After a few minutes of just sitting there, most of the time fighting off the temptation to snag another jelly doughnut, Cosmo eventually pipes in.

"Like, why don't we try for some profit sharing or something, too, man? I mean if some corp is, like, getting us to get some stuff and, uh, stuff, then they prolly wanna, yanno, make a profit off it." He pauses for another moment, almost as if he were drifting off. "Oh yeah, you can totally call me Cosmo, too."

Interesting bunch but if they're asking this much ... am I out of my league?

With a small sigh she slipped the envelope inside her jacket and adjusted her glasses.

"I ... I think that the idea of charging extra for the m-more hazardous missions is s-something we sh-shouldn't ignore. If we set a c-c-constant scale now there shouldn't be an issue later...."

Trailing off with a flush, she ducks her head and continues in the soft, breathy voice that had become her namesake.

"I'm Whisper."

Ran sighs at nothing in particular.

"Ran."
She pauses. There is silence. Perhaps a few crickets... ?
"My name."

She follows the little dwarf's line of sight to the refreshment table and back.

"Ares is unaware of the op they're running, whatever it may be. Because of that, I imagine our employers are going to have to be careful with the allocation of funds. Perhaps they're using personal money, but regardless, I don't think we can expect payment as though we have the entire corp's resources at our disposal. At the same time, though they've purchased our silence, I think we should make sure that negotiations can be reopened in the future, if necessary. We have no idea what kind of drek we're walking in to."

Ghost Dragon says, "I can do the negotiations if there is none better, though negotiations are not one of my specialties."

Torque finishes off the apple and looks around for a place to throw it. He heads back to the table and disposes of the core in a tiny trash can next to it. Picking up an orange, he peels it, then rejoins the group.

Torque: "I'm used to negotiatin' my own contracts so I have a small amount of experience there. Not that I'm a Face but I can handle some discussion reasonably well. Assumin' everybody else wants to let me negotiate for them, I think it'd look better for just one person to handle it as if we're already actin' like a team.

"I think Chase here has the best set a' ideas, retainer plus runs plus a bonus if we fight anything nasty. And a' course medical and gear covered as they already offered. I think working for 15K retainer is plenty, particularly if we have to do nothing but sit around and read to earn it. A' course we'll start out asking for more than that and bargain down. Anyway, I figure we should set a minimum amount we're willin' to work for, 15K a month plus 5K a run, plus 5K if we run into any serious combat. If we get any more that's even better but that's a good minimum. Anybody disagree or shall we start the negotiations?"

Cougar nods. "Go for it."

Whisper nods mutely, her eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

James looks at Ghost Dragon briefly.

"So, 15k a month, 5k a run, and 5k hazard pay. Works for me. I'm James, and I'll handle the talks since it seems I'm the only one with experience dealing with such sensitive negotiations. Any complaints?"

A deadpan stare is swept across the group, and a curt "Good. We walk together, I talk," preempts any comment.

Ran lifts an incredulous eyebrow in James' direction.

"Make sure renegotiation is an option. There's a reason for all the secrecy, and I'd like to have a few options when we find out what."

She lifts a couple of fluffy, sugar coated pastries from the table and casually passes one to the dwarf.

Ghost Dragon says, "Yes, I agree. If we run into hell itself at some point - a warzone, like the middle of a fight between two gangs, or a breeding ground for insect spirits, I for one, would want extra."

"Righty-o then, James," Os says, smiling and getting to his feet. "You're up."

He motions towards the Ares employees.

"Deal." James smiles, and turns. "Shall we go then?"

Ghost Dragon says, "Yes, let us inform them of our decision."

Alex smiles and he and his pretty assistant walk back over. This time, however; he stands in front of the table and leans back against it.

"So, have you all decided if you want to take the job, and if so at what price?"

Torque slots a Psychology Chip on his chipjack and steps forward.
Torque: "Well we're all agreed that this is an interesting proposition and we're willing to work for you. Of course as you mentioned yourself, we all have good reputations here, you're not picking up some gutter trash but among the most professional 'runners in Seattle. So we'll have to negotiate for a bit fairer price. We've agreed that 30,000 a month each and 10,000 per run would work well, with an additional 10,000 if we run into any serious combat."

Well let's find out if psychology really does help. . .

Torque sits down and begins serious negotiations.

Ghost Dragon smiles, but he doesn't object to Torque's opening negotiations.

I like those numbers better. I wonder what the other guy is going to say about being upstaged, not that it matters.

Alex looks thoughtful for a second as Torque opens the negotiations. Perfect. "Agreed," Alex says, delighting in the look of surprise on the runners face.

"Now if everyone will just give me their word that what you are about to learn will remain a secret for as long as possible, we can move on and I can actually show you the cool stuff, ok?"

They went for that much? What kind of run is this?
Torque: "We alreada agreed ta keep this run a secret. But if ya want some sort of further assurances, well just name your oath. However you'll have to explain who exactly you want told what we know, fer instance I'm sure you don't want us hiding anything we learn from you. That's just detail work a' course."

