Soundtrack wrote:
I'm not big on social graces//Think I'll slip on down to the oasis// Oh, I've got friends in low places
A few days ago...TIME STAMP wrote: //Location:Tacoma/Seattle Metroplex/UCAS
//Time: <0934:00/2075-01-18> Combat round OVER
//Weather: <Heavy Overcast, Light Snow, 0C, Wind N 8kph, feels like -8C>
//Air Quality: <Monthly Average: Moderate (Yellow), Precipitation pH 2.6>
Silhouette met Mulpa in a virtual world of course, and they were paranoid as frag. The meeting was short. The results took...longer.
The ID spoof was delivered just minutes before Mulpa's deadline. Instead of a complex web of Matrix security and obfuscation, it was a dead drop at 2359 on the 15th. A physical drive with the data in a file. A handwritten note on a soykaf wrapper: Activation Code: Table No. Matrix ICE extra killer extra black. It trails off with underlines beneath killer and black. Table number is probably the pretty prominent 7734 in the center of the virtual table from their initial (and only) meet.
Stygge has enough luck with King, negotiating an amicable deal. They walk away still more on the friend side than exploitation.
Helmets are not much of a strenuous request for Shrike's contacts. But someone (Dust, in fact) had a sick sense of humor and painted the helmets with cartoony rounded (as opposed to pointy) ears on the sides.
Now....
Wraith spots a few things straight away as she cases the scone factory. There are two 40 foot trailers in the loading dock, but no trucks to haul them. She notices taking a few surreptitious moments to analyze the trailers in more detail, she sees that one has well concealed antennae on top and heavy duty heat sinks beneath, visible only through the melt in the snow adjacent to the trailer. Second, she notices that in the time she observes the building, no one goes outside. All of the windows are covered with opaque or at least one-way material. It's hard to say for certain if it's thermal dampening at all, the differential between inside and outside is extreme right now and the whole building practically glows in the dark (in a thermal sense!). She spends enough time on site to be confident in the details and ready to roll when it's go time.
Shrike arrives after Wraith has had time to do her detailed recon. He doesn't observe any additional details, the ones Wraith discovered were subtle enough.
Stygge arrives next. She recognizes the trailers when pointed out by Wraith, noting that they appear to be just sitting there, not bolted down, not with any sort of lock on the fifth wheel. A proper rig could back right up and yank those trailers away in a heartbeat.
There is a concrete factory a few blocks away, they might have trucks...
Before wild plans can be hatched, Mulpa arrives for his "inspection".
As he approaches the door to the office, his commlink is pinged with multiple requests for security clearance. Silhouette's passcodes work. He gets to the door and his palm print unlocks it, the thunk of retracting bolts is decisive. The door opens outward automatically, two guards armed with assault rifles (at rest, not pointed at Mulpa) wait within. They are well armored, but not full plate or obvious milspec, and well armed, they have combat knives and sidearms along with the rifles.
"You the inspector?" The scant cover Silhouette was able to provide was that of an inspector for the CCMA, with a direct mandate to inspect all the networking gear in the building. Nobody shoots him as the door opens.
Run Details
Scone Factory Aerial View:
