No Time to Die
| No Time to Die | ||||||||||
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| Part of Two Steps Ahead | ||||||||||
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| Factions Involved | ||||||||||
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ShadowHaven Amrei Veidt Etrius's Team Red Sonya Réseau des Faussaires | Saeder-Krupp | DGSE | ||||||||
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Fennec Shy |
Katrin Morgentau Zenith |
Goon Squad Red Scorpion | ||||||||
| Zenith burnt a point of edge to smackdown. | ||||||||||
Summary
In which Shy and Zenith once again face the consequences of their actions (with Fennec along for the side quest).
Background
After the events of Operation Poseidon, Shy has faked Amrei Veidt's death by broadcasting footage of her being shot over the Matrix. Unfortunately this has pissed Saeder-Krupp off something fierce - and the megacorp knows that Amrei is not dead, having divined her future from a quicksilver photograph they have of her aura. Believing that she has been extracted, Amrei's supervisor Katrin Morgentau tasks Zenith with recovering her, whether he wants to or not; with his daughter attending a Saeder-Krupp university in Essen, it's an offer he can't refuse.
The Situation Room
At his home in Fort Lewis, Zenith receives a knock at the door - looking through the peephole he sees an unassuming man in a suit and bowler. Opening the door to ask what he wants, the man introduces himself as Herr Schmidt and, after placing his foot in the door to keep Zenith from closing it and subsequently having a gun pointed in his face, hands Zenith a Saeder-Krupp Last Chance commlink. He says that he already has one, but Schmidt insists that his employer wishes to contact him on this one as his others are compromised. Zenith, exasperated, says they are compromised by SK, but Schmidt is insistent and politely tips his hat before turning to leave once his job is done. After he goes, the commlink rings and Zenith answers - on the other end is Katrin Morgentau, who tells him of Amrei's situation and, knowing he is in no position to refuse, tasks him with tracking her down and returning her to SK. Zenith reluctantly accepts, packing his gear bag and heading to the airport.
Back in Metz, Shy is chewed out by Commander for her recklessness in broadcasting Amrei's supposed death, telling her that it will bring the wrath of SK down on N-51 - Shy protests that Amrei is a valuable intelligence asset, having disclosed the existance of a kill code within the firmware update of the Mk. 1 Blood Hawk (see: À Longueur D'avance) which the unit plans to steal from Aztechnology. Seeking to secure her immediate safety and get the bomb in her head dealt with (and lacking the resources to extract it at the camp), Shy requests permission to take her team and "go AWOL" from the Rad Wars with Amrei in tow so as to properly deal with the situation. She contacts Charon to request a favor, showing her the dragon tooth she obtained after the events of GTFO of GeMiTo and the footage of its death, and the ex-vampire offers her services to the dragonslayer. Using her behind-the-scenes connections, she ensures that N-51's base back in Fall City will not be the subject of retaliatory avenging angel strikes, as well as securing Shy warded a safehouse in La Zone in Paris to hold up in. Grabbing her team (and snatching up Fennec as well, who offers to come on the "side quest" as Matrix support), they head out with a truckload of UCAS army soldiers going on leave.
The Chase
Zenith arrives in the SOX via sub-orbital from Paris right when Shy and her crew are preparing to leave. On the way inside, he spots his driver show a MET-2000 guard Morgentau's GDI card, recognizing the name of the black market arms dealer; the car is subsequently waved through, and the adept makes his way to Metz and the SK camp to meet with his employer. In the SK camp Zenith runs into Katherine Tyler and Lofwyr's agent Scale, who escorts him to a trailer where Morentau waits for him. She provides him with a gold credstick containing 50k in SK scrip, along with a uniform, disguise (including synthskin mask) and fake SIN that has clearance to enter the UCAS camp. Zenith asks Morgentau if she ever feels badly for treating people as line items on a budget, and she simply replies "people are a resource", telling him to see to his task. He goes to put on his disguise and set up a temporary magical lodge in order to conduct a divination ritual.
