[IP] Uncaring Stars Options

[Crossbow]

Taurus nods at Nova's explanation. "That is what I was thinking of. You guys going in to con your way to the target. Me and Sharkboy come in with the stretcher,. If we have someone in the system authorizing us, it should be a piece of cake. And if it goes sideways, everyone is on site to help out."

[Volker]

bnc casts a glare into Anna's direction. It is not so much (only) anger, but mostly disappointment, hurt.
"So you would 'follow anyone that knows what he is doing' which is Nova, even that freak brute over there and a total stranger but explicitly not me."

bnc walks over to the cot, while James stands.
"Fine. I tried to be part of the team. I made efforts to straighten things with Sharkboy who only repaid me in bringing up what an egoistic asshole I am. I asked you for something immaterial which I could take anytime, and could - and has - save lives, and you deny it to me out of sheer mistrust. What's the fragging point of me being here? If you refuse to work with me, then why am I here?
Doesn't matter. I am paid for doing the job but if you all agree that anyone is supposed to do as they want and everyone else just has to roll with it, let the shit go down in chaos.
I'll go and do some intel. If the Sharkman touches my body again without my permission, I will shoot him or die in the attempt."

While James dutifully and methodically sets down the backpack, bnc lays down on her cot.

[Gilga]

Anna frowns and says "bnc I trust you as a matrix specialist, and within that realm, I accept your authority." she feels a need to go comfort bnc or make her feel better. Though, after being roughly ignored since she followed her to Europe, she does not want to go there. She accepted that bnc is not her salvation, and that Anna needs to invent her own social web to survive in this strange country. She is doing alright, and after binding a powerful spirit with her power focus after a few hours of study. A feat that would have taken months to pull off without the focus she does not feel weak anymore. She does not need bnc, she found other lovers, other professional runners, and she is in the game on her own right. She is a Shadowrunner, and the way money is flowing, she is valued very high compared to the opposition despite this being only her third job.

Instead, she goes to the Coffee machine and makes herself a cup of coffee and sighs as she drinks her coffee. "bnc, when you relax - please see how much of our wishful thinking can be laid out as a workable plan. Does anyone know a good forger in this country? I know one back home in America but I am uncertain how good he'll be with the local documents."

[Volker]

bnc looks her in the eye. "You don't, though, do you?"

@gilga

[ Spoiler ]

She highlights the text message she sent a couple seconds ago. (<@Anna <ive already removed my mark and i can get a new one whenever i need it. u do realize that u arent protecting anything. what u r doing is making collaboration more difficult. but i get it ive been a foramen culi. no hard feelings@all. just the felt the urge to tell you that youre acting highly irrational>>)

[Gilga]

Anna looks at bnc and says "I do, most of the time.", not wanting to mention drug problems in front of Taurus/Alex to not embarrass bnc.

@Volker

[ Spoiler ]

Anna replies >>I didn't ask to intrude on your private thoughts... Though I can think of some situations that doing so may save your life. The scenarios where my life is at risk because you do not have access to my comlink are a bit stretch. Especially right now, and especially if it only takes you a second to hack it anyhow. I may reconsider if I am sent to the police station under some ruse, and feel more vunerable.

[SquirrelDude]

"bnc, you can have a mark on my commlink."

He still wasn't ready to really apologize for grabbing her when she had that panic attack, but he wasn't going to dig that back up again, either.

[Thanee]

"This is one of the situations, where a little leadership might come in handy. Of course, bnc will have superiority over all our commlinks. I don't see how this is even a question. She is the hacker and she has the means to protect the network. If someone has an unprotected commlink, that someone becomes a liability for the whole team. I do not have the skills to do this, so I am glad, that someone else, bnc in this case, is taking up that task. Everyone plays their role, that is what 'team' is all about."

[Volker]

bnc nods, closes her eyes for a moment.
"All right.
I would like to discuss matrix security a little further before we leave this safe haven as there is still some room for improvement. That's not priority atm, though. But granting me a mark does not directly improve matrix security. Other measures do, however. We'll talk about it.

I think I could be able to pull some pretty decent forgery off myself. Of course, this wouldn't be fully bullet-proof but it might do to trick some officers, depending on how cases like this are treated. In combination with a short hack of their system, I'm pretty sure that I can forge and support the story you are talking about. If we feel ourselves in need of some more profound forgery, I do think that the Abdecker should be able to support us. At a cost, for sure.

Anna, can you mask your aura?"

[Gilga]

Anna replies "Nope" She actually tried to do it, but never figured it out. Her mind was elsewhere, obsessed with the new power focus, and all the new options it opened up for her. Yet, she cannot be one with her focus until she learns to mask until then the ring of power stays hidden in the special pocket.

