Pher considered things deeply, then looked about at the others. “Culture here seems to emphasize initiation, paying one’s dues. I doubt anyone’s going to do much anything for us until we’ve done something for them. Judging how spectacularly we botched the ‘look around and stay out of trouble’ scout run, we aren’t going to get our primary mission done without a native guide, and Argyle is likely it. So, the two obvious options are to play to Argyle’s script or cut and run. Given our money situation, we’ve got to take a long hard look at Argyle’s script. “He obviously intends us to work in with Gilmo. He’s likely right. If we’re going to clobber Gilmo, we want to get close to him first. I figure we ought to do at least two of Gilmo’s three projects before turning on him. Doing all there might even get us paid. “Now, some of you ought to be better at hijacking warehouse contents or taking people out than I am. I’d like everyone to pick a project or two they think they’d be good at, get the information available from Troy, and work out a plan. “I’ll contribute one idea to start things going. I just got a call from Joe. Now, Joe is here, so it wasn’t Joe. I figure it was Joe’s ODRI. That says someone is digging through the rubble at the Mad Doc’s, and found Joe’s ODRI. “One of our jobs for Argyle is to blame the Mad Doc disaster on Bossman. Now, ODRIs run in open share mode and secure mode. If Joe’s ODRI isn’t on Joe’s wrist, it’s going to be hard for them to break into secured files. On the other hand, using Audrey and, assuming we can wake up Joe, using certain passwords, we might be able to securely access Joe’s ODRI and load it up with incriminating files. This might incriminate Gilmo, but us as well. “There’s also the problem of timing. If we’re working with Gilmo when he hears about the incriminating files, things are apt to get confusing. Thus, we’ll want to be in position to take out Gilmo before or just as security gets a hold of any incriminating files. “Not a perfect plan. Tricky. Anyone come up with a better? I’d be pleased if you can. Troy, do you think you’re up to the ODRI work? “Byblos? Seems to me that moving stuff from one warehouse to another isn’t all that dissimilar to what you used to do on Tranquility? Would you consider planning that one out? “Anyone else like to claim a job?”

Pher observed everyone settling into the safe area, made sure the docs had what the docs needed, then turned to Argyle, also calling over any who might wish to hear. “Sorry, Argyle. This did not go well. The cover up is much appreciated. By my reckoning, we owe you big, and I wouldn’t blame you if what you asked was to leave your turf without causing further ruckus. We’ll see. “On what happened… This bunch is not short on skills or courage. Thing is, we’re a mixed group. All of us come from different turfs, play different games under different rules. One major similarity is that none of us come from this turf. Four pairs went out with intent to get the lay of the land without getting into trouble. Three of em ended up in some type of trouble. “You gave us a fair briefing on the situation, and left us in a public lobby. Shane took off heading right in the front door. I figured in some respects he was right. We didn’t have time for a committee meeting. We can plan a job, even with our differing backgrounds making the process slow, time we didn’t have with Joe maybe being cut up. “When I started in, I had no idea what I was going to do. By the time I was through the door, I had a line. I assumed we had more firepower than they’d really want to deal with, which turned out to be correct. I’d sell them if they didn’t murder our people all would be cool, but if they insisted on murdering our people, the result would be very uncool. I tried to threaten more with exposure than force, but didn’t let them ignore force. Simple choice, all cool or utter destruction. Doctor Z ended up choosing utter destruction. “He wanted the name of someone with connections. You told us not to give your name. Shane dropped the name ‘Bossman,’ which resulted in a call where Bossman didn’t back us up. This seemed to lock the Doc into the need for a name that would back us up. “You were talking to Byblos? I asked “Tourguide” for permission to break the confidentiality clause. What I was asking for was permission to use your name, but I didn’t feel I could say that clearly when we were being heard. Was I too cryptic? I could likely have avoided explosions if I could have dropped your name, but you had said not to. Didn’t know the situation well enough to go against your one limiting command. Didn’t think the Doc would be as paranoid as he turned out to be. I kept the pressure on. The Doc set the fuses and ran. Boom. “With 20 20 hindsight, there are a bunch of things I’d like to have done different. During the early talking phase we had three scams going rather than one. As things started to get ugly the Doc was still willing to talk, but one of us stunned him. We all ran around looking for Joe and Sal, leaving the Doc unattended. Should have left a watch on him, or stunned him again heavy enough that he couldn’t get up and resume making trouble before we were gone. We also had the door to the control room open. With two clinic people unaccounted for, we should have left a guard on the room. Somebody with an ODRI should have been doing nothing but tracking the location of clinic personnel. We didn’t go in prepared. Simple stuff like having extra power cells, light and some rope would have been nice. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. We’re not well polished team. We’re still learning simple stuff. “My people are at their best and worst in chaos and making chaos. Once things were gone to pot, when I ran out of ideas, I let em run wild with their own ideas. It worked well enough that we got out, but I’ve got to learn to delegate better, and everyone has to learn to cover the field rather than each reaching for the biggest possible boom.” Pher shrugged. “Anyway, I don’t know whether you have a job for us, are trying to buy in on our own scheme, or if you have come to your senses after seeing us in action. I’d advise you not drop us off the deep end no warning again, though I appreciate that you let us pull Joe and Sal out. You know as well as I our need for a local guide. “Anything else?”