Well, that happened

I’m writing this from a makeshift hammock on board our Cargo plane as it flies across the Atlantic. None of these things are by choice, I might just add. How I got here is a classic case of people taking things just a bit too far.

See, in the shadowy world of corporate espionage that us Runners live in, there comes a point where you have to take a loss and walk on it. When a Runner team makes a mess of your stuff and gets away, there’s only so far you can pursue the matter before it comes back to bite you. Most corps will take their losses and accept them, and then try to move on. But some are worse at letting it go then others.

It all began with topiary

So an important part of being a Shadowrunner is to never overlook anything. If something seems like it’s a coincidence, then it probably isn’t. And it’s not being paranoid to assume that everybody is out to get you. You’re a career criminal, after all. You do grossly illegal things for money. Of course it’s going to come back on you. The last couple of days had a series of events that did seem to be unrelated and just a matter of people being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was only when reviewed as a whole that the real problem emerged.

It started with Neon going through the data she’d pulled from the MCT lab we’d torched last week. She’d been concerned about the intrusion of that creepy Technomancer into the system. Freddie had suggested that we try to track him down, but that was proving to be difficult because, what do you know, Technomancers don’t play by normal Matrix rules, much to Neon’s frustration. What she found however, was strange. The Techno had gotten into the system and then deliberately tripped a whole bunch of alarms which had wound up alerting MCT to our presence. Why was another matter.

Crimes against humanity, hazmat suits and potato chips: a typical day in the life of a Shadowrunner

Well this happened.

Okay, I need a better summary for that last run then that. Right. Anyway, it began when we retrieved MCT’s prototype drone from DeckCon for Lizard Johnson for a hefty wad of cash. A few days later, Lizard B. Johnson got back to us with an aghast look on his scaly face, and said that he had another job for us. He wanted us to go to the MCT research facility that had created the drone and destroy it, their ability to make more drones and all the data on it. Oh, and kill anyone who was involved with the research and development of the drone as well. The fact that he used words like ‘abomination’ suggested that something about meant that this was more then just getting one-up on a rival company.

Mitsuhama Computer Technologies:
We're that damn evil

So we had a job, one that would need us to terminate the targets with most gross prejudice. Of course, to get there, we’d need to find out where it was being developed and who was involved with the program. (It wouldn’t help just to shoot up every MCT lab we came across, as fun as it would be). Likewise, we also had to deal with MCT’s infamous Zero-Zone policy, which meant that the place would be a virtual fortress packed full of guards, drones, turrets, critters, wards and run with a policy of shoot to kill and don’t even bother with the questions.

Fun times.

DeckCon 2078

Well, it’s Deckcon time again, which means that we get a lot of work trashing one of the world’s largest consumer electronics shows. I mean, it’s the only reason I’d be there otherwise, as the thing’s a total nerd-fest. Just look at how excited Neon gets for it as proof. And just like last year, we were busy throughout the show doing various jobs for various people. The offers came in thick and fast, and yet we managed to be at cross-purposes throughout.

The first job we got wasn’t actually a job, however, but also was rather personal. Ishtar, our least favourite Babylonian Goddess-themed pop star, had thrown down an open challenge as a publicity stunt. She was goign to be putting on a livecast show on the first day of Deckcon, and she was openly daring people to hack the feed. Naturally, Neon immediately wanted to hack the feed, but was trying to think of a way to do such that wouldn’t immediately be giving her what she wanted.

How to dress for the revolution

Our Cuban holiday came to an end, but not without a little bit of excitement along the way. But then, since we’re Runners, that’s probably to be expected. Our very nature is about performing illegal acts for profit, so it’s rare that life is dull.

Bur for a week, at least, it had been nice and relaxing. I had been playing the part of the wealthy upper-end tourist, staying at the best resorts, relaxing on the best beaches and eating real meat and seafood at some pretty nice restaurants. Either that or hanging out with Tyler on his yacht, so you know... Shortcut had been off at the former US Navy golf course at Guantanamo Bay, which is apparently the cheapest and least touristy one on the island. Also it features extra hazards in the form of unexploded mines, so yeah.

And Freddie had managed to get into a race, because he’s Freddie. He pitted our rental ’55 Chevrolet against a massive Cadillac driven by a greasy local. And then Shortcut entered his golf cart just to be sure. Even though he was racing without the benefit of his Vehicle Control Rig or being able to jump in or anything else like that, Freddie still managed to smoke the guy. He’s just that good. And while Shortcut did come last, he didn’t do that badly by comparison.

Come for the rum and cigars, stay for the heavily armed revolutionaries

After our last job, we felt that it would be best to lie low and avoid drawing too much attention to ourselves, since Aztechnology doesn’t take losing well. Fortunately, circumstances conspired to get us a job that would be far away from Seattle in a region that has a surprisingly low corp presence. Added to that, the job came from Tyler, which meant that I was in essence working for my millionaire arms dealer boyfriend (yes, I know, he’s not an arms dealer, he just knows lots of arms dealers). So you know, perks of the role and all.

Of course, knowing Tyler had its other perks, and I don’t just mean getting to hang out on his luxury yacht. He had used his connections to get me into a stupidly exclusive Delta-grade cyber clinic for a systems upgrade. As a result, I am rocking a new set of wired reflexes that makes me even faster then I have ever been before. It only cost me a cool half-million too.

Farmageddon II

Every run has its after effects. You do one thing and it sets off a whole series of other effects. Some of these are planned and were intended to occur. Others are collateral damage, the unplanned results of your actions. And then there are the times when it will generate further runs, as in this case.

Some time ago we burned down an Aztechnology experimental farm at the behest of an elderly (and creepy) Ork doctor. They were trying to develop blight-resistant strains of grain as a way of overcoming the problems that had been plaguing their food production for the last few years. We put a stop to that branch of the research, but it seemed that they had a lot more then just that one farm in the pipeline. The same Doctor had become aware of this, and had hired us to continue wrecking their agricultural plans.