San Fran Meet

After arriving in San Fran, Sunny calls up the number she's been saving and arranges the meet. You all head to a rather nice restaurant downtown. After dinner arrives, Johnson (a short black woman, this time) begins the spiel: My employer has a small problem, and we're looking for people who can help. We've recently been in contact with a Dr. Helen Rohm. Dr. Rohm is one of North America's most prominent biothaumaturgic researchers, and for the past several years has been working for Ares Macrotechnology on the problem of cyberimplants for the magically Awakened. Recently, Dr. Rohm has become, hmm, dissatified with her employment with Ares, and would like to pursue a similar position with my employer. Unfortunately, her current contract does not have any type of retirement clause, although it does have excellent death benefits. Therefore, we need to find someone willing to go and extract her from her current situation. We'd also like to, at the same time, have a few people make a raid on Ares' headquarters here in town. There are some hard-copy results of Dr. Rohm's research that we'd like to aquire, and it seems best to manage both at once. We have a detailed schematic of Outpost Zeta-Q, where Dr. Rohm is now, and of the facility in town that has the actual data. We also have secure communications with Dr. Rohm, once daily. Unfortunately, we cannot allow you to use the communications channel directly, but if you have any questions for Dr. Rohm, I can pass them on. Are you interested in the job? The extraction at Outpost Zeta-Q will be run Thursday night, July 21st, at 9 mudtime. The data raid will be Sunday, July 24th, at noon mudtime. Decide in-character who is doing what, and feel free to ask Johnson for more details. I'll be posting more during the week as people ask.

Sounds like a good cause t' me. C'n I take a look at th' sch'matics? What kind o' s'curity they got?

How old are your schematics? And do you have information about the staff at the two facilities?

"O'i don't know much about data, but O'i can protect someone. Count me in." Thurgun scratches his head. "Death benefits, hunh? Does that mean we get extra if Ares thinks she's dead? Uh, how much you payin', anyway?" In other runs, after we accept, we get more info; I assume the same's true here? Also, Thurgun knows enough to know he's not the best negotiator in the group; he'll bow out of actual $$ discussions.

"I take it we don't need to destroy copies of her existing research, just ensure that you get the information contained in the physical copies. Is this all notebooks and papers, or is there anything larger like lab equipment? Roughly how many items, and how can we identify the data to be retrieved?" "For Dr. Rohm, can we get a run-down of her schedule for the next week or so? Is she under any particular surveillance, or just the general Ares employee safeguarding? Is she permitted off-campus at all?" I'm up for either of these runs -- I am assuming the extraction is shootier than the data raid, but maybe that's not the case.

The money's just a bit low for a simultaneous raid against Ares, especially given how much security they're going to have. Yes, negotiation. I'm clearly interested in the extraction run, though it'd be better if it were less shooty and more sneaky/social engineery.

Johnson continues: Dr. Rohm managed to smuggle us a map of the compound (she tosses over a flek with the data at http://www.henchmonkey.org/shadowrun/extraction/zeta-q.png . According to Dr. Rohm, there are ten security guards at the compound. Three each serve on three shifts a day, with the commander checking on each shift as needed. On each shift, two guards patrol the buildings and grounds, and one monitors security cameras. The fences around the compound are electrified and there are cameras (thermographic and visual) at each corner and along the length. There seems to be something strange about the area between the fences, as no one ever goes there, but Dr. Rohm is unable to tell what the area is for. There are also another reasearcher, two lab technicians, and four support personnel (they handle tasks like cooking, administration, cleaning, etc). The only things that go in and out of the compound are Wednesday night, when food is delivered and the laundry service arrives, and Thursday night, when trash is hauled away. Aside from these, nothing enters or leaves. Security doors (doors facing outside, and the boundaries between areas) all require a card-swipe and a retinal scan for access.

The data we need is currently in an Ares cyberclinic downtown. The clinic has low security, so it should be fairly easy to get in and grab the flecks needed. They'll be in the main office, in the safe, marked with a Zeta and a Q.

'm prob'ly better at th'sneakin' in an' out wi' stuff one than th'sneakin' in an' out wi' people one. Since we b'n kinda like a team, sorta, should we pool th'n'yen from both deals an' split it all evenish? The map and security data you posted are all for the outpost run, right? Will there be similar info for the data run?

That...sounded interesting. Is the change in timetable due to changes on Ares's side?

"Sounds like we're close to a deal, then. We'll need some in advance to pay for arrangements, of course." I'm assuming we're going to discuss splitting pay and planning after the Johnson's gone, but I'll do it here just for simplicity. "Yeah, I was figuring we'd pool and split the take even -- they're two separate jobs but same broker, and we're all working. Might even be able to do some shared planning, or we can case each other's jobs so we don't have to show up in the area twice. I guess there's five of us for the two jobs -- seems like we ought to split 3 for the bigger job and 2 for the smaller, although if we could find somebody else for the data pickup that'd be handy. I think the first thing we should do on both of these is check out the area again. The data'll be easier to get to, but getting away is still going to be tricky -- getting into the compound, on the other hand, is going to be a pain, and getting out is double-pain."

