A Time For Secrets -

He looked around a bit, then finally chose a black business suit with matching tie, a vest underneath, and asked if he could also get a fedora to complete the look. If he's going to look like some kind of rich suit, he may as well do so with a bit of style along with it. Plus, fedora's just look sweet.

Wearing your new (for most of you, anyway) suits, you arrive at the door of the Restaurant. None of you were quite prepared for what you were to find there. Coming around the corner, and noticing that even in a place where reservations were booked more than 6 months out now, there was a line of 10s, or even perhaps more than 100 people waiting for something. Curious, you step up to the large, well manicured Troll, and ask if people with reservations were being asked to wait as well.
"But, of course not! Please, step right this way." The voice was crisp and efficient. Clearly the "well manicured" part was leveraged across more than just physical appearances.
You step inside, announce yourself to the Hostess, and are ushered off into an intimate "Private Dining" room. There, the comfortable, overstuffed chairs are circled around a large table. There is a wet bar in the corner of the room, and there are several trays of snacks.
"Please, help yourself to the bar and snacks. The host of the evening has called ahead to us, he has informed us that he will be somewhat late." The hostess stated before backing back out and closing the door behind her.

after all the frustration with the taxi it was nice to be able to cut the line and go straight to a nice room. "excuse me miss but i cont help but ask if that is a real bottle of Jack Daniels original number 7? and if it is do you have any coca cola to mix the finest drink there is for a man?" he looks very happy to even see a nock off bottle seeing how its been a couple days since he could get to the Class 6 and get a hook up for his slight alcohol problem. he begins to head that way and hopes that even if she didnt hear him that he might find some coke to go with. before seating hime self and nursing the drink as if it were his first born child being rocked to sleep.

Unluckilly, the Jack Daniels was indeed real, as was the Coke which could be easilly found. There was also fresh ice in a nice Crystal ice bucket with one of those nice little ice-grabbers in it.

James walked in and would have felt like a million nuyen if it wasn't for the fact he was feeling particularly uncomfortable. He hated meeting people face to face. He preferred meeting people over the matrix, with his icon instead of himself. But there is apparently no Matrix access here, so he had to make due. Or just not get a job, which was unacceptable. So he took a seat and waited for the host to arrive, not taking anything to eat or drink.

watching another person enter the room I sip sweetly on my jack and coke. "hey stranger you get the odd message as well?" as he sits "you should really take part of the bar. they have great selection!!"

He looked the other person in the eyes before talking. No, thank you. Alcohol dulls the senses and slows down the mind, while killing many brain cells in the process. That is something people in my line of work cannot afford. Thank you though. He then returned to staring into space, waiting for the host to arrive. I hope this man isn't going to be drunk during the mission, or this is going to fail before it even begins.

OOC: Green= talking Yellow=thinking

Caper mutter a thanks to the hostess and then looked around the room quietly. Taking note of the others as he made his way over to pull himself up into a chair. "Well, since our host is going to be late, perhaps we should get to know each other," he spoke in a friendly voice, "Name's Caper...."

As he spoke he seemed to be looking at something a little distant. This was because, at that exact moment, he shifted his sight over to Astral to take a peek at what was what, and to note what spirits or other auras or things of note he might notice about his companions or the room in general.

(OOC: Not sure if you want me to make a perception roll or if you will just tell me what I see. If I need more detail I will observe in detail or make assensing rolls as needed. Just let me know.)

"Nice to meet you caper, I'm Samuel." takes a loving sip of the J&C "im good with drones... and you?" looks to the other guy "well drinking too much can do that but if you drink in moderation it wont hurt you. you one of those drinking is for devils kind?"

There are no magical presenses in the room.

As the three of you sit there, fidgetting (both physically and mentally, as the case may be) for an extended period of time -or at least what seems to be extended- You begin the process of filling the time between your arrival and the arrival of your extraordinarilly gracious host. Uneasy conversation starts to fill the room. An introduction here, a statement of self there. After a few long and uncomfortable moments, however, the attempt to fill the silence is itself swallowed, and the uneasy silence reclaims the room. Each of you returns to nursing your drinks, waiting uncomfortably for the impetus of the meeting to arrive and kick it off.
The meeting, scheduled for a precise time, must have commenced on schedule. Except that several long minutes after the scheduled time arrived, the host was still not there. In a flash, however, that was no longer true. Pardoning the literary reference which files itself through your thoughts, you replay the momentary change through your memory, and realize that there really was a "flash," and from it, the host of the meeting seemed to have appeared.
At first glance this man looks almost boyish in quality but almost far too handsome, an Elven face yet has rounded ears, that almost seem to change between pointed yet when focused on are as round as any other human's. The Japanese term Bishi seems to fit him far too well. His hair is long and silver, his height is just barey above 6'3". His dress hints at someone with alot of money behind him though from his looks it would seem like that money is not entirely his. The feeling that someone, most likely family is his backer but in most cases you cant judge by age expecialy with the super rich being able to afford special health benifits in these times.

OOC: Perception test: one for visual, one for audio, and for those of you who have astral, roll that as well.

