Shadowrun 5e "Battling Unemployment"

[Taqukaq]

Balskjald

"What kind of drek are you spitting out here? stop spouting nonsense and just get to the point!"


The dwarven fixer sat in his apartment yelling into the comm-link to whoever was on the other side of the line. The dwarf sits there in silence with a furrowed brow. The short stocky dwarf was now more chubby than the stocky muscular build that was typical of his kind. He has an obvious cybernetic eye and many scars plastered all over his face. The scars bounce out more visibly as the dwarf has his face scrunched up in confusion. The dwarf eventually shakes his head and breaks the long silence that he held listening to his comm-link.

"Shut it, that is enough. You need people for a job, that's enough. You explain it to them. I'll get you the people, just meet them at the Falling Rock near Pikes Place."

The dwarf grunts and groans, smashing the "end call" button and then he thumbs through his contacts. Finding the six people that he wanted to give a chance, he figured he would send it out as a group message. Balskjald shoots an alert to the shadow-runners, it reads "Runners, don't reply, shut up and go to the Falling Rock. Got a job waiting for you. Looks like its your lucky day. Don't **** this up" The dwarf chuckles to himself, his message sending to the comm-links of the shadow runners as a large banner scrolling across their comm-link. He tosses his comm-link and grabs another bottle of hard whiskey, a reward for a long day's work.


Meeting The Johnson

The Falling Rock is a terrible dive bar near the fish market in Seattle near the old Pikes Place. The bar is down the stairs in a cement building and built in the basement. The stairs go under ground, as is common in Seattle as the city was built one story up from the original city. The bar was dimly lit, the flickering lights were meant to simulate candle light and the theme of the bar seemed to be brown, old and wood. The bar itself was approximately about 15 feet by 30 feet. It was a narrow bar with the bar itself taking up most of it. The back wall of the bar is a work of art. An endless picture of different alcohol ranging from scotches, whiskey, wine and beer. Despite the look of the bar, it more than made up for this in it's selection. Despite this, it was by no means a fancy place, there are no thousand nuyen bottles of liquor. The bar has half a dozen round tables between the bar and the opposite wall. These tables can sit around 5 people. In the corner on the opposite wall are the boots along the wall of the bar. The walls for every booth was tall and dense.

[Schismatic]

"What a ****..." She said with an exasperated sigh, as she replayed the message that came through her burner commlink and tracked down this 'Pikes Place'. She had been listening to the classic stylings of The Housemartins before she got the call, and due to her general jitters and nervousness about her first official run in Seattle the song progression bar hadn't moved for hours--stuck on a perpetual pause as her mind was consumed by nothing but the Johnson meet.

She took a mental note of the other names that were also recipients of the call. She copied the information into a file, deleted the log, and committed to memory the task of copying over the file the contact data to a new 'link when this one became 'compromised'. She sucked down on the cigarette in her mouth, each draw lighting her face up with a dull orange glow, before finally stubbing out the cigarette in a pocket butt holder as she waited a moment outside.

Somehow the trids of Shadowrunning--ehrm--the 'biz'--didn't really highlight the loneliness. Maybe that would change with time? She was doing this job with five others, after all. The closest she came to this line of work was the Darwin Mob--But the 'Family' of a Mafiosi at least bred a certain level of familiarity that seemed missing. This seemed more personal. Like a labour hire company, and she were a temp on a Fixer's rolodex. Maybe that would change? She at least felt like this was truly the chance of a lifetime.

She unbuttoned her suit jacket as she trotted sideways on down the stairs. Left foot in front of the right as the tap dance of feet as she quickly scaled the descending staircase to observe the 'cosy' interior. Just her type of scene--barring the fact there seemed to be only one way out. She was wearing a pastel pink shirt with contrasting olive suspenders, a soft yellow wide neck Windsor knot tie, suited the wide lapel dress shirt and the light charcoal-white pinstripe slacks and jacket with those synth-leather dress loafers. Her two foot long mousy-blonder locks secured in a tight ponytail that trailed behind her. Errant strands of wavy hair had already sprung free and danced on the rush of air as she moved.

She turned off the hologrammatic eye-beamed commlink, freeing herself to suffer the entirely unglamourized grime and from the omnipresent touch of the Matrix she couldn't fathom and secretly believed hated her and responsible for that slight headache due to limited hydration and an unhealthy lifestyle of too much hard liquor. She fought back the pain, and temporarily assensed the area. Viewing the sensuous flow and touch of mana-currents and reading them as they flowed between the tangible physicality of Terra Mundi.

If there were life-signs, she wanted to know about it. She didn't exactly trust her Fixer. Not quite, anyways. Of course he hadn't done anything to merit her distrust--but that alone made him feel even more untrustworthy, in a way. It was hard to describe, and the only comfort she felt was the feel of her concealed Beretta 201T that made its presence known against the small of her back.

Exploring the booths with a cautious eye as nonchalantly as possible...

[Volthawk]

James - no, Insight now he was actually becoming a runner for real - raises an eyebrow at the message from his fixer. Were most of the people he'd meet from now on be that rude? Getting up from the household device that was his most recent little project (tinkering with the hardware and software of his stuff passed the time when he didn't feel like playing games), he pulls on the new armour jacket over his casual clothes and holsters his pistol before heading out of the door, trying to put his worries to one side.

Insight spent most of the walk there (he really needed to sort out some proper transport) in thought, convincing himself that this was the right thing to do, despite the worries and doubts. If nothing else, he didn't have much choice - sure, even with everything going wrong with Shiawase, another corp would probably take someone with his skills in with open arms, and could protect him, but that's just asking for it to go wrong again (he'd seen first hand how loyal the corps were) and if he was being honest to himself, the freedom he had now was quite refreshing, even if it came with a lot of downsides. He couldn't help feeling a little excited at the prospect of properly testing his skills, too.

As he walks into the bar, Insight busies his thoughts with his deck, using DNI to spec it towards utility as a search tool - while he didn't quite get everything about how these things went, he didn't expect to have to do any actual hacking here, but he might have to do some information gathering soon. He also readies Huginn and Muginn, his two agents, in case he needed them to work while he paid attention to what was going on in the meat world. There. That's better. While he might be worried about what's coming up, at least he knew what was going on with his gear and that it was ready. That gave some comfort.

Once inside, he gives the room a quick look before heading towards the booths. That made sense, right? They wouldn't have conversations about this sort of thing - actual serious crimes, probably, and he was going to do this - out in the open, right? Going to the booths was the sensible choice, and hopefully he'll figure out what to do after that. To any observers, it is pretty obvious that he is not at all sure about what he is doing.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan awoke to his 'raku Sensei comm chiming, there was a quick flicker as his eyes switched from sleep mode to active and data began streaming through his field of vision. Diagnostics data, followed by a report containing biologic data, blood pressure, heart rate, and neurological response, it was quickly replaced by an amber time stamp.

He viewed the message from Balskjald, shook his head at crass fixer's tirade. Short, vulgar, to the point, typical and not, entirely, unexpected. He stood up, the room was lit in dim amber shades, a shadow circulating the air through his living room, he found them, a battered pack of Szczepanski Slims. An addictive brand of cigarettes, as the mix of marijuana and tobacco encouraged the smoker to hold the carcinogens in his lungs until the THC's hit the blood stream, he lit the slim and took a deep inhale, feeling that hot spot on the back of his throat. Absently he wondered how much of his lungs were truly his, and not polycarbons, biofilters, or cloned DNA. He blew the smoke out, up towards the antique fan that circulated the air through his apartment.

Morgan pulled the address up on his mapsoft, and began to study the area. He memorized key points, access points, alternate routes and escape strategies, all based on the surrounding zoning, whether commercial, corporate, government, industrial or residential. He began to pull up transit reports, commuter feeds, weather reports, and atmo advisories so he could have an idea of what the day may bring to the area.

He began to slip on the micro-fiber kevlar body suit, zipping it up and securing it over the mounts and housings of his cybernetic limbs. He pulled on some military style cargo pants, found a full length shirt, white, collared, with a subtly inlaid circuitry pattern woven through it. He attached his holster to the clip on the underside of his right arm, checked his Crusader II, made sure it was loaded with Stick'n'Shock, dropped a spare into his belt. Went to his stash, checked his Ingram X, loaded it with standard ammo, and secured it into a cheap briefcase.

He picked up a box of left over Benny's Organic Soy Falafel and headed down the stairs, it was a ****ty studio in Auburn. He could take the Americar, but he'd loaned it to Timothy Yu, one of the 66 Spikes, a local gang he played nice with so they'd watch his place. It was in a rough neighborhood, a bunch of converted warehouses, but it was a place to lay low, a place where Shiawase didn't maintain a presence, so that'd by him some time, and so would this job.



Two unnecessary transfers, one walk from the east bound to west bound, a cycle through downtown, and then a short walk to the Falling Rock. He walked into the small bar, surveying the room, he stopped a moment to appraise the array of bottles behind the bar, it was of surprising quality, considering the overall appearance of the place. He noted immediately the academic, her suit almost made him think Johnson, but there was something about her eyes. He nodded, a bare movement of his head, fraction of an inch. He walked to the bar, admiring the old, water stained varnish that covered it, tracing his fingers over it, the tactile receptors communicating a myriad texture of grooves, nicks and scratches to him.

He tapped, twice, loudly, catching the bartenders attention. "That '63 Scotch, make it a double. Water side."

[Shimmer]

The Satyr, if she could really be called that anymore, stood out like a chalk outline on a sidewalk where she stood pale white hair framing a surprisingly delicate face like a lions mane as washed out cornflower blue eyes stared at the entrance of the bar. The realization that not only had her tentative Fixer failed to give her the details of her fellow runners, but that of the Johnson as well left her antsy as she shifted on the balls of her feet quivering like a runner on the starting line all adrenaline and keen edged attention. Maybe a more experienced Runner would know what to do, but Tsuume...no it was Blink now, Blink was a rookie to all this. The fact that she suspected the whole set-up was very much a 'you don't find them they'll find you' situation with the Johnson put her no more at ease. Her nerves prickling sending a serious of minute twitches through the pale faun's frame as her tail lashed and curled about her ankles with agitation.

Resolving to deal with the situation as one might a bandaid Blink pulled the black leather jacket she wore, currently zipped up over her kimono top, a little higher half hiding her face behind the fluffy white furred collar of the piece as she tucked her chin in and slunk forward. Leaving just her eyes visible, their pink pupils catching the light strangely under the washed out neon along with the curve of her antlers where they poked out of her hair; the wild mane blending nearly seamlessly with the ruff. Thankfully dives like these hosted a wide array of strange folks and stranger faces and with her tail trailing behind her, her hooves tapping out a light beat on the steps as she entered the bar, Blink was simply one strange face among many.

Leaving the rookie to slink towards the bar her eyes scanning the room as she tried her best to keep a low profile. If things had been different, fate a little kinder, Daisuke a little more paranoid, she would have been making this run with a mentor rather then linger here alone scrolling through her comm-link and trying to put numbers to names and names to the faces in the bar. Her only companion the weight of the compressed blade hidden in her jacket and the familiar shape of her pistol where it was pressed concealed against her side.

Adjusting the straps of her pack the faun shifted on her feet trying not to let her body language scream 'nervous rookie' even as she watched the world with too bright half-lidded eyes her gaze never resting on one figure for long though they lingered scant seconds more on the man ordering a scotch at the other end of the bar.

[fibericon]

Meira tilts her head at the message. Unprofessional at best. Still, it was something she couldn't go to high. If she wants to get picked up by a corp, she has to at least look reliable.

Her go kit is pretty standard: monofilament whip, pistol, shockweave, kamikaze, lockpicks. Much more than that would get awkward.

I wouldn't mind having the second skin under this, though... let's see if one of these people knows someone.

She cycles through the outfit's overlay presets and settles on something dingy and low key.

-----

This place is a dump. I'm a long way from home.

She eyes the place quietly, hoping someone stood out enough to peg as a Johnson.

[Taqukaq]

The bar was a dump in most cases. It had a few patrons sitting at the bar, mostly just unsightly gang members. An older woman mans the bar, her skin is a whether-ed dark color, like a Native American who had lived her life in the plains. She was dressed up in hardened leather animal skins. Brown leather pants that were soft and loose paired with a brown shirt and an armored jacket to complete the ensemble. She had several old braids in her hair that looked like they haven't been touched in years. She had a full 24 ounce drinking glass filled with whiskey with an ice cube on top. She looked like she was about to shoot everyone in the room but that was simply a semi-permanent scowl attached to the woman's face. When the first of the shadow-runners shows up, she snaps to get their attention and points to the booth in the back corner. It is currently empty meaning that the Johnson isn't hear yet. Though many of the rumors are true, Johnson find you, and not the other way around.

So naturally they will be late in order to observe the team initially. The first runner to arrive at the booth is Rustik. The bar is depressingly quiet, with only a few passed out patrons sleeping on the bar and it is still only just the middle of the day. It makes sense that poor souls who have given up on life would be discovered here. Shortly after Rustik's arrival Insight arrives and as he heads to the booths discovers Rustik, waiting by the booths. Upon Kent's arrival as he walks up to the bar, tapping it and making his order, the old woman eyes him up and down. She has two revolvers strapped to her hip and she nods at his order, turning around and snagging a full bottle of old scotch. She pours him a glass and hands him a bottle. She looks up and nods.


"On the house. I hear you have a lot of new blood on this run you are having, you'll need it."

The bartender then leans away from Kent and turns to face Blink, she waves in the air towards blink until she gets her attention, then she points her towards the back booth where a few people have gathered already. Despite her helpful nature this simple bartender has a surprising amount of knowledge about who is participating in this run. She was able to identify each member and point them in the direction of the back booth. She hardly said anything, she would usually just scowl and point to the booth. As Meira arrived, it was the same procedure. The bartender waved to get her attention and then pointed at the back booth. The Johnson wan't anywhere to be seen but this was normal for this procedure. Five of the members had arrived and the final member quickly shows up as well. A tall dryad emerges from the door. The dryad woman moved with super human grace or perhaps that was just the powerful glamour that radiated around her. The dryad looks around and then spots the bartender, directing her to the booth where she finally makes her way towards. The woman was a picture of nature. It appeared as if glitters of light hovered around her leafy hair. She looked like she stepped out of a fantasy novel if it weren't for the flachetti hold out stuffed, hidden in her coat and the Vashon Islan Sleeping tiger outfit modified to fit her tall and slender frame. The bartender finally speaks out loudly.

"Johnny will be here in a few minutes. Mingle, socialize, whatever. Just don't **** up my bar."


Take some time to write in some reactions to each other and have some interaction. If not, then just continue to the meeting of the Johnson



The bar was silent save for the speaker system that the bartender had hooked up to her comm-link to play some old rock music from the previous century. After the moments of interaction pass, a tall orc in a black suit and tie walk into the bar. The Johnson nods to the bartender and turns to face the group. He reached into his jacket to pull out a thick cigar. He takes a cutter and snips the end off before lighting the cigar and taking puffs. He walks towards the table and then pulls up a chair from one of the circle tables to sit down. He looks at everyone's faces as if committing them to memory. Then he finally smiles and speaks up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, delighted you could all come. I'm sure you are tired of waiting so you would prefer to get down to business. Naturally I will need dedicated commitments from each of you before giving you the full details of the job. That being said, I would like for you to break into a building and steal something. No killing, and preferably not being spotted. Those are the details you get until we can agree on the job. It pays each of you 10,000 nuyen and there is even a bonus as well. For each member that records themselves during the run, everyone will be paid 2,000 more nuyen collectively. The more who participate, the more everyone gets paid.

[Volthawk]

Insight looks at Blink and the dryad with some interest as they approach. He'd never seen anyone who looked like they did before, and his time at Shiawase had limited his recent exposures to the more unusual sections of metahumanity. He didn't stare, though, instead setting his agents off to do some searching to tell him what he was looking at while in the meat world, he smiles at the others, the nerves slowly being overcome by anticipation and excitement. This was more interesting than anything he'd done in meatspace for a long time (the incident at Shiawase being less exciting and more terrifying).

"Um, hello! I'm Insight, and I'll be handling the Matrix side of things."

[Shimmer]

The bartender isn't anymore quiet with her words than she is with her manners and it doesn't take a keen ear to overhear her comment towards the man, no solider, at the end of the bar. The way he holds himself screams experience and as the barkeep nods him towards the booth and then urges Blink herself the same direction it doesn't take a large leap of the imagination for the young samurai to know what the woman is talking about. Embarrassment and shame at her inexperience cutting a stinging wound across the Samurai's pride even as she choked the feelings down smothering them like a babe in the crib and settled for slinking towards the indicated booth with the crimson tint of a blush crawling up the back of her neck and cheeks. Tinting pale features pink even as she takes her seat with downcast eyes unable to meet the gaze of the man that had lingered at the bars even as she finds herself seated across from him. Choosing instead to tuck her chin a little tighter into the ruff of her armored jacket and peer at the others around the table from beneath pale lashes. Her observations do little to ease her anxiety.

Besides herself there are three humans and an elf. The two women looking clean and put together in that almost predatory fashion Blink had long since learned to associate with corps, competence, and waking up strapped to a table screaming. Besides the Soldier, who she pegged as the additional possible muscle there was just the other human male who thankfully seemed just as green as herself if the way he held himself was any indication or at least god Blink hoped so. It meant there was one other rookie to ask stupid questions besides herself and nothing quite built solidarity like being the low rank on the totem pole together.

"I suppose we should get to know one another a little..." The Satyr murmured looping her tail up into her lap as she gripped it with trembling fingers carding her nails through the tuft upon the end to keep her hands busy as she glanced around the group, still avoiding the soldiers eyes.

"Street name? Specialty? All that." Blink suggested her voice thankfully sounding much less tentative then she felt as she inclined her head towards the man, Insight, she'd pegged as the other rookie.

"You can call me Blink. I guess I'll be your close range support if things get messy." She murmured introducing herself.

[fibericon]

There were certainly people who stood out. A satyr, a dryad, and some metal detector bait. Alright. Meira has a seat and looks over her run mates.

"I'wath if you can pronounce it."

Not standing out is her game, and it shows if you're paying attention. Hardly the elven image of charisma. Pretty if you like the lithe aesthetic, and can get past her drab attire... and what passes for her personality. She does nothing to sell herself, or engage the group.

When the Johnson arrives and explains the job, she offers a noncommittal reply.

"I'm a stealth operative. I don't set off metal detectors. I've done command work. The camera situation is weird. I go dark when I'm working, so you might not catch me on camera."

[Schismatic]

She nestled into her seat. Lifting her right leg and crossing it over her left. She pinched the top of her nose, pulling the glasses from her face as she regarded the collection. Interesting bunch. She listened to the people introduce themselves, then like the rest followed suit. Casually she folded the visual aid and tucked it into her breast top pocket. Shifting her sight to mundane reality as not to prolong her exposure to two realms of existence that might unnecessarily expose her.

"My handle is Rustik. Thaumaturgical theorist. Also a pretty decent medic, good with a pistol... I guess I'll be magical support." She said with an east coast Australian accent as she dug her hands into her pocket.

"So martial artist, decker, spy and...?" She queried to the rest of the group, retrieving a flask from her pocket and opened it. A slightly sweet smell of apple brandy, taking a good mouthful of the liquid.



"Ixnay on killing, with theft and stealth? Also when you say 'record themselves'...? What, like a reality trideo show?" She took notice on the pre-requisite. It certainly piqued her interest. She lounged back in the chair as she received the offer of a century.

Even with her fancy Th.D she wouldn't make that sort of money in 3 months.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan shrugged noncommittally, "Morgan's the name I was given when I was born," he poured a splash of water into his scotch, opening up it's smokey aroma, he took a sip, savored it, swallowed and continued his thought, "name I had when I died, but when we're on the job it's Icarus." He nodded to the crew assembled around him, "Combat specialist, tactics, security, call it what you will." He turned back to his whiskey, alternating between the glass and the Szczepanski held loosely in his black matte cybernetic hand.

