[martinchaen]

Denver.

City of Shadows, and of contrasts.

Part of the Old West, but without wallowing in cowboy cliché.
Part of the future with its skyrakers and corporate 'plexes, but also the past with its quaint downtown shops and parks.
Part of the mountains, and yet, willing to embrace urban living.

The city has remained a different place to one and all for decades; a place where the shadows are deep with mystery and intrigue...


Getting used to life in The Windy City hasn’t been an easy process. You've heard persistent rumours that the friction between the United Canadian and American States, the Confederation of American States, the Pueblo Corporate Council, and the Sioux Nation is kept in check by Ghostwalker, the great dragon himself, though you know that it is the Council of Denver that officially governs the Front Range Free Zone, smack dab in the middle of it all.

Unofficially, you've come to learn that the four nations cooperate only because they have no other choice, as the different laws and economics conflict enough to make legal trade virtually nonexistent. And as if the interplay between recognized sovereign states weren't enough, the underworld is thriving.

All of the major criminal organizations are present; the mafia influence is represented by the Casquilho Family in the UCAS Sector, the Chavez Family in the CAS Sector, and the Koshari in the Pueblo Sector. At least two different Triads and multiple rival Kumi of the Yakuza are rumored to operate in the city, along with several groups of Vory v Zakone that followed the Evo Corporation into town. Without the black and gray markets provided by these organizations, no one could afford food and the other necessities of life.

In short, the FRFZ has become a free-for-all, a simmering cauldron of chaos that provides ample business opportunities for people like yourself; shiny new faces in the darkness. The few who are desperate or crazy enough can find plenty of work in a city like Denver, but it can be a dangerous place even for experienced runners.

Welcome to the sprawl, chummer!

[martinchaen]

Trixie glanced around nervously at the other people approaching the checkpoint with her, while rummaging around in her purse for her fake ID. She pursed her lips as she found it, the name reading "Hanna Blythe".

She still thought it was an ugly name, one that didn't suit her, but she hadn't picked it herself; fat lot of good having all the connections in the world had done when the only person matching your age, sex, and physical appearance had been a recently deceased school-teacher from somewhere in the CAS. Her hacker contact had been non-specific, though all sorts of other background had been provided. She suspected the poor woman had gotten mixed up in politics, or with the wrong guy or gal in the underworld, or some such. Why else would a school teacher end up in the deeper reaches of Aztlan. In any case, Trixie knew she'd need a new ID coming back to Denver, and it would suffice. For now.

Passing the inspection point with ease, she made a mental note to transfer some extra nuyen to the hacker. Never hurt having a friend who was a skilled forger, and SINs that would scan at international airports were hard to come by. She made her way outside, the cold gusts of wind feeling refreshingly familiar after the stifling heat of Aztlan. The trip had been worth it, as they would need contacts if their plans were going to succeed. Silver had been charmingly convincing as always, while Dusk had chimed in every now and again, also as usual. She didn't know if it was just around her, but he had always seemed... a little odd. He was damned effective though; if they were going to make this happen, they'd need all of their skills and more.

A sudden gale of wind threaten to barrel her over, and just as she was about to regain her balance, skidding along the ground that was covered by a thin sheet of slick ice, a wall of furry flesh appeared in front of her and she smacked right into it with a loud thump.

As she went down, the wall turned around and a familiar face grinned at her. She hit the ground, purse flying away and luggage dropping next to her.

"Dammit, Micky, what the frack'!" she yelled. She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the furry paw offering to help her up, and brushed herself off as she looked around to see if anyone had noticed.

The troll apologized as he went to pick up her belongings, and then laughed loudly to himself as he no doubt imagined what she must have looked like.

"All right, you big fuzzy, where's the car. Let's go..."


On the way home, she checked her link, reading her incoming messages, responding to a few others, then composed a message to Silver and Dusk.

"Got what I wanted. We'll be ready to begin in a couple of months. In the mean time, I've got a job for you. Now, these aren't the nobody gangers and civvies we've worked with so far, so get in good with the bosses, and lets continue building our reputation as professionals.

