Post by Piyano on Jan 1, 2017 23:36:27 GMT -5
Taking this job
The street was bustling with activity today Piyano noticed as he walked along the streets of Pepper Town having to duck and weave his way through the throngs of people lining the roads. The flight into the western city had been long and aggravating, Piyano discovering that he had come to enjoy the cold breeze of the north much more than the scorching sands and winds of the west in his time on Earth. This time however Piyano had come prepared with a sturdy clay jug of water hanging off his back. The Namekian had learned from his last visit to Pepper Town that traveling without water was practically a death sentence, and Piyano would not make such a mistake again.
Even as the green alien pressed his way through the crowds Piyano remembered that it was because of his last visit that the Namekian had even returned to Pepper Town. On Piyano's last visit he had assisted a funny little human named Kal-Hazari in finding and retrieving his lost pet Mittens. On that occasion Piyano and Kal-Hazari had faced hardships together in their search, and yet it was only because of blind luck that Mittens, a white clawed salamander, had even been found. Kal-Hazari in his joy had insisted that he and Piyano exchange contact information, and so the human had finally put that information to use. Sending Piyano a letter that had been delivered overnight from the west to the north did not come cheaply Piyano suspected, and even more strange was the information contained within.
Kal-Hazari had written Piyano to ask him to work a job at his place of employment. ExGen. Solutions, where Kal-Hazari was apparently assigned as something called a Research and Development systems Director. During his first meeting with the short, round human Piyano never would have guessed the man to be someone of importance. Yet it seemed the Namekian's expectations had been misplaced, as the letter not only made Kal-Hazari out to be a important man within the company, but a man who wielded great influence with those stationed above him. How else would Piyano have been selected to lead the task assigned to him by ExGen.'s corporate CEO?
Coming upon the address he had been given Piyano was treated to the sight of a beautiful glass building. The great structure stood a full five stories tall, and its elegant design made it seem as if the glass had simply grown out of the earth itself instead of having been pieced together one section at a time as it surely must have been. Piyano must have stared at the lovely design for several minutes before he finally moved up to the sliding glass doors and stepped into the buildings entrance lobby. Several humans were milling about the reception room, all wearing black suits and ties. The Namekian had never before been one to judge his own attire as ineffectual but the humans gathered around him made the alien feel as if he stuck out like a big, sore, green thumb.
Shaking his head to clear it of such thoughts Piyano moved up to the reception desk to ask for direction, but a loud voice from behind him cut him off before he so much as got a word out. "HA HA! Piyano my main man! You are here good good. Please come with me!" A voice yelled loudly enough to make every person in the room cringe. Piyano knew of only one person who would yell so suddenly over something so small like his arrival. Turning in place Piyano saw his friend Kal-Hazari, the short human wore a bright green three piece suit with a white lab coat draped over his shoulders. Kal-Hazari quickly embraced Piyano with a quick, tight, hug before taking the aliens hand and dragging him along after his swift pace. "We have much to discuss my man. I need you to help my company find something, just like you found my little lovely Mittens!" Kal-Hazari sputtered as he pulled Piyano into a elevator. Piyano was surprised to see that the lift brought the pair down instead of up.
"As I recall Kal, Mittens found us." Piyano replied, not sure how he could help his friend. Kal-Hazari only laughed however, "So you are a lucky man my main man. A little luck would do me some good at this time." Kal-Hazari said before telling Piyano the full tale of why he had asked the Namekian for help. Piyano stood by in shock as he learned of the prototype blaster, the break in, and everything else. The biggest blow to his mind was learning that Kal-Hazari had designed the blaster. Piyano simply didn't see Kal-Hazari as a violent man, because he wasn't one. Yet here the man was openly admitting to being the creator of a new weapon system.
Piyano was the type of man to never support warfare, but Kal-Hazari brought up the argument that in the wrong hands his new creation could have catastrophic consequences. Whether or not Piyano liked it he knew he had to help his friend find his stolen weapon. Given three options of where to start from Piyano choose to start in the lab where the theft occurred. Minutes later Piyano, Kal-Hazari, and several security personnel all stood in the lab. Shattered glass and blood coated the floor, knocked over projects littered tables. The guards and Kal-Hazari stepped off to the side to let Piyano conduct his search.
