Thursday, August 31, 2006
A short Hiatus
The Shadowrun game pauses as I head off for my holiday. Back up and blogging the events in two weeks time, all things being equal.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Triads
Wednesday 21st June 2070
Six, Ash, Drifter, Glyph.
The runners were at Glyphs pad considering doing the run that Ash had bought, and were set to snatch the statue from the Californian Free States Museum when Kitty phoned Six.
She had a problem, and needed the runners to gather at an address in Diamond Heights.
The team kitted up and flashed round to the apartment block. The front room was in darkness as they flanked the building, Ash was first through the door with the others close behind. Hearing a noise through a far door Ash charged in raising his gun to eye level. Kitty turned on the lights, shocked at having a gun in her face, she kicked the surprise party off with a deflated yell of surprise. Someone blew a party horn.
Partly to celebrate getting out of jail, more to celebrate Six’s and Ash’s birthdays Kitty, Daisy and Snow threw together a bit of a party. Snow dished out some fake ID’s as birthday presents and gave the runners a little lecture in covert ops. Snow had to talk shop as well. He had been in contact with Captain Duncan Croner, who had the job that was to clear Vincent Cazznotti’s SIN record.
Meeting up with Croner, the runners were told that one of his undercover agents hadn’t reported in for two weeks and Croner needed to send in some non-badge help to find out if he was still operational or had been compromised.
The officer was known as Han Tze, and had been sent into the Severn Stars Triad gang to locate the leader Kung Lok. His cover story was good enough to keep him alive and undercover for almost 9 months. He had even been given his own patch to sell narcotics through a few foot soldiers, and he often reported to the Paper Dragon restaurant
Croner also informed the runners that there were three bounties available for members of the Sever Stars, and if the runners saw an opportunity to bring them in it might be worth their while. The bounties were for.
Deputy Master Zhang Jie, one of three deputy masters within the Seven Stars Triad organization. He was thought to co-ordinate the drug trafficking activities of the Severn Stars.
Fu Hong, a lieutenant for the Severn Stars, he was wanted in connection for the firebombing of the Topaz Lantern, and was also thought to be coordinating some kind of slave trade.
And Ruan Shu, a young member of the Severn Stars. The younger brother of Ruan Li, the master of Wo Feng Wo, another Triad organization operating in San Francisco.
The runners took all the info down, and headed round to Han Tze’s apartment, situated in Chinatown. Six questioned some local gangers about purchasing drugs and they pointed him toward a Triad run strip club called Province. Meanwhile Ash and Glyph broke into Han Tze’s apartment. They found little of interest except a micro camera that had been installed by Han Tze to record the visitors who came to his door. Viewing the footage they saw that Han Tze was met by Fu Hong on the day he disappeared two weeks ago.
The runners made their way down to the Paper Dragon restaurant and as they approached they saw that Fu Hong was speaking with CTN (California Trideo News). They had a table booked for a meal so the runners went in, and they heard the interview was about the free meals that the Paper Dragon was giving away to the homeless after they closed business every evening.
The runners took in a meal, and Ash asked some questions of Fu Hong about Han Tze, but didn’t get any kind of answer and just roused Fu Hong’s suspicions. While the runners were having their meal at the Paper Dragon, Han Tze’s Comlink was turned on. The runners assumed trap and didn’t go and investigate. Instead they went round to Province.
Province. Part strip club, part drug den and overseen by Zhang Jie. The runners went in and began checking out the activities. Everyone but Ash Saw that Zhang Jie looked down on the whole operation from the second floor level, guarded by many Triad heavies. Ash got himself a lap dancer.
The runners decided to go and find this Comlink that was out in the barrens. They tooled up and headed out. They found the building quickly and cautiously they made their way up to the top floor. The Comlink was being used by two scrawny street kids. The runners took the comlink and discovered that they had found it at an area that is used as a bit of a tip. They headed over and after picking through the detritus, found half a dozen bags with torn clothes in. Glyph found the clothers that Han Tze had been wearing. Cut with a blade, and with bloody hand prints on the runners began to fear the worst.
It was late and the runners weren’t getting anywhere, so they headed home for the night with plans for the morning.
Thursday 22 June 2070
The runners got up early. Ash took the comlink round to Daisy to see if she could find any info stored in the memory. Six and Drifter headed round the locan shelters, clinic and morgues to see if Han Tze had turned up at any of those locations.
The morgues and shelters did not yield any fresh clues, but a visit to a Street Doc in Chinatown did make the runners wonder how far and wide the Triads influence went. They also began to wonder if his cyberware was being sold second hand.
Daisy came up trumps after she had shaken the hangover from the party the night before. She found The last footage from Han Tze’s cybereyes. He was taken to the back of a Paper Dragon delivery van, as a live body in a body bag was dumped in. As he questioned what was going on Fu Hong told him that they had found him out, before he was punched out.
The runners decided to tail these delivery vans and placed a stealth tag onto one of them. The delivery vans spent the day working. Delivering take-out across San Francisco, and then at about midnight the vans loaded up with lots of meals for the homeless and set off about the city. The runners tailed one of these vans and didn’t notice anything suspicious until they got to the barrens and the vans were as good as empty. At a run down house the driver loaded something heavy into the back. He stopped at one other location and again loaded something heavy into the back of the van.
The runners then tailed this van as it headed back into San Fran toward the industrial district. The van pulled into a heavily gated abattoir and rendering plant. Six and Drifter watched as two people were hauled out of the back of the van and were taken inside kicking and screaming.
The runners had seen enough. They knew where two out of the three bounty targets were, they had a good idea that the answers as to the whereabouts of Han Tze would be inside the rendering plant, and there were about ready to kick off.
TBC...
Six, Ash, Drifter, Glyph.
The runners were at Glyphs pad considering doing the run that Ash had bought, and were set to snatch the statue from the Californian Free States Museum when Kitty phoned Six.
She had a problem, and needed the runners to gather at an address in Diamond Heights.
The team kitted up and flashed round to the apartment block. The front room was in darkness as they flanked the building, Ash was first through the door with the others close behind. Hearing a noise through a far door Ash charged in raising his gun to eye level. Kitty turned on the lights, shocked at having a gun in her face, she kicked the surprise party off with a deflated yell of surprise. Someone blew a party horn.
Partly to celebrate getting out of jail, more to celebrate Six’s and Ash’s birthdays Kitty, Daisy and Snow threw together a bit of a party. Snow dished out some fake ID’s as birthday presents and gave the runners a little lecture in covert ops. Snow had to talk shop as well. He had been in contact with Captain Duncan Croner, who had the job that was to clear Vincent Cazznotti’s SIN record.
Meeting up with Croner, the runners were told that one of his undercover agents hadn’t reported in for two weeks and Croner needed to send in some non-badge help to find out if he was still operational or had been compromised.
The officer was known as Han Tze, and had been sent into the Severn Stars Triad gang to locate the leader Kung Lok. His cover story was good enough to keep him alive and undercover for almost 9 months. He had even been given his own patch to sell narcotics through a few foot soldiers, and he often reported to the Paper Dragon restaurant
Croner also informed the runners that there were three bounties available for members of the Sever Stars, and if the runners saw an opportunity to bring them in it might be worth their while. The bounties were for.
Deputy Master Zhang Jie, one of three deputy masters within the Seven Stars Triad organization. He was thought to co-ordinate the drug trafficking activities of the Severn Stars.
