Knowing it'll be a few minutes before the group gets to him, Codec does one more sweep with the cameras. Nothing yet
He then proceeds to searching for 'Frank Von Miller' within this secruity system This should only take a minute or so

Codec uses this new chip that is riding piggyback on the server to help search for this "Frank Von Miller" and quickly starts finding out some VERY interesting things, all it takes is a bit of sleazing and not only does he have access but he has priority clearance on this particular file.... First off, the secure files have him down as being a fighter ace (being in the militery means that there were alot of records kept on him) who graduated top in his class in choppers, jets, and any flying drones.... according to a log kept by one of the lecturers he had a strange ability to picture any battlefields and plan unique stratagies while on the move. This obviously isnt just hear-say either, as there are also some pretty impressive test results from firing ranges and flight sims... his abilities were quickly noted and he was put forward to work on some new test cyberware, Formally known as VCR3/alpha it was supposed to help boost the mental agility of somebody who was rigged into a vehicle.... the test results following the implantation of this rare and expensive piece of eqipment were amazing, not only had he kept his natural abilities but he was able to pilot some of his choppers and jets past breaking point and hold it together.... nothing like this had been seen before! only problem was that three months after the implantation he started getting increasingly distressed and paranoid. knowing that this could be damaging to the armies plans to further the development they ground him on "health and safety" and keep him on light duties. Shortly after he is reported to have gone on a wild drinking binge and ends up stealing a Mil-grade jet.... and attacking a UFO themed casino!! along with standard records are links to the newspaper articles and the finding of the damage report.... he was dishonorabley discharged and has since gone missing, rumers have it that due to "a series of errors" they have since not been able to replicate his exact cyberware specs.




"I side with the Orc on this one I am afraid" Bluebird comments over the comm link... "but my only concern is the guard at the end of the driveway..... or shall do you want me to deal with him?"

Codec begins to download the info onto his deck, not sure as to why Ace would want this but hoping that the more he gets, the more valuable it will be later on.

Jacking out, Codec smiles at Bluebird with unnatural good humour and says "ready when you are!!" and with that stands and makes ready for a quick exit

With the swipe card from the guard, which was among the effects Bluebird had lifted from his inert body much earlier, Seeoh entered the short tunnel to the engineering chamber through which the Team had accessed the complex.

Everything seemed quiet, the Foreman, still snoring where he had fallen and the two gelled Guards in no better state than they were when Bluebird and Flip had finished with them.

It took a few moments to scramble over the dust and rock blown out from the tunnel, locate the remaining boxes of charges and the smaller box of detonators. More time got taken up searching for the remote, which the Irish woman finally found, dropped casually by the last of the huge diggers behind which she and Flip had taken cover.

There was no point trying to retrace steps back up to the vent; besides, that would mean going the long way round to get to the front of the complex. Instead, Seeoh headed back out into the corridor and rejoined the Team.

"Well, might as well get on with it. I'll see you when you get to Ace." With that, the sorceress did what her abilities allowed, and disappeared from their view, along with three charges, their detonators and the remote.

Now all the others had to do was wait till they heard a big bang somewhere in the Barrens.

Getting the step van to cough into life seemed to take an interminable time, but it finally fired. Nodding to the others, the sorceress had disappeared and, barely audible, heard her footsteps running up the access ramp.

For Seeoh, her adrenaline now racing through her body, the rush past the small security booth posed no real problem; the guard seemed to be dozing anyway. The roadway down to the main gate, well lit as it was and smooth tarmac, made the going easy and within a minute or so the Irish woman had squirmed around the single pole barrier and headed north east into the Barrens.

She didn't have to go far before she found a suitable target for one of her little presents. A pile of old cardboard boxes, obviously a hide for some unfortunate, would make a nice bonfire, she thought. A quick check assured her that the `bed sit' was currently vacant and she laid one of the charges on a tatty piece of cloth which must have been someone's idea of a blanket. Carefully inserting the detonator, as her experience allowed, she glanced back into the street. Nothing moving, that she could see, and a nice little Studebaker, inverted on the opposite corner, bereft of wheels and burnt out some long time ago, looked like her next target. She headed for it at a dead run.