I'm sending you some backup, too, because none of us have worked with these guys before, and they could be heaps of trouble. Worst case, blame it on the others and get out safe.

Anyway, the meets on 6 hours from now, at 4:30pm at Denim, that nightclub in the PCC sector we all got wasted at way back when, remember? And listen, go light to the meet; word is you'll be doing some traveling.

See you back at the house later,
Trix"

She started going through her list of contacts, trying to think of what might come in handy given they'd be taking almost anything that came along...

They'd need a good hacker, no matter how much Dusk disliked them. Some extra muscle wouldn't hurt either, preferably someone who could actually put words together to form a sentence, too, unlike Fluffy up there behind the wheel. Still, he had his uses.

They could definitely use another driver though, maybe a rigger. She thumbed her 'link into action, and started making calls.


Sal flipped his 'link open as it beeped; he had a penchant for the old tech, and this oversized thing had cost him a pretty penny. The street vendor had claimed it was a smartphone back in the day; chuckling at the thought, he spoke as Trix announced herself.

"Mr. Donar, at your service!"

They talked back and forth for a bit, and he informed her that he had just the guy. He negotiated a cut, and sent off a quick 'link to Kor; the cyclops would be perfect for this gig.

"Buddy! I've got some work for ya; meet up at Denim no later than 4:30pm. Be on the lookout for three other guys; one of' em's a pretty-boy elf with sparkly eyes, the other's the gruff type, and they'll be accompanied by a fraggin' furry troll. Can't miss em. But if you do, ask the bartender, she'll know. Don't fuck this up."


Running Snake read the message from Trix and hissed.
"Now the bitch all of a sudden needs my help?"

He replied grudgingly, not really wanting to admit to himself that she did know her business. Still, getting blown-off by her had hurt; and just because she "wasn't comfortable around his kind", even if he had been a little drunk at the time.

OK, a lot. But that was beside the point. He looked over her message again, and looked around the pack. If anyone could do what she needed, it would be the pixie. Little dude had brass stones; and he certainly would bring something unique to the team. Waving him over, he went over the details with him.

"Job's a lock; get to Denim by 4:30 pm, sit down with the chief, do what he tells you. You'll be there for backup only, in case some drek-head decides to mess around. Get in, get out, get paid. Sound good?"


Ace took the call as he worked on the ATV; they'd need it operational again for the next run if they didn't want to lose the opportunity, and it was a lot of nuyen...

"What's up, doll!" he exclaimed, grinning. He knew Trix was sweet on him, how couldn't she be. "I mean, just look at me..." He glanced in the mirror of the vehicle as Trix gave him the lowdown in that musical voice of hers, nodding to himself.

"I got the perfect guy for you, chica; this elf is something else, you'll see. Calls himself Mr. Winter, wears a white coat, pale white skin. If you want muscle, he's the best new talent I've got, and that's saying something!"

He took down some notes, asked Trix when she was going to let him take her out dancing, laughed at her coy refusal, and told her he wouldn't take no for an answer. She laughed it off in turn, and replied with a vague "Sometime later, slick", and he let it go for now.

He thumbed the notes into a message, and forwarded it to Winter.

"Got a job, Iceman. Scooter and I are busy with the truck, so get to the meet no later than 4:30pm. Details attached. Ace out!"


Trixie thumbed through her contacts. Good hackers were hard to come by, and after VanishingPoint got locked up and SrzTASK got geeked, there weren't really anyone she trusted. Hadn't Jason mention someone, though? He wasn't the most connected fixer around, but he'd talked about someone attached to a mechanic friend of his who apparently was somewhat of a genius with tech, and he was looking to get into the runner business. Maybe he'd do for a milk run like this.

She sent the message, and quickly got a call back from Jason, telling her that Fang would be available as long as the team could keep him safe.

"Keep him safe, Jason? This isn't exactly a no-risk business, you know. But fine; you've got my word, I'll have the guys look after the kid. If he's all you're talking him up to be, we might be interested in bringing him along in the future, too... Have him at Denim at 4:30pm."

