Friday May 12th 2070
Six, Ash, Ki-Rin, Ono, Drifter.
Drifter took a job. Simple delivery run, collect a package and deliver it to a corporate depot. The helicopter that dropped him off, took off and left him with a big long walk home.
Setting off he flicked on his PAN to call a cab, and found that a couple of runners he knew were less than a mile away. Drifter put the call through, and they met up.
Once the runners found out that Drifter had been into the same depot that they were heading to, Ki-Rin and Drifter set off back to have a good scout, they found the compound was secure, but a series of 6 air con vents positioned outside the perimeter fence which seemed a better access than trying a full frontal assault.
Falling back to the van they outlined their plan, cut through the vent covers and with the aid of climbing gear drop down into the tubing and explore from there.
After a brief visit to Richmond to buy up the necessary kit, the runners were in position by nightfall. They hid the rented Avis truck in a ditch and leopard crawled to the vent. Six burnt through the heavy grill that covered the vent and Ono held it so it didn’t fall. After they gained access they re positioned the grill with Drifter up on the surface to clear up and keep watch.
The runners crawled through vents for over an hour before they came across the first view of the underground base through a large vent. The drop into the underground marshalling yard was to high and the security was tight so they backed off to find a better entry point.
Descending another level they found an air extractor vent went directly into an empty office. Slipping inside they were pleased to find it was the base commanders office an ex-British army office who called himself the Duke. Ki-Rin knew of him from his days in the service, and knew that he was a bit of a wild card.
Six rummaged through the filing cabinets and found Ash’s brother file, and took a few more for evidence.
The runners then felt that they hadn’t got enough info from here and were going to go looking for more, Ki-Rin went active on his PAN and started hacking the computer systems, this put the base on alert. Guards descended on their location and the runners had to fight hard.
Beating the guards back the runners welded shut a door to the rest of the base, this stopped them from being attacked from the rear as they pulled back out of the base through the vent systems.
Drifter was not having such and easy time of it. Hauling 400 metres of rope back to the van he was an easy target for the patrol that was already searching for something funny out near the vents. Drifter practically stumbled into the two guards who set up near the rental 4x4.
Duke monitored the COM burble from his patrols and decided that these insurgents must be trying to retreat the way they came in, and when he heard about the runner captured he took a squad to meet the runners coming out of the vent.
Six was the first to clamber out of the tube, glancing over he saw that Drifter was on his knees with a gun pressed to the back of his head, Six spotted more soldiers guns trained on him, on the vent, and on Drifter. Six painted the targets with his PAN for the others to pick up on then pretended to comply with the demands to lay down. Six had hung onto the tailored golf putter found in Dukes office and hefted it once before bringing it hard down across the side of one of the soldiers faces.
Ono, the next in the pipe was slow to react and the sound of gunfire rattles across the forest. Ono eventually flew out but was hit with a hail of bullets, Ki-Rin emerged next, dropping one of the young shooters, and Ash used the pipe to give him some cover as he returned fire.
Six was already down; Drifter received a swift blow to the back of his head, which knocked the spark out of him. Ki-Rin was dropped by two bursts and Ash was shot and fell back into the pipe unconscious.
Ono, the troll, stood as he was hit by multiple rounds, his friends dropped around him, he bellowed and charged, sword drawn at Duke. A single shot rang out and the troll slumped to the ground.
Duke stood smelling the cordite in the air. He needed these runners alive to get some answers out of them. He ordered the Soldiers to replace the stick/shock rounds for the standard ammo clips, and to carry the unconscious forms into the supply depot.
To Be Continued…
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Friday, May 26, 2006
Run 9. Perfect Shooter
Saturday April 15th 2070
Six, Ki-Rin, Ash, Ono.
Six got a call from Kitty, There was a race meet and its new owner was thrashing about Six’s old car.
Six knew he couldn’t race for pinks, so resolved to race a kiddie he had beaten a few times already, a quick 5grand if he wins the race.
Six did win, but it was tight.
Friday April 28th 2070
Ash gets a call from a Mr. Gage. He invites the runners out to dinner in the most expensive hotel in San Francisco. Over lobster he tells the runners that he works for the marketing company Horizon, and that they have been running an advertising campaign for the Perfect Shooter simsense game.
Trouble is, the board of directors have heard Perfect Shooter spoken about in the same breath as Dreamseed, and they don’t know what this Dreamseed is. Will it affect their marketing strategy?
Although Gage doesn’t think so, the run’s pay is very rich 100,000 a piece, and the runners find it very hard to turn him down.
They retired back to Ki-Rin’s place and got down to some investigations. Ki-Rin, Six, and Ash all bought the game Perfect Shooter and began playing immediately. They all loved it; Real time FPS credits accrued power up game. The games engine was as good as real life and some of the other players in there could be professional solders the way they handled themselves.
Ki-Rin looked at the back code but found nothing suspicious, Six hit the game forum and asked about Dreamseed, and one user entertained the idea. Ono hit the internet and found a book called the Dreamseed theory; he went out to Waterstones and picked up a copy of the weighty tome.
