[HydroRaven]

Clem frowned upon reading O'Connor's response. "Of course after waiting for the go-ahead , right Con?" was her reply. "But before Con would charge, I would instruct the others to stay seated while I stand up and keep a knife hidden in my sleeve. If someone comes close, I would wrestle for his gun if he has it drawn out or if not, I would take him as a hostage, with the knife to his head."

[farothel]

Sammy sent a new message.
<and if they're willing to die for their cause, that action will trigger a bomb.  We have to keep things coordinated and not attack until we are fully in charge of the situation.  I suggest we follow their commands until they become complacent, or until we're forced to act.  If there's an opportunity, we can take it, but everybody has to be ready.>

[HydroRaven]

Clem just turned over to Sammy and said "If they wanted to just blow up a bomb, they wouldn't take any hostages. A hijacking clearly means they have demands, and they are willing to negotiate to get their demands met. Blowing up the plane because one of their operatives has a knife to their head would be both a waste of everyone's lives, and a waste of a salvageable situation."

[Thvor]

Sam was actually intrigued by the game, though he wasn't sure he'd have much to contribute. Hey, Sammy; your astral scan would pick up which of the red dots is most nervous, right? Maybe I could use that to our advantage? His hand dropped casually to the handle of his walking stick, which he'd brought with him. And I do have more options than cheap cutlery, if it comes to that. But I'd really rather avoid it.

[Mercy Merchant]

<The point of the exercise is to work on team coordination.  Clem is the designated tactical lead this time.  All of us are in the first class cabin as well as two of the five hijackers.  There is a curtain drawn between first class and coach so the only way we are seeing the action in the back is through my scan and the hacked security cameras.  Sammy, can you determine if the awakened are adepts or mages?  In any case I am pinging the location of the awakened hijacker and turning the color of his dot to purple.  The man yelling instructions and obscenities to the negotiators on the ground seems to be their leader so I will change his color to orange.  The remaining three appear to be thugs, but based on Sammy's scan the one with the gun out in front and one of the three in the back seem to be quite nervous and unsure of themselves, and I am changing their color to pink.  Good question Sam.  Now we know that of the five, two might be frightened and unsure of themselves.  Based on Clem's instructions, Clem, Sammy and Snow will rise to their feet as directed.  Clem has concealed a knife in her sleeve.  At this time the two hijackers remain near the stewardess area, so are a number of feet away.  San and O'Connor are still seated.  The hijacker in the front of the plane with a gun out will tell the three of us to move to the rear of the plane while telling the rest of the first class passengers that they have nothing to worry about as they are all humans.  Color recap:  Orange=Leader, Purple=Awakened, Pink=Nervous/unsure, and Red=Vicious Thug.  Next move?>

[HydroRaven]

Clem thought to herself. <Con and Torley are our element of surprise in this scenario, so I would try and be defiant so that one of the two hijackers from first class has to escort me personally to the back of the plane. Probably something along the lines of seeing his mother down in the Ork Underground last night. Once we're out of the picture, Con and Torley would have free reign on the last hijacker, while Sammy, Snow and I distract the other threats back in coach."

[Thvor]

Sam leaned his seat back and stared up at the ceiling. Was Snow rebuking him for bringing up options that Clem might not have thought of? Sure, let Clem figure out what to do, he thought, but she and O'Connor tend to think with their fists. If we approached this in a calmer, more civilized manner, we could probably get things taken care of without getting bloody. I'm not sure how good Sammy's mojo is at subtle--could she drop the head goon without being obvious about it?--but I could use their emotions against them.

[Necrogigas]

<[Recipients: Team| Source: Text]: Didn't realize they were the polite sort of hijackers that'll let you finish a text before shooting you. Since we don't have a nonverbal code, something for the to-do list, how exactly are we taking orders from Clem? We got ten minutes 'til bullets start flying anyway, why wait?>

[Thvor]

Sam chuckled. Con, there are lots of reasons they may not be inclined to shoot. For one, we're several miles above the ground; the air's kind of thin up here. Random bullets on planes tend to have catastrophic consequences for everyone; I'm sure you've seen trids which demonstrate that. But more importantly, from Snow's description, it sounds like the leader's the only one who's really committed to this. The others aren't sure of themselves; they won't respond as quickly, or as violently. And that's a weakness--the group isn't very coherent. If the leader is seen as not being in control any more, the group could fragment. Then the question is whether violence would be seen as him losing control, or as the catalyst to bring the group further under his control--either could be true, depending on the personalities involved.

