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Post by Former Fiend on Jan 13, 2017 2:29:15 GMT -5
Stephanie sat on a bar stool, her bare feet propped up on the bar, her platform heels hanging by the strap from her free hand as her other held her commlink to her ear, the commlink to which she was listening intently. Given that the bar was closed – last call had been about an hour ago – and that she owned it, she was fairly confident that the bartender – being her – wasn't going to give her grief for having her feet propped up as such.
This was a business call, but not for the business that she listed on her tax returns. It wasn't an alcohol vendor pushing a new brand or negotiating price. Wasn't a regulator threatening to take away her liquor license. No, this was regarding her other business; the one that running a bar provided a nice cover for. Organizing jobs for shadowrunners, middle-manning between them and the Johnsons.
Normally the Johnsons had the decency to not call at three in the morning, but from the sound of it, time was a factor here. This was going to be something of a rush job, and she needed people who could pull this off with limited preparation. Based on the information she had, she'd need a decker, some muscle, and someone with a vehicle.
And of course, she needed people who were awake at this hour.
As soon as the call with the Johnson ended, she flipped through her contacts and rang up some muscle that she was pretty sure was awake, largely because he was almost always awake. If she was lucky, he'd have a decker near by, too.
“Hey, Tiago. It's Steph. Got a job for you; real rush job but the payday's legit, and you'll get some good karma for it, too. Oh, and we need a decker. Please tell me Ether's with you?”
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Tiago was leaning on the railing of the terrace of Ether's apartment – a place he'd been spending more time there than at his place, lately – when he got the call from Steph. At first he wasn't sure if it would be a personal or professional call, but wasn't likely to be disappointed, either way.
It turned out to be professional. A rush job; not Tiago's favorite. A lot of people thought orks liked to just smash and grab, but Tiago'd been doing this long enough to know just how dead you got if you didn't scope the place out properly. But that wasn't always an option, and Steph promised a good payday and a good cause.
“Yeah, Ether's here. Don't know if she's awake or not, I'll go inside and check. When do you need us there? ...Shit. Alright, we'll be there ASAP.” Tiago hung up, rubbing his temples before walking to the door and stepping inside to go wake up Ether.
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Steph immediately went back through her contacts list once the call with Tiago ended. She had her muscle, she had her decker – and it was better that he was waking her up than if Steph had called herself, knowing Ether's temper. Now all she needed was a driver, someone with a heavy duty rig. Her first choice, she knew, was out of town on a long distance run to Cal Free. But she had a reliable second option that she proceeded to ring up.
“Hey, Tank; it's Steph. I know it's fuckin' early in the morning but I got a job for you, top nuyen. Just need you to be at my bar in forty minutes. And I need you to bring something that can haul a semi-trailer.”
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Post by Rex Apium on Jan 13, 2017 3:46:26 GMT -5
It was a bit early for Ether to retire from her nightly romps through the Matrix. To be fair, it was just shy of when her alarm would be going off to remind her that maybe she should let her meat body rest when something distinctly less invasive came to her attention, primarily in the form of hands on her shoulders and a whisper in her ear. She jacked out, pulling the cord from her datajack to look back at Tiago.
“Bit unusual, something up?” she said, confused look on her face.
"Just got a call from Steph; she's got a job for us. Rush job; she needs us at the bar in like forty minutes. Was light on details besides that but promised the payday would be huge and that it would be a good cause."
Another frown, “Must be if she's callin' this late... we got any details at all?”
"Only that time's a factor and we have to hit this tonight. She promised a full debrief at the bar."
She let out a frustrated sigh, “Alright, I'll get dressed.”
It wasn't that Ether was annoyed by the interruption, well, not entirely; but it was partially because there was no intel. She didn't like going into anything without any data. Hopefully Steph could solve that problem and if Ether was lucky she'd could possibly dig something out of the information they were given.
She pushed away from her impressive system and moved to the bedroom. Normally Ether spent her time in her condo completely in the nude, and tonight wasn't any different from normal. However, they needed to be somewhere quickly, so she couldn't spend nearly as much time on her look as she liked. Instead she found something in her collection of clothes specifically meant and designed for running that was quick and easy to put on, and more importantly, something that still kept that distinctive style of hers. She was still dressing down for the occasion, regardless of what she was putting on.
Ether was pulling her long hair into a high ponytail as she left the bedroom once she'd finished getting dressed, making her way back to her command center to grab her cyberdeck. “I'm good.” She looked to him, it was obvious she wasn't the happiest elf at that point in time, but it wasn't unusual for her to be serious when it was work time.
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Panzer
New Member
Resident Bard
Posts: 29
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Post by Panzer on Jan 14, 2017 19:01:54 GMT -5
Panzer sat on a stool in his garage goggles over his eyes welding a piece of sheet metal to the side of a car. He just about had the weld complete when his comm link went off from across the room. The troll was usually up late working on his own toys or various side jobs for well paying clients but tonight he was in one of his moods. Grabbing the comm link he answered the call in his gruff german voice, fully accompanied by a opening salvo of profanities "Vat vat do you vucking want? We are closed, no more jobs, very busy make it vast, schnell mach schnell!" The woman on the line spoke and the troll froze "Oops my apologies Steph, vat you have a job, ah I see, I can be there in 30" and he hung up. "Bring something that can haul a semi-trailer she says, as if I didn't have zuch a thing pfft."
