@Virtual Scream
September 1, 2072 22:28; Near the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(5), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Powered Off; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)

At first, Sprogget's knowledge of >1rtu@l5cr3@m is little more than what the infected sprite had already told him. But as they travel back to base thoughts begin to pop up that are clearly coming from the knowsoft sprite.

He becomes aware of a sound like crickets in the dark. He realises he is 'hearing' the pings of infected nodes, all 9,542 of them. He is also aware that the number is continuing to decrease, with another node disappearing even as he listens to the chorus. He feels certain that he could track down individual nodes by focusing on one of the pings.

As they arrive back at base, one thought sticks in his mind - what do the initials CSS and MMO mean? He is certain he has seen them somewhere and that they are somehow linked to the scream.

Balefire
[Wednesday August 17th, 2072; Citadel Game Matrix Node, Seattle]

Silk ignored the gatekeeper agent and the throngs of gamers as she stepped into the entry node for the Citadel. Normally she would have paid some attention to the plethora of icons flowing through this impressive virtual space or the whirling planar orrery above her head but she was in no mood to be awed today. Summer’s words flashed though her mind and Silk still felt inclined to dismiss them as the ramblings of an addled techno but she knew better. There had to be some truth to all of this and she was determined that Aria wouldn’t wriggle out of telling her what was happening. She stoked her anger with the knowledge that Aria had been manipulating her for years now. Whilst she hadn’t been presumptuous enough to class herself as a true friend of the whimsical matrix wizard she was certain they went beyond mere acquaintances. Aria had been her mother’s friend and that must count for something…

Using the back door code that Aria had given her for just such a purpose Silk stepped into a private node somewhere buried deep in the game code. The system architecture where she emerged was stunning, the resolution cranked up so high that it could almost pass as a UV host…almost. Silk was standing on a ledge overlooking some immense underground cavern. On the floor of the cave below her stretched a dark city but it was the walls that caught her attention. The symbols carved into them pulsed with a strange light and the symbols themselves seemed to defy you to look at them, almost twisting out of sight. The effect was unnerving and Silk wondered at the nature of this game zone and the strange mind that must have created it.

As Silk’s mind tried to absorb the patterns she saw she almost didn’t notice the three figures that materialised before her. Aria was in the centre, her petite icon looking like a glowing child of no more than eight. An illusion, like everything else on the matrix, but Silk knew it had made fools underestimate her in the past. To her left was Summer in her Alice apparel, great, so she had run on ahead to warn Aria. The third was someone she didn’t recognise. Someone who looked ill at ease to be here at all, their movements jerky and uncoordinated, almost as if they weren’t completely in sync with their icon. The icon itself was that of an old hooded man with sunken features that drew attention to the sharp blue eyes.

A little disconcerted to have a welcoming committee when she had anticipated confronting Aria alone, Silk opted to strike hard and fast in the hopes that she wouldn’t come across as off-balance as she really was. Addressing Aria directly she pointedly ignored the other two for now,

“Aria. I want some answers this time! What is Mindset, and what has it got to do with me, and what has it got to do with Mum’s death?”

Aria quirked an eyebrow and smiled but the smile was sadder than her usual mischief laden grin.

“Silk, you’ve been expected for a long time…” she nodded briefly in Summer’s direction, “you have proven that you are more than capable, but understand that the answers you want couldn’t have just been dropped into your lap, we needed you to work for them…” she held up a hand and Silk bit back her response. “You have grown greatly in the last few months, more rapidly than you would have done without the drive to find the truth. Those skills are needed!

Someone has been interfering with our plans for years. Summer has told us that you are a nexus around which events will unfold that will allow us to find who this person is and prevent them from derailing the plan any more than they already have.”

“The plan? What plan?” Silk retorted angrily “You make it sound is if my fate is predetermined…what makes you think I’m going to just go along with all this? And you still aren’t telling me anything…!”

“Whilst there are some things that will happen in this cycle, nothing is predetermined. Summer has told you that she only sees probabilities. We do not understand her gift ourselves in full but that will not prevent us from seeking every advantage we can.”

“Riddles, ambiguities, please Aria, can’t you just tell me?!”

It was the old man who answered, his icon flickering as he spoke. His voice was soft and mellifluous, lulling the mind in a way that should not have been possible here on the matrix,

“Not everything, no, there are secrets here, dangerous ones. Your mother paid for her involvement and you are too valuable for that to be your fate. We only suspect why your mother was targeted, you still need to find that truth for yourself. There is a darkness approaching this world, you might ask yourself when is there not, but there are works in motion to guard against this one. These technomancers will play a part in the plan, a plan others want to see fail, or at least be rewritten to fit their own agendas. There are powerful factions here that we need to dance around; some might even help us in their own way.

We think that Mindset is a tool by one of those factions to mask their involvement. The corps are merely another pawn in this great game, although perhaps a rook might be a more appropriate analogy, for they are not without power. But their power is ephemeral compared with what is coming…”

Silk interrupted, wincing inwardly at her rudeness but masking that with anger, anything to conceal the growing knot of worry that these people might not be as insane as they sounded. She was better with people than this but in the artificial world of the matrix her natural ability to read the Patterns was reduced as they were filtered through a program suite…

“And who are you!”

“I have many names, more titles, but for you I am simply the Old One.”

“Your one of those? The elves that everyone’s heard whispers about? Born before the Awakening?”

“No child. I am older by far.”

Shit, did he mean that he was a dragon? That might account for the problems with his matrix interface, but surely they wouldn’t be as concerned with other factions…other dragons?

“We three are a representation, I of the past, the one you call Aria of the present, and Summer of the future. A balance for the Plan…”

An idle thought crossed Silk’s mind, shouldn’t he be the Crone, and if so did that make Aria or Summer the maiden? Silk was glad to see that Summer at least looked as uncomfortable with all this as she felt! She was beginning to flounder and she didn’t like the sensation one little bit. She silently cursed these creatures that lurked in the shadows and manipulated people to their own ends. She wasn’t naive enough to believe that wasn’t the way of the world, particularly for shadowrunners, but it was very different to be confronted with it in this way.

Whilst the Old One spoke Silk received a private message from Summer that flitted across her view of the node

“I am sorry for this! I wanted to tell you more but Aria insisted that you had to find out the hard way…I guess she has helped you from the shadows but the work had to be yours. I am sorry about your mum too, she sounds like quite a lady, I wish I could have known her.”

It was unexpected being spoken to this way and Silk felt a small glimmer of kinship with this strange technomantic oracle. She could only be all of fourteen and probably felt as out of her depth as Silk did.

Finally Aria spoke again

“We have analysed what you found on the Mindset program. It’s fragmentary but a name has jumped out of us, a name we had previously dismissed. Captain Stern led the Deepwatch mercenaries on the attack on Stillwater on the same night that you mother was attacked. It seems that his background has been fabricated, cleverly buried amidst a wash of noise, the Mindset file shows that. He is a consultant for Ares now which should have alerted us to his importance. We suggest you speak to him…”

@E:CoP; Baron Herbert
August 21st, 2072, 12:34; Herbert family estates, England

"Нет, Григорий, это не сделает." Timothy Herbert dismissed the call from the Russian broker and flagged his commcode as auto-deny. Avarice he could work with, stupidity was a deal-breaker. "Michi, please inform the Russian consulate that Grigoriy Vasteyev has several shipments of molybdenum that he will be trying to take out of Murmansk sometime this week in contradiction of his legal status."

His "secretary" nodded. "Shall I remind the local "immigrant society" what happened the last time they took offense to something like this, as well?"

"If you feel it it necessary. Though, leave Laurence home this time if you must. The collateral damage last time was frightfully difficult to get the authorities to understand as being unfortunately required."

Michiko nodded again and turned away to make the calls. Timothy went back to watching the data flows through his AR windows of the American stock market, occasionally making changes to various amounts he owned. Here and there a pattern emerged that his mind locked onto, attempting to suss out the whys and wherefores of the transactions, but today seemed like a rather boring day with the markets, all told. He was puzzling over a particularly nonsensical series of ownership shifts of Boeing stock when an incoming message from his uncle distracted him.

@Geekmeister [IbizaOrBust] << Do you have plans tonight? Or should I say, are you doing anything other than haunt the Tokyo Exchange? >>

Timothy rolled his eyes, then fired a message back. @IbizaOrBust [Geekmeister] << As opposed to your usual gallivanting around London with women who's IQ is probably smaller than their bust size? What's the occasion? >> He tagged a few more stocks to investigate after the market closed before Lord Pembroke responded.

@Geekmeister [IbizaOrBust] << I've got someone you should meet, there was a soirée last night at the NeoNET Tower in Oxford that you were supposed to attend. Shall I send a car around, or would you rather sully your glacial reputation? >>

A frown crossed the younger Baron's face, then he looked at his calendar. He had indeed blown the gathering off, and given the amount of Ordo personages there it was one he shouldn't have. Wait, sully? @IbizaOrBust [Geekmeister] << Where exactly are we going? >>

@Geekmeister [IbizaOrBust] << *grin* You'll see. Tell Michiko to wear that gray slip of a dress she wore last year, too. >>

August 21st, 2072, 22:57; Club Ifriti

Timothy straightened his collar self-consciously after stepping through the opaque glass doors of the non-descript building his uncle's car had dropped him off at. The enhancements of his eyes had easily adapted to rapid changes in lighting, but they did nothing to affect the steep rise in his heartrate. The amount and variety of barely-dressed women drifting through the establishment was astounding, more so when he saw that they were either SURGEd or surgically altered to appear so. An ARO popped into his vision directing him towards the "VIP" section and a snaking line of red smoke appeared on the floor to give him a path to it. Michiko kept the boldest of the women's questing hands from touching him, occasionally eliciting a squawk of pain, but she could not keep the promises and enticements from his ears. By the time they reached the corner where his uncle and friend were at Timothy's face was afire.

Lord Pembroke roared in laughter at the sight of his nephew's face. "You need to get out more, boy. We don't even need the candles here with how bright you're glowing." He shifted the lightly-mauve-skinned-and-hooved beauty from his lap and stood up, pulling his guest up with him by the elbow. "Lord Herbert, this is my colleague Johnny Awesome. He's only slightly more arrogant than his name suggests." The two men shared a laugh at what was apparently an old joke between them, then his uncle shooed the girl away to fetch them some drinks. A shifting neon tattoo of starbursts on her hip dragged his attention away from the two men as she left, then he turned back to the man he was supposed to be meeting.

"Go..ahem...good evening, Lord...Awesome." He cleared his throat again. "I was apparently supposed to make your acquaintance at the gathering last night in Oxford. Was the night worth anything, or just the usual stuffed shirts blathering about their latest pet projects in the House of Lords?"

@Virtual Scream
September 1, 2072 22:29; Near the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(5), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Hidden; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)

Listening to the sounds|music|pings of the >1rtu@l5cr3@m nodes, and realizing the number is steadily decreasing, Sprogget wonders why, and digs into his new knowlege while simultaneously asking Frankenhunter directly.
@self:The new knowledge is there, but I need to focus on|remember|query it to get useful information.  I know how to fix a commlink, but do not usually remember the sequence of tools to use, until I need them, or something directs my attention that way.