She chuckled as she brought up the picture Jason had sent her of the mechanic and Fang together; he was unique, all right, with a thick, full pelt and eyes that could almost rival Silvers. She could tell where he'd probably gotten his nickname too; those teeth looked sharp...

Business concluded, she sent another message to Silver and Dusk.

"All right boys, you've got company; a cyclops rigger, a hacker kid that looks like a miniature version of Micky with the fur and everything, and two fighters; ones an elf, calls himself Winter and dresses in all white, and the other... get this... is a pixie. Don't underestimate that last one, though; Running Snake says he's got oomph. Let me know when the job's done..."

And with that, she sat back and relaxed before going back to her preparations.

[martinchaen]

Sighing loudly, Trix once again read the message from Silver before she reviewed the info she'd received, then picked up her link and began typing furiously.

"What the frak, Silver! I told you to act professionally, not go all urban brawl on two of the most well connected organized crime families in town!"

She reviewed the footage one more time; her contact had sent her copies and deleted the originals. Shaking her head, she thanked the heavens for good hackers; this Fang kid had some serious skills, there was no doubting that, but even he had limits.

"Here's the deal; Fang got me the footage of you all from half a dozen street cams, and he got rid of the originals. However, the one cam belonging to the drekkin' Knight Errant cop who showed up shot the video directly back to KE HQ, and so with the exception of that last one nobody else has evidence of what went down any longer.

I'll see what I can do about the Knights, but given that they sent one of their corp mages to investigate, chances are they've got your astral signatures and some blurry pictures of some or all of you. It might cost us a pretty penny if we want to get out from under their radar, so next time just haul ass out of there, or stick around long enough to get rid of the evidence, wiz?"

Sighing again at the prospect of having her own goals obliterated by being locked up in a privately owned penitentiary with murderers and thieves, or worse yet, being taken for a ride by the frakkin' Yakuza, she continued typing.

"Also, I would stay well away from Yakuza and Triad territory for a couple of weeks, just in case some of the goons happen to recognize you; I can only guess what you did to him to make him go off like that, but I know you.

What you didn't know is that that was Jonny Ono you tried hauling away, and he's an underboss for the damned Yamato-gumi. I shouldn't need to tell you that we can't take that kind of heat. I just hope he doesn't realize what you pulled; rumour is he may be an adept, as he's a prodigy with those pistols of his. Not to mention he's tenacious as all get out, so I'd try to stay on his good side if I were you."

Looking over her information again, she chewed on her lip as she worked.

"And that's not all; looks like whatever you transported was something the Triad were after, too. The guy in charge of the other gang was none other than An Peng, lead enforcer for the Golden Triangle. This guy has a reputation for cold-blooded savagery, and in case you didn't notice he's one of us. Even if he didn't recognize whatever you did to Jonny, he's sure to have noticed what must have been a stun spell or four."

She glanced at the incoming message from the Koshari, and nodded to herself.

"All right, enough vitriol; just try to lay low for a while, and next time use your frakkin' head!

Now, good news; the Koshari and the Chavez are both pleased with the outcome, and I've started working them for resources. If anything comes up from either, I'm going to send it your way immediately. Oh, and I even got a message from a representative for the Casquilho family; word is that they're on somewhat friendly terms with the Chavez, so whatever you did for them worked out beautifully. One big shiny happy family..."

She walked over to her counter and grabbed a cup of actual coffee before continuing.

"For now, lay low, get some rest, and I'll let everyone know some of what went down."


Repeating the same message to Dusk, Trix then set about informing the rest of the team.

She composed a message to each thanking them for their efforts and cooperation, and that she would keep in touch if something else came up. She repeated her previous advice of staying out of sight for a little while as she worked on keeping the heat off of them, then appended a special thanks in her message to Fang thanking him for helping keep the team secure.

Rummaging around her apartment for a bit, she sat down on her couch and wrapped herself up in the blanket she'd finally found, before heading into the astral to see what she could glean from the Knights Errant contact she had.

[brimstone14]

Dusk reads his commlink message from Trixie.  He shakes his head and sighs deeply.  He types his response while copying Silver on the reply:

Trixie - Since when do emotional, expletive-laced tirades fall under "professionalism?"  Perhaps you should have asked us specifically what we observed and the circumstances that were involved before you start your lecture about how a run should properly be handled. 

