Radio; Foreigners Only [Forward-dated to the 14th]

[purered]

I have spoken with the Grand Justicar on the matter of removing the bodies. She has agreed to allow it. I will be contacting a mortician forthwith.

I speak now to all the foreigners here; Please do not act rashly. I understand your anger at the Justicar. It is justified. Risking your own lives and those of the people here, however, is not. The situation now is precarious at best.

We are guests in this city the same as the Justicar. I would hope we can show more consideration for Keeliai's denizens than her, however.

Comments

[purered]

Yes.

[And very shortly, Klaus will be knocking on Casa de Stark to continue this conversation where he's relatively certain the Justicar's ears can't reach.]

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony opens the door and steps back to let Klaus inside.]

Let's go down to my lab. [He starts to lead the way to the basement.

He's not trying to hide the conversation from Gene or Pepper, and he's not worried about being attacked or eavesdropped on or anything - but he feels more comfortable in the lab when things are going to hell.

Plus, all his good snacks are down there.

In the lab, he leans against his workbench, leaving the chair for Klaus - which puts them approximately on the same level. Klaus is huge.]

What's the situation with the Justicar?

[purered]

[He sat, hands folded neatly in his lap.]

Besides her being insufferably unpleasant, releasing the bodies came at a cost. The empire was going to compensate the citizens of Keeliai with technology that could help a great deal in a place of limited resources.

[His shoulders sagged a little. That had been his own failing. If only he had known, if only he had time.]

Beyond that, the Justicar seemed to rightly believe there were ulterior motives to have the bodies removed beyond the fact the display was gruesome and posed a threat to health. She originally tried to barter the corpses for more deserters.

[highprofilerichkid]

What?! [Tony starts up from his relaxed position.] You—?!

[He lets out a wordless, frustrated exclamation.] We— we need stuff like that! We can't trade things we need for things that shouldn't have been up for negotiation in the first place!

[He puts his hands over his face for a second, possibly to keep himself from banging his head repeatedly against the wall.]

The only motive is that it's wrong and she's a psycho! Ugh!

[He flops dramatically onto a stool, simmering with frustration and anger - only some of which is directed at Klaus.]

[purered]

I did not know until the end of negotiations that this was the case. I will be speaking with the heads of the families on the matter shortly.

[He watches Tony's dramatics, quiet. He knows the feeling and it wasn't like he wasn't young once.]

I wish that it was that simple. We are blinded right now - the Justicar has ample means of gathering information on us, but we can't do the same. I wanted to speak with you on the matter of gathering intel.

[highprofilerichkid]

You can't negotiate with someone when they think they have all the cards, [Tony says bitterly. (Which is why he only negotiates when he has some firepower to back him up.)] The Chihuelans think we're pushovers, and we haven't done anything to prove them wrong.

[He sighs, then mutters, half to himself,] If they brought the stuff with them, we could steal it. [There's nothing morally questionable about stealing something that was supposed to be yours to begin with, right?

Klaus' mention of gathering intel catches his attention again, and he frowns - thoughtfully, rather than angrily, this time.] Yeah? What did you have in mind?

[purered]

You're right. And my haste wrought only a loss for the Kedan.

[Still, it kept Valdis from starting a war at least. He frowns, rubbing the back of his neck.]

It didn't sound like it was brought with her, otherwise there'd be little point in denying it. As for the radio... if it's possible, can you see if she is able to ta into the more personalized device for foreigners? And if she has her own lines of communication back home that can be tapped?

[highprofilerichkid]

[Tony gives a small 'hrmph' and lets the subject drop, for now. He can't keep yelling at Klaus when he's fessed up to his mistake and obviously regrets it. And Tony can't blame him for the Justicar being a manipulative bully.

Besides, he's very interested in Klaus' proposal.] It's hard to check for that, unless I can get a look at what they brought with them. To see if they have the tech level, and brought the right equipment. But... I think it's not likely. The radios aren't totally secure, but they're pretty good. And the Chihuelans aren't familiar with foreigner tech, like the kedan are. Tapping their communications, though... [Oh, yeah, Tony likes that idea.] We can definitely look into that.

[purered]

[Klaus gave a small nod of affirmation.]

If it's possible, it could prove useful intel. A means of learning their true purpose here, at the very least.

[highprofilerichkid]

Too bad it's too late to bug their rooms. [The Chihuelans keep guards on everything - there's no way anyone would be able to sneak into their quarters unnoticed. Well, hindsight is 20/20.]

If they're using radio communications, I ought to be able to pick it up. If it's something magic, though, we'll need to find someone who does... that kind of thing. Magical hacking? [Is that even something you can specialize in?]

The Bresilykian emissaries - that was before you were here, I guess - sent their reports in using an array of some weird metal orbs. We never figured out what they were, but they were either magical or some kind of technology I've never seen before. We should have people watching the Chihuelans, to see if we can catch them using something like that. Then we'll know what we're dealing with, at least.