Shooting Stars for Money IC

[Destrude]

Ah, the Seattle shadows. Maybe you've been here your whole life, or maybe you just stepped off the boat, but everyone knows that when it comes to shadowrunners Seattle makes the best. Just like coffee, back in the days before soykaf.

You've been running for some time now, and maybe you've even started to get comfortable. You've tangled with Lonestar, and with their Ares successor Knight Errant. Somewhere along the way you've probably pissed someone important off, and had to duck another team of shadowrunners. Hell, maybe you've even survived a stint down in Bolivia, where even the trees want you dead and there's a mad dragon rampaging above a nasty little war.

Hubris, hubris, hubris, and pride goeth before the fall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

August 1, 2073
Seattle, UCAS, North American Continent
11:45 pm Local Time

The cold rain drizzles down, just like every day in Seattle. It works its way into clothing, under doorjambs, down your back and into your shoes. Only the rich can escape it, in their arcologies with their AR modified weather programs and their cozy creature comforts. Happy in their gilded little cages.

Each of you has arrived here, at this dingy little coffee shop, at the behest of your favorite fixers. A powerful client has put out the call for a team of the best in the biz, and they found all of you. Each has probably heard of the others at some point, and now this gathering waits for their ride to arrive.

Soykaf is available in this diner. They technically serve food too, but one look around the mold-encrusted room is enough to put one off their lunch in short order. A surly afro-american orc is mopping in the back of the kitchen, and aside from a few homeless huddling in the alley across the street there's not another soul in sight.

Wireless traffic has already been scanned, and the astral world's veils pierced, with nary a blip of danger evident.

Feel free to introduce yourselves as you wait for the car to arrive at midnight.

[Codemus]

The door chimed as a somewhat largish man pushed his way in out of the rain. He was about six feet tall, and apparently a bodybuilder. His limbs deformed his red windbreaker suit in such a way as to hint at the large muscles beneath at any rate. The man was utterly bald, his eyes hidden behind a pair of cheap aviator sunglasses.

He seemed unconcerned with his dripping clothes as he looked around the tiny diner in disgust. Or at least you assume it was with disgust, his face didn’t really change all that much. He walked over and sat on one of the stools. "Hey buddy, what do ya got to drink around here?" He spoke with a southern drawl, and sounded very bored.

[Space Lawyer]

The ork in the corner booth by the back watches the large man walk in. He had made it in just before the rain really started coming down, parking his van just outside the diner where he could keep an eye on it. The other customers had sat themselves away from the man, although it varied as to whether it was a conscious thought based on the tough look and don't-****-with-me attitude or an instinctive reaction based on the bad vibe he gave off. He switched his disposable commlink to active, and shot the man in the windbreaker a message.I think we're here to meet the same people. They sent me a picture of the folks I'd be working with. I'm over in the corner. Oh, and their soykaf is terrible, but it packs a punch. he sips his own cup, black and scalding hot.

[Codemus]

Grunting when he got the message, he stood from his seat and adjusted his jacket. He walked over to the corner booth and sat heavily opposite of the ork. He reguarded the ork for a second or two, then removed his sunclasses revealing oviously cyber eyes.

"So we're gonna be team mates huh? Thats cool, I can dig it. How many are involved in this little hootenanny anyway?"

[Space Lawyer]

Five of us in total. You and I are the muscle and guns from what I can tell of the others. The name's Silent for now, 'til I'm feeling more trusting. How about you?

While speaking, Ray scans the bar, looking for any obvious signs of hostility or undue interest in the two in the corner booth, filtering through the thermographic and visual spectrums.

Perception: [roll0]

Visual enhancement and thermographic vision are active. Just to note, Ray is currently carrying his pistol and taser, and wearing form-fitting armor and armor clothing.

[Codemus]

Cliff nodded along. "Okay, nice. Muscle is something I can do well. Just call me Samson. Good to meet you Silent." He leaned back in the seat and put his arms up along the top. This close to him, its fairly obvious that at least his hands are cyber. He had apparently spray painted them to try and match his normal skin tone. Didn't really do a good job either.

"So I don't know about you, but I'm lookin forward to this job. I mean come on, a call for the best of the best? Somethin like that don't come around too often. Or does it? I kinda live under a rock, so I tend to miss things. Hahaha! "

[Douglas]

Another human walks in, casual and confident, and looks around while shaking some rain off his umbrella. His clothes are clean and in good condition but informal - the kind you might wear in a casual neighborhood sporting game in somewhat chilly weather. His long sleeve shirt sports a design of interlacing geometric shapes on a dark blue fabric, and his legs are covered by simple jeans. Brown eyes peer out of a Caucasian face below brown hair as he spots the ork and bodybuilder.

Compared to the pair already seated, he is positively flabby. His muscles are fit for a couch potato, and while he isn't fat or sickly he doesn't look especially sturdy either. Nonetheless, he is not discouraged in the slightest by the obvious muscles or attitude of the two already in the booth. He walks up and extends a hand to each of them. "Just the people I'm looking for, I believe. Call me Macros."

[Codemus]

Cliff gently took the man's hand and shook it. "Hiya, call me Samson. Damn glad to meet you. My associate here is Silent. Here, have a seat." Cliff slid down further on the booth bench and patted the damp seat. "We were just having a discussion about the future."

[Destrude]

The Orc behind the counter doesn't respond to Cliff's question, unless stopping to scratch himself counts as a response.

@cgrela
Ray's scan reveals nothing out of the ordinary, excepting that the temperature readings on the diner's soykaf maker exceed regulation temperatures by nearly 30 degrees.

[a_humble_lich]

Finally, a tall Native American Elf walks in. He wears a nice suit and a pair of expensive looking sunglasses. He walks straight to the bar and orders a soycafe, downing the entire cup in one go. Setting down the empty cup he finds a seat on the far side of the room and starts reading a newspaper.

At this point you each hear a familiar voice in your head <It is good to see you again. It looks like we shall once again be working together. I take it our employer has yet to make an appearance?>

[Douglas]

Ah, what the heck. Everyone else is using real names outside of dialog, might as well join in.

"Thank you." Richard takes the offered seat.

Assuming Raymond also shakes Richard's offered hand, he and Cliff hear a voice in their heads as he sits down. <Would you care for a... more secure form of communication? Probably not necessary, but you can never be sure. And Silent will get to talk while living up to his name.:smallwink:>

<I'm curious - you can probably guess now, but what did you initially assume I was, to be worth a "damn glad" despite being so clearly outclassed physically?>

Mindnet, force 3. Sticking it in the spare sustaining focus.

Drain resistance: [roll0]

Ah, dammit, one point of drain gets through. Oh well, no penalty yet and it'll be gone soon enough.

Following the free spirit's greeting, Richard lets everyone hear his response. <Good to see you too, Enoch. Still waiting on the Johnson, yes. I take it you know these two, 'Silent' and 'Samson'?>

[Space Lawyer]

Hey, Enoch. Good to see you again

Ray shakes Macros' hand. When he hears the same voice in his head, he grins. Heh, I just won a bet with myself. You didn't have any obvious enhancements, so I had you pegged as one of those technomancers or some big-time mojo master. Always glad to have magical backup. I never felt comfortable taking a shot 'til I knew some spell or spirit wasn't going to light me up as soon as I pulled the trigger.

[Codemus]

Cliff laughed and shook his head. {That is just something I say every time I shake someone's hand. Its kind of a habit at this point.}

{Oh, hey Enoch. You know these guys?guys }

[Douglas]

Richard sighs. "This is such a dump. Who picked this spot?"

