A Time for Secrets

Haven turns to Driver and says, "OK bro, where to from here? Suggestions, thoughts?"

"L.T...nice to meet you..." she gives him a somewhat grateful smile at the interaction. Then she gets up and moves closer to the troll. "Erm...what happens now?" she asks in a low voice. "Are we suppose to talk about something? Or do we just eat and drink?"

As the introductions make the rounds Kesslan pauses in his musings to regard the others, offering up a simple "I'm Kesslan." He doesn't care what any database may say, or at this point not say. That was the name he wound up with years ago and it's just one part he's never let go.

"As to what to do now, eat, go over what ever anyone may have on the guy, then I guess we just plan where to go and what to do when we get there. Japan seems according to our employer the place to start, so I suppose the first question then is, who of us all is fluent in Japanese? I am for one, or certainly close enough."

As he awaits a response from the others he turns his attention back to what's left of his two slabs of steak. He's not one to let it go cold, he didn't mind cooked meat but cold was when he just got turned off his food. Meat was supposed to be warm damnit. If it wasn't then clearly it wasn't fresh.

Haven turns to answer Kesslan and says, "I have a detailed knowledge of Japanese if that helps!" and then turns back for Drivers response.

She shook her head. "No...I can't speak Japanese yet. But I'm can pick it up pretty fast...Although...do we really have to go to Japan? I mean...he came here to tell us that this Taiki person was missing from Japan for the past ten years. Maybe he found out that Taiki is here...in Seattle? Otherwise, why find people from Seattle to go and look for him?" she says with a slightly thoughtful look on her face.

Yeah i speak a little He says as he looks at Kesslan, Know this guy taught me a little bit of a lot a lingo's. Then back to Aaliyah as i understand it your right. We need to plan this out. Whats your specialty pretty? No offense, I mean what do you do? Me well i like to cause a problem here and there. you know stir up a fist frenzy. Or let the led fly. That's always fun he smiled, and stuffed another stake down his throat. I wont lie I'v not done this to many times and never tracked missing persons. But if anybody gets in our way. Ill make it my business to change there mind. He was young and brash. In truth he had a chip on his shoulder but he tried not to let it show.

"Oh...I'm studying paramedical techniques in college right now...magical healing. I can toss a few spells around but I don't think I'll be as handy in a fight. Also, people seem to like to be around me so I can be your spokesperson." she nods at everyone.

Sitting back, sipping from his water as he listened to the crew of six babble back and forth about the mission and each other, waiting to get a word in for a moment. "I don't know about the Mr. Johnson sin that I've been set up with, Driver is what you can call me. If it can move, i can move it. I'm afraid Japanese isn't one of the languages i know off hand, a linguasoft would seem appropriate along with the most up to date mapsofts that we can get a hold of. Japan is the only place we have a clue as to where our target was, so it seams the best place to start."

A quick glance brought up the image link and command control to the car that sat patiently outside.

<<Begin message>>
To: Eleanor ((ooc: the car has an A.I.))
From: Driver

My dear, I have a job for you while i'm in this meeting. Our employer has given us a rather large upfront fee, so i have a shopping list for you to hunt up and have delivered to home.

Camera Neutralizing R6
Ultrawideband Radar R4
Camera (included)
+Low Light
+Smartlink
+FlareCompensation
Camera (included)
+Low Light
+Smartlink
+FlareCompensation
Radio Signal Scanner R6
MAD Scanner R3
Directional Microphone
Satellite Communication
Camera
+Low Light
+Thermographic
+FlareCompensation

20x Survival Kit
5x Antidote Patch (Rating 6)
5x Stimulant Patch (Rating 6)
5x Tranq Patch (Rating 6)
Rappeling Gloves
5x Microwire (per 100 m)
Autopicker (Rating 6)
Autosoft rating 4 (pilot nautical)
6x linguasofts rating 5 (japanese, cantonese, mandarin, korean, viatnamese, taiwanese)
5x mapsofts rating 6 (japan, korea, china, viatnam, taiwan)

Sum total: 85,000 nuyen

Also contact Jacob, you remember him, my contact in the UCAS, find out if their are any military transports leaving within the next day or so for japan, we need something big enough to haul the team and whatever vehicles they might have. Tell him we have the funds to grease whatever palms need to be. Also, please wire 50,000 from the account to Sarah, with a card saying I'll see her real soon. Have fun shopping.
<<end message>>

With the long winded message finished he dialed up the menu for the restaurant and ordered himself a bottle of top shelf honey ale and a steak Au puivre, the million nuyen being enough to at least get him to trust his employer enough that he wasn't going to poison them.

