Palome Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:01:00

Right then a man came out of the restroom at the other end of the diner. He appeared to be on his way out, and Adam might never have noticed him had he not for just a step or two headed for an empty booth with a half-eaten breakfast, and then for a split second cast his eyes over the young runner's face. At that point he'd smoothly redirected his course for the front door, seemingly in no hurry. But by then Adam knew he'd seen the swarthy man in the stocking cap before.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:01:30
Smith
PAN - Offline

When Smith catches the man's eyes, he nods, and raises a few fingers in greeting - that's about all he had time to do as his mind raced to place the face. The gesture either went ignored, or spooked the guy - because he immediately went for the door. As the door closed behind him, Adam connected the dots. He remembered the man's Rolex, face, and the way he took off a few days ago after being asked about 'Will'.

Smith still wasn't sure who this guy was - he didn't remember ever finding out - but he was still pretty sure he was a Made Man. He took another sip of his coffee wondering what that meant for today's meet. He wasn't particularly worried about running into mobsters. It has been a few months since he was collecting apologies and body parts for Franco - but he still knew some names he could drop, and enough of the slang to fit in with the Goodfella's if he needed to.

Smith smirked a little, impressed that his attendance was noteworthy enough to warrant such an exit. Maybe word would get back to Francesca, and reminder her that he existed.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:35:57
Sledge
PAN - Offline

It had taken 45 minutes to travel here. Record time with all the transfers they'd had to take. She'd thumped Rocky's coffin about ten times before he showed his trog face. Then hit the streets after explaining where the meet was. Sledge was glad to have her agent stop checking for messages so frequently, it cut down the exposure. Traveling cross town and out to Renton was bad enough. They would fit in well enough, but she wasn't as familiar with the territory as she was downtown.

She signalled the trog to watch the door as she stepped in to check the inside. The last time she'd been in this neighborhood things had ended in hail of lead. There wasn't a reaction other then what she expected, and spotting her target she relaxed a bit and headed over to Sugar Lips

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:36:30
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith noticed Sledge and Rocky's arrival slightly after they had spotted him. He seemed distracted by something, before, but was all smiles as they approached. He gestured to the empty booth-space across from him. "Glad you could make it. Fortunato is busy - but he sent one of his friends to listen in for him." Smith's eyes darted down towards the table. "Angel... won't be joining us - which is the first thing we need to talk about."

"Shit comes up. I get that." He shrugged. "I would obviously prefer if Cerb and Angel had given me a little warning, and seen this last job though - but they both had their reasons for leaving, and I honestly can't blame either of them."

"So, first-things-first, before we bother worrying about last-night's hack-a-thon, or plugging the holes in our plan for tonight, I need to know if anyone else is planning to resign." He grinned, "After the last few days, I wouldn't blame you. We've lost thirty or forty percent of our... capability, almost overnight - and if this is a rats-fleeing-a-sinking-ship sort of scenario... I just need to know."

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:36:55
Sledge
PAN - Offline

"In."

Sledge suppressed her emotions and focused, things didn't sound good, and work came first.

"I need to run the equipment. Might have been able to cover keeping us out of matrix trouble otherwise, but once in trouble, I can't do much about it, other then what we just did. Know enough to leave to an expert, or someone talented."

Sledge didn't even consider the trog as she looked at Sugar Lips, "You have the basics, is it enough to cover us?"

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:37:03
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Offline

Rocky waited for the conversation to slow down, before jumping in, "I'm in for this job till the end, the offer from our friend's is just to good to pass on."

"Beyond on that I don't see anything else coming up, but we'll deal with that when it comes up."

Having said his piece Rocky sat back and listened as they worked through the plan.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:38:00
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith waited to answer Sledge's question until he got some indication from Rocky that he was still in, but then looked pleased. "Very good. I talked to Fortunato earlier, and although he thought he might have had some last-minute stuff come up, he indicated that he would be able to finish this job, at least."

"As to your question, Sledge - I think you would be the best one to tell us how much matrix support we're going to need. It's your plan, after all. Keep in mind, if I'm pulling double-duty, both responsibilities are going to suffer. If we're not expecting there to be much trouble, I would like to think my skills - or at least my high-end programs - could get us by for a night or two... but, we should probably expect trouble, and apparently Angel doesn't have the same confidence in my abilities."

