A moment passes after you swipe the keycard before a light on the door's lock changes from red to green and you here a click somewhere deep inside the mechanism. Trying the handle, the door opens and you are able to step into the corridor on the other side, the side entrance of museum just ahead on your right.
Relief is not what Jug feels, as they were not fretting about the outcome, but they welcome the lack of complications. Access now granted, they proceed through the door, down the hall, and to the side entrance, checking for another keycard reader.
As soon as Jug appears, Antoine gives the VI a curt nod, before beckoning Sven and John to follow him. He moves for the door at a brisk, confident pace. Let's roll.
"Thank you," the woman says, taking your tickets and inspecting them for a moment or two. "Through the scanner please," she says, handing them back as gesturing for you to step forward through the metal pillars of the security scanner.
Sven, Antoine John and Jug
The three humans step quickly in through the open door, hoping their entrance was quick enough to go unnoticed by anyone watching the cameras.
As per Thoras' building plans, you now find yourself in an L-shaped corridor. To your left a door leads out into the Barbarians of Soxeardi exhibit, ahead another door should lead into the staff office area, while to your right the corridor curves around the offices towards the security office and the museum's main entrance.
"Good to see you again," Antoine says brightly to Jug as he shuts the door behind them. He nods toward the door in front of them that leads to the break room, then a couple offices. He leads the way inside.
At the older human's greeting, a true, glad-to-see-them greeting, Jug's circuitry pulses. This pulse is unfamiliar, but welcome, something like what they speculate taking a breath feels like after drowning for longer than one could remember. They return his nod, Antoine = Kind. Express: Appreciation."Gratitude: Thank you, Tommy. It is good to see you again, too. Extension: And you all, as well." They add, nodding to Sven and John in turn.
Jug follows Antoine's lead, their movements almost imperceptibly less mechanical than they were before meeting up with the others.
When asked, Tristan walks through the scanner knowing he shouldn't have anything on him that would trigger it. On the way out, I definitely would. He thinks, letting the process happen.
"Likewise," Sven says, returning the nod to Jug. "Glad to see they didn't turn you into an exhibit. Let's get to it though, yeah?" He takes an unsteady breath, nerves growing but trying to remain composed. Hope security is slacking with the party going on.
One by one you step through the security scanner, its alarms remaining mercifully silent thanks to your gear entering through the side entrance with your comrades.
"All good, enjoy the party," the woman says, releasing you to continue up the steps and into the museum. As you make your way into the entrance hall you are greeted by a number of waitstaff holding trays of champagne and canapes, which the other guests eagerly sample.
"Welcome on behalf of your host Tobias Vibol. Please take a drink and browse the museum's exhibits at your leisure. There will be an announcement when the main event is to behind in the main hall,"one of them greets you, offering you a drink from their tray.
Sven, Antoine John and Jug
You make your way through the door, which is unlocked, and find yourselves in the breakroom. It is currently empty with the lights off, illuminated by the low green glow of the lights that signal the exit in case of an emergency. From what you can make out in the low light, the room contains a small kitchenette area along the back wall, with the rest of the room being taken up by an assortment of tables, chairs, and couches.
Through the darkness you can see the two doors, ahead and to your right, that lead to the offices that were marked on the museum's floor plan.
Antoine flips the lights on, and — once everyone has entered into the break room — closes the door. He nods toward the door on the right. "Alright, Seb, let's get you going."
The man turns to John. "You bring two of them?" he asks, meaning the shunts. "I can take one in case we wanna split our chances."
"Now or never, I guess. Got work to do," Sven says with a nod, making his way to the door. Slowly turning the handle, he peers through the crack as he inches it open. Hopefully most people are off for the holiday...
"Marvelous, thank you darling," Em responds, trying not to cringe at her false persona as she reaches for one of the champagne glasses, leaving the appetizers for another time. Can't have a fancy rich folk party without some fancy little foods and champagne. I gotta make sure to only sip, don't need to be tipsy for the job.
Passing the drink to Tristan, she takes another for herself, before she begins to wander the hall, glancing around at all the gathered people and the entrances to the exhibits up ahead. Don't wanna head straight for the weaponry, that would be a bit suspicious. Maybe the Veranda first. Could get some fresh air."Where shall we go first, dear?" she asks her companion, as she begins to step towards the staircase to the second floor.
Peering through the cracked open door, you can see the office is dimly lit like the breakroom - any back office employees clearly off the clock for the event.
The office itself is an assortment of mismatched desks, filing cabinets and chairs, arranged somewhat haphazardly. Far from the image of a pristine corporate office with banks of desks in neat rows. The door to the security office is shut, however you can see a small strip of light through the crack at the foot of the door and you can hear sounds of muffled laughter coming from within.
