[Tecumseh]

Once the demolitions work is complete, Sam and Ace head off to plant the charges. Katsina stays behind to do dishes and pack up the leftovers from dinner. Can't let anything go to waste, she thinks, mentally reviewing their supplies. Five male metahumans, two exceptionally large, one badly wounded - by me no less - winter environment... 35,000 calories a day? 40,000? She exhales, her breath forming frost and miniature icicles on the inside of her mask.

Doc returns to the van so that he can resume his Matrix search on Jäger. He shuts the door behind him, trying to seal off the frigid winter night outside. Rubbing his hands together, he fires up the satellite uplink. The signal is noisy to the point of making him vaguely motion sick but it is far better than having no signal at all.

Slowly, cruelly, over the next few hours the fragments of a story begin to emerge.

>>>>>(Jäger, Jessica. Pet license #A:LKJSDF-88956. Dog, Doberman Pinscher, "Gizmo". Neutered. Shots received. Denver Humane Society, January 7, 2073.)<<<<<

>>>>>(Jäger, Paaj Tsov. Born April 8, 2071. Mother: Jäger, Jessica. Father: Jäger, Hans.)<<<<<

>>>>>(Jäger, Arick Tsov. Born April 19, 2067. Mother: Jäger, Jessica. Father: Jäger, Hans.)<<<<<

>>>>>(Diploma. Jäger, Jessica. Ph. D., Theoretical Magic. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Thaumaturgy, May 27, 2068.)<<<<<

>>>>>(Marriage license. Tsov, Jessica to Jäger, Hans. Boston, UCAS, December 14, 2064.)<<<<<

>>>>>(Diploma. Tsov, Jessica. Masters, Metaplanar Studies. Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, May 18, 2064.)<<<<<

>>>>>(Diploma. Tsov, Jessica. Bachelor of Arts, Feng Shui. Whitman College, May 23, 2060. Magna cum laude.)<<<<<

>>>>>(Diploma, Tsov, Jessica. Overlake High School, June 20, 2054.)<<<<<

Before that, there is a major gap in the public records. It's only after two hours of sifting through old databases - Miracle they weren't lost in Crash 2.0, Doc thinks to himself - that he finally finds a clue that seems to tie into some of the rumors he found earlier on Jackpoint.

>>>>>(Refugee. Tsov, NFN NMI. Age Unknown. Parents unknown, likely deceased. Origins unknown. Ethnicity: Hmong/Laotian/Chinese. Recommend immediate quarintine and innocculation. Recommend immediate baptism. Recommended baptismal name: Jescha Teresa Tsov. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Church, Woodinville, Seattle, UCAS. September 5, 2040.)<<<<<

[Poindexter]

Sam sits and listens to the conversation. He's already ashamed at having had to ask Doc for help setting up those relatively simple traps earlier. His mind had felt clouded and his fingers felt thick and fumbling. It had taken literally everything he had to keep himself from letting his frustrations get the better of him. He really just wanted to crush the damn detonator after his third failed attempt at properly wiring the firing relays, but instead he just closed his eyes, took a deep breath and passed it over his shoulder to the genius human without a word. A few minutes later, Doc wordlessly passed it back to him, perfectly assembled and ready to rumble. Motherfucker Sam is starting to wonder exactly what he's good for anymore. He's been too wrapped up in his own bullshit to even really pay much attention to the goings on of the rest of the team. On some level, he's beginning to suspect that he's only really useful for when the bullets start flying, but now... He's not even so certain about that anymore.

"It stings to leave money on the table, but ¥250,000 isn't anything to be upset about. In our prior lives, I think we all would have considered that a pretty good payday. And, as Doc says, it's enough to start over. Time is not on our side here."

"Sure." says the beast in a defeated tone. "Whatever." He stays seated with his eyes closed, trying to learn to identify each of his team-mates by aura alone.