Quickly he finished the weld on his project, closed up shop and changed into his runner gear, which consisted of a long black trench coat, grease stained jeans, a pair of goggles and a old luger in a side holster on his right leg. The next issue was what ride he could take, he had 2 Codenames: Rommel and Bruinhilda that could do the job but they needed some minor repairs, from a mechanical standpoint he didn't want to make the issue worse. That left his 3rd option, not his first choice but it would work, probably way more then the other 2 combined, as he pulled the canvas off the monstrous rig he chuckled as he caught a glimpse of the symbol on the side. "Ah mein Schmeterling, is goot to see you again." The seven foot troll wrenched open the door, jacked into the rig and melted as the repurposed military supply trucks dual engines roared to life. With his mind he opened the garage doors and threw the rig in gear, running threw a few quick "field tests" to make sure the hidden turret and other various toys stashed onboard were operational, moments later he was flying down the interstate towards the bar.
Upon arriving he climbed out of the rig and covered it with the very canvas he used to originally cover it and threw a layer of cloaking canvas over it. If anything he was very cautious about his rides, they were his babies after all. The troll looked around to make sure nobody was following him and knocked on the bar door. "This job better be vucking worth it" he whispered as he waited to be let in.
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Post by Former Fiend on Jan 15, 2017 1:18:10 GMT -5
Tiago hadn't actually been in a state of full dress himself when the call had come in, so when Ether went to get dressed, he followed. She'd cleared out a drawer for him to use a while back which had proven pretty convenient. He lived two districts away from her which, depending on traffic and go-gang activity, could mean the better part of an hour's drive. It also helped that his wardrobe was almost entirely made up of ballistic fiber clothing, it meant that he wasn't going on this run completely unprepared, though he would be without some of his bigger weapons. Hopefully the run wouldn't involve an all out assault.
Tiago's wardrobe was somewhat more standardized than Ether; he was a man of more simple tastes, and he had less options to pick from, regardless, so he had finished dressing before she did. When she had finished he took a moment to admire her outfit – she made pretty much anything she wore look good. However, her seriousness & the mood from having her matrix time interrupted halted him from wasting time with too much playful banter, so he just gave her an appreciative whistle before they left her condo.
Out the door, they made their way to the elevators and down to the parking garage. They took Tiago's car – Ether's was too tight of a fit for the hulking ork. Besides, what running gear he didn't have up in the apartment, he had in the car. He preferred parking on the top floor – but not the roof – of the garage. Easier access to the building, less likely to be spotted from a Lone Star or Knight Errant patrol. Given the legality – which is to say, lack there of – of some of the things he kept in the car, that was a big deal.
When they arrived at Steph's place, Tank had already arrived and was sitting on one of the reinforced stools at the bar – Steph's businesses were meta friendly, and catered to plenty of orks & trolls, so she had to invest in furniture that could support the weight. Steph herself was behind the counter, fixing something to drink. Looking up as the ork & elf walked in, she called out to them; “Hey, want some coffee? No soy; broke out the real stuff as a bonus for dragging you out here this early.”
Tiago & Ether both accepted – they could both use a cup – and sat down at the bar. Once they did and had a few mouthfuls of caffeine in them, Steph began to speak. “Alright; was keeping Tank in suspense because I didn't want to have to go over this too many times. Gonna open with the big thing; figure it's best to lay this on the line right away; this run is gonna be hitting the Yakuza.”
That wasn't a small thing. Yakuza clans were dangerous people to fuck with. Not that many organized crime outfits were people lone shadowrunners wanted to fuck with, but Yakuza tended to operate on another level of payback.
As Tiago considered that, Steph spoke up again. “But before you opt out, I also need to tell you about the other big thing – the targets. A shipping container with about a dozen young meta girls – ages 12 to 16 – sitting at the docks up in Everett, waiting for transport to a hospital where the girls are going to be wired up and sent to bunraku parlors across the city.”
Steph wanted to bite her lip, but she didn't. Rather she just pinched her finger under the counter. Didn't want to give away on her face how nervous she was that they might opt out. She picked them for reasons other than their skill, other than their availability at the hour and short notice. She picked them partly because they were all metas, and partly because she had reason to believe they were all fundamentally good people. At least good enough that they wouldn't be too quick to just walk away and leave a dozen scared girls to a fate worse than death. “Client's a women's shelter that operates out of the Underground. They've gotten some real good charitable donations this year. Enough get some good intel on this shipment and the security you're gonna be looking at, and enough to put up top nuyen for runners to get the girls off those docks and to a meet down in Tacoma. Ten thousand a piece.”
That number probably perked them up more than the coffee had; wasn't every day that a runner was offered ten thousand guaranteed as a single share. Tiago and Ether, at least, were in the league where that wasn't unheard of, but it was still more often that a job would pay out ten grand, total, minus expenses, to be divided up three, four, five ways.
Certainly tipped the scales a bit for Tiago. He hadn't straight stood up and walked out when Steph had said it was Yakuza they were up against, but he'd known then that it was going to take a hell of a pitch to keep him sitting at that bar much longer. A dozen girls about to be shipped to hell was a good pitch – Tiago had always drawn a very clear line at human trafficking when it came to his criminal activities; he had other rules, standards, and what not, but that was perhaps his most adamant. But at the same time, it was hardly uncommon for Johnsons to lie or exaggerate about exactly what the cargo they wanted stolen was to motivate runners who had a sense of decency.
“And you're sure this shelter's on the up and up, right?” Tiago spoke up. “We aren't just appropriating them from one flesh trader and taking them to another?”
“Yeah, I'm sure. I've worked with this shelter before; their rep is good, they've done good work.” Steph said with utter sincerity.
“Well, I'm in.” Tiago said. Money and a good cause made danger seem less dangerous.
“Alright. If no one else is opting out, lemme lay out the plan.” Steph said, taking a deep breath before she began to speak. “I've got the dock number the crate is on, and I've got the number of the crate, but there's hundreds of the damn things on that dock and you're not going to have time to check them all individually. So what you're going to have to do is get Ether into the union boss's office on that dock; there's a terminal in there that'll have the exact location of the crate. You'll also need that terminal to move the crate- the cranes can be operated manually but only by union card carriers; you'll have to activate the controls remotely.”