Anna is frustrated that she cannot, but with all the excitement of the focus, and learning new spells she never got to it. Not that she had access to good teachers in that realm. A familiar feeling of incompetence sweeps the young mage when she realized that every mage they encounter is likely more powerful, and more experienced than herself. Sure, she was pretty good for "magic for practitioners" - without much trying. However, now when she is doing this illegal drek, she does not hold a candle to any of the mages they encounter. Even with a powerful focus, she still cannot do it. She stares at her coffee and does not make eye contact.

[Thanee]

"So, is everyone onboard with the general idea? It might not be completely waterproof, but if it works, it gets us right to him, and it would at least explain, why we have a little more combat augmentations and magic than the average paramedic, if we are corporate asset retrieval agents or whatever you might call someone like that. There would be no need to hide your magic, Anna. Taurus, maybe someone with your background can actually help making this whole story a little more believable. You know how corporations work, right? One potential problem I see here is Sharkboy. He is easily the most recognizable among us, and that does include a minotaur. No offense."

[SquirrelDude]

"No offense taken. Taking the focus away from you guys is my job."

[Crossbow]

"Not if he takes of the mask, we can ask Eliza about getting us an ambulance and kit for our plan. Scrubs or uniforms for me and Sharkboy. She could also cover us in the Matrix, she did say that she had at least seen the system. If nothing else, we can boost one and we stay inside until we are needed."

Taurus had already done what he needed to do for his commlink, in spite of his statement earlier. He noticed, but chose not to comment on any interpersonal drama. He will go ahead and make the call to Eliza, since it was his idea.

--So, in addition to that bike, is there any way we can temporarily lay hands on an ambulance and pararmedic uniforms for Sharkboy and myself? We have the beginnings or a plan.

[SquirrelDude]

"The mask doesn't come off."

[Crossbow]

"The mask doesn't come off."

"Excuse me?"

[SquirrelDude]

"It's as I said.

"I don't take this mask off around other people."

[Crossbow]

"It's as I said.

"I don't take this mask off around other people."

"You understand that what we do is illegal, right?"

[SquirrelDude]

"I know. I'm always confused as to why no one else wears masks."

[Crossbow]

"I know. I'm always confused as to why no one else wears masks."

"Because when you are not trying to stick up gas stations, masks are a dead giveaway."

[Crossbow]

"So what you are saying is, you can't ever be sneaky, or disguised, or, in general, useful in a situation where someone DOESN'T have to be body-slammed. You do understand that people can get killed doing what we do?."

[Gilga]

Anna asks "can we put something on top of the mask? "

[SquirrelDude]

“Yes, we could put something on top of the mask.”

“Really, though. Your two think far too narrowly. Acting like you belong is just as important as looking like it.” Sharkboy’s attitude through all of this was a bit more flippant than would be helpful, but it was hardly he first time he’d had this conversation.

[Gilga]

Anna says "You can just distract the coppers so that they do not look into our papers too deeply. You do not have to be a masked paramedics. Beside, the mask is nice an all but since there are very few Shark people out there, anything shorter than a full synthetic skin mask that covers your entire head is pointless."


To bnc she says "I think that I can mask my aura or yours for that matter. I do not know the masking metamagic technique, but there is a spell that creates illusions on the astral plane. So I can cast it on whomever I want, and make their aura look like whatever I want. It would work in most open spaces, but it is a spell so wards are a problem."

[Crossbow]

Taurus will facepalm for a second, then give a surrendering shrug when he finds out the mask can be covered.

They have the basic bones of a plan, so for him, the situation is settled. He will start going over the intel they have on the site while he is waiting to hear back from Eliza.

[Volker]

"Excuse me?"

Despite her moodiness, bnc grins in amusement. She listens to the dialogue for a while, then chimes in.

"Look, lads. Lasses, whatever. We don't all have to go in. Actually, no one except for one of us really needs to. To be frank, I would suggest only Anna - who is a charmer and has two nice arguments to distract some officers - and Nova go. I accompany you from the cyberspace and the two beastmen can wait somewhere nearby. Maybe, Sharkboy, you wanna do something flashy like a parade or whatever it is you do when you don't slam your fins into somebody's face. But you're right: Your job is taking attention from us.
So Sharkboy distracts.
Anna is the main asset retrieving agent or whatever it's called.
Nova plays her co-worker slash bodyguard.
I do the forgery and the hacking.
Taurus stays close by if some shit hits the fan.

By the way, Taurus, what is it actually that you do contribute? I take it you're muscle?

[Thanee]

"Havn't you noticed, how he instinctively watched over Anna, when she went astral earlier? Let me take a wild guess here... bodyguard / security detail," Nova said with a wink.

"Anyways, my thought was to send Anna, Taurus and myself inside, posing as the corporate agents sent to retrieve our asset, while you and possibly Eliza, not sure if she is going to be a part of this, do your virtual magic, and Sharkboy is backup / distraction. Anna is lead. Taurus is her security detail. And I can convincingly check on Angström's medical status."