Chapter 4: Breakfast & Preparation

[archolewa]

Baby Blue

"Ehhh. You can deck for us just as well from prison," says Baby Blue in a flat voice, though with an undercurrent of amusement.

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

If Headstone would have had his way, the man would have been bound and gagged, lying in the back of a van, before the sun came up. With the only relevant information required being his home adress.
The man prefers fast and practical over planning for hours on end.
Similar to how he wasn’t interested in the personal lives of the shadowrunners they made a deal with, the same sentiment goes for the target. It’s just a target in Headstone’s mind, nothing more, nothing less.
Seeing a repeat of the first meeting, he has a good sense of where this meeting is headed.
His attempts to rush through the meeting and getting to the action may not be shared by the crew, but he is at peace with that. Different styles for different people.

The tea in his mug offers an interesting perspective. Lifting the cup to his face, he takes a long sniff of the warm steam rising from it. The aroma is rich. Earthy, with subtle floral notes. It reminds him of the simplicity he craves. The floral undertones carry a sweetness, like honeysuckle or orchid, barely noticeable unless you're paying attention. He takes a sip, the warmth spreading through him. The taste is smooth, with a faint bitterness at first, quickly giving way to a sweeter, almost apricot-like flavor.
It is complex but balanced, yet with a simplistic base, making it stick to the basics of what makes a good tea. To Headstone this tea has layers, sure, but none of them are unnecessary. There is no debate here. It just works.
He takes another sip, letting the tea linger on his palate. A touch of roasted chestnut, something nutty mixed with the floral sweetness. It is calming. The warmth in his hands and the subtle play of flavors give him a moment of peace.
Headstone calmly sits in his chair while enjoying his beverage, listening to all the important information shared.

[shaidar]

{Revs}

During the sudden round of talking, Revs glances at his phone and back up again, like he's checking for something.

Revs clears his throat and stands "Sorry to muscle in, but since we seem to be a little all over the place, how about I quickly outline the transport. That will give people a little time to think about finding intel, and also it's going to make clear some time constraints. Then we can talk about what we need to know and people can throw in any ideas or sources they might have to get that info. Then, if we need to, we can adjust the teams that Headstone has outlined and then we can move forward" he glances at Headstone drinking his tea but keeps talking "OK, firstly I must admit that when I was arranging our transport I didn't include Pandora in the body count..." he glances over to the decker "...because she's made it clear in the past her preference is to work from home." he quickly adds before continuing "Our pilot is a Brit called Belfry, he's handling the plane, airport arrangements, all the detail, all we need to do is turn up. However, he's just come off of a job so he wants at least a 24 hour break, he'd like 48 if he can get it. That means the earliest we can fly is 1AM tomorrow morning. Belfry connected me with our transport in Houston, a guy called Ozymandias. For 5K he will give us up to a 12 hours layover in Houston, if the storm hits he'll want a bit more, but he thinks that's unlikely." he pauses for a second and looks around the room "Now, there are a couple of things you all need to know about our Houston ride. Firstly, he is only available for the next 72 hours, that's from 5AM this morning, so I would suggest we leave no later than 1AM the day after tomorrow. The second thing is that his team is made up of himself, his wife and two kids. Although his wife is away, so its just him and the kids" he hold his hands up in a conciliatory fashion "Yeah, not ideal, but they're being trained as runnners and he says that they've done live work before. He asked me a bunch of questions to assess the risk and he seems happy, and the kids did too. He knows his kids, and we don't have many options, so I think it'll be good. He did ask for no swearing in front of the kids and avoid slang. Their mother wants them to grow up speaking UCAS standard english. That's it for the Houston end. I'm just left organising the transport this end for the pickup."" he looks around the room again before sitting back down and looking over to Headstone "Sorry for the butt-in boss, I just though a break might help people gather their thoughts, plus if we're going to be planning Intel gathering and the snatch, we need to understand what time we have available."

[Juramenta]

{Headstone}

''You came in at the perfect timing chummer.'' Headstone responds fully agreeing.and yes, Pandora was to stay here indeed correcting his earlier statement.

[archolewa]

Baby Blue

Baby Blue relaxes. "I have no problem with the teams then. Revs, is the family man in Houston handling the route from airfield to hotel, or is gonna make like a robot and drive the exact route we want? Either way, I'll need to spend some time pouring over Houston maps in case we need to abandon the transport, especially on the way back, but it'll be good to know what I need to have ready for him."