“Obviously you'll need a trailer to put the crate on – that's why I got Tank here to bring something capable of hauling it. There should be unattended flatbed trailers on the docks that you can just 'borrow', so that shouldn't be a problem.”
“Now, as far as security goes, for this one dock the standard security guards, lone star, and port authority's being paid good nuyen to just stay away. So there shouldn't be anyone with a badge that you have to worry about. What you will have to worry about is about a dozen Yak soldiers. If the intel is good they won't have any serious fire power on them; maybe some small arms; light pistols, hold outs, that kind of thing. But nothing too heavy; they don't want gun fire and muzzle flashes attracting unwanted attention if one of those patrols gets closer than they're paid to. Mainly you'll be dealing with blades, clubs, that kind of thing.”
That was some good news as far as Tiago was concerned. He wasn't hoping to have to kill any Yakuza; if he could take them all out quickly, quietly, and nonlethally, that definitely improved his chances of living to see another year. “Bad news is that I know they've got at least one awakened there. A physical adept, acting as the leader. So, be careful.”
Tiago finished off his coffee, and then nodded. “So, that it?”
“One last thing. You are probably going to have some pursuit once you get out of the docks. They aren't expecting transport to pick the girls up until after daybreak, but they do call in to their headquarters every hour or so at irregular intervals, and I don't have the intervals. So if they call and you're in the middle of a fight, or if they call and don't get an answer because you've left everyone unconscious, then they'll know something's wrong. Gonna be every chance that they'll have some kind of tracker on that shipping container, too. Can't promise that you'll have an easy way of locating and deactivating it.”
Steph took a moment to look around, gauging their resolve & readiness. “So, any questions?”
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Post by Rex Apium on Jan 15, 2017 2:11:59 GMT -5
The ride to Steph's was spent with Ether meticulously tinkering with her deck. It was a habit of hers, one that she did when she was trying to keep her thoughts in check. She was an impatient woman by nature, and this possible run was hitting all the wrong notes with her. She was sure Steph had intel, trusted her to have the information they would need, but it just wasn't the same.
Ether was one for very positive and even flirtatious social interactions. This was not her night for that. Instead she was strictly business, offering a nod of greeting to both Tank and Steph when she and Tiago entered the establishment.
The offer of coffee, and actual coffee, was obviously a bribe, a way to try and make it up to them. And it absolutely worked. Ether would keep her comments to herself, play nice despite the sourness to her mood. She'd slide onto a stool and hold the warmed coffee up to her nose for a long while before she'd drink it. At the very least that was her plan, but then Steph had to go an mention Yakuza. Ether's mug stayed on the bar and she fluttered her eyes closed and took a deep breath at this, head tilting downward.
This breath was released in a heavy sigh as she opened her eyes, looking at Steph from the top of her eyes as she kept speaking. Ether was fully and completely ready to give Steph an earful for even considering offering this to them when she brought up the girls. Almost instantly, but in that slow and methodical way Ether's social interactions moved, her demeanor changed completely. She was interested, willing even to consider this. This willingness was heightened at the mention of the pay they were looking at.
Tiago voiced a concern she herself had, and satisfied with the answer hummed to herself. She'd want the name of shelter, but she was certain Steph would know this. They've worked together enough times that Steph would be used to Ether's desire for information... and if she didn't give it to her, Ether would be sure to ask for it later. I suppose that meant that she was in, here she was already considering digging up information before officially accepting the job.
“I'm in too,” she said, finally picking up that mug of coffee she was thinking about before.
She listened quietly as Steph laid out the plan, holding the warm mug up at her nose like she had originally planned on doing. Her part of it wouldn't be difficult. Getting to where she needed to be would be the part that was difficult. Also, but the sound of it, this would primarily be a stealth mission... which meant that until they got to that office, she'd be doing a lot of waiting. She didn't mind stealth missions, meant less chance of them alerting anyone to what they were doing, there just wasn't much she could do to assist in them. She was loud and flashy by nature and that transferred over in her preferred way of killing people.
The awakened was going to be a problem. Well, not a problem she would have to deal with, but a problem. Unless they had a spider there or some nasty black ice, she wasn't too concerned about her part... provided she didn't get very unlucky before they got there. Boy she was awfully optimistic today.
There was also the problem of the calls. She could quite possibly do something about that, but... that could tip them off just as much as someone not picking up the comm... perhaps a quick hacking and dummy program... she didn't have any already made and doubted she had the time to code one quick enough. Would also require a voice recording and there was no guarantees there... she shook her head and smiled at Steph.
“None precisely, aside from the usual,” there was that Ether charm oozing back from the depths of not enough sleep and interruptions, “I'll want to have as much intel as you can give me, of course. Names, everything.”
“Other than that,” she finished off her coffee, “I'm as ready as ever.”
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Panzer
New Member
Resident Bard
Posts: 29
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Post by Panzer on Jan 16, 2017 2:46:46 GMT -5
Panzer was less then happy about tangling with the Yakuza, regardless of the amount they were being paid, last time he had a run in with them the greenhorn they saddled him with almost got him killed. Then again it would give him the chance to test out the new toy he installed in Schmeterling, hell Tiago might even wanna get strapped in the triple .50 cal turret in the rigs back end. "Zo let me get this straight, we go in we shanghai ze cargo container, hope the hell the zushi lovers don't catch us in the act or give us pursuit, deliver it to zome vomens shelter? Zounds like a milk run if ever I heard one. fuck me I'm in." The troll flashed a smile at Steph and the others "Good thing I brought several recon drones vith me, plus the cannon that's mounted to the roof, fire off a few rounds if zey decide to pursue zey won't be following after that." He had worked with both these runners a few times before so he knew what they were capable of when it came down to it, they were two of the best. Of course Panzer was the best driver/ rigger Steph had right now but what the other drivers and riggers had in skill, he had creativity and the ability to adapt easily.