"Before she left, she took the initiative and found her own replacement." Smith didn't bother to conceal the concerned look that crossed his face. "A polite gesture, for sure, but I think she caused more problems than she solved. From your last few messages, I take it he contacted you?" His eyes darted back and forth between Sledge and Rocky. "... and that went about as well as it did when Fortunato and I talked to him?" His concern faded into a smirk.

"So, this would be the second thing I wanted to talk to you guys about before we got to work, today."

"We need to decide what to do about this guy, and I want input from everyone."

"I wouldn't want to be accused of influencing either of your first-impressions...." His smirk broadened into a devilish grin, "so why don't you two start by filling me in on what went down, yesterday?"

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:40:08
Sledge
PAN - Offline

"Incoming on comm. Running dark so only crew has handshakes. Stranger knew me, knew about building, knew commcodes. Killed all the gear." , Sledge paused, "I killed the gear to keep it off scan, woke the trog, moved out, sent message, took a nap."

"Figure crew comms got compromised and the team commcode subscription list got out. Bit about building made it bad."

"Means your friends place might get hot, since that's where we were when the connection came in, think I was fast enough to get the gear off scan. Still problem sooner taken care of better."

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:00
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith raised one eyebrow at the mention of the building, and then his eyes widened, when he thought Sledge was saying that the hacker fried their gear. Once she clarified, his expression returned to normal. He nodded his head along, and didn't seem too surprised. "Commcodes were my bad. When Angel introduced us, we... didn't hit it off, but he didn't even try to hack me... so I decided to give him a second-chance. I asked him to contact you guys, and see if he could make a better first-impression. Figured, if we decided to pass, it'd only cost a few nuyen to get new commcodes."

Smith shrugged, "Thing is, I was hoping that giving him some contact info would save him the trouble - and keep him from needing to dig too deep. I figured, he'd make a few quick calls and I would get a few more points of view about this guy - a sanity check before I told him to get lost. I didn't tell him anything about the job, though. Turns out, he did hack my system - and I later find out he did the same to you guys. Sloppy job, too - but, at least we know he did it, so we can make an informed decision about him."

"Kind of a slap in the dick to people you're hoping to find work with, ne?."

"Anyway, I apologize for bringing this kind of problem the day before a big gig." Smith face looked honestly apologetic. "This is precisely the sort of thing I'm supposed to keep on top of, and shield you guys from. I just didn't feel that confident about making the call that we wouldn't need to replace Angel this weekend - and if we were going to, whether or not this is the guy we wanted doing it."

Smith paused for a second, beginning to grin again. "Funny thing was - and I have no idea how this happened - Fortunato managed to track the guy down... in the meat. Threatened to kill him." Smith bit his lip to keep from laughing. "So, I'm not expecting us to have any more trouble - not that this guy has shown an ounce of common-sense, yet."

"So, the balls in our court - but, you are right, the bit about the building does make it bad, which is why we need to talk about him, now."

"First of all, I'm not interested in whether or not we need him - we have a lot of options, there, and we can talk about them in a second. Right now, I want to know whether or not we want to work with him. I was ready to say no, yesterday, and that was before the chaos he caused last night. If either of you feel differently, though, now is the time to tell me."

Smith waited for responses from both of them. If Error had somehow accomplished the task he had been given, it would take a direct question like this to bring out the requisite responses. Thing is, Smith still wasn't sure if his expectations and reactions were reasonable or not. Maybe this was how 'real' Shadowrunners treated one another.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:05

As the others started to answer, Smith idly checked his messages and was surprised to find one from Franco directing him to call - "Probably nothing," the AR recording growled, "But I got something you might want to hear about."

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:15
Smith
PAN - Offline

Sledge and Rocky both noticed Smith's eyes flick from theirs to the side - and the color drain from his face. His gloved fingers twitched, and he looked relieved. "One sec. Important call." His fingers twitched again, as he stood up, gesturing under the table with his other hand. "Discuss amongst yourselves. I'll be right back."

He smiled at the waitress, who had dutifully left him alone while he and his friends were talking, but seemed to have mistaken his sudden rise from his seat to mean she needed to rush a fistfull of menus towards his table. As she passed by him, he made a little hand-sign for phone call, which seemed to relieve her, though she continued over to offer something to the orc and troll.

