Before leaving, they set little tell-tales on the flat, just in case anyone was interested enough in them to search it. 

Carpen City/Collace/District 268/Spinward, 082/1105

After arriving in Carpen, they adopted disguises of a wealthy lady and her two bodyguards. Feng responded to the robot taxi’s “Have a nice day” with a truly filthy proposition which left it rather bewildered. They hired a hotel room as a base, put the Box in a shopping bag and headed out into town. A quick PAN search was quite enough to locate the bar in question, and after checking they weren’t followed they entered. 

Bar Zelus

Bar Zelus, Carpen City/Collace/District 268/Spinward, 082/1105 10:15

Entering the bar, they put the requisite hat on the bar and waited. Sure enough, a man - utterly forgettable - came and sat next to Feng and passed the phrase “Avalar Self Storage, Row 8 Locker A” before leaving.

Avalar Self Storage, Carpen City Outskirts/Collace/District 268/Spinward, 082/1105 19:42

This was located out towards the slightly less well-off side of Carpen. The signage was a bit dingy, and the colours somehow unattractive, and generally it looked like the sort of business that you wouldn’t use, wouldn’t attract enough custom to stay afloat. Its’ PAN page had no reviews, which was a bit odd. It had cameera on the outside and in reception, but turned out to have none in the warehouse.

Staerla City/Collace/District 268/Spinward, 082/1105

Realizing they could just make it back in time for the next Rangers game, the PCs blasted back across Collace and reached Dark City around lunchtime. 

Type A Merchant (credit: Ian Stead)

As they returned to their apartment, a man approached Feng - still in her wealthy guise - and offered her first refusal on a starship for sale. His consortium, he said, was selling the assets of a single-ship merchant company that had hit the rocks, and their Type A was available for a mere MCr20. They took his card but declined to commit.

“Home is where your pink rifle is” said Feng as they dropped their bags in their apartment. Making a push, they managed to get all the “Remember Joey” shirts sold, observing with interest the conspiracy theories and knock-offs sprouting up left and right. 

Come match time, the arena was packed, and when Feng did her usual flash for the cameras a rousing cheer filled the stadium; her knockers were now as much of a fixture as the hot-dogs and bloodshed, it seemed. Rangers did much better, winning 10-0 against the Plutons, rounding off a fairly satisfying day. 

Call-Me-Ross

He handed out fake IDs, a rental on a cheap flat and sundry other documentation. “Congratulations,” he said dryly, “You have jobs. You are now workers for Burst Recycling at Shadira Downport. They’re a supplies company and one of their lines is dealing with used LS supply crates from space and star ships. Each customer company has a team working on their cans, and the team for the company we’re interested in has just moved on to other things.” There was no way of telling from his tone whether that move was up or down.

“This may seem like a worthless pastime, but you’ll need to stick with it for a while if you’re going to be any use to me. You start in three days.”

He was brought up short when Nevada shook his head definitively. “No, thanks,” he said. “That’s not what we do.” The others agreed, and Ross shrugged, seemingly unbothered, and left with his heavies. “He’ll be back,” predicted Nevada confidently.

Staerla City/Collace/District 268/Spinward, 094/1105

Nothing had been heard by the time the group decided to do a recce of the casino ready to try and encounter Luther Kefaufer. 

Hacienda Security Guard

The Hacienda was a glittering palace in a district of shit, and the armed and armoured guards on the door were why it remained that way. The few elite of Dark City came here to gamble where – even for Collace –there were few rules.  For the Hacienda itself, though, there were rules.  There was a definite dress and behaviour code, and no weapons except blades were allowed inside – except for the security guards who were armed with laser weapons. Everything else was checked into lockers with enormous politeness. 

Mainly through Feng’s knowledge of gambling mixed with Nevada’s familiarity with the lower levels of high society, they managed to work up the tables to a private game and stay solvent - eventually coming out up KCr26.