"And as long as coming back with our tail between our legs is an option that's on the table, we might want to consider Sam's Johnson." She looks at Sam, uncertain if he'll be offended by the notion. "Obviously they parted on hostile terms, and the Johnson may be responsible for some of the crews coming after us, but we don't even have to represent ourselves as being associated with Sam. We could pose as, ah, troubleshooters that relieved Sam of the artifact, found the Johnson's commcode in Sam's records, and would like to deliver."

The former troll opens his eyes again and looks Katsina in hers. He wears an ambivalent frown on his monstrous face as he speaks. "Sure." A sigh. "Whatever." He looks around at the rest of the team and wonders if they're as tired as he is, as hungry as he is, as utterly empty and dead inside as he is. They simply must be. Poor bastards.

"Consider me to be in favor of whatever it takes to get this damn rock out of our lives."

[Tecumseh]

Katsina sees the weight on Sam's aura, the hopelessness.

She looks back at him on the astral. It gets better, she tries to tell him. What's conveyed is more the emotion, the sentiment, rather than the exact expression. She tries to make the sense of hope visible to him. This too shall pass.

But will he know that's what hope looks like? she wonders. Perhaps not, but it's a pleasing sight on the astral. It should be comforting all the same.

She hears the Hecate's words in her head again. What you do will not be enough, but it is very important that you do it. She repeats the sentiment for Sam, hoping he finds enough to cling on to to make it to the next day, and then the day after that.

[rednblack]

"Sure." says the beast in a defeated tone. "Whatever." He stays seated with his eyes closed, trying to learn to identify each of his team-mates by aura alone.

The former troll opens his eyes again and looks Katsina in hers. He wears an ambivalent frown on his monstrous face as he speaks. "Sure." A sigh. "Whatever." He looks around at the rest of the team and wonders if they're as tired as he is, as hungry as he is, as utterly empty and dead inside as he is. They simply must be. Poor bastards.

"Consider me to be in favor of whatever it takes to get this damn rock out of our lives."

[/quote]

"God damnit, Sam!" Ace says in an uncharacteristic outburst.  "You're beat to hell.  I get it.  Like everybody else here you have no idea who are, what this fucking thing does, or who is after us.  Like nobody else here, you're having to cope with a whole new set of issues brought on your recent infection.  You can't go out in the sun, your sweat dissolves clothes, you've gotta eat metas to live, and all of a sudden you've got that waggly-fingered drek clouding up your vision too.  And I don't get that.  I can't understand it, omae because I'm not in your shoes.  Even worse, you're dealing with it because I couldn't get next to you one motherfucking second sooner, and that's on me.  Really, Sam, I'm fucking sorry.  But I'm asking you to step the fuck up regardless.  You know the tactics.  You know security, and you're the one, fucking you, omae," Ace punctuates his point with an extended index finger, "who got us off that highway in one piece.  So can we drop the ho-hum bullshit, and figure this out as a team?  Cause otherwise, I don't think we have a chance."

[Poindexter]

For a brief moment, Sam feels the torrent of rage building up inside him again. He looks up at Ace, red starting to cloud the edges of his vision. He begins to bellow, "Yeah! I do know alot about-" before remembering the words of the bear this morning. This is the pack. They're the only family I have and I don't kill them. He stands up, closes his eyes again, takes a deep breath, then another one, and slowly starts to relax a bit. He opens his eyes again, more slowly this time, and continues speaking. One eye twitches a bit as he does, and it's obviously every bit of self control he can muster to keep his tone as even as it is. "I do indeed know a lot about tactics, shooting, and killing, but that is about the line where my skillset ends. When someone needs killing, I will be Right. Fucking. Here. Waiting-to-kill-them." At some point, unbeknownst to him, he'd stopped talking to Ace and started talking to Katsina. "But at this moment, the most useful thing I can do for the team is to further strengthen my resolve to not eat them." He's starting to get a little angry again by this point, so he caps his speech off by throwing his long, monstrous arms wide and facing the two of them, his head snapping back and forth between the two of them. "If either of you have any suggestions as to exactly what the fuck I ought be doing, I would love to hear them."

