Rocket Rides with the Runners. Shadowrunners, Inc. that is.

At this point, you can just let me know how Rocket will be handling the next three days, how much of your gear you'll be bringing with you, any shopping you might be needing to handle, people you need to contact, etc.

Will do. I will put some stuff together tonight.

Last couple of nights have gone into this weekend's game.

6am, Morning of the 8th.

Mental checklist. I've got my new Eslazio 7G Microdeck loaded up with all of my hottest new programs. Shit, Trik better be right about that new German VD copy, frakkin' gross of megabells to slot that beast. I really should'a tested this new ware on some midtech pop shop or something. Guns a go. Shaggon made a boxload off of all of the new fleshtech he set me up with last year. Sure, I have ran a lot of good systems. I even geeked a crazy on the street back in April. But am I a runner? More importantly, does this Mr. Vaughn think I am material? Devil didn't give me pointed ears and wiz-fast deck skills just so I could sneak peeks into the fanny-labs til I was old and fat. Frak no, this kid is gonna be big. RoketTzSpash9 is gonna be as big ol'Dodger come November.

Carrying his deck in his new Shadowrunner's Kit (yeah, that's what Shaggon called it - Casing [6]), and Helaceion 2053 Gyrojet pistol under his jacket, Glen "Rocket" Isles arrives, ready for action. He didn't spend any of the money given him. He has been planning on this for months.

Cyberdeck: Eslazio 7G Microdeck (CMT Avatar comparable)
MPCP: 7 (Running Full DNI)
Reality Filter: OFF (Video Game Icons)
Hardening: 4
Response Increase: 1 36d+9 Matrix Reaction
I/O Speed: 700Mp
Active Memory: 1750
Storage Memory: 2400
BOD Rating: 5
Masking Rating: 6
Evasion Rating: 5
Sensor Rating: 5
Programs (ALL LOADED): 1586 MP

Analyze Rating [6] (108)

Browse Rating [6] (36)

Commlink Rating [6] (36)

Deception Rating [6] (72)

Decrypt Rating [6] (36)

Defuse Rating [4] (32)

Encrypt Rating [6] (36)

Evaluate Rating [6] (72)

Read/Write Rating [6] (72)

Relocate Rating [5] (50)

Scanner Rating [5] (75)

Sniffer Rating [5] (75)

Spoof Rating [6] (108)

Triangulation Rating [5] (50)

Validate Rating [6] (144)

Sleaze Rating [6] (108)

Armor Rating [6] (108)

Medic Rating [5] (100)

Shield Rating [5] (100)

Attack Light Rating [6] (72)

LockOn Rating [4] (48)

Restore Rating [4] (48)

Because of the new dating for this game, we will instead list this as the 18th of February instead of the 8th.

You arrive at the offices of Professional Temps at 6am, gear in hand. Sitting outside of the offices is a black, windowless minivan, a well built man (that you immediately dub as Mr. Monotone for the complete lack of variation in his all black suit) leaning against it. As you approach, he stands up straighter and looks you over.

"Rocket? I'll place your bags in the back. The others are already here. Once you're situated, we'll be on our way."

As you step into the van, you see three other people inside: another gentleman in the passenger seat (Mr. Monotone Sr.), dressed as the first but slightly older, an older, fiftyish human in the rearmost seat, and a younger human in the bench seat immediately behind the driver. As you take your seat next to the younger human, Mr. Monotone closes the side door behind you. Mr. Monotone Senior turns to face you.

"If you have any doubts, this is the time to get out. Once we start moving, we'll be placing the partition up, screening you from the outside world. You will not know where the safehouse is...for your own protection. Any questions?"

At this point, Mr. Monotone Junior enters the vehicle behind the drivers seat and waits for a response from anyone before starting the vehicle.

Yeah. You got a breath mint?

Both of them turn to stare at you for a moment before turning back around. The younger of the two speak.

"I'm Lucas. The cheerful gentleman in the passenger seat is Beauman. We'll be watching over you three for possibly the next few weeks. We'll try not to get in the way of your work and you'll do your best to make our lives a bit easier protecting you. Now that we know where we stand, we'll get moving."

With that, he starts the engine and raises the partition. A small light comes on in the back lightly illuminating the passenger area, throwing enough light to read by if necessary. Other than that, there is no outside light. It's just yourself and the two other deckers in the back.

"Rocket? I heard him say that as you were getting in. I'm Ronin." The person addressing you is the older gentleman in the back. With grey but full hair, it's no doubt that this man has seen better days. His face is pale as if from a lack of sun rather than nervousness but his eyes seem to dart this way and that, always seeming to scan everything even though there's not much to see in the back of the van. "The cheerful boy next to you is Vanger. I have no idea if that's a nickname or his parents hated him. Based on his attitude so far, I'm gonna go with the latter."

"Hey, Old Man River! I'm sitting right here. And I'm hardly a boy...though, from your perspective in the timeline, I'm betting you're still having difficulty with the concept of horseless carriages."

He turns to look at you.

"So. A daisy picker. You actually know how to deck or is that datajack some sort of wierd elven fashion statement?"

"You like it? I just picked it up at Radio Shack. The girl behind the counter said it is really good for shopping online and keeping up with my friends."

Rocket grins sheepishly.

"I think I am gonna like this whole computer clicker thingee."

LOL

Vanger rolls his eyes as he turns back towards the front of the vehicle, closes his eyes and leans back, obviously listening to some internal music.

