"I'll do my best, but without the proper hardware I can't gauruntee anything." Evans replies. "Cranial bombs are rather difficult to detect unless I slice open the person in question, but by then it would be too late."

Evan - The only wound you see is the one you patched up earlier. It's possible something might have been implanted in there, and as uncommon as it might be, an explosive charge going off in the chest cavity would be just as fatal as a head wound, if less messy.

Watching Evans work, Eric waits until he looks to be at a stopping point.

"What's the verdict doc?"

"No go. I can't confirm anything without proper exam tools."

"Well, I may have something that can help."

Eric pulls back the jacket to reach into his pack.

"No, wait, it's at home. I have a bugscanner that I can pick up to check Lee over. The only problem is unless the tracker is active, it won't trigger."

Looking around the hangar, the thief shrugs. It's not home, but it will suffice for work. I just wonder where everyone else is...

"Hey Evans, can you keep an eye out for the team while I look over the info that the Johnson gave us?"

Slotting the chip into the custom-deck, Eric settles his back against the side of the couch and jacks in. AS his body goes limp, a small stonework room appears before him. He runs his hands over the smooth finish of the heavy wood chair; settled he unrolls the scrolls which represent the file.

Eric - The data on the chip is laid out like an old 1950's propaganda pamphlet for nuclear attack.

"The house sits on five acres in Snohomish. Be careful, Snohomish is meta-human unnnn-friendly. The area is surrounded by 2 metre tall plascrete walls topped with mono wire. Monowire can be very dangerous, and should only be handled by trained professionals with the right tools..." Stuff like that. Somebody had too much time on their hands and a warped sense of humor. The hard data boils down like this:

The blueprints on the grounds are extensive, showing a 26 room mansion out in Snohomish. The grounds are extensive, with a full 10 acres surrounding the location. The entire area is walled, and the notations regarding the 2 metre thick plascrete with the reinforced steel core. The map also gives the location of the 2 guard gates at the only two breeches in the wall. The guards are armed with assualt rifles, flak vests, and helmets. The gate guards shack is approximately 5 metres square, and also of plascrete with heavy duty ballistic glass. The ram guards that secure both the front and rear entrances are solid steel, and look capable of stopping a large semi.

The wall is topped with monowire, and there are notions indicating motion and seismic sensors set in regular intervals along the walls. The map marks exterior patrol routes for the roaming guards, although the routes vary slightly. The guards travel with barghests and hellhounds, and are armed with SMG's and Armored Jackets.

The land directly adjacent to the house is lit with high power flood lamps, although judging by the map there may be several small sections that fall in shadow, according to the lay of the house.

The house itself has a central section and two wings. There are two main entrances leading into the central section, and two side entrances on the other two compass points leading into the wings. The map indicates external security in the form of rotating camera's covering the exterior of the building, and four weapons platforms linked to the security sysem at each of the corners of the building.

The grounds also sport a lake, complete with a cabana house, a garage, a stable, and a small work shed for the lawn crew. The northwest section of the property is heavily wooded, although still covered by the security wall and guard route.

No information is given on the security on the interior of the building.

Bloodmoon

A knock at the door announces Bloodmoon's arrival at the meeting location. "Sorry," she says as she notices the already gathered teammates, "didn't want the cab to drop me off too close to here." An extra breath and the smallest hint of perspiration are the only clue that the slight woman just jogged 3 miles at a startling pace.

Joli takes a deep breath as she exits her car. Taking a moment she looks around the area, getting her bearings. She confirms the address one last time before letting herself in. "So any plans yet?"

Hearing Joli's voice over the intercom, Eric engages the override system on his deck to allow muscular control. His eyes are still glazed over as he speaks aloud.

"N-Not y-yet. I'm still r-reading the p-plans. G-Give me a f-few minutes."

His will strains against the combined signals of the real world and the artificial one crafted by the simsense programs in the deck.

Tombstone stands impassively, blending into the background more than you would expect a tall ork to. His bodyguarding experience has taught him patience, and his sleep regulator has made him even less twitchy, but he is still fighting impatience. He doesn't like standing around... his thoughts tend to turn morbid, as he ponders all of the ways that this job could be a setup, or compromised by the opposition from the very start.

He is itching to look at that chip himself - he would rather have the information at least second-hand. If he gets it after his employer and the decker put their own spin on it, he could miss something really important.

He nods in greeting when Bloodmoon and Jolli show up. The rest should arrive soon. "Hopefully we weren't followed," he thinks. "If Jester had only told me that he was headed for one of his safehouses, I would have suggested some bar or diner instead. When another team of runners is in the mix, it's way too easy to go from hunter to hunted."

"So is anyone here a tactical genius?" Joli picks a spot by a wall away from doors and windows. "I'm afraid I don't have much experience in that department. We need a plan and soon to get the bonus."

