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Kalibar
Well, my PC's did a first in our last session. They got on Lone Star's badside. Specifically the rigger blew away a Star patrolman.

Now the cop was a corrupt humanis bastard, who saw an opportunity to rid the world of an orc and picked the wrong guy to mess with. However, Lone Star only knows what the officers biomontor told them and are currently after a couple cop killers.

The crew is fleeing from the scene at extreme speeds, they have an astral cop trying to keep tabs on them and a rigger is trying to track them through the grid guide(becoming more difficult), but they've been able to outpace and out manuever a few Strato-9's, a couple of patrol cars and a Mobmaster. A Star Rigger in a Honda Turbo is redlining the engine to keep up. It's only been 10 min since the shooting, so not enough time to construct a serious roadblock. They had laid out some patrol cars and zap strips ahead, but that didn't pan out

The rigger wisely headed into an C security zone and has been keeping his course erratic(hence his avoidance of the zap strips), in about 4 more minutes it'll be an E Zone. And has no intention of stopping until the deepest depth of the Redmond Barrens. They're about 20min from the Z-zone as is.

So what's the would you use as the Star's next move? Helicopter? Panzer? Attack jet?
Grey
T-Bird. All the way. vegm.gif
BIG BAD BEESTE
Helicopter is a go - probably a couple of sec-grade yellowjackets with LMGs.

Alternatively, have another mage show up to relieve the pursuer (contacted via watcher report) and have them unleash a couple of bound elementals/summoned spirits at the group to hinder them until reinforcements can arrive on the physical.

However, if the runners manage to outmanouevre these guys let them escape - for the moment. They'll have to lie low during the resultant heatwave, but hey, reward the players for doing it right. ID changes, maybe a little facial redesign and possibly even a little sojourn out of hotville. Gives you a darn good reason to do a border run or introduce them to somewhere new. Let them decide how they'd like to evade the rap though - use their contacts and then there's always the nice opportunity for an organisation/NPC to "help" them out of the tough spot.

During the downtime you can bet their discription is going to be circulated widely across the plex and to other Star enforcement divisions in other NA cities. Have a decker or two attempt to run datachecks on them and maybe even introduce a NPC detective on their cases. Another opportunity for a recurring character/nemesis who'll chase them for years. And don't forget the street snitches reporting in either. Better hope that these runners haven't upset the locals...
Backgammon
Dear god, cop killing is indeed a Very Bad Idea, but IMO you're really going overboard on this, although I don't know all the circumstances.
BitBasher
Well here's how it would go with me, although keep in mind the situation would probably have played out somewhat differently up to this point in my games. Since we're already at the chase in progress i'll take it from there.

1) Pursuing astral mage calls astral backup. This should take only seconds, Watcher is sent straight back to HQ and notifies other, and pow, he's there at fast movement.

2) One pursuing mage uses good force elemental (force 6 or so) and gives it a service of "Aid movement" on the car, ordering it to slow the car down. This is the equivalent of slamming on the breaks of the car, possibly resulting in a crash test, but either way making it a lot, lot slower. The elemental makes a (force)4 test, and the car is slowed down by a speed equal to the Car's acceleration multiplied by net sucesses, if I remember right. This will cause pursuers to easily catch the car. All alstrally present mages give spell defense/shielding dice to the elemental. This is a nonlethal, non public endangering option for stopping a chase.


3) If that fails, and the car is heading into a non patrolled zone, then the mage will take more drastic action, being to order a good force air elemental (again, 6 or so force) to manifest and use noxious breath on the driver. This power is a cast iron bitch to resist, and WILL cause the driver to likely take damage outright and up his taget numbers so that pursuers can take over. Again, mages lend defense dice to the elemental.

4) The astral mage gets a good look at all their auras then lets them go. Regardless of the previous 2 steps this should be a top priority. Lone Star can always pick them up/track them down later.

...
This is a nearly career ending move in my games. Killing a cop is in a lot of ways far mroe troublesome that killing corp security. There are ways to get out of this in the long run, but most of them are very, very expensive or involve relocating to a new city/country which means your reputation starts back at nil, which is a steep price to pay.
Siege
Keep in mind, all of their old contacts know what they've done and there will probably be a reward for turning in the perpetrators.

