Seeds of Resistance

Seeds of Resistance
Date 2082-07-31 GM Asmodeus Location The Matrix Status Threat Level: Medium
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven	Matrix Baddies
Ca1yps0 Cricket	Dissonant Sprites Xenosapient AI

Summary

In which the runners gather intelligence on the activities of a rogue xenosapient.

Background

In The Red Star, an e-ghost named Rachael was liberated from a Horizon host in which it had been kept prisoner by a xenosapient AI, which escaped from the Foundation onto the grids in the process. Now it has resurfaced and is plotting its next move, and Rachael wants to know what it has planned so that she can keep herself and those close to her safe.

The Meet

The runners are contacted by their fixers and provided with a mark on a rogue host; they all rez in without issue, and find M_07 and Rachael’s persona’s waiting for them. Ca1yps0 fills Cricket in on the situation, and asks what they need from them. Rachael says that the xenosapient AI which she helped to save her from has vanished from the Horizon Global Grid, and that traces of its presence have been found in the physical world in the form of devices it has inhabited. She is concerned for the safety of M_07 and the others who helped her, and wants assistance to figure out what it’s up to - pointing them towards some data trails that were traced to the border of the Puyallup barrens, she offers them nuyen and paydata proportionate with the qualities of their findings. The runners accept the job, and are given the coordinates for a commlink which can be used to contact them.

The Plan

The two technos meet up in meatspace at Trix & Treats in Puyallup to plan. Ca1yps0 proposes releasing some drones to look for suspicious activity, and Cricket says that she has a contact that can help. Calling News Van Dan, she asks for his aid looking for weird goings on near the Tacoma/Puyallup border, and he tells her about a mechanized attack on the Lone Star precinct near there - he says that he attempted to look into the matter himself, but the party responsible covered their tracks well.

Ca1yps0 sends a mini-zep drone to get eyes on the situation, and after a short time she notices a dissonance signature on its icon - using her knowledge of the Dissonance, she determines that it is most likely from a Causal Nexus complex form threaded by an Apophenian. Calling Cricket over for assistance on the ‘trix, the two of them work together to spot out the source, and they notice an icon nearby which they manage to trace, right before Ca1yps0 dodges a trio of burst fire shots on her drone and is forced to flee the scene.

The Run

Telling her blimp drone to turn offline and return to home base, the mermaid sends her flying eye to check out the traced location, with Cricket keeping an eye on the icon for Dissonance trickery; she’s able to spot it out, and after a quick reboot they manage to get the drone into position and spot out the source of the issue - the Depth 9 xenosapient which Ca1yps0 recognizes from her previous encounter, which seems to have a swarm of Dissonant sprites hanging around near it.

Ca1yps0 and Cricket both compile up some big boy fault sprites for protection and, realizing that Ca1 can’t stay silent near them due to her data anomaly, lends her sprite’s services to Cricket while she goes offline to inspect the area in meatspace; Cricket meanwhile uses stays running silent and uses the sprites Borrowed IP power to seem innocuous while she keeps an eye on the AI’s activities. The sprites inform Cricket that it seems to be operating many icons at once, but what it’s ultimately trying to accomplish remains unclear.

While observing the goings on, Cricket notices a response from Lone Star which is quickly squashed, followed shortly thereafter by intervention from the demiGODs who are joined shortly thereafter by the Lone Star forces. During the cybercombat, Cricket is nearly spotted and traced, forcing her to dumpshock herself. While she goes offline and hides out in the Barrens, Ca1yps0 hops on with her deck to snoop on Lone Star communications and inspect the aftermath of the cybercombat scene for evidence of what happened. She notices that the Dissonance signature of the sprites looks familiar, and recognizes it as belonging to Chitin, the insectile SURGE from Time to Attack, but that she seems to be currently offline.

Calling up Lord Logie for more information, she asks about gossip from the local hacker community on what happened on the Tacoma grid; he puts his ears to the ground and tells her that there was a massive attack on devices all at once, and that there were several Reality Hackers on the scene. Cricket contacts Handraniel and asks if they know anything, but they admit they do not but will keep an eye on the situation. Contacting Bootstrap, Ca1yps0 asks her what happened - learning that a bunch of their decks were bricked and formatted - and pays her for any info she has on the incident, which includes a photo of the custom drones which attacked the precinct.

Aftermath

Figuring that the AI must have survived and gone to ground, and with no sign of its apparent Dissonant ally on the ‘trix, the two technos do some Matrix searching on the aftermath of the incident, learning that Lone Star has taken the drones into their custody and are out of reach for the moment. They also learn that several hardware stores in the area were apparently broken into and looted of all useful merchandise, as well as that GOD is recruiting for a new agent. Ca1yps0 leaves a message for Chitin directing her to a dead drop containing some information on the matter and a number to contact her at, and notes later that it has been retrieved.

Concerned that the AI may be making more drones and e-ghosts, they contemplate what to do but realize they don’t have many options available at the moment. Compiling all their intel and asking their contacts to keep their ears to the ground on the matter, they head to find the burner link to contact Rachael and pass along the info in exchange for their payment.

Rewards

• 20,000 Nuyen (40,000 for upgrading cyberdecks, commlinks or buying donglewongles)
• 3 Karma
• 2 CDP
• Optional: May become a member of the Walking People; Group Contact with a Connection of 1 (6 RVP)

Game Quotes

Amusing quote from game.

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

Ca1yps0

It was good to hear from Rachael again, I just wish it had been under better circumstances, and on today of all days too - usually I don’t work today, but I told her I’d help out anytime, and this is important. Turns out that xenosapient is back and causing trouble, so she wanted us to find out everything we could about what it’s been up to. Seems that it hooked up with Chitin, that insect SURGE that I ran into a while back, which is… well, a problem, to say the least. We still don’t really have any idea of what it’s planning, other than making an army of drones and attacking folks, so like, yeah, that’s a problem… frag, I really don’t like leaving drek like this hanging, but this seems like it’s one of those “wait and see” situations. Guess we’ll have to hope for the best, and prepare for the worst.

Cricket

"Frag, this is gonna be a problem ain't it? Xenosapients, drone armies, GOD... it's making all my past runs look like script kiddie drek. What am I even supposed to do here? Those demiGODs that showed up to fight that thing, I was *nothing* to them. I had two of the most powerful sprites I've ever seen at my side and they didn't even glance at me. Then I stuck around too long and they tried to squash me. Just like the last time. I've gotta get stronger."