Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:06 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

<@team[Jake]: Can we use this situation? Have Jazz as a decoy since they have obvious intrest in her?>

Jazz; Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:06 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

Just as Jazz convinces herself that she is being paranoid, she remembers something from the news feed yesterday.
Shit. The back door into the camera was located and left as a trap. She feels like the steel jaws of a bear trap are snapping shut as Lone Star closes in.


Two questions come to mind: (1) Is it too late? (2) Will they even try to take her alive?

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:06 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District
Jazz

< [Jazz] Looks like I have to relocate. Cutting off communications for a moment, I have to reboot my com with a different ID. >

Ok, they know someone is here in the vincinity, but not where exactly...

Thinking about the comms she had located in the vincinity earlier, she picks those coming from wireless devices that are nearby and sends a text message to all of them (anonymously), reading "Oh god, the kitchen is burning! Help!"

Hopefully some will run off now distracting the searchers.

Jazz then gives her Fly-Spy drones order to stay in the area and continue monitoring, saving the feed for now, then cuts off by shutting down her comm's wireless connection completely and then rebooting the device, coming back online again in hidden mode with a new spoofed ID.

That should stop the tracking for a while...

For the moment, she keeps staying calm, but also readies herself to drive off soon.

Jazz; Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:09 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

Jazz sends her team a quick message, then blasts a message to all the unencrypted nodes she detected earlier.
She then issues silent patrol commands to her fly-spies.

Jazz; Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:12 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

Jazz issues commands to all her drones to switch subscriptions to a new Access ID. She also issues an update to her matrix provider of her Access ID change. TeamNet, being a resilient application switches to Jake's com as the master node automatically. Her drones all drop out of TeamNet as they are slaved to her com.
Jazz spoofs a new Access ID for her com and does a soft reset of her com.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:15 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

Jake watches intently as to what will happen in the next few seconds, ready to spring in action should the need arise.
As he does he quickly checks for possible hackers on his drones.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:15 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District
Jazz

Seeing, that she won't be able to get rid of them easily, Jazz then starts the ignition of her bike and speeds off towards a lower security region.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:15 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

Jazz and her drones offline, the team is currently in the dark as to her exact situation, except that the Star is closing in fast.

For Jazz, she steps one foot down and hits the accelerator in an attempt to spin the bike 180 degrees and put distance between her and 5-10 for hacking.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:21 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

Jazz
At some point in time, your luck just begins to fall apart. The bike whips around 180 degree, black smoke baking off of the rear tire as it spins and heats up. A light tap of the brake and the tire slows enough to grab before the bike lurches forward just as the Lone Star bike turns the corner. A skilled rider, Jazz jets down the block and takes a hard left. Looking over her shoulder, her eyes get wide as she sees the officer right on her tail. His voice booms from an amplification system. "Pull over now!"

Jake et al.
More seconds race by with no contact from Jazz nor her drones. In matrix time, this has been an eternity. The clock continues to count down towards the ETA for the package as well. Jake's fly-spies and roto-drone keep watch on the pick area. The Lone Star drones have moved out of his tracking on what can only be an intercept with Jazz.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:21 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District
Jazz

You must be kidding...

Jazz stays on course. It was clear, that this guy wasn't easy to lose, but she had to get around that eventually. Stopping was no option either way.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:21 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

[@team[Jake]:No word from Jazz. She might have bit it. Rex, we might need to do this the old fashioned hack/slash way. Ever played GTA 11?]

Rex smiles at the thought of the upcoming fight.

<@team[Rex] Roger that. We'll need to get out fast after we start shooting though - just like in GTA. Are you sure we're not being ambushed even more than what seems to be the case? No snipers on rooftops, right?>

[@team[Jake]:None that I have noticed. I can give it a quick sweep one more time. Just observe the feed from roto.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:06:27 AM; Near the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District
Jazz

It was coming down to two elements for the hacker: Riding skill and blind luck. As she raced away from the team as breakneck speeds, hearing more sirens in the distance and right on her tail, one would question if both would be up to the challenge. The realization that the cops are, at this moment, coordinating their movements in order to box her in caused a heavy feeling in her stomach. Had she come halfway across the country to get nicked in a sting?

