As written by barney_fife and Blazezon
The moment Paûlos dropped the word "daughter" the entire atmosphere changed. The table of guests had been stoic until now, following Gennaro's lead, but the implications were too heavy. Concerned expressions spread like wildfire, and a few people - including Dianne began to whisper to one another. The table seemed split down the middle over whether this was an act of disrespect, or a calamity.
Just about then Paûlos wagged his finger, sending the hushed discussions into Italian, and more than a few subtle hands to their weapons.
The man to Gennaro's right made a slight move as if to stand, but froze when his boss raised a hand in protest. The Don's son was very interested in what he was hearing, if not a little insulted, and he intended to hear it through. As Paûlos continued to speak the table took the hint, and quieted down gradually.
This discomfort was universal, and clear.
When Paûlos finished, offering his bow, Gennaro let out a deep sigh. He reached into his jacket, and retrieved a cigar-case, his eyes never left Paûlos' face.
"Alright, alright." He said, a measure of exhaustion in his voice. "You don't have twist my arm so hard, guy."
A few people around the table chuckled sheepishly.
"At first, I won't lie," A practiced hand fished out a cigar, and within seconds the man to his left pulled out a lighter, and readied the flame. "You kinda pissed me off. Come in to my Grandmother's joint, up in to my private dining room, and you make threats?"
He tore the end off with a snear, and leaned towards his lackey's lighter.
"You Aschens, you aren't just outsiders, you're the enemy. This isn't Lan-gear-rah, this isn't your city."
A few people nodded, but most eyes were on Paûlos, begging for a read on him. Dianne was no exception.
"But two things have kept you breathing." He pulled back, taking a few quick drags to ensure it was lit. "One, Danny here likes you, clearly if she hung her ass out this far for you, and second," He took a long drag, mulling the smoke around for a moment.
"Second is that you got coglioni the size of a goddamn starship." He started to chuckle, pointing his cigar at the would-be Ha'la'tha. "Maybe not brains, but balls you, and your Gautrau have."
He gestured to one of his other guests, who promptly got up, and offered his seat to Paûlos.
"Sit the fuck down," said Gennaro, "tell me just what it is your man wants, and why the hell he didn't come himself."
Paûlos offered another somewhat respectful inclination of his head. "I am merely a messenger." He said, while the table made ther deliberation. Though when they began subtly reaching for their weapons, the hairs on Jame's neck stood on end slightly, sure he could take one, or two hits, but this many mobsters with this many guns would put him down pretty quick.
"That's the problem, you hold the people responsible for the actions of the Government, I no more represent the Aschen Military, than you do the Terran National Government." He said, approaching the table to take a seat.
His eyes watched the other mobsters in the room, and no doubt Connors was keeping close tabs on them as well, he subtly glanced around, wondering just where the IIA hit squad had been positioned.
"My Guatrau simply wishes to know, why the Police have refused to investigate this nightclub, and while he'd come himself, he is meeting with the Taiyou Yakuza on a faraway planet." James said while making himself comfortable in the chair, although not too comfortable.
"My Guatrau wishes to know what you, and your family are willing to divulge."
Though the room was still tense, the pressure began to give way to business. All around the table people began to relax, cigars, cigarettes, and joints were all brought out, while a quick gesture from Gennaro had the wine flowing in. Despite the severity of each person there, their crimes, and charges ranging from murder, to racketeering, and even a few failed Ricos, they were in fact family. It showed in the little things, the informalities, and barbed exchanges that dominated the quiet side conversations.
The poor "Ha'la'tha messenger" couldn't get a word in without a comment from the peanut gallery. The man in charge however hung on the outsider's every word, his scheming mind working over time.
When Paûlos mentioned the Taiyou he only grew more severe, but still allowed his new guest to finish, maintaining a polite expression.
"I see, I see.." Mumbled the mobster, pushing a hand through his slicked hair. "Now I can understand a man, having lost hus daughter, trying to figure out why, but." He nodded to each of them beside him, who rose, making for the doorway.
"What I just can't wrap my head around is why the Guatrau would send you here to me, and not to the Don." The two left without incident as their boss spoke, exitting in complete silence.
"Do you offer your disrespects intentionally?" Gennaro leaned forward a bit, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "Or are you just blind to manners?"
The tension was creeping back up, the background banter fading into whispers. Everything had gone to hell faster than eveb Dianne's paranoia had predicated. She broke her conversation with the woman next to her, a physical anxiety setting in.
