Shadowrun
Shadowrun Play => Play-by-Post => Topic started by: Nevyn on <06-26-15/1545:13>
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Uncertain Death
The sky above London Town was the colour of misery: grim and dark and sweaty. The ever-present drizzle was ever-present and the unreasonable heat made simple movements difficult. Anywhere else in the world would appreciate the summer but London, more than the rest of England, created its own tropical mugginess. 95°F was hot for anywhere but only England could turn it into an exercise in "keeping one's chin up" and at this time on an August night it wasn't even a joke any more. Global warming had turned summer into a hot and damp thing with temperatures reaching highs of 95°C and 92% humidity.
"Pizza delivery and air-conditioning. Top two things the Brits have never been able to perform well." The disembodied voice was raspy and vaguely American but more west-end than mid-west and more bored than either. That was Marcus all around.
"Keep it business, 6."
"6 copies."
We'd been having a slow day in a month of slow days. This was our 12th day in 17 tailing the Ambassador. Today's shift started just like all of the others. The three of us on my team took over from the early shift after lunch and then stayed with the target until he left the embassy at about 19:00. By this time team 3 were with us and we tailed the Secret Service motorcade north to the Marble Arch, west along Bayswater and south through Hyde park on Carriage Drive. Somewhere in Hyde Park they drop the Ambassador for his constitutional walk to the West Albert Lawn and then pick him up again for the final leg to the Gore Hotel by 19:42. Total distance: 2.2 miles, total time elapsed: 28 minutes, slower than average due to the heat. Dinner was planned for 20:30 at Brook's Club on St James' Street with the Ambassadors from Israel and the Netherlands as well as some physics professors from Imperial College, London. The plans were that the target would leave by 23:30 and back at his hotel with no further plans for the night...
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Tungsten wore - despite the heat - a trenchcoat over his armor and yet the ork showed no sign of physical discomfort. To be precise: He didn't show any sign of anything. For all his movements he could have been a very lifelike dummy. Only occasionally he blinked, not unlike a reptile on a hot stone.
A fresh cigarette burn disfigured his already scarred hands further. It looked painful and self inflicted, but the unmoving stare betrayed nothing.
In Tungsten's head a lot more was going on: He had just instructed the agent on his commlink to watch out for any devices with hacking capabilities that came close to their position. He himself watched a life feed from the car's sensors, tracking their target. To fight the boredom he had engaged in a little game of "Go" with some guy somewhere in Helsinki. Tungsten was steadily loosing ground against his opponent, despite his best efforts to counter his strategy. Tungsten was tempted to switch to a retro-shooter game but he knew that he would only improve if he kept on fighting, despite the ever increasing amount of lost territory...
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Deckert was off duty... but off duty was not a concept for him. In his military service Deckert was a private. The drive or the late colonel Rayen Deckert. The strategic ingenuity of the man has lead to fast promotions, and the way seemed open. The name Deckert was given to Roger as an insult when he started. Some of his ex-military buddies with higher ranks kept reminding him that ‘You are not colonel Deckert, and we are not taking your orders.” However, as they kept referring to him with scorn as Deckert, saying yes Deckert... what ever you say Deckert. Newcomers just assumed Deckert was his name, and the street name sort of stuck. So did the expectation of tactical ingenuity. In truth, Deckert never commanded people, but he saw what being unprepared could do. A convoy of five SUV’s under a rain of fire. Most were wounded or killed in the initial fire strike. The combat was finished before it started.
He only survived that because he managed to grab the colonels commlink that had marks on all the vehicles. Ordering them to shoot suppressive fire, some of them to charge the enemy without reason. The logical thing was to retreat, they were in no fighting shape. But he acted as if everybody were still alive. That one maneuver he sort of invented - but he had no real background in military strategy - and most of his team just assumed him to be a colonel Deckert. Apparently, Deckert dying did not stop the myth... They believed that the Colonel, did not really die, instead he retreated to the shadows. An unbelievable conspiracy theory but people believed it.
Thouse that performed an extensive background check on the runner named 'Deckert', understand that he was nothing more than the driver of colonel Deckert. (That was human and not a dwarf). Still, surprisingly, just a few people in his team knew that. To the others he was the mythological genius Colonel Deckert - the one that came back from death to the shadows, and that was already running the shadows before they were born.
Deckert, was not young anymore, and his hair was already grey, his face wrinkled. He started to feel that his physicals are beginning to fade. The way he acts had to change, less work on the field more legwork - he is not as young as he once was.
He watched the feeds from the suv, while trying to get some sleep. No, not sleep yet he though after he made sure again that their equipment is in top shape. Eventually he crushed on his bunk in the safe house. That mission did not seem to go anywhere - but he could not show any doubt to his peers.
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Rita can hardly believe that the team has finally landed a mission in England, even if it seems to be the most boring thing they have ever done. She believes, like most of the rest, that Deckert knows more than he is saying and that there will be something exciting at the end of the surveillance. Rita certainly hopes so. All of this following is just so much drek. Still, the off time has giver her the chance to look some old friends up and get reacquainted with London. God, but she has missed this town.
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Jeff turned the page of the magazine he was reading as he sat in their hideout. "Oh god, they remade Death Cannon? Why? and why Duvalles? All that idiot cares about is how many exploisons he can put into one scene. Unprofessional exploisions. He's going to cause an accident if he doesn't hire someone to do them for him." He said as he threw the magazine back onto the table. He had the next shift, and had gotten up to prepare for it. He stood up and grabed some Soy-coffe as he walked to where Deckert was watching the feeds, only to find the Dwarf had gone to bed. Maybe he was as bored as the rest of them were. Jeff sat down to watch the SUV feeds. he had already rented all the good or enjoyably bad trids that had come out recently, so the feeds were probably as entertaining as anything avaliable for rent.
