Fading in and out of conciousness... Bluebird just manages to mutter something about "Fraggers with big guns and small...."

Between them, Flip and the Irishwoman managed to get the wounded Bluebird up the companionway and onto the main deck.

"Fraggers with big guns and small...." Bluebird lapsed once more into unconsciousness.

"Ain't that the truth!" Seeoh looked at the big Orc, lifting the woman's other arm as they laid her against the bulwark, and grinned.

"You bein personal, you Irish witch?" Flip glanced down at his crotch. "I'll have you know, nuthin 'bout me's small" he chuckled, deep in his throat.

"Yeah, yeah. Typical man." Seeoh held up her hand, finger and thumb an inch apart. "All men think this is 6 inches. But we girls know different. Right Bluebird?" But there was no answer. "Look, we'd better get this job done and over. This girl needs a better medic than me."

Flip activated his comms. "Ace, Bluebird took a hit. I'm gonna blow this baby and we'll high tail it."

"The Ship's slowing down!" Seeoh stood up and peered over the side. Sure enough, the Lady Jane's wake was tailing off.

"Damn! Codec must have taken over the steerage or something. Well, that's just fine. We can get winched back aboard from a stationary platform. I'll get a line down here for Bluebird. Get her back up and I'll set the charges.

"What about the cargo?" Seeoh looked at the Orc, climbing, thinking of all the nuyen they were about to deep six.

"She's more important." Flip, standing on the shattered roof of the bridge, nodded at the still bleeding woman. "Besides, it's probably all drugs or guns. Better in Davy Jones's locker than on the streets." He caught one of the still trailing ropes and hefted it down to Seeoh. "Tie her good and tight and go up with her. I'll go find the little man and send him along. Tell Ace I'll put a ten minute delay on the charges."

Heading into the bridge, Flip tapped Codec on the shoulder, thumbing upward. "Get back upstairs little man." He said, not knowing whether the decker heard him or not. When he came back up he'd check.

The steep companionway down to the cargo deck tempted Flip to simply jump, but there was no knowing just how sturdy the planking was. Instead he placed his feet on the hand rails and slid to the bottom.

The small door into the main hold, obviously designed so that the cargo could be inspected during a voyage, opened easily. Flip fumbled around for a light switch he felt sure should be there. Large neon tubes glared into luminosity, bathing the cargo in harsh white light.

"Oh DREK!"

No sooner had Ace gotten his VCR disengaged did he hear Flip announcing that they were bailing. "Probably a good idea anyway. There's a ship pulling out of harbor, and, well, I'll tell you the rest later."

Ace jacked back in and hovered over the slowing ship. So that's what the decker did... He saw Codec and Bluebird coming up the line and disenganged the rig to see what he could find out or help with.

"F..Flip said that... the charges would blow in ten mintutes. That's how he's setting them."

"Right then. Good job with the ship's speed, it makes it easier to hover here. Now, I'm going to jack in and... well, first I'll look at the birdie there," he herd the lady samurai mutter something darkly, "...and see how she is, maybe I can help her wounds, but the important thing is, when I jack in, tell Flip that he and Seeoh should get up here as fast as possible. I have a bad feeling about this whole mission, and I need to tell everyone why..."

Great, now what will I tell them? Maybe I'll think of something later. He looked around for a medkit on the Osprey and tried to do what he could for Bluebird, then jacked back in.

Jacking out to see what was going on onboard, Codec was surprised to see See-oh starpping bluebird to the lines getting ready to hoist her up. He just sort of stared at this mighty woman who still scared the little decker with her guns and well...being. Here she was so fragile, hurt, dozing in and out of consciousness. Without being told, codec grabbed his deck and began the very slow climb upward, not once looking down.

A room full of crates, all with clear markings on them as to the contents.... but none of that mattered to Flip, because for him his whole world had shrunk to focus in on the Uzi and shotgun pointed his way....

Moments passed like hours and secounds passed like days, but there was nothing he could do. Not even his natural speed and agility could stop the inevitable... hearing a boom from the Shotgun, and the mechanical stutter from the Uzi he feels an invisible force shove him backwards against the wall, secounds before his own warm blood trickles down his body... Steaming as it hits the cold night air.