Or at least earn some major brownie points with their local LS rep.

Which means all their contacts are either gone or need to be evaluated very, very carefully lest they repeat Ceaser's mistake with Brutus.

-Siege
Large Mike

Regarding contacts. I think fixers, other runners, and general illegal types should be pretty well safe, but everyone else is a risk.

Next step is almost definatly at least a helicopter, maybe a T-Bird, and quite possibly some drones.

I can't believe they killed a cop that close to other cops. If you have to kill some LS, make sure you're at least ten minutes away from the nearest other cop, and either hack the biomoniter before flatlining him, or have a mage doing astral overwatch.
Arethusa
I have to say, for one cop, this is a bit silly. I know LS takes copkillers very seriously, but mobilizing air support and heavy armor? We're talking about one cop, here. You have to be out of your mind.
Large Mike

Arethusa, my friend, what happens if you kill a gang member? The whole gang comes crashing down on your head, right? Well, who's the largest, best equipped, bad-assest gang there is?

And if they didn't catch that one cop killer, it makes other people think that maybe they can get away with it too.
Rev
Well the obvious plotline after they escape this persuit is that they have to prove to the world that the cop was a corrupt policlub guy through the newsmedia. If they can do that lonestar looses a lot of its interest in pressing the case (suddenly they want to bury it instead), but they gain an enemy inside lonestar. Maybe the guys partner or friend. Or maybe an enemy in the form of a former lonestar guy who gets fired as a result of thier exposing the guy they killed.

If you want to help them escape after a bit you could whip up some bad weather, and maybe nudge them into a background count area to shake the astral persuit.

To be more evil give them an opportunity to escape by abandoning thier vehicle. A crowd, or something like that.
Backgammon
To further comment what I said:

I would NOT mobilise the equivalent of an army to chase down these guys. That's a huge amount of money and ressources for a corp that is already spread thin trying to juggle high-profile clients and cases demanding results and citizens demanding less crime.

I am definatly not saying this will be ignored. I think we all agree cop-killers get attention. But an investigation including the milking of the PCs contacts and the usual other stuff cops do if far more likely to happen. It'll take time, maybe weeks, or perhaps shorter if te cops realise these shadowrunners are pretty good at disapearing. But when (or if) the cops track them down, it'll be a quick, precise SWAT operation with no colleteral dammage.

Of course I don't know what kind of campaign you play. If you think it's cooler if your NPCs sweat it out for 24 hours while they loose video-game sized pursuit, knocking out helicopters with rocket launchers and stuff, that's your business.
RedmondLarry
The uses of Conjuring are Exclusive, so they can't be done by the Astral police officer trailing the team. A previously conjured Elemental can be called to service with an Exclusive Complex action, so it too can not be done by the Astral officer.

Without a spirit or watcher obtained before he left his body, the police officer has a hard time calling in reinforcements. He can manifest and ask a little old lady to call the cops for him, but he won't appear on the phone and can't speak to it, the woman will have to relay his message. Passing directions to guide another astral officer to his location will be very difficult, and all the while the runners are getting farther away.

IMO, the Astral officer will follow until he feels his life is threatened or he finds where the runners stop.
BitBasher
When I said earlier that I would have handled things differently What Backgammon said would be pretty much about dead on IMHO.

And when that SWAT team shows the PC's have absolutely ZERO chance to survive, with fair dice rolls. The SWAT will stack the odds so far in their favor there should be no contest, and that's the way it should be. If it gets to that point they are basically screwed. Letting a cop killer get away is bad for morale, which will cost the corp FAR more than a one time operation to ink in that final permanent period in the file that says "Case Closed. Perpetrators Terminated."

There is nothing, Nothing that I know of like the wrath incurred from being a cop killer. Cops take that stuff personally, even if they didn't personally know the officer that went down. All the ones I know do.

