Session 2-The Peak of the Harvest

   The morning after the warehouse fire felt very different for everyone. Peasants delivering goods to the packing warehouse looked haunted. Nobody walked overly close to the shuttle launch pad except town constables who seemed to always been keeping an eye on it. Ian wasn't especially keen on the attention.  The following day things were worse as rumors of entire fields of crops were set on fire over night. The town was alive with people gossiping about the attacks on freemen farms but the consensus was that the Baron was too afraid to take action against the Avesti . One of the Engineers loyal to the Baron spoke up and reminded the PCs that the Baron was already over a barrel trying to defend this last harvest and couldn't count on the Orthodoxy to support him if he stood up to the Avesti. And now that the Avesti know what they can get away with they'll only grow more bold.
   In the evening an engineer brought one of the boys that worked for the Engineer's Hall into the barracks. Kira knew the boy as Dam Wei, he was a bright kid who ran messages and delivered things around the town. Boys like him were pre-apprentices, working for talons for the chance to show their intelligence and technical aptitude to be recommended for apprenticeship in the guild and Dam Wei had a bright future. Rumor was the Avesti caught Dam Wei, a freeman boy, with a squawker and held him down in the town square and put the Brand of Technosophy to his cheek. Dam Wei was burned terribly but worse still nobody in the League would offer him a chance to work with that mark on his face, they may sympathize but they couldn't afford that kind of target on their operations. The other engineers were horrified and shocked at such an act of aggression by the Avesti. Kira was cold angry and calculating how to eliminate the Avesti.
   Ian interrupted her silent rage by asking the men huddled in the Engineer barracks what they were going to do. Kira detailed the condition of the tissue, how deep the brand had penetrated and that the flesh would have to be removed down to the muscle to eradicate the wound. Someone suggested Elixir but Kira's examination of the wound made it seem dubious a single dose would be enough. Engineers and Charioteer looked around at once another to see who was going to spend money for two doses of Elixir before Kira mentioned they could shave the flesh off so that the Exlir was working on a fresh wound rather than burned skin. All of the guilders put their money in for the Elixir shot, they poured rough brandy down the boy's throat and strapped Dam Wei to a sterile table and held him as Kira cut away the burned flesh, the boy screaming in drunken agony. With the "surgery" complete they gave him the shot of elixir and left him crying on the table. In the morning the wound was still ugly but hit had healed a lot. They gave Dam some anti-septic and a ride back to his home to heal-up.
   The next night Ian had come by the packing house after the peasants called it a day to discuss their little criminal conspiracy. Both were still a bit haunted and angry about the fate of Dam Wei and Ian was getting paranoid that the Inquisition might find their hiding spot and the store of botanicals. Suddenly from outside they heard a woman's voice shout "IN THE NAME OF THE BARON OPEN THIS DOOR." Both guilders, already on edge panicked, shutting down the processing equipment and looking for a way out of the packing house. The gleaming metal of a sword blade pushed between the bay doors and splinters began to shoot from the door as it hyper-vibrated, sparks coming off the lock as the vibrosaber chewed it apart. Ian listened at the back door and could hear the cocking of a gun, as he peeked through the gap under the door he could see boots standing a short distance away. The door finally gave way and slowly opened, lock still smoking. Standing in the doorway was an angry young woman in a fine kimono, looking ready to cut down anyone who challenged her "Stand your ground with your hands visible.." Both Ian and Kira raised their hands in surrender.