"...when I jack in, tell Flip that he and Seeoh should get up here as fast as possible. I have a bad feeling about this whole mission, and I need to tell everyone why..."

Codec nodded, as if he knew what the frag Ace was talking about. Truth be told, the decker had no clue and didn't even want to understand it all. As Ace jacked in, Codec took the radio and sent out his message
"H..H...hello? Uh...um yeah...Ace says that you g..guys...I mean Girls...no I mean people...that you people, should g...get..up here as soon as you can."

Bleeding profusely, Flip allowed his body to sway right in a rapid collapse, his torso and head disappearing behind a bullet riddled packing case. If the fraggers shot again, he was as good as dead, if he wasn't already. At least, if he kept his legs still they might look first before they started pumping lead again. Slowly, with what little energy he could muster, he brought his gun around, pointing just above his own kneecaps and waited.

High above, the wounded Bluebird and the little decker safely aboard the Osprey, Seeoh had begun her climb up to the hovering aircraft. Muffled by wind and wave, she heard the staccato burst of an Uzi and the louder reports of a shotgun. It immediately worried her. Neither weapon, she knew, could be Flip's and a shiver went down her spine as she thumbed her comms link to Ace.

"I think Flip's in trouble. I'm going down again."

Thought and deed were concurrent and the Irishwoman made a rapid descent to the deck of the Lady Jane. Gun in hand, Seeoh mustered what little powers she had, prowling with the stealth of her totem, the Red Fox, hoping he would aid her in what she had to do.

"Do you think we got em?"


"Dunno, just wish they would frag off and leave us alone... I cant beleave it, first that scrawney women and then the dum trog."



"Well it wasnt just those two, it couldnt have been to make that kinda mess of this thing. lets just load up the dingy with what we can and then disappear... they will just assume we fell overboard and died..."

Flip, Seeoh knew, had intended to go down to the cargo hold and place the charges against the outer hull. He might have made it there and surprised some of the crew, maybe some that had gone into hiding when they heard the fight that was going on topside. Maybe even a couple of fraggers that Bluebird had missed. After all, she'd been shot and there were only a couple of bodies to mark her lethal presence below decks.

Preying for her Totem's protection, the Irishwoman cautiously went down the steep gangway to the lower deck. Voices drifted toward her, common and nautical, or so she surmised. Certainly not Flip's voice and hence, bad guys. Seeoh hugged the wall, looking around the dimly lit corridor. A fire extinguisher, hanging on the left hand wall, caught her eye. A CO2 cylinder, clouds of white cold - far better for a surprise than hard ammo fired by an inexpert Druidic Witch.

Seeoh lifted the cylinder off the wall, sidling along to the open doorway. She glanced through the opening and breathed a sigh. Feet, size fourteen, just visible between the inner wall and a cargo crate. If Flip was still alive, he was probably pinned down, or incapacitated. Either way, whoever was inside the cargo hold needed to be dealt with.

Moving across the corridor, keeping her eyes on the size 14s, Seeoh could just see the muzzle of a gun, wavering above thick knees. The Orc must be alive and conscious, ready for a last stand. She elevated the spigot of the extinguisher, pointing it at what she hoped was head height for anyone coming out of the doorway.

Feeling like John Wayne in one of those old cowboy movies, her trigger fingers on a colt in one hand and a CO2 cylinder in the other, Seeoh coughed loudly and shouted, with as deep a voice as she could muster.

"Armed Police! Throw your weapons through the door and come out with your hands up!"

OK, so it was a bit melodramatic, but it might work. And if it didn't, and they came out shooting, they'd get a face full of cold carbon dioxide and some lead between their teeth.
Leastwise, that was the plan.

Course, Seeoh might be dead, but then, if it gave Flip a chance, so would the fraggers.