[edit, added:]
QUOTE
The uses of Conjuring are Exclusive, so they can't be done by the Astral police officer trailing the team. A previously conjured Elemental can be called to service with an Exclusive Complex action, so it too can not be done by the Astral officer.
Which is why I specifically stated the astral patrol calls for immediate backup, the backup brings down his gaggle of elementals before he projects, which then he is free to order.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the Act of Projecting is exclusive, simply being in a projected state is not an exclusive action.
RedmondLarry
Backgammon's last post was right on. The officers as a group will not play soldier or gunbunny -- their methods are effective, and they may lean on their informants a bit harder than usual.
Kalibar
Thanks for all the advice. As of now Lone Star doesn't have any pictures of the PCs and there are no witnesses.

Only the astral mage has gotten a couple glimpses at them, but they're moving at close to 200 mph. The mage has to hop ahead using quick astral movement to keep following them, but can't keep up with them in standard movement. So he's gotten a couple very quick flythroughs of the car as they zip by. They lost him briefly by changing directions on him when he hops, but he has a watcher running mesages from dispatch so he was able to reaquire.

Probably will go with a helicopter and maybe a Wasp or 2...

Thought about the spirit attack, could it work? Seems a logistic nightmare By the time the elemental would materialize to attack or use powers, and they would be outside the radius of the mages "elemental window" of 140 meters. Elemental would have to drop back into astral, mage couldn't hyperspeed til it did, then both would have to jump ahead, the elemental would have to rematerialize...They could try to jump farther ahead and set up an ambush, but there's a good chance the PC's would switch streets on them, and the mage would have wasted a service on smash/stop that car we just saw when it comes by here in 8 seconds...

Grey
Astral mages move at the speed of THOUGHT. I don't see them having a problem keeping up with them.
Crimson Jack
QUOTE (OurTeam)
IMO, the Astral officer will follow until he feels his life is threatened or he finds where the runners stop.

My thoughts too. I was waiting to read why the astral cop just didn't pace himself along until they pulled into an alley, watched where they went, then notified his support.
Kalibar
About astral movement, read BBB p. 173. At speeds greater than Int. x4 A projecting mage "retains a sense of location and direction and can dodge around astral obstacles, but cannot assense or see anything in detail without slowing down a bit."

So the mage has to jump ahead then slow down to keep apprised of the situation, and can't get a good look at them without slowing down. If they don't lose him he'll definitely follow as long as he doesn't feel in danger. And if they stop he will report there location to his HQ.

I haven't had a run a good Lone Star manhunt yet, and figure the cops will at least dispatch a helicopter to try and stop them before they lose the PC's and risk that they go deep under to avoid the heat.

If they manage to get away and lose the astral mage. They'll need to keep a low profile, or yes a SWAT team will set up a sting and take them down.
BitBasher
QUOTE
So he's gotten a couple very quick flythroughs of the car as they zip by. They lost him briefly by changing directions on him when he hops, but he has a watcher running mesages from dispatch so he was able to reaquire.
That should never happen, he can move three dimensionally, all he has do do is sit several hundred yards up and watch them move, as easy as pie. Basic strategy. You really cannot lose an astral mage physically unless he is an absolute moron, which Lone Star mages would not be.

QUOTE
About astral movement, read BBB p. 173. At speeds greater than Int. x4 A projecting mage "retains a sense of location and direction and can dodge around astral obstacles, but cannot assense or see anything in detail without slowing down a bit."
Read the bold text, he has to slow down "a bit", it does not say he has to slow down to full normal movement. He does not have to pop into and out of full fast movement, fast movement goes *up to* that full speed. He can go faster than int x4 but in relation to the car he is following his speed is zero, he just cant see detail related to anything other than the car he is following. Speed in the astral is relative.