The current >1rtu@l5cr3@ node population has dropped by more than 100 since Frankenhunter first reported the count not long ago.  That is a rather high|extreme|unexpected attrition rate.
@Frank-Hunter[Sprogget]:“Why are the reported nodes going away?  Are the nodes going offline, or are instances|infections|parts being destroyed?  Would a node vanish from the list if 2 existing instances merged|joined|amalgamated?  If they are being destroyed, how is that being done, and who is doing it?”.

Thinking about that steady decrease in active nodes being reported, Sprogget has a personally concerning thought.
@Frank-Hunter[Sprogget]:“Is there a pattern|similarity|grouping to the nodes that are going away?  Some possible groupings are: device type, physical location, device rating, stationary, mobile, order in the ping list.  Does it seem that someone is explicitly|deliberately hunting the nodes and getting them offline”?

@self:The extra knowledge about communicating|dealing with matrix entities, seems to point to|show|suggest treating this combined entity much like I normally would a Sprite supporting an ongoing task.  Something like getting help with diagnostics.   But this might be a bit smarter, and more creative on interpreting the intent of questions.  That ability seen to morph|replace|re-purpose a running program|CF might indicate other options too.

@Frank-Hunter[Sprogget]:“You did something with that program you have, to change it to filter out|bypass|block jamming, to restore matrix connectivity.  Are there other things you can do to repurpose your programming|tools, to support the task of acquiring information about >1rtu@l5cr3@m?  For instance, could you directly|safely create a similar|as good|better knowledge interface as I have Professor Gadget providing?  Can you provide either a mapsoft interface directly, or selected data in a format that could be loaded in|overlaid on an existing mapsoft, based on available location and other meta data”?
@self:If Frankenhunter can provide the knowledge interface, I could let the professor go, and use other tools|helpers instead.

@Frank-Hunter[Sprogget]:“Does the data you have|have access to include a history of the meatspace locations of all of the nodes that >1rtu@l5cr3@m is|has been in?  If not, start recording location and other meta information, so we can see which nodes are disappearing.  Use storage on the emotitoy if additional space is needed for that”.


@self:CSS ... MMO ...?  Something related to the >1rtu@l5cr3@m knowledge|information|data, but something more too.  Names|Initials?  Not quite, but identifiers.  Corp?  That feels closer.  A lot of that raw data seems to be associated with corp activities|events|processes|people.
A quick matrix search for CSS and/or MMO, context corporations, location Seattle, brings up Cyberdyne Security Systems and Mammoth Memory Operations, a CSS subsidiary.
@self:OK, a possible context to look into along with everything else going on.  Dig what I can out of the available data before potentially sticking my neck in a trap.

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Mechanicals Complex, Oyl’s Soup Kitchen and Clinic
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Active; SIN: Florence Darkwind (R4)

It’s been a crazy evening.  The day started uneventfully.  Oyl had seen the usual range of people coming through to grab a hot meal, and chat about the weather and anything interesting in the area.  She had removed a splinter from the foot of a 5 year old, and used a bit of mojo to finish the healing, but what he really needed was regular meals.  Then things starting getting strange.  First the general announcement 3 hours ago that matrix access was being deliberately taken down 'for protection' at Fre∑dom’s suggestion.  That was unusual enough that most people that were at the kitchen stayed to speculate about it instead of leaving, while more were still arriving.

Then an hour ago, local reports starting coming in about attacks on Mechanicals and Fre∑dom patrols.  By Spined Drakes gangers‽  Now nobody was leaving.  Shortly after that, casualties started being brought in by tribal members, and she had more real work to do than she wanted.  Blunt trauma, knife wounds, gun shots.  Triage required to prioritize treatments.  At least there were plenty of hands to hold compresses, and move people to and from the medical stations.  Both were in use, and there were more people waiting their turn.  What she needed though was someone with medical experience, so that she had time to get Great Mother to help speed the healing once the mundane repairs were complete.  There were several next door resting, either because they would be a liability going back out now, or because they were not needed elsewhere immediately.

@self:Drek|frag but this|nowwould be a good time to already have a full facility|hospital, or even a clinic|shop running and staffed!  This is situation|state is insane.

Even if I get hands free to use magic on the remaining damage, I’ll need to be careful.  If I push it too hard, the drain|resistance|strain could easily knock me flat, and I would be useless for hours!  For anything!

While working on a simple broken arm, apparently acquired from bad luck while successfully avoiding gun fire, rather than directly from the attackers, Oyl sees a familiar message Icon rezz into the edge of her view.

@self:Senaka!  He’s still safe!  That icon shows a medium priority, non-urgent, non-health request.

Resisting the urge to immediately see what the message was about, she finishes the cast, and injects the indicated anti-infection agents from her limited supply.  With a stern injunction to NOT use the arm, and to lie down until she could get to the real healing, she signaled one of the conscripted helpers to help him.

@self:I need to work on that overbearing doctor attitude.  He did not look convinced.

Moving to the patient at the next station, Oyl brings up the text message.

@Osha[Senaka]:<<Hi sis.  I’m healthy.  I expect you are elbows deep so make this short.  The Spined Drakes attacking seem to have more numbers, much better equipment than reasonable.  Please pass a query to your street contacts, to try to locate where they are hanging out, and what their supplier, new master is. -S>>

Filing the message, she starts working on the next medical problem, first assensing, then running a carefully low powered diagnose spell to augment what the medical station sensors have already collected.  Patching the spectacularly blood, but not really serious gun shoot through the thigh, she announces to the room.

@All[Oyl]: “Hold what you’ve got.  Back in a couple”.

Heading out to the waiting area, that is looking way to much like a war zone for comfort, she grabs the people that are queuing casualties for the medical stations, and pulls them aside.
@Helpers[Oyl]: “I need the more serious problems first.  That hole in the leg could have waited awhile.  All night if really needed.  As long as someone kept a compress and a bit of pressure to prevent too much blood loss”.
Grabbing a convenient shoulder to help anchor and steady herself in the physical world, she lets her astral sight replace normal vision.  Focusing on the aura of each person waiting for treatment in turn, she quickly assesses their level of need.  It is easy to tell the patients apart from the friends and helpers on astral.  Horror, shock, worry is all over it, but the physical pain stands out with its own bloody color and texture.  Nearing the end of the triage inspection, she stops abruptly at an aura that is pulsing weakly.  Pushing her sight back to physical world, she runs over to the trio just arriving, pulling a patch from her pocket as she goes.  She quickly slaps it on the Dwarf woman being carried by the other 2.

@Carriers[Oyl]: “What happened?  No, never mind, not important right now.  I’ve slabbed her, which should keep her alive for awhile, but she needs a real doctor.  Something internal wrong, that is more than I want to try with just the equipment we have here”.
@self:Or my first aid knowledge either.

Grabbing the approaching candy stripper, she orders,
@Candy Striper[Oyl]: “Find a place to lay her down, then go find out if Doctor White can join us.  She had better be about finished with Anna.  If she is working other cases, haul her and them here.  This is the best equipment and work site at the complex, or near around it.  Unless she is carrying a medical shop around in her pocket”.

Finishing the astral sight inspection, Oyl returns to the queue managers, supplying priorities for those still waiting, plus brief instructions for care of others while waiting.

Heading back to the impromptu surgery, she detours to one of her street contacts that is helping keep things organized and calm.  Talking quietly, making sure no one else is paying special attention, she pass on Sprogget’s request.

@BillyB[Oyl]: “Billy, I need you to pass the word.  The reports say that the Spined Drakes that caused this mess are showing more soldiers and better tech than they should have access to.  Keep it low key, but I want to know where they are hanging out, where the numbers are coming from, who and where their supplier or paymaster is.  Usable intel is going to be worth a lot more than a free meal, though I expect the longer it takes to get here, the less a piece of pay data is going to be worth.  Stay safe.  I want information, not more work for the medical stations”.
@self:If they come up with something really good|unknown|useful, I’ll exhort|blackmail|threaten ’uncle to pay it.  Or better, get Cam to do it!

BillyB takes a quick look around, then gives a grim nod.  As she heads back to the medical stations, Oyl sees him talking earnestly with someone she does not know, against the wall.

@E:CoP; Johnny Awesome
August 21st, 2072, 22:57; Club Ifriti, Oxford, England

"Lord Awesome. Hmm. As much as I like the sound of it, I'm no nobility lad. Just Awesome will suffice" Johnny said with a smile.

"A night like that is what you make of it. There was blathering and hobnobbing aplenty. I jumped off a building and slept with a dragon. I'd say as nights go it was above average." He lit his cigar he'd had soaking in rum and held it in his teeth.

"What you really need though, son, is a dance off Tatyana here." He lightly smacked the girls arse as she passed and sat on the young Baron's lap. She had leopard-spotted skin and feline eyes, with pointed ears on top of her head. She smiled thinly at him as she slid up and down between his legs. Johnny and Pembroke sat back in their comfortable lounge chairs and enjoyed the view.

@Virtual Scream/Cipher
[September 2, 2072, 10:02; Ares Seattle General Hospital]

"It won't take much of a distraction." Cipher thought to himself. "Just enough to draw attention to these two mugs."

As they were speeding towards the door the PillBot crashed into the side of the trolly and sent him tumbling towards the floor. He had his floor-plan, he knew where his car was. Now just to see how these two goons would react. They didn't seem like the coolest of characters. Everyone in the corridor was looking at them, other nurses were rushing over towards him. Would they cut and run or try and fight? He scanned around for a likely escape before deciding what to do.

@E:PL/Chi Town
[July 9th, 2072, 00:27; Ghoul central, CZ, Chicago]

Copperhead

The feeble ghoul backs away snarling as your claws rake across its face and you can see the fear warring behind its blind eyes…fear of you, and fear of something else perhaps worse? Spider perhaps? It strikes out but your counter leaves it broken and bloody. Then you hear the voice calling to you from above and to your right, somewhere near the broken ceiling of the atrium…so you are not alone? Is that good to know or is it another trick?

Casting about with the senses that Snake grants you, you can feel Snag over to your right somewhere, seemingly heading deeper into the building. Part of you is reluctant to follow him in there, away from your companions, but a greater part is urging you to cleanse the world of his filth!

