APPEARANCE

To look at, Hisato is striking. She’s tall and slim, with chiselled features. Her eyes are a piercing green – the kind of eyes that could just as well be peering into your soul as they could be looking at your face. Her muscles are toned and worked – her body is lean and athletic.

But few have seen Hisato like this. Most would see her as very average looking. That is, of course, if they remember seeing her at all. She has made being unmemorable into an art form.

To aid this, she has implants that allow her to control parts of her appearance such as her eye and hair colour. Even her voice can blend and change to match any dialect she may need. Those who know her well say she could be anywhere and nowhere – she could be anyone or no one.

PERSONALITY

Hisato is likable and easygoing – a facade she has no problem keeping on the surface, and gets along very well with people. Her loyalties are however to herself, and she will attempt to turn every situation to her own advantage. She does not particularly care for any higher ideals, and every move she makes is carefully planned to benefit herself in some way.

She has a wide network of contacts in the criminal parts of the city, and can get hold of almost anything on the black market. Her speciality is however information – acquiring, buying and selling. Her clients are the rich and powerful – from the big business owners to the world leaders.

She doesn’t care too much for the law, but she doesn’t often break it – she does however, benefit from those who do. That’s where most of her information lies – crimes, criminals and other less-than-lawful activities. She has become quite wealthy from the sale of information to the aid of both the criminals and law enforcement.

EQUIPMENT

Hisato knows her way around many different types of weapons, but she is an expert with none. She adapts to whatever is locally available, but has a preference for discreet, silenced weapons, like daggers and silenced laser weaponry.

HISTORY

Hisato’s parents were both travelling merchants. With them, she travelled from place to place, learning the customs and learning from the locals. Soon, even the locals couldn’t tell she was a foreigner. When she met biometrics engineer, Kundo Hwan in a bar on a small island, he was amazed at her travels. It wasn’t long before he suggested the implants.

Six months later, and at the age of 25, Hisato and Kundo parted ways, and Hisato disappeared. There had been very few sightings of her over the following 3 years, and now, at age 30, she is perfectly in tune with her body’s modifications and hasn’t been recognised by anyone more than once in the last 2 years.

The message had come courtesy of one of her more influential contacts. The message was short and free of details, but the reward was clear - not that she needed the money. Her personal credit card was loaded with credits, not to mention the hundreds of uncontrolled cards she had collected from the sale of information. People were touchy about not wanting to be linked to her. Arrogant fools.

The smile broadened.

Hisato stood, the long flowing coat now fell around her slim, toned legs. She lifted her hat off her head, and it all but disappeared in her hands. She walked over to the table, but did not sit.

"If you are all going to sit with mouths full of teeth, then why don't I begin? I am Nehiruun." She paused to let the name sink in. Seeing no recognition, she carried on. "I am the boss of the Rhyellian Habusa," she said, dropping the name of one of the bigger street gangs. She didn't wait for anyone to react. "I'm skilled in many things, but I think it best if I keep that to myself for the moment."

She pulled off her coat and flung it over the vacant seat alongside her before she sank into a chair, and swung her legs under the table, crossing them as she did. Almost immediately, her complexion changed just slightly. Her eyes were a hazel colour, and her cheekbones high set in her face. Her long ject black hair fell well past her shoulders. She fell to silence again, and watched the others. The was no point in trying to be unnoticed in this group - she would need them if she were to complete this task and reap the reward.

And here they think I'll share it with them. Hah! Such ignorance. Such unfounded confidence!

Ah Cynn, how easily you bend to my wills. You won't be any challenge at all.

Hisato smiled, and glanced around the table. The pilot has a small smile on her face after Cynn's little show. Good - she won't be any challenge either. Poor little Nehiruun - so weak and defenceless. How could she ever be the head of such a notorious gang? Hisato could barely hold back the smile.

Hisato stood, the long flowing coat now fell around her slim, toned legs. She lifted her hat off her head, and it all but disappeared in her hands. She walked over to the table, but did not sit.

"If you are all going to sit with mouths full of teeth, then why don't I begin? I am Nehiruun." She paused to let the name sink in. Seeing no recognition, she carried on. "I am the boss of the Rhyellian Habusa," she said, dropping the name of one of the bigger street gangs. She didn't wait for anyone to react. "I'm skilled in many things, but I think it best if I keep that to myself for the moment."