At first Piyano thought to start with the blood, but both guards and thieves had died in the raid, and too much blood was splattered about. Piyano guessed no good sample of blood could be pulled from the mess. Instead Piyano started at the case that had once held the stolen blaster. Unlike most everything else in the lab the case was unbroken or damaged. In fact other than being unlock the case was completely undisturbed. "The thieves knew the code." Piyano said aloud as he stuck his head into the case for a better look. At first Piyano found nothing, but as he went to pull his head free a fine white powder was kicked into the air from his breathing. Touching his fingers to the grains Piyano felt certain the material was chalk dust. Pulling his head free Piyano continued to explain his thoughts, "Everything has been destroyed but this table and case. All the other ransacking was meant to try and cover up the fact that your blaster was the only thing they had been after." Piyano said to Kal-Hazari, and the little human looked worried at that.
Next Piyano was brought to speak with the other four scientists that worked the project along side Kal-Hazari. Two women and two men, three were humans while the forth man was a Saiyan. With authority from Kal-Hazari Piyano managed to speak with each individual privately. All three humans instantly placed blame up their Saiyan coworker, each one bringing up causes and reasons that it must be the alien's fault in some way or manner. Piyano had no way of knowing if any person was telling the truth, so the alien bluffed them all. During each interview Piyano used his telepathy to speak into the minds of each scientist. What was more Piyano lied to all of them, insisting that he could read their minds as well as impart his own thoughts. It took several hours but in the end Piyano was confident that if their had been a inside man that it had been the human woman Rebecca. Rebecca had been the most insistent on placing blame elsewhere, and the longer her interview had gone on the more the woman had started to crack. By the end the woman went on a rant about how Kal-Hazari didn't deserve his position within the company, and how the blaster had mostly been of her own design.
With the lab and employees out of the way Piyano was left with only one other place too search. Kal-Hazari guided the Namekian to the local corners office. At first police didn't like the thought of Piyano stepping on the toes of their work, but Kal-Hazari smoothed things over with honeyed words and promises from the company. The little man was actually a better conversationalist than Piyano had believed at first. This round little human was full of surprises. When Piyano was finally left alone in the office with the bodies he began examining the companies fallen guards first and not the thieves. Inspecting the guards wounds Piyano found expertly placed stab and bullet wounds, no unnecessary marks or injuries beyond what was needed to score a kill. At least if Piyano's understanding of human biology was correct. The thieves were terrible thieves, but very capable fighters. Mercenaries was the most likely guess Piyano could think of. Next Piyano checked the arms and ammunition of the thieves. Each piece was marked or stamped with Red Ribbon Army markings, the RR had been dissolved many dozens if not hundreds of years ago by now Piyano knew from earth stories, but their stores and supply caches could still be found from time to time so the legends told.
Lastly Piyano searched the thieves themselves. All human of both genders the three dead bore little resemblance to each other. However on each members ankle Piyano discovered a small tattoo. A blazing demon skull crossed over by a saber and a rocket launcher. Nothing else seemed odd or out of place until Piyano reached each thief's boots. They were of different brands and design, but each contained a small amount of soft, rich, soil in their soles. The soil was clearly different from the dry sands that inhabited most of the western lands. In fact most soil this fine could only be found nearby volcanoes. "Volcanoes... I got it." Piyano said aloud in deep thought. As the man had spent most of his free time traveling Earth to sight see, he knew of only one volcano in the region.
Leaving the office with Kal-Hazari at his side Piyano moved to tell the man what he had discovered, but Kal-Hazari stopped him. "It is not my place to know my main man. Only the CEO is to receive your findings." Kal-Hazari said as he lead Piyano back to ExGen. Nearly a hour later Piyano found himself standing in a massive room on ExGen.'s top floor; a tall, strong, looking human male smoking a cigar stared back at Piyano as he gave his report to the human. Even with all the information Piyano had discovered the smoking man did not look please. "Between the soil and the chalk I believe your thieves are hiding out on Mount Kiwi." Piyano said as the angry human stared him down. "As for the tattoo I do not know of it, but I believe it to be a branding of service to a mercenary agency. I also believe Rebecca can fill you in more. If your company did possess a insider threat I am certain it was her." Piyano finished.
The CEO's brow furrowed as he took in the information, his face never changed from a look of anger, but Piyano was starting to suspect the mans rage was not directed at himself. "You've done a good job Namekian. We have more sources to check out on our end, but we will be contacting you again. Take this for the future." The CEO said suddenly as he tossed Piyano a communication device. it was no scouter but at least Piyano wouldn't have to wait for the mail should ExGen. hire his services again. With that the CEO waved Piyano out of his office, the alien knew there was nothing more he could do now but wait.