[shaidar]

{Revs}

"Oh no, he'll be handling the route to the hotel and back, and wherever we need to in between, up to those 12 hours. But you're right to have a backup plan just in case, good idea."

[Charybdis Richelle]

Baby Blue

"Ehhh. You can deck for us just as well from prison," says Baby Blue in a flat voice, though with an undercurrent of amusement.

{GM}

Pandora snorts and oh so, demurely flips BB off.

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

As Revs starts to speak, the slide changes to the one marked, “Point 5: Transportation.” As he explains the arrangements, the slide fills them in.

Point 5: Transportation

Ground Transport in Seattle

Undetermined

Air Travel

Pandora says home!

Handled by Belfry

Earliest flight - 1 AM tomorrow.

Ground Transport in Houston

Handled by Ozymandias

5K for 12 hour layover

Only available for the next 72 hours as of 5 AM today

Revs suggests departure no later than 1 AM day after tomorrow

Kids involved

No cussing

Corpspeak only

All details of Houston-side travel handled by Ozymandias

“Did I miss anything, Revs?” Pandora asks, idly unwrapping another piece of chocolate. “Good choice on Ozymandias. I’ve never met the man, but I’ve heard the name. He’s got an excellent rep.”

[shaidar]

{Revs}

Revs checks the slide "Thank Belfry for linking us up. The slide looks good. If the storm does hit and goes above Cat 3 then we'll have to do some major persuading for Ozymandias to go out in it. Partly because his vehicle is a hover truck..." he grins ...and I can't wait to see it."

[archolewa]

Baby Blue

Baby Blue thinks for a moment, rubbing her chin. "You know. This guy hires himself out as a private bodyguard. What if we try to hire him? We're some local band, got a chance to try a gig in Houston, make ourselves go international. But we'd like a little bit extra hired muscle for the trip. Why kidnap and duct tape the guy, when we can get him to walz right onto the plane all by himself?"

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

Pandora lets the slide move to one of those she had circulating before the meeting started. It contains the latest tropical update. “As of the last update,” she says, “The depression has intensified into a tropical storm – Tropical Storm Ambrose, the first of the season. As of that update, Ambrose remains predicted to make landfall in the Yucatan Peninsula in approximately three days. Of course, like with anything this far out, the guidance is all over the place ranging from its predicted path in the Yucatan to as far east as New Orleans.”

Then, with a wry grin, the decker adds, “You know, Revs, if Ambrose blossoms into a major hurricane, maybe you should listen to Ozymandias’s advice. He probably has a better idea of what his hovertruck can safely handle than you can. And, yeah, you lose the bonus if it takes longer for you to deliver O’Riordan, but you still get paid if he’s delivered in the next 9 days.” She shrugs. “You can’t spend bonus nuyen if you’re dead, neh?”

Then, dropping the lecturing tone, Pandora asks, “Anything else, Boss? Or do you want me to grab O’Riordan’s address and LTG, so you can start your legwork while I dig up what deeper intel that I can? Just that much will only take a few seconds, if that.”

[Juramenta]

[Headstone]

Headstone takes a sip from his tea
''Finding out his address would be my first priority. Good thinking Pandora'' he responds giving her the go ahead.

Takes another sip as he raises his hand and makes a subtle pointing gesture towards Baby Blue. His index finger extended, resting just above his knuckles. It's almost like a pistol without the thumb raised.
''I'm on board with that. Your out-of-the-box thinking is always a godsend. The only problem I see with that plan is payment. He’ll want to get paid for his services. But other than that, it could become the easiest run we ever did that way. Certainly worth spending some nuyen on.''
He lowers his hand and returns to his tea, already imagining how much smoother things could go with that approach.

[shaidar]

{Revs}

"So at what point would we be sedating him? Belfry won't be happy if his plane gets damaged."

