[Ryo]

LOCATION: CYGNUS
LOCAL TIME:120437Z MAR 76

It is never quite silent in the Cygnus facility. Underneath hundreds of meters of solid rock, the sounds of the outside world are far off and foreign, unheard, but the entire structure is like a mason jar that keeps all its own sounds locked in tight. Even from your bunks in the upper barracks, you can pick out the subtle rumble of the machines down in engineering if you pay attention, or the slight hum of power or hiss of water in the pipes along the rocky walls. With time, you've learned to tune all this out, makes sleeping at night easier, but it's an ever-present din no matter where you are.

A quick look at the clock would tell you that it is the 12th of March, 2076, at 4:37 AM Zulu time. You know when you think about it that just 200 meters above your head, it's around 6 in the evening, but Cygnus never sees daylight, and so internally runs on UTC-0. Most likely, you're in your bunks, trying to get a good night sleep. Or maybe you're at the shooting range, or in the gym, or working on a late night project. Wherever you are in the facility at that moment, your commlinks ring with an urgent message at precisely 4:37 AM. Those of you with DNI get this message as an ARO appearing directly in your field of vision, colored a vibrant red and with an audible buzzing to emphasize its urgency. Those of you without DNI simply have a ringing commlink.

Briefing Room, 10 minutes. Be ready to deploy.
-Commander Ellis

[Ravensoracle]

John was in the gym giving the heavy bag a few rounds when the alert flashed across the edge of his vision. The mix of insomnia and the sleep regulator he had installed meant plenty of early mornings while many of the others still slept. He'd developed a sort of routine so he didn't bother the others. Some of it was spent on gym time, some at the weapons range, and most of the rest of it was taking virtual classes on whatever subject happened to catch his attention at the time.

Man was he itching to get out of this hole. He grabbed his gym bag and headed to the showers. 10 minutes... Just enough time for a quick shower.

As he's heading for shower he throws a verbal jab at Thorn, "Wake up, fellow lab rat. Looks like we got a mission."

[Zweiblumen]

Gunter happened to still be awake working in the lab.  He is tired of the stupid trid-trope of a design the Redline currently has, and is frustrated with the fact that some of it actually makes sense.  Sarah is saying that there's nothing wrong with the design, and that we're wasting time when he receives the message.  In the middle of her detailed explication of the technical benefits of the Redline series he gets up and walks away.  As he leaves the lab he sends a message to the commander.  <<<@Cmdr [Dr. Schwarz] Loud or quiet?>>>

Heading to his quarters, he gets both his Rapid Transit workers armor and the heavy armor set up.  While waiting for a response, he puts his Light Fire in his ankle holster and gets his MP ready with its backpack.

[Ryo]

Waffe receives a reply that simply reads "Quiet. Details in Briefing."

[Zweiblumen]

Waffe receives a reply that simply reads "Quiet. Details in Briefing."

With that response, Gunter puts his Transit suit on and packs the Redline in the backpack. Then heads to the briefing room.

ETA: grammar fixes

[Scawire]

Stix had just gotten back to sleep from waking up from an attack via demonic looking wasps, when his brain gets buzzed with a call. With a direct link to the matrix of this secret site, Stix mind starts to race with matrix codes and commands thinking some runner team has started a dive into the systems of this facility. With a thought Stix could send some top end IC to fry any runner but before he starts releasing digital hell on the team of runners Stix's brain wakes up to see it is a call to a meeting. Oh drek I was about to put the system on full alert. At least its just a meeting.

Stix stops clutching his cyber deck. (yes he sleeps with his deck.) Then starts getting ready for the meeting. (washing up and brushing his teeth, etc.) Then sports his black long coat but leaves his SMG in his foot locker, being on site he doesn't care his SMG with all the time, mostly because he has a few spell to fry intruders if he has too. Stix throws some water on his face hoping to help himself wake up, then heads to the meeting clutching his deck close to his body, and sucking back smoke from his Ares Gold cigs as walks down the corridors of the facility.

[Koshnek]

Ever since the Detective's mind had been linked to his own, Thorn had developed a habit of waiting until the Detective was going to sleep before hunkering down for the night himself. Thorn found that this was the window of opportunity to find his own sleep without being distracted by whatever it was that troubled the Detective throughout the day and night. Unfortunately, he had missed that window the night before as he had been completely absorbed in his present activities last night.

A faint buzz gently vibrated against Thorn's left arm through his forearm guards, but the sensation was unconsciously swept aside as quickly as it was felt. (A dull sense of annoyance briefly colored Thorn's thoughts before disappearing as quickly as it appeared). Thorn found himself in the testing range early this morning indulging in a new passion of his he had named Fiery Expressionism. By using his own power to create a sustained fire source, Thorn would again use his power to give form and motion, or stillness, to the flame.