[Tecumseh]

Katsina doesn't have the gift of words. Not really. She doesn't know what to say that will calm Sam down or make him feel better about the future. Furthermore, now that he's Awakened she can't use her magic to relax him. First, he would notice; second, he would resist. He's already got the internal injuries to show for his last attempt at clawing through her spells. She hates the sight of the damage on his aura. No, this would have to be done the old-fashioned way: by changing the subject.

She decides to answer Sam's question, which may or may not be rhetorical but does have a valid response. "Why don't you set the charges that we need for the avalanche traps?" Katsina suggests. "You have more practical, hands-on experience explosives than anyone here. You can shape the charges for maximum effectiveness."

Katsina listens to Doc explain how the detonators will need to be triggered within 500 meters.

"If we're worried about proximity and possibly being caught up in the avalanche, I can set them off," Katsina says, looking around the circle to the men. "My mask has an air tank in case I get buried, and if I can't dig my way out then I can use mist form to free myself. I could create a Physical Barrier preparation to shield myself. If it doesn't hold, then avalanche itself might hurt but I'll mend. I always do."

She looks up at Sam, then to Ohanzee and Doc to back her up.

[Poindexter]

"Why don't you set the charges that we need for the avalanche traps?" Katsina suggests. "You have more practical, hands-on experience explosives than anyone here. You can shape the charges for maximum effectiveness."

Dropping his arms back to his sides, he answers her. "I'll get right to it."

"If we're worried about proximity and possibly being caught up in the avalanche, I can set them off," Katsina says, looking around the circle to the men. "My mask has an air tank in case I get buried, and if I can't dig my way out then I can use mist form to free myself. I could create a Physical Barrier preparation to shield myself. If it doesn't hold, then avalanche itself might hurt but I'll mend. I always do."

"I'm not worried, but if that's how you'd prefer to do it, feel free." he drones over his shoulder as he walks toward the van and his bag full of explosives.

[Malevolence]

Ohanzee, lost in his own thoughts, had been merely listening to the thoughts of the others as they spoke their piece. Doc's report on Jäger set gears turning in his head, and he only vaguely followed what was being said as he chased lines of reasoning to their conclusions. But when Ace and Sam nearly came to blows he put those on hold and focused on the group, reviewing in his head what had been said. Sam's aura showed his general defeat, and everyone's aura showed their frustration. The group was not far from tearing itself apart. They were so close to being done with this whole thing, they were expecting to wake up tomorrow in a bed, with a fat credstick, and it had all vanished in an instant. He wasn't entirely sure that it wasn't his fault, so he could sympathize with Sam's apathy, and all of the team's frustration.


"I'm sorry things didn't go the way we'd hoped. I think that spending another night out here is among the last things we had expected. If you want to take your frustration out on someone, take it out on me. It was my plan and even if it weren't, I'm the one you have all counted on to call the shots, so the buck stops with me."


He turned to look at Ace, favoring him with a sympathetic, yet stern, look.


"Ace, you blame yourself for what happened to Sam, and at some level I expect you are trying to prod him in to attacking you so that you can get the punishment you think you deserve, but please, don't poke the bear - as cathartic as fisticuffs might be, it could seriously set back the progress Sam has made in adapting to his new condition."


Sam, in turn, received the same look.


"Sam, apathy is the enemy of life. You want something to do after you set the charges? Be present. You may think of yourself as a hammer, but the reality is that you have a keen mind for spotting weaknesses. You don't have to come up with the ideas, but at least help us find the flaws in the ones we are considering. Help us flesh out the tactical details. And mostly, don't give up. I seriously doubt you want to die any more than the rest of us do, and if you want to focus your rage, I'm sure there's at least one person that is waiting on a little karmic retribution. If you die, you can't deliver. APB still needs justice, and someone called in the hit squad that ended her. If we get out of this with a paycheck, that's the first step toward balancing those scales."