Suddenly all goes quiet from the cargo hold... and then secounds later a couple of hushed whispers trying to work out what to do, and then eventually two guns can be seen thudding onto the floor next to Flips feet. Knowing that they have lost the two sailers simpley hold their hands up and wait for the inevitable kicking that Lonestar will administer before arrest.

Flip almost jumped out of his thick, Orcish skin when he heard Seeoh's voice and had to stop himself laughing out loud when the sailors weapons thudded to the deck at his feet.

Without a thought, he sat up and brought his Browning around the edge of the crate, followed by his malevolently grinning face. "Hi, Boys! Stupid decision. In the normal course of events, I'd let you live. Unfortunately, you both just SHOT ME!!! And the path of the righteous man is beset on all …. Ah sod it!! Bye, Boys!"

Two very well aimed single shots took the surprised sailors out of this mortal plain.

The thud of falling weapons, followed by Flip's guttural comments and his gun discharging, prompted Seeoh to let the extinguisher fall to the floor as she peeked around the door frame, in time to see the two sailors pitch forward onto their dead faces. "Serves the silly fraggers right!!" She grinned at the Orc.

"Thank you, Officer!" The cargo hold reverberated to Flip's bellowing laughter as he stood up. "My carelessness might just have provided a new plan. These fraggers," He kicked the dead meat at his feet. "Were planning to escape with some of the cargo in a dinghy. We could do the same."

"We'd have to be quick, I think we've got company coming out from the harbour. Besides, we don't know what the cargo is!" Seeoh looked around for a jemmy, finding a docker's hook instead. "Let's take a look inside a crate or two."

"Yeah, you do that." Flip said absently as he hefted the Enfield and reached for the Uzi.

Not getting any response fromt he members of the team below, Codec begins to feel worried
Holy drek, what if something happened?? No they're tough, they can take care of themselves..but they're not invincible..though it seems like it sometimes...maybe I can go help out...but what would I do?
Before he could allow any more anxiety to set in, Codec decided to try the comm again
"Hello? Anyone out there? P..P..Please answer!"

"Hello? Anyone out there? P..P..Please answer!" The stuttering, tinny voice of the diminutive decker intruded on Flip's figurative drooling over his newly acquired weapons.

"Yeah, little man, we're here. My maths was wrong, but it's all right now." An audible sigh of relief came over the comm link. "How's it looking topside? We getting any visitors soon? Only I've taken a look around and I think we could lift some of the cargo after all."

Seeoh glared at the Orc. "What's with the `we' bit. I'm doing all the damned work here." The Irishwoman heaved on the hook, squealing nails from their sockets and detaching several planks from the first of the smaller crates. She'd chosen more or less at random from the ones where the two sailors had been standing when Flip dropped them. Seemed logical enough that they'd be standing close to commodities they intended to purloin. And what was good for one thief…..

Feeling his regular beat of the sonar pulsing out of him, Ace can virtually see the ship now... Clear of harbour and making directly for the Lady Jane. Not making fast progress, Ace gives it an ETA of 20 minutes before its within sight. Seeing that the Lady Jane had come to a slow halt, he circles slowly...that way the downforce from the jets wont cause too much problem in the water....

Having been quiet this entire time... Greasy let the drones fly around the ship, recording what was going on for them to enjoy at a later time! Thinking it a good idea, he sends one of the spotter drones out to go and see if they can get a better look at this new ship.

Seeoh looks down in amazment at whats in the crate... Bags of powder, BTL chips, things to make you high, things to make you low... you name it, it was all here...and the street value on this stuff must be mega!! Thanking fox for this truely massive haul she makes a quick plan as to what to do next!

"There must be millions of Nuyen in here Flip." Silence. "FLIP! Put those bloody guns down and come take a looksee."

Still ginning like a kid for whom Xmas came early, the Orc moved to join the Sorceress, heaving a huge sigh when he saw what the Witch had found. "Shiiite! And a lot of it too. Now all we have to do is take it with us when we go." He walked to the far wall and a control panel. "This must be the control for the hatch cover." He tried an experimental press on a green button. Nothing happened and he took a closer look, noticing a keyhole. "Check their pockets Seeoh. One of em should have a key for this thing."

