Players in the Shadows (E:E, Open)

[Venenzia]

July 1, 3327
San Marco District, Venezia(Venice)
Near the Palazzo di Seta

Lance Corporal Martino Costa of the Venetian Army was simply wondering how much slower his damned patrol would drag on. He had his EA-43 rifle shouldered as did his patrol partner, Specialist Manlio Folliero. They both had the typical dark blue with red trimmings uniform on, the golden crowns on their shoulders denoting that they were Line Infantry soldiers, stationed here as part of the 4th Crete Regiment, which was stationed in Venice for six months before it would return home to Crete and then do a rotation at Cyprus. Martino much preferred Crete, much warmer and less water. He wasn't a water hater by a long shot, by every fricken step you took in this city and you swore you felt the city sink a bit more, despite the fact it had about forty geothermal powered stabilizers underneath the city.
As they turned the corner, they passed by one of the three gates into the Palazzo di Seta, a supposedly empty Palazzo which was only supposedly used in times of emergencies, Martino swore he had seen people and smoke coming from the Palazzo for the past two weeks while he was out on patrol. Of course there was also the stories of soldiers going missing on patrol in this area, reportedly slipping on a wet pavement and falling into a canal. Martino doubted it, his senses told him something else. As they passed by the final alley towards the Palazzo di Seta, he felt a warm feeling of relief wash over him, kinda feeling glad and happy as he saw the surprisingly empty marketplace up ahead. He and his partner's sense's rose as they walked down the avenue that led to the normally busy and overcrowded marketplace. All the shops were closed, the stalls empty and dust and flies beginning to collect on them. Martino un shouldered his rifle as did Manlio as they peered at every crack, just seeing if anyone was around. As they passed by a alleyway, they heard a rustling like the sound of a garbage can being over turned as someone jumped from it. Manlio beat Martino to the take off and he was able to turn around and sprint off into the alleyway before Martino could. As Martino sprinted towards the alleyway, he heard another bang and he slowed down a bit. He cautiously tip toed into the entrance of the alleyway, his rifle now pointed forward and only simply needed to be raised in order to be fired. Sweat was beginning to collect on the ridges of his forehead and a few beads of it ran down his temples before stopping right before his jaw. He saw a few crates smashed and bags thrown into the alleyway, but no Manlio. As he neared the debris and saw no sign of either the person or his partner, he turned out and was about to head out when another bang rang out and he blacked out and dropped to the floor, a hole in the back of his neck.
Behind him standing in the doorwell and hiding in the shadows was a bulky man, clothed in all black and a great black trench coat. However the item that topped of the fear factor for him was the linear pistol in his hand, some coolant steam still coming from it. On the other side of the alley, his partner, a fatter and shorter man with equal taste in fashion and armament, appeared from behind a garbage bin and walked over to a pile of garbage bag's that was further down the alley and lifted them up, revealing a dead Manlio who was killed in the same fashion as his partner, shot in the back of his neck. Both of the assailants quickly stripped the men of their uniforms and gathered their rifles before disposing of their bodies in the nearest canal and then vanishing, headed towards the Palazzo di Seta

Later that Day
Palazzo di Seta
Master Private Quarters

The two men stood before a figure who was seated at a wooden writing desk. The two men had abandoned their trench coats and now stood before the man, the one assailants gut sticking out from under his black shirt. The taller and stronger of the pair spoke up after a few moments " We got two more today. Bloody idiots, walked right past us both times. Nice and clean like you asked too." The man at the writing desk rapped his fingers on the desk repeatedly, not letting any emotion come over his face " The usual score?" " Yes Signorie, two Line Infantry uniforms and two linear muskets as well as ammo." The man grinned " Our plan is coming together quite nicely. The Doge is so busy being shut up in Palazzo di Ducale and worrying about the Dutch and their silly economic League instead of our people and doing his job." He tossed a leather purse at the men and when the taller one caught it, it let out a metallic jingle "Your usual cut. Keep up the good work Benilito and in a week, Palazzo di Ducale and the Doge throne will be mine"

[Solar Cordoba]

Tag

[Azarea]

tag

[NewChicagoCommonwealth]

July 1, 3327
San Marco District, Venezia(Venice)
Near the Palazzo di Seta

She sat at a table outside; the curb in front of her, a rather nice cafe behind her. She wore a set of brown khakis and a waist length trench coat that was a slightly darker shade than the khakis. She was about 5'4" and dark haired, and was most likely armed. Most people would assume she was a mid-level gangster here in Venice to unload some goods or deposit some dirty money. After all, the NCC doesn't have any qualms about employing women, whoever can get the job done is who gets hired. She certainly didn't have any problems with what she was doing, it paid well and soon she would have enough to buy that house on Lake Michigan.

