"Comes with the marker, toots."

"Thanks, Vinnie. What would I do without you?" Without waiting for a reply, Steel hangs up and nods to Ibs. "Vinnie's willing to sell us the marker for 10k, along with anything you could possibly want to know about the man in question."

Iblis smiles sweetly and reaches into her concealed holsters. "Well, I have Mr. Bang-Bang." With that she places the two heavily modified heavy pistols on the ground. She pulls back her sleeves revealing two more concealed holsters. "Then there's Bang-Bang Junior." With a deft twist the two modified light pistols pop into her hands and she places them next to the other guns. She turns and digs into her bag and pulls out a machine pistol. "Of course, if things get more annoying than I like I have Mama Bang right now to ease the tension." She tosses the machine pistol back in the bag. "I have a few other up close and nasty surprises if it goes that way." With a raised eyebrow. "Or where you referring to something else?"

Nameless shakes his head. "Nope, that's it. Although I've been wondering about this for awhile. Is there a Papa Bang? Just curious." He smiles and shrugs, then turns to them both.

"How are you two planning on sneaking in? Raw skills, or you got some tricks of the trade I might want to know about? I'm planning on coming up with some disguises for us to buy some time if we're spotted, but if you're packing ruthenium or something, I won't waste my time."

"Pure skill," Steel says with a smile, "but disguises are definitely a good thing, just in case."

:: Moe raises her hand. ::

"I've go' rhutheniums, so Im covered."

Iblis replies right after Moe. "I was going to do both."

Nameless looks over at Moe.

"So I assume you're also volunteering for the stealth team then?"

"Well It looks like all of you gots a way inta boat but what about me? Are we gonna wrap me in rhuthenium and sneak me in? Or is the big boss man gonna work his mojo and get me in that way?"

"I can cover you up until I go astral to take out their spirit. The insertion team will need to either enter the boat before I do that or wait until I'm back in my body. The easier solution would be to have Loki summon up my spirit support group before we go, and he should have plenty of time to be get rested and sustain the invis spell on you, while I'm out of my body."

"OK then. So what do we need to do between now and then boss? I'll start getting uniforms ready for the stealth team. I count myself, Moe, Iblis, and Steel. Did I miss anyone?"

Nameless looks around for responses.

"I need Steel to go down to Vinnie's and buy the marker and get the info we have on him. Moe needs to get in touch with Schnell about the boat and how we are arranging to get out there. Diesel is locating the grenades to neutralize the guards in case the ventilation plan doesn't work. Iblis is going to get control of the boat tonight during its uplink to the satellite system. Nameless, I need you to get to work on the disguises and when we have the info on the second officer, you and Loki will do some recon work to see what we can exploit. I'm going to need to memorize this map so that I will be able to navigate around the boat astrally and not lose track of everything. Unlike in buildings, the boat will constantly be moving the location of my body and I really don't want to lose that.

"Everybody has their assignments, get to work. Keep in touch with me if you need anything. I'll serve as the operator until we get back on comms. Nameless if you can foot the bill, I can give a call to see if we can get some ruthenium in your size."

Jake finishes passing out marching orders and starts opening cabinets to find where the coffee beans are hidden, before grinding them in the plaid contraption and adding the powdered gift of the gods to the zebra striped machine. He takes down the green cup that says "Innocent bystander" and waits for the coffee to finish brewing.

Steel nods. "I'm on it. The marker's ten thousand." She tilts her head, biting her lip, then shakes her head. "Hell let's call it fifteen hundred each and I'll pick up the slack."

She grabs her duster and pauses by the door, hand outstretched. "Pony up and I'll be back asap."

Jake still having the payment for this job, hands over 10k.

Nameless walks over to Jake while he's waiting for the coffee.

"Hey Bossman, what you thinkin about this one? You got any feelings one way or another just yet?"

While he's waiting for the response, he starts sketching out some ideas for disguises and playing around with different uniform ideas.

Before Jake can answer, he adds, "Oh yeah, and I can't foot for the ruthenium. Too expensive man." He shakes his head. "Gonna have to go straight skills for this one." Grinning, he adds, "Not like that's anything new. I figure, I made it this long, I can make it a little longer. I'll put that stuff on my shopping list. I'll get working on the disguises in a nanosec, I just wanted to hear your thoughts first."

He looks over at Jake.

