IC: Striding the Soul's Edge Options

[Medesha]

Steel smiles at Jake. "Sure, I'll give him a call," she says, "He seemed pretty distracted last time I was there, though, and Vinnie in a bad mood is an unhelpful Vinnie. I will try, though." She shrugs off Jake's hand and steps aside to make her call.

[Buddha72]

Iblis moves back towards her deck. "Let me check out this LTG and see what I find. Watch the screen if you're interested." She slumps back into her beanbag and jacks in. The screen attached to the deck flares to life as her icon leaps out into the matrix.

[Fenris]

Iblis - You start with the basic public listings, just covering all your bases, and find out that the number is publicly registered to your mark, and is just a personal contact number.

[Buddha72]

Iblis drops back into the real world and opens her eyes. "Just his digits." She stands up and stretches a little. "So how do we want to work this? Are we going to try to put the squeeze on this fella?"

[Panzergeist]

"Let's do it," Loki says.

[BishopMcQ]

"Alright, grab the big guy. Diesel and I are going to lean pretty heavily on this one. Love-Bunny is there somewhere you can set up a vid phone so that he can see the two of us and the rest of you can listen in without being in his LOS? Also, can you bounce this phone-call around a little bit, in case he gets enough spine to try and trace it."

Jake closes his eyes for a second, breathes deeply and opens them again. His body seems to be the same, but the humanity has been stripped off of his smooth veneer and seems intent on simply killing something. With the sword strapped across his back to show visibly on the vid-phone, he also grabs a knife out of his workbag and begins toying with one edge.

[WinterRat1]

"Anything you want me to do right now bossman?" Nameless looks up from where he's working on the disguises.

[BishopMcQ]

Jake glances at Nameless and looks almost through him for an instant.

"Yeah, get everyone wired up on comms, channel C. Have them keep an ear open whether they are here or not. That way if someone catches something we can communicate without the mark noticing. Also try and get a good picture of what this guy is wearing, we may need to adjust your uniforms to match."

[Fenris]

Elsewise and Otherwhere...

An icon ghosts through a house, an obviously stylized version of a young man, no more then 16 or 17. Tall, lean, and fit, he looked like the poster child for a healthy, active childhood. He slipped through, weaving around cluttered piles of furniture, paintings, and bric-a-brac. He pauses outside a door marked, "secCam", reaching into a non-existent pocket to draw out an old fashioned lockpick gun, applying it to the door and squeezing the trigger a few times. The door audibly unlocks, and the lockpick disappears.

He grins and pushes the door open. He's blasted with a wave of white static, and he tosses his arms up in front to shield his eyes. He flicks open a pair of sunglasses and squints, reaching out and stemming the flow with his hands, shaping it down into a small, single flat screen, images flowing across it.

Around the corner a small drone stalks, nothing more then two legs and a large camera, sweeping back and forth, obviously looking for something.

In the room the boys head suddenly jerks up, swiveling towards the searcher even though he obviously can't see it. He drops the screen to the floor, the square shattering back into a flare of white noise as it hits the ground, and he moves. Like lightning, like light itself, he flows back out of the house, slamming the door soundly as he goes.

[Fenris]

Tuesday, April 6th, 2064 - 2:00pm

The man that answers the trid is tall, probably almost 6', and has the build of someone that does physical labor for a living. He's dressed in bright orange coveralls and a rough sweater, and both his beard and hair are short and scraggly. He looks a little confused for a minute upon seeing Jake, and then spots Diesel. His eyes go wider, and he's obviously got some idea about the content of the call. A rough Russian accent tinges his speech.

"Hello? What do you want?"

[BishopMcQ]

"Well," Jake begins his Italian accent pulling strongly through his generally smooth English. "Quite simply, I was going to offer you a chance to get into my good graces. Words on the street was that you owed the family ten big ones, now I own your marker and you can either make life easy on yourself or your wife will get to learn just how big trolls are, and I'm not talking about their muscles. So are you willing to help me or will I have to break a few things first?"

[WinterRat1]

After wiring everyone up on the comms, Channel C, as Jake instructed, Nameless watched the man carefully to pick up any clues he could as to uniforms and mannerisms, anything to help make the disguises more realistic.

[Fenris]

Moe - You make the meet location in plenty of time, traffic parting beneath your skill like water. The slip holds a sleek looking pleasure boat, probably 8-10 meteres long. It looks like the kind of boat your everyday sarariman would like to impress friends and co-workers, and it looks like 30 other ones in the yacht club.

As you stroll up, there's a man working on deck, up to his arms in something under a panel. He glances up as you approach, and grabs a nearby rag, wiping his hands clean before and stepping over to the edge of the boat to offer you a hand in greeting. He's not overly tall, probably under two meteres, with close cropped brown hair, speckled with grey, and no younger then 40 or so. He looks fit, but the kind of fit that comes from being naturally active, as opposed to someone that works out.