<Every once in a while I wish I could take advantage of cybernetic enhancement without it interfering with my magic. Then I remember everything I can do with magic and I get over it again.>

<So what are your specialties? I can throw fireballs with the best if I really have to, but that is an excessively energetic spell. Doing anything like a proper job with it will wipe even me out fairly quickly. Moving things from a distance and detecting magic are more my style. The latter is a special interest of mine, as I'm always on the lookout for more magic I might study to learn from.>

[Codemus]

{Well, its funny you should mention 'ware. I've had extensive mods done, mostly for mobility. Otherwise, I'm just a ground pounder. So you are a wizard huh? Never met anyone like that. 'Cept Enoch of course}

"Wasn't my idea. Next time, I vote we go somewhere with class."

[a_humble_lich]

To everybody, <"Yes, I believe I have perviously worked with everyone here previously. As most of you no doubt remember, I am most useful entering places which are otherwise difficult. Although as far a disguises go, I must say Macros, that your masking has gotten quite good, as I assume that you would not gone into a place like this as unarmed as you now look. I would love to see what new toys you have been making.">

[Douglas]

A mischievous grin comes across the telepathic link. <You would like to know, wouldn't you, Enoch?>

<A magician is his own weapon, as I always say.>

[Space Lawyer]

<I'm a sniper. I'm good at hiding, getting places folks don't want me going, and a damn good shot. Me and Juliet can peg a fly at a klick. They call me Silent 'cause you sure aren't gonna hear me or Juliet, let alone see us. I'm not too shabby a driver, either. That's my van outside.>

[Destrude]

August 2, 2073
Seattle, UCAS, North American Continent
12:00 AM local time

Exactly on the stroke of midnight, you each receive the following text message.

New Message!
From: 000-000-01-SATRELAY

Thank you for your punctuality. A black Eurocar LuxWind 4k is arriving, it will take you to a significantly nicer venue where we may discuss business.

Message Ends

True to it's word, a sleek black limo rounds the corner at the end of the stree and makes its way towards the shabby diner.

[Douglas]

Richard promptly gets up and walks to the limo. <I see our erstwhile employee is very precise. This should be interesting.>

"Let's go."

While walking over, Richard takes a moment to inspect the car for magic. Just because.
Turn on astral perception just long enough to assense once, then back off.
Assensing: [roll0]
Detect Magic, force 7: I've got enough dice to just buy 7 hits, and then buy all the drain too.

[a_humble_lich]

"Interesting, somebody has a sense of style." Enoch says as he head towards the vehicle.

[Space Lawyer]

While uncomfortable being separated from the van (and, more importantly, the guns inside it), Ray understands the need for this extra level of security. He puts on his gloves and jacket, then cleans off the chair, sweeping up any hair that might have fallen. He takes his soykaf with him, and walks out to the car.

[Codemus]

"Well then, maybe wherever we go will have some good eats." Cliff put his sunglasses on and slid out of the booth to follow the rest of them.

[Destrude]

The doors of the LuxWind pop open as you approach, revealing a luxurious interior trimmed in black leather. Once inside a holo projector display comes to life, showing a map of downtown Seattle and a route leading to the Space Needle. Underneath, a short message invites you to enjoy the vehicle's minibar during your ride.

August 2, 2073
Eye of the Needle restaurant, Space Needle
Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
12:22 AM local time

The ride is short, perhaps unusually so for a trip through downtown. The car hits nothing but green lights, and in short order you arrive at one of Seattle's premier tourist attractions. Gleaming in its sheath of emerald AR, the Space Needle is visible for many miles around. The car's holo instructs you all to head up to the restaurant that caps the spire, the famous Eye of the Needle.

No living presence disrupts your journey through the lobby and up the elevator, not even the usual security guards. It seems as though the entire building is closed to the public at the moment.

The elevator doors slide open to reveal the dining area, resplendent in its classy black and green furnishings. Sitting at a table opposite the elevator is a single man. Dressed in a simple black suit, he waves you all over with a smile.

"Sit, please. Feel free to order drinks and food if you like, all accommodations are on me tonight.". His teeth flash in a warm smile, their color the too-white and even of artificial replacements. His skin is likewise the exact shade of business professional tan, probably Warm Sun #7.

"I hope you don't mind if we eat before we begin. I find business is always more tolerable on a full stomach." The megawatt smile makes its third appearance.

[Space Lawyer]

Ray has a brief urge to shoot the man. He had eaten pond scum that was less slimy. He takes a seat that keeps his back to the wall, allowing him to see the windows and elevator. He takes a look at the menu, and orders a steak. He felt out of place, dressed in his unfashionable armored clothing. So, you or the group you represent have assembled a high-price, high-skill team. Whatever job you've got, its something important. You want professionalism and success, and you've got it. How about you go ahead and tell us what the job is?

[Douglas]

"Now, now, Silent, if the man wants to show off his wealth first we should let him. To do otherwise would just be rude."

Richard looks over the menu and orders something that looks expensive.

With a display like this, it will be difficult for him to assert with a straight face that he can't afford a jacked-up fee for our services. I wonder how much we can pump him for?

[a_humble_lich]

"I'm sorry, I'm not hungary, but go ahead." Enoch says as he sits down, thinking about how the cost of just one of these meals could feed someone in his neighborhood for a month.

[Codemus]

Cliff pickd up a menu as well. "Now we are talking. I haven't had stuff like this in a long time." He scanned over it briefly, nodded. "I think I'll start off with Burrata & Hot Coppa, and then I'll have the Grilled Wild King Salmon. Sounds great."

{I wouldn't push it too far. Don't know his limits.}

[Destrude]

August 2, 2073
Eye of the Needle restaurant, Space Needle
Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
12:28 AM local time

Though the smile doesn't leave his face, a noticeable tightness creeps in around his jaw as your comments are made.

"Very well, since you seem like busy folks I'll get right to it". he leans back in his chair and straightens his suit before continuing. "The client I represent has a datachip they want recovered. The contents of the chip are not important. It's location, however, is. It's currently hidden somewhere onboard the space station Silver Pinnacle. Pay is 3.5 million nuyen. Interested?"

A waiter drone silently rolls up to your table and begins serving your orders.

[Space Lawyer]

Searching for "Silver Pinnacle"
Data Search: [roll0]

Ray digs into his steak. In between bites (he doesn't talk with food in his mouth, he isn't a barbarian), Ray says "Yessir, Mr. Johnson, go to Silver Pinnacle, find the chip, and bring it back to you or your designee. It sounds good to me; can't speak for the others. Now, do you have any other rules for this? I assume you want casualties and collateral damage kept at a minimum, and you want this done as quietly as possible, correct? Otherwise, someone with your backing likely could have used rather more extravagant measures to retrieve the chip. Oh, and speaking of your backing, is that 3.5 million for each of us, or for the team to split? In addition, I don't think I'd be wrong in assuming you have the authority to give us access to some deep black-ops slush fund to use an expense account, right? We will, of course, keep any receipts you might want. We'll need it to find ourselves a hacker of some sort. Unless of course, you already have that arranged, which wouldn't surprise me. An individual doesn't rise to your sort of position without being a stickler for details."

[Douglas]

Richard raises an eyebrow briefly. "Hmm. Tricky." He begins eating, chewing thoughtfully as he mulls it over.

Following Ray's torrent of words, he speaks up. "Such an expedition poses some unique challenges and dangers, especially for Enoch and I. Of course, that also makes it more interesting..."

"All right, in concept I am interested, though details remain. As, er 'Silent':smallconfused:, over here asked, is that 3.5 mil per person or total? What sort of resources will you and your client provide to help with this? Hijacking or stowing away on a spacecraft is no small matter; I imagine we could pull it off on our own if we had to - you did call for the best and here we are - but I didn't get this far by ignoring resources that could reduce unnecessary risks."