End
Word Count: 1966
The street was bustling with activity today Piyano noticed as he walked along the streets of Pepper Town having to duck and weave his way through the throngs of people lining the roads. The flight into the western city had been long and aggravating, Piyano discovering that he had come to enjoy the cold breeze of the north much more than the scorching sands and winds of the west in his time on Earth. This time however Piyano had come prepared with a sturdy clay jug of water hanging off his back. The Namekian had learned from his last visit to Pepper Town that traveling without water was practically a death sentence, and Piyano would not make such a mistake again.
Even as the green alien pressed his way through the crowds Piyano remembered that it was because of his last visit that the Namekian had even returned to Pepper Town. On Piyano's last visit he had assisted a funny little human named Kal-Hazari in finding and retrieving his lost pet Mittens. On that occasion Piyano and Kal-Hazari had faced hardships together in their search, and yet it was only because of blind luck that Mittens, a white clawed salamander, had even been found. Kal-Hazari in his joy had insisted that he and Piyano exchange contact information, and so the human had finally put that information to use. Sending Piyano a letter that had been delivered overnight from the west to the north did not come cheaply Piyano suspected, and even more strange was the information contained within.
Kal-Hazari had written Piyano to ask him to work a job at his place of employment. ExGen. Solutions, where Kal-Hazari was apparently assigned as something called a Research and Development systems Director. During his first meeting with the short, round human Piyano never would have guessed the man to be someone of importance. Yet it seemed the Namekian's expectations had been misplaced, as the letter not only made Kal-Hazari out to be a important man within the company, but a man who wielded great influence with those stationed above him. How else would Piyano have been selected to lead the task assigned to him by ExGen.'s corporate CEO?
Coming upon the address he had been given Piyano was treated to the sight of a beautiful glass building. The great structure stood a full five stories tall, and its elegant design made it seem as if the glass had simply grown out of the earth itself instead of having been pieced together one section at a time as it surely must have been. Piyano must have stared at the lovely design for several minutes before he finally moved up to the sliding glass doors and stepped into the buildings entrance lobby. Several humans were milling about the reception room, all wearing black suits and ties. The Namekian had never before been one to judge his own attire as ineffectual but the humans gathered around him made the alien feel as if he stuck out like a big, sore, green thumb.
Shaking his head to clear it of such thoughts Piyano moved up to the reception desk to ask for direction, but a loud voice from behind him cut him off before he so much as got a word out. "HA HA! Piyano my main man! You are here good good. Please come with me!" A voice yelled loudly enough to make every person in the room cringe. Piyano knew of only one person who would yell so suddenly over something so small like his arrival. Turning in place Piyano saw his friend Kal-Hazari, the short human wore a bright green three piece suit with a white lab coat draped over his shoulders. Kal-Hazari quickly embraced Piyano with a quick, tight, hug before taking the aliens hand and dragging him along after his swift pace. "We have much to discuss my man. I need you to help my company find something, just like you found my little lovely Mittens!" Kal-Hazari sputtered as he pulled Piyano into a elevator. Piyano was surprised to see that the lift brought the pair down instead of up.
"As I recall Kal, Mittens found us." Piyano replied, not sure how he could help his friend. Kal-Hazari only laughed however, "So you are a lucky man my main man. A little luck would do me some good at this time." Kal-Hazari said before telling Piyano the full tale of why he had asked the Namekian for help. Piyano stood by in shock as he learned of the prototype blaster, the break in, and everything else. The biggest blow to his mind was learning that Kal-Hazari had designed the blaster. Piyano simply didn't see Kal-Hazari as a violent man, because he wasn't one. Yet here the man was openly admitting to being the creator of a new weapon system.
Piyano was the type of man to never support warfare, but Kal-Hazari brought up the argument that in the wrong hands his new creation could have catastrophic consequences. Whether or not Piyano liked it he knew he had to help his friend find his stolen weapon. Given three options of where to start from Piyano choose to start in the lab where the theft occurred. Minutes later Piyano, Kal-Hazari, and several security personnel all stood in the lab. Shattered glass and blood coated the floor, knocked over projects littered tables. The guards and Kal-Hazari stepped off to the side to let Piyano conduct his search.