This run may go sour fast. If they're willing to spend so much and not even try to negotiate. . . does that mean they don't expect to ever spend any of it? It won't be the First time a Johnson's sent runners to die. We should be cautious.

Alex pauses for a moment, mouth open. "Well obviously you tell us, since your working for us. What we dont's want you to do is go home and tell anyone else. Not the media, or Ares or anyone. I can't stress enough the secrecy here. It is vital, that no one knows what we are doing in this facility."

Ghost Dragon looks around and notices no one saying anything. He speaks up, "I can keep your secret, as long as the money is good. I think that everyone here will think the same way."

"If you stay above board with us, I'll return the favor, and your secrets are safe. If you try and pull a fast one on us, well, I'm sure everyone will agree that secrecy'll be your least concern, mate."

Ran smiles with amusement and nods her assent to Os' comment.

Sniffing speculatively at the pastry in her hand, she bites off a small piece and chews..

Well, they went for fresh pastries. Maybe that says something.

James chuckles softly.

"So afraid of daddy Ares, huh? I promise that the Wizard of Warbucks won't hear anything from my lips, nor those under my control. So, what is it you want from us? Gack Damien Knight? Topple Aztlan? Get a pizza delivered in 15 minutes or its free?"

Preston smiles and extends his hand to Alex, "Consider my secrecy bought. Mission brief now or later?"

With any luck, this'll stick it to Big A.

The gruff orc speaks up, "I can keep my mouth shut. Now you wanna get to the part where you tell us what the frag we just agreed to?"

While chomping on the puff pastry Ran was ever so generous enough to give him, Cosmo just quietly mumbles something about "I knew we shoulda asked for some profit sharing, man... no one ever listens," but it's even more quiet than his normal voice.

A few moments later after Alex asks his question, he pipes up with a surge of energy. Unfortunately, it doesn't show. "Yeah, what he said." He points a chunky finger in the ork's general direction.

Cougar frowns for a second. "Why the hell would we need to bring our vehicles underground?"

If they can afford this, then they can certainly afford to pay us what we asked for. This seems too good to be true.

Ghost Dragon stands silently and looks around at his surroundings as the elevator descends. As layers of bedrock and shaft sections pass by slowly, he listens to the rest of the conversation.

They are going to kill us when they are through with us. They will try at least. I will be ready...

"This facility will be the 'jumping' off point for all your missions. You will leave and return, here. The base itself has an infirmary, with a complete surgical suite, a motor pool with enough tools and machinery to repair just about anything. We have six Echelon Seven-seven Mainframe 'trix emulators to work with the advanced theoretical science that our people work on. We also have a science lab, and armory stocked with a variety of Ares, and non Ares weapons, as well as sleeping facilities for anyone who wishes to stay over night. The facility has it's own atmosphere and power generators so we can last indefinitely if for some reason we were cut off," Emma taps him on the shoulder interrupting him, "were almost there," Alex says.

Preston lets out a low whistle, We shoulda asked for more mooney.

"Great place Alex. I assume we'll also be getting keys to executive washroom?"

Then it dawns on him. He said jump. Why would you put a staging area on the docks in the sprawl?

"I know you'll probably get to this later, but is this going to be an underwater op? Because I didn't renew my lifeguard certification."

The only sign that Whisper even acknowledged the floor moving from under them was the sharp rise of her perpetually lowered gaze. To her, the world exploded into a bold overlay of reds, violets, and greens as she looked more closely at her surroundings .. so much that she almost seemed to be tasting the air as they descended. She wasn't surprised that no one had really listened to anyone else in discussing their 'price tag' neither was she looking forward, however, to a six-month retainership working with those who may or may not trust each other's judgement.

Well, you got yourself into this business, hmm? Pray that you live long enough to do what needs doing and get yourself out again.

A slight grimace crossed her rather plain features as she considered this. Local?How far could they, we, be going? She thought another moment, tilting her head to one side. Gate Technologies; something to do with travel, then, but why call us? Or maybe it's GATE Technologies....

In the time it took for her to cross one slim leg over the other, Whisper's demeanor had shifted subtly, her attention finally caught on something she could work with. She wouldn't admit (even to herself) that the prospects were exciting; she hadn't had free license to requisition anything under the stars in almost half a year; perhaps she could even continue her research ... a rare grin spread across her lips as she remembered how close she'd been before the fire.

Ran fights against a sense of impending doom that grows as the group is lowered further down the shaft. Her hand reflexively slides beneath her longcoat and closes around the grip of her katana, and for once, she doesn't force it back down.

She couldn't help but wonder what the hell she had gotten herself into, but of more concern to her was the fact that she wasn't getting much of a vibe from anyone in the group. Everyone seemed to be studiously ignoring each other. Whatever trust or camaraderie they managed to build, if they ever did, would be hard won.