Fu Hong, a lieutenant for the Severn Stars, he was wanted in connection for the firebombing of the Topaz Lantern, and was also thought to be coordinating some kind of slave trade.
And Ruan Shu, a young member of the Severn Stars. The younger brother of Ruan Li, the master of Wo Feng Wo, another Triad organization operating in San Francisco.
The runners took all the info down, and headed round to Han Tze’s apartment, situated in Chinatown. Six questioned some local gangers about purchasing drugs and they pointed him toward a Triad run strip club called Province. Meanwhile Ash and Glyph broke into Han Tze’s apartment. They found little of interest except a micro camera that had been installed by Han Tze to record the visitors who came to his door. Viewing the footage they saw that Han Tze was met by Fu Hong on the day he disappeared two weeks ago.
The runners made their way down to the Paper Dragon restaurant and as they approached they saw that Fu Hong was speaking with CTN (California Trideo News). They had a table booked for a meal so the runners went in, and they heard the interview was about the free meals that the Paper Dragon was giving away to the homeless after they closed business every evening.
The runners took in a meal, and Ash asked some questions of Fu Hong about Han Tze, but didn’t get any kind of answer and just roused Fu Hong’s suspicions. While the runners were having their meal at the Paper Dragon, Han Tze’s Comlink was turned on. The runners assumed trap and didn’t go and investigate. Instead they went round to Province.
Province. Part strip club, part drug den and overseen by Zhang Jie. The runners went in and began checking out the activities. Everyone but Ash Saw that Zhang Jie looked down on the whole operation from the second floor level, guarded by many Triad heavies. Ash got himself a lap dancer.
The runners decided to go and find this Comlink that was out in the barrens. They tooled up and headed out. They found the building quickly and cautiously they made their way up to the top floor. The Comlink was being used by two scrawny street kids. The runners took the comlink and discovered that they had found it at an area that is used as a bit of a tip. They headed over and after picking through the detritus, found half a dozen bags with torn clothes in. Glyph found the clothers that Han Tze had been wearing. Cut with a blade, and with bloody hand prints on the runners began to fear the worst.
It was late and the runners weren’t getting anywhere, so they headed home for the night with plans for the morning.
Thursday 22 June 2070
The runners got up early. Ash took the comlink round to Daisy to see if she could find any info stored in the memory. Six and Drifter headed round the locan shelters, clinic and morgues to see if Han Tze had turned up at any of those locations.
The morgues and shelters did not yield any fresh clues, but a visit to a Street Doc in Chinatown did make the runners wonder how far and wide the Triads influence went. They also began to wonder if his cyberware was being sold second hand.
Daisy came up trumps after she had shaken the hangover from the party the night before. She found The last footage from Han Tze’s cybereyes. He was taken to the back of a Paper Dragon delivery van, as a live body in a body bag was dumped in. As he questioned what was going on Fu Hong told him that they had found him out, before he was punched out.
The runners decided to tail these delivery vans and placed a stealth tag onto one of them. The delivery vans spent the day working. Delivering take-out across San Francisco, and then at about midnight the vans loaded up with lots of meals for the homeless and set off about the city. The runners tailed one of these vans and didn’t notice anything suspicious until they got to the barrens and the vans were as good as empty. At a run down house the driver loaded something heavy into the back. He stopped at one other location and again loaded something heavy into the back of the van.
The runners then tailed this van as it headed back into San Fran toward the industrial district. The van pulled into a heavily gated abattoir and rendering plant. Six and Drifter watched as two people were hauled out of the back of the van and were taken inside kicking and screaming.
The runners had seen enough. They knew where two out of the three bounty targets were, they had a good idea that the answers as to the whereabouts of Han Tze would be inside the rendering plant, and there were about ready to kick off.
TBC...
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Six's blog
By N.Barnes
Call Dir: Shadownet/ShadowlandsBBS/>
Select Region: Region=SanFrancisco>
Call SubDir: SanFrancisco/WeBlogs>
Select Blog: Author=V.Six>
Initializing…>
Entry 15: 22.06.70>
Looks like we’ve had another moment or two playing the fly rather than the windshield. I’m writing this from the couch at Glyph’s place because just at the moment, I can’t run the risk of heading back to my gaffe. My Dodge is up on blocks out in a pristine little weapons’ workshop that Glyph has tacked on to the side of her place and I can’t even go see Kitty or my folks. About
24 hours ago, I was cooling my heels in a Las Vegas jail and now I’m a fugitive, on the run, wanted by Lone Star…
Let me take it back for you. All the intel we gathered had given our Johnson some concern and he asked us to sit tight and wait on his comms. He’d coughed up the 10k and frozen the bonus at 400 large so when he got back in touch, he was looking to restructure the deal. It would be 200k to ice Manton Ford provided we made it look like an accident and then another 200k to find out where the Chloro-Manganese 5/1 was being manufactured and processed. It seemed reasonable and we agreed, making a few quick moves to get Ki-rinn access to Dr Ford’s vehicle subscription and then setting about tailing the NA. The subscription to Ford’s motor meant Ki-rinn could ride the vehicle through its sensors and put it into the path of a truck or over the side of a cliff at an opportune moment. Sweet as a nut. It was clear the NA were getting their mitts on the 5/1 somewhere and hopefully they would then lead us up the chain to the supplier, so when they headed for Las Vegas we followed suit, using the Fly Spy as a tracker.
We burnt rubber, pushing the sleds redline to make up time and thought little of it when we got our asses Gatso’d by a state trooper. He was tenacious though, sticking on us long after we’d sped out of sight. I figured he must have painted the vehicles so, to prevent him from being a problem at the Vegas end of the trip, I hung back and rolled out the Stinger. I played fox and hound with him, letting him catch sight of the car before roaring off with a wheel spin that picked up a good cloud of dust to conceal the Stinger. He bought it, hook, line and sinker and popped all four tyres before spinning off into the desert. We rolled back to collect our gear and spotted that the patrol car could explode at any moment. Ash played hero and hauled the fellah out – probably saved his life – before pinching his badge and gun. Pay attention now. The gun was a Lone Star edition Colt Manhunter and I didn’t like the look of it one bit. It screamed RFID at me but Ash was determined to pilfer it. I shrugged but told him not to leave it in my car or near any of my gear – just in case…
A little research into NA fronts had given us the names of three Vegas nightspots, housed within the same building. An order of hermetically sealed vaccumn flasks – the same sort used to poison the Caribou with 5/1 – had gone to this building and it seemed Book and his buddy were headed that way too. The nightspots, Dragon’s Breath, Pussycat Lounge and Tiberius were all run by Volcano Inc from a giant, faux-volcano façade shrouded building in Downtown Vegas. Having finally arrived, we headed straight there while Ki-rinn and Rapunzel shadowed Book. Pay attention again. The plastic volcano had a standard patron’s policy – no firearms – so we shucked our gear out into the glove box of the vehicle before heading inside.
There wasn’t much of interest inside the plastic volcano, so when our tail told us Book was headed over, I was happy to split rather than risk being spotted and ID’d. I clocked that there was a motorbike cop paying a bit too much attention to my car so I activated the remote and started to drive it off of the lot. CHIPS decided to be a clever bastard and toggled a signal jammer so readying my snap baton, I headed over.
