Just a Spot of Tea [FOSB]

[Valessia Brentioch]

​

Sobekneferu, Halm
Architect's Guild

Valessia arrived in a simple long sweater of a dull blue layered underneath a cardigan, and pants that fit just so. A single glance and one would not think she was a member of the Government. Rather, just another woman in downtown Sobek she stood outside of the Architect's Guild carefully scoping out one of the street side cafes. Several lined the garden side of the avenue, a small encrypted message had been sent out about a week ago informing her chosen security team of where to meet and when. A trip into New Heliopolis would be in the cards, certainly but a spot of tea beforehand was sure to help make the day go by. A small holo alerted her of her infant's wellbeing, toddler now she supposed, a smile came across her face as she marvelled at his achievements. Every day he taught her something new, and as she closed out the holo. Her eyes surveyed the cafes once more, she had settled on a small upscale venue simply known as the Asura.

A few moments later she crossed the avenue through the walkway above and approached the cafe, another encrypted alert would inform her companions of the venue and where the table was located. Out in the open where they could keep watch, the venue itself was quite distinctive with a floating rhombus to catch the eyes of those who passed by. Street traffic was rather calm at this time of day, most were still either huddled in their offices or off spending leisurely time away from downtown. Most tourists hadn't thought of leaving their hotel rooms, and as Valessia looked over at the gardens just behind the Asura she could certainly see why. The view was spectacular as was the city's skyline. She took her seat and ordered a round of Sobek Rose Tea, a typical staple of the locals as she found out from the waiter. Now, all Valessia had to do was wait.

[member="The Major"] | [member="Kuril Vehn"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"]

 

[The Major]

It often surprised the Hunter how even moderate temperatures could annoy her delicate sensibilities. Blame it on the sun, perhaps, and walking a bunch of city blocks in it just to see the city. With a red suit jacket slung over her shoulder, the Major entered the Asura wearing no indicators of rank or insignia -just a white blouse and some kind of gothic looking amulet pinned to a red ribbon about her neck. Contact lenses substituted her usual pair of somewhat dorky looking glasses. She maneuvered through the various waiters and other patrons without seeming to be noticed by any of them. After a few moments the auburn haired special agent presented herself next to the table where their day should transpire.

“Greetings, Mrs. Creed.” Uttered the Major, offering a slight bow before taking her place across from the table.

It would have been a gross breach of etiquette if the Fallanassi starting babbling off at the hip on whatever nonsense. The Foreign Minister had bothered to assemble this meeting, and so the young woman awaited for her technical superior to dictate the flow of conversation. She didn't even pick up or eye the menu out a strict adherence to protocol.

​

[member="Valessia Creed"] | [member="Kuril Vehn"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"]​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

Emilia leaned against the pale smooth stone of the building, not far from the Architect's Guild. The day was already ablaze with Halm's signature heat, and Emilia viewed the sights with a pair of dark glasses, the lenses completely obscuring her eyes from onlookers. The air shimmered above the pavement, and little stirred on the quiet street. Across the road, the ground dropped away, down to the rows of shops and restaurants hundreds of feet below. The bewildering architechture of Sobekneferu made it difficult to navigate. Hopefully, the lay of the land around the venue of the event proved simpler than it looked on a map. The towering platforms and buildings added an annoying third dimension to the security. She found herself constantly craning her neck to see up to the endless nooks and crannies in the convoluted city.

A soft sigh escaped her lips, which were cracked from the dehydrated air. Halm was like a giant oven, an endless desert. It was almost unbearable. Thankfully it cooled down quite a lot in the nights. She was dressed in a thin white blouse, with sensible tan pants, and a brown belt. She'd learned quickly that her usual dark clothing was to be avoided at all costs, due to its tendency to absorb the radiated heat from the burning sun. Here she favoured lighter, reflective clothing. It at least reduced her suffering in the heat.

Her datapad buzzed in her bag, and she pulled it out. Displayed on the small device was a message with the location of the meeting. Emilia memorized the route, and set off walking down the road at a moderate pace. She paused as a airspeeder shot out of an alley infront of her, climbing rapidly into the hot, thin air.