   Sakura Naganaka Li-Halan paced toward them with her sword cocked to strike, still humming menacingly "What is your business in my Father's industry house?" Kira wasn't a great liar but she was a liar. Hands up, sweating bullets Kira explained "We work here ma'am.. I'm packing your father's botanicals he's getting ready to ship them for you. We're meant to be here." Sakura eyed them suspiciously "So late?? Why are you here after all others have gone?" her tone menacingly suspicious. Kira bowed respectfully "Ma'am, we are overworked with the harvest, we're only trying to meet your father's expectations." Sakura didn't like the edgy tone in Kiras voice so she extended a white gloved hand to occlude Kira's face as she directed her attention to Ian "Do you wish to tell a different story Charioteer?" Ian was nearly shitting himself eyeing that vibro-blade and the angry little noblewoman "I'm just here to find out how much I'm carrying ma'am, I don't know anything.. please.." Sakura's features softened, a slight blush of embarrassment under her white make-up. She switched off her sword and sheathed it and busied herself looking over the packing house, unsure of what any of it did or indicated "I have heard word that free farmers are selling their crop to smugglers who are stealing from the Barony. How would they get their medicine plants distilled?". Kira stepped around the lady's shoulder, her head bowed "They couldn't process the nectar or oil here ma'am.. The crops are brought in by the field bosses and picked up by your Father's men, nobody else has access to the facilities." Sakura snorted at the Engineer, still not approving of her manner and looked to Ian "Is this so?". Ian shrugged helplessly "I ... I don't know, Kira is the expert, I'm just trying to find out what my flight weight will be at the end of the month. But it sounds right.." Sakura turned to face them both thoughtfully and said "I will stop these men who dishonor my father. I respect that while you work for my family you have other tasks to attend to. If you will discover these filthy smugglers I will reward you with 100 Firebirds each.." Kira swallowed with a dry throat, carefully monitoring her tone and posture "Respectfully my lady.. We wish to respect your father's law and uphold his honor as it is a reflection of our own.. But is it really worth your effort to chase after petty freepersons who steal a bin or two of raw crop? Especially with the Proclamation taking effect?". Sakura's eyes hardened at Kira "That Proclamation is nothing short of a political attack against my father. The Baron has graciously bowed to the might of the Archbishop but it is no less of a strike at his honor. And those thieves have stolen bushels if not tons of the crop. Their subterfuge is anything but petty..". It suddenly dawned on both Kira and Ian that they were not the only ones stealing crop and worse still, their competitors were more ambitious. The lady apologized for startling them and called her her squire watching the back door with a scream of "AIKO! Come now!". A petite and demure young woman cradling a shotgun far too large for her tiny frame hurried around the packing house to Sakura's side and they left into the night.
   The morning after being confronted by Sakura Ian suggested that they find some crates or packing to conceal their goods. Kira didn't like the risk of being caught but Ian insisted their operation needed better camouflage with Lady Sakura stumbling around unpredictably. They went to the shipping house where crates and palates of the Baron's exports were being prepared and loaded onto beat-up old guild trucks. They asked Muster who were managing the process if there were any old boxes or bags they could use and were referred to the garbage pile behind the warehouse. Kira wasn't excited about picking through trash. They encountered a pair of peasant women behind the warehouse named Pem and Phan. The women were very polite and after being offered a crest one of them ran home to fetch several nice Millirice bags and a big crate from one of the electronics shops in town. Kira asked them if they knew anything about farmers selling their crops to anyone they shouldn't but the peasants had no clue.
   Later at night Ian and Kira were packing their clever new containers with stolen product when there was a knock at the door of the packing house. They straightened up quickly and unblocked the still damaged door to find Mistress Aiko standing there with her pleasant smile and cradled shotgun. She bowed deeply and expressed Lady Sakura's apologies for her coarse manner before, claiming that her frustration over the men who are stealing from her father got the better of her and she meant no disrespect. She also pointed out that while she was guarding the rear door she had noticed that many of the bins that were in the destruction pile outside during the day had been moved inside at night and warned that such undisciplined management of the crop could make Lady Sakura regret putting her faith in the guildsmen and she insisted that they be more disciplined in their unlawfulness. She explicitly threatened that she would shoot them if her lady demanded it no matter how little she wanted to. Mistress Aiko bowed deeply and wished them a fruitful and quiet night before departing.
