[Aria]

[Thursday June 18th, 2076, ~09:32, Nacht, London Below, London]
 
As the group settle down to a restless sleep, or other downtime activity, the wait continues…the wait for their acquaintances to establish contact, the wait to see if they are ambushed again, the wait to see if infighting will rift the group further apart…
 
A message pinged on Al’s link
 
<<@Al [Silk]: I’ve made contact with eTher and as you’ve no doubt guessed she is very interested in your package.  She has proposed a meet with either herself or one of her agents, location of your choosing.  I can set one up for you but London isn’t really my back yard and I don’t have many contacts there.  Do you want me to make further arrangements?  She is happy for you to contact her directly if you so choose, you have her code I believe?>>
 
The Draco Foundation have yet to get back to Vicki, but then it’s damn early across the pond…
 
***
_#41
 
 
 

[adamu]

<<if it hasn't changed, then yes I've got it. If we meet, then it's with her, not some agent. She can bring who else she wants. Guess we'll take it from here, though. Reckon I owe you (another) one.>>

Al looked around. Through the open bedroom doors, he could at least partially see all four family members where they slept. Some of the runners had crashed in shifts. Neither of the Bobsey Twins had reappeared.

Not wanting to wake anyone needlessly, he motioned to those that were awake to gather around.

"Okay, my girl says Dragon Lady is extremely innerested. In fact, she says she'll come to a meet herself, an' we can choose the where. I'm gonna contact 'er directly once we decide our play."

Where was that girl with the cigarettes?

"Now obviously we don't take the family to the meet, but I also say we do have 'em somewhere real close, so if we does strike a deal we can move straight fer the hand-off. That'll mean most of us stayin' to pertect 'em, an' just a couple goin' to chat. One'll be me, since we know each other. Then whichever o' y'all has the best business sense an' the levelest head. An' another thing, we do what we need ta do defensively, but no funny stuff at the meet - no hackin' the counterparty, no ghost-world creepy-crawly - we play it straight an' don't risk blowin' the deal."

He braced for the argument and analysis, but tried to remind himself that was a good thing.

"So what we need is ta pick the spot. Sooner we do, sooner ol' Al can make the call."

[gilga]

"I won't try to stop you. If you are successful and come to an understanding - great. If anyone can manage such an eye to eye talk it's you.
But be aware that you might cost us her goodwill - such as we have left.
When we started we had four mages on the team - now we are reduced to you and Goodnight. We really can't afford to lose more magical fire power or make more enemies. And don't forget the fact that Goodnight could reasonably claim that you yourself are not entirely sane either - or anyone else left on this team."
Isaint made a very light hip thrust at his last words and winked at Solo.
"But if people behave as you expect them to behave, I'd still say: Trust and expect her to behave like any other member of the team and allow her to play to her strengths. As I said before: Respect is what is keeping this group together so far. Being exiled to the dog house does neither this nor that."

"I understand where you are coming from, lets see how it plays out. Being beaten to unconsciousness by your own sister in front of anyone probobly means that it will be awkward to show her face again. Lets see if she will even come tonight, spirits are not known for their mastery of medic kits - and they typically mojo their way out of problems even when it is not the right tool.

Everything I said comes from respect to us and to her. Like you guessed I know a thing or two about losing my marbles. I do not like it and I am not trying to hide it. There is no scenario where I decide to use violence against my teammate.  In fact, I am a bit surprised of my emotional response to the manner. - and I completely agree with everything you said about mages - they do not seem to last in our group. I hope it is not a bad omen for myself. I think we should just sleep it off - we are all exhausted"
By the way... I like your new look by the way - you seem completely different. I bet people rarely recognize and if you change your behaviour a little bit - you would be completely like a new person. "
 
He said as he started getting ready to sleep.

[gilga]

<<if it hasn't changed, then yes I've got it. If we meet, then it's with her, not some agent. She can bring who else she wants. Guess we'll take it from here, though. Reckon I owe you (another) one.>>

Al looked around. Through the open bedroom doors, he could at least partially see all four family members where they slept. Some of the runners had crashed in shifts. Neither of the Bobsey Twins had reappeared.

Not wanting to wake anyone needlessly, he motioned to those that were awake to gather around.

"Okay, my girl says Dragon Lady is extremely innerested. In fact, she says she'll come to a meet herself, an' we can choose the where. I'm gonna contact 'er directly once we decide our play."

Where was that girl with the cigarettes?

"Now obviously we don't take the family to the meet, but I also say we do have 'em somewhere real close, so if we does strike a deal we can move straight fer the hand-off. That'll mean most of us stayin' to pertect 'em, an' just a couple goin' to chat. One'll be me, since we know each other. Then whichever o' y'all has the best business sense an' the levelest head. An' another thing, we do what we need ta do defensively, but no funny stuff at the meet - no hackin' the counterparty, no ghost-world creepy-crawly - we play it straight an' don't risk blowin' the deal."