Ono read through the book, the first few pages he read avidly, but slowly lost interest, and the book was completed by skim reading in short order. It’s main thrust was about the 4th 5th and 6th world, and the way mana ebbs and flows, the books conclusion was that the world would end in some kind of demon infested scourge.
Failing to see any connection to the Perfect Shooter game, the ideas were generally put on the back burner.
Six received an email from one of the games, with a few simple words. Dreamseed War. Dreamseed Trickery. Dreamseed Malady. The email also detailed an address, 1244 Denny Tower, Seattle. The runners mused the info further and discussed at length heading out to Seattle.
Eventually they did, choosing Ash’s boat as the best way to get past security border and such. The ride was arduous but they made it to rainy Seattle in the early hours of the next morning.
After spending the night in a hotel, Six acquired a 4x4 crew cab from Avis truck rentals and the runners headed over to the address. Upon opening the door the runners were hit with the stench of decaying corpses. 2 lay bloated and blackened from 3 weeks of decay. Carefully looking around the house the runners found a photo of three flatmates, one of which was Ash’s younger brother, the other two… now dead. They also found a letter to a MR. Joshua Philips congratulating him on winning the Perfect Shooter tournament and inviting Josh to attend Cross Applied Technologies to pick up his grant.
Ash quickly guessed that his little bros had changed his name and got out of shadowrunning while Ash was in jail. The scary thing is that he also seems to have drawn a weapon and shot his flatmates in cold blood because of this Perfect Shooter game.
The runners wanted to find out what happened when players entered into the grand tournaments, but getting the required credits was proving time consuming. They tired cheating to no avail, and then decided to piggy back another player and join him in a tournament when he accrued the required points.
Ki-Rin was rewarded when his carefully edited computer code returned the PAN of someone who had been invited to join the tourney. Following the data trail, he found the player in the real world, but couldn’t trace where the tournament arena was. It was being re routed through a multitude of Satellites, a trick Ki-Rin learned of in the military.
The runners went round to this kids house and watched him and his family (and the postman) for two weeks. They scrutinised the mail but didn’t manage to intercept the golden letter from Perfect Shooter.
Someone thought about heading back into the CATCo mainframe and searching for Joshua Philips’ name and see what that turned up, they weren’t surprised when his name appeared to have been logged, but then was changed to 145-Seattle. This code name then seems to have been shipped out to a CATCo storage depot in the North Cascades National Park.
May 12th 2070
The runners headed off with their new lead. And came across the area designated as the CATCo storage depot. Sneaking through the dense forest surrounding the depot, Ash and Ki-Rin came across a AR red line on their PAN’s. A visual warning told them that they would be subject to corporate law if they were caught, and they decide to not get found… And then Ki-Rin thought about their PAN’s and the fact that they tripped off an automated warning. Rather than press on into trouble they backed off to come back without their Comms broadcasting to the world.
TBC…
Six, Ki-Rin, Ash, Ono.
Six got a call from Kitty, There was a race meet and its new owner was thrashing about Six’s old car.
Six knew he couldn’t race for pinks, so resolved to race a kiddie he had beaten a few times already, a quick 5grand if he wins the race.
Six did win, but it was tight.
Friday April 28th 2070
Ash gets a call from a Mr. Gage. He invites the runners out to dinner in the most expensive hotel in San Francisco. Over lobster he tells the runners that he works for the marketing company Horizon, and that they have been running an advertising campaign for the Perfect Shooter simsense game.
Trouble is, the board of directors have heard Perfect Shooter spoken about in the same breath as Dreamseed, and they don’t know what this Dreamseed is. Will it affect their marketing strategy?
Although Gage doesn’t think so, the run’s pay is very rich 100,000 a piece, and the runners find it very hard to turn him down.
They retired back to Ki-Rin’s place and got down to some investigations. Ki-Rin, Six, and Ash all bought the game Perfect Shooter and began playing immediately. They all loved it; Real time FPS credits accrued power up game. The games engine was as good as real life and some of the other players in there could be professional solders the way they handled themselves.
Ki-Rin looked at the back code but found nothing suspicious, Six hit the game forum and asked about Dreamseed, and one user entertained the idea. Ono hit the internet and found a book called the Dreamseed theory; he went out to Waterstones and picked up a copy of the weighty tome.
Ono read through the book, the first few pages he read avidly, but slowly lost interest, and the book was completed by skim reading in short order. It’s main thrust was about the 4th 5th and 6th world, and the way mana ebbs and flows, the books conclusion was that the world would end in some kind of demon infested scourge.
Failing to see any connection to the Perfect Shooter game, the ideas were generally put on the back burner.
Six received an email from one of the games, with a few simple words. Dreamseed War. Dreamseed Trickery. Dreamseed Malady. The email also detailed an address, 1244 Denny Tower, Seattle. The runners mused the info further and discussed at length heading out to Seattle.
Eventually they did, choosing Ash’s boat as the best way to get past security border and such. The ride was arduous but they made it to rainy Seattle in the early hours of the next morning.
