How would you skin this cat?, Brainstorming assistance Options

[Happy Trees]

Gassing the entire train with Neurostun can leave the target wondering about being compromised, so that's not a viable plan either.

So answer his questions by removing valuable jewelry and electronics from the other unconscious passengers. Keep the electronics to ones that are more impressive-looking than what the courier displays. If you can, do something similar before and after the run, but at some trid theater, or stuffer shack, or whatever, so that the news starts talking about "the neurostun bandits". Maybe leave "calling cards". Nothing traceable, of course...

[binarywraith]

Honestly, they're right. You don't have the tools to do this job.

So your priority is to turn it into a job you do have the tools to do.

[Sendaz]

Do you at least know which corp he is working for and transporting the data to?

I am just having images dancing in my head of your team slipping onto the train and finding it's a Herr Brackhaus playing courier sort of day.

[Kyrel]

Sendaz. Unfortunately we don't have that information either. That being said, so far in this game, the GM hasn't had us go up against any of the major corps, at least not in a manner where it has actually mattered to the run which one it was, and he's generally not the type to shaft us by i.e. having the currier just incedentally be Herr Brackhaus or similar *LOL* Also, he's also not the type to design runs that he can't imagine some way for our characters to pull off (though we have walked away from a potential extra job, because we couldn't see a way to pull it off successfully.)

Anyway, I agree that we probably have to think out of the box on this one, because frankly, the skillset required for this type of job, isn't excately the skillset we specialize in.

[Meatbag]

This already sounds like a clusterfuck waiting to happen. Maybe I missed some important data somewhere, but "keep the courier ignorant forever" is not an option unless you know what the data is about, who it's from, and who it's going to, because you can't make a workable replacement that the recipient will buy. This is what the employer should be providing, among other things.

Assuming you mean "keep the courier ignorant until the delivery is made", that's merely very tough, rather than impossible. I vote for stopping or diverting the train with a (real or fabricated) disaster on the tracks, then executing plan Great NeuroStun Robbery. The courier won't suspect he's been mugged because hey, the data's still here, and they were after cash anyway. Horrible luck, hell of a delay, but obviously not the work of a professional data-poaching team.

[Shortstraw]

If the courier dies he will be unaware he lost the info...

[Kyrel]

Shortstraw: I like your thinking >chuckle<

Meatbag: Just had a confirmation from the GM. Both the currier and the recipient must be kept ignorant of the intercept permanently. So we basically have to get a hold of the data, copy it, and then replacing it on the currier without him discovering it. As we still don't know what form the data actually takes, and how it's stored.

We know that he will arrive at the station by VTOL capable aircraft, and we know which train he will be on. We don't know what he looks like, nor his metatype, gender, age, or name. We can expect to have to go through an ID check, because we will be crossing several borders underway, and we will be going through a security check. And KE is patroling the area. The train has both standard communal compartments and 1st class compartments. So yes. We basically have a part of a skeleton worth of needed information, in order to properly prepare for the run, and it's questionable whether or not we actually have the skills that we will need for a job like this.

I have to agree that this is a clusterfuck waiting to happen *Laugh* But I suspect it will be fun nevertheless. Worst thing that can happen is that we get to make some new characters for next time, in which case our demise was hopefully memorable.

I'll let you guys know how it pans out. We'll be meeting in a few hours...

[Shortstraw]

Shortstraw: I like your thinking >chuckle<

Meatbag: Just had a confirmation from the GM. Both the currier and the recipient must be kept ignorant of the intercept permanently.

Even the GM says to kill him (and the recipient).

[Sendaz]

Shortstraw: I like your thinking >chuckle<

Meatbag: Just had a confirmation from the GM. Both the currier and the recipient must be kept ignorant of the intercept permanently. So we basically have to get a hold of the data, copy it, and then replacing it on the currier without him discovering it. As we still don't know what form the data actually takes, and how it's stored.

That is going to be tough. You have to have some kind of diversion to separate the courier and his data, without him knowing, copy it and get it back in place.

Think seduction route may be the way to go afterall and while one team member is keeping the courier occupied (lots of orgy spell for distracting attention from anything else-not saying your team can't perform without, but every bit helps in this case) the others have to lift, copy and replace.

Should be fun (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Stahlseele]

How comfortable are you with MUCH collateral damage? O.o
Get the data, blow the whole train up. Hard to figure out what whoever did that was after if the whole evidence was blown up.

[Kyrel]

Stahlseele: My character might be OK with that, slightly depending on how many children are onboard. However, I kind of suspect that at least one of the other characters on the team could voice some level of objection to that level of collateral damage *chuckle* Also, blowing up a train full of people for 8 grand/head + expenses is a little cheap, even for our characters... (Yes, we are playing with a somewhat low income level. 8k is not an insubstantial amount of money for us. We seriously did do some calculations on the possible return of stealing cars and selling them off to chopshops, just to get some more money in order to get some more and better gear. The GM seemed to take the hint, because the payout per run increased a bit after that debate.)

[Stahlseele]

8k?
did you get an advance?
if so, tell the GM/Johnson to go fuck themselves with a cactus.
Take the advance and go camping with some beers.
This shit for 8k? that so would not fly with me/my characters . .

I had expected something along the lines of 20k per head or so x.x

[Manunancy]

Consisderign the pay, blowing the train is in my opinion out of the question. No matter what the character's morals, it's big anf Noisy enough to bring far more heat to bear from both the law and anybody important's employers or relatives for such a low pay.

If i had to go for a 'terrorsit' cover, I'd try to go for the nonlethal/nasty humilating prank route, passing it off as coming from an high image/low bodycount group.