Continues: 1/4>
|| >
I try to play it cool, try to just clamber in and drive off but as expected, this extra from the Village People is lonely and fancies a chat. He tells me, there’s a signal coming from my car that relates to a stolen piece of police equipment and my heart sinks. I visualise jabbing Ash in the eye with a sharp stick but T.J. Hooker spoils the moment by insisting I let him search the vehicle. Sure, no problem, help yourself officer I say as I fetch him a sharp rap in the signal box with my snap baton.
Now this is supposed to go down quickly. With the advantage of surprise, I should be able to strike quickly, knocking the signal jammer off-line and then jump into the car and blaze. That’s how it’s supposed to go down. Turns out I’m up against the only motorbike cop in Nevada with a PhD in Smug. In response to my snap baton, he produces a snap baton of his own and we go at it Hey Nonny Nonny style like a pair of fucking Morris Dancers for a while.
I lose my baton in the melee and I’m fortunate that he looses his too but all he does is go for a Tazer. We brawl, schoolboy style for a while, and I come up with the gun but the copper seems unfazed by my threats. I point and shoot but there must be some sort of biometric scanner in the pistol grip and I get nothing more than a slug to the jaw as he moves to attack once again. Turns out I’m facing Tyson and he systematically begins to beat the living tar out of me. Last thing I remember before I black out is calling Ash for help…
I woke up in a 6’ x 4’ cell, with a missing tooth and a splitting headache.
After letting me cool my heels for a while the Heat haul me out and in the corridor, we pass Ash, forlornly clutching a rap sheet and shuffling back to a cell of his own. In my interrogation they present me with a foot-long rap sheet of jumped up Mickey Mouse charges. Some of them I admit to – I did assault T.J. Hooker, I did have an illegal firearm on a concealed weapon mount and I did blaze past a radar gun at 210mph. But they’re trying to fit me up for Ash’s crimes too and make me an accessory to offences committed while I was unconscious. Seems Ash was just as rubbish in a fist fight with the motorbike cop as I had been, so he resorted to stabbing the guy and even managed to Frag that up! Ash is going down on attempted murder and has admitted culpability. I demand my courtroom trial. I wonder if they’ll let me flip the switch on the electric chair when Ash gets his sorry ass fried.
I wonder if the schmuck even realises it was the RFID tag in the LS Manhunter that got us into trouble. The RFID tag I warned him about. The LS Manhunter I told him not to leave in my car. Cock jockey….
Lone Star gave me one phone call and there was really only one man who I figured would be able to spread the word far and wide and try to send some assistance my way. That man was Snow. To add insult to injury, I’d loaned Ash 100k to buy a plot of land and that meant I had nothing but pocket change – not enough for my bail, not enough to settle my fines and certainly not enough to finance any activity to guarantee my freedom, legal or otherwise. I was in Snow’s hands and in the hands of my comrades. Ki-rinn and Glyph were out there in Vegas somewhere and I just had to hope that I’d built up enough credit with them to making rescuing me seem worthwhile.
I got another night in the slammer for my troubles and early in the morning, was rudely awoken by the screws. I was bundled into a prison van, with Ash and another few villains and set off for our appointment before the Beak. En route, I felt the subtle shift of weight then a rapid change in momentum as the prison van’s brakes were squeezed and then slammed on. Ash wasn’t quite so wise to the movements of the chassis and as the tyres began to squeal in protest, Ash was thrown sideways, smashing his head against the safety cage.
With the thump of vehicle on vehicle, we came to an abrupt stop. It was obvious there was a break on, whether for us or one of the other inmates I couldn’t say, but I knew what was going to come next and despite cursing him for a chump, I moved to protect Ash prone body with my own.
Continues: 2/4>
|| >
Sure enough, there was a muffled explosion from the rear of the van and the lock popped through pinging off of the security cage. Our minder cranked his shotgun but the door swung open and two quick bursts of small arms fire dropped him where he stood. Glyph swung the door open and beckoned us out. I could hear further gunshots from outside so I knew that Ki-rinn and maybe one or two of the other guys were nearby but man, I have never been so happy to see Rapunzel in my life. I was wrapped! We hauled Ash’ sorry carcass out and with Frosty urging a hasty retreat, we blazed. Ash and I had been strapped with electronic tags and I knew we would have to get them off sharpish if we were to avoid immediately being tagged and traced. Ki-rinn set about cutting the tag off of Ash while Glyph filled me in.
The Daring Duo had spent an eventful night raiding the local impound yard and had managed to retrieve my vehicle. It had been stripped of weapons and personal effects and the engine management system had been locked up separately to immobilize it. They’d had to substitute an engine management system from another vehicle but they had got my ride and that was the main thing. The damage done by running the wrong EMS was hardly going to be permanent! Bad news was, that Johnson had gotten wind of our little excursion to the big house and had decided we just weren’t pro enough for his corporation. I was going to fetch Mr Contacts a hefty smack upside his damn swede for bringing that on us later on. From the sounds of the tazer built into the E-tag discharging into Ash’ leg as Frosty struggled to get it off, it sounded as though K was getting his payback right there and then. I don’t pretend to understand Johnson’s position. Sounds like a crock of drek to me. He’d changed the parameters of the deal himself two or three times without a word of complaint from us. Frankly, he owed us. Without our intel, he would have known nothing about what had been going on. Didn’t stop him from dropping us though. Hell, WE didn’t know who he represented so there was hardly any connection between us and his organisation – how was our misfortune with Lone Star going to kick back on him?!
Hell, whatever. It WAS unprofessional to let something so minor throw such a spanner in the works of our operation. I knew Ki-rinn would have something to say later on but I knew I’d already learnt my lessons. (1) Stay tooled.
(2) Run under a SINless identity. (3) Don’t fly solo and (4) Fuck the Corps – they’ve been nothing but trouble to our team the whole time we’ve been running. I’m not inclined to work their circuit again.
Frosty finally got the E-tag off of Ash but I was still running hot and we’d picked up a helicopter tail. We slowed and stopped to let Ki-rinn dive out and head over to where they’d left my ride. He was hoping to run decoy but I stayed in Glyph’s car – I knew the Chopper would have painted the Eurocar and it was my tag they were trailing so there was no point trying to throw them off of my scent. As we hit the highway once more, K took off in the other direction. Pursuit was dogged and relentless, so I finally admitted defeat and pulled over to let Rapunzel shoot off my E-tag. I realised then, as she pointed her gun at my ankle, I trusted her to make the shot. Shame she couldn’t do anything about the anti-tamper Tazer discharge. My vision swam and everything faded to black…
I came round, who knows how long later, to find myself all neatly strapped in with a worried Glyph panicking about the Lone Star chopper she’d been unable to shake and the snake of patrol cars winding back across the desert.
We were nearing the San Fran city limits and Glyph had a point – any minute now we were going to run out of road and luck. Surely Lone Star Vegas had radioed ahead and alerted their Bay Area colleagues. Hell, according to Rapunzel the determined bastards had even hung around while she took an excursion into Tir Tangire to try and shake them.
I was woozy but without the E-tag on my leg, all of my Cyberwear was coming back online and I had an archived electronic warfare programme on my PAN.
That little doozy worked like a dream and with the laser painting broken, Glyph was able to dive into Golden Gate park and break the chopper’s visual.
Continues: 3/4>
|| >
We were back on home turf and free from pursuit but it quickly became obvious that things wouldn’t be getting back to normal for a while. There were unmarked police cars staking out my home and lock up, one outside my folks’ place and one tailing Kitty. I need to give a word out here to Glyph who has been an absolute diamond. She let Ki-rinn park my dirty Dodge in her clinically clean workshop and says it can stay put until I replace the EMS.