Antoine grunts softly, closing the door to the right office. "Sorry, got mixed up there. Didn't realize this one shared a door with security," he admits, turning back toward the other door. "This one should hopefully do the trick."
You make your way back through the break room and into the other office. Inside you find a similar scene to the other office, with lights dimmed and the room empty. This office however contains only four workstations, presumably belonging to higher ranking employees of the museum than those packed into the other room.
"Can definitely try," Sven says, stepping toward one of the computers and trying to wake it or turn it on. Hope they're not password protected. Or that there's a note somewhere with it. Otherwise we do it the hard way.
You wake up the nearest terminal and find yourself greeted by the blue glow of a login screen - although with the hacks you have prepared, just the fact the computer is connected to the museum's network should be enough to get in and get the access you require.
Sven takes a deep breath to steady his nerves. "Might not even need to log in, actually," he says, cracking his fingers as he looks over the terminal. "Get one of those shunts ready, yeah? Will probably need it to crack this open."Let's see where it's gotta go then. Mechanics
Answer a Specific Question (Program/Int): [2d6]=12
Sven connects his dataslab to the terminal and runs his prepared hack program. It only takes a few seconds for the program to crack into the museum system and return the information. Sven
Looking over the system's architecture information your hack has retrieved, you are able to see that the system should only require one line shunt for further hacks, although there are several locations where one could be placed on a susceptible data line.
On a data line that runs through the security office console.
Inside a HVAC vent inside the upstairs Eastern most bathroom.
On the data line that connects the Record's Room's main archival computer to the network.
A cable that is buried underneath the ground in the courtyard.
A data junction box outside on the wall of the Western Veranda.
You know that while you only need to place one of the line shunts to be able to execute further hacks on the system, your hacks will last until all applied line shunts have been found and removed by the museum's security team.
"And we're in," Sven says with a relieved smile. Thank fuck. But more work to do. He shows his dataslab to the other three, pointing to the vulnerable data lines. "Security's probably a no-go, and we forgot to pack our shovels for the one in the courtyard." He gives a brief smirk, mentally crossing off those options.
"Leaves us with three then. Vent in the upstairs bathroom, Record's Room, and the west verandah. Can crack the systems with just one shunt, but could always use both if we wanted to be cautious."
Antoine nods in approval, relieved and impressed at Sven's competence. Kids these days know all kinds of tricks with tech. It's good we've got his help.
"Record room's quickest, but right next to security," Antoine says, checking a map of the facility on his compad. "West veranda's probably got clientele lingering. Jug here might catch little notice, though, performing a routine check on the junction box."
"Otherwise, that bathroom might work, but we should bring two of us — one to keep the door closed for maintenance or cleaning, and the other to place the shunt."
He turns to the other three. "What we thinking here?"
Tristan takes the drink and holds it, following her up to the stairs. "Outside, to the veranda?" He asks, trying to push the weirdness aside quietly. "Fresh air and champagne go together well."
"Cautionary: I am supposed to be deactivated in the curator's office, I may not attract attention for the other guests, but if he spots me, we could have a problem. Concurrence: Two pairs seems best. I and another to the junction box, and the others to the lavatory. Redundancy never hurts." Jug says in their signature monotone, reaching out to take the shunt from John.
"Two pairs, then. After all, you're boxed out until we have a shunt in place, anyhow, right?" Antoine says, nodding at Sven. "I can handle the bathroom."
"Sure," Sven says, tossing his metatool to Antoine. "Might need that to get into the vents. Message if you need backup, yeah?" He looks to Jug and gives them a nod, taking the shunt from their grasp and tucking it into his pocket. "Could get the other two to run distraction too, if we need. Can't let them schmooze and booze and have all the fun while we're doing all the work, right?" He cracks a smirk, tucking his dataslab away as he heads for the door.
Making your way upstairs and out onto the balcony of the main hall, you are granted a preview of your vantage point over the stage, should everything go to plan. Save for a few angles blocked by lights and decorations hung above the stage, you should easily be able to line up a shot on Vibol once he takes to the stage.
Headed for the Veranda, you make your way into the Escriosian Sculpture hall, where you find a few guests already viewing the pieces on display. Despite both of your working class backgrounds, with little time spent on the fine arts, you can't help but feel the sculptures are rather gaudy and over the top, mostly seeming to depict the exaggerated heroics of the Diktat's various war heroes.
You open the doors to the Veranda and find a number of small tables and chairs have been placed around the space for guests to sit at. While it is relatively quiet out here still, as people continue to filter into the museum at the entrance down below, a number of guests are already out here, sitting at the tables or stood near the railing admiring the view of the aurorae and Davon Prime overhead.