Meanwhile, Shy and Fennec, along with Amrei and Etrius's Team, head to Nancy to meet with Red Sonya, who Shy has contracted the services of to conduct recon and fire support in the likely event that they run into the DGSE, who have been after N-51 for years since their defection. Hopping in Sonya's plane, they fly to an airstrip outside of Paris and make their way into La Zone to meet with the Faussaires and acquire false IDs capable of thwarting Marianne's security measures, planning to leave the country once they have the bomb removed from Amrei's head and get her a temporary genetic infusion to scramble her aura - she protests that SK has eyes on any delta clinic capable of dealing with the bomb, and that the infusion won't deal with the magical geas that's been placed on her aura. Shy remains adamant that they have to at least try, refusing to give up and admit defeat while resolving to find a way to deal with the situation.
Back in the SOX, Zenith's divination (and appeal to Oracle to "please be straightforward for once" with the answer to his question) pays off - when asked "where will I find Amrei?" the Sixth World Tarot reveals The Fool (reversed), The Dragon (upright), and Judgement (Upright), granting him a vision of La Zone (which he is familiar with from his previous trip to Paris) and the safehouse where Shy is going. After infiltrating the UCAS camp and finding Shy gone, he steals a Jeep and drives to the wall. While he has a pass from GDI to get past the gate, Zenith decides to spite Loffy a little bit and instead burns edge to jump his Jeep over the wall (Morgentau laments that "adepts are insane"). Landing safely thanks to his inexplicable luck in having chosen a spot with defective sensors for the automated defenses, Zenith drives off towards Paris, calling up his contact within the Faussares in order to secure a fake ID for himself, and some extra help as well.
The Complication
Unfortunately for Shy and co., the DGSE is indeed on to them. Having previously attempted to extraordinary rendition Shy (see: Shy got in trouble), they have had her on their radar since; tracking her and her squad to Paris, they plan to set a trap in La Zone so as to capture them. In Paris, Shy's group meets with the Faussaires at a bar called Les Enfants Perdus - The Lost Children. René, the group's agent, takes their information and tells them he can have the IDs ready in 12 hours, and that they should lay low until then. Unbeknownst to them, they are tailed by a DGSE agent outside the bar who follows them back to their safehouse and sets the trap into motion.
Meanwhile Zenith arrives in Paris shortly thereafter, meeting with the same group (who already have his biometrics and can thus create an ID for him faster) and the pixie hedge illusionist Raphael, who he pays a large sum to cast some spells for him (as well as provide information on the N-51 crew and anyone that followed them). Setting his own trap, Zenith asks the right questions just loud enough to be overheard, then pretends to get drunk and wander out of the bar, allowing himself to be followed into a dark ally where he disarms and knocks out his assailant. After a quick slap-patching, he interrogates the spy and confirms that the group were tailed, then heads for the apartment he saw in his divination.
At the safehouse - a 17th floor three-room apartment in a large public housing block - Shy and her team set up positions while Red Sonya provides overwatch from the top of a nearby building and Fennec keeps an eye on Amrei in a locked room. Outside, Zenith has Raphael cast his best improved invisibility spell on him, then starts to sneak towards the building. While making his way inside, he hears the crack of a sniper shot and instinctively goes to the ground, but doesn't feel his combat sense go off - looking around, he spots the shimmer of RPC and the presence of the DGSE hit squad, who Red Sonya starts to engage. Heading into the building and out of the line of fire, he rushes up the stairs and runs into Shy in the stairwell, managing to sneak past her as well as the tripwire trap set up in the entrance to the apartment and the rest of the team as well, making it into the room holding Amrei (and Fennec) unnoticed.
Zenith makes his presence known to Amrei, who communicates with him via DNI - he prepares to exfiltrate with her in tow, but she persuades him to stay and make sure that the other runners don't die. Revealing himself to Fennec and the rest of the squad, he tells them that they need to get to the roof. Out in the stairwell, Shy sees the DGSE forces approaching their position and retreats to the apartment, agreeing with Zenith that the time is right to flee and confirming that Red Sonya is with them rather than the attackers. Heading to the roof, the team deploy ziplines to get first to the building that Red Sonya is on then to the ground. With some cover from a trid phantasm from Raphael, they manage to make their way into the sewers, with the intent of traversing the catacombs and making it to a runner haven Zenith is aware of - a club called Neptune's Bounty owned by a powerful fixer called The Duchess, which is located on the Seine river across the city.