She blanches a little at the thought of having to travel to Japan at such short notice and leans back against her seat, closing her eyes to think about what has to be done."Japan, huh? All the way there..." she said softly under her breath. "I wonder what it's like at this time of the year..."

She opens her eyes again and looks at the others. "Is there anything else that we need to do?

Faust had been quiet so far, considering what he would do with his million in up front money. He had pretty much all the 'ware his body could handle. Maybe get a couple more guns, and some skillsofts to work with them. Be nice to have a cannon on their side, in case things went to hell.

Looking to the others, and said, "You can call me Faust. I speak a little Japanese, from my corp days. I'd be what you'd call a street samurai. I left the armor in the car, obviously. If none of you have any hacking chops, I've got a friend who can get into most systems."

Kesslan had still not figgured out exactly what he would need, or felt he would want. But he had a good idea and so shoved the AR file he was generating in way of a shopping list to one side of his vision, throwing up in his AR the few details and such he had available for the job and so on. Mentally he added in a list of what folk were saying they could do or could not do and added his own bits and pieces to that.

"Ok, so it seems to me then, that what would be in everyones best intrest here, is to do up a shopping list of what ever equipment you think you may need and we'll see who happens to know, or be able to get in touch with a fixer to handle the orders. I certainly have a few high ticket items in mind that I'd like to know if it would be possible to get. Doubly so as I expect that at some point we are going to have to deal with some serious firepower and I'd rather have the equipment to deal with it if we do. If we dont... welll.. better safe than sorry in our line of work I say."

He frowns again, finishing off the last few pieces of his steak, lightly dabbing clean his lips and then neatly setting the fork, napkin and plate asside, leaving only his half finished glass of water. "Unfortuantely the best I can offer at the moment are my combat skills, knowledge of Japanese and so on. I.. do not really know anyone anymore. I had to... sever ties with my past if you will, and it is best for all of us if they remain that way. I would caution, however to at least keep a good solid chunk of cash available. We likely will not get further funding from our J if we need it unless we have something solid to show for it. They brought us aboard because they have spent years trying to track this man to no avail and likely anticipate that we may need to deal with combat situations given that almost all of us, if not all of us, know our way around weapons. That said, since we seem to have no properly dedicated hackers or a 'face' if you will.. we may wind up having to pay out a good solid chunk of cash to hire on some added help time to time."

He considers the situation a little further. "Does anyone know some one who can get us translation packages or skillsofts for those of us who do not speak Japanese? Language wise, personally I'm only fluent in English, Japanese and Aztec. I also happen to be awakened, so we will need to take that into any security considerations as well as those of you who happen to be the same, or who happen to be heavily augmented. It means we will likely have problems getting through security checkpoints unless we have some one who can set up the proper fake permits and the like. I was also wondering if anyone knew, for certain, some one who could net us some high end military grade gear? Given the sum of money we have been provided up front, I for one at least plan to try and net myself a light suit of military grade recon armor incase we hit some heavy resistance. Not to mention that I'd like to get my hands on a few weapons that can be easily smugled through security checkpoints without setting off all the detectors."

Faust chuckled at that speech. "I have some armor from my corp days. As for travel arrangements, with the level of work on these fake IDs our Mr. J gave us, I don't think we'll have too much trouble getting around. In any case, it may be worthwhile for us to pool our resources, and get ourselves a cargo plane, since we'll be moving about alot, and I'm sure we all have gear we'll want to bring with us, and it will be a lot easier to simply file our own travel plans than arrange transport every time we have to jet across international lines. If we get a plane large enough to hold several vehicles, we'll be able to go anywhere in the world, and adapt to the situation as it unfolds. So how many vehicles do we need to move around?"