With the whole group assembled, it doesn't take long for the standard awkwardness to melt away. Everyone knows each other, with the exception of Lee, and you all trust each other, to one degree or another. This makes the air in the hanger slightly less tense then it might have been otherwise.

Eric finally reaches the end of the file, assimilating and sorting the information presented as the file finishes it's presentation.

Lee is quiet, keeping to himself in the corner, already looking groggy as dawn starts to fill the sky outside the delapidated hanger.

Blackjack asks, "Hey, Eric, can I take a look at that file too?"

Jester nods as each person enters the hangar. The building isn't very big, and smells of industrial lubricants. The living area contains a couch, a tridee and a matrix port. A small refrigerator sits off to the side stocked with beer, and various self heating rations.

Jester disappears for a few moments; he changes from his street clothes to loose fitting overalls with patches on the elbow and knees.

"When everyone is here I have a few ideas. The chopper, while big is actually really quiet."

Eric's body give one violent jerk as the muscles spontaneously have control released back to themselves. He pulls the cord out of his skull and looks over to Blackjack.

"Yeah, I can plug it into the Trid, unless you want to just ride on a hitcher."

He moves across the hangar, separates out the wires that he will need and bypasses the satellite feed with the deck to give a signal to the Trideo. Tapping a few commands on the keyboard, he accesses the chip and routes the display for everyone to see.

"Here's what we've got on the house. Some magic talent may want to look over it to see how heavily warded the place is, unless Lee can tell us what his team was able to come up with. As for ideas, if property damage doesn't matter, I'd say fly over the house--have a few people just start throwing grenades around to distract the guards while some stealth types rappel down, kick in the door and steal the box.

A smash and grab would surely not be graceful, but it would certainly rattle the cages of anyone hiding and bring them out into the open."

"The Hind is probably quieter than you think. I bet if we picked a very dark night we could fly over all sneaky like and land people on the roof, then if a distraction were needed I could strafe the guards with the HMG on the nose."

Blackjack bites her lip thoughtfully, and then she says, "What about automated security systems? Maybe Eric and I can hack into their systems and cause some trouble to distract them."

Joli stretches and moves her arm slightly as Sebastian shifts in from the astral, perching on her shoulder. "Everyone new, this is Sebastian. Mommy's little helper." The small drake flicks his tongue out and winks. "I think we're probably best off with a plan that involves a team hitting them hard and fast while the more subtle members of the team actually take care of the theft. I like the idea of messing up their security system."

"I think it'd be difficult for us to make too many plans without first getting some more information," Bloodmoon says, "and I think Mr. Lee is the perfect one to help us out with that." Turning towards the, until now ignored man, she gives him a friendly smile. "Mr. Lee, I'm Bloodmoon, and I was hoping you could help us out. Our Johnson said you were part of the original team that was contracted. Can you give us any first hand information? What happened to you out there?"

"I agree, why don't you fill us in?"

Jester, until now was leaning against the choppers tail." As he spoke he moved around to the fridge and grabbed himself a beer.

Lee starts as his name is spoken, wincing with pain as he stands, rubbing the hole in shoulder. A small raccoon appears at his side, peering anxiously up and trying to help him stand. He smiles down at it fondly, and turns back to the group, bags under his eyes as he tries to recount yesterday night.

"Well, the attack on the safehouse was fast...smoke and then phospherus grenades came in through the windows in all four of the main rooms. I was in the living room, and scrambled behind the couch when the first one came in. We started scrambling out when the phospherus went off...We didn't have comm's, most everyone was asleep, and the one guy on watch was covered in white flames and screaming..." He visibly shudders, pulling himself together with obvious effort.

He drags a hand across his face. "Well, I slid out through the bedroom window, hoping whoever was outside didn't have the sides without doors covered...made it almost across the street before they caught me," indicating the wound in his shoulder.

"I never saw anyone, but they must have been pretty high powered rifles...the kid's head pretty much exploded..."

"As for the compound, we didn't have a whole lot more on the external security then you do. We did a drive by to check the house out, and there's a hefty ward around it.The house is big, so we figure they have a mage on staff. The interior has guards and camera's, but no animals or automated defenses. The kid managed to hack the system a little, pulled some footage on a door to a room without a camera in it, but that was maked 'Private' or something like that, and had a camera starting at it at all times. We figured that was where they were keeping the chip case. The kid was gonna tweak the camera's and the turrent sensors...we couldn't turn the turrets all the way off, but we could shut down part of what they're seeing."

Tombstone listens intently as Lee speaks, his hands steepled under his chin. "So... you did a drive-by of the place. That might have been enough, if they're paranoid even for organized crime. Which they might well be, if they know they have something their enemies want. I have my own, darker suspicions about the matter, but I'll get to that later."