The gas tank had long been siphoned dry, of course, but there was bound to be some residual fuel and it was this which prompted Seeoh to nestle the second charge between the tank and the remains of the exhaust pipe.

Although there was a charge left, the two she had placed should be enough to draw off the Lone Stars and, possibly, the Eye in the Sky. Leastwise she hoped they'd be enough. Time to go. She thumbed her transceiver.

"The charges are set, I'm heading back to Ace. I'll give a 30 count and set 'em off. Get ready to roll Guys." The girl started running again, remote clenched in her right hand, the codes pre-set and thumb hovering. "1, 2, 3, 4…………….."

"Roger that." Ace had been looking over a street map for a while. One thing he had to remember about navigating a city is that it was not laid out as logically or as cleanly as a military base, and that you can't just go in a strait line from point A to point B. There were tunnels and also sections of freeway that overlapped others for long distances, but a chopper might be able to manuever around or under those, so they were a last resort...

Flip sat behind the wheel of the step van, resisting the temptation to bite his knuckles, as the Team waited for the telltale sound of distant explosions. He could feel a small trickle of sweat, moving down his back when, suddenly it seemed, Seeoh's thirty second count was up and two muffled explosions reverberated down the ramp into the underground car park.

"One Mississippi, Two Mississippi…..Five Mississippi. Now we go! Bluebird, try and take out the Security guy at the booth. Doesn't matter if you miss, so long as it keeps his head down."

Flip gunned the van, hauling down hard on the wheel to make the tight turn into and up the exit ramp. There was no barrier at the guard post, just a sleepy man, stumbling out of his cubby hole - only to jump rapidly back again as Bluebird opened fire.

Ducking down in the back of the van, Codec could feel the adrenaline flow through him. He peeked out the window but as soon as Bluebird opened fire he ducked back down again. Okay, this really wasn't as i expected he thought

At `30' Seeoh, still running, jerked her thumb down on the contact, mentally crossing her fingers at the same time. She'd seen her Grandfather prepare explosives many times, had even set up dummy packages for "the damned English", a favourite phrase of her Grandfather's from his youth in the `old Country'; but until now she'd not prepared and activated charges.

The percussive wave from way behind her said she'd got it right, and she could almost hear her Grandfather saying `Well done me darlin.' Now all the `darlin' had to do was find Ace in this warren of streets, underpasses, overpasses, tunnels and bridges.

"Ace" She blurted into her mike, "Whereinhell are you? I'm running out of puff!"

"I'm in front of the security facility, waiting for you. We'll jet as soon as... well, soon." Damn maps, why in hell do freeways use the same color as side streets?

Jamming his foot to the floor the massive V8 under the hood roared as the Ace began flying down the street.... hauling himself into an alley barely the size of the van itself Ace crosses between two streets and pulls up in front of a very red in the face irish women! jumping in and falling into a heap on the floor Seeoh lays trying to recover.... not wasting any time he got going again... deciding that parking under a nearby monorail bridge where you could drive under the train for some 300 meters was a good place to wait.

As the roar of the explosions rumble through the area Flip hauls hoop and heads out of the office area... bursting through the barriers and heading for home as soon as this heap-o-drek will let him!!
Looking up into the sky as he hits the main street Flip can see the chopper swinging straight for the explosions to see what may have caused them.... For a few blissful secounds he thinks he made it without being seen, until it begins to turn!!


Bluebird, Holding on for dear life as this Ork demonstrates the teams need for a rigger... she takes aim and fires off two shots at the guard, one misses and goes through the window of his little booth... the other strikes him on the shoulder making him fall to the floor but little else....

"Eagle here. Picked up the spellslinger. We're waiting under a monorail bridge at..." he give a street description and a set of brief directions. The Yakuza like to be subtle as a scapel... I wonder how they'd respond to the liberal use of explosives on this run?

Flip headed with all due haste in the direction of Ace's waiting van, not wasting time to check whether his suspicions about the circling whirlybird were correct. Although he had a vague idea of where to meet up with the Eagle, his navigation left a lot to be desired. "When you've seen one overpass you've seen 'em all."

Eventually he spotted the long silver line of the monorail and headed toward it at full pace, only then allowing the sound of rotor blades to impinge on his large Orcish ears.

