Infinite Steel, Mission 2: Maria Vendez

Our second adventure will involve a new character, this time from Infinity Unlimited: Maria Vendez, an infinity grand strategist from the US.

Central Plot at Stake
Peril starts at 1

Protect A valuable object at +1 peril for reward only for Low Rates With Gratitude with No particular Rush thats Its Here! (1d6-2 Hours, 1 hour tick)

From: Internal Conflict, agent is soldier or thug

Maria will spend almost all of her time on ceasefire. Protecting an object is strange until we remember she's dealing with intrigue. And in this case its a more martial foe she's up against. Lets consult the dice for more details 

Is the object intrinsically valuable (as opposed to sensitive)?  Yes, but ... its also sensitive

Is the object in her possession? No, But... it appears like she has it

Is the object involved in something criminal? No, but folks aren't quite being ethical

Who will get hurt if the object is lost (rolling vs faction): Local Criminal Organizer

Ahh, The plot thickens... is this a military object? Yes. but... not exactly a weapon.

Is this extra-world tech? No, but it still shouldn't be transferred under standard rules

Is this a SQUID? No
Oh wow, is this an advanced robot brain? Yes
Is Maria responsible for this mess? Yes, but ... It was a matter of timing.
Is the Criminal Organizer on Steel? No

The AI brain of a centurion robot (high level overseer) has been captured. Maria is currently in the custody battle for possession of it -- but she has already sent it to be analyzed by an expert that's kind of in cahoots with infinity on Quantum 6 -- he does a lot of extra-world computers analyzing for them.

Trying to get a hold of the AI core is:

Jonathan Huling: Dislike, Lanky, Quiet Voice, Winks, Very limited social circle, Of the United States (new york)

Jonathan is trying to get authorization take the core out to the open rock of the far side of ceasefire, power it up, and observe its reactions.

Maria gets a roll to see if she gets wind of this before the decision to move the robot is made. She has profession skill (patrol) and administration, both at 13. Administration will be complementary, Peril is 2. Both are critical successes! Maria is present when Jonathan presents his request to the guy with the actual power to make the relocation. He doesn't know that the person requesting the data is her.

The request is made to...

Zorin Ilyich: Staccato, Puffy Face, Big Open Gestures, Local, born and bred, Russian, male, 45-50

A portly Russian man who's never worked outside of logistics on lifeless rocks. Maria bides her time: she doesn't want Huling to know who exactly objects so strongly to the request. She heads back to the office and considers her options.

• She can argue against the request directly
• She can try and get Huling more work so that he is pulled off of this job
• She can try and stall for as long as possible while she gets the centurion back!
• She can make a case for why her use of the core is already legitimate

In the end, gathering more information seems to be the best option. She is going to try and hit up Zorin for more information. Lets see what the relationship between the two is -- 5+1=6. Oh wow, that's a terrible roll. Zorin and Maria have a longstanding bad relationship. She does not want Zorin to realize he'd be taking the thing from her, or he's likely to more the AI core out of spite.

Maria instead decides to chat up an underling who might know about the request. -- we've transitioned to a 'convince!' adventure (and noted so we can apply the appropriate plot twist). Maria tries to identify the appropriate underling (roll vs administration supported by saviore faire and professional skill). She know the right position, and some well placed chit chat with others identifies that Emma Mathews is the girl to talk to.

Emma Mathews : Reading, Thin, Friendly Face, Rests Chin in Palm, Clever than thy appear, British, 40 to 44

Emma puts down her book. "Can I help you?"
Maria starts talking about logistics on and off the world in general terms, pretending she needs a better understanding of the subject -- trying to steer the conversation to the centurion. Fast Talk 16-2(peril) vs 7. The basic reaction roll is 13 -- Emma likes Maria, furthermore, her loyalty to Zorin is an 8. Emma tells Maria what Zorin is planning to do with the Centurion:

Is the centurion headed towards Huling? No, But Zorin is seriously considering it.
Does Zorin know that Maria is the one arranging for the Centurion to be sent off site? Yes, and ... Emma is also aware of who Maria is!

This is not what Maria wanted! She keeps calm and keeps on talking.