After spending the night in a hotel, Six acquired a 4x4 crew cab from Avis truck rentals and the runners headed over to the address. Upon opening the door the runners were hit with the stench of decaying corpses. 2 lay bloated and blackened from 3 weeks of decay. Carefully looking around the house the runners found a photo of three flatmates, one of which was Ash’s younger brother, the other two… now dead. They also found a letter to a MR. Joshua Philips congratulating him on winning the Perfect Shooter tournament and inviting Josh to attend Cross Applied Technologies to pick up his grant.
Ash quickly guessed that his little bros had changed his name and got out of shadowrunning while Ash was in jail. The scary thing is that he also seems to have drawn a weapon and shot his flatmates in cold blood because of this Perfect Shooter game.
The runners wanted to find out what happened when players entered into the grand tournaments, but getting the required credits was proving time consuming. They tired cheating to no avail, and then decided to piggy back another player and join him in a tournament when he accrued the required points.
Ki-Rin was rewarded when his carefully edited computer code returned the PAN of someone who had been invited to join the tourney. Following the data trail, he found the player in the real world, but couldn’t trace where the tournament arena was. It was being re routed through a multitude of Satellites, a trick Ki-Rin learned of in the military.
The runners went round to this kids house and watched him and his family (and the postman) for two weeks. They scrutinised the mail but didn’t manage to intercept the golden letter from Perfect Shooter.
Someone thought about heading back into the CATCo mainframe and searching for Joshua Philips’ name and see what that turned up, they weren’t surprised when his name appeared to have been logged, but then was changed to 145-Seattle. This code name then seems to have been shipped out to a CATCo storage depot in the North Cascades National Park.
May 12th 2070
The runners headed off with their new lead. And came across the area designated as the CATCo storage depot. Sneaking through the dense forest surrounding the depot, Ash and Ki-Rin came across a AR red line on their PAN’s. A visual warning told them that they would be subject to corporate law if they were caught, and they decide to not get found… And then Ki-Rin thought about their PAN’s and the fact that they tripped off an automated warning. Rather than press on into trouble they backed off to come back without their Comms broadcasting to the world.
TBC…
Six's blog. Run 8.
By N.Barnes
Call Dir: Shadownet/ShadowlandsBBS/
Select Region: Region=SanFrancisco
Call SubDir: SanFrancisco/WeBlogs
Select Blog: Author=V.Six
Initializing…
Entry 7: 07.04.70
Another day, another fine mess… The team has become some sort of shit magnet and none of us really knows how we’re going to shake it off anymore. We’ve all suffered over the last few days. We’ve pulled together and come through it, which I guess we should be proud of but it was hard. Damn it was hard.
It all started with Lone Star busting Ash. We’re talking fucking full on dawn raid. Boy must have thought his card was marked but it turned out to be our ‘old friend’ Captain Duncan Croner, putting a rocket up Ash’ backside so he’d take on a job. Croner’s brother was a BTL pusher by the name of Smoke.
Smoke got his ass iced in some deal gone sour or other and Croner wasn’t happy just following procedure. He wanted to know who was responsible and he wanted the fucker dead before due process and the burden of evidence let the killer get off on probation. Ash called us in and like a well oiled team we hit research mode.
Smoke’s pad was a seedy little joint, stuffed to the rafters with porno BTLs called Pinks and snuff chips called Blacks. Hell the boy even had his own little porn set in there and had been filming and reproducing his own stuff rather than just moving it on. We found a little Reality TV BTL – a sort of home movie chip filmed by some biker friend of Smoke’s called Ryder. We also found the details of an appointment between Smoke and someone called Kiriyama. Appointment matched the time of death so now we had a suspect.
We blazed over to the lock-up where Smoke bought the farm. Looked like some sort of impromptu distribution centre and worse, it looked like several goons with machine guns had just stood around Smoke’s body pumping him full of lead. While we’re musing on this, we get jumped. Three Shiawase goons – and that’s when we realise we’re in deep drek. If Smoke had pissed off a megacorp it was no wonder he ended up in a silk-lined box and we knew we were in no shape to front off to them ourselves.
We had to see if anyone knew who Smoke had met and why. Obvious choice was Ryder who we tracked to a metal bar downtown. We soon realised the guy was scared half to death – he arranged to meet us, on the beach at midnight. The meet rolls around soon enough and Ash and Ki-rinn position themselves to watch my back while I hook up with Ryder. Ryder shows and pushes another one of his home movie BTL’s into my hand telling me that this chip is what got Smoke killed. I jack in and the chip is fairly tame – a juvenile raid on a warehouse or some other Corp property – until the camera records a Corp hit by one exec on another. Killer shoots his rival in the fucking face, burns out the car to make it look like an accident and then catches sight of our intrepid camera crew.
