Where's the Beef?

Where's the Beef?
Date 2081-03-6 GM Purkinje Location Seattle, UCAS
Factions Involved
Gh0st Lucky Moth Slink	Aztechnology Larry the Cowboy Decker
Casualties and losses
Gh0st sustained light fall injuries. Lucky sustained light electroshock wounds.	1 Corpsec lightly wounded Larry the Cowboy Decker knocked unconscious, severe biofeedback stroke

Summary

A team of shadowrunners does a datasteal on a whistleblower for a mysterious corporate client, then gets double-crossed.

The Meat

After receiving their notifications through the Shadowhaven app, the team met at the Banzai Burger just outside of the Aztechnology Pyramid in Downtown. Home of the famous Banzai Burger, made with Real BEEEF™ (so much protein, we needed an extra E!). A Mr. Johnson with a Texas accent explained that an Aztechnology employee in the food industry who lived in the Pyramid knew something odd about beef, and he was willing to pay 64,000¥ for details about what exactly he knew and who he was. Moth and Slink talked him up to 80,000¥, which he flashed on a gold-certified credstick. The team found this agreeable and set out with the target's name and picture.

The Legwork

The team headed across the street to the first level of the Pyramid, which was an extensive shopping mall. They entered its destination host and took a look around. Gh0st found a security node hidden in the host disguised as a random door. He broke inside and took a look around, finding a database with files that had 10-digit numbers as their headers and everything useful was in Aztlaner Spanish. Fortunately, Slink happened to speak Aztlaner Spanish very well. Gh0st cracked one of the files and happened to find the records of an employee authorized by security to enter the upper levels of the Pyramid, then edited the file to forge a fake identity for Slink to impersonate. The team decided to get Slink to pose as an employee, get access to the upper floors, then have him escort them in.

The Run

Slink successfully conned a service rep into printing him a new employee security pass so he could use the elevators. He went to Human Resources to ask for a map of the Pyramid, hoping to gain more information about where the target lived. The HR rep not only gave him a map, but a special keycard he could use to access the residential floors other than the one granted by his phony security pass. He grew suspicious at this, but couldn't make heads or tails of the rep. He went back down to the ground floor to gather up the team and head for the residences. Lucky called Addison Keller for intel about the target's residence. She connected him to a sanitation worker who was able to use the name and photo to point out a specific apartment he lived in. The team headed there, and to their surprise, the special keycard was able to open his door. Inside, Moth discovered a datachip wedged between the bed and the nightstand. Gh0st cracked the file on it and discovered an archive of evidence lending credence to the Aztechnology Hellcow Conspiracy, the secret program in which Aztechnology has been using HMHVV-infected cattle to produce vast quantities of milk. It looked like the resident was planning to blow the whistle, soon.

As soon as Gh0st described this file, Slink noted that the bed hasn't been touched in a while, and they just used a keycard to access a suspected whistleblower's room. Just then, Lucky heard a corpsec squad lining up outside. The team got the jump on them by charging through the door before they're ready. They traded SnS rounds, but Lucky took a daring move and shot the nearest window open. The team dropped one story to the ground, and Gh0st got hurt a bit, though the others make it down okay. They booked it to Slink's Bentley and break away, losing any pursuers who may have been after them.

The team contacted Mr. Johnson to arrange a trade of the datachip for the credstick. He directed them to an empty parking lot in north Puyallup, where they waited a suspiciously long time. They couldn't get him on comms again, so they decided to leave. As they did, Lucky noticed they were being followed by a van. Before they could decide what to do, Gh0st's deck was spiked by an unknown attacker. He tried to spot them but failed, then decided to jack out to avoid being bricked. Slink floored it and broke away from the surprised van driver, losing him quickly thanks to the Bentley's great acceleration.

Angry, the team decided they were going to get their money one way or another. Moth called King Midas to ask for intel on Mr. Johnson. After some persuading, he revealed that particular Mr. Johnson was a decker who worked for Aztechnology, and he knew the location of a safe house he used. The team headed to that safe house, which was behind a saloon in Renton, and hacked a security camera watching the entrace. Gh0st was able to mark his deck three times, then data spiked him with Blackout running, knocking him out instantly and nearly killing him. The team broke in and grabbed the golden credstick from the drooling, nose-bleeding Texan.