[Kyrel]

We didn't get to finish the run tonight. We've managed to ID the currier and get onboard the train. Our Pocket Hacker got through her comlink and copied the content to my character's comlink, and apparently even managed to clean up after itself. We haven't been able to determine if we have what we are looking for yet though, but we did manage to catch a hand-off between the currier and someone else at the station, before the train left. So realistically speaking we are probably looking for a physical object of some sort, so having hacked her 'link probably won't do the trick for this run.
We've also successfully scanned the currier with a Cyberware Scanner, but it only show information about a build-in comlink, and a simrig, so that's not really all that helpful. A successful pick-pocket attempt have let one of the characters (the technomancer/rigger no less! I didn't realise that she's got 10 dice worth of Palming!) have a quick feel through of her handbag, without it revealing anything suspicious though. But any item the currier received at the train station can easily have been concealed within some other everyday object, or it might be hidden on her person for all we know.
So at this point we are kind of wondering how we are going to go about getting a better look at whatever she might be carrying. My character is lesbian and has a dayjob as a stripper/prostitute, so if worst comes to worst, I'll let her try and go for the seduction idea, but I suspect that this will probably fail. The information we managed to dig up about the currier, didn't suggest that she's into women.

If people are interested, I'll try and put together an IC description of tonight's events, seen from my character's POV.

[kzt]

The information we managed to dig up about the currier, didn't suggest that she's into women.

If people are interested, I'll try and put together an IC description of tonight's events, seen from my character's POV.

That's why a spirit would be really helpful. Influence is pretty subtle and pretty effective.

[Blade]

- Impersonate security officers, or border controllers at the departure or arrival station and randomly select the target for a detailed examination. Depending on the way the data is stored, this can be more or less easy.

- Get the target to sleep (either wait for him to sleep, or drug him one way or another), then use the Dream spell to have him dream of the train getting under attack by a group of shadowrunners looking for him. Have the dream end up with "I should have hidden the data in [a place on the train where everyone has access but nobody would be looking]". Or have him hide the data in the dream before the attack, allowing him to get out of the attack alive because the runners didn't find the data on him.
Then, when he wakes up, dressed like the shadowrunners of his dream, walk past him and make him see "by accident" that you are indeed armed. He'll freak out, think that the dream was a warning, be very happy to discover that he's actually a mage who can predict the future, and hide the data according to what he dreamt.

This one is a bit more far-fetched, but it's cooler, so any good GM should give it more chance to succeed than a more classic plan (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[ShadowDragon8685]

Eight thousand per head? For this shit?!

Take the advance, tell Mr. Johnson - our better yet, your fixer - you don't work for cheap fools who think they can get Prime Runner performances out of somebody they hired for beer money.

There are times to screw over Mr. Johnson. That time is upon you now. Then go with your carjacking chopshop idea and maybe knock over a few stuffer shacks while you're at it.

[binarywraith]

We didn't get to finish the run tonight. We've managed to ID the currier and get onboard the train. Our Pocket Hacker got through her comlink and copied the content to my character's comlink, and apparently even managed to clean up after itself. We haven't been able to determine if we have what we are looking for yet though, but we did manage to catch a hand-off between the currier and someone else at the station, before the train left. So realistically speaking we are probably looking for a physical object of some sort, so having hacked her 'link probably won't do the trick for this run.
We've also successfully scanned the currier with a Cyberware Scanner, but it only show information about a build-in comlink, and a simrig, so that's not really all that helpful. A successful pick-pocket attempt have let one of the characters (the technomancer/rigger no less! I didn't realise that she's got 10 dice worth of Palming!) have a quick feel through of her handbag, without it revealing anything suspicious though. But any item the currier received at the train station can easily have been concealed within some other everyday object, or it might be hidden on her person for all we know.
So at this point we are kind of wondering how we are going to go about getting a better look at whatever she might be carrying. My character is lesbian and has a dayjob as a stripper/prostitute, so if worst comes to worst, I'll let her try and go for the seduction idea, but I suspect that this will probably fail. The information we managed to dig up about the currier, didn't suggest that she's into women.

If people are interested, I'll try and put together an IC description of tonight's events, seen from my character's POV.

Yeah, you really don't have enough info to do this job, and you GM is not helping. You don't even know if this is a datasteal or a snatch. Given how little you know, she could be carrying it inside tamper locked headware, and you'll have to kidnap her to physically remove it.

[Kyrel]

Yeah, you really don't have enough info to do this job, and you GM is not helping. You don't even know if this is a datasteal or a snatch. Given how little you know, she could be carrying it inside tamper locked headware, and you'll have to kidnap her to physically remove it.

We agree completely. Knowing the GM, however, we ought to be able to do this job with the skills and information we have available. But ya, this is a seriously annoying lack of information. It's unlikely that she's got the stuff locked inside some headware, as all she's got is a build-in comlink and a build-in Simrig, and we presumably already hacked her build-in comlink (unless she's uploaded the data she received to her headware and then turned it off, and the comlink we hacked, was an external spare one she's carrying...). My character is giving serious consideration to telling the fixer who set us up with this run, that if he comes up with another run without a basic amount of information about the job, she'll make him sodomize himself with a cactus, as suggested earlier in this thread (thank you for that description Stahlseele).

[Neko Asakami]

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned that it sounds like the Johnson is planning on have you fail, not your GM. When you manage to pull this off (you should be able to with Dumpshock's help), go back expecting a double cross. Also be sure to have a trusted hacker contact (if you don't have one, get one) look over the paydata and make you a copy for "insurance purposes."