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The feeds were as exciting as the same feeds last night, and the night before, and the night before...
An exhilarating scroll of interference with the accompanying mild distortion of static works its way through the feed.
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"What the?" Jeff said as the minister turned fuzz. "Oh, drek. Deckert! We got interference! We could be getting Jammed!" Jeff grabbed his comb and tried to raise the surveillance team on the comn.
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The feeds blink once and settle down. Cars sit still. Minor chat happens. Drizzle falls
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Deckert quickly get up. He is not going to be indifferent something fishy is going on and if you get too bored you are going to miss it. If Jeff woke him up he saw something regardless of what happens now.
To Jeff: " Come, get on a bike we're going to discreetly take better positions hurry up... "
To Miriam - :"Sorry to wake you up... but we need your special skills. "
Deckert rushes to his RCC and moves the flying eyes trying to find out if something is out of the ordinary.
>> RCC configuration:
1. Autosoft Perception
1. Software Singal Scrub
1. Software encryption
1. Noise conphensation.
Total -3 noise, +1 firewall... Firewall 6, DP 4.
Performing discreet perception check...
Actively doing perception check: (I think it is +3 dice bonus). Their limit is 3 tough
Perception+Actively looking (drones) (http://orokos.com/roll/304810): 3#12d6t5 6 5 4
The limit is 3 (tough)
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Mirriam's eyes open slowly before raising a balled fist to her eyes, trying vainly to rub the sleep out of them. She sits up, her head tilted back before she slowly pulls it forward. "What's going' on, Bossman?"
She plugs in her data jack, linking her directly to the cyberdeck and watched as the system came online in her built in HUD. "I was dreaming, y'know? I can't remember what about, but it was nice."
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Deckert replies: "This is for you to tell us... Jeff picked up some static... he said somthing about Jammer. We need your matrix magic, hon"
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The Gore hotel secure parking door opening sequence starts exactly on time. It takes 9 seconds for the final aperture to open and then close. When the 3 Chevy Suburbans are in the forecourt, they pull out into the traffic (driving on the left, obviously).
"#3 Has 3 cars heading North on Queen's Gate.#8 in attendance."
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Deckert rushes to his RCC and moves the flying eyes trying to find out if something is out of the ordinary.
You see nothing out of the ordinary. The feed from Rovers 2 and 3 is exactly as you would expect. There is, perhaps, a slim chance that, maybe, there was something else looking at the feed? It isn't there now. There was a lowering of power for a while, about 12000 milliseconds.
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Deckert,
Deckert sighed... If he was already up he was going to do some arrangements.
"Charlie...its Waters.
I need to find out a guy, Michael Blumkvist he's someplace in the UK. something is hushing our regular sources."
Charlie's was a cooperate suit, from Deckerts days at Ares. A mid level manager in charge of finding the right cooperate merger opportunities. He was the one to bring Deckert's company down. Deckert hated him, but they worked together quite extensively and if there was anything this low life was good for it was finding opportunities to make profit.
Then he debriefs the people up:
"9:00 AM I want everyone ready and every bit of gear at top shape. Tomorrow may be the day where this get interesting. There is a gap in our marks schedule if anything is going to happen it is tomorrow noon. So go back to sleep and in the morning we make sure that everything is 100% ready"
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Rita smiles during the briefing and cannot help let out a soft comment. She has been with Dekert almost the longest of the team and feels she can get away with a slight bit of sass. About time we got ready to do something. The selection of porn in this dump is awful. I might have to start paying for the good downloads." She pats the barrel of her Mossberg, adding, "And Ole Bess here be looking for some real action for a change."
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Well, I'm up now...
Miriams deck is already in silent mode and she loads up her Toolbox along with her shell. She then hops to the grid that the feed is on before scouring it for any odd activity, icons, or MARKS.
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Deckert does not smile: However he say:
“Well Rita... I am sorry to hear that you find the free porn of britain lacking... anyone else has problems with this job? “ These runners were problems waiting to happen, but these were the kind of people you’ll find in the shadows. At least they seemed loyal, you won’t find better than that - besides that porn collection was indeed limited.
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Rita laughs. "Ahhh. The free porn anywhere is lacking. But it IS free."
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Tungsten had noticed the flickering feed and followed the conversation on the team channel. He knew, that his agent program wouldn't be able to find a pro, so he did not waste any thought on it. They had their own specialists for that.
Instead he broke his rigor, made sure his seat belt was closed and reached for his backpack to retrieve his rifle.
Maybe it was nothing, but if his life had taught him anything, it was that at any moment hell could break lose. And it was better to be the breaker than the broken.
He loaded APDS.
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Through the Matrix
<<Cormac here. Running along, no signs of anything yet. But you're wanting to look at some porn, I could send you all some of my secret files. They might have called it cheating in races throwing around a few arrows of Two trolls one hole, I call It psychological warfare.>>
She was often jumped into the car, she was driving, Meanwhile her agent running on a rather heavily modified commlink, was busying running passes on her pan, her persona, and then Pinging out a 100m to find hidden icons. She loved these little things, constantly sending her data that they'd find.
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Without a shred of joy in his face, completely serious Deckert say. His throds serialize it to the matrix as well. “"That's good Cormac.... Keep your eyes open...
About porn, Gals... masturbate at your own time...We are now on the clock.”
A moment later.
“Okay I admit... that was funny...” . He laughs briefly.
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Deckert say: "Jeff... It is great that you noticed the glitch... but why are you here? "
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#3 Turning right onto Kensington.
Looks like the standard route for Brooks
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Rita accepts the reprimand with a smile. "Sure boss. All business now. What are the orders for Team 1?"
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<<#7 here: Can one of you matrix wonders give me a status update? What was that flicker in our feed? Has someone enacted a spoof action?
