Product Acquisition

Product Acquisition
Date 2086-10-18 GM Sarcarian Location Sky High (over the Pacific Northwest) Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Milo Minderbinder Jet Set	Ares Macrotechnology	Electric Knights
Ace Asuriel Saladin Sircuit	Airship Guards Airship Pilot	The Black Knight
Casualties and losses
	Airship Guards x2 (injured)	TBK (de-rezzed)

Summary

In which the runners perform a mid-air hijacking of an Ares airship to steal a weapons shipment.

The Meet

The runners are contacted individually by their fixers and told of a job opportunity - for more information, they're asked to go to a photo booth in the ACHE mall where a dead drop message has been set up. Each is able to make it past the SIN checks en-route and blend into the crowd without issue, and soon arrive to meet one-another, becoming acquainted before proceeding to their destination. Inside the booth, a recording from Milo Minderbinder plays detailing the situation: an airship is traveling from CalFree to Seattle carrying a shipment of weapons, and he has several crates which he'd like recovered. Under their seats is a case containing several tracking discs - combined tracking devices/parachutes - which are to be attached to the crates and pushed out of the aircraft for later retrieval. For their services, he offers them a non-negotiable 20 grand as well as discounted merchandise and his own contact information. Lacking the ability to negotiate and told to take it or leave it, the team decide to take the offer. The message subsequently self-destructs Mission Impossible style, and the group proceed to meet with their transport after procuring parachutes for themselves.

The Plan

Arriving at Thun Field, the group bribe some Ancients for entry (with Sircuit purchasing some drugs from them as well) and head to the airport bar to meet with Jet Set, their pilot for the evening. Mr. Set provides them with schematics of the airship model - the Endeavor-class - they're heisting from, which typically have a crew of 12 between the pilot, engineers and security officers. The group spend some time formulating their plan, which mostly consists of "try to stay as quiet as possible to avoid being shot, and don't die during entry and exfil." Since he's got some extra cash, Ace dips into his cash reserves and rents a glider from the airfield for extraction purposes (after Saladin manages to talk the price down a little), which they proceed to load onto Jet Set's much larger craft.

The Run

Once in the air, a growing storm front approaches (this is probably fine). The crew receive harasses and ropes from their pilot, along with a thermite burning bar to cut their way into the airship's cargo bay from the outside. The glider they obtained has seats for three human/elf sized occupants, so Ace, Saladin and Sircuit get inside with Asuriel prepares to jump using a parachute. When they're ready, Jet Set makes the approach from above, creating false sensor signals to draw the craft's drone escorts away.

With Ace in the pilot seat, the glider manages to sail through the stormy skies and land on top of the dirigible; Asuriel meanwhile manages her first HALO jump well, following suit and anchoring the glider to the airship so that it doesn't fall off. Ace and Asuriel grapple down the side of the craft with their magboots and harnesses with Saladin attached to the latter's back (who provides an invisibility prep to help the big troll hide); Sircuit remains with the craft to perform remote hacking duties. This proves useful as the drone swarm soon returns, who fail to spot the infiltration team as the hacker seizes control of the airship pilot's RCC which they're slaved to.

The infiltration team reaches the cargo bay door, which Ace cuts through using the thermite bar in short order; meanwhile, Sircuit sends a stream of blackout code to knock out the pilot, causing the auto-pilot to take over. This commences the "going loud" portion of the plan as the airship crew realize something is amiss and the guards in the cargo bay (whose positions on the catwalks are spotted out thanks to Ace's radar sensor and Saladin's clairvoyance prep) move to defend the goods. A brief firefight ensues in which the team manage to knock over their opponents and force them into a defensive position. Ace keeps them pinned down with suppressing fire and Sircuit squelches their calls for re-enforcements while Saladin quickly finds the requested crates and slaps the trackers/parachutes on them and Asuriel uses her strength to push them out the door.

Thanks to their good timing and coordination, the infiltration team are nearly out the door by the time backup arrives, taking fire as they flee - Asuriel tanks a shot meant for Saladin and the three of them fall out, clinging to the underside of the craft with their magboots and making the arduous climb back to the top of the dirigible. Sircuit covers them by hacking the drone swarm, but finds his control suddenly seized as the avatar of a black knight rezzes onto the dirigible - realizing this is a member of the Electric Knights, who have it out for him, the two engage in a brief cyber-swordfight before Sircuit dispatches his foe (his convictions give him strength). Climbing into the glider, Ace flies away through the storm, managing to keep on course; Asuriel has trouble as her parachute chords become tangled by the wind, but some timely advice from Saladin to keep calm gives her the means to untangle herself enough to aim for a rough landing in some trees, surviving thanks to troll thickness.

Aftermath

Reconvening back at Thun Field, the group head to the Wolf's Wings bar for celebratory drinks with Jet Set and crew, who successfully managed to track down all the merchandise. The crew are paid their promised fee, with the option to cash out for a good rate on stolen goods, and receive contact information for their employer and pilot should they wish to retain their services in the future.

Rewards

20,000 nuyen (all 4 crates acquired)

4 karma (no blood shed)

4 CDP (lessons learned)

Optional Contact: Milo Minderbinder (C6/L1 Weapons Dealer) for 6 RVP or 12 CDP

Optional Contact: Jet Set (C6/L1 Pilot) for 6 RVP or 12 CDP

Optional Gear Reward: Stolen Weapons/Armor/Drones @ 2:1 cost

Narrative Consequences:

-The premium items from an Ares weapon shipment are hijacked mid-air by a crack team who subsequently vanish into the storm, leaving the corpos scratching their heads.,

-The Black Knight is defeated by Sircuit in a mid-air cyberbattle - he will return for revenge in the future to pay back the humiliation.

Game Quotes

"Where are we flying over?" "The same place D.B Cooper vanished."

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

- [Sircuit]: "That was without a doubt the most audacious thing I've ever done in my life. The descent by glider, fighting that rigger in cyberspace, a gunfight inside a dirigible where one bullet in the wrong place could spell catastrophe, dueling a rival knight for control over the drones, escaping in the nick of time... Amazing. I'm still riding the adrenaline high."