Iblis swings the pack around, already flipping open catches and latches as it hits the deck. She scans the foredeck for an appropriate spot, and jams a leg of the portable satellite dish in a crack at the edge of the deck. She flops down in front of the back, which unfolded looks more like some sort of electrophiles wet dream, and stretches her arms out in front of her, fingers interlaced as she cracks her fingers.

"Alright Bessy, it's Wednesday night." She slaps the adapter onto the base of her neck, and stretches fingers out across the water.

Seconds later Quiver's face pops into view, the twitchy dealer well ensconced amid a backwash of electronic feedback and bass.

"What do the pills look like, sweety? Yeah, yeah...okay, sounds like most of your run of the mill stuff....Zen, Bliss, Burn, Cram...and Novacoke. I have no idea what the stuff in the hypo's are though, most of the fun stuff comes in pills. Do you actually have all this stuff you're describing?"

He twitches to the side, glancing around for a moment before looking back with a grin. "I didn't know you were coming into the biz, babe."

"Not me, hun but I needed to know what we had in our grab bag. I might need to move this stuff so I'll move you to the top of my list." Iblis quickly sends out a text message to the group, for those with display links and the like. We got street drugs but a big unknown about the stuff in hypos. Have a potential buyer lined up for the candy.

Good to hear. We will still need to find out what is in the hypos, I don't want to drop them into the ocean but I'm certainly not spreading them if they are dangerous with a capital D."

Jake goes back to work listening to the broken instructions and doing his best to help out, but something is tickling at the back of his mind.

Switching to his private line, "Iblis did you see any rockets or C-12 down there? That's what Vinnie was looking for. I certainly don't want to be told that we hit the wrong boat after all of this."

Diesel walks over to the crate of movies and starts shifting through the chips

Thinking outloud to himself as he goes through the movies "Seen it, Seen it, pure dreck, hey now this looks interesting........."

Speaking into the com now "Hey Jake ya mind if we score some of these sim chips? Ya know I aint got a trid at the house. I'm getting tired of watching the same old movies and listening to the pimps and drug dealers on the street corner outside my window is quickly getting old. And as far as getting the grease outta yer hair goes I could alays hold ya by yer feet and dunk yer head in the ocean a few times."

Jake smiles despite himself.

"Big Guy, thanks for the suggestion but I'd rather not see how big the fish grow in this deep a pond. Help yourself to the sim chips and a player if you need one, I don't think anyone's going to complain too loudly."

The large ship shakes and shudders for a moment, the combined rumble of a dozen room sized diesel engines kicking over one after another shifting the decking under everyone's feet. The rumble dies down to a low growl, and the Eastern-block engineers in the engine room laugh and shout at each other. The celebration is cut brief as they seem to take notice of Jake and Diesel again, the jovial shouts sputtering in a few coughs.

Iblis gives a cheer as the massive boat begins to move. Tapping into the com system, she quickly double checks everyone's read-outs.

Ok, we're back in business. What's next?

Schnell's voice is crisp and clear over the comm's to Moe, and thereby the rest of the team.

"Sounds like you're moving again. Need me for anything else?"

"Yeah, we still need you to drive this rig home."

Jake moves through the halls and tight passageways to a sink to scrub the grime from his hands. Washing his hair will have to wait...

"Already under way. Moe helped me add the ship to my list, so I've got it from here." As if in response to his comment, the ship shifts suddenly into motion, giving all those not used to the movement an odd moment to adjust their sense of balance.

"Guess I meant anything 'else'", Schnell chuckles over the comm-link.

Considering Jakes reply for a moment Diesel grabes the biggest crate of sims he can carry and sets it off to the side for later transport.

Iblis finds an out of the way corner and sets up her deck. Taking a few moments, she patches back into the computer system onboard. She plunges back into the virtual world. The rush fills her once again, sweet beyond bearing. She feels the power and fluidity of her avatar. She can do anything here, eveything's her personal play toy. Pausing before moving into the system, she taps into the comms with a quick thought,

I'm going to clean out my loving touch from the system here. Anything else you want me to do?

"Did you find those weapons?"

Staying tapped into the comms, she moves through the virtual kandscape of her deck.

Their armory is still locked down under the new super user code. Who would you like to send to pick up their toys?

"Nameless, Diesel go see what you can find in the armory, make sure that the gear we are supposed to pick up for Vinnie is there."

