![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Company
Time: Monday, November 28, 2011 (late morning).
Place: London, U.K.
Last Event: R&R.
After four months of maintaining a low profile, recovering from injuries (with Qoqa doing her surgical best to minimize scarring), and keeping Asuka close, the Agents get the inevitable call to action. Chaturvedi phones Anabel at her condo, his voice conveying urgency. Anabel summons her associates for a conference call, whereupon Chaturvedi proceeds. It seems that the Company – even the famously hard-to-please Staedert – is overall satisfied with both Georgi's removal and the opportunity to bring Asuka's (formerly Toru's) significant assets into its sphere. There's just one problem: The girl has to return to Tokyo to solidify her claim.
Pressed on exactly what this entails, Chaturvedi elaborates. Asuka must appear in court in person, sign piles of paperwork, and submit to DNA testing to prove that she is Toru's daughter. The Company can retain sufficiently good lawyers to finesse the first two matters, but the third is a puzzle. For one thing, given what Asuka said, Toru might not in fact be her biological father. Setting that aside, there's no telling how many other "heirs" will make a claim . . . and it seems likely that whatever challenges do emerge will be backed by Yakuza factions.
Thus, the Agents have to return to Tokyo with Asuka. Their dual goals will be to keep the girl safe and to doctor the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's samples of Toru's DNA so that whatever the truth might be, Asuka will check out as the crime lord's biological daughter. Chaturvedi spells out that subtlety is the name of the game – he wants a small team to travel to Japan on a commercial airline, enter the country unarmed, and keep heads down. They must avoid triggering a mob war at all costs. At best, such a conflict could compromise Asuka's claim; at worst, it might get her killed.
On the matter of DNA testing, Chaturvedi explains that Staedert's biotech firm – Darmatech – has had past dealings with the TMPD. Staedert's people know where the police labs are located and how they prepare samples. Darmatech also has the technology to alter or falsify DNA samples sufficiently to defeat current test procedures. Staedert believes it certain that the Yakuza has infiltrators within the TMPD, and might use these people to swap samples or otherwise rig the results. Thus, the Company has to act at the last instant to ensure that its tampering comes immediately before the tests are run.
Infiltrating a police lab to tamper with evidence is risky; the Agents' first instinct is to see whether the TMPD is hiring so that they can get someone inside as staff. Chaturvedi says that there are no openings at the lab, but that Staedert has a plan. Darmatech manufactures testing hardware and would like the TMPD to use its machines – that would be good business. Staedert believes that she could kill two birds with one stone by sending Agents to Tokyo in the guise of a Darmatech demo team. While there's no way to get the Darmatech machines adopted in time to doctor samples passing through them, a tech demonstration should get a few Agents inside the building, where they can copy identity tokens, hack networks, and learn where the samples are kept.
To this end, Staedert can have Darmatech handle all the relevant paperwork. She can also supply legitimate laboratory machinery along with which can be smuggled everything needed to tamper with the DNA samples and duplicate police ID passes. Those arrangements, as well as falsified personnel files and identities, could be ready on a moment's notice. However, the TMPD controls when the demo will occur, and they've chosen December 12, 2011. That's cutting things close to the testing, but it should work.
With that settled, the Agents confer among themselves about who should go. In the end, they select a crew of six. The demo team will consist of Anabel, Jili, Qoqa, and Wen, as Anabel is a believable saleswoman and a disguise expert, Jili is a plausible technician and should be able to compromise the TMPD's computer network from inside, Qoqa has valuable experience with biomedical technologies, and Wen is adept at forging identity passes. Vinnie and Zhang will also travel to Tokyo, but as Asuka's bodyguards.
Anabel calls Chaturvedi and tells him what the group decided. Chaturvedi approves of their choices and says that he'll arrange for the six team members to fly to Darmstadt in the morning. As the Company stands to gain a possible back door into the TMPD, and ultimately Asuka's backing, and as Darmatech is positioned to land a lucrative contract in Japan, Staedert feels it's worth the risk to have the squad prepare at her base of operations. Asuka will remain in Klas and Lev's protection in London, however; Vinnie and Zhang will return to fly out to Tokyo with her. With that, the Agents get packing.
The trip to Darmstadt is short and uneventful. The Agents spend November 29 through December 8 at Darmatech HQ, getting ready for the mission:
• Anabel, Jili, Qoqa, and Wen familiarize themselves with Darmatech's machine. Anabel focuses on memorizing selling points and features, while Qoqa learns how the thing actually works. Jili and Wen read up on basic terminology and controls so that they won't look incompetent.
• Wen gets hold of the forgery gear and familiarizes herself with that as well. Once she's comfortable with it, she has Qoqa stash it inside the testing machinery. Qoqa does a great job with this – the suspicious hardware is hidden in an easily accessible drawer that isn't obvious from the outside.
• Anabel tries to make sure that the demo team has suitable clothing to look the part, only to learn that Staedert has her own ideas about this. Staedert's choices are consistent with what's expected, but lamentably dowdy by Anabel's standards.
• Jili does as much research as she can on TMPD computer security, and then loads up a powerful new laptop with optimized, up-to-date software for cracking said systems.
• Qoqa procures a high-end Darmatech-made first aid kit, just in case.
• Vinnie and Zhang, being bodyguards, have a legitimate need for body armor. The Company's body armor expert, Dieter, pays them a visit and takes their measurements. While waiting for the vests to arrive, the two shop for respectable-but-subdued suits that will conceal their armor and convey a "legitimate bodyguard" vibe.
• The Agents provide Dieter with Asuka's measurements, too, figuring that it can't hurt for the girl to wear body armor given the threat of Yakuza assassins.
On December 8, the Agents ship out of Darmstadt. Vinnie and Zhang leave first, heading to London to fetch Asuka, and then catching a flight to Tokyo. Anabel, Jili, Qoqa, and Wen depart out of Frankfurt, registering the Darmatech shipment as freight. Between Chaturvedi and Staedert's people, there are no unpleasant surprises. Everybody's false ID checks out and nobody bats an eye at the cargo manifest. Indeed, Wen and Qoqa's papers apparently come with longstanding loyalty program memberships, and both women get upgrades at the check-in counter!
The Agents and Asuka land in Tokyo on Friday, December 9. The Company is clearly on the ball – suitable rental cars and hotel accommodations are already booked, all in either Anabel or Vinnie's assumed name. While everyone has reservations at the same hotel, Asuka, Vinnie, and Zhang's suite is several floors up from Anabel, Jili, Qoqa, and Wen's rooms. Thus, the two groups are near enough to provide backup but not obviously associated.
The weekend of December 10-11 is uncommitted, mostly to give the Agents time to recover from jetlag and establish cover identities. The demo team goes out and plays tourist, acting like businesswomen taking advantage of a paid weekend in an exciting city. Vinnie and Zhang, meanwhile, stay in with Asuka. Asuka isn't thrilled with spending a weekend holed up with two bodyguards, but Vinnie puts his cooking skills to use and sells the girl on the idea by becoming her personal chef. This wins over Asuka and has the added bonus of avoiding risky room service. All goes well for both groups, and there are no indications of Yakuza interest.