Let Snygones be Snygones
| Let Snygones be Snygones | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||
| Factions Involved | |||||||||
|
ShadowHaven Kakei Steve | Mitsuhama Computer Technologies | ||||||||
|
Absolute Zero Vip3r | |||||||||
| (Snygones=snake bygones) | |||||||||
Summary
A simple data plant job and a buried hatchet.
Background
Vip3r hasn't had a great history with Kakei Steve; when they met, he spooked her with his knowledge about her blood family that even she wasn't aware of, the legal matters that he handled for MCT included her adoptive parents' lifelong contract, and he failed to deliver a letter from her mother despite his knowledge of Vip3r's identity and location. She was set on having him killed for the knowledge he held over her, until Zenith finally talked her out of it and called in a favor to have her records erased.
So when Vip3r receives a call from Sarah Snow informing her that Steve has a job for her, she's obviously pretty disinclined to trust it.
The Meet
But the meet doesn't seem like an obvious trap. There are no bodyguards present at his Downtown legal office, and he's shockingly jovial for someone who knows that he's talking to his would-be assassin; apparently, when enough people threaten to make attempts on your life, it ceases to be a big deal and becomes pretty easy to forgive. Weird.
When he immediately launches into details about the job, Vip3r realizes that this is, in fact, a job offer and not an attempt to frag with her. She finally takes a seat on the opposite side of the desk, accepts Steve's offer of a round of sake, and begins to relax.
The gig is easy enough: she and Zero have to get into a data relay station in Auburn and plant some code for a client identified only as Manticore. The station is unmanned, but there's surveillance on site as well as some astral security. Steve offers them ¥6k for their trouble, and throws in an offer of two "snords"--which are Victorinox Memory Blades styled to look like snakes, along with a formula for a weapon focus if Zero decides she's interested in it. Though neither of them are the swording types, these snords (snake swords) are pretty much the coolest thing ever, and Vip3r readily accepts the offer.
The Plan
The pair goes to Vip3r's apartment in Auburn to prepare for the job. There's not a ton of information on the data relay aside from its ownership, and without much more prep to do, Vip3r decides she and Zero might as well spend the evening having fun. They walk a couple blocks to Casey's Bar, where they hang out and enjoy themselves for a while until another patron--a persona with an icosahedron for a head, running on a Yak Killer deck--sends Zero a popup that says "Frag off, furry mage."
Aggravated on Zero's behalf, Vip3r drops into VR, seeks the sender out, and tells him to apologize. When he refuses, she forces him to apologize by dissolving his deck's firewall and puppeteering it to send a message to Zero detailing just how deeply and incredibly sorry he is, and what an absolute hoop he is for bullying someone obviously different like he has nothing better to do. Turns out, most people don't really enjoy being toyed with in this manner, so he attempts to punch Vip3r with a data spike. She's faster, and brute forces three marks onto his persona at once before grabbing his fist mid-punch and explaining that he has so much better to do as a Reality Hacker than sending nasty messages to people in bars. He apologizes--genuinely this time--and offers to buy Vip3r a drink. She says she thinks Zero deserves that drink instead; he reluctantly agrees, sits down to talk with them, and admits he's handling a breakup with his nocturna ex pretty poorly. As further apology, he hands Vip3r a business card ARO for his boss, Bootstrap, admitting that he's pretty impressed with her skills.
The Run
The following day, Zero and Vip3r carry out the job. Zero scouts out first in the Astral, almost failing to escape from the ward in the building and panicking when she returns to her body. Vip3r manages to calm her down, and by the time they're ready to do the actual job, it goes smoothly. Zero directs Vip3r to sneak past the watchers stationed outside the building and the task spirit patrolling inside. Vip3r hesitates when she notices a familiar snake sprite coiled around a cookie in the terminal, but manages to go unnoticed as she threads a Resonance Veil on the terminal and uses Editor to insert the code. She scrubs her signature from the terminal without being noticed, and the runners easily sneak back out.
Aftermath
With the job done, Zero and Vip3r go home and return to Steve's office the next day for their payment. Happy to hear it went well and that they completed the job unnoticed, Steve hands over the snords (snake swords) along with a business card for someone to size the grips properly for them to use.
Rewards
- 6000 nuyen
- 2 karma
- 10 CDP
- One Snord (Snake Sword) (Victorinox Memory Blade w/ Custom Look and Personalized Grip)
- Optional Contact: Kakei Steve (C6/L2 Fixer) for 7 RVP or 14 CDP
- Optional Contact: Bootstrap (C4/L2 Reality Hacker) for 5 RVP or 10 CDP
- Optional Gear Reward: R4 Weapon Focus Formula (2 RVP)
Game Quotes
Player After Action Reports (AARs)
Vip3r
Hey, remember when I said hated Steve and thought he was a scumbag and wanted him to get hit by a truck?
Uh, yeah, that hasn't changed.
However, sometimes you've gotta make deals with unsavory people in order to survive in this line of work, and I think this is one of those cases. He knows basically my entire past, knows I wanted him dead, and probably knows I'm responsible for Mom's extraction--and he could've easily turned me in to MCT and probably would've gotten a pretty serious reward for it, but he didn't. If he's that willing to meet me halfway on trust and isn't gonna pressure me into doing Yakuza work, then I guess I can do the same; I'd really rather have him as an ally than an enemy.
Also: this part isn't really about the job, but it was nice to get time for an actual date with Zero in the middle of that. We were talking about it afterward, and she said she couldn't believe that I got into a bar fight on her behalf, and I didn't really think about it that way but I guess it's technically true. Can't believe I actually made friends with the guy afterward.