[Jack_Spade]

"I think Deckard can help us there. He is trained in Psychometrie.
So far my suit hasn't alerted me to anything like this - but that doesn't mean much"
Isaint spoke slower than usual since he had to concentrate to keep the spell going.
"But no matter what, I really have a bad feeling about the whole thing. Yet a job is a job. Let's make sure it works out."

With that Isaint climbed back into the duct, the box always in viewing distance.

#308

[Mercy Merchant]

Halfpint maneuvers the drones to keep visual contact with the team in the duct so Robyn knows when they are moving again.  She is still trying to make out the stuff inside the box but the light is just too poor to allow the sensor inside to see anything.  At the halfer's warning, she again positions herself and slips into the first camera sensor to subtly alter its visual arc in preparation for the team to pass by unseen and will repeat her actions on the other sensors as well, allowing the team comes to exfiltrate the tunnel system..

[Aria]

[Sunday July 5th, 2076; Near the Eurowars Magazine, London Underplex]

As your team make their cautious way back towards the duct entry Robyn and Halfpint are almost simultaneously aware of a threat…two skimmer drones flying in tandem in the vicinity of the service tunnels you are using for your exfil…they are broadcasting Underplex Maintenance IDs but it would seem unusual for such small surveillance drones to operate as a pair…no doubt it is a response to the brewing altercation at the other end of the mall but that doesn’t lessen the risk of them detecting your team…

***

#20

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn quickly sends a message to the team.>>Company coming.  Two skimmer drones headed up the tunnel.  They will see you.  We can try to target them but that would give us away here.  Recommending Halfpint sacrifice a drone by having one of the two with you go forward and attract their attention and lead them away.  Halfpint says these are skimmers and are too small for more than sensors.  Orders?<<

Halfpint is already maneuvering one of the Fly-Spys into position. On command he will jump in and broadcast the location of the drone in an attempt to divert attention from the tunnel and lead the skimmers on a chase.  Robyn locks in on the pair, ready to try to take control if both drones do not follow the decoy.

[adamu]

Dammit, they were just in sight of the grate they'd come in through - so close. Crawling backwards was a bitch, but they reversed back around the last corner, so that if anything peered in the grate they'd be out of sight.

[Jack_Spade]

'Shit'
<<Acknowledged. Try your luck with the drones, but I fear that only one will pursue. Get some marks on those drones and be prepared to edit their camera files on the fly if you can. I sure hope you have the Fork program in your repertoire. Otherwise I'll just have to shoot them before they see us.>>
"Al, do you happen to have some expanding foam in your tool box? If you can fill the gaps and put some dust over it, it might fool the drones sensors into not noticing our incision."

True to his word, he fished the Guardian from its holster and attached a silencer. It would be tricky to shoot two small flying drones within the spann of half a second, but he had done it before - only about a month ago actually...

[obidancer]

Deckard knew all too well that more often than not, teams were hiring him for astral overwatch. Forget that he could defy gravity, summon powerful elements and ghosts from other worlds, and heck, even make it rain! All they wanted was for him to look up for astral trouble, like a minimum wage security man; though with a much better pay. Well, Deckard hated overwatch. Probably because he loved the thrill of action and danger, maybe because he didn't like to be bored. Let face it, in spite of what the trids could make people believe, powerful spirit or elemental sentries were pretty rare, more often than not, astral overwatch were pretty uneventful.

His only problem was that he knew all too well that when things DID happen, it was trouble, like major trouble. So he often tried to convince himself he was like the last rampart to his team's imminent death... to keep focused on a somewhat boring job.

He could also simply ask one of his two bound spirits to do the job for him, but if he found it boring, there was no reason why those powerful entities would not find it boring too.   

And so he overwatched, and overwatched, on the look out for the watchers even other wagemages after the distraction had struck, feeling pretty lonely, waiting for his companions to bring back the coveted artifact and curious to what was transpiring in the magazine.

#42

[Mercy Merchant]

Halfpint slides into his small drone and sends it out of the duct and up the tunnel a short distance.  From this point he will keep the drone silent until and if the skimmers go into the duct.  If these are looking for something, they may stick to the tunnel, but if they slide off into the duct, he is ready to take hid drone loud and try to draw off the skimmer interest as if anything important is further up the tunnel.  Robyn is also waiting for the same thing.  She is prepped to try to take control of one or both skimmers and resets her primary programs to be Virtual Machine, Sneak, Exploit, Encryption, Smoke and Mirrors 2, and Armor.  Robyn would prefer that the skimmer simply bypass the duct without her having to act. 

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn contacts Deckard.  >>You are in the path of a pair of skimmer drones.  I can help you avoid them by guiding you away, if you like.  Halfpint is keeping me informed of their locations on my map and I can move you around like a chess piece.  Are you ready?<<

She is already scanning ahead of where Deckard is, looking for the next sensor she can infiltrate to keep Deckard hidden.  The passive sensors are so much easier to get control of than the drones that are controlled by someone.  She has three picked out on his route and will slide into them as needed.

>>If you are ready, please go to your left for about sixty feet.  I will tell you when it is safe to go further.<<

[adamu]

Listening in, Al rasps <<Don't wanna be crammed in here if they zero in on Rick - let us know when they's past our exit, an' one or both of us'll get ready ta back 'im up.>>

Looking back at Isaint as best he can, he asks, "Things go south, what's the play? Leave the dingus here an' take care o' business, or leave one of us ta babysit it?"

