Post by Admin on Sept 23, 2009 19:59:20 GMT -5
Rian:
Rian felt a sense of deja vu as he waited for Ember and Ray to meet him. This time he had chosen to meet them in a room of the hotel that didn't contain a heartshaped bed. Rian had thought of claiming multiple rooms for himself like Ember but didn't really see the point. He didn't have that much stuff and he didn't take up that much space so why claim more rooms. All he needed was a place to sleep.
But he had chosen a room to be the Den's command center so to speak. It was here that he had maps of the surrounding area with new details always being marked down as the faction brought in more news. He also kept the files on important controllers in here as well as the morph training schedule for the faction.
The room even had a desk though Rian didn't ever sit at it. Still, it added a nice touch.
He waited for his two seconds to make their appearance so that he could discuss all of their recent events and begin to plan an overall strategy for taking back Las Vegas from the yeerks.
Ray:
Ray had been bored most of the day as he jammed away on the electric flying-v he'd acquired during the party. He was sure someone around the house probably heard the shrieking and chugging sounds that came from his room, but no one bothered to say anything. Just as he was about to change songs, he glanced over at the time. Shit. It was only one minute after the designated meeting time, but still.
Jumping up, Ray carefully put the guitar down and turned off the amp before rushing out the door. If there was one thing he hated more than anything it was being late. He'd found he had an obsession with being on time since he got his first job. He would really rather be an hour early than five minutes late. Maybe he was paranoid or something, but he felt that it showed a LOT about someone if they were late. He'd also held an extreme dislike for anyone whom was habitually late to events.
As he thought about how much he hated not being punctual, he'd actually turned his quick walk into a jog down the hallways. Damn, these hallways were so long. Too long. He thought about how there was a possibility of the other two sitting there waiting on him.
Ray finally found the room and was panting as he opened the door. Stepping inside he glanced at the clock. Only three minutes late. This was seriously important yes, but formal, no. The world is being infested with slugs and I'm worried sick over being three minutes late he mused. I'm definitely paranoid.
Ember:
Ember was running fifteen minutes behind, and counting. In fact, she'd forgotten all about the meeting, having written it down somewhere on the telephone pad in one of her rooms but as soon as it was on paper she'd dismissed it. Right now she was walking back to her second bedroom with a book in hand. It was something she'd found in the waiting room adjacent to the lobby. A slender bookcase with popular novels of the time, six or seven of them, and more magazines than she could care to count. Naturally she'd already stolen all of those, but had grown bored with taking the same quizzes and dating advice, and so had moved onto a vampire romance novel that had way too many gratuitous adverbs for her taste.
"Sigh. Beggars can't be choosers right?" She mumbled to herself, pushing her room's door open with her hip and moseying in.
"Oh!" Ember started, "Hey Ray, Rian. Hope I'm not interrupting." O f course she'd screwed up her room numbers before, but usually whenever that happened she just set up camp for a few hours and then moved on to find where she'd put her things for that night. Luckily for her she'd stumbled across the meeting, and realization dawned on her two seconds after she'd almost given that fact away. Her eyes widened and shot to her watch, then up at Rian. "Ah! ha ha, sorry I'm late." The book was quickly hidden behind her back, "Got here as fast as I could." She smiled with closed eyes, hoping that her lie would fly.
Rian:
<<Liar,>> he sent to her with a small smile in his eyes. Rian didn't use thoughtspeak with anyone but he found it easy to use it with Ember. She was 15 minutes late and had obviously forgotten about this meeting but she was here now so Rian decided to get started.
Outwardly he said to both of them, "so we've been here for almost two months now. How do you both think we're doing?" He was leaning against his desk, his arms crossed but his demeanor was relaxed. He thought they had been doing well and were laying a good groundwork for future work in this city but he wanted to hear their opinions, and more importantly, their ideas.
Ray:
Ray thought about it. How were they doing in the big picture of it all? In the past couple weeks he'd done some pretty insane things. Life and limb had been on the line alot, but things had gotten done. "Well," Ray started "I think if we'd have pushed it any further some of us may not be around. I think we've done a good job keeping everyone alive for the most part while still making our mark. I believe we've assessed our risks as best we could and got as much done without a loss of life."
He nervously scratched behind his head after the statement. He knew they'd at least been lucky that no had died. Leading a team was a new experience for him and he knew that Rian could read between the lines. Ray wasn't as ice cold as the statement seemed, rather he was hinting that he was glad that he hadn't gotten anyone killed.
He felt better when he thought about how Rian must be taking this. He'd surely be as empathetic as anyone here. Not that any of them would chicken out if it came to loss of life. That was war. Sometimes it was a complex series of events all tying in together. Other times it was blunt slaughter. He knew that they very well could be on the receiving end of the latter one day.
"Being a little bit of a critic on it though, I think we need more leads." Ray said continuing on in his report. "I know we've got Teddy whom has given us the invitations and such, but we should find out who the major power players are and go after them. This city isn't set in stone as far as yeerk control goes, perhaps it could still be a bastion for freedom."
Ray:
"It may not have that many major yeerks, but we don't exactly have the upper hand either." Ember pointed out, "And although we've made some impacts here and there, going around announcing that Vegas is now under Animorph protection is going to get us all killed. We just don't have the numbers to overthrow the yeerk control here. Not to mention, as it is the yeerks are lazy or bickering with themselves. If our faction presents a real threat, out in the open, they're going to band together through the common goal of "killing us" and become much stronger."
She paced across the room, picking up a pen from the desk and fiddling with the cap. "I like the idea of finding new leads. But I also think we need to keep our heads down. Especially after that stunt at area 51. We stole one of their machines, broke out their prisoners, and presented a real threat! Thats all well and cool, but if they think we're making a habit of it... they're going to come hunt us down." She locked eyes with Rian, "And we are not prepared for that."
"I don't know much about history and war tactics and stuff like that, but if we're planning to overthrow Vegas we've got to be prepared for the consequences. It's not just us we're putting on the line. It's all the animorph factions in every city. Just think about what will happen if we lose and one of them gets a hold of our information. Especially you Rian, then they'd know everything about us." She laughed, shaking her head, "AND think about what would happen if we won! That's almost even worse. Every major player would crack down on Vegas so hard we'd never knew what'd hit us." She sighed, settling into a chair and tossing the pen away, "I like the idea of fighting back and making a mark, and trying to get more leads is a good idea too, but... One of us has to play the devil's advocate here and point out the extreme stupidity rushing forward would get us in. More than anything else, we need to play it safe right now. Use the tunnels, back doors, guerrilla warfare; and Don't let them know its us doing the damage."
Rian:
Rian looked down, ashamed. Ember couldn't have pegged him more accurately. He was impatient and he was ready to do damage now. He had already been fighting this war for almost a year and he was ready to be done with it. And if he couldn't be done with it then at least he wanted to stand across the battlefield from his enemy and be able to look them in the eye, able to let them know he was here, make them feel a bit of what they had made him feel. No more sneaking in the shadows, no more traps, no more subterfuge.
But she was right. And he had been too impatient to see it, pushing the faction to make its mark on Vegas and never considering the consequences. Getting caught up in tactics and forgetting strategy. Funny, all this from a young woman who hadn't thought herself fit to lead anyone just a little while ago.
He looked at Ray and Ember. "You're right Ember. We need to go slowly." It hurt his pride to say it but he said it anyway. "But that doesn't mean we should stop in our tracks. But maybe we should cool it with the overt actions. We don't want them thinking we are a player in Vegas, let's work through someone else instead. Use the sub-vissers and other powerful yeerks in this city against one another. And for that we need more leads, we need more contacts and we need not to be seen. So who is up for nomination? Who do we know? Ray, what happened on that mission for the grenades and with that controller? I know something went down and I haven't pushed you or Luce to tell me but no one who went out there seems to want to talk about it and I have a feeling it might be important."
Ember:
Hey! Ember thought to herself, alright! For a second there I thought I was going to get kicked out of the boys club for not suggesting something manly and suicidal. But look at that, I came up with a good idea and it was well received! Ha, not bad for not knowing what the hell I'm doing. She smiled, but hid it with a thoughtful hand over her mouth, and an intent stare into the distance. Inwardly though, she was patting herself on the back for her soothing feminine insights and graceful diplomatic tactics.
That is, until she heard rian's last question.
"Wait, what? You guys went on a grenade mission?!" Her jaw dropped open, "Where was I for that? Agh, that sounds ridiculously fun! Did you get to blow anything up? Please tell me you got to blow something up."
Ray:
Ray rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly at Ember. "Um, yeah, that wasn't as much fun as you might think." Ray said. He then quit smiling and looked over at Rian. "Luce wanted to be the one to tell you about this and she'd strongly prefer you talk to her about it. I have told her I'd let her speak to you first, but I could possibly tell my side after this fact. I don't think that would be breaking any vows."
He carried on speaking with further ideas, not letting inqueries of Luce get through. "We do have those invitations..." Ray said pulling out an invite to the massive controller gathering that was going to go down in a few days. "From what it reads I gather that they are going to party to celebrate the opening of something big. Anytime the yeerks have cause to celebrate is bad news..."
Rian:
Ray's answer bothered Rian a bit. Why would Luce ask to tell him herself. What had happened? But Rian didn't push Ray on it, he would just have to talk to Luce later.
"Yeah, I don't like the fact that they are celebrating something either. And I'm not sure we should go even if we could. There are sure to be a lot of high ranking controllers and we might be recognized from the lab." He tried to weigh the risks with the potential gain of making contacts that they could work through.
"How many invitations are there?"
Ray:
"I've got four invitations." Ray replied. "I'm certain that I shouldn't go. Too many people know me and I can't take the chance of morphing Duke."
As much as Ray would have liked to go, he'd have to sit this one out. He'd be worried from the sidelines, but he felt he'd done an ample amount in gaining access to this place. Still, not enough to pacify him. Maybe he could do something with his air morphs? This was going to be a very difficult and dangerous mission and he'd be there one way or another, just not as close as he'd like.
"We'll probably have to recon our way in because it's such a big gathering." Ray said wasting no time in diving into tactics. "Some of us might be able to pass as humans, but we have to make sure they havn't been seen. Any ideas on who should go?" He left the last question to both of them as he was stumped on who should have the honors of attending.
Ember:
"I'm not sure, a lot of us were exposed during the Old Town mission." Ember sighed, scratching her head absently. "Oh!" She jumped up from her chair and grinned at Rian, "But there's someone they haven't seen yet. Remember the woman controller I used to try and help save robert back in LA? I've still got her DNA to use and no one around here would recognize her. It might be tight since there's a possibility that I'll run out of time and have to morph, but at least one of us would be able to stay on the ground level."
She paused, "unless... are you going Rian?
Rian:
Rian sat back on the front of his desk and mentally ran through his faction members. Already more than half of them were out of the running because of the dracon grenade recovery mission. Damn, Ember had a point about offensive actions. They may have ended up losing more than they gained on that. And he still had the feeling that something had happened that know one was telling him. Scratch that, he knew for sure that something had happened that Luce wasn't telling him. He was trying to let her have her space on it but he needed to know what it was and decided to talk to her after this.
But first he had to figure out who was best to send in. Ray, Drake, Nadia and Cecily had been seen. Besides, Cecily wasn't even here at the moment. Rian had sent her to help escort some of the refugees to the refugee camps in the south, maybe as far away as Mexico, and hopefully bring more definite word back about their existence and their location.
He wasn't sure when she would be back but she had been the only one he both trusted and yet felt wasn't integral to the inner workings of the team to send.
So who did that leave? Ember, Diana and Luce. Well he hated to say it but he didn't trust Luce to go, at least not until he knew what was going on with her. But both Ember and Diana would make good choices for the mission, especially if Ember was going to be going under cover.
Four invites. Who would be the other two.
"I think you should go Ember. Diana too. But that still leaves two spots open. Who should we send in while the rest of us provide back up?"
He debated with himself for a while but finally said, "I think I should be on the inside." He wasn't sure. He would have preferred to be somewhere where he could watch both groups. Being on the inside would mean he wouldn't have as much flexibility to change the situation if it didn't go their way but what else could he do? He was one of the few Animorphs that hadn't been seen. Added to that he also had a human morph from the time when they had tried to rescue Robert.
But that still left the question of who should go in with the fourth ticket.
"Maybe we should leave the fourth ticket free. That way if someone who is serving as backup has to get into the party they can. Ray, you of course, will be leading the back up on the outside. Try to make it a scouting mission as well, sneaking into the places we won't be able to get to as humans."