As Gennaro watched patiently, attempting to make Paûlos sweat she broke, speaking up before Paûlos had the chance.
"That's on me, Gen." Dianne struggled to keep her voice stable. "Paûlos here came to me, asked me who to go to in the Nillies. I wasn't gunna feed him to your old man."
A few of the people left snickered, but Gennaro's eyes narrowed, darting between Dianne, and the Aschen. He spoke very slowly, and very softly. "Is that so, Paûlos? How did your Ha'la'tha know who to ask, or that the case what shutdown, in our Precinct?"
Dianne had to suppress the desire to scream, she knew it was trap. The Sirico family owned the majority of the Precinct now, and those from other outfits payed a hefty tax to get their own men in. Gennaro would know them all by name, and she sure hadn't ever heard of a Ha'la'tha mole. All she could do was shoot her partner a brief look, and pray he could pull it off.
James let out an exacerbated sigh, and steepled his fingers on the table, while slowly shaking his head.
The rollercoaster of deception went round and round, back and fourth, but the Mobster sitting across from the Aschen was a smart man, and James was a shit actor, he was running out of excuses and had to put everything out on the table.
He moved from his steepled fingers, to rubbing the bridge of his nose, shaking his head. "Alright... why do you always have to do this the hard way? It doesn't matter if you're Ha'la'tha, or two bit criminals." He said, heaving an exacerbated sigh.
The tension was palatable, but James shot Dianne a look that said to trust him, and things were about to get hairy.
"I think your girl set me up, but it doesn't matter; you're going to tell me exactly what I want to know, I'm going to walk out of this restaurant, and we'll all profit from this. You can go to business as usual with whatever it is you disgusting scumbags do." James' tone went several octaves lower, and he rose to his full height at the table. "And I can get some justice for two dead Aschen."
James shifted slightly, his eyes were on every mobster in the room, looking for tactical positioning, he could take the closest one hostage the moment they reached for their guns, but he prayed that Gennaro had a sensible mind.
"Or we can consider the alternative; The IIA have this place surrounded, poised to kill everyone in cold blood the moment they hear a gunshot, my lifesigns go silent, or I give the codeword, and then you..." He said, pointing a finger at Gennaro. "Are going to be the only survivor, because those very same IIA Agents are going to have a nice chat with you, while you're sitting comfortably in the Aurora Chair. Local cops won't know what happened, Aschen weapons have been hitting the black market for years, and it'll look like a rival mob took you out."
His voice darkened, piercing eyes on Gennaro.
"Your move, Signore." He spat, still not revealing who he was exactly, but one thing was obvious, he wasn't bluffing.
For a solid ten seconds it was like someone had plunged the room into stasis. Not a single person moved, not even to breath, or blink. Every single eye was firmly fixed on Gennaro, and no one dared to even take a hit off a cigarette before he moved. That brief, frozen moment was the epitome of "the clam before the storm."
Gennaro slammed his hand down, his reserved face contorting. Three people jumped, Dianne included, and the woman beside her even drew a gun. It looked like a countdown to an internal incident, right up until Gennaro Sirico burst out in uproarious laughter.
"Ho-ly fuck Danny, Stegs was ri-ight!" Was all the mobster could choke out as he threw his head back, nearly smacking into the wall.
The rest of the family followed suit, all while shaking eachother's hands, and exchanging Terran Credit Slips. The lion's share of the betting proceeds funneled its way over to Dianne, who was exceedingly smug about it.
"Did I not tell you he was the biggest swinging dick they had?" She nudged the woman beside her, who begrudgingly forked over a slip for five grand.
"Yeah, but come on." Gennaro pushed himself out of the cramped chair, and strode towards James. "This guy?" He shrugged, and fished out another cigar, offering it to the man.
"While you're sitting comfortably in an Aurora Chair." The mobster did his best mock growl. "Is it just in the water back home, or what?"
McKenna was coiled up like a serpent ready to strike during the oppressive silence, ten long seconds that he would either live or die, and the IIA would come storming in with spice gas grenades, and disruptor bolts.
Then the most peculiar thing happened, the mobster started laughing? The obvious look of confusion dawned upon the CPF Detective's face, he looked towards Dianne briefly, as if seeking out some sort of reassurance.
He watched the money exchange hands, they knew? They knew he was an Aschen cop the whole time, the look of confusion turned to a look of slight anger, but it quickly vanished when the Mobster offered the man a cigar.
"What is the meaning of this?" James asked, confused.
"You guys knew?" He asked again, incredulous.
