Freedom at Last

March 24, 2010
The City, Canopy 421- Penal Section
10:00 AM
Participants: To be announced

.........

March 24, 2010
The City, Canopy 421- Penal Section
10:00 AM
Participants: Lebeau, Eldridge, Shadley, Gavin


The last 14 and a half months have not passed very quickly for any of you. All of you were in some fashion or another abducted, arrested, or apprehended and then brought to what is called a reeducation center. Perhaps testament to the old reservations where the Indians were interred when the white man wanted something they had.


There were about 400 of you arrested from a total of three different Canopies in outlying areas. When you were arrested you were put onto a maglev train and shipped over 2000 miles to be processed. Once you were processed you were put into an entirely new Canopy, or District. It wasn't a residential Canopy however, it was a detention Canopy. There you were forced perform hard labor if you did not have any professional skills. Let's rephrase that; you were turned into a slave unless you had a ‘skill’ that was valuable to the local district. If you had any cyberware installed, it was removed and sold as-is. In this team, Lebeau was the only member to serve in skilled labor as a doctor in a poor Canopy. He was transported every day to his clinic and then back to the cell block which was his home.


The hard labor consisted of things like sorting ‘repossessed’  material. Sometimes you would do hard labor like breaking down vehicles for the raw materials or perhaps you were literally lifting cargo somewhere. It was often hard to find the value of what you were actually doing. There was never any physical punishment or beating or harassment that you might hear about in some of the prisons where actual criminals go, but the Labor often caused people to break. The work was excruciating you were underfed, dehydrated, and generally used as a disposable tool. Most are literally worked to death.


This practice of putting people into camps is a regular event and millions of people are apprehended and put in a similar position  every year. Millions go in and less than the third actually come out. Some believe that the government use this as a form of population control and its hard to argue against. All the Canopies that were trouble Canopies and cause some kind of grief to the government. There may have been a plague or some form of disease going through the Canopy you were in and so it was collapsed and dissolved so the area could be cleansed; read: stripped of its resources. Maybe there was the Civil War inside of your Canopy and the government came and split everybody up.


At night when the work was over you were returned to your cell. Every night as you to enter your cell you are stripped searched and thrown into your cell naked. Even eyeglasses or contacts were removed. Inside your Cell were several blankets and a toilet. In the center of your cell on the ceiling was the ever present eye of the guard in the form of a remote camera.. Every move was monitored and analyzed and any suspected attempt at planning to escape was met with your cell being filled with  deadly gas. The next morning you were pulled out of the cell at 5 a.m.You were given your clothing and any other items you might have needed for the days labor.


In the end, the four of you have come to know each other for being on the same cell block. You ran into each other during chow and were some of the few that actually lived through the interment, the survivor at the end of the term. Today you are 4 of about 12 people that were being released over the period of the next several weeks. Outside of the containment facility there are various groups, organizations, and individuals all looking for people that are down and destitute and broken. Being that you are fresh out of prison with little to no means of life, you are all perfect candidates.


This particular group of release candidate had to be done in secret and your release locations were not announced until an hour or less before. You see, it seems that some of the people, some of the Canopies, would rather not have one more person out there looking for another district that is already over populated both with people and problems. And if you are skilled, they don’t want you going to the competition. In turn, they have hire a wet-workers.


There has been a number of assassinations as prisoners are leaving the internment session. The prison determined to give you each 5000 creds and secure you 4 to an undisclosed location. They did however allow select organizations and individuals to be in the final hallways before you leave to offer you a future.
 
((now, please write your general actions as you leave. There are people offering Jobs, homes, even a few people offering to adopt you into their district. It is better to stay together as individuals are easily made to disappear after their use. So post in character conversations and decide what you all do. Note: do not imply the other players reactions. You have nothing but the clothes on your back.))

Gavin agrees with Lebeau, If anyone has an offer it should have to be for all four of us. Gavin trusts Lebeau's knowledge of the corporate world. He adds that he has experience with weapons and weaponsmithing.

Elridge quietly sticks behind the others.  Although uncertain about the corporate connections his companions have they are the closest he's got to family.  Wiping his eyes tiredly he scans for anyone working with any tech or decking.  He also looks for food vendors or information dealers.  He's a little jumpy and wary of anyone who looks too corporate.  He's got to have a connection to the net, he needs information. - "I gotta know what's going on"

Shadely walks out quietly with the others. Scanning the crowd gathered carefully, not trusting anyone that is there to offer homes or jobs. She wants to get out of there as quick as possible. The corporate world really isn't for her, but she will adapt to wherever they end up.