[archolewa]

Baby Blue

"If we hire him, we won't have to," says Baby Blue. She rubs her hands together. "And yeah, it might cost a bit, but we could probably negotiate a half now, half after the 'gig' or 30% now, 70% after. If we can get him to just waltz right into the hotel room, we'll avoid any expensive medical bills, the guy would be unharmed, and you *know* that Simpleton would be downright impressed. Might need to steal some time with Pandora. We'd want to see if we could set up some fake sites and the like advertising the gig, in case the guy does his homework. And if we *really* wanted to get clever, we could give him a rat to find. Lay a trail of breadcrumbs he might stumble on that makes him think the whole 'hiring a bodyguard for a gig' is a sham, and we're really looking to expand our shadow running operations, and are looking to hire a bit of additional talent. Someone with some experience. Get him thinking this is just a little 'interview.'"

[shaidar]

{Revs}

"If we do that I'll have to renegotiate our transport, both were made under the remit of a sedated package. Also he might start to wonder why we aren't using a normal airport."

[archolewa]

"Fair point," says Baby Blue. "Maybe we use the ruse of hiring him just enough to get him into the van, then we offer him some tea or something with the sedation in it. And if he turns down the tea, someone sticks him with a needle while we're on our way to the airport."

[Charybdis Richelle]

{GM}

Pandora grins hearing Baby Blue’s idea. She flashes BB a thumbs-up.

Then the decker nods toward Headstone. “Back in a minute or so,” she promises. “At most.”

She leans back in her chair and closes her eyes. Her fingers dance over the keyboard. About thirty seconds later, the slide moves back to the “What Do We Know about O’Riordan?” In a matter of seconds, the slide updates to read:

“What Do We Know about O’Riordan?”

He is a bodyguard.

Registered bodyguard / private investigation company: O'Riordan Protective Services

UCAS Bodyguard Registration 4538388

CAS transfer permit number 48535

UCAS Private Investigator Registration 602-FES-826-JKA-403-ed6

CAS transfer permit number 553754-HNV-9a

He is left handed.

SIN

UCAS SIN #7721-5972-3378-1457

Home Address

Address: 221 South Regal Way #1967

Work Address

Columbia Tower, 42nd Floor, 701 5th Ave, Seattle, UCAS

Home LTG

LTG: 206 (56-9704)

LTG: 206 (56-3730) - unlisted

LTG: 206 (56-9839) - routed by proxy

Work LTG

LTG: 206 (56-9931).

Home matrix well address: Clarissa13.

Work matrix well address: YourAceInTheHole

Vehicle

2057 Landrover 2046

Registration: Seattle, UCAS YKS-745-WWM-143-854

License plate: Seattle, UCAS GWP-9732

Pandora opens her eyes and says, “Is this guy the chummer you’re expecting? El Cid?”

The “What Do We Know about O’Riordan?” slide disappears to be replaced by an image of a huge troll.



“Either way, this chummer’s about to knock on your door. I have a little to say about the data I posted, but I’ll wait until someone handles your guest.”

[Tay-Dor]

[El Cid]

After receiving the message from Headstone, El Cid grabs his armor jacket and his guns and heads out of his apartment. Its been a few months since he upgraded his living quarters. Its been nice being able to have real food once in a while. Noting the address for Headstone is still local and in a seedier part of the neighborhood, El Cid grins to himself and wonders if he'll run into anyone stupid enough to try to tangle with him.

He walks a few blocks and finally arrives the the address. He starts to go to knock on the door and thinks better of it. Instead of his whole ham-sized fist, he taps on the door with one thick finger.

[archolewa]

Baby Blue

Baby Blue's face pales for a moment upon seeing the picture, and she curls up into a small ball. Her aura churns through a dozen different shades of purple. But only for a moment, before she relaxes and her emotions return to a blue, though streaks of purple still muddy the blue a bit.

[CoyotesLuck]

{Pacman}

"I like the idea of having him come to us as bodyguard, it is genius. My one concern is that if he anything other than a nutter, he will dig into who we are as a band and then know who hit him. Payback can be a bitch and I would rather have him have no idea who to look for." Pacman rubs his face tiredly. "The work on transit is excellent. In 24 to 48 hours we have a plane ready for us and a package. That leaves time to sort cut-out or a cover to hire him and get him into the van or a no-tell-motel for packaging and shipment." Pacman looks around the room at those present. "For a gig that wasn't on our radar 36 hours ago, we are doing good. We have some intel on all the parties involved and we have time for those with skills and resources to carefully skim up a bit more. We have a start on how to get our package collected. We have transit sorted out and payment is settled. ... Now we have a new chummer to meet, finesses to add to those plans, backup plans to make, and sleep... everyone needs some sleep."