Jake et al.

Jake's roto-drone widened its pattern, starting to look for sniper positions. At the current moment, the spoofed credentials appeared to be holding up. Also, with the two Lone Star drones from the area now chasing towards Jazz, he did not see any other law enforcement drones in the area.

Jazz; Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:08:45 AM; I-167 North Puyallup, Puyallup District

Minutes passed. Jazz goosed her bike and rode for all that she and it was worth. Luck was with her in that she got out of the rat trap that is downtown Auburn, but she couldn't loose that patrol officer. She had gained some ground on him though; He was no longer beside her, now he was three to four car lengths behind her. She raced down the I-167 and had just crossed over into the Puyallups, but there were several patrol cars way back in her rear-view; They just are gonna give her up easy.... She needed a plan. If officers in Puyallup City joined in, she might be cut off. In either case, if she didn't loose the ones on her tail - or if they brought in a chopper - she was gonna get pinched.

Jake, et al.; Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:08:45 AM; One block north of the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

The pickup car is early. Jake's fly-spy picks up a panel-van with Global ForceCon, Ltd markings. A block out and closing on the pickup site.

Anon

The panel-van in question has a watcher sitting on the roof. The spirit has taken the form of a golden retriever. It sits with its nose pointed straight ahead, its hair back and blowing in the wind. As the van stops at a cross-street, with watcher's hair still stands back as if racing down the highway.

The watcher is invisible to those in the mundane world, but like himself it sits in the astral able to seen echos of the physical world. The concrete, buildings and cars all show as echos in the astral. Gray, lifeless shimmers. The driver, passengers and people on the street however been with life. A lone tree on the road-side glows with life in the astral, radiating life from it. There is no sign of the projecting mage who headed south earlier.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:08:45; I-167 North Puyallup, Puyallup District
Jazz

Jazz sticks to her original plan to get into the bad parts of the city, where the inhabitants are not exactly friendly towards law enforcement. Sure, they were a danger for her as well, but they should pick on the officer first, hopefully delaying him further and making continued pursuit less likely.

[@team[Jake]:Time is almost upon us. Rex, get ready to steal a car. Bash some heads if need be. On my mark, send it flying at the pickup and roll out of the way. I'll go in with doggies and roto, guns blazing and you grab the packages. I'll rush in, pick you up and we'll be on our way.

Jake, et al.; Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:10:03 AM; One block north of the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District


While Jazz jets off to the safety of the Barrens, the rest of the team take advantage of the fact that the security forces are currently occupied. For team members staged around the extraction point, they put in motion a hastily laid out plan.

The trio in Jake's van all put on their masks. Rex locates a small delivery truck making deliveries to the nearby office buildings. When it stops, he exits the van and makes a beeline for the driver. The young ork stands his ground.. until Rex levels a very big gun. The ork pulls back, not happy about losing his truck, but not willing to die for it. The truck is in fact not rigged, allowing Rex to drive off.

"The mage must be occupied with Jazz cause he's not around here right now." Anon reports.

As Rex speeds towards the security vehicle, Jake pursues at a brisk, but unnoticeable rate. Several blocks away, Spades also goes into motion moving towards the extraction point. Moments later, it begins.

And its then that the run continues its spiral towards oblivion. Rex, having never driven a vehicle before does his best; That however, not being good enough as he rams the car parked in front of the security vehicle. The much larger delivery truck and his own trollness, protect Rex from damage.

The security team, having retrieved the package, spread quickly into tactical positions, but upon realizing that they are not under attack (the car in front of them was), they relax. One of them continues towards the van with the package while one comes over to check on Rex.