Anselm

Your angel launches itself down to seek out the possessed one and passes rapidly outside your sight. This complex is large, it is possible that it might be drawn out of your range if you do not follow it…and you feel the righteous anger at the abomination below coursing through your veins…

Mordred

Suddenly your foes back away like dogs being whipped off their food, snarling and growling and then breaking into a run away from the river. The elf, as you see him remove his helmet, looks after them

"Frag, Copperhead went in there…" he looks over at your cloaked form, now awash with the blood of the ghouls you and Gemeaux have dispatched… "Got any [Heavy Pistol] calibre rounds? I don’t really want to go in there after her without them but I’ll be damned if I’ll leave her now! Shit, Stitch? Hold it together until we can get you some help…maybe Copper can work some mojo on you…so, nameless one, I gather you’re here to help…you coming? I’ve got a friend in there"

Gemeaux

You pause as suddenly all the remaining ghouls look up as one and towards the hab complex to your west. They take off at a loping run leaving you plenty of time to pick off more of them until you have to pause to reload…

<<@Gemeaux[Mr Collot]: I have found a signal a few hundred meters west of your location, on the billboard opposite the hab complex. I think it is the techno who brought the attackers down on Blackwater. He seems to be calling out to someone…I don’t need to tell you that that is probably not a good thing!>>

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay

Sprogget

<<@Sprogget[Cam]: Ok, I’ve looked over what you’ve sent and I guess I agree with what you’ve found. These bastards have got us chasing our tails, we can’t seem to pin them down and they keep knocking out our eyes…it’s like they know where our static defences are! I’ve checked the logs, there is no sign of our nodes being tampered with so where they’ve got the intel Gods only knows! It makes sense for you and Scrap to get out there and see what you can track down, we need something solid on where they will be so that we can hit back. As far as I can see they seem to be operating in small squads, either with bikes or on foot, hitting and fading away. Don’t engage them unless you’ve got no choice or a clear advantage, we don’t want any more Mechanicals blood spilt today if we can help it. Use your own discretion but keep in touch!>>

September 1, 2072 22:33; 39th Ave SW, south of the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup

Jailbreakers

You are all tense and alert as you move away from the mall…this is unlike anything you’ve been through before and you find yourselves trying to stay calm and avoid jumping at every shadow. Everything seems quiet, too quiet!

The explosion is shockingly load when it comes and you can clearly see the plume of smoke rising into the air some fifty odd meters away into a tangle of buildings. There’s nothing obvious in there to target but someone is up to something…

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(3), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Hidden; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)


@Cam[Sprogget]: <<Well ... any of the eyes that use wireless, could have been located with a signal scanner.  Some innocent looking wandering could have mapped most of those without any hacking.  Sometimes the old wired tech is better.  That would take actual eyes on to see either the sensors, or the optical cable.  Part of the reason I prefer to use only skinlink for the PAN and Monocycle, unless deliberately looking to blend in.  Makes it harder for anyone looking to tell exactly what is there.  Speculation only.  We’ll keep in touch, and see what we can find out.>>

After finish the report to Cam, and getting at least tentative agreement with the conclusions, Sprogget has a couple more things to do, before focusing his senses back to meat space.
@self:Osha, or her street contacts might be able to provide a line on what hole|sewer|waste pit the Spined Drakes are crawling out of.  Don’t want to interferre|interrupt since she is likely|possibly busy at the clinic, but I can send a text message she will get between things.  Also see about getting LeO reloaded, and check how bad the damage was from the mage hit.  Ah, DR is in full no-wireless mode, to the last will have to wait a minute.

Sprogget flows his attention into LeO, accessing the records from previous reloads, locating the storage area for ammunition at the mall.

@self:Handy.  Just off the loading bay.  Guess that makes sense, since LeO can get in here easily.  Looks like there is even a mini|small landing pad there, just for the drones, even if it is disguised not to be obvious.

Instructing LeO to land at the reloading station, he turns his attention to crafting a text message for his sister, letting her know that he is alright, the headache and damage to DR don’t count right now, and asking her to see what she can find out about the changed Spined Drakes.  That done, he switched his attention from VR back to AR, and heads toward where LeO will be landing shortly.  He pauses by the monocycle, connecting through the skinlink long enough to turn wireless access on, and start diagnostics that are better run while the monocycle is parked.

Continuing on toward the storage area, he overhears snatches of conversation about the attacks.  One response catches his attention.
Sprogget is puzzling over why this got his attentions, but responds mostly automatically.
@Crow[Sprogget]: “Too fragging right!  I’ve lived around here a long time, and never seen them like this”.
Then he realizes 2 things.  This is the guy that joined them after the fight to ride in to the mall, and there is no matrix signal showing from him.  After doing the focused scan for signals coming from the AK, he had automatically switched the signal scanner back to default settings.  Through that, he was peripherally aware of a range of commlinks and wireless sensors in the area, but this guy was as blank as the AK had been.

@Crow[Sprogget]: “Getting that question answered just got moved high on my priority list.

You rode in with us.  I was in the punked monocycle.  Was rather busy with some matrix stuff, and did not get a chance to say hi then.  I’m Sprogget.  Mechanicals, not Freedom tribe”.

Gesturing to invite the new guy to walk with him, Sprogget continues.

@Crow[Sprogget]: “In the wilder areas, it is not unusual for people to run hidden, but at the mall, strangers are sort of expected to advertise a bit, just to let the regulars have something to hang impressions on.  But you are not showing any signal at all.  Why is that?  Don’t you use tech to augment what the natural senses tell you”?

Moving on to the storage room, he continues to chat, getting a feel for this stranger who had invited himself along with the team.  At the storage room, he finds the expected ammunition drum for the Ares Alpha, along with ammunition for other weapons.  There are also several smaller drones lined up on shelves to one side, along with other tech goodies.

@self:Ohh, toy shop|candy store!

Virtual Scream; Alex Bianchi
September 2, 2072, 21:48; Alex's Everett apartment
Hermes Ikon: Hidden | SIN: Alexander Bianchi ( Re 4 - Sig 3 - Fi 5 - Sys 4 - Agent 4 [running Analyze 4] )

Alex's head barely touches the pillow before he is asleep. The recent events have drained more than his wallet.

His dreams are full of life and death situations. Sometimes he lives, sometimes he dies. Only the tiniest of details change between variations but each time he can clearly see when he is going live and when he will die.

September 3, 2072, 11:23; Alex's Everett apartment
When he awakes he feels less refreshed than when he went to bed. Rubbing at his eyes he realises he has slept in and there are messages waiting for him on his link.

<<@Alex Bianchi[Steven Dark]: Hey Alex, how's things. Would of gotten back to you before but was following up on some interesting leads on the >1rtu@l5r3@m virus. Someone is spending large with the gangs to recover devices infected with it. Looks corporate, but I don't know which one yet. You got something for me? Or need something?>>

<<@Alex Bianchi[Harvey]: Hope you ain't dead. I took a look at that wireless sniffer you dropped off along with the other gear. Not much to go on - generic case, mostly generic components. But the memory with the ping signatures is custom. Belongs to a chip firm that goes by the name Mammoth Memory Operations or MMO. They are a subsidiary of Cyberdyne Security Systems, not much on either that I can dig up. But then I ain't no decker.

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(3), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Hidden; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)

Seeing an inventory ARO for the storage room, Sprogget subscribes to it, to have a look what is there.  The interface that opens up is similar to what a store would use for a shopping cart, plus what the store would us to receive and transfer stock.

@self:Heh!  This is setup|configuration allows signing out|requisitioning|buying things from here.  Great.  It can also add new items, so people can just donate|add|return things they are not using.  I have enough 'cred' with the tribe to take|buy|swap some from this, especially since I’ll be using it to benefit Fre∑dom too.  LeO first.

Lugging the ammo drum he came for back out to where LeO has just landed, Sprogget comments to Crow, indicating the drone,
@Crow[Sprogget]: “LeO here uses the same assault rifle as you’re carrying around.  Swapping ammo would be clumsy though, since he is setup to use a drum feed”.

Letting the supply inventory scroll in a side window while performing the simple mechanical actions needed to swap the half empty drum for the full one, he contemplates what he could use most effectively for the immediate patrol work, trying to find out what the Spined Drakes are up to.

@self:I need something mobile with good eyes|ears|sensors, to have the best chance at finding trouble before it finds us.  More firepower|weapons could always be helpful, but right now the goal|intent is information.  Cam wants us to avoid fire fights if we can, unless have clear immediate advantage|benefit.  Something quiet, to not attract extra attention|notice.  Some of those ground drones are quite fast, but the flying mini drones should be easier to keep hidden.  That customized Dragonfly looks about right.  Fast enough to keep up with anybody sneaking around, with UWBR to maybe keep track through walls without being LOS to be noticed by visual.  Even a Chem sniffer, to maybe track by the stink|sweat stains|pollution trail.  Good ECCM too, in case someone tries to jam the signal|sensors.  I’d also like|wish for|want something faster, in case need to follow when not sneaking any more.  Nothing seems quite appropriate here.  On the roads around here though, LeO should be able to pace them, unless they are late for an appointment|hot date|dinner.  Slot, I still have not gotten to that food mom packed.

Wait, what was that?  There is a drone listed here customized for sensor mesh install|deploy.  Maybe the sweep could server multiple purposes.  Add some sensors where they have been knocked out.  That is the likely place to find any Spined Drakes anyway, where the sensor mesh can not currently see them.  If I'm going to rig that blimped Dalmatian, I should improve the software for DR too though, so he can run a bit better without constant attention.  Let’s see ... yes, a few other goodies I can use here too.  Time to notify|verify|confirm that deploying|planting more sensors fits the current  plans|strategy.  A text message is probably easiest.

@Jazz[Sprogget]: <<I found the reference to the blimped CD Dalmatian in storage inventory while getting some ammo.  Does adding some fresh sensors to gaps in the mesh during the sweep match intent?  Also please arrange/forward details about the mesh holes.  That would appear to be the best place to hit for sweep as well as where to put more sensors -- Sprogget.>>

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay
Comm: Response 2, Signal 3, passive;
SIN: Jim Crow (R4)

"Pleasure to meet you Sprogget, Crow here, I guess with all this activity I'm happy enough to go intro-lite"
Crow smiles briefly then adjusts to a more business like demeanor as he takes the advice and reboots his comm into passive mode.

"So I got You, and Scrapheap, I think someone called the big guy" He throws a nod backwards in the direction the Ork went
"But I missed that other one...You were kinda busy with ...that ... what in the Drek was that anyways ?"
"Mechanicals huh? well as long as you don't expect me to be be able to do much else than find the De-Activate button on some guys, then we're fine!"
The attempt at humour to cover his lack of any logical skills, mechanical or otherwise falls on more deaf ears as Sprogget almost immediately returns to important matters.

"okay Jack, I hear ya squawkin' ... Mechanicals, that's their place just out south, looks set aflame to me? no wonder they all running round like the nests on fire"
He looks out of the bay toward the growing plume as Jack relays tactical info on the Tribe and the current situation.
His attention is dragged back inside by the friendly sprogget as he calls over

Crow turns to see what Sprogget is talking about to be faced with a machine gun toting aerial drone, the introduction he had planned for a man called LeO fades from his lips he stands stunned
"riiiiight, don't worry about it, there's gonna be an ammo Merch in this place? .. or I gotta just use my knife on the drakes?"
Crow pats his combat knife on his hip and grins expectantly.

"Anyways, I guess you Mechanicals are movin out pronto, so .. here's my comm-codes"
"I'm needin' some supplies, you need to go in a hurry ya let me know and I'll come runnin' .. "
He moves away a few feet, stops as he remembers something and turns to ask Sprogget
"there anywhere in here I can get a good beer ? not had one in .... a while!"

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(3), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Hidden; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)

@Crow[Sprogget]: “Skraa Crow.  Yeah that was Scrapheap.  He’s off getting a bit of tech upgrade for that AK he’s carrying.  Tweak was the kid driving the van, and Spring is his skinny buddy.  The girl is LeFey.  She ... nevermind”.
@self:LeFey can tell about coming from corp life sometime if she feels like it.