A few moments of rifling jacket and trouser pockets brought forth crumpled folding money, a half sucked gobstopper, a chunk of chewing tobacco and a bunch of keys. "Here." She lobbed the keys to the Orc. "Try these."

Deftly catching the three keys on a ring, Flip took a look at them. Only one matched the profile and he applied it, preying. It turned easily, so the Orc thumbed the green button again.

High above there was a clanking of machinery and the roof of the cargo hold slid back letting in the starlight and the downwash from the Osprey, still hovering above.

"Ace! We need a cargo net or something!"

"Ace! We need a cargo net or something!"

Ace blinked, brought up his radar to see the new ship moving in a B-Line for the Lady Jane, then answered: "What you need is to get up here pronto. We don't have time to loot; there's a ship moving in fast on our position, and I don't want it to be able to ID or track us. Don't take anything more than you can carry or tie to the support line. In five minutes, hopefully sooner, we're pulling out."

The thought echoed back and forth in his head: If I can see them, they can see me...

In response to the urgency in Ace's voice, Flip and Seeoh shared a panicked glance. "Bollocks," he said.

Whilst casting frantically around, looking for something like a sailor's gaff with which to snag a crate onto a line, Flip busied himself grabbing what looked to be the most expensive of the loot - the BTL's - and stuffing his pockets.

With Seeoh doing the same, he emptied out the bag with the charges and handed it to her. "Get what you can in there - whatever looks like it will fetch a good price."

With her performing the "quartermaster" role, Flip scooted off to the lower portions of teh vessel to rapidly plant the sabotage devices, setting the timers for the requisite 6 minutes (giving them time to make a retreat, of course)!

Monitoring the comm link Codec began to feel sick. Maybe it was the swaying of the craft, or maybe the mere thought that he had climbed the rope....No it's the fact that we're going to have company real soon thought the decker.

What was it my grandmother used to promise me? Oh, that's right `A bag of holding' so I could store all of my dolls, long pins and scribbled spells all in one place. Where is it Granny? I need one right about now. Seeoh stuffed BTL, packs of powder, uppers and downers, into Flip's rucksack, trying to be tidy to get as much in, without breaking any, as she could.

"Send down a couple of ropes Ace."

Black nylon descended, flurried by the onshore breeze and the downdraft from the Osprey. They took a bit of catching, as seconds ticked by, but caught they were and the Orc and Sorceress were winched back aboard with only three of the timers allotted period gone. Still floundering over the tailgate, Flip shouted toward the cockpit, heaving Seeoh over the lip of the ramp, "Get us the hell out of here. She's gonna blow in under two minutes!" He hit the big red button and the back end of the Osprey closed up as he heard the jets scream and felt the plane begin to bank.

"...She's gonna blow in under two minutes!"

Codec nearly fell out of his seat as the craft started moving. He quickly buckled up and while they started to fly away he looked out the window at the drifting Lady Jane.

Full throttle Ace screams out to sea... knowing that if he takes a long circular route back then he wont be traced so easily!

As Seeoh looked at what she had managed to haul up with her she was quite impressed with what they had got, certainly enough to keep a junkie going for a few months!

As Ace streches himself as he turns into the wind at full speed, he happily sees the last of that ship on his radar.... the would have seen him via the radar but as the plane is through a fake company, they cant trace it anywhere anyway! the only thing that lingers in his mind is the question about his army contacts.... why so interested all of a sudden? years he has gone without hearing from them, and now they want his head on a platter!

It wasn't so much the quantity, which was plenty. More the type. Seeoh had seen, she thought, almost every kind of pill, tablet and sachet there was in the `street corner' drug market. But some of the capsules, neatly packed in blisters of four, bemused her.

"What do you make of these?" She asked Flip, squatting down and catching his breath. "I've not seen the like afore."

The Orc took one of the blister packs, with its four small ovoid pink pills. He turned it over, looking for a label and found none. "Dunno. Not a regular upper or downer." A thought, more a dim memory, crossed his mind and he laughed. "Nah, couldn't be."