The small cafe known as the Asura rose before her, it's distinctive geometric sign hanging above the expensive structure. She hurried inside, welcoming the blast of cool, refrigerated air. She scanned the room until she found [member="Valessia Creed"]'s table. [member="The Major"] had already arrived. Emilia approached, offering The Major a small smile and nodding to Valessia. "Good morning, minister." She said quietly, sitting down and wiping a bead of sweat from her brow. She removed her glasses and reached over the table, grabbing a glass and filling it with a bottle of chilled water. She took a sip and sighed contentedly, sitting back in her chair and looking back at the Foreign Minister.

[member="The Major"] | [member="Valessia Creed"]​

 

[Zeradias Mant]

Beep.

His holopad pinged, notifying him of the location of the meeting point. With a couple taps on the screen, the driver had the coordinates. Kuril looked out the windows of his limo, watching the pedestrian traffic below. Sobekneferu was a pleasant enough city, but it's more ancient traits were both it's best and it's worst features. The system's typical warmth though turned out more irritable than pleasant more often than not. Fortunately for the denizens of the system, the First Order not only brought order, but an abundance of state-of-the-art technology and other advancements bringing the system on par with most other galactic powers.

It only took a matter of minutes before the limousine arrived at the front door of the of a small cafe called Asura. Sporting a tan suit similar to the one he wore on Qeravert IV, Kuril exited and stood, stretching as he rose. Met with a blast of heat, he squinted his eyes before proceeding inside. After entering, it didn't take long to locate the table he was supposed to be at. He took a seat and reached for the water pitcher before pouring himself a glass of ice water.

"Ladies.", he said in greeting, almost nonchalantly. "Shall we begin?"

[member="Valessia Creed"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"]​

 

[Valessia Brentioch]

"Indeed we shall," Valessia acknowledged [member="Kuril Vehn"], "please order don't worry about the tab today. Consider it my treat for accepting the task set before you." And mostly for having to deal with the minister. Sobekneferu's heat could be felt if only as prickles of heat through the Asura's air conditioned estabilshment. She shifted her weight in her seat and allowed the others to order as they wished. The table was delicately set, the pitcher of water would almost always remain full save for the scarce moment that someone did not come by to change it out. Water and cooling were mandatory on Halm, because this sorted weather accounted for the winter months one could only imagine what it meant to be here during the summer. "Our venue the Grand Palace Hotel in New Heliopolis is being prepared for the coming ball, we'll get a walk through by hotel security and then go over the location ourselves."

They would arrive by underground rail, it was the fastest method to get between the cities, and perhaps the coolest. The idea of today was that they would blend in with everyone else. No one outside of one another who have any idea of who they were and what they did. As it stood, most walked by without a care carrying on with their business. Asura's business picked up a little, the pre-lunch rush, getting in grabbing a wrap to go. A nice cool cup of juice to go with it, something refreshing as they set about into the heat of the day. An unmarked speeder arrived at the curb, ready to take the group when they were done to the terminal for the rail.

She went quite for a moment, a pause to allow anyone to chime in. Brown eyes with flecks of a cinnamon colour gazed over the table dressing a moment before returning to focus on either of her guests. "While security is a top priority, discretion is as well as to not disrupt the flow of the ball. The First Order has invited two of its closer allies to the ball." Valessia stopped just a moment to take a sip of her tea and enjoy the refreshments as presented by Asura. Once she had her fill of biscuit, she tidied up and resumed her part of the conversation. "Commenor Systems Alliance and the Galactic Empire have both invited, of course it is entirely up to their denziens of whether or not they choose to attend, but" she stopped to look at them individually. "We've been given a guest list from either nation, and we shall ask for two forms of ID from those getting in. VIP Guests will have their own entrance apart from the regulars."

[member="The Major"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"]​

 

[The Major]

"Minister, we should embed a number of operatives that are lightly armed with stun weaponry and other countermeasures within the hall. This is standard operating procedure in most cases but due to the variety of nations in attendance it would greatly benefit us to increase the scale for the sake of security." And the implication was that she would be in charge of those running in cover during the gala. For Sybil, it was a rather enjoyable task to be in a position of observation. One stood upon the cusp of vast opportunity when surveying a world from this detached, stoic perspective. Internally, the Major frowned at relying upon ID checks to ascertain a guest's identity. Such things were rife with loopholes and weaknesses to be exploited by more cunning and bold operatives.