Aftermath

Having got the money they were promised, the team proved they weren't pushovers, and they were each 20,000¥ richer for it. Gh0st gave the paydata to News Van Dan in exchange for a favor to be paid back later.

Rewards

• 20,000¥
• 1 Chip with News Van Dan for Gh0st
• 2 CDP

Game Quotes

"What's more worth to you, Gh0st: 20 Grand or revenge?" -Slink

Player After Action Reports (AARs)

"A Videorecording shows a nice flyby Montage of the Aztchnology Arcology, then a cut to a snippet of a Window breaking due to firepower, followed to what seems to be a shoulder perspective of someone walking down what seems to be the outside of the Aztech Arcology, you can see someone lying on the ground beneath. Another shot shows a person carrying two other persons down the Arcology, one person, sittong on the carrieres shoulders appears to be dancing. The Video ends with the same dancing person from before but this time standing on a Bentley as the visual and audio fade away." ~Uploaded by Lucky

Slink

Ghost, Lucky, Moth, and Slink meet Johnson at the Bonzai Burger, a low end restaurant downtown. Johnson is interested in finding out what one Lucio Elfario knows about Aztechnology's cattle industry and is hiring us to steal any data he has on the topic. Elfario is an employee of AZT and likely lives in the Pyramid. The team agrees to find out what they can for 80,000nY (20k each).

Our legwork begins with Ghost breaking into the AZT Destination Host, then the Data Host nested within, dodging IC and searching for employee records. Strangely he finds no such employee record for Elfario. Working outside the host, Lucky and Moth scope the shopping mall floor of the Pyramid for things of note while Slink patrols the exterior. The team changes the angle of approach and searches the Matrix outside of the host for info on Elfario and finds some contact information and that he worked in Biochemistry for AZT and the there were recent opening in employment. Ghost acquired the employment credentials of a low level employee and modified it Juan Sanchez, Slink's new cover. Posing as a new hire, Slink entered AZT, met with security and HR, acquiring a keycard that would take him to the residential sector. Lucky pulled in a favor and managed to get the key to Elfario's home from the janitorial staff. The team gathered and made for Elfario's house.

Elfario's home was found unoccupied, and soon after we discovered what Elfario was onto. He had found that AZT's cheap beef and milk came courtesy of them using Infected Hellcows, and was voicing concern of ethics and safety of the matter to the point where he was about to blow the whistle before seemingly disappearing.

Slink pointed out that they had just entered Elfario's home using a keycard and they were likely already surrounded by armed guards. With Lucky's superb perception, he confirmed the suspicion. Acting quickly, the team opted to run and gun their way through the nearest window, down to Slink's car for a quick getaway, popping Stick n Shock shots at the guards on their way.

After a surprisingly smooth escape, the team made their way reconvene with Johnson for their payday. At the handoff location, the team smelled the situation as fishy since Johnson was a no-show. This was only reinforced when Moth and Lucky noticed a van following after them, and undeniably confirmed when Ghost's deck started sparking from a Matrix attack. Wasting absolutely no time, Slink lost the tail van, and the team hatched a new plan: Fuck Johnson, Get Paid.

Moth got ahold of daddy dearest, King Midas, to give us the scoop on our deadbeat employer. Johnson was Azzie and fancied himself a cowboy decker who had a safehouse in the north end of town near a saloon style bar. Keen for revenge, Ghost fixed up his almost-bricked deck and got to work taking out the cameras outside the safehouse and served up an extra-spicy Data Spike. With the all-clear given, Lucky booted down the door where the team found Johnson out cold, bleeding profusely from the nose, his brain nearly boiled out from biofeedback. Moth and Slink made sure he was stable before the team nabbed the credstick (generously still loaded with the promised pay), pinged a street doc from Johnson's commlink, and beat feet.

As for the data, the team decided that it would be best left in the hands of News Van Dan, one of Ghost's contacts.