[Shadowrun] Chapter 1 - An Unexpected Request

[pringerbeam]

     Roland pressed a bullet into the clip.  "These are just throwaway guns.  Always nice to have a few on hand, like burner comlinks or untraceable cars.  You never know when you need to loan out a gun and I find it better to not have to worry about that loan defaulting."  He pressed another bullet into the clip.  "You got a piece?  I hear some wizards don't use guns.  Sounds like a terrible idea to me but... Whatever..."  Roland finished loading the clip and set it next to the assembled gun before setting to work on the next special.  He curled his nose slightly at the smell of the oil being tainted by whatever exotic scents seemed to have wafted in with Zephyr.

[Mysticsage]

"The Manzoku wanted me for more then my sparkling manners." he laughed, "I've had rigorous training with guns even when I was back in school. I might not use it often but I have a Warhawk, and remember, Owls are hunter's Sparky. I don' need to rely solely on my gifts if push comes to shove. Barriers are very much a threat in our line of work after all." Zephyr was not nearly comfortable enough nor or on good enough terms to bring firearms into the bar. So he had left it along with his various other goods at home.  "And if I do say so myself I was always pretty good with a sniper rifle. So no need to worry about me shooting you or myself by accident."

[pringerbeam]

     Roland looked down a disassembled barrel like a spyglass as he brushed the ends with oil.  "Relax there Mr Green.  It was a question of preference not proficiency.  In this line of work just about everyone can manage to bring a target down, that's not the interesting bit.  I'm a believer that what people use to accomplish a task is more important than the actual task is.  Just trying to get to know you better."  Maybe it was the shot of tequila but something about Zephyr's response was nagging at the back of Roland's mind.  He tried to put it behind himself as he moved on to oiling the receiver.  "So which do you prefer: the warhawk or the rifle?"

[Mysticsage]

"I tend to find when my spells are lacking its the Warhawk that helps the most. I tend to find that when I'm in trouble a pistol is the optimal range." Zephyr said as he opened an AR window with his comm and began making a few notes for the things that would need to be done for the job.

"Though if I'm doing my job right my magic will be a much better aid." While Sparky was busy cleaning the receiver Zephyr was watching through the AR display. "How about you what do specalize in besides driving?"

[pringerbeam]

     Roland stopped his work for a second to ponder the question.  "Hmmmm... Nothing really.  Courier work IS my specialty.  Sure I have some skills that are useful for getting a package from point A to point B and they can be used for other stuff but moving things and shooting people in the face when they try to stop me is my job.  I like it.  It's nice and clean and I rarely need to worry about being a loose end that needs tying up.  I don't shirk the occasional hit job if the pay is right...  I guess body-guarding is pretty similar to courier work but with less sick jumps but I haven't had to do many of those kinds of jobs.  Not uncommon to wind up as wheelman for a heist too I suppose."   He began to assemble the gun.  "I'm self taught in everything I know and try to cover things that I'm weak in when they wind up being a problem...  I guess tech is an exception.  Never had a head for the ones and zeros and would rather bum the help of someone like Machiavelli than try and learn it myself.  Anything else...  Well I guess we wander into philosophical territory at that point.  How does one know what one does not know?" Roland smirked at this last statement before he finished assembling the gun and worked the slide to make sure everything was smooth before aiming it at the door and inspecting the sights.

[Mysticsage]

"Know thyself, for it is the beginning of all wisdom." Zephyr chuckled "It's a saying from Socrates that's been drilled in my head along with pages of others. I think when you drill down to it all the academics in all six worlds are trying to answer a variation of that very question there Sparky. I have to say I'm always impressed when someone can teach themselves. Despite how some people make it sound its a difficult thing filled with traps and bad habits if one does not learn and be careful about the whole process. But in the end if you can make it out of the maze its always results in a fuller sense of self.

[pringerbeam]

     "I tend to find staying alive to be both a good teacher and a good motivator.  That's all."  Roland set the pistol down next to the other assembled gun and began to load its magazine.  "So, speaking of trying to stay alive let's talk about something more pertinent to our short term survival.  Have you had any progress on your friend's case since the other day?"

