Ask [Novania] Behind Closed Doors

[Acklay]

It felt like a good sign that an anonymous contractor was reaching out to her. She had no idea if it was the same one from before or someone different - anonymous was anonymous after all - but it meant that the people hiring her services had enough reason to keep their identity under wraps. Truth be told, she was insatiably curious, but she would be patient for now.

Rather than take the take on alone, Mars brought along another member of the Crimson Dawn, Astria. The two had met before, but the majority of Mars' trust in her came from their shared loyalties. That, and this mission stood to benefit both of them both short-term and in the long-run.

On their way to Novania, Mars gave Astria a rundown of what their task ahead was. They needed to infiltrate the office and gain access to an administrative terminal so that Mars could more easily access the system without brute forcing her way in or looking for more hidden vulnerabilities. Ideally, the Anzat could provide some sort of cover or distraction for Mars, but they had time to figure that out before they arrived.

"We'll be dropping in five," the cyborg woman announced off-handedly after briefly looking up from her datapad to glance at the ship's navigation terminal. After they dropped out of hyperspace, it would only be a matter of minutes before they were landed and on their way. On her datapad was various information about Novania and Arkania, and she was already getting a headache reading about the planet. Everyone knew the Arkanians were smart as hell and just as aggorant - racist, even - and Mars wasn't looking forward to trying to deal with that.

"You know, they say your average Arkanian can calculate faster than a Republic supercomputer," she said aloud, trying to spark a bit of conversation before they had to go straight into business mode. "You think that's true?"

tag: @Logan

 

[Astria Jerriko]

I've had a few Arkanians, Astria replied, shrugging her shoulders in indifference. There brains didn't taste any different from anyone else's. Thoughts drifting back to those times when Arkanian soup had been on the menu, Astria couldn't help but let her lips curl into smirk. But knowing what I know about the Republic, it wouldn't surprise me if their supercomputers were slower than crippled bantha.

As the two made their way through Novania, Astria couldn't help but let her nose turn up just a little. She was never really a fan of spaceport towns, let alone ones ruled by the inexplicably racist people like Arkanians. She never really quite understood where they got off considering themselves so superior anyway. Three fingers and a thumb? Really?

The walk wasn't long and after a few minutes Mars and Astria would find themselves standing outside the Novanian branch of Arkanian Microtech.

I've managed to get us a meeting with the Executive Director, Astria said, taking out her datapad and reading over some of the files she had regarding their operation. An Arkanian man named Arkoh Jeth. I'll have you pose as my assistant and at some point during the talks, I'll.. remove Mister Jeth from the room. Then you can access his personal terminal and do.. whatever it is you do.

If Mars didn't protest the proposed plan, Astria would head up the stairs that lead to AMT, checking her chrono and smirking at the fact that they were right on time.

@lizziie

 

[Acklay]

Right, Mars had forgotten that Astria was an Anzat. They looked just as human as she did - or in Astria's case, she looked just as cybernetic. Most people would probably feel too uncomfortable to sit so casually in the presence of someone who was a predator in the most literal sense. The Anzati hunted down and ate people; they survived off the bodies of others. So it was an understandable feeling to have, and yet, Mars didn't feel the same. Astria killed people, but so did Mars, and neither of them had any issues with it.

"If that's the case, I'd love to get my fingers into their systems," the woman mused in response, imagining the satisfaction of breaking into a government system only to find it teetering on top of dusty legacy code. She would have zero qualms crippling their systems, stealing every drop of data she could drink up, and leaving them to clean up an ever-growing mess. Mars had no love for the New Republic.

The terminal beeped thrice. "We're here."

~~~​

"Oh?" A meeting? Mars glanced over at the woman as she scrolled through her datapad, listening more intently now that it was clear she had a plan. "Sounds like a plan."

The build itself was sleek, modern, and almost painfully devoid of any real interesting decorations. A fake plant to the left, a stiff photo portrait of some CEO to the right... it lacked any character and seemed wholly and completely in line with her perception of the Arkanians. Or maybe it was just because tech companies were boring as hell.

"Do I look... assistant-y?" she asked under her breath, having already pulled down the sleeves of her shirt and smoothed out the wrinkles in her pants. The cyborg's mental image of an assistant came with ruler-straight hair and glasses to, but unfortunately she had neither of those.

tag: @Logan