[Volker]

MacC empties the remnants of his beer and picks up his Guinness. "Good. He is punctual."

He then stands up (which actually makes him smaller) and files in the queue - not at the front and not in the rear, if possible. Preferrably somewhere behind Dave. As Mr. Johnson skips the greeting and introduction phase, so does Mac. He curtly nods - you can't fight how you're brought up in the end - and slowly walks to a seat on Mr. Johnsons left (not directly next to him). While doing so, he examines him closely, astral senses still active. He waits for the others to take their seats.

[8-bit]

"Binary hu?  Decker?"

"You got it." Binary says with a smile.

"Good. He is punctual."

My thoughts exactly. Binary finishes his drink and follows the hostess.

As they arrive at the room, Binary takes a seat on the right of the Johnson, closest to the entrance. He looks thoughtful for a moment before mentally calling up a display while the others take their seats.

|| Renraku Tsurugi Cyberdeck - Unit 31-02E-A5 ||

/Search for hidden icons

-- Command Confirmed --

Searching...

[Imveros]

Sterling finishes the last of his drink and starts to follow the hostess

"Excellent. I was starting to think maybe the hostess or the bartender was going to be our man. I like to keep my business and pleasure more separate than that.

As the group enters the hallway

"Well gents here is the hard part. Wish us luck"

Sterling enters the room and scans the area, looks over Mr. Johnson, and takes an open seat

[RagallachMC]

The man waits for the group to take their seats.  Dave's chair creaks and groans, but finally seems to accept the Troll's weight. 

"I represent a grassroots, traditional values organization.", he pauses, looking at Dave and Mac. "We are a metahuman and Awakened friendly organization, I assure you."

He reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a stack of small paper rectangles.  Business cards.  Old school, paper, non-RFID tagged business cards.  He slides one to each runner.  Embossed on each card is:

Families Against Morally Indecent and Lawless Youths
PO Box 6604
Tacoma, UCAS

There's also a Matrix link and a commcode.  There is no name printed on the cards.

"Our organization provides outreach to troubled youths in and around Tacoma and tries to offer at-risk children another path besides crime and the ganger lifestyle.  We've been making headway, until recently."

He pauses for a second, "The first thing we noticed was an increase in 'undesirables' in our neighborhoods.  Drifters, addicts and the SINless.  Then we noticed that some of the kids in our programs stopped coming.  Some of them turned up dead, the rest we're not sure where they are.  Probably out of their minds."

"We worked some of our street people to see what was going on.  There's a new BTL out on the streets and it's supposedly very desirable and very addictive.  No one we know knows where they're coming from or who's distributing them."

"We went to Knight Errant, and they were skeptical at first and dismissive later.  They either don't know about the severity of the problem, or they're trying to hide it.  Meanwhile, kids are dying on the streets."

He pauses again, "So here we are.  I would like to hire you to find out who is behind these new BTLs and put a stop to them.  For this service we will pay 32,000 nuyen.  If you can grab a few samples of the BTL so that we can turn them over to Knight Errant, they'll be a 10,000 nuyen bonus.  I'm afraid that price is firm.  We are a non-profit organization, and it took some 'creative bookkeeping' to free up that much."

"When our organization decided to go this route, we worked our contacts to find a certain type of Shadowrunner.  Ones that were just starting out because of the money.  But more importantly, runners that have a conscience.  After all, we're talking about kids here."

"What do you think?  Will you do it?"

[8-bit]

|| Renraku Tsurugi Cyberdeck - Unit 31-02E-A5 ||

-- No Hidden Icons Detected --
-- Visible Icons Detected --

Rating 2 Terminal - No MARKs Detected - Last Command: /send message
Rating 4 Commlink - Connected to Global Grid: NeoNET - Last Command: /reboot

Satisfied that no one was listening in on them, Binary settled down and waited.

"What do you think?  Will you do it?"