The Sorceress allowed a frown to crease her forehead. "What? What couldn't it be?"

"Years ago, before I .. before I became me. My old man used something like these. Kept the old woman happy he said." He tossed the pack in the air and caught it again. "Yep, reckon these are `uppers' for sure." The Orc's laugh filled the back of the Osprey, echoing forward and startling the rest of the Team. The laughter got more raucous as Flip watched the bemused look on Seeoh's face slowly turn to an embarrassed blush on her pale cheeks as the light of understanding dawned.

"Men! You're all the same!" Seeoh grabbed the blister from the Orcs hand and plunged it back into the rucksack . "When we get back to the farm I'll take a ride into town and go see Pret. He'll be able to shift all of this stuff, I'm sure." But at the back of her mind she knew that Pret Barbarosa would rook her, just as he always did. "Unless anyone's got a better idea?"

Just as Seeoh posed the question.... A deep bass boom could be heard as Lady Jane went up in flames, a strange beacon of light in the calm dark sea.

Feeling the boom go through him, Codec nervously looks out the side window and is amazed at the sight of the remains of the Lady Jane.
We just need to see that creepy Kiteo guy and there...all done...

Scary, there was no other polite word for it. The journey back to the farm had been harrowing, not because of attack; it was the anticipation of it. But it just didn't materialise. Of the oncoming shipping there had been no sign. No sign of pursuit of any kind.

Ace insisted that the wounded Bluebird was better off with him as he dropped the rest of the Team within walking distance of the highway. The five mile hike back to the farm had been, literally, like a walk in the park. What the odd driver must have thought, seeing dark clad, armed and armoured figures traversing the road in the early dawn light, the Team neither knew nor cared. All they had in mind was to get inside the house and crash for a good eight hours well deserved sleep.

Somewhere out in the harbour a klaxon sounded, fog was rolling inshore as a watery sun tried in vain to warm the land below. The sound penetrated the Sorceress's dreams, dispelling the pack and it's leading dog fox. She got up and padded into the warm kitchen, feeling the coffee pot on the stove and shaking it. Nothing but sodden grounds and a slight slosh of burnt coffee. She refilled the pot and set it to stew, clattering mugs. Taking rolls she had stashed in the small fridge, she placed them on a baking tray and put them into the range oven, stoking the fire. By the time the coffee was ready the heady breakfast smell of fresh baked bread had seeped into the very pores of the old farmhouse.

"Do I smell breakfast?" Flip appeared, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Seeoh looked at him then out of the window at the sun at its zenith.

"If you call half past noon breakfast time, then yes. Park your butt and I'll pour." Hot rich coffee hit the Orc's mug, the aroma filling the small room. Hot rolls and a dish of butter arrived as he took his first sip of the steaming brew.

"You certainly know how to take care of a man, Seeoh and no mistake." Flip broke a roll apart and liberally smeared it with butter, watching it melt.

"I have to, you and the rest are no use to me if you're grumbling about empty bellies in the middle of a fire fight." But she grinned at her friend anyway.

Flip chuckled through grease spattered lips. "Now, to business. Don't I recollect you having a friend in the `goods shifting' business?"

"Pret Barbarosa. Yeah, he's a fence I use sometimes." The Irishwoman split a roll buttered it. "But I wouldn't trust him further than I could throw him, and he weighs 300 pounds if he's an ounce." She started eating.

"That bike of yours carry two?" Flip drained his coffee and reached for the pot.

"Just about, if you're thinking of being my rear seat cover."

"In that case, I'll carry the bag and we'll go see if we can't get eighty on the nuyen for what's in it."

Leaving the rest of the runners, just rising to the smells of fresh coffee and rolls, with the briefest of explanations, Seeoh and Flip headed into the city, and Pret Barbarosa.

Pret as usual... was sat on his old worn bar stool by the bar, cigar in mouth as he watched the combat bikers on tv and muttered about how the whole thing is all a big fix!

Looking up as the big Orks frame filled the doorway as the slight sourceress led the way in to see him, maybe he could make enough money out of these chumps to cover his losses?!