I’m stunned. No wonder Shiawase wanted Smoke dead. No wonder Ryder’s scared to death. This little chip is a UXB primed to seriously dent the megacorp’s reputation. I’m even more stunned when I jack out to find Ryder sprinting up the beach away from me and a helicopter gunship thumping in low over the ocean. Chaingun chatter fills the night air and Ryder goes down in a bloody heap. Ki-rinn plays the damn fool hero and squeezes off a burst at the chopper. All it gets him is a little lead rain and now he’s twitching and bleeding on the sand. Gotta act now, gotta distract the chopper before Ash or I catch the next hail of bullets. The NSX is nearby so I remote the turret and give the gunship some full auto fury of my own. The distraction works but I’m still hooked in through the sensors so I see every graphic detail of the end. I see the attack vector of the chopper, the spinning barrels of the Gatling, the muzzle flare and the destruction as bullets tear through my ride. There’s a blossoming flower of orange fire and the feeds cut. My sled is in bits, one burning wheel rolling poetically past me down to the surf. My fucking car, man. The second I’ve lost in as many months!
Frag man…
Continues: 1/2
C’mon Six. Focus on the positives. As plans go it’s a doozy. Distracts the gunship long enough for Ash and I to get hid. Ki-rinn might be breathing his laugh but I’ve got the Medibot and a pick up on the way so we just lie low until the Chopper shits off. As it happens, we get Ki-rinn to Mal just in the nick of time.
Overnight, Mal rustles up some magical healing for the K-man and after a good night’s sleep, I think I’m dreaming when he tips up on the doorstep bright eyed and bushy tailed. We regroup and I show the chip to the team. We know our enemy now. We know who he is, what he wants and how to get to him.
We want revenge for ourselves too as well – he’s made it personal and we don’t take too kindly to that. Concentrate. We don’t have to take on Shiawase as a whole – we only have to off one guy.
We plan. We plot. We scheme. Finally we prepare. And Ki-rinn sends a polite message to Smoke’s killer. PAN to PAN. If you want the chip which incriminates you in the murder of a senior Shiawase executive then you bring your sorry ass to the Bay Bridge in rush hour. No tricks.
Ash finds himself a sniping position in the suspension towers to take out Kiriyama from. Ki-rinn handles fire control and crowd suppression. I’m responsible for the meet. We’ve got a copy of the chip each, in case it all goes wrong and I’ve got a little off-roader to jink through the traffic and make my getaway. It’s no substitute for the NSX but it just might save my life – we’re expecting trouble.
Right on cue, two SUV’s swerve out of the traffic flow and pull up for the meet. Kiriyama’s too smart or too yellow to step out into the open and collect the chip himself. He’s brought goons though. Goons who see a weedy little Rigger standing in front of them and think with their testosterone instead of the little grey cells.
They kick off. We lay the smack down.
I concentrate on staying alive, scrabbling away from the SUVs as the Goons open fire. Ash starts shooting into the lead vehicle, cursing me for not thinking to ‘Paint’ Kiriyama as key target on my Smartlink. Ki-rinn comes out of the tower like fucking Rambo and opens up on the Goons. He’s a little Chink hacker for fuck’s sake but the military training and a healthy dose of small man syndrome serve him well. The Chief Goon gets his own slice of agricultural property in short order.
As the SUV’s move off into the traffic, I hear Ki-rinn shouting at me about the tanks. I figure he must mean the petrol tank? Dummy. Ride like that has a fuel cell but on second thoughts, do them enough damage and they’re flammable too. Explosive as well, as it turns out – Smoke, Ryder and I all get our revenge as the mother and father of all explosions wipes out Kiriyama’s vehicle. That one’s for the NSX peckerwood!
There isn’t much more to say. We concentrate fire on the second vehicle until that fuel cell ruptures explosively as well. Ki-rinn’s buddy Flash would be proud. We make our getaway and Croner pays up. Job done, but at what a cost. What a cost.
So here I am, leafing through the latest AutoTrader looking for a new motor and thanking all our lucky stars we made it out alive. It was only the fact that we had a well-thought out plan for the hit on the Bay Bridge that kept us alive I reckon.
There are two bright points in all of this. I had practically finished doing up the Dodge Phantom, bar fitting the VCR and working up the paint and decals so I wasn’t without a ride for long. Damn but the Dodge just isn’t as good as the NSX. It might have been Jap import crap but I’d worked it up sweet and despite the big block V8 under the hood, the Dodge just isn’t quite as good a car.
The other bright spot is that for a while at least the heat should be off me. I dropped in to see my parents a few days ago and some Traffic Cop was there grilling Pops. Officer Tony Valez I think Pops said. Asking about me and about my NSX. Looks like I’d attracted some attention. Well Officer Tiny can look for the NSX all he wants but he ain’t about to find it – unless he likes mucking through the crushers down at the scrap yard. Maybe misfortune will end up giving me a little bit of breathing space. Maybe. Damn, it’s been one thing after another. I’m not sure I can take it any more…
Mood: Wrecked.
Ends: 2/2
Call Dir: Shadownet/ShadowlandsBBS/
Select Region: Region=SanFrancisco
Call SubDir: SanFrancisco/WeBlogs
Select Blog: Author=V.Six
Initializing…
Entry 7: 07.04.70
Another day, another fine mess… The team has become some sort of shit magnet and none of us really knows how we’re going to shake it off anymore. We’ve all suffered over the last few days. We’ve pulled together and come through it, which I guess we should be proud of but it was hard. Damn it was hard.