   The following day Ian was notified he'd be flying out to the Feng Mao School in Rio Azul to pick up the Baron's son Hansu tomorrow. The flight was usually short and he had made the trip enough that it felt routine but there was still preparations to make. He made his way about town trying to casually carouse information about farmers who may have been doing especially well this harvest or anyone who had seen a lot of raw crop from the field around the market but people seemed reluctant to trust a man everyone knew worked for the Baron. Later he hit on a brilliant idea to find the other smugglers. He went to the packing house and waited until Kira was finished.
  After nightfall the two of them traveled out into the rural homes at the edge of the barony and asked about for the home of Dam Wei. With some knocking on doors they were eventually greeted by a portly woman in a dark little home and when they explained they were checking in on their friend Wei's entire family dragged them in and offered them tea and mincemeat pie. Dam Wei was up and about but he knew nothing about goings on in the outer fief but his elderly father said he had heard about strange Autowagons driving around late in the night out in Lambert Crest. Dam Wei's mother gestured her family back and explained that Lisa Drung in her Ma Jong group is a terrible gossip and she will find out exactly who is selling crop to the smugglers tomorrow.
  Another day came with Kira working away in the packing house. She had a large backlog of crop to inspect and that meant it would be more difficult to oversee her work. So she failed bins of crop more aggressively. Ian took off in the early morning flying out to Rio Azul, weather was easy to manage. He waited for the young noble to board, got his things stowed and got him strapped into the seat in installed in the bay and flew home without any difficulty. Later in the day Kira got a note from Dam Wei that just read - Lambert Crest, East Fields, Tonight. Kira was waiting with a plan as soon as Ian's shuttle touched down.
  Kira had been out to work on a Pump House in the east fields early on in her employment. It was central to all of the freeman farms with a good view of everything. The two of them got their hands on a pushcart and hiked out into the distant fields, broke into the pump house and Kira fell asleep almost immediately leaning against a filthy irrigation pipe. In the early hours of the morning Ian saw headlights bumping across the road from Bloomfield and woke Kira up. They saw an old Autowagon passenger bus roll out across the fields to one of the freemen farms, someone got out and they began loading something into the bus in the darkness before it moved on along the circuit road around the field. Kira deduced it was going to probably hit all the farms around the fields before circling back, there wasn't time to intercept it between farms but maybe they could cut it off before it got back on the road Southbound if they ran. Ian got on the squawker and called the frequency for the Baron's residence, getting a hold of a houseman he shouted at him until the man agreed to wake Lady Sakura. Ian explained that the smugglers were in the Freeman Farms at Lambert Crest. Sakura yelled at him to detain the buss at all costs she would be there in 20 minutes. Both of them bolted down the dirty farm roads with their cart, Ian falling behind short of breath. Kira made it to the road in time to cut the buss off before it came. She drew her Rip-Roarer and aimed it at the Autowagon as it's headlights illuminated her and the old bus came to a stop.
   Even in the dark, from this distance they could see it was the Blue Tour's bus run by the Scraver Guild. One of the Scravers opened the bus door and leaned out with his hands visible "Heyy, calm down. I think we have a misunderstanding.." Ian caught up, breathless and pulled out a knife he scarcely knew how to use "There's another one.. in the back.. If you see a weapon shoot them both" and he began to circle around the bus, trying to get an eye on what the other Scraver was doing. The driver, a tall handsome guilder, with his hands still visible "Hey, no need for that.. we're just doing the job, look I'm sure my boss is willing to make this a good night for all of us.. How does 50 Firebird a piece sound, you just go home and sleep richer? Kira lowered her automatic pistol, relaxing her posture "Ok, I'm listening.." Suddenly the shorter Scraver came out of the bus with a crossbow aimed at Kira, his tall friend protesting "Len, fuck, put that down..". Ian shouted from behind the pair "200 Firebirds each.. or we shoot you and take your crop."  The taller Scraver reached back calmly and lowered Lem's crossbow before looking back and forth at Kira and Ian "Look I don't have that much.. but Boss Blue can make you.." and as Ian moved out of the crossfire Kira lifted her gun and opened up with three seconds of automatic gunfire, cutting down the taller of the Scravers and badly wounding the crossbowman until the firing bolt clicked empty. Ian was stunned at the thunderous blasting for seconds after the echo died. He saw the wounded  Scraver lifting his crossbow as Kira reloaded and he moved in, stabbing him to death with his small knife. Both of them looked at one another for a moment before Ian spoke "You shot them..". Kira blinked "I thought you wanted me to shoot them.." Ian, still a bit stunned "Noo! I... shit..". He got on the buss to see what they had shot two Scravers over and found stacks of bins of Goldflower, probably hundreds of Firebirds worth. He also found a small revolver tucked under the dashboard and reasoned the Scraver would have tried to shoot them.. perhaps.