If it came down to a pursuit Tank was confident he had enough goodies to not have to use the turret, the troll didn't like taking a unneeded shot if it wasn't needed. There was that and the fact he hadn't properly tested the turret since re-configuring the turrets rotation and temp controls. If it came down to it and Tiago did have to strap into it while he drove if he pushed it to hard it could overheat and be useless for several minutes. "Alright you both know ze rules of my rig, no vood, no drinks, don't like the music to vucking bad, seat belts at all times, oh you know ze rest. Tiago if it comes down to pursuit and all my other goodies vail to stop them, I'm gonna need you strapped into the turret, vair warining it's still not at 100% but don't push it too hard it should do vine. Sichern und Laden mein freunde!"
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Post by Former Fiend on Jan 18, 2017 5:22:38 GMT -5
Once the group had gathered all the intel that Steph had to provide them with and made their way out of the bar, Tiago walked back over to the car to pop the trunk and look over his equipment. He was packing his trusty warhawk & roomsweeper, but wasn't expecting to get much use out of the latte, except possibly on pursuit. For the former, he decided to dip into his stock of gel rounds. He was hoping not to have to pull the trigger at all; he didn't have a semi-automatic on him and suppressers wouldn't work on his revolver. But he didn't have time to go home and properly stock up, so he'd have to make due.
Aside from guns he selected a pair of knucked gloves to give his punches that extra little oomph, not that he really needed it, along wit a stun baton he'd lifted off of a security guard on a run years back. He preferred blades to clubs – even clubs that could shock people unconscious – but he was trying not to kill anyone on this run; a vengeful Yakuza clan was a terrible thing to behold. If he had no other choice, well, his belt and armband were actually memory blades. So, if he needed to cut something, he could.
Guns, blades, and bludgeoning instruments gathered and placed in their holsters, there was one piece of equipment Tiago had left. His mask; a balaclava with a pair of advanced goggles worked in to the eye slot, that could give him flare compensation, vision enhancement & magnification, and thermographic sight. Orkish vision was already better at night than most humans without cybereyes; these would put his on par with a dwarf or troll for night vision with some bonuses. It also included an ear piece he linked to his comm for easir communication. And for the intimidation factor, the smiling skull mouth on the strip of cloth that hung down from the goggles helped.
Geared up, Tiago climbed into the cab of the truck and listened to Tank's reminders on the rules of his vehicle. The ork rolled his eyes behind the goggles. “Whatever you say, Sherman.”
Riggers always had an abusively strict list of rules for the inside of their vehicles; it was a throwback to another age; they were kings and their rigs were their personal fiefdoms that they ruled with an iron fist. Tiago could understand the basic concept, of course. He could even relate; he put the same care and dedication into honing his body into a deadly weapon. Ether put the same care and dedication into maintaining her cyberdeck and writing her code. The difference being that their effort to maintain their tools of the trade generally weren't imposing on other members of a team during a run, where as a rigger would take the opportunity to lord over the others for the extent of a drive to and from the job.
And Tiago really hated Tank's taste in music.
Granted, whether he enjoyed it or not it was just the thing to help him fully stay awake at this early hour, and he'd already eaten tonight. The seatbelt rule he suspected was more to ensure that 145 kilos of ork flesh didn't go crashing through his windshield than out of any real concern for their personal health. But Tiago generally wore his seatbelt anyway so his only real problem there was just being told what to do. So really it was just a few minor annoyances to be suffered through.
Stephanie's bar was located at the southern end of Downtown; the target was at the north end of Everett. Was about a thirty five, forty mile run north and then another fifty miles or so back down to Tacoma. Wasn't much to do on the way up to Everett until they got there, especially with the blaring music preventing much in the way of conversation except that via text. Without eyes on the situation they couldn't figure more than a basic plan; Tiago would escort Ether to the office where she'd work her magic, Tank would monitor the situation via drone, Tiago would neutralize the guards with the other two providing him recon.
That was of course the skeleton of a plan; with as much intel as they had, they needed more before it became fully fleshed. Under normal circumstances they'd want to spend a few days scoping out the place, precisely timing out patrols and patterns, identifying weaknesses in the staff, maybe finding someone among the Yak soldiers to turn – not that that would be easy, these were men who'd cut off their own fingers to appease their Oyabun. But even if they couldn't do that, specifically, they'd at least be able to come up with a counter to the check-ins. As it stood, Tiago was worried that they would be using that cannon mounted on the back of the rig to fend off pursuit. And nothing attracted attention like a rolling fire fight down the freeway in a major sprawl.
About half way up to Everett the sky lit up as lightning flashed to the north and thunder followed a moment later. Weather reports had put the chance of rain as being pretty high today, which was pretty normal for Seattle. Tiago wasn't sure whether or not to count this as a blessing; thunder and rain were great for covering and muffling sound during a fight, but a sudden flash of lightning could give you away while attempting stealth, and it was never wise to fight on wet ground.
By the time they came to a stop there was something of a downpour going. The rig pulled to a stop about half a mile out from the dock so that Tank could deploy his recon drones and give them a bird's eye view of the situation; albeit one obscured by the rainfall. Fortunately thermographic vision mode on the drones was able to negate that problem.
Several minutes of surveillance allowed them to determine the number of Yaks on the pier and how thin they were spread with their patrols. They didn't seem to have any riggers of their own and were relying on security camera placements for their own surveillance, placements that the trio were quickly able to identify. Taking out the cameras would only alert the Yaks that something was up, so they instead mapped out a route that would avoid them if they stepped just about perfectly.
