2075: 86ing the 88s Options

[Mercy]

Monday, 25 November, 22:37 pm; Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex


As the lock burns away, the warning lights go from a blinking red to a steady red and the message changes to: WARNING UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS. This continuously scrolls across the monitor as John opens the vault. Looking inside, Glo does indeed see the server access port she is looking for.

From his excellent hiding place outside the room, Al clearly determines that no additional security is approaching......yet.

[Aria]

Glo
Monday, 25 November, 22:37 pm; Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex


Glo sniffed in disdain "They made me this way, and I work with what I've got...and this is very personal!"

As Jonny plugged in the data tap Glo contacted Briar <<Time to go! Dump everything on to Shadowland as we agreed and watch for ice in there, chances are it's blacker than my heart!>>

From the silence Glo trusted that the young hacker was already engaged in rifling though the Triad secrets...

[Jack_Spade]

John
Monday, 25 November, 22:38 pm; around Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex #148

"I see. Well, you are in good company then. All in all it would probably be a good idea to be somewhere else right about now. How about you grab something to eat and I get the meatbags... I mean my employer for a little powwow."

John stood up and walked out of the door. "And don't get scared, he is right here around the corner."
<<Al, get over here, we need to start our daring escape - also the NIC is now a NNIAAC (Naked, not invisible at all chick)>>

[adamu]

Al
Monday, 25 November, 22:38 pm; Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex

Al wasted no time leaving his hide and making for the sec room.

"No I ain't. Reckon i'm right here. Ma'am," he said, nodding with a tip of an imaginary hat. Yup, NNIAC all right. He gave her an undisguised head-to-toe, which was well worth a two-second delay in their daring escape. That box ticked, and seeing no resistance as of yet, he headed back down the stairs.

[Mercy]

Monday, 25 November, 22:39 pm; Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex


>>Glo [Briar]: I am in. There is indeed IC here and it is tough. May not be able to get much, but info is flowing. Gonna be busy for a bit. Contact you later.<<

[adamu]

Al
Monday, 25 November, 22:38 pm; Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex

Pausing in the stairwell, Al looked for the nearest obvious security camera and gave it the finger before briefly dropping his drawers and displaying his scarred posterior.

[Jack_Spade]

John
Monday, 25 November, 22:39 pm; around Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex #149

John picked up one of the guns of the fallen security guards, checked the chamber and quickly collected the other ones. "Two options: We go down the stairs and out through the kitchen - or I smash that window and we abseil down the wall onto the kitchen. The first one will likely contain a fire fight, while the other contains the high chance that a pair of snipers will start taking pot shots at us if we don't move quickly enough."

[adamu]

Al
Monday, 25 November, 22:38 pm; Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex

"Plan A we pass the buffet," replied Al, taking a gun from Johnny.

[Jack_Spade]

John
Monday, 25 November, 22:39 pm; around Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex #150

"Fine by me." John replied, setting up a fierce grin. "Now, I think it would be a shame if this building was evacuated for no good reason at all."
With that, John once again brandished the little welder and began methodically to set the room on fire. That done, he picked up the unconscious guard.
"Let's see if they shoot an EMT carrying one of their own." With that, John went to the front and down the stairs, while behind him dark clouds of burning plastic began to form.

[adamu]

Al
Monday, 25 November, 22:38 pm; Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex

Al was delighted. Robot-boy's EMT ploy was a good one.

And he figured his little show for the camera plus the now bona fide fire in the mostly-vacant building sent just the sort of message they were looking for.

He took off down the stairs with Johnny, not knowing if the girl was still with them, or even if he'd know if she was.

[Mercy]

Monday, 25 November, 22:40 pm; Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex


The ruse seems to work well and John has no difficulty negotiating the stairs down to the ground floor. Three security men rush past him and Al on their way up to the security room. The last one in line even stops to radio to someone that an EMT is on the way out and could he get an escort. Once at the ground level, two security men meet John and begin to clear a path for him out to the street, even helping him place the unconscious man in the van.

