The Emperor's Work - OPEN AND ACCEPTING

[Van Evok]

Van Evok smiled grimly as hot sun struck his hat and coat. Well, at least wide brim gave him a shade over his eyes. "Well guys, I think while I can pass for an eccentric mercenary, arbites and guard gear will get you nowhere near the scoundrel look that is norm in the gladiatorial contest. Trust me - seen enough of them organised by Guilders on Necromunda. Since we dont have any fix on our local contact I guess we can wait for him at the starport cantina." - he pointed at the flashy holo-sign saying "The prancing grox"  

[bhaus]

Gideon raised a curious eyebrow to van evok wondering how he can bear to be in his current attire in this forsaken heat,he quickly shrugged it off figuring he had his own secrets as did they all.
The cutter was doing little more to relieve him of the heat that was suspiciously getting worse as the day progressed, and anxious to relieve himself he lifted his pack over his shoulder and began to head for the cantina. While on his way, Gideon couldn't help but to feel the presence of eyes upon him and the team. Assuming that someone had already taken an interest to kill them, Gideon figured that the cantina would be the best place, while walking through the door and taking a seat he unclasped his bolter keeping a hand hovering nearby.  

[BornStellarMakesEternal]

Virune smiled as he saw the cutter land, leading his new found ally out of the alley and into the cantina a moment after the others had entered. The wind kicked up behind them as they entered, sending dust devils whipping across the landing pad. Virune looked about and saw Gideon sitting at the bar, walking toward him and clapping his hand down on the man's shoulder. "Ave Imperator, friend. What brings you to Khonsu?" As he spoke he subtly made half the sign of the imperial aquila, hoping the man would understand. He shrugged to cover the motion and to relieve the weight of his autogun hanging by it's shoulder strap.  

[bhaus]

having already been on edge from the unsavory crowd around him, Gideon instinctively made for his gun yet controlled himself when he turned to see the aquila being made in front of him. He let out a slight sigh of relief, took his hand off his bolter, slammed the remainder of his drink and while still scanning the crowd replied"business that would best be spoken of in a more private area i think" he motioned out the door to Virune, and began to gather Kreiger and Van Evok.  

[BornStellarMakesEternal]

"Head for the Blue Moon Inn." Virune murmured, "About a half hour walk, and I wouldn't trust the public transit here. Wait on the third floor landing." He quietly retrieved Arkady and made his way toward the aforementioned inn.

"Well, psyker." Virune said as they walked. "Seems the wheels have started turning."  

[bhaus]

turning to Kreiger and Van Evok, Gideon suggested"i think it best if we all went separately to the inn, we assume that no one here knows who we are or what we're doing but we can't be sure. the three of us may draw unwanted attention to ourselves. Gideon nodded to each and before heading out, turned back and saidgood luck gents.  

[Van Evok]

"See ya in the inn, then." - with those wordsVan Evok turned around and left the cantina, out into blowing dust and wind. He smiled to himself, it seemed like bad old days in the ash wastes outside the hive city...  

[Sven Bergfalk]

Kinkaid rubbed the back of his head as he made his way towards the designated rally point. The shuttle drop had gone smoothly and there group had disbursed in to the crowds as to not attract any undue attention. glancing up at the sign that proclaimed the establishment as the "blue moon inn" Kinkaid made his way inside to wait.  

[bhaus]

Gideons' trek took a little longer than he had originally planned, still not convinced that someone,somewhere was watching he made sure to double back and circle city blocks as many times as he could afford to in an effort to not be followed. upon entering the blue moon inn he briskly walked up the stairs and made his way out to the third floor landing. finding kinkaid and Van Evok."good to see you made it in one piece"he said with a slight smirk  

[lord-kensington]

Kreiger entered the pracing Grox and made straight for the bar, seperate from his companions he would watch for anyone paying too much attention to the group. He watched their contact approach, the man said something to the group and gestured subtly towards the door. At a signal Kreiger made his way out the door and caught up with the group.

He heard the instructions about the Blue Moon Inn and about heading there separately. He would make his own way there but first he would have a look around the space port and scope out likely sources of intel. He stopped off at a public information terminal and downloaded a city map to his personal Codex.

He wandered off into the crowds and immersed himself in the hubbub of the busy port. He wandered around until he found the local Arbite Precinct, an ungly heavily fortified fortress that exuded menace. Having found a base point he began wandering further into the city. He took seat at a busy marketplace and studied the crowd, it wasn't long before he spied a small group of young men who were working together to pick the pockets of people in the crowd. They were exceptionally good at it too, however Kreiger had spent his career preventing people like this from robbing imperial citizens. However, now the rules had changed. and he was no longer bound by Arbite rules.
He got up and walked through the crowd acting like he was perusing the wares of the traders, it wasn't long before he was makred by one of the lads, it was very subtle. The man walked past him and, as if jostled by the crowd, knocked into Kreiger. Apologizing as he did he then continued on his way, but as he had bumped into Kreiger he had marked the back of his coat with white chalk. A signal to the pickpocket.