Turns out she wasn't what everyone assumed. As two men walked by she reached inside her coat. She merely raised one eyebrow,then stood up and began walking. She walked quickly enough to catch up to the two men and as they came up on an empty side street she drew her revolver and began to speak.

She said "Hello gentlemen, I believe I have some business with you.

[Venenzia]

"Merda" Benilito and his partner suddenly stiffened up like a bunch of wooden planks " Where to Signora? My house" Benilito's partner let a group of chuckles out before his Benilito kicked him in his shins. Benelito turned his head a few inches so he might catch a small glance at their new..friend

[NewChicagoCommonwealth]

"I'd think a man in your position would be a bit more concerned for your well-being. You must dumber than I thought. At any rate, that's no concern of yours."

She reached inside her coat and pulled out an unmarked envelope. "Now I want you two to deliver this to the Signori you've been working for. If you open it or otherwise fail to deliver it, you can both expect to be dead or in prison within a week."

Hello Signori,

We've taken a rather special interest in your business. You see, the Doge, although an ally of ours, is none too preferential towards some of our...shadier investments. Perhaps, if you were to offer us deals that were a bit more...palatable, we could lend you some assistance.

[Venenzia]

Benilito simply opened up his hand and the envelope was placed into it by the mysterious woman, who he now sorely disliked for questioning his intelligence. He was touchy with those things, the insults foreigners threw around and tended to think they were aimed at Venetians on a whole " Watch your mouth cagna, those words might get you slipping off of the Rialto or taking a wrong turn. Rest assured, your precious message will be delivered. You'll be found if needed again."

With that Benilito made a head motion at his partner who acknowledged it and began to continue walking down the alley, which eventually appeared to lead off into the canal, but a gondolla appeared which both of the secretive men climbed into and then the craft took off down the canal, down it's winding riverways till it came to an street that led into the canal and the two men exited the craft and stepped onto the street, Seta just in front of them with it's towering ivory white walls and decorative windows and landscape. They stepped through the gates that guarded the entrance into the Palazzo, casting a few looks at the guards that watched from inside. None on the outside as the Palazzo was supposed to be empty, so guards would be pointless and draw suspisicion. They climbed up the dual opposing grand staircase and entered the interior of the building, the warm pleasing smell of something refreshed them and cleansed their noses from the foul smell of the streets and canals. Soon they arrived at the office, the great coat of arms sitting behind the desk that drew the eye almost instantly, before it fell to the man below who cast the duo a set of looks. " Something come up?"

Benilito stepped forward to the desk, his partner remaining some few feet behind standing at some sort of attention, and placed the letter with his leather gloved hand onto the desk. The man picked it up and placed his specter's, half moon, onto his face to read the letter, which brought a small grin out of him. " Have her brought in. Peacefully escorted, she's to be an honored guest of ours."

[Solar Cordoba]

Bringing the white porcelain cup to her mouth,being sure to sip carefully so her lipstick did not stain the cup, the sharp taste of Arabian blend coffee went down smoothly and gave her a slight shiver. Placing the small cup down she lifted up a newspaper from the table and began to flip through its pages. Each page was slippery and cold as the various virtual images flashed in front of her face offering various advertisements and news about some cat being saved in the Lower Venetian District. Smiling at the quaint picture of a shabby orange tabby dangling off of a limb as a fireman below held out his hand to catch it. It reminded her of a much more simple time back when she lived a different life.
As she flipped through the pages she finally found the section she was looking for; the help wanted section. Reading through the words as they came off of the slate she finally came upon on such ad that looked most intriguing.

"Help Wanted: Looking for strong able bodied person, willing to fight the Wolves and Great at croquet. If interested please contact number 344-567-9833." The number itself was code and seeing that the words Wolves and Great were capitalized said who the person that was giving the message was. Simply put the letters were an address and the man in need was none other than the Prefect of Defense. She had been sent there simply to observe and report but as she scanned the bistro she saw a man carrying a newspaper under his arm and a rapier at his side leave the building and in a hurry by all looks. It seemed as if she would be getting a little more involved than her superiors liked and as she finished her small cup, fixed her glasses and dress, she picked up the paper and left to go to the meeting place; which seemed to be a small library near the west side of the building at around nine in the evening. From there she would see who the wolves were and why the were threatening the Doge and why he wanted the Circle's help.