   Lady Sakura arrived minutes later just as solders from Lambert Ridge were rolling up to the scene. and told both of them to wait in her autocoach. She went to talk to Akihiro's Muster enforcers, explaining the situation with the calm authority Noble's are capable of. When she returned to the guilders in the luxury Coach she explained to them that they may need to be interviewed but that they aren't in any danger. Her father isn't going to allow them to lay in a dungeon. She let them out near their home and drove off.
  The following day both Kira and Ian had a visit from Mistress Aiko who humbly offered them a small ornate box packed with firebirds for their aid to her lady. Kira continued her questionable rejection of crop bins, building up her stock in the rejection pile behind the Packing House. Ian legitimately had work to do for once, scrubbing built-up carbon out of his thrusters after the long atmospheric flight. Later that night they shared some beers in the packing house as they worked on distilling product.  They decided since the following day was the rest day before the Holy Day they would travel into Carllion and spend some of their heroic rewards and ill-gotten gains.
  The following morning both Kira and Ian bought tickets at Blue Tours and rode into the city on an old dilapidated passenger Autowagon. They were told when the bus back to town would leave and were dumped out into the bustling city square. Kira had stopped off in Carllion on her way to Lawton but Ian had never visited. The was large and wide open with maxcrete streets and tall imperious white buildings. It wasn't nearly the size of Avalonia but it was clean and bright, well ordered with well-to-do citizens well-dressed and quiet streets. Kira started her shopping at a gunsmith's. She wanted to have her Rip-roarer modified to allow semi-automatic fire and to have an additional magazine pressed for the gun. Ian splurged on a big hand-cannon and he commissioned a removable stock so he could fire it like a rifle. They visited a swordsmith and a clothier that dealt in synthsilk. After burning through hundreds of Firebirds they went to a really nice restaurant and had a lunch well above their means. They attracted a lot of attention dressed in work clothes dining with nobles but two Li-Halan Noblemen in particular were openly staring at them and talking to one another. Kira decided she wanted to go, so they paid for lunch and moved on. The Nobles followed and they had to evade them being almost unarmed and unready for a confrontation. They hid in a pet shop for the last hour of their visit before skulking back to their bus back to Lawton.
   As the rickety bus pulled up in front of Blue Tours the driver helped the visiting students and young nobles gather their things but directed Ian and Kira to wait for the other passengers. Before they could disembark a stern looking woman with bright blue hair styled in eccentric waves boarded the bus looking at the both of them "You know who I am and what you did to me.. we should have a conversation about how you plan to repay me.." Kira scrunched up her features "Your men broke the law and attacked us.. seems we don't have much to talk about.." The woman's jaw tightened "I don't see how that has anything to do with Firebirds not in my accounts. You're going to want to think about how you'll pay me back before I think of a way.." and she disembarked. With a wave of her hand the diver nodded and helped Ian and Kira off the bus.
