Keeping an Eye on the Spiders

[empressavalia]

Sophie Fürer was one of several diplomats from Zarich assigned to the Embassy in Kumosenkan. Or rather, that was her official job title. In reality, she worked for the Zarich Information Acquisition Service, Zarich’s foreign intelligence agency.

"I don't want to have this conversation again! Do you understand me?!" She sat idly in Isalie Schaub's, the director of the Embassy, office. Isalie had been ranting at Sophie for what had seemed like the past hour upon charges of gross incompetence and insubordination. For the fifth time since her assignment to the Embassy as a supposed staffer, she was being written up for misuse of official telegram, arriving at work late, and missing quotas. Of course, managing diplomatic duties was not even close to her primary objective. Her primary objective was to keep an eye on the Fuynouso docks for any suspicious or major activity, which had culminated in her sending a report via telegram last night.

---

DOZENS OF SUBMARINES ENTERING DRY DOCK. STOP.
NO MAJOR DAMAGES. STOP.
NO MAJOR RETROFITTING MATERIALS SEEN. STOP
REQUESTING PERMISSION TO INVESTIGATE FURTHER. STOP.

---

"I am sick of reprimanding you. I don't know why head office hasn't fired you yet. Usually, someone gets reassigned after a single write up from here." Isaelie thundered. She threw a manila folder at Sophie, jabbing a finger at the door. "Get the hell out of my office, and get back to work."

Without a word, Sophie took the folder and walked back to her own office. Despite her multiple infractions, she had a corner office with massive windows that oversaw the Mensgami bay, and specifically the Fuyonouso docks. She opened up her folder and sifted through the infractions. "Cipher seven?" She began picking out seemingly random letters from the papers. "No, that's not right. Cipher nine." She again began pulling through her papers. "Permission Granted. Allowance four."

"Allowance four?" Sophie's plumage stuck up on the top of her head in excitement. Allowance four was a permission level of the ZIAS that essentially boiled down to 'by any means necessary.' She excitedly pulled open a hidden panel under her desk, embedded within the wall, revealing a safe. Wrenching the heavy door open, she stuffed several million Yairen into her backpack.

"Time to reward some unappreciated sailors."

[Sophie]

Sophie Fürer, after making her way towards the dock from the Zarich Embassy, kept her eyes and ears open as she walked. Soon after she left, the sun began to set. Sophie knew of several different bars frequented around the dock area and staked out the roads nearby. After a few minutes of watching, it became clear that the "Shkikan no Sakaba" or "Commander's Club" would be the most populated and easiest to blend into. Though blending in would be difficult. Not many, read none. Kumo had antlers and plumage. Nearly all of them had massive spider bodies.

Sophie made her way into the Commander's Club. The bar was packed with bodies. Most of whom were wearing sailor's outfits, but just as many were in civilian clothing. The sailors all seemed relieved and were reveling in the bar. Some of the civilians acted similarly to the sailors. While others were exhausted, covered in staol powder, metal shavings, and burns. Many Kumo were throwing gauging glances over at Sophie, and none of them seemed friendly. Anywhere she seemed to walk, conversation seemed to die out from those who were aware of her presence. The only ones not paying attention were the already completely drunk sailors and the exhausted dock workers.

[empressavalia]

Sophie felt an immense level of anxiety having so many Kumo eyes glare into her, especially when her mission was to get information out of those who held the eyes. She took note of those who were and weren't paying attention to her, and decided drunken sailors weren't the greatest dealers of information, and sat next to the tired dock workers at the bar. The Kumo bartender handed her a menu without a word, and a squinted eye. Though Sophie already knew what she'd be ordering. "Coffee. Black." She said, "Please."

The bartender laughed. "That's a strong drink for such a small girl." She chided. For Kumo coffee got them drunk, but for anyone else it was a stimulant. Sophie gambled on the bartender not knowing it would affect her differently, and was right.

"I can handle a coffee."

"ID please."

Sophie handed the bartender her falsified ID, identifying her as a citizen of Kumosenkan, and thirty years old. The bartender seemed to soften up upon seeing the ID and poured her a tall glass of hot black coffee. She took her first sip, and listened in closely to the dock workers as they talked amongst themselves.

[Sophie]

The dock workers continued about their conversation but gave sidelong glances towards the Eulen as she drank her coffee. Their conversations were boring, placid, and vapid.

"Can you believe there's tuition for preschool?!"

"My husband keeps nagging about the late hours we're working."

"Mine too. Do you know what they never nag about, though? The extra money we bring in."

[empressavalia]

Sophie sighed in frustration as she listened on. "Could I have another coffee madam?" She asked to the bartender who was happy to oblige. "What do I owe you? I'm gonna go meet with some friends."