He did a little math as the Johnson spoke, 10k plus 2k per runner outfitted, six runners, 12k bonus *each*, this operation was costing the Ork's backers 130k. Now assuming that nobody would lay out more than 10% of the cost of the target they were trying to acquire due to risk, exposure and other considerations, that made their goal, whatever it was, worth just shy of 1.5 mil. The camera feeds were interesting ... "We talking old school, or sim rigs? Because the bonus is interesting," also complete bull****, "but considering my skillset, anonymity is key, and I don't need my face being broadcast over the trid." He looked to the crew, "Sure the same goes for them, yeah?"

Another small puff on the Slim, "So yeah, interested, but need details. Timeline, drop off, payout, and we'll need liquid assets to ensure we're prepared for the extraction."

[Volthawk]

The Johnson's offer was a little confusing for Insight. Wasn't the point of runners that they were separate and deniable? Why would someone want hard evidence of what happened? Surely if he wants proof they did it, that would just be the fact that they'll have what he wants. Weird.

"Um, one question. Why do you need footage of it happening?" Insight had no idea whether or not this was the kind of question you actually asked, but he had to give it a go. After a moment, another question comes to mind. "Also, I'm assuming you'd want a record of what happened in the Matrix for my part of it? Recordings on the meat side would be...boring."

[Taqukaq]

"We are looking for more POV type of run. It is for two reasons. Trying to kill two birds with one stone. The first is that we are trying to start up a reality trid about shadow running and the gimmick is supposed to be authentic. What better way to record a shadowrun reality trid than to just have a few runners record their run. The original reason is that we came into a bit of information that a low key manufacturing company has come into contact with a mysterious package. We are hiring you for robbing the company warehouse where it is coming into.

We prefer the recording be through a sim rig. The videos will be edited so that your identities will be protected. If any faces are captured, we will simply edit them out. We aren't after shadowrun information, merely to give the public a first person view into the shadowrun life style. We also understand that many shadow runners are aggressively against being recorded, which is why we are offering a choice. You can just choose to do the run and get paid money for that but if you use simrigs to record your run, then the bonuses will be applied."

The Ork Johnson puffed away at his cigar as he listened to the other concerns of the runners nodding as if listening to them. The dryad, standing silently at the edge of the meeting, surprisingly for a being with a near celestial aura managed to fly under the radar for so long. That was of course until she let out a smooth humming sound, almost in thought before she stops and begins to speak. Her voice almost didn't seem real. There were absolutely no flaws in pitch, tone, and volume. The voice seemed to soothe and ease into the ears of everyone nearby. In a matter of seconds, it became enchantingly obvious as to what the dryad's role is.

"There are far too many unknowns here, no killing, no being spotted and recording ourselves to break into a secure warehouse of a company that has come into contact with a mysterious package. The pay certainly is enticing but I believe that there should be something else as recompense to jumping through so many hoops in an attempt to risk our lives. I'm afraid I'm going to have to see a little more Nuyen to be more comfortable with selling my soul to a reality trid show."



Dryad rolled in OOC and scored seven hits. 7 is below her limit so it is not limited in any way. 7 hits is also way more than the Mr. Johnson can handle so hoorah, even more money.





With five hits in the assensing test you pretty much see anything you need to see. You are able to see dead spaces in the bodies of those with bioware/cyberware. You are able to see that Rustik is a mage, the bartender is an adept and the Dryad is an adept. As for the power of the adepts, the dryad is average and the bartender is a very powerful adept. She is initiated several times but you are unable to determine how many initiations. The woman is very old however and she has a mentor spirit of a bear that radiates around her. The Dryad's voice almost literally drips with magic. The dryad almost blinds you as her glamour is magical charisma and it shines like a luminescent aura. It is obvious that her powers are centered around persuasion.



The dryad's voice drips persuasion with an unnatural smoothness. The ork Johnson has actually stunned in place by both the argument brought on by the dryad and the hypnotic sound from the dryad. For those without the ability to as-sense or sense magic, this was simply the most persuasive woman in the area. Only those with the strong willpower can resist the general feeling and inert desire to simply be nice to this person and to never say no to them. The ork finally breaks the silence, stuttering slightly, having been taken back.

"Er... uhh.... I suppose that isn't too much to ask for considering what we are asking for it. In that case, I have a rather unorthodox addition to this that is more than just more money. What we will offer is something that I know every shadow-runner struggles to gain. A stable source of supplies and better equipment. We are a minor organisation but we still do make a decent profit and we can offer our services to you. I speak of smuggling of restricted or forbidden equipment into Seattle in a cost effective and somewhat successful way. We mostly specialize in medical practice. Medicine, drugs, some cyber and bioware, We even offer some magical medicinal supplies. We can smuggle in some parts, tools and reagents for you at a decent price. "

[Shimmer]

Blink is the first to speak up after the dryad who has made her role as the 'Face' obvious among their number. The Satyr's eyes flitting over the occupants of the table once more before settling on the Johnson with a sort of quiet resolve. "I am not opposed to wearing a Sim Rig, but on the condition that our technical expert gets to check over the feed recorded to ensure no confidential information is contained before handing it over to you. I'm sure you will keep your word and edit it appropriately, but better safe than sorry." The Street Sammy explained willing to tentatively put herself out there since as the 'muscle' in a no-kill mission she doubted she would be heavily involved other then for perhaps strong arming someone. Thankfully she was a half decent sneak and excellent lookout to round out the rougher edges of her skill set. Though she suspected her bit of the vid would be decidedly, blessedly, hopefully boring.

[fibericon]

Meira likes the promise of stuff, no denying that. She had to give up her old Onotari when she left the Tir. The EBR was... fine. It wasn't a bad gun. It wasn't made for someone her size, though.

"What do you already have on the place? The more we know going in, the smoother this is gonna go."

And if your info is stale or outright false, we'll know what we're getting ourselves into with you.

She just has to maintain enough engagement to not seem like she isn't paying attention - she's not a talker. Not her job, and more importantly, it brings unwanted attention.

[Schismatic]

"Given the whole 'do not be seen', I was planning on just assuming the identity of someone, something else that wouldn't be noticed or suspected of being on the scene. So I don't mind being a trideo simstar--though you had best have someone set my device, I'm not that good with electronics." She added, impressed by the Dryad--but her attention routinely fell to the bartender.

"Also, when you say no killing--what about incapacitating attacks? Like psychokinetic non-lethal blows and gel rounds?" She noted as her eyes returned to the table.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan contemplated the unusual constraints being placed on the crew for this extraction; first, he didn't believe the Ork for a second, if this was a trid show, they'd want them to go in loud, explosives, distractions, live ammo. He grew up in Los Angeles, home of the trideo-runners, hell, he'd watched a few of the streams when he was younger, until his mother caught him. This didn't smell like that, something else was going on, nobody, *nobody*, pays a crew of unknowns without any established reputation upwards of $120k for a run on a 'mysterious' package.

As Dryad negotiated, the idea of continued support and access to even minor corporate gear and equipment was promising, until he realised, that if the Ork planned on tail-biting them, then the offer of restricted access nets him their loyalty and costs him nothing if the, inevitable, betrayal occurs prior to them calling in that debt.

Then the Mage speaks up with a laughable attempt at clarifying the rules of engagement, thankfully, he's able to maintain his composure and prevent himself from glaring at her as she speaks. Not for the 1st time, he wished he'd had an opportunity to meet the crew prior to the meet, to establish rules of engagement, and what not to ask. If the Ork didn't want fatalities that was fine, but Ruckus' question could further hamper their ability to neutralise physical security at the extraction site. He spoke up quickly, "If you want this quiet, and clean, no kills, we need your corp access prior to the run." He looked to Ruckus, "Gel rounds are for ****, any decent impact armor will allow CorpSec to ignore them," he turned back to the Ork, "Stick 'n Shock, Stun Batons, Shock Gloves, and Silencers. We'll have a list for you once we've had the opportunity to put a surveil on the location, second, the sim rigs are slaved through Insights comm, he controls the feed and we provide you with the edited copy, because **** your production value, our anonymity is key and I don't know you or your employer from ****. No offence."

[Volthawk]

Insight nods when Blink sets out her condition. "Yeah, I'd want to keep an eye on what goes on. Security and privacy concerns aside, I just like to know what's going on with my gear and data." He pauses. "Will you be paying for the rigs? I, uh, don't usually need one."

He notes the extra bonus with some interest - he didn't need much in that way, at least as far as he knows (then again, medical supplies were often the kind you didn't need right up until you did), but it was still good to have the option. I'wath's question gets him talking again. "Yes, information would be useful, now we're in. What company is this? Any idea what state their Matrix setup is in?"

[Schismatic]

"Who said anything about corporate security?" She raised an eyebrow at that. "Warehouse workers, execs, office workers with passkeys you need." She rattled on a list of the usual targets.

"It's better than nothing and not all security wear helmets. And even if they do I still have my other less-lethal options." She added in her final remark. She took another mouthful of her flask before screwing the lid back on.

"Besides, if I'm going into a possible firefight, I want something in my gun. And think of the ratings I'll get on my trid if I shoot someone in the back the head?" She chuckles and leans forward towards the Ork Johnson. "Honestly it sounds like a pretty interesting run with interesting challenges, though this package sounds pretty valuable--so is there anything you can tell us about special containment measures? Like if we pick it up it's not suddenly going to howl, or self animate, or open an astral rift on us and invite untold spiritual hosts upon the physical plane or anything?" She put forward her own queries to the rest of their laundry list.

[Taqukaq]

"We don't have too much information about the facility. The company belongs to a group called Taxia Medical Co. and the package, though mysterious did not report any special handling procedures. The package is not unstable, we believe it is a prototype medical device. Something that would soar our competitors far past us. The facility is a warehouse North of Pioneer Square in downtown Seattle. The warehouse by the water and even has it's own private harbor. Though the harbor is not large, it can still fit a few speed boats. As for security, that will be your job to find out.

We are a medical company so we don't have very many espionage capabilities. Also yes, yes feel free to edit the sims, we don't care about trying to identify runners, we just want to get a great view of you guys dismantling their defenses, robbing them blind and making your escape. I can tell you that the warehouse is fenced, has a lock on the gate and I can assume the warehouse doors are locked and under surveillance. I don't know if there are any other doors. You have a hacker right? you can use them to get blueprints of the warehouse I'm, sure. Do some recon to find out physical security.

Unfortunately, we don't have very much information. That is another reason we have decided to pay so much. For pre-mission supplies, you will have to rely on your own money for it. We are hurting our bank enough as it is. But if you like, I can pay you each 1000 nuyen of your 10k now. which means you would get paid 9k upon completion instead of 10k. Now that is all I can offer, unfortunately, I do have another meeting I must go to. If you have any questions, please refer to the bartender Taqukaq. She knows her way around Seattle. She will also be your contact for this mission from here on. As for providing Sim Rigs, no they are reasonably priced. That is a bonus for the job, we aren't going to pay you or give you things in order to fulfill a bonus. If you guys don't have the equipment, you will have to find it prior to the job. Now, good day."

With that The Johnson gets up, ashes his cigar in the ashtray and turns on his heels to head out the door. He waves to the bartender but she ignores him, focusing more on cleaning her bar but then her attention turns to the few dregs passed out. She slaps them awake and jams her thumb towards the door. The husks of humanity get up and stumble out of the bar, surprisingly enough, not really providing any resistance. With that the group is alone in an empty bar with just the bartender. The background sound of old terrible rock music echoes from across the wooden, hazy bar. After a moment of silence, Taqukaq speaks up, facing towards the group, her voice calm but harsh.


"****in two faced business man. Unlike him, information from me does not come paired with a huge paycheck. It comes with a price, and the only information that I will provide for free? Don't trust a ****ing thing he said. I hope you bastards don't think this really is for a reality trid. This isn't out of some internal insight into the situation where I know things that you do not, what I do know is how to read people and that ****er has something up his sleeve. Luckily this doesn't directly involve me and they just hired me to act as a liaison for you two encase you guys brick the whole op, then it won't get traced to them. Instead it gets traced to me. Now for prices and services. Save for booze, I can provide street knowledge concerning the area. I know Pioneer park fairly well and I think I may have even robbed the warehouse back in my prime. It is impossible to tell though. So many god damn warehouses in that area. I'm sure some Nuyen would help me remember some more details about this place though.

[Volthawk]

As the Johnson leaves, Insight mulls over the last question that had come to mind, speaking it aloud once their employer is out of earshot . "He's representing a medical company? Why would a medical company be making runner trids? I don't see the natural progression there. Still, if somehow the unlikely is happening and it's actually a thing, it shouldn't be hard to find stuff out about it. That's an odd enough combination that there would be something out there about it."

The bartender's input just gets a nod in reply. Her free advice was pretty much what he knew already - and if he'd picked up on it, he was fairly sure the others would have, and when it came to the option of buying information, he left that choice to the others who would be more concerned with the streets. Besides, there was something else to discuss first. "So are we actually doing the recordings or not, given that we know he's up to something?"

[Schismatic]

"Sounds as phoney as a 3¥ bill, that's true. That being said it could be for research purposes. Which means we shouldn't just write it off." She starts tilting her head towards the bartender.

"She is an incredibly powerful adept. I read her aura before... I've met magic users as strong with Potential as me, a few more powerful, the great grand majority of metahumanity far less in touch with the Gaiasphere and beyond. She, however, is incredibly powerful." She leans forward and observed the collective here.

"So you have to ask the question, he wants us to enter a corporate black site of a fellow medical facility, doesn't want us to kill the guards, to collect a parcel that they know about, all while incentivizing that we wear simrigs to capture in-field recordings. Just smacks of live testing." She smirked slightly and leaned back in her chair.

"Let me guess, everyone here is new to this Shadowrunning biz--right? I know I am, I worked for the mafia in Darwin before smuggling myself to Seattle. My Fixer? First job I've ever gotten from him … and I'm willing to bet each one of you here, even if acquainted with the biz, haven't worked together before. Right?" She pauses a moment, and chuckles.

"100¥ says it's a pet research project! Any takers? In all seriousness, I'm still going--After all, either the guy's legit and we get a fantastic pay cheque given he seemingly can afford the services of that level of magical muscle over there--" Her smirk turns then into a menacing scowl. "Or this is a research project or some live-fire demonstration of some experiment he's working on, and I plan to wreck its drek and get some Seattle cred for the effort as well as put an end to it. Point is--I plan to prepare for something more than a milk run, and so should you, mates." She tapped her finger against the table.

"In either case, I plan to get my 1000¥. Invest in a simrig and a decent gas mask. Also a decent balaclava. Medical company black site--never know what chemicals a stray bullet may hit." She noted.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

As Insight asks the obvious question, Morgan's brows furrow, he slowly shakes his head. "We'd be green as grass is we didn't. Damn sim-bonus pays more than the job itself." He paused, took another sip of his scotch, savoring it before he continued, "There's one of three things going on here. One he's legit, but knows his job for ****. If this was a trideo, they'd be supplying us with the Simrig, top of the line, maximum feedback, he'd want us to go in loud, 'less we're not the show, but the CorpSec is, and they got live ammo to our tasers and ****." As he spoke his fingers absently traced the dents and nicks worked into the thick varnish on the natural wood of the table. "Second, he wants the feed to blackmail us into future work, but Rustik there isn't wrong. We're all new to the shadows, hell, the data stream on my SIN is not even ten weeks old." He shrugged, rolling his shoulders, "So there's no incentive to blackmail operatives if you don't their value, their reputation. So I'm disinclined to believe the second option either."

"The third one, and this is the one I'm banking on, is this is a god damn tail chase, Corp's doing security analysis on a potential site," he looked poignantly at Rustik, "and believe me sister, this isn't a corp blacksite, not in downtown Seattle. Blacksite's are far more remote, and a hell of a lot deeper than the **** hole this guy's pointing us at." He flexed his servos in the black matte ballistic sheathed cyberarm he sported. "Believe me, I've been to a blacksite, and I have no intention of ever going back to one." Another sip, then he continued, "So they get footage from the intrusion team, review it, and make adjustments to their protocol's and response times. 10 to ****in' 1 that we find out Taxia Medical is a subsidiary of our Ork boi's employers. I've run a few CorpSec gigs, I know the drill."

"Here's the thing," his finger tapped into the table, hard, emphasizing his point, "Ork-boi just dropped the ball, he's not footing for the Sim-rigs, so we *know* the original footage goes nowhere. We get first dibs at the code, and our boy Insight can feed them what we want them to see, which means when we identify a weakness in their security, we exploit it, but we cover it up, if we go in through the harbor, our feed shows us paragliding down to the skylight. Then we find out who is our employers rival, and sell them the chink in Taxia's security."

[Shimmer]

"Thousand up front then for certain if he wants non-lethal and isn't providing the sim-rig. I'm not really spec-ed for non-lethal." Blink quipped shifting in her seat with a half grimace of teeth and a low barely audible rumble of frustration. "My mentor always taught me that if your opponent was down you made sure he stayed down. He wasn't much for ***** footing around." She murmured releasing her tail to let it slide beneath the table once more the minute irritated twitch giving away the Samurai's vexation.

"But Icarus is right. I've seen blacksites as well and this isn't their M.O. Having one smack in the middle of Seattle is way too much of a security risk so this probably is them wanting to test out their defenses. That or possibly see if we're worth hiring together again for future gigs if we're lucky/unlucky." The Satyr mused leaning one elbow on the table as she rested her chin lightly against her palm some of her nerves settling as she eyed the occupants of the table with a calculative glance.

"We should probably all take the thousand, kit ourselves out, pull a map of the docks and warehouse and then meet up again and talk strategy unless you all would like to go get kit out together?" Blink suggested, "I'm not opposed to company." She added nodding towards the group.

[Volthawk]

Icarus' theory makes a good amount of sense to Insight - he'd done some intrusion testing before, and runners as a more rigorous method does make sense. How he ends it gives Insight pause, though. "Um, is that a good idea? On the technical side, I could probably do it, yes, even if it is a big job, but if they found out - there's a few ways they could - this feels like something that would cause problems for us later on, in reputation if nothing else?"

In response to Blink, he nods. "'Sure, I can come with you to buy things. I need to buy a rig too, and get some time with all of yours at some point to sort them out, so that'll work. I want to make sure the rigs will be fine and honestly I just prefer to work with gear I've had a root around in. After that, I'm going to be having some dedicated Matrix time to do some information gathering, so I...won't be very good company."

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan called up his credstick balance, it hovered in the top left of his field of vision for a moment, before flickering out of existence. "Ork boi's good for it though, our up front fee has been transferred. Now, if we're in it for the bonus, lets transfer half our up front to Insight, give's him 3k to pick up the rigs. That'll cover it yea?" He shrugged, he had no clue, but a 10% retainer made it a little tight for associated fees, gear, bribes, what have you. "Rustik, you able to get a sense of this place's astral security, or you need a physical drive by? I can get us a lift, but it'll take me a few hours, ping my comm with your idents, and I'll let you know."

He looked to Insight now, "Once you score the rigs, you tinker as you see fit, hit my comm when you want a pick up. If you're going to do your VR thing, maybe me and I'Wath there will swing by the warehouse, see what we can see. Yea?"

As he spoke to his crew, he thought of Samira and her clinic, he didn't want to bring any trouble to her door, but if they truly were a local medical start up, the good doctor might have heard of them. He fired her a quick message from his comm ...

>>Hey Doc, Morgan. You heard of a local start up, Taxia Medical? Some new prototype being unveiled soon, if you've heard of them, ping me. We'll talk.<<

Then as he thought of the surveillance ahead, he figured better send Pox a message, so he could get his car.

>>Pox, going to need my wheels. Biz. You know the deal, if I come up aces that's more product I'll end up needing from you and the 66's, ya? Meet me at the maglev station outside the I-99 cutoff.<<

[fibericon]

Meira shrugs. "I use full body chameleon with some hardcore thermal dampening. It would take a very expensive camera to pick me up at all, so I'm game for the sigrigs. And yeah, I'll go scout with you. I can fit through most vents, so if you need me to go in and open the door for everyone else, that's what I do. As for nonlethal, I do that by not being noticed. If I've been spotted, it's already gone sideways."

She transfers half the down payment and looks lazily up at Insight. "I'll transfer the rest if you wanna pick up nonlethal ammo while you're at it, though. I use everyone's favorite heavy pistol."