The call went through just as he got to the bathroom.

Paloma Diner Bathroom, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:22

Franco answered on the third ring. He wasn't at the club - looked like an office somewhere - real or virtual hard to tell. <<Hey kid. Quick question. You still got an ork squaw on your crew?>> His query was accompanied by an AR image of Sledge.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:23
Smith
PAN - Offline

<<@Franco:: "Sure do....">>

There was a 40% chance that Franco would have asked about someone who had left. Smith's luck held up. He wasn't looking forward to the conversation about how his assets were slipping out of his grasp.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:32

<<Yeah, knew this one was in on the other thing, but didn't know about now. Anyways, no one expects you to be working with choirboys, but word to wise - coupla nogoodniks of her same persuasion been asking around - not just to me - they canvassed the whole place here. Made some discreet calls and it seems the tuskers from down under are throwing out a pretty wide net - lotta eyes peeled for that battleaxe, so make sure yours are peeled wider.>>

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:35
Smith
PAN - Offline

<<@Franco:: "... I appreciate the head's up, and I'll pass along the info.">> Smith paused, wondering if Franco had more to say. He was, at the same time, relieved and worried that Franco had broken his long silence. Smith also knew better than to cut the man off, if he had something important to say.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:42:30
Smith
PAN - Offline

There was a moment of awkward silence, before the mob boss growled <<"Ciao">> and the connection died. Smith quickly exited and made his way back to his table. Sliding back into his seat, he said, "Sorry about that. New agenda item. Where were we? Oh yeah, what do you guys think about Error?"

Greg's Doss, Enumclaw, Auburn
Saturday 8/23/70 13:41:42
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Passive (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Inactive

Fortunato had carefully mixed bird shit, some of the endless supply of nameless incense that was required for these procedures and some carefully filtered, boiling water into a mixture that was currently sitting on top of the hot plate he used to cook instant soy ramen. The recipe he'd scrawled down, memorized and furiously avoided ever using during introductory thaumaturgy class called for precisely one minute and twelve seconds of heat.

His watcher had been chattering incessantly, apparently Johnson had company. Fortunato knew he should have been preparing the patterns to mould this into sacred glyphs which would then be ground into the powder to draw the binding circle. His eyes flitted back and forth between the porgram to control the moulding device and a text message he composed with the other hand.

<<@Team: We need matrix overwatch. I wouldn't set foot in there without it. At least we know ERROR is reasonably good even if he's a fucker. Maybe you can do better on seven hour notice, but the night shift is creeping up really quickly.>>

He looked up and noticed a white, foul smelling foam roiling out of the pot on his hot plate. The glyph was only half-programmed, none of the fine detail was there. It would have to do , binding came with a tight schedule. He hoped nothing bad would come of it.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:42:50
Sledge
PAN - Offline

"Good handle"

Sledge paused very briefly, then continued, "Needed. I got gear, you got the kissy kissy, trog has his bit, one not here has his, we need him, where I can get a handle. Can't risk remote work. Things go bad, just logoff, no sweat. Different when we bleed he bleed."

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:42:55
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith nodded, and set his commlink down where the team could see Fortunato's newest message. "Entirely reasonable - though I doubt he will agree. We sort of jumped a step, but it sounds like we mostly agree that, one way or another, we need a hacker. Any objections if I get him on the phone, and set up a meet." He glanced at his AR watch. "We're going to need to get to work, right after we're done here, right?"

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:04
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Offline

"Works for me."

Rocky thought he should say more, but really had nothing else to add so he left it simple and waited for the next step.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:10
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith had no intention of making another active connection with Error's commlink, so he began drafting a text message he could send to the same commcode Angel had given him the day before. If Error had already moved on, and created a new account, somewhere, Smith didn't really have any way of getting a hold of him, but he felt like he was putting forth a good effort. He decided to play-up the circumstances surrounding his invitation.