"Who currently has possession of this datachip, and do you have any information on its location more precise than the whole station? When we recover it, how will we know we found the right one?"

[Codemus]

Cliff coughed as his drink went down the wrong pipe. "Space! Good lord in heaven, and fir a ****in chip? Er.... Uh... Excuse me, I ain't got much manners some times. Please, continue."

(why on earth did this not notify me that people had posted!? That sucks!)

[a_humble_lich]

"A space station you say. I would like to hear more. While I feel confident in my ability to get inside any place in the world, a space station has unique challenges. Assuming those challenges can be overcome, I am interested. Although I must admit, I do not relish the thought of going to that dark place."


It seems there has been a lot of non-notification of posts recently I have noticed. I haven't seen it happen to me but I've sure heard a lot of people complain recently. Or maybe that is just the new excuse for posting late.

[Destrude]

August 2, 2073
Eye of the Needle restaurant, Space Needle
Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
12:30 AM local time

Mr. Johnson replies to Ray first. "Collateral indiscretions are obviously undesirable, but of course one must break a few eggs to make an omelet. Do try not to draw too much attention to yourselves, and while the station is question is not owned by my client I daresay blowing it up would be frowned upon by the Corporate Court." He pauses to sip from a glass of dark red wine before continuing.

"And while my client may indeed be possessed of significant means, the fee is 3.5 for the group. Paying that much per person would be rather extravagant, don't you think? "As for a so-called slush fund, I think a prepayment of 750,000 nuyen should be sufficient for your needs. The rest would of course be held in escrow and payable on your completion."

Continuing on to Richard's line of questioning, the suited man leans forward and begins cutting his steak as he speaks. "While I am sad to admit that neither I nor my client has access to a spaceship, I do have a dossier on the station itself. I imagine such enterprising gentlemen as yourselves should be able to find a way up." He pauses to savor a bite of steak. "Of course I have more specific information on the chip's location and identifiers, but first I must have everyone's agreement to accept this mission. I would be happy to transfer my files to all of you at that point."

"Speaking of which, I have taken the liberty of contacting a hacker previously. I'm to understand you may already know him, but if not then allow me to introduce a Mr. Gareth." He waves towards the kitchen area.

[TheMightyQuinn]

Gareth

*Pushing the double door from the kitchen open with the a hand holding a rather old-looking bottle of alchohol, Gareth uses plants the other hand squarely on the face of the chef reaching for it and gives a gentle shove, off-balancing the man.*
"No - you listen! Yes, I do realize what vintage this is! That's why I wanted a glass. You just need to calm down before you -"

*Spinning as the bottle slips out of his hand, he plants a foot on the other mans chest and hold him off, barely catching it before it hits the ground, growling with frustration.*
"See what you're doing? Now STOP - just stop!"

*Shaking his head, Gareth walks out to the table and rolls his eyes.*
"Some peoples children. You'd think I've never seen expensive booze before. Mr. Johnson - care for a glass? Great color. Good stuff."

*With a grin, he looks to the others, some of whom he already knows.*
"I've done a bit of digging into the job already, but it's going to be tricky."

[Douglas]

<Barely more than a fifth in advance, and expenses to come out of that? I don't know about you guys, but that seems low to me. Could someone better with words than me try to negotiate on that?>

"Gareth? I should have seen that one coming."

[Space Lawyer]

<I agree. Just getting there is going to be an expensive proposition, not to mention getting back. We need an expense account on top of our payment. If their executives get it, so should we.>

Ray grins at Gareth's antics. I think he'll do just fine.

[TheMightyQuinn]

Gareth

"Should have seen that one coming? I didn't think witch-doctors could tell the future, but that might come in handy. Thanks for the heads up."
*Giving the man a wink, he sits and pours himself a drink. Taking a moment to swirl the alchohol before raising the glass to his lips, downing it in one swift motion.*
"Of course, you could have meant that I'm the only talent crazy enough to pull off something like this, or tough enough to do the physical aspect of the job as well, in which case - thank you for the compliment."

*Looking at the menu, he orders a couple of small items - real beef steak and honest to goodness coffee before kicking back and waiting for his food.*
"So - I've already agreed to the job, even if we haven't settled on a pay scale yet. What can I say, I'm a sucker for a pretty smile. If you lot are on board, I think we've got a shot at doing this without a hiccup. Otherwise I'm going to end up working with some other slags I don't know, and I'll be honest - I don't really like the idea of a sub-orbital jump into atmo for an escape plan."

*He grins at Richard, knowing he's putting him in an awkward position, but enjoying every moment of it. The mojo-man had things too easy all the time anyways.*

[Codemus]

"Well I want ta do this, I really do. But I don't see how we can get it done." Cliff talked around a mouth full of food, smacking as he chewed. "At least... for that much hudda. This wheel is gonna need a tad more grease."

[Destrude]

August 2, 2073
Eye of the Needle restaurant, Space Needle
Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
12:35 AM local time

Mr. Johnson seems faintly amused at Cliff's clumsy attempts at negotiation. "Of course I understand your concerns, but the costs of a set of fake IDs and tickets up to the station average out to less than 75% of my offered advance. Surely that should prove sufficient?"

@everyone
You guys may of course try again, probably with someone else, but at a -2 penalty.

[Space Lawyer]

<I can see we're not getting any more out of Mr. Johnson. We'll have to find a way to get to the station without using up our money. This job also seems like the kind of thing that could net us some side loot, not to mention the reputation boost. I say we just take the offered deal, and figure out how to make the best of it.

Ray sits, calmly chewing his steak.

[a_humble_lich]

"I don't believe the issue was mere transportation to the station, but rather the additional costs associated with transporting less than legal items there. As well as having backup plans in case something unexpected happens."

[Destrude]

August 2, 2073
Eye of the Needle restaurant, Space Needle
Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
12:37 AM local time

Mr. Johnson pauses to consider Enoch's words for a moment before nodding. "A fair point, I must concede. I am, you understand, not as used to considering the additional expense of moving illegal goods as you are.". He grins slightly at this as he takes another bite of his steak. "Perhaps I could raise the advance to 1.1 million, if that would meet your needs?"

[Douglas]

Richard looks thoughtful as he chews another mouthful. <Nice work, Enoch. Hmm, still a lower portion than usual, but the total is also far higher than usual... Good enough for me, how about the rest of you?>

[Space Lawyer]

<It sounds fine to me. We'll just have to keep our expenses low to maximize our net profit.>. Ray almost orders a soykaf, then realizes this place has actual coffee. When it arrives, he takes a long time just smelling it before taking small sips. An enhanced sense of smell is a wonderful thing.

[Codemus]

{I'm just ready to get this started. Its gonna be so much fun!}

Having long since finished his meal, Cliff drummed his fingers. He felt completely out of place in these delicate business conversations. Didn’t have the even temper required, he had been told once.

[TheMightyQuinn]

Gareth

*After the short wait, Gareth sets into his meal with a satisfied smile, and sits quietly for a moment after the Johnson makes his off, looking around at the other candidates.*

*When no one says anything, he takes a deep breath and sets his utensils down.*
"I'm not sure if I've missed a memo or something, but I've always thought it was rather rude to keep people waiting. I've had my say."

*Raising his cup of coffee up to his lips, Gareth takes a slow sip and smiles, chuckling and giving Ray a smile.*
"Great stuff, isn't it? It's been a long time since I've had genuine columbian. It was actually last time I was in Columbia. What a mess that was."