[Shimmer]

It was shaping up to look like Insight and herself would be the ones making the shopping run, but given the price of Simrigs Blink doubted she had the social chops to bargain down a merchant without threatening to kill them or breaking something in the process. She could always steal it of course, but snagging one item was one thing, stealing a set was another. Pale blue eyes drifted towards the Dryad as the Satyr tried to flash her friendliest smile at the face, but the gesture came off a little too sharp. A little too feral.

"Why don't you come with us? I'm sure with your charm once Insight and I've tracked down a place to get the gear it'll be a quick pick-up with your help." Blink suggested the need to move after being confined so long in this booth itching at the back of her mind like the legs of a thousand tiny crawling ants.

[Schismatic]

"Argh, semantics. Whatever. Regardless it still sounds like a live fire exercise or experiment." She scowled.

"That being said, yeah--I can do that. Astral projection is drek if they have wage mages on the payroll or have set up mana barriers, or bound spirits to protect the place. But suffice it to say I'll hopefully see them before they see me. I'm not adverse transferring 500¥ for my part for the simrig... though I use a Beretta 201T Special chambered for a .30 Luger if someone is procuring non-lethal rounds, and I'll throw in an additional 100¥ for three standard mags worth." She noted confidently enough.

"While I'm astrally projecting the place it would be nice having a driver. Just that we have a designated place for parking your vehicle while transporting my body. As losing it is a pain in the arse--and possibly fatal. Preferably we simply park far enough way." She noted.

"Also, if absolutely necessary, I have a spell that will trick minds, eyes and sensors that can simulate anything I pretty much want. Beats simsense hands down--all without have to rely on possibly defective BTLs. I can put in a good show for the cameras. Problem is it will seem--feel--as real as a very figurative-literal bullet to the knee." She said with a warning. "Certainly not something you'd pay for if you want entertainment, uncomfortably real. After all, I can replicate our run without actually showing the real thing." She smirked.

"'Course you'll need to subject yourself to an illusion spell and recreate the scene--with minor alteration of whatever we want--Though I won't be paying for your therapy bills."

[Taqukaq]

The bartender, noticing the group had elected to do legwork instead of paying for information, could only grin and go back to doing nothing at a bar all day. Though normally a bar would't be open so early, but then again this place was rented out for the meeting. It becomes increasingly obvious that the woman is waiting for the group to leave so she can sleep before her actual shift in a few hours. She is facing the group before she calls out one last time.

"Before you all beat it out of my bar, come swing by and grab my contact info. After you guys have completed the mission or if you have any questions call me up. I'll get you guys your final payment and then you'll be on your way. "

The dryad turns and faces the group and then faces blink and insight.

"A capital idea. I am Raithe by the way. I believe I should go with you. Wouldn't want anyone saying no to us after all. Don't worry. I may be a bit easier to spot out due to.... well, you know. I am still pretty good at not being spotted if I don't want to. We won't have to worry about drawing too much attention. "




Looks like the groups are Blink, Insight, Raithe (Shopping group)

and

Morgan, I'wath, Rustik (Scouting Group)

Luckily the bar is pretty close to both groups destinations. The bar is nearby pike place so they can find places to buy their supplies. The scouting group only really needs to drive northwards towards the harbors. While people are traveling in vehicles, I will need a perception skill roll (unless you do not have the skill) while you travel. When you arrive at your destinations I'll have you guys roll for whatever you need to do there. Supply guys will roll to see if they can even find a store and then bargain and such. Scouting will need perception checks, sneaking checks and etcetera. You guys know the drill. Leg work time! Let me know where you're going and what you're doing.

[Shimmer]

Blink tried her best not to look relieved as the Dryad agreed to accompany them. She was fairly certain she could locate or recall a place that sold less then legal goods from her time as a data runner for the Yakuza, but dealing with the merchants was another can of worms entirely. "It's nice to meet you Raithe. Hopefully this will be a profitable venture for all of us." Blink demurred with a smile mentally noting down everyone's various orders as they footed their funds to Insight to pick up what was needed.

She was however quick to take down the bartenders contact number just in case they needed her help in the future before checking to make sure she had the others contact info. "Should we set up a meeting place or just message each other when we're done and go looking for the other group should we not respond back?" The Sayr questioned as the team broke into their two groups.

[fibericon]

Meira swears under her breath in Sperethiel. They hadn't bothered with squad roles, and it seems like the others likely won't be doing so of their own accord. It would almost certainly go poorly if she tried to take command here, but maybe she can nudge them in the right direction.

"Insight, you're on comms?"

[Volthawk]

Insight was a little sidetracked with a few Matrix side checks, but people talking to him pulls him out of it. "Oh, uh, yeah, I can handle communications. We need to share that kind of information anyway, and I can keep an eye on what's going on with the others. Also, um, I'll kind of need more money than just half the advance. Without working out some kind of discount, the simrigs alone will take up our advance - even if we do track some down, they're not easy to find at short notice - and we'll need sim modules and trodes for anyone who doesn't have it..." His gaze moves to Rustik for a moment - she didn't strike him as someone with all the tech, especially with that name - before looking back at Blink and Raithe. "Let alone all this other stuff you guys want - we might need to dip into any spare funds you might have for that, depending on how buying the electronics goes. I do have an idea of how to get the rigs, though. I know a guy who has a store that deals in electronics, he might be able to find some, maybe for cheap. Although if he does get them cheap, knowing him I'll have to do some more work - a big part of his business is parts and used goods."

[Schismatic]

"Hrm… would 1200¥ cover the cost of Simrig, bullets, mags and trodes? How much do you need to cover my simrig and trodes and what other nonsense? I don't want to get a hole drilled into my cerebellum." She noted as she turned to face the bartender at that offer and extension.

"Well, at least I know my money is in good hands. I will need that advance however."

[Volthawk]

Insight shrugs again. "Well, that'll cover the electronics you need, even if we have to pay full price. Bullets...I think that'll mostly depend on if we can get the stuff we need on the cheap. I don't know how much bullets cost, but there won't be much left over if we can't sort something out."

[Schismatic]

"I'm happy with gel rounds. They're street legal, relatively low cost, and standard 21 bullet mags for my 201T should be fine. 2 clips should be fine? 50 bullets, two clips, 150¥? The important thing is .30 Luger. So 1250¥ should cover." She noted quite specifically. She retrieved a clip from a concealed holder and popped off a single explosive round before handing it over to Insight.

"Look like these, only hard jelly rounds. Don't show that bullet to a store merchant, however. Those rounds are well and truly not legal. No amount of licences will cover those. So just a visual aid--I don't have any normal rounds. Those bullets are also pretty expensive so don't lose it, they cost about 8¥ a bullet."

[Taqukaq]

Raithe, having standing relatively still and calmly in the background looked to the entire group discussing acquiring the Sim Rigs. She pondered and smiled, she stepped forward and instead of speaking up, she instead tapped Insight and Rustik during their conversation.

"An Idea if you will. I know a way to get them for free if you don't mind a little deception and swiping. If you can find us a place to get our hands on Simrigs and other equipment, then I have a few directions to go that doesn't involve we spend money and that we get out fairly risk free. I have...ummm... a skill. For a short time... If I focus on a few words...I cannot be refused. The more extreme the command, the more difficult it is but...men have such weak wills. They are often easy to compel to do anything so long as I am simple about it and so long as it can be done in a few seconds. So here is the 1st idea. We gather the equipment and when we get to the part where we would buy it... I can command him to...Give it to us. If I succeed he will, but we will need to get out quick. Because after, he will catch wind and obviously be quite pissed. Then the less risky idea.... I create a distraction...Diversion...And believe me, i am a woman people do not take their eyes off. Then you sweep in and snag what we need in the confusion. Not the most professional ideas but then again, we are dirt poor so beggars cant be choosers."

[Shimmer]

"I know a place nearby where we can pick up mid-line not necessarily street legal weapons and ammo. The guys a fence so a lot of his stuff is second hand and not the best quality, but it's cheap and will probably hold up for a single job." Blink quipped giving out her own contact info to those in the group that needed it before glancing between Raithe and Insight.

"I think stealing the simrigs might be a bad idea unless we're inclined to **** the person over and never use their services again. It might be better to make a deal with them to rent the simrigs and convince them that that's the best alternative and then rapidly leave the scene. They'll probably be pissed, but so long as they have some payment in their hand and we bring the rigs back we won't be writing them off as a contact forever probably." She suggested tail swaying lightly about her ankles as she nudged her own group towards the stairs her cloven hooves tapping a near silent beat on the wooden steps as she made her way up and out of the bar.

"The weapons shop's just down the block through a few back alleys. Though us ladies walking with a clear corp-er might attract the wrong sort of attention, but I think if we get jumped I think we can handle it." Blink added the pale Satyr glancing out into the overcast streets of Seattle as she pulled the collar of her jacket up a little higher once more and tucked her hands into her jacket. Her fingers curled around the grips of her knives as she waited for the others so they could get a move on.

[Volthawk]

Insight glances at the offered bullet, but doesn't take it. "Oh, gel rounds! Yeah, I know them. I got some when I got my pistol because I'd, um, rather not shoot people with actual bullets if I can help it. We should be able to get hold of them."

When Blink gets up, he follows, responding to the other two members of the shopping group as he goes. "Um, I'd rather we not rob my guy, I go there a lot and we're friends, but if we have to go somewhere else, I'm...okay with doing something like that." Why not, it's not like they're actively planning on doing much bigger things in the immediate future.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Icarus just watched the exchange with his cold Ikon-Ziess eyes, "No, we're not using a street hustler for any weapons. If we're doing this, we're doing this right," he paused, inhaled on his cigarette and held it, the smoke curled from his nostrils as he continued, "I got an old friend. She can get us MilSpec quality, for a price. Now we're just looking for some specialty ammo, not full on hardware, so we should be good. May take a few hours, but we got time while we're compiling data and linking the rigs to our comms."

Pox's message popped up across his field of vision, "I need to pick up my car from the maglev parking lot and I'll take Rustik & Ithaca to do a surveil, physical and astral if required. Gimme 15 minutes." He thought a moment, "Hey Insight, your guy got competitors? If so, find out which one he's most pissed with, have Raithe do her thing and walk out with 6k in gear, once we're done, sell 'em to your guy at a steep discount. Makin' cred for nothin' is the way to stay ahead."

"You ladies ready?"

[Shimmer]

"All right," Blink quipped with a light shrug choosing to take the veterans lead on this one, "I'll ping you my list then and the creds to cover my portion." The Faun murmured tapping away on her comm for a moment until Icarus would feel his own device buzz with the confirmation. Shifting on her hooves Blink lifted and twined her hands above her head stretching with a few soft pops and a sigh before she relaxed and turned to her partners for this little outing.

"I guess we'll go chat with your guy then Insight and see who we need to rob. If you want to take the lead I'll cover our us and keep an eye out for trouble." Blink suggested as she tucked her hands once more back into her jacket with a toothy yawn.

[Schismatic]

"Argh, fine." She noted, digging out her clip before inserting the bullet back in the clip and slotting it back into its holder before buttoning her jacket. She began trotting towards the stairs, retrieving her glasses and slipping them on her face.

"I kind of wish I was around to observe the thievery. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen, but I suppose astral projecting into a shadowy medical corporation storage site will be fun." As she bounded up into the open air.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan followed Rustik out of the bar, throwing a nod of respect towards Taqukaq, he figured I'wath would follow them out. He spoke, his voice pitched low for Rustik & I'Wath, "Thing is this warehouse doesn't seem like it's Taxia, since they're a start-up firm out of Redmond, not for profit to be specific. A few years old, but short on a bankroll, and unlikely to have a new facility in downtown where industrial space is more than my arms and legs a month."

He continued to walk, listening as his companions spoke, scanning the downtown scene to see if they'd picked up a tail, drone, human, or otherwise.

[roll0]; Four successes.

[Taqukaq]

Scouting Group

The road to the car pickup location was somewhat uneventful. Icarus was able to spot a few too curious glances from an alley or a window, but a quick glance at Icarus made them quickly go about their business. Heading along the sidewalk to the garage is relatively easy. Though there are problems everywhere in Seattle, there are far worse places to walk down the street in this city. This theory seems to be proven as anyone identified who would be note worthy is either not paying mind or avoiding eye contact. The group gets to the car with almost no trouble. The directions to the warehouse were provided in a comm-link message from Taqukaq. It is at dock 70, north of Pioneer park and down town. It would probably take about 20 minutes to drive to the warehouse.



Supply group

Daithe nods to Icarus, I'wath, and Rustik as they left. She stared off in that general direction as if focusing on something. After a few seconds, she nods as if satisfied and then faces Blink and Insight. "Delightful. Well then you two, lead the way. Point me in the direction you need and I'll do what I can. I'm not a fantastic fighter... but I can disarm an entire group of people in like three seconds from which you can deal with them Blink. But It is also my job to make sure we can avoid those situations and I intend to. Lead the way.

[Shimmer]

"We'll do our best to try to avoid bloodshed Riathe, but if anyone jumps us there is a very good chance I'll make them regret it." Blink quipped as she canted her head to one side eyeing Insight thoughtfully as she considered the tactics of their little adventure.

"Why don't I take point. Insight you stay at my back and direct me on where we're going, and Riathe you take the flank so we can hem our hacker in." She suggested, "Or better yet you can give me the address and I'll mark it on my mapsoft. I've got an image link so I can see where we're going." Blink added her eyes scanning their surroundings.

"You can tell us when things look familiar and keep to my back in case someone jumps us that a way and..." She trailed off as she reached out with her long tufted almost leonine like tail to wrap it about his wrist. "If there's a problem just tug on my tail." Blink suggested with a smile. More concerned about getting the group there safely on foot then having someone possibly manhandle her tail though she doubted Insight was the sort to prod at it.


[roll0]

[Schismatic]

"Well, like I said. Someone's pet project." As she retrieved her cigarette case from her pocket and her archaic zippo. Retrieving a cigarette and slipping the golden case back into her jacket pocket and lit her cigarette with the 136 year old Zippo with that distinctive metal clack of the lid opening and shutting. She inhaled a long bout of spent tobacco and discharged the plume of smoke through her nose.

"The payday will, however, afford me a quality SIN. So I guess I have few options. Drek rolls down hill." She noted as she flicked ash from her smoke.

"I suppose we should start, though I'm not sure I should do anything but a little astral probing. Pre-alerting the facility before the run will only make life difficult. When exploring the metaphysicality of a place is not the same as physical recon. Life forms, spiritual energies, the very forces of the Unseen Hand of the subcutaneous skeins of reality, show up in stark contrast. Magicians, spirits, the interconnected nature of the Gaiasphere show up like a flare in thermographics." She followed him to his vehicle.

"The whole reason we can be injured in astral space is because we're quite literally porting our minds and souls into a realm to transform it into tangible concepts to navigate. A transmigration of self that forcibly creates a shared reality. So Spirits and Magicians aren't exactly 'subtle' in the same way a traffic light pole is 'subtle' to a speeding car hitting it at 160kph."

[Volthawk]

Insight nods, a little surprised about the whole being held by a tail thing and looking at it as he talks and does the necessary Matrix-side things. "Oh, uh, sure. I've sent you the address to Harry's store. He should be there, this time of day. Um, lead the way." His gaze went back to the tail. He hadn't known anyone with a tail before. This new life was definitely becoming an interesting one.

[Shimmer]

"Very well then," Blink murmured trotting off the soft click of her hooves echoing quietly upon the worn grey pavement outside the bar as she followed the directions imprinted on her mapsoft and super imposed on her image link. Twining her way down roads and alleys as she followed the faint shimmering red line that indicated where they were going while sweeping her gaze occasional over their surroundings.

"So, what got you into running if you don't mind me asking Insight?" She questioned with a slight cant of her head, never looking back at the decker, but it was clear she was listening.

[fibericon]

Meira transfers the rest of the down payment before they part ways, along with another 1000Y.

"2k ought to do it for the equipment. Pick up some non-lethals for my predator and EBR while you're at it. If it goes over, just hit me up for the rest after. Depending how this scouting goes, I might not even be able to take those guns with me, but whatever."

-----

As they drive up to the docks, she closes her eyes. Her head is throbbing from... no, focus. Too much noise here. She can't pick out the sounds like she's been trained to. She shakes her head and opens her eyes.

"I'm not picking anything up. If we're going in, might wanna swing by my place first so I can go in dark. If we're just doing external scouting, don't worry about it."

[Volthawk]

"Oh. Um." Insight goes quiet for a moment, his mind racing. What does he say? How much is a good idea to put out there? He does like Blink, but he couldn't tell her much this early, could he? Especially not with Raithe around - not that he particularly mistrust her, though, just...vague and honest would do. He didn't want to actually lie to them. "I, er, found myself in a lot of trouble with the people I was working for. Big mess, and I decided I was better off away from there. Working for another corp just felt like asking for it to happen again, so here I am. Its working out so far, I think, but, um, we'll see how much I feel like that after we actually finish this. How about you?"

[Schismatic]

"I'll do a precursor projection... Don't drive too far away..." She noted as she hit the seat dip to lie back as she pulled out of her body. Her body turned limp, flesh losing colour, breathing slowing to a crawl. As if an instant tranquilizer. Tearing past the physical borders of their world. An ideality of the real reality of the Gaiasphere as she took it all in and wafted towards the facility, taking advantage of physical topography to hide behind to observe the facility.

[Taqukaq]

The Dryad's name is actually Daithe not Raithe. That was a typo on my part. Been writing Raithe but I just looked. :P



Scouting Group

Having found a solid and secluded location to park nearby the warehouse, the group is able to get a fairly good look at the facility. It looked like a freshly purchased warehouse with very little improvements made to it thus far. The warehouse itself was in a more secluded area in the city. Tightly hugging the water, the nearest building was across the street. The warehouse was located within a small fenced in compound. It really isn't so much of a compound as one large warehouse and a small security shack near the front gate and a lot of open space that is currently occupied. The front gate faces eastward toward the city. It is a large sliding chain link fence gate for large delivery trucks to gain access and register their load and equipment deliveries. Within the compound itself there was a drive way directly towards the warehouse.

There are two large loading bay doors on north east side of the warehouse. The bays are fairly close together with a downward ramp to allow delivery trucks to back into in order to load and unload the trucks. The east side of the building has two double doors approximately 20 feet away from the loading bay doors. These are the only entrances that are view-able at first glace as that is currently the side of the building that the group can see. Throughout the rest of the compound are large prepped transporting connexes and shipping crates. There are several stacked pallets near the loading bay doors with a sign on the equipment but they are too far to see without a visual perception check.

Unfortunately, the mage who decided to take a look into the astral plane found themselves an unsuspected surprise. Initially, when the astral perception began, all Rustik could see was a terribly bright light emanating from the front of the compound in-front of the building. This was an astral beacon and it was a very bright one that was very close. Unfortunately, it is a bit of a shock and prevents Rustik from effectively being able to see anything besides whatever is causing the astral beacon.



-2 Dice for general astral perception checks involving anything except the cause of the beacon. +2 dice for identifying and spotting the origin of the beacon.




The information above is obvious observational information from just seeing the facility. Further details will require rolls.





Supply Group

Traveling to the market was very easy and went very smoothly. The streets were relatively empty and most people gave the three armed individuals a fairly wide berth. Despite the awareness of the group and keeping an eye out for trouble, there genuinely seemed like there was no trouble to be aware of at all. The group managed to head up a set of stairs on the sidewalk that lead up to the market place in the buildings above. It was going to be quite a walk upwards but relatively safe. The stairs were narrow and in some state of disrepair that was quite common in the areas of Seattle that weren't filthy rich. Upon reaching the top of the stairs the area opens up into the general market.

This entrance is on the south east side of the market. There are two plazas in this market on the east side and the west side. The shop that this group is looking for is in the east plaza. The shop is located nearby the entrance. The group finds themselves looking north at the back side of the shop. To get to the front off the shop they would need to travel north into the east plaza and then enter in through the north entrance. The shop had a back entrance with a key lock.

Traveling north through the main alley way reveals a narrow alleyway that heads west and leads to the west plaza. Further down the main alley way turns right and leads into the east plaza. The shop with the contact is the 1st store immediately to the right of the group. Past that shop is a clinic, a firearm store, and a hardware store. On the north side of the plaza, there is a clothing store and a tattoo shop. The door to the target store is open and there is a glowing neon "open" sign above the door. this shop is the only one without any markings that shows what it is. The other stores have signs above the doors.