<<@Error:: Amazing work. I honestly didn't expect it to happen, but you're in. All three recommendations came in this morning - with only one stipulation. Assuming you're still interested, you can meet us in Renton, at this address. Come physically - that's the stipulation. I think everyone would prefer if we did not have to come to you. Come prepared. We start when you arrive.>>

Rocky's assent seemed sufficient, and Smith fired off the message before taking his PAN back offline. "Last order of business: That phone call I just got was about you, Sledge." Smith lowered his voice, as though suddenly more concerned about the patrons eavesdropping. "I don't know all of the details, but I got a heads-up that a couple of orks are plastering your face all over town - working pretty hard to track you down." He looked genuinely concerned. "A, did you already know about this? B, is this going to affect our weekend plans? and C, is there anything I can do to help?"

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:20
Sledge
PAN - Offline

.. ABC? ... cody speak...

Sledge stood up abruptly, "ORC Orks?" She paused in her move away from the table and out. "After we're done I'll let them find me." she snarled quietly and bared her tusks savagely, "Again." She bent her frame down over the table and looked the human in the eye from a few centimeters away.

"I'll accept your help, but this is personal, not biz. zakhan ereth bat'cerri"

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:35
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith raised an eyebrow. "You'd know better than I would, I hope." He stood up too, it looked like Sledge was eager to get to work, too. "If its personal, I'll let you take things from here - but if there is anything I can do, let me know."

"I left a message for Error, telling him to meet us here. If you two want to get started, we can meet you at the garage. Otherwise, brunch is on me." He gestured down at the table.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:41
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Offline

"Its looking like its going to be a long weekend, so a good meal to get it started would be great. We got time?" Looking over Sledge to see what she was wanting to do.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:43:50
Sledge
PAN - Offline

"Can't sit. Never know who's got eyes I'll grab some nuke-its to eat and get started on the gear checks."

Hotel Suite
Saturday 8/23/70 13:50:00
ERROR 1406
Submerged in the Matrix

ERROR 1406 receives the message a few seconds after it is delivered, and wonders if his new employer considers ERROR to be self absorbed (the irony of which would be beautiful), or if it is just the Johnson's way. ERROR knew full well he did not excel at the run the Johnson had given him. But, ERROR was not going to blow off the meeting. He has spent part of the night (when he wasn't absorbing media, napping, or preparing to erase Fortunato's data trail) trying to adjust his runner's persona. Being a runner... he expected it to be easy. Being a professional runner meant being professionally perfect, and perfection is always easy to portray. But so much of humanity has, once again, proven itself to lay in the frailties and imperfections. A runner who would take all means to complete a run was not right...ruthless... too ruthless. Ruth- compassion, in a dead tongue. Without compassion. Ironically, ERROR 1406 knew all about compassion. His very neurochemstry conspired to put into his mind the moods of others. He knew compassion, or did he? Did compassion require a deliniation between subject and object? Or could subject/object be the same entity without compassion being compromised? He pondered this as he sent a quick confirmation of his arrival, and ordered a taxi to pick him up a few blocks away. He ran careful algorithms for determining where the taxi's should pick him up and drop him off. Otherwise a profiler could determine exactly were he departed from, and where he was going. It also helped that he changed hotels frequently. He fed the cab on of the spoofed Access IDs he kept on hand to cover the costs of living, and then went offline while the cab approached its destination. He didn't want to leave too obvious a datatrail.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:44:02
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Offline

"Got it, lets get on the road then, the sooner we start, the sooner we are done."

It was obvious that Rocky would have liked to stay and eat, but he didn't say anything and got up to follow Sledge.

"We'll catch you in a few." with a nod and a grunt Rocky & Sledge were out the door and once again on the move

They walked a few blocks before they started the trek back to the garage.

Mr. Stuffer - Stuffer Shack
Saturday 8/23/70 14:36:41

When they got close they stopped at a Mr. Stuffer, stuffer shack to grab some quick food before going to work.

"I got this one."

With a bag full of nuke-its and other random soy based products, they silently walked the last 20 minutes back to the garage, back tracking several times to make sure they had not picked up a tail somewhere along the line.

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:55:00
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith was just finishing his second cup of coffee, and checking the time, when he noticed Error's entrance out of the corner of his eye. He looked up, and caught the hacker's eye - or, rather, the eye of the hologram he was wearing. Damn. I knew I forgot something. I can't believe he wore that thing, here. He stood up, smirking, threw down some bills, and headed toward the door. "No time for breakfast." He continued past the hacker, rushing more than was probably necessary, and held open the door. He smiled at the waitress who was already making her way to clean up his table, but had stopped to stare in their direction. How the hell does he see through that thing, anyway? thought Smith as he waiting for Error to join him, outside. "Everyone else is waiting at the garage. Let's introduce you, properly. Everyone's itching to get started."