The result was a transformation in the fire from a flickering, chaotic element into a pseudo-lifeform birthed from his consciousness. This new art form he had developed allowed Thorn to freely display his innermost fears and desires as easily as Waffe could dissect, reassemble and improve a weapon. Such honest expression was difficult for Thorn, and at times this new art consumed him.

As he's heading for shower he throws a verbal jab at Thorn, "Wake up, fellow lab rat. Looks like we got a mission."

(An intense annoyance flashed through Thorn's mind and lingered as he heard the Detective in his mind, but he didn't really notice the words.) Thorn continued twisting and contorting the frozen, pulsing light in front of him for a few moments before finally realizing he had received a message earlier. He flipped the panel covering his comm open to read the message from Commander Ellis.

Briefing Room, 10 minutes. Be ready to deploy.
-Commander Ellis

Frag! (Shock reverberated through Thorn's mind as he realized that the message he received several minutes ago was from the Commander and that he was going to be late). Thorn closed the comm pannel and released the flame before heading for the barracks. "Johnny boy, I'm going to be late to our rendezvous. Would you kindly kick the link up a notch with me when you arrive? Let our stern-faced commander know that I'll be arriving later than requested. Do shoot me the look on his face when you tell him, will you? Seriously though, let him know that I'll be participating fully in mind if not in body. I'm in the testing range, and its going to take me a minute to get to the Barracks, a couple minutes to change, and another minute to get to the meeting."

Thorn hauled hoop to the barracks and changed into his trusted Ares BGH and slipped his head into his helmet. He slid his Redline into the built in holster before taking a moment to consider his primary weapon. Hmmm. No specifics, but a man can't go wrong with a shotgun. Thorn's hand hovered over the Lancer before passing over it for his Phalanx. Shame to pass up a perfectly good laser though. Taking this hit for the team. He placed an extra battery clip into his pack and strapped his battery pouch around his waist for good measure. Thorn inserted a clip of APDS into his Phalanx before putting two clips of APDS and two clips of Flechette into his pack with the battery clip. Finally, he slipped a Flash, Flash-pak, two gas, a smoke and a thermal smoke into his grenade pouches before giving himself a satisfied nod. Not too heavy, and nothing illegal. Shouldn't raise too many eyebrows if it matters.

(Thorn had been looking forward to finally being let out of this cage, and in the back of his mind, he was upset that he was getting off on the wrong foot now that the time had finally come. Despite this, floating just barely higher in his subconscious than his disappointment, was a smugness rooted in the annoyance and anger the Commander would surely feel about his tardiness.)

With his helmet on, Thorn mentally messaged to the group letting them know he'd arrive soon.

>Send Group Message
 >>Detective, Waffe, Stix
  >>>OMW. ETA two minutes. Had to catch up on my beauty sleep.

Thorn arrived to the meeting a couple minutes late as estimated.

[Ryo]

The briefing room is always a little dark, overhead lights dimmed almost to the point of obsolescence with the large trid screen on the far wall serving as the primary illumination. As a result, the room always has a bluish hue over everything, and feels like a dark and secluded place, far from prying eyes. You enter from the left, passing through the barracks, into the armory, and then climbing the stairs to the halls that lead into the briefing room itself. As you arrive, Ellis is entering the room from the right, through the door you know leads to his office.

Ellis is an elderly man, but still as hard as ever, with obvious bulk to his body from both constant upkeep and augmentations that enhance his musculature. The scars on his face are numerous and old. You've heard rumors among the personnel that he got them from a wasp spirit in Chicago, during the numerous raids Ares authorized prior to the city being bombed to kingdom come. You don't know the validity of the rumors, but you can't deny that there is an animalistic quality to them, like something large and ferocious dragged its claws across his face. He's wearing a black and red uniform with thick plates of body armor, and carrying a briefcase which he sets on the large conference table as he enters the room. He opens it, consults some of the files he has within, extracts a data pad, then shuts it again before looking up at you.

"Gentlemen." He addresses you with a gruff nod, noticing the absence of Thorn immediately and frowns. "I see Agent Thorndyke does not feel it necessary to be punctual. I trust he's at least with us in spirit?" He remarks, glancing towards Detective.

"Let's get started. At precisely 0430 this morning, a citizen of Ares Macrotechnology was abducted within Seattle." He taps at his data pad and the world map on the screen behind you zooms in towards North America, then centers on Seattle.

"The target of this abduction was Elden Shaw, a 14 year old boy who happens to be the son of a rather important and powerful Ares executive." More tapping at the data pad, and a picture of the abductee comes up on one of the side screens, appearing to be a picture from a social media profile.



