[Reminder]

>>> Isaiah, I'm in deep now with that friend you introduced me to. Know anything about or know anybody in the Maasai? Could help me stay alive.

The reply comes through very quickly

The Maasai? Are you crazy? I value my skin too much to get within 200 meters of one of them if I can help it.

[Ren]

"I'm usually working with expeditions like the one currently planned. I'm mainly a tracker and a hunter, but i know how to handle a jeep, both at the wheels and if it needs maintenance." Mutumbo confidently enumerated his talents. "As for gear, i also have what i need for a prolonged stay out there. What i don't have and we desperately need, is transportation. As i said earlier, two jeeps. At least it seems each will have its driver." He nodded to Frenchy.

While the conversation went on, he also sent a message to Smokescreen. >>Hey man, i'd need some info. Have a fresh map of the area around this point? [include coordinates of target area] Heard the Maasai have their tribal borders around there, if you could include where they consider their borders i'd be grateful. Also would appreciate any info about anything you heard from there. Put a pricetag in your answer, and i see what i can do.<<

[Crunch]

It's hard to tell what transport we'll need until we know what transport the client is bringing. For now we have a pickup and my Yamaha. He shrugs, even at short aquaintance you can tell that Frenchy's shrugs are both frequent and expressive. This shrug perfectly conveys the message that Mutumbo is right, but that circumstances conspire against the proper solution. It's not like the advance would cover a vehicle we'd trust in the bush anyway. In a pinch we can make do. Hopefully the client's transportation won't be probelmatic. We have two days and our friends here he gestures to Alexander and Ultra seem fully competent to handle the arrangements here. Do we think a trip west for the rest of us to get the lie of the land would be fruitful? Seeing the mage and the hunter in action would go a long way. The first impression was good, but one could never be too careful.


Thought
Speech-English
Speech-French
Speech-Arabic
Speech-Kiswahili
Matrix/Text

[Reminder]

While the conversation went on, he also sent a message to Smokescreen. >>Hey man, i'd need some info. Have a fresh map of the area around this point? [include coordinates of target area] Heard the Maasai have their tribal borders around there, if you could include where they consider their borders i'd be grateful. Also would appreciate any info about anything you heard from there. Put a pricetag in your answer, and i see what i can do.<<

After about 30 minutes, your commlink indicates you have a reply.

A map, that's easy. Won't help much though, as about 4 different tribes lay claim to that area. Not much business out there these days. If you still want the lay of the land, I can do it but you'll owe me one.

[JackVII]

"Does anyone have a good weather application? It would be nice to know how miserable we're likely to be out there." Mlinzi jokes. "I like the idea of getting eyes on the area, but I'm not sure if we have the time to get there and back. I may have missed it, but do we have a drone operator amongst us? That could be handy and would only require a one-way trip for the drone. We could pick it up on our way to our target area."

"If we can determine the groups in the area, we may be able to put together a better picture of what is going on. While marks on a map are nice, they don't actually show up on the ground. The actual lines change on a nearly daily basis, if they are even recognized at all. So knowing if the area we are traveling to is designated Masaai or something else is only going to be partially helpful. We already know the Masaai are not going to be friendly, maybe we can find out a bit more about the other groups. Tribal fueds can run deep."

[Csjarrat]

Searches done for the moment, Ultra jacks out and rejoins the real world conversation.
"I've got an old rotodrone for scouting but matrix access is patchy the further out you get. I don't really want to lose it before we get started, I'd rather have it give us eyes-in-the-sky when we're out there. We know that the roads are going to be rough and it's relatively sparsely populated. We're gonna need decent off-road tires, spares, extra fuel, tools and a decent winch. Oh, some oil too.
As for outdoors kit, I've got some basics and emergency stuff. We'll need decent tents, lights, nets, cooking gear and provisions though.

[Crunch]

Any chance you can rustle up some satellite imaging? Even if it was out of date it could be useful.

Thought
Speech-English
Speech-French
Speech-Arabic
Speech-Kiswahili
Matrix/Text

[Csjarrat]

Ultra pops his deck onto the table and opend the mapsoft again, handing it over

[Crunch]

Frenchy takes the mapsoft and slots it into a cheap and battered comlink, you see the flicker of an image link cross the lense of his goggles.  Thanks much. Frenchy leans back and stares at the ceiling as he reviews the maps.

[Reminder]

A waitress comes and clears the collection of empty glasses off the table.

"Anything else?"

[JackVII]

Looking around the table to see if anyone else wants anything before speaking, Mlinzi says, "I do no think so, but I have a quick question. I have work that I need to take care of here on the island early tomorrow morning. Do you know of any coffin hotels nearby?"

As she asks the question, the elf accesses her commlink and sends 20 nuyen to the waitress as a final tip.

[Ren]

”Frenchy, can I take a look at that map?” Mutumbo turned back to the others. ”I wouldn’t count on the client bringing any kind of transportation. I think the advance does cover the rental of a couple of sturdy cars and the extra equipment we need. Better go prepared than to look unprofessional. I agree we shouldn’t send out the rotodrone, connection might be tricky in that area.” Thinking for a moment, he continued. ”As for scouting: it’s pretty far out, and we only know the general area, so I suggest we use the maps we have, maybe some imaging software if someone has a problem with simply reading the map. To go out there would invite more attention than we currently need. And I’d suggest we rather rest for the next two days than take further risks.”

After he got the map from Frenchy, he checked if he thought Smokescreen would have a better one.

[Csjarrat]

To the waitress: "Sure, i'll take a SoyCaf please, black, to go."

To Mlinzi: "Give it here, l'll hook it up to my trid projector so we can all see it"
Johannes put the deck on the table and loaded up the mapsoft, dumping the output into the trid projector and enabling 3 ARO's for controls.
Those co-ordinates put us about here..... and the borders are roughly about here.....
These are the main roads we can take... but really most of this is speculation until our contact gets here and tells us where the fuck we're actually going.

Johannes pulls his commlink out, jacks into it and zaps a message through to JDV.
//To: JDV//<<Hey, how's it going? Got a job coming up, gotta head out into the bush by the looks of it, skirting the Masai patch. Supposedly a corp run "sample gathering" exercise for a "scientist" by the name of Alzmer. You got anything on this? Any news on the Masai I should know about? Cheers man, hope you're well.

After rattling off the message, Ultra runs a search for local parts dealerships, entering his make and model.

//Matrix Search v1.002// <<Spare parts for Toyota Gopher>> Tags: Off-road tires, winch, long range fuel tank, suspension.

6D6E5 => 3 | ones: 1   ultra's search (had to use rolz.com as invisible castle is down!!)

[Reminder]

Looking around the table to see if anyone else wants anything before speaking, Mlinzi says, "I do no think so, but I have a quick question. I have work that I need to take care of here on the island early tomorrow morning. Do you know of any coffin hotels nearby?"

As she asks the question, the elf accesses her commlink and sends 20 nuyen to the waitress as a final tip.

The waitress finishes gathering up the glasses, and replies hastily, "Nearest beds are closer to the docks. Not sure they'd rent to one of you."
She picks up the tray of glasses, and, with a quick shake of her head, moves off towards the bar.

[JackVII]

Frowning at the girl's comments, Mlinzi briefly touches the tips of her ears before belatedly tracing a finger down her face. She might as well have been wearing a sign saying:"Hello, I am of the Agichaku Tribe, please discriminate against me."

Glancing around the bar, she looks for the restrooms.