At first Piyano thought to start with the blood, but both guards and thieves had died in the raid, and too much blood was splattered about. Piyano guessed no good sample of blood could be pulled from the mess. Instead Piyano started at the case that had once held the stolen blaster. Unlike most everything else in the lab the case was unbroken or damaged. In fact other than being unlock the case was completely undisturbed. "The thieves knew the code." Piyano said aloud as he stuck his head into the case for a better look. At first Piyano found nothing, but as he went to pull his head free a fine white powder was kicked into the air from his breathing. Touching his fingers to the grains Piyano felt certain the material was chalk dust. Pulling his head free Piyano continued to explain his thoughts, "Everything has been destroyed but this table and case. All the other ransacking was meant to try and cover up the fact that your blaster was the only thing they had been after." Piyano said to Kal-Hazari, and the little human looked worried at that.
Next Piyano was brought to speak with the other four scientists that worked the project along side Kal-Hazari. Two women and two men, three were humans while the forth man was a Saiyan. With authority from Kal-Hazari Piyano managed to speak with each individual privately. All three humans instantly placed blame up their Saiyan coworker, each one bringing up causes and reasons that it must be the alien's fault in some way or manner. Piyano had no way of knowing if any person was telling the truth, so the alien bluffed them all. During each interview Piyano used his telepathy to speak into the minds of each scientist. What was more Piyano lied to all of them, insisting that he could read their minds as well as impart his own thoughts. It took several hours but in the end Piyano was confident that if their had been a inside man that it had been the human woman Rebecca. Rebecca had been the most insistent on placing blame elsewhere, and the longer her interview had gone on the more the woman had started to crack. By the end the woman went on a rant about how Kal-Hazari didn't deserve his position within the company, and how the blaster had mostly been of her own design.
With the lab and employees out of the way Piyano was left with only one other place too search. Kal-Hazari guided the Namekian to the local corners office. At first police didn't like the thought of Piyano stepping on the toes of their work, but Kal-Hazari smoothed things over with honeyed words and promises from the company. The little man was actually a better conversationalist than Piyano had believed at first. This round little human was full of surprises. When Piyano was finally left alone in the office with the bodies he began examining the companies fallen guards first and not the thieves. Inspecting the guards wounds Piyano found expertly placed stab and bullet wounds, no unnecessary marks or injuries beyond what was needed to score a kill. At least if Piyano's understanding of human biology was correct. The thieves were terrible thieves, but very capable fighters. Mercenaries was the most likely guess Piyano could think of. Next Piyano checked the arms and ammunition of the thieves. Each piece was marked or stamped with Red Ribbon Army markings, the RR had been dissolved many dozens if not hundreds of years ago by now Piyano knew from earth stories, but their stores and supply caches could still be found from time to time so the legends told.
Lastly Piyano searched the thieves themselves. All human of both genders the three dead bore little resemblance to each other. However on each members ankle Piyano discovered a small tattoo. A blazing demon skull crossed over by a saber and a rocket launcher. Nothing else seemed odd or out of place until Piyano reached each thief's boots. They were of different brands and design, but each contained a small amount of soft, rich, soil in their soles. The soil was clearly different from the dry sands that inhabited most of the western lands. In fact most soil this fine could only be found nearby volcanoes. "Volcanoes... I got it." Piyano said aloud in deep thought. As the man had spent most of his free time traveling Earth to sight see, he knew of only one volcano in the region.
Leaving the office with Kal-Hazari at his side Piyano moved to tell the man what he had discovered, but Kal-Hazari stopped him. "It is not my place to know my main man. Only the CEO is to receive your findings." Kal-Hazari said as he lead Piyano back to ExGen. Nearly a hour later Piyano found himself standing in a massive room on ExGen.'s top floor; a tall, strong, looking human male smoking a cigar stared back at Piyano as he gave his report to the human. Even with all the information Piyano had discovered the smoking man did not look please. "Between the soil and the chalk I believe your thieves are hiding out on Mount Kiwi." Piyano said as the angry human stared him down. "As for the tattoo I do not know of it, but I believe it to be a branding of service to a mercenary agency. I also believe Rebecca can fill you in more. If your company did possess a insider threat I am certain it was her." Piyano finished.
The CEO's brow furrowed as he took in the information, his face never changed from a look of anger, but Piyano was starting to suspect the mans rage was not directed at himself. "You've done a good job Namekian. We have more sources to check out on our end, but we will be contacting you again. Take this for the future." The CEO said suddenly as he tossed Piyano a communication device. it was no scouter but at least Piyano wouldn't have to wait for the mail should ExGen. hire his services again. With that the CEO waved Piyano out of his office, the alien knew there was nothing more he could do now but wait.
End
Word Count: 1966