The trip to wherever you are going takes well over an hour. With the number of turns, stops, and starts during the trip and a lack of visual reference, you could be out in the burbs or even only a mile from where you started. The engine of the minivan cuts off and the partition comes down. From what you can see from your seat, you are definitely inside of a structure of some sort.

As the side door opens and you step out, you get a much better view of where you are. The interior of this part of the structure is only about 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Behind you are three roll up doors, all down, and one of which you obviously drove through to get in here. In the far left corner of the room is a doorway leading elsewhere. Beauman unloads your bags as Lucas helps Ronin out of the minivan. It is only now that you realize that he is obviously paralyzed from the waist down as he is helped into his wheelchair. As he sits, he pulls a datacord from the back of the chair and jacks into it!

Lucas steps in front of your little trio to address you all.

"Welcome to your new temporary home. If you'll just follow me..."

He leads you through the only door into a large open space. This looks like it may have once been a warehouse of some sort but security shutters have been installed over the windows. Three single beds line the furthest wall of the room (presumably north). Towards the center is a large sectional couch facing a flat screen trid monitor to which are hooked up various console gaming systems. Along the east wall are several reclining chairs with shelving units attached to them and various bits of cabling leading away from the shelves and into a junction on the wall, obviously a decking area. Along the northwest wall is a small kitchen and slightly south of that, a casual dining area. Two more beds are placed along the eastern section of the south wall right next to a small rack of 'personal defense armaments' ranging from pistols to shotguns to small SMGs. Lucas and Beauman place there bags next to those beds.

"We're well stocked here with most of your favorite foods and drinks," says Lucas, "but if you need anything else just let us know. You can decide who's taking what shifts. Your beds are along the wall there. Take your picks. The lavatory facilities are just through that door to the left of your sleeping area. Dinner is a serve yourself affair and we'd like to request that none of you attempt to order out. We're sure that if you really wanted to, you could figure out this address easily enough but be forewarned that doing so may expose all of us to danger. Anyway, get comfortable. One of you will have to get jacked in as soon as possible to start whatever it is you're supposed to do. From time to time, we may get special instructions that will be eyes only for you operators. In that case, we'll pass along the info but please don't share it with us. If you need to discuss something amongst yourselves securely, the door right next to the kitchen area is a small conference room with full ECM suites."

With that, the two of them get comfortable; Lucas making some coffee while Beauman sits on the couch and turns on the Combat Biking matchup on the trid.

Rocket walks over towards the communications wiring to inspect it. He will spend the next few minutes setting out all of his gear, and examining the rigging. If Ronin joins him, Rocket talks pleasantly with him (shop-talk). He is nervous about the run, and a little paranoid about the possibility that this is a setup. Among the things he sets up is a small vidcam that he will plug directly into his deck, that faces him, back towards the room (and preferably viewing at least one door). He is planning on having a monitoring operation going on in the background to keep an eye out on the real world.

"So, you running hot for this run?" Rocket asks the older decker before sitting back to start the first shift.

Ronin spends a couple of minutes getting his gear situated at one of the end bunks that is accessible by his wheelchair before heading over to you. As you talk to him about general decking, you realize that he's been decking in one fashion or another for almost 35 years though he's been out of the mainstream for quite a few.

"I generally run full hot. After all, not much this meat suit can do for me other than annoy most times," he says. "So. It looks like our wunderkind over there," he says as he points to Vanger, "has decided to take a later shift. You wanna take first watch or shall I?"

Looking at him, you can tell that he's tired and would probably love to just rest up for a minute but also more than willing to pull the watch if you ask him to.

"I got the first round, get some sleep."

Rocket opens his electronics toolkit, and pulls out a scratch sheet of paper he has and opens it. It has the names and grid numbers to thirty RTG/LTGs, all written in Japanese.

Under his breath, he mumbles the words to the old song, "you take the high road, and I'll take the long road," intentionally misquoting it, thinking of the game he is about to play. Before jacking in, he sets his pistol in his electronics kit, right in reach, but not out in the open.

With your acceptance of the first shift, Ronin heads over to his bunk and levers himself into it, falling quickly to sleep.

Though it takes about ten minutes, in that time you manage to route your login through enough cutouts to give any decker pause trying to track you before you login to your destination. The system you've entered is vast even from your perspective. It's obvious just by looking that most of the subsystems here are hidden from most casual users of the system but your login obviously gives you pretty good access. At this point, you know you have several options to kill time including checking the comms nodes.

Though you aren't officially scheduled to receive the first comms for at least half an hour, you are free to check the comms area or anywhere else you have access.

Rocket's primary interests are the job at hand, so he is careful not to bring up too high of a Security Tally. He does, however, want to try to figure his way around their system, to familiarize himself with his surroundings (kind of like walking the grounds a few times to get the layout). He is particularly interested in signs of decker activity. On occasion, he would access simple nodes like cameras or grounds systems, like elevator/door/security systems, etc. BUT he is not interested in tampering with anything.

As if reading your mind, at first there is absolute silence and then, "Did you just say...Roger Rabbit?"

"Understood. Rabbit out."

Effectively, unless you hear otherwise or a new signal comes in, you're done with your 'work' for the moment other than to monitor this channel. If you have Comm Tap (can't rememper the exact name of the program), you can set that up to monitor this channel while you do other things.