Six's blog. The Dam run

By N.Barnes

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Entry 10: 02.06.70>

Hustle. Loyalty. Respect.

That’s the code of the streets. It’s my code. And that’s why, when someone messes with my Familia, they can look forward to a world of hurt…

En-route to Lamb we picked up news reports of a small quake in San Fran. It eased my mind a little – I figured the lost communications would be because of the quake and as there had been minimal damage and few deaths, the chances were slim that our loved ones were affected. I also had a good heart to heart with Ki-rinn. I was surprised because he initiated it but I welcomed it. We both spoke frankly about the situation and what had gone on.
We’re not best buds or nothing but we have an understanding now. We’re tight. I like that.

Lamb had snagged Download, the Decker who worked for CAT on Dreamseed. With the information he was able to supply us I think we got a bit closer to understanding what’s going on. Seems there’s a power struggle in CAT with the founder Lucian Cross trying to ditch Dreamseed, while his son Dominic Cross evidently believes the old man no longer has the stones for cutthroat business and intends to sideline him and proceed anyway. Now I don’t know whether CAT are responsible for Dreamseed, agents of Dreamseed or hapless bystanders but there seems to be some sort of regular ebb and flow in the magic in the world and Dreamseed is tied up in hastening the next ebb of power. War, Malady and Trickery seem to be the three initiatives of a campaign to disguise what is really going on while Allisom, the fragger who possessed Silk, is supposedly a free spirit drawn to the ebb of magic and usually precedes something called The Scourge which scours magic from the earth. Don’t fucking ask me what it all means – it’s way over my head, I’m just telling it like I heard it. Maybe someone reading this can make more sense of it and hook me up!

Either way, seems this Dominic Cross has all the answers and when Lamb checks him out, she’s surprised to find he has an 11am appointment for earlier today all lined up – with us! Now as far as we know, the guy’s never heard of us - spooky drek – but we’re not going to pass up the opportunity.

We blaze back to San Fran and once we’re back in short range, comms start coming through. I still get nothing from Kitty and Ash gets bupkiss from Daisy but I do get Nunzio, pissed as all hell because some Corp hit squad went looking for me at Momma’s and tried to kidnap ma familia. Nunzio had been there checking all was ok after the quake – seems he does have a compassionate bone left somewhere in his body – so he and his boys drove the Corp Goons off. I check in with Pops, drill him for info, but there’s a dead weight in my gut and I’m already blazing to Kitty’s while Ash heads off towards Daisy. As we fear, we find signs of forced entry, a struggle and both of them gone. Ki-rinn does some checking and finds CAT internal files detailing a hit by their own forces against our girls. He drops a membership list for the CAT team and we see Blake’s name on it. Seems Ash’ own bro has helped kidnap his sister and my girl. Ash is devastated but at least we know now why Cross has cleared a space in his diary for us. A steely certainty settles over. I’ll not stand for this. I’m going to rescue Kitty or die trying and heaven help anyone who stands in my way.

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Sadly, the first person to stand in my way is Glyph. Ash is distraught, a grade A fucking mess and he starts mouthing off, demanding that we all do this, that and the other to rescue the girls. Glyph don’t react too kindly to it. Obviously had a compassion bypass as part of her ‘specialist’
training and rather than make allowances for his emotional state she kicks off back at Ash hard. He walks and I don’t take too kindly to seeing my boy hurting. I get right back in her face to tell her she’s bang out of order and needs to either help us or step aside and get out of our way. It all goes sour from there. She tells me to ‘make her’ and the red mist falls – I draw down on her and waving my Gat in her face I chase her out, before going after Ash.

We let tempers cool a good while before heading back. The emotional fall out seems to have drawn everyone together like some sort of glue. We all talk things out quietly and reasonably, apologies for heated words are exchanged.
I dunno, maybe Glyph made herself some sort of emotional dump valve for us all – with the blow of pressure behind us, we’re all on the same page.

What’s been done is unforgivable and we’re all resolved to make someone pay.
We don’t have much of a plan but we tool up. Ash and I have the most at stake so we’ll put our asses on the line and walk into a potential trap for the meet with Dominic Cross. If nothing else I want to look the bastard in the eyes myself. Ki-rinn and the Replacement Killers are gonna be nearby as an FRT and maybe a Cas Evac…

Down in Silicon Valley at the CAT HQ, we meet Cross. Smug bastard lets us in, strapped and tells us if we back off, we’ll get the girls back after his grand scheme comes to fruition. Fuck that. Cross’ eyes are totally black and blistered around the sockets like Silk’s – I get the distinct impression this is another possession by Allisom and that Cross ain’t home no more. Our protests, threats and pleading fall on deaf ears but he does agree to let us see and speak to the girls on a live link-up. It’s Blake standing guard which hits Ash hard but I’m too busy celebrating that the bastards have slipped up. Kitty and I slip into patois and she manages to give me some hints to her location. I pick up that the girls are near moving water, possibly by one of the bridges out of San Fran and that they went East rather than North. I’m hyped. That can only put them somewhere near the Bay Bridge. Ash is amusing himself damaging CAT property but it’s not impressing Cross and I don’t want to let our edge slip so I drag him away.

Ki-rinn has traced the active line and his triangulation ties into the hints Kitty gave me, only it’s not the bridge they’re near but the Dam. We blaze and meet up in sight of the gates which we can see are heavily patrolled by CAT console soldiers. Now for me that’s strike three. Kitty’s hints, Frosty’s trace and an unusually high security presence all point to this being where Cross has the girls – it’s worth the risk so we hit the Dam hard and fast.

Gotta be honest, the next 30 minutes pass in a blur of flying lead, bloodshed and death. All I do remember, clearly, is that for the first time we worked like a team. We cover each other, move in unison, watch each other’s backs and prove once again that a team of Shadowrunners are more than a match for these ‘Perfect Shooters’ – Ash and Ki-rinn take a bullet each but nothing life threatening. In contrast, Cross loses a score or more of his men and after Stick/Shocking Blake we’re reunited with the girls.

Bastard’s had the place booby trapped though. A sluice gate into the tank where the girls are held starts to open and high pressure water starts to jet in. Once again, the team works like a well oiled machine. Ki-rinn hacks the sluice, while Sickle rips up gantry stanchions to create a makeshift ladder. Glyph covers us as we help the girls out and blaze to a safe house Ash knows nearby. Now, we’re committed, to making Cross pay, to obtaining our pound of flesh, to getting Gauge his info so the bastard will pay and to getting out of shit we know is over our heads. But goddamn we’re a team. I think we can pull it off.
Mood: Determined.

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