"Like I said, I've got a friend who will be willing to do me a favor now and then, when we need some hacking done. She won't work for free, but she could be convinced to work for trade, especially if we get some information she doesn't already have access to. She's an old friend, and we can count on her work being top shelf."

"Personally, though, I'm thinking we hold on to most of our up-front money, and then we'll be able to have some flexibility in the field."

Kesslan considers that suggestion and nods. "Well I for one can see a large number of potential pieces of gear I'd like to get, but I'll hold off on actually deciding what to go after until we settle the score on travel arrangements and such. I like the idea of having our own plane, as for vehicles, I've got my bike. She's fully kitted out for running so I'm not too worried about sneaking it past customs unless they decide to actually look at the internals. Then I'm screwed."

Twirling a fork around in his fingers he contemplated the plan thus far for the team. "I have my car, Eleanore, she's as much a part of me as I am of her, so she is coming with. I have a few military contacts, so i might even have a plane for us as well."

Haven is used to being ignored. "Little people" put up with it every day. "I can help with any trix work that needs to be done. I may even be able to come up with those softs you need so we can ALL understand what our friends from the rising sun are saying to us."

Faust nodded to Haven. "Good, that'll probably come in handy for the ones who don't speak Japanese." He turned to the rest of the group. "A normal cargo plane should be able to hold two cars and a bike, no problem. If we could get a Skytrain, and tack a couple extra fuel tanks on it, we'd be able to fly it across the pacific easily enough, and it would fit our vehicles with room to spare. Later on we could worry about modding it."

"I have a fixer and an arms dealer I can call, if anyone needs new toys. And if we need to get into the ACHE at some point down the line, I know someone who can get us in, as well. Mr. J clearly isn't expecting instant results on this one, so we have some time to plan things out. I would say lets get the plane, and get over to Neo-Tokyo. We can start running things down from there."

"Ok." Kesslan says "Seems we are in agreement about the plane then, so lets get on that first and foremost. See what that's going to set us back. I don't imagine something like that will be cheap..."

For Faust
<< Incoming Messages >>

From: Delta

Faust Its a no go on the Skytrain, I cant get my hands on it. Its Just not posible the only things similar to it in your area are the Renraku Titans which are down at the UCAS Airfield Compound just outside of Seattle, howeer the other items you requested i can get to you in 48 hours

From: Marko

Faust, YOur equipment will be at your doorstep in 48 hours, its going to be a but of a hasstle to get some of the stuff so unfortuantely for you im going to have to tack on another 4000, and i hope you have something to scan these with i cant be certain but some of it might be hot

Given his lack of contacts, Kesslan finally throws up his gear wishlist to the others over AR. "Anyone able to fill that little shopping list? I don't know anyone who can unfortunately."


Tag Eraser: 150 [6F]
10 HE Hand Grenades: 450 [7F]
R6 Maglock Passkey: 12000 [18F]
R6 Sequencer: 1200 [18F]

2x External Smartlinks for Heavy Pistols: 2x400 (4R)

Contacts: 50 (6) with:
*Image Link: 25
*Flare Compensation: 50 (2)
*Smartlink: 500 (4R)
*Vision Enhancement R3: 300 (4)
*Vision Magnification: 100 (2)

PSK-3 : 3000 (18F)
*Ceramic/Plassteel Components R3 18000 (20F)
*Smartgun: 3000 (6R)
*Skinlink: 50 (6)
*Weapon Personality: 250 [8]
+80 APDS Rounds: 560 (16F)
+80 HI-C Plastic rounds: 1200 [8F]
+80 Stick-n-Shock Rounds: 640 (5R)
+4 Spare Magazines: 4x5

Barret Model 121: 9000 [18F]
*Electronic Firing: 1000 (10R)
*Easy Breakdown: Manual: 9000 [8R]
*Extreme Environment Mod 1: 100 [8R]
*Skinlink: 50 (6)
*Custom Look Level 2: 1000 [8]
*Weapon Personality: 250 [8]
*Sling: 15 (N/A)
+140 APDS Rounds: 980 (16F)
+140 Subsonic Rounds: 560 (10F)
+140 Ex-Ex Rounds: 1400 (12F)
+140 Gel Rounds: 420 (4R)
+10 Spare Magazines: 10x5