He paused, only briefly, to let his words settle. Now to business.


"Doc, while your digging up useful bits of info, there's a few small details I'd like you to check. One, exactly how violent was our assault on the AF? From the videos, I saw a bunch of property damage, but a notable lack of killing, with the possible exception of your 'acquisition' of a new deck.  Jäger intimated that we might have been particularly merciless - truth or fiction? Also, Katsina brings up a good point - the AF should have more information on the material composition of the object than we do. Did APB grab that in her data dump? And, lastly, what is the relationship between the organizations we are considering courting? And what is Jäger's relationship with her peers in those organizations. What are their budgets? I was blindsided by a lack of intelligence there during the 'talks', and I'd like to be better prepared next time."


"From what Doc has grabbed - and thank you for that, by the way - it looks like Jäger has a singular interest in magical studies. Odd for a technomancer, but still not conclusive. If we do make another pass at her, I'd like to know for sure. Also, I'd like to know what Hans does for a living. Power couple, or sugar momma? Again, I'm loathe to bring her family into this, but I also don't want to be caught with my pants down if her husband is a power player as well. I think we went in a little under-prepared last time, thinking it'd be an easy score. We need to treat this like a run, and make sure we are fully prepared before we try again."


What else, what else, what else? Oh, yeah.


"Ace, have you checked your messages recently? Any word from your handler?"

The talking had required quite a bit of breathing, and the cold, dry air had left his throat and mouth dry and aching. He drank the water he had, now cold, and grabbed whatever was still left from dinner just to warm his throat. We need coffee or tea. Or hot chocolate, that would be best.

[Tecumseh]

What video the team has from the run on the Atlantean Foundation is coming off APB's commlink. The video features a tremendous amount of violence and destruction, especially property damage. Katsina took out drones with her claymore. Chino bashed down walls, apparently to cause a distraction for Ohanzee to levitate the obelisk and for Sam to cover him with automatic fire and grenades. Ace isn't featured prominently but might have been dealing with barghests that Doc mentioned in the video he took when he took the cyberdeck from the security spider.

The human cost of this is uncertain though. Reviewing the footage, it appears that most of the high-threat responders were decked out in milspec battle armor. There's a good deal of footage suggesting that they were hit with grenades from Sam and fireballs from Ohanzee, but whether these would have killed men in heavy armor is unclear. Sam was packing APDS, and Ace's lasers can cut through armor like woah, but you can't necessarily tell if you sent people to the hospital or to the morgue. All-in-all it looks like an normal amount of force for a run that went sideways: not sadistic (with the exception of Doc's footage), but certainly not a tickling competition either.


Doc searchs APB's commlink and finds some of the Atlantean Foundation's records on the obelisk, including detailed visual records. The records also include the AF's estimates to the composition of the base. Doc overlays the prices he found earlier and adds them to the table before sharing it with everyone.

Element	Price per KG	Estimated KG	Value
Iron	¥0.1	93.5	¥9
Mercury	¥4	68.9	¥276
Silicon	¥2.5	38.2	¥96
Gold	¥26,000	18.2	¥473,200
Silver	¥290	46.4	¥13,456
Copper	¥5	15.5	¥78
Osmium	¥12,860	43.5	¥559,410

Per these estimates, the value of the base would be ¥1,046,525.


It doesn't take long for Doc to find some basic information on Hans Jäger. Hans is originally from the North German League, one of the member states of the Allied German States. He seems to be a civil engineer of some sort. Prior to moving to Denver, his work and research focused on the coastal reaches of the North German League that are still suffering of the remains of the Black Tide - a natural (or maybe magical) disaster, that happened in 2011. At Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University, he received a Masters in Biological Engineering. (Doc notices that Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University is located in Pomorya. The people of Pomorya are noted for their environmental commitment and for their efforts to revitalize the sea.)

