[Mulcarn]

Maxwell pulls his hair back behind his right ear and takes a step closer to the hostess.  She seemed nice, attractive even.  In a low tone he addresses her.  "Easy there, no need to die of fright.  If I wanted to start something, I would've already.  Tell the guards following me to back off.  I promise to cause no trouble, but only if they mind their business."  For added emphasis, he points at them directly without even turning away from the hostess.  "I'm looking for a tall elf with black hair.  He has this robotic manner of speaking and a near dead look in his eyes.  Almost like he's a drone on autopilot."

[Imladir]

[Noëmie "Nyx" d'Orville - January 12^th, 2076 - Gates Casino, Bellevue, Seattle]

Noëmie shrugs, a bit uncomfortably "As long as the situation is so complicated in Seattle, it should be safe enough, it's easier to disappear, and more difficult to find anyone. After that..." she grimaces "Probably not for long."

[Jack_Spade]

Kynos noticed the commotion through the closed door - not something he usually would, but then he had actually been listening for it.

He stood up went to the door and looked out, seeing Sovereign close to the elevator. One of these days he had to talk to the man about style and how to intimidate without it looking like he escaped from a hammer horror film.
He gave a short whistle on two fingers, gaining the attention of the whole restaurant: "Oy, we are over here."

When the mage had entered and the door was closed, Kynos addressed the assembled runners: "If I may introduce to you: This is Sovereign, powerful mage and a trusted chummer. Those guys and gals are: Simone the medic, Irris the sniper,  Ayato the sneaky leg breaker,  Wheely the rigger and Passive the troll. One other, Nyx, has just excused herself to speak to her boss, she'll be acting as our face."

[Kuirem]

Wheely greet the mage politely but won't go as far as extending a hand, you never know what might come out of a mage hand. At least he is no longer the most underdressed person in the room, Sovereign certainly know how to make an impression.

[Mulcarn]

Taking a seat next to Kynos, showcasing his peculiar style of dress in full view of the other runners.  Maxwell shoves his duffel bag underneath the table and out of sight.  The Cram he had taken earlier to confront Grail with has more than taken effect.  Manic energy fueled the mage to no end and brought about a certain elevated state, to put it mildly.  Leaning forward a bit and in an over-the-top theatric way asks.  "So, what kind of job requires the great Sovereign, Kynos, and six other runners?  Is it about that pixie farm I hear so much about?"

[Jack_Spade]

"Precisely. The Irish Mafia found a legal loophole to acquire the farm legally, due to some old slavery law that's only applicable as long as there is no new official police force in Seattle.

Now they want us to document a slave trade, meaning someone selling a pixie, and afterwards acting as a citizens police force and close down the operation, but without damaging the equipment. Because that is our payment: 27% of the continued operation of the farm.

Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce Gem. She's our liaison to Casa and also has infiltrated the compound, by befriending an abusive BTL junky who works there with his pals.

What we know about the operation:
They trade pixies for cred sticks to the vampires as snacks. They seem to have a breeding or cloning programm running in their cellar to create a steady supply.
The farm has a rent-a-mage on retainer that will send spirit reinforcement if they detect any magic stuff.
Otherwise they are protected by a mercenary detail - possibly up to 30 soldiers.
In addition they have a massive drone fleet that is controlled from a command center under ground with a physical antenna on the ground bringing the signal through.

Any questions so far?"

[Mulcarn]

Maxwell cocked an eyebrow at the keeb's explanation.  A sly grin slowly started to appear on his lips the moment he finished.  A raspy laugh busts out from the mage's mouth before saying.  "Yeah, quite a few to be frank.  My first being what kind of mercenary force?  Street level, corporate rejects or organized crime?  The second is who is Gem or Casa for that matter?  Other runners or our employers?  Lastly, what the hell does the Mafia hope to gain from this?  Besides pissing off every vampire and Infected lordling."

[Jack_Spade]

"Casa is our Johnson in this operation, Gem is his operative. I worked with her and BB last month, you know the one where I had to go overseas to take care of our special friend...
The mercs are supposed to be military trained and equipped.
The mafia gets a legal hold on quite a large piece of real estate + farm equipment. Foodstuff is at a premium in the city since the incident and real food even more so. Not to mention that this thing has a bunker setup below, so I'd imagine the mafia wants to use it as a base of operations.

Pissing off the vamps is more an added perk for us" replied Kynos laconically.

[Kuirem]

"To add to all that the legal loophole is only available for 72 hours. Nothing like a time limit to spice things up right?"

[Ennui]

We were just discussing how we might go about getting the layout of this farm.  I imagine you will part of that discussion.  With no spy drones this will be a bit more difficult though.

[Mercy Merchant]

Since mages do not really need to use a cyberware medic all that often, Simone's experience with them is limited to a lot of rumor and innuendo.  It appears that her comments are not required at this time so she remains silent and eats more of her waffle.

[Raiderjoseph]

Passive merely sat back eating. Absorbing everything being said. And trying to keep up with their rapid english.

[gilga]

[Noëmie "Nyx" d'Orville - January 12^th, 2076 - Gates Casino, Bellevue, Seattle]

Noëmie shrugs, a bit uncomfortably "As long as the situation is so complicated in Seattle, it should be safe enough, it's easier to disappear, and more difficult to find anyone. After that..." she grimaces "Probably not for long."

Valentina says  "You can do that, but that path ends in slavery and you know that deep in your heart. I can offer you an alternative, should you take it.  My basements are Faraday cages, so no matrix signal, they are deep underground so no astral visitors and they are even warded against detection magic.  I can make people disappear and can hide you under my skirt. Should new mercenaries come, my organization can handle them just like we handled the previous mercenaries."

[Imladir]

[Noëmie "Nyx" d'Orville - January 12^th, 2076 - Gates Casino, Bellevue, Seattle]

Noëmie shakes her head "Even if you did, other mercenaries would come. And while I may be able to hide underground for a moment, what good would it do?" she snorts "I'd be bored to death, some of your assets would be tied down handling the situation, and I wouldn't be of any use down there. I don't see that as a winning situation for anyone."

[gilga]

@Nyx Valentina laugh "I am not offering that out of the kindness of my heart my organization needs talent and you have the tongue of a daemon. You forced Casa into a place that no runner had in years. Few people can talk so well and such skills are well valued by my organization.  Your pretty head is worth 100k nuyen to the mercenaries that took you, we interfered because nobody is allowed to do this kind of job on my property it is bad for business.  100k is a lot of money and it is enough to keep you running, but I can make it more expensive than that to extract you. As long as your value to whom ever is after you is reasonable, I can protect you. In the long term, I value your friendship and loyalty considerably more than this amount of money, so just know that the option is there. "