Iblis pauses. with a quick thought she recreates the blueprint of the ship. She begins to go over the plans slowly. She taps into the deck and over lays the image link feed with a cute neon bunny with a large cartoonish sign that reads "THIS WAY".

I'm sending a guide for the location. My other thought is they could have a concealed hold somewhere for the really hot items they're transporting. I'm going to send out the blue prints I have, anyone have any experience with smugglers?

Twisting her head to a different space, a small tear forms and a interface screen appears. With a thought she begins to hunt through the computer on the ship.

My only thought is the company man may have wanted the important stuff stashed near him. I'm seeing if I can pin down where he hung his chopsticks here on the ship.

Placing her cupped hands in front of her, small balls of crackling energy form. She begins to whisper to them in binary. "Find me this man, search every corner and bring the information to me" She breathes on the sparks softly and they dart into the system.

Iblis

Nanoseconds later the wisps come darting back, each wisps form showing a light tracery of contrasting colors representing information gathered. They nestle back in your hands, eagerly imparting the information contained therewithin.

"I don't have much to add. Loki can you conjure something up to help find the gear?"

The diminutive mage nods quickly, kneeling down on the deck and whispering softly, the vague outline of Katie appearing next to him, standing with a supportive hand on his shoulder. A moment later a slim fey-like figure appears, giggling as Loki whispers in its ear and darting off among the ship.

"If it's here, the spirit will find it within a few minutes."

Iblis dismisses the applications with a thought and hand wave. Okay, I think I know where we can start the search. She quickly highlights the area on the map where the information flow was being routed. Start there.

"Roger boss." Nameless breaks from his sweep of the boat and begins heading to the armory, as indicated by Iblis's information, keeping a close eye out for anyone they might have missed.

Nameless:

As you approach the cabin door, you're startled to see a wispy outline of the fey figure dart into the room, and then exit just as quickly. It pauses for a moment and does several laps around your body, leaving behind the sound of giggling as it darts off again.

The interior of the cabin is neat, well organized, and obviously decorated along Asian themes. A small jade figurine of a dragon sits atop a writing desk, carved lips drawn back in a snarl.

"Uh guys, something's up here..." quickly Nameless describes what he's seen, in complete detail of the figure, at least what he could make out, and the room itself. "Jake, Loki, any ideas on what that was or what I should do?"

Loki laughs.

"Just my spirit. Fair to say she found it before you though."

Nameless sighs in relief. "Thanks Loki. How about a little warning next time for a guy, eh? What now boss?"

Steel trails along behind Nameless just in case he needs backup. Ever since the brief but vicious gunbattle she's seemed a little spaced. Finally, though, she shakes off her daze and shuffles back to the land of the coherent.

Nameless

A thorough search of the compartment reveals a hidden floor space, packed with several kilo's of C6, and a half-dozen Great Dragon ATGM launchers with 3 rounds each.

All

Several hours later, with the grey light of dawn creeping over the horizon, an island appears on the horizon. There's a brief flurry of radio between Moe and the shore, and something that sounds distinctly like, "Aye, matey" accompanied by a parrot squack in the background. Things seem to go well enough, however, because the boat is met by a tug and towed upto a dock. There's a constant flow of smaller ships moving into and out of the harbor, and it's easy to see people on some of the smaller vessels pointing and shouting at the 1/4 mile long cargo ship pulling in.

"Even though we've only been out here a few hours, it feels good to see dry land. I feel like we've been on this boat for months."

Jake smiles at the team which acted more like a family when they were together than a bunch of hardened killers and criminals. Over the years each one of them had come to the aide of the others and it showed in their camaraderie and bagel fights.

"Alright Ib,you've cleaned out any proof that you were ever here, Loki's and my own traces should have faded by now. Let's all do a quick once over from stem to stern just to make sure we have picked everything up and wiped down anywhere we touched without gloves on. Spread some bleach anywhere there's blood and she'll be ready for sale. Once that's done I've got a few things that each of us need to work on individually.

Steel can you give Vinnie a call and let him know that his package is ready and we can deliver it with a bow as soon as he's available. Remind him the buyer he was setting up should be ready to assess the vessel, we can send a virtual walkthrough to him to guarantee the ship's quality.

Nameless, I'm really starting to feel a little silly calling you that, but that's besides the point. I'll need you to do the walkthrough, hit the pertinent areas while Iblis records the input from your shoulder camera.