*Pulling up another AR window while he talks, Gareth pings Rays commlink, using the last connection he'd had.*
<Oi. Chum - what's the skinny? You're all sitting there like meat-puppets, with the Johnson staring at you. You with me?>

[Space Lawyer]

Sorry about that. Hard to remember we aren't actually talking sometimes. The mojo-mans got us in some sort of group telepathy spell..

It sounds like something we can do, and the price seems right. As one final request, and now this one won't cost you anything, is make sure that a) your grunts stay out of our way, and b) anyone comes sniffing after us, you stonewall 'em. Ray sips down the last bit of his coffee.

<Macros, you got anything that'll tell us more about this guy? 'Specially who we're to be working for?>

[a_humble_lich]

"That would be quite acceptable. I look forward to meeting you again for the conclusion of our business."

<Now, do any of you have any ideas on how we can actually get up there? I will have to talk to so people about how I can manage it, but I assume there are various meatspace shuttles, right?>

[Douglas]

"We all accept your terms. 1.1 mil in advance, the other 2.4 to be held in escrow until delivery of the chip."

"Now, let's see those files of yours and the money. Oh, and how should we contact you if we discover anything that needs clarification later?"

<I could try to make him tell us anything we want and then forget he did it, but as a general rule I don't tinker with my employers' minds. Bad for business. As for more direct information gathering spells, I could find out if he's got any magic on him and what it is, but that's all I'm afraid.>

<We'll have to find a way onto one, but yes there are spacecraft that make regular trips up and down.>

[Destrude]

August 2, 2073
Eye of the Needle restaurant, Space Needle
Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
12:40 AM local time

As you all agree to the terms, Mr. Johnson flashes that megawatt grin again. "Excellent!" I'm glad we found an agreeable solution. Now, first the advance." He makes a few gestures as he interacts with his AR display, then reaches into his suit pocket and pulls out a onyx credstick.

"Here you are gentlemen, 1.1 million advance. I've contacted your respective fixers with proof of escrow for the remaining, and once the job is done they will be able to contact me and arrange a meeting to transfer the chip and your funds."

Another dip into the suit coat pocket produces a datachip, its casing marking it as a high-end model. "On this chip are the details and floor plans for the station that I was able to secure. It's owned and operated by TransOrbital, who uses it as a launching point for their satellite maintenance services. They also launch satellites and other payloads into orbit for many other corporations."

He gestures again towards the datachip. "Also on that chip are the details of an agent we had working aboard Silver Pinnacle. He intercepted some very sensitive data for us and hid it aboard the station, but since then we've lost contact with him. He's presumed dead. Your job is to find the chip he hid, and bring it to me. As for the chip itself, it should have a recognizable digital watermark. The data itself will be encrypted, but plugging it in to any commlink should reveal a specific line of text, the nature of which is also provided on the chip here."

Leaning back and taking a sip from his coffee, he continues. "If you need to contact me again before the job is done, I can provide a digital dead-drop account you may message. Anything you send to it will be relayed to me, and in turn my response will be repeated to your comms. If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them now."

[TheMightyQuinn]

Gareth

*Pausing his moment of pure zen with his coffee, Gareth holds out a hand for the high-end chip and credstick, not willing to let the money hang in limbo for more than a moment before it is safe. His manner changes rather quickly, going calm and professional as he gets down to talking about the job.*
"Those sound like reasonable arrangements. You neve did saw what you expected for a timeline for the job? I'm assuming as quickly as possible, since the chip could be found, and any data is of course, going to be time-sensitive."

*With a look to the others, he raises an eyebrow questioningly, but doesn't wait for their permission to silp the chip into a storage slot in his deck.
Note to self. Never go into a job without proper communication lines again. *

"I'm sure we'll be able to find the chip and any information on your agent, and return it to you in a timely manner."

[Space Lawyer]

I have nothing for now. If you would be so kind as to call the car back around, I'm ready to get started.

[a_humble_lich]

"Well, if we are getting started, there is somebody I should talk to first to see how I can arrange my travel there." He hands his commlink to Richard. "Would you mind holding on to this for a moment? I'll catch up with you soon." With that said, he bows slightly to Mr. Johnson and disappears.

Once Astral, he makes a brief visit to his home plane, before returning to the physical world in Los Angeles, in the Magic department of the UCLA campus to be exact. Despite the hour, he is fairly sure this is where is old friend Prof. Gary Thorsen is, cat shamans seem to tend to be night people. First knocking on the door, he enters and says:

Gary, it has been too long. How are your students? I have a question for you. Hypothetically speaking if someone like me were to want to visit a orbital station that has a weak mana field, how could transportation their happen. Do you know of anyway to create a synthetic temporary mana field of some nataure?

[Douglas]

"What time constraints are there for this job? That's all I can think of to ask at the moment without going over the data, and I don't think you want us staying here for hours while we study it and plan."

[Destrude]

August 2, 2073
Eye of the Needle restaurant, Space Needle
Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
12:42 AM local time

Mr. Johnson grins slightly at Richard's comment. "Of course, I'll call for the car to take you all wherever you'd like to go. I wouldn't want to detain you from getting started, and I'm sure you'd like to work in privacy. As for timeframe, the station undergoes maintenance every two months, with the next due in 30 days time. It is likely they'll find the chip at that point, so I'd reccomend you be done by then."

He makes a few gestures in the air, then stands and heads for the elevators.


@everyone
I'll handle the hacking results tomorrow, as well as Enoch's visit to his friend. Just wanted to get this bit up first.

[Codemus]

Cliff cleared his throat and looked around at the gathered group. "Okay gents, I just felt like I should let you all know that I am happy to be involved in this op. I had nothing going on before this, so if it wasn't for this I'd be bored. Haha! Oh, and there might possibly be some complications with me in tow, but hey we can take care of that later. Its nothing really."

I swear I'm not ditching the game. I've had the WORST time at work, and was very nearly in serious trouble with the boss man. Thankfully, things worked out. :smallsigh:

[TheMightyQuinn]

Gareth

*With the Johnson leaving, Gareth leans forward to fill his cup to the rim before leaning back and giving a slight shrug.*

"There's always complications, though I'm not a fan of discussing things in such a public place. Well, more than we have. What do you say we take this somewhere more... isolated. Specifically less recorded."


Alright, defaulting on a slight of hand check to slip the Johnsons fork into a napkin and out of sight as he fills up his coffee.
I know it's not really necessary but fun.

[roll0]
Edit: Woo! 5 hits! Smooooth.

[Douglas]

Richard nods. "Indeed. First, let's get somewhere I can make a moderately private call."

Richard stays mostly silent during the ride back down the elevator, instructs the car to return the group to the diner it picked us up at, and walks a block or two away to an isolated spot. "Ok, I think this is safe enough for starters..."

He brings up a contact on his commlink and hits the call button. Moments later an elven woman picks up, looking quite comfortable and alert for this time of night. "Ah. Macros. In company, I assume. How'd the meeting go?"

"You got me one doozy of a job, here, Nishant. I need two things, quick. Confirmation of escrow - 2.4 mil; and a safe house for planning, maybe some secure storage of resources, parking space, good matrix connection, total privacy, etc. I'm sure you have something, and I don't want any trace of this ever tracking back to my pad. Oh, and drop a line to Enoch about it at his shop, he dashed off on an errand and left his commlink with me. You have his number?"

Just to be certain it's obvious: I'm calling my fixer. Which, as we discussed a bit in OOC, is also Gareth's fixer.

[Destrude]

Gary, it has been too long. How are your students? I have a question for you. Hypothetically speaking if someone like me were to want to visit a orbital station that has a weak mana field, how could transportation their happen. Do you know of anyway to create a synthetic temporary mana field of some nataure?