"From what we know, the kidnappers specifically targeted this boy because of who he is related to, and intend to use him as a bargaining chip, or in a ransom. We became aware of his abduction within minutes of it occurring, and due to who this boy's family is, the appropriate response was deemed to be an immediate, overwhelming show of force. That is where you come in. This will be your first time in the field as a unit, so consider this a test run. This mission should be well within your capabilities. We are expecting to receive notice of a ransom or blackmail attempt within the next 24 hours. Your job is to locate this boy, recover him safely, and terminate his kidnappers with extreme prejudice, before that call is even made." Ellis explains, looking away from the screen to your faces.

"Any questions?"

[Scawire]

Stix smoke away during the briefing glad he didn't have to defend the facilities matrix from a team of rouge hackers. With Ellis finishing up his speech of what the newly formed team of Ares Elite had to do Stix sports a few questions. I was wondering do we have an intel of who might of done the kidnapping, or do I start digging on line to see if there is an whispers in the 'trix community of who might be involved? Also is there any evidence left at the site of the abduction that might help me narrow the search for who are target is and where they might be located at? Stix knows if this is a pro team of Runners most chance at finding much evidence at the site of the kidnapping might slim, but if they have a mage there might be an astral sig, if the decker missed a beat he might have some camera feeds to look over or maybe if they have a rigger that didn't cut off from the grid link Stix might be able to track the team that way. One other thing too. Can I get a feed from all the cameras not just at the site the target was taken at but all the feeds we can get from around the site. Some hacker forget to erase all the cameras other facilities they pass on their get away. Stix starts to thumb his cyber deck that is located inside his black long coats inside pocket. I think I will have to spend some time taking Meralin (Cyberdeck's name) here for a trip to the shadow side of the 'Trix. Should be fun.

[Ryo]

"I was wondering, do we have any intel of who might of done the kidnapping, or do I start digging online to see if there are any whispers in the 'trix community of who might be involved? Also, is there any evidence left at the site of the abduction that might help me narrow the search for who our target is and where they might be located? One other thing too. Can I get a feed from all the cameras, not just at the site the target was taken at, but all the feeds we can get from around the site. Some hackers forget to erase all the cameras of other facilities they pass on their get away. "

"Elden was considered a high risk target for extraction due to his unfortunate habit of running away from home. For the past 8 months, Elden has been living in the Redmond Barrens, and working in the shadows as part of a group of runners operating out of the Bargain Basement. He hired these runners himself to extract him from home. His mother believed him to be going through a phase, and declined any attempts to retrieve him, until now." Ellis taps at his data pad a bit more as he talks before sending new pictures to the screens. What comes up is a series of photographs of an average looking rundown building from the redmond barrens, in desperate need of repair and looking like it is being maintained by juryriggers patching it back together with scrap as necessary. The first few images look normal, showing the building from different angles, apparently taken by an eye spy circling the building. Then the next image comes up, showing that the building has been gutted from one side, an entire wall missing and crumbling into the alleys below it with thick black smoke billowing up towards the sky.

"This was the safehouse the runners Elden associated with used as a home base. We suspected that his identity would eventually be discovered, and that someone would think he was low hanging fruit, hence the drone surveillance." The next few pictures show the drone flying through the black smoke, coming into the building itself before switching to a different camera mode. The next several images are millimeter wave scans, giving an accurate read on the contents of the rooms despite the opaque smoke. There are two charred bodies in the first room, looking warped and disfigured by fire. Their metatypes are barely determinable, let alone their identities.

"We believe this to be the result of white phosphorus. The building was hit hard, and loud explosions were reported from numerous sources. That was followed by reports of gunfire." The drone continues through the building, and the next few pictures show a troll slumped against a wall that was chewed to pieces by hundreds of high caliber rounds. The troll himself is similarly shredded. Ellis then sends a few more pictures up wordlessly, showing a pair of legs sticking out of a doorway down the hall, and as the drone approaches, it becomes clear the other half of the body is absent. That is, until the drone enters the room, and the upper half of an ork is lying dead in the middle of the floor, looking like he'd had a brief trip through a meat grinder. The walls of the room similarly have numerous cut marks across them in large sweeping motions.

"There should be one more member of Elden' group, but the drone failed to find their remains. It's entirely possible there wasn't enough left over to find." Ellis remarks grimly.

"These images are the only ones we have. Elden was abducted less than 20 minutes ago. Anything else will be your responsibility to acquire."

[Zweiblumen]

"I know a guy in KE up in Seattle, I can ask for some assistance from them through him... or we could have him run interference for us so we can get there first.  Let me know what you more CSI types would like."