As for Fang getting rid of the street camera evidence: congratulations, he did his job.  Isn't that why he was hired to be in the group?  To handle the technology problems that we ran into? 
The way I see things, we did exactly the same thing: our job.  We were hired as magical support and that is what we did.  While Fang laid back comfortably in the van, Silver and I took care of the situation.  We were told that we could run into trouble on the way because others wanted the package.  A situation that you tell us was handled unprofessionally and recklessly.  Let me explain something about the shadows to you:  you either react and think quickly or you are dead.  It is easy to watch video camera footage over and over and determine what you believe is the correct course of action and play "Monday Morning Quarterback."  It is a completely different thing to be approached by 2 groups of aggressive individuals, who you describe as "Johnny Ono, a pistol prodigy," and "An Peng, a man known for cold bloody savagery," and not act and think instinctually to protect our package, which we were commissioned to do, and our lives.  Guess what, we not only protected the package, but successfully completed the mission and didn't even kill anyone.  To me, that should have been a "Group: Job well done" message from you. 
Instead, we return to a message describing how we fouled everything up and telling us to use our heads.  How do you know that if we didn't act the way we did that we would still have heads to use?  So it sounds like we created some extra work for you covering things up.  That is understandable and well within the realm of a "fixer" from what I can tell.  Time for you to earn your share of the cut for fixing us up with jobs.  Don't worry, I'm sure there will be jobs in the future that go completely seamlessly and you can just sit back and enjoy the middle-man markup.  If you can't handle danger and you are all worried about "professionalism," may I suggest a change in careers.  I know a nice comfy corp cubicle is open somewhere you can sit and relax all day crunching accounts receivables and accounts payables is out there.
If I wanted someone second-guessing and nagging all of my decisions I just would've gotten married.
When I am hired to do a job, that is what I am going to do.  I will do whatever I deem is necessary to complete the job successfully.  That is why you hired me, right? While I appreciate your professional suggestions, and I will respectfully honor your request to lay low for a bit, I ask that you extend the same professional courtesy you requested from us.  In other words, I won't tell you how to do your job and you don't tell me how to do mine.  We are a team after all and I trust that everyone will do their own respective jobs to the best of their abilities.

If we follow those guidelines, we should get along just peachy....Good luck with KE.

[markelphoenix]

:goes over both messages...twice: "Fraggin eh...."

:composes a message just to Trix:

Hey Trix, appreciate you keeping our hoops out of the fire and taking care of the stuff on the back end. I'm sure your use to Dusk's ...'tact' by now, so I'm sure you'll handle it with the same grace you always do. That being said, we did kind of have to move on the fly. We had two hostile, unidentified groups approaching us in heavy traffic. Both were making demands for the package, so there wasn't much ambiguity on whether they were running counter to our agreed upon mission. We had soy-lemon-flavoring, so we made Soy-Lemon-Flavoraid.

That being said, drek! No idea that package would draw that kind of attention. Was hoping to grab Johnny Ono. Wasn't plan on keeping him as hostage, but was hoping to 'earn his gratitude' by pulling his hoop out of a fire fight. I'm kind of curious how those two crime groups stood up against the Knight Errant showing up. I'd assume they had the resources to get out of it, but eh...you never know.

How are things coming on organizing the resources for our organization? I know it is mostly organizing bickering parties into agreeing on space and turf, so I appreciate you handling that head-ache.

I know you've established connections with several magical groups throughout the years. Me and Dusk could both use an opportunity to flex our awakened muscle. Know of any of them that would be willing to impart any of their knowledge, experimental findings, or other benefits for us undertaking a deed for them? If they were willing to throw some Nuyen in as well, that wouldn't be frowned upon exactly.

Look forward to your reply as always, my dear.

:Private To Dusk:

Dusk, I think we did solid work. We had no idea of the affiliation of those thugs that were going after the package. We took drek and made soy-cakes. I know Trix can have a.....5000 miles high view of what we do in the field, but just remember, she deals with a lot of the superficial drek on the back end that keeps us from being buggered. Overall, solid run, Chummer.