Ray:
The plan Rian had laid out had been a sound one. There wasn't any way in hell that Ray was going to get in on the major part of the action and a part of him didn't want to, but his need to do something would be pacified by leading a backup team which would probably prove quite useful to the mission. If he were to go as Duke, his luck would be that he'd probably meet up with the real Duke.
"Another thing I think we should do before we go is meet up with Teddy." Ray said. "We'll need specifics and it probably wouldn't hurt to arrive at the party with the guy anyway. I'm not sure what to expect or even what the exact address of this place is so meeting with him is a must. If you want, I'll fly over there later tonight and get the scoop. Anyone else is welcome to come along if they like."
Ember:
"Sounds good. Maybe you could take Luce with you. I'm sure she'll like it," Rian said with a smile since it sounded like it would be a field trip for Luce where to anyone else it would be a dangerous meeting. But that just reminded him that there was something Luce was keeping from him. He thought they had a deal. The night she had killed that boy he thought that they had come to an understanding. But that understanding didn't include lying to him, even by omission. Still, Ray had said that she had wanted to tell him herself so maybe she hadn't been hiding things. Maybe he should give her the benefit of the doubt.
Except he didn't think he could. Luce was dangerous, that she had proven. And he didn't like the idea of her going off on her own.
"So that settles that. This party, it's in two weeks right? Find out where this place is and then we'll recon it. I don't want any surprises like what happened at area 51. We were lucky to get out of that one. And I don't think those controllers we pissed off will be glad to see us again so let's make sure they don't."
He stood up from the desk he had been leaning on and ran both hands through his hair, shaking it out really quickly. "Ok, thanks to both of you. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy your company but let's meet by the pool next time and just hang out or even play poker. I live in Vegas and I don't know how to play poker, I'm ashamed of myself. Anything but business, I feel like I only ever talk to you both about business." A distinct displeasure in the case of Ember.
((I said the two week thing to explain the time that passes because there are threads after this. I think only a couple more posts here and then Ray you could start a new thread for talking to Teddy and Luce can join you if you choose. I'm gonna use the end of this thread for a convo between Luce and Rian but she won't be "here" all night. Rian won't be either if there is something for him to do?))
Rian felt a sense of deja vu as he waited for Ember and Ray to meet him. This time he had chosen to meet them in a room of the hotel that didn't contain a heartshaped bed. Rian had thought of claiming multiple rooms for himself like Ember but didn't really see the point. He didn't have that much stuff and he didn't take up that much space so why claim more rooms. All he needed was a place to sleep.
But he had chosen a room to be the Den's command center so to speak. It was here that he had maps of the surrounding area with new details always being marked down as the faction brought in more news. He also kept the files on important controllers in here as well as the morph training schedule for the faction.
The room even had a desk though Rian didn't ever sit at it. Still, it added a nice touch.
He waited for his two seconds to make their appearance so that he could discuss all of their recent events and begin to plan an overall strategy for taking back Las Vegas from the yeerks.
Ray:
Ray had been bored most of the day as he jammed away on the electric flying-v he'd acquired during the party. He was sure someone around the house probably heard the shrieking and chugging sounds that came from his room, but no one bothered to say anything. Just as he was about to change songs, he glanced over at the time. Shit. It was only one minute after the designated meeting time, but still.
Jumping up, Ray carefully put the guitar down and turned off the amp before rushing out the door. If there was one thing he hated more than anything it was being late. He'd found he had an obsession with being on time since he got his first job. He would really rather be an hour early than five minutes late. Maybe he was paranoid or something, but he felt that it showed a LOT about someone if they were late. He'd also held an extreme dislike for anyone whom was habitually late to events.
As he thought about how much he hated not being punctual, he'd actually turned his quick walk into a jog down the hallways. Damn, these hallways were so long. Too long. He thought about how there was a possibility of the other two sitting there waiting on him.
Ray finally found the room and was panting as he opened the door. Stepping inside he glanced at the clock. Only three minutes late. This was seriously important yes, but formal, no. The world is being infested with slugs and I'm worried sick over being three minutes late he mused. I'm definitely paranoid.