The mage should already have all of their auras identified.
Kalibar
Well, guess I learned that wrong...well the PCs have been IDed then...
Raptor1033
do the pcs have a mage? if so why isn't he doing something about that star mage? engage the star in astral combat, hopefully whup his ass, sense where your body is at the moment to locate the van, don't need to precisely locate the body, the watch it while moving in to wake back up
Grey
Leaving your body in a moving vehicle == bad idea.
Raptor1033
eh it's not so bad if you're got a high int and willpower, just zoom up and watch for the crazy driving van that you know, then zoom in and get back in, if you lose track you can do the relocating test, should be fine since you'll have like 5.5 hours to do it
FlakJacket
Even if they get back to the Barrens, they're still in trouble. I'd say that basically anyone that isn't a level two contact or better isn't going to have anything to do with in the near future until all this goes away. Getting the cops pissed at you- even by association- just isn't worth it.

You can bet that Lone Star is going to be opening the information hotlines and putting up some serious change for information leading to an arrest. Say something like a thousand nuyen. So their vehicle is going to all over the news which means from that point on everyone that see it and them in it is a possible danger.

And on the amount of response/resources expended etc. Two main reasons why I think they'd push the boat out. First is for their own employees- if you know you're going to be looked after and that they'll go after someone that murders one of you, that makes for happier staff. Which is better in the long run. The other is from a public perspective. How long do you think they could hold on to things if people knew that you could go round killing police officers and they'd only do a half assed job afterwards?
toturi
QUOTE (BitBasher)
QUOTE
So he's gotten a couple very quick flythroughs of the car as they zip by. They lost him briefly by changing directions on him when he hops, but he has a watcher running mesages from dispatch so he was able to reaquire.
That should never happen, he can move three dimensionally, all he has do do is sit several hundred yards up and watch them move, as easy as pie. Basic strategy. You really cannot lose an astral mage physically unless he is an absolute moron, which Lone Star mages would not be.

QUOTE
About astral movement, read BBB p. 173. At speeds greater than Int. x4 A projecting mage "retains a sense of location and direction and can dodge around astral obstacles, but cannot assense or see anything in detail without slowing down a bit."
Read the bold text, he has to slow down "a bit", it does not say he has to slow down to full normal movement. He does not have to pop into and out of full fast movement, fast movement goes *up to* that full speed. He can go faster than int x4 but in relation to the car he is following his speed is zero, he just cant see detail related to anything other than the car he is following. Speed in the astral is relative.

The mage should already have all of their auras identified.

I'm not sure about giving the LS mage physical descriptions of the perps. Auras yes, physical looks good enough for a ID no.

Also manifesting in vehicle to use Nox breathe on the rigger is a no-no, I'm not too sure about this but I recall a discussion that was on this forum(or was it the old one) sometime last year.

I also would definately impose some astral modifiers if they venture into the right Barren areas - like Glow City or Crash Zone. Background count baby!

And the watcher messaging system? Ithink that there might be some difficulty in that... slowing down enough to astral ID and get a watcher and send it to HQ - problem
Voran
Though in some ways, to be fair, its important to remember that Lone Star aren't "the cops" in anything other than some public perception. They're a corp contracted to provide security for the Seattle area, and given the way they've been screwing up in canon, they're at risk for losing that contract. Some estimates provided through source books, Lone Star and the more recent Sprawl Survival Guide (via shadowtalk) seems to indicate over 50 percent of the corpers on the street are crooked and on the take through the various syndicates or other sources.

Also in consideration of your own storyline, where the PCs were going to expose this trashbag of a securitycorper, you could even go with the idea that the corp might try to keep it quiet, and cut their losses. Why go for a full scale assault with all the bells and whistles, if there's a big risk they'd ultimately end up looking over-reactive and too violent when it finally comes to light that the LS trooper that got shot was actually a scumbag?

An enemy flaw would definately be appropriate, among certain individuals in LS who had to deal with the fallout. But it'd be hard to say if even LS has the 'cop-brotherhood' mindset we attribute to real life cops today.
BitBasher
QUOTE
Some estimates provided through source books, Lone Star and the more recent Sprawl Survival Guide (via shadowtalk) seems to indicate over 50 percent of the corpers on the street are crooked and on the take through the various syndicates or other sources.
Shadowtalk is not a reliable source of anyting except hearsay, and the Lone Star sourcebook did not say anything about high numbers of officers being on the take that I have ever read. I own it. Man, I love that book.