If yes, could someone please check our car for marks? This is a high security environment with state agencies on the loose. I don't want to be intercepted by a state sponsored anti-terror team... Those guys have family after all.>>
Tungsten had finished his game and was now concentrating fully on the feed. Now he wanted to know if it was their own car that was followed. The agent got a new instruction: Look for weapons within 100m.
Perception check (http://orokos.com/roll/304936): 11d6t5 2
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"What do you mean why I am here? I have the next shift, right?" Jeff had already gotten a bike from outside prepped, and was getting ready to head out.
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Nope... you have this shift you Should be with two.
>>#2, #1... #9 is here if you were wondering where your soldiers are. Don't let it happen again. Maybe its too much porn.
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Tungsten had finished his game and was now concentrating fully on the feed. Now he wanted to know if it was their own car that was followed. The agent got a new instruction: Look for weapons within 100m.
<<Agent: Weapons search parameters returned a large number of results. Narrow your search, or click here to view all results>>
There are a lot of weapons... (to save time on an additional roll. The agent is now searching for weapons outside of those you expect and which do not change bearing along with the attitude of the car. This means that you get more blips at every hard corner but anything following you will show up.)
<<Agent: Weapons search parameters returned no results>> (if this changes, and your 2 successes are sufficient, I will tell you)
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<<Come on dear, the party is over here.>> Jammie sends a quick gps cords to the biker, as she begins looking around herself. She actually has been itching for a bit of a chase, checking her pan for marks, while her agent check tungstons pan.
http://orokos.com/roll/304947
http://orokos.com/roll/304946
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Well, well, well... I'd call that an 'anomaly' worth mentioning.
Miriam continued to look, seeking the source of the tap while she notified the Deckert.
"Bossman, could still be nothing... but could be something. We've got a power loss in the transmission of the feeds. Looks like someone might have tapped in. Quarter minute, tops... but I know I could get a lot done in that time if you wanted me to monkey around with something. Given what we're looking at... well, that would be enough time to loop the feed so we didn't see something someone didn't want us to see. Also, where our devices are and where we're set up to monitor. Finally... that someone is on to us at all.
"I'll keep looking, you do what you need to with that info."
Mirriam smiled as her icon, a stylized brit rocker, moved through the bits and bytes, trying to figure out who was mucking about their feeds.
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"Well done Miriam. I knew I could trust on you. Keep up that good work... Please run a complete diagnostics of our devices to see if we do not have any marks. In the meantime any device that is not necessary turn offline."
#2, its #1. Miriam thinks you guys may have been hacked, so work your magics. Turn off non secure devices, and keep your eyes open.
To Rita: "we take the next shift as usual nothing exciting yet. Be sure that most devices are off... just the really secure ones. Tomorrow noon I want everybody ready... I have a feeling something is finally happening."
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Okay guys back to regular life. Tomorrow I want everyone ready. >> 2# down to minimal crew once the M goes to sleep.
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Well, well, well... I'd call that an 'anomaly' worth mentioning.
Miriam continued to look, seeking the source of the tap while she notified the Deckert.
Mirriam smiled as her icon, a stylized brit rocker, moved through the bits and bytes, trying to figure out who was mucking about their feeds.
You find that there have been other similar fluctuations over the whole of the last 14 days. Never more than 15000 milliseconds, never less than 5000. There is no anchor or program that allows easy re-entry so this is all down to punching their way into the system every time that they enter.
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#3 Turning right onto Kensington.
Looks like the standard route for Brooks
#3 follows the 3 cars as they follow the standard route to Brook's and the Ambassador exits from the middle car, as per usual. He enters the club.
#3: target has arrived. Moving off to follow cars.
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<<My devices are always secured. If the blip was to stop us seeing something, i need to know exactly when that happened.>>
Quickly doing a little mathmatics, she calculates howfar the could have travled at thier speed.
http://orokos.com/roll/304981
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Quickly doing a little mathmatics, she calculates howfar the could have travled at thier speed.
Mirriam and #2 coordinate their efforts and find that there is no evidence to suggest that the feeds have been hacked. Everything that you remember happening (no matter what you remember or have forgotten) occurred on a monitor - just seems that someone else was watching
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Jeff waved for Deckert to come over. "Not to be paranoid boss, but one of my contacts sent me a message. We've got KE black-ops guys working in our backyards." Jeff said. The contact was a trustworthy one, and while he didn't want to leap to the conclusion that KE black ops was responsible, especially because tangling with them would be rough, the timing was a little hard to ignore.
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<<Can you all figure out which device was the intrusion device? If its a video feed, ive got some back door programs thatll find info on even some of the best deckers>>
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Tungsten did as he was told. To his team mates in the car he said: "Looks like we have to go dark for the moment. Can you disconnect from Grid Guide without trouble and restart the system? I'll jack into our car sensors by wire and record directly to my commlink. No more life feeds for the moment to the base until our hackers know what's what."
Since the agent hadn't found any of the specified weapons so far and the connection loss would make further searches impossible, Tungsten instead set him to assist him while he monitored the sensors directly after he too had restarted his link.
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Outlaw frowned slightly, shaking her head. It was one thing she never would do, her voice coming over the speaker in her commlink. "Sorry, but as long as I'm working here I don't go dark. Going dark would alert who ever it is that we're onto them." As someone who felt it was her duty to record every thing and anything, it was going to be hard trying to get her to do much. But she did have her agent constantly scrubbing the live feeds when she felt it was needed to censor out faces, or distort sounds. "Perhaps I'll see if Hal is around, he might know something about this." But before that.. "
This was a little plan she had concocted in a number of days of training. In order for hackers to get to you, they'd have to find you, And one place to hide from them was hosts. Most deckers, maybe even other technomancers, wouldn't be crazy enough to do this.. But she was. She quickly pulled up a query on a relatively safe host. Nothing too big, A small time London library should be sufficient enough.