[Jack_Spade]

John
Monday, 25 November, 22:39 pm; around Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex #151

It had been no accident that John had left the unconscious guard behind in the smoke that had been privy to the discussion between him and the NIC. Now back at his car he gave the unconscious man a bit of NaCl solution - into the lung, to illicit some heavy coughing on waking up, followed by some strong pain killers and finally some treatment to wake the man up.

"Easy, easy. You inhaled quite a lot of smoke up there. Thanks for saving my life. Your crazy colleague would have killed me, if you hadn't stepped in. I mean, wow, when he started to set the building on fire, you knocked him straight out. That was damn heroic of you. But next time try to crouch a little, so you don't inhale quite as much smoke. Now, your vitals are stable, but you should go and see a doctor some time soon. You got a nasty burn on your neck. You might also experience some short term memory problems, but that should be no problem. Relax a bit, have a drink now and it all will come back."

With that, he released the guard from the Valkyrie Module, counting on the fact that electric shocks scrambled short term memory and the painkillers would make it difficult to differentiate between dream and reality. False memories formed all the time. The fire would hopefully take care of the evidence and make the guards false memories the most reliable account of what supposedly happened.

When the man had started to stagger back to his workplace, John called his partners
<<Debrief at Sam What's bar in 15 minutes.>>

To the still invisible NIC he said: "You want a ride - or some clothes? I can set you up."

[mister__joshua]

Jan
Monday, 25 November, 22:55pm; Sam What's bar

Jan was sitting in a booth with a cocktail in his hand, sipping through a straw. It looked rather feminine, but no-one as yet had dared tell him so. He was already despairing about the night's events. A simple scouting mission had somehow turned into an assault, and now the Triads likely knew they were coming. That's what happens when you trust other people to do the work. Amateurs. A kid playing games and a genuine cowboy. He should have known better, and that made it worse. He rubbed his temples with his fingers relieving his headache a little, waiting for the others to arrive for the 'debrief'.

[Mercy]

Monday, 25 November, 2255, Mercy General Hospital, Seattle


Al sits patiently in a chair next to Fu Shing's bed in his hospital room. The man has a broken leg, several broken and cracked ribs and a possible concussion. As expected the doctor wanted to keep him overnight for observation. She KE major had gone off for a few minutes but would be back later. To Ai, she appears to be competent and is asking all the right questions and taking the proper steps to make sure that nothing happened at the hospital. She is still dressed in hospital scrubs and it will be probably close to an hour before someone shows up with clothes from the apartment.

Ai has alerted both Monique and Ni Ni to her condition but not give out too many details. The story at the casino is grim. According to reports from Hai Sin, someone set off the smoke detectors and used the ensuing confusion to break into the security office, killing three security guards and severely injuring two others. They are still trying to piece together what was taken from the information vaults before the spider and its IC managed to chase an intruder away. The best news is that none of the patrons were killed and only a handful had any need of care. Hai Sin is sifting through the camera feeds for information and will let her know if he finds anything. Al realizes this is going to be a PR nightmare and orders Hai Sin to call up additional soldiers and keep her informed. She also has him send her the feeds from the security cameras so she can examine them while she is stuck here.

Something about that EMT vehicle............................

[adamu]

Al
Monday, 25 November, 22:57pm; Sam What's bar

Having wiped his prints (as seen on the trid) and tossed the casino security guy's ridiculous little gun in a random dumpster, Al had walked back up the hill to his truck and driven it the few short blocks to Sam What's. Jan had beaten him there.

He ordered a beer on the way to the big elf's table, pulled a chair and flipped it around, straddling it it so that he could rest his arms on its back. "Ya missed out, kemo sabe." He ticked his victories off on the fingers of one scarred hand. "Free onion rings, only slightly soggy. Saw a naked chick. Mooned our would-be killers. Set one o' they casinos on fire. Hell of an afternoon, ya ask ol' Al."

[Aria]

Glo
Monday, 25 November, 22:39 pm; around Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex #151

"You want a ride - or some clothes? I can set you up."