[Jack_Spade]

"I don't like this. It's too much of a coincidence. I'm thinking there was a leak and someone is looking for us to relieve us of the loot. Leaving it behind or in the care of only one of us is asking for trouble - or at least more than we'll have if we protect it as a group. Which reminds me..."
<<Team, but especially Jackhammer: It might sound paranoid, but the appearance of those two drones could mean someone is preparing to move against us trying to take the loot from us. Which means we have to evacuate ASAP. Get our gear ready to go. Hopefully, whoever is after us doesn't have easy access to Below.
@Robyn: If you can, start hacking both skimmers and edit their sensor feed. We have to get out of here before our potential opponent can move more of his pieces into position.>>

[adamu]

Robyn and Halfpint confer then the drone in front of the skimmers pings loudly as if it were talking to something.  The reaction form the skimmers is almost instantaneous, with both of them picking up on the drone’s transmission to nowhere.  The Fly-Spy has a head start, but he keeps the speed down as if the drone is just looking for some thing.  Robyn gives commands to Deckard that allow him to be just out of sensor range as the skimmers go after the talking drone, trying to get close enough to detect it and perhaps intercept the transmissions.  Robyn detects a ping on the transmission and successfully shunts it aside, but the drone would have been detected by the new player in the game.  After the skimmers race past the duct, Robyn gives the all-clear.  “You can move now.  Halfpint is leading the skimmers away and I will try to hack them momentarily to delay their return.  It will not be pretty and the owner will know someone is fragging with his drones.  If I am lucky and pick the one he is not jumped into, I can quickly disable it then try to force the other to turn off to avoid too many marks on it.  Deckard is safe and already moving back to the duct and should be there by the time you are.  Did anyone else receive some sort of probe a few seconds ago?  It did not touch me, but it may still know that someone is here and if your stuff is not protected, I would definitely recommend going cold and relying on message relay with someone who is.  ISaint, I think that would be you as the relayer.  I think we will be packing up here, but I will not leave the trix until you guys are out.  Don’t waste your breath, Al.”

As the skimmers go after Halfpint, Robyn analyzes the movement of the two drones, determining that one is clearly moving with greater precision than the other.  Once the chase has progressed down several tunnels from the duct, she strikes at the drone that seems to be on its own, quickly slamming a mark on it and grabbing control before making a hard turn and slamming it into a tunnel wall.  After the rather satisfying splat, she reaches out to get a mark on the second skimmer as its owner tries to shake her off.  She is not interested in finesse, but only in putting marks on the thing, gambling on the owner doing the right thing.  It is a struggle, and Robyn’s initial attacks are foiled, causing the blind Keeb to need to defend against damage coming back at her, but a micro drone, even a jumped-in drone using the defenses of its owner’s RCC, is not capable of defending against the power of a good deck and Robyn gets her second mark on the skimmer.  The remote pilot does the sensible thing and gives the command to reboot before she can get her third mark, shutting the drone down completely.  Robyn gives a command to Halfpint, who jumps into his defense drone in the bakery while giving control of the Fly-Spy to Robyn, who burns it out before leaving its husk on the ground about thirty feet from the downed skimmer.

Back in the bakery, Jackhammer is getting the mules ready to go.  Almost nothing was taken from them so the task is simple.  Robyn watches the feed from the Fly-Spy remaining with the inside team, ready to act as the team nears the sensors on the way out..  A quick message is sent.  >>Skimmers down.  Move as fast as possible and I will deal with the sensors on your way out.  Stay alert.<<

[obidancer]

I can move you around like a chess piece.  Are you ready?

<<I guess if I'm gonna be called a piece of something it better be Chess. Lead the way honey.>>
Deckard followed Robyn's instructions.
When he heard the Skimmer were down, he quickly understood that their window of escape had shortened tremendously. He did not necessary approved of the blunt tactic the blind elf had used, but what was done was done. He was a man of instincts and adapting to the situation was his moto.

<<Let's go guy, won't be long before we get company.>>




#44

[Mercy Merchant]

Robyn is satisfied.  One skimmer destroyed and the other rebooting is not a bad situation.  The skimmer will be back up but it is some distance from the team and will have to make its way back.  Also, the team's drone is now dead and cannot be located.  She suspects that the rigger and his possible decker companion will be looking for something that does not exist any longer, hopefully delaying them a bit as well.  There was no way to move the Fly-Spy out of range within the time it will take the skimmer to wake from its very short nap, so killing it seems to ne the best option.  If this is the only loss during the mission, she will consider it a good loss.

Still, it is not wise to assume that the opposition is less skilled so she keeps checking for any additional disturbances in the host as she waits for the team to navigate to the final sensor.  They are almost out into the street now and she can return to the meat world and get moving as soon as they are.

[Jack_Spade]

"Ok Al, as soon as we are out of this duct we need your cart. Levitation is easier in here, but I really can't move it faster than walking pace. And we definitely want to move faster."

When they were back into the relative spacious tunnel and had navigated past the sensors, Isaint took a moment to reorient himself and pointed back to the ladder.
"Now comes the dangerous part. Whatever is inside this box - someone out there wants it. So if you don't mind, I'll stand watch while you strap it to our mule."

Isaint climbed up to where their mule hopefully was waiting for them and renewed the levitation spell to bring the box after him.