Gunter seems lost in thought for a few minutes, then looks up and says, "Didn't someone try to extract his father a few years ago?" Looking towards the Commander, "Do we have any intel on that attemt that could be related to this one?"

[Ryo]

"I know a guy in KE up in Seattle, I can ask for some assistance from them through him... or we could have him run interference for us so we can get there first.  Let me know what you more CSI types would like."

"Knight Errant should be on site within the hour. The response time isn't stellar for this area of the Redmond Barrens, but the investigation should be underway by the time you arrive." Ellis explains, tapping at his data pad.

"Didn't someone try to extract his father a few years ago?" Looking towards the Commander, "Do we have any intel on that attempt that could be related to this one?"

Ellis frowns a bit and sighs, rubbing his temple "Yes, we had considered it possible the two were related. There are enough people who think Eldwin is in hiding to try and take his son as a means to an end. However, it's unlikely to be the same team involved. The team who attempted to extract Eldwin Shaw were terminated down to the last man before they escaped the arcology, but not before they put a few rounds in his chest to spite us. We had reason to suspect they were working as an intermediary for a man with known ties to Renraku, but as is typically the case with shadowrunners, we never had anything concrete."

[Scawire]

I think linking up with the law in the area would be good. Are we going to get to check out the crime scene ourselves? If we can take a look we might want to wear disguises, that way if we start talking to locals we wont be IDed as someone linked to the law. Stix inhales the last of his smoke then killed his small friend of death in the ash tray on the desk in front of him. Stix's mind starts to think of what kind of gear that would come in handy, also where on line he might be able to search for leads to our missing kid.

Stix addresses the group. When we finish with the Q&A we best get a plan together quick. The longer it takes for us to move the more steps these runners will be ahead of us. Stix tries to think if there is much more he has to ask. Oh. Ellis, when we get a plan together you going to sign off on our gear right. Stix's fingers start to twitch not having a smoke in them and decides to bring more sweet fog into his lungs.

[Ravensoracle]

John stayed to the back and listened to the briefing. The gears in his head already turning. He does his best to let Thorn monitor the briefing without clouding it with undue internal dialogue. But In the active state of the link Thorn can easily sense the tense jaw at the effort.  Some still bleeds through.

"Damn kid doesn't know what's good for him...what a massacre... "

When Stix mentions the word plan then John steps up to the table.

"We're gonna need fast transport directly to the site. We land far enough away to not disturb evidence." He looks to the commander. "Anyway we can get creds as a Ares HTR specialty unit called in for Forensics? I think it will be better if we can control the scene." He strokes a finger across his chin. "Helmets or Ballistic Masks should be enough to hide our faces since we want to hit the street unknown. And the high clearance will keep Knight Errant from asking to many questions as to while we're wearing them on the scene."

He looks over the drone video for a moment. "I can give more answers to exactly what happened once we get on scene and I can analyze the evidence."

[Koshnek]

After entering the room, Thorn stood near the door at attention. He didn't want to draw any more attention to himself, but he also wanted to be as professional as possible to help make up for his tardiness. "I appreciate the mental feed, Detective. We can closer her down now, if you like."

(Thorn picked up on some dark emotion from John through the link, but Thorn was too focused on the meeting to mind it. The gruesome imagery didn't have much of an effect on Thorn either. His only priority is the Ares citizen that's still alive, and any concern felt would be towards Elden).

Thorn stayed silent for most of the meeting, going over the pieces. I'd like to get a look at those signatures.

"We're gonna need fast transport directly to the site. We land far enough away to not disturb evidence." He looks to the commander. "Anyway we can get creds as a Ares HTR specialty unit called in for Forensics? I think it will be better if we can control the scene." He strokes a finger across his chin. "Helmets or Ballistic Masks should be enough to hide our faces since we want to hit the street unknown. And the high clearance will keep Knight Errant from asking to many questions as to while we're wearing them on the scene."

He looks over the drone video for a moment. "I can give more answers to exactly what happened once we get on scene and I can analyze the evidence."

(A nearly imperceptible feeling of approval floated through Thorn's consciousness in response to John's words). He nodded in agreement and finally spoke up. "John is right, Sir. I'd like to get on the scene as quickly as possible. There's no immediate indicator that magic was used in this hit, but if it was a runner team then it's also unlikely that there wasn't magic involved. The sooner I get to the scene, the more likely I am to be able to discover and read any signatures left behind by the perps. Barring that, a scene this violent is also likely to carry strong emotions that could help us find our man. We need to move out ASAP." He paused a moment to consider whether or not he should bring his fixer into the mission. "I also know a guy in Seattle. He's not a big shot, but he has his hands in a lot of pies. It's possible that he has some information on this if it happened in the barrens. I'll make contact en route."