As they walked down the street, at a leisurely pace, he kept his eye out for passing cabs. "Any questions, before we get there?"

Paloma Diner, Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:57:00
Smith
PAN - Offline

ERROR 1406 follows Mr. Johnson, keeping pace with the man.
"Nope, no questions," ERROR answers easily. He would have questions once they arrived, he was sure, but ERROR was very patient, and happy to wait for more information. Although... a thought occurred to ERROR "Actually, one. Was the coffee there good?" He asked sincerely.

Meredith, Renton
Saturday 8/23/70 13:57:30
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith shrugged. "Nothing special. Synthetic, but it gets the job done." He was quiet for a second, then added, "... but the pigs-in-a-blanket are excellent."

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:45:00
Smith
PAN - Offline

It took a while for the two of them to find a cab, and once they did, mid-day weekend traffic held them up - but they made it across town to the neighborhood of Eddie's Garage, in a little less than an hour. They got out about a block away, and continued walking. When they got there, Rocky and Sledge were already going over the gear, and Smith called out - which caught the attention of some of Eddie's thugs.

As the two of them closed in, a couple of guys came to harass Smith about leaving his shit in their garage all day. Smith couldn't really remember what time he had promised to move out, but knew he had planned to start work hours ago, so took them at their word. A little smooth-talking later, he seemed to have defused the situation with a small additional charge, and a promise to move along, immediately. That seemed to satisfy the gangers, who quickly distributed the additional cash amongst themselves, and left the team in peace.

Returning his attention to the team, he noticed Sledge and Rocky had both stopped what they were working on to come and meet Smith and Error, but that everyone seemed to be waiting for him to finish negotiating with the guys with the guns. "Introductions will have to be brief, I am afraid, we're already behind schedule... " He glanced at Sledge, who seemed to agree. "Guys, this is Angel's understudy, Error, who will be filling in for her, this weekend - and, assuming things go well, may be taking a full-time position on the crew. Error, this is Sledge, our general go-to girl and resident expert on engineering, I guess, and next to her is Rocky, our... muscle." Smith smirked. "We're hopping we don't need to use him to his full potential, this weekend."

"The only person not here, right now, is Fortunato our mojo-man, who is busy cooking up something or other back in his lair - but I've heard the two of you have already met."

He leaned his head toward Error, and gestured at the vehicles. "That van right there is the Love Machine. You'll probably be operating out of the backseat." He winked. "The big ugly truck ... well, we haven't named it yet. But it is carrying the radar. We'll probably ditch it, Sunday night - so don't get too attached."

"Any other questions? Everyone ready to go?" He looked at Sledge, "... speaking of which... what's an appropriate time for a bunch of under-the-table contractors to show up, anyway?"

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:45:10
Sledge
PAN - Offline

"So what will you do for us?"

The morphing face was a bit distracting, but she stared at it anyway as she waited for an answer.

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 13:57:32
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Offline

When they got back to the garage Rocky did a quick walk around on the flat bed truck to make sure no one had messed with any of the tires or added obvious tags for any reason. Once he was done with that he did his best to help Sledge and stay out of the way while she checked the rest of the gear.

Saturday 8/23/70 14:45:05

When Smith and the new guy showed up Rocky was sitting on the edge of the flatbed truck making sure his Warhawk was loaded and ready to go. It sounded like he wouldn't need it but wanted to make sure it was ready inc ase things didn't go according to the plan.

When Smith introduced him he dropped of the the back of the truck and walked over stopping next to Sledge, nodding in Error's direction. He wanted a close view of Sledge ripping this guy a new one for screwing with them and wasting their morning. Looking him over he tried to get a sense if he would present any kind of threat physically to him or the team since he was now the offical muscle for the team.

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 13:58:01
ERROR 1406
PAN: Passive

"Everything possible and beneficial," ERROR 1406 answers smoothly with a good deal of confidence. "Speaking of which, details for the Matrix component of the run would be appreciated, unless that whole component is entrusted to one's own extrapolation and judgment."

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:45:18
Sledge
PAN - Offline

"Stop wasting my time."