He braced for the argument and analysis, but tried to remind himself that was a good thing.

"So what we need is ta pick the spot. Sooner we do, sooner ol' Al can make the call."

"Lets meet her in the matrix, she is a matrix animal it will feel just as real for her. We only bring the package when we have a deal with some seriousness money prepaid to torrent. To reduce the risk of being crossed.  But we cannot stay here for much longer -  we need a new locations, I am sending my watchers to look for Goodnight and Vicki.  They cannot be very far, I do not like not having them sleeping in the locked room of safety."


He then ordered S4 and S5 to go search for the girls.

Search power (watchers): 2#11d6t5 4 4

[pistolgrip]

Aaron is asleep against the wall of the room where the doctor sleeps--after all, doors would be an amateur's entrance--never one to pass up on unchallenged sleep. He hadn't gotten much sleep in Al's shop, though perhaps more than the others. This was his chance to catch up. As long as all the whirling robots or flying ghosts made their noise when someone approached, there wasn't too much to worry about in the way of surprises. Still, he kept his body armor on and his helmet nearby, his bow and arrows in the corner at his feet and his Taurus in the holster lying next to him. His eyes half-opened as Al whispered something to some of the others, but nobody went for their weapons so he assumed it was all clerical or strategic nonsense that he could ask about tomorrow.

[Jack_Spade]

Isaint grinned at Solo: "I'm glad we understand each other. And the new look: Yeah, I like to change my natural face - especially if I have potential contact with dragon minions. Wouldn't want them to connect me with my real life ID. But I'm not much of an actor. There is just to much me in there."

Isaint had slept uneasily during his shift and had woken up on the carpeted floor next to Spike. Al's call made him kip up and walk over. After rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he once again fished his contact from their cleaning solution and inserted them with a small grunt of pain.

"Great news Al. Now, what Solo says makes sense. A matrix meet would probably be the safest and easiest solution. In any case I don't think we should invite them to London Below. If they want a real life meeting, we should go for the nearest entrance to the catacombs. We'll have the family and our guards wait downstairs. If a third party intervenes we can run and lead them away.
Now, that's were we'd need our expert on the Underground and its exits. Seems as if the Baby-Vamp hit her harder than she wanted."


#134
 

[gilga]

Solo thinks, "They freaking gave us her link, why am I using mojo to solve my problems... I am becoming a mage. creepy! "

Solo then texts Nitro >> Hey rigger buddy, we should get going soon. We are now looking for Goodnight as we'll need a guide.
And Vicki: >> Hey Vicki - do you think your sister can be moved in the coming hours? we want to get the balls rolling and I'd hate to put you in harms way. We want to be ready to move quickly.


>> Dear Goodnight-
Are you up yet? How is that headache? I hope you feel better, Yesterday was an emotional roller-coaster not only for you... Listen we need to talk about this, *behavior*, but before that we have work issues -we need to move ourselves. Please call me when you wake up, we need your best self at our side.
Yours truly,
Solo.

[adamu]

Dammit - everyone and their uncle wanted to meet in the matrix. Hell, he knew Fairy Twinkle Dragon liked it that way too. Well, this was a job, not a dadblamed pleasure outing. It was a good thing he hadn't eaten much recently.

It occurred to him then that they could just make a deal on the phone, skip the whole meet step and if all went well fast-forward to a hand-off. But that left the Doc's interests pretty much out of the equation, and in that light a virtual meet was best anyway.

"Alrighty, then, we ask fer a matrix meet. She likes those anyway. Not only safer, but we can do it much quicker. An' the Doc can attend that way, negotiate his own package."

He was so eager for this thing to be done, he almost called her right then. But that wasn't the right way.

"So we do that, we can get this deal made right now. Then instead of hightailin' it fer some new temporary location, we can be hightailin' it for a handover site. So how long afore y'all can secure a safe spot inna matrix, where we won't git bushwhacked or backtracked? Fifteen minutes?"

Spike was awake now and came and licked the little man's hand by way of greeting.

"An' then we need the handover spot. Hunnerd percent agree somewhere near a bolthole back into the underdark here. Problem is, ol' Al ain't even sure how ta get out if he wanted to. Solo, you get that girl onna horn yet? And...has anyone got a blamed trode set?"

[gilga]

Solo looked at Al, an weighted his words carefully, finally he said: "I assume eTher to be a better Decker then I am. Modesty is an important quality if you want to stay alive. Know your own limits.   I'll run all the anti trace programs, buff my sleaze to the maximum and run silent. I will do anything I can to prevent a successful trace.

Still, Our work assumption should be that we were traced in that meeting and our location is exposed. This is why we are not meeting her before we are ready to jump to an alternative location. It will not necessarily be a drop location. Even to eTher it may take some legwork to get a deal approved. NeoNet may betray us despite eTher's own judgement -  she has her superiors and cooperation's are like that."