Jake and Spades are both coming down the block, the accident visible to them and Jake's armed roto-drone flying overhead.

Jake preps the dobermann's for drop out and attack as soon as they are near and the delivery point and gives the security guys few more seconds to approach Rex and move away from their coleague (and closer into troll's melee range) before ordering the roto drone to cut down the agent with the package.

Rex attempts to feign injury as the guard approaches. The young man is not fooled by Rex' ruse, but misinterprets the intent of the con. "Don't even try that shit. Knight is on the way and you're not talking your way out of this."

Rex meanwhile is taken aback, not quite sure what to make of the security guard. The second guard approaches, weapon drawn and leveled while the third continues to the back of the van with the package. The second guard calls to the first, "Let's go rookie."

Meanwhile, Jake arrives down the street and behind the van. As the side door opens, the first roto-drone unloads a narrow, long burst into the courier. The APDS rounds chew through the armor like a hot knife sticking in butter. Overhead, the roto-drone simultaneously pumps rounds into a soon to be corpse - and then weapon jams. The courier flies backwards in a spray of blood, the package falling to the ground. The second drone launches itself from the van to the curb. The angle of arrival and the courier's van shield Rex and the two couriers near him.

The next moment, the very air seems to charge with electricity as the guards attempt to react. Rex pulls out his combat axe as he kicks the door open, while on the other side of the van the two dobermans quickly close distance to the prize. The first courier lifts his SMG from its sling and releases a long burst, while the second guard releases two in the ominous troll. As a barrage of rounds penetrate his body, the troll realizes he should have simply stayed in bed.

Its weapon inoperable, the roto drone retreats towards the recovery arm of Jake's van. The fly spies capture the blood bath that is Rex's attempted exit from the stolen truck. The dobermans round the corner to the two couriers.

Neither guard seems surprised by the arrival of the dobermans, but the rookie trips while moving to the side then takes a spray of the APDS rounds to the chest. He spirals and flails as he falls, blood spraying from his wounds. The second dives the other direction and clear of the line of fire. Pinned down and outnumbered, the remaining courier does not hesitate in his decision to destroy the drone that just killed his rookie. He points the weapon and releases a hard barrage of lead down range.

His valiant effort is for naught as the doberman easily moves clear of the wild shot. As the dobermans release the hell and fury of their return fire on him, he rolls back as he was trained, rolling twice over. In the van, Jake's jaw hits the floor as not only do both drones miss, but the gun jams on the first. He puts the van in motion moving towards the prize and recalls the now inept doberman.

The final doberman continues its assault, unrelenting. Out of space and far too slow by comparison, two more long bursts finish the courier. Meanwhile, the driver of the courier van has put it in gear and is clearing the scene, having decided he did not want to find out if the team wanted in the van.

Jake retrieves the drones and package as Spades arrives and attempts to extricate Rex.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:12:00; En route to Puyallup Barrens, Puyallup District
Jazz

As she is gaining distance to her Lone Star pursuer, Jazz wonders how the others might be faring. With no communication possible at the moment, she can only guess what is going on near the pickup site.

With package safe in tow, Jake puts the van into gear and runs over anyone on his path as he tries to rescue Rex. After that he will clear the scene ASAP.

Jake & Anon; Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:11:36 AM; Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

Jake puts the van into gear and and drives over the fallen guards towards his fallen teammate. Anon, realizing the intent, summons an earth elemental. The spirit lifts the broken troll and gently places him in the van. Spades returns to his vehicle and follows Jake's away from the scene.

Jake & Anon; Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:11:57 AM; Two Blocks from the Pickup Site, Auburn City, Auburn District

A cruiser turn the corner at the pickup site, sliding as they go, sirens blaring. Luckily for the team, post-lunch hour traffic is fairly light. Unlucky for them, it still slows them down. The vehicles split and the cruiser follows Spades.