[brimstone14]

To Silver:

Pfft.  We do all the heavy lifting while our magically-retarded group sits around in a van.  Then we get the fixer princess on our ass.  I don't know how you have the stomach for this.  I understand the concept of a "means to an end" but give me a break.  She really has the audacity to tell us what we should have done when we have two angry, "dangerous" groups trying to "convince" us that we should hand our package over.  They didn't look like the kind of guys that would have settle for just a no and left us alone.  Fragging simpletons...

[markelphoenix]

To Dusk:

I hear you, Chummer. You know Trix goes way  back with us. She hasn't ever let us down...yeah, she can be a bit of an optimizer, yeah she can be quick to jump to an 'optimal' end-run scenario that is completely counter to any of the realities on the ground....but she is Trix. She has always been there when needed, reliable, steady. Plus, you know how talented she is with 'the gift'. When she sets her mind to it, she can talk the skin off a Bear in the mid of winter.

I asked her if she knows of any magical groups looking to hire us for a quick side run from the rest of the group. Something that would help us flex our awakened muscle and maybe pick up a few things along the way. Will let you know what she hits me back with.

[martinchaen]

After calling in quite a few favours and making a few promises of her own, Trix nods to herself, satisfied that she's done all she can. Knight Errant won't be pursuing the case any further, and the Yakuza and the Triad have no viable leads. The latter seemed just as important, as both sides knew something was up, but they have nothing to go on. The corp-mage Trix knew from way back when was willing to let the info on the astral signatures of Silver and Dusk go, but it had cost her.

If they kept this kind of behaviour up, they would never get this venture off the ground as the payments to keep people silent would equal the take.

She read the notes she'd received from the team, then composed a few curt replies, starting off with one to Dusk and Silver.

"Dusk. Frag you, dust-for-brains; I'm a fixer, not a damned cleaner. I set you up with the jobs, you perform, we all make money.

That means you rely on my magical talents and my contacts to make this arrangement work, which in turn means you need me, not the other way around. If I have to spend more time and resources cleaning up your mess to ensure your "successful completion of the mission" doesn't get you sent to a corporate retreat, you're not worth the headache.

I didn't get to where I am, know the people I know, just to have some drek-head with a chip on his shoulder foul the whole deal up. You and I both know that you are far more than just "magical support", so shape up or ship out, chummer.

Silver. Soy-lemon-flavoraid is frakkin' right. I'm back to square one because I had to burn favours to keep you two and the team out of the limelight. If you want to help, make sure the next run goes off smoothly and without leaving a trace, wiz?

Both of you: I've got some new talent coming in. I had to let Micky go, dumb bastard hit some corp executive with the car, so he's off to the slammer and we're down a vehicle for the time being. Good news is we've got some genius rigger and a smoothtalker joining you for the next gig. Info to come as soon as I get it.

Stay out of trouble...

Trix"

She signed off with her usual emote, hopefully indicating that her initial anger had passed and that she was now merely annoyed at the tone in Dusk.

"Emotional. Hah. Talk about pot meeting kettle..."


The week passed quickly with a few distractions here and there; Denver was still cold, still windy, and the shadows were still dark. She read the dossier from Tabby, an old friend of hers.

"Heh, maybe Fang would like her", she thought to herself.

Jaron Falcone... The name sounded very familiar, but she couldn't quite place him. It would be another daytime job by the looks of it, less than 16 hours to get it done, and Tabby had even put "Urgent!" in the subject line to emphasize that there was no time to spare.

She then sent a message to the entire team:

"All right, folks, we’re burning daylight and we’ve got a rush job. Employer is named Jaron Falcone, and he needs a team out on his
ranch at 12057 Washington St, out in the Sioux sector, at 1800, or in just under two hours. Since Kor is AWOL I've brought in Gremlin to act as principal rigger, so anyone who do not have transportation or who are not already in the Sioux sector, make your necessary travel arrangements with him. I've also brought in Foxfire to handle the talking, but Silver and Dusk are primaries so if you want more work from me you'll fall in line with them.