"Jolli, any other time I would agree with you about using part of the team as a distraction, but this is a worst-case scenario. They know we're coming. Anything conspicuous will make them suspicious, instead of distracting them. Honestly, that roof idea sounds best. Negate their security by coming in from the sky. We still need to go over the security thoroughly, though. If our ride gets shot down, we'll need to make our escape through hostile territory. And the deckers will definitely be earning their pay... I suspect that guns alone won't get us past that room's security."

He looks around at the others. "Two last things, though. First, let's watch the collateral damage and casualties, and do it as clean as we can. The pay is not worth getting a heavy hitter to take it personally. Second, let's watch our backs. Someone on our employer's side may have tipped our target off Let's also not discount the possibility that our employer, who seems to rarely use runners, will prefer tying up the loose ends to paying us the rest of our ill-gotten gains. Also, if we do our best and fail, we need to be ready to lay low for awhile, or even skip town. We may need to do that if we succeed, too, considering how vindictive organized crime figures can be."

Blackjack looks around at the others to guage their reactions, a look of trepidation on her face. Ideas start spinning in her head about how to get in and tweak the house's systems.

Record a feed and then play it back in a loop... if we do it late at night, there will be fewer people going in and out. I'll bet the ward has something to do with how they were tracked down. Gotta ask our mage... This is so hopeless! I should have just walked right from the start!

No! Keep it together! None of these guys seem like the take charge type. Do I really have to be the one to do it? I wonder how they'll take being bossed around by a woman. This might even be sort of fun!

Matrix access to the place is probably as tight as the physical defenses... ick. There has to be a way to get into their grid. Lee knows.

Biting her lip, Blackjack says softly at first, "Guys.." and then continuing on nervously, "uh.. I think maybe we're in over our heads on this one.. maybe. Uh.. but if we're gonna do this.. we need a plan, and we need information.. "

Feeling a little more confident, Blackjack continues speaking, "Lee, what kind of a ward was it that was around the place? Were they able to track you all down by using it somehow? Also, can you tell us what kind of security they have on their matrix? I need to know how you planned to gain control of their security systems and why you couldn't control them completely. And do you know how they tracked you? We need to know everything that you found out about the place."

Smiling again, like her usual self, she says, "Then we can make a plan!"

Jester stiffens a bit at the suggestion that his bird might get shot down.

"It will take more than small arms fire to take down the Hind I guarantee. Most places lack any kind of security that points up any ways, but I can always spray and pray with the HMG on the nose. But like I said, she's quiet, real quiet, they may not even know where coming until you step off on the roof."

Eric moves over to the cyber-armed woman. Her tension and fear almost seems to billow outwards in waves.

Whispering softly, "Hold it together love, if we want to make it it to next week, we're all going to need to rely on each other."

More loudly, "Lee how did your decker get access to the system? If we can get that information, we may be able to utilize the same weakness and get the info we need. My specialty is forgery and file editing, so if our decker can download a copy of one of the admin files, I will be able to set us up with similar rights. As far as the guns inside go, they may work to our advantage--if they use a sensor to determine who is a friend or not, we may be able to jam the signals and let the guns cut down the internal security for us before we take them offline."

The thief then mimes to Jester if he can help himself to a beer.

Jester nods, mouthing, "mi casa es sucasa."

Nodding gratefully and smiling, Eric crosses the hangar over to the fridge and pulls out a beer. He comes back into the center of the room and keys up his deck to add the presence of a ward as a sickly green and black dome over the manor.

Lee shakes his head, taking a seat on the corner of a table as some of the grogginess seems to wear off.

"No no...the security guns are on the outside, on all four corners of the roof. They're turrets, but we don't know what's in them besides sensors...could be missles, and they could fire up," he says, glancing at Jester," could be chain guns. We don't know. And our decker went in through the Matrix.... As far as the wards go, it looked like a simple astral barrier from what we could see from the outside. We didn't really get any closer though. Our mage sent a bunch of watcher spirits floating across the lawn to bait the paranormal critters and see what kind of a response he got though...I suppose that might have gotten them upset enough to track us down if they guessed what we were doing."

"Damn, sounds like a fort. turrets that point up eh. What is the likely hood that you could disable those turrets, Blackjack?"

Blackjack straightens up and says, "I don't know. It would depend on how hard it is to access them and how hardened they are against hacking. Given enough time, I'm sure I could do it."

Bloodmoon continues to listen to Lee's narrative attentively, knowing that any of his information could be vital to thier success, and possibly lives. "Thank you for your infomation Lee, that is helpful. Did your legwork find out anything about the chip case? And who were your attackers - do you remember anything of what they looked like or how many there were?"

Lee shakes his head, the small raccon patting his hand comfortingly.

