I've Lost My Keys
| I've Lost My Keys | |||||||
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Mack Jezebel Noaido Howler | Saeder-Krupp & Lonestar security details | ||||||
Summary
Saeder-Krupp has dispatched their chief auditor to scour the books of a local subsidiary (Sunshine Construction) the Johnson tasks the team with a data steal from this target.
Background
Michael Heidner is the scary guy from Germany, sent out to investigate the books of SK owned corps and businesses then report back to head office.
If rumour is to be believed, any who cross him or are found to be under performing have very sudden ends to their careers.
The Johnson thinks he carries a set of information - Data Keys - in his head, the team are tasked with getting the data from the corp host AND the keys from Heidners memory.
The Meet
A quaint cafe on the outskirts of Everett plays host to the team, a professionally dressed man offers refreshments and outlines the schedule of events that are to come.
Arriving by jet in 3 hours time Michael Heidner (The Auditor) will be staying at the SK owned Bellevue Club Hotel for one night before travelling to the Sunshine Construction offices the following morning to begin the audit.
He has had a security detail of three agents and an awakened Seer arranged to meet him and on site security has been upgraded to have LoneStar guards added to a rota.
The Host is small but active and has an on call Spider, otherwise security is light.
After a brief but strongly contested negotiation the team agree to the job with 13,000 offered as reward for timely return of both sets of data.
The Plan
Several good options are available to the team, but legwork seems key to success here
The team agree to meet in the business park that Sunshine Corp are in and scope the area before looking at a detailed plan.
Noaido Matrix support is key so he dives into VR from the safety of a bench in a designated smoking area down the side of a building to look into the host
Jezebel has the social aspect covered as well as maintaining a constant stream of coaching and advice to her teammates.
Howler covers Astral and searches without any trace of spirit or magical overwatch leaving the team free to operate in material realms unseen.
Mack keeps a wary eye on the physical security, the uptick in guard presence and physical cameras and access devices.
The plan develops as follows
Hack the host and plant the teams credentials as official workers on site, take the data from the host at the same time
Locate the Target and gauge the level of his security detail
wait til after business hours (The target is a late worker) and strike with as minimal risk to civilians as possible to intimidate him to handing the data over.
The Run
Noaido with the coaching from Jezebel makes the Host hack a cake walk, constantly 'Hounded' by patrol IC he quickly moves through the host and takes the data required.
Before exiting he decides to request a 'mark' from the host as a new employee so that he can just walk in on the return trip when the team enter the building
Jez, between mouthfuls of a chili-dog (The team look around for the food truck they had all missed, keen to get food too) calls up the security spider and poses as a HR minion, while Noa waits in VR for his credentials to be validated, seconds later the spider has done as requested and the call is terminated, leaving him dazed and confused as to what happened.
With that half the job easily accomplished the team decide to call it a day and return to their own residences to meet up again the following day and take the physical data.
Leaving the business park, Mack is still wondering about the target and his security detail, maybe they could quickly visit the hotel and scope him out, so he dials a call to Jez, "I could use a drink if you ...." he is cut off mid sentence before even getting to the reasons as Jez falls foul of her craving for certain vices "Pick me up at eight.." and hangs up
Mack looks down at his attire, the casual dress of a body guard, all functional armour and pockets full of gear "I'm gonna need to clean up, drek!"
Looking at the AR brochure of the Bellevue Club hotel, Jez realizes that there's no public access allowed, a quick call to her 'Local Family owned, not a crime syndicate - business contact' gets her name added to a guest list plus one and She is reminded that a favour is now owed.
The hotel is ridiculously nice, Mack sweats profusely as he escorts Jez looking for all the world like she owns the place, across the cocktail lounge to the bar, wine is poured and water for Mack, nothing has a price tag so he tries to play it safe.
