Arms to the People

Arms to the People
Date 2082-08-14 GM Archtmag Location Auburn Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Rise Up	Ares Macrotechnology	Knight Errant
Cricket Spring Prince The Incredible Behemoth Scarecrow	Security Forces Automated Defenses HTR Team

Summary

Runners steal weapons, armor, and explosives from an Ares arms depot. They give these to Rise Up, so they can can redistribute them to the people. Also, they probably get a lot of KE pressure.

Background

Since her actions in Feeding the Revolutionary Spirit, Behemoth has been building a communist organization with John Cooper, her nerdy ally. While not yet a large force, the group, called Rise Up, has begun to build a network of volunteers and workers in local communities. Helping people and building support networks, the group has started to make a real positive change in the poorer communities of Seattle. As people's lives improve though, there are always others who will try to tear it down, particularly the state. Behemoth, while a fearsome fighter, can't protect everyone. The people need to be able to watch out for themselves, and for that to happen, they need weaponry.

Hatching a plan, Behemoth finds a arms depot on the outskirts of town and begins to call in a team of like-minded runners to help the cause.

The Meet

The runners are called to an unassuming basement in the middle of a residential area. Cricket scanned the matrix for potential traps, before realizing things seemed pretty non-threatening. Heading down after a bit, the team entered John's basement, slightly furnished and with some posters and propaganda scattered around. Standing near a table, Behemoth and John greeted the team and began to tell them about the job.

In the outskirts of Auburn, located on the edge of town, an arms depot is operated by Ares. Used to store goods meant for sale to outside buyers, it also functions as a key part of the Knight Errant logistics network. Convoys head in and out with regularity, transferring material all around the area. From what had been already scouted out, the base seemed to have a significant automated security system, with visible turrets and drones.

The goal, if the runners were to accept, would be to rob this warehouse, stealing as much as possible. They would be given a share of the returns as a reward, and would help arm the people of Seattle.

The runners were all fairly amenable to the cause, aside from Prince, and the soon decided to take the job.

The Plan

In planning, the team had several considerations to keep track of. They needed to know how they'd get the gear out of the depot, how they planned on getting inside to begin with, and how fast and lethal would the response be. Knowing that the gear would likely be chipped and tracked to a large degree, the first consideration was to get an exit strategy with a faraday cage. Without time to carefully remove electronic tracking, there'd be no way to get a clean getaway.

Thinking about various escape vehicles and strategies, the team went through numerous ideas. Scarecrow eventually remembered a contact that they had, Jet Set who was known to do aerial pickups and landings for heavy weight cargo. While a seemingly stupid idea, scouting showed that it might work. The depot, in order to minimize explosion risks, was located far away from other buildings so the roadways were isolated enough to actually have the clearance to allow a plane landing. It would be very risky, but assuming the pilot was good enough to dodge anti-air defenses, it might work.

To load the gear out of the warehouse and onto the plane, the team rented a semi with a trailer. By adding electromagnetic shielding to the interior, they could fill up the trailer with stolen goods, and drive it right up inside the plane, where it would be secured by the crew within.

In terms of physical security that they could see, the entire complex was surrounded by a large wall topped with mono-filament wire. The only entrance was a guard gate, manned and with bollards to stop a forceful entry. A swarm of rotodrones patrolled the skies, aided by watcher spirits. Unbeknownst to the team, there were also multiple turrets armed with assault cannons, with riggers standing by to jump in.

After learning all of this and planning some, the final plan came together. The team would load into the Semi and approach the gate. Behemoth would hop out and use her communism strength to destroy the bollards. Meanwhile, the team would disable the guards at the checkpoints and fend off the drones from the air. Cricket meanwhile would hop into the host and engage with the matrix security and potential riggers.

By promising a share of the loot to Jet Set, their way out was set, and the team was ready to proceed.

The Run

The run started well. The truck approached the gate, the security initially not suspecting foul play. This changed rather quickly as Scarecrow disabled the gate guard. As Behemoth hopped out, rushing forward to open the way in, the team realized they had missed a rather important part of the security. From a few hundred meters away, very large turrets began to open fire with assault cannons, shooting Behemoth with very large bullets.