She offered my carcass the sofa to sleep on until the heat lose interest in my place and she took the risk of heading down to the lock up and pretending to be a customer collecting the jeep. If not for her cojones, I’d have nothing to drive! All of which is to say nothing for the simple fact of her putting her ass on the line to help bust me out of jail.
Ash hightailed it the minute we hit the city centre. I could see in his eyes that he knew damn well he’d fucked up and it was tearing him apart. Yes, he made a dumb mistake leaving that Lone Star Manhunter in my car after I’d warned him about the possibility that it was tagged but I was the one who couldn’t throw down against a single beat cop on my own and he only got arrested because he came to haul my ass out of the fire. I’ve said my piece and as far as I’m concerned, that’s it, enough said, done. I hope he doesn’t let it hit him too hard. I’ve still got his back 100 per cent. If nothing else, I owe him one for doing his best to prevent me from being arrested.
I’m worried for him though because in an attempt to rectify his mistake, he’s gone straight off and done a dodgy deal to secure a run worth 250,000 Nuyen. The run is to snaffle a statuette from San Fran State Museum and the only guarantee we’ve got that there will be a payout afterwards is one brief phone call with some German Johnson. I certainly can’t afford to turn it down though and we’re resolved to tackle the museum tonight.
For my part, I want this record to disappear. I don’t want to be a fugitive, hiding out in San Fran rather than heading round to see my folks and my girl. I’ve learnt my lesson, I need a SINless ID to Run with, but I want to keep my legit ID as well. I can’t Shadowrun for ever after all and at some point I intend to make a pukka business of VI Customs and I’ll need Vincent Caznotti’s SIN to make that dream reality.
Fortunately, while I may not have the same breadth of contacts as Ash, those that I do have, I keep for a reason. Like Capt. Duncan Croner of San Fran Lone Star. He’s got dirt on us but we have dirt on him too and I’m sure there’s a little bit of a favour owed both ways. I tapped Frost up to see whether or not El Capitan could do anything to make my record disappear. We heard back not long ago. Croner might be inclined to help if we deal with a little problem for him first. I’ve told Ash to help and to be fair to my man, he’s more than willing. Glyph, again a diamond in the rough, also threw her hat into the ring. As expected, Ki-rinn had some wise words. He thinks I’m being foolish and that Croner might be out just to set me up. He’d much rather I let him work his Matrix magic and let Vinnie Caznotti die so that Six can truly live. That said, he respects my position and he has got my back – he’s in for the job too.
So we’re off tonight to raid the San Fran State Museum and then tomorrow we expect to hear back from Snow letting us know exactly what price Croner has put on his services. I’ve been involved in a goof-up these past couple of days and by and large, I’ve been lucky enough to get away with it. Now, it’s time to make amends and put things back on track. I owe Ki-rinn and Glyph big time too. My incarceration scotched a good job for the whole team, I’ll not forget that and I’ll not let them down when it comes to making my reparations.
Mood: Determined.
Ends: 4/4>
||
Call Dir: Shadownet/ShadowlandsBBS/>
Select Region: Region=SanFrancisco>
Call SubDir: SanFrancisco/WeBlogs>
Select Blog: Author=V.Six>
Initializing…>
Entry 15: 22.06.70>
Looks like we’ve had another moment or two playing the fly rather than the windshield. I’m writing this from the couch at Glyph’s place because just at the moment, I can’t run the risk of heading back to my gaffe. My Dodge is up on blocks out in a pristine little weapons’ workshop that Glyph has tacked on to the side of her place and I can’t even go see Kitty or my folks. About
24 hours ago, I was cooling my heels in a Las Vegas jail and now I’m a fugitive, on the run, wanted by Lone Star…
Let me take it back for you. All the intel we gathered had given our Johnson some concern and he asked us to sit tight and wait on his comms. He’d coughed up the 10k and frozen the bonus at 400 large so when he got back in touch, he was looking to restructure the deal. It would be 200k to ice Manton Ford provided we made it look like an accident and then another 200k to find out where the Chloro-Manganese 5/1 was being manufactured and processed. It seemed reasonable and we agreed, making a few quick moves to get Ki-rinn access to Dr Ford’s vehicle subscription and then setting about tailing the NA. The subscription to Ford’s motor meant Ki-rinn could ride the vehicle through its sensors and put it into the path of a truck or over the side of a cliff at an opportune moment. Sweet as a nut. It was clear the NA were getting their mitts on the 5/1 somewhere and hopefully they would then lead us up the chain to the supplier, so when they headed for Las Vegas we followed suit, using the Fly Spy as a tracker.
We burnt rubber, pushing the sleds redline to make up time and thought little of it when we got our asses Gatso’d by a state trooper. He was tenacious though, sticking on us long after we’d sped out of sight. I figured he must have painted the vehicles so, to prevent him from being a problem at the Vegas end of the trip, I hung back and rolled out the Stinger. I played fox and hound with him, letting him catch sight of the car before roaring off with a wheel spin that picked up a good cloud of dust to conceal the Stinger. He bought it, hook, line and sinker and popped all four tyres before spinning off into the desert. We rolled back to collect our gear and spotted that the patrol car could explode at any moment. Ash played hero and hauled the fellah out – probably saved his life – before pinching his badge and gun. Pay attention now. The gun was a Lone Star edition Colt Manhunter and I didn’t like the look of it one bit. It screamed RFID at me but Ash was determined to pilfer it. I shrugged but told him not to leave it in my car or near any of my gear – just in case…
A little research into NA fronts had given us the names of three Vegas nightspots, housed within the same building. An order of hermetically sealed vaccumn flasks – the same sort used to poison the Caribou with 5/1 – had gone to this building and it seemed Book and his buddy were headed that way too. The nightspots, Dragon’s Breath, Pussycat Lounge and Tiberius were all run by Volcano Inc from a giant, faux-volcano façade shrouded building in Downtown Vegas. Having finally arrived, we headed straight there while Ki-rinn and Rapunzel shadowed Book. Pay attention again. The plastic volcano had a standard patron’s policy – no firearms – so we shucked our gear out into the glove box of the vehicle before heading inside.
There wasn’t much of interest inside the plastic volcano, so when our tail told us Book was headed over, I was happy to split rather than risk being spotted and ID’d. I clocked that there was a motorbike cop paying a bit too much attention to my car so I activated the remote and started to drive it off of the lot. CHIPS decided to be a clever bastard and toggled a signal jammer so readying my snap baton, I headed over.
Continues: 1/4>
|| >
I try to play it cool, try to just clamber in and drive off but as expected, this extra from the Village People is lonely and fancies a chat. He tells me, there’s a signal coming from my car that relates to a stolen piece of police equipment and my heart sinks. I visualise jabbing Ash in the eye with a sharp stick but T.J. Hooker spoils the moment by insisting I let him search the vehicle. Sure, no problem, help yourself officer I say as I fetch him a sharp rap in the signal box with my snap baton.
Now this is supposed to go down quickly. With the advantage of surprise, I should be able to strike quickly, knocking the signal jammer off-line and then jump into the car and blaze. That’s how it’s supposed to go down. Turns out I’m up against the only motorbike cop in Nevada with a PhD in Smug. In response to my snap baton, he produces a snap baton of his own and we go at it Hey Nonny Nonny style like a pair of fucking Morris Dancers for a while.