"Two hundred."

With a smile she handed the bartender two, hundred yairen coins and began to wander about the rest of the bar. She sat down at one of the communal tables that was close enough to listen in on some of the drunken sailors.

[Sophie]

The sailors were, by and large, celebrating. From a quick glean of their conversations, they were on something called 'liberty.' Sophie listened for over an hour of banal conversations from different groups of sailors before hearing something of interest. "But did you girls hear from I-101? Apparently, the new training is torture. That's why they gave us a few weeks of liberty, so we'd be mentally prepared to learn about the new technology."

"Ugh!" Another woman cried out, slamming her mug of beer on the table. "Why can't anything Fleet Headquarters does just be out of the kindness of their own hearts?!"

"Right?!" Another woman echoed the sentiment. "We always get extra liberty when they're getting ready to change something major that's gonna screw up our flow."

Another woman, in a uniform of a different color to the others, slapped the back of her head. "Mind your tongue, ladies. We don't speak ill of Fleet Headquarters." With a bit of gripe, the conversation returned to its usual banality.

[empressavalia]

The I-101. Sophie was very familiar with Kumo fleet designations, and new that name was referring to a submarine. Something new, that requires significant and 'torturous' training. That will break up the flow of their normal working methods. Damn it I need them to follow up on that. She glared at the woman who shut them up and spotted her shoulder insignia. Anchor enshrined in a wreath, a single sakura flower, and a single purple bar. Torpedowoman, petty officer second class. Going for he would be risky. Non-comissioned officers are well payed and well respected. I could go for her subordinates, but they might not know anything.

She finished off the last of her coffee and her eyes lasered in on the woman who mentioned the I-101. Anchor, flower, two purple bars, no wreath. Torpedowoman, Able Seaman. Still risky, but a safer bet than the NCO. Sophie decided to pick up an idle conversation with the Kumo next to her. She didn't pay much attention to the conversation she was having, as she continued to keep an eye on the Able Seaman. After hours of drinking, the Able Seaman got fairly drunk after drinking several bottles of coffee infused sake. Once she could barely slur out her order, the bartender cut her off.

The frustrated, and wasted, Able Seaman stumbled out of the bar. Sophie quickly ended her conversation with the Kumo, and followed the woman outside. Once she was a fair distance from the bar, and all alone. Sophie made her approach. "Able Seaman! Able Seaman!" She called out, the drunkard stumbled backwards, her blurry eyed vision obscured Sophie in the darkness. "Able Seaman! I'm supposed to report to Fleet Headquarters about the new training for Submariners, but I am completely lost. I'll give you a hundred grand if you can tell me where to go, and what the damn training is for. No one will tell me."

[Sophie]

The bleary-eyed, completely drunk, Able Seaman's heart froze at the question. She hadn't been told much about the training, only that it was extremely, highly classified. Despite downing several bottles of booze, she felt utterly sober now. Her training had taught her about spies, about how they approached, about what they wanted, and what they could offer. It had been drilled into her how to respond. "Shhore thing maa'am." She slurred, only partly intentionally. She stumbled over to the owl/elk woman. "Sho, you're gonna wanna-," and as soon as she got close enough, she pounced. She wrapped her arms around the woman and sunk her fangs into the Eulen.

The Able Seaman was a Zebra Tarantula Kumo, so her venom wasn't lethal, but the spy was fully paralyzed in moments. "HELP!" She screamed to anyone who could hear. "I NEED HELP!" Being not far from the docks, a Military Police officer wasn't too far off and began running towards the sounds of shouting.

"What's the matter, Able Seaman?!" The MP shouted upon arriving at the scene. "Who is that?!"

"Spy! She's a spy! She asked me about classified things and offered me money!" The Sailor screamed at the MP.

"Spirits above. Good work, sailor." The MP flipped over the paralyzed body and pulled the backpack off her. Then, pulled her arms and hands behind her back before slapping handcuffs on her. She pulled open the bag and almost fell backward in shock. "Th... there must be over a hundred-million-yairen in here."

"A hundred million?" The sailor balked. "She only offered me a hundred grand."

"That's still a year's salary for you, isn't it? You did the right thing."

"M- my training kicked in. We went through pretty much that exact scenario when I got my clearance to work on submarines."

"You followed your training exactly? So you bit her?"

"Yeah, right there." She pointed at the neck of the Eulen, though the actual bite was hidden beneath plumage.

"Incredible, Sailor." The MP began pulling the Eulen off the ground. "Help me with this, Sailor. We need to get her in prison before your venom wears off."