Dianne stood up, stuffing her ill-gotten gains into her jacket. She shook her head, and reached out to offer James a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"The second Stegs set foot out of the morgue I knew he'd be on the phone to Gen in ten seconds." She gave him a half-sincere smile. "I couldn't say anything in the Precinct though, and I couldn't risk you coming in here, uh, I dunno.." She looked to Gennaro.
"Waving his Aschen sense of inadequacy around with a rifle?"
"Something like that," She was interrupted by the drapes behind them being ripped open. An extremely aged looking woman in a chef's smock stood on the otherside.
"Okay," The small woman's voice was surprisingly deep, and had a tone of grim authority. "Food is ready, you gunna eat, or you gunna bullshit all night?"
The old woman directed a quick glare at Dianne. "Still too good for Christmas, huh, but you bring an Aschen?" She huffed. "Been a few years since one of them have been in here."
Dianne just shrugged, and gave James' shoulder a squeeze. "If it makes you feel better 'Paul' was a safeword."
Gennaro interrupted with a cough. "Please, CPF Investigator James McKenna, of the Caprica City...Something. Won't you join us, we have a mutual Captain problem I'd like to discuss."
McKenna was almost embarrassed, he didn't see this coming, but things seemed to be going well, for now anyway.
"Always got to hammer home the sense of inadequacy, don't you; I guess since all the cards are on the table... You can show yourself now." He said to no one in particular.
His eyes followed the older woman, as she brought the food to the table, and he opted to ease himself back down into the chair. "I hope you have room for one more..." McKenna said, and when Gennaro mentioned something about a mutual captain problem, a metallic buzz filled the room, and there was a faint outline behind McKenna, a faint outline that coalesced into the faceless visor of someone wearing a combat skin.
The figure was armed with a sleek, and compact Type 03 Disruptor PDW, which was slung lazily over their back, it seemed the figure in the combat suit had a better read on the situation than James, as she had been standing rather calmly for it seemed the entire time.
There was a hiss, and a click as the visor retracted, revealing the same woman in the video call from earlier.
"Sometimes you gotta roll a hard six, Mckenna. I think I fell asleep once or twice back there." The woman said, patting him on the back, and nodding to Dianne.
"Special Agent Kathryn Connors, IIA; I've got my squad watching out for any unwelcome guests, I understand we have a mutual problem that needs taking care of; good. My aurora chair was getting cold."
Dianne jumped as Connors fizzled in, Leugen was plenty high tech, and had more than enough magic laying around for invisibility to be common, but it always gave her a hard jump after the Gremlin case. She whirled about, hand flying to the grip of her pistol, like most people in the room did. Lucky for them all Connors' visor disengaged, leaving the Detective enough time to shout.
"Damnit!" She gave Connors a sideways look, her hands shooting up to signal the others. "She's alright, she's alright.."
The elder woman, clearly having had more than enough, moved far to quickly for someone almost a century old. Her hands shot to her face, and with the grace only a mother could muster she issued an ear-splitting whistle. Most of the room cringed, or held their ears.
"For fuck' s sake." Hissed Dianne, but the elderly chef ignored her.
"Talk with a plate in front of you." She barked, and servers cued by the noise started filing in.
The family did as their matron told them, everyone including Dianne shut up for just long enough to find a seat. The trays that were brought in didn't look like a whole lot. The dishes weren't arranged with visual appeal in mind, but the heavenly aroma wafting off of each drew attention. Chairs were pushed in, napkins were tucked, and wine was poured as quickly as possible.
Two extra chairs got drug in by the door guards, and set on either side of Dianne. Plates soon followed, and once everyone but the staff were seated the old woman nodded.
"Good," she huffed. "Now Gennie?" She pointed to the man at the head of the table.
"Yeah ma'?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Don't bother me no more tonight." She turned, and left without another word.
"Mothers, eh?" Gennaro just sighed, his eyes rolling as he grabbed his wine glass. "D here was right, James. That three-faced Russian fuck was burnin' my line up before you two showed up."
He took a large gulp, and shook his head. "Tellin' me 'The Aschen' this, 'Dianne' that.."
"Which," Dianne was more than comfortable interrupting him now. "Is bad, because what Stegs doesn't know is that I work here, so to speak." She made sure to take note of her new "partners'' expressions.
"Right." Grunted Gennaro, a sneer directed at his lackey. "He's getting too close, and outright told me I ought to put a bullet in both of you." He gave an awkward look to Connors. "Didn't mention you though."
