Hilton Tara Riverfront
Tara
Altorra, Sian Commonality
Capellan Confederation
5 March, 3050


     She waited until she was sure that Ace was asleep, and quietly slipped out into the main room. With the amount of alcohol he had consumed last night, she was pretty sure he was going to be out for a while, but Faith made sure not to make any loud noises as she slipped on a dark pair of trousers, boots, and a black tee shirt. She grabbed her coat, and slipped quietly out the door.

     The halls of the hotel were empty at this hour of night. Only a few staff were to be seen, and she didn't care if they spotted her. She made her way down to the ground floor, and casually strolled out onto the street to hail a cab. While there were few cabs out and about, there were even fewer people, and she quickly found a ride and climbed into the hovercar.

     "Comstar Compound please"

     The car sped off, and within a few minutes, she found herself at the steps of the ComStar compound. She entered, passing through security with a minimum of trouble. She made her way to the counter, and was greeted by a smiling ComStar acolyte.

     "How may we help you this morning?"

     "I need to place a priority transmission to this account." She handed a plastic card to the acolyte. He took it and swiped it across the reader, then entered a few commands into the computer.

     "Will you be requiring a delivery verification?"

     "No. Just that the message be sent in a timely fashion".

     "Of course. Just a few moments and I will have all the arrangements made. Your identicard please?"

     She handed over her card, which the acolyte swiped to collect her identity and account data, and then promptly handed back to her.

     "There you are, Ms. McCarron. Booth three is free for your recording, at your convenience"

     She made her way to a corridor which housed several private booths for the recording of HPG messages. She closed the door behind her and sat down. She paused for a moment, then pressed the record button.

     "Hello Cat. I need your help with something. There's been something of a dust-up in the 4TCR of late. A small but sizeable faction has left and made their way into Kurita space. The only thing I have to go on is a name, the Flying Circus. It's some kind of historical reference. The claim is that they're off to fight the clans, but I'm worried. More than a little. Check them out for me, ok?"

     A few minutes later, the message was bouncing through the ComStar network, waiting for the recipient to log in and collect. The ball was rolling.