Last week went well, all things considered, but lets try to remain under the radar of watchful eyes.

Trix"

[MaxKojote]

Fang lay back in bed, making himself comfortable as he allowed himself to slip into the humming warmth of VR. He looked at the message Silver had sent him earlier with some surprise.

Odd. I'm surprised he didn't want to try to do it himself. Just hope no-one decides to try to talk to me about it, since I don't know too much about the Awakened, let alone this 'Ergo Sum' thing. He frowned to himself as he examined the data given to him. I suppose I'm the best to take care of this in any scenario. Let's get to work...

He plucked at one of the resonance strands he felt within his living persona. Imbuing it with his love of research, his need to know things, his skills at finding information. The complex form took form within his Resonant self, allowing him to begin to browse through the matrix for possible Awakened hotspots in the matrix. Thinking carefully for a moment, he also added in some basic Runner hubs in the 'trix as well as well as some public groups and nodes geared to the more Academic users. Each location had an ARO telling about Ergo Sum, in the form of a floating sign.

ARO: Ergo Sum. "Therefore, I am"

Ergo Sum is a group that focuses on growth of both the group and the individual. We are interested in Awakened non-troll individuals who wish to improve their Awakened abilities and pursue magical development.
The goal of Ergo Sum is to use the group power of Awakened individuals to further improve the individual power of all members.
A blood sample will be required as a material link to join the group.
For further information, please send a message to <Dump Box Address>.

After spending about an hour in the research, he nodded in satisfaction. Should be most of the major points. Other locations are minor or will cause overlaps. Good luck to Silver I suppose.

@Silver: Posted an ARO for Ergo Sum in most of the major locations I could track down that might have interested individuals. He sent off a quick message to Silver before moving on to his next task.

When they were selling the paydata back to Belenkiy... Fang hadn't simply given up the files. He kept copies. There was a better use for some information. It was time he tried to get a reputation up, and this would be the first step. He had an account at ShadowSea that hadn't seen too much use yet. Perhaps it was time for that to change. He spent some time looking into ShadowSea, and then other data havens. Soon enough, a copy of the paydata he had kept was uploaded onto ShadowSea, signed simply with "Fang". He hesitantly included a link to the file on JackPoint, both as an attempt to discover more information from the other 'runners and as a display of his own prowess.

JackPoint Post: Some interesting data I 'borrowed' from the Ares servers. Oh don't look at me like that, I didn't steal it from them, merely made a copy. I even gave it back to them!

- Fang

<Attached: Ares Data>

Having finished with his tasks, he slipped back into AR, feeling a moment of confusion as the warm feelings faded. Soon he was out of bed and joining his boyfriend... By promptly forgetting he was in meatspace and that people don't generally show a window of information when you tap their body. It's probably just as well his boyfriend had grown used to Fang's difficulty of discerning between the Matrix and meatspace.

[markelphoenix]

@Fang: Hey Puppy-Hax, appreciate you taking care of that for me. Let me know if I can ever return the professional favor in the meat-space.

Silver returns to his meditations and practice sessions. Channeling mana, shifting and shaping it, then releasing. Nothing with enough power to put a hole through a wall, but enough for him to continue to experiment with different internal methods of drawing upon the essence of life, mana. He particularly focuses on the 'after math' left behind from the channeling, the after signature and presence. His mind focusing on the concept of 'cleaning up' afterwards, his conversation with Trix from the first run still fresh in his mind. That and the knowledge that he may not need such an ability just for himself, but for his hot-blooded friend, Dusk as well.

During a brief break, he shoots a msg over to Dusk:

I had Puppy-Hax seed the 'Trix with information about our philosophy and traditions. Had him target Awakened Nodes, Runner Hot-Spots, and Academic Nodes. Hopefully, we can get some traction on building a network before forming the bonds necessary to cement our group as a serious organization. I know Trix is working her hoop off preparing sites and agreements with other magical groups to make sure we don't make any un-necessary enemies.

Good work on wooing Kyra, by the way. I took a more....working-relationship approach to my engagement wit the Black Cats, but never hurts to have a more...intimate bond to a potential resource and ally.