Cricket meanwhile hopped into the host and engaged the spider within with her sprites. It turns out though there were three riggers inside as well. While one was simply operating industrial equipment, the other two were in the process of jacking into turrets to murder the intruders.

As Behemoth started breaking the bollards, the rest of the team shot at the swarm of rotodrones harassing them, while also taking shots at the increasingly deadly assault cannons. After a few tense moments, Behemoth managed to destroy the bollards, allowing Ace to drive the truck forward, giving the rest of the team an easier attack distance on the turrets. Cricket did her part by disabling the spiders, and stealing a copy of the manifest, letting the team know where the best gear was located.

As the team slowly whittled down the automated defenses, securing the facility, Jet Set managed to arrive, coming in low to the ground to avoid radar.

As the team burst into the warehouse, they faced a variety of confused and terrified workers, as well as many shipping drones. Behemoth, intimidating them, put them to work, having them load as much as they could into the semi. As the trailer filled up, and they started to head towards the waiting plane, things seemed good. Until they didn't.

In the distance, the sound of helicopter emerged. The first response had finally arrived. An HTR team by helicopter, ready to kill all of them and recover the goods. By this point, the team had managed to get the semi driven into the waiting plane, but it wasn't yet secured. As the helicopter rapidly approached, Cricket acted decisively to buy them a few moments. Using matrix magic, she caused the engines to go out, making the helicopter undergo an emergency landing.

Dinged up, but still very ready to fight, the HTR emerged from the damaged helicopter about 150 meters from the team, opening fire as they frantically made an escape. A quick and brutal fight started, with the team narrowly pulling ahead, Scarecrows powerful magic being particularly effective. As the team was fended off, and the semi secured, they all ran into the plane, fleeing the scene, before more HTR teams arrived.

Aftermath

All in all, the team stole a very valuable cache of supplies for Rise Up. While by no means the majority of the warehouse's stock, for a small group, they now found themselves ridiculously well supplied. Perhaps too much so. Given the large amount of heat following this, it's doubtful that they will be even able to use it for some time to come. Currently, it rests, quietly out of sight in a safehouse, the tracking tags disabled.

The team of course got their cut, taking a choice selection of the stolen goods, with an offer to work more with the group in the future.

Rewards

Choose one package:

56K Nuyen worth of Guns, Ammo, Mods, Armor, Explosives/Grenades (14 RVP)

6 CDP (2 RVP)

32k Nuyen worth Guns, Ammo, Mods, Armor, Explosives/Grenades (8 RVP)

6 Karma (6 RVP)

6 CDP (2 RVP)

12 Karma (12 RVP)

10 CDP (4 RVP)

For all, optional Contacts, subtracted from other RVP:

Membership in Rise Up - 6 RVP

Jet Set as a 6/2 - 7 RVP

KE has the astral signature of Scarecrow

Behemoth gets a discount on IG5

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Prince

I'm not communist, my parents were affluent and kept me in a forest to keep my symbiosis in check so I didn't scream all night in Atlanta when I was growing up. But helping them arm themselves to the teeth, is giving the enemy of my enemy more guns. We drove by in the day Ms. Behemoth and I checked the outside of the wall with my scope and we got an old timer to land a plane once the assault was ready. There were riggers in turrets and drones galore trying to get to us, but they did not survive the initial assault. Once we got inside and the workers loading up weapons I spied an AM-47 and was sure to tuck that one up my metaphorical skirt. The plane landed shortly after an HTR chopper pulled up and we'd filled the truck to bursting with gear. And I fought HTR for the first time, put a lot of bullets in one, he didn't pop back up after that, and one got lucky. It was a run.

Spring

"This was a good run. Felt good helping out a small group, I will have to check this Rise Up group when they get off the ground and see how they treat their people."

Cricket

"You know most jobs here are a pretty mixed bag but this one was nova. Practical action! Not only did we get to rob cops for people in need, but we got to land a fraggin' plane in the middle of the road to do it. The team were all really solid; feels nice to be working with people that won't ditch me at the first opportunity. I'm pretty excited about this whole Rise Up thing too. Lots of potential to do some real good."