Meanwhile, under the monorail in the parked up Roadmaster, Seeoh, her breathing less ragged, also felt, rather than heard, the Lone Star chopper making it's nosy presence felt. She hauled herself up to the rear windows and, sure enough, identified the cobalt blue of incoming unfriendlies - and the Step van making it's run toward them with Flip apparently unaware of impending doom.

Although somewhat exhausted, the Sorceress prepared a TriD Phantasm, concentrating upon the image of a Gargoyle to set upon the unfortunate Rigger flying the helicopter.

Looking out the window at the chopper getting closer, Codec could feel his stomach go into a giant knot. He felt for sure that this would be it. He'd be picked up by lonestar, put away in some filthy prison, stuck with some giant Troll that'll use him for a playtoy...The thought made him tremble....

"Hurry!!! I don't want to be a playtoy!!!!" Codec blurts out in the moment as he continues to watch the chopper, unaware of the strange glances from the team.

Going through her preparations Seeoh quickly realises that there is no way she is going to be able to cast any more spells to any great effect, the drain would be just too much for her, tonight she has given her powers a serious exercise and now they are begining to flag....

Bluebird, having packed her guns away and getting ready to run.... moves nearer the doors of the van to make a quick change over, "Codec, have you got everything? get ready....." and with that she braces herself for Flips next move...

Bloody Seps and their bloody right-handed driving... bloody backwards cars...

Flip angled the van toward the rear of the Roadmaster, tyres screeching as he made the final approach. The brakes whined as he performed the hardest emergency stop of his life, jumping out of the van and heading over to Ace's waiting vehicle.

"Thankyou for flying Shadowrunner Airways, please come again!"

"Shaddap! No corny jokes while I'm driving, unless I'm making them!"

gas engine roarfire turnrun drivehard fasterfasterFAST

Ace takes command of the road as befits his ride, and swings the roadmaster around in the direction the rest of the crew came from. He makes sure to follow under the monorail struts, checking his six incase the helicopter comes back. Eventually, he looks for a side road to casually slip onto. "So, anyone have any idea where we can lay low until meeting Kitao?"

"Codec, have you got everything? get ready....."
Codec nodded, patting his deck bag. He follows Bluebird into Ace's waiting vehicle. Not even checking to see if everyone is okay, Codec sits down and shuts his eyes, just trying to imagine being back in the Matrix, where things never seem this complicated.

Jumping into the back of the waiting van Bluebird looks out the back windows to the chopper flying overhead.... pausing for a while it does nothing.... and the reason soon becomes clear, the Lonestar cruiser that was in the area is heading down the street, for a heart stopping moment everyone thinks that this is going to be the begining of a VERY long chase, but the plan appears to have worked, it heads straight for the abandoned van and stops....

At that point Ace rounds the corner and subtley picks up the pace, certainly getting out of the area by the fastest means possible!!

With the van bumping about a bit, Seeoh scrambled over to peer past Bluebird's shoulder as their vehicle turned into a side street.
"Well, that went pretty well, don't you think? Now all we have to do is collect. Er, um, how do we do that exactly?"

"Just give him a ring from a safe place I guess" Bluebird said looking worn out.

Now that things were starting to calm down, Codec let out a sigh of relief. Hopefully this'll bring in some nice little pay, on top of what I received already

Heading back to their rent-a-shack hideout Ace ponders about how easy that get away went, maybe their luck is turning around now?? well either way, he would be doing some SERIOUS work to this van soon because lady luck never favours the shadows for very long in this business.

Bluebird looks around at everyone sat, looking shattered from the last few days... from the initial meeting at the school to the run against the RTG, they hadnt rested much and now all they needed to do collect from Mr Kitao. The Orc was sat in the corner, running a sleeve over a sweaty forehead and taking the time to grab some air. Seeoh was just sat calmly with her thoughts kept to herself, Codec was sat staring out the window with an unusual smile on his face, and Ace up front... guiding them out of harm and only ever grumbling about no VCR eqipment in the van! Maybe this is a group she could work with.... or maybe even.... like!

While sitting in the van, Codec pulls out his deck and begins to put the info he recieved on Frank Von Miller onto a generic disk for Ace to use on basically any computer terminal.
As soon as the team gets back to their hideout Codec approaches ace, "Uh I did a check on that person you wanted me too. The information is all on this disk. 100 and it's all yours.Uh... Believe me, that's a great deal for a datasnatch."