Of course, on the bright side, it would all be a moot point if they were dead.

Os takes all of this in, but in a world where what was myth up until forty or so years ago now takes to the sky and orders thickshakes, a concealed service elevator isn't what you'd call extraordinary.

His mouth curls up into a grin at the mention of the armoury.

The elevator rumbles for a second as it shifts from the rail in the wall to standing rails. The floor descends again this time quickly opening up into a room. As the floor drops below the wall a large room opens up. The room is large enough to fit two tractor trailers side by side. Just north of the elevator is a large double door. Stenciled on it in red letters it says:

VEHICLES ONLY

There are smaller doors on the other side of the room. Two security guards, both human, wait at the bottom as the lift settles into the floor. They are carrying clipboards and scanners.

"We need to issue each of you an id, now I understand you wont want to use your real name so whatever you give the security personnel is fine, it is keyed on your bio scan anyways."

After the elevator hit the ground floor, Cosmo just continued to stand there, largely ignored by the others.

"That was cool."

He steps off and approaches one of the security guards. "So, like, do we do this now or, uh, yeah..." He looks up at the human. "Uh, the name's Cosmo. Cosmo, uhm, J... uh.... Smith. Yeah. Cosmo J. Smith."

Cougar follows the little stoner and grunts out his name when asked, "Cougar."

Bio scan, hmm?

"And upon the completion of our c-contract? What of these scan re- .. records? You buy our secrecy easily enough b-but ... well, I'm sure you understand my c-c-concern."

With a bit of a flush, Whisper looks straight ahead, refusing to flinch under the scrutiny (imaginary or no) of the others. Silly to mention a concern now, of course, but it always helped to plan ahead if you had at least some idea what to expect.

Alex smiles disarmingly, "the scan is just a body temperature and mass index. No physical specimens are taken. The computer can positively ID you well enough from that information. If you are concerned about what we do with this information I would be willing to go along with whatever you suggest. Including giving Cosmo," he nods to the Dwarf, "full access to our computers to ensure this information isn't leaked."

"John Doe," Os says, eyeing the security guards from behind his sunglasses. "I hope you don't want us to take a physical."

The guard holding the ID maker chuckles as he prints out Os's ID. A picture of him and the name 'John Doe' are printed on the card. Along with a bar code. He hands one to each person who gives them a name.

"No," Alex says, "no physical, but you can understand the need for security in a highly secret facility like this."

Ran gives the guard the name "Ayumi Yoshikawa", her face completely straight, as usual.

She frowns at Alex's mention of a body scan. She understood the necessity, given the evident secrecy of the operation, but like most Shadowrunners, her identification was a point of concern to her. Her concern might, in fact, be more acute than those around her.

She also didn't have reason to trust Cosmo any more than she did Alex. But she didn't have any better ideas.

There are never any guarantees. A familiar phrase, spoken by a familiar voice, some time long ago.

I've got your guarantee right here, she thought.

Ghost Dragon puts back on his sunglasses. He stands in front of the guard and confidently says in his usual dark and quiet tone, "Ghost Dragon," before being scanned.

Torque steps up the machine. He notes the humming sound as it performs the scan.
Only body heat and mass. Do they really think we're that stupid? How can they make a halfway decent ID from that? Body heat changes cyclically over the day and also alters according to physical and digestive activity and even emotional state. Body mass alters all the time, any person here would have to continually get new IDs every time they implanted a new piece of cyberware, or even got flustered and blushed because they had a lewd thought about a cute secretary. They can't possibly be using those to scan.

So they're lying to us already. I wonder what the machine's really measuring. Probably some sort of cellular scan, similar to a high-end credstick I imagine. Well it's not the first time a Johnson's lied to the runners. I just hope this isn't going to be the norm around here.

Torque: "Call me Torque."

The guard hands him an ID with the name "Call Me Torque" printed on it. Torque glowers. The guard grins.

The guard chuckles again and hands Torque his real ID.

"Sorry, I couldn't help it."

Whisper arches an eyebrow skeptically and half-smiles, not really believing Alex's simple explanation any more than she believed earning 30k a month for six months indicated that any of them were assured of living that long. With a light shrug she glanced over to Cosmo, flushing bright red.

"What do you suggest then, Mr C-Cosmo .. Smith? Since you seem to be the one to talk to about this...."

Preston rolls his eyes and takes off his sunglasses.

"Preston Chase."

Meh, I have to get a new doss after this. Mi'aswell get a new name, too.

Nodding slowly and not seeming at all put off by the psychadelic dwarf's speech patterns or the fact that she'd already given her name, Whisper extended her hand and smiled shyly.

"It's Whisper, not ma'am, and it's quite all right; I seem to have that effect on people."

Brushing aside a bit of the sandy hair that always fell across her face, she gave the dwarf's hand a careful squeeze (if he did indeed want to shake hands) and strode towards the guards, offering her name up quietly despite the eloquent blush that seemed never to leave her face.