[Mysticsage]

Zephyr sighed feeling the weight of his friends momento against his chest. They had managed to keep of the killer's radar so far he only hoped their luck held out for a while. "I've gotten the ball rolling, but I don't want to be kicking any hornets nests until we put a better light on what happened. I have a plan to do that but it will take a while. So for now that data that Mac is working on is our best bet. That's why I haven't gotten any of many of my contacts involved. We've already opened Pandora's box no need to step into hell the very next turn. Taking it slow and steady is by far our best bet of staying in one piece."

[pringerbeam]

     Roland finished filling the clip before tapping it against his chin in a ponderous fashion.  "Huh, I guess that depends on who you're dealing with...  Civilian casualties are like nuclear fission.  Too many too fast and you are looking at some major mushroom clouds.  If there are other civilian targets still in play then the more time spent not kicking the shit the more time there is to keep the kills seem unrelated.  The harder it is to keep the kills related, the harder it is to find your killer and so on and so forth."  He put the clip down next to its gun and stretched out his arms, cracking the knuckles in his remaining hand.  "Personally, I prefer an approach that's fast and vicious in these matters.  Sending up a flare in my experience makes people panic.  Then all their best laid plans have to run on my schedule and in the rush they make a mistake."  Roland set about cleaning the final special.  "Of course, I tend to lack the patience to wait these things out too.  Time is after all money...  Speaking of: any idea when Mac gets here so we can get down to business?"

[Mysticsage]

Zephyr shrugged, "No clue, we only met in person that other night. Otherwise all our dealings have been done over the matrix, mostly me sending him times to shut down security systems or me sending data packets to decode. I don't know where he lives or what he really does in his downtime aside from the occasional chat. He's asked me to help him on a job or two when he knew he need some discretion and we built a certain level of trust. So in all honesty you can answer your own question better then I can you both seem to frequent the same places after all." He waved his hand around vaguely in the air then to signify the space they were sitting and then got back to typing. "I messaged him first so I imagine he's close."

[InhumanRonin]

"Names Takumi. Shinji told me you need help with your security detail. Just wanted to know where I can meet up with you so we can talk specifics on the matter. Takumi clears his throat a bit before continuing on. "Since I figure another person watching your back cant hurt given the situation.

[Oath]

Roland & Zephyr

Machiavelli entered the room dressed in a suit, a drink in hand. "Sorry for the delay, had to take care of some business on the way over. So we're robbing a corp? A lot more noble than blowing up a drug lab." He sat in the corner and took a long sip from his drink. "Any idea where we're getting started, Zephyr?"

Takumi

"Ah yes I heard about you, the kid looking to make a name for himself. You can find me at my Sushi place. Ishikawa sushi. And before you ask the stupid question of why in the fuck would I be at a place named after myself when there are people after me, the answer is simple: I, Tora Ishikawa am not afraid of some fucking Drago-esque rosuke inbred nimrods and you shouldn't be either if you want to be anyone in this god damn city. I don't even have that many damn people with me and it would be a surprise if the cossak bastards after me can count high enough to know how many we have. The highest they can count by the way is three, which happens to be how many bottles of vodka they drink in a day as they sing praises to their motherland as we laugh because its a shithole. Anyways Takumi, get your green ass over here and we'll learn you some things about being a proper Yakuza."

The call disconnects and some coords appear on your commlink.

[Mysticsage]

"No worries Mac," he said with a nod before allowing to sit. He quickly ran through the basics of the Job and what was asked of them before diving into the details. "Now, as I see it we have two major hurdles. The first being our Johnson's partner Edison Croyle, and the second hurdle is the corporation that he works for a small corp trying to make its name Verril & Wynn. The first pitfall is assuming that if we get the package from one we get it from the other. These plans mean big business for both parties involved so they are going to make sure to protect the investment with everything they can.

