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[Ghost]

Stettler frowned; if the woman had heard they had mentioned Kreeg, she might well have heard the scheme Stettler had mentioned as well. If she was an associate of Kreeg's, they'd already damaged their chances of getting close without exposing themselves. He pushed his glass away with a look of contempt; it clearly made him careless. "Damn it. I'm sorry; I should really watch my mouth. She might just know our friend by name and be orried that we are associates of his. Still... I doubt you'd suffer much from 'checking' her a little closer. After all, she is only out in the kitchen, and not in a corsair ship miles away."

[kropotkin41]

Jones nods, 'You keep your eyes open whilst I concentrate. If I find out anything that might lead us to worry I shall perhaps make a suggestion or two to keep her thinking about other things.'

Jones finishes being reassuring and then sits composing himself until the waitress comes back in.

Osman Jones Read Surface Thoughts check: kropotkin41 rolled 2d6 ± 4 and obtained 9 ( 2,3, ). Reason : Read Surface Thoughts.

Jones' brow furrows barely at all. A minute later he noticeably relaxes, saying 'If anything the woman is worried for us; she knows that associates of our man come in here quite often, both his allies and his victims. There are none of these people in here now as far as she knows, but she was worried in case we put ourselves in danger. It seems to me that this fellow is a pretty important player in these parts. In any event, best we keep our voices down and perhaps avoid using his name at all.'

Edited by kropotkin41, 18 January 2011 - 05:37 PM.

[Ghost]

"Maybe we should inform the others that his men might be found here. Not sure we ought to sit here all night; the poor girl might even give us away if she keeps glancing at us when his boys walk in...?" Stettler shrugged; he was in no way an expet in these things. As a dotor of the body rather than of the mind, he didn't know enough about human behaviour to say that she'd give them away with certainty.

"On the other hand, I'm sure a positive I.D. on these folks could come in handy. Maybe we should stay. If worst comes to worst, we'll give them the drug-story." He spoke quietly now that the waitress had made them aware of how easily sound travelled in this place. It'd be safer to simply 'mindspeak'... but Stettler didn't feel like trying that again for a while.

[kropotkin41]

'I shall order some dessert then, another something to drink and then a jug of coffee. Let's stay a while.'

Jones seems content with the plan and in particular with the ritual of choosing dessert; he gives the impression of being a man who does not often eat out, let alone call for the dessert menu.

[Ghost]

Stettler had tp smile despite himself, at the genuinely contented face Jones set up as he tackled the dessert menu. Stettler, not much of a sweets man, decided to let Jones pick something for him, too. Something that wouldn't melt, sincer they were likely to sit here for a while....

[kropotkin41]

The slices of gateau, dressed generously with something that was once fresh fruit, are mostly eaten, and a bottle of something light and easily drinkable is looking near to empty, when into the restaurant comes a man on his own, he is smartly dressed, but more to impress than for business; save for the absence of a visible gun, the tall, dark stranger could easily be taken for a holo-vid gun-slinger.

The newcomer sits down and within seconds the waitress is at his table with a bottle and a menu. The man smiles and doesn't take the menu, he simply says 'The usual and on the usual account.'

Once the waitress leaves the man sits back and begins to slowly survey the rest of the clientèle, by now only three other tables are in use, and yours is by far the one under longest occupation......... if you like, you have a split second to look away........ Jones is carefully examining a fleshy orange slice of something or other he has picked from the devastated remains of his cake.

Edited by kropotkin41, 18 January 2011 - 08:25 PM.

[Ghost]

Stettler looked at the man with what he hoped was a casual look, looking elsewhere when the man's eyes reached their table. It was, after all, rude to stare, right? Still, the man dressed as if he liked attention; he shouldn't be surprised when people actually looked at him. "All sorts of people come here, it seems," he told Jones, not sure the psion had noticed the new arrival. "Might be a bit of a celebrity around here, that one...Knows all the right people, I'm sure."

[kropotkin41]

Jones glances up from the fruit chunk. 'You're right, he does look a likely customer' he says quietly. 'What kind of fruit would you say this is? I mean, it's very nice, but I have no idea what in the Galaxy it is.'

kropotkin41 rolled 2d6 ± 4 and obtained 14 ( 5,5, ). Reason : Read Surface Thoughts.

Jones seems fully intent on the morsel on his fork, one might almost say obsessed.....

'Hmmm, so what do you think?' He manages to say, 'Have you ever seen anything like it?'

[Ghost]

"Reminded me of a sort of santoon, but it's clearly not that," Stettler added concersationally. Then he took his spoon and tried another piece of the fruit, hoping to add to the casualness of their talk. "Nope, I really have no idea. But I suppose we could ask that pretty waitress of ours; I'm sure she has the answer to just about everything we might wonder about in this place, tucked away in that brain of hers."