[Shimmer]

"Ah well," Blink began considering her words and weighing them against Insight's own vague answer. "I used to do work similar to this as a kid and my mentor before he passed away was a Shadowrunner. He always talked about introducing me to the business and it just seemed a good fit till I figure out what the hell I want to do with my life." She explained offering a shrug and a half grin tossed over her shoulders at Insight.

The little group made good time through the alleyways and streets and later through the walkways of the market. The whole journey going smoothly and with nary a hitch which left Blink both pleased and rightfully suspicious. She was almost, almost, disappointed that they hadn't run into any trouble, but the day was young. Nodding towards the store that was marked on her map the Samurai too the lead. Nudging the door open with her foot before pushing her way inside with a nod of greeting to the owner or whoever might be manning the counter before turning to catch and hold the door for Diathe and Insight.

"Afternoon," The Satyr greeted politely. She might have grown up mostly in a mockery of a murderous hunting game, but she still remembered her manners or at least the stinging smart Daisukes hand on the back of her head when he reminded her.

[Schismatic]

She shielded her eyes instinctively, but that was no help. Not here. She wasn't seeing with her peepers. She mentally tried to analyse what she were witnessing on a psychological level. Bright, gaudy, highly annoying phenomena. It was like trying to describe a floodlight 15 metres from her while wearing NV goggles. She drifted forward slightly to get a better view, crouching low against the Gaiasphere floor. She figured, mentally, that the astral beacon may at least shield her astral form amidst this terrific soul-light. She tried to divine the spatiotemporal metaphysics of the intangible as her mind raced with possibilities...

[

3 Hits Astral Beacon... 1 Hit everything else.

Dice roller hating on me.

[Volthawk]

Insight nods in response to Blink's story. "Oh, I see." He had questions, for sure, but this didn't feel like the right time. Besides, she was probably intentionally keeping the story general until they knew each other better, just like he was doing. It made sense.

Being back in familiar surroundings felt quite nice, and he didn't show quite as much suspicion as Blink as he followed her towards the store. Insight - no, he was still just James to the owner, something he kept in mind as he walked inside. The thought struck him that this would mean that the other two would learn his first name at the least because of that, but he could live with that. His new friends were something of a change from his old crowd, but he just chose to not acknowledge that as he headed over to the counter, giving the person working there a friendly smile.

"Hey, is Harry in? I've got another of my more specific orders, so I'd like to talk to him." Nothing particularly strange there, even before everything went sideways he would occasionally try to get hold of something or other in particular for one of his little projects, and he was a friend of the owner's anyway.

[Schismatic]

"Interesting..." She pulled closer to the facility. She can use this to her benefit. If this gigantic floodlight of an aura made it hard to see, at the very least it helps her. She pulled up to the side of the facility as she snuck closer.

[fibericon]

Meira pulls out her pistol and rests it on her lap as the mage does her thing.

"Don't mind me. Scouting runs can go sideways too."

[Taqukaq]

Scouting Group

As the group comes closer and focuses more on the compound Icarus is able to pick up a great deal of information. The entire warehouse is surrounded by a chainlink fence with C-wire in the top of the fence. The compound has only two entrances, the first large gate that is powered to slide open and closed. There doesn't appear to be any visible unlocking mechanism near the door. Icarus manages to spot several other guards within the compound. One guard is walking towards the guard shack near the front gate. He flips a switch and the front gate screeches loudly and slides open. It makes a great deal of sound.

They opened the gate as the two people, a woman in a wheel chair and an old man who dressed like he belonged in Lone Star. Icarus is able to clearly see a very old Lonestar badge on the man's brown leather duster. He either was or currently is Lone Star. The woman wears a professional black dress while holding a black clutch. The old man helps the woman in a red Saeder-Krupp-Bently Concordat. the vehicle having a paraplegic modification for her to sit in the passenger side seat. The man gets in the car and drives the sedan out of the compound. They drive towards the group but after the car leaves the compound they turn and drive north down the street away from the compound and the group.

The compound itself has a total of three guards out in the open. One guard at the shack, one at the front entrance and one at the back entrance on the compound. The warehouse is a small part of the compound and the 2nd entrance to the compound is by the back of the warehouse where one of the guards are patrolling. That back gate leads to the harbor and is locked with a padlock. The warehouse itself is in the south west side of the compound. The back entrance is on the north west side of the compound. The warehouse has the double door entrance and the loading bay doors but a warehouse is likely to have other entrances in the back where the group cannot see.

There are windows on the warehouse that shows two front offices. There is very little detail to be seen into the offices from this distance. The compound only has a camera on the guard shack, facing outward towards the front gate to see who drives in. There is another camera on a 10 foot pole faced towards the back gate of the compound. Then there is another camera at the entrance to the warehouse. The security guards are not heavy duty corp sec. These guys are rent a cops, with tucked in armored shirts and flashlights and pistols. Those are only the guards on the outside.


Supply Group

Walking into the store reveals a cramped shop that looked more like a futuristic antique store. There were bits of junk hanging around. Some indistinguishable bits of tech and cyber-ware that were displayed but nothing that looked useful. There were come electronic parts on the far side of the shop. Most of the shop consisted of electronic parts. The store worker who was standing by when the group arrived quickly nodded when Insight asked for Harry. he turned and went into the back shop for a moment. In the silence, the dryad leaned in and whispered.

"Steal now?"

Fortunately, before the dryad or anyone could really say of do anything. Harry popped open the back door and walked in to the shop. He waves at Insight and nods, waving him over to the counter so they may discuss what they need away from prying ears. He eyes the dryad and the satyr as he is trying to guess if they are either with you or together separate from the group. he waves to the dryad and the satyr.

"A moment please. Please take a look around. If you have any questions please ask my assistant. he can handle your purchases as well. Now then..."

He speaks again but quieter and facing insight.

"What can I do for you?"

[Volthawk]

Looking back at the other two, Insight gestures for them to come over before he starts talking, also keeping his speech quiet. "They're with me, and this involves them, too. We need six simrigs for a while, and I think you might be able to help. The first way is if you have them yourself, in which case I'd like to have them - we can buy them if we need to, but I'd rather we rent them until we're done in...a few days? Then we'll return them, and everyone is happy. The alternative idea is..." Insight's pauses for a moment, having a moment of doubt about bringing Harry into this before he continues. "Riskier and not quite as above board as that. Would you know if anyone else has the rigs, preferably someone who you'd rather not be doing so well, and would you be interested in acquiring six simrigs - or relevant parts - in a few days?"

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]


"Don't mind me. Scouting runs can go sideways too."

Icarus patted the briefcase on the floor board beside him, "Don't worry I'wath, I've got your back when things go sideways. That's my job right, insurance. And believe me, I'm good at what I do."

He surveyed the compound, noting key locations, visible security and counter measures, he relayed the information to his companions, recorded the information and the layout on his comm. "Rustik, that woman in the wheelchair, she astrally active?" He watched as the vehicle pulled into traffic, he tagged the registration number on the rear of the vehicle and sent it off to Insight, hoping he'd be able to trace it and determine the link with Lonestar and the Taxia site.

>>Insight, put a trace on this vehicle when you have a chance, UCTM 9174, find out who it's registered to.<<

[fibericon]

Meira closes her eyes again, determined to pick something up.

"Three people... realtime incoming.

Woman: "This is unacceptable. We already paid for the product. What do you mean you are giving it to a new buyer? That isn't how business works. You stick with deals made within contracts. "

Businessman: "I understand your frustration in this matter but the other company gave us an offer we could not refuse. We will reimburse you for the expenditures as soon as possible. Now please, vacate the premise or I will have securi-"

Old man: "No you won't. This isn't about you playing a trick. You violated a contractual obligation to provide a product to a customer. The legal battle will hit your company harder than it will hit ours. Now you can stop the underhanded dealings, provide us with the product that we paid for legally and we will be out of your way."

...That's all I got."

[Shimmer]

"No no this is the guy we might be stealing for," Blink whispered under her breath to Diathe as she glanced between Insight and his contact Harry, but sidled up at the techie's gesture to come closer. Inclining her head Blink offered the man her best, or what she thought as her best, smile managing to only show a little teeth as she greeted him.

"Afternoon. Sorry for intruding we just wanted to make sure our friend here got around safely. Streets have been rough of late with gangs." The Satyr quipped with a smile, it was a casual and routine excuse, but at least explained why Insight had them in tow. Well her in tow. Blink wasn't exactly ugly, but she looked somewhat plain next to the glittering Dryad who wouldn't have been out of place as a celebrity date on the red carpet.

[Schismatic]

She snuck around the right-hand (street wise) side of the facility, taking advantage of the physical borders of the site. 'Knock-Knock' she thought to herself as she first pushed a hand into the building, checking first for mana barriers, before poking her head through the dull, solid-fog like wall to have a look around. This was probably the last of her projecting jaunts as she wanted to take advantage of that archaically dressed man before making her retreat.

She wasn't aware of what was happening to her body or its surrounds, so also wanted to keep it brief. She could move 5km in a second... faster than a 10th generation jet. Without protection she would snap her spine and liquefy her skull with such acceleration. But time and space only informed eachother here, not defined as indiscriminate physical constants. Getting away was easier than getting in. Plus nothing screamed astral planar contact then accidentally phasing through someone while reconnoitring, she learnt that the hard way as a Mob enforcer running surveillance looking for indebted targets that failed to pay their dues.

A quick look inside couldn't hurt, however.


After a brief look inside I'll fly out while scrubbing the worst bit of my astral signature. Cowboy's aura should cover over the rest.

[Taqukaq]

Scouting Group

Using the signature of the astral beacon as a type of astral camouflage, Rustik is able to sneak over to the north side of the facility and peek her head in through a wall. There were no mana barriers up and nothing alerted a presence or prevented passage. Heading over that side leads the mage over to the two loading bay doors. Peeking through the wall by the doors shops a large open warehouse. There is a staging area right by the loading bay doors making it somewhat difficult to see over the packages that are all prepared throughout the ware house.

There is a back door that Rustic can see on the west side of the building. There are two office rooms to the left by the main entrance and what looks to be some rooms to the right, but they have no windows to look into to get an idea of what they are like the office rooms. There is another door on the south side of the entrance. It looks like a larger side loading door with a pathway painted yellow on the ground leading straight to the loading doors. It is somewhat difficult to see anything specific, there didn't appear to be any guards in the warehouse. Despite seeing the business man and the guard walk into this warehouse, as things are, those two are nowhere to be seen.

With this, Rustik was able to make a clean getaway from the facility and back into her own body to return into the hidden car with the rest of the group. The facility moves on as if it was never aware of their presence to begin with. That facility had it's own problems to deal with concerning the two individuals. It was nearly impossible to see whether the woman was a mage or not, that being said it seems that she had the same idea traveling with an astral beacon to hide themselves. The group is left to their devices and their next plan of action.


Supply group

At the explanation that the Satyr and the Dryad were in fact with Insight, he nodded and waved them over. Assuming the two nature meta-humans probably weren't traveling with a decker. It seemed his assumptions had been wrong. He nods and waits for the other two to come in closer. He is thinking long and hard and then looks at Insight up and down as if appraising him. He nods and turns to the back of the shop, walking away for a few minutes before coming out with six used simrigs. He places them down on the counter and finally he speaks.

"Alright... I am willing to rent them to you because I trust that you will bring them back relatively unscathed. But... I would be more willing to not only keep my stock but take a few more off your hands after you acquire and use them. If it knocks one of my competitors down a peg then I think I can get on board. I know of a guy, real **** head... But looking at this little thing here, you aren't going to have any trouble pulling the wool over his eyes... Hmmm... How soon could I expect them? Is this going to be a month long thing? If you can be finished within the week, then that is perfect.

Go to the west plaza here. On the south west side of the plaza is a shop called Shektroniks. The ork there by the name of Gorzo. That is the guy, he should have the simrigs you are looking for. I know because he undercut me on a few deals with them a bit ago. He might still have them. You get me those... And I will remember the fact that I owe you a favor. He may be an ork, but I get the feeling the three of you won't have any trouble should things get out of hand. Just... don't kill him. He may be a ****, but he doesn't deserve to die. "

[Volthawk]

Insight nods. He wasn't quite expecting him to go for the plan, but here they were. "Alright. I think a week will be more than enough time, and yes we won't kill him." He hoped so, anyway. This seemed like an easy enough task for that to not even need to be considered, and killing a shop owner over a few grand of electronics he wasn't even planning on keeping was not how he wanted to be. "I guess that's all, then. Unless something goes wrong, we'll see you in a few days to talk about handing the rigs over. Good to see you, and thanks for the help."

Unless either of the others have something to add, Insight then heads outside, checking his messages and sending a quick reply to Icarus.

>>Understood. Nearly have the rigs, will get on that when I'm able to take some Matrix time<<

He then looks over at the others. "So, um, how are we doing this? If need be, I shouldn't have a problem with hacking anything he has on the electronic side, if we need to do more than just have Daithe walk in and do her thing. Do we need more?"

[Schismatic]

She coughed and sputtered a moment. Momentarily dazed as her heart beat faster, and some colour of life return to her cheeks. She hit the seat lift lever and rubbed out sleep from her eyes. "Well nothing that interesting. Barring that guy in the weird threads." She noted before looking at the crew.

"No mana barriers, looks fairly mundane. There's also a backdoor entrance. You want to avoid that weird guy with the big hat, however." She noted. "The warehouse seems to be the best way into the place. Less guarded. Though management and security seem to be near the main entrance." She said as she retrieved her cigarette case.

"Pretty uncomplicated site. A lot of cover, a few workable angles, but then again being caught could lead to a serious firefight due to the number of obstructions." She explained the tactical situation, retrieving a cigarette and her Zippo and lit up the cancer stick. Lowering her window and exhaled a plume of smoke.

"So when we doing this thing? I want my 21,000¥. I'm tired of not having a fake SIN. Got my eyes of an awesome abandoned warehouse in Puyallup that's real cheap. Has a working chemical safety bath still attached to mains. Just needs a cot. Might build a lodge. I'm thinking maybe a greenhouse, sand garden, water feature--improve the manaflow and better oxygenate the space. This single job will practically give me a new identity good enough to get a passport with. Not that I'm planning to go anywhere, but just as security. What are you chummers doing with your cut?" She queried.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

He watched as the life seemed to flow back into the mage's body, the gasp of breath as though she'd been drowning, the look of disorientation as her eyes snapped open. He wondered what she had seen, what it felt like to be above it all. As she spoke, he pulled out smoothly into traffic, pulled onto the UCAS 99 S, until the 509 cutoff, he didn't like it, but they needed options if the operation started to go south, and that meant Aithne and her General Supplies, right in the center of Tacoma, in the god damn shadow of Shiawase.

"Upgrades, bribes, fees. I aim to make sure those that think I'm dead," he cold Ikon eyes viewed the Shiawase logo, anything but modest, as it adorned their corporate headquarters, "don't find out I'm still pulling breath, yeah?" He maneuvered off the bypass, drifting through the upscale districts of Tacoma, avoiding the A sectors, less chance of tangling with CorpSec. Finally pulling up to a modest warehouse, ostensibly signed with an old school neon bulb sign, 'Tamwyn's General Supplies.'

He exited the vehicle, speaking calmly, "If you want to come with you can, but for god's sake keep your hands clear and out of your pockets. Mind your step, and don't cross the yellow line." With that he buzzed the intercom, his voice low, "It's Morgan, yeah, yeah, don't feed me that drek. You got time, and I got friends need supplies. They know the drill, you gonna buzz us through?"

[Shimmer]

Blink lingers by Insights side considering the situation at hand for a long quiet moment. "Hack this Shektronic's shop camera's and sensors and loop their feeds before we go in so he doesn't get us on camera. Diathe goes up front and smooths the guy over keeping his eyes on her and getting him to pull the simrigs out. Second they're out if Insight can set off an alarm back in the shop or something to get the guys attention away from the front then we grab the rigs and bolt." The Satyr suggested fairly confident in their plan so long as Insight could get the marks needed on the shop and loop the feeds and mess with the alarms.

"If he catches on and chases after us you two keep running. I'll fall back and rough him up a little then catch up since I'm fastest and it'll buy you both more time to leg it. Then we figure out which of our places is closest and let Insight zoink out to work on the rigs while I keep watch." The Street Sammy suggested remembering her mentors various and often long winded lectures.

[Schismatic]

"Nope. I'm fine." She noted as she decided to pull her commlink and decided to look up the corporation they were running against. Namely she would look up some of its more poignant membership, identify some of its activities. Cross compare that membership and histories and see if they had any noteworthy researchers and see if she can locate any published articles they had written up or medical patents or contracts they have.

Maybe it might illuminate the nature of their work and the package they're being paid to intercept.

(Edit) She shuffled uncomfortably in her seat as she looked up the time and checked her nuyen. She pulled up her Onion stealth browser and sent an email to her talismonger and tailor contacts. As she began typing out a message.

'Could use more RAs (21dms). I'll B there in 20.'

'Harry, need a good ski mask for a possible skiing trip up north. Something black and thick.'

She sent a message to Icarus.

'Need GRs, plz. I need to meet with my TM for some stuff. Unless you want to drive to Downtown I'll head off there now and meet you later.'

[Volthawk]

Insight grins. "I think I should be able to do one better, and edit the feed so you two just don't show up. Won't look like a loop. Just don't go where a camera in there can see you until I give you the heads up, okay?"

With that, he goes to find a place to sit down, relax and enter VR - sure, he could probably do this just fine in AR, but he liked working in VR better. First things first, access, and then the more demanding job of some real-time edits. Time to see how well he can do this stuff out in the real world.

If he succeeds in gaining a mark on the camera, he sends the girls a quick message. >>Ready to start editing when you're ready. Best to do this quickly.<<


Okay, entering VR in hot-sim and not running silently (because Sleaze actions are only noticed if I fail, running silent in public can look weird, and I want the dice). With the public grid penalty, that's a total of +0 to my Matrix checks.

Current deck configuration:

ASDF: Attack 1 Sleaze 6 (7, +2 HotF) Data Processing 4 (5+1, +2 Edit) Firewall 4 (5)
Modules: Program Carrier (Encryption), Vectored Signal Filter, Multidimensional Coprocessor
Programs: Edit, Exploit, Signal Scrub, Stealth, Toolbox


First thing I'm doing is a normal Hack on the Fly attempt (limit of 9): [roll0] vs Firewall + Intuition or Device Rating (the latter if it counts as completely unattended, but I'm guessing this is a case where Intuition is used). If I succeed, I get a mark and we can proceed. If not, then things are going to start going wrong.

The editing part is a series of Edit File tests, as described in the action description, at a rate of one test per Combat Turn. Not rolling any here because I don't know how many I'll need to do yet.

[Taqukaq]

Icarus, Rustik, Iwath

With the meat space scouting complete and the group all aware and back in the vehicle. There were no major issues from the scouting mission and the police weren't called. All things considered, this run was already moving a little more smoothly than most runs. That was simply be because disaster always strikes that which requires the most stability. Unfortunately, shadowrun work was never stable work. With that the group is able to drive, the drive is lengthy, having been a little later during the day. The scouting took up most of the morning with a nice bright noon sun and lunch rush traffic.

The ride was still quite uneventful despite the crowded nature of the trip. The rising sun above doing little to brighten the oppressive loom of the skyscrapers stabbing into the sky. The buildings providing shade, as if denying those below any of it's warmth. The bumps and rubble of the dis-repaired streets are minor to those of Redmond streets, but it was still obvious to the vehicle. Every block gave the group a regular dose of jolts and bumps from the damaged roads. The people within the sidewalks and the streets didn't even give their vehicle a 2nd glance. They had no reason to bother them and they were obviously about their own business.

The drive to drop off the Rustik was over quickly. Letting her off nearby the area for her Talismonger. A message pings Icarus's commlink, his contact informing him to stop by and they will have what he needs. After moments during a relatively quiet drive the car pulls up into a narrow and cramped parking lot of the shop. The shop is a small brick building with thick barred windows. The door which is also marred vertically, is propped open with some rubble with a flickering open neon sign hanging above the store.


