That was the unprofessional part. If he's a player in the shadows, and has done something in the background to warrant surveillance (that he knows of), or he's dealing with illegal activities in a big-brother society where everything you do is monitored... saying Ascon's name, the jist of the run, and the address of the meeting place in one unsecured transmission is enough to make a runner go: "What." The straight talking is awesome - I'm positive it helped him and Mr White reach an agreement quickly.. and straight talking is not the same as "Oh, you're extracting a highly sought after package? Let me go over all the details in recap for everyone listening in."

So! I waggle my finger at Moreau. Shame on you sir, shaaaaaame!

-

Eclipse starts up his bike when he sees the people exiting the bar because, again, apparently he decided to check email instead of going inside. It was a lot of spam, if you're interested (Though Netflix did add season 66 of Breaking Bad...)
<<where 2>>

Well, I'm obviously going to continue listening. But before we get that far, I need a GM ruling on something please.

I want to try and Trace the location of the wireless activity. Both ends - submission and receiving. However, the rules for Track User don't include anything regarding tracing wireless traffic, only icons on nodes. Capture Wireless Traffic has no rules in it regarding tracing, but the Track program description includes the definition that it "...is used as an intrusion countermeasure with the intent of identifying/locating a hacker or launching a counter-attack...". The major problem here, though, is that a node subscription is implied.

So, Mr. GM...is it possible to use Track/Trace to follow wireless signals back to their origination and destination points considering the RAW (as far as I can tell) don't address this?

Eh...you say tomato, I say tomato(totally different inflection). What you say is unprofessional, Moreau says is absolutely professional, because any intelligent runner would assume there is always a chance of surveillance and be prepared to deal with the consequences. He was prepared should any number of other players came at him during the meet, including several exit plans and extraction methods. Were you?

Yup, absolutely. Step 1: follow Moreau (he knows his shit). Step 2: ????. Step 3: Survival (and maybe Profit)

I love this group so much.

You can't trace the recipient without being on a node the signal is passing through, or at least having that target be within your signal range. In this case, you can identify the originating signal coming from a node just off shore (you'd need a Perception test in the real world to tell what you can see of what is at that physical location), but the recipient is not within your signal range.

From where Eclipse is watching Moreau, he looses track of Moreau for a second as he walks behind a van. Moments later the van starts up along with another vehicle on the other side of the van. Both have tinted windows. Should you wish to really follow him, which vehicle will you follow as they will shortly be going separate directions? hehe (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

Nah, I meant that was my escape plan if something bad broke out while we were in the restaurant with him. For now I'm suggesting we continue our goal of contacting the Atlantean Foundation and get our second bid...

Oh ok. I didn't really think you were going to follow him now. I was just trying to fully play out that, yes, he really does have multiple plans going on.

Yup.

Considering I've already got the traffic and am listening in on it (and recording for future reference)...how close are we to shore? I mean, if we aren't close enough, a Perception test ain't gonna amount to much, is it. However, I'll add the dices here in case we are close enough. Switching to AR for the Meat World perception test.

Perception 3 + INT 5 + Vision Enhancement 3 = 11 dices
11d6.hits(5) = 6

That, obviously, is to just see if there's anything out there that MAY have a node that I'd have to go hunting for with a Matrix Perception test.

The shore I'm referring to is the one you are parked at. The signal appears to be coming from something a little bit further away than the restaurant at the end of the pier. Looks like maybe it's coming from an unmarked yacht sitting in the water. It could maybe be heading towards the marina. But if it is, its doing it extremely slowly. It's a model produced by Saeder-Krupp if that helps any.

You calling him or going to drive by the address listed?

Let's call him.

Mr. White probably has a better understanding of telecom privacy and such in the 2070's than I do.

Gang, shall White just phone him up? Is there something more secure we should try?

I would suggest a phone call, it's common (not to mention professional) courtesy.

edit: Dammit, too slow. Maybe we should use TW's comm. He's replacing one, why not both. It's low-level enough that replacing it won't be too painful.

Can't think of anything more secure really, except the whole in person thing... But at this point we've been driving around this town enough, I would rather get this done...

I'm waffling between getting a burner comlink to call him on, or just using Mr. White's comlink. We (us, OOC, and our characters, IC) know that we're being surveiled. So does it matter? White generally conducts business via his own comlink, unless he's totally scumming it.

Further intercept transmissions:
From unknown origin:<<Transfer data on 4 unknowns. Have units 4 and 5 follow them until Air 3 can be called in.>>
Response from signal on the water appears to have an encrypted file attached <<Subject Alpha had support masking audio. Video of subjects is attached.>>
Unknown origin: <<Good work. We'll get Lips to review.>>
Water signal: <<Target Alpha has left the parking lot. Units 2 & 3 picking up tracking. Water 1 returning to inactive status>>

Presently the boat offshore is revving up it's engine as it begins to speed up and leave the area.

You can encrypt the signal. I'd assume you have some sort of low level encryption program even if you didn't buy it. Though Needle has been proving how much Encryption is actually worth considering the people she's spying on have pretty good Encryption running.

Yeah, it feels like using pig-latin as an "encoding method". May as well make the call and have some conversation.

By the by, there's still the dangling thread of Lung's (proxy's) interest in why we were going to talk to Draco. I just left that hanging. Are we happy with that, or want to do anything further with it?

Ok, for starters I'm going to decrypt the attached file.

17d6.hits(5) = 4
16d6.hits(5) = 5
15d6.hits(5) = 6

And just in case it's needed...

14d6..hits(5) = 8

Now...hmmm...I've recorded everything, including copying the decrypted file. I guess I'll push all of that to the team. Encrypted message, of course.

/* To: Team
/* From: Needle
/* Message: We're being watched. Heavily. Off-Shore is moving. File Attached. */

Finally, if the off-shore is still in range, Matrix Perception to find a hidden node on/near it.

17d6.hits(5) = 4
16d6.hits(5) = 4

I believe (without looking) that the threshold to find a hidden node is 4, but I could be wrong. Either way, if that isn't enough hits, I'll assume (unless the GM says otherwise) that the node is either hidden very well OR the off-shore has moved out of signal range.

No kidding. Disposable commlinks forever, then. No point in buying the good shit unless you can rip stuff out and replace it yourself for cheap.

Eh, leave 'em. They'll mess with us, regardless.

The file that was attached is a video file of Moreau's table. It includes video of the team members and Acson walking up to the table (with momentary zooms onto each of their faces). The audio portion seems to have been using a soundfilter to block out normal restaurant noises, and yet it does have any usable conversation from Moreau's table (there is a note in the metadata citing possible magical interference). At one point, when Acson burst out "Thaljun Cordex" a bit too loudly, something comes across the audio, but its still garbled (this is tagged with a note saying the tech-heads may be able to do something with that). Other than than, there appears to be a subchannel of the same video, but with a focus on the mouths of whoever is speaking.

As far as the boat goes, what are you trying to do with them? I was basically using GM fiat to let them be within signal range for you to catch the transmissions.

It seems to me that we're no longer simply "Trying to sell Acson to the highest bidder". It seems now that we're pushing "Acson and this book to the highest bidder". And I'd hate to undersell ourselves. There's a big difference between selling a new mustang, vs a new mustang with a rare siberian tiger sitting in the passenger seat.