Ember:
Ember was running fifteen minutes behind, and counting. In fact, she'd forgotten all about the meeting, having written it down somewhere on the telephone pad in one of her rooms but as soon as it was on paper she'd dismissed it. Right now she was walking back to her second bedroom with a book in hand. It was something she'd found in the waiting room adjacent to the lobby. A slender bookcase with popular novels of the time, six or seven of them, and more magazines than she could care to count. Naturally she'd already stolen all of those, but had grown bored with taking the same quizzes and dating advice, and so had moved onto a vampire romance novel that had way too many gratuitous adverbs for her taste.
"Sigh. Beggars can't be choosers right?" She mumbled to herself, pushing her room's door open with her hip and moseying in.
"Oh!" Ember started, "Hey Ray, Rian. Hope I'm not interrupting." O f course she'd screwed up her room numbers before, but usually whenever that happened she just set up camp for a few hours and then moved on to find where she'd put her things for that night. Luckily for her she'd stumbled across the meeting, and realization dawned on her two seconds after she'd almost given that fact away. Her eyes widened and shot to her watch, then up at Rian. "Ah! ha ha, sorry I'm late." The book was quickly hidden behind her back, "Got here as fast as I could." She smiled with closed eyes, hoping that her lie would fly.
Rian:
<<Liar,>> he sent to her with a small smile in his eyes. Rian didn't use thoughtspeak with anyone but he found it easy to use it with Ember. She was 15 minutes late and had obviously forgotten about this meeting but she was here now so Rian decided to get started.
Outwardly he said to both of them, "so we've been here for almost two months now. How do you both think we're doing?" He was leaning against his desk, his arms crossed but his demeanor was relaxed. He thought they had been doing well and were laying a good groundwork for future work in this city but he wanted to hear their opinions, and more importantly, their ideas.
Ray:
Ray thought about it. How were they doing in the big picture of it all? In the past couple weeks he'd done some pretty insane things. Life and limb had been on the line alot, but things had gotten done. "Well," Ray started "I think if we'd have pushed it any further some of us may not be around. I think we've done a good job keeping everyone alive for the most part while still making our mark. I believe we've assessed our risks as best we could and got as much done without a loss of life."
He nervously scratched behind his head after the statement. He knew they'd at least been lucky that no had died. Leading a team was a new experience for him and he knew that Rian could read between the lines. Ray wasn't as ice cold as the statement seemed, rather he was hinting that he was glad that he hadn't gotten anyone killed.
He felt better when he thought about how Rian must be taking this. He'd surely be as empathetic as anyone here. Not that any of them would chicken out if it came to loss of life. That was war. Sometimes it was a complex series of events all tying in together. Other times it was blunt slaughter. He knew that they very well could be on the receiving end of the latter one day.
"Being a little bit of a critic on it though, I think we need more leads." Ray said continuing on in his report. "I know we've got Teddy whom has given us the invitations and such, but we should find out who the major power players are and go after them. This city isn't set in stone as far as yeerk control goes, perhaps it could still be a bastion for freedom."
Ray:
"It may not have that many major yeerks, but we don't exactly have the upper hand either." Ember pointed out, "And although we've made some impacts here and there, going around announcing that Vegas is now under Animorph protection is going to get us all killed. We just don't have the numbers to overthrow the yeerk control here. Not to mention, as it is the yeerks are lazy or bickering with themselves. If our faction presents a real threat, out in the open, they're going to band together through the common goal of "killing us" and become much stronger."
She paced across the room, picking up a pen from the desk and fiddling with the cap. "I like the idea of finding new leads. But I also think we need to keep our heads down. Especially after that stunt at area 51. We stole one of their machines, broke out their prisoners, and presented a real threat! Thats all well and cool, but if they think we're making a habit of it... they're going to come hunt us down." She locked eyes with Rian, "And we are not prepared for that."
"I don't know much about history and war tactics and stuff like that, but if we're planning to overthrow Vegas we've got to be prepared for the consequences. It's not just us we're putting on the line. It's all the animorph factions in every city. Just think about what will happen if we lose and one of them gets a hold of our information. Especially you Rian, then they'd know everything about us." She laughed, shaking her head, "AND think about what would happen if we won! That's almost even worse. Every major player would crack down on Vegas so hard we'd never knew what'd hit us." She sighed, settling into a chair and tossing the pen away, "I like the idea of fighting back and making a mark, and trying to get more leads is a good idea too, but... One of us has to play the devil's advocate here and point out the extreme stupidity rushing forward would get us in. More than anything else, we need to play it safe right now. Use the tunnels, back doors, guerrilla warfare; and Don't let them know its us doing the damage."