The man had handed him a business card. A business card, for Ghost's sake! Who even uses those these days? Binary glances at it and sets up a quick search on the Matrix address. Meanwhile, he says, "I hate to see kids dying and being abused, but you will understand if I am somewhat cautious, of course. What other information do you have about this new BTL business? If it's being run by the Mafia or the Yakuza, that would be a greater undertaking than, say, an outlet being run by independent dealers."

|| Renraku Tsurugi Cyberdeck - Unit 31-02E-A5 ||

/search public.FAMILY.ucas

Searching...

[RagallachMC]

The man had handed him a business card. A business card, for Ghost's sake! Who even uses those these days? Binary glances at it and sets up a quick search on the Matrix address. Meanwhile, he says, "I hate to see kids dying and being abused, but you will understand if I am somewhat cautious, of course. What other information do you have about this new BTL business? If it's being run by the Mafia or the Yakuza, that would be a greater undertaking than, say, an outlet being run by independent dealers."

"We have no information about who is behind this.  All we can infer is that they are in Tacoma somewhere, since that's where all the 'undesirables' are migrating to.  And based on the number of deaths we've seen and heard about, there must be a good sized supply of the BTLs.  That would indicate an organization of some size."

[Volker]

MacC frowns deeply, then remarks in his rather deep and pleasent voice: "Clearly you are not indicating that we'd be supposed to run against an organization of the wealth and power of the Yakuza or an AA corp for mere 8000 nuyen, are you? The job you are offering is worth 12000 at least without a real powerful organizsation behind it. But you are right - we are, and I hope I can speak for you guys too, decent runners, so I am willing to accomodate you.

"Here's what I suggest, and I can only speak for myself: I'll take the run as you suggested, given we're not talking about the real big fish. If we find out this "organization of some size" is one of "international size", you add some ten kay. If it's not merely international but world-wide - like the Yakuza or something - that's another 10k more for the lot of us. Plus five kay extra for anyone - blessed be their souls - who doesn't live to receive the payment. You know, proper funeral costs and such."

Let's hope the nervosity I sensed means he has never worked with runners before and is not experienced in haggling. His price may be fixed, but maybe there's a loophole where I can circumflex this fixed price and yet dig out some well-needed creds. Crow, don't leave me now!

[Raven Runner]

Dave

Dave thinks for a minute...running various options through her head...

Hmmm..."I like Kids...but not like that...kids like me too...well not really, but they would if they got to know me...look, I'll shoot at stuff that shoots at kids alright?  I mean...but only if you pay me of course...actually I'll shoot anyone if you pay me, but not kids...unless they are bad kids...um..."

Yeah, maybe not talking is a good plan right now...

She sits there and tries to look serious, but not too intimidating, maybe friendly?  So basically she just sits there

[Imveros]

Sterling waits for the Johnson to finish his pitch

Time to make some money

A new node opens on the Matrix. Was Sterling's suit always that well cut? the node grows brighter. A pleasant smell waifs towards everyone's noses. Was Sterling's chin always that square? Huh I swear he wasn't that tall in the last room. I bet he has something really interesting to say

Like taking candy from a baby. Isn't Biology grand?

Sterling looks Mr. Johnson right in the eyes

"We all sympathize with your plight. These kids only crime is not being born to rich and powerful parents. We want to help you, but you have to help us help you"

A soft look crosses Sterling's face as he gestures to the assembled team

"It's obvious that you are out of your element here. The perspiration on your brow and that out of place heater on your back are testaments to your normally docile nature. Still every father rises to the occasion when his children are threatened. It must be a problem of the most dire nature to bring you here in the first place. I will do you a favor and tell you how the shadows work. It's not all trid glitz and glamor. We go to this rough part of town, find a dealer, you think he is going to turn on his boss for "warm fuzzie feelings"? I take a piece of lead from some ganger tracking down a lead for you. Sadly my street doc stopped taking "I really appreciate its" last week. These cloths, his deck, his fetishes, her weapons, we didn't win them in a raffle.  All of this and more take big piles of cred. You said we were new. That's true, but you don't pay a newly graduated neurosurgeon a walk in clinic docs wage. We may be new to the streets, but we have years of unique experience solving problems just like yours in our own special ways. We could take your payment, and cut corners to keep our margins up and get the job done. After all bodies are cheaper than bribes, a broken nose more cost effective than tactfully asked questions with a proper disguise, live ammo easier to come by than stick n shock. However I'm fairly certain i know which you would prefer. We offer to turn your war zone back into a peaceful community. All we need are the resources to get it done right the first time 