"She's our way out, G." Dianne turned to face the IIA woman, her expression a bit more serious now. "You see..If I, or James more importantly to you, walks out of here alive..."
Gennaro chuckled "The whole thing goes face down in a river, you know?" He shoved a forkful of pasta into his face, then pointed the utensil at James. "And before you ask, you can investigate all you want, within reason." He stressed the final word.
Getting himself comfortable in front of the meal, while Connors didn't move to sit, rather she kept a stoic expression, and monitored the room from where she was standing, actively listening in on multiple cell phone frequencies; a woman in her position couldn't take chances with poisoned food, either.
"I think I have a solution to your Stegs problem, he more or less confessed to me, that he murdered two IIA Agents, and I have the footage to prove it, it wouldn't take much to get a warrant for his arrest from the Ministry of Law, his extradition to the Aschen Empire would prove more difficult, unless... perhaps maybe you know the right people, Mr. Sirico." McKenna said calmly, while taking a thoughtful bite of his own plate of pasta.
"His execution would be both brutal, and public; if found guilty, he would be hanged, drawn, and quartered on state television."
The CPF Detective took a thoughtful bite of his pasta, savoring the flavor, it wasn't bad and reminded him of several dishes back home in the Empire.
Connors merely nodded slightly. "I have more than enough assets in place to quickly, and quietly apprehend him, either way. I could probably stand to gain some intel by interrogation." She said, pondering.
McKenna was thoroughly enjoying the food, however, downing another bite, followed by a gulp of wine, he continued.
"The Aschen Government has little care what you do, on the contrary, any actions that disrupt the local governments of this planet are seen as beneficial to our interests, My sole interest is investigating the deaths of two Aschen, so long as your folks aren't involved, I think my investigation should be plenty within reason. In fact; I wonder what the Aurora Chair could squeeze out of the captain..." He trailed off.
'Jesus Christ," Gennaro ran a gnarled hand through his slick black hair, taking the suggestion with a healthy dose of wine. "You fuckers are a bloodthirsty lot, huh? I can almost appreciate that."
'With all do respect," A low, rumbling voice broke its silence.
Two to the left if Gennaro rose a man in an expensive black suit. He stood much taller than the average human, at least 7'1", and his skin had a pale green hue that matched his tie. Most strartling though were his deep, ruby red eyes, and the tiny horn like protrusions that substituted for eyebrows. Those more familiar with the more exotic races of Terra would easily recognize an Arsgoth Orc when they saw one.
"But I must ask why you would ask kharahg to handle business that is ours." Though he spoke very formally his accent was a touch guttural, and brought with it a certain menace.
"Because!" Gennaro snapped, his head whirling around to face the Orc. "This is my business, my family that's in danger."
"Oh really?" Another voice joined the fray. This one was soft, feminine, and displayed obvious signs of vocal coaching to maintain its rather sultry tone.
Gennaro glared at it's owner, the woman Dianne had been speaking to before. She was lithe, scrawny even, with extremely long blonde hair, and had the sort of self impressed look one might expect from a movie star.
"You got something to say?" Asked a very agitated Gen.
"Me? Never." The woman brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, and offered the man a smile, it was an obvious sign of false sincerity, and glibness. "But our father just may."
A round of "Oooohhh"s went around the table, with Dianne laughing in earnest.
"How about we play 'who daddy loves most' later, and keep me alive for now, hm?" She nudged Connors' leg subtly with her phone. The screen wasn't visible above the table, but a Memo file was up on the screen.
"That's -a name-, Gennaro's sister, and the owner of The Crest. She's who you two need to convince."
James continued to eat his food, paying little attention to the bickering that started to erupt around the table, however even though James was preconcieved with eating his food, Connors was paying close attention to what was going on.
Her green eyes moved over to follow the movements of the Orc as he stood up, she didn't regard him or his outburst as threatening, as to them, she was nearly invincible in her suit.
Her eyes moved down briefly to the phone, the name of Gennaro's sister moved to the forefront of her mind, and she used the suit's systems to access what dossiers the IIA could get ahold of, she would have to speak with Birkhoff later to hack into the VLPD database and get some more information.
The look of conviction briefly flashed on Connor's face, she decided that this woman would need to be interrogated, and any leads explored.
"I believe this is going to turn into an IIA Investigation, McKenna." Connors said flatly.
She looked back up to Gennaro, and the rest of the people gathered around at the table.
"The Empire will thank you for your cooperation; and you will be rewarded." Connors said firmly.