"Ok, it seems like we're going to want some intel here. I'm going to give Quint a call." "Hey, Q, how's it going? Yeah, I'm out of town -- enh, long story. Anyway, we've got a gig, and I wondered if you're looking for a little research work. There's this Ares compound here in SF, Zeta-Q. Looks like the only thing they allow in and out are the necessities -- laundry, food, garbage. Can you get us a rundown on those? We'd like to know which companies have those contracts, how many employees they each have, the number of employees they each send on a usual job, what equipment or containers the companies bring in and out, you know. Yeah, I know it might not all be on file -- I figure you can at least pull up an estimate from the employee manual and the kind of service being contracted for. Oh, and see if you can find out if they send the same people every week or different people. Yeah, that should be all for now. I'll give you a call if there's anything else. Lemme know what you can find out. Awesome. 'Bye." "Meanwhile, what's the plan for the datachip? I guess Emvee can go invisible and try and get in to the back office that way, but how are you going to get into the safe?"

From a conversation on #shadowrun: Thurgun thinks. "Hmm. Laundry goes in, food goes in... hey, what if we drug the food they get, and create a medical emergency? Might be helpful at least as a distraction... oh! What if it looked serious enough that they needed to call an ambulance--and we're the guys that get called in to deal with it?" Asher grins. "We'd have to get Quint to route their call to us instead of... wherever they call. And I guess find out where they would normally call first." Thurgun ponders. "O'i don't know if we could get away with taking her to the 'hospital', or if we'd only be allowed to treat her on-site. If the latter, I might be able to get Lucy to pretend to be her for a while, under strict 'bed-rest' orders, while we sneak her out in the ambulance. Good 'til sundown." "What would we need to make this work?" Asher asks. "helpful doctor, info about ares security practices, appropriate uniforms, appropriate vehicle, probably some fake ares ids. That last is going to be tricky." "Yeah," Thurgun says, "Might be too complex. But it'd be fun! We might need a rigger to drive the ambulance. Maybe overkill, but could be useful, especially if things go sour." He looks out the window. "That area between the fences sounded suspicious to me. O'i think O'ill check there tonight and see if anything looks weird; maybe send one of my spirits in to check it out. Anyone else want to go with me?" Question: I made Lucy look like a human in my back-story; that's all well and good, but could I get a spirit to actually impersonate a human for a time? Wouldn't have to be perfect, just some added realism to what would otherwise be a wig and a bundle of pillows under a blanket. If we didn't think we could get her out. Also, credit where credit is due: this idea was probably inspired by equal parts of 'Ocean's 11' and that one episode of 'Firefly'.

I'll play tourist a bit, and visit the stores next door (visible, but with Analyze Truth turned on). How much're these butt'ns, th' ones wi' th' bridge on 'em? Heh. Yeah, right, 0.99 n'yen. Gotcha. Out o' th'way place. Kinda quaint. Mind 'f I take a vid 'f it, t' show th'folks back home? Hmm. Y'know 'f these can op'ners're th' ones wi' th' C445-D controller chip or th' new ones wi th' C500? Oh. D'ye know 'f they're made more 'n six months ago? Yeah? That'd be th' C445, then -- I'll take three. Good chip, that. Ver' vers'tile. Y'know any good place I c'n get lunch around here? Local type stuff, y'know, authentic Cali food. What's that place next door, an'ways? It's weird, y'know, no sign or an'thin'. An'body in there? I'll do a similar visit to the shoe store next door, as well.

I'll upload the vid I took and send it around to the team. Looks like there's only one way in, unless we wanna go through th' wall or ceiling. So we prob'ly wanna plan on comin' in th' front door, either when there's nob'dy around or jus' not lettin' 'em see, f'y'knowh'tImean. Both at once, 'f we can, but it'd be nice if more 'n one person c'ld go in, an' its' hard t' keep that sorta thing up f'r two. Asher, when you've got that decker on th'line, c'n y' ask 'im if th' clinic's on th'grid? 'f it is, it'd be handy 'f 'e c'ld get us s'me info on th'security they got in there.