"I'm hoping that Iblis will be able to let us know more about the ship when she does her snooping or that the second mate can give us the inside track. As long as we don't try to hurt the civilians and focus on the sec-team, we won't have horrible odds against us. I think the uniforms should be simple solid color coveralls--let's get the second mate on the phone once we have the marker, hopefully that'll give us a glimpse of what you're aiming for."

"Gotcha boss." Nameless starts working on the uniforms. He'll put the finishing touches on when they talk to the second mate.

Steel heads off into the night to pick up said marker.

Diesel heads off to the other room to give Earl a call

After the usuial 20 to 30 rings an answering machine finally picks up and Diesel leaves the usuial type of message

"Hey you mother fragger you really should stat answering you phone you might have a customer once and awhile. I need about 24 Neurostun grenades either today or tomorrow. Let me know if ya can get em."

A fresh cup of coffee later, Jake sits down on the couch and begins memorizing the layout of the boat. While his body seems relaxed, Jake's eyes show the intensity of his attention.

Time to study and wait for things to come.

:: Moe nods and grabs a couple of the hideous poptart nasties before heading back out to her van. Pausing in the door, she smiles as she watches the team settle into their groove. It kinda reminded her of home a bit, but those memories never end well. Her smile fades slightly, but she shakes her head unconsciously and slips out to her home away from home. ::

:: Shortly, the rumble of the van can be heard before it fades in the distance. She plugs in a preprogramed route to take her to Bull's pad as she leans back in her chair and dials the number they've been given for Schnell. ::

"'ello mate! Niame's Moe, Vinnie gave us ya numba. Said ya could 'elp wif a li''le job ou' on'da big scary ocean..."

Tuesday, April 6th, 2064 - 1:00pm

Moe - The voice that comes back on the phone is very American, despite the german handle.

"Vinnie mentioned you might be calling. Why don't you send someone down to the docks to talk details? I'm at the Clear Skies Smooth Seas yacht club, on 54th, slip 43."

Steel - Downtown traffic is a slitch, and you spend a good two hours cutting lanes in between aggravated commuters and truckers crowded the highway. The visit with Vinnie is brief, more an exchange of chips, and his attention is completely captured by the other guy he's talking with. Talk, sporting an expensive suit, and no neck. Vinnie also appears to be sweating, even more then expected for the humid dock air. Once you get back to Ib's, you check the disk and get a name, Victor Gregory. 1 wife, 3 kids, all live in Vladivostock. He's into the family, or rather, into you now for 10k of bad gambling debts. There's an LTG number attached.

Diesel - Earl calls back within an hour or so.

"Four days, you lunk, no sooner. And I'd pick up my phone more often if people like you didn't call." Loving and appreciative as always, that Earl.

:: Moe grins at the phone, though there's no video output. ::

"On ma'way luv!"

:: Speeding through the traffic, she maneuvers through the lanes with the deftness of a butterfly, always seeking the path of least resistence. Her expertise isn't know to the commuters around her however, and she gets her fair share of honking horns and angry shouts. ::

"Then dont worry about it then Diesel says as he hangs up the phone"

Diesel then walks over to Jake and says

"Sorry boss man it looks like the neurostun grenades are outta the question Earl caint get em for a good 4 days."

Jake stirs out of his reverie at the sound of his name and looks up at his mega-sized associate.

"Alright, I'll see if Steel can add a few to our order with Vinnie since he's providing the rest of the neurostun for us."

Jake extends his hand to Diesel and is almost bodily lifted off the couch. He moves into the kitchen where Steel and Iblis are looking over the data from the marker. He notes the address in Vladivostock as it scrolls past on the flat screen and sighs lightly.

"Thanks for getting that for us, hon." Jake rests his hand on Steel's shoulder. "Would it be possible for me to ask one more favor? Diesel's contact can't get the gas grenades--would it be possible for you to call Vinnie and try to add it to our order for the neurostun that he said he'd have ready in the morning?"

The Italian swordsman looks pensive as lays further tasks upon a team that has already been given several during the legwork part of their run.

Steel smiles at Jake. "Sure, I'll give him a call," she says, "He seemed pretty distracted last time I was there, though, and Vinnie in a bad mood is an unhelpful Vinnie. I will try, though." She shrugs off Jake's hand and steps aside to make her call.