With two hits, the shop owner is willing to sell you full price for the ammo and will wait a week for payment.

Gel Rounds are 2.5 Nuyen per round.

Stick and Shock is 8 Nuyen per round.

Regular rounds are 2 Nuyen per round.

Those are the three types of rounds they have access to for now. Let me know how many of each bullet you are going to take, he will open up a tab and start a timer for the week. If you want to act this interaction out, we can but if you want to grab the bullets and get to the plan making and other legwork, feel free to just write up how much ammo you buy and do your thing. If I'wath wants to buy ammunition then he can too. Let me know what you guys are buying.




Supply Group

Insight finds a damp, rusty bench with some trash on it. swiping away some of the bigger articles of garbage clears the bench enough to sit down and jump into VR. Looking at the state of the plaza security, it wasn't very well maintained or protected. This wasn't exactly a place that required a strong matrix defense though. Looking at the host and hacking into it, it is simple and easy work. This is the type of security youu would have challenged yourself to tackle when you were first decking. Here it is second nature. There is no major risk, simply taking Insight's time, the file gains a mark allowing Insight access into the file. From that point all Insight needs to do is edit the files and keep them from showing the group as they run in and treat themselves to the five finger discount. At the go ahead from Insight, Daithe leans in and grabs Blink by her arm. She whispers before she lets go.

We go in. If we find the rigs ourselves, I distract and you swipe. If we have to ask for them, then I will force him to give them to us and then we split fast.

With that Daithe looks back and nods at Insight, facing the store and taking a look at the camera at the entrance. Trusting Insight to ensure the camera will not show her there, she steps forward into the store. The store is in a similarly cramped state as the last electronic shop this group was in but this one had a more rusty and cheaper feel to it. Many of the electronics on display were scraps and rusted junk. There were some usable electronics. There were a lot of useable electronics, but nothing of any decent quality. Daithe makes a straight B line to the shop counter as she enters, trying to not appear in any way affiliated with the Satyr that was a few feet behind her.

Daithe walks up to the counter and takes out her commlink, it was a Transys Avalon that looked to be decently well built. Too well built for a dryad with no electrical back ground to have acquired through any legal means. She drops it on the counter and looks at the disinterested man that sits at the front counter. At the sound of her dropping her commlink, he looks up at the sound and his eyes widen in surprise. The man jumps up with the sly grin of a salesman looking down at the commlink and then up at Daithe. She flashes him a smile herself. She looks down at the commlink.

The con artist from the east plaza sold me this piece of junk. It died on me after a day but I don't want to do business with him anymore. Hows about I sell it to you and you can see about getting me set up with a nicer usable piece of tech? Lets talk price.


The way to a salesman's heart is through a bargain. :P She will be needlessly haggling like a gypsy caravan leader to distract this dude and if she can, rip him off for a different deal than what she originally posed. She doesn't want to sell her Commlink, but if she can get him interested, she will try and change the deal to get something else from him while Blink swipes SimRigs.

[roll0]


It quickly became apparent that the man was woefully unprepared to withstand the pressure Daithe began to lay down on the man, starting from the sweet lost woman who needed help from the last bad seller to what looked and sounded like a female auctioneer berating and belittling the man's merchandise, quoting different sales from other stores that beat his own sales. The man seems more disdraught than angry at her onslaught, he begins sifting through crates behind the desk, pulling out shinier pieces of tech and displaying it to Daithe. He pulls out four sub vocal mics, a white noise generator and a sleeze booster chip.

Daithe, looks down at these items and smiled. Somehow throughout the interaction between her and the man, she had put her commlink away and had changed the subject of the sale to her commlink to these pieces of tech that he displayed for her. Any note from blink will reveal that this man is hopelessly distracted from the situation.

[Shimmer]

It was with no small amount of guilt that Blink left the Decker to his work. Her paranoia prickling at the idea of him just sitting there unprotected and relatively helpless, at least by her standards, while the pair worked. Still she was the fastest of the group and nodding along to Diathe's plan the Satyr resolves to get the job done as quick and quiet as she was able. If only to ease her worry over the Decker.

Keeping a decent distance back from Diathe she slipped through the store door in the Dryads wake and made a beeline for the shelves acting as though she was merely window shopping or browsing as the Face set to bargaining. Her own eyes seeking out the familiar shape of the simrigs they were looking for among all this junk. Eventually finding them tucked in an out of the way corner, certainly not a popular or often sold item here, and thankfully just out of line of sight of the merchant. Wasting little time the Satyr glanced at the reflection in the window to ensure that Diathe was indeed still at it before stuffing the rigs carefully into her jacket and doing one more circle of the shelves before letting out a disappointed sigh and ambling for the door. Acting for all the world as though she was a failed bargain shopper eyeing the shop for a decent rip-off which she appeared to have failed to find. Making it a point to keep her pace casual and her shoulders hunched with a bit of disappointment until she was safely out of view before booking it at a brisk pace towards their Decker.

Finding a few street punks eyeing the poor man from a distance before she settled down on the bench beside him baring her teeth provocatively at anyone the looked to be sizing Insight up with a mean glint in her eyes as she resolved to wait it out.

"I'm back. Found a few five finger bargains while I was at it." The Street Samurai murmurs softly under her breath so only Insight might hear. Not that she's certain he can hear her or not before leaning back against the wall the bench was set against. Eyeing the crowds the whole time for potential threats as she subtly adjusted the merch shoved in her jacket.

[Schismatic]

21 drams = 420¥
42 x Gel Rounds = 105¥
2 x Clips (Beretta 201T) = 10¥
Balaclava = 50¥
Cheap nylon bag = 20¥
Unopened Meta Link Commlink (post operation burner replacement) = 100¥
= 705¥

She hopped into the car, she was cautious not to give the exact address to drop her off to pick up supplies. Not that she didn't trust her teammates but she didn't want her mother-in-law dragged back into the shadows. In case this job went arse-up. Tossing in the shopping bag of gear into Icarus' car, she gave smile and nod to I'wath and Icarus in turn. In the quiet confines she bag to dig through her purchases and those made before.

She quietly began loading her new clips and placing her explosive round ones and her balaclava into her bag. Placing one clip into the gun and the two in the side carry pouches of her concealable holster and returning the gun to its holster. She took out the bag of drams--baby's teeth, bound locks of hair, and a miniscule dust of orihalcum to help insulate mana straight into their astral reflection, before squirreling them away in a plastic pouch in her left slacks pocket. She rolled up her balaclava and wore it like a winter head cap, ready to be pulled down at a moment's notice. Securely locking down the strands of her hair that all were left were the curled locks that sprang from beneath the back of it.

Not that it would be anytime soon before operations, but Seattle was frigidly cold compared to her homeland, and she might as well wear it partially now. She had been meaning to get measured for an overcoat and adjust the lining of her jacket to the comparatively frigid climes--but for now she'd suffer the chill. She felt ready, excited. She wanted to go right now. Alas patience would need to temper bravado and derring-do. At least for the time being... She remembered all too long ago now recounting the same eagerness to get up and personal with a manastorm--and she can afford to get a decent drink in the process, not stuck in a prefab shelter airdropped on site.

"Right, mates! All ready--So we need a game plan." She retrieved a cigarette and lit it with her zippo. Exhaling a plume out the window, taking a moment to drink in the sites of a city she was still trying to figure out.

(Edit) "But first... some homework." She pulled out her commlink and began researching lead researchers from Taxia Medical, recent patents, scientific papers from some of their staff if available on peer reviewed academic journals, or books and articles they've written. Trying to get a hold on what they might be up to.


(11d6)[6][1][2][5][4][5][1][6][6][6][5](47) - Biotech roll. 7 hits!

[Volthawk]

With the camera dealt with and a moment spent double-checking that they were in the clear, Insight switches back to VR, coming around to see Blink sat next to him. Grinning, he nods. "Great. No problems on my end, either. As far as the camera is concerned, you were never there. I, uh, guess we just leave now, right? Just walk out and catch up with the others." He does notice the thugs, but after giving them a quick glance he doesn't pay much attention to them. That's what he had Blink for, after all - he definitely wasn't complaining about someone watching his back, and it seemed to be working. "Thanks for keeping an eye out for me."

He then sends another message to Icarus. >>All done here. Where to next?<<

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Aithne was cool, distant even, not that Morgan was particularly insulted by the indifference, he understood, as far as she was concerned he'd betrayed his unit, resulting in both his death, and the near death of his comrades. She had only learned that he was both alive, and scapegoated by Shiawase less than 10 weeks ago. He'd managed to convince her of his loyalty to his unit, and the fact he'd discovered their commanding officers duplicity with the Quarantine Zone.

After some terse negotiations, he was able to procure the supplies that his crew required, and a promise of repayment and a shared bottle of '47 single malt. He walked back to the Americar, secured the satchel in the rear of the vehicle, and walked to the driver's seat.

"I'll drop you two off at my studio, pick up the other's then we can research the target, come up with a plan, yeah?" He paused, "I'll pick up some curried soy krill, this could turn into a long tactical session."

The building was a converted industrial warehouse; the main entryway was protected by a vestibule of three inch thick ballistic glass. The building itself was tagged with AR holo-tags, proclaiming it the territory of the 66 Spikes, and the main door was protected by an armored door salvaged from some long forgotten Panzer, secured with a biometric lock. Alerted by the proximity of Morgan's comm, the door slid open on greasy hinges, "2nd floor, the east side apartment, I'll be back in half on hour. Korean beer in the fridge, help yourself."

As he pulled out and turned back towards downtown he replied to Insight's earlier message, >>On my way, ping me the grid access and I'll pick you up. Rustik & I'wath are at a secure-ish location.<<

[fibericon]

Meira heads up and in, after putting her pistol away. She finds herself a seat and a beer, and raises it to Rustik. This is all new to her - in her world, you can trust command. Here, there isn't any command to trust.

"So what's your take on this? I don't know about our... client. Talk is cheap, right? 'We can get you all kinds of stuff, pinky promise.' Yeah, right."

[Taqukaq]

Supply group

Daithe completely ignores blink as she walks in and quickly goes to work. The work went almost too smooth but there didn't seem to be any issues. Daithe managed to negotiate a discount with some interesting tech she found that the group could probably use. She grabbed the other sub-vocal mics, white noise generator and sleaze booster and placed them in her back before she walks out of the store shortly behind blink just in time for insight to come back to. When he has his wits she tosses him the sleaze booster.

"Alright Lets go quick before he notices something is missing. Insight, can you use this any?"

Scouting group

After Icarus dropped off I'wath and Rustik at his place. Leaving them to speak among themselves or wander and explore. As Icarus wanders back to his vehicle, he finds the day passing along as expected. Most of the day would be dedicated to planning and preparing to hit the warehouse. The drive to the plaza was fairly short. It was close to where the group met at in the bar. After a few moments Icarus is able to pull up near the plaza close to the team.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

He steered smoothly through the snarl of traffic to the grid co-ordinates provided by Insight, and was able to pick up hacker, their negotiator and close combat specialist. He stepped out of the vehicle and held the door for Daithe & Blink, allowing them to sit in the rear, and as he did so he scanned the crowd looking for those odd elements that didn't belong, sudden or irregular movement. Scanning the top of people's heads rather than concentrating on the faces. Human's were herd animals, and they tended to give predators a wide berth, or otherwise react to them, and that's the motion he was looking for.

Satisfied they weren't being followed he resumed his seat, checking his blind spots carefully to ensure the vehicle itself wasn't being shadowed. He noted the bulge in Blink's armored jacket, "Rig's secured?" He was satisfied with Insight's furtive look, and the smug-ish smile across Daithe's face. "Confirmed then. We managed to glean some useful information from out surveil, however, I'll let the other's fill you in once we arrive at our meet point. Though there is one other objective we need to consider," he let the comment trail off as he drove back towards his apartment in the smog covered industrial section called Auburn. Driving by Renraku's hardware manufacturing facility, easily the largest of it's kind , Morgan exited the bypass, and continued through a convoluted maze of side streets and warehouse lots, until he came to a small vendor cart.

He spoke in passable but broken Korean to the older man who ran the cart, whose AR signs proudly promoted it the best Authentic Soy Krill in Seattle. In short order, the man delivered an, honest to god, paper bag full of cartons that leaked a rich, brown sauce, the aroma filled the car as he passed the sweet & sour soy krill to Insight beside him. He held up four fingers, and the old man produced four six packs of Taedong gang, a Korean pale ale, each plastic bottle was beaded with sweat from the humidity, though it's foil tab cap was intact. Morgan nodded his thanks, as he tapped the window, his comm transferring the required cred's to the vendor's account.

"Food and beer," he paused, as he turned back towards the on-ramp, "I figure it's going to be a long night." He arrived at the warehouse complex he called home, parked the vehicle in an underground lot, the walls were tagged with the logo of the '66 Spikes, a crew of go-gangers who were connected with the Auburn drug scene. He nodded at a few members as he walked towards the front lobby, a small, but noticeable shake of the head waving them off as the young men seemed drawn to the exotic nature of Blink, and the sim-star good looks of Daithe.

Once in through the loby, he ascended the lift, his apartment on the east side of the building. The ride up was rickety, the platform shook, decades old hydraulics squealing under protest of the crew's presence, he then swiped his hand across the door, and walked in. Lit by old led bulbs, it had floor to ceiling windows along the east wall, looking over a stunning view of fumes being ejected by the petrochem facility that dominated the skyline. Some threadbare couches, a love seat and an old leather recliner were the sparse furnishings in the main room, the north wall was dominated by a large flat screen that was currently displaying a natural plains vista, obviously in a display save mode. He walked through to the kitchen, laying out the food on the counter top.

"Papa Jae's best curried soy krill. Enjoy." He pulled a beer from the ring and peeled the foil top, taking a long pull. "So who want's to start?"

He set the quarter empty bottle of scotch Taq had gifted him with on the counter, opened the briefcase he'd been carrying all day, and began dismantling and cleaning the Ingram X he had stored inside.

[Shimmer]

"No problem Insight. Just let me know when you need to conk out. I'm used to sleeping in shifts so I don't mind keeping an eye on you." The Satyr offered only to glance over his shoulder to flash Diathe a smile. "Happy hunting I take it?" Blink quipped with a smile rising to her hooves at the Dryad's suggestion that they beat feet as the trio made their way out of the complex to see an unfamiliar car driven thankfully by a familiar Icarus.

At the cybered-up soldiers comment Blink nodded in agreement patting the bulge of her jacket where she'd balled up the simrigs for a quick get away. Now that she wasn't having to fly casual she pulled them out and rearranged them with a bit more care before tucking them into the battered backpack she kept slung over her shoulder. "What else is there on the menu for today other then recap?" The Faun questioned with a title of her head confused by Icarus's comment even as she eyed the other cars wizzing past them warily clearly not used to riding in a vehicle from her shifting and the way she fumbled with the seatbelt. Though her face quickly lit up with understanding as they pulled up alongside the food cart. The Satyr scrambling with her restraints to practically shove her face forward between the headrest and window next to Icarus's head to sniff the air pale blue eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Yeessss Soy Krill!" She exclaimed with bright enthusiasm likely only getting shoved back into her seat by the momentum of the car as it pulled away. "God I haven't had that stuff in ages!" Blink hummed all, but bouncing in excitement as she eyed the boxes set on Insight's lap her nose practically twitching as she inhaled the heady and delicious scent of food. Only dragging her gaze off it once they stepped out of the car to do a cursory scan of the area her hands once more shoved into her pockets s she arched a brow at a few gangers that looked overly long at her or Diathe, or god forbid the food. She was hungry enough she thought she probably could have eaten a horse and seemed happy enough with Icarus's layout even casting a nod of greeting to the others once she'd spotted them though it was clear she wasn't going to pay them much mind till she at least had her meal and drink in front of her.

"Oi Icarus where do you keep your dishes? I'll grab plates for everyone." She called out ambling into his kitchen with a sway of her tail.

[Volthawk]

In the car, Insight takes a moment to look at what Daithe gave him, responding with a small shrug. "Not completely sure, I'll give it a proper look when we're inside." He wasn't quite as hungry as Blink, so his reaction to the prospect of food was a little more restrained, although he definitely wasn't complaining about it. He expected to have a lot to do tonight.

Once inside Icarus' apartment, he looks around for a moment, before picking an empty spot on the floor, laying out his various tools and electronics before looking over at the members of the team who were already there. "Oh, um, hi. Blink's pretty excited about the food. How have things gone with you?"

[Schismatic]

Meira heads up and in, after putting her pistol away. She finds herself a seat and a beer, and raises it to Rustik. This is all new to her - in her world, you can trust command. Here, there isn't any command to trust.

"So what's your take on this? I don't know about our... client. Talk is cheap, right? 'We can get you all kinds of stuff, pinky promise.' Yeah, right."

She nodded to Icarus, as she leapt from the vehicle, throwing her disposable nylon bag over her left shoulder and continued sorting through data.

"I can't tell you about the Johnny--but I can tell you the sitch is not what I'd consider fair dinkum, mate. " She grimaced as she followed Meira inside. Grabbing herself a cold one.

"This Taxia is doing some serious hooding. Involved in numerous non-profit activities for people on low incomes." She noted. "Coup'la bioware patents, believed to finance itself out of shadow activities. Which might explain why we've been brought in. I think she was the woman who was being wheeled about. She has a bodyguard called Reks. Former Lone Star. He might have been the Astral torch that I saw when I was out of my head."

She fell into her seat and took a drink. She gave herself a reprieve from the revelation looking away from her commlink.

"At the very least the facility isn't Taxia-owned so we're not adding any salt. I mean I've done some things working with the mafia--but most of the time that was to other 'fiosa. I didn't go back o' Bourke for this garbage."

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan watched as the Satyr walked into his kitchen, her hooves clacking oddly on the petro-foam tile laid down over the floor of his apartment. He only shook his head at her question, "Jae's takeout has the chopsticks glued to the side of the box, that'll have to do." He shrugged, looked over to a well stocked liquor cabinet, "Only thing I keep around here," what could almost pass as a smile, a slight upturn in his lips, "that's some post-ops incentive right there."

He listened as the Rukus spoke in her thick accent, struggling to make the connection with what, he could only assume, was slang. "Yeah, that confirms what I found out from Dr. al-Assad. Taxia and her bodyguard Reks stepped out of the shadows, started the clinic in Redmond, small client base, no big money, no expansion plans, no downtown clinic." He paused, she'd said something else too. "Come to think of it, only clinic she knows of with a storage facility close to where we're talking is Shards Cyber Centre. If you get a chance," he knew they were burdening their VR Security Specialist with a very long list of data to search down and wished he could assist in some way, "see if we can find ownership on the site as described by Ork-boi."

His Ikon Zieuss eyes shifted a moment, and the large panel on the north way flickered to life, and then displayed a rudimentary schematic of the building. "I'wath, wanna walk us through your plan of insertion?"

[fibericon]

"Alright..." She leans forward and sets down her beer... and that's the last anyone sees of the indifferent street punk for a bit.

"We have two major options. My preference is to open up the doors, all of them, then give the signal for you all to storm the place. This can mean me picking every lock, or going through a vent and stealing access. Maybe some combination thereof. The other option is we airlock it - one door at a time, lock up behind us. If live security is on the ball, we might have to, but fail rates go way up. I was engineered for infiltration, but not everyone can say that, so I don't expect option b to be quiet as I'd like."

She points to the feet (and hooves) of the other runners. "Heard you all coming from outside. That's fine, if you know it. Go in loud when you go in. Thoughts?"

[Volthawk]

Listening to the conversation as he fiddles around with the simrigs, Insight shrugs. "Um, well, I won't be going in if I can help it, but we're being paid to do this quietly, aren't we?" He shrugs again, the world of breaking and entering quite new to him. "I'll, uh, be able to deal with whatever security they have that I can affect, though."

[Schismatic]

"I think a stealthier access might be in order. If we can disable a security guard, I can assume their identity--get into the offices, provide a direct link to I'wath--and really open up our exfiltration options once on the inside." She offered.

"My magical disguise will fool minds and sensors. Including biometrics. Though I need access to a person with suitable clearance. Suffice it to say being magically disguised as a security guard should make that easy. Raven willing, piece of piss." She said more than a little confidently.

