A Perfect Future: Public Service Announcement
| A Perfect Future: Public Service Announcement | |||||||||
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| Factions Involved | |||||||||
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Missouria Tribe Nighthawk Spectre Khylen |
Sakura Security Evo | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 24 Sakura Security Personnel | |||||||||
Background
A new development by the EVO corporation for the city of Saint Louis is put into its Alpha stage, the Saint Louis Smart City system. The system is able to track people's actions through AR profiles, as well as biometric and auditory sensors throughout the city, and form a criminal likelihood for a subject. Numerous people share blogs and stories on the matrix, many are used in EVO's promotional material for the SLSC system, telling stories of how crimes were prevented by the system, and how it has been increasing the presence and influence of EvoCulture. Thanks to the system's algorithms, the positive views of the system have been the most present for all to see! However, there are those who object to the system, and the Missouria tribe is among them, disapproving of how EvoCulture is seeking to erase and replace their own.
The runners, Khylen, Bones, and Nighthawk, are told by their fixer to tap into a pirate node in Saint Louis where a VI offers them a job from Mister Johnson, and when accepted, they are each sent a plane ticket to Saint Louis International, and a metro ticket to Granite City's sub-levels.
Meet
The runners stepped off the plane into the stark black, white, and grey of Saint Louis. No colors, no labels, no distinguishing features to the naked eye, which stood in contrast to the AROverlay, which illuminated everything with scrolling holograms, glossy, bright candy colors, and filled the air with free form holograms, music, and chatter in seven different languages. The runners find their way to a sleek white train, turned into a warm and welcoming string of cabins in AR, and their tickets correspond to seats forcing them together. Khylen and Bones recognized eachother, and Nighthawk recognized their kind of scum. As the train was leaving the station, a large Missourian man with eyes like solid mercury sat down next to the runners and clarified their identities. Bones looked up from an Amphibious Biology book to greet him as Mister Johnson, causing him to clarify that he is merely to meet them and escort them to Mister Johnson at the Horse Lodge in Sub-Level 3 of Granite City.
The train stopped and the runners, escorted by the unknown man, pass through a UCAS:A and CAS:A joint check-point, and through the dark Sub-Level 3, populated by malnourished barrens folk, and echoing gunfire from places below. The little light there was in the form of barrel fires and red LEDs gave them enough light to follow their escort, and reach the Horse Lodge, a largely synth-wood structure styled after a rural dive. Inside, numerous Orks, Elves, Humans, and a Dwarf, all of the Missouria tribe, enjoyed devil rat cooking and locally made swill. Their escort told them to speak to the young human woman behind the bar in order to see Mister Johnson, and she directs them to the back room where a muscular man in a blue tank top and cargos sat behind a desk, flanked by four body-guards. Before discussing business, he request they disarm, although Nighthawk convinces him they are no threat. Satisfied, he points to a hidden door in the wall leading to a secret gambling room, where Mister Johnson sat with an Ork, and two siren bodyguards.
The real Johnson, a middle aged human man with a brass looking left eye, introduces himself and asks the runners if they had any knowledge on the SLSC system. He answered any questions they had on it before telling them their mission: to destroy the hard storage servers inside the Evo Mega-Mall in clayton, so they do not have information that can be used to hurt his people. He explains how EvoCulture is enforced, forcing them underground, however despite appearances, he did have the nuyen to pay them handsomely. Along with the payment, he offered them the choice to opt into his personal tac-net so he could assist them while infiltrating the Evo Mega-Mall. They accepted, although they discussed over their own DNI had this man had not only ninety thousand nuyen, but a tac-net system that didn't even officially exist. They didn't voice their questions to him, and set out for the mall.
As the runners left, Mister Johnson stopped Khylen at the door, calling him by name, and told him he would receive a bonus for recovering the contents of the servers before destroying them. He explained that he suspects the man who took his eye was the same who ruined Khylen's life, and was somewhere in those files.
Run
The runners were able to walk into the mall without trouble, being 4 in the afternoon, and moderately crowded, packed full with mostly Orks. Nighthawk and Khylen attempted to blend in with the crowed while moving towards the server area, while Bones began exploring the innumerable stores inside the crisp, white/black mall. As they ambled with the crowd to the server area, the security personnel in the mall began slowly encircling them after pinging them as criminals, and organized a scan and takedown effort over their own tac-net. Mister Johnson was back at the Horse Lodge, providing overwatch on the tac-net's biomonitors, motion sensors, and smart links on a cyberterminal while using an adjacent one, tapped into the Mega-Mall, to feed the team live GPS info the security detail and mall layout. Nighthawk let Khylen and Bones rough him up in private, and began telling the security team about his attackers away from the front of the server storage area. Sadly, the security agents weren't falling for his con, and began beating him with stun batons while the other two were fired upon. Bones fled into a nearby store for cover, Nighthawk was shot in the back and collapsed, and Khylen was assaulted with automatic fire in the restroom. The runners traded shots with Sakura Security for a minute before Mister Johnson gave them a warning in AR to hit the deck briefly before a drone was rammed through the front of the mall and self destructed. The mall blacked out before red emergency lights flared up, an alarm began to blare, and the sprinkler system doused the halls.
With their attention pulled away, most of the security agents went to the explosion, and the few remainders were gunned down by Khylen after he got up off the floor, and Bones after she composed herself. They dashed over the slick floors, covered with chips and glass from the ruined surroundings, and Bones helped Nighthawk to his feet after being resuscitated by the trauma module. They began copying the storage info my streaming it to their tac-net's private host for the Johnson, then proceeded to demolish the servers. The process took several minutes, long enough to Mister Johnson to arrive in a Dodge Rhino and extract the team before UCAS:A soldiers closed in.
Aftermath
Nighthawk was suspicious of Mister Johnson and began questioning him during their get-away, wondering how they were discovered, although Johnson was as confused as the team, and pointed out he wouldn't've come to help if he wanted them to die. The team was satisfied with this answer, and were taken to the safety of the Horse Lodge again, where a party was waiting to celebrate their great deeds for the tribe.
Rewards
30,000 Nuyen, 8 Karma
- Khylen - Special passcode for a black-market contact in Clayton.