"No, never saw the slitches that fragged the rest of the team. No visual at all. I'd guess they were hidden pretty well and pretty far away, maybe even ruthenium. We didn't find out anything about the chip case except that it had just come in last week, and that we think it's in the one 'black' room with no cameras." He seems exhausted just from talking, and slumps back down to his place against the wall, glancing up at the group wearily.

"So it looks like roof top is out, unless we can disable those turrets. We could use Nightgliders and go in super quiet. Or do a air drop and 'chute onto the roof. It seems to me that going over the wall is suicide. Which is why I keep sugesting the roof."

Blackjack nods and says, "Right! If we tried to go in on the ground, we might not make it very far. Flying in gives us some lead time. What if they can call in aerial reinforcements though? We could get shot down!"

Joli clears her throat to get the group's attention. "I can offer a solution there. I probably won't be much help inside. I have little skill for B & E work but what I can do is combat magic. I am more than willing to take on the outside security and any possible aid they summon. I can bring some help in the form of spirits. Very BIG spirits. I might not be able to stop them all but I can keep them busy long enough for the inside team to get the goods."

Lee nods in agreement with Jester.

"The kid went into their system 5 or 6 times doing recon, so it's probably not that hard to get in. He seemed to think he could scramble the security system pretty good, and much less security inside.

Blackjack rejoins the discussion and asks, "What about taking over the system? Those cameras could be really good for keeping an eye on the people working there! I could give you guys a heads up if there's trouble!" She finishes with a smile.

Eric sets the half finished beer on the table and steels himself for what is about to come. He clears his throat to draw attention back his way.

"So then, it sounds like the first thing we need to do is to track down access to their system. Blackjack can you handle that? Once you're inside let us know what you've got to work with and I can hitch a ride on your deck.

Jester can you make the van a little less conspicuous, and take a drive by the place with Bloodmoon and Joli. Maybe one of you can find a different point of entry than what the info on the chip is showing us. Evans lets see what we can do about bypassing the sensor grid even if it's just for a short time."

"Thank you Lee," Bloodmoon responds to the injured man.

"This sounds like a reasonable start Eric. I would also suggest another drop off point for the ground recon team in the possibility that Lee's team was indeed followed to their safe house after their initial drive-by. I'm still nervous that they were found so easily. We can keep in contact after that for planning, but I wouldn't want another ambush while we're stuck without intel."

"Well no, not really. I figured it was already pretty inconspicuous." He says, pointing to the pale blue colored van.

"But I can drive very discreetly." He says with a smile.

Blackjack says, "Well.. I don't have a hitcher jack on my deck. We could pick up one in no time, I'm sure. I could plug it into a free FUP port."

Lee flexes his shoulder with a grimace and pushes up the wall to his feet.

"So, who am I going with? Most of my skills lay along the illegal breaking and entering line."

"Okay, Lee I want you to go over the layout of this house with a fine tooth comb." The erst-while leader gestures to the trid display.

"Find anything that can be exposed, ways that you and an insertion team can get in and out while the others make loud noises outside."

Stepping over to the van and the team's silver-haired rigger.

"I have complete faith in your driving ability. Get the team out there to find out what you can. Blackjack you can either pick up a hitcher jack or we'll configure up a separate connection similar to what I've got going on the trideo.

"Time to get to work boys and girls."

"Right," Jester says, propping himself up.

"Gimmie a minute to change though." the old man hobbled to the backroom. He returned a few minutes later dressed as before, leather jacket and slacks.

"Alright, saddle up, the boat leaves in fice minutes."

Jester seated himself in the driver side, leaving the door open and his meat leg hanging out. Servo's wined as his cyber legged popped the hatch and ejected his RC deck. He extended the cord from it to the plug under the dash. As soon as it conected the van powered to life. The nearly silent engine hummed as the rigger took the vehicle through it's self checks.

Joli stretches and heads for the van. She crawls into the back area and buckles up. Sebastian hisses at the sudden movement and secures his position with a tail wrap. Waiting for Bloodmoon to climb in before she speaks. "So am I jumping out and looking around more closely while you check it out from here?" She pats the van seat for emphasis.

Tombstone walks over to the van, where the others are preparing to embark.

"Maybe I should tag along with you guys. I have an 'insider's' view of security and can usually come up with a suggestion or two on breaking in. Plus, this is dangerous, and it would be a good idea to have some muscle along in case you're followed."

Lee nods, climbing up into the van behind Joli, the raccoon at his side peering intently into the dim corners of the interior of the vehicle.

Blackjack asks Jester, "Do you have a jackpoint in this hangar?"

"No problem, Eric. Between our abilities, those networks don't stand a chance. It's been a while since I used it to hack a door, but i don't recall it being very different from a cyberbrain hack."

Jester looks up from the cabin of his van when Blackjack speaks.

"affirmative," he says, nodding to the coffee table with the trid unit on it.