Denver is rather landlocked, so it appears that Hans relocated to Denver to follow his wife in her career path. He seems to be hiring himself out as a contract engineer, although it's unclear if this is full-time or part-time. He is currently involved in a couple different political organizations: the Bavarian People's Party, and Volksfrei, both of which are primarily active in the Allied German States. Volksfrei appears to have anti-corp leanings.


"What's the relationship between DIMR and the Atlantean Foundation?" Katsina asks, restating the question. "That's easy: they're huge rivals. I'm not sure they'd murder each other in the streets, but they fight tooth and nail for the same funding and the same research projects. It's complicated by the fact that Dunkelzahn's Will specifically put a member of the Atlantean Foundation on the Board of the DIMR. That could be why Jäger said that buying the artifact would put her in an awkward position vis-à-vis the Atlantean Foundation. Or maybe she's stepped on some toes over there and she's could be concerned that the Atlanteans could be orchestrating all of this and are trying to embarrass her - or worse - by dumping a fraudulent piece of rock on her for a huge sum.

"Things are more familial between the Draco Foundation and DIMR, or DIMR and the Astral Space Preservation Society. The Draco Foundation established both of them. The ASPS is nominally under the administration of the DIMR but the ASPS is relatively independent since they have separate sources of funding. (Hestaby is supposed to be a big patron.) The Denver office of the ASPS almost certainly has its own executive officer - I doubt it would roll up to Jäger, even if they share the same offices - but whoever it is they're probably on a first-name basis.

"As for the Draco Foundation, I think the DIMR sees itself more as a sibling but the Draco Foundation sees DIMR more as a daughter. To use the family metaphor, that could result in some sibling rivalry, or some daddy issues, but I think at the end of the day they realize they are on the same team. Jäger would absolutely know the local head of the Draco Foundation very well professionally, and likely socially too."

[rednblack]

"Ace, you blame yourself for what happened to Sam, and at some level I expect you are trying to prod him in to attacking you so that you can get the punishment you think you deserve, but please, don't poke the bear - as cathartic as fisticuffs might be, it could seriously set back the progress Sam has made in adapting to his new condition."

"I'm afraid you misunderstand, Ohanzee," Ace says.  "I have no interest in punishment.  I only want to look forward."

"What's the relationship between DIMR and the Atlantean Foundation?" Katsina asks, restating the question. "That's easy: they're huge rivals. I'm not sure they'd murder each other in the streets, but they fight tooth and nail for the same funding and the same research projects. It's complicated by the fact that Dunkelzahn's Will specifically put a member of the Atlantean Foundation on the Board of the DIMR. That could be why Jäger said that buying the artifact would put her in an awkward position vis-à-vis the Atlantean Foundation. Or maybe she's stepped on some toes over there and she's could be concerned that the Atlanteans could be orchestrating all of this and are trying to embarrass her - or worse - by dumping a fraudulent piece of rock on her for a huge sum.

"Things are more familial between the Draco Foundation and DIMR, or DIMR and the Astral Space Preservation Society. The Draco Foundation established both of them. The ASPS is nominally under the administration of the DIMR but the ASPS is relatively independent since they have separate sources of funding. (Hestaby is supposed to be a big patron.) The Denver office of the ASPS almost certainly has its own executive officer - I doubt it would roll up to Jäger, even if they share the same offices - but whoever it is they're probably on a first-name basis.

"As for the Draco Foundation, I think the DIMR sees itself more as a sibling but the Draco Foundation sees DIMR more as a daughter. To use the family metaphor, that could result in some sibling rivalry, or some daddy issues, but I think at the end of the day they realize they are on the same team. Jäger would absolutely know the local head of the Draco Foundation very well professionally, and likely socially too."

"Ok, so that seems to make either two of the big three problematic to reach out to.  And nobody seems keen on unloading the thing on Ares.  With nuyen running low it seems we either continue to let our resources dwindle on a long shot, or we break it up and trust our collective instincts in the shadows.  Since that seems to be the consensus, let's move forward on that in the morning.  In the meantime, I say we get Sam's bomb on it now, decide on security for the night, and break it up in the morning.