Tank pulled the truck up closer to the docks, about as close as he could get without alerting the patrols. Tiago & Ether got out and made their way onto the dock with Tank keeping an eye on them from the truck, alerting them to movements and the timing on the cameras. They slipped by a couple of Yaks, with Tiago having to eliminate a couple more before they were seen, striking them hard and fast from outside of their field of vision to render them unconscious. With one sentry, he knew he wouldn't be able to close the distance in time, so instead he timed out the delay between lightning strike and thunder, and timed a shot from his pistol so that the sound of the gunshot was drowned out by the storm, and the gel round incapacitated the sentry before he knew what had happened.
The only Yak who saw it coming at all was the one in the office, monitoring the cameras. And all he saw was a massive, dark shape closing distance between him and the door that had been suddenly smashed open before blackness overtook him. Tiago did make a quick check to see if the Yak in question had cybereyes that may have recorded him and let out an audible sigh of relief to find that he didn't; the metahuman brain wasn't sharp enough to pick out more than color and shape at the speed he was moving, especially after the trauma he inflicted. But image enhancing software could have gotten quit a bit of info from the sparse seconds between him kicking down the door and knocking the fucker out.
“Alright, Ether;” Tiago said, pulling down the blinds on the office window to keep anyone from looking inside, “do your thing.”
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Post by Rex Apium on Jan 18, 2017 6:33:22 GMT -5
Much like Tiago, Ethereal didn't care much for Tank's music choices. However, she wasn't terribly annoyed by them either. She had a tendency to dip out of her typical classical music and into electronic music, and depending on which subgenre you ended up in, it would sometimes come across as nothing more than noise... which was very similar to what Tank was listening to at this moment.
Usually on a ride to a job Ether would spend her time making last minute adjustments to her deck. It was a nervous habit, not that she was a nervous person, but she had a tendency to worry; especially when she hadn't had enough sleep. In the case of this job, however, she wasn't terribly interested in messing around with it too much. She'd fully loaded it the last time she did maintenance, and the programs in there would be just fine for what they were going to do now.
The flash of lightning drew her attention and following the sound of thunder made her groan. She hated running in the rain. It made her hair frizzy and there was always the constant concern of her cyberdeck getting water in places she didn't want to get it. Sure it was in a protective, waterproof case, but she didn't trust those. There was always the chance, even if it was just a fraction of a percent, that water could get in and completely fry her deck. A decker without a deck was useless no matter what way you sliced it.
As the rig pulled up and she got a good look outside at the downpour, her evident displeasure with what she was looking at was written all over her face. The deck would go under her jacket while they were outside, at the very least it would alleviate her worries, no matter how unreasonable they were. The one nice thing about the rain is that it made a nice sound cover for she and Tiago as the two of them moved about the dock. Ether wasn't terrible at stealth, and especially not when she was actually trying to be stealthy, but she also wasn't nearly as good as it as Tiago. That meant most of their moments was him making sure the way was clear and her following close behind.
Ether was already pulling her deck out from under her coat as the two of them entered the office. She made a cursory glance to the Yak on the floor, mostly just to make sure he wasn't faking what she knew for a fact was complete unconscious as she moved to the jackpoint. Already pulling the wires needed out, she was in, her fingers flying across the deck as she did so.
The information Steph had given them made her time in The Matrix that much easier. She found the container without having to spare any extra thought to it. It had an extra tag on it, which she supposed was a way for whomever was in charge of organizing this nonsense to keep track of shipments. Next order of business was to locate the closest crane to move the crate onto the closest flatbed. Her persona glided effortlessly through the dock and it was in this search that she noticed something. A different crate, same tag. She frowned, the action visible on her meat body.
“Oi, love, we got us a bit of a snag,” she spoke outloud as her persona moved closer to the crate, investigating it as much as she could, “Found another crate with the same tag as the one Steph gave us. Looks like there might be two...”
Already she was tapping into the camera feeds near the crate, trying to get a look. There was one that looked to the entrance, but nothing stood out from the crate as special, “Tapped into the cameras... I can't get any intel on what could possibly be in it and there's no info in the data aside from the same tag Steph's crate gave us. Won't know for sure if there's a second unless we take a look inside the hard way.”
Several more moments of fingers flying across her deck and she'd forwarded what she'd found to Tiago's comm. Number on the crate, where it was located in proximity to where they were and what the cameras were showing her as far as Yak presence.
“Best I can do, love, I'll stay up here and keep a look out.”
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Panzer
New Member
Resident Bard
Posts: 29
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Post by Panzer on Jan 21, 2017 19:11:47 GMT -5
The others moved off to do there part of the job, now it was time for Tank to do his, the empty flatbeds weren't far away, that would be step one in his plan. Second order of business was relaying the recon info from the drones while driving, was no easy feat to move the monster rig and mentally control the drones at the same time. That's why he was one of the best riggers in the city, being able to divert his mental focus four different directions at once. He found the flat bed just in time as Tiago took out one of the patrolling Yakuza, quickly relaying some of the info from the recon drones to the rest of the group, "Ve have about 12 hostiles out zer, one is puppy guarding ze crate, I'll be going dark for a few moments, going to be hooking up ze flatbed, zer are two off to your right."
Tank wasted no time getting the refurbished military truck backed up to the flatbed and connected, he quickly jumped back into his drones and resurveyed the area. He noted they were still outnumbered and the objective was still well guarded. His recon drones weren't equipped with the proper equipment to create a real diversion, but he had one toy on him that was. From a compartment in the cab Tank pulled out what appeared to be a remote control tank, but looks could be deceiving sometimes. After a few moments Tank was jacked into the small drone and piloting it towards where he saw a patrol pass by moments before. He flicked a mental switch and the drone began spilling a small amount of a tar like substance. Wouldn't be enough to ensnare the entire patrol but enough that Tiago could take out those unaffected by the sticky goo. "I have deployed some goop to stop a few of zem, Tiago, you are going to ave to be quick about it."