Jake watches as Spades turns the corner out of site. Less than a minute later, he is on the freeway and barreling south.

Jake looks at Rex, trying to determine Troll's condition...

Jake & Anon; Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:13 AM; Hwy-167, North Puyallup City, Puyallup District

Anon also moves over to the troll. His armor is shredded, his left arm hand like hamburger and his breath labored; He is bleeding heavy. The mage looks to Jake, his voice uneasy. "He's not gonna make it if he doesn't get help - like right now!"

Jazz; Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:13 AM; Carbando, Puyallup District

Jazz rides deeper into what is, without a doubt, the Barrens. She makes one observation: Every punk on the street looks ork.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:13 AM; Hwy-167, North Puyallup City, Puyallup District

Jake summons up the map and queries for the nearest hospital.

Jake, Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:13 AM; Hwy-167, North Puyallup City, Puyallup District

407 14th Ave SE, Puyallup

Anon sighs, "If I just had a healing spell."

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:13:00; Puyallup Barrens, Puyallup District
Jazz

Once she was sure, that she had lost the star, Jazz started to connect her com back to the Matrix and after taking sensible precautions, connected back to the team's channel.

< [Jazz] Looks like things have calmed down here, as far as I can tell. How have things been running for you, guys? I hope that I could at least offer some distraction... Sorry! The whole thing was trapped, and I didn't realize that until it was too late. >

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:13 AM; Hwy-167, North Puyallup City, Puyallup District

"Check his stuff for medi kit!"

Jake, Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:15 AM; Hwy-167, North Puyallup City, Puyallup District

Anon digs through Rex's pack and does indeed find a med-kit.

<<@Jazz [Anon] We have the package. Rex is down, I'm about ready to find out if he's still alive.>>

After a few more minutes of driving, he finally declares. "I think he is stabilized. There's lots of internal damage. He needs a hospital, this is beyond the med-kit to do much more."

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:15 AM; Hwy-167, North Puyallup City, Puyallup District

Jake will search for the location of nearest hospital on city map and then look for the fastest route there. He will also look for best place for Jazz to intercept them and take care of the package while he is with Rex in the hospital, or if she can't make it in time he will drop off Anon with the package somewhere where it is safe and let Jazz pick him up.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:17 AM; Good Samaritan Hospital, 407 14th Ave SE, Puyallup City, Puyallup District

Minutes later, Jake is dusting through the ER of the Good Samaritan Hospital. Anon and his spirit carry Rex out of the van. "Go ahead and see to the delivery. I'll catch up later." And they race off to the exit.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:17 AM; Exiting Carbando, Puyallup District

For Jazz, there is no time like the present to get back out of Carbando. She did her best to keep off the main streets, but when she passed a pair of ork kids leaning against a stop sign she knew they'd be reporting in to the local gang. On a bee line back out of there, she picks up a foursome on load bikes. Throttle down, those bikes are no match for hers and she is heading back to follow up on Jake's call. At the moment she is without com signal, but she knows that will return once she gets to Puyallup City.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:17 AM; Good Samaritan Hospital, 407 14th Ave SE, Puyallup City, Puyallup District

With Rex in safe hands, Jake heads to meet with Jazz and deliver the package...

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:20:00; en route towards Puyallup City, Puyallup District
Jazz

Jazz looks at the display of her comm, telling her, that there is no connection right now.

And there you thought, we were in the 21st century...

She continues to drive into more civilized regions, now being reasonably sure, that she has lost her pursuers... all of them.

Once she can connect, she sends a message to Jake asking for a meeting point, as she expects the rigger to know the city well enough to be more able to decide where a good spot might be.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:17 AM; Good Samaritan Hospital, 407 14th Ave SE, Puyallup City, Puyallup District

Instead of finding a meeting spot Jake decides to mark a point that is of equel distance from Jazz's and his current location. This way he can actually avoid getting intercepted by anyone else who would expect him to be slave of his habits. Then, one old habit crawls back in as he realizes that his van is choke full of troll's blood.
Germ infested blood by now.
Jake hits the breaks and screams him self out.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:21 AM; Puyallup City, Puyallup District

In another minute, Jazz is back in a signal. With TeamNet, she locates his position several blocks south of the Good Samaritan Hospital. The lack of response is disconcerting. Did the Star get him? Is this also a trap?

