[Volker]

bnc takes up the commlink. "Now, let's see what you are, little fella...
"Krestov, it'll take me a couple of ticks till I'm done raping this little slut here. Why don't you have a look at the rest of the 5^th floor while I'm working? Especially the room left to the elevater - 523F - might prove interesting. I'll stay right where I am, so ka?"

With that, bnc lets herself sink into a char, establishes a physical connection to the Fairlight Caliban, and browses through its contents: SIN, store, protocols, logs, ...

[Jack_Spade]

bnc was quickly disapointed: This was Schmitt's Fairlight, allright, but it had been reset to factory settings. This included the activation of a security app that overwrote everything with random crap, before deleting itself again.
But considering the rest of the space it wasn't that surprising. Whatever secret data they had had up here, had been professionally destroyed.

523F proved to be a mess. Tom Preston's living quarters had been thoroughly thrashed. Yet the troll had a distinctive advantage to the intruders: He could see at eye level to the air duct. There, sheltered behind the grill, lay a small package. Closer inspection revealed the still silently running Transsys com.
Beside that, quite a lot of designer suits lay strewn across the floor and some small clear plastic bags, that seemed to contain Preston's stash of exec-nose candy.

[Volker]

bnc makes a face, then slides the commlink into her pocket.
"Strange it is!", she cries out to Krestov. "I touched Schmitt's commlink, and poof! it vanished into thin air. Oh, what vile magic strives beneath the tides of the mighty ocean!
"Hath thou found something, oh my mighty hero and slayer of dragons?"

If Krestov hands her the new (and more interesting) link, she again extracts the cable from her jack, and plugs it in. There must be something of interest!

[SgtBoomCloud]

Krestov first gave pause at the weapons locker, eyeing and taking inventory of the impressive set of weaponry behind lock and proverbial key.  Hearing bnc's suggestion, he nodded and went through the floor, stopping at Preston's office.  His scans spotted the commlink first, then the suits and the drugs.  hmm...

He took the link (present for bbc) and one of the suits (present for Torrent) when he heard the dramatic statement from their hacker.  Smirking, he stopped back in the room, holding up the Transys.  "Open lock for weapons, you get new toy?". Regardless of her answer, the troll then went to do a quick scan over  the remaining rooms on the floor.

[Jack_Spade]

The Transsys proved to be a treasure trove: Preston had left a pletora of information on his device. A quick skim showed that he had been a somewhat high ranking Ares exec, tasked with ensuring, that S-K wouldn't siphon of any research data. Most important were the passcodes and passphrases to use the lifeline terminal that now lay destroyed. But there were also the override keys to open the submarine hangar.

His last unfinished report voiced concerns about the base security and requested a team of dedicated security mages. He also complained over the delays and obstruction from the S-K higher ups.

All in all the workday in this underwater base seemed to consist of 30% work and 70% intrigue and counterespionage.
No wonder, that the joint-venture wasn't performing as expected.

But there was one thing that did catch bnc's attention: Preston suspected that a female staff member was a spy for a third corporation and that she used alchemical stuff. He didn't elaborate how he came to that conclusion, beside the fact that he had found some incriminating evidence in one of the women restrooms (no elaboration what he had done there or why).

Krestov made a quick tour through the other rooms, but besides more expensive clothing and other personal knickknacks there wasn't anything of value - no wonder, after all you couldn't spend anything here or go out somewhere.

[Volker]

bnc shrugs. "I don't know. I know my Tommy, and I don't think I can handle something new. Last time you gave me your toy to play with, things turned weird..."
She winks, than dives into the virtual space.

"That's interesting..."

Just to be safe (and to give opponents less reason to geek her), she sends one copy to Krestov, Slobbertooth and Torrent. She also stores the information on her deck, before she unplugs the commlink and stores it in a pocket.

Well, and now? If we can trust him, that might narrow down the namens from three to two, on the assumption that Quin is male, and Tanja and Pita are female. Still, that doesn't help us a lot...

bnc skims through any protocols regarding the hired security mages: whether they arrived, who they were, anything. She also tries to get some data abou Pita and Tanja. If that fails, she rises and says: "Okay, eight-six-eight-two, time to join our buddies at Jonas. I'm not sure this was very helpful, but at least I found the passcode for the hangar."

[SgtBoomCloud]

Krestov responded to her humorous jibes with little more than an acknowledging smirk, the troll focused on the task of rooting around the rest of the floor.  Upon his return, he gave a nod to her as she sent out the information she received.  "Well done.  And the weapon locker?  That could give us edge against remaining opposition.  Plus, need present for Slobbertooth.  I can break if can't open normally?"

Flipping on his transceiver, his deep voice crackled through to the others.  "We are almost done up here.  Have present for you, Slob.  How is decker?"

[Jack_Spade]

There were no details on the mages - probably because there hadn't been any approved.

Krestov looked upon the locker. There was the fingerprint lock with the green light indicating functionality and right next to it the dead guard with its outstretched hand. If this were an adventure game the combine button would probably flash like mad now.

