Penta looks over the files Ludmila had recieved.

"I hope we don't have to face these people."

That muttered, he looked over it again, this time looking in detail.

Sora once again feels the unease ripple through her at the sight of the unnatural nature of VR. "Agreed, what information do you have to share?"

Penta looks at the footage. He can tell little, except...those incantations.

A query through his commlink so as to not disturb those in conversations:

I just heard what sounds like fairly non-standard magic use on this footage, but I'm not all that clued in about magic. Someone want to take a listen, tell if it means anything?

In VR
"What are you seeking? Much of what we know, like every individual, will be regarded by some as unecessary to the task. Depending on the nature of the information you need, our prices will change."

Penta
Your commlink chirps as the spider you paid returns the information that you purchased. Footage of the van is mixed with GPS data, as the van moves from a freeway overpass south of Downtown heading north. It pulls off the freeway and stops at a 24-hour diner.

There is video footage of a woman climbing out of the back of the van. She walks into the diner and comes out a few moments later with a bag full of takeout boxes. As she steps back into the van, the video feed abruptly cuts. Notes from the spider mention that there is obvious evidence of another hacker stripping the nearby cameras of all data for a period of two minutes and fourteen seconds. The van is picked up by Grid Guide and leaves the parking lot two minutes into the black out, but the transponder codes began rapidly changing, further evidence of hacker tampering.

The only other information the spider provides is that the starting point was very close to a clinic where a Halloweener attack left several wounded and one guard dead. Rumors about cover ups and conspiracy theories are already floating around the Matrix.

Penta lets out an audible squeal, like a little kid, when the spider came out. "Oooh, I think I found something on that van." His commlink shares the spider's take with all among the team who ask for it.

"Hmm. Let's crack this open, see what we can find."

A'Ja
You leave messages with Electra and Acetylene, but Sable answers the line. After covering the pleasantries, you get down to business and send over the file. A low whistle parts her lips in the vid-feed as she watches the team work.

"I can tell you that the chica slinging mojo, has two obvious gaesa--Chanting and Gesture. Often that happens after heavy implant surgery or similar events that force the user to question their abilities. Implants have the dual whammy of interfering with our ability to control mana and forcing a personal examination of how "you" are you?

"The team is good and either experienced or very well-prepared for the task. When she threw her spell to destroy all of the weapons, she needed to know that her people were outside of the effect or had custom crafted something based on the differences between the guards' and her own people's guns."

With a few thanks and promises for meetings later, you disconnect the call. Your other two contacts reply shortly.

Acetylene has seen her share of bikers recently, but it's the standard ganger fare. She doesn't think that any of her recent cases are tied into your line of work. On the other hand, she does recognize the building. It was began as a free clinic helping with industrial accidents and worker's injuries in the industrial areas south of Downtown Seattle. Following the Crash of 65, psychiatric facility began seeing a lot of patients with Artificially Induced Psychotropic Schizophrenia.

Electra hasn't heard of anything regarding Prestige or the runners you are looking for. She will pass the word on through her people and see if anything shakes loose.

Sora takes a deep breath and decides to dispense a little with the cloak and dagger routine. "We are looking for information about the TAO project and anything related to it." She fights the urge to look for ques that they know more, useless with VR projections.

In VR

"The TAO program was one of many super-soldier programs started before and during the CorpWars. This one however, stumbled across several innovative discoveries in intrusion and counter-terrorism models, designed for covert action rather than brutal power.

"Many people have sought answers to the question of what happened to the research of hundreds of similar programs after the Crash. The answer has yet to be found, though it is evident that there is more than one TAO in Seattle. Sadly, the one identified is least likely to recall any of the information.

"Who has the most to gain in the search though..."

"More to the point, does Finn know anything related to it? We know he was being detained for a period of time and we're curious if it was connected to this matter. Will he or she meet with us?" Sora paces to ease her discomfort with the VR realm, trying to lose herself in the normal sensations of moving around.

In VR

The three figures remain inhumanly still as Sora paces.

"He is here. As we said, the one identified knows the least about it. Finn knows that Takara was deeply involved in a program to develop Tactically Augmented Organisms and that the corporation went to great lengths to envelop smaller corporations whose research could assist them.

"The shadows of the previous decade often required groups to choose sides. Within the small war between Takara and Ikeda, completing jobs for one side would earn direct enmity from the other. Finn and others chose Ikeda and were placed in conflict with Takara. That is why even now, they strive to find all he knows.

"Look to the past. Those connected to the events of the last decade especially on the other side, can best predict the events of the future."