QUOTE
But it'd be hard to say if even LS has the 'cop-brotherhood' mindset we attribute to real life cops today.
Thats not hard to say, it's directly addressed in the Lone Star Sourcebook.

QUOTE
they'd ultimately end up looking over-reactive and too violent when it finally comes to light that the LS trooper that got shot was actually a scumbag?
Not likely, They have an entire PR department to discredit that and to stop it from happening, all megacorps do. Since the media is all owned basically by the megas, dont count on something like this happening.
Crimson Jack
They need to either re-release LS or make a new sourcebook for all the security corps - including LS, KE, etc.
Grey
QUOTE (Crimson Jack)
They need to either re-release LS or make a new sourcebook for all the security corps - including LS, KE, etc.

I totally agree.
Crimson Jack
Shadowrun gods & gurus, listen to our cry!
BitBasher
I will also add my amen to that. I got my Lone Star for 70 or so im mint of Ebay, after my original was pilfered.
Kalibar
Yeah, I actually found mine a year ago at a comic shop in the used books section...its beat up but not quite that pricey. If only it wasn't at my parents house, and was updated to 3rd edition...a revised expanded edition would be awesome.
BitBasher
If they released the book and kept the LandShark in it, all PC riggers would learn to fear the 'Star like they should. vegm.gif
FlakJacket
QUOTE (Grey)
QUOTE (Crimson Jack @ Mar 25 2004, 04:52 PM)
They need to either re-release LS or make a new sourcebook for all the security corps - including LS, KE, etc.

I totally agree.

QUOTE (Crimson Jack)
Shadowrun gods & gurus, listen to our cry!

Or you know, instead of just waiting for it to fall out of the sky into your lap, put together a sourcebook proposal - they even have a handy set of guidelines on the subject - and submit it to the relevent people.
Kanada Ten
I think it would fit as a SotA section, personally. It seems to fit the "Mercenary" and "Security" chapter styles as a nice update section. I don't need an entire book of Star.
BitBasher
I have th Book of the Star and I sure as hell dont want most of it left out in an update, I use it extensively.
kevyn668
I think Voran hit the nail right on the head. Lone Star isn't the cops. They're just another Sec corp. They're not the same as some of the police agencies that went corp the ARE a corp. Nobody trusts the Man.

Think about the last time that a white cop shot a person of diverisity or, better yet, a person of diversity killed a cop. Seems like anytime that happens, that individual magically becomes a paragon of the community. But if a white cop shoots a white guy, no prob. We alll say "good job, officer. One less asshole." Strange, huh?

It would be the same with this Ork fellow. If they manage to loose the initial tail, slip the info to ORC and presto, instant PR.

The problem with that scenario is that air support would likely be called in. I think the Wasp/Yellowjacket is a bit extreme. LS choppers chewing up the landscape with LMGs is bad for business, regardless of the PR commandos they have on staff. There should be air spotters, though. Thats a given, but I don't think they'd roll out the Metroplex guard.

Read some DSers posts and some fan fiction, apparently LS cops get killed all the time.

As for your problem at hand: The astral spoter should act as air cover until physical air cover arrives. what happens after that is up to you...

This whole debate goes back to the discussion on how effecient LS investigation is. IIRC, there are no cannon rules for LS crime scene investigation.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if I were the GM I wouldn't exactly let them get away scott free. But I wouldn't drop the GM's hammer on them either. It looks like you have an excellent roleplaying opportunity here and it'd be a shame to waste it. Unless, of course, your PCs are assholes and you're looking for a chance to put them in thier place. In which case, fry 'em.
Crimson Jack
QUOTE (FlakJacket)
QUOTE (Grey)
QUOTE (Crimson Jack @ Mar 25 2004, 04:52 PM)
They need to either re-release LS or make a new sourcebook for all the security corps - including LS, KE, etc.

I totally agree.

QUOTE (Crimson Jack)
Shadowrun gods & gurus, listen to our cry!