Maria: "You can see why I'm stalking in to talk then..."
Emma: "Yes, I can see quite clearly."
Maria: "Well I'd like to make sure that the core doesn't get waylaid. I've already made a deal with the local expert. I like to keep good relations with our contacts."
Emma: "And you can't wait for 48 hours while Huling runs his test?"
Maria: "In this case, yes. I can get the AI core back to Huling, but for reasons I really shouldn't discuss I need to get the core to him as soon as possible."
Emma: "You've painted yourself into a corner then."
Maria: "Corner? no. A unsatisfactory situation? yes. Could you mention its possible to get the  core back after its been looked at?"
Diplomacy  16 -2 (peril) vs 6 -- success!
Emma: "Yes, I can run that by him. Any reasons I should give for taking that route?"
Maria: "Oh, I can think of several. The most pressing of which is the possibility of the device being damaged when testing is done on it out in the open. Another being that dedicated experts deserve the first crack at this, while its in as close to the state of capture as possible."
Emma: "Oh, I think I can work with those."

Maria is happy with this discussion, but isn't sure that it will be enough. There is still delaying Huling and preparing to stall... but what's the likely result of the work already done? As it turns out, Maria has psychology, which is definately appropriate, and administration can be the complementary skill. Administration 13 vs 10 and psychology 13 - 2 (peril) +1 (administration) vs 8 yeild that she has a good idea of how the argument will go down!

Emma saviore faire (patrol) 12 +1 (maria complementary diplomacy) vs Zorin will 11 +2 (boss) -- its a 50% chance. Since she succeeded by so much on the pyschology roll, we'll give her a 75% chance of getting it right -- a 5 and an 8! she thinks its good enough, all things considered, but when its time if the die rolls 14 or higher she'll have been wrong, and we'll reroll the argument. She wants a backup plan. But what?

 Perhaps she could arrange for a request from higher up to expedite the shipment. But then they'd get involved and find that she has already shipped off the core. She could also make a confusing paper trail so that if she has to return it she can send people looking for where it was misplaced rather than investigating why she sent the thing off early. She decides to go with that route -- administration with saviorre faire and professional skill (patrol) complementing: PS (patrol) 14 vs 9, SF (patrol) 14 vs 5, Administration 13-2(peril) +2 (complementaries) vs 12 is a success! It won't buy much time, but it will help.

There is little to do now except send the message to send the core back and to hope the conversation between Maria and Zorin goes well. And... It does! Maria convinces Zorin its a bad idea let a soldier play around with the core before the experts look at it. Rolling for if the core was what it seemed, we find that it was. Its the core of a centurion, and the folks off-world find it most intriguing. Have I not built that world yet--- lets fix that:

Asghar Gatta: Persian, Nobility, Admiring, Reedy, Plump Face, Furrowed brows, Surprisingly open-minded, Hope/Fear:Violence
TL8 Alternate Geography +, Islamic MultiPolar 3 Feudal

Oh wow, this is not a simple crook in a corner with a computer: this is a determined follow with aspirations -- violent aspirations. I can only assume infinity at least doesn't find his goals detrimental -- lets say he is trying to start a civil war for a regime change. Lets call the world Sinbad-5. Its named that mostly for its odd geography. interestingly, Mecca is still in the same place.

How about that reward? Its generous! we get +20% social and financial. Of course, the client was herself, but this means that both Gatta and Emma are useful contacts we can call on in the future, and no further mess is coming of this. At least, none that throw aspirations on here character. Our "now what?" roll leads into another adventure... 

Escort a person at +1 peril for reward only for Standard Rates, Fame and Glory with Reward is Dwindling! (-10% per unit of time) thats Nearby ( 1d3 days, 12 hour tick)
Is this person from Sinbad-5? No
Are they from Steel? No, but... they would fit in with steel.
Umm... Are they from Infinity?... No, but... keep along those lines...
They're from centrum, aren't they? Yes.
Clement Oliveira: Travler/Tansit, Celebrating, Smooth, Heart-shaped Face, Catchphrase, Generally disliked around here, Hope/Fear:Disease, female

Its mentioned that Maria really ought to have looked into centrum's people -- they have an AI expert who was just waiting for a core to come in. Some infinity folks have a problem with sharing such data with their "allies".

But that's a different matter, for another day...