[Side Job] Fire and Steel

[pringerbeam]

July 31st, Friday, 11:12 am

Your comlink buzzes with a notification.  Looking at the screen you see a message from Samantha Gallway: leader of the Steel Sentinels.

Samantha:  Hey Valkyrie, you looking for some quick yen?  I have some work that needs to be done.  Come to the Citadel and look for me.  Tell anyone you come across that you're looking to see me about some new ware.

You know the location well, the Sentinels don't make much of a secret of their main base of operations.  Her special request was something out of the ordinary though.

[Asta]

Anahera thumbed a quick response.

[info]Valkyrie> Aight, be there in a while.[/info]

No point in asking what she wanted over the link, Samantha probably wouldn't have told her anyway. Anahera got up from her bed, a shitty mattress on the floor, and rolled her head in a circle popping the vertebrae loudly.

"Let's see... What to bring for the trip..." she mused out loud then grabbed a combat knife, one of her SMGs (folded down and placed in her leg), her armored jacket, cloak, and the keys to her bike before walking out to the garage. She didn't notice if Jing was in the house or not, so she punched out a message.

[info]Valkyrie> Goin' out. Back later, probably.[/info]

Once in the garage she checked to make sure one of her automatic rifles was stowed in the compartment under the seat, climbed on, started the bike and was on her way.

[pringerbeam]

     The ride to the Citadel is uneventful, just the usual drive through the Barrens, too early in the day for any goganger asshole's to be awake enough to test you patience.  Arriving at the Citadel, the ganger guarding the main gate waves you through with barely a look up from his comlink.  Entering into the main warehouse itself you find things more lively with the sounds of power tools from the gang's early birds working on their own personal projects.  No one seems to pay you any mind, too absorbed in their hobbies to do much other than take a quick look to see who's wandering around.

[Asta]

Anahera parked her bike, engaged the security, and proceeded to search for Samantha. She considered looking around without asking, but figured it would take up too much time to do so and found a nearby ganger she could ask about Sam's location.

"Hoi, chummer. Samantha around? I'm here about new ware."

[pringerbeam]

     The ganger, an ork, looks up from buffing out the weld marks on his car, flips up his safety visor, and cranes his neck around.  "If she's not on the main floor she might be back over by the stock."  He says pointing over to a chain-link fence enclosure shrouded with tarps. "She has a workbench back there for her personal stuff.  Getting some upgrades?  I'm waiting on some sweet spurs cuz the boss doesn't let us dip into the 'For Sale' stock."

[Asta]

"Might be. I'll go take a look, much obliged." she replied, and walked off in the direction the ork indicated.

[pringerbeam]

     Making your way into the enclosure, you find it filled with crates piled to various heights.  The metallic screeches and crackling of welders is slightly dampened as you wind your way through the stocks.  In the back you find The gang leader with her back turned to you to give you a glimpse of the glowing neon blue nanotat of a sword overlaying a shield that peeks from underneath the tight tank-top that she was wearing.  She perks up her ears when you round the corner of another stack of crates and she stands up from the workbench she was seated at.  Setting down her tools next to what looks like an assault cannon, she turns towards you and lifts up her goggles from her eyes.  "Hey Valkyrie, glad you came."  Her eyes sweep back and forth along the tarps and the narrow paths between crates.  "Let's go talk prices somewhere more comfortable."  She leads you back out of the makeshift stockroom and up a set of stairs to what must have originally been an office for the warehouse.  Now, it has been converted to a lounge with desks piled against one wall to make room for couches, a trid projector, and a makeshift wetbar.  Samantha walks past all of this to a door that still bears the signage for "Distributions Manager" and beckons you in.   The room looks much like it likely once did with a desk, a comfy looking chair behind it, two less comfy looking chairs before it, and a couch. 
     Gallway takes her seat behind the desk and motions for you to make yourself comfortable while she pulls out a controller from the desk and presses a button on.  The room fills with a low-volume buzz as speakers up against the walls and window activate.  "Sorry about the cloak and dagger but I'm taking some precautions."  She digs around inside a mini-fridge in the corner behind the desk and pulling out a can of Aztechnology Ultra Stawberry soda for herself which she cracks open before taking a seat.  She takes a sip and kicks up her feet.  "So here's the thing: last night we had  a shipment of nitro coming in from Seattle but it got jumped by some assholes.  Some new gangers up from Cal-Free or some shit like that.  Now, sure, normally this is just the price of doing business and I'd send a couple of my boys to go get the goods and drag them behind their cars but the thing is, this wasn't our usual shipment.  I had heard that the Halloweeners were gearing up to duke it out with the Souldrinkers so I figured I'd have some shit on hand to sell in case they came for a supply."  She took a sip of her soda.  "So I sent one of my guys up to Seattle to get the goods short notice from a guy I know would have some spare stock and on the way back into town he gets jumped even though no one outside the gang should know about his van full of nitro.  My guy up in Seattle is legit, an old friend from the bad old days.  I trust them and usually I'd trust my own boys but every now and then someone gets it in their head that they think they can take me on for the top seat.  So I need to do some investigating and that means keeping shit under wraps.  In the meantime, I need you to get that nitro back.  I'll pay you 3 grand for the trouble and a bonus depending on how much is left when you bring it back.  What do you think?"

[Asta]

"Sure, you done right by me before so its only right to return the kindness isn't it? When I get up there you still got anyone I can talk to for a lead or am I gonna need to pound pavement?" She reached out a hand to Sam to shake on the deal without waiting for a reply and a thought struck her.

"Also, mind if I bring a guy along for backup? He's my housemate so you know I trust him. Normally I'd be all ready to take this alone, but I got set on fire by a spirit a few days ago and I'd like to avoid surprises yeah?"

[pringerbeam]

     She takes you hand with the shake and leans back into her chair.  "You could bring a three ring circus for all I care, as long as the job gets done.  Not paying by the head, so it's your pay to split.  As for leads..."  She swivels the chair to look out the window while she takes ponderous sip of her soda.  "I don't know anything about these Cal-Free dicks, which means that no one else that's a big player probably has much of an idea either so they're probably working with a local fixer that will be hooking them in with the local corner boys to move my product.  One of the bigger syndicates might know something just because they deal across gangs.  Of course, these guys seem to have big balls so maybe they hit up the Ancients or the Cutters and one of them knows more.  They'd never tell me but maybe you would have better luck."

[Asta]

"Fair enough. I'll get up there and see what turns up."

With the business concluded, Anahera walked back to her bike and tapped out a message to Jing before hopping on and heading back to the house to prep.

[info]Valkyrie> Got a little work, you want in? Up in Seattle, could use another pair of eyes. Give you details when I get home if you're there.[/info]

[Oath]

Jing was on his daily run when he got a notification from Valkyrie.

[info]
Flea> Sure thing, always like heading up there and causing some trouble. Think i'll need Iron Mike?
[/info]

[Asta]

[info]Valkyrie> Always.[/info]

[Oath]

[info]
Flea> Fill me in when you get back.

[pringerbeam]

     Valkyrie is able to make the drive back to the house without incident.

[Asta]

After arriving home and stowing her bike in the garage, Anahera comes into the house and does a quick look around to see if Jing is there.

"Ay where you at? We need to talk details."