Iblis moves back towards her deck. "Let me check out this LTG and see what I find. Watch the screen if you're interested." She slumps back into her beanbag and jacks in. The screen attached to the deck flares to life as her icon leaps out into the matrix.

Iblis - You start with the basic public listings, just covering all your bases, and find out that the number is publicly registered to your mark, and is just a personal contact number.

Iblis drops back into the real world and opens her eyes. "Just his digits." She stands up and stretches a little. "So how do we want to work this? Are we going to try to put the squeeze on this fella?"

"Let's do it," Loki says.

"Alright, grab the big guy. Diesel and I are going to lean pretty heavily on this one. Love-Bunny is there somewhere you can set up a vid phone so that he can see the two of us and the rest of you can listen in without being in his LOS? Also, can you bounce this phone-call around a little bit, in case he gets enough spine to try and trace it."

Jake closes his eyes for a second, breathes deeply and opens them again. His body seems to be the same, but the humanity has been stripped off of his smooth veneer and seems intent on simply killing something. With the sword strapped across his back to show visibly on the vid-phone, he also grabs a knife out of his workbag and begins toying with one edge.

"Anything you want me to do right now bossman?" Nameless looks up from where he's working on the disguises.

Jake glances at Nameless and looks almost through him for an instant.

"Yeah, get everyone wired up on comms, channel C. Have them keep an ear open whether they are here or not. That way if someone catches something we can communicate without the mark noticing. Also try and get a good picture of what this guy is wearing, we may need to adjust your uniforms to match."

Elsewise and Otherwhere...

An icon ghosts through a house, an obviously stylized version of a young man, no more then 16 or 17. Tall, lean, and fit, he looked like the poster child for a healthy, active childhood. He slipped through, weaving around cluttered piles of furniture, paintings, and bric-a-brac. He pauses outside a door marked, "secCam", reaching into a non-existent pocket to draw out an old fashioned lockpick gun, applying it to the door and squeezing the trigger a few times. The door audibly unlocks, and the lockpick disappears.

He grins and pushes the door open. He's blasted with a wave of white static, and he tosses his arms up in front to shield his eyes. He flicks open a pair of sunglasses and squints, reaching out and stemming the flow with his hands, shaping it down into a small, single flat screen, images flowing across it.

Around the corner a small drone stalks, nothing more then two legs and a large camera, sweeping back and forth, obviously looking for something.

In the room the boys head suddenly jerks up, swiveling towards the searcher even though he obviously can't see it. He drops the screen to the floor, the square shattering back into a flare of white noise as it hits the ground, and he moves. Like lightning, like light itself, he flows back out of the house, slamming the door soundly as he goes.

Tuesday, April 6th, 2064 - 2:00pm

The man that answers the trid is tall, probably almost 6', and has the build of someone that does physical labor for a living. He's dressed in bright orange coveralls and a rough sweater, and both his beard and hair are short and scraggly. He looks a little confused for a minute upon seeing Jake, and then spots Diesel. His eyes go wider, and he's obviously got some idea about the content of the call. A rough Russian accent tinges his speech.

"Hello? What do you want?"

"Well," Jake begins his Italian accent pulling strongly through his generally smooth English. "Quite simply, I was going to offer you a chance to get into my good graces. Words on the street was that you owed the family ten big ones, now I own your marker and you can either make life easy on yourself or your wife will get to learn just how big trolls are, and I'm not talking about their muscles. So are you willing to help me or will I have to break a few things first?"

After wiring everyone up on the comms, Channel C, as Jake instructed, Nameless watched the man carefully to pick up any clues he could as to uniforms and mannerisms, anything to help make the disguises more realistic.

Moe - You make the meet location in plenty of time, traffic parting beneath your skill like water. The slip holds a sleek looking pleasure boat, probably 8-10 meteres long. It looks like the kind of boat your everyday sarariman would like to impress friends and co-workers, and it looks like 30 other ones in the yacht club.

As you stroll up, there's a man working on deck, up to his arms in something under a panel. He glances up as you approach, and grabs a nearby rag, wiping his hands clean before and stepping over to the edge of the boat to offer you a hand in greeting. He's not overly tall, probably under two meteres, with close cropped brown hair, speckled with grey, and no younger then 40 or so. He looks fit, but the kind of fit that comes from being naturally active, as opposed to someone that works out.

"Moe, I assume?" he grins, basically eye level due to the difference between the deck of the boat and the dock.