"Moe, I assume?" he grins, basically eye level due to the difference between the deck of the boat and the dock.

Jake - The man gulps visibly, glancing quickly around his area and leaning close to the phone. "What...what do you want?"

[Blitz]

:: Moe give's a short wave as she smiles brightly. ::

"Nice ride....dis da boat?"

:: She sizes the vessel up a bit. While looking innocent at the docks, is the boat capable of doing the tasks they will need it too, does it look equipped to handle the rough open ocean, particularily well enough to use it to board another boat. ::

[BishopMcQ]

"What I want is simple. I want you to tell me what you have on your ship as it relates to security forces. I want you to tell me their schedules. And, lastly, I want you to arrange an accident that will slow your vessel down for a few hours when I give you the word. Do those three things and I will leave your family out of our business arrangements in the future. Fail on any of them and you will find out exactly how unpleasant life can become."

Jake trails the back edge of the survival knife down his forearm, not drawing blood but leaving an obvious mark from the blade's path. He waits for the weight of the words to sink in.

[Joker9125]

After Jake is finished his threats Diesel moves his massive frame into the viewscreen (or at least what of it will fit)

"Listen bub I suggest you do exactly what the boosman says cause you dont want me giving you or your wife visit. As lonely as I've been these days I really dont care if its you her or the both of you at once."

Diesel lets his words sink in for a second then licks his tusks at the viewscreen.

[Fenris]

Diesel and Jake - The man shudders visibily, swallows, and seems to gather up a bit of courage.

"If I do these things for you, they will know. I will be lucky to get back to port without being 'lost' overboard. It will be hard to find work....If I do these for you, I am done? No more coming for me, or my family?"

Moe - The boat is a modified yamatestu Valkyrie (Swordsmen), about 25' long, and fairly sleek. You run an experienced eye over the boat, and you can see the minor changes. Flanges on the sides for thermal dampening, increased intake and venting holes that would indicate a high performance engine. It's not a jet boat, but it will move, and if he's any good, it'll be hard to spot. Plus, it'll carry all of you, a troll, and your gear. You wouldn't take more then a few hours from shore, but that's all you're looking for.

"This is it, my baby. I call her Angelica. She'll get you out and back, no problems. I've got a pair of overhead eyes for the long view, too."

[Blitz]

:: Moe runs a hand along the polished rim and smiles, a hint of her love of vehicles showing as she embraces the beauty of the well tuned machine. ::

"Lov'ly....ne'er had much chance ta drive in tha water. I've go' sum additional eyes for the skies as well. Mind showin' me about? I'd luv ta get a look at wot makes her run."

[Fenris]

Moe - Schnell smiles and reaches out to help you aboard.

"Wouldn't mind at all. Not often I get to show her off to someone that will appreciate it."

The boat isn't long enough to need anything approximating a serious tour, but he does show you the front cabin. The small area betrays the external appearance, obviously devoted to work. A full bank of sensors is arrayed along one wall, with a smaller terminal set aside giving a constant sonar read out. There's also a reclined seat, complete with a harness.

With sweep of his arm, he indicates the cabin. "Control center. 's where I do most of my piloting from."

Back towards the aft, he pops the hatch that provides access to the engine compartment. The engine fairly gleams, and as expected, has been heavily modified. Performance parts have replaced most of the stock engine, and thermal and sound baffles line the compartment.

[BishopMcQ]

"If you do it, we are done. No reprisals, unless your information is wrong."

[Fenris]

Jake and Diesel -

"And the money! My debt is gone!" He gestures vehemently, desperation waging it's war with fear on his face.

[BishopMcQ]

"If your information is correct, then yes all of our business will be concluded." Jake sets the large knife down on the table in front of him.

"Be warned, I will know very quickly if your information is wrong and I will not feel the slightest qualm about killing your family while you watch if you betray me. Now, tell me what I want to know."

[Fenris]

Jake and Diesel - The man nods quickly, obviously relieved.

"I'll send a file, in two hours. I can't sit here on line and give all to you. 2 hours. Wait till then."

[BishopMcQ]

"Very well, two hours." Jake reaches forward and disconnects the call. He turns to the rest of the team and the violence almost tangibly pours out of him leaving the more jovial man they knew before.

"Iblis, can you go watch the system just to make sure he doesn't place any other calls in the next two hours? Everyone else, Big D excepted, are we ready to roll in there and do this non-lethally? The actual security force I don't care if you kill or not, but apply minimal casualties to the ship's crew. If you need to get gel rounds now would be the time to do it."

With another round of marching orders passed out, Jake heads to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

[Buddha72]

Iblis gives a mock salute. "On it J-J."