Buzz nods and is eager to see the devices.  She also keeps her eyes peeled for base details, layout, personnel, etc.

... and while they walked, “So what can you tell us about the Stigian Problem you’ve identified, Sir?” Flash asked the man.

"Shhhh!" shushes Tarrant. "Hush-hush, don't you know. I'll feel much better if you talk to the local man down below about that sort of rot." He unlocked a door, and it turned out to be... another hangar bay. "At least for now, I can show you this! Let's go on board..."

"This" turned out to be a large spacecraft-- bigger than the one they'd arrived in, anyway-- sleek and silver and up-to-date.

"This is the Flying Fish," said Tarrant, showing them around. "But let me show you to Storage Bay 1..."

In the Flying Fish's Storage Bay 1 were two more craft-- a sort of fighter craft, and a very armored vehicle.

"The one on the left is the Moray, built for speed. The one on the right is the Lionfish, more of a tank of a thing... Like 'em? Inskipp from Mercury certainly thought you would... The Lionfish, especially, is very well-armed, for its size... Not quite on the level of the Flying Fish itself, but there's more room for big weapons in the bigger craft, after all..."

(The Flying Fish is about the same volume as four or five Millennium Falcons stacked on top of each other-- although it's much longer than that makes it sound, because it's built like a seal, not like a... discus.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:16, Mon 15 June 2020.

Buzz smiles with pure glee.  She claps Tarrant on the back.  "Ya done good, boss.  Ya done real good."  She's nearly bouncing with excitement.

"Excellent. The Flying Fish is of course equipped with plenty of diving suits, too, although you won't need them to get to your next destination. Then if you have no further needs nor questions, I'll show you to the bridge, and then I'll disembark, and you can get underway to Cousteau City-- the coordinates of which are pre-loaded into the Flying Fish's computer-- where you'll meet with the Danger Patrol's local representative. I've only been here on Triton for a couple of years, m'self. The local administrator can fill you in much better than I on the rum goings-on. So... will there be anything else...?"

Buzz is too enchanted to reply, slowing circling the ship, ogling it.

"Ok, then", Flash replied to the man.

And climbing aboard the ship, he made his way towards the cockpit, and the pilot's seat.

"Farewell, then!" says Tarrant, and he leaves the Flying Fish.

The hangar bay is cleared, the roof opens (causing unpleasant memories of the last time Buzz and Flash were in such a situation), and the Flying Fish takes off into space again... This time, headed straight for Neptune.

The atmosphere is entered, and there's a sparkling view of the ocean below.

In fact, there's nothing but ocean.

No alarms are going off, but the Flying Fish is--

--Oh. Okay. Underwater now. Well that figures.

The Flying Fish lives up to its name and proceeds through the water like a seal or I guess a flying fish or anything else that would fit the "swims really good" simile, soon approaching a really huge globe-- dark and opaque in the bottom half, clear on top, showing a modern city.

The Flying Fish heads straight for that boundary line of light and dark, and docks.

You're free to disembark... You've apparently arrived at Cousteau City...

"The autopilot mechanism on that ship is really pushy," mutters Buzz as she disembarks and makes sure to lock up the ship behind her after Flash is off.

"Now what's the name of the guy we're supposed to be meeting"

She looks around for helpful signs or greeters or anything else that might be useful.

Buzz and Flash notice that most of the people in the crowd are of two types of people:
1. Local humans who live on (under?) Neptune, and
2. Actual local Neptunians who were here before the humans ever got here.

(For 1 xp:
--one of you tell me what's the one unusual (and noticeable) difference between local humans and regular humans.
--one of you describe what the native Neptunians are like.)

Buzz takes in the passersby.  No stranger to various spaceports, she's worked hard to pick out subtle differences that seem to delineate origins or long exposure to various environments.

The Neptunian humans, for instance, seem to have far paler and more translucent skin than Earth humans.  Even in those of African decent, she can spot the tell-tale branching of veins beneath the dermis.  They also seem to have a vivid yellow cast to their scleras, the whites of the eyes.  Buzz is guessing it's a function of the local water, but she wouldn't put credits on it.

She shares her observations quietly with Flash.

"Yarrislav," Flash answered Corey almost casually, as they disembarked and began to take in the surrounding city.  "At least, that is what the data base says is the name of the local Administrator.
Tarrant suggested that is who we should find ... the local Administrator".


As the two agents took in their initial views of the Neptunian station, Flash heard Corey commenting on the variance in the human subculture here.

Rather, Flash's attention was drawn to the Native Nepturians: and there was no confusing them with humans ... or even humanoids.
Evolved from native octopodian origins, their hydrostatic forms mobile via a multitude of strong, suckered arms that reached out in many directions at once.

Each was a neon-explosive experience for the visual senses:  native Neptunian speech being a solely visual language created by the oscillating colours, patterns and shapes across their epidermal surfaces.
And just as they couldn't speak the audial human languages, humans couldn't speak/display native Neptunian (although a thriving scientific community was working on neurally linked chameleon suits that might, one day, allow for the effect).
Each race could see/hear the other, and had the ability to, though the perseverance of studying any language, learn to understand the other.

And because Cousteau City had been designed to accomodate both races, it was a world of mezzanines, platforms and catwalk structures ... a true three dimensional space.    In which humans travelled the structures as best they could, while the pliable, slithering forms of the octopod Neptunian moved freely and easily throughout the city using the walls, infrastructure and frameworks.


