Echoes of Egypt

again HAL Speaks up into Shans Ear "of all the... was assuming that i was just some lowly satelite program or basic IC all she could come up with? No, NO I was originaly programed for mid orbit aerospace vehicles. i would have blasted away some of those satelites up there if it wouldnt have given me away before hand. so much gunk up there its rediculous what these fleshies just launch up there" HAL then returns to whatever it was doing mumbling to its self still rather anoied at havng been assumed to be a basic level program

"Yeah, he just confirmed it. He was upset because of the insinuation that he was potentially a Satellite Program, or something similar. He said that the idea that he might be something so basic, something programmed to simply take orders from all incoming streams, was... I am not sure how to translate that... But yes, it sounds like the job of being a Satellite Program is very similar to being a Human Political Representative. Maybe like a Mayor? Or a Union Leader? Positively degrading." Shan nods to herself, quite certain that her comparison would be enlightening.
"Oh, HAL, I have been unable to identify if you consider yourself to be a male program, or a female program? Or is it that AI do not generally identify with having a particular sex? Pardon my ignorance, but I am not particularly familiar with Artificial Lifeforms." Shan continues to speak in an audible voice, not bothering to hide her potentially ignorant question from her prospective teammates.

"I think that we should not inquire further. If someone such as HAL wishes to help, so be it. It has been my experience that when you deal with powerful creatures, it bodes well to tread lightly, and I believe the last thing we want is a pissed off hacker while on a plane" His voice dripped with seriousness and a hint of anger.

Intimidation: Charisma 5+ Intimidation 2= 7 5 hits

To Shan "Male? Femail? i do not realy understand your question, but if it would help you then HAL does a quick check through the comlink after seeing Shans personal information it runs a quick simple search through the matrix quantifying the terms for himself and then begins compiling a Virtual Persona, after a few minutes HAL projects Its Persona onto the AR, HAL apears as a Female Elf with Long Blond Hare and striking Green Eyes "Will This help you?"

((OOC: Chose Female as he is Inhabiting Shan's Comlink and that is what she had put down as her gender. and HAL is woefuly ignorant to the termanology of Male and Female, just seemed apropriate ))

Shan looks at Jack quizzically, as if trying to figure out what it is that got him angry. She does not appear to be shaken by his anger, just curious. She opens her mouth, clearly ready to respond to his statement, when she catches her breath, and starts listening again. At this point, it is pretty obvious that she is listening to her Commlink, and momentarilly, it is confirmed. "Uh, oh. Ok, I guess you are female then." She says, looking at the projected image. "That is a very nice image. Did you generate it yourself, or was that something you have downloaded from an available database somewhere?" Shan is either ignoring Jack's previous statement, or has already forgotten it. Either way, she has returned to getting to know HAL.

"Sorry I'm late. Took me a bit longer than expected to find the location."

A blonde haired, brown eyed human walks into the cargo bay. His finely woven suit raises and lowers as he breathes deep, recovering from the jog. He has the telltale bulge of a concealed holster under his left arm and his suit has the slightly stiffened look of the armored clothing that's become more popular in recent times. He has a leather satchel worn at his side and, aside from a small implant in his left ear, he seems to be completely homegrown human.

"I'm Will, by the way. Pleasure to meet all of you, I'm sure."

Shan looks around at the growing crowd of metahumanity. - I wonder how many more are coming... She thinks to herself.
Shan looks away from the hologram projected before her to the newcomer. "Good afternoon Will, you may call me Shan Jah." She says with a slight smile. "We have already identified our strengths, I will gladly give you a quick recap." She paraphrases the strengths, and names, of each of the metahumans in the room. She includes HAL, whose projection was in front of her when Will entered. "What is it that you bring to the table?" She asks.

The Ork Johnson finally returns, his mood still arguably.. severe. But then he wasn't entirely relaxed anyway when the group first arrived. "Good, everyone is here. Make sure you have what ever you intend to bring with you on board, now." He says after taking a moment to look over the group.

Once everyone has all their relevant gear, or as the case may be, vehicles they intend to take along o nboard (And there's room for a few small vehicles, though nothing as large as say.. a full truck and trailer) "Very well, once we are under way I'll start the briefing." and with that he heads off towards the front of the plane to go speak with the pilots in person.

Will nods to the Johnson and reaches into his suit, ensuring he has his weapon. As soon as the Ork leaves, he turns to Shan Jah.
"Thank you very much. I'm a fair shot with a pistol, I am a skilled negotiator, and I'm fairly well versed in both persuasive and forceful information gathering. I have some friends that can do just about anything that I can't."

With that, Will drops himself into a seat next to Shan Jah, sighing at the comfortable chair as he picks over the surprising decoration with a practiced eye.