Or you know, instead of just waiting for it to fall out of the sky into your lap, put together a sourcebook proposal - they even have a handy set of guidelines on the subject - and submit it to the relevent people.

Nah, I'll paint a target on my lap and wait for it to fall from the heavens. I don't have the time to put together a sourcebook.
sidartha
Where the hell are you that it takes thirty minutes to get to a Z-Zone?
But anyhoo, I think your reaction of the star is a bit over the top, the MobMaster's slow, the drones are slow, zap strips take time to set up...
My feelings would be that once the PC's hit the Z the Star will find a random Son of Sauron and string him up. after the case is officaly closed then who ever liked that particular cop will hunt down the PC's possibly with the Stars blessing.
On the other hand the cops in our games are much more wary of getting involved in a blood feud with people who kill for a living nyahnyah.gif
Solstice
this is funny because almost the exact same thing happened to our group last session. We had just gotten some data from a contact regarding a PCs history (he can't remember who is he etc) and some Ares suits tried to take us in for "questioning". Well, me being a former Ares special asset, I knew what "questioning" was. So we shoot it out in the street and 4 Ares suits go down. Well seems LS has a Strato that was taping the whole thing. I finally noticed it and I wasted it as it appears to be moving into firing position. Needless to say we bugged out to the Barrens, using misdirection and Grid jamming to make it. On the news that night we see that the rigger that was "in" that drone died from the feedback. Can you say "whoops"?

Hey you guys can crash at our place there is plenty of room. It's near Touristville. We even have a LS helo to play with.
tisoz
Lone Star Sourcebook Introduction
QUOTE
The core information written about Lone Star comes from multiple sources – Lone Star manuals, re-tired patrolmen, cop groupies, observers – and has undergone various amounts of editing. As a re-sult, the data may contain any number of biases. Individual gamemasters are the final judges of the accuracy of this information.

IMO, quite biased.

I think of Robocop as one of the guides for Shadowrun, and Robo got the drek shot out of him as well as many other corporate law enforcement personnel. I don't play it that loose in Shadowrun, but I hardly want to see Lone Star portrayed as effeciently as their ads and propaganda claim.
Voran
QUOTE (Solstice @ Mar 27 2004, 01:54 AM)
this is funny because almost the exact same thing happened to our group last session. We had just gotten some data from a contact regarding a PCs history (he can't remember who is he etc) and some Ares suits tried to take us in for "questioning". Well, me being a former Ares special asset, I knew what "questioning" was. So we shoot it out in the street and 4 Ares suits go down. Well seems LS has a Strato that was taping the whole thing. I finally noticed it and I wasted it as it appears to be moving into firing position. Needless to say we bugged out to the Barrens, using misdirection and Grid jamming to make it.  On the news that night we see that the rigger that was "in" that drone died from the feedback. Can you say "whoops"?

Hey you guys can crash at our place there is plenty of room. It's near Touristville. We even have a LS helo to play with.

I'm a bit behind on my knowledge of which assets belong to which corp, but in this example, I think LS might only be ticked off about the fact they lost a drone.

I also think they'd go, "Ooh look. 4 guys from Ares got nailed. Doesn't Ares own Knight Errant? Gee bet those chummers wished their own security forces did a better job, don't they?" Then they'd all share a giggle, and maybe show the bootleg footage at LS parties.

Also not so up to date on my rigger lore, but I thought you wouldn't lose a drone-running rigger unless you nailed the drone with one of those zapper missiles. Anyhoo, that justification they gave could be just a screen to give the illusion of action on their part. Cause they don't want to make it too obvious they don't give a rat's ass about the 4 Ares dorks that got gunned down.
Solstice
QUOTE (Voran)
QUOTE (Solstice @ Mar 27 2004, 01:54 AM)
this is funny because almost the exact same thing happened to our group last session. We had just gotten some data from a contact regarding a PCs history (he can't remember who is he etc) and some Ares suits tried to take us in for "questioning". Well, me being a former Ares special asset, I knew what "questioning" was. So we shoot it out in the street and 4 Ares suits go down. Well seems LS has a Strato that was taping the whole thing. I finally noticed it and I wasted it as it appears to be moving into firing position. Needless to say we bugged out to the Barrens, using misdirection and Grid jamming to make it.  On the news that night we see that the rigger that was "in" that drone died from the feedback. Can you say "whoops"?