August 2, 2073
Magic Department, UCLA Campus
Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
12:41 local time

The professor looks up at his sudden visitor, seemingly unfazed by his manifestation. "Ah, Enoch, it has indeed been too long. The students are well, if a bit slow this year. The wife asked about you, we are barbecuing this Christmas and she'd be delighted if you could attend this year. "

At the mention of space travel he looks somewhat shocked, but recovers quickly. "I know better than to ask why you need to visit such an unusual destination. I do know of such a ritual, at least in theory. One of my rare brighter students is doing his thesis on exactly that, though I fear he lacks the necessary talent to perform it. It takes a fairly powerful mage to pull off, and a fairly obscure formula to bind." Slipping into Professor Mode, he begins pulling up diagrams of magical formulae as he speaks.

"Luckily, no special reagents are needed, just time and a lot of raw magical power to infuse it with the necessary energy. Properly performed, it will shield a spirit such as yourself from the draining effects of the void. There is, however, a catch. Specifically, the ritual requires an anchor for the spirit to be bound to, and only an Awakened meta will do. He or she would, in theory, recieve a measure of the protections as well, but must remain close to the bound spirit." His face turns serious as he looks at Enoch.

"And he would have to know the spirit's true name."

[Destrude]

"You got me one doozy of a job, here, Nishant. I need two things, quick. Confirmation of escrow - 2.4 mil; and a safe house for planning, maybe some secure storage of resources, parking space, good matrix connection, total privacy, etc. I'm sure you have something, and I don't want any trace of this ever tracking back to my pad. Oh, and drop a line to Enoch about it at his shop, he dashed off on an errand and left his commlink with me. You have his number?"



August 2, 2073
Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
1:16 am, local time

Nishant makes a few gestures as she speaks. "Got it right here, 2.4 million nuyen in escrow at the New Swedish Grand International Bank, under an anonymous account. Safe, secure, untraceable, and very expensive."

As for a safe house, I've got a few in mind. Assuming you want to keep it in town, there's one under a downtown Taco Cabeza that should work. I'll fire over the details, and bill you the usual rate for its use. 500 a week, plus whatever expendables you use and/or damage caused."

At the question about Enoch, she frowns slightly. "I don't, but I know who does. I'll forward the info, and CC Gareth while I'm at it. Sorry I didn't warn you about his involvement, but I hadn't heard if he accepted or not until just now. You know how he is." She rolls her eyes as she finishes sending the requested information.

[Douglas]

"Great. Sounds good. I'm sure we'll have more for you once we've settled in, but that's it to start with. Thanks Nishant, don't know what I'd do without you." Richard ends the call and turns back to the group.

"Silent, fire up your van, I've got us a home base."

[Space Lawyer]

Ray walks around the van, checking underneath, in the hood, and inside for any monitoring devices.
[roll0]

Assuming that goes well, he turns on the van and waits for the others.

Before they leave, Ray leaves his disposable commlink in an easily seen location.

[TheMightyQuinn]

Gareth

*Finishing off his meal, Gareth gives a huge stretch before downing the last of his coffee and standing to leave with the others. As they stand in the elevator, he doesn't say much, and when the finally get to the van, he slides in the side without a word, stretching out across one of the seats.*
"Sweet wheels. I had a nice ride until this morning. It was this sweet ol' roadster a friend has scrapped together from a junkyard back in vegas. I don't even remember what year it was - something like a 62 or something. He called it an old-school chopper."

*Reaching up to massage one side of his neck, he shrugs.*
"Anyways - it was great, but didn't stand up to getting schmucked by a semi real well, so long story short - thanks for the ride, chum."

"So - I've got a few ideas for our transportation up - out of all the corps that TransOrbital does work for, they're actually the smallest themselves, so if we're going to do any hacking or social-engineering, they're going to be our best best to work over. The majority of the corps they do work with are AAA megas, well, except for Proteus, but even they're a AA."

*Pulling dual AR windows, Gareth starts running analysis programs to find any differences between the data chip and the copy he snagged.*
"The other option would be posing as agents for one of the various governments they work for, and I'm not keen on the idea of pissing on the Brits or Israelies - they don't look kindly on that."

"Personally, I don't mind stepping on any confederate toes, but I'm open to ideas."

*Looking up from his own little world, he looks around at the others with a wild gleam in his eyes.*
"Oh - and anyone have objections to my sub-orbital jump idea? It's kind of growing on me. Turns out it might just work..."

[a_humble_lich]

"Well, as you might be able to guess, this was exactly what I hoped for until you said the last part. Out of purely an academic interest of course." Enoch smiles. But still, this does sound like just what I was interested in. Perhaps I can meet with your student and he can explain his work to me. I might even be able to help him with some first hand knowledge of spirits.

And your Christmas barbecue sounds wonderful. If I am not otherwise engaged, I shall make a point of coming.

[Codemus]

Cliff, who had quietly went along with the group, spoke up when the Confederates were mentioned. "Say, you might be onto somethin there. They might be our ticket up there. Plus, I'd rather go with what I know, and I've been there fairly often." He turned his gaze out the windows for a while. "Oh, and could you guys drop me off back at the diner? I gotta get my ride."

[Douglas]

Richard forwards the directions to Cliff and Ray, then settles in for the ride to Nishant's safe house. Once there, he turns to Gareth. "Ok, let's see this data Mr. J had for us."

"Oh, and..." He makes a few quick gestures, then taps Ray, Cliff, and Gareth on the shoulder. <Now Gareth's in the telepathy loop too. I'll have to do this again when Enoch gets back, but then it'll be set until we hit space.>

Mindnet at force 3. Using centering this time since I'm not trying to hide it, so I have enough dice to buy the drain.

[Destrude]

"Well, as you might be able to guess, this was exactly what I hoped for until you said the last part. Out of purely an academic interest of course." Enoch smiles. But still, this does sound like just what I was interested in. Perhaps I can meet with your student and he can explain his work to me. I might even be able to help him with some first hand knowledge of spirits.

And your Christmas barbecue sounds wonderful. If I am not otherwise engaged, I shall make a point of coming.




August 2, 2073
Magic Department, UCLA Campus
Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
12:43 local time

"I think we could help each other out, actually. I'm going to need an example subject for my lesson tomorrow, and using you would save me the time and effort of summoning one up. I promise nothing will be damaging, just some lessons on advanced assenseing."

"And it just so happens that same student will be attending, so I'm sure he'd be glad to speak with you afterwards. Sound fair?"

[Destrude]

August 2, 2073
Safehouse Plural Z, underneath Taco Cabeza
Downtown Seattle, UCAS, North American continent
2:01 am local time

The Taco Cabeza looks perfectly average from the outside, garish AR displays and offensive "Mexican" imagery the same as any other. Parking in the back, Nishant's directions lead you to the dumpster, and a hidden seam in the adjacent wall sliding open under the caress of the proper codes.

The tiny, pipe-filled room contains a trapdoor and ladder, fitted with a biometric lock, and leads down into the safe room itself. Available are rations and soykaf, a rather secure Matrix connection, and plenty of storage space. A warded locker contains a set of common magical reagents, each priced and sorted like the rations. There is a main room of about 15' by 20', and an adjoining bathroom and small shower.

Assuming Mr. Johnson's datachip is slotted, you see a detailed dossier on TransOrbital's business dealings and internal structure. Some of their person ell are detailed, mostly public relations and upper management.

Also included are floor plans for Silver Pinnacle and maintenance schedules, which corroborate Mr. Johnson's timeline of 30 days. There aren't any details of security or any mentions of the target chip's location.