I lose my baton in the melee and I’m fortunate that he looses his too but all he does is go for a Tazer. We brawl, schoolboy style for a while, and I come up with the gun but the copper seems unfazed by my threats. I point and shoot but there must be some sort of biometric scanner in the pistol grip and I get nothing more than a slug to the jaw as he moves to attack once again. Turns out I’m facing Tyson and he systematically begins to beat the living tar out of me. Last thing I remember before I black out is calling Ash for help…
I woke up in a 6’ x 4’ cell, with a missing tooth and a splitting headache.
After letting me cool my heels for a while the Heat haul me out and in the corridor, we pass Ash, forlornly clutching a rap sheet and shuffling back to a cell of his own. In my interrogation they present me with a foot-long rap sheet of jumped up Mickey Mouse charges. Some of them I admit to – I did assault T.J. Hooker, I did have an illegal firearm on a concealed weapon mount and I did blaze past a radar gun at 210mph. But they’re trying to fit me up for Ash’s crimes too and make me an accessory to offences committed while I was unconscious. Seems Ash was just as rubbish in a fist fight with the motorbike cop as I had been, so he resorted to stabbing the guy and even managed to Frag that up! Ash is going down on attempted murder and has admitted culpability. I demand my courtroom trial. I wonder if they’ll let me flip the switch on the electric chair when Ash gets his sorry ass fried.
I wonder if the schmuck even realises it was the RFID tag in the LS Manhunter that got us into trouble. The RFID tag I warned him about. The LS Manhunter I told him not to leave in my car. Cock jockey….
Lone Star gave me one phone call and there was really only one man who I figured would be able to spread the word far and wide and try to send some assistance my way. That man was Snow. To add insult to injury, I’d loaned Ash 100k to buy a plot of land and that meant I had nothing but pocket change – not enough for my bail, not enough to settle my fines and certainly not enough to finance any activity to guarantee my freedom, legal or otherwise. I was in Snow’s hands and in the hands of my comrades. Ki-rinn and Glyph were out there in Vegas somewhere and I just had to hope that I’d built up enough credit with them to making rescuing me seem worthwhile.
I got another night in the slammer for my troubles and early in the morning, was rudely awoken by the screws. I was bundled into a prison van, with Ash and another few villains and set off for our appointment before the Beak. En route, I felt the subtle shift of weight then a rapid change in momentum as the prison van’s brakes were squeezed and then slammed on. Ash wasn’t quite so wise to the movements of the chassis and as the tyres began to squeal in protest, Ash was thrown sideways, smashing his head against the safety cage.
With the thump of vehicle on vehicle, we came to an abrupt stop. It was obvious there was a break on, whether for us or one of the other inmates I couldn’t say, but I knew what was going to come next and despite cursing him for a chump, I moved to protect Ash prone body with my own.
Continues: 2/4>
|| >
Sure enough, there was a muffled explosion from the rear of the van and the lock popped through pinging off of the security cage. Our minder cranked his shotgun but the door swung open and two quick bursts of small arms fire dropped him where he stood. Glyph swung the door open and beckoned us out. I could hear further gunshots from outside so I knew that Ki-rinn and maybe one or two of the other guys were nearby but man, I have never been so happy to see Rapunzel in my life. I was wrapped! We hauled Ash’ sorry carcass out and with Frosty urging a hasty retreat, we blazed. Ash and I had been strapped with electronic tags and I knew we would have to get them off sharpish if we were to avoid immediately being tagged and traced. Ki-rinn set about cutting the tag off of Ash while Glyph filled me in.
The Daring Duo had spent an eventful night raiding the local impound yard and had managed to retrieve my vehicle. It had been stripped of weapons and personal effects and the engine management system had been locked up separately to immobilize it. They’d had to substitute an engine management system from another vehicle but they had got my ride and that was the main thing. The damage done by running the wrong EMS was hardly going to be permanent! Bad news was, that Johnson had gotten wind of our little excursion to the big house and had decided we just weren’t pro enough for his corporation. I was going to fetch Mr Contacts a hefty smack upside his damn swede for bringing that on us later on. From the sounds of the tazer built into the E-tag discharging into Ash’ leg as Frosty struggled to get it off, it sounded as though K was getting his payback right there and then. I don’t pretend to understand Johnson’s position. Sounds like a crock of drek to me. He’d changed the parameters of the deal himself two or three times without a word of complaint from us. Frankly, he owed us. Without our intel, he would have known nothing about what had been going on. Didn’t stop him from dropping us though. Hell, WE didn’t know who he represented so there was hardly any connection between us and his organisation – how was our misfortune with Lone Star going to kick back on him?!
Hell, whatever. It WAS unprofessional to let something so minor throw such a spanner in the works of our operation. I knew Ki-rinn would have something to say later on but I knew I’d already learnt my lessons. (1) Stay tooled.
(2) Run under a SINless identity. (3) Don’t fly solo and (4) Fuck the Corps – they’ve been nothing but trouble to our team the whole time we’ve been running. I’m not inclined to work their circuit again.
Frosty finally got the E-tag off of Ash but I was still running hot and we’d picked up a helicopter tail. We slowed and stopped to let Ki-rinn dive out and head over to where they’d left my ride. He was hoping to run decoy but I stayed in Glyph’s car – I knew the Chopper would have painted the Eurocar and it was my tag they were trailing so there was no point trying to throw them off of my scent. As we hit the highway once more, K took off in the other direction. Pursuit was dogged and relentless, so I finally admitted defeat and pulled over to let Rapunzel shoot off my E-tag. I realised then, as she pointed her gun at my ankle, I trusted her to make the shot. Shame she couldn’t do anything about the anti-tamper Tazer discharge. My vision swam and everything faded to black…
I came round, who knows how long later, to find myself all neatly strapped in with a worried Glyph panicking about the Lone Star chopper she’d been unable to shake and the snake of patrol cars winding back across the desert.
We were nearing the San Fran city limits and Glyph had a point – any minute now we were going to run out of road and luck. Surely Lone Star Vegas had radioed ahead and alerted their Bay Area colleagues. Hell, according to Rapunzel the determined bastards had even hung around while she took an excursion into Tir Tangire to try and shake them.
I was woozy but without the E-tag on my leg, all of my Cyberwear was coming back online and I had an archived electronic warfare programme on my PAN.
That little doozy worked like a dream and with the laser painting broken, Glyph was able to dive into Golden Gate park and break the chopper’s visual.
Continues: 3/4>
|| >
We were back on home turf and free from pursuit but it quickly became obvious that things wouldn’t be getting back to normal for a while. There were unmarked police cars staking out my home and lock up, one outside my folks’ place and one tailing Kitty. I need to give a word out here to Glyph who has been an absolute diamond. She let Ki-rinn park my dirty Dodge in her clinically clean workshop and says it can stay put until I replace the EMS.
She offered my carcass the sofa to sleep on until the heat lose interest in my place and she took the risk of heading down to the lock up and pretending to be a customer collecting the jeep. If not for her cojones, I’d have nothing to drive! All of which is to say nothing for the simple fact of her putting her ass on the line to help bust me out of jail.