   Nervous about how payback would happen Kira and Ian went back to the packing house to conspire and distill their backlog of botanicals. Yet again in the middle of their smuggling there was a knock at the doors. Kira shut down their work while Ian went to go look and he found Lady Sakura standing outside alone. She asked politely to be let in and Ian opened the door. The unusually demure noble explained that she was hoping to speak to them about what could be done about the Avesti Priests. A few ideas were tossed around but Sakura didn't like any harm done to a priests coming back to her Father until Kira casually mentioned poison. "I don't want to kill them necessarily" Sakura offered cautiously. "Very few poisons kill, it would be much easier to make them very very sick.. sick enough to want to go home.". Ian looked at his compatriot curiously, finding more and more of her skillset suspect. Sakura pursed her lips with obvious reservations "Could we be sure no harm would come to them?" Kira shrugged "You can make them annoyed or you can make them sick. If you make them sick there's a risk you'll make some of them dead, perhaps.. but you'll make them gone.." Sakura pursed her lips "How soon could this thing be done" Kira shrugged "Tomorrow? It's not a very complicated recipe.." Sakura gave them money for ingredients and told them she'd like to strike the following night.
   In the morning Kira got the word from her Cheif that she would be off-duty today. She woke Ian up and headed into the market to pick up cooking tools and the necessary herbs and medicines. The idea was less of a toxin and more like a horrible concentrated diuretic. The work wasn't pleasant, nor did it smell good. Ian fetched Kira lunch and kept watch on what the Avesti were up to. Not many people he had spoken with had seen them around town today, which generally didn't bode well, but more than a few people had seen them gathered around the old Junk Garden in Copper Hills. When night fell they had about 16 doses of a potent silvery powder that would "turn a man inside-out" and were debating how they'd introduce it to the priests, perhaps water or get it into their food. Sakura's coach arrived and Aiko invited them in. The noblelady eyed the powder in the bag "We're sure it's safe?". Kira cleared her throat "It's poison my lady, but as safe as poison gets. I know my trade." Again Ian wrinkled his nose about about 'her trade' but said nothing. The plan was hatched on the drive. Ian and Kira would get out in the shadows near the Junk Garden and move in on foot while Lady Sakura would provoke a distraction at the gate to draw them in. The plan was to investigate and poison if possible but to take no chances. They got out down the hill from the reeking hills of garbage and snuck in closer. Neither of them were especially capable at skulking but they moved carefully and avoided anything too noisy. Luckilly there was a loud argument going on down at the Reclamation Barn by the time they got into the garbage piles. They could see tents in a valley north of the barn and a cookfire going. There was nobody around so Ian had a quick look around while Kira poured poison into their meal and stirred it in. Ian didn't find much of note, weapons, dirty clothes and rations. Kira didn't like the idea of getting caught so they quickly moved off into the dark to reunite with Lady Sakura as she drove away. The deed was done and it didn't sit especially well with anyone.
   The following day Ian woke from a restless sleep and didn't want to be around if  Avesti priests staggered into down bleeding from their eyes. He caught Kira before she went in to work and convinced her to call out sick. With her contract coming to an end it seemed to matter less and less if she was at her post. The both of them got tickets at Blue Tours and rode the bus back into Carllion to pick up their weapons at the gunsmith's and do some window shopping. It did a lot to take Ian's mind off of poisoned priests and after Kira bought some upscale clothes she managed to con her way into the university library so they could kill and afternoon looking over information about the area. They learned that Carllion was built on the foundation of a 2nd Republic bio-medical and pharmaceuticals campus for a corporation called Biochime. After some remarkably fortunate digging they found out that there were more facilities in the region. One of them called D9 was a research facility where changed were created. Ian was instantly chilled at the realization that that facility's title was the same warped marking he bore as part of his product tattoo. Rampart wasn't just where his father was from but where his people were from.
   In the late afternoon they boarded bus bearing their new freshly permitted weaponry decked out in synthsilk. On the long drive back crowded in with tourists the driver repeatedly tried to raise someone on his squawker before he announced that the bus would be unloading at the Shuttle Platform because of traffic. As they rolled past Blue Tours the Ian and Kira could see a mob of armed Scraver's waiting for them. As the driver handed them their things he explained that it was going to be an ambush but they were both armed up like Muster and he wasn't being paid enough to be in the middle of that. He encouraged them to settle accounts with Lula Blue.