It all started with Lone Star busting Ash. We’re talking fucking full on dawn raid. Boy must have thought his card was marked but it turned out to be our ‘old friend’ Captain Duncan Croner, putting a rocket up Ash’ backside so he’d take on a job. Croner’s brother was a BTL pusher by the name of Smoke.
Smoke got his ass iced in some deal gone sour or other and Croner wasn’t happy just following procedure. He wanted to know who was responsible and he wanted the fucker dead before due process and the burden of evidence let the killer get off on probation. Ash called us in and like a well oiled team we hit research mode.
Smoke’s pad was a seedy little joint, stuffed to the rafters with porno BTLs called Pinks and snuff chips called Blacks. Hell the boy even had his own little porn set in there and had been filming and reproducing his own stuff rather than just moving it on. We found a little Reality TV BTL – a sort of home movie chip filmed by some biker friend of Smoke’s called Ryder. We also found the details of an appointment between Smoke and someone called Kiriyama. Appointment matched the time of death so now we had a suspect.
We blazed over to the lock-up where Smoke bought the farm. Looked like some sort of impromptu distribution centre and worse, it looked like several goons with machine guns had just stood around Smoke’s body pumping him full of lead. While we’re musing on this, we get jumped. Three Shiawase goons – and that’s when we realise we’re in deep drek. If Smoke had pissed off a megacorp it was no wonder he ended up in a silk-lined box and we knew we were in no shape to front off to them ourselves.
We had to see if anyone knew who Smoke had met and why. Obvious choice was Ryder who we tracked to a metal bar downtown. We soon realised the guy was scared half to death – he arranged to meet us, on the beach at midnight. The meet rolls around soon enough and Ash and Ki-rinn position themselves to watch my back while I hook up with Ryder. Ryder shows and pushes another one of his home movie BTL’s into my hand telling me that this chip is what got Smoke killed. I jack in and the chip is fairly tame – a juvenile raid on a warehouse or some other Corp property – until the camera records a Corp hit by one exec on another. Killer shoots his rival in the fucking face, burns out the car to make it look like an accident and then catches sight of our intrepid camera crew.
I’m stunned. No wonder Shiawase wanted Smoke dead. No wonder Ryder’s scared to death. This little chip is a UXB primed to seriously dent the megacorp’s reputation. I’m even more stunned when I jack out to find Ryder sprinting up the beach away from me and a helicopter gunship thumping in low over the ocean. Chaingun chatter fills the night air and Ryder goes down in a bloody heap. Ki-rinn plays the damn fool hero and squeezes off a burst at the chopper. All it gets him is a little lead rain and now he’s twitching and bleeding on the sand. Gotta act now, gotta distract the chopper before Ash or I catch the next hail of bullets. The NSX is nearby so I remote the turret and give the gunship some full auto fury of my own. The distraction works but I’m still hooked in through the sensors so I see every graphic detail of the end. I see the attack vector of the chopper, the spinning barrels of the Gatling, the muzzle flare and the destruction as bullets tear through my ride. There’s a blossoming flower of orange fire and the feeds cut. My sled is in bits, one burning wheel rolling poetically past me down to the surf. My fucking car, man. The second I’ve lost in as many months!
Frag man…
Continues: 1/2
C’mon Six. Focus on the positives. As plans go it’s a doozy. Distracts the gunship long enough for Ash and I to get hid. Ki-rinn might be breathing his laugh but I’ve got the Medibot and a pick up on the way so we just lie low until the Chopper shits off. As it happens, we get Ki-rinn to Mal just in the nick of time.
Overnight, Mal rustles up some magical healing for the K-man and after a good night’s sleep, I think I’m dreaming when he tips up on the doorstep bright eyed and bushy tailed. We regroup and I show the chip to the team. We know our enemy now. We know who he is, what he wants and how to get to him.
We want revenge for ourselves too as well – he’s made it personal and we don’t take too kindly to that. Concentrate. We don’t have to take on Shiawase as a whole – we only have to off one guy.
We plan. We plot. We scheme. Finally we prepare. And Ki-rinn sends a polite message to Smoke’s killer. PAN to PAN. If you want the chip which incriminates you in the murder of a senior Shiawase executive then you bring your sorry ass to the Bay Bridge in rush hour. No tricks.
Ash finds himself a sniping position in the suspension towers to take out Kiriyama from. Ki-rinn handles fire control and crowd suppression. I’m responsible for the meet. We’ve got a copy of the chip each, in case it all goes wrong and I’ve got a little off-roader to jink through the traffic and make my getaway. It’s no substitute for the NSX but it just might save my life – we’re expecting trouble.
Right on cue, two SUV’s swerve out of the traffic flow and pull up for the meet. Kiriyama’s too smart or too yellow to step out into the open and collect the chip himself. He’s brought goons though. Goons who see a weedy little Rigger standing in front of them and think with their testosterone instead of the little grey cells.
They kick off. We lay the smack down.