As Flip looked around the bar... he realised it was so stereotypical for this area that it was almost funny! old west style swing doors into the building with a large bar running the length of the room, bottles and kegs behind it with the tender polishing glasses and chatting to his patrons. Booths were all around the edge of the room with plenty of shade and shadey charecters to enjoy it. Looked like a real fun joint to be in on a Friday night!! Flip would bet his bottem yen that the barman had a pump action behind the bar....

After a couple of hours sleep, Codec woke up and scatched his temple datajack thoughtfully.... It had been to long since he had been in the net so decided to relax there for a bit.

Spending what feels like days (but what is really just minutes) he has visited some of his favourite pleasure nodes and caught up on local net events... but something keeps bugging him, Ace seems like a good guy... if mega paranoid... So who were those people?! what did they want with them? and for codec one of the most strange questions of all... would they come back for his friend again? Sitting in a cyber park watching a fountain he contemplates.

Wordlessly, he stands up, and heads for the local coucils node.... without even breaking his stride as he nears the office he activates his cloaking program and walks in, defence programs at the ready he simply jumps the security barrier and heads on in....

CCTV. A wonderful thing in this day and age, everyone has it and everybody is watching everybody else. The council along with Lonestar have access to the major CCTV nets in the city... so somebody must have seen something.



And so begins his search.

The bat wing doors clattered to and fro behind the Witch and her cohort as she headed for the fat, sweating shape that she knew was Pret Barbarosa.

"Hi Rosa, long time no see." Seeoh perched herself, uninvited, on a stool at the bar next to Barbarosa. "You still in the market?" She leant toward him, looking innocently directly into his eyes.

The fence glanced around him, nodding to a couple of heavy weights along the long bar before turning to smile at the Irishwoman. "Could be. 'Pends on whatcha got. And this ain't no place to set out your stall." He thumbed over his shoulder. "Come in the back." Barbarosa heaved his bulk off of his reinforced bar stool and waddled away to open the door to his office. He turned as he entered and glanced at the disparate pair, beckoning them to follow.

This wasn't going to be as easy as usual with the Witch after all. This time she'd brought her own muscle, and the boy looked pretty handy. Still, no matter, the fence smiled inwardly as he watched the two walk past him into the office - and his two heavies following close behind.

Codec quietly begins to look through the index of city sections on the grid. Here it is, this is the area we were in the other night. He begins to play the tape of the garage where all the action took place. Watching the time index on the bottom right hand corner of the screen he notcies that it is getting closer to the time that the action should have roughly started with Ace's arrival.
Suddenly the tape give a brief blip...
What the frag??? Codec rewinds the tape and watches it again...same blip...and after that there is nobody on the tape, no action...nothing. Just the same garage area, as if nothing ever happened. Checking the time index he notices that there is a good 3 hour gap from before the video blip to the point afterwards
It's as if someone erased a part of the video..but who? and how? And where is any of the blood or blood stains from that night?

Alone with Bluebird, Ace had the chance to get some of the answers he needed. He hovered the Osprey a discreet distance from the coast and waited until she woke up. What an odd woman, he thought, you wouldn't know that she was mostly metal and ceramic beneeth the skin just from looking at her.

Bluebird. A bird of happiness. True blue, the color of loyalty. Right?

When she awoke it took her less than a second to register the rest of the team's absence and the Osprey's remote location. Her pistol sprang to hand and pointed at Ace.

He held his hands up in mock submission, like a kindly old uncle being confronted by his niece's Nerf Predator toy gun. "I surrender, don't shoot!" He smiled. "Or do, if you feel confident flying this hulk to shore. I have a hard time with it myself."

Warily, she lowered the weapon. "So," she said.

"So. It's not that I want to be threatening, but there are a few things puzzling me. Here's a few basics. How'd you meet Kiteo? How long ago? And what do you know about his work: just Yak bulldrek, or does he have any other business?"

obviously annoyed that for once she didnt have the upper hand, she answered the questions as truthfully as she could, knowing that this guy was ultimately on her side anyway....

