Two Greys Make a Grey
| Two Greys Make a Grey | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||||
| ShadowHaven | BendTech® Industrial | Joe Joe & The Boys | ||||||||
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Gehenna Oberon |
VaultSec® Goon x5 Tʜᴇ Cᴀɴᴅʟᴇ Tʜᴀᴛ Sᴘᴀʀᴋs ᴛʜᴇ Bʟᴀᴢᴇ |
Joe Joe The Boys x12 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||
| N/A | N/A | N/A | ||||||||
Summary
A middle-aged middle manager with middling prospects turns to crime to keep a competitor's theft from dragging him down. Two out of three runners showing is about two more than he expected, really.
Background
Mr. Johnson's company - names unsaid, though doubtful it couldn't be found out - ran a smaller-scale drone R&D facility in Tacoma. An important prototype frame was stolen from them recently. He believes it to be a competitor's work. Getting that prototype back is pointless, as they'll have long since gotten the critical data from it. Instead, Mr. Johnson needs the unaltered findings from the drone - not for the info itself, but the metadata. By using dates and times from those, he can get a head start on legal proceedings to prove his company's copyrights on it against any possible claims, minimizing long-term damage.
The Meet
The meet took place in a smoky backroom in a run-down bar in Tacoma. Blue-collar workers using the place saw two outsiders and jeered at them, though no fights broke out, thanks to the two runners' self-control. Gehenna was (barely) able to keep from letting by how much she needed the money from the job, and successfully muscled a twenty-percent bump in pay out of the Johnson. (The money came directly out of keeping workers fed this month, but that was a sacrifice she was willing to make.)
The Plan
Heading to Oberon's place (for the week) for a bit, the two of them checked in with their respective contacts for relevant information. Between Gehenna's conspiracy theorist buddy and Oberon's link to the 162s, they were able to piece together an interesting idea: the factory they were tasked to grab offline data backups from was very probably using local ghouls' hunting to take out workers too injured to continue working, avoiding any need to compensate them or provide medical aid.
This in turn led to a plan to avoid the facility security altogether. Instead, they would search for local ghouls and - ideally - get some kind of proof to use as blackmail material. If the facility's manager could be coerced into simply giving them the data, they wouldn't need to risk getting new ventilation holes from onsite security.
The Run
A drive around the area gave some basic intel on the lot's security, and no physical signs of a supposed ghoul gang. However, thanks to both of them getting to see the world in Astracolor™ and Oberon's keen analysis, they were able to pick up on the leftover emotional impacts of those ghouls' hunting. These signs led to the sewers... which were not all that terrible of a place, given how little-used the infrastructure was in the area.
Gehenna took point, with Oberon keeping vigilant and acting as the unspoken threat. A forceful discussion with the small ghoul group allowed Gehenna to, barely, keep them from taking their chances attacking and extract some recordings out of them. With her repeated bluffs in the dark managing to succeed, the two left without needing to fire shots.
Unlike the factory and its machinery, its manager was far less guarded on his own time - after all, it's really the property that matters to a corp, not the easily-replaced people. Finding his home was easy enough with a face to match, and with Oberon providing a security assessment, they were able to get a quick chat in with the man. Having proof they could get his career dropped like a hot Soytarch® Round™, and the cover of being after the data itself rather than its metadata, made it easy for the minor executive to decide to take the minor loss.
Aftermath
The Johnson took the recovered data and paid the two. A very simple business transaction - nothing for the two to complain about, nothing for their brief employer to consider stiffing them over.
Rewards
Per participant:
- ¥10,000 (5 RVP)
- ¥2,000 (Negotiation)
- 5 Karma (5 RVP)
- 2 CDP (Base)
- 6 CDP (3 RVP)