Ash hightailed it the minute we hit the city centre. I could see in his eyes that he knew damn well he’d fucked up and it was tearing him apart. Yes, he made a dumb mistake leaving that Lone Star Manhunter in my car after I’d warned him about the possibility that it was tagged but I was the one who couldn’t throw down against a single beat cop on my own and he only got arrested because he came to haul my ass out of the fire. I’ve said my piece and as far as I’m concerned, that’s it, enough said, done. I hope he doesn’t let it hit him too hard. I’ve still got his back 100 per cent. If nothing else, I owe him one for doing his best to prevent me from being arrested.
I’m worried for him though because in an attempt to rectify his mistake, he’s gone straight off and done a dodgy deal to secure a run worth 250,000 Nuyen. The run is to snaffle a statuette from San Fran State Museum and the only guarantee we’ve got that there will be a payout afterwards is one brief phone call with some German Johnson. I certainly can’t afford to turn it down though and we’re resolved to tackle the museum tonight.
For my part, I want this record to disappear. I don’t want to be a fugitive, hiding out in San Fran rather than heading round to see my folks and my girl. I’ve learnt my lesson, I need a SINless ID to Run with, but I want to keep my legit ID as well. I can’t Shadowrun for ever after all and at some point I intend to make a pukka business of VI Customs and I’ll need Vincent Caznotti’s SIN to make that dream reality.
Fortunately, while I may not have the same breadth of contacts as Ash, those that I do have, I keep for a reason. Like Capt. Duncan Croner of San Fran Lone Star. He’s got dirt on us but we have dirt on him too and I’m sure there’s a little bit of a favour owed both ways. I tapped Frost up to see whether or not El Capitan could do anything to make my record disappear. We heard back not long ago. Croner might be inclined to help if we deal with a little problem for him first. I’ve told Ash to help and to be fair to my man, he’s more than willing. Glyph, again a diamond in the rough, also threw her hat into the ring. As expected, Ki-rinn had some wise words. He thinks I’m being foolish and that Croner might be out just to set me up. He’d much rather I let him work his Matrix magic and let Vinnie Caznotti die so that Six can truly live. That said, he respects my position and he has got my back – he’s in for the job too.
So we’re off tonight to raid the San Fran State Museum and then tomorrow we expect to hear back from Snow letting us know exactly what price Croner has put on his services. I’ve been involved in a goof-up these past couple of days and by and large, I’ve been lucky enough to get away with it. Now, it’s time to make amends and put things back on track. I owe Ki-rinn and Glyph big time too. My incarceration scotched a good job for the whole team, I’ll not forget that and I’ll not let them down when it comes to making my reparations.
Mood: Determined.
Ends: 4/4>
||
Friday, August 11, 2006
The Prison Break
Six, Ash, Glyph, Ki-Rin
20 June 2070. 18:00
Six and Ash were in Police station 4. They had been tagged and had received their rap sheets. Ash, resigned to the fact that he had attempted to murder the cop signed away his right to a trial. Six read the small print and refused to sign. With their phone calls Snow was involved, and Snow looked a little deeper into their situation before giving Ki-Rin and Glyph a brief of what was going on.
Mr. Johnson called Ki-Rin. He told him that he was pulling the job from under them. With two runners in jail Mr. Johnson and the organisation he represents were no longer satisfied that they were able to perform the tasks satisfactorily. Ki-Rin offered a strong argument but the decision had already been made. If the runners completed the job there may have been payment but there was no way to be sure.
Ki-Rin and Glyph checked out the compound where Six’s car was being held and decided to take the chance and try to bust it out. After all, the compound would be the first place the cops would come if a rigger had broken out of jail.
The pair of them flashed back to San Francisco to tool up and they got back at about 3 in the morning.
The compound was lightly guarded and while Glyph snipped though the chain link fence, Ki-Rin double tapped one of the guards with Stick-n-Shock™ rounds. And they snuck in. The other two guards were quickly dispatched with a couple of Flashbangs and they had access to the car compound.
They found the signal jammer that was cutting out wireless signal, (last thing you want is riggers collecting their cars unauthorised) and they identified that the car computer was missing. Glyph salvaged a spare one from one of the guard’s cars and they took Six’s wheels.
They then formulated a plan to bust the other two runners out. Intercept the prison van blow the locks off and get out of dodge fast.
At 09:00 Six and Ash, bundled into the back of the police van made their way to the courthouse. Ki-Rin followed in a stolen car, Glyph was positioned along the road waiting to intercept.
Ki-Rin overtook the van then as he got in front he jammed onto the brakes. The truck slammed into the back of the car and came to a halt. Ash was thrown from his seat and was knocked unconscious. Glyph quickly blew the doors on the van with a tamped explosive charge and dispatched the guard while Ki-Rin kept the motorbike outrider and the van driver busy with his battle rifle and underslung shotgun.
They fled the scene and headed quickly to Six’s car. They set about trying to remove the restraining tags fitted to Six and Ash’s left legs. The anti tamper tazer shocked Ash back into unconsciousness. A police helicopter fell into pursuit overhead, they needed to get the tracker off Six and then shake the chopper. Shooting the tracker off Six’s leg knocked him out also. Glyph took the wheel of the car and drove the unconscious pair out of Vegas with the Lone Star Chopper in pursuit.
Ki-Rin made his way to Six’s car, and once the coast was clear took the wheel, and the scenic route back to San Francisco.
Glyph has a more troubled time, The chopper was just about keeping pace with her, and had a visual, there were cop cars en route to intercept her, and Six and Ash were still unconscious.
She took the decision to head for the Tir Tangire, the helicopter wouldn’t follow her and she could then work out what to do next. Sure enough the helicopter backed off as she entered the no mans land which marked the end of UCAS territory and the start of the Tir.
Her engine died… She sat for a time worrying what to do before getting out and trying to push the car. She was issued with a warning and a member of the Tir border guard appeared. She explained herself, and once they discovered that she was on the run from the cops they decided it was better to leave her to her fate and told her to leave Tir property or die.
Glyph drove back toward the border and could see the helicopter and several cop cars loitering. She dropped the hammer and took a cut across the desert before bumping back onto the road. A chase back to San Fran again.
Six came round at some point on the mad drive back, once he discovered the situation he ran a ECM program that he bought up for one of his drones a while back.
As soon as electronic lock was broken, Glyph speared into the Golden Gate forest and disappeared.
They went to ground. Six arranged with Snow to get Duncan Croner, the police captain to clear his files. Croner agreed that he could do it, but first Six had to do something for him.
In the meantime, Ash was approached by a bloke called Grifter. Apparently he had this run that was guaranteed to pay out ¥250,000. He was prepared to sell to Ash this run for ¥25,000. Ash didn’t have the cash, so Grifter took all that he could get before driving away. This run that Ash bought was to liberate a statue from the San Francisco State Museum and sell it onto a German Businessman.
20 June 2070. 18:00
Six and Ash were in Police station 4. They had been tagged and had received their rap sheets. Ash, resigned to the fact that he had attempted to murder the cop signed away his right to a trial. Six read the small print and refused to sign. With their phone calls Snow was involved, and Snow looked a little deeper into their situation before giving Ki-Rin and Glyph a brief of what was going on.
Mr. Johnson called Ki-Rin. He told him that he was pulling the job from under them. With two runners in jail Mr. Johnson and the organisation he represents were no longer satisfied that they were able to perform the tasks satisfactorily. Ki-Rin offered a strong argument but the decision had already been made. If the runners completed the job there may have been payment but there was no way to be sure.