[Jack_Spade]

Isaint rustled through his pockets, recovering a slightly tangled trode net. "It's from my spare link.
Regarding security: To trace us they have to mark us. I can provide a Transsys with a module for smoke and mirrors as well as a high rating agent to check for MARKs. That should be enough to prevent them from localizing us. I also have a small contingent of agents whose only job it is to support the main agent. If I go into this on full defense, it should be pretty hard to unwittingly get us.
I don't know how competent our opponents are. Maybe we should run a test: You try to hack my system and get a trace on me. That's actually something I've wanted to test for a long time."


Running silent with Smoke and Mirrors: Log + Sneak + Full Matrix Defense= 9+5
Defense against Hack on the Fly: Int+Firewall+Full Matrix Defense= 14+5
Agent Cluster looking for MARKs: 12 +4 dice

[gilga]

"I do not mind to try" He takes a sit augments his logic and tries to hack the darn comlink." He struggle with the cluster of agents that seem to catch up very quickly, he almsot get in but then fail as one of these pesky agents discover his attempt.  "Close - but no cigar..." Say Solo disappointed. "I can augment your willpower for even harder defense, if you like."



Solo roll: logic (9) + skill (6) + adept skill (3) + hot sim (2) + brand loyalty (1) = 21 dice
Hack in hot sim: 21d6t5 6
(can agent assist hacking?)
Isaint roll: 19 dice ?
Defense vs hack: 19d6t5 6
no luck for Solo.

[Jack_Spade]

"As long as you won't give me a foot fetish at the same time, I'm all for it. A bit of extra concentration can't hurt. I'll also add the noise from my jammer to the program. That should limit further their ability to find us.
That means I'll slave your comms and act as router. Should we be marked, we all reboot immediately."
Isaint patted his link. 50k NY he had invested into the hardware had been worth it.

#136

[Kinkerbell]

Vicki returns, bearing gifts. Her small frame is weighed down with a good thirty kilos of assorted gear and sundries. In addition to beer, medicine, drugs, and water, she has two large paper bags that prove to contain food. One has two dozen skewers of heavily spiced, grilled meat, the other a massivr root vegetable and herb salad in a sharp dressing and a stack of flatbreads. Greek, the Below redux.

Food, drink, drugs, and meds go on the table in the lounge. She turns to Al and quips, "Don't say I never got you anything." Then she tosses him a metal cigarette case bearing the legend, "World's Best Grandpa." Two lighters and two packs of cigarettes accompany it. "Go ahead and eat, everyone. Theres minor league happy pills and long haul in the bag. Doctor, Id recommend you and yours take a vitamax and a zeta-interferon to boost your systems against Below."

She turns to Isaint and reaches behind her, coming up with another mesh bag. This one has four holsters and a handful of extra magazines. "Defiance EXes have wires. Liability in a fight, so I opted for Pulsars and extra darts." She explains. Then she hands over a single magazine for an Ares predator V. "Silver bullets. Im not the only bloodsucker Below."

Turning to Solo Vicki says without preamble, "She can move. She's meeting Nitro now. And you wont be putting me in harm's way. Get some chow and stop worrying about me."

***********

Nitro finds Goodnight's kip easily enough. Outside it doesn't look like much, but Flower opens the door as Nitro approaches, then steps aside to reveal a [/I]really nice three bedroom with real wood paneling. The floor is deep grey carpeting and the whole place smells of real roses. In the living room, lying on the couch in short nylon shorts and a white tanktop is Goodnight. There is a sheathed blade on the table in front of her as well, and a bottle of real beer, and a pistol broken down for cleaning.

She looks up as Nitro enters and tenses, but she doesnt try to kill him. Her hair- black now- shimmers as she brushes it back with one hand. "Hello, Nitro. Nice to see you again. Sit down. Beer?"

[adamu]

Al snatched the cigarette case out of the air, glanced at the inscription, then gratefully received the packs of smokes and two lighters.

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle...or a banshee's grandpa," he grinned. "I thank ye kindly." He gave her a tip of an invisible hat.

The smell of food had sleepers stirring.

"Now ol' Al hates ta look a gift horse an' all that, but another thing we could use, an' lickety split, is the quickest way up to the surface. Someplace we can reach quick, a place topside where we can plan a handoff, but also beat a fast retreat back down here if'n it goes south on us."

[Jack_Spade]

Isaint grinned as he received the bullets. "Thanks, an additional clip can't hurt. As for the wires, you maybe right, but they lack that extra bit of punch to knock someone out of the fight without a perfect hit. Besides the Defiance can be used as a melee taser. But never mind, if they have to use them, we probably have other things to worry about and they will do to calm and give them confidence."
With practiced movements he removed the heavy pistol ammunition from the magazine and restocked them into a spare one from his Savalette.
Then he took the four tasers and brought them over to the family:
"Early Christmas presents for you." In return he collected his own tasers and let them vanish under his coat.