Hey you guys can crash at our place there is plenty of room. It's near Touristville. We even have a LS helo to play with.

I'm a bit behind on my knowledge of which assets belong to which corp, but in this example, I think LS might only be ticked off about the fact they lost a drone.

I also think they'd go, "Ooh look. 4 guys from Ares got nailed. Doesn't Ares own Knight Errant? Gee bet those chummers wished their own security forces did a better job, don't they?" Then they'd all share a giggle, and maybe show the bootleg footage at LS parties.

Also not so up to date on my rigger lore, but I thought you wouldn't lose a drone-running rigger unless you nailed the drone with one of those zapper missiles. Anyhoo, that justification they gave could be just a screen to give the illusion of action on their part. Cause they don't want to make it too obvious they don't give a rat's ass about the 4 Ares dorks that got gunned down.

right. They could care less WHY we were gunning down suits in a C zone. However, they aren't to happy about losing a nuyen.gif 36,000 drone and the rigger also.


The rule your thinking of is: Anytime a drone takes a serious or higher wound the rigger must resist damage from biofeedback. IF he is jumped into that vehicle.
Corporate Raider
Some fiction appropriate to this situation, although the astral elements are unseen because of the nature of the source. Written by me!

<<Trid transmission begins>>

<<An episode of the 100,000 Nuyen Pyramid, hosted by Leonization aficionado Dick Clark, is in progress on Trid Channel 314, WGUN. Suddenly, the trid screen is awash with static, and then a test pattern appears, bearing the initials TPN. A montage of speeding cars, dramatic skid turns, and an end-over-end flip of a Lone Star cruiser fill the screen, accompanied by a thunderous speed metal soundtrack and sound effects. The trid then cuts to a bubbly blonde in a virtual studio.>>

"Welcome back to another episode of Seattle's Best Police Chases, only on TPN. I'm Kelli Carlson, and I'll be your host as we bring you another adrenaline dripping chase from right here in the Seattle 'plex. Tonight we have a pro in action against the Texas corp we love to hate, Lone Star."

"We join the action in progress, proceeding south on I-5, approaching Sea-Tac airport. This target of the men in blue wishes to remain anonymous, but as you can see he is moving at high speed in a black Mitsubishi Nightsky limousine. The kph and lateral G-forces have been computed by our technical staff, and appear in the lower left corner of your screen."

<<There appear to be two cameras covering the chase, both from above. The view of the chase periodically cuts back and forth between each camera. One is to the left and slightly behind the action, and the other is from ahead and to the right. The digital speed indicator on the screen moves between 150 and 180 kph. The G-forces are fairly minimal as the limo weaves expertly through what appears to be near rush hour traffic.>>

"Currently, the limo is being chased by two Lone Star Patrol 1 cruisers. The entrance ramp coming up, however, has allowed one of the Star's Honda Turbo Interceptors to join the party. The Star is serious about wanting to catch this fellow; apparently the VIP in the back seat didn't want to go the airport right now."

"As you can see, the Interceptor initially isn't aware that he has merged on to the I-5 about half a kilometer ahead of the chase. The rigger driving the limo is pumping out some serious jamming, and no one is communicating by radio. Fortunately our drones had sufficient internal memory to record this chase, because we certainly weren't able to receive their transmissions."

"The sparks you see now coming from the limousine are gunfire from the trailing Patrol 1 cruisers. As most of our viewers know, those cruisers come standard with gunports to allow the officers to fire their side arms from inside the car. Fortunately for both the rigger and his involuntary passenger, the limo's armor can shrug off whatever a Ruger Thunderbolt can dish out. That isn't true of the other cars on the I-5, however."