"Try again."

"What will you do for us?"

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:45:20
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith just gestured towards Sledge, as though to say "you better answer", and left the two of them to whatever ill-fated conversation Sledge wanted to have., as he joined Rocky's side. As amusing is it might be to see Error struggle to answer even a single question, or to watch Sledge get frustrated with his inability to do so, Smith's initial reaction was to say something, but this was Sledge's show, and - like he told everyone last night and this morning - it was vitally important that the team be able to trust Error.

If that meant a little interrogation, or hazing , or whatever it was Sledge had planned, so be it. If Error couldn't roll with it, he wasn't going to make a very useful employee, in the long run.

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:45:18
ERROR 1406
PAN - Passive

A look of intense concentration crossed ERROR's face. He rolled up the sleeve of his jacket a little, revealing a skin-tight grey layer underneath, ending a few inches before the wrist. It was not entirely skin tight though, as there was something apparently built into the wrist- a holoprojector, guessing from the lens. This was shortly confirmed.

"Neurological damage..." ERROR 1406 mutters, "some concepts of physical speech still painful and hard to coordinate... attempting to bypass. Much easier to do so in VR." He took a deep breath and started. A holographic eyeball appeared briefly.
"-am professional matrix support, and the Johnson is paying-" a holographic arrow appeared to point at ERROR 1406 for a moment, then flickered out of existence as he continued "-to do everything [eyeball] can for to ensure none one on the team needs to even consider any aspect of matrix security. While [eyeball] am employed, none [an arrow pointing at each team member] shall leave a datatrail, appear unwanted upon a security camera, get hacked, be traced, fear ICE, lack intel, or encounter a door still locked that can be remotely bypassed." ERROR 1406 paused for a few seconds. "If something is possible for [eyeball] to do, and it is beneficial to [arrows pointing at everyone] it shall be done."

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:45:23
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith raised an eyebrow when the first holographic arrow appeared, but by the end of Error's explanation, he was nodding with silent approval.

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:45:25
Sledge
PAN - Offline

Sledge shook her head in disgust, then stepped forward and stuck out a hand and grasped the holographic projecting hand in her callused grip. Turning so that both she and Error were facing Sugar lips and pointed her other hand with it's accusing finger at the purported Johnson. The ork woman turned her head and spoke into Error's ear, "Welcome to the team, and while I give you the data we do have, here's something to think about."

"I hope you got some in advance because he isn't paying me vut!"

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:45:45
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith grinned, as Sledge commented on the situation. He couldn't really see Error's expression behind his holographic dog-collar, but decided it was best to cut this particular rumor off before it got out of hand. There was probably a 99% chance that Error had misunderstood the agreement, anyway, so it would be best, for everyone involved, to clarify. "You might not want to get too jealous, Sledge, until you know what his 'payment' is." He gestured at Error, continuing, "Our agreement, for this job, is that he can tag along this weekend, and if things go well, and he's a good fit for the team, I'm offering him a position with us."

"That said, I can't make any promises on behalf of our client - but I'm sure Error, Angel, and I can work out a way to make sure her 'reward' gets used to his liking. I suspect that this is how he would prefer to handle things, anyway, rather than to make a blip on our client's radar."

Smith face was all smiling confidence, but, inside, Sledge's comment began to nag at him. The 'team' had only existed for two jobs, so far, and he had only been in charge of payment on one of them. He expected to have a steady pipeline of questionable work coming down from Franco, but that had turned out not to be the case - and it was only through sheer luck that the team stumbled upon this job before people's bills started arriving. Smith had no problem with looking elsewhere for work - the less he saw of Franco, the better - but he started to realize that without a briefcase full of cash, he really had no business acting like he was in charge of anything. Of course, if he wasn't in charge, when Franco finally did call upon him with some new task, he would have a bitch of a time convincing anyone else to take the job. He needed to keep a hold of the reigns, but he decided that it wasn't worth worrying about until this mission was over. If it went well, he had a plan. If it didn't, he would probably need a new team, anyway - or he'd be dead.

"I've got a bead on some work, next week - and, rest assured, everyone will be paid an equal share." Smith made a sardonic expression at Sledge, hopefully conveying that his next comment would be made partly in jest. "I'll even make sure you get some up front - if that has become an issue."