Ki-Rin and Glyph checked out the compound where Six’s car was being held and decided to take the chance and try to bust it out. After all, the compound would be the first place the cops would come if a rigger had broken out of jail.
The pair of them flashed back to San Francisco to tool up and they got back at about 3 in the morning.
The compound was lightly guarded and while Glyph snipped though the chain link fence, Ki-Rin double tapped one of the guards with Stick-n-Shock™ rounds. And they snuck in. The other two guards were quickly dispatched with a couple of Flashbangs and they had access to the car compound.
They found the signal jammer that was cutting out wireless signal, (last thing you want is riggers collecting their cars unauthorised) and they identified that the car computer was missing. Glyph salvaged a spare one from one of the guard’s cars and they took Six’s wheels.
They then formulated a plan to bust the other two runners out. Intercept the prison van blow the locks off and get out of dodge fast.
At 09:00 Six and Ash, bundled into the back of the police van made their way to the courthouse. Ki-Rin followed in a stolen car, Glyph was positioned along the road waiting to intercept.
Ki-Rin overtook the van then as he got in front he jammed onto the brakes. The truck slammed into the back of the car and came to a halt. Ash was thrown from his seat and was knocked unconscious. Glyph quickly blew the doors on the van with a tamped explosive charge and dispatched the guard while Ki-Rin kept the motorbike outrider and the van driver busy with his battle rifle and underslung shotgun.
They fled the scene and headed quickly to Six’s car. They set about trying to remove the restraining tags fitted to Six and Ash’s left legs. The anti tamper tazer shocked Ash back into unconsciousness. A police helicopter fell into pursuit overhead, they needed to get the tracker off Six and then shake the chopper. Shooting the tracker off Six’s leg knocked him out also. Glyph took the wheel of the car and drove the unconscious pair out of Vegas with the Lone Star Chopper in pursuit.
Ki-Rin made his way to Six’s car, and once the coast was clear took the wheel, and the scenic route back to San Francisco.
Glyph has a more troubled time, The chopper was just about keeping pace with her, and had a visual, there were cop cars en route to intercept her, and Six and Ash were still unconscious.
She took the decision to head for the Tir Tangire, the helicopter wouldn’t follow her and she could then work out what to do next. Sure enough the helicopter backed off as she entered the no mans land which marked the end of UCAS territory and the start of the Tir.
Her engine died… She sat for a time worrying what to do before getting out and trying to push the car. She was issued with a warning and a member of the Tir border guard appeared. She explained herself, and once they discovered that she was on the run from the cops they decided it was better to leave her to her fate and told her to leave Tir property or die.
Glyph drove back toward the border and could see the helicopter and several cop cars loitering. She dropped the hammer and took a cut across the desert before bumping back onto the road. A chase back to San Fran again.
Six came round at some point on the mad drive back, once he discovered the situation he ran a ECM program that he bought up for one of his drones a while back.
As soon as electronic lock was broken, Glyph speared into the Golden Gate forest and disappeared.
They went to ground. Six arranged with Snow to get Duncan Croner, the police captain to clear his files. Croner agreed that he could do it, but first Six had to do something for him.
In the meantime, Ash was approached by a bloke called Grifter. Apparently he had this run that was guaranteed to pay out ¥250,000. He was prepared to sell to Ash this run for ¥25,000. Ash didn’t have the cash, so Grifter took all that he could get before driving away. This run that Ash bought was to liberate a statue from the San Francisco State Museum and sell it onto a German Businessman.
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Not how they had planned it.
Tuesday June 20th 2070
Six, Ash, Ki-Rin, Glyph.
The runners waited for the Mr. Johnson to give them the call regarding how they should proceed after they discovered that Dr. Manton Ford was heavily involved with the plot.
At approximately 07:00 in the morning the runners received the call. Mr. Johnson saw that there was still 400k available from the bonus, which was to be paid out when the runners stopped these deaths. The bonus money was still to be used for bringing the deaths to a halt but now Mr. Johnson wanted the runners to locate the factory that was producing the Chloro-Manganeze 5/1 which was being used to poison the metahumans in the Castro sector. And he wanted Dr. Manton Ford killed, only Fords death had to look like an accident as the doctor has influential friends who could start asking awkward questions. Two tasks. 200k a piece.
The runners accepted the deal.
Six kept track of the Notable Anarchists, Book, and the other one with his drone attached to the wing of their Porsche.
Ki-Rin began to investigate the canisters which they found the chemicals in across the internet, trying to find out who purchased these and where.
Ash began bidding on an internet auction for a strip of worthless desert. And all of them banded around ideas for how to bump off Dr. Manton Ford. Ideas ranged from dropping a trideo into his bath, to electrocuting him and raising his house to the ground.
Ki-Rin got a bit of a lead on the matrix regarding the canisters and Ash and Six headed over to the corporate building to have a look. After an initial nose around the corporate headquarters of Caradock they found that the “financial“ company seemed nothing more than a money laundering front. The runners assumed that this was the financial centre for the Notable Anarchists but this was based on guesswork.
Ki-Rin hacked their computer mainframe and diced with black IC before getting anywhere with their records. Ki-Rin traced the payments for the canisters to a corporation called Volcano Inc. that was based in Las Vegas. Volcano Inc. had 3 business concerns. Dragons Breath, a nightclub. Pussycat Lounge, a strip club. And Tiberius, nothing was known about this company.
The runners decided to head out to Las Vegas. Book and the other man were headed in that direction, and it was as good a lead as they thought they would get.
Meanwhile Ash continued to bid on this strip of land, and in a last ditch effort to not loose a chance for the land he overextended himself by about 100k working on the basis that he would get paid soon.
He needed to find ¥105,000 to pay for the ¥210,000. He turned to his friend Six for a loan, and Six coughed up almost all of the cash there and then.
The runners thundered down the blacktop pushing 210. They flashed past a black and white too fast to slow down, and they kept their toe in working on the basis that they would out run the Lone Star officer, and in short shrift, they did.
About 20 minutes later the runners came up close to the Notable Anarchists Porsche, and backed off to keep pace with them. Inevitably the tenacious Lone Star Officer appeared on the horizon. Six stopped and laid out a stolen Lone Star stinger, and then blazed away. The pursuit officer redoubled his efforts as he caught sight of his quarry, and tore out his tyres across the stinger. Six watched in the mirror then returned to grab back his stinger device. The patrol car was on its roof, and the officer was out cold, Six and Ash dragged him free of the wreckage and administered first aid. Ash then stole his gun and cuffs. The gun, the Colt Manhunter LS special. Ash checked it over then slung it in Six’s glove box. Six got a bit nervous about this and told Ash to keep that weapon out of the car.
They caught up with Glyph and Ki-Rin. And promptly followed the Notable Anarchists into the Las Vegas strip. Glyph tailed them into a restaurant and plaid the watching game. Ki-Rin sat in Glyphs car out the front as FRT and watched women’s nude volleyball championships. Six and Ash went to check out the Volcano Club.
40 miles away Docwagon were attending a Lone Star officer unconscious in the desert. One of the Lone Star officers attending the incident noticed that his colleagues weapon was missing and alerted LS control who activated the stealth tag and began to sweep the local area for its signal with a pair of satellites.
Six parked up in the Volcano Inc. car park and the pair of them headed over the bridge to the front doors, they were both security checked, but the pair of them had left all of the weapons in Six’s car.