Matrix Perception for a Rating 3 host (http://orokos.com/roll/305049): 13d6t5 4
Finding one, while floating through the bounds of Matrix Space, she quickly drew a runic pattern on it, attempting a quick little hack. One like this, a small little library host, Probably was mostly just data processing and firewall.
A few moments later though, with that imagine in her mind of the host, she awakens from hot-sim VR. "I'm going to take the car and everything I can into a small host. Whatever that was probably could follow easily, but that is the thing. It'll have to follow us."
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Jeff waved for Deckert to come over. "Not to be paranoid boss, but one of my contacts sent me a message. We've got KE black-ops guys working in our backyards." Jeff said. The contact was a trustworthy one, and while he didn't want to leap to the conclusion that KE black ops was responsible, especially because tangling with them would be rough, the timing was a little hard to ignore.
Don't be paranoid Jeff... we are that thing people are afraid off. black-ops or not... who ever it is we will handle them. thanks for the heads up.
"Guys good work researching that things, who ever it is they have been there for a long time. I suggest going to sleep and keeping your strength. Keep the feeds online but the sensitive stuff deliver in person."
>>2#, 1# - out of all people I trust you are knowledgeable enough to keep secure. No porn and no extra curricular activity of any kind. At least until tomorrow.
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>> #1, You act like I'm looking at porn right now, then again, Driving one of these guys around is pretty errotic for me.
She fires off a quick message
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>> 2# my foreplay is driving race bikes... so I get where you are coming from. We should drive sometime when this gig is over.
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This was a little plan she had concocted in a number of days of training. In order for hackers to get to you, they'd have to find you, And one place to hide from them was hosts. Most deckers, maybe even other technomancers, wouldn't be crazy enough to do this.. But she was. She quickly pulled up a query on a relatively safe host. Nothing too big, A small time London library should be sufficient enough.
Host found. Used. Car #2 is now a bubble inside a small library in Kensignton... Like all hacks there is a slight issue... you've just got to hope that no one is in the library system at 23:00 looking for a book in the Dewey Decimal area of 622.222 Rockets and Cars.
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Rita activates her comm as she heads out. >>1. This is 4. I had an odd call from a friend. She tells me that a group of mercenaries based out of South London have been using her girls regularly for a bit. Then just now they either cancel or are bloody no-shows. All at once. She is miffed, to say the least.<<
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23:10:10 Feeds have a slight fuzziness to them (is anyone watching the feeds, have a bot watching the feeds or anything like that?)
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Miriam... do you want to go visit some working girls? There is a group of mercenaries that recently disappeared and might be on our tail. We'd need your skills to try and get their pictures. Are you comfortable with a bike?
>>4# it's 1#... Lets go visit some working girls in south London then... this place is boring as hell. How do you feel about a racing bike?
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<<#1 from #7, I can shed some light on that: An acquaintance of mine has hit me up and asked if I was interested on a new gig with Kill Team Alpha. They are meeting a potential new employer tonight. They are meeting at 0500h, so if I can be excused I'd like to have a look what they are after. Maybe you can spare one of the others as back up?">>
Tungsten used the microtransceiver while he still kept an eye on the sensor data. Somehow they still were getting intercepted.
<<It might also be a good idea to check the cars if someone has installed a wiretap to gain direct connection. Would explain why they can intercept us so easily and at will and why the signal is getting weaker everytime they do.>>
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Outlaw always had the feeds running to her mind, everything from weather sensors, biomonitors, audio visual, even a gieger counter. Moving closer she put her hand on the cars dash, and began to run FAQ on the machine looking for what was going on with it. "Alright bastard, where are you hiding?"
http://orokos.com/roll/304981
6Hits should show some good info on what is going with the cars sensors.
Ill roll the fade when im at computer
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For the briefest moment, almost as if looking at it would make it disappear, Mirriam and Outlaw see an icon of a three-headed dog.
One of the heads of the dog looks at you........... and winks then is gone, tongues lolling out of its mouths as it goes.
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>> 7# this is 1#. You are excused. I'll come with you #4 will also join us.
Miriam - It's up to you girl. You can do deck stuff go to sleep or come for a drive in the city. You seem busy.
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Outlaw growled as she moved to the chair to sit back don again. "we have some Cerberus thing." She shouts to the two there, "Im taking control of the car now. Things are about to get hellish in here. Just hope he doesn't find the keymaster." Pulling up her respirator she had it begin to blow a controlled puff of nitro, her pain editor kicking in.
http://orokos.com/roll/305313
Once in the matrix she sent a message out.<<we have a Cerberus casing us>>
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Absorbed in the matrix, Mirriam barely registers Dekerts' words. She mentally shoots him a short text, one that almost doesn't quite ft as a proper response: Right, that works
Her icon turns to face Outlaw's. Did we just see that for real? Mentally, she's already swinging through a data search to pull up everything she can on the old stories and now-ancient software.
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Outlaw's icon was what one would pretty much expect of her, Something of an airship pirate, only that of course it was a large cartoon rat. 3.14R.A.T.S. was her handle, A heavy play on words. <<If that is what I think it was.. We're in a load of trouble. Either he wants to attack us, or he wants to watch us, or speak with us. Probably all three things.>>
Fade resist 3 (http://orokos.com/roll/305401): 13d6t5 4
Resisted the fade.
Current matrix attributes, 8 firewall, 5 DP, 4 Sleeze, 5 Attack.
Nitro (http://orokos.com/roll/305403): 1d6 6
Nitro Lasts for 1 hour.