((OOC: i guess i might as well make a note that unless i post otherwise or by GM Ruling its safe to assume that the onlyone hearing me speak will be Gala's Character,))

in a highly sarcastic voice"Oh Lovely yet another Fleshie to join the party, isnt this just fantastic?"then loosing the sarcasm in her voice "so when is everything going ot be explained?"

"Mmmm, contacts... Those are good things to have." Shan nods to the newcomer appreciatively. Shan then lowers her voice, turning her head slightly, and returning to her whispering voice. "You might find this interesting to know, HAL, but you're the first AI I have ever met. And this is not the first 'Run I have been on." She says in response to HAL's delighted comment on the arrival of another Metahuman.
"Yeah, I was wondering that too, I thought he was going to try Jamming your signal to prove to himself that you're really an AI. I am also wondering when he is going to, as they say, get off to business." Shan whispers to HAL.

Artemis goes ahead and moves her entire pick-up into the aircraft, if possible, although she wasn't told to bring all of her running gear with her, and so she did not. If the plane cannot accommodate her entire vehicle, then she simply has someone help her fetch a rather large (large enough to fit a dwarf in), padlocked footlocker from the back of the cab, and heft it aboard, claiming that it contains her "essentials."Once back aboard, she gets a triple espresso with sugar from the secretary, and resumes her position in the meeting room in the cabin.

"I don't know if it bothers you as much as it bothers me, Mr. Johnson, but I can't abide this whispering between . . . Ms. Jah, was it? . . .and our uninvited guest." She unclips her commlink from her belt, wiggling off one of its peripherals and handing it to Shan Jah. "Holo Projector. Tell this hacker that if he wants to be a part of this run, he can show his face - or whatever it is AIs have - and talk to all of us."

"Well, she is technically invited. Mr. Johnson extended the invitation to HAL before he left the aircraft. I believe that was just before you arrived." She says, taking the Holo Projector, and messing around with her commlink for a few moments before finding the appropriate place to plug it in. Upon locating that spot, Shan realizes that hers already has something plugged in. She examines, somewhat closely, and notes that they look to be roughly the same design. She then hands the chip back to Artemis.
"It looks like mine already has one." She says simply.

After a few moments, once everyone has had a chance to load up, the aircraft prepares for final boarding and the rear ramp of the aircraft that leads vehicles into the main cargo bay raises before sealing shut. As it starts rolling out onto the tarmac in preparation for take off, people will soon notice that the matrix connectivity of their commlinks has just dropped off to only 'local' traffic within the aircraft itself. Access to the rest of the Matrix being suddenly cut off. The Ork J returns, heading back to his customary seat where he'd left his little 'toy' from earlier. "The briefing will begin once we are underway." he states as a matter of fact. After a few minutes the aircraft begins to accelerate as it reaches the runway, taking off a few short moments later with a slight lurch of g forces as it hits take off speed and swings up into the air, swiftly gaining altitude.

Once the aircraft has finally leveled out once again, a fair chunk of time later, the Jonhson reaches into a pocket of his jacket and pulls out several chips. "On these, you will find what relevant data we could find." he notes. "The pay is 50,000. Each. 10,000 up front if you accept. You may still turn down the job offer at this time if you wish, and we will simply return you to where we took off after dropping off the others." he adds. "The chips are datalocked on a timer and the data will self erase by the time we reach our destination. Simply put, there is a person of interest we wish to.. speak with. They also happen to have a few other items of interest we would like to acquire, however we are more interested in the person and it is they, who take priority."

As soon as her Commlink notes the "local only" matrix mode, Shan speaks up. "Hey, HAL, you still here?" While Mr. Johnson undoubtedly already knows that HAL is AI, Shan does not, and this is a very convenient time to confirm his previous statements. As soon as HAL responds, and confirms, Shan nods and smiles.
Shan accepts one of the data chips Mr. Johnson hands out, and plugs it into her Commlink. "HAL, would you display that data for me just in front of my face?" She says quietly. She isn't certain what kind of control he has over external devices, but he can't be worse with Tech than she is!

Alpha shifted in his seat. 50k was nothing to sneeze at, for sure. With that, he could maybe get that spell focus he had been eying for quite some time now. But there was a problem. 50k meant big risks, and this guy was most assuredly low-balling. So either this guy was under heavy protection, or is very dangerous. Or both, a voice in his head said. Yeah, or both. But that's life, I suppose. I hope it's worth it.

He thought about this for several more minutes, then finally spoke. "Alright, I'm intrigued. I guess I'm in."