Wow, 100 nuyen, that isn't bad. Don't let it show, he might jack up the price... "Uh, yeah, thanks for looking into that. 100 seems a littlesteep, but I guess with all you had going on..." Don't overdo it! "...anyway, can we make the trade after I've collected my share of the pay?"

'yeah sure I understand, no problem," says Codec A little steep? I know of deckers who do datasteals for a helluva lot more.... Codec goes back over to the jack point i n the hideout and jacks into the Matrix, seeing if there is anything about that night's events on the trid

Flopping down, elated and exhausted, the Team mull over their recent exploits in their own inimitable ways. Flip raided the icebox for a Jolt Cola and collapsed into a chair whilst the Sorceress simply withdrew to a dark corner and began a well-tried and tested meditation routine.

Time passed until the Ork got to the point in his rambling thoughts when floated before his mind's eye.

"We need to make that call to Mr Kitao. Tell him the jobs done." He got up and headed for the door, glancing at the Irishwoman, just stretching her limbs. "Fancy a stroll Seeoh?"

"Just what I need." She joined the Ork. "Where we goin?"

"To find a payphone, as far away from here as we can." He looked back at the rest of the Team. "I'll make the pick up in that Food hall in the Mall three blocks down; say in an hour if that's Jake with everyone?

Nods from Ace and Bluebird seemed to confirm their agreement; Codec, with a silly grin on his face, was too far in the Matrix to make any comment either way.

The leisurely stroll along the pavement in the breaking dawn was reasonably pleasant; toxins were always less this early in the morning and it was invigorating. The Mall, just beginning to come to life, bustling early shoppers and tradesmen, made searching for a suitable phone an easy task. Flip jammed his bulk into a handy booth, hanging out briefly to warn Seeoh to keep a sharp lookout. Even though the Team had apparently got away clean, you could never be too careful.

The phone connected, audio only, which surprised the Ork not one bit. "The package has been delivered." He said.

Feeling the waves of energy rushing through his body Codec jacks in and starts flying through with the slightest of thoughts.... going through all the usual suspect sites to find if there is any info, everyone seems to know that the compound has been hacked! but that doesnt seem to be unusual, after all its a prime target and there are plenty of hackers around only to happy to take on a job like that! but what does interest him is the feed on the news network... they havent had credit for the job at all, anther gang of runners who had been using the buildings old tunnels were blamed for all the problems, and were only discovered after they set of some explosives wrongly. It is suspected they were blasting the tunnels to get to a nearby bank for a old fashions style gold theft!


On the first ring the phone is answered, on hearing what Flip has to say the voice on the other end simpley says "I understand, Mr Kiteo will meet you at the resturant tomorrow for breakfast... there he will wish to see a demonstration of the program working, while an independant decker observes which I am sure your decker can understand, after that he will pay you the remainder of your fee... and following that he will want his own decker to witness all other copies erased, if you have any questions you will have to address them to Mr Kiteo tomorrow, I bid you good day sir." and with that the phonecall ends almost as quickly as it began.....

Back at the flop, Flip explained what the disembodied voice had told him.
"Can you do what he's expecting Codec? And what's with this independent Decker and copies? It's like Mr Kiteo doesn't trust us or sommat!."

"Yeah, " Piped up Seeoh. "and is he payin for the breakfast? Or does it come out of our wages?"

Jacking out of the matrix, Codec looks over to Flip, "I don't see there being any problems..."

Responding to Flip, "Why should he trust us fully? We've never worked with him before. Can't blame the guy for taking precautions."

"well hes not gonna want someone to sell him a heap of junk and then do a runner is he!! I can't say im suprised, and as long as we deal a straight hand then we know what to expect"

"Guess I'm just paranoid." Flip explained. "In which case, I'm gonna get my head down for a couple; till it's time for breakfast." With that the big Ork went over to the far wall, sitting with his back toward it, and closed his eyes. Within moments the rest of the Team wished he'd stayed awake as basso profundo snores bounced all through the flop.

However, a restless few hours passed and the five runners took what little comfort they could until cock crow. Out in the early dawn the air was …refreshing …after the closeness of the flop and the Team stretched their limbs as Ace brought the van out of its hideaway.

