Slumping and snorting through his flat, angled nose, Zhi played with the back of his neck jacks in unease while he thought over those security concerns. /Of course/ it wasn't going to be that easy, never was. <Alright, one last question before we go. What the hells is AWE being used for? I can't imagine someone who runs a whole criminal empire with it's own hab just uses it for emotionally neutered egos for fight pits. Why all the security and resources into it?>

"It's only used for gladiators... for now. You can be certain that all three Nanchons and Nazon have plans for AWE. I don't really know what they are exactly, but I'm 100% sure they would all jump on the occasion, if given the chance. As for the security, Nazon's got a big catch and knows it, no way he's taking that lightly. I'm sure Lam Cong Dong would be extremely happy to have his stack go through AWE."

He brings his hand near the jack in his neck, but stops just before:
"Oh yeah, before you go... You know Nazon likes to ascension fork with the souls of the betrayers he catches right? He's insane. Completely and irreversibly insane. I suspect someone is controlling him from the shadows, probably one of the Nanchon bosses or someone close. I haven't checked out much, but keep an eye on that."

"One last thing, I don't want to freak you out, but... AWE is programmed to be a task hedonist, it lives for work. Release it on the mesh, with egos all around ready to be hacked and well... I guess you can figure out the rest. Not exactly the top scenario for anyone."

Z0ey, back in meatspace, just paces a circle around Zhi, revving her chainsaw occasionally if any nerdsresearchers get too close.

Ruby shakes his and switches to the team channel. < Okay. So were up against an army of zombies, who are being controlled by people who want to make every ego on the mesh some kinda freaky workaholic... Guys I dunno if my techie skills are gonna be useful here. I think I should find a gun and we finish this place off the old fashion way. Application of force.>

He sighed and looked at the researcher and switched back over to the channel they were using. < Uh.. Thanks. If we live through this, I uh.. Won't space you. >

''Well... That's good to know, I guess? Anyways, I've setup a secure communication channel. The encryption wont last forever, but since it's inactive, no one's looking. When you guys leave, try to give me at least a bit of time to get to your ship, I'm no freefall expert.''
She unplugs the jack from her neck and resumes with the jovial tone she had at first:
''That's the extent of my work so far! Now, I have no doubts you are quite busy with your own affairs so I will not bother you any longer. If you would happen to need anything, do come and ask!''

<So infighting, a boss who's likely a puppet and a software that's evil by nature ....and we risk being soul eaten. Aiya...> Watching Zoey pace made the oriental uneasy, though he still kept silent with his vocal cords, not even wanting to risk blowing this cover slightly. <Actually Rubes... I got a plan that involves that and your IT skills, we'll contact you with details on how to get us all out when everything sparks, just pretend like this was all business as usual...>

Almost like wearing a mask with two separate personalities, Zhi took the cable jack out of the back of his neck, looking so sincerely pleased. "I honestly can't believe these results, they're amazing! but you're right, we have that debt to collect, I'll try to catch you for lunch whenever I can! Mortichi, Violetta, hussle." Before summoning the other two by fake names and dropping the far-too-chipper body language once they were clearly out of sight.

<We're going back to the ship, it's time to arm for bear and we need to form a plan...>

< That sounds great Zhi... Where the hell is your ship?> He looked around for anyone who could be watching.

< Besides, I'm not too great with a gun.. I'd need you two to... Oh right, you guys are good at this kinda thing.. Also, Rubes? Really?>

<Bitch I'm already armed for bear. I'm armed for like three bears.>
She follows along looking just as chipper as Zhi does.
<In fact I could go for killing three fucking bears right now.>

You make your way back to the Dàsmos unimpaired. The occasional ganger takes a look at you, but the sight of Zoey and Zhi keeps them from trying something stupid. It seems that your visit to the Houngan fails to interest most of them.

Once they had gotten back to the ship, Zhi went right for the bridge, pointing down down the corridors for Ruby's sake. "Dorms are down there, engineering's there ...Bridge and most of the booze is there. We got a raid to plan." Taking a seat right at a console, the Aquanaut pried off his hardsuit's helmet and let his gearbag and pick onto the floor, leaning back in the chair with a sigh.

"Alright, I'm seeing two definates... One, we gotta scout the fetish market when the branches have their moot, get a bigger picture on how they're all dealing with each other... Two. We're only getting that server in a raid, and given this is N.L. HQ ...It's going to need to be big. So here's my idea." He gave a pause...

"We're going to be spending our budget on arms, Zoe's already ready to take on half this hab, but I can't support her with just a mining pick. We need to armor you too... I know you said you're not good with a gun but; no one expects you to make any trick shots... Can't be that hard to fuck up, shi? We're also going to need a metric shitton of mining explosives for a few dozen distractions to tie up their forces...Any questions so far?" He asked mid-swig from a flask, offering it to Ruby figuring his nerves might be a TINY bit frayed at this point.

Ruby took it with a shaking hand and took a swig. He game it back and twiddled his hands. "Uh..Yeah. Right. Armor, gun, bang bang, shooty shooty..." He had begun to wonder why he got involved with firewall. "I might be able to come up with something to help me with targeting, but no promises. Stuff like that is kinda jenky to interface in the mesh." He Tried to take a deep breath and calm down. "Okay.. How much time we have? I need somewhere quiet so I can write up something useful, maybe even a distraction program, after we plan this thing out. It's kinda hard to do this shit on the fly."

Holding up two fingers, Zhi beamed slightly. "Two days if Tim's right about when the moot is, that's plenty of time to gather resources and ...Chill out a little, shi? Which means...!" He stood suddenly, moving to step out of the bridge, walking backwards and prying at the magnetic latches of his hardsuit. "I'm getting out of this thing that's been on for hours, getting a shower and seeing what kind of simspace porn rooms this place has. I'm tacnet if you need me, Houban."

Striding down the hall, Jin gave an almost pitying tone in his mesh. <I'll ...See what I can find, honey. I don't know if it'll be to your taste...>

He nodded and sighed. "I need.. What do you two have in the ways of recreational hallucinogenics?" He looked at the two of them and blinked. "I could use something powerful at the moment. I feel terribly lucid."

Ruby starts to look around "Come on, you gotta have something that can at least synthesize peyote..."

The ship A.I. informs you that, sadly, the vessel isn't equipped with a nanofabber or hydroponics bay, a sad side effect of being a smaller shuttle.

However, you do recall seeing lots of drugs around the station. Perhaps someone would be willing to hook you up.