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Post by Former Fiend on Jan 27, 2017 3:20:32 GMT -5
Tiago let out an annoyed grunt at the news that there was a second crate, but also gave a nod; there was always a snag. Especially on a rush job when one was working off of someone else's info instead of the intel gathered first hand; someone makes a last minute call after the intel was gathered and no one double checked in the time it took to get the information to them. Wasn't unusual, but it was the kind of thing that you could compensate for and improve on when you had the time to do your own recon before pulling off the job.
Tiago reached to his belt and pulled out the shock baton he'd brought with him, grabbing a paper towel and thoroughly drying it off before setting it on the desk next to Ether. “If that guy wakes up,” he said, nodding towards the unconscious Yak, “smack him with this. Won't be any good to me out in the rain, though.” That done, Tiago stepped over to the Yak in question and pulled out some zip-ties from his pocket, cuffing the Yakuza with them. He then slipped out of the office all together, out into the rain.
He ducked behind a shipping container to listen to Tank's recon report over the comm about how the troll had partly disabled one of the patrols. That was good to hear; they'd started with a dozen hostiles, not including the one in the office. He'd disabled three sentries and patrollers. That meant there were nine left, including the one glued to the shipping container. He suspected that one would be the physad that they'd been warned about, and he definitely didn't want any interference when taking that one down.
Tiago climbed up on top of the shipping container he had pressed himself against, leaping from one to the other until he made his way to where Tank had set his trap for the Yakuza; it was a narrow path between two rows of shipping containers with side paths on either side; he had to hand it to the troll, he had an excellent sense for where to set a trap.
Sure enough, three Yakuza started heading back down the path a moment later; the patrol that Tank had seen before he set the slick. The one in the lead stepped right into the tar; he almost managed to catch himself before the one following him bumped into him from behind and the two went sprawling forward onto the ground. The third one drew his gun but didn't manage to get a shot off before Tiago leapt down from the shipping container above onto him, the impact of his elbow against the Yakuza's head and the full mass of ork slamming him back against the opposite container rendering him quite unconscious. The other two tried reaching for their guns but found their hands caught in the tar as well, leaving them easy prey for Tiago to kick unconscious once he managed to leap over the tar trap to the other side.
With both Ether & Tank guiding him, Ether with info from the security cameras and Tank with his drones, Tiago managed to make quick work of the other patrols, picking them off two or three at a time until only the one guard in front of the containers themselves remained. He wasn't a big man, by any stretch; he was hardly taller than Ether. But he was wiry, made of tight, corded muscles that looked like they were carved from stone; those muscles were the only apparent weapon he had on him, and were all the easier to see with his lack of a shirt. That same shirtlessness showed that the whole of his torso & arms were fully decorated with traditional Yakuza tattoos, likely extending all over his body. There could easily be more than half a million nuyen worth of ink in that Yak's skin, which meant that he was a lifer, and a well respected one at that.
“I know you're there!” The yakuza called out over the sound of the rain, his voice thickly accented.
“Of course he does.” Tiago thought to himself as he stepped out of the shadows, turning on his comm and hoping that Ether & Tank would be able to hear over the weather. “What was your first clue?”
“Comms going quiet over the last five minutes. I knew we were under attack, but I am not to move.”
“So how well do you think that's going to work out for you?”
“Well enough. Our superiors have already been informed; back up is on the way. Even if you beat me – and you won't – you won't survive the night.”
“Well, you're at least half wrong.” Tiago said, taking his longcoat off and dropping it onto the ground. “So let's make this quick.”
The two warriors took their stances; Tiago had expected that his opponent would be properly trained – likely masterfully trained – in martial arts. But the Yakuza seemed, if anything, taken aback by the fact that Tiago himself had taken a proper aikido stance; most people didn't expect someone of Tiago's size to actually know how to fight with any kind of real technique. They expected a brute who only knew strength, who's palms were more calloused than his knuckles because he lifted more weights than he threw punches. And Yakuza in particular were often dismissive of gaijin in general and metahumans specifically when it came to such things.
Tiago hadn't lived as long as he had just by brawling, even though he was pretty good at that. But he also boasted extensive training in aikido, boxing, jujitsu, karate, krav maga, muay thai, and wrestling, and more unorthodox styles like 52 blocks, not including the various weapons-based styles he was versed in. Some of those were more expected than others; Tiago suspected that what took this yak aback was as much that he'd gone with a more defensive style of yielding force rather than an aggressive strike-based stance, as that he demonstrated proper form at all.
It was only a few seconds that the pair spent sizing each other up, assessing one another, before one took the first move. It was the Yakuza who lashed out first; a mistake in judgment and temperament if Tiago had ever seen one; it was in the Yakuza's best interest to drag this out as long as possible, to bait Tiago into aggressive action and to buy time for his reinforcements to arrive. But apparently pride overrode good judgment for this man.
The fight lasted less than a minute, but it was an intense and brutal minute. Tiago had fought Jaguar Knights, he had fought Red Samurai, he had fought Sioux Wildcats. This Yak was up there along side them – the elite forces of the world – as one of the toughest fights he had experienced. Bruised and broken ribs, a little blood on the inside of his mask, and the promise of what would be a painful day tomorrow. All with an unconscious, concussed Yakuza at his feet.
“That's dealt with.” He said over the comm. “Checking the crates now; we gotta move fast before the back up gets here.”
