2022-05-20: Two of Hearts, Four of Spades
- Log: 2022-05-20: Two of Hearts, Four of Spades
- Cast: Sayla Mass, Laila Elsayed
- Where: Sayla's Villa, AEU Spain
- OOC - IC Date: 19 May, 0096
- Summary: In the aftermath of the Behemoth incident, the Shuffle Alliance's Heart-2 makes a request of Spade-4 to gather more information on their enemy- and the goals of their allies.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla Mass' Villa is what could be considered 'out of the way'. Decently out of from the nearest town, in one of the areas partially recovered from series of wars that have plagued the Earth Sphere. Where someone wanting to avoid press, or unnecessary people might have gone.
It also big. Large house, large outdoor area, a pool, room for what could become a vineyard one day. It's also by the looks of things, very empty.
Indeed, there's only two people in the house right now. Sayla Mass, the owner and Leina Ashta, her ward. Sayla is working, as she always is. Leina is getting her homework out of the way. It's a fairly quiet evening in, just two people existing in the same space.
The perimeter sensors go off, and Sayla quickly pulls up the cameras on her laptop. Leina raises an eyebrow. "Your business meeting?" Leina asks, fairly relaxed. Sayla nods.
"I'll take her through to the study. Not sure how long it will take but don't stay up too late, okay?" Sayla says, putting a hand on Leina's shoulder briefly as she passes.
"You realize that's pretty hollow coming from Dr 'I'm going to meet a Britannian princess on 3 hours sleep'?" Leina gives her a smirk, and Sayla shakes her head, owned by a 19 year old.
"She had head wounds, so it worked out fine." Sayla starts walking to the door. "But your point is made."
When her guest arrives, Sayla is waiting for them in the foyer.
<Pose Tracker> Laila Elsayed has posed.
Laila Elsayed did not exactly come from modest means, although her own standards are somewhat different than places such as this. An outdoor area is less vital, but a patio is splendid; and a pool, and a fountain, and a courtyard too, are de rigeur. Of course, at night, it becomes a little less urgent.
The perimeter sensors go off when a sleek and low-slung sports car - one primarily black but with highlights of gold and sky blue around the edges - approaches from the nearby road. The engines hum smoothly; the slightly blue-and-black headlamps cast actinic-blue columns of light ahead of her on the road; the hard shell top has been retracted at some point.
Laila hums along with a local song from the broadcast channels; she even sings along with the chorus. "Di un Misa~ Por mi Corazon; Perdoname, por lo que deb' hacer..."
But soon enough, she parks and locks the door, walking round with only a brief stop at the rear trunk to fish out a shoulder bag and press the silent security system. What does it do? Let's just say that NEIT-KHONSU cannot be towed by conventional forces, and leave it, then, at that.
Laila walks up the steps, then, and towards the house. Towards the house - a gentle tug at the bell, and then through the door.
Laila is wearing a dark blouse today, along with a hip-hugging skirt that reaches down towards the knee, dark leggings and oxblood pumps. Her arms are bare, although she has a reddish, star-dappled pattern wrap around her head; it hugs her hair enough to compress it a bit, but it's not very tight. It IS somewhat dusty. That's probably its main purpose.
"Miss Mass," Laila says. "How lovely to see you again. It's a lovely night for watching the sky, isn't it?"
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla is dressed remarkably casually- a light blouse, light flowing skirt, flats. It's warming up in Spain, after all. "Miss Elsayed, welcome. It's been too long." There's a pause, there though, when Sayla glances up. A pained microexpression. It's harder to look into the stars for her, these days. "I'll have to get my coat if we're sitting by telescopes." She gives a smile, but it's a weak one. "Please, follow me." Sayla leads Laila through the hallway, a quick few turns into the study. A room with comfortable chairs, a several desks- including the main one that is clearly Sayla's, bookshelves, a small drinks cabinet and fridge. It's also, to the trained eye, clearly a room for secure conversations. A place of control. She wordlessly offers a seat at the main desk. "Can I get you a drink?"
While waiting for the answer, Sayla pours herself a glass of water and a smaller one of vermouth, then handles Laila's, before taking a seat. With that done, she pulls a dossier from her desk, and places it in front of her. The inside has all the data that Sayla has been able to gather on the 'Behemoth Incident' from last month. She takes a seat of her own.
"I hope you excuse me for jumping straight to business, but things are still stretched thins. How familiar are you with A21 and the Behemoth?"
<Pose Tracker> Laila Elsayed has posed.
