Data Jacking
| Data Jacking | |||||||||
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| Part of Two Steps Ahead | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
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ShadowHaven Saeder-Krupp | Aztechnology | ||||||||
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Charon Glamor Zenith |
Corpsec Data Courier | ||||||||
| Charon turned Glamor into a banshee for reasons (with player consent) | |||||||||
Summary
In which the runners are hired to discretely alter some information carried by a data courier.
Background
In Recruitment Drive, Amrei Veidt recruited one Dr. Xiuhcoatl Montezuma as an asset as part of an ongoing plot against Aztechnology - she has been working with him for the last few months on a plan to hijack a Mk. 1 Bloodhawk for S-K. Montezuma informed her that a crucial set of schematics and accompanying code for an update to the Bloodhawk's design specifications are to be sent from his office in Tenochtitlan to the Pyramid in Seattle via data courier (in order to keep them completely off the matrix), and she wants this information discretely altered so that it includes a backdoor she has coded that will allow her to override safety protocols on the craft when the time comes to send a team to steal one.
The Meet
The runners are contacted individually and sent a matrix access recognition key to a host along with instructions to rezz exactly on time, which they do and find Amrei waiting for them there; she proceeds right to the point, explaining what she needs from them and how it must be done without the data courier or their (four-man, plainclothes, discrete) security finding out, offering them twenty thousand nuyen each if they do the job to her specifications (which they manage to negotiate up to 22k). After accepting the job, they ask a few questions and get a few more details, they receive the location of a dead drop with a cyberdeck that she can use to remotely access the courier's data lock - all she needs of them is to create an opening for her to hack it.
The Plan
While Zenith heads to the coordinates of a familiar bunker in Snohomish (see: Fuchi in Focus), Charon and Glamor head to the airport to get eyes on their target (Glamor has a close call with the SIN scanner where she has to answer some additional questions, but manages to talk her way through it). Inside, they lay eyes on their target and manage to catch sight of his aura, tailing him out of baggage claim and managing to catch sight of a pair of the guards tailing him. Meanwhile, Zenith retrieves the cyberdeck and rendezvous with the other two outside the airport.
Catching sight of the target's vehicle, the team follow closely behind - Glamor projects out of her body and into the target's car, having her man spirit materialize and suggest a visit to Taco Temple. He grows suspicious, for some reason, and the courier pokes his head in to see the spirit as well - Glamor has it convince them that it's there to advertise The Return Of The Double Grande Nachos Supreme With Chicken, managing to pull off the lie with the power of edge, and they pull off the highway to get some drive-through.
Realizing they don't have much in the way of an actionable plan or a way to actually assault their target at the restaurant without being noticed, Zenith calls up Argent and pays 2000 nuyen for a measured dose of lael wine which can erase a bit of the target's memory. While he goes to acquire it, the others tail the target to his hotel, getting a room under Charon's SIN (Glamor's is again flagged as suspicious due to poor luck, resulting in a public fight with the manager when the target's security detail arrives - thankfully she appears as a different person and they don't see through the illusion, though by this point they are more than suspicious).
The Run
After paying an exorbitant price to book the room above their target's and assuage/bribe the staff, the team put their plan together - Glamor will pose as one of the target's old friends and charm her way inside the room, then Zenith (made invisible by a spirit) will sneak in with the cyberdeck to plug into the courier's lock once he's passed out. Glamor is able to talk her past the guard at the door and get inside, aided by a physical mask as well as her knowledge of Azlanter Spanish the power of bulldreak; Charon meanwhile distracts the guard outside (who nearly recognizes her from the airport), allowing Zenith to slip past invisibly and get inside the room.
Inside, the courier gets his guards to give him some alone time with the pretty elf (who he can't quite remember from high school despite her claims to know him, but is really eager to get re-acquainted). Glamor seduces him into drinking lael with her, but accidentally doses herself in the process, knocking herself out and ending Zenith's invisibility. He panics, hitting Glamor with a slap patch and plugging the deck into the data lock for Amrei before hiding himself. Waking up with a gap in her memory, Glamor quickly has the situation explained to her over DNI, proceeding to summon a spirit to help hide Zenith (and alerting the guards to the presence of magic in the area). The two of them quickly exfiltrate, talking and sneaking their way past the guard outside with Charon's aid, however Glamor ends up assensed in the process, with the Aware member of the security staff managing to see through her masking and recognize her aura - this will have consequences for her later, as she just so happens to be Wanted by and have Records on File with Aztechnology...
Aftermath
Managing to get away having more-or-less accomplished their goal (they managed to get Amrei the window of time she needed to hack the data lock and insert her changes, and while they were noticed the guards are more concerned with the presence of Glamor and the potential mind magic that was done by her), Zenith takes the cyberdeck and goes to drop it off.
Meanwhile, Glamor's movements are traced by the Aztechnology security team, who determine her true identity and the address on her fake SIN, which is subsequently burned with her apartment raided. She is savvy enough to not be home when this happens, however she knows it means the Big A is on her trail and so ends up accepting an off-the-cuff offer from Charon to take a walk on the Infected side and embrace the HMHVV lifestyle, allowing herself to be transformed into a banshee in order to a) change her aura, and b) get more power so that Aztechnology can't hurt her again. The vampire acquires a victim for her, then turns her and shows her how to properly feed, beginning her new eternal life in the shadows.
Rewards
- 22k nuyen
- 2 karma
- 2 CDP
- +2 S-K reputation
- Optional Contact: Amrei Veidt (C6/L1 S-K Prime Operative) for 6 RVP or 12 CDP
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Zenith
We're not owed much in this world, and criminals less than most, but I'm gonna have to start demanding more money from this J if jobs keep getting fragged when I'm on them for her. This job was rough from the jump, I mean getting to connect directly to someone's head without them noticing seems nearly impossible. Working with Charon and Glamor is... interesting. The last time I worked with Glamor I shot her. It was to save her life, but all the same.
Once we finally got our plan going and got into place, it seemed like it was going smoothly right up until it wasn't. We got the target knocked out, plugged into his head, and were it not for our mage suddenly forgetting why she was there and what we were doing, it probably would have gone off without a hitch. As it was, I managed to slip out without being seen and Charon and Glamor had... each other for some reason or another. Either way, I'm going to drink, and hopefully feel better about this whole thing after I sleep off the hangover.