Gathering that Crow is asking about Frankenhunter, Sprogget responds.
@Crow[Sprogget]: “What is actually a very good question.  It started as a .. tool .. to do some matrix research for me, but it ran into something that somehow modified it to what you saw in AR.  Matrix stuff can look like almost anything, but even with my matrix skills, it does not really make sense.  That scream virus that showed up on the ’trix today is changing what I thought the rules were. At least it still seems to be taking directions from me. With some new limits”.

@Crow[Sprogget]: “{absently} deactivate works”.

@Crow[Sprogget]: “Some matching boxed ammo, and a few other tech supplies, I could get for you right here.  For more ’tronics you might want to talk to .. Servo I think it is .. at the Tech Haven store on any of the mall map AROs around here.  For other things, I can ask Jazz .. the bossy one that met us with the drone.

A quick look at the tech that Crow is carrying, with the access provided by the supplied information, shows Sprogget that he is running lite to get the tacnet benefits.
@Crow[Sprogget]: “I run a team tacnet while out on patrol.  The equipment I can find in your PAN is not enough to support that.  You need another sensor channel.  If that did not make any sense, I have something you could clip on a pocket back at the bike.  It would help figure out where sounds are coming from, and be enough extra to get you in the teamnet.  Don’t forget to switch the comm to hidden when we leave.  No point in advertising our presence out there.

You’ve got a few minutes.  I need ta finish checking the damage to the ’cycle, and maybe do a few temp repairs.
Smiling Sprogget gives him the good/bad/good news.
@Crow[Sprogget]: “There is probably some around here someplace, but I don’t know where to get it.  However, if we can get back to my shop after this, I have a 6 pack of the real stuff cooling in a fridge.  One of the Mechanicals tinkers with a micro-brewery, and he does quality beer.  Maybe not quite eunabo, but damm fine.

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay
Comm: Response 2, Signal 3, passive;
SIN: Jim Crow (R4)

So much happening and so much information overwhelms Crow for a moment and he looks back out of the loading bay to get his bearings and calm himself.
"is it alive ?" he almost whispers the question to sprogget as he considers the AR sprite and it's malformed, screaming visage as it tore down the outside of the building not minutes before.

"I Think, after all this is done, I'll need that beer! so you have a deal, now ..uummm.. " Crow looks around anxiously in case he is overheard " Can you help me out here, I'm not 'sactly tehnical, but think this thing might be broken, how do I get the AROs loaded?"
He holds the functioning comm in his hands looking at it like it's the first time he's ever seen one.

once Sprogget has pressed a few buttons and the AR springs into his view he holsters it, thanking the other man with a smile.
“I run a team tacnet while out on patrol. The equipment I can find in your PAN is not enough to support that.
You need another sensor channel, if you don't want to accept my items, ask servo for this, I'll send you the specs to your comm"
A beep and flashing light in his peripheral vision indicate receival of the first message in the last year, he gestures clumsily and opens it up to see the sensor and modifications Sprogget suggests, and looks around at the team as they work
"Sprogget, Scrapheap, Tweak, Spring and LeFey... got it...Right, Tech Haven store? ahh there it is ...sensors , Ammo ... I'll be back shortly!"
With that, he strides into the sprawling mass of the mall, trying not to bump into other folks as he moves his view from AR map overlay to real time, swaggering drunkenly as he adjusts after so long out in the wilds.

Approaching the Tech Haven store he stops to examine some of the neighbouring shops, all manner of goods both mineral and vegetable hang from any and all free spaces,
haggling and shouting for custom echos across what was once a glowing clean and pristine monument to retail therapy now reduced to it's basest functions.
He steps into the tech store and waits patiently before addressing the guy taking creds from a client.
"Skraa Chummer! You Servo?" he asks him directly
The skinny man with blue coveralls and thin framed silver eye-pieces on a silver chain round his neck looks up from his business at the new customer
"By the spirits, not another one .. " he goes a deep burgundy as the rage rises in his small form, he advances on the bigger man finger wagging accusingly as he cries out over the noise
"I told your friend, you mind you manners and my customers! this here is an honest place of businees not some drunken fighting den, ya hear!"
Crow backs away a step with palms raised defensively not wanting to obstruct the man or cause offense
"Whoooa, Whoa there friend, cool yourself... Sprogget sent me over.. I'm just looking to buy some things.. gotta get out after Drakes asap so I'd 'preciate your help!"
At the mention of his name, Servo calms a little, seeing that the second ork in ten minutes isn't about to start throwing folks out the place
he looks up at Crow, dropping the pointed finger to collect his spectacles and place them on his nose for a closer inspection.
"Well, You sure as drek don't look like no mechanical, but that's okay then... so, whaddya want?"
The sudden change in demeanour takes him a moment to adjust but Crow knows what he's after and rattles off a list of ammo and minor tech to the tiny man who draws an old skool pencil and paper that looks like it might have been a synth-arette pack and jots down some notes, nodding as he does.
"two hundred five-five-six mil caseless for ares Alpha, Trauma patch - Battle rating ...... and this, you get one of these?"
Servo looks up at the ARO Crow is indicating on his comm
"Yup, but I think sensor packages are in storage, gimme two minutes while one of my guys goes to look.... GIIIZZZMOOO!"
He turns and calls out the back, where a young lad rushes out knocking a storage box flying and sprawling onto the floor in his haste.
"Maybe make that five minutes" Servo amends, leaning over to help the lad to his feet.

@E:PL/Chi Town
[July 9th, 2072, 00:27; Ghoul central, CZ, Chicago]
SIN: Spencer Lovett, PAN: Hidden

And just like that, they were gone. As if an extra thirty seconds of carnage had convinced them to seek easier prey. Mordred rips off the now stifling gas mask. The adept removes a couple of clips from his gear, along with the medkit. "Here. Take these while I see what I can do for him." He didn't (directly) helped Stitch with the mob, but he could at least make sure he survived the encounter. If the runner held any grudges over that, so be it. As long as he didn't act on them while someone was trying to piece him back together.

"Mordred. And that's what I'm here for, yeah. Who's Copperhead?"

@E:PL/Chi Town
[July 9th, 2072, 00:27; Ghoul central, CZ, Chicago]
Copperhead pauses a moment to gather her breath and scoop the shotgun back into her grip.

Frag, this is taking too long.

<<Req, Stitch, you guys okay? I heard a lot of shootin' fer a handful of ghouls.>>

...

<<How many? Stitch is down? Frag, no! We're on our way even if dat means going through da rest of dem.>>

...

<<I'll tell ya as soon as I know who he is. No hold yer position. Keep da kids and dat ugly ork fragger safe.>>

Frag. Do I go after Snag or through his chumps? If I let him get away, he could still come after us again. No, he dies now.

Mind made up, she looks up into the gloom, feeling out the priest's location with her other senses.

"I appreciate da assist, priest. Dat spider infested ghoul fragger might be doing a runner but his buddies is still between me and my team. I guess I could use yer help some more but I need ta know what yer stake is in all dis?"

@E:PL/Chi Town
[July 9th, 2072, 00:27; Ghoul central, CZ, Chicago]
PAN - Active ; SIN - Maximilien Danton

<<@Mr Collot[Gemeaux]: Understood. I shall take care of it forthwith.>>

Trusting in his chameleon suit, Gemeaux begins cautiously jogging in the direction the ghouls are moving. He makes sure to keep his distance, not wanting to draw their or the technomancer's attention. He tries to find some cover where he can duck and scan the billboard for his unsuspecting prey...

@E:CoP; Lord Herbert
August 21st, 2072, 22:58; Club Ifriti

Timothy watches the nekomusume with a glazed-over expression until Michi's discrete throat-clearing catches both of their attentions. The call girl gives a squeak more mouse than feline as she meets the clinically detached expression of Lord Herbert's "secretary" and slides out of the booth to go find a client with less frightening company. Lord Herbert watches her go, trying to get his lizard-brain to sync back up with his cerebrum.

"I..I think 'need' might have been the wrong word, Awesome. Desire, certainly, but need? Gerard is probably in a panic over my biomonitor readings as we speak."

"No, he had the good sense to ask me first, my Lord." Michiko's ghost of a smile was amused as she went back to watching the crowd of "dancers" and the club's patrons. "I would imagine he will have a few choice words for you upon our return."

Timothy nodded ruefully, then took the flute of champagne that his uncle's choice for the evening brought back. "Yes, I doubtlessly shall be reminded of his service to the family, and how he hopes to continue it..." A sip, then he raised an eyebrow at the other man in the booth. "A dragon? Surely you jest."

Virtual Scream; Alex Bianchi
September 3, 2072, 11:25; Alex's Everett apartment
Hermes Ikon: Hidden | SIN: Alexander Bianchi ( Re 4 - Sig 3 - Fi 5 - Sys 4 - Agent 4 [running Analyze 4] )

Alex groans as he sees the time blinking at him from the bedside media unit. Frag it all, this late and I still feel like a Roadmaster ran me over. Need to get some Long Haul if the dreams are going to be like that.

The detective started the soykaf brewing and downed a couple naproxen before taking a quick, cold shower to shake the stubbornest of the cobwebs free. The media unit picked out La Traviata and filled the apartment with the music as he ate a hurried meal before putting his contacts in and checking his messages. Gabriel had flagged some news stories about a prior client that he set aside for later, then frowned thoughtfully as he read Harvey's message.

@Harvey [Alex Bianchi] << Not dead, but this has been a hell of a couple days. I'll swing by to get the sniffer in a bit. Can't say I've ever heard of those corps, either, but I intend to find out more. Maybe I can squeeze the 'plex government for some "consulting fees" if I get anything, who knows. Speaking of fees: <funds transfer: ¥1,000> If that's not your "chummers rate" you're an extortionist. <display grin> See you later, and thanks for your help. >>

Alex drummed his fingers on his knee, then shot off a second message in reply to his journalist contact. @Steven Dark [Alex Bianchi] << We seem to be looking into the same thing. I've already had a run in with some of those gangers, maybe we can get together this afternoon for some drinks and compare notes? I've got a couple leads on the corp angle I want to run down a bit. You still like that sports dive in Ft. Lewis? >>

@Doc Vic [Alex Bianchi] << Hey, Doc. I've gotta burn the midnight oil on a case, you got anything I can down that'll help me through the night? Let me know. >>.

The last message sent, Alex loaded his Browse utility and started pouring over whatever data he could find on the two companies that Harvey had discerned from the sniffer.

@E:CoP; Johnny Awesome
August 21st, 2072, 23:00; Club Ifriti

"Haha. I rarely joke on such things. Embellish, but not joke." He pauses and takes a long draw on his cigar before continuing."She was a little disappointing in truth. A good fuck, but a little easy for my tastes. Now the other one. Ryl. She was a prize. Made me chase her all night. That's the game I like to play. I'll be visiting that again. She kept going on about some Matrix initiative and a Lady DeBathtub or something like that. I wasn't really interested in the specifics. She wants support and wants me to put my weight behind her. I want to put my weight on top of her and my cock in her, so I'll oblige." He was aware that he was speaking even more crudely than usual, but it was making the young Baron uncomfortable and his uncle seemed to be loving it, chuckling along.