Sterling picks up the business card, looks at it, and puts it away into his suit pocket

"I know that running a non profit these days must be hard. People aren't buying tote bags like they used to. The margins must be razor thin, and when they aren't you expand or invest till they are. But by the sound of things this cartel of yours will shut you down even quicker than a sudden large expense will. How much is your organization, your community, your legacy worth? I'm willing to bet its worth a little more than 32 large, but i could be wrong...

Sterling extends both of his hands toward the Johnson in a brotherly gesture

"Help us help you"

[Volker]

What the fuck am I doing here? Is this what the years in the shadows made out of me? I started this biz because I didn't want a corp to force me into becoming a hermetic, not because I would let kids die of a drug, because a non-profit is not offering the same amount an AAA megacorp would offer.
Crap, Mac, it's time you meat some normal people and...

He listens to Sterling's speech with a mixture of awe and disgust. Wow, this one knows what he's doing. Compared to him I'm but a kid in terms of manipulation. Mac, be aware of him. His tongue may prove more powerful than your magic.

Mac suddenly feels ashamed of trying to wrench out the last nuyen of this man, but knows better than to admit it. If I show that I'm swayed so easily, I'm prey.

So he listens to the negotiation, trying to hide the sour expression on his face.

[RagallachMC]

Johnson tries to keep a poker face while Sterling works his magic, but you can see a line of sweat roll down his face and his shoulders sag slightly.  When Sterling is done, he wipes his forehead again and then reaches into another jacket pocket.  He places a silver Credstick on the table and slides it to Sterling.

"That's 20,000 nuyen of my own money.  Upfront.  For this amount of nuyen, I expect a swift resolution."

[Imveros]

Sterling reaches out for the cred stick, nods to Dave Binary and MacC and puts it in his coat pocket

"I have made you a lot of promises, and with this money i guarantee we will make good on all of them. We will remove this cancer from your streets. Rest at ease Mr Johnson your family will be safe soon."

Sterling straightens his coat and puts his hands down on the table in front of him

"Now that that little bit of unpleasantness is out of the way, tell us everything you do know about the group. You said you don't know who they are, but do you know where they operate? Tacoma is a big place. Are we talking  Fife, Milton, Northeast Tacoma, Kent? Or is it right on your door step? The sooner we find a lead, the sooner we can get you your swift resolution."

[Volker]

Mac swallows, but keeps his professional expression. After Sterling's questions he adds: "Do you have youths in your organization who take these Beetles? Do you know addicts or even dealers? What kind of youths are especially attracted to this drug?"

[RagallachMC]

Johnson straightens himself back before speaking, "We do not know who is behind these new BTL's.  That's why you're here to find them and to stop them.  And as to where, these new chips are all over Tacoma now.  I wouldn't be surprised if they've spread into other parts of the metroplex by now.  But the distribution hub is definitely in Tacoma somewhere.  But I don't know where that might be.  That's how you're going to earn some of that money I just gave you."

He turns his attention to Mac, "it's the usual types if people that fall prey to these new chips.  BTL junkies, SINless, drifters.  But they used to stay in their places.  Now they've overrun certain parts of Tacoma."

"I can give you the contact information of a couple locals who have fallen prey to these new BTLs.  But, I don't think they'll be much use.  We've tried to get in contact with them recently and they won't answer their comm.  Their addresses are most likely dead ends, too.  Their living situations are 'fluid' to say the least.  But if you think it will help I will give you the information."

[Imveros]

"Tacoma is a big place, we will take any leads you have for us, dead end or not. If they are as wide spread as you believe though we should be able to pick up their scent from there. That seems to sum up our meeting though"

Sterling looks to each of the runners one at a time and then gestures to the group

"Anyone have any questions? Mr Johnson's time is valuable and we have a drug cartel to dismantle and a neighborhood to save"