Opening Volley

Opening Volley
Part of Emerald City Clash
Date 2087-06-26 GM Breeze Location Seattle, Redmond Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven DC Harry Metzger Knight Errant	Gang Threats	Unknown Third Party
Geodesic Heron Thrim Wesson Smith	Well armored Ancients Off Guard Cutters Various local gangs	Unknown Shooter
Casualties and losses
None	The team personally dealt with 1 cutter and 2 of the Ancients, putting them out of commission. As for actual casualties? The city is a mess. The death tolls only climb	Oh she's doing juuuuuust fine, chummer~

Summary

A rescue operation that took the crew through the thick of Redmon's broiling gang war, saving a KE informant when the DC of Downtown realized her cover was either going to be blown or irrelevant when the heat came on. It brought a lot of questions to the runners, both about what she knows and who exactly was trying to silence her.

Background

Detective Yuriko Shimada is one of DC Metgzer's better detectives. She's a skilled undercover operative and has proven herself over the years. With rumors of something brewing, she was a natural choice for looking into the Cutters.

That didn't hold up when the war broke out. Not only were the Cutters in high alert, but they were liable to just be murdered on the streets. She knew a lot but exposing that when she was deep in Redmond away from backup risked making her vulnerable, letting the wrong people know. All she could afford to tell Metzger was that she needed an exfil within the next few hours when she suspected things were going to go down. The DC didn't waste time. He swallowed his pride and contacted one of the best networks for doing things fast and dangerous.

The Meet

The meet was quick. Geodesic, Thrim, and Wesson Smith arrived quick with Heron somewhat delayed. The anxiety of the situation was clearly getting to the DC, who was not in the mood for the eccentricities of the team when they arrived. He was incredibly blunt about his proposition: Here's Shimada's location, now get her out. 14k nuyen for them. He was not budging on negotiations, save for the briefest allowance to let them restock on ammo afterwards. The team briefly considered pushing him, but his clear anger and displeasure shut that down quickly. They began to plan in front of him, which prompted Metzger to usher them out to go do the damn job already.

The Plan

There wasn't much room for planning, just routing. With the DC's approval on an e-paper cert, they could get through most checkpoints as long as there weren't any issues like bringing heat onto the checkpoint, so they just needed to figure out a route and who did what. They formed a convoy using Thrim's roadmaster and Wesson's bike and kept a dust-off ready for Heron or the VIP just in case. They set a route up through Snohomish and managed to get a quick check in through the points there to not slow down. Now the race was on.

The Run

it was a mad dash to the bar Shimada was holed up at. From the moment they crossed into Redmond proper they could tell things were worse than usual. Mines in the road, shootouts breaking out all over, it was a mess. They had to detour away from a well-equipped Ancients' assault on some Cutters nearby to try and reinforce their ongoing attack and managed to position themselves to get to rescuing Shimada. The Cutters inside were holding on, but barely, and the Ancients were coming in quick. They managed to contact Shimada and get her to trust them, but there was someone watching her too. She barely avoided getting her head blown off, and the team had to work fast to exfil her. There was some invisible assailant whom Heron tried to confront, but she couldn't quite get through the illusion, and the assassin made a hasty retreat (after failing to get a lock onto Thrim's roadmaster when it activated its secondary rotors). Heron worked on suppressing the oncoming Ancients' second wave as the rest of the team tried to cover the other threats and Shimada fled to the roof. Geo managed to tag the assassin and take a shot, but the invisibility was rough and hard to break through. They held off the Cutters coming up after the detective and Heron got sent the Dust-Off to give her a way to follow after as they flew away.

The assassin managed to try to get one shot off on the roadmaster, but by some grace of God and rigging talent Thrim managed to avoid being hit by the guided missile coming for him. The assassin revealed herself with a little bit of congratulations before ducking out of cover, and they avoided being caught in another long engagement with the Ancients and sped off to the checkpoint.

Aftermath

The cops weren't exactly going to be buddy buddy with the crew after saving their operative - the usual attitude of "it was the least you could do". But the team got paid. Maybe KE can get in control of the situation after all.

That strange merc is still out there though.

Rewards

Run Rewards for "Opening Volley" (14 RVP)

14000 Nuyen (7 RVP)

May take ammunition at gear rates instead up to avail 12

5 karma (5 RVP)

6 CDP (2 RVP)

Narrative Consequences

Detective Shimada takes her insider information from the Cutters' communications and inner workings. Hopefully Knight Errant can use this to figure out more about what's going on

The Strange Mercenary is still running around in the Redmond Area. She's found some interesting prey at least

The Cutters have taken a massive first loss, losing a chunk of their forces in Redmond.

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

"Gangers with anti-vehicle weapons are a nuisance. Skilled mercenaries with anti-vehicle weapons are a PROBLEM. This doesn't feel like your average flare up between the local drekheads. Best keep your head on a swivel if you're going on any runs in the immediate future." -Thrim, between cheese puffs.

Heron: "First mission official for Haven in the books. Consensus, opposition is what I expected skill wise; though their hardware is concerning. What country lets missile launchers into the hands of criminals? It's pathetic. Conclusion on the Haven...far less put together than Shade honestly, no comraderie or consistency in skill. I didn't expect the West to be anything like Korea, and yet I am none-the-less disappointed."