[kropotkin41]

'I shall ask her when she comes past. I think I might order some coffee as well; I don't mind telling you that I am feeling quite tired and after the coffee I might even need some help from you to get me home....... it is funny how I know sometimes when fatigue is going to strike.'

The waitress comes to the table and Jones orders coffee; she isn't sure of the name or origin of the fruit, but says that she will see if the steward-bot in the kitchens has the answer.

As the coffee arrives it is already clear to Stettler that Jones is exerting himself more so than he has so far this evening.

kropotkin41 rolled 2d6 ± 2 and obtained 11 ( 3,6, ). Reason : Probe.

One cup of coffee later Jones looks quite pale and tired. He shakes his head as if exhausted, but there is nonetheless a glint in his eye as if he has learned something useful perhaps. 'We should go Doctor' he says, 'I am feeling really tired. We'll talk on the way.'

Edited by kropotkin41, 19 January 2011 - 07:05 PM.

[Ghost]

Taking his cue from that gleam in Jones's eyes (without which he might have had to approach the man to make sure they had anything useful to show for), Stettler signalled for the bill. Once that had been taken care of (Stettler paying for both, unless Jones made a scene), the doctor got up, and gave a slight chuckle. "What with you drinking so rarely, you really should watch your intake," he said as he offered Jones a hand out of his seat. The fatigue so apparent on Jones's face could easily be mistaken for a buzz, and Stettler figured they might as well play that up; two middleaged tipsy fellows were hardly worth noticing, and certainly not as a potential security threat to what might well be Mister Kreeg's enforcer. "Let's go, my good man. Tomorrow's another day, you know. Maybe we'll get lucky," he added, for no specific reason.

[kropotkin41]

Jones leans gratefully on Stettler as you both leave; he makes no fuss at all about the bill, only promising that next time he will pay.

The smartly dressed man watches as you navigate your way around the tables and out of the door back on to the concourse; without looking at him directly it is difficult to tell whether he is especially interested or just showing the kind of contempt which may well be his stock-in-trade.

Once you are outside Jones lets out a little laugh and whispers 'There are some places it is just good to be out of Stettler, and I can tell you that that man's head is one of them! Come on, I could do with a stiff drink and I'll tell you what I discovered on my little visit........ I'll be fine in a minute or two, I am just a little wiped out, it took a lot to do what I did back there and hide my tracks every step of the way.'

[Ghost]

"I suggest we take the drink back at the hotel; it wouldn't do to drop into any old pub, only to have that fellow show up there later on and see us sitting there chatting." Looking about for some transport or other, Stettler hoped to get them back to the hotel quickly; eerie as the concept of mind-snooping was, he was eager to hear what Jones had learned...

[kropotkin41]

It is only a short stroll down the Main Concourse back to the hotel, but there are both "travelators" and drone-controlled trolleys that can be used to speed up your journey.

Within a few minutes Jones sits down in one of the deep and comfortable chairs in Stettler's suite. 'That's better' he says, 'I already feel better. I admit I haven't done that in a long time; I am out of shape.'

'Can we order up a bottle whiskey or something?'

With a drink in his hand Jones looks much more relaxed, one sip and he begins to talk: 'That guy certainly works for Kreeg, and Kreeg has a lot of business on this station. I don't know how high the connections go, but I think it is safe to assume that we shouldn't go around making too much noise about the fellow unless we want everyone to know our business.'

[Ghost]

"Hmmm. Not quite sure ho to proceed from here. But I suppose, rather than us going back there, and look conspicuous, perhaps we should alert the others to this fellow; they could try and make contact for potential employment, or some such. Unless we go with the longevity-drug plan. Still, without knowing whether or not Kreeg deals in that sort of thing, it might be a waste of time... "

Stettler looked at the untouched drink in his hand. "Or..." he mused, "We could go back there, pretend to be lot or waiting for a trolley, and follow him when he leaves. It's a regular hangout for him, but we don't know exactly how often he comes in; might be some time before he comes back." The doctor looked at Jones; the psion looked better, but he still looked tired. "You don't have to come. In fact, having lost you is good reason to return to that place." He got up, and went over to his medkit. Maybe it was the wine, but he really felt like going out and contributing, despite the fatigue from the experiment earlier. Opening a special section of the medkit, he took out the special pistol hidden there, and filled it with a quick-acting sedative, aproximate to the size of Kreeg's 'gunslinger' in the bar. "You'll be alright here, I suppose?"