As you emerge from inside the museum you also spot Sven, in his museum staff uniform, and Jug rounding the corner as they approach from the other direction.
Sven and Jug
Line shunt in hand, you make your way with the other two back through the offices and up to the door back into the exhibit halls. Opening the door, you are able to slip back into the party without arousing any suspicion. While Jug notices the number of guests around the place has noticeably increased since they passed through the room to let the others into the museum, most of them are preoccupied with each other or the museum exhibits themselves.
You make your way upstairs and head through The Triumph Over Adu out onto the Western Veranda. There you find a number of small tables and chairs have been placed around the veranda for guests to sit at. While it is relatively quiet out here still, as people continue to filter into the museum at the entrance down below, a number of guests are already out here, sitting at the tables or stood near the railing admiring the view of the aurorae and Davon Prime overhead.
As you round the corner of the L-shaped terrace, you spot the junction box you are looking for on the wall at a little below chest height, a non descript metal box with cables running out of its base, its only identifying mark is a small warning sticker warning its reader of dangerous electrical current. The doors at this end of the Veranda suddenly open to reveal Em and Tristan stepping outside dressed in their finery.
Antoine and John
Line shunt in hand, you make your way with the other two back through the offices and up to the door back into the exhibit halls. Opening the door, you are able to slip into the party without arousing any suspicion. There are a number of guests dotted around the room, however most of them are preoccupied with each other or the museum exhibits themselves.
You follow Sven and Jug upstairs, however from there they head towards the Veranda while you make your way towards the Main Hall Balcony. Here you are granted a preview of your vantage point over the stage, should everything go to plan. Save for a few angles blocked by lights and decorations hung above the stage, you should easily be able to line up a shot on Vibol once he takes to the stage.
As you pass the bathroom on the western side of the balcony you notice that it has a sign indicating it is for male use. Reaching the bathroom on the other side of the balcony, you find it is the male bathroom's counterpart, and only meant for female use.
"Got a call about an HVAC issue in this bathroom," Antoine says quietly to John. "Can you run security, keep anyone from entering? We'll wait a minute, give a shout inside and make sure everyone's out, then I can start my work."
"Oh," Sven says, eyeing Em and Tristan as the two pairs happen across each other. "Don't mind us. Getting an early jump on new year maintenance." He gives a polite nod to keep up the act, discretely fishing the line shunt from his pocket and clutching it in his palm. Keeping an eye on any other bystanders and cameras, he adds, "Just a couple more hurdles and we're in." OOC
Is anyone else nearby? And any cameras have line of sight on the junction box?
You see no cameras out here on the Veranda, but there are two men sat at a table by the junction box.
John
Looking around you see that this area has been decorated for the party and there is no sign of any cleaning cart or other maintenance items. You recall from Thoras' map of the museum that there is a storage room on this floor, in the West wing, by the offices which is likely where they must be.
No cameras is good but still not ideal. Sven eyes the pair of men seated by the junction box, knowing fewer witnesses is better. "Might need you two to run distraction and keep those two guys busy," he says to Em and Tristan.
"Greeting: Welcome, esteemed guests." Jug says as they cross paths with their comrades. Their gaze lingers for a microsecond on the scene below, the guests enjoying the grotesquerie, before refocusing on their goal. "Query: Shall we proceed, or are we modifying the plan?" They ask, lowing their audio output to whisper level.
OOC
Are either of the two men recognizable, or just random guests?
"Doesn't look like anyone important. Maybe we can get them to leave," Sven says, nodding to Jug. "But be ready to adapt, yeah?" Hope the other two don't run into any trouble with the HVAC.
"Acknowledgement: Understood, standing by to alter parameters. Lead the way." Jug responds, optics scanning the veranda idly, checking periodically for changes in the situation.
"A lovely idea," Em responds with a smile, as they head towards the spot she'd already been thinking of. It's the best place, and likely few or no cameras too. Hopefully the others aren't encountering any trouble.
Up on the Veranda, Em does her best to hide her surprise as Jug and Sven appear. Speak of the devil. At the latter's instruction, she offers the man the faintest of nods before leading Tristan to a spot along the railing near the two men in question. "Ah, darling, the aurora is so beautiful tonight. What a marvelous view, it is a surprise so many are still indoors." Glancing towards their quarries, she tilts her head and asks, "are you out to see it too? It's simply divine, isn't it?"
"Of course," Antoine responds. He will wait a minute or two for anyone to leave the bathroom, fiddling with the multi-tool as he stands next to the door — informing any newcomers that it's closed a few minutes for a quick maintenance fix. Just had to be in the ladies, didn't it. Leave it to these Diktat museum folk to split out their facilities. Another thing the night-haul stops got right: co-ed fucking bathrooms.