Edit: Mr. J's previous agent, listed here only as Cloudburst, is described as a male elf of fairly unremarkable appearance. A series of previous assignments includes work in Bolivia, Germany, Tokyo, and a station named Helios. Of his last assignment, his cover story names him Jason T'nemos, a EVA certified master technician. He was hired by TransOrbital 3 weeks before being assigned to the station, where his duties included assembly of several Ares satellites. His last contact with his employers was on July 8th of this year.

[a_humble_lich]

"I think we could help each other out, actually. I'm going to need an example subject for my lesson tomorrow, and using you would save me the time and effort of summoning one up. I promise nothing will be damaging, just some lessons on advanced assenseing."

"And it just so happens that same student will be attending, so I'm sure he'd be glad to speak with you afterwards. Sound fair?"



"You know I always like going to your classes. You people have such interesting ideas about magic. And I would like to meet your student. Just so long as there's nothing dangerous, I'm sure nobody wants a repeat of New Years." Enoch chuckles at the memory. I shall see you tomorrow.

With that Enoch leaves to go find his friends. First stopping back home he gets one of his backup commlinks to call himself he sees his commlink has a bright red pulsing glow that even he would notice. It seems he has a message. After pressing some buttons to no effect to get at the messsage, he finally gives up and asks the street kid who's been crashing at his place how to get the message. Now armed with the safehouse's address, Enoch makes his way to see the rest of the group.

[Space Lawyer]

Ray grabs two large black ballistic material duffel bags, a long matte-black metal case, and a folding table. Once down in the saferoom, he unfolds the table, places the two bags underneath it, and places the case on top. He goes through the rather lengthy verification process to unseal the case, and it pops open with the distinctive hiss of a pressure differential being undone. Inside is a rifle, matte-black and lethal looking. Gentlemen, meet Juliet, my one true love.

Good evening everyone. I am Juliet. My love has informed me of our mission. I am happy to be of service. This message is accompanied by a feminine voice, proper but soothing, for anyone so equipped to hear such.

So, step one is to figure out how to get access to TransOrbital. Now, I'm best at shooting, but I'm figuring that might get us caught, so we may as well this sneaky. Macros, think you can get us credentialed?

[Douglas]

<Hmm. Didn't J say this thing had details on their missing agent, too?>

Richard glances up from perusing the datachip's contents. <Oh, hi, Enoch. Let me expand the Mindnet...>
Force 4, buy 4 hits on spellcasting, roll for drain:
[roll0]
Excellent, all drain resisted.
He also hands back Enoch's commlink.

<Ok, there. Until I intentionally drop it or someone dispels it, you can all talk mind-to-mind with each other as long as you're within 400 meters of me. I am not aware of any way to eavesdrop on this without literal mind reading. How's that for secure?>

@Enoch
<So how'd it go? Something about arranging how you would travel into space, I believe?>

<Let's see, whoever we target for it we're going to need a ride in a space shuttle to get up there, and even now I don't think such trips are all that frequent. Going for a TransOrbital flight as the smallest corp involved sounds like a good idea, but I don't know if they ship things up there often enough for us to have much choice. Then again, it's not a subject I've been keeping up with much, so for all I know they could be on a twice daily schedule or something. I'd be surprised, but I don't actually know.>

<Gareth, see if you can find a full schedule of all planned trips from Earth to Silver Pinnacle in the next 30 days, along with departure points, owners, passenger and cargo manifests, security procedures, and any other info you can dig up. Give us a list of options to choose from for Earth-side targets. Take your time and prioritize not being detected, no point giving anyone advance warning they might need to beef up security.>

Responding to Ray: <I very likely could, ah, persuade someone to give us the proper credentials, but I'd need to know who to target.

[a_humble_lich]

<Well, that is more efficient than my mode of communication, thank you.>

@ Richard

<It seems I was successful. It seems there is a ritual to bind a spirit to the aura of an awakened mortal. Hopefully tomorrow I will learn it. From what I hear it would also give the mortal some shielding from the void as well. Assuming it works, it should be just what we need. It would require you to have some knowledge which I have to be very careful with. As you are a friend I trust you, yet let me warn you not to betray that trust.>

[Douglas]

<Ah, there's that info... Jason T'nemos. We'll need to research his activities, but I suspect that information will be difficult or impossible to get from the ground. We'll probably have to get on station before we can investigate in detail. The status of the satellites he worked on might be easier to come by, though. Come to think of it, he might have tried hiding the chip in one of them. Would EVA be needed to search them?>

<If he was uncovered by hostile action, any files related to him or his work are likely to be watched. Be extra careful on that part of your hacking, Gareth.>

@Enoch
<Excellent. Giving me some shielding too is even better.>

<Wait... spirit, bind, required knowledge, trust... You mean your true name, or spirit formula, don't you? I, um, wow. I am deeply honored that you would trust me with such sensitive information. I solemnly swear to not abuse it and to safeguard it carefully.>

[Codemus]

Cliff was sitting in the floor, leaning back against a wall. He had his white knight stripped down in his lap, and he was going to town with a cleaning kit. "Ya know, thats just freaky. Why'd you need a talking rifle? Its like that old myth thing, the singin sword or whatever."

{So why we still using this? Still worried about bugs and stuff? Ain't much being said that we wouldn't care about someone overhearing. Or at least nothing that I care about.}

[a_humble_lich]

<Force of habit mostly. The only bugs I can see are the family of cockroaches behind the refrigerator, but I'll let you know if there are any Astral observers.>

"I agree the talking gun seemed weird to me. But there is so much that you people do that I don't understand. It took me quite some time to realize that the goal of eating was not to create feces."

[Space Lawyer]

Ray frowns. Juliet talks 'cause shes been with me for as long as I can remember. Didn't seem right not give her a say in what I'm doing, considering she's doin' most of the work.

Thank you, my love. I could not do it without you though.

Anyway, this Jason Tenors...er, Tenos...whatever, Jason T.. I'd say our first goal is to find him and ask a few questions, specifically as to where he hid the chip. 'Course, thats assuming he's planetside. I'll check for any publicly available information on getting up there. Don't want to go near any secure grid; last time I did that I near got my brain fried.

Browse, on public, non-secured grids (travel advert sites, news sites, etc.): [roll0]

[TheMightyQuinn]

Gareth

*Reading over the data file slowly, Gareth remains silent for a while, finally speaking through the link.*
<I don't know - it doesn't seem like such a bad idea. I've seen schematics on microdrones the size of fruit-flies with recording quality that rivals boom mics. You never know.>

*Giving a long stretch, he looks around for a comfortable place to kick his feet up and clasps his hands behind his head.*
<So - I'll do what I can to get ahold of information on the station, but I've got an idea on how to get back down - anyone ever done an orbital jump? The idea didn't seem like much fun at first, but if we can manage to get around the side effects of incineration and severe gravity poisoning, it might be a great back-up escape plan.>

"I don't know. I don't mind a bit of personality in equipment, so long as she's not too chatty."

[a_humble_lich]

<Perhaps we should leave the orbital jump as plan B. Aren't things like incineration and gravity poisoning bad for entities as soft as you? And I really don't want to loose my friends.>

[TheMightyQuinn]

Gareth

*With a smile, Gareth looks over at Enoch and nods slowly.*
<Yes, just a little bit. I've done rapid insertions before - though never from that high. Did a jump during a job down in Amazonia. The whole 'war' thing down there was pretty crazy at the time, and we couldn't risk the slow-fall parachute method, so we just bailed out of the cargo hold, all tethered up to the mojo-man. He pulled out some slick moves, and landed us on the ground, though I'll be honest, it was one hell of a ride. He said it was a sure thing - some slick focus he'd rigged up. Set it to trigger or somesuch.>

*Reaching into his coat, he pulls out a stick of gum and starts chomping away at it, though not too obnoxiously.*
<Anyways, I figure it's not something they'd expect, so it's always a good step. I like the idea of waltzing in and out better, but I don't want to get stuck with my proverbial pants around my ankles and no way out.>

[Douglas]

<I just don't see a reason to not use it. It's not like it takes any effort.>

"I can speak aloud if it makes you uncomfortable or something." Richard shrugs.