Sora bows politely, going deep enough to cover any chance of not giving insult but careful not to endow the receiver with a higher rank than herself.

"Our thanks."

As she speaks she accesses her comlink and sends a message to her teammates while swallowing the bile in the back of her throat from the sensation of being in two places at once.

<<< I believe we have the answers we're going to get. We need to do more research into this private Corp war they had going on. If runners became polarized as they suggest, someone else may have leads for us or even parts of the data itself or at least know who is active in this struggle. >>>

In VR
With Sora's bow indicating an end to the conversation, the three figures look to each other and the personas seem to melt into one another. A single figure is left standing in the room watching as you log off.

Finn Team
Those of you in the VR meeting log off and sit up. Now is the time to look over the options presented and touch base with the others. Perhaps those tracing down the Executive from the memo have come up with something else.

Exec Team
You look over the leads that you have and something is missing. The are intersection in real time and a web is beginning to form. Perhaps information from the other team will allow you to connect all the dots.

"Okay, folks," Penta concludes. "Let's take a few minutes and compare notes here."

(OOC: In other words: Lay out what we got, folks.)

Sora and Ludi

Commlinks chirp with an incoming message from Watanabe Security Consultants main office.

<<After reviewing the personnel allocated to this project, operational budget has been expanded to include one more operative. The new team member is a freelancer under contract specializing in intrusion and computer security systems. Contact information is attached, he has been informed of your current location.>>

A brief personnel file is attached. Darien Star has worked for WSC in the past on short notice and has a good track record for closing deals and gathering information. Human male of western European descent, he has no known affiliations to organizations that would cause his impartiality to be questioned in this operation.

Darien
After wrapping up negotiations with Watanabe Security, you receive a data packet with an address for a low-end hotel and contact information for one of the field operatives who is functioning as your point of contact.

Compiling all of the information you have regarding the job, you divide it into previously supplied intel and gathered intel.

Supplied Intel:

Takara v. Ikeda
Low A, high B rate Japanacorp Takara Inc, fell on hard times back in 2054, when the CEO and primary shareholder died of a massive coronary. He divided his stocks between his two daughters. Both had very different directions for the company so the younger sister took her shares and privatized assets from Takara Inc. as Ikeda Ent.

Following the division, the sisters launched a bloody shadow-war on each other, nearly driving both companies bankrupt in the process. Takara's interests after the division focus on cybernetic advancement and computer technology. Ikeda was much more awakened friendly, with a focus on bio-engineering. Financial analysis shows that neither company would have been viable by the end of 2066, if their war had continued at the same pace they had shown.

With the Crash, Ikeda suffered heavy losses and was unable to afford a complete retrofit of their computer technology. Out of fear of possible contamination with the Jormungand, the courts barred them access to the new wireless network and Ikeda began to die a slow, whimpering death. Takara's focus on cybertechnology resulted in several patents coming to the forefront-particularly some of the components of touch-link neural interfaces. This resurgence of capital, brought Takara back from the brink and it has steadily bit off pieces of Ikeda, rebuilding the unified corporation that it used to be.

>> Corporate Politics--Much of the information that you see in the file matches what you already know about the conflict between Takara and Ikeda. One item of note is that Takara seems to be following their same bias in this case blaming Ikeda for the theft along a chain of somewhat circumstantial evidence.

>>Security Companies--Watanabe Security Consultants has consulted on both sides of this affair, though during the early 2060s most of their work seemed to side with Ikeda, 2063 seemed to be the turning point with 2064 being a balance of contracts, financially speaking, and in 2065 business for WSC dropped off from Ikeda while Takara maintained their same levels with a few increases in the last two years.

>>Law Enforcement--No official filings with various law enforcement bodies or the corporate court is mentioned in the file. Generally this suggests either an attempt to discretely deal with the problem in house, or a presence of Shadow activity in the recent past or future.

>>Finances--It's obvious that if Takara can prove their case, any litigation which is filed will be a death knell for Ikeda. The lack of official prosecution is all the more notable because of this and their long-standing feud.

TAO Program
A super-soldier program from the 2050s and 2060s, there were 10 models of TAO soldiers. The briefing is scarce on actual numbers and quantifiable facts, but it appears that the majority of the designs focused on covert infiltration and assassination.

It is believed that sensitive information relating to the TAO project was lost or stolen and Watanabe has been contracted by Takara Inc to discover the security leak and recover any materials possible.

>>Security Procedures--The data shows a few breaches in process and procedures which allowed the theft to occur. It is unclear whether these breaches were intentional or reactionary to the turbulent environment of the Crash of '65 and unstable governance of official bodies during reconstruction.