"I am fine for both thank you. But it would seem sensible to at least exchange comm codes so that we can pool any future resources. As soon as I have analysed the data that my hacker friend was able to extract from their servers I am happy to share that with you...I'm not motivated by profit in this and the intel might damage them if disseminated in the right places"

[Jack_Spade]

John
Monday, 25 November, 22:39 pm; around Bright Path Casino, Chinatown, Seattle Metroplex #152

"Alright, sending it now. Also, we are getting a drink at What's now. Join us if you are up for some fun."

That done, John got behind the wheel and followed his chummers.

When he entered the bar, he nodded at the perky, elven, red headed barkeeper and blew her a kiss: "Hey Sam, what's up. See those two guys over there? Any chance you could get us three glasses Connemara peated? Thanks."

Moving through the bar with three glasses, John made his way to Al and Jan.

The strong spirits fumes combined with his olfactory scanner was the closest John could get to enjoy alcohol these days, so once he had seated himself, he enjoyed the smell for a few seconds before speaking:
"So, I think what we did today qualifies as "reconnaissance by fire". Also the NIC is going to share with us the content of the casino's data vault, so even since this looks like a cock up, we actually got something useful out of it."

[adamu]

Al
Monday, 25 November, 22:57pm; Sam What's bar

Al raised the glass in thanks to Johnny. It wasn't beer, but it had alcohol in it, which was the main point.

"Coolio. Whatever she finds oughtta be useful. Course that might take a minute ta git back to us, an' we don't wanna give the evildoers no chance ta regroup, so I reckon our next steps is, A, git drunk, then B, jist drive around ta some other Triad joints shootin' people at random. Damned Orientals'll go crazy tryin' ta find a pattern when they ain't none at all." Al silently congratulated himself on his supernal strategic sense. "Hell, why even wait till we's drunk, when we can take a few bottles on the road, git wasted while we's doin' it?" He stood, eager to get back out onto the road.

[Mercy]

Monday, 25 November, 22:57pm


@Glo As you make your way to the alley dumpster, you pass groups of Chinese thugs varying in size from three to five or more young men wearing jackets indicating that they are with the 88s Triad. In your current state, you are easily able to avoid being seen and seem to be ignored. Your clothes are where you had left them, but you do notice that they seem to have picked up the odor of Dumpster #5. While this might actually be appealing to the rats and some of the drunks nearby, it is not truly conducive to moving about in polite company.

>>Glo [Briar]: Attaching a rundown of the information found before I had to bail to avoid the nasty IC. It is uploaded to Shadowland as requested. Call me if you need me on your next foray.<< Briar has organized the information into sections for you.

Financial: There is a breakdown of the daily intake from the casino (averages at about 300K) as well as the current amount in the on-site vault (3.9M). A side note indicates that the funds over the basic operating capital of 3M are transferred to a Downtown bank on a weekly basis. The current total in the bank is 47.23M)

Donations: There is a breakdown of the "donations" given to various political, corporate, and service leaders in the sprawl, including several ranking KE officers, the vice-mayor and mayor of Seattle, the governor, and various suits in several AA and AAA corporations.

There is a conspicuous lack of any sort of information on the program you are interested in. Either Briar did not get to any of that, or the information was never here.

[Mercy]

Monday, 25 November, 2300 Mercy General Hospital Seattle


Fu Shing is resting comfortably for now. A nurse escorted by an armed KE officer has just checked his vitals and the room is now empty except for Ai and her boss. She has been poring over the feeds from the various security cameras and taking notes as she goes. Her initial interest in the EMT vehicle has increased considerably. She has run a vehicle ID check and determined that this is a Thundercloud Morgan. She has considered that the vehicle is far from its PCC manufacture, but that in itself is not too far-fetched, but it is a curious thing. She has had Han Sin include the feed footage from the front of the casino for several hours and has noted that the vehicle arrived in Chinatown at just after 1700. The EMT had gone into various buildings in the area and returned to his vehicle several times, ostensibly to restock the medkit he was carrying. Ai can see what appears to be a Valkyrie unit in the back of the truck and several small cabinets that the man takes supplies from.