Moe, do what you need to do to get us off this lady and on our way back home. I presume your friend can keep a ship this size from getting picked up while we change the registration to the new buyer.

Ib honey, have you found the stuff that you need to change the identity papers for the ship? The buyer should know that the ship is hot so the records you set up will only need to stand up long enough for her people to get in and finish the job.

Diesel box up the party favors and get them ready for shipment. After that, I'll go talk to a few of the boys and see how we can go about unloading the electronics, maybe they need a few new toys of their own.

Loki set up a watcher security grid to alert us if anything comes onboard. The last thing we need is for someone to try and take the ship back after we comandeered her fair and square.

And can someone find out if there's anything to eat, I'd love a bagel and a cup of coffee."

Steel nods and slips her earpiece in. She leans against the railing, staring out at sea, until the line is picked up on the other end. "Special aquatic delivery for a Mister Vinnie," she says.

Iblis gives Jake a furry and lop-sided smile as she sets up her dish once again to do a little orbital decking. "Someone keep an eye on me, if I start to smoke or bleed unplug me." With a wink she slips back into the virtual world of her deck.

Steel

Vinnie's reply is surprised and somewhat groggy.

"Huh? Oh, er, yeah, yeah...I'll ah...send a guy for the aquatic delivery if you'll give me ah slip...er, room number." He sounds pleased with himself for catching on to your little code and replying in kind.

All

The docks are a constant flow of traffic to and from the dozen ships pulled into berth at any one time. Schnell keeps you off the docks for the moment, as it's obvious that ships are only on the actual docks long enough to load or unload. The population moving among the vessels is colored and varied as the fish in the sea, to use a somewhat cliched analogy. Most are armed and armored in some way, and a wide variety of meta-human life and flavor is represented, with Night Ones rubbing shoulders with Asian humans, and dwarves schlep between the legs of giants.

"Steel, keep an eye on her while you chat, would ya?"

Sweeping the rest of the team off the bridge with his wide arms he leaves the decker and razorgirl to do their work. Jake stops at one of the supply cabinets where they keep the cleaning materials. Passing out bleach and mops to his teammembers and the Russian crewmembers still on board, they all get to work moving from one end of the ship to another. Each runner travels with one or two of the crewmen as the workdetails clean up the most obvious signs of violence on the ship.

Housework completed, the Italian Warrior Shaman radios for everyone to come back together.

"Mee-Moe you know most of the people down there, see if you can get these guys a ride home. Give them the rucksacks full of the other crewmen's belongings when they get off the ship.

"Everyone else, you still have a few more chores. I'll go out and see who I can get to come offload the electronics."

With that, Jake swings his coat on, resettles the sword across his shoulders and broad back, and heads down to the port.

Moe

Sade was supposed to be here today sometime, and he'd probably have the best line on how to get your "rescued" crewmembers home.

Jake

The dock is bustling, even now, before noon. There's a constant flow of people moving around, obviously paying attention to nothing but there own business. Alot of the business seems to be flowing in and out of an office further up on the docks, but there's no name or identification above the door.

Jake turns and twists to stay out of the way as much as possible while he fights upstream to the unmarked office. An idle memory crosses through his mind about the last time friends were on a smuggler's boat on a hidden island. That was months back after the Fairlight Massacre, as it was later known. He and Fixx burned every favor in those two weeks than they had earned over the last year in Seattle. Though, at the end of it all when the team came home, there were stories to share and Iblis had more than enough toys to keep her occuppied.

A friendly and open smile on his face, the Italian Shaman knocks on the door jamb. He steps aside as one of the many people in the docks leaves the office and glances inside.

" Good morning!"

Jake

You hear shouting as you approach the office, shaking you out of your daydream. As you poke your head into the office and say 'Good morning,' several heads turn to look at you, and the shouting continues unabated.

The participants in the shouting match are a woman, probably mind-20's, and an older man, hair going grey and with eyes to match. The sound like they're arguing over some kind of fees, and half a dozen people in line look bored, as if the argument was of no interest and somewhat commonplace. Everybody in the small, spartan office was dressed professionally, assuming the profession we're discussing is sailor. Clothing looks worn but functional, and mostly water repellant.

Sensing that the argument is going to take a littl e bit of time, Jake turns to the people standing in line.

"Morning! I'm looking for some help unloading a boat. It's mostly some electronics and you can keep what you offload. Can any of you folks help me out here or do I need to wait for one of the pair with loud voices."