His smile then returned to normal. "Anyway, lets focus on this mission, first." He gestured towards the vehicles. "I promised we would get moving - so let's do that - and on the way, we can fill Error in, get him started on breaking their security, and go over our cover-story and my lines, one more time." He tapped his wrist, where his AR watch would have been, had he not been spooked about commlink security recently. "Our clock is ticking...."

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:47:00
ERROR 1406
PAN - Passive

ERROR 1406 nods, and starts moving towards the vehicles. As he does so, he addresses the group again. He has dispensed with the holograms now, and his speak pattern reflects this.
"For best results, administrator access to all comlinks is required. It is possible to make due with less... matrix support will not be as effective as possible. Lack of trust would be understood. At least permission to seize administrator rights in case of emergency security breach would be appreciated. Also, permission to scan to identify all electronics used by Mr. Johnson's team would be useful." ERROR looks apologetic as he speaks. He leaves the messy issue of pay entirely aside. He does wonder what exactly he is getting himself into. ERROR 1406 would have appreciated hours and hours to prepare for any run, no matter how trivial. Yet... this would be good exercise, so to speak. ERROR 1406 found himself looking forward to the work.

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:45:25
Sledge
PAN - Hidden

<<Here's admin access.>>

"And Rocky here is going to explain the plan. I want to hear how much he remembers. He's not doing much, so there should be room in his head to keep track of what we planned."

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:46:01
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Offline

It took Rocky a second to process what Sledge had said as he had figured he was just along to carry stuff.

But once he was on the same page he proceeded to outline the plan as he understood it.

"Well, it simple actually, using the equipment we have acquired over the last day or so we are going to present our selves as a repair crew that has been hired to take care of possible issue in the basement, or something like that. This will provide us the cover we need to get in and do our work. The boss," nodding at Smith, "will pose as the foreman and the rest of are just the grunts."

Rocky paused to see if any one wanted to contradict him, when no one said anything he kept going.

"With Sledge's knowledge of how things work and a little manipulation of the files we should be able to slip in with out to many issues. Once in we use the tools to extract the goods and then beat feet."

He stopped again to think things through and when he was sure he had mentioned what he knew he tossed the new guy his comm he had fished out of his pocket. "Do what ever you need to do, it sounds like you understand what could happen if it does something bad to me." Rocky finished his sentence with a big grin that he hopped got the point across.

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:46:30
Smith
PAN - Offline

Smith ushered everyone towards the vehicles, as the details started coming. He was pleased to hear things were still being kept pretty vague. Everyone paused at the van - seemingly unsure what the driving arrangements would be.

When Rocky finished up his summary, Smith began to smirk.

"You'll notice the key to our plan is that we're not expecting too many issues." He grinned. "He wasn't being cute - we're really not expecting too many issues."

Winking, he added, "Let's get moving. We can talk more on the road." Smith started to walk around the van. "... shotgun!"

Eddie's Garage
Saturday 8/23/70 14:46:59
Rocky - physical adept
PAN: Offline

Since Smith had nothing to add and was ready to get the party started, Rocky headed for the flat bed truck.

Climbing in he grabbed the hard hat he had found in it and dropped it on his head, grinning as he did.

He powered the truck and and just listened and felt the power of its engine warming up.

He threw a thumbs up to the van when he was ready and waited for them to lead the way.

On the Road
Saturday 8/23/70 17:00:00
Smith
PAN - Hidden

<<@Fortunato:: "Give us a ring when you've gotten your mojo ready. We're getting started tonight.">>

Smith had hoped to get a hold of Fortuanto, but left his message with the answering service as the van and truck pulled away from Eddie's Garage. Evidently, Fortunato was either really busy or was still keeping his comm offline to be safe. Delaying the mission a few more hours wouldn't be a big deal, he told himself, as the team still needed to do a little rehearsing.

Error dutifully went slack in the backseat, settling into the dent Angel had left, and Sledge drove around aimlessly for a while until it became apparent that they would be waiting a few hours for Fortunato. The team pulled their vehicles into the next parking lot they passed with enough room for the truck, and hopped out to stretch their legs and go over their cover story one more time.