Night takes the chip The Johnson is handing out plugs it into his comm link, after a few tries he gets it to work. Ok 50K with 10k up front I have a few ideas on how to spend it. A thought crosses his mind. "I think it would be best if me and any other Spell chucker that can summon spirits spends a bit of the cash to bond a few spirits to our selves. It's always good to have extra help when you can afford it. Which raises a question, Mr. Hamsfield do you have any contacts in Egypt that we can use well we stay if so do you have one that will aid us in buying bonding material, if not we could try low power ones that don't attract too much interest. Also what is our evac situation. And ya I'm in."

Night sits back waiting to hear any other comments or questions and reviews the data.

HAL sighs and the projects her vertual image into the holo projector "Are you satisfyed now Fleshie?" she then turns and looks around "I am HAL, that is what i was caled when i was the pilot and tracking program for a Mid Orbit Areospace Vehicle, HAL is my designation as it was the language that was used to program me." she turns to the Orc "Sence you are the master Data for this project i would like to inform you that i will help, and you can transfer the credits you wuold have given me to Shan"

Shan's ears perk up a bit with HAL's acceptance, and she sits up straight with his statement that she should be given his credits.
"Ok, umm.. But, we probably should get you set up with your own account information, and stuff, when this is all over... right?" She says, clearly looking somewhat nervous. It doesn't even occur to her that negotiating for more is potentially on the table.

Will listens attentively throughout the Johnson's speech. With a smile, he pulls some documents out of his satchel and scans them before replacing them.
"That will be 50k plus damages, of course. You'll also be upping the inital payout to 15k a piece. You want this done and if you want it done right, you'll equip each of us as extensively as possible. If not, you'll inevitably be stuck needing to pay another team another 10k a piece to do the same job we get killed doing. Help us do the job for you. Please."

Quote :

GM Note:
Pirate, please provide a Negotiation (Bargaining) roll at -1

The threshold to get the extra 5k up front is 4, 8 for the equipment.

Settling down into his chair once more, Mr. Hamsfield regards Will with one perked eyebrow. "That's asking quite a bit concession wise, considering everyone else here has already accepted the offer." he notes. "Not only that, but if you fail and I give you even more money up front, that's even more that I'm left out of pocket with nothing to show for it. As it is, I've had to arrange to fly both you, and the rest of the team overseas without worries of complications when it comes to customs and immigration officials. The latter of which at the very least would likely detain at least one or more of those present considering that most countries in the world do not recognize shapeshifters as having any rights what so ever, and AI's are only slightly better off in those regards." he resumes idly playing with his tiny drone in one hand, while wordlessly accepting a cup of coffee from his secretary with the other. "And then, on top of that your expecting me to, without notice, arrange for you to be further outfitted with equipment all out of my own pocket as well?"

Will speaks in his most convincing business tone, visibly crunching numbers in his head.
"Sure you've run some great expense. You'll have to do so again with the next team, doubling your investment to get the job done. As well, after a failed attempt, the target will be on better guard, you'll have to acquire more intel at another significant cost to yourselves. It makes far better business sense to cover our damages and pay out another 5k up front to each of us. We can equip ourselves from that. Then, when the job is done, you can write off every other nuyen you would have spent as profit. Think about the bottom line and there's only one way to go with this."

Spent a point of edge to help in negotiations.
5 Cha+5 Negotiation+ 4 Edge - 1 penalty = 6 hits

Artemis is about to have it out with the alleged AI in the room when the newcomer starts negotiating in earnest. Not wanting to interrupt at some crucial juncture, she instead falls silent, and uses her commlink to bring up a spreadsheet, cataloguing her projected expenses as compared to the offered payout. Even if she expends maximal ammunition and loses her truck entirely, this promises to be a suitably profitable run, so she's not really surprised or too disappointed when the Johnson balks at the suggested payment of expenses. Anyone who "expends" more than half the payment for this run is trying too hard, anyway. A bigger advance would definitely be nice, though, as she's got some room in the truck, and picking up hard-to-get items while overseas is a good way to avoid notice.

Shan perks up, slightly, as Will and Mr. Hamsfield start negotiating in Ernest. She almost seems to be taking notes, and studying Will quite carefully.

"HAL, this is quite interesting. I have seen similar interaction between other humans before. They call this Negotiation. I think this would be a very useful skill to learn." Shan say softly to her 'link.

The Johnson seems to do some brief mental calculations as he mulls over Will's response. He's clearly in no rush, but you can tell he's at least considering the notion. After a few seconds of silence he offers a slight smile "All right, I'll give you fifteen up front. Each. And since your so concerned about equipment, I'll even do you a small favour. There's an arms dealer I know who can get most things you need on short notice, provided it's nothing incredibly fancy. That said if the deal he offers you seems to be too good, be sure to double check it. From what I've heard, he's yet to dump a broken gun or something like that on some one, unless they wanted it for parts anyway, but he has been known to dump hot merchandise on people without telling them."