Uncle Silas Asks a Favor

Uncle Silas Asks a Favor
Date 2085-04-10 GM Sarcarian Location Manhattan, New York City Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Silas Vespasiano Knife	Saeder-Krupp
Gehenna	Amrei Veidt
This was an initiation ordeal.

Summary

In which Gehenna is recruited by her "uncle" to help with something of a delicate matter.

Background

The Third Universal Matrix Conference is a major event planned for the spring of 2085, to be held at the Towers in Manhattan, the headquarters of the Corporate Court Matrix Authority. Saeder-Krupp will be among the tech companies headlining the event, featuring a keynote address from one Dr. Antonio Vieri, a reclusive genius last seen in public at the Second Universal Matrix Conference in Scotland 20 years prior. Dr. Vieri is said to be on the verge of a major breakthrough which he will unveil at the event, and many parties have taken a keen interest in his work.

One of these parties is Applied Memristor Technologies, formerly a NeoNET subsidiary which was left adrift by the dissolution of their parent company and subsequently picked up by a shell company under the control of the Black Lodge. The Lodge is aware that Vieri is much more than he seems, and have noticed the incredibly tight security S-K has placed around him. Through their influence with the Manhattan Development Consortium, the New York branch of the Lodge has managed to get AMT a spot next to S-K's so that they can get close enough to Vieri to study his designs and potentially extract him - however S-K have taken notice of these efforts and started putting the pieces together, moving to get AMT moved to the other side of the hall as far away from them as possible. Knife, one of the Lodge's resident tech experts, has been tasked with ensuring the plan goes off without a hitch, and (not being the most sociable person) he has called for a face's aid to help resolve the matter.

As it happens, Knife's coworker Silas Vespasiano has a prospective social engineer who could use a test of her abilities...

The Meet

Gehenna, receives a call from her Uncle Silas around 7pm. There's some brief embarrassment about being caught sleeping by Silas and the obligatory exchanges pleasantries - before getting asked if she'd like a chartered flight to New York. The answer's yes, of course, and the job alongside it is just icing on the cake. Vespasiano invites her to a meeting with a "business associate" of his at a restaurant at the Gates casino in a few hours to discuss details.

After brief stop at the Redmond border has Gehenna wondering if a cyborg is interrogating her - it is merely a drone cop - she meets Silas at the casino. The other person waiting in the private room for three is an unknown human apparently in his mid-30s wearing an expensive designer suit - Gehenna's assensing is able to identify him as a vampire, and while she isn't scared of him, she is reminded that she, herself, is a vampire. The fear and hatred is pushed down, though, and she takes a seat for her meeting. As they exchange greetings, she notices that the man is disguising his voice and apparence. A toast is exchanged - blood for the vampires, wine for Silas before things begin.

The mystery man, who simply goes by "Mr. Johnson", claims to be from New York, and requires aid - one Mr. Knife, a "member of Silas's retinue" has noticed an issue with the work which Mr. Johnson's team has performed, and Silas has recommended her for a bit of social engineering in order to fix the problem. Throughout the meeting, Silas is extremely deferential to the mystery man, who treats him as little more than a servant and has him explain the situation to his "niece".

Applied Memristor Technologies is due to make a presentation at an important upcoming tech conference (the "Third Universal Matrix Conference"). The problem is the location of their booth, which is positioned next to one of the headliners of the event in to draw a great deal of attention. However, the neighboring booth is attempting to displace them from this spot. She is to bring them in line. But the socially perceptive vampire notices - Mr Johnson is not just content to have the job done. He's curious about how she'll accomplish it. It feels like a test. It might be.

Her target is a dwarven woman named Madeleine Fitzgerald, who works at the Towers in Manhattan and is tasked by the MDC with adjudicating the dispute between the companies. Her opponent in the issue is Amrei Veidt, a liaison with Aetherlink (a subsidiary of S-K). She is representing one Dr. Antonio Vieri in the matter, who claims that his presentation requires the additional space for a machine of unknown purpose. The specifics of why are redacted, even on a stolen copy of their documentation Knife - a capable decker and tech expert - is to provide her with the technical information she requires for this task. With things explained, Mr. Johnson takes his leave, letting Silas and Gehenna be by themselves.

The Plan

Gehenna is a perceptive woman - she picks up on the fact that her uncle is sweating in the meeting. She's also very rarely seen him handled like a - well, a mook. "Silas, hand her the card. Silas, pour us the wine. Silas, you'll attend to the travel requirements." And when she needles him, she quickly learns that Mr. Johnson is "an old fraternity friend" of Silas's. But he grows serious as he notes that the decker is likely there to serve as a mole. Having been taught well by her uncle over the years, she is well aware that she will need to watch her back.

Iris MacKenzie will be her traveling name - and it's not until after she's on the flight to New York that she'll realize her biometrics would have been altered on the night she was infected. She hasn't seen a doctor since. So why does her uncle have it? The thought nags at her, incessantly.

She meets with Knife during the tail end of the flight, who appears as an AR specter in a dark cloak. A brief discussion about the targets, and he provides an outline of talking points for the discussion with Ms. Fitzgerald. They're - dry. Not badly written, but not well written either. He attempts to intimidate her when she touches a nerve regarding being treated as "tech support" by "rich assholes and vampires", but she smooths things over with the "petulant peasant" (so she thinks) - after all, he'll be more useful to her as a weakness in the upper echelons of whatever conspiracy her uncle is involved in (oddly enough, Knife is thinking something largely similar).

