Vanilla Extract

Vanilla Extract
Part of Clear Skies
Almond, Haven-unaffiliated decker
Date 2081-07-27 GM Atlatl Location Downtown Seattle Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven Vanilla Almond Hotrod Henry	GOD
Twitch Ojou Burn0ut Rainmaker
Casualties and losses
None, amazingly	3x Avenging Angels

Summary

Twitch, Ojou, Burn0ut, and Rainmaker extract two haven-unaffiliated hackers, Vanilla and Almond, from a strike launched by GOD after a mysterious convergence event.

Background

Vanilla, Almond, and their runner team were involved in a data steal on the Sea-Tac host on the 22nd[1], where they stumbled upon a twice-nested host and copied a large amount of data from it. While Almond saw it as a simple conference room, Vanilla observed a resonance watermark which covered the room in black scrawl and claw marks. They copied much of the data, utilized nuke from orbit, and left, assuming they were undetected.

The Plan

There is little time for planning. The team only had about ten minutes to reach downtown and did not have sufficient information regarding the location of the two runners they were going to extract or their particular situation. Burn0ut patrolled Downtown with Flare and Rainmaker did the same with her Roadmaster. Twitch rode in Ojou's helicopter to work as matrix and drone support. About half way to Downtown, Sora Ozaki contacted Ojou to warn her that the Downtown district was about to be declared an Air Exclusion Zone (AEZ) with a 1 km Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

The Run

When neither extraction target picks up their comm calls, Twitch hacks one and traces it to Beacon Hill near where Burn0ut was located. Burn0ut picks up Vanilla on the sidewalk just in time to watch a pair of helicopter HTR teams assault her apartment. Vanilla informs her that most of her team is dead and that they need to try and find their decker, Almond, before GOD strike teams can reach him. She explains that he was hit by an unusual convergence event and teams were sent out for them. Almond's commlink cuts out as he attempts to ditch all of his electronics.

Realizing that GOD is involved, Twitch realizes that an underwater egress would be the most rapid and difficult to detect route. He jumps into his car back at home and rushes it to downtown.

Ojou flies low into the ADIZ, carefully avoiding radar intercept, and spots an attack helicopter flying South along with three Avenging Angels in a holding pattern near Sea-Tac. Both Burn0ut and Rainmaker race down I-5 on the shoulder in order to reach Southern Heights during rush hour, close to where Almond lived. They search the area and manage to find him stumbling into the road with KE pursuit teams pulling up immediately behind him. Burn0ut tells Vanilla to kick open a door, then drifts her car around to pick up Almond and start speeding away. Almond is suffering from significant neural injury due to convergence and dumpshock.

The three KE pursuit vehicles open fire on Burn0ut, while Rainmaker holds fire due to the close proximity of the vehicles. Twitch and Ojou provide fire support, destroying two of the pursuit vehicle, then begin firing at the GX-2 attack helicopter and Avenging Angels. Two of the Avenging Angels open fire with gauss rifles. Burn0ut escapes and hides in an alleyway in Renton Avenue while the Ojou dogfights the aircraft. Rainmaker downs the helicopter and kills the pilot using an AV rocket. When one Avenging Angel launches an AV missile at Rainmaker, Ojou fires at the missile, grazing it and deflecting it away enough to prevent any damage to the Roadmaster. The last Avenging Angel is downed.

Ojou identifies that there are several more aircraft rolling onto the flightline at Sea-Tac, along with a Gryphon Thunderbird scrambling. Under intense time pressure, Twitch transfers to his car by bailing out of the helicopter and performing a drift-pickup maneuver with his car. Vanilla and Almond had over all of their credsticks to Burn0ut. Twitch meets up with Burn0ut, who transfers both runners to his vehicle, then speeds off a pier into Lake Washington. After Vanilla and Almond get over their initial panic and realize that Twitch's car is actually capable of going underwater, they calm down.

Ojou flies off on an erratic route at extremely low altitude in order to avoid pursuit and goes dark, hiding out in Puyallup. Burn0ut and Rainmaker call Hot Rod Harry, who locates a chop shop (with a large Faraday cage area for ownership transfers) for them to hide out in until GOD stops patrolling.

Aftermath

Vanilla and Almond hesitantly shared their information about the airport datasteal with Twitch, who identified that Almond's unexplained convergence was most likely due to a Tattletale complex form. The two mention Maxwell as a suspicious subject, as he was the only Johnson to ask them anything regarding the job. They were taken to a safehouse and advised to leave the city. GOD continues its search for the rest of the day before calling it off and reporting both targets dead. The Sea-Tac black-list was modified to remove any Haven runners.

Rewards

• 20,000 NuYen
• 6 Karma
• 2 CDP
• +1 Street Cred
• +1 Public Awareness for Burn0ut
• +2 Public Awareness for Ojou and Rainmaker
• Twitch receives a large amount of very dangerous data from the Sea-Tac Host from Vanilla and Almond
• Ojou loses another chip with Sora Ozaki

Game Quotes

"Hey hon? You're strapped in securely, right?" - Ojou "(Hesitantly) Yes?" - Twitch

"At this point Ojou's just changed her chameleon coating to read '35,000 nuyen, by the way'" - ob

"I'm gonna shoot back at this guy. You think you're so cool. You think you're so fucking tough. Fuck that guy." - Ojou

"You drop me out, then I pick myself up in the car." - Twitch "Honey I'm in a dogfight, I don't think I can do this right now." - Ojou

"I'm going to enjoy the fact that Ojou just performed the first missile riposte." - Madman

"So what's the plan for getting past the lockdown checkpoints?" - Vanilla "We're not going through any checkpoints!" - Twitch, before going limp for VR and driving off a pier into Lake Washington