Current Matrix attributes 10 Firewall, 5 DP, 4 sleeze, 5 Attack
Every round engaging Full matrix defense. 30 dice to resist Brute force, 24 to resist Dataspike/Hack on the fly
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#3: "Cars moving. Following. Route seems back to Brook's. Time is 23:25"
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Rita receives the message traffic and has to laugh. >>1 this is 4. Would love the bike, but am in a cab on my way to meet the contact about the girls. Sending the location of the meet now. What is this about covering 7?<<
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>>4#, 1#... next time take one of my bikes in case of troubles. 7# covering is not for link.
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Rita makes a face at 1's message. >>Roger 1. Can go get bike after meeting with Elaine. Or just keep the bloody cab running.<<
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>>2# its 1#... just ask that creature what is he after... you and #5? totally discovered him... or did it want to be discovered... oh... frag that.
What's Miriam's number?
>>#4 is #1... I've given you digital keys to the bike... just pick yourself up... where ever you are.
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Rita curses and tells the cabbie to turn around. Frag all bosses and their ideas of what can be done. I need to go back and get something. Be a love and drop me off where you picked me up. I will cover the fare plus some if you get me there quickly."
The cabbie is good and gets Rita back to the house in no time. She pays handsomely and picks up the bike. Silently cursing all superior officers, she roars off into the night. Sure, the bike is a bloody great ride. Sure, she is making up time already. But frag it all. Just frag it.
Rita makes it to the meeting place with time to spare, but just. 1 is not here. Bloody like him, the prig. She calls him. >>1, this is 4. You're a bit slow. Should I wait or go on in?"
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>> 4# Go in...
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Jeff checked the message from Rita and snapped his head up to pay more attention to the car. He had been maintaining around 100 feet of distance between them the entire time.
>>#4, this is #9. Can you see if he's casing the bike as well? This thing dies at the wrong moment, and I'm going to end up dead.
>>#1, this is #9. Assuming there's not a firefight coming up, my friend was trying to set up a meet with the KE guys. Worth checking out?
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>>9# go ahead... as long as the bike is with you I am with you... I've been driving these things since before they invented the control rig.
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So - while all this has been going on I'm advancing the clock a little further
#3: <<I see you #9 How you doin? See you too #2. Waiting at the corner.>>
As the Ambassador exits the building you catch a slight glimpse at car 2 but, which is way more telling, he looks RIGHT AT #9 on the bike, frowns, turns to his guard, speaks and then enters the car. The guard doesn't even acknowledge anything and enters the 3rd of the Ambassador's cars. They then leave.
#3:<<Route seems to be standard to Gore. Passing the ball to #2>>
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Outlaw has of course been following after #3 as she should be earlier. <<Roger that #2 is on the case. Going to need to figure out just what that was, but everyone please remain on high alert.>>
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Rita parks the bike and goes inside to meet Elaine. She keeps the grenade launcher and shotgun slung across her back and under the coat she is wearing. Taking the lift to the third floor, she has time to think about Elaine. The woman is blazing hot, and a good businesswoman as well. Her escort service and brothel both seem to be doing well. Rita met the woman a bit ago and has been on quasi friendly terms with her. Rita smiles, obviously better than she had thought as there was no real reason for Elaine to have given her the warning.
She nods to the large man standing outside the door and checks her weapons with him, taking the receipt and call tag. Entering, Rita sees several nearly naked men and women lounging with other customers or moving about. She spies Herman, one of her favorites, and smiles at him. Herman is much more talented than the toys she has been using, but she does not have the time to stay. She looks around for Elaine.
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"Mercy me Rita. I didn't expect you soooo sooon Darling." The act that the madam puts on for regular punters doesn't come off, even when there are no punters, "You could have arrived 5 minutes later, that would be fiiiine."
"Come to my office so I can rid myself of this disarming smile."
She guides you to her office... not the public office but the one behind the, not hugely, secret panel. You sit. There is hot tea poured into a cup. "What are you doing, my love? There are some nasty things going on tonight, and they say the Sprawl is the 'City that Never Sleeps'!!" Her laughter is at once tinkling and spine chilling. Her eyes are not smiling.
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After spending several moments silently working through something, Mirriam jumps on the comms.
This is #5: Something about our work has gotten the attention of Ares... expect more than just some Errant Knights. Shit I've been looking at has them tracking our movements, so eyes open. #1, something's got a lot of folks riled up, what gives?
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After getting the look from the ambassador, Jeff decided to head to the KE meeting.
>>#1, this is #9, on my wait to meet my friend about the KE. The ambassador definitely was suspicious of me. Where do we go from here? What is our end-game objective, because if everything goes to drek, I'd really appreciate knowing what exactly we are supposed to do?
He turned into a parking spot for a quick second and unzipped his duffel bag around a quarter of the way to confirm his HK-227 was inside. Zipping it back up he contineud on his way to the meeting with hsi friend.
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>>9# we do not do this on comms... talk personally about such things. 1# out.
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Rita takes the cue and goes with Elaine, smiling until they get to the hidden office. She looks at the madam for a moment, then says. "So things are jumping? You got anything solid I can use to stay ahead of the jumpers? I already owe you for the warning and can square that, plus some extra if you got more. And let me know if there is a line on me. I would love to get a piece of the action and place a bet on myself."
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"#1, this is #5, did you get my question? Somethings looking very wrong here, and it's not even the weird shit going on in our feeds..."
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Deckert wrote a small note.
7# this is 1# discreetly move everything to this safe house. (location attached) use personal communication only, stay offline. He attached coordinates, and let the small fly spy carry the message like a pigeon. With all the geek stuff going on - a signed message seemed a lot more discreet than this commlink stuff.