Ether hit him back, giving a list of names of the girls that should be in the crate. Fortunately for all the places the adept had struck him his head wasn't one of them so he wasn't dazed enough to forget as he approached the crate with a limp. He reached the first of the two crates – the one they knew that they were looking for, and shot the lock off it before opening up. Inside there were nearly a dozen scared young Japanese girls – elves, dwarves, oni. Not a one of them looked to be eighteen, but none of them looked younger than twelve, either. The stench almost made him take a step back; the girls had been living in here for days, maybe weeks, without any way to bathe or dispose of their waste. Was as miserable a situation as Tiago had seen, but they didn't have time for pity and therapy right now.
“Head count; Maki, Homura, Hanayo, Miu, Nozomi, Akaari, Kotori, Kaede, Mikano, Asuka, Izumi, Yukiko.” The girls didn't seem to understand much english for the most part, but each one reacted to their names, even through fear of a massive ork with a skull mask asking them. Except, no one answered for Yukiko. “No Yukiko?”
“They put her in other crate.” One of the girls – the one that had answered to Akari – answered in broken english.
“Well, that explains that.” Tiago said. “You girls stay put; we're gonna get you somewhere safe.” He closed the crate behind him and got on the comm. “Ether; figured out what's up with the second crate; they've got one girl separated from the others. Get ready to move the main one with the crate and I'll get the stray.”
Tiago moved to the second crate & again shot the lock off, opening it up an stepping inside; the stench was present again, but at least this was only the stench of one person, not eleven. “Yukiko? You in here?”
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Post by Rex Apium on Jan 31, 2017 23:14:50 GMT -5
Ethereal kept one ear on the unconscious Yak in the room with her. It was easier than an eye, after all, with her attention as divided as it was. She'd kept the camera feeds she'd tapped into up so that she could look to them when she needed to, but most of her attention was spent trying to unwravel the mystery of the two crates.
This attention was immediately halted so that she could listen to the conversation between Tiago and the Yak. Backup was already on it's way. Of course it was. She was already working on moving the crane into position so the crate could be picked up once she got the okay. Feed would need turned down while the two men fought, too much white noise and she had other things to pay attention to. The addition of backup gave her more reason to broaden the amount of security cameras she was tapped into, make sure they knew exactly where that backup came from.
“Tank,” she spoke over the comm to him directly, “If you happen to have a small drone with a speaker, would you be a dear and place it in the shipping container once I get it on the flatbed? I'd like to be able to speak to the girls and make sure they're calm enough. Oh, and access codes would be wonderful too... much easier than systematically destroying all your countermeasures.”
The moment Ether had the clearance to start moving the primary crate, she was. As Tiago checked on the contents of the mysterious second crate, Ether was carefully using a crane to move the first to the flatbed. Tank had assured her that he had a drone she could use, but also was kind enough to give her access to it. Part of her wished she'd thought to have one sent before the crate was moved, but the other part of her was sure that as soon as it started, the girls would figure out they needed to brace themselves.
Once the crate was secured, and the drone set in it with the girls, Ether spoke through it's small speaker to them. She explained, in fluent Japanese, that there would probably be a lot of loud noises and not to be alarmed, that they'd make sure to get them to where they were going safely. There were questions, Ether was not only sure of this, but she could hear them as well. A curt response of “I'll answer later” and the volume turned down on that feed was all they would receive.
Ethereal didn't have much time to try and find as much information as she could before it was time to go. In fact, just sticking around at this point was a bit on the foolish side. She had access to the feeds, she could just leave, make it back to the rig, and get going. However, Ether was well known for doing somewhat reckless things in the pursuit of knowledge, and this mysterious second crate was a puzzle she couldn't help wanting to solve.
Minutes that felt longer than they should have ticked by before she's scrounged as much data as she felt comfortable leaving with and jacked out of The Matrix. She didn't need to wait for Tiago to return to escort her back. With the threat of backup, should she run into any problems she wasn't worried about being quiet. She'd also directly tapped the necessary camera feeds into her comm so she could avoid any Yaks that remained.
The waiting game would be next. Getting to Tank's rig and waiting for Tiago to return with the mystery girl in the mystery container. Perhaps she'd answer some of the girls questions why she waited. It would pass the minutes and keep them calm. Or it wouldn't. No knowing for sure.
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Panzer
New Member
Resident Bard
Posts: 29
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Post by Panzer on Feb 1, 2017 16:58:00 GMT -5
As soon as Tank heard the words he was dreading the burly troll sprang into action, backup always present a problem. He did his best to get the drone Ether requested into the container and gave her the access codes on the run. He vaulted over crates, slid through whatever cracks he could in a frenzied attempt to get back to the rig and get things prepped for the incoming reinforcements. Several of his drones could provide momentary suppressing fire but about the only real damage would have to come from the turret or if he had to the giant ram he could deploy to the front end. This would have been easier if they brought a back up rigger to run as interference our as a sweep car, next time maybe he would bring Volkaya and her rigs with him.
Upon reaching Schmeterling, he leaped into the back engaging the turrets deployment system and let the triple .50 cal turret rise to the roof, activated a few drones equipped with machine guns filled with a assortment of bullets. Next phase was to recall and redeploy the various recon drones he had dispatched, as long as Ether still had eyes on Tiago he wouldn't half to worry about that end of the docks. "Ey I'm pulling most of ze drones back and redeploying those with enough charge and devensive power to keep a eye out vor zer backup." The drones started pouring in and quickly he redeployed those that had self defense systems and had enough charge to last for a few hours still. 4 recon drones, that was gonna leave a hell of a hole in their vision. There was still some work to do though before Tank could fire the rig up, off onE of the walls he grabbed a "Lazy Susan" which was little more then a piece of plywood on wheels, several small camera's, a mountable turret and a blowtorch. Sure they didn't have a sweep car but he was about to remedy that.
