Into the Void
| Into the Void | |||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||
| ShadowHaven | Horizon | ||||||
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Bunny Hop Fennec Pulse Shy |
Horizon Spiders Horizon Guards | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| So, SO Much InfoSec, and one of their spiders is definitely getting biodroned for this | |||||||
Summary
If you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss compels you to hire shadowrunners.
Background
Bunny Hop, with research AROs scattered to the wind, quietly dissociates in her futon when her commlink rings a familiar tune. Her clouded eyes become clear, and she forces chipper small talk with her fixer, Anhe, who is calling about a big job. Mister Johnson would like a group of shadowrunners to meet him at Club Penumbra in Downtown - conveniently for the rabbit, a mixed reality bar. She rises, washes her face to wake up, and slips into Virtual Reality where her better half makes her way to the meet.
Independent journalist Fennec diligently streams an exclusive report about an extensive Seattle Stuffer Shack smuggling network trafficking, of all things, moon rocks. She's on the verge of blowing this whole thing wide open when she's interrupted by a call, on stream, from her fixer. In classic Fennec fashion, she doesn't even stop. Club Penumbra is the place, and after a quick wrap-up, wink, and promise to tell all next time, she flits away to prepare for an unplanned night out.
Pulse, exploring crumbling infrastructure with his curious companion Alexandria, discusses with her the finer points of human society and urban decay when they too are interrupted by a call to action. A gentleman would very much like to recruit some shadowrunners, the best of the best, for a job that will require a not insubstantial amount of Matrix expertise. Pulse, filled with Matrix expertise, agrees to meet at the designated location, and Alexandria, excited for the opportunity to learn more about the world and its various secrets, is happily included by Pulse in that invitation.
Shy surfaces from a diving expedition only to be faced with Lt. Cmdr Yennefer Kerrigan. Through her connections, she has heard of an operation meant to infiltrate a secure Horizon facility located in Area 51, and under cover of this operation, would like Shy to liberate from that facility some sensitive information for their organization. Although Shy is skeptical about infiltrating a place as heavily guarded as Area 51, she is dutiful to a fault, and agrees to retrieve a hard drive from their on-site server farm.
The Meet
Club Penumbra in Downtown is bustling with the rich, famous, and ambitious. Shy and Fennec both aim to dazzle, the former in a beautiful, silken formal kimono, and the latter in her party girl best, cheating as the Matrix Fox loves to do by threading resonant AROs all around her as a digital glamour. Both easily pass the gut check at the front of the bar and are able to make their way into the location, subtly directed upstairs toward their VIP section as well by AROs that light along the floor - they are known quantities here, it would seem. Shy, though, true to her name, palms a pistol, and keeps it well to herself. She is well aware of threats to her person, especially with the reminder that is Fennec right at her heels.
Pulse, punkish and ever prudent, before entering makes note of three drones sporting quality cameras pointed at the club entrance. They are, his keen coder's eyes notice, unslaved to the host, unlike many of the drones in the area. He quietly asks the team if they would like those to be bricked, who each seem to quietly agree in turn, once the situation has been made known.
The meet is with an average, professionally dressed, and overall pleasant man who greets each of the runners with a smile and a firm handshake - the lounge he's invited them to sports comfortable seats, appealing decor, and complementary food and simsense, should the runners so choose. While Bunny Hop apparates into the host to take a seat in mid-air and the others in get comfortable in real life, he begins to explain the premise of his request, and why he's asked them there. They are quality assets, he assures them; each and every one of them an ace in their field, and he needs aces for his interests.
Area 51 has had a tumultuous past since the formation of the Pueblo Corporate Council stripped away its place as a US Military Black Site. The location languished in legal purgatory for years - though many attempted to make inroads to the location, CalFree, corpos, and the PCC itself, ultimately the location was purchased and refitted by Horizon into a near-earth orbital launch site, under which it still operates today. As a matter of fact, Horizon's best have been busy lately in anxious anticipation of the launch of an orbital telescope scheduled scant weeks from the day of their meet, and Mister Johnson has gone to great pains to prepare a delicate payload to be sent along with it.
He presents the runners with a large case, roughly 3x4 ft., and hermetically sealed shut with red tape. He emphasizes that breaking the seal will void both the object inside, delicate equipment that it is, and also their contract. Though the runners press on its contents, wary of such blind espionage, he ensures them it's non-destructive, that no lives will be lost, that the world will even benefit from its use. He instructs the runners on the exact piece of cargo that need be replaced - any other, and serial numbers will not align, weights will not match, and the launch itself may even be postponed pending investigation.
Fennec, ecstatic, jokingly (maybe) asks about the presence of aliens - and the Johnson can neither confirm nor deny. Dissatisfied, she leans into her actual role. While the Johnson reveals that he and his organization have budgeted a crisp 150,000 nuyen for this operation, he would like to keep a little off the top for his own troubles arranging it and forging this replacement part. Nonetheless, the fox drives a hard bargain - who can resist those ears? Thirty-thousand nuyen per head becomes thirty-four, and the runners are satisfied.
Once more before setting out, do-gooder Pulse candidly double-checks with the Johnson that the contents of the package aren't explosive, radioactive, or otherwise dangerous to either the runners themselves or the crew onboard, and the Johnson insists he would want them to know it's a bomb if it were. Though the team all have their doubts, the contract is nonetheless signed, verbally anyway.