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Rita takes the cue and goes with Elaine, smiling until they get to the hidden office. She looks at the madam for a moment, then says. "So things are jumping? You got anything solid I can use to stay ahead of the jumpers? I already owe you for the warning and can square that, plus some extra if you got more. And let me know if there is a line on me. I would love to get a piece of the action and place a bet on myself."
My dear. The offer that I was made was too delicious to pass up. I sold you out... but never fear. You are, according to some pretty well placed and exceedingly beautiful sources, miles away on a job in what's left of Scotland, an extraction I'm led to believe. she primps just a little bit,
The payment came from Aztech. Something about getting someone's back. Someone, I think, in the UCAS government. Someone highly placed. Aztech are buying someone off or are arranging to buy something off. I'm not sure, American politics bores me more than British. Anyway hun. You're debt was sold to Aztech by way of the KTA. They seriously want to stop someone getting in someone else's way and I have a feeling that's something to do with you too. If someone bought your debt, maychance they bought you too?
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Outlaw continued her patrols until her shift was over, constantly searching the matrix for silent Icons and the like. She wasn't sure what to make of Cerberus, as time wore on, he didn't seem particularly hostile. Perhaps he was going to be helpful for them? Perhaps he was going to hurt them. Perhaps the world was made pudding? Song from North America aside, they needed data, cause every inch of the resonance was telling her something was gonna go down, and it was gonna go hard.
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Rita smiles broadly at Elaine. "You are just too good, Ducks." She hands over a credstick to be slotted in the reader on the desk, authorizing a transfer to cover the usual fee plus 25%. "Remind me to stay on your good side. I wonder what the Azies want with my debt? Can't be good, but no one has yet approached me with an offer to pay it off for me or threaten to expose me to my boss. And as to buying me, I already have a boss and they are paying well right now. I got no reason to be shopping about for someone else to own me. Not 'til the job is done."
Rita stands and nods to Elaine. "You are good people. Let me know if you hear anything more, right?"
If Elaine indicates she has nothing more to add just now, Rita leaves the office and goes out to find her boss ogling the goods in the salon. She does not acknowledge him as she leaves the room and returns to the ground level.
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Deckert knows a few things about himself. Restraint was never one of his strong qualities. If he is going to that place he might forget all about that mission and just have some good time. It seems like an incredible night, but he decides it is better if he stay near the bikes.
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<<#7 to #1: For our meeting tonight, I want some preparations. Can you organize 12 flash bangs on short notice? Have them bundled with tape into packs of three and stashed in donut boxes under a top layer of donuts. Make sure they are filled with grape jelly. No-one likes grape jelly. They should be wireless active but broadcast themselves as donut boxes. One of the deckers surely has a wrapper program for that
If need be, I want to be able to take out a whole room of blood thirsty killers. .>>
Tungsten saved the message into a file and called for a messenger pigeon.
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[spoiler=]First roll Inutiion 5+Perception 6+ Hawkeye 1 2 hits link: http://orokos.com/roll/306893, 1 edge for reroll of 10 dice 3 more hits 5 total link: http://orokos.com/roll/306895[/spoiler]
As Jeff got closer to the meeting place, he started paying more attention to his surrondings. The contact he had talked to was ussually trustworthy, but he wouldn't trust the man with his life, and rushing into things unprepared resulted in death more often than not.
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>>#7 from 1# I'll try to come up with the equipment you want... I love your sense of drama.
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As Jeff got closer to the meeting place, he started paying more attention to his surroundings. The contact he had talked to was usually trustworthy, but he wouldn't trust the man with his life, and rushing into things unprepared resulted in death more often than not.
You're being followed. Nothing obtrusive and only 1 car. However, which is way more interesting, you've just seen your target. You've spent 3 weeks looking at photographs of Michael Blumkvist and you'd pick him in a crowd of identical stand-ins so you're absolutely certain you just saw him in a car, driving along the A302. You're now 2 cars ahead of him in the lane to turn left and he is in the right lane driving straight on.
Using that edge point: the car following you contains 3 people and NONE of them are paying attention to Michael's car.
(map updated)
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>>To #1, this is #9. I'm being tailed by a trio in a car. But that's not the big news. The target is sitting right next to me in traffic. This is my current location *links current location*
Jeff's mouth was dry as he watched nervously. The tails weren't much of a problem, but he needed to stick to Blumkvist like glue. He turned on his turn signal and tried to get into the same lane as Blumvkist.
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Deckert text Ritta >>Out now, sending my location follow me. Can't wait for you, sorry. We went to the working girls and got lucky! Catch me if you can and I'll explain
He gets on that racing bike of his and drives into the night, he is an excellent driver and enjoy's the speed very much.
>>9# this is 1# me and 4# are on the way!
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Rita is close behind #1 and climbs on the bike he had brought along for her. She looks up at the window from Elaine's private office, not really expecting to see her there, but wondering if she might have been farming the wrong side of the fence. She shakes her head, enough time later to try to figure that one out. #4 cuts the engine on and roars off into the night. She, too, is a good driver and moves easily at a fast speed to get into position. She is glad now that brought Bess and her brother, by the sound of things she might be able to bring them out to play.
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Running hidden, Mirriam feels relatively confident that she can maintain a presence in the Matrix and keep eyes off of her. She locates #9 and checks the icons to see who he's following.
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Sitting at the lights, Michael glances left and right and smiles slightly at the dude on the bike - not noticing his commlink light up briefly and then dim immediately.
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Outlaw continues going through her business as normal, though she's still on a bit of a high alert with that possible dragon floating around, having no comminucation from others she assumes that everything is currently hunkydori.
<<#1 - Nothing here to report yet.>>
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Jeff smiled back at Michael, and got ready to follow the target until Deckert told him what the heck he was supposed to do with Michael. This was why he hated secretive jobs.
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Cursing, Mirriam scours her own persona for any MARKs, maintaining her attachment to their targets device icon. Her goal is to keep track of its location so that any tails who lose him can pick him back up.