[Shimmer]

"Damn Icarus. Even I have like a plate. Though to each their own I suppose." Blink quips with a low playful whistle as she hands out the food and grabs herself a beer. She doesn't bother with the chairs or couches and instead drops down onto the floor cross-legged by the table as she pulls the chopsticks off the side of the takeout carton. Popping it open to take a whiff of the food inside before she starts quickly plucking bite after bite with the cheap plastic chopsticks.For the most part the street samurai seems content to simply listen into the conversation though she arches a brow at Meira at the insinuation she can be anything, but quiet.

"I'm capable of going in quick and silent if need be. Though I think coordinating a physical and digital attack at the same time would be wiser. Maybe have Insight loop the camera feeds if he can get into their host and open up any electronic doors for us. Maybe even cause a distraction with an outside sensor opposite from where we are." Blink murmured as she took a sip of her beer.

[Volthawk]

When Blink mentions him, Insight nods. "Uh, yeah, that shouldn't be a problem. Shouldn't be too tough a host to crack." Putting the simrigs to one side, be gestures over at them before continuing. "These should be fine for us to use, I think. I, guess we'll figure out how I should edit things later? Also, if there's nothing else, I'll get on all that research I need to do. Shouldn't be too long. Um, if you'd leave some food aside for me, that'll be nice, thanks, and message me if you need me to do or know anything." With that, unless someone interrupts him, he lies back down and switches to VR, bringing up the programs he needs and getting to work on searching.

[Volthawk]

A little while later, Insight finishes his searching and comes back around to meatspace, getting up and eating some food before returning to his floor spot and starting to talk. "Okay, I've, uh, got some information so I guess I should talk through it. Occasionally pausing to double check his collected research, he starts explaining what he found, sending information here and there over comms that relate to what he's saying.

"So, Taxia first. There's not much new out there about them that you didn't find out already, but asides from a little about her, er, legs. They were paralysed after an accident when she was a kid left her in a coma and she's...refused to get them replaced for reasons I didn't see explained. Is that important to know? Insight shrugs. It didn't have any significance to him, but he was smart enough to know that he didn't know about a lot of things.

"Um, anyway, onto Shards Cybernetics Systems. That's a lot more important. Your friend was right, Icarus, they own the site and you were right, our employer works for them. I'll need to get into their host to get the serious information, like the plans. I, um, couldn't find anything on who does their security. Sorry."

Not leaving much time to linger on that, he continues. "On a less important note, I couldn't find anything about any shadowrunner trids, so there's no truth to that part. I know we knew that already, but, uh, I figured it was worth confirming. That's, um, it so far. Anything else I should try to find out about, or do I need to start hacking soon?"

[fibericon]

"That means they're expecting us. But I don't think they're well connected enough to get my file from the Tir. They won't know what I can do - not completely. I can fit in spaces most can't."

She joins hands and rolls her shoulders... all the way over, twisting her elbows at strange angles in the process.

"Everyone forgets to guard the vent no one can fit through. Doors open real easy from the inside. Might save us some trouble."

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Using the info previously provided by Dr. al Assad and verified by Insight, Morgan contacted Taxia Medical directly through his comm. He clicked through the automated Agent, and left a message flagged for Reks personally.

>>Priority information opportunity. Shards Cybernetic Systems. Window closing. Contact immediately.<<

He left the contact info for his unregistered comm, and hoped he'd hear from the security specialist before Insight was done his data dive.

[Taqukaq]

To Morgans surprise, the instant he sent the message, he received a reply. It was uncanny as it happened nearly immediately. Initially it was only to Morgan. The message reads, "Finally, I was wondering how long it would take you greens to reach out to us. I thought you were going to come out and say hello at the warehouse. Noted, come to the Taxia residence. She will... send details..."

Then at the same time, everyone's commlinks and even Insight's cyberdeck ping with a message. The message ends up taking up the screen as a silly animated AR fight between a troll and what appears to be a pixelated version of Reks, shooting him up with revolvers. Then the GPS system for all devices that have comm-link functionality ping with a GPS route to the manor. Most could probably tell that this probably wasn't a normal occurrence.


You said , you had an Agent with constant matrix perception. Well despite that you aren't quite sure how, the agent informs you everyone's devices have a mark on them, including yours. This appears to be how the GPS data was being sent.

You also notice a few things nearby but the Agent wasn't exactly able to identify them. They are anomalous. Some fitter around your device, but there are several of them. This all seemed to be caused by Morgan's initial message. After he sent the message, everyone's commlinks ping and receive data and the anomalous creatures appeared nearly out of thin air. You can assume they are sprites as you would know enough about matrix.

[Volthawk]

Insight's reaction to the messages gets quickly sidetracked when he notices the sprites. He'd never actually seen one in person before - sure, he knew of them, but his old life in a corp wasn't exactly one that brought him into contact with technomancers, so this was something new and quite exciting, actually. After a little more time looking at the sprites through AR, he looks over at the group and shrugs. "They've got a technomancer over there. They're not being a problem now, just,um, showing off, I guess. So, we're going now?"

[Shimmer]

"Well..." Murmurs Blink as she sets down her copsticks to check her comlink, "That's only a little ominous."

Eyeing the message for a quiet moment she's quick to shrug and shove the device back into her pocket as she works on finishing off her food. Washing it down with a swig of beer as she glances over the occupants of the room. There's a mild tremble to her fingers, but it doesn't seem to effect the deftness with which the Satyr seems intent of wrecking the streetside fast food.

"The little video of him fighting the troll was a nice touch though. Very artistic." She quips with a wry smile on her lips.

[Schismatic]

"God damnit... Like, no." She murmured, snapping her MetaLink and crushing the remnants beneath her shoe. "Whatever you decide to do. I just want to blow something up, now. We were paid to do a job, so let's just do it and be done with it. It was a stupid idea to contact the mark, anyways. Besides, I have a solution for dealing with this Technomancer--assuming all the more likely that he's breached our security." She suggested.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan's face was blank, closed, guarded, he stared intently at MacNamara, "This is a god damn false flag op, we're being set up. Hell," he stood up, pointed to the sim-rigs, "we're being paid a bonus to set ourselves up." He walked to the table, began assembling his assault rifle, his eyes not even looking at the weapon as he did so. "We're being paid to hit Taxia Medical, except the site isn't owned by our target, it's owned by their competitors. Taxia's stuck in a contract with our target, for possession of the very thing we've been paid to secure. Why would our Ork want us to sim-broadcast the heist? Why would he try to deceive us about the target?"

He assembled the rifle, leveled it so it was a hair above the mage's head, "So, Rustik, the plan is we don't blow anything up until we know what we've been pointed at, and who profits when we pull the trigger." He shouldered the rifle, picked up his comm, and moved towards the door. "I'm going to meet the Taxia reps, if anyone you want to come, fine. Otherwise keep your heads down until I'm back."


OOC: So Morgan's taking the car to the meet, or at least the GPS co-ordinates. Anyone who wants to come, can, if anyone wants to watch from VR through his comm, they can. If they want to stay, they can. Up to you guys.

[Volthawk]

Insight nods when Icarus finishes talking, gathering his assorted things and getting up. "I'm coming too. You'll need someone close keeping an eye on things on the digital side of things, we need to know more about what's happening, and, well, I want to know more about this technomancer and these little guys." He gestures at the sprites, although those not looking at the Matrix wouldn't see anything. He then looks down at the remains of the Meta Link. "That, um, wasn't necessary. It was fine, now they've removed the mark."

[Schismatic]

"You think I don't know that? But frankly we can play the players, and maybe make off with a metric fragton of loot while we're at it..." She noted. "Assuming you guys are willing to participate... I'll need multiple volunteers. I would advise against meeting them--at least right now. Wait until we can prepare something, at least." She put forward the idea.

"Either that or we scrap all of this altogether, pay a visit to our fixer and find out why--exactly--he didn't fragging vet the Johnson, and take our deposits as prize money for very little work. It's not like our fixer will run their mouth so much given it is entirely their fault for not vetting a Johnson first." She paused a moment lifting a finger.

"I'm in favour of scorched earth and paying our fixer a visit and make sure this is an 'accident' that doesn't happen again. That being said, I'm not seeing a compelling reason to meeting this Taxia unless we're planning something in the background to get even. Meeting them after this without plotting something in the background is asking for trouble. That being said, give me a few hours and some volunteers, I believe I can make it seem we're running. All the while we can operate at a later time and place that transforms this cluster**** into an opportunity to earn some nuyen, save face, and --most importantly-- get some vengeance. My plan fails if you alert them too early that we're unto them however." She cautioned.

She looked at Insight and shrugged. "I usually change commlinks after every few weeks. I have another in my bag."

[fibericon]

"This is ridiculous. I don't disagree with Rustik. You've got people trying to put us in a deadly situation for a game. Alright. We can maybe get paid and still watch our asses, but the handoff might be a trap. Why don't we hand them a live grenade? Show up early and setup our own trap?"

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

He nodded his agreement as I'wath spoke, "You're right, it is ridiculous. We don't have the information we need," he shouldered the duffel that carried his spare ammunition and weaponry. "I'll fill you in with what Reks and company have to say, you fill me in with your plan when I get back." He walked towards the lift, "Insight you with me, or you going to stay VR and follow me via my 'link?"

[Volthawk]

"Um, I agree with Icarus. We need to know more before we do something, and, uh, I'm pretty sure the Taxia people know more about us than we do about them. Rustik, didn't you say they had something strong magically? A, uh, astral beacon or something? Doesn't that mean they'll be well off on the magical power side of things? And with an experienced technomancer - at least, I'm assuming he is from what we know - that means Taxia probably has the means to spot what we're doing on the astral and the Matrix, if we're trying to trick them that way. Also, um, didn't we establish they're decent people, helping people and stuff? It doesn't sound like they're in on it to me. Probably the intended victim of what we're supposed to do, if Shards is secretly hiring us and they've been having issues with Shards"
Having said his part, Insight goes quiet for a few moments, before quietly adding "That's how I see it, anyway.", feeling a little awkward about his interjection now it's over. "Oh, uh, yeah, I'm coming along on the drive. I can work on the move."

[Schismatic]

She nodded at I'wath.

"That's the type of mindset I'm talking about! Look, if you're deadset on meeting with Taxia and Reks--fine. It's not like I can stop you, but I guarantee we're simply exchanging one game for another." She cautioned.

She looked to Insight. "Not really--there's plety of astral phenomena that can explain the person's aura I found. Besdes--bright does not mean powerful. I met an Aboriginal totemist that could cross the devastating permanent manastorm into the heart of Sydney--West Coast to East--in minutes on foot. Taking advantage of the songlines of the past 60,000 years. Yet their knowledge of metamagic meant their aura were as silent and mundane as the general background gaiasphere she stood upon. Suffice it to say, however, potent to be sure and utilizing powers we cannot even comprehend enough to put to paper. At least--not yet." She tried to explain.

"Sticking out in astral space is typically something people don't do by choice. It could be a person of great magical strength, or it could be a person simply with a particularly bright aura and not much more to speak about. Astral metaphysics is not an exact science. Thoughts and feelings take shape, the dirt gleams and hums as if the planet is a single organism, and yet the individuals on it regardless of mgical potential both glow or dim regardless despite being riddled with microbes while alive or especially when dead." She added.

"Besides, I haven't even explained my plan yet--it would certainly trump a technomancer, and it's not like I would do anything before astrally perceiving and perhaps summoning some friends."

[Taqukaq]

As Icarus and Insight get ready and make quick work of what is left of their tofu. the make their way back out of the entrance to the car. The drive was long, but not particularly eventful. As the day quickly begins to slip away, the sun begins to start it's glorious setting. Like a blazing inferno it flares off in the distance. Driving to Puyallup luckily puts the setting sun mostly to their back and side. Not blinding them much during the drive. The thick traffic is like a flowing river of steel, oil and road rage.

The closer to the destination the car grew, the bumpier the ride became. Closer to Redmond and this area, the roads were not quite in as good condition. Once they were approximately a mile away from their destination, the streets and atmosphere changed drastically. Even the matrix changed, from the constant noise and spam heavy areas of downtown to a less public grid. The old beaten down apartments started to shift to houses. Not big ones, but every block revealed better and better living arrangements. That is until eventually, reaching the destination point of the GPS. A luxurious manor with a concrete wall and steel spike fence as well.

The front gate is wide open, the comm pinging you to drive in. The drive way was only about 25 meters long and ended at a roundabout with a turn off to a large multi-car garage. In the front of the manor standing in the middle of the roundabout is the familiar Reks. The cowboy looking man was pretty easy to spot. He still looks the same, with his bounty hunter hat and reflective shades. Coming closer to the man and getting a better look at his face, the man was older than his body looked. From afar, he looked to be a 20 to 30 year old man with grey hair, but this man seemed to actually be in his 60's or 70's. He just had the body type and posture of someone in their prime. He just points for them to stop their vehicle anywhere in the roundabout. When they get out of the vehicle and can hear them he speaks as he walks up and holds out his hand to shake.

"Good, you came. I'm Reks. Only two of you showed but, better than I expected at-least. Looks like I owe Taxia some Nuyen. Well I know you have things you would like to talk to us about but while you are here we have something we would like to talk about as well. It involves our mutual interest in... Shards Cyber center and that warehouse you guys had that mage bumble through. But It is bad business to interject my business over yours. So lets hear what you have to say first. If you'll follow me, We can go meet Taxia and have our discussion. I'm sure you have some questions. We will try to answer what we can. We have a common enemy in these Shards. They are trying to **** us both."


With that Reks spins on his heels and starts walking towards the main entrance. Strangely enough, if one weren't paying full attention, they may lose track of him. He walked so quietly and fluidly that it was easy to think that he was an illusion. If it weren't for the fact that he shook your hands, that could be a believable possibility.

[Shimmer]

"I'll volunteer to stay behind. That a way if this is a trap they don't get all of us in one fell swoop." Blink quips as she sets down her empty soy krill box and glances over the various tense parties in the room. She wasn't particularly thrilled at being set-up either, but it wasn't as though she hadn't been expecting it and they hadn't had plans to doctor the footage from the word go to specifically prevent that. The fact that the betrayal was now somewhat confirmed and they were dealing with a secondary party didn't overall change her view of the whole situation.

"Just make sure to keep updating your location so if we have to extract you we know where to hit to do so." The Street Samurai advised.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan nodded with some measure of respect as he shook the older man's hand, he followed him in, carefully, the weight of his holster under left arm, and the sling of the Ingram over his right shoulder, still under his jacket. It was concealed, theoretically, but given the experience and set up of the Taxia people, he did not doubt that their were MAD scanners directed at the group, scanning for weapons. He shrugged, it would have been disrespectful to come unarmed, besides he had a few tricks up his sleeve if it came to that.

"Lead the way, we'll follow."

[Taqukaq]

Reks nodded as he lead the two towards the manor. The building was a massive old white building. Taxia had to have inherited this house from someone as she was far too young to have had this built or created. There were pillars and supports for a second landing on the second floor, just large stone stairs leading to the two white double doors. The front area was a quaint porch area that wrapped itself around the house. The 2nd landing was just a 2nd elevated porch that also wrapped itself around the house. Allowing others to walk around the house, with overhead cover but still enjoy the outdoors. The two double doors were made of a heavy and deep black walnut wood. It was a solid door but to the touch, it was cold and hard like steel blast doors.

https://img1.southernliving.timeinc.net/sites/default/files/styles/4_3_horizontal_inbody_900x506/public/1540499005/pecan-3.jpg?itok=FeRmWwKf

It was a nice aesthetic touch as far as defenses go. There were no windows real windows to the building, There were walking up to the house, but closer inspection reveals a layer of concrete on the other side. It was fancy and beautiful but it looks like it was build to be a well disguised fortress. Walking within the house, pretenses are dropped. The place is a bunker. There are cameras in every room and a small boxy thing in the center of the ceiling of every room. The first room we enter is the foyer. There were no lavish furnishings like wooden staircases. The stairs were stone which is a luxury in or itself. The place was a glorified bunker above ground. There were some decorations.

Mostly pictures of a young Taxia in a wheel chair far too big for her with two older individuals behind her. They are unfamiliar. There are a few pictures of what can be assumed as Reks from his prime youth. Surprisingly, looking almost completely unchanged body wise, save for his aged face. But he is just as physically healthy as when he was in his 20's and 30's. To the right leads to the kitchens, the left are the dining and living areas. There are two closed metal doors with key pads on the sides that need to be correctly activated to gain access into the rooms. Reks just decides to give a tour and point out what is what. There are two hallways behind the stone staircase that leads to new areas into the house on the first floor. Instead, Reks leads the group up stairs and the stairs leads to a 3 way intersection. Left or right will lead to some more stairs before reaching long symmetrical hallways.

Reks leads you down the left turn, going up the rest of the stairs and walking down the long hallway approximately 20 or so feet before stopping about halfway the hallway at a wooden door that looks exactly like the other doors around you. He slides a key in and pops it open, revealing a rather large wooden study. Probably the fist and only homely and pleasant feature inside the manor that doesn't look like an imposing bunker. There is a large oval table in the middle of the study with chairs surrounding it. Taxia is there on her wheelchair, sitting in the middle of the table, having moved the chairs so she could fit. Even up close she looked incredibly brittle, as if a gust of wind could inevitable topple her over in her chair should it choose to. Reks walks in and motions towards the table for them to sit. Taxia begins to speak.

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/73/e8/90/73e8906167e5461ba21fe844a222e06c.jpg

"Can we get you a drink? Please sit down. I hope my coded friends did not give you too much of a scare. I just knew I could trust them to get the message to you in a way that wouldn't have you refusing to come. Ahh, a capital outcome. 011010 00101 101010 Could you please ensure that our guests were undisturbed while they were traveling here? Keep an eye out there for us babies.... Ahem. Now anyway, Hello there potential new friends! I hope you liked my message. I worked hard on that animation of Reksy here popping a troll. Anyway. I would love to hear what you have to say or request from us. And we will be havin a littler bit of deals to make with you too. If you want to actually deal with someone who won't stab runners in the back like our mutual friend Shards Cyber Center. Though, I can't compete with them in terms of money to give you. I do have other things that could interest your crew both techy and magy alike! But its rude for me to try to interject. Please, go first. Reksy I'll have some water.

Reks face was a statue but it was the kind of statue that reflected the ultimate suffering of a serious and intense man having to deal with a flamboyant and rather odd woman on a daily basis. To include getting drinks and having to tolerate someone much younger and sillier than he is. He walks to the edge of the room and pours a glass of water and four glasses of whiskey. He places two in-front of Icarus and Insight, one for each and keeps the other two for himself as he sits beside Taxia and starts drinking the glasses, alternatively. One gulp from his right hand, one gulp from the left glass. So on and so forth. They both await the proposal.

[Volthawk]

Insight seems a little nervous about the situation - that isn't saying that much, given his default state, but despite trusting that this would go peacefully he still felt unsure in himself here. "Oh, uh, no problem with the sprites, I was able to explain. Well, um, it did make Rustik smash her commlink but I think she just does that sometimes. It was the first time I actually saw a sprite in person. They're interesting. I, um, haven't met a technomancer before." He pauses, realising that he was getting off topic. "So, um...what's in the box we're supposed to be stealing?"

[Taqukaq]

Taxia bounces lightly in her chair while she waits for Reks to come bring her a drink. She seemed happy and giddy, with a big smile on her face before she swooped it up and took a big gulp and then let out an "Ahhh" to signal her contentment. She stopped, closing her eyes, not saying a single word but having only a slight smile as if she was knowing true peace. Then she stops, jumps a bit ( or as much as s he can in a wheelchair) and then looks around. Then she shrugs and speaks.

"There is nothing in the package. It is a penetration test. Why do you think they want your runs recorded with SimRigs? They will use the recording to shore up their defenses for when the real package comes in. But the package doesn't come in for approximately 3 weeks or a month... That was actually what I wanted to talk to all of you about. Shards is trying to sell this particular thing to a military arms manufacturing company and... We....we can't let him do that! People will be killed.