"I worked for him for about a year, I met him while dating one of his bodyguards. He learnt that I was a hitwomen, so he put a few contracts my way. Mainly people from other Yak fractions and Mafia, but a couple were his own men, faked to look like hits from the other side. He was impressed with my work and was obviously a man with serious ambition! He has his fingers in all the pies, including some he shouldnt do! Why do you wanna know flyboy?!"

And with that sarcastic question she reminds herself that he is a team mate, and his interests are probabley for the right reasons.

The witch and the adept walk casually into the back room, looking around the roomt they quickly realise this is the "bussiness" room with no windows, and the only other entrance blocked up. Sitting down, Seeoh watches the sweaty excuse for a man ease himself down into his chair, staying stood up Flip watches the two thugs follow them in... eyeing them up for size and weight, just in the event of a quick exit.

Turning a convenient hard-backed wooden chair around, Seeoh sat, legs akimbo, facing the fence and nodded to the Orc. With a casual swing, Flip hefted the rucksack onto Barbarosa's desk.

"A small sample of a big score we just made. Give me a good price and perhaps we can do business on the rest." Seeoh reached into the gunny and pulled out a few samples. Several half- kilo clear plastic cartons of blue dust, a dozen blister packs and a handful of multi-coloured capsules spread across the stained desktop.

Beady eyes glittered with avarice as the fence poked the assorted wares with a podgy finger.

"That depends on just how much you have....but if this is a good sample and it all tests pure, I would say 15K a kilo" he says trying to keep a poker face as he delivers the offer.

Seeoh picked up a clear pack of blue dust and opened it. "A grain of this splits down to a dozen shots. A shot's worth five nuyen on any street in this or any city in the country. Even allowing for the cutting, packaging and distribution, I'd say that was a four and a half profit per."

The Sorceress closed the carton. "This box alone would make up nearly two hundred thousand shots. That's a cool mill on the street. Now, my math ain't so great, but even I can fathom that this single carton's worth 50K before the first cut." She emptied the rucksack, piling six cartons together and stacking the blister packs in sets of ten. "There's six cartons."

Seeoh drummed a finger on the top one. "A carton weighs around a half kilo." Picking up a carton and waving it at Rosa's pockmarked nose. "According to you, what I have here is worth 7500¥. Which is a difference of 42,500¥." Seeoh looked at Flip and raised an eyebrow as she smiled, turning her face back to the fence with the smile still in place. "40K on a carton. 10K for all the capsules and I'll throw in the Sildenafil. You look as though you and your boys could use it."

The growl from the heavy with the hooked nose the Witch took to mean he, at least, had need of a helping hand; or more precisely, a pill. Whadya say, Rosa? 'Member, we've got plenty more stashed away. Give me a good price now and, maybe, I'll cut you a better one next time around."

Codec wasn't excatly sure what to do at this point. he knew that if he didn't say anything to Ace, then whoever is up to this could frag Ace...or worse. But he knew that if he showed Ace the altered video...well stuff like checking out these sort of things don't sit too well with the paranoid

Finally figuring it'd be better to just tell the guy what he had, codec downloaded the video archive of that event onto his deck. Jacking out, he walked slowly into the kitchen area. No one to be found.
"uh..hello?...Anyone...?"

"you gotta be kidding me babe! if you have this amount of this quality... you must have got it from somewhere, which means its hot any way you look at it. That also means that somebodies gonna be looking for it. I will give you 10K a carton, no more, no less."


Hearing a groan from the lounge, Codec finally finds Bluebird laying on the sofa watching tv... looking strangely feminine and prone...."Whats up?"

Codec was caught off guard at the sight of Bluebird. He didn't know that she could ever look...vulnerable. She was easily one of the toughest people he had ever encountered, but now, just lying on the couch...Though she still made him feel uneasy around her.
"Uh...um..Ace...uh...is...is..is he around?" All the time not making eyecontact with her.

"Why do you wanna know flyboy?!"