Nameless nods at Jake's instructions and radios the team's fuzzy decker. "I'm walking the ship now, double checking if there's anything we missed. I'm assuming you'll be following me on the camera?"

Nameless doesn't wait for a response, but begins walking the ship, methodically sweeping it deck to deck, stem to stern.

Jake

One of the guys turns to the other two with raised eyebrows, and all three nod to you as they step out of line to follow you.

"We've got a few more mates 'at'd help," the initator assures you.

Nameless

The ship appears much as you left it. You don't find anythign else of interest or value, the ship being pretty much what it is.

Iblis drops back into the real world with a grunt. She pulls up the visual feed from Nameless and goes over it as she taps into the comm system with the rest of the team.

Ok, the people who owned this bath tub before now have sold to it to a Lisa Morgan who is ready to sell it to our buyer. I have the SIN all ready to go. I changed the ownership in the international registry and made sure to change the system logs as well. I can't do drek about hard copies but it should keep everything grey enough for us to sell without a hitch. The company that we just screwed is called Yamikaza so keep that in mind for future work.

There are fully a dozen men, to use the term loosely, gathered around the pier as Jake arrives. It's a collection of meta-humanity, apparently a full spectrum from the local color. Men, women, dwarfs, trolls, elves, teenagers, even some of the subraces. They greet the two men with Jake as friends, and look expectantly at the man that had promised them the free goods.

Calling out across the radio for the muscled members of the team to come on out and help, Jake leads the assortment of pirates and smugglers down to the hold.

"Here are the electronics. Carry it out of here and on to the dock. Any of the chip players, games or sim-flicks are yours to keep. The three crates marked "Hazoikya Holdings" are off limits."

Jake

One of the crowd steps forward. "So eh, that's it then? We can just keep whatever we haul off?"

"If it's in this hold and not one of those three crates, yeah. I just need it all out of the belly of this woman before we push back out. The catch is I'm not paying you for your time, so your time is worth whatever you carry out."

Jake nods at Diesel as the big man enters the hold, LMG slung across his back.

"So without further ado, let's get to work."

Helping the dockworkers lift and move the crates, the follower of Mars and Jupiter begins to unload the ship's hold.

The man that spoke turns, calling out orders, and the other men move as if they're used to working together. Quickly enough they've got loaders and a constant string of cargo moving out of the hold. It takes them a total of 4 hours to clear everything except the indicated crates. They laugh and joke in general comraderie, several of them talking about having a good time in town tonight with their new 'profit'.

As the human ant movement draws to close, Iblis saddles up to their intrepid leader. "So what now? This girl is starting to chafe under all this sobriety."

"Works almost over honey, than you can go play in the Looking Glass."

Jake stretches and twists to get the tightness in his muscles to relax a bit. Calling the team together on the deck of the ship, he goes over the list of tasks that they each had been given.

"Steel, where do we stand with Vinnie and his buyer? Moe, have you gotten us a trip home yet? Nameless, Ib, and Diesel have gotten their chores done so they are allowed to go out and play."

A brief smile flickers across Jake's face at the understanding of how close their family had become. It was rare for a bunch of runners to be able to be as close as they were with each other, a closeness that only helped their work rather than entangling them in interpersonal conflict and little squabbles.

"Where the heck are we supposed to go play anyway boss?" Turning to Iblis, Nameless asks jokingly, "Come on Ibs, I know you must know a place to party around here. Where's your party site of choice in this town?"

Moe nods.

"Yeah, ah talked to me friend Sade, and he's arranged a trip in 8 days, leaves on the mornin' tide." The childish rigger grins innocently.

"Till then, ah guess we're stuck here. Sade says there's a pretty decent nightlife. Oh, and he recommended bringing some sort of weaponary with us."

Steel speaks up, just hanging up her cellphone.

"Vinnie says he'll have the buyer here in a week, just like we planned. He's estimating our take between 2-3 million, depending on just how it's equipped. The buyer wants to do a quick inspection before settling on the exact price." She grins around at the group.

"This definitely calls for a celebration. With alcohol."

"Come on then, let's go. Ib lock the doors and turn off the lights, Loki layout a watcher security network so that we will know if anyone tries anything foolish, and let's go have a night out."

Sword strapped over his shoulder and magical potency that was illegal in most civilzed worlds, Jake led the team down to the dock and into the town. They had enough weaponry to convince people they meant business without looking to start a fight.