First lets deal with the partner, assuming the Johnson is not lying which is a big if. At best Croyle is an amateur thief who either saw an oppurtinity for more money and took it, or he was planning on betraying the relationship from the very beginning. Assuming the path of most difficulty that means that this man has had time to plan this out and protect himself. Even if he's arrogant enough to think that he got away without consequences he will have made at least one copy of the physical original., and most likely secured a digital fail safe incase of unseen accidents. Now if we assume him paranoid enough to have scurried away several copies for insurance he would not want to many floating around. The more copies their are the more risk that they get stolen from him and sold to others or copied so at worst he would have only a few we need to hunt down.

We'll need to get to know him personally. Find his home, his usual routine, who he trust and so on till we can dig out every copy that man has. It will be slow going and require wits but if we are thorough and creative about it we should be able to leave him none the wiser cursing his bad luck.

The second hurdle, the corp V&W now getting anything we need from them will require more of a delicate touch, but everything we need will be in one or two easily identifiable places. A small corp like this would keep everything either in their main building and host or in a small offsite building. That data will not leave either of those two places so all we need to do is find the paper trail and follow it to the treasure we want without worry. However, if security identifies a problem there may be a high threat response team coming to ask us some unfriendly questions." He finished showing his mental map with dozens of question marks branching off of the main points and threads.

"We also have a time crunch as soon as any sail is complete we're screwed, and the Johnson specifically asked us to keep this as quite and death free as possible. He doesn't want it hanging over his head or coming back to bit him in the butt. On the upside he paid 5000 upfront for us to do it. And I'm working out a side gig to see if I can't get us more of and a more secure line for the nuyen at the end. I'm not a fixer by trade so i feel a bit safer taking full payment from a secondary source especially if it means more money and I assume you agree." Zephyr then paused to let that all sink in reading the faces of the other two.

"So to get started, we need the Matrix" he looked at Mac. "We need to dig up anything we can about Croyle and V&W. Adresses first and foremost for both parties. Any and all obvious histories, subsidiaries favorite bar ect. Plus whatever else we can manage security layouts ect. With that done It's my job to get in and do the grabbing. I'll need to get my commlink inside to deal with the hosts and any networks so that you can bomb the crap out of the files. You won't be able to do any attacks but it will mean that the security won't be able to recognize the intrusion. And If there is something you do need to brick its my job to either get you in directly or close enough where you can do it wirelessly. Sparky is the driver and muscle. We're on a time crunch and If my guess is correct we have less then 48hrs. So a quick driver who can also double up and go in with me if need be and provide back up is the only way we get the job done in time. And while you two are starting the leg work I need to go do more background work."

"So what do you both think?"

[pringerbeam]

     At Machiavelli's timely arrival Roland thought to himself: heh, guess he must be the devil.  He then let Zephyr's onslaught of information wash over while he worked on the special.  By the end of the job rundown he had finished cleaning and had begun assembling the gun.  "Huh, I'm surprised that the employer doesn't want the boots put to his old buddy.  Probably should have asked for a revenge crippling bonus.  You know, one of those 'Mr X sends his regards' type deals.  Is it too late to get something like that arranged?  Revenge tends to pay well in my experience and I figure a hands on interrogation of the partner will need to be arranged anyways so might as well get paid a little extra for work that was already lined up."  Roland mulled over the mission's specifics for a second. "48 hours isn't a lot of time to plan for much other than a smash and grab.  Normally I would be fine with that but right now I'm a bit ill equipped for that kinda thing in all honesty.  Destroying copies... Either of you guys have incendiaries on hand?  Also for the designs we need to recover, is it bigger than a breadbox?  Don't want to look like an ass running around with a stack of dead tree fluttering around." 

[Oath]

Machiavelli sighed. Working under pressure was never fun. "Conveniently, I've already gotten you the address for the business. I think the blueprints for most buildings are publicly available if you know what you're looking for. Got a little program you guys can use if you run into a barrier,  so you guys can go ahead with that while I do the more delicate work regarding our backstabbing coward. If there's a problem I can take care of it. We'll have to case the place in person later, but getting an idea of what's what is a good plan."