Those knowledgeable about such things dig just a touch into the Johnson's nature before they go. Shy, opening her third eye, discovers that their benefactor is masking - he appears mundane, though is in actuality Aware, his aura a bright, white-yellow light. On the astral, he seems to regard her as well - and he smiles to her face. Fennec's expert knowledge on human nature and reading people can only settle on the realization that he's not entirely present upstairs.
Mister Johnson rises, thanks the team, offers handshakes, and leaves them to their devices, and the runners, opting for a more secure location to discuss matters than a bustling night club, gladly take Pulse's kind offer to host in his safe house.
The Plan
Pulse gives Bhop access to his host on the NeoNET grid (Bladerunner dystopia city) (Pulse Host is a mancave-ass little game room/work room, bean bag chairs, files spread everywhere, star shaped bed).
Pulse opens up about his past as a spider super soldier project. Bhop and Fennec relate.
Fennec says she respects safe houses. Shy promptly loses her shit and punches Fennec out. Pulse revives her, tells Shy to take a brisk walk, and Pulse and Bhop begin to question if Fennec is okay. Fennec insists she is, to the doctor's protests, but reluctantly agrees to be in a different room from Shy for the rest of the run if it would make Bhop feel better.
R10 Data Host Cargo Manifest - Section 48J R10 Industrial
Big salt flat. Air field, sattelite, administrative hub. Security clearance areas. Network is running on older protocols.
Pulse prepares a deeper dive to get more information, and in preparation, Fennec and Bhop work together to custom fit rabbit-themed power armor onto Pulse's persona. Pulse, more powerful than GOD, sets forth to hack a TransGlobal host.
The host is an atompunk rrocket launch facility. The spider, an astronaut, glances right past Pulse's graffiti inspired persona. Pulse, on a power trip, *completely* has his way with the host - a teleporter pad catches his eye, the entrance to the foundation, as well as many, *many* files.
Pulse leaves, gets cleaned off by Bhop and Fennec, and goes back in. Drunk with power, he resolves to take *everything,* not just related to the job, but vtuber recruitment metrics as well. Forged documents, but anyhting more than what they've already gotten is going to require a *very* beefy Horizon SIN. The squad close up shop for the day, after a failed call to Alias, to rest up and explore their options.
The Run
Alias comes through after two days. Pulse knows a sasquatch with a van (Jerry) who can drive them out to Vegas - when they get there, he leaves to go play slots. The gang, geared up with new synthskin masks and Horizon disguises and beefy R6 Burner SINs, set out to travel to Area 51. Shy gets dropped off way out in the desert with the package in tow, and makes her way, again I cannot stress this enough, *directly through the Mojave desert* to this highly restricted Horizon facility.
Bhop FAQs Pulse's Paladin without him noticing and promptly flips her shit, however, thankfully holds it together long enough to avoid blowing the enormous breach of opsec she's just committed. She immediately brushes against Fennec's hand to skinlink the simsense experience she just underwent.
FastJack personally handed Pulse his deck. (Sarc will fill in details here)
Entering the facility, Fennec crafts a convincing lie regarding being specialist cybersecurity experts and IT specialists from Dawkins Group here to do a once over before the launch to make sure it's up to spec. Horizon takes the two technos aside and shoves them into a Farraday caged room pending approval of their story.
Shy makes her way into the area of the facility as well, sneaking through defenses.
Ace Powers descends in an alien spacecraft. Holy shit. An actual little flying saucer. What the fuck. Ace Powers exchanges business cards (AROs) with Bhop and Fennec's Dawkins Group-sonas.
Pulse, flanked by Bhop and Fennec, hacks into the host with very little difficulty. Shy is on hand to have a spare part delivered later today, after the Matrix crew fake a failure of that component and a necessity to be replaced. Pulse, power-armored up, descends into the host.
While Pulse is hacking the manifest, Shy, in the sub-basement, comes across a keypad, and remembering the code from earlier, gains access after pressing, like, thirty digits. Shy continues to sneak past some of the unorthodox defenses in the sub-basement server stacks, a mysterious creature that still, despite very good senses, cannot find her. It squelches as it walks away. Probably cool and normal Horizon things!
Shy extracts the hard drive she's after on special request from her fixer, and makes her way toward the warehouse where she'll drop off the package. Pulse, still assisted by the team, makes to completely edit the manifest with the false information.
Pulse, insane, leaves his signature directly on the spider's desk inside the host. He paints "You Just Got Pulse'd!" in bright, bold letters. Pulse continues to hack doors and cameras to clear the way for Shy to enter the warehouse and place the package, where it is promptly scooped up by a big drone forklift and taken awy. Pulse also puts his MARK on the command console, and leaves a note for the Spider, urging him to use his hacking pwoers for good instead of the benefit of a global megacorporation.
Loose ends and moralizing tied up, the team pack up and make to quietly leave, their Dawkins jobs apparently done.
Aftermath
Shy, with a bead on the van as it leaves the Horizon facility, debates the merits of doming Fennec right then and there. Is it worth it? Is it now or never?
Rewards
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Fennec: Wow! I love sneaking into super secret facilities! What a great time, playing at being a Dawkins Agent so I can get two power-nerds (and they are powerful, powerful nerds!) into a facility. I'm the best, y'know that? Now, if only I couldn't feel the sensation of a sniper rifle aimed directly at my head. Also, the feeling of my nose being broken into my skull - that - didn't hurt at all! It didn't hurt at all. Not even a little.
Shy : A simple mission, if you put Fennec aside. Didn't thought that i could take a stroll into Area-51 that easily, that's where i realized how good i am now...Yet i should have pulled the damned trigger. Soon enough though.