After a moment's thought he continued. "Still, my first dragon after all these years."

"I want to ask you something. Do all of your people really refer to you as My Lord? That's fantastic. I may have to find a noble widow and obtain myself the privilege."

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:xx; 39th Ave SW, south of the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup

Sprogget, Scrapheap & Crow

You crawl out of the mall and away from the hustle. Out here it is dark and eerie with the lights of civilisation a looong way away and the reflected light of large fires caressing the low lying cloud cover.

<<@Sprogget[Cam]: Ok, your plan sounds workable…I’ll patch through an overlay that shows our dark spots, it’s frighteningly large, they’ve taken out hardpoints as well as the wifi sensors so this is more than someone with a scanner looking for our mesh. They’ve also managed to pick off roving sensor platforms. I’d say we’ve been hacked and given that Fre∑dom had a hand in our defences that takes some drek hot skills as well as serious balls! As you’ve pointed out this is more than a minor street gang with a grudge to settle! We get flashes of them as they cross where we can see them, but not in time to respond, I’m going to contract our perimeter and hope we lure them in.

There’s just been a sighting a couple of hundred meters south from your location…oh shit…>>

The explosion lights up the block down the road from you and a couple of figures pelt across the road towards Mechanicals’ territory. From this distance it is too far to make out any significant details but their movement pattern suggests they aren’t out for a stroll in the night air!

The wind begins to pick up and the smell of destruction is washed out by the decades old smell of damp ash. Visibility is reducing and you hear a rumble of thunder overhead and stark in the distance you see a flash of lightening over the mountains. The storm is coming!

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay
SIN: Iwakura Lain, PAN: Passive

Post in progress

@E:PL
[July 9th, 2072, 00:29; Ghoul central, CZ, Chicago]

Copperhead

You can feel the urgency now…you can’t let that bastard escape to come on you when you are exposed in the open again. That and with Spider possessing him he is clearly a much greater threat than before. You know little of Spider’s ways as it is such an obscure totem followed by very few. You do know that she, the dangerous ones are usually a she you note wryly, will lure you on and then strike from the shadows.

Making your way carefully across the precarious floor, a misstep here would be worse than the chance of losing him, you follow after Snag deeper into the ruined complex…

Anselm

The troll has followed after the polluted spirit, your position here is treacherous and the floor inside doesn’t look any safer…

Mordred

As you watch the ghouls run for the shadows an ARO attracts your attention back the way you’d come and you see Tsubaki heading across the bridge leading the Collots. It would seem that between her and the battered Stitch you have some leeway to pursue your foes before they can regroup and come at you again…

Gemeaux

After you precipitous descent to the deck and rapid redeployment to the combat zone you are barely out of breath. The same can’t be said for your impromptu allies as they gather themselves to fight on…at least the elf seems keen to fight, the orc looks like it is only Mordred’s dressings that are holding him together.

Balancing your rifle on a convenient piece of Chicago prime real estate, a broken wall, you line your sights on the billboard down the street. Dimly seen you make out a figure gesturing to an AR interface…dimly seen is all you need…the bullet whispers from your gun…

Balefire
[Friday August 19th, 2072; Outside Elliot’s, Pier 60, Downtown Seattle]

Silk waited patiently on the roof of the old aquarium building, crouched spiderlike on the rim of the damp gutter whilst being careful not to allow her outline to be visible from the street below. Although she would normally rely on her active camouflage, at the moment she was enjoying the feeling of the breeze off the Sound and her mask and hood, which would complete the connection, hung loose, allowing the salt air to whisper through her hair.

Her intel had been solid, Captain Stern was inside with a couple of minders. That he had minders at all spoke of his importance to somebody! Tonight though they wouldn’t help and Silk was confident that she could disable them before they interfered. She was nervous about doing this without the rest of the team but also aware that this was hers to deal with. Bale would have been an asset, and he had a similar vested interest in this, but he was back in the UK following goals of his own. After the stresses of their recent runs Silk was just as glad to let them all rest, they deserved it.

She had been following Stern as best she could for the last two days and it was clear that he was most vulnerable when on the move. Whilst she could have confronted him at his home in Bellevue she preferred not to have to circumnavigate a sophisticated security mesh if she didn’t have to.

The car she had tagged as his pulled up outside the restaurant, it would seem he was preparing to leave. Silk raised the featureless mask to her face, the filtered air slightly metallic after the salt tang. The hood of the camo suit snugged into place and the ruthenium polymers activated rendering her all but invisible. Triggering the signal to the autopilot of her waiting Americar, Silk then launched herself into the air, flipped once and was already running as her feet touched gently to the ground.

She allowed her magic to read the timing of the event perfectly and so her foot touched the rear bumper of Stern’s car just as the driver opened the door to Stern and his men as they crossed the pavement from Elliot’s. The flashbang spiralled lazily from Silk’s palm and into the waiting compartment with barely a pause. Silk was already in motion again, using the car’s suspension to lift herself off the roof and into the three men as they approached.

The guards were good, they were already reacting, but even their lightly chipped reflexes weren’t enough to pin a clear target on Silk. Just to make sure she ignited the holoprojectors built into her armour and suddenly the four of them were locked in a dance amidst a swirling maelstrom of colours and ultrasonics designed to through off any audio sensors.

Her telescoping staff took one of the guards in the back of the knee whilst the other end smacked into the temple of his opposite number. Swinging it round in a blurring arc she slammed the first in the midriff and delivered a massive jolt of electricity from the taser contacts built into the tip.

Whilst his minders fell apart Stern’s military training had him moving towards apparent safety inside his car, just as the flashbang detonated inside. The gun he had been drawing scattered to the ground as he sat down abruptly with a dazed look on his face. Silk slipped the sedative patch onto his neck and hoisted him up by the arm. As the drugs took effect he came willingly enough in response to Silk’s gently urging voice in his ear.

Still covered by the whirling holo projection Silk bundled them both into her Americar as it pulled up on autopilot. All told perhaps twenty seconds had passed as they slipped anonymously away.

@E:Tribes; Scrapheap
September 1, 2072 22:xx; 39th Ave SW, south of the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup

The explosion rocked Scrapheap back on his heels, the flare compensation in his goggles muting the worst of the blinding flash. The silhouettes of the two figures against the burning rubble dragged his attention away from the rising fireball, and he roared an incomprehensible warcry as he sprinted after them.

"Stop now or I'll drop ya!!"

@E:CoP; Baron Herbert
August 21st, 2072, 23:01; Club Ifriti

@Herbert[Michiko] << He's playing you, sir. Like a Stradivarius. >>

Timothy's eyes flickered with annoyance at his bodyguard's message, but he knew she was right. He fought down the worst of the flush of his face.

"Unless you're holding a title you didn't know you had, the marriage option wouldn't extend her peerage to you. You'd be better off simply purchasing one from the Crown, poor investment though it be nowadays. As for forms of address to me, no, only when in public and the old courtesies are still expected. Some of my peers may require the ego fellation of such things at all times, but I find it rather silly. They are professionals employed for their skills and knowledge, not thralls leashed to a family name."

He sipped at the champagne, flipping through faces and names buried in his bioenhanced memory. "This...Ryl...was farming for opposition to de la Mar's Matrix Security Protocols at a NeoNET function? I will give her full points for audacity, but that seems somewhat...counterproductive."

Two dragons, trolling for support amongst the very people who gain the most by enforcing the new protocols. Hmmmm...

@E:PL/Chi Town
[July 9th, 2072, 00:27; Ghoul central, CZ, Chicago]
PAN - Active ; SIN - Maximilien Danton

"Adieu, sorcier technologique," Gemeaux chuckles to himself as he observes his handiwork from afar.

<<[Gemeaux]: The technomancer has been dispatched. How are things on your end?>>

@E:Tribes; Crow
September 1, 2072 22:xx; 39th Ave SW, south of the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup

The pungent smell and the ash that hangs in the air makes Crow's nostrils flare, Scrapheap begins bellowing commands at the fleeting silhouettes, his rage no longer contained at the sight of his desecrated home turf, Crow follows his lead and shoulders his weapon, the smart link readout flashes data into his AR vision, range, wind speed and direction, all pre programmed as he lines up a shot.

Overhead a shadow flies unseen, it calls out raucously loud and yet utterly silent as it flits from cover to darkness.
"Aye Jack, their home... Can you see where they are headed? I need target info before we open up!" Crow asks his invisible ally to keep his unnatural senses honed on their target as they approach.

Calling on open comms, he asks his companion, Sprogget
"Where're they getting the intel man? That was just two guys, not a tactical team, they know where to hit you, and are doin' it HARD,!"

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(3), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Hidden; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)

After Sprogget briefly describes the parentage for Frankenhunter, Crow asks quietly.

Sprogget chuckles briefly.
@Crow[Sprogget]: “The answer is going to get into metaphysics.  What does alive mean?  Better wait for the beer for that one”.

Getting the commcode information Crow sent him, he adds it to the information to use when he resets the tacnet connections before leaving the mall.

Taking the half empty drum back into the storage room, Sprogget marks both drums with his name and their current status using the ARO.  The half drum he marks to be shipped over to his shop, the next time goods are transferred between the tribes.  He also finds a link to the Fre∑dom information about the CD Owl drone.  He assigns that to himself, and collects the notes about the gremlin problem history.  Back in the storage room shopping cart, he also requisitions and puts his name against the dragonfly, a higher powered wireless adapter that goes in his butt pack, and a few software upgrades for the monocycle.  In the form, he fills in “purpose” with “pulling spines from drakes”.  While collecting the physical pieces and transferring the software to DR, he gets a reply from Jazz.

@Sprogget[Jazz]:<<Sure for the sensors.  {sensor map data}  Here {sensor mesh pattern} is the STANDARD sensor placement guide.>>

@self:Emphasis on standard huh?  Wonder if she meant that I’m not smart enough to follow instructions, or just that she thinks someone got enough information about that to help find and disable the others?  It’s possible.  I’ll try to vary from that some.  Mesh structures are pretty forgiving of precise positioning and mix.  Ok, sign out the blimp too.  Better update Cam on the plans too.

Bringing up another temporary Encrypt complex form, Sprogget sends an update to Cam on the current plans, along with a request for the matching Mechanicals mesh info.

Powering up his new acquisition, he holds the door to let the dragonfly exit from the storage room, and sends it over to the monocycle.  Mentally holding his breath, he runs a short diagnostic on LeO, verifying that it is ready to go, and that the gremlin has not chosen this time to shut down any major capabilities.  Satisfied, he assigns LeO to aerial support, and directs him to park on a roof near the hatch used to deploy the blimp, until the team is ready to leave.

Bringing Crow up to date, in a general fashion, on the situation and plans, Sprogget asks if he would like to come along, then does the same for the team that just arrived, back from Bellevue.
@Jailbreakers[Sprogget]: <<Both tribes are being harassed with small squad hit and run attacks by Spined Drakes.  Both want to show the flag some to make all interested parties aware that there is no free lunch here.  Sensors are being taken out both sides.  Mechanicals security coordinator wants intel on where they are and will be to plan counters instead of only responding as they attack.  Here’s an idea.  I have access to a drone used to deploy sensors.  We go out as the 'screen' for the drone while trying to locate any Spined Drakes groups.  If we find them, we report their position and try to follow.  If they find us, we smack them, and follow the survivors.  There does need to be survivors to follow.  If they are on the way out again, leave something to tail.  We want anyone that notices us to figure our purpose is only to quietly replace some of the trashed sensors.