Glancing around the place they spot Heidner sitting with his goons, Jez begins to move over as Mack makes a call to Howler he reaches an arm out to get Jez' attention and dial in as well
"The target is here, we can just ask nicely" Jez seems confident
"Can we get an extraction here, Howler ? .. is your contact good for this?" Mack has a concern
"Doubt it, just a taxi driver, I don't pay him enough to escape potential HTR - You're in SK corp property and no idea what other assets might be in play... you guys aren't tooled up enough to go hard here if you aren't sure" Howler adds a tone of sense to the conversation and Jez glances angrily at the target
"I got this... " She gulps down the last of the wine from her expensive crystal glass, but Mack catches her arm ... patrons nearby give knowing glances, another domestic in the lounge, they go back to their drinks
"I know Jez, but we have a plan .. stick to the plan and then we have an exit as well, I can't run in these fraggin' shoes if we need to !"
Jez reluctantly agrees and they quietly finish up and retire to the street before each going separate ways.
The following day the team keep a close eye on the business, Noa performs his duties as a new intern and with his agent running keep an eye on the auditor, just to make sure he stays late he keeps adding files to the pile and shuffling the data around.
Howler spots the Seer from Astral, an easy mark for her abilities if the time comes.
Mack and Jez spot the guard patrols, semi automatics and light armour, nothing too scary.
7pm comes around and the offices are empty apart from the target and his security.
The team move in
From the back seat fo the Taxi - Noa dives into the host and begins the task of editing the video feeds,
Jez, followed by Mack and Howler (who have been given credentials as her security detail on the previous host dive) walks to the front door, a second later the maglock clicks open and they continue inside to the elevators and presses the control, the doors open - no guards present yet.
the doors open again on 2nd floor and the LoneStar guys are taken aback, but Jez jumps on it and flashes them a smile and her valid credentials, satisfied they are allowed to be here the guards step into the lift.
Mack strikes up a conversation and moves off with them to Patrol .. to the coffee machine while the rest of the team ascend to the 4th floor.
A light shines from under only one door across the office, the target must be in there.
Mack fakes an incoming urgent call, keeping eye contact with the guards, he terminates the call (from Noaido) and huddles the two guards
"Those agents upstairs are here to assassinate the auditor, we need to stop them .. NOW!" he barks orders to them and gets them moving up the stairs, Noa jams their comms so they can't confirm the new information.
Backed up by Howler, Jez knocks and enters looking worried
"Sir, there's been a validated threat against you, we believe the guards downstairs are here to kill you sir" she looks around feigning fear, as the special security detail go for their weapons ..they make a call to some one unheard and Jez presumes it's to a HTR or extraction team but can't do anything about it, Noa is busy fending off too many data streams, the team will just have to move fast!
Backed up by Mack the two guards breach the upper doors, the special security detail from their cover take them down easily, the whole affair takes less than 3 seconds, Two flash bangs a burts of automatic fire and the not so subtle application of some frigid cold magic from Howler and all five guards are unconscious blocks of ice.
From here the task is made simple, Heidner makes a show of his sudden recognition of the plan, he draws a weapon but it rapidly dawns on him he is outgunned and outmatched.
Jez via SimRig records the exact key phrase the target gives them and the team leave quickly, deleting their tracks on the way out.
Aftermath
The Johnson is ecstatic and pays the team immediately and without question.
Rewards
13,000 NuYen
4 Karma
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Jezebel
Aha! Another pack of bamboozled rubes! Decker did most of the work, but I made sure to be an inspiring presence! I did get to shoot some poor sap down a stairwell, though - he looked like he could use an impromptu gymnastics lesson, pity he slept through it! I also got Mr. Montalban get me into a luxe cocktail lounge for some shine Italian red! The high-nuyen kind! All in all, it was a good time, and well worth the pay. Damn, I love a good payday. Gonna save up for a new car soon; we really needed a lift.
Noaido
After the high-octane mess that was the run before, this one was a nice run-through. I ended up masquerading as an office drone for a while, and with Jezebel constantly putting advice in my ears while I worked, it really sounded like my average work day when I just started out my former job. Jezebel is a lot nicer about it than my manager was, at least, and her advice actually helped. I did my thing and, aside from a moment where it seemed like everyone suddenly got off track and forgot what we were there for again (must be something bad in the chili dogs) the run went smooth, we made a nice payday, and got out without any issue.