This prototype isn't something people should mess around with. The medical applications and different theories of the new stage of human evolution, that we could accomplish with that technology but it is equally dangerous. The device itself is um... Well how do I explain this in a way that makes sense. This device is a type of generation device that relies heavily of advanced nanotechnology. The technology is the spontaneous and instantaneous generation of great quantities of nanobots but allows them to be complicated enough to assume hive minds and take form. In a sense....Imagine if solid data were able to come out into reality and operate as it could in the matrix.

This device could create a human out of nanobots instead of ones and zeros, that look and act like human but in actuality the being is a swarm of collected nanobots. It could copy it's own data and paste it somewhere else. Now imagine the war time applications. A device that could create nuclear warheads limitlessness. Firearms that generate their own ammunition and can change the type of ammunition at will. Something that could in a sense, revert to a swarm of billions of nanobots and swarm devices, destroying them or slaving them and controlling entire security systems. This object... It either needs to be used for medicine... or it must be destroyed. I don't want this to hurt people. Something that can save so many lives.

The offer I have for you is to continue your run that you are doing. Prepared for the fact that it is a penetration test and they were trying to use you. They weren't trying to kill you, their people know its a penetration test and the means are nonlethal. That way, you can still get paid a sizable amount by the much larger company and we can still pay you for stealing the real package. Just know though... The 2nd time you rob the facility, they will have tailored their defenses to what they saw on your trideo feeds. They will build direct counters to what you can do so that warehouse will be much harder to break into the 2nd time.

I have money, but not as much as Shards, but Reks and I do have other things that could interest your group. We have a clinic and bio ware and cyber ware. And Reks is a powerful and very... very... very ancient adep- uhg"
Reks lightly elbows her in the side while he is sitting beside her drinking his whiskey.. She grunts and pouts for a moment before continuing.
"Adept. He will have some magical things he has collected over the decades and decades....Your mages might be interested. "

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan watched, with interest, the young woman's face as she spoke, it shifted from exuberance, to stoicism, and back again, it was puzzling, however, what she spoke about was far more telling. He nodded as he followed along, "Here's the thing Taxia, you can't stop progress." He paused, wished he had his Szczepanski's on him. "If this tech is out there, it's out there, ain't nothing you or I can do to close the dam on that." He shrugged, "Even if we manage to obtain the package, the spec's, the research, the developer's, they're all still out there, yea?" He spread his arms, indicating the futility of the situation, "All we're doing is setting the bastards back, what, a week, a month, a year on the outside?"

He stroked his goatee absently as he thought, "Unless you are in it to do a whole lot of wetwork, this tech is here. Come to think of it, if it's as groundbreaking as you say, there's no ****ing way some C-Rated Corporation like Shards developed it ahead of the triple A's, so whose footing their bill? And why are they trusting a ****ty dockside warehouse to store some bleeding edge nanotech. It's not adding up."

[Taqukaq]

She shrugged casually. "Same could be said of our work Or back when we were shadow runners. There are many things that we cannot change alone. But if enough people fight it enough for a long enough time, people may come to their senses long enough to do it. That is like saying why bother doing this job if you are just going to run out of money and need to do it again? Life is filled with futile things. Life itself is a futility, blame this old geezer for that bit of knowledge. But that being said, I can still do my part in preventing it long enough to make the less lethal uses known to the public.

If I do nothing this tech will ONLY be known as a weapon. I quit shadow-running because I was tired of people getting hurt. Even now I will not stop trying to fight it even if it is futile. As for the licensing of the device. Well, it isn't exactly a very well known device. I helped design the thing probably about over ten years ago when I took a job with Shiawase. My guess, given that Shards is owned by them, is that Shards is acting on behalf of Shiawase. Though, this is not Shiawase themselves. Any hiccup here will ultimately fall on Shards Cyber Center and not us. As we are an unknown in this situation and can come out of this on top if we are careful. And yeah, doesn't that always suck. Nothing ever really adds up if you scrutinize it close enough. There are flaws to everything, even the works of professionals.

[Volthawk]

Insight had been content to listen for a while, digesting the information and considering the technology being mentioned, and he was just about to have a drink when Taxia mentions Shiawase. After fumbling with the glass for a moment, he puts it down. "Shiawase? Um, okay, I guess that's fine with the levels of separation and everything...I didn't think this level of nanotechnology was possible, but if it is, I guess we, erm, do have to do something, right? Grey goo is scary."

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

The ride back through Puyallup to Auburn was uneventful, though the mentioned of Shard being a subsidiary shell-company of Shiawase had sent Morgan into full on paranoia mode. As such the return trip took longer, as he scanned for tails, surveillance, and had Insight, more than once, ensure that the Americar's nav system hadn't been tagged by Shiawase Netwatch.

He returned to his apartment, and after parking the sedan, moved quickly to the lift, checking his six constantly. Once inside he slumped in one of the worn leather chairs, it's padding molded to the heavy form of his cyberlimbs, he poured himself a double of scotch, sipping it slowly before starting.

"Alright, like Rustik and I more or less knew, this is an intrusion test. The sim rigs are going to be used to analyze our performance and tighten security for any weaknesses we exploit. Our target is a red herring for test purposes, no value, no potential loss on their part." He paused, took another sip, "Thing is, Shards is a shell, subsidiary, front, for Shiawase."

He let the word hang in the air, opened a drawer in a nearby end table and withdrew a slim cigarette, lighting it with a thumb, he took a long inhale, holding the smoke before it curled out of his nostrils. As he spoke, there was a hard look on his face, his focus shifted between his crew, the windows, the door, and back to his crew.

"In a couple weeks, month on the outside, Shards will be accepting delivery of a prototype nanotech, nanohive. The specs are beyond my knowledge, but it sounds like some scary ****. The interreum will give them time to tighten their security based on the weaknesses our initial run exposes." A deep breath, "Taxia wants the prototype, to stop it from being weaponized. It's proprietary corporate stuff, so I want it just to **** up Shiawase's day. Except whatever tactics we use on our run this week, we won't be able to use reliably on the real target. So we need to head fake them, we're going to need to come up with two intrusion plans. Hell, we could even set up some surprises we could use for our true run in a months time."

Another drink, another inhale. His eyes closed as he let the mixture of nicotine and marijuana hit what was left of his meat lungs, before exhaling. "Taxia is going to pay us considerably less, 40k split between us, 25% up front. We'll have access to their medical clinic for installation of cyber, and bioware. Her boy, Reks, is a big thing in the magic scene, been around a while, we'd have access to foci and ****, and they'd owe use for doing such a big job at bargain rates." He nodded to each member of the crew, "I didn't accept the job, I told them I needed to check with you all, but I'm in, if only to **** with Shiawase's bottom line."

Another pause, "But they want an answer. Tonight."


OOC: I glossed over us leaving to bring the proposal to the other players, so we weren't split up for a prolonged period of time, as per a conversation with Taq over Discord. So pro's, con's, lets discuss, then get to planning. As stated above, I am down for it, assuming we can set up two different intrusions for the place.

[Shimmer]

Blink eyed the double of scotch and the way Icarus sank into her chair with an arched brow though the information revealed quickly the reason for is paranoia. Corps, big corps, were never good news. Sighing the young street Sam ran a hand through her hair with a soft frown. "I'm not much good outside of combat right now, but I'll lend a hand where I can. I think setting up a few surprises for a second run on the first would be a good idea and I'm not opposed to ****ing a corp over. Specially when it comes to weaponized **** they'd likely turn against us in the future and favors well..." She shrugs lightly.

"Favors are worth more then creds sometimes."

[fibericon]

"Double dipping? Alright. One thing we can do is leave bombs where they're expecting to have to watch, light em up when we go back. That's loud, but it can be a backup escape plan if this goes sideways. That would also give us away as the second infiltration team, but long term consequences only matter if you survive short term. I can take people out pretty quietly, if we go lethal second time around. How do we want to play that part?"

I'wath hadn't touched much of her drink. She had, however, eaten more than you might expect someone her size to be able to put away.

[Schismatic]

"Shiawase, huh? Well I want to frag them up. Numero Uno on my Dreklist. I'd have messed with them for free. So I'm in." She voted.

"Honestly I have the solution already. Just I'll need volunteers. We do the run without simrigs, then while wearing the simrigs--we mutually subject ourselves to my Trid Phatasm formulae--recreate a different scene, and submit that. The difference is on the real run we lay down some micro explosives and remote detonators. Fragging crater the place if drek hits the fan when intercepting the real parcel." She beamed.

"How's that sound, Chummers? On the real run--we plant explosive devices in strategic locations. Then we fabricate a run with Trid Phatasm and a realistic illusion that we subject ourselves--and our simrigs--to it, and record a fake run sans explosives--then when itercepting the parcel, we ruin their fragging defences! Wiz, right!? The only problem is for the sake of magical safety, I'll have to cast the Trid Phantasm on each of you one of a time to undergo the fake run--the illusion is frighteningly real, and tricks people and techology both--so it will stress you out as much as a regular run. Trust me--this isn't your garden variety, for entertainment alone, magical illusion. It's more like your brain believing a secondary reality and every one of your senses confirms--so the kinder we are on our initial run, the kinder I can be to your psyche...but on our initial run if sentry guns open up on us, or other bad drek, well I'll have to 'explain that' in the simrig recordings with my arcanum--and I'm not responsible for your counselling bills."

[Volthawk]

"Um, to reiterate what I said earlier, I'm in. One thing we need to keep in mind is that, well, the simrigs won't be the only evidence of our first run. Anything we do that they might notice - say, um, attacking people or breaking things - will need to be part of the fake run, or they might notice the, uh, discrepancies. Also, we'll need to at least see wherever we pretend we went, so either my edits or Rustik's illusions match what's there as well as we can. I'll need to fake my feed digitally, though, rather than using an illusion. It'll be recording my experiences in the Matrix, and, um, while I don't doubt you're good, Rustik, I, er, don't think you'll be able to simulate what I'll be going through with meatspace illusions. It's a whole different thing."

Insight couldn't help but smile a little when he hears how some of the others talk about Shiawase. That's good, he should be fine here.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan nodded as the others spoke, specifically watching Rustik with interest. "I'm willing to give it a go, however, I think we should carry the sim rig's for the initial intrusion." He shrugged, "Thaumaturgy wasn't a major course at UCAS Military Academy's, but, it seems to reason, that the better the source material, the better your magical copy. That way details aren't missed, and it is a seamless edit, mixed with Insight's matrix run." He paused, took another sip of his scotch, "I'm not sure the explosives will matter though, if we plant them, and they are unused, they'll be alerted that we're double dipping, and planning on returning. Chem sniffers, MAD sweeps, they have ways of rooting that **** out."

He played with his beard as he continued, "If Insight could pull up a security contract for KE, we'll figure out what downtown businesses are contracted to them, pick half a dozen or more low security clients, and ping their alarm systems, hopefully lighting up their response team, giving us additional time before they respond to our return visit."

[Schismatic]

"Nope... I can't simulate what I don't know and trying to will be obviously, glaringly fake... soyou do edits of your cyberdecking and technowhatits--but for all physical stuff happening in meatspace, I'll handle that. You'll be able to splice in your own information ito the simsense feed after I'm done. But you should really let me do the illusion spell--I mean it's designed to seem like flawless reality that will trick both gadgets and people viewing it... basically it's even better than reality tv." She explained.

"You'll be carrying your simrigs anyways--after all I agree, the more realistic the image I can recall--the better. In essence, while Insight is editing the feed--I'll be magically editing it by subjecting you to a revise reality that allows us to seamlessly hide whatever activities we get up to in the initial run."

[Taqukaq]

Daithe quietly stands in the back back corner, having said very little during the entirety of the run. The Dryad watches and listens and then finally speaks up a bit herself. "I', not too terribly useful in a fight, but despite my... distracting appearance, I have cloaks to cover my visible body and I am still a very skilled thief so I can certainly help you out on the ground. Especially if we run into guards. Do you guys record the conversation of that boss man who met with Taxia when you scouted out the area? If you can get me his voice...I can reflect it... perfectly regardless if it is a man's voice or a woman's.

I have perfect control over my voice. We could send messages or voice recordings to them to try and order them to other sides of the compound so we can have a relatively painless insertion. Even if that fails, I can confuse and order them to do something that can buy us time to non lethally deal with them encase we find ourselves surprised by a patrol. I'm... Happy to steal from Shiwase... Good, you have illusions. I agree, but...If they analyze that and decipher than Illusion magic was used or they suspect any magic was used, I'm sure we can expect some magical security next time. Maybe even spirits and a mana barrier. But if you can pull that off, they will be none the wiser. My sister is an illusionist, she has used them with me many times. I always appreciate a good illusionist.

We could have a simple, brutish plan for this run. Probably go in through that front gate, make them believe that we don't even know about the other points of entry of the place. Sure they will still be defended next time, but I bet they will focus most of their defenses on what we exploit. We can go in front this time, and next time sneak in through the back. **** it, we are right by the water. Anyone have any tunnel plans for the area here? I bet you we could find some tunnels under this building. Either a sewer entrance or perhaps we could drill under them. But uhhh. I can't go into the sewers here. The air in this city is enough to weaken me. The pollution is strong and I will need many days in my grove to recover from this pollution. But it is an idea, we do not have to be limited to above ground insertions and a facility that close to the water will most likely have sewer lines running out into the Puget sound rather close to a warehouse if it isn't connected. Were we able to get the blueprints and the plans for that plot of property?

[Volthawk]

Having returned to looking at his hardware, a thought hits Insight when he finds his RFID chips. "I have an idea for preparing for the second run. I have this program called Bootstrap, its a, uh, tool for editing the boot code of a device. If I get enough access to a device, like a camera, I can input instructions to make it give us information over the period between the runs. Knowing what they're adding would be useful, right? I can modify some stealth RFIDs to handle the sending while running silently, to reduce the risk of it being noticed but, um, I'm going to need one of you to physically attach them. We can edit the feeds to hide it, and then we'll be good so long as their changes don't involve, you know, totally changing everything. We could bug other stuff if you think it'd be useful, just cameras came to mind first. Should I make the modifications?"

That said, he starts thinking about what the others have been saying. "How much would they know about us already? Would they have been told what we can roughly do when our fixer chose us for the job, or would they just have gotten a team and not worried about the details? I'm just asking because, well, if they know we have a mage already, then they'll be expecting magic, right? Would look weird if we didn't use a bunch of our capabilities for no real reason. I guess we can still hide specific capabilities this time - not all mages can't do everything well, right? I, um, guess that applies to all of us, but magic in particular.

Um, as far as things I'm doing goes, I'll need to go into the host to get plans. I should be fine, I think, but if I get noticed they might suspect something is about to happen. Not sure what you'd want to do if that happens. As for the KE thing, I might he able to, not sure yet, but I won't do that until the second run, if we're only going to use it that time."

[fibericon]

"I worked with mages before. Never did that, though."

She finally takes a third sip of beer, and scratches her neck. It's an irritated, twitchy motion.

"I'm in. But uh, you all oughta know, I've got a real SIN. With the Tir. Dunno if their arms are long enough to get that info."

[Shimmer]

"I think we should go in loud the first time. They're expecting us to play along and be non-lethal, but they're also assuming we're dumb shadowrunners and shadowrunners in corps mind are flashy and loud. We should play up to that and use their distraction to plant some tags on their camera's or bugs in their system then go in quick and quiet the second time so they never know who hit them." Blink suggested considering the group as a whole as she shrugged.

"But I'm new to this bizz so I'll default to the group as a whole."

[Schismatic]

"If I scrub the simrigs, they shouldn't be able to tell it's fake footage. The fact that we'll have completed our initial run means there's no real reason to suspect the footage is fake. Particularly if it subscribes to their version of events. The same guards that go down go down, the same package that gets stolen gets stolen. The difference is they won't be expecting us to be preparing for a second run in advance." She grinned at that.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan paced around his apartment, speaking in low tones on his comm. After some back and forth he disconnected, turned to the team, "Ok, spoke with Taxia, they wired a retainer to us, used that to purchase an amphibious insertion vector," he looked at Blink, "with an accompanying autosoft for you. Just don't spill us into the sound, I'd rather not try swimming to our target with 30 kilos of ballistic armored prosthetics pulling me to the basin." A slight curl of the lips, what could have been a smile.

"So we go in via the Sound, Rustik covers us in an illusion making us look like the open water. Blink guides us in, if there are physical guards, Insight takes the cameras, and I drop them with a non lethal burst or two. Hopefully Insight can loop a feed, and then we head in. Daithe, Rustik and I go in after the package, Blink, Insight and I'Wath find the server room for Insight to upload his surveil, and then we extract back the way we came."


I hope we're ready because I feel like we've lost alot of momentum as is, at this point. Basic plan, incorporates everyone's ideas, once we're out, we do the Trid thing to the sim rigs, and hand off the package and the rigged simrigs. Hopefully get paid and then move on to phase two.

[Taqukaq]

The group having come up with a plan they can be satisfied with, allows them selves the brief moment of reprieve before the run itself the next night. The group having it's preparations mostly complete, they either hold up at Case de Icarus or they return to their own abodes. On the day of the run the day was slow going but uneventful. Nothing overtly out of the ordinary revealed itself other than news reports showing increase in gang activity, but that wasn't really new. There is always a chance to run in with a gang. With the day finally passing and night arriving, it comes time for the run. As night falls, everyone finds themselves traveling in their vehicles (or carpooling) Towards a dock just north of the warehouse. The drive is long and at night, the flickering street lights are a strange contrast to the annoying bright neon lights that cover the entirety of the city at night.

As the group pulls up to the parking lot just outside of the dock that Icarus' contact informed him that the boat would be. Upon arriving there were a few things of note. There was no activity of anyone else save for the four orcs sitting around and leaning against the hood of a truck. The truck has tinted windows and are difficult to see into. All of the orcs are wearing old sports jerseys and a jacket. They look over at the groups vehicle/s as they pull up into the parking lot and at first they simply sit and watch the group with mean looking mugs.

https://66.media.tumblr.com/eeb2e9b0606e52fb238ccea393542c52/tumblr_p2bl37QPBs1rxsixpo1_400.jpg

[fibericon]

I'wath opts for her own place, mostly to pick up her gear. When it's time to go, she's in her chameleon suit. She's got a bag with her backup clothes - her armored AR clothing and a pretty nice Berwick dress that really doesn't suit the gutter trash appearance she usually tries to give herself. Hey, you never know what you need on a run. Armed to the teeth, prepared to crack just about any lock wide open, and tucking a hit of kamikaze, she glances through the window at the orcs before activating the ruthenium polymer.

"They obviously know we're here. If you all open the door and play the part of stupid tourists, I can circle around behind them without being noticed, just in case."

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan had bribed a parking attendant to allow them to park in close proximity to the wharf, without having the sedan conspicuously waiting for their, suspected, rapid departure. As he was on foot with a soldier's duffel bad, the approach was slightly more obvious than he desired when he first spied the Ork crew waiting by the large tinted truck. He could only imagine that these were Aithne's contact, the ones supplying them with the used amphibious outrig boat, however, he still exercised caution as he approached them.

Standing 6'2" he wasn't short, by any means, but the Orks were as tall, at least, and almost half again as wide at the shoulders, plus their numbers would add to their bravado. His larger armaments were in the duffel, but the Ares Crusader was securely resting in it's holster under his right arm, once he was within ten feet, he placed the duffel on the ground, and nodded towards the Sports Orks. "Boys," Morgan spoke respectfully, however there was a cold, tightness to his voice. "We've got business going down. Private. Business. Understand?" He paused, held his hands wide, "We don't want to disrespect your territory, but my priority has to be my biz, yea? And nobody here wants a visit by KE, am I right? We're just passing through, and you didn't see anything, ya?" He held up a slim grey cred stick, "500, that's 100 each and enough for a few cases of Hurlg, we got an accord, chummer?"

[Volthawk]

Still not quite used to regularly interacting with gangers, Insight hangs back a little, distracting himself with AR displays as he takes a look at the orks from a Matrix perspective. He didn't know if they were trouble yet, so he held off on the marks, but he wanted to know what he was dealing with.


Matrix Perception: [roll0]

So that's four hits, so four questions. The first is simply just whether there are any icons running silent in the vicinity (unfortunately, if there is finding the things takes another action). As for the other three...I haven't got much in particular in mond, so lets just find out the Firewall rating of three of the orcs' links. Any icons that aren't running silent within 100m are also visible to Insight.