I concentrate on staying alive, scrabbling away from the SUVs as the Goons open fire. Ash starts shooting into the lead vehicle, cursing me for not thinking to ‘Paint’ Kiriyama as key target on my Smartlink. Ki-rinn comes out of the tower like fucking Rambo and opens up on the Goons. He’s a little Chink hacker for fuck’s sake but the military training and a healthy dose of small man syndrome serve him well. The Chief Goon gets his own slice of agricultural property in short order.
As the SUV’s move off into the traffic, I hear Ki-rinn shouting at me about the tanks. I figure he must mean the petrol tank? Dummy. Ride like that has a fuel cell but on second thoughts, do them enough damage and they’re flammable too. Explosive as well, as it turns out – Smoke, Ryder and I all get our revenge as the mother and father of all explosions wipes out Kiriyama’s vehicle. That one’s for the NSX peckerwood!
There isn’t much more to say. We concentrate fire on the second vehicle until that fuel cell ruptures explosively as well. Ki-rinn’s buddy Flash would be proud. We make our getaway and Croner pays up. Job done, but at what a cost. What a cost.
So here I am, leafing through the latest AutoTrader looking for a new motor and thanking all our lucky stars we made it out alive. It was only the fact that we had a well-thought out plan for the hit on the Bay Bridge that kept us alive I reckon.
There are two bright points in all of this. I had practically finished doing up the Dodge Phantom, bar fitting the VCR and working up the paint and decals so I wasn’t without a ride for long. Damn but the Dodge just isn’t as good as the NSX. It might have been Jap import crap but I’d worked it up sweet and despite the big block V8 under the hood, the Dodge just isn’t quite as good a car.
The other bright spot is that for a while at least the heat should be off me. I dropped in to see my parents a few days ago and some Traffic Cop was there grilling Pops. Officer Tony Valez I think Pops said. Asking about me and about my NSX. Looks like I’d attracted some attention. Well Officer Tiny can look for the NSX all he wants but he ain’t about to find it – unless he likes mucking through the crushers down at the scrap yard. Maybe misfortune will end up giving me a little bit of breathing space. Maybe. Damn, it’s been one thing after another. I’m not sure I can take it any more…
Mood: Wrecked.
Ends: 2/2
Monday, May 22, 2006
Run 8. Simsense murder pt.2
Six, Ash, Ki-Rin
Thursday 6th April 2070
The runners had been hit hard. Ki-Rin lay at deaths door on a hospital bed. And Six had lost his pride and joy, his car.
Leaving Ki-Rin in the capable hands of Mal, Six returned to recover the remains of his car. Ash walked to Mal’s.
While under Ki-Rin experienced a flashback to his days serving, a medic stood over him and administered drugs to him. The following morning, he was miraculously healed. Mal claimed he had called in magical help from a friend to save Ki-Rin.
The runners regrouped and planned their next move.
They needed to draw out Kazuo, and piecing together the clues the quite quickly worked that Kazuo’s surname was Kiriyama, and a search drew up Kiriyama on the Shiawase database. As head of electric distribution. The team fancied that they had their man and then set about drawing him out.
They formulated a plan to contact Kiriyama and inform him that they had the simsense chip that he was after. If Kiriyama wished to get the chip back he would have to meet them on the Bay Bridge.
The runners knew that this ploy would bring Kiriyama’s hit squad down on them but they prepared their hit and had the element of surprise.
Ash took up a sniping position in one of the towers. Ki-Rin armed to the 9’s waited in the base of one of the towers and Six was to meet Kiriyama on the bridge. A bike on standby to make a swift getaway.
Kiriyama arrived at the due time in two black people carriers. They pulled up alongside Six, and a pumped and cybered Elf stepped out of the lead vehicle. He told Six to hand over the chip and when he refused, the Elf fired at him.
The gunshot brought Ki-Rin out of hiding and Ki-Rin hosed the Elf down, Ash from his sniping position opened fire on the two vehicles, Six dived for cover and also returned fire. Aiming and rupturing the fuel cell of the first vehicle it blew causing the second to try and drive around in the heavy traffic. The bullets still flew and the second vehicle was blown to pieces as the fuel ignited.
The runners fled the scene before Lone Star arrived.
Ash contacted Snow and asked him to let Duncan Croner that the deed had been done, and once Croner had verified the facts he paid the runners.
Thursday 6th April 2070
The runners had been hit hard. Ki-Rin lay at deaths door on a hospital bed. And Six had lost his pride and joy, his car.
Leaving Ki-Rin in the capable hands of Mal, Six returned to recover the remains of his car. Ash walked to Mal’s.
While under Ki-Rin experienced a flashback to his days serving, a medic stood over him and administered drugs to him. The following morning, he was miraculously healed. Mal claimed he had called in magical help from a friend to save Ki-Rin.
The runners regrouped and planned their next move.
They needed to draw out Kazuo, and piecing together the clues the quite quickly worked that Kazuo’s surname was Kiriyama, and a search drew up Kiriyama on the Shiawase database. As head of electric distribution. The team fancied that they had their man and then set about drawing him out.
They formulated a plan to contact Kiriyama and inform him that they had the simsense chip that he was after. If Kiriyama wished to get the chip back he would have to meet them on the Bay Bridge.