The memo
It was dated March 13, 2070 (Current date is October 18, 2070) and came from the Seattle office, directed to the Denver office. The author's name has been removed from the copy that you have. The Memo was written by an Ikeda Junior Exec, whose name has been removed from the document. The subject of the memo was the exec distancing himself from a decision to secure data from Takara's offline data-storage.

Previous Action
The operational file is more recent. It took place approximately three weeks ago and was composed of a single Watanabe consultant and several individuals hired on a single contract basis. The operative returned to work three days later, unaware that time had passed. Residual chemical traces in his bloodstream hint to Laes. IT was able to confirm that his implanted 'link had not left the Seattle RTG. The operational file has the name of the Agent for Watanabe, though his memory was blanked out due to the Laes and thus he was unable to fill out the report. There is no information on the runners involved except that an outsourcing call was placed through some of the usual channels. It may be possible to speak with someone at Watanabe about which channels were utilized.

>>Tactics--The operational file is fairly vague but it seems to suggest that WSC's operative worked with freelance operatives who were unable to come to equitable terms and may have been subject to shadow action. The use of Laes is generally limited to illegal activity within most sectors, though Tir operatives have been known to use it "when necessary to defend state secrets."

Gathered Intel:
Takara and Ikeda both had a traditional Japanacorp structure, though their research divisions were divided along fairly stark contrasts.

Takara was a much more silicon based organization, primary focuses were on cybernetic advancement and implantable matrix interfaces. They recently came back in technical journals for several small components that improved simsense technology for touch-links. Has been a primary buyer of patents and divisions from Ikeda, though the offers have been fairly cutthroat.

Ikeda focused on the Awakened Genome project, was rumored to be working towards the grant from Dunkelzahn's will regarding an alternative food source for ghouls, and had a general focus on bioware and magical advancements. Currently in the process of liquidating several divisions and patents to fight off debt.

Ikeda's physical facilities in Europe and Asia have been liquidated over the last several years. Currently they have facilities in Seattle, Sioux Falls, and Denver. Ikeda had not been granted extra-territoriality rights so the sales of the facilities were not required to be sold to other ET corps. Most seem to have been sold to small start-ups who had cash in hand.

Currently the Seattle facility has the largest staff, around 350 people, with Denver and Sious Falls both staffing around 200-250 people each. There are contracted staff and research consultants who work remotely bringing a total staff count to about 1,000 people.

Recent patent sales have involved genetic structures and chimeras, utilized in gene therapy and cultured bioware. These advances were focused on improvement of quotidian life by combating the effects of age and abuse on the human body.


Video Footage provided by Fade
Enclosed is footage of a newsfeed from a gang-based attack on a clinic in the industrial sector between Tacoma and Downtown. Halloweeners attacked the clinic using explosives and incendiary devices, all the while screaming for drugs.

Someone has made several notes in the file, cross-referencing it with fragments of police reports in which on site security was executed with an almost military precision. Several guards suffered broken limbs from non-lethal rounds being fired in tight bursts.

The anonymous comments draw attention to what he feels is a glaring example of a cover-up. It appears that with a fifty foot start, the gangers were able to make a forty foot jump with a motorcycle. The biker ends up sacrificing the bike by jumping off of it to land safely onto a nearby freeway overpass. A flare of light from below indicates the bike exploded.

>>Comparing notes with each other, and going back over the film frame by frame, you concur with one another's observations. It is apparent that the biker was meant as a distraction for the media and security forces, while several figures escaped the roof through awakened means. There is also evidence pointing at a van being parked on the freeway above the building for at least a short period.

Following the Van
Footage of the van is mixed with GPS data, as the van moves from a freeway overpass south of Downtown heading north. It pulls off the freeway and stops at a 24-hour diner.

There is video footage of a woman climbing out of the back of the van. She walks into the diner and comes out a few moments later with a bag full of takeout boxes. As she steps back into the van, the video feed abruptly cuts. Notes from the spider mention that there is obvious evidence of another hacker stripping the nearby cameras of all data for a period of two minutes and fourteen seconds. The van is picked up by Grid Guide and leaves the parking lot two minutes into the black out, but the transponder codes began rapidly changing, further evidence of hacker tampering.

The only other information the spider provides is that the starting point was very close to a clinic where a Halloweener attack left several wounded and one guard dead. Rumors about cover ups and conspiracy theories are already floating around the Matrix.