Jake - The man gulps visibly, glancing quickly around his area and leaning close to the phone. "What...what do you want?"

:: Moe give's a short wave as she smiles brightly. ::

"Nice ride....dis da boat?"

:: She sizes the vessel up a bit. While looking innocent at the docks, is the boat capable of doing the tasks they will need it too, does it look equipped to handle the rough open ocean, particularily well enough to use it to board another boat. ::

"What I want is simple. I want you to tell me what you have on your ship as it relates to security forces. I want you to tell me their schedules. And, lastly, I want you to arrange an accident that will slow your vessel down for a few hours when I give you the word. Do those three things and I will leave your family out of our business arrangements in the future. Fail on any of them and you will find out exactly how unpleasant life can become."

Jake trails the back edge of the survival knife down his forearm, not drawing blood but leaving an obvious mark from the blade's path. He waits for the weight of the words to sink in.

After Jake is finished his threats Diesel moves his massive frame into the viewscreen (or at least what of it will fit)

"Listen bub I suggest you do exactly what the boosman says cause you dont want me giving you or your wife visit. As lonely as I've been these days I really dont care if its you her or the both of you at once."

Diesel lets his words sink in for a second then licks his tusks at the viewscreen.

Diesel and Jake - The man shudders visibily, swallows, and seems to gather up a bit of courage.

"If I do these things for you, they will know. I will be lucky to get back to port without being 'lost' overboard. It will be hard to find work....If I do these for you, I am done? No more coming for me, or my family?"

Moe - The boat is a modified yamatestu Valkyrie (Swordsmen), about 25' long, and fairly sleek. You run an experienced eye over the boat, and you can see the minor changes. Flanges on the sides for thermal dampening, increased intake and venting holes that would indicate a high performance engine. It's not a jet boat, but it will move, and if he's any good, it'll be hard to spot. Plus, it'll carry all of you, a troll, and your gear. You wouldn't take more then a few hours from shore, but that's all you're looking for.

"This is it, my baby. I call her Angelica. She'll get you out and back, no problems. I've got a pair of overhead eyes for the long view, too."

:: Moe runs a hand along the polished rim and smiles, a hint of her love of vehicles showing as she embraces the beauty of the well tuned machine. ::

"Lov'ly....ne'er had much chance ta drive in tha water. I've go' sum additional eyes for the skies as well. Mind showin' me about? I'd luv ta get a look at wot makes her run."

Moe - Schnell smiles and reaches out to help you aboard.

"Wouldn't mind at all. Not often I get to show her off to someone that will appreciate it."

The boat isn't long enough to need anything approximating a serious tour, but he does show you the front cabin. The small area betrays the external appearance, obviously devoted to work. A full bank of sensors is arrayed along one wall, with a smaller terminal set aside giving a constant sonar read out. There's also a reclined seat, complete with a harness.

With sweep of his arm, he indicates the cabin. "Control center. 's where I do most of my piloting from."

Back towards the aft, he pops the hatch that provides access to the engine compartment. The engine fairly gleams, and as expected, has been heavily modified. Performance parts have replaced most of the stock engine, and thermal and sound baffles line the compartment.

"If you do it, we are done. No reprisals, unless your information is wrong."

Jake and Diesel -

"And the money! My debt is gone!" He gestures vehemently, desperation waging it's war with fear on his face.

"If your information is correct, then yes all of our business will be concluded." Jake sets the large knife down on the table in front of him.

"Be warned, I will know very quickly if your information is wrong and I will not feel the slightest qualm about killing your family while you watch if you betray me. Now, tell me what I want to know."

Jake and Diesel - The man nods quickly, obviously relieved.

"I'll send a file, in two hours. I can't sit here on line and give all to you. 2 hours. Wait till then."

"Very well, two hours." Jake reaches forward and disconnects the call. He turns to the rest of the team and the violence almost tangibly pours out of him leaving the more jovial man they knew before.

"Iblis, can you go watch the system just to make sure he doesn't place any other calls in the next two hours? Everyone else, Big D excepted, are we ready to roll in there and do this non-lethally? The actual security force I don't care if you kill or not, but apply minimal casualties to the ship's crew. If you need to get gel rounds now would be the time to do it."

With another round of marching orders passed out, Jake heads to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water.

Iblis gives a mock salute. "On it J-J."