The Catacombs
Finding themselves underground, the team employ all of their navigation and small unit tactics expertise in order to map out a path through the tunnels and locate an entrance to the catacombs; thankfully everyone has armor equipped with chemical seals, so they aren't subjected to the smells of the sewers. With the aid of Shy and Zenith's motion sense powers, they notice the many, many rats (including devil and demon rat nests), managing to sneak around them and avoid the attention of the gnawers looking through their eyes. Once into the catacombs proper, the team are forced to contend with the narrow corridors and the many, many skulls - splitting into smaller groups to best cover eachother's backs, they carefully and cautiously navigate the bone-lined passageways, keeping a careful eye out for signs of the Infected warrens (particularly large grendel colonies) which are known to exist beneath the Paris streets.
Unfortunately the Infected have adapted to their conditions, and the runners are ambushed by a feral ghoul who has become so emaciated and who's dermal plating has grown to the point that they resemble a walking skeleton. Fennec is taken by surprise and freezes up, narrowly avoiding being scratched, Zenith manages to dodge the swiping claws but is sent running for cover when the ghoul lets out a kiai roar, while Shy is forced to rely on her sidearm instead of her rifle in the tight conditions but manages to land a sternum shot that puts the ghoul on its ass. Recovering his wits, Zenith emerges from behind a skull pillar to put on between its eyes, ending the fight. The crack of the Super Warhawk echoes throughout the catacombs however, and soon the sound of more Infected approaching can be heard, forcing the group to make a quick retreat.
The City of Light and Shadow
Needing to escape the catacombs quickly, the runners and their entourage locate a wrought-iron spiral staircase leading up into the basement of Le Bar du Cobra, a bar run by the ex-runner Vipère - Zenith leverages his European street cred to bargain for safe passage, offering a large sum of cash to the establishment's owner to give them a place to rest and give them some civilian clothing. While Vipère won't shelter them from Marianne for long, he does get them some clean clothes and a back room to regroup in. Once they're back online, Raphael gets in contact with Zenith and sends along his location to the Faussaires, who send a courier with the chips containing their fake SINs and the protocols to fool the Parisian panopticon so that they can make their way to the safety of Neptune's Bounty.
Thanks to some good disguise checks, and having the sense to split up into smaller, less conspicuous groups, the plan is largely a success - Vipère is able to provide information on a discrete car service, and the money spent on the Faussaires SINs turns out to be well worth it as Marianne is unable to get a lock on the fugitives as Fennec, Shy and Zenith, with Amrei in tow, are able to make it to the riverside nightclub. Talking their way inside, they find an aquatic-themed dance floor filled with various changlings and transhumanist biomodders; Zenith spots a familiar face from his last trip to Paris and negotiates for an audience with the Duchess, who turns out to be a woman who, through the use of various extreme biomods and transgenetic gene treatments, has transformed herself into a shape resembling a bioluminescent jellyfish.
Aftermath
Shy is able to negotiate for safe passage out of the city to Corsica from the Duchess' smuggler contacts, ensuring that her team and Red Sonya will be able to escape the government's wrath, while Zenith returns to SK with Amrei - now significantly disillusioned with her corporation and far more sympathetic to shadowrunners. Amrei also provides Shy with the full kill code sequence which she had inserted into the Blood Hawk's firmware updates, but says that she is unable to remotely remove it. Fennec, thoroughly entertained by the side quest and really hoping that they haven't attracted more attention from Mariaane, enjoys a fun night of drinking and dancing before returning to Seattle.
Rewards
10 karma
20 CDP
Optional Contact: The Duchess (C6/L1 Parisian Fixer) for 6 RVP or 12 CDP (one chip is owed for services rendered if taken)
Optional Quality: Data Anomaly @ chargen price w/ karma
Can exchange CDP for a bolt hole in La Zone or fake French SINs from the Faussares, or for phenotype adjustment and transgenetic alteration treatments from the Duchess (2 CDP = 1 RVP = 4000 nuyen of lifestyle expenses/gear rewards)
For Zenith:
Optional Contact: Katrin Morgentau (C10/L1 SK Prime Exec) for 10 RVP or 20 CDP
+1 chip on Amrei Veidt