Things we do in shadows

Posted on Sun Apr 18th, 2021 @ 12:48am by El Plexuco & Security Johannah "Mack" Shepard & Alliance Alice LeMat

Mission: This Week's Special
Location: Deck 3
Timeline: Some time after events of Local Hero

The passage was dark. Curiously much darker than any place typically was on the central hub level. While it was some distance from the tree lined promenade, it still should be properly illuminated. This section of the skyplex was more made up of small meeting rooms, typically used to accommodate merchants and traders making deals for cargo. There were also professional offices to help document the exchange of goods, file taxes and arbitrate where needed. At this time of the evening most of the offices and meeting rooms were closed and empty. A group of dark shadows moved through the corridor, watching their passage for signs of security or unwanted on lookers. Given the opportunity one could judge by their movements they were careful, but not professionals.

Several surveillance drones in the area began to home in on the activity. As they zeroed in on their target, they suddenly fell from where they hovered in a pile of sparks. The loss of contact immediately triggered an alert that went through the Marshal's office and to the Cortex unit of Marshal LeMat himself. ***Warning security drones deactivated**** came the alert along with the coordinates on Deck three they originated.

The fact that Deck three had drones for a reason set him in motion.

"Mach." He called over the channel. "WE have downed Drones deck three at the merchant offices, I'm coming in from the west, can you cover east?"

"Just what I need," Mack said. "More grief." She keyed her mic. "Sure, Alice. On my way." Mack headed off for Deck Three.

The passageway was deserted as the Marshal walked in. It didn't take long for him to located the sparking husks of the security drones. One showed signs of having impacted something, it was uncertain if it was from the machine being struck with an object or it striking an object. The other drones showed no outward sign of failure, such as being shot or knocked down. They simply laid where they had dropped, an initial look at the battery levels showed o%. It was unlikely for one drone to run out of power as they would have returned to their housing boxes at the security office as soon as power reached minimal levels. Three drones failing at once was next to impossible.

Mack caught up to Alice fairly quickly. "Decent, coming in!" she said, so he wouldn't reflexively shoot her. "Ah tā mā de! Could be Plexies, causing us grief for the sake of causing us grief. Natalya lost face because everyone thinks Zane, back when he was her pet boy, was in the process of getting a piece on the side when he was attacked by that cat. No way she can have a one-legged cheater as a pet, so she ditched him. But she probably needs to do something fairly high profile to show she's still queen bee. Making us look like idiots in front of Carnahan would do the trick."

Almost in response, three figures darted out of the shadows and down the corridor away from Mack & the Marshal making quick work of putting distance between themselves and the lawmen. As they sprinted through a lightly illuminated turn in the building, a dark green color of their clothing was very apparent.

"Halt!" Mack shouted. "If you make me run, I'm going to kick your ass!" Then she sighed. "Nothing is ever easy," she grumbled, then took off after the fleeing suspects.

As Mack started after the fleeing crowd, the corridor behind Marshal LeMat suddenly erupted in a loud bang with sparks and bright flames bouncing everywhere. Alice pulled his arm over his face shielding his eyes from the swirling wave of flame. While some heat was released by the explosion, the flames quickly burnt themselves out.

"Ruttin' kids set off a firework! Hoof it after em and give them a lesson to take home! I'm gonna check out the area for anything else they left behind." LeMat called to Mack.

Mack was already gone and after the fleeing idiots.

The three suspects quickly ditched into the next corridor and out into the Arboretum. There, normal folk were both moving away quickly and being pulled by curiosity to see what the loud disturbance was. The three split up, heading away from Mack. As she turned he saw two more green hoodie clad young people headed towards her. To his side she saw three more weaving through the crowd.

It was a typical Plexie tactic to cover the escape of friends who were up to no good to flood an area with innocent green clad on lookers that disperse in various directions allowing their friends to disappear in a flood of green hoodies. Whatever was happening it was planned and coordinated.

Mack cursed. She'd have to review the security feeds and see if she could figure out where the ones she was chasing went. Assuming the Plexies hadn't hacked and disabled all of the cameras in the area. She sighed and called the duty sergeant, Sergeant Michael Chang. "Mike," she said. "Please tell me the cameras in the Arboretum and surrounding areas are up."

"Is this about the alarms in that area?" Chang asked. "I was about to call you. We lost the feeds in the area. Plexies, I'm assuming. They're just coming back up now."

Mack cursed again. "Why the ta ma de didn't you call me immediately?!?" she demanded.

Chang flinched. "Sorry, Chief," he said. "But the Plexies bring down our feeds daily, often several times a day in various locations. If we called you every time a camera or even bank of cameras went down, your cortex would be blowing up all day and night. I was trying to get them back up and determine whether it was Plexies or a malfunction, and then I was going to call you. That's pretty much routine around here. I didn't think anything of it. Sorry."

Mack sighed. "Mike," she said. "We've got a VIP who half the station wants dead, and with good reason. There's nothing normal about anything while the húndàn is here. This could have been a distraction, it could be the precursor to an assassination attempt. Check in with all of our teams assigned to the VIP detail and with Marshal LeMat's teams as well. Keep me in the channel."

"Copy," Sergeant Chang replied. "All VIP Teams, Constables AND Deputy Marshals, report status immediately, per Chief Shepard."

The teams responses came in quickly, all saying something Mack really didn't want to hear. "The principle is departing on a visit to the Hub and the Arboretum. He took his own detail with him. They ordered us to stay behind."

Mack swore. "Of course! TA MA DE!" She ordered everyone to hold position. The last thing she wanted was her constables being 'accidentally' shot by trigger happy Purple Bellies. She immediately started looking around for Carnahan and the Companion. She found them fairly quickly, as she approached them a shot rang out.



OOC Mack: Should we wait for Local Hero?