Fortunately, the cameras had captured the EMT's image several times and she sends a message to a friend. >>Cora Lee [Tanya]: Sending some stills of an unidentified EMT. Can you scour the local clinics to see if they have this man on payroll? I do not think that you will find him, but I would love to be surprised. Please also check to see if any of the EMT providers had dispatched a vehicle to Chinatown this evening. Secondly, I am sending you some stills of a vehicle that left Chinatown at about 2240. Please access the street cams necessary and let me know where it went. Ciao.<<

Her next message is to a close friend in the KE. >>Sergeant Thadeus Masters [Tanya Marisart]: Thad, I need a favor, please. I am sending you a plate number. I would like to know what the vehicle is that the plate belongs to and who it is registered to. How are Maria and the kids? I hope that Jonathan is doing well in his classes in Denver. He should be home for the holiday, right? Tell him that he is naughty for not calling Aunt Tanya. Talk to you later.<<

>>Han Sin [Song Ai]: Han Sin, please get your hands on that worthless pig Lao Bei. He is responsible for security on the street and I think that he might have been lax in his duties. Ask him about the EMT vehicle that was on the street near the casino for several hours. I want anything from him about the man with the truck and what he was doing in the area. I am not completely familiar with common practice, but I remember nothing about anyone arranging for such a vehicle to be in the area today. It may be a coincidence, but it is a large one, made more implausible by the fact that the man and his vehicle left the area while there were still patrons to be cared for. Get back to me on this as soon as you can.<<

Temporarily done with the front cameras, she accesses the feeds from the side and rear cameras in turn, looking for anything out of the ordinary, finding something on the rear cameras. She sees a man leaving the casino through the rear kitchen door and wipe down a gun before tossing it into the dumpster there and walking away outside of the pickup range of the cameras. A quick check of the cameras near the arched entrance to Chinatown show the man walking away up the hill before he is outside the range of the cam. Like she did with the front cameras, Al rolls the feed of the one outside the kitchen back and lo and behold, the same man appears just before the false fire alarm. He is talking to one of the prettier waitresses and Ai takes a still of her as well as several of the man. Rolling forward again, she sees him enter the building as the girl runs away. Switching cameras, she is able to track him into and through the kitchen and out into the casino proper. Her suspicions seem justified when she watches him take out the guard at the stairs and go to the first floor where the security office is. The bodies on the floor there bother her a bit but she is more interested in the people she sees and does not see in the room. The EMT is there and does not seem overly concerned with the dead or unconscious security men on the floor. She cannot hear anything, but his lips are moving as if he is talking to someone. She captures that sequence and watches as he uses a mini-welder to burn through the safe, pausing to admire the professionalism of the man and the fact that he does not waste much motion. She follows the action as the other man moons the cameras and smiles at the chutzpah of it all.

>>Han Sin {Song Ai]: I am sending you stills of one of the waitresses apparently letting one of the attackers into the casino through the rear kitchen door. Use the HR files to identify her and bring her in for questioning. Find out what she knows and how much they paid her for her assistance. The other stills are of the man she helped. He came up through the alley so someone may have seen him. He wiped down a gun and tossed it into the dumpster there. He also used the dumpster to take a piss. I am sending the stills of where he was doing that and want someone to collect a specimen and have it sent to our friends in the KE to see if they can get a good DNA trace from it and find out who this man is. Recover the gun as well. Not everyone is as careful at wiping prints as they think they are. Be as fragging discrete as possible, Han Sin. It is expected that we will be looking into this, but we do not want to tip off anyone about how much we know. I have also attached a portion of the feed that has one of the EMT man talking to someone. Find us a lip reader and get his words for me.<<

Momentarily satisfied, Al continues to look into the security camera footage as she waits for her various questions to be answered.

[Jack_Spade]

John
Monday, 25 November, 22:59 pm; Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex #153

"As much as I'd like to go on a rampage with you, I'd prefer to hear back from our new contact first. To much action and we might frighten the head honchos and drive them into hiding. Also, we still want to find an internal antagonist or rival to sponsor this war, so we have someone who we can make peace afterwards. That's quite a bit harder if you damage everyone a bit instead of focusing on operations owned only by one boss."
He took another sniff from his glass.
"Besides, we didn't actually get any money out of it due to the alert closing the vault. So the next thing we hit should be an operation with easily fungible assets - for example hitting one of their warehouses with weapons or maybe a cold storage with real tuna. Sam knows a bunch of chefs who'd pay top Nuyen for a truck full of fresh fish."