"I do have a paired set in the trunk if you're interested," Laila offers, "and it WOULD be rather breezy." And without attention, though of course, outdoors. After this, though, she steps inside, reaching up to unswirl her scarf, her hair falling loose and spreading out a bit as it does. "I would adore one," she says as they reach the study: "Just the one, though."
"I'd hate to impose on your hospitality, after all."
As she sets down, Laila crosses one leg over the other, leaning back slightly; relaxed. Her head tilts down as the dossier is placed, and Laila reaches forwards then, resting her fingers on the far side and sweeping it forwards to catch it with the other.
As she settles back, Laila murmurs, "A21... that's the troubled youth camp, isn't it? Formerly, anyway; an accusation became reality and then I suppose they built that big fellow. Nagoya in Japan, wasn't it?"
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"Perhaps later," Sayla responds, as they move through. Laila gets the same, vermouth, glass of water, but with the option of adding some frozen grapes to the mix instead of ice. Sayla prefers neat. "It's hardly an imposition, Miss Elsayed. The number of people I can share a drink with seems to grow smaller every year."
Fortunately business derails dismay. "...Well, it's not as straightforward as that. Two of their leaders fell into Blood of the Samurai, until it was obliterated by the viceroy. It makes their revenge make sense." She sighs. "But it seems extremely unlikely they built it. Not in the time they had, or with their resources. Or with that technology."
She hmms. "I will have to request the combat camera footage from the Arbalest from Captain Testarossa, unless you wish to do so yourself. But that thing should not have been able to move. And it was an Arm Slave, not an MS. That form factor does not scale up more. Nor that barrier... Someone had to provide it to them, and I would like to know who." Sayla shakes her head again.
"Unfortunately, our allies in Mithril aren't sharing everything. I don't know if this is the Captain's choice or those above her. Nor does it make sense to see how Sergeat Sagara disabled it."
%'Impose your will on reality, you goddamn brick!'
"...There's a second related issue to look into, if you are able."
<Pose Tracker> Laila Elsayed has posed.
Laila, by contrast, takes three grapes - although she gently crushes them, as well, before taking the drink and a sip thereof as she flips through the dossier. The statements make her eyebrows lift beneath her bangs; enough so that they lose immediate visibility. "That's quite true," she murmurs. "If you wanted to engage in terror tactics you'd be better off procuring something local, or obtaining a Mobile Suit from a Zeonic remnant or some other force."
She sips the drink with a soft clink of ice. "Even if you'd be overmatched by a simple patrol, you could also simply depart. A Mobile Suit from your day in good condition can still fly quite a distance, and if you make enough of a mess of particles, you're very hard to track."
Another question comes together. Laila's lips purse for a moment and she settles back. "Hm... I think I see the parameters. This thing's a sort of oversized Arm Slave, as you say, and that's what Mithril prefers to deploy... in addition to these... I'm sorry, is this... invincibility? That's not a... typical word I see in these summations."
Sip. "It's not the AT Field from the Evangelions; that's got that characteristic geometric ripple. Of course, I know little else about it," Laila continues, "but that's a story for another night. Disabled at last... hm, yes, scarce, I see why you'd be concerned..."
"I'd appreciate a note of introduction, since I've not worked with them and I'm not certain if Mithril will take my day to day at its word," Laila continues, shifting in her seat, "but let us hear the other question, too, before I can properly judge my ability." Her eyes turn upwards, slightly veiled by black.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"This was a suicide run. From the state he was in... there was no chance the pilot was surviving that. He died in Mithril custody but I inspected him when we pulled him out of the cockpit. Between the drug he needed to pilot it, and his internal injuries, well. Even if he'd survived his mind was practically destroyed." She pauses.
"It's also worth noting, we have reason to believe their leader survived. Chibodee reported she was knocked off the tanker when he was retrieving Mithril's Commander Kalinin, but she wasn't among the bodies reported. Where she is is anyone's guess, but she may have sought out the Black Knights for refuge. It's up to you if you pursue her, but I'd like to know if she's alive and making further plans."
"...Yes. It was like our attacks where just being ignored. Weapons could get through occasionally, but it was so plated as to be near indestructible. Not even Koji's Mazinger could get past it. Until it ceased being able to move. However, given the presence of a NERV pilot, it implies it wasn't theirs. In an idea world the Diamonds would be disassembling it, unfortunately we had to make our exist before the knightpolice decided to grab this." She takes a long sip of her vermouth.
"Of course. Do you prefer to go in announced, or a surprise visit? That's easier said than done with their main operations hub, but I could perhaps have them expecting me instead." She's pulling out a separate laptop to open it up- again, secure.