"We need Sam operational, so it would be best for him to get some more rest after finishing with prepping avalanches. Doc, do you need most of the night for your matrix wizardry, or can you help with overwatch?  The rest of us should be set for our collective shifts as needed, right?"

[Zweiblumen]

"Ok, so that seems to make either two of the big three problematic to reach out to.  And nobody seems keen on unloading the thing on Ares.  With nuyen running low it seems we either continue to let our resources dwindle on a long shot, or we break it up and trust our collective instincts in the shadows.  Since that seems to be the consensus, let's move forward on that in the morning.  In the meantime, I say we get Sam's bomb on it now, decide on security for the night, and break it up in the morning.

"We need Sam operational, so it would be best for him to get some more rest after finishing with prepping avalanches. Doc, do you need most of the night for your matrix wizardry, or can you help with overwatch?  The rest of us should be set for our collective shifts as needed, right?"

"Sounds like a plan to me.  I'm going to need a few more hours to dig this stuff up.  The noise out here makes it difficult to do these things quickly.  I can take a watch after I'm done and then I'll need to grab a few hours of sleep.  I'll keep the soycaf coming for most of the night."

Looking around at the group, "Does everyone else agree with Ace's assessment?  It's my preferred course of action, but I want to make sure we all agree."

[Tecumseh]

"For the record, I don't have any objections to the artifact going to Ares," Katsina says. "Certainly I would prefer a not-for-profit research institution, but I'm not willing to let the perfect get in the way of the good. Far better for Ares to have it than for it to fall into the hands of cultists or the Black Lodge.

"I'm under no illusions that Ares is benevolent, dispassionate third-party, but I trust them a hell of a lot more than Aztechnology. Ares Firewatch teams took out the Universal Brotherhood twenty years ago, so they're obviously capable of acting for the greater good as long as the greater good benefits them as well. The only question is would Ares pay for it, or would they expect Ace to bring it back without restrictions." She looks to Ace to see if he has thoughts on the matter.

She taps her chin, considering the new figures from the Atlantean Foundation on the artifact's composition. She puffs out her cheeks, then remembers that her spell isn't concealing her facial expressions like her mask does. Need to work on my poker face, she thinks.

"These are lower figures that the estimates we were coming up with earlier. Like, half. More iron, mercury, and silicon; far less gold and osmium. Looks like we were right that the pretty stuff is on the outside and the base elements are in the middle.

"I'd like to think that we could get most of that million, if only because scrap metal prices already bake in a discount, but breaking up the base might only net us ¥800,000 after fees and middle men. Maybe we can clear ¥125,000 or ¥135,000 each. I'd be okay with that, personally, but I don't want to presume for everyone else.

"As for overnight, I think it's the same as we've been doing. As long as Ohanzee and I can split the watch, everyone else can get some rest.

"Doc, do we need to do anything special for the satellite uplink? How does that even appear on the Matrix anyway? Does it show up as a device? Does it look suspicious enough for someone to investigate and then maybe swim upstream to our location? I don't know enough about the security of such things."

[Tecumseh]

Doc spends about half an hour trying to dig up clues about Jäger's relationship with other organizations. In the end, the most productive source of information he finds are photos from the opening night of The Ellie Caulkins Opera House back in September. The 2074-2075 season began with a production of Die Zauberflöte that included extensive magical illusions and enhancements, much to the delight of the well-heeled audience. Doc scans through the photos of the audience milling about the opening-night gala, trying to add names to faces. Photos include Mrs. Jäger and her husband along with the local head of the ASPS, David Cannon, and his date for the evening. Candid photos show them chatting freely, although a careful observer might notice Mr. Cannon's eyes focusing more intently on Mrs. Jäger than on his own date.

There are also photos of Mrs. Jäger with the local head of the Draco Foundation, Mason Rankin. Mason, a human, attended the premiere with his wife and the photos show them smiling happily together with Mr. and Mrs. Jäger. Mason and his wife are a few years older and rather rounder in the middle, especially when compared to the elven youth and slenderness of Mrs. Jäger, but there's no indication of any tension between them socially. They seem at ease with each other.