The runners knew that this ploy would bring Kiriyama’s hit squad down on them but they prepared their hit and had the element of surprise.
Ash took up a sniping position in one of the towers. Ki-Rin armed to the 9’s waited in the base of one of the towers and Six was to meet Kiriyama on the bridge. A bike on standby to make a swift getaway.
Kiriyama arrived at the due time in two black people carriers. They pulled up alongside Six, and a pumped and cybered Elf stepped out of the lead vehicle. He told Six to hand over the chip and when he refused, the Elf fired at him.
The gunshot brought Ki-Rin out of hiding and Ki-Rin hosed the Elf down, Ash from his sniping position opened fire on the two vehicles, Six dived for cover and also returned fire. Aiming and rupturing the fuel cell of the first vehicle it blew causing the second to try and drive around in the heavy traffic. The bullets still flew and the second vehicle was blown to pieces as the fuel ignited.
The runners fled the scene before Lone Star arrived.
Ash contacted Snow and asked him to let Duncan Croner that the deed had been done, and once Croner had verified the facts he paid the runners.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Run 8. Simsense murder
Six, Ash, Ki-Rin.
Tuesday 4th April.
Traffic officer Tony Valez paid a visit to Six’s parents. He wanted to get a feel for the man who he wanted to take off the streets, before he made any moves. Nothing serious, just a friendly chat with Mom and Pops.
Flash finally got a break from his CO and was given some down time. He had been meaning to pay back Ki-Rin and Six for shaking the 6 lone star cruiser tail he had acquired a month or so ago. He knew Six was after some runflats like he had on his Humvee, so that’s what he got hold of. Some Humvee runflats. He knew exactly what to get for Ki-Rin. The Mil-spec combat program, Silver Flame. A few favours called in and he got hold of a copy. Just had to make sure he didn’t get caught with it, otherwise there would be another spell in the brig for Flash.
Wednesday 5th April 04:21
Lone Star smashed the door down to Ash’s apartment, with yells of Freeze! Police! Startling him awake. Ash was nicked.
Spending Six hours in the slammer didn’t improve his humour and by the time he was hauled through to the interview room he was getting tetchy.
Captain Duncan Croner walked in, and after refreshing Ash’s memory as to who he was he laid his cards on the table. He would get Ash freed. Would Pay ¥50,000 if Ash could find and kill the person responsible for the death of his brother.
The police captain’s brother called himself Smoke on the streets, was a black market simsense chip dealer, and had been gunned down in his own lockup. Whoever killed him had not spared the ammo.
Ash gathered the team, calling in Six and Ki-Rin. They decided that they would head round to Smokes house first. A simple single story house in a rough district, Smoke took the precaution of fitting sturdy security features. The runners broke in though, and they found his house was a simsense studio with a couple of thousand nuyen spent on hardware. The garage was turned into a porn den, and the other rooms were used as storage for burned BTL chips.
Ash enjoyed his first simsense, and Ki-Rin had to warn about slotting one of the black chips that was found in one of the boxes. They found that someone had left a message on the answer phone. A guy called Ryder. It seemed he had sold Smoke a chip and he needed Smoke to call him pronto. There was also a cryptic note apparently left by Smoke saying Kiriyama 1m lockup 12:30.
12:30 was approx the time Smoke was shot dead at his lockup, but for the rest? They also found a box marked Ryder’s Drek. And playing back one of the chips inside they discovered that Ryder was associated with the biker chapter Rock Machine.
The runners headed to the lockup next, and confirmed that this is where Smoke was murdered. But before they could leave, three sharply dressed goons came in and got shooty in short shrift. These goons turned out to be some kind of Shiawase company men. The runners left before anyone else would turn up.
The runners then headed to Rock Machines bar. A hard Rock Café type theme bar run by the biker chapter. Heading in they left a message for Ryder to get in touch, and before they left Ryder had replied that he would meet them at the beach at midnight.
The runners had some down time before heading over. Ash hung back by the sea wall. Ki-Rin hid in a shallow pit in the sand, and Six stood under the Lifeguard station.
At midnight Ryder arrived, and upon getting told about Smokes death produced a simsense chip. Six slotted it and began watching Ryder and his gang about to break into a factory.
In the distance a helicopter thudded low over the sea.
Ryder’s gang began to break into a factory but were interrupted by tow cars which pulled up outside. Two Shiawase execs met, had a brief exchange before one shot dead the other. The body was then bundled into the back of a car and the car was set alight. Six witnessed the murder first hand, and as the simsense ended he became aware that his phone was ringing.
Ki-Rin gave the warning that a helicopter was headed towards them at pace, Six shot a look in that direction when the chain gun opened fire towards him and Ryder. Ryder panicked and ran, the helicopter tore overhead sending a spray of bullets along the beach hitting Ryder and killing him instantly. The chopper then banked steeply above Ki-Rin’s concealed position. Ki-Rin took the opportunity to return fire, aiming to take out the pintle-mounted gunner hanging from the side. He failed to kill, and the chain gun buzzed again, sending lead in a tight circle at the prone Ki-Rin.