The Clinic
It was began as a free clinic helping with industrial accidents and worker's injuries in the industrial areas south of Downtown Seattle. Following the Crash of 65, psychiatric facility began seeing a lot of patients with Artificially Induced Psychotropic Schizophrenia.

The attack on Prestige to steal the Data:

Video footage from several internal and external cameras with annotations of when the incident happened. Scanning through the pertinent time period you quickly realize that the security cameras were hacked. The team that rolled in looped footage and spliced from previous days to give themselves a solid two hour window to do the task.

Each security guard also carried sensors woven into their body armor, which shows evidence of a team of six indiiduals in a firefight. Each of the attackers is wearing a stealthsuit material which allows them to mostly blend in with their surroundings except when moving quickly. five of the team appear to be human or elves, with the sixth being either a large human or a slight ork.

The team moves with a fluid practiced grace of having worked with each other for years and move with a keen grasp of tactics. One is obviously awakened as a tangible ripple extends forward from her outstretched arm and the guns that the security force is carrying all bend and crumple. Seconds after that, the camera feed shows only linoleum.

>>Security Companies-Prestige keeps a basic internal security staffing with contracts to KE for elevated risk response scenarios. The armor that the guards were wearing was recently marketed to several smaller firms as providing superior protection and allowing for an internal record to be taken of guard activities for use in investigations. It was produced by Ares Enterprises and was first featured on KE patrols about 2 years ago.

>>Tactics-The guards tactics were appropriate response for an equalized threat, however it is clear that the runners were far better. Tactically, the runners moved flawlessly, taking cover and supporting one another with a practiced air. You would suspect that they were running a battle communications system which allowed for the team to keep track of each individual's position and were in constant communication.

>>LE PK-You can cite five or six blatant violations of thaumaturgical and weapons violations. Civillians do not have the right to wield automatic weapons, and the body armor with the chameleon system is a restricted asset. They are obviously career criminals or an elite combat squad from one of the top security firms in masquerade.

>>KE Procedures-Knight Errant was not involved. The guards followed a similar set of procedures to KE SOPs however, the lack of support personnel following the initial grouping of guards shows that backup was not called in at the first sign of resistance.

>>Sec Procedures-See KE Procedures. It is important to note, that many guards occasionally take a maverick approach to Shadowrunners. None of the guards in this footage showed any desire to switch to that "special" clip or back-up piece in an effort to wound or unreasonably defend their charges. The professionalism of the security force, speaks well to their training.

Darien

So a security company was missing information. That was nothing unusual. However, he had been hired to help get this particular information back. So far he didn't have much information, but once he met up with the group, those blanks should be filled in.

Pulling into the parking lot of the hotel, he thought back to the time when the Johnson had neglected to inform the group he was joining that he was coming. That had taken some fast talking to ease down some itchy trigger fingers. However, he figured this wasn't nearly as tense a situation, and the WSC hadn't give him any such problems in the past. He figured it would be alright to just knock.

Team

There is a knock at the door. Sora rises up to answer it and steps outside to speak quietly with the new-comer.

"Darien, welcome to the team. I am confident that your skillset will be very useful." She continues, bringing him up to speed with a quick data transfer of the summarized intel.

Going next door to collect Ludi and A'ja so that the team could all meet their newest member together and brainstorm a plan of action, the petite Asian woman returns with several people in tow.

Once the entire team is together in one room, she introduces the team to Darien. He, she explains, is a security systems specialist with extensive background in computer systems and electronic security. Watanabe has contracted his assistance for this matter. Politely, Sora asks the hacker to pull up trideo footage from the various data sources so that the team can compare notes and lay out a course of action.

"At this point, we know that the executive who wrote the memo was in Seattle seven months ago. We don't have any information on his current whereabouts. Finn has removed himself from the field, and all leads there suggest that we look into the details behind the corporate war between Takara and Ikeda.

"Previous intel shows that Finn had been detained against his will, and the video which Fade provided from last night's newsfeeds suggests that shadowrunners were likely involved. I believe that it would be a safe assumption that runners freed Finn from the clinic. If he was being kept there against his will, then it is likely that the clinic has some information and is not what it appears.

"Let's focus on finding out which members of the shadow community became involved with Takara and Ikeda's private war and seeing if any of those names can be correlated to information about the clinic. If not, then the clinic is a dead end and we can focus on the corp war and relighting a trail that is seven months cold. Thoughts?"

"Probably the best idea," Penta concedes. "I'll check with some friends, see if they can dig up any information on the clinic and the principal staff."