[mister__joshua]

Jan
Monday, 25 November, 22:59 pm; Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

Jan had sat quietly while first Al and then John rambled about their intentions.

"Recon" was the only word he said, stopping the others dead for a second. "Fucking recon! What about tonight was recon? You've gone and fucked it, boys. They'll know exactly who we are, and now they'll know we're coming. They know John now, too, and his association with you ya dumb hick...."

He paused for a second to let himself recover his thoughts and quell his rage. "How have you both so quickly lost sight of what we were trying to do? Don't forget they're the ones hunting us. One more of us now, too. We only need to cancel the hit, by taking out the originator. That's the sum total of our goals. Any finance we can skim off is purely secondary. Sugar."

"I don't suppose anyone took out the camera feeds? Or thought to cover their escape in any way? We'd better move, they probably already know we're here."

[Jack_Spade]

John
Monday, 25 November, 23:00 pm; Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex #154

John replied infuriatingly calm: "You might have wanted to think about cameras before you chose a casino as our target. Those places have myriads of cameras which you'd all have to hack individually - or at least their data. That's pretty much impossible if you aren't a dedicated decker with a bunch of agents as back up. And no, I'm not a decker. At best I'm a rigger with a very narrow specialization.
And don't worry about my face - that can be exchanged with a toolkit.

There being a different hit at the same time we get there was bad luck - and no matter what we'd have done we would be on the tapes so a skilled analyst would have seen Al skulking around.
This way we have salvaged at least a new contact - not to mention we get a copy of the data vault for which we otherwise would have had to pay a specialist. From my perspective that's a fucking bargain.

And no, for me finance is not secondary, for me it's the prime reason I got into this. That and the action.

And relax: I'm friends with the barkeeper/owner. She'll let us know if there's trouble outside" John indicated at the sports bag at this feet: "And when they are here, I'm prepared to take them out to the last man and then interrogate the last man and send his remains back in a bag."

[adamu]

Al
Monday, 25 November, 23:00 pm; Sam What's bar, Seattle Metroplex

"Shee-it, Jan baby, listen ta Kid Synth here. Them Chi-nee was already after us - ain't gon' make no diff'rence no how they know we's shootin' back a little. Reckon I shoulda snapped a few pix o' the nekkid chick, then you'd unnerstand our imperatives was properly aligned. She warn't hard to look at, as you'll see should the young thing deign ta join us at this here powwow."

He settled into his seat, a bit chagrined that neither of his boon companions liked his random rampage idea. But it would be almost as fun to see whether Jan would get his way and they'd leave, or if Johnny would prevail upon them to stay.

[Mercy]

Monday, 25 November, 23:05 pm; Mercy General Hospital Seattle Metroplex


The door to the hospital room opens and one of the KE guards sticks his head in. "Miss. There is a young woman here who says she is the sister of the victim. Can you please verify that for me?"

Ai nods and stands, moving to the door and seeing Hai Jang standing just outside, a garment bag in her arms. The women smile at each other and Ai nods to the guards. "She is Hai Jang and is the sister of my master, Fu Shing. Please let her in."

The officers step back and Jang enters the room, handing Ai the garment bag. "Everything should be there, Song Ai." She goes to stand at the side of the bed as Ai opens the bad and strips out of the scrubs to put on the clothes inside. "How is he?"

Ai pauses as she dresses. "He is fine, Hai Jang. Broken leg and some ribs broken and cracked. He will be mostly immobile for a while. We are doing what we can to identify the assassins, but I am sure that they will lead us nowhere. I believe them to be local thugs hired to do the job. They were completely expendable goons with guns. And rocket launchers. Now those are not so easy to come by and we are tracing the serial numbers now to see if we can identify who might have provided that sort of ordnance to the killers. We are also tracking down the men who attacked the casino at just after the assassination. There are some leads I am having followed up."