<Yeah, leave the secure grids to Gareth. Speaking of that, I should be there when you try that. If something does try to fry your brain, Gareth, I can heal it on the spot.>

<I can't do anything about heat shielding, but if it's not too heavy I might be able to catch our life pod with a Levitate before we crash. That should definitely be a backup plan, though. Much better to fly back down on a shuttle the same way we go up. In fact, how long would it actually take for a jump like that to get to ground? I may not know much about space, but I do know it's big and I don't think Silver Pinnacle is in a particularly low orbit.>

<Anyway, first order of business is information. Gareth, if you're not too tired, I think it's time to start hacking. Topics I can think of to look for are flight schedules and manifests, flight security, station security, people in charge of each, anything we can get on Jason T'nemos, status of the satellites he worked on, and... that's all that comes to mind at the moment.>

[Destrude]

@Ray
Sadly, 0 hits means you find a bunch of travel spam sites and advertisements for "exotic getaways", but Silver Pinnacle is not a tourist station.

Additional information on TransOrbital from Mr. J's chip:

Established back in the 2040's, they were primarily an independent "think-tank" for the aerospace industry until the Crash 2.0. After the AAA's started putting more focus on extraterrestrial mining/fabrication and research, T-O began retooling for cheap (comparatively) and reusable space flight. Piggybacking on the growing popularity of semiballistic flights, they utilized the Sanger space plane concept to garner a significant portion of the heavy-lift space market. This made them the natural contractor for putting satellites into orbit, and their strict customer privacy policies allowed them a wide range of clients.

In the last 10 years, they have serviced everyone from Ares to Zurich-Orbital, but their biggest customers have been the CAS government, Horizon, Ares Space, Proteus, and a pair of LEO space resorts that offer "special entertainments for the discerning executive".

Silver Pinnacle, also known as "Station House" to spacers, is their crown jewel. Situated in Geosyncronous Earth Orbit (GEO), it serves as a supply hub/dock for their space fleet and as a sub-assembly point for the satellites they launch. It houses a permanent crew of about 75, but has facilities for upwards of 250 for use during major assembly jobs and for the space ship crews to use. Crew rotations occur every 3 months, and are staggered for security reasons. Aside from regular maintenance contracts for the other LEO/GEO satellites, Station House also handles transit to and from Ares' Helios station out at the L5 Legrange point (opposite the earth on the far side of the sun).

[Codemus]

{Heh, that parachuting from orbit could be pretty fun. And whats this 'gravity poisoning'? You mean the whole death on impact thing? Anyway, it'd be easier to just hijack the shuttle and crash land it into a city or something. I'd provide plenty of cover for our escape if we survive.}

[TheMightyQuinn]

Gareth

*He chuckles and nods*
<Yeah, that's the idea - you get a lethal overdose of solid ground.>

*Finding a comfortable place to settle in, he pops a bit of gum in his mouth and pulls his coat off, using it as a pillow for his head, pulling his deck around onto his chest. The unit looks huge compared to standard commlinks, but he just smiles.*
"Keep a line open and stay within running distance, if you would, Richard. I got no plans to get fried, but it's nice to have a backup. Graci."

<I'm all for a bit of controlled destruction - on the right target, but I'm not so much of a fan of the 'if we live' part.>

*Closing his eyes, Gareth lets the world fade away, and the tension melts out of his body as the digital world envelops him. Time to work my magic.

OOC:

Alright - I'm going to break each of these down into seperate spoilers, hopefully to make them easier to read.

Running a Force 7 Stealth Program for good measure.
I'm hoping these searches will also show the people in charge of the various divisions and others we'll likely to encounter. Personel, ect.

Flight schedules and manifests

We'll start with Breaking in - Probing - Trans-O systems
Hacking + Exploit vs. Target's (syst + Firewall) 1 Hour, +6 Threshold for Admin
[roll0]
Total Hits - 5

Additional Rolls, if needed:

[roll1]
Total Hits - 10

[roll2]
Total Hits - 12


Data Search Once I'm in
[roll3]
Total Hits - 3

Edit To Erase the Access Logs once I find everything I'm looking for -
This is assuming I've gotten Admin access.
[roll4]
Total Hits - 8


Flight security - hopefully on the same system, or I'll roll another hacking attempt.

Data Search
[roll5]
Total Hits - 3



Station security

Data Search
[roll6]
Total Hits - 5


Jason T'nemos - This one is going to have to be a more general search, until I get more detailed information on him.

Data Search
[roll7]
Total Hits - 5



Our Johnson!
- Time to find out a bit more about who we're looking for. Most commlinks have some kind of biometric reader, or it shouldn't be too hard to get some dna readings from the fork, I hope - I'll use the samples I have to try and track him down, and see just who it is we're working for.

Data Search
[roll8]
Total Hits - 4

[Destrude]

Results of Gareth's hacking:

The going is slow, but around the 3rd hour mark Gareth finds an old software loophole that wasn't patched properly and tunnels in to an unused admin account.

TransOrbital's company node is remarkably sterile and post-modern in metaphor, even for a corp. A hive of white corridors and square rooms of data, a veritable swarm of agents patrolling relentlessly in the form of small mirrored spheres floating along. Users appear as a simple diamond shape, color-coded with their level of access.

Flight schedules are easy enough to find, and appear to happen every two weeks. Typically they consist of cargo to be assembled or shipped to another satellite, and personnel rotations for Silver Pinnacle. The next one due up is 4 days from now, Aug 6th, and two weeks later on the 20th. Neither appear to be unusual in respect to cargo.

The flight security search reveals an ongoing contract with Tyndali Roses, which appear to be a security firm of some kind. Judging from their payment information, they're based out of Dryden Ontario, UCAS.

Information on station security is supplied in-house, with an active duty force of about 25. Any projectile weapons are banned on station, so taser darts and bean-bag rounds are the standard. The station's I/O matrix link is heavily protected and regularly purged and reset to clear out undetected connections.

Jason T'nemos' profile in their employee register is disappointingly true to his cover story. It does have a listing of which satellites he worked on though, along with his general duties, time-cards, and payment information. Of specific note is his clearance to work on a Ares Space project, named "Sienna-Zebra Mainspring".

There is no information regarding Mr. J on this node.