After a bit more discussion, Thurgun, Emvee, and Asher come up with some basic formula for Operation Sick-em: -Stage 1: hack into their system. Basic plan: get a wireless repeater inside the compound, have Dr. Rohm plug it in, have Hex do stuff from the outside. Possible ways to do this: - Attach the WR to the dumpster when the trash is picked up. Have a Field Spirit Concealing it if it's searched. - Sneak in the WR with the food (which we plan to subvert anyway). Same thing with the Field Spirit. - Make something go wrong with the electrical system, be the repairmen called in to repair it. Probably will be watched like hawks; can't use the same person for later raid. -Stage 2: Make people sick. Basic plan: Make everyone sick, come in as doctors in an ambulance, take Dr. Rohm with us when we leave. Steps: -Poison the food that will be used for Friday lunch (get menu from Dr. Rohm). Poison (bacteria--some sort of food poisoning) is not serious, but symptoms are identical to something that is (research something appropriate, possibly Dr. Rohm will know?). -Dr. Rohm knows what's up, demands outside medical attention "in case it's serious" -Hex intercepts call to HQ, makes own arrangements, sends us. -We drive in, start treating people. -Either we claim Dr. R. is too sick to treat on-site, or we do a quick substitution of her with a Hearth spirit (while looping cameras, distracting live guards). Or we try the first and fall back on the second. -We leave, sirens blaring. It's possible a guard or two would demand to stay with us; we should be prepared to gas him. In fact, we should be prepared to gas lots of people ;-) --- Later that evening, Thurgun grabs [sunny/asher] and gets a cab to a location about a mile away from the compound, telling the driver to pick them up again two hours after sunset. They walk as close to the compound as seems reasonable, Thurgun summoning Aunt Marge on the way: [shadowrun] Thurgun rolls 4t2: 2 4 1 4 | 3 [shadowrun] Thurgun says, "3 successes = 3 tasks..." [shadowrun] Thurgun rolls 4t2: 6+2 6+4 1 3 | 3 [shadowrun] Thurgun says, "And another 3 successes = no drain." I'm basically looking at overall layout, driving approach, a good place to hide Hex/aim the wireless repeater, see what I can see in astral, see if Aunt Marge can see anything untoward, and see if she can tell what's up between the fences.

More Tuesday afternoon stuff: Query to Quint, asking for: a menu for the week from the food services folks. Barring that, a list of foods that will be provided. a good candidate for a bacteria to dope an item of aforementioned food with. Must be obtainable, inexpensive, and symptoms must mimic more serious bacterial infection. Preferentially, it will incapacitate victim for several hours with stomach cramps, etc. and have delayed onset so most of the base will be infected. Query to Hex, asking if he can get a wireless repeater disguised as any item of food from aforementioned menu, particularly something canned (to mask the metal signal if scanned). It should be as inert as possible when not plugged in. Another option would be to get a repeater that could withstand significant jarring from being shot into Dr. Rohm's window encased in, I dunno, gloop. (Have to assess the feasibility of that, given the night's reconaissance. Also would need contact with Dr. Rohm.) Query to Johnson, asking if we can get in contact with Dr. Rohm today if possible. If so, ask her about Friday's (or Saturday's) menu, and if she has suggestions about what to dope food with. Also tell her gist of plan. And ask her what's up with the demon dog. Tuesday night: I check to see if the dumpsters are outside in a visible spot, too. And any markings on the 'Unknown' building? I presume the unmentioned structure is just SW of the Unknown. Also, figure out if it's at all feasible to shoot a wireless repeater into Dr. Rohm's window if she's told beforehand to expect it. Heck, we could toss in a subvoc mike on our frequency.

I' b'n thinking. Hopef'ly Hex'll prob'ly be able t' get us some data on th'security inside the clinic, assumin' it's got some (an' with all they've done t' cut 'emselves off, it prob'ly has plenty). But if he doesn't, we might want t' consider grabbin' someone on th'way out o' there an' give 'em a chat. Prob'ly want t' keep that f'r a last resort, though, since that c'ld tip th'Corp off ahead o' time 'f we're not careful. To Hex: So, huh. You say maybe they're swipin' their services. Did that lead pan out at all? An 'f th'building doesn't exist on record, what about th'apartments upstairs? Are they on th' books? What about equipment 'n' supplies 'n' stuff -- is there anyone in th'vid looks like e's makin' a deliv'ry? Oh, an' they're off f'r bits an' spark, but what about water? Gotta have plumbing. There's gotta be somethin' goin' in an' out. Do prop'rty records show they exist? Payin' taxes? Now, they prob'ly got some kinda security system inside. 't'd be nice 'f we c'ld knock it out before we go in. Or at least, not long after. Worse t' worst, I guess we c'n try jus' knockin' out their juice alt'gether, 'f we c'n find out where they're gettin' it from. Maybe we'll be lucky 'n' they'll be little enough that they don't got a backup. 'Less maybe a mini-gen's all they got. Wha' d'y' think?

I guess stuff's going as smoothly as it can go. I'll check up on the designer drugs, see if they can rush us something, and talk to Quint and Hex about seeing if they can get a line on who this compound contracts with for emergency services (or who Ares tends to do, if they can't find out for these folks -- maybe they can dig up security camera footage around other Ares compounds and see if emergency vehicles have arrived, or check hospitals for reports of Ares workers). Then when we know that I'll look into a rigger (schep's guy) and, with him, look for uniforms and an appropriate vehicle. I don't know how we'd fake the id cards, but, I dunno, maybe we can get semi-appropriate ones from someplace and claim they're new.