Comments?  Who’s in?>>

Turning his attention to the more complete diagnostics that have been running on the monocycle, the results are not encouraging.
@self:Frag.  What did he use anyway?  This is showing physically bust|bent|trashed parts.

Back at the monocycle, he finds a spot for the dragonfly to land out of the way, conserving it’s power for later.  Spreading a few tools from the automotive toolkit on the seat, he does a visual inspection to match to the diagnostics report.
@self:Drek.  This is going to take some time to fix.  Prefer|want to work on this back at the shop, not in the middle of the loading bay.  But, if I ...
Muttering about what he would like to do to Spined drakes in general, and a certain Ork mage in particular, Sprogget does some temporary repairs, bypassing and rerouting around the worst of the damage.
@self:Duct tape.  A mechanics best friend on the road.  There.  That should hold for a bit.  Not good for a long patrol though, and best not to try any more ramming just now.

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:37; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(3), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Hidden; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)

Finished with the temporary repairs, Sprogget sets up a personal list and tacnet connection authorizations for the people going out, then helps Crow configure his commlink, to slave it to the connection and join the tacnet.

@DrakeHunters[Sprogget]: “Everybody ready?  Let’s do this”.

Harnessing himself into the Doble Revolution, Sprogget shows off the new dragonfly drone, having it camouflage itself first against the side of the monocycle, then against his coveralls.  Not being sure of the tech backgrounds, especially Crow, he goes into more detail than strictly needed.
@DrakeHunters[Sprogget]: “I’m planning on using this little guy to run point until we get to where we need to start adding new sensors.  He has excellent senses, especially for his size.  With that and the chameleon abilities, I’m calling him glass eye, or just G’Eye.  Running on his own dog brain, he can also do a pretty good sneak and tail.  Even tracking, if we need to follow a trail.  As you can tell, even here in the light, he is hard to see.  In near dark out there, he will be very hard to spot.

LeO will provide aerial coverage, and I’ve got a blimped drone, designation Banjo, to use to place the actual sensors.  He deploys from a hatch on the roof, so I’ll show him to you after we get outside.  Good sensors again, but focused more on ’tronics.  Neither are anywhere close to as discrete as G’Eye, but they at least know about avoiding attention, so I’ll keep them higher and back a bit, but close enough to keep sensor overlap.
DR here {patting the side of the monocycle} will carry my meat, so I don’t trip over my own feet trying to run the other drones.  I’ll be meshed again handling the drones, so all my comms is going to be through commlink and tacnet.  I’ll be able to hear stuff through the microphones on the tacnet too”.

With everyone ready to move, Sprogget slips smoothly into virtual.  Once fully meshed, he sends the commands to get Banjo and LeO under way, instructs DR to stay discrete and with the team, then jumps into G’Eye.  Settling into his new drone skin, he launches himself into the air, and hurries enough to get to the front of the group.
@self:I like|admire this setup.  Almost God’s Eye, instead of glass eye.
In addition to enhanced low light and thermographic vision, the drone senses shows him the 3D density view of the surrounding area, mapping walls, people, and equipment positions.  In addition, the cyber sniffer lets him smell the lubricants and fuels of the vehicles that are and have recently been in the loading area.  That is pungent enough to almost swamp the smells of the people.  Sweat and some fear, with a background of the usual ocean, pollution, and ash.

Once G’Eye is configured to his liking, to make the most of the sensors and avoid attention, he lets the dog brain take over for a bit, while he jumps into each of the other drones in turn, include the monocycle.  Each is slaved to his own bionode, joined to the team tacnet, and setup to support a team on discrete patrol.  LeO gets a bit of extra tinkering, so that targets, and attack modes can be assigned by adding custom marker overlays to icons shown on tacnet, without needed to send extra commands in the middle of any action.

Once outside the Mall, Sprogget brings Banjo down to buzz the team, so they know what it looks like, before sending it back to its assigned position while the team is on the move.  Back in G’Eye, he focuses on staying unnoticed, and looking for any sign of the Spined Drakes, or their activities. Tacnet shows the team, and the icons for the friendly’s in the mall quickly fall behind.

Heading cautiously through the area that is supposedly still covered by the sensor mesh, Sprogget gets the reply from Cam.  Just as he mentions the sighting to the south of their location, an explosion accentuates the location.  The explosion is beyond the 100m range of the UWBR sensors, so Sprogget does not yet have a direct 3D view of the location.  Other sensors though spot a couple of figures heading at a run further into Mechanicals’ territory, and mark them on tacnet.

As Scrapheap vents some rage with a roar, and charges after them, and Crow messages over the comm, Sprogget pushes G’Eye at max in the same direction while trying to perceive everything in the area.
@DrakeHunters[Sprogget]: <<Careful people!  There could be more than the 2 flagged on tacnet.”>>
@Crow[Sprogget]: <<That is one of the things we really want to find out.”>>
@DrakeHunters[Sprogget]: <<Does not need to be undamaged, but try to leave one alive that we, or at least the drones, can follow back to base.”>>

Sprogget tags the tacnet icons for LeO’s attention, with "Wound, Called Shot:Leg".

@self:That should slow at least one down enough to make following easier, but this is too slow|taking too long.  Staying hidden is less important just now|for the moment, but I would rather they did not know about G’Eye for later.
Cutting the acceleration almost as soon as he punched it, Sprogget tells the dog brain to take over, stay unnoticed, and to use the sensors to support the team.  He then exits from the dragonfly node, and jumps into Banjo.
@self:LeO is still faster overall, but he is already in range, and will not be pushing hard, to make the targeting easier.  Out of the blocks, Scrapheap will be faster, but I’ll catch him in a few seconds.  I don’t need to worry about weapon targeting.  Just getting the sensors where they will do the most good, as fast as I can.
Pushing acceleration to the maximum, Sprogget races to catch up to and pass Scrapheap as he heads towards the identified targets.  He pulls up a temporary sensor program, to look for any support for the already spotted saboteurs.

@self:I should feed live intel|data to Cam|Mechanicals’ Security
@Cam[Sprogget]: <<Cam!  Checking on sighting and explosion.  Get me an encrypted link, and I’ll feed our live tacsoft info to the sensor mesh.  Let me know when that is ready.  Ring side seats for security management.>>
@self:We may not have as many sensors as the regular mesh, but I bet|expect|guess that the team has better resolution|detail in the local area!

@Virtual Scream / Dante
[September 2, 2072, 13:45, Hai Fuk Noodle House, Redmond Barrens, Seattle]

Xiao Hong's eyes flash with anger as he views the rapidly-disappering carnage in his restaurant. Following him inside are several enforcers, holding themselves with the body language that tells Dante they're jumpy and ready for a fight. Lucky Lee gives Dante a sneer as he pushes his way to the counter, snapping a command to the front-desk girl. The girl is obviously scared, looking from Lee to the triad leader and back again. He barks a curt word, and she springs into action. All the waitresses round up guests and begin talking to them frantically. It seems silence can be bought, for a price.

The price shows in Xiao Hong's face as his frown deepens with every deal. The triad boss makes a gesture and a few enforcers haul the inert form of the still-alive ganger up the stairs and out of sight. Then another gesture brings Dante to his side.

<<Chinese>>

"These small-time ganger assholes! You did good work today Dante. The name of the Red Lotus is worth much more on the streets now. But this means you also put me in a bad situation. This act is costing me a drekload of cred. You must put things right. Jasons are stupid and cowardly like all foreigners, but not THIS stupid. Why did they do this? What were they after? I'll send some men to ask the Jasons personally, but I need another angle. You will find out why...for the Red Lotus."

Dante stays calm. The news wasn't bad. It wasn't good either, but...he wasn't in Xiao Hong's disfavor. That was enough. And if he played this right, his star in the Triads would be rising.

Work. It was good.

"Yes boss. I'll let you know when I have the paydata."

Dante wastes no more time, spinning on his heel and heading for the door. He passes Silent Bo with a head nod, then stops. The street samurai passes the confiscated weapons to the enforcer with a quiet request. "Let me know what's found out from that ganger after he's been asked some questions. Ok?" The enforcer lives up to his name and simply replies with eye contact and a nod as he holds the pistol up to the light with an appreciative eye.

Once outside the first thing needing taking care of was firepower. Dante barely suppresses the urge to sprint, managing to speed walk to his truck as he wirelessly turns off the security protocols and starts the engine. Smoothly sliding into the drivers seat as the door opens on it's own, he tosses his newly-fixed iBall to the back where it sticks to the rear window. Continuing the motion Dante reaches over to the glove box and moves the Ares out of the way in search of his spare clips. Finding one, he breathes an audible sigh of relief as he slots it home. The tactical readout in his peripheral vision glows a reassuring bright green for a moment before fading to a more subdued tone. The truck pulls out onto the roadway as Dante reaches out to his new teammates.

<<@Dubstep, Cat [Dante]: On my way. Do you need backup?>>

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay
SIN: Iwakura Lain, PAN: Passive

"Wait. Where can I find...?" But Jazz was gone. LeFey turned to look at the others. She was safe enough for the moment. No need to stick with the group, though in a manner of speaking, she was doing so just by being in the mall. It took a bit of time to find someone who would tell her where Prospero was. LeFey was getting worried. Everyone looked as if they were getting ready for a war. The technomancer finds a quiet corner to access the tribe's node from. She could ask their leader what was happening herself.

@E:CoP; Johnny Awesome
August 21st, 2072, 23:01; Club Ifriti

"Well, I don't know about farming. I approached her because she interested me. I have an eye for these things, and I wasn't disappointed." He takes a moment to sip at his drink and take a few draws on his cigar. He never liked to rush conversation. "And to say she was at a neoNET function is something of a misnomer too. She seemed very at home. My gut tells me she was hosting a neoNET function, despite what the invites say"

"She made very sure to tell me that despite what people may think, an open and free matrix was very much in neoNET's, or certainly her, interests."

"Anyway, as I said, it was more about the game than what was said. She played well. We both did I think. If this sort of thing interests you I'd be happy to set up an introduction."

@E:Tribes / LeFey
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Central Node

You are standing on warm sand with silky waters lapping at your feet. You can feel the strength of the Resonance in this place, a purity to the feel of the matrix around you. Ahead of you a bright tropical jungle assails your senses with unfamiliar sights and smells mixed with the crisp salt tang of the sea. Although you can feel the sun basking on your skin, on the horizon looming thunderheads are black and threatening, lightening repeatedly caressing the broken waves. The firewalls are clearly ramped up in response to the external threat.

Standing in a grassed clearing looking out to sea there is a flurry of activity and you can see several user icons gathered around a wizened hooded figure carrying a gnarled and twisted staff of witchhazel, Prospero!