[brimstone14]

@Fang: Hey Puppy-Hax, appreciate you taking care of that for me. Let me know if I can ever return the professional favor in the meat-space.

Silver returns to his meditations and practice sessions. Channeling mana, shifting and shaping it, then releasing. Nothing with enough power to put a hole through a wall, but enough for him to continue to experiment with different internal methods of drawing upon the essence of life, mana. He particularly focuses on the 'after math' left behind from the channeling, the after signature and presence. His mind focusing on the concept of 'cleaning up' afterwards, his conversation with Trix from the first run still fresh in his mind. That and the knowledge that he may not need such an ability just for himself, but for his hot-blooded friend, Dusk as well.

During a brief break, he shoots a msg over to Dusk:

I had Puppy-Hax seed the 'Trix with information about our philosophy and traditions. Had him target Awakened Nodes, Runner Hot-Spots, and Academic Nodes. Hopefully, we can get some traction on building a network before forming the bonds necessary to cement our group as a serious organization. I know Trix is working her hoop off preparing sites and agreements with other magical groups to make sure we don't make any un-necessary enemies.

Good work on wooing Kyra, by the way. I took a more....working-relationship approach to my engagement wit the Black Cats, but never hurts to have a more...intimate bond to a potential resource and ally.

Responds to Silver:
Sounds like you have the recruitment going full-bore.  Hopefully it works and get attract the attention of some company worthy of our time and efforts. 

I'm looking forward to spending more time with Kyra.  Hopefully she will also want to join the group. 

[martinchaen]

Trix reviewed the recommendation from Falcone; the old man was ecstatic to not only have proof that the kidnapping had been a test by Ares all along, but also that HammerJack had been the one behind the ransom. He'd even thrown in a little finders fee for her for setting him up with a team of professionals who "got the job done all nice and quiet like".

She went over the news reports, making sure that everyone had stayed out of the limelight, and then began sifting through the few replies to the info that Fang had sent out. A promising start for sure; a few more runs like this, and they would have what they needed to get the show on the road.

Satisfied that all was well on the eastern front, she composed a message  before once again turning her attention to accumulating the necessary hardware, equipment, and locale for the Ergo Sum startup.

To Team:
"Great job, people. Mr. Falcone is exceedingly happy with the results of your last run, and he'll not only keep us in mind for future engagements but actively recommend us to any of his associates who might be in need of some... outside assistance. A few more jobs like this, and you'll have enough work to last you years... Take satisfaction in a job well done; you certainly earned it."

To Silver and Dusk:
"Thanks to your outstanding efforts, this team is shaping up nicely. I have to say, Silver, that was quite the performance; Gremlin's drone caught the whole thing, and I wouldn't have believed it if I couldn't see it with my own eyes.

Keep up the good work, and we'll be able to get Ergo Sum off the ground sooner rather than later.

Silver; I apologize for getting all up in your face last week. Drek, you know I didn't mean anything by it, so let's put the past behind us and focus on the future, so ka?

Oh, and tell your new... acquaintance... to stop sending trids of herself taken in some bathroom mirror to the group comm ID, please."


Jaron Falcone smiled warmly at the lady across the table from him. There was something exotic about her, something he couldn't quite place, even after all these years. He'd met her when he was still running the shadows and needed something as exotic as she was, and she'd provided it in spades.

"I've got just the right people for the job, old friend" he said as he thumbed the details into his link and sent them to her.


Your commlink notifies you of an incoming call, and you answer after a few rings.

Your image link reveals the face of an attractive Asian woman, her skin like porcelain and her eyes like ice. This definitely isn’t one of your contacts, but neither does she look like your typical Johnson. Her shoulder length hair cascades in short, tight dreads. The collar of her leather jacket is upturned and raises high to her jaw, concealing the entire nape of her neck. Her voice, smooth as the silk of her hypercolor tank top, greets your ears.

“I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time. My name is Ms. Johnson, and I have some business I’d like to discuss. Let’s meet for dinner, 5 o'clock, my treat.”

She pauses just a moment, and then adds, “I hope you like rattlesnake...” before hanging up, leaving you without a chance to even reply.