Sam paused. That was the big problem with theoretical problems like this. These "dots" were supposed to represent people, but there was so much more to a person than where they were. Everyone had their own backgrounds, fears, hopes, strengths, and weaknesses, but that sort of information could never be fully built into a simulation. And, of course, Sam didn't have formal training--if the situation were real, he'd instinctively be able to learn far more about the hijackers just by watching them than he could by asking Snow questions, since he didn't know the questions to ask. Frustrated, he concluded, If he's at all aware of this and is concerned that his followers would break if things turned violent, then he's likely to hold back unless he's attacked.

[Crossbow]

A message from an unknown sender flashes across your commlinks:

<Use of a TacNet in small unit communications is really worth the investment.  One reason being when you communicate on a limited network like an airplane and start discussing things like bombs and ceramic firearms on relatively unprotected channels people monitoring such communication tend to get nervous and may act on the wrong idea.>

<Fortunately, those people allow me, your friendly Air Marshal, to operate under a certain amount of discretion.  Monitoring your conversation, I have decided that you are not bad guys, just dumb ones, so I am sending this warning.  Take a nap, watch a movie, have a drink, you have a lot of entertainment options on this flight.  What you cannot do is discuss terrorist response scenarios on MY airplane, but please, enjoy the rest of your flight.>

<PS “O’Connor” you should learn to follow orders, or you are going to get your team killed.  Listen to “Clem”, he’ll keep you alive longer.>

A Bloody Mary arrives by stewardess in front of each of you, right after you get the text. “Compliments of the airline.” The remaining time in the airplane is, by comparison, somewhat boring. 

---------------

Welcome to Los Angeles, home of sun, sand, and more surf than you can shake a stick at—if you don’t mind the pollution. You arrive at El Toro Airport at 10 a.m. and are greeted by a troll with slicked-back hair, a thin leather jacket, a dark green T-shirt, and chrome shades. The troll introduces himself as Desperado. “Well, well. Looks like you’ve got amigos in high places. They’ve put you up in the posh Hotel Alternate. Yes that’s the name; it’s not an alternative to a hotel.”

He escorts you to the luggage area, where you retrieve your stuff. “Follow me,” he says. “Slade’s stuff is being unloaded out here.”

He leaves through a side exit to where the drones are unloading the cargo. A monstrous SUV, all tricked out, is parked back there.

Desperado pays an attendant and then opens the back of the SUV. The drones move to pick up the cargo from the ground and put it into the SUV. “I’ll take everybody’s toys over to the studio, while you guys check in at the hotel, meet me there after.” Desperado says. “I’d offer a ride, but Slade’s got a lot of shit to move.” He tosses you a set of keys. “I didn’t think you’d want to squeeze into the jackrabbit they budgeted for you, so the blue BMW is yours while you’re here.”

He looks at his link, just as you get a message from him on yours. “That will be this Fermin guy with you’re your IDs and some invites to P2.0. You’d best be installing that, given the crowd you’ll be hanging out with. Just don’t get too comfortable with it, unless you get a following like me. You’ll probably only get fifteen minutes of fame before losing your subscription. No worries though, it’s not for everyone.”

[HydroRaven]

Clem was surprised at the message she read on her commlink. Although the situation was comical, she didn't want to laugh. Snow had failed in something she thought should be easy for hackers: keeping their conversations private. She made a mental note of that, as tearing the new member apart now would serve no purpose. She was sure Snow had gotten the message and would be addressing that flaw.

------------

Once they landed in LA, Clem made sure to greet Desperado and follow him to where the sensitive cargo was being unloaded. The ork caught the set of keys from him and looked at her commlink. She decided to wait until she got instructions from Sammy on how to proceed with that before doing anything else, but did want to bring up one minor point with Desperado before he left. "Let me just get something from that luggage before you leave, omae"

[Mercy Merchant]

Snow will sit quietly for the remainder of the short flight.  She will run diagnostics on her 'link, trying to see how the air marshal was able to hack her so cleanly.  She had routed her comms through encryption software and there was no hint of a hacking attack that she could see.  She was very embarrassed.  *That was certainly a low blow for my morale.  I can only imagine what this team thinks of their new member and what they will say the next time I suggest a simulation.  Now, how did that guy get in?*She is happy that none of the others seem too interested in blasting her in public.

She will hold to herself until the baggage is collected and Desperado leaves then turn to the others and say, "Well, that did not go as well as expected, although I did think that you guys were adapting to the situation well.  It is pretty obvious that the weak link here is me.  I would understand if you asked me to get on the next plane back to Seattle.  If you keep me, though, I will do my best to find out how I got hacked and take precautions to not let it happen again." Snow waits to see what the team decision is.