An hour or so passed while Sledge did her best to brain-dump what she felt Smith would need to know to play his part. Rocky's lines were relatively simple, since he should probably just keep quiet - but Sledge did have a few pointers for him, and he picked up a little jargon by listening to the other two rehearse.

Fortunato's Doss
Saturday 8/23/70 17:01:03
Fortunato - Support Mage
PAN - Passive (Contacts, Earbuds, Smartlink)
Astrally Inactive

Fortunato came back from the bathroom down the hall to find his commlink buzzing eagerly. He thumbed through his messages before firing one off to Johnson.

He was frustrated to find the plan moving so quickly, he'd hoped for a few hours to rest and get some kind of spirit support ready for the evening. He would have even settled for dinner and a nap to try and get over the day's difficulties.

<<@Johnson:: Can go now ~2 hours will put me in better shape mojo-wise. I'll go to the building in ~10 minutes. Comm. will be with me, not with a spirit.>>

He lay on the bed, trying to get comfortable before shuffling off his mortal coil and dealing with the spirit world again after dealing with it for eight hours straight.

On the Road
Saturday 8/23/70 17:01:06
Smith
PAN - Hidden

Smith checks the response-message on his commlink as soon as it arrives. Turning to Sledge and Rocky he says, "Okay. Fort can be ready in 10 minutes - but says he'll be better off in 120. Do we wanna wait until 7 to get this show on the road? or take our chances with less magical backup?" Smith shrugs. "Assuming our intel on the lone guard is accurate, we're not exactly expecting any astral activity, right?" He grins a little, obviously aware that people in their positions rarely expect the shit to hit the fan.

On the Road Again
Saturday 8/23/70 17:01:15
Sledge
PAN - Hidden

"Could use a nap, going to be a long night. Also give time for the mistake to prepare for possible problems, let us know what we may run into."

"He is going to need to keep all the Downtown grid nice and happy when we roll the big rig through Saturday night traffic, on top of keeping an ear out for any squawks and inquiries once we get to work."

On the Road Again
Saturday 8/23/70 17:013:00

Once it was decided they would wait another two hours, the vehicles were parked in an out of the way service road, and some of the crew tried to sleep. Within moments a torrential Seattle downpour was beating a stacatto tattoo on the roofs of the vehicles. Some found the sound soothing, and drifted off, while for others the noise only added to frayed nerves, making slumber impossible.

On the Road
Saturday 8/23/70 19:00:00
Smith
PAN - Hidden

Smith was tired, dead-tired, but he seemed unable to rest in the van. He spent most of the time offline, which seemed to bother him as he instinctively pulled out his comm a few times before thinking twice and putting it back. Every half-hour or so, he popped online to check for updates from Fort (or Error), and occasionally spent a few minutes operating in offline-AR afterwards reading some downloaded mail, or composing responses to some neglected message somewhere before turning the whole thing off and returning his gaze to the roadside view around the van.

With Rocky in the truck, and Error unconscious in VR, and Sledge napping, the usually overly-talkative Smith did not seem to have an outlet for his social energy. Normally, he could make a few hours pass quickly entertaining himself online - either consuming media, or socializing with a number of peripheral friends - but he was unwilling to use his "work" commlink for long, and he certainly wasn't going to turn on his "personal" commlink, at all.

More than once he glared at the lump of flesh in the backseat, the real cause for his voluntary radio-silence, before turning away from the (presumably still holographic) face staring back at him. He knew that Error was busy setting up everything downtown, and he really appreciated it - dispite everything he had said earlier in the day about not "needing" a hacker - but he still felt a little violated. Not so violated that he acted upon his idea to reach back there and take away that ridiculous collar, but he was momentarily amused by the idea - if this was some dorm-rat, passed out at some college-party, he totally would have. He had to remind himself that he was working with people who would probably kill each other over much less.

Around 7, after his latest message-check, he figured Fort must be about ready. He composed a quick message, and fired it off.

<<@Team:: "Okay, let's get this show on the road. Fort should be in good shape, now, and will be on-site before we will. Everything shiny on your end, Error? I'm hoping no-news is good-news.>>

He wasn't sure if Rocky was awake or not, but hoped Sledge had set something up to wake her when a message came in. He liked Sledge but did not really like the prospect of having to be the one to wake her up. She could be scary - if anyone on the team seemed likely to kill someone over something minor, Smith's money would be on Sledge.