With a little over 7 hours until a meeting you haven't even agreed to, you guess there's plenty of time to figure out who the frak this lady is, and where exactly she wants to meet... Rattlesnake. Huh.

[martinchaen]

Trix took a deep breath of the fresh, cool Denver air, enjoying the feeling of coming home.

As she made her way back to her apartment, she reviewed what the team had been up to since the last time.

"Extraction job, looks like it went off fairly well, but there's no way they could have seen that outcome. Sabotage, again, went off well but failed to deliver expected results for Mr. Johnson. Oh well, Mr. Fjordson wasn't exactly an experienced Johnson, nor did the team fail in their mission."

Tapping her link, she noticed the notice of appreciation from the Mafioso.

"Looks like they're gaining a rep amongst some of the more influential Families. Note to self: make sure relationship is kept professional, as we don't want to get too close to organized crime."

She typed out a reply to the team.

"Great job, everyone. Looks like some things didn't pan out like expected, but all things considered you performed as per the requirements from the Johnsons. Keep up the good work, and keep building those connections. Some fairly prominent people are starting to take notice, and the jobs should reflect this."

As she settled in at home, she relaxed on the couch and went Astral, making sure to check up on Lady Jade and Mr. Fjordson; they may not have gotten exactly what they wanted, and Trix wanted to make sure she had the teams backs.


After a busy week of sorting through information received from Fang's AR advertisements, cataloging interest in Ergo Sum from the various individuals and groups reaching out. A lot of spam so far, but some interesting leads.

Dusk seemed to be spending more and more time with that native girl, and she couldn't really blame him. He was even picking up a word of Lakota here and there. Fang had been a little quiet, lately, but he had just reported in and was ready for another job.

Almost serendipitously a message came in as she was reviewing available resources, from the Casquilho no less. Looks like they needed some outside muscle to investigate one of their own, ironically.

She forwarded the details to Dusk and Silver, with a message to gather the team for a potential run.

[brimstone14]

Trix took a deep breath of the fresh, cool Denver air, enjoying the feeling of coming home.

As she made her way back to her apartment, she reviewed what the team had been up to since the last time.

"Extraction job, looks like it went off fairly well, but there's no way they could have seen that outcome. Sabotage, again, went off well but failed to deliver expected results for Mr. Johnson. Oh well, Mr. Fjordson wasn't exactly an experienced Johnson, nor did the team fail in their mission."

Tapping her link, she noticed the notice of appreciation from the Mafioso.

"Looks like they're gaining a rep amongst some of the more influential Families. Note to self: make sure relationship is kept professional, as we don't want to get too close to organized crime."

She typed out a reply to the team.

"Great job, everyone. Looks like some things didn't pan out like expected, but all things considered you performed as per the requirements from the Johnsons. Keep up the good work, and keep building those connections. Some fairly prominent people are starting to take notice, and the jobs should reflect this."

As she settled in at home, she relaxed on the couch and went Astral, making sure to check up on Lady Jade and Mr. Fjordson; they may not have gotten exactly what they wanted, and Trix wanted to make sure she had the teams backs.


After a busy week of sorting through information received from Fang's AR advertisements, cataloging interest in Ergo Sum from the various individuals and groups reaching out. A lot of spam so far, but some interesting leads.

Dusk seemed to be spending more and more time with that native girl, and she couldn't really blame him. He was even picking up a word of Lakota here and there. Fang had been a little quiet, lately, but he had just reported in and was ready for another job.

Almost serendipitously a message came in as she was reviewing available resources, from the Casquilho no less. Looks like they needed some outside muscle to investigate one of their own, ironically.

She forwarded the details to Dusk and Silver, with a message to gather the team for a potential run.

After the completion of another successful run, dusk sends out a message to Trix:

Trix - Another mish and another successful run.  I tried to ring you up during the run but you were out.  Anyways, I'm going to be taking a few days to vacation with Kyra.  I figured I let you know so you didn't freak the frag out that your top dog runner was not returning messages.  Don't worry, I'll be back to pad all of our credsticks....

Smiling and smug, Dusk sends the message.