<<A three-round burst traces across the rear of the Nightsky, and a moment later a second burst shatters the rear window of a white Volkwagen Elektro just to the right of the limo. It swerves left, nearly clipping the back of limo, and is T-boned by another motorist behind both cars. The two Patrol 1 cruisers manage to avoid the wreckage, but do end up sideswiping another car while doing so.>>

"That had to hurt! Okay, the Interceptor has definitely figured out where the action is, and is slowing to get into the action. It looks like the rigger has had enough of the Lone Star's games, however."

<<The limo surges forward, and nimbly taps the rear fender of first one, then two cars, putting them both into a fishtail. The limo threads between the two vehicles, but the commuters trailing behind smash into the sideways vehicles. A massive pile-up ensues, which envelops both trailing Lone Star cruisers. A motorcyclist flies head over heels over most of the pile-up, until he splatters into the rear window of an Americar. A PiP (picture in picture) appears in the lower right corner of the screen right before the pile-up, allowing it to be viewed from the perspective of both cameras. Replays of the pile-up continue running in the PiP as the action continues on the main screen.>>

"Spectacular! That sort of action speaks for itself! {pauses} Okay, that segment alone would put this chase in our top ten this year, but we're not done yet. Up to this point, the speed of this chase precluded Lone Star spotter drones from being very useful, but it does appear that one has managed to position itself up ahead on I-5, and has been joined by Lone Star's dreaded Strato 9 Whirlybird of Death. That baby has a belt fed machine gun, and 500 rounds of ammunition! This should be interesting."

<<The trailing camera drone's trid feed now shows the Nightsky limo in the foreground, the Lone Star Interceptor only 100 meters ahead, and a pair of rotodrones whizzing head-on right at both of them. Each rotodrone is only 10 meters or so above the ground. The larger, machine gun armed rotodrone appears to be flying erratically. Suddenly, it's machine gun swivels left and shoots the other drone out of the sky. It then turns back towards the oncoming traffic, and dives right through the front windshield of the Lone Star Interceptor. The car swerves into the median divider, and plows up and over it into oncoming northbound traffic. The cameras again linger on the carnage, complete with PiP slow-motion replays.>>

"Wow! That was unexpected. We understand that a second rigger was in the Nightsky limousine, and he managed to take over the Lone Star drone network in that sector. I'm sure that has a lot of Star donut eaters looking nervously at their 'eyes in the sky'."

"We cut now to the next exit ramp, and see that the limo is making good its escape. As it goes underneath the I-5 overpass, its chameleon paint, morphing license plate, and hacked transponder chip turn it into an innocent white Nightsky limousine, ferrying another random VIP to one of the countless corporate events in Seattle."

"From everyone here at TPN, thank you all for watching another installment of Seattle's Best Police Chases. I am Kelli Carlson. Good night Seattle."

<<Trid transmission ends>>
Zazen
Definitely let loose with lots of cops! Air support, mages, helicopters, drones, whatever! It's fun.

You guys need to watch more Worlds Wildest Police Videos. Cops get bored, they'd rather go chase some punk kid who stole a car (even if they're 30th in the line of persuing vehicles) than sit around writing tickets for right turns at a No Turn On Red. I talk to cops at my diner a fair bit and they all echo this sentiment. Same goes for the Yellowjacket pilots who were, before now, sitting in the hangar watching David Hasslehoff On Ice and scratching their balls with a pencil.

Your players sound capable of handling themselves. Give 'em the works and let them impress you.
Kalibar
Well, thought I'd let everyone know how it turned out. Thanks for the input.

The PC's ditched the pursuing rigger with some fancy driving at extreme speeds, then evaded a recon chopper. They also called up some astral backup of their own, and led the pursuing mage into an ambush.(Guess he won't be giving their descriptions to a profiler after all. Though the Star did get some info relayed by the watcher spirit, mainly that there were a male ork, dwarf, and oni, and an bound unconscious female elf in the vehicle...) They're lying low in the barrens with a gang that the rigger's fixer knows. The rigger is providing maintainance for the gangs bike and they also worked thing out to get the gang a fresh shipment of BTLs as a thanks. The rigger is removing and scrapping the rifle used in the shooting, and there trying to work out there next move.

(Edited: my lousy grammar)
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