#1 this is #5. I've acquired virtual eyes on. We've got breathing room on the physical tail unless something else comes up. I'll keep running overwatch.
She sends a ping to Outlaw.
#2, #5 here. Could use some back-up. You got the deets* on what's going on?
*slang for 'details'
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<<#5 I've been told nothing.>>
<<#5, #1; What is going on. Why Have I not been informed of the need for my assistance?>> she texts out before her voice comes over the speakers of the car. "Hold onto your butts. We're going to make a quick go about to assist our fifth member."
With that, she just about gunned it before realizing she doesn't have Mirriam's location. So she engaged one of her machine sprites to run diagnostics on her car.
Machine Sprite Running Diagonistics on Car (http://orokos.com/roll/307830): 12d6t5 6
Well that is the absolute max he could do a teamwork test with me running that car.
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Deckert respons: >> com silence. 2# help 5#. We may have found our guy.
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Rita speeds through metropolitan London and listens to the light chatter from the team, refraining from making one of her trademark snide comments. She watches the team icons on her HUD as she closes in on #9's position.
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Don't know how he expects a decker to work under 'comms silence', Mirriam thinks as she ignores the order to send a message directly to Outlaw.
#2: After Cerberus, a few other shady things started happening, related but not directly, I think. Ares and KE might have a line on our positions, a bunch of us have suddenly bolted to squirrely places doing... odd things, I don't know. Anyway, then #9 notes he's being tailed and ALSO sees our target. So I've gone in and marked our boy and I'm pretty sure I've got no marks on me... but I need some backup here Matrix side if you can manage it. Maybe find out who our boys targeting #9 are? Also a set of eyes for any snooping personas, watch for MARKs on me... me on you... that sort of deal.
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Outlaw also wondered how she was suppose to do anything with this comm silence order. Especially since no cords are given to her, no sorts of information. She shakes her head in the virtual world, comm silence works only when everyone was on the same level, and had a clear set of instructions to carry out. Just shouting comm silence was just as bad, if not worse, than having others hack into their gear.
<<Agent: Continue running anti-mark checks on me, my pan, and silent running icons.>>
It wasn't a smart program, but it could at least handle a preprogrammed set of instructions, where it would spend its first IP looking marks on her. Then its second to look for marks on her pan. And then the third for new silent running icons, specifically looking for silent running guns or silent running decks.
Within the matrix Outlaw floated looking for #9's matrix icon and seeing what she could find around. it. "I'm here now, "
With her amazing skills at driving and diving, she was still easily going through the streets
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Tungsten yawned. Cyber warfare wasn't his forte and now that the monotony had been broken for a short time he had trouble to find back into his rhythm. He yearned for some action - even if that action contained a visit to some of the most vicious mercenaries in Europe.
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Rita takes advantage of the center-line driving that is legal here and cruises past lots of cars and lories at intersections. She grins to herself as she comes up on and passes car 1, resisting the urge to wave. She can tell from her display that she is gaining on #9 and #1. She has received no instructions other than to support #9 so will hold back a bit if she gets close. When his dot is only a couple of blocks away she sends a message. >>#1, #9. Closing in on your positions. What is my play here, love?<<
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>>#4, this is #9. How should I know, #1 is keeping things very close to his chest. Right now I'm just following him and resisting the urge to open up on my tail with my HK.
As he tailed Blumvkist Jeff decided to call his contact about the KE.
>>Hey it's Jeff Omae. Sorry, but I won't be able to make the meeting after all. My idiot cousin of mine pissed off a local gang, and he asked me to guard his apartment in case they decide to attack him. He's my favorite aunt's cousin, and I really don't want to tell her that I let her son die. See you around.
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>>4# just discreetly tail him sugar. Don't form eye contact with me or 9#. We use the eye in the sky to give us some space. Also no talking unless you have something really... important to say.
Or hot, or funny or sassy thought Deckert. He kept his distance, close enough to rush speeding in in case they decide to make a grab but far enough not to make the tail obvious. He avoided direct eye contact, and settled for drone feeds, that he shared with Rita if she has image link.
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As he tailed Blumvkist Jeff decided to call his contact about the KE.
>>Hey it's Jeff Omae. Sorry, but I won't be able to make the meeting after all. My idiot cousin of mine pissed off a local gang, and he asked me to guard his apartment in case they decide to attack him. He's my favorite aunt's cousin, and I really don't want to tell her that I let her son die. See you around.
There is, quite literally, dead air on that comms
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Rita breathes hard and makes a decision. She opens a team comm channel. >>Team #4. Got a lot to say in a short time. Please listen. I have been fragging blown. Just took a bloody call from some wanker saying he is with the Azzies. He knows my life story. He knows who we are tailing. He told me that he has friends that have plans for the guy. Made an offer to buy me and I accepted. By now it is likely that he knows I was lying. He promised a messy death if I said no, so it might be that none of you see #4 again. Now some of you lot are just drek, but you are the only family I have had since I was six. I can't just wipe that off to try to save myself. Whoever is on comms watch right now should be sweeping because they may have the channel. #9 contact me on my burner and let me know how you want me to play this out. I could be a liability if they can track me. I do not know how deep into my ware they are, but it might be enough. I am still yours if you want, but will understand if you cut your losses now. We all know how this is going to end, so bless you if I never said it, and may we all see each other in hell when it is over for us. This is Rita signing off this channel for now. I hope that you guys get these fragging wankers.<<
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>>#4, 9# we are grabbing the mark. Get ready, non lethal ammo on the mark, the rest feel free to do as you want.
He scanned the maps for a possible ambush point and shared it with 9# and 4#..
He texts
>> come on 4# don't be over dramatic, your cheeks just got their color back. I'll get you out of it alive or die trying. Keep your cool down.