Another user appears abruptly beside you, a tall willowy Amazonian, bare chested and covered in spiralling tattoos, carrying a brace of spears and looking decidedly harassed. The icon rendering is immaculate, even down to hair slicked to her face with sweat, definitely a fellow technomancer to have that innate, unconcious presence in the matrix.

"Hi, I’m Jazz. I see you managed to make it in here, sorry for leaving like that, it seems like I’ve got six things at once that need to be done yesterday. Some welcome I know but unfortunately you’ve landed here in the middle of a crisis, one we couldn’t possibly have anticipated. Come on, I’ll take you to Prospero…"

And without waiting for a reply she steps into a clear stream of water running improbably uphill towards the glade were the others are gathered. You dimly hope that these people will be more friendly when they aren’t facing an attack…

You enter the glade and have to duck the impossibly bright birds that flit through the air, messages and data packets destined for various parts of the Fre∑dom servers and beyond. There are five other principal icons apart from Prospero, Jazz and yourself. A hideously malformed four armed agent lurks in one corner, Caliban no doubt given the Shakespearean references. A sylphlike Aerial disappears from the node as you arrive. A glowing humanoid user icon is identified as Nimbus, a scintillating phoenix is Ashes, both mundanes you suspect, and finally eBreeze, a surprisingly homely, motherly looking icon that fails to conceal her nature as a techno.

The latter looks up and smiles as you enter the node and you’re certain that here at least there will be a true welcome. She gestures for you both to wait and Jazz squats down on her haunches and begins to delve into the data streams flowing through the node.

Everyone looks up simultaneously as another icon enters the node and from the look of consternation on their faces this one is not expected. The figure is an androgynous figure with dark skin and flowing white hair. (S)he is semi clad in baroque armour and seems to stand in a sort of miasma, one that is counter to the feel of Resonance in the node. Your guess is confirmed when you hear Jazz whisper under her breath

"Disonant…"

The figure smiles and then speaks you all, (s)he making sure that (s)he includes yourself and Jazz in the address

"I’m glad we’re all here at last! I trust my attacks are inconveniencing you? They can stop you know, all you have to do is give me Summer" and (s)he looks directly at you as this is said, you can almost feel the air drop in temperature.

"And who are you?" Prospero’s voice is deep and mellow, seeming to wash away the taint of dissonance, for all that you are fairly sure he isn’t a techno.

"You can call me Winter"

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Mall, Loading Bay
SIN: Iwakura Lain, PAN: Passive

It was beautiful. LeFey couldn't resist removing her hat and basking in the sun for just a minute. It was all she had. With the meeting here and whatever was happening outside, there was no time to soak up the virtual rays. "LeFey. It's nice to meet..." Morgan hurries a little to catch up with Jazz and the rest of the meeting.

She smiled at eBreeze and lowered herself to a cross legged position on the grass, but was secretly glad their attentions were focused elsewhere. LeFey was lost for words, which was odd. Growing up, she'd received more than her share of lessons on how to talk to people. Admittedly, she wasn't here to make friends. What LeFey needed was guidance. Someone to help her understand what she and the powers she now wielded were. Her thoughts were interrupted by the new arrival.

Morgan's breath catches in her throat when Jazz confirms her fears. And then...it looked directly at her. Why? She didn't know who Summer was. In fact, all of these people were strangers to her. A few hours ago, LeFey might have been curious. Now, the mystery loomed over her, an unknown danger. She could only come to a vague conclusion about Winter's presence here. Either it was confident in its ability to survive an encounter with the tribe, or it simply didn't care about doing so.

@E:Tribes; Crow
September 1, 2072 22:xx; 39th Ave SW, south of the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup

Jack's rough calls echo around the desolate landscape and the abandonned buildings as displaced ash and rain fall in a sludge that coats everything and everyone.
"Plot an intercept course, ScrapHeap can drive them out, we'll close their loop... HOOOLY DREK!! .. What was that ?!"

the burst of automatic fire from the drone takes Crow completely by surprise, he can barely see in this mess despite visual enhancements and Tactical overlays in his AR view
the escaping gangers, if that's what they are, are merely dark shadows against a dark background, in weather conditions that would make most blind to ten feet in front of them.

Quickly looking back to his front so that any further blasts of gunfire don't negate his eyes getting acclimatised to the nighttime, he tracks the movement of the runners, looking for a destination or a vehicle or something out of the ordinary on the landscape.

A thought occurs to him suddenly through the assessment of tactical information, "These guys aren't Mil-Spec, just civvies"
and he hurries to message his new teammates
@DrakeHunters[Crow]: “The Target, was it occupied or purely infrastructure? Sprogget can you see casualties in all this mess?"
Dropping to one knee he takes a bead on what he thinks is a target and awaits a response and an opportunity for the shot

@E:Tribes / LeFey
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Central Node

"Winter?" You can feel the dripping scorn in Prospero’s tone even if it isn’t audible. "We know of the technomancer Summer but she is not one of us and we have no influence over her. But then you know that already so what is the real purpose behind these attacks?"

"To bring her here of course, she’s here already…" and (s)he gestures towards you "Persuade her to join me in the meat and this can all cease. I don’t intend to harm her but I have need of her peculiar skills"

Prospero looks across at you and you see his eyes as points of dark light from within his hood, with no other features visible. "I think you are mistaken Winter. That is not the one you seek."

Jazz whispers in your ear "While Prospero keeps him talking we need to run a trace. Can you cover that? I’ll distract him, keep him off your back…"

@E:Tribes / Drakehunters
September 1, 2072 22:xx; 39th Ave SW, south of the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup

Crow & Scrapheap

At Scrap’s roar the fleeing Drakes spare you a glance but it only spurs them faster towards the far side of the broken street. They are moving erratically in an attempt to evade any incoming fire, keeping crouched low against lead and the increasingly worsening weather. The first drops of stinging rain caress your faces mixed with soft gritty ash. Summer storms in Puyallup can be spectacular and although it’s late in the year for the really big ones it has been unseasonably warm recently and the air feels charged with electricity and the vague stink of ozone assails your nostrils.

Sprogget / Banjo

As you race after the fleeing foe you are becoming increasingly buffeted by the rising winds and your weather feed is showing red warning indicators. As long as you keep below the roof lines you should be safe from lightning strikes but you will have to watch the cross vortices and wind shear. Reaching out with Banjo’s superior sensors you shrug off the uncomfortable feel of the charged ions in the air, acting almost like an ECM blanket.

Via the tacnet you receive confirmation of LeO’s target and the tightly controlled burst streaks out towards the foe. With the utmost clarity of technological sight you witness the rounds sever the right leg of the enemy and you wince inwardly at the drone’s interpretation of wound…if the ganger isn’t dead yet he will almost certainly bleed out before anyone can reach him. Certainly his compatriot doesn’t seem inclined to turn back for him.

<<@Sprogget[Cam]: Confirm. Here’s the link. Patch the data through… >>

@E:Tribes; Scrapheap
September 1, 2072 22:xx; 39th Ave SW, south of the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup
PAN mode: Hidden | SIN displayed: Eric Jones

The first stinking drop of rain hit Scrapheap's cheek, then a more metallic downpour of shell casings plinked off of his head as the overhead drone rattled off a burst of autofire. He saw one of the silhouettes go down, and pushed his muscles harder to try and close on the other runners.

@E:CoP; Baron Herbert
August 21st, 2072, 23:02; Club Ifriti

"Curiouser and curiouser. Yes, I do believe I would like to meet this 'Ryl'. Though I will of course leave your own...personal...interests in her between the two of you."

Timothy tapped his ring finger absently along the side of his nearly emptied flute. I've never seen anyone named such on any company data I'm privy to, which is saying something. And that she is a dracoform makes that doubly curious, the rumormill should have had something there.

Alexander shook his head and leaned his head conspiratorially towards Awesome. "Now you've done it, you've given him a puzzle to beat that brain of his against. He'll completely ignore all the wonderful scenery for the rest of the night now. Though, that does leave more for the rest of us, so I guess it isn't all bad."

Michiko turned to Timothy's uncle and had barely opened her mouth when Alexander held up his hand to her. "Yes, yes my dear, incorrigible, what would Mother think, blah blah blah." He turned his megawatt smile on and waggled his eyebrows at her. The bodyguard just shook her head at him with an amused expression and went back to crowd watching.

@E:Tribes / LeFey
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Central Node
SIN: Iwakura Lain, PAN: Passive

Have you forgotten already, my protege? Mild disappointment colored the voice of the veiled woman.

LeFey looked away from Winter to meet the eyes of her paragon. Forget? People like h...like it killed so many trying to turn the world into some hellish paradise only for themselves. Much of Avalon is still in ruins. Many people have died because of the virus. No. I haven't forgotten. And I never will. Morgan knew full well that the idoru was goading her into action. She didn't mind. In fact, she had needed a little push for a while.

As she replaced her hat on her head, LeFey's Stealth complex form triggered, rendering her invisible. "Please do," she whispered to Jazz. Calmly, she stepped behind the glade. The witch drew a ritual dagger from her belt and waved her hand. A pool of water bubbled from the ground, clear and seemingly bottomless. LeFey leaned to meet the piercing eyes that stared at her from within. "Jenny." She murmured. "Jenny Greenteeth. Take this offering of my blood." She placed the blade to her hand. Like always, Morgan had meant it to be just a nick. The piercing pain that shot up her arm told her she had been wrong. The lilting voice of a girl giggled as drops of red splashed into the pool.

"And appear before me." She had time to finish the summons before a sudden tiredness forced her to kneel. The sprite that sinuously emerged from the pool was a curious creature. Jenny had the head of a shark with teeth seemingly made of jade. But her body ended in the tail of some mythical sea serpent. She flourished the tail like a stage magician, and the portal from where she had come vanished. The sprite repeated the gesture, and she vanished as well. In her place was a mermaid with hair of jade, just like the shark's teeth.

The smile that had been on Jenny's face vanished as Morgan gave her task. "I'm sorry. I wish we had been able to meet under better circumstances. But you must know what he or she is. Please, help me trace him. Use all means at your disposal. And be careful."

@E:Tribes
September 1, 2072 22:xx; 39th Ave SW, south of the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup
Bionode: Response 4(5), Signal 2, System 4, Firewall 3; Hidden; Analyze(3), Command(1), Edit(1), Scan(1), Sniffer(3), Spoof(1), Stealth(3), Shield(1), Tacsoft(2), Simrig(1)
CMT Clip: Response 1, Signal 3, System 1, Firewall 1; Hidden; SIN: Paul Brickhill (R3)

Doing his best to counter the contrary air currents, Sprogget sees LeO’s success in slowing down the ganger.

@self:That was wounding?  Way more fire power than I had intended|expected!
Hastily updating the remaining tacnet targeting icon, before LeO repeats on the remaining target, Sprogget adds "Sniper" to the information, to get LeO to use semi automatic mode instead of full auto.

@self:Damned wind|weather makes this blimp even clumsier.  At least the touch sensors are making control easier.  The storm|atmosphere effects could mess with|disrupt the sensors|communication too.  The ECCM software should be able to handle|compensate for|counter that, although LeO and DR do not have it on the sensors.  Glad the meat body has a good respirator, and the coverall comes with chemical protection.