Jang turns from her brother and bows to Ai. "You are a blessing, Song Ai. Your skill and valor on the field is matched by your acumen in trying to find these assassins and who is behind them. I am sure that you will prevail. I am only too sorry that the Dragon cannot seem to be involved in this."

It is Ai's turn to bow. "I understand, Hai Jang. And it is good to be able to prove ourselves worthy of the trust the Dragon has in us. We cannot seem to be weak at a time like this. Please let your mother and grandmother know that we are doing all we can."

"I will, Song Ai, I will. Now................."

Ai smiles. "David is two doors down. I made him promise to contact you."

Hai Jang blushes. "He has, Song Ai. I will go see him now. Be assured that you are being watched and that much of the past and the future rides on your actions in this matter."

After the other woman leaves, Ai finishes dressing. Her internal 'link has been telling her that she has messages, but she did not answer them while Hai Jang was in the room. Now she checks them.

"Tanya [Sergeant Masters]: The tag you sent me belongs to an octogenarian by the name of Millie Warren and is for her Honda Scoot. Maybe chips or morphing plates? Sorry. I will have the ungrateful boy call you later. Take care.<<

>>Tanya [Cora Lee]: Got a hit on the truck from where it left Chinatown and am following the traffic cam feeds. I will let you know where it ended up. No love on the EMT. Still running his face through facial Rec software but no hits yet and the EMT companies in the area do not have him as an employee. There were three separate EMT services that dispatched vehicles to Chinatown, but none from before the fire, so your boy was up to something.<<

Tanya sends a thank to Sergeant Masters and a slightly longer reply to Cora Lee. >>Cora Lee [Tanya]: Good wok so far. Keep tracking that truck. I am sending you some stills of yet another man. Cheeky bugger, and I do mean that in a direct way. He was not trying to hide his face so you might get some luck on it.<<

She has delayed sending the next message, but now it is time. >>Ni Ni Xiaolu [Tanya]: What is the mill saying about what happened to us tonight? I am assuming that there is a lot of traffic. You can cite anonymous sources to let others know that Fu Shing and Jedong Kai survived an attempted assassination. I could use any information at all that you can give me on who ordered the hit and who carried it out. Don't tell me anything you are not supposed to, but anything you can say would be appreciated. The 88s will know their friends after this is done and their enemies will be blood spots on the streets. Get back to me when you can.<<

She also has messages from Han Sin, >>Song Ai [Han Sin]: We have identified the waitress and have sent someone to pick her up. The gun has been recovered from the dumpster, as has a sample of some urine found where you had instructed them to look. Lao Bei has been brought in and is being interrogated. We have activated our soldiers and all are high alert and looking for anything. The pictures you sent are being circulated and a group of kids remembers a man that he said looks like the one who entered with the aid of the waitress. He had brought some alcohol to where the boys were gambling and passed the bottle around, even placing a few bets. After the fire, he came back that way and continued up the hill. Rick Wu has sent some men to assist in security. I have given them some outside tasks and they are not happy with that. You may be needed here, Song Ai.<<

Ai sends an encouraging message back to Han Sin. >>Han Sin [Song Ai]: Thank you for your efforts, Han Sin. Please keep me informed of what develops. You did well with Rick Wu's men. Try to keep them out of the casino and do not give them any privileged information. I will come to talk to their bosses if that is necessary.<<

After the barrage of messages and replies, Ai sits and ponders what she knows and does not know. First, eight thugs with rocket launchers and assault rifles attempted to kill Fu Shing and Jedong Kai as they left a meeting. The assassins were proficient in the use of their weapons, but little more than that. She had killed all eight fairly easily. The two men, no three, at the security office had exhibited a different sort of training level and skill set. One had been invisible through spell or perhaps some form of advance camouflage. She knows this because two of the guards were cut down with a monowhip before the other two attackers had entered the room. She hopes to get the lip reading specialist's interpretation of what was said in the room.

Ai is patient, but not overly so. >>Monique [Tanya]: I may need clothes and a ride. Pick out something neutral and come wait at Mercy General Hospital. I may want to go somewhere not as I currently am. Ciao<<