She pulls off a block short of Jake's position. TeamNet shows his com inside the van, but he is not responding. A fly-spy recon shows the van stopped in a parking lot, not really parked, just stopped. The tinted windows obscure sight.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:21:00; Puyallup City, Puyallup District
Jazz

Not having a clue, what's going on, Jazz decides to just send him a message. Hopefully, he will notice it.

< [Jazz] Hey Jake, everything alright? I'm at your position in a minute... >

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:21:00; Puyallup City, Puyallup District

<@Jazz[Jake]:The blood! The germs! They are everywhere!!!! It's horrible. They are all feasting on Rex's blood!>

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:21:00; Puyallup City, Puyallup District
Jazz

Err... Uh...

< [Jazz] Yeah, calm down, you will be able to handle that. Alright? Hope it's not been too much of a mess. Will Rex be ok? >

Not having heard about the trip to the hospital, Jazz is a bit concerned about the troll, after hearing Jake's last message. On the other hand, if all he worries about is that, it can't be that bad. Or it's even worse...

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:21:00; Puyallup City, Puyallup District

:I think so...> Jake also says this out loud in a girlie voice as he tries to calm himself down...

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:21:15; Puyallup City, Puyallup District

Jazz's fly-spy circling the van suddenly is blown away from the van by a very strong wind. Anon then fades into view next the van near where the fly-spy started.

<<@Team [Anon] Rex is in the ER. I thought it best not to stick around, nor be seen. People started asking questions when a big ass troll comes in all shot up like that.>>

Though not figuratively, Rex's blood is literally on the mages hand.
<<@Team [Anon] Jake - You wanna let me in?>>

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:21:15; Puyallup City, Puyallup District


<@Anon[Jake]:Are you clean?>

Anon looks sheepishly.

<<@Team [Anon] You got wipes?>>

Jake unloads a handful of wipes and cleaners at Anon.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:21:20; Puyallup City, Puyallup District
Jazz

< [Jazz] So, what do we do now? Deliver? >

Tuesday March 18, 2070; ~13:22; Puyallup City, Puyallup District

Anon wipes up as best he can and climbs in the back of Jake's van.

<<@Team [Kilroy] Based upon police reports, I assume that you have the package? Jam it now. You have security forces inbound.>>

Tuesday March 18, 2070; ~13:22; Puyallup City, Puyallup District

<@Team [Jake]:Time to split.>
Jake lets Anon in, starts up and rolls out to delivery point.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:22:00; Puyallup City, Puyallup District
Jazz

< [Jazz] Jake, do you have a jammer in your car? Otherwise, I will have to figure something out... >

Jazz looks for a place in the vincinity, where she could go VR without looking suspicious, or without being seen, easily.

She definitely considers it a good idea to stay away from the car for now, so she won't be in the focus of whoever is approaching.

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:22:00; Puyallup City, Puyallup District

<@Jazz [Jake]:Improvise...>

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:22:03; Puyallup City, Puyallup District
Jazz

< [Jazz] Do you have a Radio Signal Scanner? I have one on me, if not. I will have to hand it over to you guys, though, so you can use it to identify the position of the sending device. Maybe it can be disabled... the hard way. I'll try to get ahold of the signal and counter it, if I find a spot to stay in the meantime. >

Tuesday March 18, 2070; 13:22:06; Puyallup City, Puyallup District

Anon opens the door back up so he can receive the scanner from Aeryn. In the distance he, and the others, can hear sirens.
<<@Team [Anon] You all want me to open the package?>>