OK, here's my conception of the basic timeline for Operation Sick-em. Suggestions welcome : Wednesday: During the day, we get a syringe full of Listeria dicytogenes (see http://www.answers.com/topic/food-poisoning) and Emvee makes up his antenna. We plan to sneak in to Houskeeping Unlimited (perhaps invisibly), and substitute a can with Emvee's can, and inject each of Saturday's dinner packets (chicken Kiev) with 1cc each of the stuff. That night, we make sure Dr. Rohm got the antenna safely ensconced in her room. We also tell her the symptoms of the bacteria we put in the Kiev, so she can make them worse for herself with her chemicals. Thursday: Start gathering equipment we know we'll need to put in an ambulance. If we can get stats on a typical Ares ambulance, so much the better. That night, we smuggle someone (Thurgun will volunteer if nobody else will) into the back of the garbage truck with Hex's repeater. As the garbage is being dumped into the truck, I'll stick the repeater on to it's edge, and possibly tell my Field Spirit to Conceal it until Dr. Rohm comes to get it. And then to cast Confusion on anyone who gives her trouble. That night, Dr. Rohm will hopefully be able to put everything together and give Hex access, at which point we see if he can hack into the cameras and find out what the emergency procedure is. Friday/Saturday: We start figuring out what to do to mimic their emergency procedure, including getting a rigger with a rig that can be done up as an ambulance (or, if need be, we can purchase the ambulance separately), and fill it up with typical ambulance-stuff. (We're also working on the other run at this time, presumably). Saturday night: Operation Sick-em! Also: Thursday night Thurgun tries to calm Marge down and get a good description of the thing what tried to eat her. Then he calls up Long Feather to see if he knows anything that would fit that description.

Hmm. So here're my thoughts on a plan. We get some gas masks an' a cuttin' torch. We pop a couple gas cans in th'AC, jus' in case there's an'one in there we don't know 'bout. 'Tween my tools an' some old-school picks I'm gonna try t' get t'day, we oughtta b' able t' get in th' front door easy enough, I think. So I blink out an' go in first, t' see 'f they got any eyes on us. 'f I spot an'thin' gadgety, I take it out by hand, then y' c'n join me. We go careful room-by-room 'til we get t' th' safe. We pop it open howev'r we c'n, 'n' 'f we can't then we may as well jus' drag it out 'n' maybe invisibilize it up or somethin' when we're out on th' street. Or jus' throw a sheet ov'r 't. Whatever. Oughtta bring a dolly or somethin' too, in case we do gotta take it off t' open it elsewhere. Anyway, once we got th'stuff, we fill a rucksack wi' an'thin' else that looks sparkly, then we beat it. How's that sound? We got a little bit of a shoppin' list, but it sh'ldn't be too bad. Nothin' too tricky. We gotta figure a way t' th'roof, though, 'f we're gonna do that part. Any thoughts?

Sounds good -- I brought my own gas mask, but we'll be needing the other stuff. Also, can anyone recommend any miniature explosives that will get the safe open right there?

"Sounds like a pretty smooth plan. If you do end up taking the safe someplace, it might be a good idea to dress up as workmen or something before going on this run, give you an excuse for moving stuff. Maybe that could get you to the roof, too -- claim to be city A/C inspectors and go up the next building, if it's close enough to cross over from."

Workmen is a good idea -- we should check if the next building over is close enough.

Yeah, th' uniforms seem like a good idea. Th'folks in th'two shops on either side've seen me, but Tony c'n give it a shot, at least. Or maybe we c'n try on further down th'row. If that doesn't work, let's bring along a rope ladder wi' hooks on one end: th'fire escape oughtta be easy enough t' catch it on, an it's not too far off th'ground t' climb to. It is out on th'street, but it'll be a weekend, so maybe not too many folks'll be out t' watch 'f we're quick. I c'n try t' stun anyone who gets too curious. Now, we don't got a truck, so 'f we gotta take th' safe off by hand, we'll need some place t' take it. I'll scope out a good alley or two that we c'n duck int', someplace far enough out that we c'n slap on some plastic t' bang th' bolt wi'out gettin' too much attent'n from th' guy upstairs. So it sounds like the shopping list is: generic workman uniforms for Tony and Emvee, gas mask for Emvee, lock picks, portable cutting torch and battery, dolly, sheet, rucksack, rope ladder with hooks, and a little plastic explosive. Oh, and a pack of cigarettes and matches, since there's no better excuse for a workman to be loitering around on the street doing nothing than a lit cigarette. Am I forgetting anything, in either the plan or the list?