"If you would all please take a seat and relax. Order something to eat; it's not everyday that you get to eat real Meat, or drink real Alcohol. I will get down to explaining why you are all here." As he says that, a lovely young lady, also with an Elven face, and strangely rounded ears, comes in to take orders.

This man walks to the center of the room. Each of you, as paranoid as you are, notice that he didn't exibit the slightest concern that he walked right passed someone and that they are now at his back. He begins to outline some details of what he has called everyone here for. "Now, I usualy dont like to get strait down to buisness but the job that I called you here for is not an ordinary one, but could be quite lucrative for you should it be completed without a hitch. Unfortunately for you I cannot give you nearly enough information, simply because the current job is based on activity which is going on right this instant." He looks at each of the three of you and smiles. "So, Before I begin, any questions? I will answer the most obvious one first, being why I brought you here: My employer wishes for an extraction. And I believe you have all the skills needed to complete the job. It will not be a normal "run" by any stretch of your imagination, and the pay reflects this. Before we get into the specific details of the extraction, you will be paid 20,000 nuyen each, plus damages for the run. Now, please feel free to ask questions of me. The floor is yours." His voice is strangely melodic, like a singer who is actually singing at this moment. It carries some other, far more elemental undertones as well, but the connection is just outside your grasp...

Perception Rolls [Int 4, Perc 2] Visual: 3 Hits, Hearing: 1 Hit, Astral: 3 hits

To Samuel, "Oh, just a bit of magic here and there." he continued to view the astral for a moment, then let his vision fall briefly back to the physical to meet Samuels eyes. "I am monitoring Astral space now to ensure we are not being spied upon...so far it seems clear...forgive me if I seem distracted." At that he shifted his vision back to the Astral.

When the...Johnson....entered the room, Caper sort of frowned. Taking it in a moment before letting his senses once again fall back to the physical, he straightened in his chair.

"I have a couple of questions," He rubbed the back of his neck, stiff from sitting too long in one position, "First, where did you come from and Second, What sort of 'Damages' can we be expecting?"

Pausing, he addressed the woman, "I'll have the cleanest water you got, none of that sparkling drek, and...uh...the biggest steak you can manage, well done...with whatever fixins are normal."

Caper looks at the man thoughtfully for a moment, then shrugs and goes on a hunch. He hops off the chair and walks over to the man, a then reaches up to press his hand against the guy.

"Well, I come from the projectors carefully placed around the room. The depth and coverage of those is such that I am perfectly capable of 3 dimensional visual and vocal projection with the exception of some very specific locations, for example:" The "Johnson" reaches his hand down near the floor, and it fades somewhat as it approaches one of the chairs. As he stands up, he realizes that Caper is approaching him. He rolls his eyes and continues in his explanatory monotone. "The sound generators are also carefully placed so that my voice will be as realistic as it possibly can depending on my location within the room. All told, the three dimensional capacity of the projection within this room is very well engineered and thought out, and I am quite satisfied with it so far." Caper, having arrived at his form, puts his hand through the torso of the projection.
"Are you quite finished?" The "Johnson" asks of Caper, obvious exasperation in his voice. Despite that, he continues his explanation. "As for "Damages," you all are the experts, I believe that you are in a much better position to evaluate that than I am. Obviously." The "Johnson says, looking right at Caper. Despite the holographic projection, clearly the technology is sufficiently interactive to allow the "user" to review the room in a similarly 3 dimensional capacity. He also, obviously, had not realized that Caper was approaching from behind... or at least, he did not respond until he "noticed" from his "body".

"Yes, quite...well at least for now. I may have some more questions once my ocmpanions here are done...and of course, after I have had my meal." He looked at his hand and shrugged then went back to his chair. "Yeah, sorry bout that....anyway.." He looked at the others expectantly.

"Well I will enjoy another jack and coke seeing as how I'm relying on others for transportation tonight" looks around "well are we going to get an advance and what kind of extraction are we looking at? I'm good for a road escape and my lynx's are good for a ground extraction but if we are going to have to fly in I'm s.o.l. for my part..." shrugs "I'm in for it. I believe if anything happens to my drones your going to pay for it... same for my truck.. they are unbelievably expensive mind you..." I stand and walk around to kind of get a feel instead of lounge around. and quirk my eye at the guy putting his hand through the hologram. "now i do believe you have plenty of money to cover it. and also how long till we gotta pull this job off cause i will probably have to get some gear before we try this."

"I came prepared with 6 'sticks of varying amounts, with a sum total of 20,000 right now. You are correct in your assumption that any and all damages will be covered. However, the extraction targets will need to remain entirely undamaged. This is imperative. As for time frame, that is somewhat up to you. Once we are in agreement, I have some information which will make your timeframe decision poignant, to say the least. That said, I will be unable to wait for more than 3 days for the extraction at all. Again, the factors that will influence your decisions are somewhat time sensitive." The "Johnson" responds.

"well Mr. Johnson i believe i'm in. I will need approximatly 4,000 nuyen in order to grease palms for a couple of stonebrooke smokeclouds... they will be invaluable to the extraction... so long as you don't mind us making a ton of noise?" I stare at the hologram intently "oh and i forgot ill take a T-bone medium well..."