Ace nods his head understandingly. "Obviously it would be unfair for me to do all the asking and none of the telling, but right now, I'd prefer to refrain from saying. I will tell you, though, that your perspective on Kiteo may be subject to change. Especially in light of this information about hits being put out on his own men. I'm thinking that if it happened once, it might happen again.

"Now, about these pies, would one of them happen to be a big, warm apple pie? The UCAS government or military?"

"How the frag should I know?! Guys like this dont exactly advertise what they do! I just turned up, go the brief and did the hit! - He probably had people in the UCAS goverment, but then again how many MP's do you know that can't be bought?!"

Obviously seriously peeved now, Bluebird makes a mental note to return this favour sometime!

The Orc stepped forward and leant on Barbarosa's desk. "See here chummer. A minute ago there was 15K per on the table. Now you're offering ten?" He gave a sideways look at the witch. "This piece of drek is a bigger crook than you are." He lifted his mass back upright. "Come on, I'll get us a better deal uptown." Flip started to refill the rucksack.

Seeoh smiled at the Orc. "He's offering ten per carton, not per kilo. Right Rosa?" She looked at the fence who nodded. "They're half kilo cartons. Means we make 60K instead of 30." She shrugged her shoulders and smiled at Rosa. "You don't have to worry about heat. No one's gonna be looking for this stuff. To be honest with you, there isn't any more. The rest is at the bottom of the harbour, six miles out. This is all we could get before it all went to Davy Jones. So how about a round figure of 80K for the lot? We've got expenses too you know."

Codec lifted his head off of the floor and looked around. he was still a little groggy from being asleep after he jacked out.
What a weird dream....Bluebird on the couch?
Not really caring to discuss this with anyone he decided it might just be better off to go back and have a quick look in the Matrix, see if anyone had heard anything of the little confrontation.

Barbarosa looks at the two in front of him...thinking that if this in deed the case then maybe he can buy this off of them, and find some way of getting the rest thats at the bottom of the harbour. "Ok girl, you got a deal... I will give you 80K, but im telling you now that if any heavies come asking, for that price im gonna point them straight in your direction! unless of course you want to accept a lower price and have me forget where I got it all from?!"

The offer seemed pretty fair to the Sorceress, from several points of view. However, she wasn't in this alone. "Whadya think Flip?"

"I think that dropping 5K would addle his grey matter quite well. I also think that we should offer the precise co-ordinates of where the Ship went down for, say, 5K". The big Orc knew that Codec would have the location in his deck from when he was trying to steer the Ship. He gave Seeoh the most innocent look he could muster. "It's worth it for the head start, cos you know the original owners will be out looking as well."

"Seems reasonable. And the harbour is a big stretch of water, particularly when you get six miles out." She grinned at the fence. "How about it Rosa? 80K and we give you exact co-ordinates in exchange for your complete forgetfulness."

"I gotta say, I'm surprised at how on the level you're being about all this. Well... yeah. He wouldn't tell you everything he was involved in. But I have reason to belive he is involved in something we don't want any part in."

Ace told her about how he left the UCAS Air Force, about the conversations he remembers Treesong having about getting work with an Asian fixer, and how Treesong was in the goon squad that ambushed him.

"And, about that, well, thanks for showing up." Now I feel pretty dumb. She was pretty reasonable. Dragging her ass out here and making stupid threats... Jesus.

Without saying anything he sets an autopilot course for the farm, passively listening for a response. He was glad he did not mention the weird jet he saw in his "visions," though.

*Well I THOUGHT we were working as a team, so I have no reason to hold much back... besides, its not like I have given you valuable information! there is every possiblity that he has contacts doing that for him. And I certainly wouldnt put it past him" With that Bluebird sits back and doesnt know weather or not she is annoyed, because what he said seems quite a reasonable thing.

Floating through the Matrix, Codec decided to head back to where he saw the video.
I need to find out who wiped out some of this video feed
He brought up the video file once again, and rewatched it. Same as before.
On a gut feeling, Codec wandered from the video department to personnel. It was a locked door. Smiling, Codec fished out a virtual hairpin and began to pick the lock...