Six witnessed this and called the distant Ash to get the medibot out of his boot. He then flipped up the minigun on his car and returned fire. The helicopter banked again and skimmed low toward the vehicle, the chain gun tore a line of bullets through the passenger compartment of the car hitting the ammo bin for the turret-mounted gun the car exploded into flames.
The helicopter circled to ensure that all were dead, and then flew back out toward the sea. Dashing to Ki-Rin’s side they administered first aid, but he was in a bad way. He needed a doc and fast.
Six had to get Kitty to bring he car down and they took him at speed to Mal, the street doc. Six’s car burned. But they were closer to finding the killer.
Tuesday 4th April.
Traffic officer Tony Valez paid a visit to Six’s parents. He wanted to get a feel for the man who he wanted to take off the streets, before he made any moves. Nothing serious, just a friendly chat with Mom and Pops.
Flash finally got a break from his CO and was given some down time. He had been meaning to pay back Ki-Rin and Six for shaking the 6 lone star cruiser tail he had acquired a month or so ago. He knew Six was after some runflats like he had on his Humvee, so that’s what he got hold of. Some Humvee runflats. He knew exactly what to get for Ki-Rin. The Mil-spec combat program, Silver Flame. A few favours called in and he got hold of a copy. Just had to make sure he didn’t get caught with it, otherwise there would be another spell in the brig for Flash.
Wednesday 5th April 04:21
Lone Star smashed the door down to Ash’s apartment, with yells of Freeze! Police! Startling him awake. Ash was nicked.
Spending Six hours in the slammer didn’t improve his humour and by the time he was hauled through to the interview room he was getting tetchy.
Captain Duncan Croner walked in, and after refreshing Ash’s memory as to who he was he laid his cards on the table. He would get Ash freed. Would Pay ¥50,000 if Ash could find and kill the person responsible for the death of his brother.
The police captain’s brother called himself Smoke on the streets, was a black market simsense chip dealer, and had been gunned down in his own lockup. Whoever killed him had not spared the ammo.
Ash gathered the team, calling in Six and Ki-Rin. They decided that they would head round to Smokes house first. A simple single story house in a rough district, Smoke took the precaution of fitting sturdy security features. The runners broke in though, and they found his house was a simsense studio with a couple of thousand nuyen spent on hardware. The garage was turned into a porn den, and the other rooms were used as storage for burned BTL chips.
Ash enjoyed his first simsense, and Ki-Rin had to warn about slotting one of the black chips that was found in one of the boxes. They found that someone had left a message on the answer phone. A guy called Ryder. It seemed he had sold Smoke a chip and he needed Smoke to call him pronto. There was also a cryptic note apparently left by Smoke saying Kiriyama 1m lockup 12:30.
12:30 was approx the time Smoke was shot dead at his lockup, but for the rest? They also found a box marked Ryder’s Drek. And playing back one of the chips inside they discovered that Ryder was associated with the biker chapter Rock Machine.
The runners headed to the lockup next, and confirmed that this is where Smoke was murdered. But before they could leave, three sharply dressed goons came in and got shooty in short shrift. These goons turned out to be some kind of Shiawase company men. The runners left before anyone else would turn up.
The runners then headed to Rock Machines bar. A hard Rock Café type theme bar run by the biker chapter. Heading in they left a message for Ryder to get in touch, and before they left Ryder had replied that he would meet them at the beach at midnight.
The runners had some down time before heading over. Ash hung back by the sea wall. Ki-Rin hid in a shallow pit in the sand, and Six stood under the Lifeguard station.
At midnight Ryder arrived, and upon getting told about Smokes death produced a simsense chip. Six slotted it and began watching Ryder and his gang about to break into a factory.
In the distance a helicopter thudded low over the sea.
Ryder’s gang began to break into a factory but were interrupted by tow cars which pulled up outside. Two Shiawase execs met, had a brief exchange before one shot dead the other. The body was then bundled into the back of a car and the car was set alight. Six witnessed the murder first hand, and as the simsense ended he became aware that his phone was ringing.
Ki-Rin gave the warning that a helicopter was headed towards them at pace, Six shot a look in that direction when the chain gun opened fire towards him and Ryder. Ryder panicked and ran, the helicopter tore overhead sending a spray of bullets along the beach hitting Ryder and killing him instantly. The chopper then banked steeply above Ki-Rin’s concealed position. Ki-Rin took the opportunity to return fire, aiming to take out the pintle-mounted gunner hanging from the side. He failed to kill, and the chain gun buzzed again, sending lead in a tight circle at the prone Ki-Rin.
Six witnessed this and called the distant Ash to get the medibot out of his boot. He then flipped up the minigun on his car and returned fire. The helicopter banked again and skimmed low toward the vehicle, the chain gun tore a line of bullets through the passenger compartment of the car hitting the ammo bin for the turret-mounted gun the car exploded into flames.
The helicopter circled to ensure that all were dead, and then flew back out toward the sea. Dashing to Ki-Rin’s side they administered first aid, but he was in a bad way. He needed a doc and fast.
Six had to get Kitty to bring he car down and they took him at speed to Mal, the street doc. Six’s car burned. But they were closer to finding the killer.
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