[Shimmer]

Blink slipped from the car, a splash of white of grungy black pavement and against an equally dark car as she stands. her hooves tapping lightly on the road as she leaves Icarus to do the talking and settles for a slow stretch er shirt riding up just a hitch to show the lean muscles of her stomach before she settles down rolling her shoulders. Her tail uncruling behind her to sway lightly like a flag in the breeze as she settles her hands loosely in her jacket pockets. Her fingers curled unseen on the knives hidden within as she flashes the group of orks a flirty smile with a bit too much teeth.

"Don't mind us," She quips voice a low lulling murmur.

[fibericon]

I'wath slips out behind Blink and circles around the gangers. One hand on the monofilament whip, just in case. As long as everyone plays nice, no one gets a nasty surprise.

[Taqukaq]

The sourly looking group of orcs turn towards the group as they approach them. One of the orc taps moderately on the hood of the truck with his flat hand. The other orcs are silent and the air looks tense as movement could be barely seen through the tinted windows of the truck. Then things simmered down and before the orcs even began to speak they shut up, their eyes lowering slowly towards the silver cred stick. Despite the words of Icarus practically falling of deaf ears, Daithe stepped up and grabbed the cred stick from Icarus, slowly walking with a type of swagger that wouldn't be expected from someone as dainty as Daithe.

She wallked up to the orc and the orc seemed to freeze as she leaned in and whispered something. The eyes of the orc glazing over for a moment before she pushes the cred stick into his hand before backing up away from the orc who stood there. Then he looked at Icarus and then reluctantly nodded and turned towards the other orcs and waved them to the truck. The Orc then got into the truck and puled back slowly, before pulling out and driving down a few blocks before parking and getting back out for new grounds to target and victims to find. This leaves the group in an empty parking lot, allowing the group to continue to the warf and to the contact waiting at the boat.

[Shimmer]

"Huh...well that went better then expected." Blink quips blinking at the departing orks for a moment as she watches their Face work before shrugging. Content if a little disappointed at the outcome as she dips to stick her head back in the car.

"Hey Insight you can come out now. They're gone. Coast is all clear." She assured the Decker with a smile and nods towards the now empty parking lot cheerfully.

[Volthawk]

Nodding, Insight gets out and pauses to nervously look around the area before looking at Icarus. "So, uh, you said I'm coming with you, didn't you? I'll, um, do what I can but I'm not as good at the meat stuff. I can still do everything I need to on the Matrix, though, it'll just be slower."

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan seemed to visibly relax as he saw Ainthe, he walked towards the tall cybered elf, clasped her hand and pulled her into a brief, but sincere hug. "Good to see you Tam." He released the embrace, nodded towards the boat, "It's been," he stopped, seem to check himself, regain his composure. "The boat will help with our work, you got the transfer?" He paused, "There's some Ork boys up top, should be moved off a block or so now, but still."

[Taqukaq]

As the group enters the warf there are a collection of secured boats and standing among one of the boats that looks suspiciously like it would be used for a night op, was a woman. The woman having identified herself as Ainthe returns the gesture and nods at Icarus's inquiry. She didn't speak very much, she simply looked on alert and gave short curt nods and a series of nods when Icarus asked about the transfer. She hands Icarus the keys to the boat and smiles at the group.

"Good luck."

With that she turns and quickly makes her way out of the warf into the parking lot where she disappears out of view. Leaving the group in the silence of night in the middle of the warf. Surprisingly, it was deathly silent save for the waves lightly crashing against many of the small boats or the dock itself. The boat looked like it would hold the group. The engine of the boat jutting out the back, the engine itself looks rather old. Older than the boat is but it all looks like it will work.

https://www.windowscentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/styles/xlarge/public/field/image/2018/10/call-of-duty-black-ops-4-boat.jpg?itok=VcHptlW_

But you know... At night. That's just what the boat looks like too. The boat isn;t docked on some dirt. :P

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

He nodded to Athine as she departed, he appreciated her assistance, but he didn't like her here, it brought up too many emotions, too many conflicting emotions, and he had a job to do. He looked down at the hard petrol-plastic shell in his hand, slipped to him casually by Athine before she departed. He turned, presented it to Blink, "Here you go, Actisoft for an aquatic insertion, your job to get us there." Nodded towards Rustik, "Your job to make sure we're unobserved," he continued, "I'Wath makes sure we can get in, Insight's job to overwath, Daithe's job to make sure it goes smooth, and my job," he began buckling his jacket closed, providing maximum coverage to his meat torso, "to make sure we get back out."

He ran through his utility kit like a checklist, Jazz loaded into his inhaler, Crusader under his jacket for back up, live rounds. HVAR loaded with a clip of stick & shock for long range, spare clips with standard, slung over his right shoulder, the Praetor over his left, he carried the Ingram with it's built in sound suppression in hand, in the event he needed to take out security at the target's loading dock. He turned towards Insight, "Insight, can you feed everyone's biomonitor to my Comm, I can keep them open and I'll know if the secondary team is in trouble." Without waiting for an answer he stepped into the boat, slowly at first until he found the rhythm of the water, took a position at the bow of the boat, kneeled for stability and looked out over the water.

[fibericon]

I'wath makes her approach, still cloaked, behind the group at a distance of ten paces as they go to the boat. She takes a deep breath and holds it, then closes her eyes and listens. Slipping behind Icarus, she lowers her voice, hoping he doesn't startle easy and blow her away.

"All clear."

[Shimmer]

Blink takes the chip with barely trembling fingers, shifting her long mane of hair to carefully slot it into place before flexing her hands. Her muscles buzzing with that sort of latent energy she'd always come to associate with a new chip as she hopped deftly into the boat. Prowling over to the engine to inspect it briefly before letting her instinct take over as she settled into the proper seat to man the thing.

"I won't be able to do any fancy maneuvers, but I believe I can handle getting us there." The Street Sam assures him eyes already darting over the black water in front of them and back up to their fearless leader with a fanged smile.

"I hope no one gets seasick easy though." She joked with a soft chuckle waiting for the others to hop in.

[Schismatic]

She'd hopped into the boat. Easy as pie. I mean she was simply happy they're finally getting to the fun stuff.

"I'll keep a lookout for security as we make our approach, implement retroactive security measures on assessment." She pulled the balaclava down her face and tucked it into her shirt collar and rechecking her tie.

[Taqukaq]

Daithe

The Dryad having waited for the entire group to board the boat before she jumped on it herself. Naturally like everything she did, she was able to do it in an inhuman grace and with near effortless ease concerning balance on the unstable aquatic surface. She sat down and began to smile brightly, and then she sighed a deep breath of relief. Color began to fully return to her face, it was hard to notice the subtle changes until the instance she went on the boat, away from the toxicity of the city. She seemed to simply brighten being on the water, it was not her native land, but it was still far more pure than the putrid nature of the concrete jungle. She had been feeling sick due to her extended stay in this city. She needs to finish this job quick and return to her grove. This brief bit of respite on the water was a godsend against the contaminates that Daithe must always subject herself to. She knew that it would be short lived and it wasn't as invigorating as her true nature. As the boat starts up, the group is safely and secured within the boat. Blink pulls the boat out and takes a wider turn out into the water more so as to not raise attention for a boat drifting so close to the land.


Mission

The warehouse is seen in the distance, there are tall street lights placed throughout the fenced in compound that shine lights all throughout the compound. It looked almost like a loosely guarded prison. To right side of the compound was the target building. The group is approaching the back of the compound, To the left are the lights and much of the staged equipment and other vehicles and tools. It looks like a chaotic but tranquilly still scene. the compound looks as if there should be massive hustle and bustle working on the staged equipment, but the darkness of night is the cover now. The hustle and bustle has long passed but they left everything staged still.

https://photorator.com/photos/images/southampton-docks-by-night--10048.jpg

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan crouched at the bow of the boat, compensating for the chop with a slow up and down roll, sighting along the barrel of his rifle, his eyes compensating for the glare of the lights on the ocean sprayed concrete wharf. He spoke quietly as the approached the wharf, confident in Rustik's ability to keep them concealed, keep their security looking at an open stretch of water.

"Three hostiles confirmed; one sticking close to the perimeter of the stored equipment, another in a standard linear path between the front gate and the wharf entrance, however, he isn't paying much attention looking out towards the water. The final in a static position at the front warehouse entrance." He turned to I'Wath, "As the boat pulls in you disembark, ensure that the equipment is between # 1 and you, when #2 comes Wharf side, you hit him, I drop a sti\ck 'n shock into him, and Blink catches him before he hits the water." He looked towards Insight, "You on their feed yet Insight?"

[Schismatic]

She kept up the visual illusion of an empty dock, the sounds of the lapping waves, the façade that masked that encroachment. The problem was, precisely, was that it was keeping most of her attention. Nevertheless it seemed like it was working, and that was at least a fortuitous sign. As she created a corridor wide enough to shield their insertion point preparing for infiltration.

[Volthawk]

Looking up from his AR displays, Insight nods. He disliked working in AR, generally, but apparently that was just one of those things he'd have to deal with in this line of work. "Oh, uh, yes. Little slower because of the circumstances, but I have access to the feeds and building plans. I can give you an AR feed of the relevant information, of you want."

[fibericon]

"Got it. On the move. Going to be dark on comms."

I'wath slips off the boat on Icarus's orders and moves over toward the equipment, checking on the guard's line of sight before crouching into position. She takes a deep breath and holds it, then closes her eyes, letting her ears do the work. Everything is exceptionally clear today. Her hand moves to the kamikaze in her pocket, but quickly withdraws.

The hiss will be noisy. Should have done this on the boat. But then your team will know you're a goddamn junkie, right Meira? How long you gonna keep up the act, anyway? You gonna wait until you're a liability because you can't shoot straight from all the shaking?

The hiss will be fine. They're not close enough yet.

She takes the hit straight to the head. It's go time.

Stealth:
[20]
2 hits (2, 3, 1, 5, 1, 3, 4, 4, 3, 1, 3, 3, 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 4, 1, 1)
rerolls 18 dice for 4 total hits (1, 1, 1, 1, 5, 1, 3, 2, 1, 4, 2, 4, 1, 3, 4, 1, 3, 6)

Hearing perception while crouched.
[12]
6 hits (5, 6, 2, 6, 6, 1, 4, 5, 4, 1, 6, 1)

Kamikaze duration roll
[1]
(2)
20 minutes.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

"Give me the layout, ping the guard's locations as they move," he whispered as the boat pulled up to the loading wharf's piles, Plas-crete and steel with covered with a thin layer of algae from the sound, slippery as hell, thankfully there were dock cleats. He pulled a spool of microwire from the duffel, looped it over the cleat above their heads, tied it off and watched as I'wath ascended the line like some sort of ghost. The map splayed out in his field of vision, he moved it off the side and watched as I'wath's location circled around behind cover, he waited until the nearest guard was at the furthest point of his ascent and scaled the rope, his myo-epectric muscles easily compensating for his weight.

As he slipped over the edge of the dock, he crouched low and moved to cover, letting him flank the incoming patrol while he waited on the elven woman to make her move. The Ingram was drawn, and held steady beside his body, it's sound supressor firmly in place, in the event the guard didn't go down to I'wath's initial ambush.


OOC: Sneaking [Urban] check via Discord @Zero Prime: 4 hits (2, 2, 1, 2, 6, 5, 5, 1, 5, 4, 1). Followed by Visual Perception. @Zero Prime: 4 hits (3, 2, 4, 6, 3, 4, 2, 5, 2, 5, 4, 5). 3 hits for hearing if required (removed last two dice re: Visual Spec).

[Shimmer]

Blink grasped the line scrambling up it quietly as she slunk low. Huddling into one of the shadows that she thought would provide her the best cover. He pale hair and skin oddly melding well with the small patches of moonlight where she'd had to dart from shadow to shadow. Finally huddling down as she glanced around for the guards as she readied her Gemini. Double checking she had the stick-and-shock loaded and ready.


Rolled on Discord @Shimmer: 6 hits (5, 6, 2, 6, 5, 1, 6, 4, 1, 6) for Stealth.
Rolled on Discord @Shimmer: 3 hits (4, 2, 2, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6, 3, 4) for Perception
Readying weapon.

[Taqukaq]

Things were going so smoothly, almost delightfully so. As the run begins, nearly everyone can feel the jitters, as if they were being watched. With the SimRigs, that may just be the case, or maybe it was just the nerves of finally being on mission. Any cursory glances around the area reveal nothing that could have been watching them. As far as the group knew, no one knew they were there. The guards were none the wiser. The 1st and 2nd guard were easily spottable. The guard hiding among the loaded equipment was slightly harder to spot. The third guard is the easiest to spot but he is not is the group's line of sight right now. The group can just see the other two guards talking to a guard at the front door and those listening can hear the third guard at the door.

I'wath is able to jump up effortlessly and quickly make their way to the gate and take their shot of Kamikaze, there was no one nearby enough to hear it. You are able to reach the back gate of the fenced in compound and are presented with the first bit of security. it was a simple locked gate, one that would require to be manually or auto picked. But it must be picked by something. Icarus is able to jump on up as well and Daithe practically jump vaults up to the top of the dock with a shocking grace that reveals it to be her, despite her swinging on her black designer cloak with a nice thermal damping upgrade to it. The cloak actually covers her entire body in what was once a glowing aura of a dryad that was nearly impossible to miss was simply a nearly imperceptible glow under the cloak.

She practically glides across the dock making almost no sound as she runs up to catch up with the infiltration team. She already pulls out her lock-picking kit and begins to work on the gate. It was quick and fast and before the others even got to the gate, Daithe had already popped the gate open and slipped inside to the compound behind some staged equipment. She stopped and waited for the rest of the infiltration team. When the last person slips in, she will re-close the gate and potion the lock to look as if it was closed, to lessen any chances that any patrolling guard can spot the discrepancy in their security.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan nodded at Daithe as she deftly unlocked the perimeter fence that surrounded the compound, he moved quietly through the gap, taking cover behind a series of stacked crates awaiting pick up and delivery. He watched the guards carefully, even as the AR map feed from Insight illuminated their exact position and facing, he waved the rest of the team in. He was very conscious of the fact the team was on it's own recognicence now, as Rustik's illusory mask would no longer be able to be sustained due to their proximity to the guards themselves.

His Ingram was out, held close to his body so the suppressor was still concealed from cursory inspection, he looked to I'wath, his hand signals letting her know he had eyes on the roving patrol and inquiring as to whether she had a clear shot when he returned to the rear section of the loading dock overlooking the wharf.

[fibericon]

Icarus signals her, and she glances around the corner. I'wath ducks back into hiding, rocking back and forth impatiently.

heswalkingtooslowheswalkingtooslowheswalkingtooslo wheswalkingtooslowheswalkingtoo-GOTCHA

The rifle comes up, and she tags the guard square in the chest. It's a good thing someone replaced her ammo with stick-n-shock. She ducks back in, glancing around the other side of her equipment hideout to try to pick out her next target.

4 hits (1, 6, 4, 2, 1, 2, 2, 6, 1, 1, 2, 6, 6)

4 hits, normal weapon damage is 12P. Stick n shock drops that to 10S, but gives it -5 AP. The extra hits roll over into damage, making the end result 14S, -5AP

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan watched with a touch of apprehension while I'wath drew a bead on the patrolman with the Cavalier. He recognized the dilation in her eyes, and the slight tremors that seemed to be afflicting her. He was familiar with combat enhancements, hell, he had an inhaler full of them himself, it became a larger issue when you infiltration expert, the one you relied on to keep calm and find you both entry and exit points became ... He shook his head, he needed to trust the crew, trust that they had it under control. He wasn't here to judge, he was here to do a job, and do it well.

As she squeezed a round into the guard, Morgan's SHiawase Daimyo legs propelled him forward, to catch the man's slumping body. Easily able to shoulder the weight, he slipped back behind cover, quietly easing his burden to the worn concrete ground. Morgan produced a pair of zip ties, and restrained the man, ankles bound, hands bound, and the two bound together, hog tied, and denied significant leverage, a strip of duck tape over his mouth and it was done.

He turned back to I'wath, keeping a close eye on his AR HUD and the guards locations, "Blink, Rustik & Daithe will secure the package," he paused, looked to his team, "I'Wath, Insight and I will hit the security feeds and plant his bootstrap, on three?"

[Taqukaq]

The night at the compound was deathly quiet. Even in the middle of the run there was a strange quiet in the air. On I'wath's side, there was the impatient drug fueled waiting that spoke an alarming amount towards the elf's self control. Not jumping out screaming but instead swerving out, popping the guard straight in the torso, the stick and shock round punches right in his torso, the protective Kevlar that could have defended against actual rounds was completely useless against the shock. The guard was completely unprepared for the ambush and was unable to respond in any way. Icarus successfully dives in to catch the body so no one would hear the sound of the fall or a possible grunt.

The unconscious guard is unable to really fight back making it effortless to tie him up. With the roving guard taken down, all that remains in the guard in the staged equipment and the guard at the front door. Daithe Nods at Icarus as he summarized the plan one final time before the group continues the run. The cameras are dealt with leaving the target relatively open. There is still the back door to the facility that is unguarded. Volthawk searching through the camera feeds will learn that there are two more guards inside the building. One In the left front office and one paroling the loading bay.

[Schismatic]

With the cameras dealt with and the guard down, she dropped her illusion, unbuttoned her double-breasted jacket and plucked her silenced Beretta from her left shoulder holster. Disengaging the safety and hopping up on a dock as she watched Icarus hogtie the guy.

"Options... options..." She waited till he was finished.

"You should check their commlink, they might have a personnel roster for tonight." She informed.

[Zero Prime]

Kent Morgan; Icarus (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=23769497&postcount=7)
Street Cred: 0 l Notoriety: 3 l Public Awareness: 0
Physical Condition Monitor: 0/15 [0] l Stun Condition Monitor: 0/11 [0]

Morgan nodded at MacNamara, "Insight's already multitasking the camera feeds, and we need him on point for the security servers," he paused, considering the Doctor's point. "A roster might help us ID the guys for our 2nd run at the place, good call." He thumbed the power, turning the comm off, and dropped it into a breast pocket inside his armored jacket. He'd run a Tag Eraser over it before they left the perimeter.

He looked towards the server room, nodded to the second team, "Alright we're hitting the server room, two guards, we'll need to go in quiet," he looked at I'Wath, the combat pharms were causing tremors, and that made him more than a little nervous. "I'wath, you'll need to get us in quiet, then we scope their position, co-ordinate and neutralize." He nodded at the decker, "Insight your with us."

He turned towards the main building the other's would be hitting, it was risky, but getting both objectives done simultaneously would allow them a better opportunity to exfiltrate quickly, limiting their exposure. "Rustik and Daithe, you're grabbing the package. Blink's got your back." He paused, surveying his team, "We got this people. Let's get paid." And with that he moved slowly and under cover to the rear of the office's that contained the server room Insight required.


OOC: Rolled in Discord, 4 Hits on Sneak check moving to rear of the offices that house the security server Insight needs to bootstrap.

[Taqukaq]

The backdoor of the warehouse was devoid of any life and the big clunky security camera is having it's feed looped. Allowing Icarus to sneak closely to the back door. Unfortunately for the rest of the group, Daithe had practically left everyone's vision. She was no longer anywhere to be seen until she gracefully slipped past Icarus and posted on the opposite side of the door. Looking at I'wath's trembling hands she whispers.

I'll uhh.... Let me take the lock."

With the same precision and fluid movement that she showed previously when popping open the gate lock, she pulls out her lockpicking tools and quickly gets to work on the mechanical lock on the back door. After a few heavy and intense moments, there is a resounding and wonderfully sounding click that indicated the lock is now open. Daithe reaches up to grab the door handle but stops at the last second. She turns to insight and messages, "Are we clear?" The camera system shows Insight that currently they are clear as none of the internal guards are in the main loading /docking bay where the back door leads to. Unfortunately, they are both currently in the offices you need to get into and steal/mess with security servers.

[fibericon]

I'wath scrambles toward the door, her jittery movements close to the floor. An very wired elf, nearly invisible, pops the lock in seconds. She ducks into a corner and twitches, gripping her weapon again.