With that, he mentally connects calls through his commlink. First, to Bob Foley, to see if he can find anything in UCAS or Seattle Metroplex government records - particularly, he's looking for licensing and accreditation data for the clinic and its principal staff (Both MDs and, say, head nurses, as well as other staff-types). At the same time, he's also going to ask about taking Bob out to lunch after this job is wound up - always good to tempt your friends with food.

Once he has the info from Bob, he'll chat a bit with Julio Vasquez - run a records check on the people involved with the clinic, try to see if any of them have any connections with shady types. Julio, well. Life has kept them both busy, so when's a good time to meet for a few beers and to catch up on things?

While Penta was on the phone, Darien settled into his place in the group. Dropping into full VR, he sorted what they already had before going on to search for the names from the clinic to cross reference with people involved in Ikeda and Takara's feud. With any luck, he'd find some matches, and they'd have their next move.

Penta
Both men take the call and let you know that it will take a little while to cross-reference the information. Bob says you should set up a time next week if that works out for you. Julio nods at the tip of the hat to decorum, not questioning when you would actually make your way to the Eastern seaboard.


Bob gets back to you with the info you needed about fifteen minutes later. The South Seattle Medical Center is staffed with your typical smattering of MDs and PhDs, though the clinical psychiatry side is a little heavier. They received a grant from the Seattle government nearly two years ago to research Artificially Induced Psychotropic Schizophrenia. The clinic is corporate sponsored, but the money trail is difficult to follow.


As you are going over the information from Bob, Julio's ID tag pings your link and a new batch of files starts to download. No red flags for specific staff members show up, though the clinic has filed several position papers in medical journals stating their research has proven traditional chemical is ineffective at treating AIPS. Their research finds a stark contrast in the percentages of populations effected. Whereas nearly 7% of individuals reporting being online during the Crash of 2065 show some signs of AIPS, less than 1% of those surveyed have a full blown case requiring hospitalization. They speculate that military backgrounds are less susceptible to the psychotropic conditioning, perhaps due to previous exposure to high stress levels. This is based on the fact that within the population of military personnel that was online, less than .5% show signs of AIPS compared the 7% of the overall population.

Darien
With the number of fake SINs, street names, and matrix handles all tied to a single organic being, creating a who's who list in the shadows can be difficult. Filtering through data archives in common runner hangouts, you start to compile a list. As far as you can tell, the vast majority of runners working the shadow war a decade ago are either dead or out of the game. Working from Finn, you come up with a list of known associates--Kayla, Gurth, Sydney, Cullen, and Kukyo. From here, you expand out looking for friends of friends and slowly form a picture.

Connections to Finn go back and forth to the clinic over thirty years. Corporate investment firms which have supplied funding to the South Seattle Medical Center's (SSMC) research budget have their names come up again in shadow ops where Finn or a known associate is involved. Darke Matter Investments, PsiCorp, and Ikeda have all had fingers in the pie.

Patient records supplied by the Alliance for the Proliferation of Information, a hacker group known for disseminating confidential records to the general population, reveals a dark truth. Many of the runners who got out of the game in the early 2060s seem to have self-admitted to the SSMC and vanished. Records show them being transferred to unlisted secure psychiatric facilities.

Penta furrows his brows in concentration. Hmm. Money trail, money trail, where do you lead...?

Woodward and Bernstein were right, indeed. Following the money works wonders. Maybe it's a dead-end, but it's worth trying. His mind tips the hat to the culture of the stock markets, and he begins to whistle "Wait til the sun shines, Nellie" the song *still* sung by traders at the ECSE on the last trading day of the year, well more than a century after the tradition began with the floor traders of the NYSE as he pulls up the Finance textbooks he used in college and begins focusing on the financial aspect of this.

(OOC: A real tradition, as seen here. It ain't died yet, doubt it'll die even if the "open outcry" system gives way to to electronic trades.)

At the same time, he taps out a message as he sends a compilation of what he has to everybody else through their commlinks:

Here's what I got from friends. I'm focusing on the money trail, as it stands, but it's rather convoluted in places. Anybody know an accountant who could help us follow the money here?

Team

After looking through all the information compiled by Penta and Darien, Sora takes a moment to mull things over.

"It appears that Ikeda does have a connection to the clinic, though the fact that several shadowrunners have been taken from there to other locations concerns me. Their security measures are undoubtedly higher caliber than a standard hospital. Either that, or this was a method for their SINs to go off the grid.

"I believe we should look into the clinic. It's relevance to Finn and Ikeda shows that something is going on there. Darien is it possible to gather more information about the other two companies you mentioned."