Kreiger continued to browse, acting oblivious to the mark until he felt another ever so gentle bump, he smiled, these guys were good, his wallet had gone. He moved off and tailed the culprit, he noted five of them in the group and waited until they moved out of the area, clearly not wanting to stay too long lest they be caught by the local enforcers.
They had gathered down a back alley when Kreiger approached them. 'I'll have my wallet back if you don't mind' he said as he joined the group.

They looked at him unsure of what he was. 'Take a hike old man, before you get hurt. It ain't safe round here!' said one of the group, producing a flick knife from his jacket.
Kreiger reacted with surprising speed, he grabbed the man by the wrist, wrenched the knife from his hand, spun round behind him and pressed the knife against his throat. 'Well it's a good job I'm good at looking out for myself. Now here's the deal. I get my wallet back and the contents, and I don't go to the Arbites about you. You can keep everything else to took today and you can keep on pick pocketing, but here's the thing. I own you all now! I don't want a cut, all I want is information. Do you understand?' He said looking at each of the other four men.
It took a few moments for things to sink in, the group eventually consented and handed back Kreiger's wallet. He released the man he had been holding and returned the knife.
'If anyone tries to muscle in on your operation let me know and me and my associates with deal with it, you have my word. Just let me know of anything 'interesting' that goes on round here.'

'How do we contact you?'

'Leave a message with the barkeeper at the Blue Moon Inn.' Kreiger said as he walked off.

He made his way back through the busy streets and using the map of the city on his Codex, navigated his way to the Blue Moon Inn.
He entered and walked to the bar, ordered a local ale. He chatted to the barman for a couple minutes before taking his drink and making his way up to the third floor where his comrades were waiting.

'Well, my time was quite fruitful.' he said as he took a seat and explained what he had been up to.  

[Van Evok]

"Blast it!" fumed Van Evok when he heard Kreiger's tale. "Have you ever thought of operational security?" he almost hissed. "You not only recruit lowlife that would sell their own mothers for a few credits, you give them info on exactly where we are! You could have AT LEAST give them some other contact point! We're not the long arm of law anymore, we're conspirators, and the fewer persons are involved the better!"  

[lord-kensington]

Kreiger looked at Van Evok as he berated him, he waited until he had finished before speaking.
'You clearly haven't spent much time in civilian life, things work differently off the battlefield. There is such a thing as honor among thieves. They won't tell anyone, they were a low time operation, not connected with anyone who might be on the look out. They don't know we're in the service of the Emperor, they think I'm either a crooked enforcer of some new offworld muscle, they gain nothing but trouble if they sell me out and gain protection from us if they co-operate. They get to keep doing their trade without interference. A bit of coin will sweeten the deal and they'll find that out when they give me some info of use. They value coin, information is cheap to them. Trust me knuckle-dragger, I've been playing this game for decades, I know what I'm doing.'

He leaned back and took a swig of the local Ale, it actually wasn't too bad.  

[Van Evok]

"If they are low time, no connections they are of no use. And I hope you understand that nothing screams SPY more than person asking to be fed info instead of money, as would any honest to Emperor criminal. And you think that few credits from us are enough to buy them? Wanna bet local bigwigs will outbid you in a blink? You dont get to become planetary rulers - or seriously big planetary house - without having some well funded internal security apparatus!" - Van Evok was not impressed by Kreiger's argument. "Believe me, I had to tangle with highborn that went on wrong side of the law."  

[bhaus]

Gideon raised an eyebrow at Van Evok"you're getting a bit worked up don't you think?" he asked, leaning forward in his chair."if these street rats are simple thieves and as 'low-time' as they seem to be, I highly doubt anyone would think twice to look their way. Besides, a small group of pick-pockets can't be that skilled in defense, and to have some added muscle at no real cost to them would be a benefit, with experienced muscle behind them they could attempt more daring jobs and be able to reap a more grand reward, not only in the coin for themselves but in the information we could use" he then got up, pulling out a tabac stick and began slowly puffing it while leaning against a shaded wall beginning to feel not only the heat from the sun once more but also from his own temper beginning to flare.  

[BornStellarMakesEternal]

Virune approached the group quietly and hushed them. "Whatever it is you're arguing about, it can wait. I found something on the way here, or rather it found me." He murmured. "On a related note remind me to stop by a gun store on the way back and pick up more manstopper rounds." He continued to glance over his shoulder cautiously. "You should all place your things in the bunkroom at the end of the hall, then meet me out back. Things may be a tad 'further along' then the HI thought." With that he left, moving back down the stairs quickly and quietly.