Rian:
Rian looked down, ashamed. Ember couldn't have pegged him more accurately. He was impatient and he was ready to do damage now. He had already been fighting this war for almost a year and he was ready to be done with it. And if he couldn't be done with it then at least he wanted to stand across the battlefield from his enemy and be able to look them in the eye, able to let them know he was here, make them feel a bit of what they had made him feel. No more sneaking in the shadows, no more traps, no more subterfuge.
But she was right. And he had been too impatient to see it, pushing the faction to make its mark on Vegas and never considering the consequences. Getting caught up in tactics and forgetting strategy. Funny, all this from a young woman who hadn't thought herself fit to lead anyone just a little while ago.
He looked at Ray and Ember. "You're right Ember. We need to go slowly." It hurt his pride to say it but he said it anyway. "But that doesn't mean we should stop in our tracks. But maybe we should cool it with the overt actions. We don't want them thinking we are a player in Vegas, let's work through someone else instead. Use the sub-vissers and other powerful yeerks in this city against one another. And for that we need more leads, we need more contacts and we need not to be seen. So who is up for nomination? Who do we know? Ray, what happened on that mission for the grenades and with that controller? I know something went down and I haven't pushed you or Luce to tell me but no one who went out there seems to want to talk about it and I have a feeling it might be important."
Ember:
Hey! Ember thought to herself, alright! For a second there I thought I was going to get kicked out of the boys club for not suggesting something manly and suicidal. But look at that, I came up with a good idea and it was well received! Ha, not bad for not knowing what the hell I'm doing. She smiled, but hid it with a thoughtful hand over her mouth, and an intent stare into the distance. Inwardly though, she was patting herself on the back for her soothing feminine insights and graceful diplomatic tactics.
That is, until she heard rian's last question.
"Wait, what? You guys went on a grenade mission?!" Her jaw dropped open, "Where was I for that? Agh, that sounds ridiculously fun! Did you get to blow anything up? Please tell me you got to blow something up."
Ray:
Ray rubbed the back of his head and grinned sheepishly at Ember. "Um, yeah, that wasn't as much fun as you might think." Ray said. He then quit smiling and looked over at Rian. "Luce wanted to be the one to tell you about this and she'd strongly prefer you talk to her about it. I have told her I'd let her speak to you first, but I could possibly tell my side after this fact. I don't think that would be breaking any vows."
He carried on speaking with further ideas, not letting inqueries of Luce get through. "We do have those invitations..." Ray said pulling out an invite to the massive controller gathering that was going to go down in a few days. "From what it reads I gather that they are going to party to celebrate the opening of something big. Anytime the yeerks have cause to celebrate is bad news..."
Rian:
Ray's answer bothered Rian a bit. Why would Luce ask to tell him herself. What had happened? But Rian didn't push Ray on it, he would just have to talk to Luce later.
"Yeah, I don't like the fact that they are celebrating something either. And I'm not sure we should go even if we could. There are sure to be a lot of high ranking controllers and we might be recognized from the lab." He tried to weigh the risks with the potential gain of making contacts that they could work through.
"How many invitations are there?"
Ray:
"I've got four invitations." Ray replied. "I'm certain that I shouldn't go. Too many people know me and I can't take the chance of morphing Duke."
As much as Ray would have liked to go, he'd have to sit this one out. He'd be worried from the sidelines, but he felt he'd done an ample amount in gaining access to this place. Still, not enough to pacify him. Maybe he could do something with his air morphs? This was going to be a very difficult and dangerous mission and he'd be there one way or another, just not as close as he'd like.
"We'll probably have to recon our way in because it's such a big gathering." Ray said wasting no time in diving into tactics. "Some of us might be able to pass as humans, but we have to make sure they havn't been seen. Any ideas on who should go?" He left the last question to both of them as he was stumped on who should have the honors of attending.
Ember:
"I'm not sure, a lot of us were exposed during the Old Town mission." Ember sighed, scratching her head absently. "Oh!" She jumped up from her chair and grinned at Rian, "But there's someone they haven't seen yet. Remember the woman controller I used to try and help save robert back in LA? I've still got her DNA to use and no one around here would recognize her. It might be tight since there's a possibility that I'll run out of time and have to morph, but at least one of us would be able to stay on the ground level."