She pulled off her coat and flung it over the vacant seat alongside her before she sank into a chair, and swung her legs under the table, crossing them as she did. Almost immediately, her complexion changed just slightly. Her eyes were a hazel colour, and her cheekbones high set in her face. Her long ject black hair fell well past her shoulders. She fell to silence again, and watched the others. The was no point in trying to be unnoticed in this group - she would need them if she were to complete this task and reap the reward.

And here they think I'll share it with them. Hah! Such ignorance. Such unfounded confidence!

Hisato slid her had silently into her pocket and produced her communicator. She keyed in a few numbers and held the device to her ear. She whispered something softly into the device, barely audible to her companions. She made sure to say a few words loud enough for the group to hear.

Credits...Information...Staatentek...

With that, she rang off, and turned back to the group. "We should have all the information necessary in just a few hours. In the meantime, I think we should assign ourselves roles in this circus." She was smooth and unfaltering. If she was to assert herself to be the information source to this group, it would have to start with something big.

She'd just contacted the navigator of one of the tranding companies that used Staatentek Orbital #03F. He knew the station well, and would be able to get the blueprints of the Orbital. It's amazing what a few credits can get you, she thought to herself.

Several minutes passed before the communicator in Hisato's pocket screeched. She hastily pulled it out and flipped it open. She looked at the screen and then set it on the table, pressing a button. Immediately, a hologram appeared of the #03F substation, it's identifying number painted big and bright on it's side. Hisato motioned to the hologram. "There she is boy and girls - Orbital #03F."

The hologram moved slowly in a circle, and Hisato motioned with her hand. It changed into a wire frame model, still rotating. Within the model two areas pulsed with a yellow colour - the subspace craft. Hisato turned to Kuan and smiled. "Reckon you could manage these little things?" she said, a little too aggressively, motioning to the pulsing Lockheed Harpoon 55's. She again motioned with her hand, and another part of the blueprint started pulsing, this time in red. The oxygen room. The perfect place for a little accident - highly flammable, and easy to stage something that would look like an engineer's mistake. Hisato spoke again. "A little match in there and we can watch the fireworks as we pull out of the Orbital. Now all we have to do is find out where and what the cargo is we're carrying."

Hisato motioned toward the communicator again, and the hologram disappeared. She slid the device back into her pocket and turned back to the table, a smug look on her face.

Hisato watched the others leave, one by one - all going for a few drinks. Soon there was just her and one other in the room, and she used this as her cue to leave. She stood, threw on the long brown coat, and exited the room silently. As she turned the corder to enter one of the building's high speed personal transport chutes, her hair suddenly lengthened and turned a jet black colour, and her eyes shifted to a hazy grey-blue. One would swear she was slightly taller and more muscular too.

The personal transport chute began it's familiar whine before jetting her quickly down. It took several seconds to reach street-level, and another few seconds to reach the building's door. Many were too scared or cautious to venture out onto the streets, but for Hisato, this was HER teritory - this is where she was respected and feared. She walked casually down the sidewalk, her hard soled shoes playing out a gentle staccato rythym on the concrete. It was a short walk to the building where she lived, and soon she was lying on her soft bed, staring at the ceiling, waiting for the favours she had called in to come through.

Snapping awake, aware of her shirt being soaked in sweat, she sat upright suddenly. She glanced at the clock. She'd been asleep for a little over 2 hours. From outside the window, the song of traffic and arguments drifted up the cityscape and fell into the window, carried on the breeze. It reached the ears of the occupant of the bed in this room. She sighed and pulled the sheets over her head, the warmth encapsulated her from the outside world. She lay in the artificial darkness, listening to the sound of her own breathing for a few minutes. Soon, she was awake, and could not drop back to sleep, no matter how desperately her body wanted her to. She would be very late for the bar meeting now.

It only took her half an hour to reach the bar, and by the time she got there, everyone had assembled and were eagerly awaiting direction. She sat at the table and smiled. While she had been asleep, her credits had been working for the group. Hisato smiled and spoke. "A few blocks from here, there is an abandoned floor of a building. I now have the only key, and I've been assured a nice collection of toys has been stashed there for our persual." Hisato smiled again, and whistled for the bar wench to bring her an ale. She would at least drink like a man, if this group was to think she was capable.