For whatever reason, on her behalf she refrained from eating or drinking anything placed upon the table. Regardless of the more casual atmosphere she was uncomfortable with displaying an action so base as to chew in front of either the minister or director. How enchanting for them, then, that they could so easily partake in this form of communion.

​

[member="Valessia Creed"] | [member="Kuril Vehn"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"]​

 

[Madelyn Lowe]

Emilia pulled out her notebook, opening to a page from months earlier. "I agree with The Major's suggestion. The security measures Station Chief Verbrennung suggested were over-the-top and paranoid. Yes, I can see the advantage of informing the planetary guard when the event is held, however having them ready to respond at a moment's notice is a waste of taxpayer's credits."

She shuffled her notes, removing two A5 maps from her back. Pulling the lid off her pen with her teeth, she scribbled on one of them. "Instead of readying the guard, we can place small police checkpoints here, here, and here." Emilia marked 3 main thoroughfares. "This will put armed units ready to respond within 1 km of the venue, and will allow us to monitor foot traffic in the area. Furthermore, we can set up United Speeder Services' scanning technology at these checkpoints to check the vehicles as the guests arrive."

"As far as in the venue itself, stun weapons should be kept low-key. Most guests are civilians, they won't be able to tell the difference between a stun blaster and a military one."

[member="The Major"] | [member="Valessia Creed"] | [member="Kuril Vehn"]​

 

[Zeradias Mant]

Kuril was pleased with the recommendations coming from his security bureau officials. Operations of this type took a certain nuance, and they were certainly displaying traits of it. It was a stark contrast from their previous planning meeting, in which some agents aggressively pursued a more intrusive and public show of security. He sat straight up, his face started blankly at the pitcher of water. To some, it would look like he's entered a state of absentmindedness, but really, he was intently listening and running different scenarios in his head. As Chief Shepard spoke, he analyzed the plausibility of it. It wasn't unreasonable.

Crypolinguistics Officer Ravel spoke in agreement of her assessment. She went on to suggest police checkpoints at three key locations that were more traveled than others.

"We'll have agents spread out through the event so as not to have them all concentrated in certain areas.", Kuril said to address the point of agreement both agents agreed on. "Municipal authorities will block off the immediate area, but remember, this is to be a low key event that doesn't disrupt the normal day-to-day function of the city. We'll still maintain a tac team on standby, nonetheless. Aside from the few uniformed officers we'll have present, undercovers will most certainly maintain a clandestine presence. I trust you'll see to that, Station Chief?", he asked as he turned his gaze to the senior agent.

[member="Valessia Creed"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Emilia Ravel"]​

 

[Valessia Brentioch]

The Asura's atmosphere was pleasant enough, and as the patrons came and went so did their conversation flow. Easily and without effort, the occassional horn of a speeder was all that was there to disturb the four. Valessia nodded in acknowledgment, "certainly I agree with the suggestions provided, stun weapons and embedded operatives on site during the event as well." The minister completed her tea and biscuits and then relaxed in her chair. She got a look at the other three, keeping a memory of their faces in her mind. "I'm sure we can speak with the local authorities without issue."

She was happy with what was now being put on the table and that they were well within reason. The ball was often the talk of many within high society for weeks and even months that followed. It was a key event for most. "We'll depart for New Heliopolis shortly, so we'll each have eyes on the layout before the ball." Their meeting in Sobek was happenstance at least for the minister, she was working on a diplomatic corps training at one of the local auditoriums and decided since she was here. To go ahead and make the invitations and set up for the ball. "Although," a small pause as Valessia palced her hands in her lap. "I am quite pleased with the suggestions made today. Your agents do good work, Director."

Now, they'll be better for it if the ball goes on without an issue.

[member="Emilia Ravel"] | [member="The Major"] | [member="Kuril Vehn"]