[Venenzia]

Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
July 3rd, 3327
8:57 PM

Fabrizio sat calmly at the rectangular shaped magohany table that was located in the corner of library, it's view somewhat obstructed by the book case about eight feet to it's left, filled with rather thick tomes of Venetian history, recorded all the way from the year 1377 to the present, 3327. Over two thousand years of history and events, crammed into a few dozen, maybe a hundred books. Fabrizio once again shifted his eyes from the newspaper in his hands to the watch, pushing up his sleeve of the purple long sleeve shirt to read it. 3 minutes left, he seriously had doubted that those intelligence idiot's plan would even work and here we go, he was probably right. Again. Eventually someone would listen to him, ironically enough he was the Prefect for Defence. He wasn't exceedinly nervous about the meeting, despite the fact that some of the Council had raised objections for his safety. They thought a simpleton would crack the code and then walk in and shoot Fabrizio or something along those lines, but he had already taken measures to prevent any ...tom foolery. Despite the view from the table being blocked, up stairs on the second floor balcony there was tables for the cafe that were o so conviently placed and hence that's why there was four undercover intel officers sitting around on the balcony, blending in and armed well enough to get a shot off at anyone at the table before the other person could.
None the less, this meeting was going to be fun.

[Solar Cordoba]

Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
July 3rd, 3327
9:23 PM

Entering the library she was just another book lover who had taken the night off to explore the wonders of the stories around her. Moving towards one of the book cases she saw books hundreds if not thousands of years old and moving her finger along their spines she found a book she had never thought to have found in a place like this. Pushing her glasses to the bridge of her nose she then pulled the book out with her free hand and read the embossed leather cover with gold inlay, "Calvin and Hobbes the Complete Collection." Opening up the cartoons inside were a treasure in and of themselves, so for a few minutes she giggled at their wacky adventures and in the mean time scanned the area around her looking to see who might be watching. Bringing up he slim golden watch she pressed a small circle shaped button on the side if it. Doing so brought up a small screen in the corner of her glasses and as the watch scanned the area around her she only spotted three heat signatures and none of them seemed to be anywhere close to her. So she then pulled out a piece of today's paper, specifically the coded message in the help wanted section and placed it in the book as some wayward mark.

Walking down the aisle to her right her slim black business jacket and medium length black skirt she headed towards a cafe where she ordered a coffee and bagel. She could see some seating for the cafe on the second floor but as her glasses say, their was only three seated figures up there and she doubted any of them were her mark. Turning around, that is when she spotted a man sitting in the corner at a deep dark mahogany table reading the days paper and looking around slightly from over the top of the wrinkled sheet. Putting the book underneath her arm she approached the table with her bagel and coffee in hand. Placing the coffee and bagel down on the table she said, "Is this seat taken?" Not waiting for a response from the man she sat down and placed the book in front of her pushing it out slightly towards him. The piece of paper clearly sticking out of the top of the book towards the man. After that she took a sip from her coffee and took a slight bit of the bagel and waited for the mans' response.

[Venenzia]

Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
July 3rd, 3327
9:23 PM

Fabrizio looked up only so slightly so that it was barely a defined movement when he saw the young women approach the area. He discreetly kept his eye on her, watching has she in normal yet fast paced strides tactically made her way to a bookshelf, pausing to select a book from one of the many works, it was too far away for Fabrizio to see. Within a few moments, he saw her grab a book, and he re-averted his eyes down and soon with his eyes heard her take a seat and ask the rhetorical question.

Frustrated and exhausted, Fabrizio had no intention of playing the game his network of minion spies wanted him to play. He wanted help and he wanted to get out of here and go crash somewhere at home with a bottle of wine. He set his newspaper down and then brought his hands up from his lap and clasped them together, setting them on the table and then with his hardy brown eyes asked the women " Do you read the Classifieds?"

[Gallolia]

(I am assuming by Venezia you mean the Provence in Italy so I am going to be another Italian nation to the south)

The Library was crowded and huge, the new agent of Gallolia, Bill, had been sent because of a possible up rising in Venice. Gallolia, its capital Naples, had often had many conflicts with the government of Venice. Gallolia's leader, Dervus, was hoping to end conflicts by helping the rebels destroy the current Doge of Venice. His agents were able to track down were the location of the meeting was, but the people involved were still a mystery. Bill sat in a chair by the door and began drinking so tea. He hated how Venice lacked any verity in its teas...It had wine the plenty...but no tea...he, being raised in Wales and then later hired by Gallolia, couldn't live without it.

[Solar Cordoba]

Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
July 3rd, 3327
9:25 PM

"Indeed, I do like to read the newspaper from time to time otherwise how can one hope to keep up to date on the latest gossip in Venice and of course I glance at the Classifieds sometimes. Today was one of those days."

Smiling slightly at the man she took a sip from her coffee and setting it down she dabbed her face with the napkin being sure to slip in the folds of the napkin a small recording device. Keeping her eyes on the man she assumed was her contact she then said, "With that being said I have come here to help someone in need and seeing the current affairs of Venice in today's paper I can see that my certain talents can be of some use. So if you are indeed the one who placed the advertisement in the classifieds then I fully accept the terms with it and want to know some specifics before getting started. Also, just for my own records I am recording this conversation for my superiors. I hope you do not mind but this is not negotiable and I must report to my higher ups during the various stages of my work. Now then, please inform me of what you want accomplished."