[Douglas]

<...and the next flight after that would put us after the deadline.>

<Ok, looks like we don't really have any choice of where to go to get on a shuttle, just whether it'll be the 6th or the 20th. 6th would give us more time to search on station, but less time to prepare our cover for being there, plus Enoch's, er, special preparations. I'd prefer the 6th, but I don't know if we can get everything in place fast enough.>

<So, cover story. I doubt we can reasonably replace anyone in personnel rotation. There'd almost inevitably be someone who knows who's supposed to be there independent of computer records, and we'd be outed the moment we meet them or don't show for our supposed duties. Might as well check the lists to see if it looks feasible on the off chance, Gareth, but don't spend too much time on it.>

<I think we'll probably have to add ourselves to the passenger list rather than replace anyone, and that means we'll have to invent a reason to be there. Ideally, we need to convince either TransOrbital or this Tyndali Roses company that we're there on their request. Oh wait, Tyndali Roses is flight security only, we need a reason to be on station and roaming.>

<Hmm. What would it take to have TransOrbital bring us in as consultants doing a short term security audit, and no one on station realize it's bogus until we're back dirtside? If they're properly paranoid about security they should have at least backup records that aren't matrix-connected, and there may be some human checks as well. Can you find where those records might be and who we'd need to convince? Bring an eclectic bunch like us in, and I imagine someone is going to call back home to verify with a human that we're genuine. Who is that call likely to go to?>

<And then there's searching for the chip. Get that list of satellites he worked on, and in particular the current status of each, but make sure to grab everything you can on that Ares project, SZM. Oh, and what do those time cards say?>

<Also, drop a line to Mr. J. Ask him who, if anyone, he believes would have motivation related to this assignment to capture or dispose of his agent. Or does he believe whatever happened was a genuine accident?>

[Codemus]

Long finished with his rifle maintenance, Cliff was performing a mental checkup on all of his ware, or at least the ones that were wired enough to do so. Seeing the conversation swinging around to something related, he piped in.

{Speaking of eclectic bunches, this kinda fits in with my complication. Any kinda background we cook up fer me needs ta include some sort of horrific accident, on account of my body being about 75% cyber. I’m pretty sure I light up like a Christmas tree on any kind of detector you care to throw at me, so this may be a problem.

Oh, and I think you are cutting Tyndali Roses short. I’ve never heard of them before, but I bet we could probably get half our team on the roster, and the other half in with the Roses. Might be easier than just jamming a bunch in on one side.}

[Destrude]

More hacking results (finally!):

Personnel rotations show that they are kept in batches, each group staying mostly together. Exceptions occur, typically due to emergencies or illness. Corp surveillance included in their files indicates that these groups tend to associate while on leave, forming tighter-knit groups and increasing performance.

Background checks on all personnel are vetted by both T-O and Tyndali Roses systems. T-O taps into a Matrix fact-checking company called iOps Plus, which appear to be based out of Atlanta. Tyndali Roses has their own Matrix verification service, and also contracts out field work to a rolodex of private investigators, most of whom are kept on retainer if the payment records are any clue.

T'nemos worked on a total of 9 satellites during his employment at T-O, 7 of which are currently listed as operational. Three are Matrix relay sats, two are GPS replacements for Proteus's network, one is a deep-space probe en route to Helios station, and the last active is Sienna-Zebra Mainspring. The two offline are orbital telescopes that were hit by a micro meteroid shower two days ago.

SZM's files are heavily censored on the main corp node, and no doubt the full details are kept somewhere offline. What you can gather is that it cost Ares around 2.3 billion nuyen, was assembled by a smaller than average team (only 15 members), and recieved three part shipments that were censored but weighed almost half as much as the whole rest of the project's materials.

Ill leave sending the message to Mr. J to Quinn, since he's back.

[Space Lawyer]

I just thought of something. These Tyndali Roses guys, they're a subsidiary of Saeder-Krupp. They like hiring folks that've worked for SK before. I've got a file at SK that says I worked for 'em. Technically, I did, but the thing was pretty much just a corporate espionage thing during Desert Wars. Speaking of that, the head honcho of Tyndali Roses recently got in a bad mess. Seems he made some big bets on a team, Code Blue, whose opponents suffered some mysterious breakdowns shortly after. Apparently there's an investigation in the works. I'm thinking I can get in the legit way, bring Cliff along with the "My buddy needs a job" story, then we let the rest of you guys in, and Gareth can on-site hack you guys into employment status and onto the personnel roster for the next flight. We all show up as the legitimate employees, do our jobs until we hit the station, find the chip, and ride back down again as good little corporate drones.

[Douglas]

<Ok, so substituting ourselves for other people is definitely not going to work.>

<This TR guy being in trouble could give us an opening to leverage, but I'm not clear on how you're planning to turn it into a ticket to space. He bet on, what, a team sporting event of some kind? Unless this event was a zero-g battle in space or something, I'd expect the investigation to be entirely Earth-based, which would make getting hired to be part of the investigation not very useful. Or were you thinking of swapping favors with him?>

[TheMightyQuinn]

Gareth

*Standing and moving over to the soykaf machine, Gareth runs a couple of last programs before shutting the matrix link down and shaking his head, blinking hard as he rubs his eyes.*
<"Alright, alright - let's see here. We've got crazy security, billions in cash dropped on a project, a missing agent, data. Whew. I'm sure glad our Johnson bought dinner for us first, 'cause I like to be wined and dined a bit before getting stuffed.">

*Stretching, he moves over to the couch and sits again, his hands moving deftly through the AR displays as he works.*
<"I think it might be possible to work out a job as an on-site security consultant for some matrix issues - I'll see what I can do about getting that going myself. I've got a backup identity setup as a Matrix security expert that I use, though never for a job. I'll have to burn it after this, but if it means getting the job done, so be it.">

<"Ray, if you've got a way into Tynali Roses for you and Cliff, that might be the best way to go about that one - you can work shuttle security. The sooner the better, I think, so you're in place before the deadlines and after - it'd look a lot less suspicious that way. The next flights don't appear to have any sensitive cargo, so with any luck, you can get on the crews.">

<"I'm guessing that getting in the good graces of any of the actual station security teams is going to be a longshot, though not something we should rule out. I'm not the best face, so any suggestions for that? I'm all ears.">

<"I don't know which of these satellites we should check out, since all the Johnson said was 'sensitive data'. I'm going to put my money on the SZM though, since 2.3 billion is quite the price tag, and there's something fishy going on with it.

According to the flight manifests, SZMs' had three secure shipments travel through the Pinacle, and they're heavy. Real Heavy. Something is going on with taht, for sure. There was a small assembly team - 15 according to this, but their identities are probably behind some pretty secure Ares Firewalls. They'd probably be the easiest way to get information on SZM though.">

*Moving some of his AR feeds around, he takes a sip of the now piping hot soykaf.*
<"Three of these are Matrix relays - the information they pass along is going to be encrypted, but no easier to grab in space than on the ground, since they're just beaming the information around. Still, possibilities.

These GPS replacement sats aren't likely to be of great importance. They look like they're just refabricated floaters for ground based sensors. These two telescopes are possible, but I'm guessing they were pointed into deep space, and they're down for maintenance. The last one is a probe on its way to Heios, so if that was it, there's nothing we can do about it anyways.">

<"I'll see what I can reconstruct from the timecards and documentation on T'nemos - I should be able to use the layout of the station and the times to figure out where he went and when. It won't be perfect, but it could help.">

*Looking around to the others, he finishes his soykaf and shakes his head.*
"Is it just me, or does it feel like we're groping around in the dark for something sharp, hoping we don't get sliced up? We know we're looking for something, but don't know what it looks like, or where it is, just that it's somewhere."

OOC:

Alright - I know that was a long one, but I tried to cover what we've gone over so far.

So, things Gareth needs to do -

1 - check personelle lists to see if it's possible to replace any of the 25 security personelle that are going to be rotated out next shift.

2 - Set up a matrix problem that could cause TransOrbital to call in an outside specialist. I'll get more into that shortly.

3 - dig up information on the various satellites, to see which of them might have been transmitting sensitive data - this is much easier said than done, and more than likely won't be possible. Tracking what data might have transferred through a satellite after the fact is pretty much impossible.

4 - if security checks have a human-based system of backup, who are those calls going to go to in the meat world?

5 - Contact Johnson at the Dead drop and see if he has any suspicions on the happenings surrounding T'nemos' disappearance.

Anything I missed?