"The second question relates to Mithril's main objective. Captain Testarossa requested I look for 'extraordinary young people', and she was quite genuinely offended when I implied they might be forced to serve. But she has not been more specific. I know Diamond-6 didn't qualify, but I suspect Miss Chidori in that report is. So far she's been helpful, and requested my aid. But you might be able to notice something I don't, since she doesn't seem to know why Mithril is interested in her either." Sayla sighs.
"If you want to speak to her, please just be up front about it. I don't want to be explaining blue on blue with her overzealous bodyguard. But I'd also like to see if that gives you any information for who to look for, and then do so. Mithril are ultimately our allies, they would not be part of the Shuffle Alliance if..."
She tops dead, and downs the rest of her vermouth in one. Something unpleasant must have surfaced.
"If their intentions didn't align with ours. But I do not like being in the dark here. I'd like to be able to have something that would show we know enough that it's worth talking, if at all possible. Vague, frustrating goals, I know."
<Pose Tracker> Laila Elsayed has posed.
Laila seems to find a particular detail - which she looks at, twice.
Her expression firms after seeing it. As she looks up from the two arabic numerals and three letters (AGE: 16), her attention rests on Sayla directly. "A drug to enhance the pilot," Laila muses. "And it killed him, in the end; but not well."
She flips through a couple more details. "A machine like that would be best defeated at anchor, I imagine," Laila says. "And as for that: I imagine I can put together a credible set of explanations for the journey to Japan... hm. Or perhaps it would be simpler to stage out of Area 11, just in case..."
The question of 'extraordinary young people' comes up, and Laila raises her eyes up to meet Sayla's own. She isn't letting her bangs veil her features any more. "But it concerns you, doesn't it? These 'extraordinary young people'. That they're looking for. Eagerly, perhaps. Hungrily."
Laila closes the dossier folder with a soft 'flap!'
"I'm quite certain I can charm her bodyguard," Laila says, not knowing the scale and rugosity of the loaf she is carving for herself, "at least, enough to have a conversation. My greatest concern will be a means of introduction, but perhaps I have but to ask. After all, it's no great mystery to be looking into this terror cell and their methods... perhaps that alone would draw their attention."
Laila smiles, without much humor in it. "Yes; I can do this."
"But let me be certain," she says, raising up a hand held in a loose fist.
Thumb comes out. "First, to discover more regarding A21 and this Behemoth machine."
Index finger. "Second, to persuade Mithril to provide more information regarding 'extra-ordinary young people.'"
Middle finger. "And I infer a third, in your wish if not in your words... which is to either persuade Mithril that we," a faint pause as if she's still tasting the 'we' instead of 'you', "may be trusted... or at least, more trusted than we are. Or..."
"To report back, if this should prove contrariwise to our hopes; and they were not a friend at all."
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
She nods. "...It was commonly used with cyber-newtypes but if that boy was a newtype he was somehow so good at hiding it in a heightened emotional state that I couldn't tell. You can draw parallels to the Psycho-Gundam, I suppose..." The way Sayla says it, she doesn't totally believe it. She listens to Laila's plans. "As always, our resources are available to you. I may have to argue with Queen the Spade on expenditure but I can manage that."
Laila asks a question that, frankly, Sayla is glad she did. "...Yes. I can't stop people choosing to fight, but I will not be party to strongarming teenagers to do so. Captain Testarossa is an earnest young woman but..." Something clicks a little in her head. "...Add Captain Testarossa to your list of potentials." Something about them... felt similar. But she can't prove it. But she would make sense. Especially as she designed the Tuatha...
Sayla quickly types up something of a letter of introduction- purposely vague but enough to provide proof. "If that's the path you wish to go, then all luck to you." She stands to print. "But your Shuffle Card should serve as proof enough. Miss Chidori's asked to work with us as well. But with Mithril, well, you're likely going to have to meet them on their vessel, and that means working with them unless you have means to detect a stealth submarine that doesn't give off Minovsky particles." She hits print, and reaches under her desk again, placing the introduction on the table and signing it `Heart-2`. As she does, Laila lays out the mission as proposed.
"...You're correct on all counts," she says, silently glad Laila made explicit her implicit instructions. She folds the letter, and places it in an envelop with seals premarked with an element that shines under UV. An easy way to confirm no one has copied the signature and code. "Thank you, Miss Elsayed. Please be delicate where you can. If they're an ally, I don't want to lose them. If they aren't, I don't want to lose the element of surprise. But I will not let us be blindsided again." She slides the letter across the desk to Laila, a grim look on her face.