After smoothing things over, she starts digging into things. Step one - investigate the competition. She digs into Amrei by looking into The Nexus - talking to a hacker who's able to provide a little background on the woman. Apparently, she goes by G01d3nI on The Helix.

The Run

Landing in New Jersey at a Mafia-controlled airstrip at night, Gehenna is driven into town and given a train ticket which will bring her to Penn Station. Some negotiation with her "tech support" is required in order to bypass the extensive security measures and get onto the island - and he highlights for her how fucked she is while dealing with the security awares. Thankfully Gehenna has been practicing masking techniques, and the crucible of a stressful situation and the pressure to succeed in this test is enough to make things finally click; managing to Be Normal while waiting at the security checkpoint, she locks eyes with the aware. He sees her - she sees him. While she's under his watchful gaze - she winks. It's just enough of a distraction for her to slip by.

On the way out into the city, she lays a hand where a vagrant had slept - and she is dragged into a psychometric vision, seeing the world from a perspective she has never considered even once. Before her eyes, she sees the poverty for what it is - desperation. She can feel the desire for revolt here, hear the chants of anarchist rallies, here the booms of their sabotage in the streets of Manhattan.

It's deafening.

She ignores it with a single, focused thought: they will eat the rich, but she isn't rich. She sees the world from their position. She knows how to ride that tide up as it swallows the existing powers.

Once in a town car, Gehenna rolls through intense security checkpoints in the Terminal district, complete with monowire meshes and RFID sprayers - before she gets to finally move on to her lodgings, away from the station into the Southside. Once in the Corson Place Hotel, she modifies the scripts for the next day - and arranges a meeting (via Knife's contacts) with Frau Veidt, with three goals. The first - to attempt to convince Amrei that she has a trump card to play, and that negotiating the next day is pointless. The second - to let Amrei see red herring files on her commlink to give an advantage in the negotiations the following day. The third - to buy Knife time to steal information off Amrei's cyberdeck.

Over the Matrix, Amrei makes it clear that she knows who Gehenna is working for - and while Gehenna can't ask who that is...clues continue mounting that she's tied into something big. Big enough that S-K has noticed - and that larger organization is evidently fighting an esoteric war. While she's got no firsthand knowledge, Gehenna leans on what she's gleaned from conspiracy circles to come to a determination: Amrei needs this to stay this way for a mixture of practical and esoteric reasons. Issues ranging from magical interference to mundane security threats are possible causes - but it's clear that Amrei won't budge on the matter. So Gehenna swaps tactics and instead simply delays for Knife to have time.

It's successful - partially anyway. She's got a misdirect into Amrei's hands, she has Amrei's talking points in her back pocket.

When they meet with the arbitrator the next day, Gehenna pulls out all the stops in her negotiations, leading her opposition down the trail of dead-end arguments while pulling out expertly-written counterarguments for every point that Aetherlink brings up to support the proposed move. With an acknowledgement from Frau Veidt, a congratulatory handshake from Knife, and a nod from the arbiter, Gehenna goes off to enjoy the sights of Manhattan for a night or two on her uncle's dime.

Aftermath

Applied Memristor Technologies keeps their spot at the Third Universal Matrix Conference, but a slip of the tongue from Gehenna during her chat with Amrei lets S-K know that they are indeed Up To Something; Amrei extends her contact information to Gehenna in order to keep an eye on the Lodge's prospects and use her as a source of information on their activities in the near future. Knife meanwhile earmarks Gehenna as a potential asset in his own cause, and begins quietly digging into her situation with her "uncle".

Rewards

20,000 nuyen

2 karma

12 CDP

+2 Black Lodge rep

Initiation ordeal discount

Optional Contact: Amrei Veidt (S-K Prime Operative) for 6 RVP or 12 CDP

Optional Gear Rewards: R6 UCAS Fake SIN + Licenses for "Iris MacKenzie"

Game Quotes

"The mafia is not known for fighting corruption." - LHOG, musing on why the Finns would be taking BL money

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Gehenna - I'm quite pleased that Frau Veidt was willing to remain in touch afterwards. Her interests and mine did not align here, but it's a sign of her character that she was willing to look past this dispute and remain in touch. Truly, a remarkably polite and clever individual. Now - to see my uncle treated so - ah, familiarly - by Knife and Mr. Johnson was somewhat worrying. He is not ordinarily so tolerant of such things. However, it's understandable that a friend of his from his schooling days would be allowed such freedoms. Truly, nothing to worry about - I'm more than happy to celebrate on my uncle's dime in New York. Manhattan is a lovely city, and my donations to the Arts in Manhattan are excellent both for building connections and for getting access which the peasantry could not afford.

...

I am irate, however, that I was unable to retrieve more specific information about the organization that my uncle is a part of. I've seen little clues in the corner of my eyes for years. Actual years. I'm quite confident that I would have worked my way into his good graces and received an invite if not for that - attack, upon me, those couple months ago. But this is a promising sign that I will be able to work my way into favor once more. All it will take is time.

Time and power.