Using out his Danger Patrol Communicator, he synched its Global Positioner with the cities ubiquitous municipal guidance mechanisms, and called up a map that would lead he and Corey to the Danger Patrol Administrators office.

(I'm perfectly satisfied, give yourselves each 1 xp)

The local Danger Patrol headquarters turns out to be built like a medieval castle in structure, albeit one with a lot of towers and catwalks connecting the towers.

It's hard (if one is a newcomer) not to look up as one moves through the city. The top half of the air-filled globe that is Cousteau City is somewhat clear, and one can vaguely make out somewhat-larger-than-whale-sized creatures swimming, silhouetted as they come between the top of the globe and the oh-so-distant sun. Their shadows pass over the crowd (who mostly ignore them) like the shadows of clouds.

Yarrislav turns out to be one of those pale-to-the-point-of-almost-translucent-skinned humans who've lived on (under?) Neptune for some time. He's got long auburn hair and his voice is a beautiful high tenor, but the jaw and shoulders and general build suggest maybe Tennant wasn't wrong to call him "our local man."

Yarrislav is quiet and serious and very formal, but not to the point of being cold. Indeed, he seems quite concerned about the duo's well-being. "It would be understandable if your trip had made you feel impatience. I do not know how much Officer Inskipp of Mercury told you. Do you have any questions? Is there anyplace in particular you would like me to start?"

"Anything you can provide on the connection between the Flame Witch and here would be handy.  Also, the particulars of the concerns on Neptune would be useful, too."  Buzz finds a seat and puts her feet up, boots and all, on the seat next to it.  "I'm a big picture kind of person."

"She really is, sir", Flash said, helping himself to another seat.
"My main concern, sir, is where I can get a good Ultaran Curry nearby?"

Yarrislav grows surprisingly intense. "For an Ultaran Curry, the Solar Guide will send you to that farce Morolo's. 'Three out of three stars--' it's a lie! The Solar Guide is edited by butchers and thieves! They'll print anything for a free lunch and a kickback! No, you go and take Granba Street off to the right. When you get to the globe wall, you make a left. Look for a little brasserie on Staging Street called Nadia's." He nods sagely as if he has just explained the secret of life to you.

Yarrislav grows more calm. "As for the concerns on Neptune as far as the Danger Patrol is concerned, right now, there are four things.

1. The agent who was reporting to me about the Stygian Adepts is very deeply undercover. He's working down in the undercity in the physical plant. He's stopped sending reports. I've sent people to check on him, and he's still alive and working undercover, so I think they're just watching him too closely for him to send any more messages. Please, don't try to contact him unless you're prepared to do so without blowing his cover.

2. An agent whom I thought had nothing to do with the current troubles has disappeared. She was investigating a feud between two groups of native Neptunians...

3. The ambassador from the Crimson Republic is behaving perfectly normally... except that he's also spending money like he just won several huge bets, and I have no explanation for why he's so flush with cash for his personal use. It's suspicious, and it bothers me. It doesn't bother me nearly as much as it bothers certain Danger Patrol higher-ups on Mars, though. They're frantic about anything to do with the CR.

4. Finally, someone's been killing pickpockets in the city. The third one showed up dead yesterday. They're all killed on the street... I'm not sure what to make of it, but I don't like it.

Which would you most like me to focus on telling you more about right now?"

"I think the pickpockets first.  I want to know how that ties in.  Maybe after, we'll get to your undercover mechanic.  At least he's not dead yet."  She nods to Flash.  "But that's just me.  Flash has been on this case longer than me, so maybe something else seems more relavent."

Flash watched on with bemused surprise, as the little man’s moustache literally bristled with indignation over his curry concerns.
It took him a few moments longer to respond, once the ‘lesson had been given’, before he said, “Right you are, sir.
And thank you”.  After all, the man obviously knew his curry.

When Corey spoke, Flash glanced her way, and simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"Well that's just it, I'm not sure how it ties in. I have no proof that it ties in, at all... About the closest thing to a connection that I've got is that the second death happened barely half a block from the building containing the Crimson Republic ambassador's office. But that's right in the middle of downtown, so one could say that it could be connected to all kinds of other things..."

Buzz just blinks at him.  "And the undercover agent?"

"Ah. Yes. Well. ...It seems that the Stygian Adepts were-- how much they are still pushing for it at the present time, I can't say, since my reports have stopped-- recruiting for new members in the maintenance workers' union. These workers have the not-particularly-glamorous but very important jobs of keeping the air and water filtration systems working properly, and they also help maintain the forcefields that strengthen the globe around the city, although of course a lot of that is also under the aegis of the Security officers. Apparently they were silently recruiting people, presumably with the goal of taking over the union entirely, and holding secret meetings now and then where they would, you know, do whatever entry-level Stygian Adept members do. Involved a lot of chanting, as I understand it. No actual blood sacrifices, at least not while I was still getting reports regularly. Hardly any black magic or whatever their senior members might get up to..."

Flash sat quietly, taking it all in.

Buzz turned to Flash.  "So the next step is Nadia's, right?  Where we hash out a plan over the good curry?"

Flash perked up at that suggestion.
"Sir, can we know the identity of your undercover agent?" he asked.

Yarrislav sighs. "I... would rather not tell you unless you plan to intervene. If you do plan to intervene, then of course I will tell you... but I'd prefer to know your plan first..."