet with Ms Johnson and then later at the temple. As images of the dead bodies filled the wall screen I addressed the rest of the people in the room. "I think we'll have a better idea of what to expect from our current lead once we have a little more information on them. At this time my vote would be to try the nice approach first but additional information or observation may, as Calico has pointed out, require us to change our approach on the fly. I for one find it odd that a pair of PI's would be on the scene, as it were, of what looks to be both executions and robberies.

In terms of finding things odd, something has been bugging the back of my brain ever since we left the temple and I haven't been able to put my finger on it until now." Turning to Tanya, "You have intimated that Ms Johnson is a friend but, if it's not too personal a question, how well do you really know her? The reason I ask is that I'm finding very strange that not one of the guards showed any signs of reaction at all. If they were split up, as the location of the bodies suggests, I would have expected them to be in communication with each other and therefore at least one of them having some indication that something was wrong and reacting accordingly. I hate to ask but is it possible that our Ms Johnson actually set the whole thing up in order to give her an excuse to make war on another of the Seattle Triad factions. Deliberately putting incompetent, and disposable, guards on site and then using us to follow a trail of clues that place the blame on those she wants blamed. Of course I could also just be being completely paranoid but something about this doesn't sit completely right in my head."

[skulldixon]

Kumiho uploads his video files to the console, sending it via wireless link. The videos include the Temple feed from before and after the feed was cut, as well as, the video feed from the street. 

This is fully possible. She would had to not only create the opportunity but also planting the idea in a rivals mind to try to make Her own clan lose face and standing. However, if so, then she is a master manipulator. Though, we are all that stands between the success or failure of such a plan. In which case, knowing this does nothing to help us.

[Señor T]

"A little low-risk recon seems a good idea," Cal nods to Calico. "They're either amateurs or they want us to think they are."

He frowns at the images of the dead bodies as they cycle through on the screens before nodding to John. "And I like where you're head's at on this Ms. Johnson. Four simultaneous strikes seems unlikely, but then again their communications could have been jammed... even just a couple of seconds would do the trick... though they were caught unaware. Or the team could have just been very good.

"In any case, stealing items that causes no damage to any operational aspect of her faction and only hurts their pride would provide solid cover for hostile action."

Fraggin' drek, he thinks to himself. That would explain why they hired a guy who's new to this stuff on a job that could incite a gang war. What if the rest of these runners are hacks too and that's precisely why we've been teamed up on this? On top of that, he wasn't sure whether he'd rather face this woman's wrath if they uncovered her plot or this team that could cut enemy communications and take out four decent guards unaware at the same time.

Cal's demeanor turns quite taciturn as he continues to observe the images, though he continues to listen to the conversation around him.

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya stands aside and listens to the chatter as the others download their information to the data base and toss spitball ideas about.  It is very hard to maintain her calm in the face of some of what is being said, but years of maintaining a polite demeanor when talking to various very boring people at parties helps her.  At some point she has to answer the hard questions.  She considers her words carefully then says, "First, let me say that I harbor no ill will for any of you speaking your mind about our employer.  I will tell you that she is almost the best friend I have, and one of my oldest here in the colonies.  I strongly believe that she would never contemplate setting me up to start a war, especially if it risks embarrassing the Octagon.  No, I am convinced that this is a legitimate run."

She pauses and looks around at the others as she catches her breath.  "Now, that being said, I would understand if you wish to believe the worst of her, but in my opinion distrusting one's employer is a slippery slope that can lead to a real mess.  I would trust Ni Ni with my life, but will understand if any of you are unwilling to do so.  It also strikes me that if you have concerns about her, you might just have similar concerns about me.  After all, I am her friend and might be in this with her.  If these are universal feelings I will offer to step aside and leave the team.  My limited experience with working with others leads me to believe that trust is a dear object, hard won and even harder to regain once lost.  I want no one to distrust my motives on this issue.  I expect that she will already have worked out some of your opinions so have no need to tell her of this.  But I warn you that I will strongly disagree with any actions that would result in harm coming to my friend.  My loyalty to her is not a matter for discussion."

Tanya once again looks around the room.  "So, are we still together or is this where you ask me to leave the team?" 

[skulldixon]

Kumiho kind of gives Tanya a weird look before saying anything. There is no need for that. As runner of the shadows it is import for us to approach each job from as many angles as possible. Whether or not this is a power play from one end of the Triad or the other does not matter. We have a job to do one way or another. Pure speculation to the side. Even if She had the items stolen as part of some grand scheme, we would still find the items. That is the job. Its not our job to stop or start a war. Just to retrieve the lost artifacts. There is no reason to or need for you to leave this commission, Tanya. And I don't think anyone's concerns or theories were meant to imply that you should.

Looking back at everyone else, Let us take what we have at face value for now. We will treat this as what we have been told it is until we see evidence that it is otherwise. As suggested I will check around about these two character's that the detective was able to dig up. I will also check with a contact to see if any word has reached the grapevine that there are new Art objects of antiquity on the market for sell.

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya looks at Kumiho and laughs out loud.  "How perfectly ironic.  I could check with a good fence I know, but Ni Ni is my fence."

[Señor T]

"Yeah, Kumiho's right. we're just trying to cover our bases," Cal looks over to Tanya. "You've gotta admit that from our viewpoint, John's theory fit what we know so far pretty well. But now that you say Ni Ni's good, then her word's as good as yours." He pauses for a second, scanning the monitors in front of him as he thinks. "And you're right too for that matter. That doesn't mean you're not both setting us up. But it does move the whole theory from the realm of possibility to somewhere around pretty damned unlikely.

Cal looks around the group. "For that matter, who knows if any of us on the team could be trusted." He shrugs. "Just not a useful road to go down at that point, is all."

He pauses for a moment, looking at a screen showing the plate on the car parked outside the temple. "So seems to me like we need to wait to see what Kumiho turns up."

[Poindexter]

Bird has spent the conversation, speculation, and explanation over the last few minutes quiet, waiting for the part that seems to have something to do with him to come up. Once the notion of the group splitting up starts to get tossed around, he finally feels the need to speak up. Looking at Tanya, but speaking to the group, he says, "So, uhhhhh... What are my orders, captain?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya gives Earlybird a quick smile.  "I am not sure we are at the giving orders part as yet.  Did you take any pics or make any notes while at the temple that can be downloaded to the data base?  You can also send a text to the commcode with your impressions of what you saw.  Any information from any of us as individuals can help us as a team as we try to understand what happened there." 

She turns to John, then the others.  "Really, I hold nothing against any of you for voicing your opinion.  It is better to get things like that out in the open than to let them fester and make themselves real through perception and distrust." 

Tanya gracefully moves to take a seat at the table and looks at the team leader as she motions to the console.  "So, Calico, how do you wish us to proceed?  We have a lot of information, so where do we start?"

[trv123]

"Earlier today we decided that John should be in charge of things during the early, investigative stages. I would say that all this ..." she gestured at the extensive array of equipment, "falls into that category.  John is the one who requested this planning session, but more importantly, he's simply the most qualified to collate  and analyze the information we've gathered thus far.  As far as I'm concerned, until John feels we're ready to proceed to Renton, this is his show." She turned to address the former detective. "John?"

[Mercy Merchant]

Tanya looks at Calico with a smile.  The young woman is showing good leadership traits, even if she does not admit it.  She then turns her attention to John as well.