[Necrogigas]

The rest of the flight was decidedly uncomfortable for O'Connor, the guy with the Criminal SIN, the guy that just got called out by some kind of sky cop. O'Connor forcefully pressed himself into his seat, his hands clenched tightly. Civilians saw a very nervous flyer, anyone else saw a coiled viper prepared to strike. He had nowhere to go, and could only hope that this air marshal didn't give the team even a cursory look over. He figured that leaving the country under a fake identity was a big no-no for convicted felons.  For the remainder of the flight, O'Connor's eyes twitched warily towards any movement headed towards their seats. Luckily for all, the hellish nightmare ended without incident. Its wasn't until they were outside that O'Connor gave a sigh of relief. The tension in his body dissipated and he slowly returned to a normal state of readiness. He replied to Snow, "You get one. That does not happen again." O'Connor was too mentally frazzled to put any anger into his words, his tone was flat and drained. He followed Clem to retrieve his pistol.

[farothel]

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," Sammy said to Snow, "Horizon has a couple of good hackers in their employ.

She looked at the one called Desperado.
"You're right, we won't all fit in a jackrabbit.  So, where is the studio and when are we expected there?"
After getting the address and the time and getting her own gear, she moved to the BMW.
"Let's go to the hotel, freshen up and then I'll explain this P2 thing, she said, "Sam or Clem, any of you want to take the wheel?  We're probably good with the autopilot, but it might be best to put the best driver at the wheel just in case."
Those were the only two of the team she had seen driving before.

[Crossbow]

Desperado puts up a hand to stop you from interfering with the loading, it is a VERY big hand.  "Not here, you pop your case and start handing out goodies and the Puebs will be on all of our asses.  Bad for ratings, yo!"  The Troll points to the blue SUV parked nearby.  "'Pilot's got the address, you can pull it up on your way."

When you get a chance to download the ID mods and P2.0 a new icon is added to your commlink’s AR, consisting of three concentric colored rings, each one with a numeric value inside. The numbers represent how popular you are and how connected you are down here in California. The center ring shows how close you are to Horizon CEO Gary Cline, the next ring is for Membership, or how many people are on your personal network, and the outer ring represents your Subscription, which is the percentage of viewers.

“You’re probably asking yourself right now what these rings are all about,” says a recording of a man decked out like a parody of a movie agent, complete with shades and antiquated cell phone, that came with the P2.0 app. “Through each ring you can see in more detail what the value is made up of. And here,” the agent directs you inside the P2.0 network, “this gray stick figure, which you can personalize, represents you in reference to the rest of the network. Trifling, no? Well, fear not, there’s a placeholder for blogging and me-feeds, allowing me to manage links to other blogs and videos that reference you or your P2.0 ID. And what are viewers? They’re the rest of the network who want to watch your P2.0 channel (me-feed and blog). I also handle the compiling of multiple videos on the P2.0 network to make for a more contiguous video feed. It keeps people from changing channels too often.”

The other slightly annoying factor with the P2.0 application is the pushy broadcast the P2.0 agent wants to execute from your commlink to talk to every other commlink or drone. You finally mute the agent after hearing it say, for the fifth time today, “Here’s my card, let’s do lunch.”

At the Alternate Hotel, your room is certainly at least a step above the coffin motels some of you’re used to hiding out in, though the decor is questionable. The rooms are heavily themed, from the “Stormy Sea” of room 21 to the “Forested Canopy” of room 25. At least you can turn off the AR channel of the Stormy Sea to keep from getting seasick. Each room also includes a small balcony, a bathroom, and a multipurpose kitchenette/living room/office alcove. As you look out from the balcony, your view of Los Angeles gives the illusion of a complete recovery. From the Alternate, you can see concentric walls out to the west where, block-by-block, downtown has been partially reclaimed from the sea. Beyond that are corporate islands where recovery took place quickly lest salvaging pirates get to the area first. Downtown is heavily covered in AR, containing both adverts and the images of buildings in pristine condition. Some of them appear the way they used to look at the turn of the century, while incomplete buildings show their future appearance. Flocks of drones can be seen buzzing around downtown, looking for whatever they believe to be newsworthy enough to gain viewers.

Unique to California is the P2.0-driven competition of those who can afford the subscription to create a proliferation of independent reality shows to grab subscribers. It’s also the first place you can watch a million channels of reality shows and still find nothing on.