They went inside and had a good scope of the place for well over half an hour, they eventually decided to split up, Ash was to watch the inside while Six headed out to his car. As Six walked across the bridge to the car park he saw a motorcycle cop stood near his car taking down details. Six slipped a snap baton into his hand and headed over.
As Six got close the officer confirmed that this vehicle was Six’s and then began to try and arrest the rigger for having a suspected stolen Lone Star weapon. Six’s minds eye cast back to the moment before the pair of them were about to go into the club when Ash popped the glove box open and tossed in all of his weapons.
Six realised he was in a fix and hit the officer with the baton. A fight ensued but Six was beginning to loose to the Lone Star champion boxer 2068 and 2069 and called Ash for help. Ash ran out of the club and sprinted across the bridge to the car park as he saw Six get punched out cold smacking one of his teeth out in a bloody shower. Two patrol cars were speeding their way to the “officer requires backup” shout. Ash ran and dived onto the motorcycle cop sending him sprawling to the ground, Ash then drew his only other weapon, a knife, and began to stab the officer.
Clutching the knife Ash looked down on the barely breathing, bloodied body of the police officer, 6 knife wounds about his torso. Looking up the patrol cars were nearing, he tried to drag Six into the car but was not quick or strong enough, and before he could escape he was surrounded, guns pointed at him by angry officers. Ash called Ki-Rin and left him the cryptic message. We are off to the police station.
Ash and Six were arrested. Six was carted off to the infirmary first.
Ki-Rin tried to track them down, but all he managed to discover was that they had been arrested. Ki-Rin and Glyph also so Six’s car being towed away, and after following it to a compound in a commercial district in the desert returned to Las Vegas Lone Star Station to try and work out what to do next.
Tuesday 20th June 16:25
To Be Continued….
Six, Ash, Ki-Rin, Glyph.
The runners waited for the Mr. Johnson to give them the call regarding how they should proceed after they discovered that Dr. Manton Ford was heavily involved with the plot.
At approximately 07:00 in the morning the runners received the call. Mr. Johnson saw that there was still 400k available from the bonus, which was to be paid out when the runners stopped these deaths. The bonus money was still to be used for bringing the deaths to a halt but now Mr. Johnson wanted the runners to locate the factory that was producing the Chloro-Manganeze 5/1 which was being used to poison the metahumans in the Castro sector. And he wanted Dr. Manton Ford killed, only Fords death had to look like an accident as the doctor has influential friends who could start asking awkward questions. Two tasks. 200k a piece.
The runners accepted the deal.
Six kept track of the Notable Anarchists, Book, and the other one with his drone attached to the wing of their Porsche.
Ki-Rin began to investigate the canisters which they found the chemicals in across the internet, trying to find out who purchased these and where.
Ash began bidding on an internet auction for a strip of worthless desert. And all of them banded around ideas for how to bump off Dr. Manton Ford. Ideas ranged from dropping a trideo into his bath, to electrocuting him and raising his house to the ground.
Ki-Rin got a bit of a lead on the matrix regarding the canisters and Ash and Six headed over to the corporate building to have a look. After an initial nose around the corporate headquarters of Caradock they found that the “financial“ company seemed nothing more than a money laundering front. The runners assumed that this was the financial centre for the Notable Anarchists but this was based on guesswork.
Ki-Rin hacked their computer mainframe and diced with black IC before getting anywhere with their records. Ki-Rin traced the payments for the canisters to a corporation called Volcano Inc. that was based in Las Vegas. Volcano Inc. had 3 business concerns. Dragons Breath, a nightclub. Pussycat Lounge, a strip club. And Tiberius, nothing was known about this company.
The runners decided to head out to Las Vegas. Book and the other man were headed in that direction, and it was as good a lead as they thought they would get.
Meanwhile Ash continued to bid on this strip of land, and in a last ditch effort to not loose a chance for the land he overextended himself by about 100k working on the basis that he would get paid soon.
He needed to find ¥105,000 to pay for the ¥210,000. He turned to his friend Six for a loan, and Six coughed up almost all of the cash there and then.
The runners thundered down the blacktop pushing 210. They flashed past a black and white too fast to slow down, and they kept their toe in working on the basis that they would out run the Lone Star officer, and in short shrift, they did.
About 20 minutes later the runners came up close to the Notable Anarchists Porsche, and backed off to keep pace with them. Inevitably the tenacious Lone Star Officer appeared on the horizon. Six stopped and laid out a stolen Lone Star stinger, and then blazed away. The pursuit officer redoubled his efforts as he caught sight of his quarry, and tore out his tyres across the stinger. Six watched in the mirror then returned to grab back his stinger device. The patrol car was on its roof, and the officer was out cold, Six and Ash dragged him free of the wreckage and administered first aid. Ash then stole his gun and cuffs. The gun, the Colt Manhunter LS special. Ash checked it over then slung it in Six’s glove box. Six got a bit nervous about this and told Ash to keep that weapon out of the car.
They caught up with Glyph and Ki-Rin. And promptly followed the Notable Anarchists into the Las Vegas strip. Glyph tailed them into a restaurant and plaid the watching game. Ki-Rin sat in Glyphs car out the front as FRT and watched women’s nude volleyball championships. Six and Ash went to check out the Volcano Club.
40 miles away Docwagon were attending a Lone Star officer unconscious in the desert. One of the Lone Star officers attending the incident noticed that his colleagues weapon was missing and alerted LS control who activated the stealth tag and began to sweep the local area for its signal with a pair of satellites.
Six parked up in the Volcano Inc. car park and the pair of them headed over the bridge to the front doors, they were both security checked, but the pair of them had left all of the weapons in Six’s car.
They went inside and had a good scope of the place for well over half an hour, they eventually decided to split up, Ash was to watch the inside while Six headed out to his car. As Six walked across the bridge to the car park he saw a motorcycle cop stood near his car taking down details. Six slipped a snap baton into his hand and headed over.
As Six got close the officer confirmed that this vehicle was Six’s and then began to try and arrest the rigger for having a suspected stolen Lone Star weapon. Six’s minds eye cast back to the moment before the pair of them were about to go into the club when Ash popped the glove box open and tossed in all of his weapons.
Six realised he was in a fix and hit the officer with the baton. A fight ensued but Six was beginning to loose to the Lone Star champion boxer 2068 and 2069 and called Ash for help. Ash ran out of the club and sprinted across the bridge to the car park as he saw Six get punched out cold smacking one of his teeth out in a bloody shower. Two patrol cars were speeding their way to the “officer requires backup” shout. Ash ran and dived onto the motorcycle cop sending him sprawling to the ground, Ash then drew his only other weapon, a knife, and began to stab the officer.
Clutching the knife Ash looked down on the barely breathing, bloodied body of the police officer, 6 knife wounds about his torso. Looking up the patrol cars were nearing, he tried to drag Six into the car but was not quick or strong enough, and before he could escape he was surrounded, guns pointed at him by angry officers. Ash called Ki-Rin and left him the cryptic message. We are off to the police station.
Ash and Six were arrested. Six was carted off to the infirmary first.
Ki-Rin tried to track them down, but all he managed to discover was that they had been arrested. Ki-Rin and Glyph also so Six’s car being towed away, and after following it to a compound in a commercial district in the desert returned to Las Vegas Lone Star Station to try and work out what to do next.
Tuesday 20th June 16:25
To Be Continued….
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