He threw the Lazy Susan underneath the flat bed and laid down on it pulling the torch, turret and camera with him, this wasn't gonna be perfect by any standard but it would help. As quick as he could he welded the turret in place, it was shoddy at best and he half expected the turret to fall off halfway down the highway, he repeated the process for the camera. After the slapdash modification to the flatbed he rolled under the rig itself and flipped a switch causing the ram bar to come loose so he could move it into place. The rigger had no idea how much time had passed or how long they had before back-up was gonna be here but the preparations he made would have to do. Tank quickly threw his tools in the back and climbed up into Schmeterling and fired the rig up, now it was just a matter of waiting.
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Post by Former Fiend on Feb 4, 2017 23:41:51 GMT -5
Tiago adjusted the night vision on his goggles to see inside the dimly lit container and beheld a pitiful sight. Yukiko – he presumed – was there, reaching out her hand towards him; she was a pitiful sight, unwashed and unfed, barely with the strength to pick herself up off the floor. As her own eyes adjusted to the sight of him, she was clearly terrified; and he could hardly blame her. He was, after all, a massive, armed man wearing a skull mask.
A father of two, himself, Tiago was pretty good with kids, getting them to calm down and reassuring them when they were afraid. Under different circumstances he would have made an effort to do that, here. However, the circumstances as they stood were that a Yakuza kill squad was already on it's way to deal with them, and he didn't have time to comfort a scared girl.
Instead the ork stepped forward and picked Yukiko off the floor of the container by the back of her shirt, lifting her up effortlessly and tossing her onto his shoulder. He was met with instant resistance as the girl began a frantic, terrified struggle. Not that that mattered much; Tiago had carried trolls half-agian as big as Tank out of fire fights on his shoulders before; a tiny, malnourished elf girl who hadn't broken five foot yet was as light to him as a sheet of paper and precisely as likely to cause him any trouble in extracting.
She did seem to relax as they passed by the downed Yakuza adept; Tiago momentarily stopping next to him to bend down and pick up his coat. Perhaps seeing the unconscious yak reassured her that Tiago himself was not Yakuza, he wasn't sure. He didn't pause to contemplate it as he stood up, slinging his coat over the opposite shoulder to the elf before carrying Yuki to the cab of the truck and opening up one of the doors, climbing up to place her in the back of the cab. Shutting the door, he leapt down, sliding his arms into the sleeves of his coat as he walked around the truck and climbed on the back to take up a position on the turret.
“Hoi, chummers;” Tiago said over the comm, “Let's slot n' run.”
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Post by Rex Apium on Feb 5, 2017 2:33:59 GMT -5
Ether was getting impatient.
That wasn't terribly unusual for the elven woman, especially considering had she had it her way she'd be sleeping right now, not sitting in a troll's rig waiting for her ork to return with the special girl in the mystery crate. The data she'd dug out of the Matrix on this girl was vague at best, and Ether had spent more time making sure the data was downloaded than actually reading it.
She could hear the girls in the crate behind the rig chirping to each other. She'd kept the volume down low enough that she wasn't able to make out exactly what they were saying, but there was a general tone of trepidation from them. Perhaps she should have done more to try and alleviate their curiosity. Not that it mattered, it was a bit too late now and she wasn't exactly known for being good with children.
The elven woman had busied herself digging into the files she'd downloaded when she heard the door of the cab open. Instinctively a hand moved to the shock baton before it dropped away when she saw not only Tiago's face, but the face of a Japanese preteen elf. Joy. She got to sit next to one of them. With the mystery of who was opening the door solved, she looked back to her deck, closing files as she did so.
“Good evening,” Ethereal said to Yukiko in perfect Japanese, if not a slight accent bleeding through.
She turned the volume up on the feed into the shipping container and unmuted her mic to speak to the girls inside, again in that slightly accented Japanese, “We're about to start moving girls, please don't be alarmed if you hear any loud and strange sounds... and try to hold onto something.”
With that said, she lowered the volume and muted the mic that lead to the little drone in the container. She set her cyberdeck down and picked up the SMG, bringing one of her legs up and under her to make maneuvering easier. She wouldn't be able to do much as they left, but at the very least she could take out anything that happened to get next to the rig and leave Tank to focusing on driving.
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Panzer
New Member
Resident Bard
Posts: 29
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Post by Panzer on Feb 8, 2017 1:00:01 GMT -5
By the time Tiago arrived and shoved the mysterious elven woman into the cab Tank had been idling the rig for several minutes. He waited to hear the firing of the pistons indicating the orc was strapped into the turret's seat and engaging the lift before putting the monstrous truck in gear. The troll tapped into his drones quick to get a better feel for how close the Yakuza reinforcements were, taking a mental note of what each drone saw at that moment in time. It didn't take long for the rig to lurch to life and for Tank to enter that special place he went during deadly driving.
All within a heartbeat the rig changed from the automated shutter in the back locking the cargo hold in place to the music within the cab. Tank was usually pretty musically mellow playing rock and roll and the occasional country song, that changed when he knew "offensive driving" would be involved. Now blasting through his speakers was troll metal, a misunderstood genre on a good day but something in it always put the 7 ft troll in the mood to go all bat shit crazy on someone. Looking over at the other two in the cab he saw Ether already had a weapon out and ready for side by side combat, he glanced over at the young girl between the 2 of them. No weapons, well fuck that presented a major problem should they try to board from the drivers side. Tank quickly reached behind the girl and pulled a small silver briefcase out and plopped it on the girls lap. "Vell vhat are you vaiting for get it open and find zomething that feels right, zis isn't a free ride and I can't shoot and drive at ze same time." With that Tank punched the gas and away they went.
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