The head of the Atlantean Foundation in Denver, Amy Martin, was also at the gala. She attended alone and, notably, is not seen smiling in any photograph. She is a large woman, likely an ork. She was only photographed with Mason Rankin. Mason and his wife were smiling for the camera but Amy was not. Perhaps she is an unpleasant individual, or perhaps she is self-conscious about her tusks among such a predominantly human and elven crowd.


Trying to dig up the budgets for the organizations is a huge chore, and most of the figures available are only for whole entities rather than for local offices.

The Atlantean Foundation is a bit more transparent since it shares some of it's high-level accounting with its 20 million dues-paying members worldwide. Doc finds the dues information (¥30/month) and multiplies it out by the number of members, suggesting that their global operating budget is more than ¥7 billion annually, and that doesn't include any income they might generate from their activities nor any donations they might receive from third parties. It's unclear how much of that nuyen flows through Denver. Using a very crude estimate by comparing Denver's population (about 3 million) to the global population (7.2 billion, estimated) and then multiplying that percentage against the AF's global budget produces a figure of ¥3,000,000, although it seems clear that they must be spending much more than that locally, especially for a dig as involved as the one that produced the obelisk. But, globally, they have some clout.

The Draco Foundation is huge. Dunkelzahn's Will bequeathed over 1.5 billion nuyen to various organizations, with the remainder of his "ridiculously vast estate"  going to the Draco Foundation. The definition of "ridiculously vast" is tough to calculate, but includes his art and real estate and magical foci and treasures from his Fourth World horde in addition to his liquid assets. Dunkelzahn lived in the Sixth World for about 45 years, giving him ample time to accumulate additional assets. The revenues from his interviews with Holly Brighton made him very rich, and his regular show, Wyrm Talk, just made him richer. His talon clippings were were tens of millions a year by themselves as magical reagents. Add to that the various schemes and plots and investments that only Great Dragons can hatch and you have an estate worth tens of billions, if not hundreds of billions. Those assets haven't been inactive either; by all reports, Nadja Daviar has invested them ably since Dunkelzahn's death in 2057. Whatever the estate was worth then, it's worth even more now. The Draco Foundation is very rich indeed.

Doc remembers what Jäger said about her operating budget being about 25 million a year. He decides to check that against what he knows about the Denver offices of DIMR to see if she was telling the truth or blowing smoke. He knows that DIMR has about 350 employees locally. Many of those are highly educated and/or Awakened, suggesting the average salary is probably ¥100,000 or more annually, with maybe another ¥50,000 on top of that in benefits (medical, dental, retirement, etc.). That already puts the budget at ¥52,500,000, and that doesn't even include building costs, security contracts (physical or matrix), Doc Wagon contracts for executives, and other costs, like acquisitions, shadow ops, and so on. Doc is going to broadly guess that the local budget for the Denver office is ¥100,000,000 per year, with staff salaries absorbing about half of that.

[Poindexter]

"For the record, I don't have any objections to the artifact going to Ares,"

"Nor do I."

[rednblack]

"I'm under no illusions that Ares is benevolent, dispassionate third-party, but I trust them a hell of a lot more than Aztechnology. Ares Firewatch teams took out the Universal Brotherhood twenty years ago, so they're obviously capable of acting for the greater good as long as the greater good benefits them as well. The only question is would Ares pay for it, or would they expect Ace to bring it back without restrictions."[/color] She looks to Ace to see if he has thoughts on the matter.

"Ares would expect me to deliver the obelisk, perhaps even as a requirement for mission success.  Of course, should I be taken hostage, and should the original buyers for the obelisk fall through, a cutthroat running team might force me to reach out to Ares to deliver two valuable pieces of equipment.

"By the way, Doc, before you kill that uplink, I'd like to check my messages."