"Perfect. Then let us get down to the eating! I will be more than happy to brief you after you have completed your meal, and I will leave you in your relative peace until that time." The "Johnson" said, turning toward the door as it opened to allow the lovely young lady to return carrying a tray with 4 orders of food. The timing was considerably unnerving, since they had only just made their orders. However, the considerable expense of the situation was dwarfed by the willingness to spend that the "Johnson" seemed to be indicating. Afterall, there was no way the food was cooked to order, it had to have been pre-cooked, with any other potential variation, and waiting outside the door for the final designation.
Kind of makes you wonder what they're going to be doing with the leftovers?!?

"That said, gentlemen, please enjoy your meals. Get yourselves acquainted. I will return post haste with the complete details of the mission. I will be available, if you need me, at any time." With that said, the "Johnson" disappeared in a similar fashion as his arrival. Needless to say, it was quite a bit less impressive once you knew he was a hologram.

Hmm... He grabbed a plate of steak and potatoes, with some bread on the side. He ate slowly as if savoring the taste, while in reality he was thinking at an incredible speed. He was thinking of all the possibilities this run could take. There was too many factors though and he was beginning to give himself a headache. I have done this before, though my skills are not best suited to this. I have a truck, but I'll need someone else driving me, as I'll be unable to move while doing my thing. I also have a few drones of my own, mostly used to protect me. I have a roto-drone equipped with a shotgun, a steel lynx with quite a bit of fire power, a fly spy, and a crash doc I use for extended visits to the matrix. I'm not a rigger though, so don't expect me to use them exclusively. I am a hacker, and I do most of my work in VR, which is why I need the protection. He spoke pretty fast, and everybody almost didn't catch most of it.

"well if you can handle it, I am a rigger and I got my own truck and trailer combo." looks around to the rest. "It could be a mobile command post. the trailer has been modified into a home and my truck has 2 steel lynx with no weapons as of now." sigs "those stonebrookes could make a great distraction if we can pull off getting them by tomorrow so I can set them up properly"

To: Bender
From: Samuel

Hey man I need you to see if you can russel up a couple of stonebrooke smokeclouds i got 4,000 nuyen tops for this but i do need 2. I need them asap.. tommorow afternoon at the latest. Thanks so much!!

end message

Caper dug right into his meal, briefly entertaining the thought that it could be drugged. For a moment he simply looked like he was going to eat, but then he spoke to the others,

"I can work in the flesh, or in the astral. I am not good with spirits, except maybe fighting them, which I have never had occassion to do. This is my first real run, and I am not sure what gear I should be getting or how you all want to set this up. It seems to me that you," he indicated Samuel with his fork, "will be our transportation and primary drone support and you," this time he waved his fork to indicate the hacker, "will be handling any matrix issues that may come up while potentially supporting Samuel there."
He popped the morsel on the end of the fork into his mouth and chewed quickly before swallowing and washing it down with his drink.

"That leaves me to be up front and shoot or otherwise magic away certain threats. And to hope I can deal with any potential spiritual attacks...which, as I said, I have no ability in doing other than by force." He took another sip of his drink, "That being said, what kind of protection other than this suit, my spells, and my coat should I look into. For that matter, what sort of ammunition should I look into for my guns? And if I NEED to go astral, who will cover my meat?"

After a comfortable period of time, during which you finish most of the meal before you all, the "host" reappears in the same flash that he appeared in the first time.
"I see you are all comfortably enjoying your food. It is good to share a decent meal with my team when I can, knowing how the regularly available food is out there..." He says with a smile.
"I will now tell you what I can about the mission at hand.
"I have hired another team for another purpose, which they seem to at the moment be succeeding quite well at. However, in the course of their duties, they were forced to leave behind some of their equipment. The location, as well as the specific details, and images, of the equipment left behind are on the chips which will accompany the initial payment promised. The crux of the mission is this: The location of their equipment is on a military base. Further complicating this, is that they were impersonating a Military Intelligence unit when they hit the base. Therefore, the security on the base has been increased significantly, and their equipment will likely be shipped to some more central location for "processing" within the next several days. So, your time scale is highly limited.
"Collateral damage is unimportant to me, except where that concerns the equipment in question. Since the Military Base is currently in disarray, as the "incident" in question is happening now, it would be likely that your most appropriate time for assaulting the base would be right now. However, I will leave the planning and parameters up to you, since you're the experts." His description seemed long winded, but was over almost immediately.
"Are there any questions that I might be able to answer?" He asks with a smile.

"well ratnfrats" I look at the image of a man... "You never said nothing about military... that should defenitly cost extra... either double the price or maybe you can find something on my sister who dissappeared..."

to the other guys "I should be able to keep you guys safe for the most part in my truck" I point at the matrix man "think you can hack some military contractor to get them to subcontract to use me for the 'shipment' of these goods" I pull out one of my ID's and hand it to the man " I got my CDL and It'll be a lot easier if were supposed to pick up the shipment know what i mean..."