The other good news, is that this weather|storm|interference should also make it easier to keep the drones from being spotted.  As long as it does not get so bad that sensors are blocked!  That ash can even mist|glitch|fuzz the UWBR.  Might have to get|stay closer than I would prefer when following.  Better keep low too.  No use inviting a lighting strike.  Well G’Eye is the only one that really needs to get close.

Getting the link from Cam, Sprogget feeds a copy of the live tacnet data to the Mechanicals’ system.
@self:I hope they can use the info, and are not just sitting around eating popcorn.

Fighting another shear that wants to knock Banjo out of the sky, Sprogget gets the query from Crow about the previous use for the bombed building.
@self:What was that building used for?  A bit outside the complex proper, but were there squatters living there?.
@Cam[Sprogget]: <<What's the database list for usage on the bombed building?  And surrounding?  Friendlies likely?  Any tactical reason to target that particular building?>>
As a thought gets through, he adds.
@Cam[Sprogget]: <<Other than to maybe pull people from other locations that is.>>

@self:I hope|expect that anyone living around here is smart enough to take|stay under cover at first sign of attack|combat.  They would not live|survive here long otherwise.

@Drakehunters[Sprogget]: <<Sensors do not see any sign of casualties around the blast area Crow.  At least not yet.  Usual usage being checked.>>

@E:PL
[July 9th, 2072, 00:29; Ghoul central, CZ, Chicago]
SIN: Spencer Lovett, PAN: Hidden

Mordred observes his patient. His wound weren't going to kill him now, but who knew what more fighting would do? The adept told the ork as much. "You'll want to hang back and try to shoot from a distance when things kick off again." Mordred places the remainder of his ammunition on the floor. "Here. Both of you stock up. What I gave you was a quick fix. By all rights, you should be in a hospital right about now. But that isn't an option until we get the job done and escape this place." He reloads. "So, let's get moving as soon as possible." The adept points at the ruins. "You said there was one more member of your team in there?"

@Virtual Scream: Dubstep/Cat
[September 2, 2072, 13:47:23, Ezell's - Southern Accent, Bellevue]
PAN: Hidden, SIN: Jo Datsik (Fake SIN Rtg4), Response 6, Signal 5, System 6, Firewall 6, (Analyze 6, Armor 3-Ergonomic, Attack 4-Ergo, Biofeedback Filter 6, Browse 6-Ergo, Command 6-Ergo, Disarm 3, ECCM 3-Ergo, Edit 6-Ergo, Exploit 6, Scan 6, Spoof 3-Ergo, Stealth 6)

Secondary PAN: Active, SIN: Jo Datsik(Fake SIN Rtg4), Response 3, Signal 4, System 4, Firewall 4, (Agent 3, Analyze 4, Browse 4, Edit 4, Tacsoft 2)
Chowing down on some crispy fried chicken (or at least chicken flavored meat-like substance), Dubstep sends Dante a quick response.

<<@Dante [Dubstep]: We left the Barrens for the more secure area of Bellevue. Hopefully we can regroup peacefully here. Meet us as Ezell's when done there.>>

@Virtual Scream / Dante
[September 2, 2072, 13:50, Redmond Barrens, Seattle]

Heading home to his doss, the street sam feels elated. Nothing like gearing up for the day. At his place he quickly grabs all the tactical gear he thinks he will need - ammunition, clips, grenades, pouches, goggles...all things an on-the-job shadow runner would need. A suit of ruthenium-coated armored clothing gets shoved into the same duffel bag as the rest of the gear, along with other odds and ends that had proved handy in the past. By the time he's finished, the bag is not insignificantly heavy. The ork runs back to the idling truck, a stupid grin plastered on his face. The bag goes into the shielded smuggling compartment in the rear of the vehicle, barely fitting next to the sleek oiled form of an Ingram White Knight. Dante's eyes flash with excitement. Maybe he'd get to fire a few rounds with his newest toy. If he was even luckier, more than a few. A quick stop at Wpns-R-U for extra ammo (you never knew when you'd need it) was all that he needed before heading to join his fellow runners in Bellevue.

[September 2, 2072, 14:36, Bellevue, Seattle]

Crossing into Bellevue had been mostly painless. The guards there were bored and weren't looking to make their low-paying job any more exciting by harrassing a dangerous-looking ork. The SIN he gave them to process ("LiuZiAng, here on personal business chummer") passed muster so the guards waved him through with only the most cursory of scans (which came up empty thanks to the shielded compartments on the truck). Dante mentally pulled up the directions to this Ezell's for the pilot program and sat back, trying to contain his nervous, happy energy.

<<@Dubstep, Cat [Dante]: I soon at the restaurant will meet you.>>

@E:PL/Chi Town
[July 9th, 2072, 00:27; Ghoul central, CZ, Chicago]
PAN - Active ; SIN - Maximilien Danton

<<[Gemeaux]: Team, I need you to sound off. Tsubaki, where are you? Mordred, I'm heading towards you. That technomancer is now the afterlife's problem. Let me know if you need support.>>

The assassin shoulders his sniper rifle for now, and switches to his assault rifle. Unfortunately, the rifle itself does not sport camouflage coating. However, he figures that the ghouls of this place would either not care, or not live long enough to spread the word. He runs as quietly as he can towards Mordred's location, courtesy of Vivienne's quick computing skills.

@E:Tribes / LeFey
September 1, 2072 22:32; Fre∑dom Central Node

Jenny derezzed from the node as she followed the illusive data trail of the repellent dissonant who was still taunting the others in the node. You don’t know who Summer is but you feel a certain sympathy for her being hunted by this thing! At least, you would if he/she could be persuaded that you weren’t her…

Within mere moments Jenny returns…too fast for someone who should be hiding their back trail, they really must be supremely arrogant, it was somehow better than believing he/she was supremely stupid!

"I have found it" a map locator springs into view with the approximate location of the target ringed in a pulsing red…the ring almost brushes the walls of the mall! He/she is right outside!

***

@E:Tribes / Drakehunters
September 1, 2072 22:xx; 39th Ave SW, south of the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup

Scrapheap & Crow

As you pound your way towards the target, Crow perhaps paying a little more attention to blind spots, corners and other potential dangers, you barely hear the report of the single shot from somewhere over your heads. You do see the fleeing ganger stumble and collapse almost at the point of safety clutching futilely at his leg.

As you close the distance you can see the panic in his eyes but he doesn’t seem inclined to reach for the AK dropped at his feet, preferring to huddle down as small as he will go in perhaps the vain hope that you won’t hurt him any longer…

Sprogget

@Cam[Sprogget]: <<What's the database list for usage on the bombed building? And surrounding? Friendlies likely? Any tactical reason to target that particular building?>>

@Cam[Sprogget]: <<Other than to maybe pull people from other locations that is.>>

@Sprogget[Cam]: <<It held one of our outer hardwired listening posts, so no, there weren’t any casualties other than another piece of tech we can ill afford to lose! Fraggers know where and how hard to hit…I’ve got another ping on a group to the north of us…gotta go and redirect someone that way…Watch it, I’ve spotted another lot between you and the mall, they seem to be headed your way so I guess those two you downed have called in back-up. Coming fast, two bikers…here’s the feed… [file link]>>

@E:Tribes - Crow
September 1, 2072 22:xx; 39th Ave SW, south of the Fre∑dom Mall, Puyallup

Being slightly more vigilant in his approach, Crow realises his plan has certain drawbacks.
Noticeably, the distance between him and the growing rage on ScrapHeap's face as he pounds across the broken terrain with death in his eyes.

"By the spirit! .. Jack you maggot infested, lame excuse for a friend, it's a kid !... you couldn't have told me ?.. just a kid!"
He flashes an angry glance at the sky and quickens his pace to try to catch up with the rampaging Ork.

Two things happen, separated by only moments in time, a teenage ganger falls to the ground uttering a silent scream at nearly losing his lower limb in a shower of crimson,
followed by the crack of a weapon report as the sound passes overhead, chasing a bullet it will never catch.

Crow stops in his tracks at the first, looks up at the sound overhead as reflexes scream at him to take cover, he pounces from his position on a broken low wall and begins to race after his new colleague.
"SCRAP! NO ...... Just a kid!" He calls out in panic, but the fire in his lungs cut him off mid shout, unable to give a reason to the shout.

Not wanting to risk using his gift on a new face, one that has very little reason to trust his judgement call,
he sprints to try and intercept, just in case ScrapHeap has other ideas in mind for their captive

@Virtual Scream / Gossamer
[September 1, 2072, 17:04, Living Doll node]
PAN: N/A, SIN: None, Response 5*, Signal 3*, System (5), Firewall (4/6), (Analyze, Scan, Decrypt, Exploit [5, inherent], Stealth [6, inherent], Armour, Browse, Encrypt, Medic [6, ergo, optzd])

Slater sucks on a cold nukacoke from the rattling fridge in one corner of the basement.

"I'd like to tag along if you don't mind. It's not every day I get to see an AI in action."

He makes himself comfortable in one of the ratty recliners and gestures to Gossamer to choose one for herself, before closing his eyes as he logs onto the node.

The basement node is basic but has a decent firewall, and is running both an analyze and a stealth program. Slater's icon, the featureless azure likeness of an elongated elf, is waiting for her next to the one open port.

A grin flashes across the featureless face then disappears. Turning to the port, his icon fades to transparency as he engages his own stealth routine before leaping into the opening.

It feels like they are travelling along a long pipe, clearly some sort of hard line, before they exit into the glittering matrix of downtown Seattle. Slater highlights a couple of nodes and dives towards the first, the one belonging to Mammoth Memory Operations.

He pulls up suddenly and Gossamer narrowly avoids colliding with him. Turning her attention to the MMO node, she sees why he stopped so quickly. The node is clearly on alert. Flashing lights spin on the top of a high concrete firewall. A huge black creature, part panther and part elephant patrols the only entrance. It's head is all tusks and teeth, the trunk a long, smooth barrel. An attack program of some sort, possibly even black IC. And it's not alone. Buzzing above the node is a glittering dragonfly icon, with large segmented eyes and a long dangerous looking proboscis.

@Virtual Scream/Cipher
[September 2, 2072, 10:02; Ares Seattle General Hospital]

As the PillBot crashes into trolley, Cipher feels the girl's blade press momentarily against his neck and then he is flying. He lands in a heap on the tiled floor, his bare feet scrabbling for purchase as he struggles upright and staggers unsteadily towards the exit. Behind him he hears a grunt of pain as the PillBot reverses and rams into the trolley again, driving the edge of it into the girl's ribs.

The troll, slow to react, lets out and angry roar as Cipher crashes into the exit door and almost falls through it. Chill air sucks at his breath, the thin green hospital smock providing no protection from the cool September weather.

As the taxi pulls up, he spares a glance behind him in time to see the PillBot come crashing through the exit, followed closely by the gangers. The skeleton driver winks it's one good eye as he tumbles into the back seat, seemingly reading his mind as it pulls away quickly from the pursuing gangers.

Shivering and shaking, his head and heart pounding from the effort, Cipher feels hot blood running down his neck. A panicked look in the rear-view mirror reveals a fortunately shallow cut, painful but not life threatening.