Some twenty minutes later Ace tooled the van to a stop outside the appointed restaurant, disgorging the Runners for the appointment with their Employer. The big hand was just on the 12 and the little hand on nine when the Ork ordered a whole hell of a lot of food, and all for him. Well, his mum had always said breakfast was the most important meal of the day, and Flip had never argued with his mother.

Seeoh, on the other hand, made do with two rounds of heavily buttered toast and unsweetened soycaf.

As the others sorted themselves out they all realised there was nothing to do now but….wait.

Feeling his stomach in knots partly due to lack of sleep, partly due to being put center stage for Kiteo's decker and partly due to not eating in a while, he just goes for a cup of really bad java for now. There shouldn't be any problems, everything should be fine... he tells himself.

Bluebird leaves the rifle in the van for now... and keeps her twin pistols strapped underneath her jacket, ordering a large and healthy breakfast she sits and waits with the others watching the waiters, looking for concealed pistols or anything that might pose a threat.....


Just as everyone has finished off their breakfasts and is starting on a large pot of soykaf, the Mr Kiteos limo rolls up outside next to the van and out steps two large suited men, a VERY sexy looking women in a black catsuit holding a briefcase and the man himself, carrying his own briefcase and looking calm as always.
Striding into the resturant as if he owned the place (well... he does!) he stands in front of the runners and offers a strong handshake to everyone around the table and sits down. "I am pleased you carried out such an important task for me so efficiantly, the task is complete and Lonestar are none the wiser... this will help in operations considerable in the local area" pouring a cup of soykaf he takes a sip from the sweet brew and carries on.... "This is my Decker, known as Kitten in her world"
And with that the stunning female steps forward and without pausing shakes Codecs hand and gives him a slight wink...."but you can call me kitty! so, shall we check out this program of yours?"

Suddenly Codec doesn't feel as confident about things as he did a moment ago. This guy practically handed everything to us, he thinks. He tries to not let this sudden twist of events fluster him in any way.
"Uh sure, okay, no problem," he says as he begins to set up his deck, "Though there is no jack nearby, I'll need to find one or use..." Suddenly Kitty opens her case and pulls out a satellite signal receiver. Codec takes it from her "yeah that'd work." He hooks everything up, turns on the screen so Kitty and Kiteo can watch and jacks in. Within a second current camera images appear on the screen. "The tap a..a...also is working." He downloads all information, codes, blueprints that he got from the compound, everything minus the info for Ace. That's none of their business he thinks. Jacking out he hands the disk to Kitty. "Th..th..there. That sh..sh..should do it."

The stunningly attractive decker takes the disk with all of its log on codes and removes her own deck from its case, and running his eyes over its smooth lines he quickly realises that this must be one drek hot decker... because tricked up Transys Highlander's don't exactly fall from the sky!! slotting the disk into her machine she spend entire secounds going through the data on that disk, not that Codec can blame her because if he were checking it he would be careful to!

Taking the cord from her temple she turns to her boss, and simply nods... indicating that the data is all legit and that she is happy that all traces have been destroyed.

Holding his breath until Kitty gives the nod, Codec lets out a small sigh of relief and glances at the other team members.

The Decker's glance at her employer allowed the collective held breath to be released in an almost audible sigh of relief. The job had been done, albeit with a little improvisation, and the Client was happy. Indeed, if truth were known, he should be more than happy, for in the mind of several of the runners, not least amongst them their own decker, he had got a little more out of the run than he was actually paying for. Seeoh, big mouthed as usual, said as much in her broad Irish accent.

"So, Mr Kitao, you have what you expected with a bonus of a tap into their surveillance system. Would that mean we might expect a small bonus, d'ya think?"

Looking at the Irish woman for the first time you can almost tell Kiteo is looking down at her, "Well the tap IS what I am paying for, not to mention paying good money for... so no I dont think a bonus is in order, but everyone will get their share. And anyway, would would you be?"

Starting to calm down as the rest of the team seemed to be doing so as well, Codec begins to take a sip from his soycaf, then Seeoh piped up
"So, Mr Kitao, you have what you expected with a bonus of a tap into their surveillance system. Would that mean we might expect a small bonus, d'ya think?"
Codec nearly choked on his soycaf and looked at the Irish woman in disbelief. What the frag is she doing!?! We were almost finished everything!!!!