--

Down at the Jonas Pods Schmitt had waited for a second if his hired specialists wanted to interrogate the spider. When they didn't he took the initiative:
"You have been seriously wounded and are now in an emergency unit, undergoing surgery. We are under siege. Multiple intruders - probably Atztech sponsored have been neutralized, but we suspect there to be a mole. This mole is probably a blood mage. As long as the mage is active there seems to be a very powerful blood spirit preventing egress from the base. And we don't want to be still here when their reinforcements arrive.
So we need three things:
- My hired decker needs security access to Tartaros
- We need to know if you can identify the mage
- We need you to pull through"

The projected image went silent for a second before it answered:
"Are you fucking kidding me? For the last year we have again and again asked for a security mage here and your fucking corp has again and again vetoed this decision. And now we have the drek."
"This was not my decision, although I did voice my concerns regarding Ares' current... vermin problem. And for the record: Ares did not want an S-K owned mage on this premises. So, can you help us?"
"I... I guess. Let me check something."
The animated face distorted into a grimace of pain.
"Ugh. It hurts. It shouldn't hurt in VR. What did you do to me?"
"You had trauma to your head. It's possible that there are interface problems."
"Interface problems my ass. Ok. I took a quick look at the security footage comparing it to my bio monitor.
So far this all checks out. I take it your decker is that little girl on the 5th?"
"Correct."
"I'm sending her the authorization key, but I have locked down access to the other hosts. You never know with those kids - they just have to stick there nose in other peoples business."
"Don't forget drone control."
"I haven't. I activated the emergency protocol. Drones belong to Tartaros now."
"Well done. So, can you tell us about the blood mage?"
"Yes, I've reconstructed the last waking moments of my partner. It was this L.A. bitch Tanja. She's got some funky knife on her, but I can't see her on the cameras. Maybe she's invisible."
"No, she is shackled with the other workers in the big lab."
"Not from my perspective. Good thing you put one of your men into that big ass military armor. At least he can't easily be stabbed in the back that way..."

[SgtBoomCloud]

"...Ah...never mind...". Came out of Krestov's mouth as he put two and two together.  Having a thick skull had its advantages when getting attacked, but unfortunately not so for problem solving.  Nodding his head, the big guybknelt down and locked up the guard by the wrist, bringing the thumb print up to the reader.  A coupek beeps came from the interface, followed by a click, and the locker swung open.  Grinning ever so slightly, he snapped a picture of the arsenal and sent it to Slobbertooth's commlink before loading up.  Packing two of the Alphas into his pack along withmost of the clips, he did a quick weapons check on the remaining rifle, making sure all parts worked and linking up the smartguj software before loading a clip of regular ammuniton. 

Turning back to bnc, he nodded again.  "Ready to go.  Repeat, what is status of Jonas team?"

[Volker]

Scheiße!

"Take care! The slitch has occupied the giant armor!"

She nods towards Krestov. "Ready to go. Let's move."
She takes a deep breath. While running down the stairs with Krestov, she checks whether everything is where it should be: The deepweed in her jacket, the Golden Mirror in her pocked, and her gun in the holster.
[color]A frickin' blood mage! Why on Earth did I not stay with Kerstin?[/color]

[SgtBoomCloud]

!!

"Сукин сын! No time wasting.  Take Alpha if want, but need go.  Stay behind me." And with that, the troll was off, his large steps bounding with an alarming speed as he boomed into the comms.

"On way intercepting.  Any info on armor capability requested.  Otherwise, moving to neutralize!"  His thoughts turned to the gun in his hand...if this armor was half as good as he'd imagined, it would only serve limited success...Hope my spar training hasn't suffered lately...

[Jack_Spade]

"WHAT!" Schmitt's calm demeanor broke.
"That's not one of ours. She... goddamnit... now we have a bloodmage with power armor on the loose.
Close the bulkheads. NOW!"

[Volker]

Let's see whether she falls for the same trick... I would hate having to fight a decker if I wasn't me.

"Carry me, big 'un. I got some work to do!"
bnc flings herself in Krestov's arms, again, and leaves her body. You start to realize that VR is a very good place to escape to if your 19 year old body is as broken as a 70 year old one.

In VR, she's herself again. With ease, she infiltrates the weapon she already began to feel used to. Don't you dare playing with my toys, bloody whore!
She overrides the boot sector, catching it in an endless loop, then gives the command to shut the whole system down. Well, you can still use it. As a club.

"At least it's an unarmed power armor. Don't tell her, but psst, I broke her toy. The MG shouldn't be of any use to her now. So, now it's only a power armor with a blood mage inside..."

[SgtBoomCloud]

Krestov gave a nod, cradling the little Decker between his shield and his chest, his breath flaring through his nostrils as he bounded down stairs and ran through halls, making his way down to the sighted location.  He nodded as the face of bnc's persona appeared in his peripherals, delivering the message.

"Understood.  When close and out of sight, will deposit you with Alpha.  Krestov not need.   Objective will be secured.  Torrent, Slobbertooth, when I engage, give flanking firing.  Worry not me.""
Going down the last few steps, Krestov focused his senses, slowing his breath as he repeated the maxims of his training in his head.  Resolve.  Honor.  Service.  Justice.  This mage was responsible for much, and Krestov would be the point of the spear of retribution.

No regrets.

[Volker]

"No, you shithead, you're carajo not engaging a battle-armored blood mage! Did you not listen? Pay fucking attention before you go dragon-slaying!
"This - is - a - blood mage. If she see's there's a troll coming, she might fling a Thought Control spell at you and you'll eat my innards before I can say 'eight-six-eight-two'. Stay put!
"We can't and we shouldn't engage her openly. But we have an advantage over her: information. She doesn't even have a commlink, and if I were her, I wouldn't trust my biomonitor either." A smirk returns in bnc's voice, but jsut for a split-second.
"We have a map ARO with her every movement transmitted directly from the dreaning clones sensor via my deck into your line of sight. She doesn't even know yet that her HMG will do nothing when she hits the trigger."
I need time. Fuck! I didn't want to lock that bitch up with the other hostages, but we need a couple of minutes!
bnc shuts down the security door. She inhales, then proceeds:
"Let's build a trap. The cleaning drones can set off explosives. Do we have some? Anything else we can build a trap with?"