She paused, "unless... are you going Rian?
Rian:
Rian sat back on the front of his desk and mentally ran through his faction members. Already more than half of them were out of the running because of the dracon grenade recovery mission. Damn, Ember had a point about offensive actions. They may have ended up losing more than they gained on that. And he still had the feeling that something had happened that know one was telling him. Scratch that, he knew for sure that something had happened that Luce wasn't telling him. He was trying to let her have her space on it but he needed to know what it was and decided to talk to her after this.
But first he had to figure out who was best to send in. Ray, Drake, Nadia and Cecily had been seen. Besides, Cecily wasn't even here at the moment. Rian had sent her to help escort some of the refugees to the refugee camps in the south, maybe as far away as Mexico, and hopefully bring more definite word back about their existence and their location.
He wasn't sure when she would be back but she had been the only one he both trusted and yet felt wasn't integral to the inner workings of the team to send.
So who did that leave? Ember, Diana and Luce. Well he hated to say it but he didn't trust Luce to go, at least not until he knew what was going on with her. But both Ember and Diana would make good choices for the mission, especially if Ember was going to be going under cover.
Four invites. Who would be the other two.
"I think you should go Ember. Diana too. But that still leaves two spots open. Who should we send in while the rest of us provide back up?"
He debated with himself for a while but finally said, "I think I should be on the inside." He wasn't sure. He would have preferred to be somewhere where he could watch both groups. Being on the inside would mean he wouldn't have as much flexibility to change the situation if it didn't go their way but what else could he do? He was one of the few Animorphs that hadn't been seen. Added to that he also had a human morph from the time when they had tried to rescue Robert.
But that still left the question of who should go in with the fourth ticket.
"Maybe we should leave the fourth ticket free. That way if someone who is serving as backup has to get into the party they can. Ray, you of course, will be leading the back up on the outside. Try to make it a scouting mission as well, sneaking into the places we won't be able to get to as humans."
Ray:
The plan Rian had laid out had been a sound one. There wasn't any way in hell that Ray was going to get in on the major part of the action and a part of him didn't want to, but his need to do something would be pacified by leading a backup team which would probably prove quite useful to the mission. If he were to go as Duke, his luck would be that he'd probably meet up with the real Duke.
"Another thing I think we should do before we go is meet up with Teddy." Ray said. "We'll need specifics and it probably wouldn't hurt to arrive at the party with the guy anyway. I'm not sure what to expect or even what the exact address of this place is so meeting with him is a must. If you want, I'll fly over there later tonight and get the scoop. Anyone else is welcome to come along if they like."
Ember:
"Sounds good. Maybe you could take Luce with you. I'm sure she'll like it," Rian said with a smile since it sounded like it would be a field trip for Luce where to anyone else it would be a dangerous meeting. But that just reminded him that there was something Luce was keeping from him. He thought they had a deal. The night she had killed that boy he thought that they had come to an understanding. But that understanding didn't include lying to him, even by omission. Still, Ray had said that she had wanted to tell him herself so maybe she hadn't been hiding things. Maybe he should give her the benefit of the doubt.
Except he didn't think he could. Luce was dangerous, that she had proven. And he didn't like the idea of her going off on her own.
"So that settles that. This party, it's in two weeks right? Find out where this place is and then we'll recon it. I don't want any surprises like what happened at area 51. We were lucky to get out of that one. And I don't think those controllers we pissed off will be glad to see us again so let's make sure they don't."
He stood up from the desk he had been leaning on and ran both hands through his hair, shaking it out really quickly. "Ok, thanks to both of you. I'm not saying that I don't enjoy your company but let's meet by the pool next time and just hang out or even play poker. I live in Vegas and I don't know how to play poker, I'm ashamed of myself. Anything but business, I feel like I only ever talk to you both about business." A distinct displeasure in the case of Ember.
((I said the two week thing to explain the time that passes because there are threads after this. I think only a couple more posts here and then Ray you could start a new thread for talking to Teddy and Luce can join you if you choose. I'm gonna use the end of this thread for a convo between Luce and Rian but she won't be "here" all night. Rian won't be either if there is something for him to do?))