Deckert had a new plan getting in the back of his hand, grab MB then get off grid with him, hiding him even from their Johnson. When they have MB they'll make the rules - the original plan was not going to work, like ever dragons int he matrix people calling their guys, all the red flags were raised, whomever has MB will make the rules on this gig and if they won't pay... he'll figure out who want to buy MB - he got to be hot merchandise. Maybe these people that recruited Rita would buy him. . He'll figure it up once they have MB in their possession.
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Rita laughs. >>#9 Roger. I just passed the fragging car 1. Not much non-lethal on me so can work on the guards. Send coordinates for the site.<<
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He had an idea, the two others will open fire, a lot of fire. Deckert will approach them and try to seduce MB to 'escape' with him on his bike. Saying that it does not look very good, he can even fire from Rita's bike - but he is not going to tell them about this... the only privacy he has in this mission is inside his own mind. He felt the adrenaline surging - as they reached their positions.
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Isaint received a message and cursed. After composing a reply he opened a channel to #1
<<We have a problem. They moved the meeting to close about now. If I had to guess I'd say this is no coincidence. I need a ride asap to South London. I'll have to leave out the donuts, but maybe you could still provide me with the filling somehow. I've got the feeling, that we should prevent a successful negotiation at all costs>>
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Rita laughs. >>#9 Roger. I just passed the fragging car 1. Not much non-lethal on me so can work on the guards. Send coordinates for the site.<<
You see that the woman in the back of the car is stroking a good sized SMG as you drive by. She sort of looks at you, does a double take and then holds her thumb and finger like an old fashioned phone and smiles mockingly. She is seriously laughing as you pull by... It sort of pulls at you.
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Michael reaches the underground, sort of slightly secure, car parking area under the Elephant and Castle shopping district, pulls in and descends.
You ALL knowthat this is one of the ways that he break contact. It doesn't mean that you have been spotted but it does mean that you could lose him again.
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At this point, Mirriam shrugs, internally. She knows what to do at this point, but she doesn't like it. Several moments of downtime in VR is apparent to Outlaw, obviously the gnome decker is involve din a quick exchange of messages, but to whom is unknown.
Then Mirriam acts. She refuses to lose their mark and when Deckert gives the command, she quickly launches a full assault at the vehicle that Michael is riding in.
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Outlaw watches for a moment, she didn't want to have to go hacking her team to get information from them. Since no direct order was given, she began to act on her own using the camera streams she was given to figure out where the other team was, and begins using her knowledge of the streets of London to quickly get to them, so she wasn't competing with distance. Besides the guy in her car looked pretty bored as it was. Of course at the same time, the technomancer was busily going through the signals around Mirriam.
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Rita smiles back at the woman and nods as she passes Car 1 and heads onto the parking ramp just after the auto. She sends a quick message. >>#4 acting now. On descending ramp to parking garage. Narrow confined space. Support me if you can. Luck, loves.<<
She throws the heavy bike into a controlled crash to the ground, just in front of the car. She slides a few feet and rolls to a stop with Bess in her hands. She figures that the car is fairly armored, but hopes that the tires are less so and fires directly for the driver's front tire, hoping that the car will crash into the driver's wall and not roll over her.
Initiative Initiative (http://orokos.com/roll/309028): 12+3d6 15
Crappy roll. Oh well, I will wait my turn in the initiative order. LOL Looks like I critical glitched the initiative roll. Drek.
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So this time I get to be both the good guy and the bad guy... thought Deckert I'll shoot a bit from Rita's bike and then rush in for a rescue. I hope I can be convincing enough to get him to join me on the bike.
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Seeing Rita's bike shoot up the tail Jeff thought Ok, we're doing this then. Hope they know what they're doing.. He stopped his bike, grabbed his HK from his backpack and opened fire on the women in the back with the SMG. He tried to go for a more professional three round burst than the full-auto, but the bike slipped and hit his leg. It didn't knock him over, but it did bump his shot off target a bit.
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As Car 1 follows Rita on the ramp, when Rita's bike skids, the driver of the car pivots and hits the wall side on, it looks like it is going to hit her but comes to a halt very close to her. Her shots have marked the car but the tire is intact. The shots over your shoulder from #9 seem to do much more damage to the windshield of the car and the 3 mercs drop but you know that the woman will be popping up with her SMG soon.
Car #3 is close behind but approaching from a slightly different direction: #3 "#1, what's going down, where do you want me? I have Rattie (#8) with me."
#6, "#1, #6 here:, #2 has us coming in a bit fast, right behind you guys. What's the 411?"
While this is occurring, Michael's car enters the tunnel to the second level of the car park when something happens that causes his car to stutter and die. WIth his defences down, due to weeks of fooling the teams tailing his father, Micahsel's car is totally fried. There is nothing to do but try to recover his plans. Behind him he hears a bike crash, a crumpling sound and then a huge barrage of shooting. He exits his smoking car and stands for a moment before opening the trunk of the car and taking out a blue bookbag. (this will take a full round of combat)
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Rita takes aim at the back seat where the woman will show herself, holding her action to get a chance to blow fragging merc apart with a shotgun at close range. She sends a message. >>#1 #4 I got the car with the fragging bloody mercs in it, not the target car. I think MB is farther inside the garage. I can hoof it or fight it out with these wankers.<<
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Deckert pushes the racing bike to the limit trying to reach MB and take him. With his most authoritative and convincing voice he barks: "Hop on if you want to live... too many people are on your tail. no time to explain!"
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Mirriam's avatar looks over to Outlaw.
This run is fragged. Something isn't right and there are too many noses sniffing our arses. Watch your back.
Then she scans the meat world through the eyes of her fellow runners, trying to determine what to do next.