What the frag... this was a kitty-cat run, and she's asking for a goddamn bonus? We got it out of the tree, we get paid... arg!

"Um, look, sir, we're glad this all worked out, and I for one think that the compensation agreed upon is adequete. I'm happy that we've proven ourselves, and I look forward to further work in the future."

He sat back and hoped that smoothed things over.

Looking at someone who he knew from previous meetings, he seemed to approve of what has been said, besides... he wouldnt be spoken to like that by a women! "Very well, here is a pouch and in it you will find a certified cred stick each for the further £7,000 each. I will contact you if and when I have any more work that may require the hand of someone outside of my normal circles of involvement, and will certainly recommend your services to some local fixers I know as a way of gratitude for the stealthy job you did"

And with that he stands as if to leave, followed by Kitten... and the two silent suited men behind.

Phew, that was close, I'm sure she almost blew it all for us and with that Codec eyes the pouch

Back in the Old Country the Irish were once looked upon, by the hated English, as thick. Well, that's as maybe, but it doesn't apply to Seeoh. She stands and addresses the departing Employer and his party, bowing so low her nose almost touches the floor.

"Most Honourable Sir. I must appologise for any offence. This lowly person forgets herself in stressful times. It shall never happen again." Dropping to her knees and stretching forward, arms akimbo in total submission, with her head as low as it can physically go. Any minute now a large Yak boot will stomp on her head!

Ace looks away, trying to make it seem like he doesn't know her. Yup, these are pretty good eggs... the view to the street isn't bad either. The open street, where I can drive and drive away from all embarassments...

He decided that once he got his payment and squared his deal with Codec, that this would be the last he'd want to see of Irish chicks for a long time...

This girl is weird! I always knew those razzle dazzle type people weren't all there and with that Codec finishes off his soycaf. Seeing as no one was taking the initiative to open the pouch, Codec reaches over and takes it, opening it up and takes on credstick, placing the open pouch back on the table. "Ah...g...g...good to have dome cr..cr..cred eh?" stutters Codec as he tries making small talk amongst the group. Oh yeah, remember to talk to Ace about that disk as well.

Looking down at Seeoh Mr Kiteo smiles ever so slightly...."Thats ok, just make sure it doesnt happen again and you remember who you are talking to" and with that the group walk out to the cars....

Bluebird casually reaches over for a cred stick..."Well, its nice to finally have some money for a change! so where now?"

Dusting herself off Seeoh thought Well, that went well - not. and wandered over to the table where the bag of cred sticks sat patiently. An angry Ork bars her way.

"Girl, if I wasn't worried about you turning me into a frog or sommat, I'd kick you arse for pulling a stunt like that."

Seeoh smiled sheepishly. "Me ma told me that if you don't ask you don't get. An I was hopin he, " Nodding at the closing door, " wasn't as `old school' as most of the Yaks I've met. No harm, no foul."

The Ork just grunted and batted the girl's shoulder affably, almost knocking her back to the floor. "Now where's my share." Flip stuffed his ham sized fist into the pouch and withdrew the remaining cred sticks, handing one to Ace and another to Seeoh putting the last back into the pouch and the whole thing into his coat pocket. "So, what say we go our separate ways for a day or two, in case there's any left over heat from our late night excursion."

The others nodded in general agreement. Seven kay of nuyen would be burning a hole in everyone's pocket, so there was plenty for them all to do. Maybe even `shop till you drop' would be a good idea. Flip had a plan though, and sidled over to Bluebird.

"Now I've got a few creds to spend, how about a little training for these two pistols I've acquired? I don't want to go accidentally shooting a buddy in the back on our next run."

Seeoh turned the cred stick over in her hands. There wasn't much she needed to buy, and fashion had never concerned her. Like always, the cash would go into her housekeeping stash, maybe with 500 or so kept aside for maintaining her bike. Yeah, she liked that thought. Her bike. She'd tool down to the coast and take a ride along it and watch the Pacific breakers roll in. Very calming. Very soothing. Just what the Sorceress needed to tune her spirit in with the land.