100 APDS Shotgun Rounds: 700 (16F)
100 Shock-Lock Shotgun Rounds: 700 (10F)
300 APDS Heavy Pistol Rounds: 2100 (16F)
150 Subsonic Heavy Pistol Rounds: 600 (10F)
140 APDS Sniper Rifle Rounds: 980 (16F)
140 Subsonic Sniper Rifle Rounds: 560 (10F)
140 Gel Sniper Rifle Rounds: 420 (4R)

(OOC: Seriously doubt this but what the hell, might as well try. )
Heavy Military Armor: 20000 (20F)
*Full Body Armor Chemical Seal: 5000 (6)
*Full Body Armor Environmental Adaptation: 2000 (3)
*Thermal Damping R6: 3000 (10F)
*Ruthinium Polymer Coating: 7500 (12R)
*Mobility Upgrade R3: 7500 [18R]
*Strength Upgrade R3: 4500 (12R)
*Quick Release: 500 [8]
*Magnetic System: 1000 [8]
*Radiation Shielding R6: 1200 [8]
*Fire Resitance R6: 600 (4)
*Nonconductivity R3: 600 (6)
+Military Helmet: 10000
*R6 Comlink +8500
*Vision Enhancement R3: 300 (+4)
*Magnification: 100 (+2)
*Audio Enhancement R3: 300 (+2)
*Select Sound Filter R3: 600 [+8]
*Spatial Recognizer: 100 (+6)
--Note: IF not possible to aquire check and see if any sort of military armor is available with at least R6 Comlink, Thermal Damping and Ruthinum Coating - Anything over light must also have R3 Mobility upgrade (Would be nice to have with light too). Chemical and Environ seals prefered.

For Driver
<< incoming message >>
For: Driver
From: Jake

Hey man look i know you need an aircraft but i cant get one to you. You know our protocals your not with the UCAS anymore so its not like i can say Sure come down to the airfield we've got a Titan thats schedueled to be out of maintinace for an upgrade with Improved Takeoff and landing Capabilities, two aditional Fuel Tanks, Hover Craft add on and a Drone Rack in three days that will be good for you to have. No, that would be a severe breach not to mention that i would get my trog chewed out by tht e Brass. But its been good to hear from you even thoug hit was Elenore that sent the message, its all the same and i hope i might be of service in the future for something that remotly posible.

<< End First Message >>

<< Next Message >>

Driver your delivery will be at the Garage in two days

<< End Message >>

Driver thanks the waitress as she bring shim his meal and drink, before digging in his commlink goes off with a message, but despite the news his face twists into a brief scowl. "Well, we have our ride, but Jacob has never broken code names before so it might be a bit of trouble. Our ride will be ready in three days folks, i'd say we all meet up at the eastern fence. Bring everything you've got, because i heavily doubt we will be coming back any time soon." Forwarding the message about the plane to the team he casually eats his meal.

She closes her eyes and picks up her drink, sipping it slowly before opening her eyes once more, reading the message that was relied to her. She sighs again and looks at the others. "Alright...I guess it's three days later then? I'd hate to fly away but money is still money and it's not like we're doing anything that'll hurt someone...so it's okay right?"

She looks down at her drink again and takes another sip from it, wondering whether she said the right thing or not.

Faust spoke up at that point. "Well, if we wait a bit, I can get some addons fitted to the plane, along with a combat drone to help us not be sitting ducks in the air. It'll cost us 333000 nuyen, but it'll be worth it, I promise."

"So no one able to help me find anything?" Kesslan asks when he gets no response. "As to the matter of not having to hurt some one, well. That all depends does it not?" he asks looking to Fire. "Personally speaking, for four million I'd be willing to kill more than a few people if need be. That said, generally it's best not to kill those you do not have to. Do not, however be surprised if we have to do exactly that however. THe man is difficult to find for a reason and we may not be the only ones looking for him."