The City, Canopy 3201- Redmonton Upberbs
10:00 AM
Participants: Lebeau, Eldridge, Shadley, Gavin
 
The walk out of the prison transport exposes the friends to the sterile air of a newly opened mall in uptown Canopy 3201, Redmonton. It is before the official grand opening in 3 hours and the walk is short from the mid-mall magtrain to the rain streets outside. The hallway is relatively empty compared to the shoulder to shoulder crowds that will be in here blowing there creds in an hour from now. Except for a dozen or so sec-guards  the only people there are the people interested in recruiting new blood to their endeavors. Everyone has a sale.
 
Quite a few of the recruiters don’t even make eye contact or, upon seeing the lot of you, start closing up their wares and leaving before you are even to their table. Maybe you are not Street-Clean-Tech-Chrome-Shaman enough for them. Oh well.  Makes the decisions easier right?
 
{{I use these brackets for OOC (Out of Character) info. This time the info I am passing along is this: Below are several parties interested in contracting your services.}}
 
Approach- A clean shaven bald man of middle age and way too much fake sun. He is in a suit with only the dress pants, shoes, and a vest. He has several studs in his lips and ears and his left arm shows of recent reconstruction.

Deal-  He needs some Wetwork done. Gavin is able to see through the deal when his offer says he wants to transport something. The things he wanted you to transport is a few bodies after you kill them.

Pay-5k a person 15k/group at completion.


 
Approach-A geisha dressed lady approached you and handed you a data disk. She then gracefully hurried herself away.


 
Approach- A drone hovers into your midst and lands. It then gives you a hologram of a smiling red skull that speaks the offer.

Deal- Security work. Short term with possible long term openings. A new high tech Arcology wants their security tested, systems hacked, etc.. Shouldn’y be hazardous.

Pay- 2k a runner with bonuses of up to 20k per data-hack if successful. No pay at all if any security personnel are killed.


 
Approach- A smooth talking dwarf of a man wearing biker leathers and a baseball-cap. He says he wants justice the Star wont give.
 
Deal- Some kids tagged a corporate exec's nice new car. No big deal, right? Happens all the time in Redontan. Except this particular exec is a young, up and coming hotshot with a chip on his shoulder the size of the Detroit  Mega-City Pyramid, and he's willing to hire people to track down the gang that tagged his rig and put an end to them altogether.


Pay- 500 creds up front each, then 10k for the job.




 
Approach- a young woman who is very non-descript and plain in demeanor offers the group a phone.
 
Deal- A not-so-local street-doc is looking for some delivery help. Interpreted as stealing from a now nameless corp and giving to her clinic in a slum.
 

Pay- Free med treatment up front. Completion pay negotiable, 3k each in cred or a free 6k in medical work in the future.


{{what do you think?}}

elridge agrees that helping the doc is a great idea. He expresses interest in the hacking job if only for the challenge, but wont do it to help this corp improve their security. He states that trying to play the exec might be a bit to risky, since we're just getting out. One important thing he expresses is that he wants nothing Nothing to do with any "wetwork". Lastly he volunteers to hold on to the data disk as it will only be a matter of time before he can get a proper reading off it. If it is given to him he examines it closely.

While everyone is deciding on where we want to go. Elridge looks for a tech dealer... Being careful no to stray to far from the group. If he sees a dealer that looks "corporate" he will avoid them unless that is all that is available.

Gavin agrees that the robin hood (medicine) mission may not pay best...but it has more benefits. We should also wait to see what is on the data disk.

We can always agree to do more than one of the jobs.

The City, Canopy 3201- Redmonton Upberbs
10:20 AM
Participants: Lebeau, Eldridge, Shadley, Gavin
 

So it is agreed!

After the job arrangements are set, you have a little more jangle in your pocket and can head out of the overpriced mall and head toward the clinic. You all now have 500 more creds and the street doc is giving you a place to crash tonight.

Upon leaving the secure location of the mall, you might feel a little exposed. No weapons, no shelter, and no place to call home. This is a new start though with a new group of trusted companions. The four of you hail a taxi and head out. You are about a mile up in the arcology and the air-taxi {{think 5th Element}} takes off with a start. The ride is about 5 minutes and the rain is horrible. A few times you might of sworn you were gonna die in a fiery crash or end up crash landing in the Flicker zone at ground level.

The clinic room is more of a small patient receiving area and the night wont pass without you all getting interrupted by screaming or gunshots being heard. You can lock the door and remain relatively secure and sleep, but the accommodations are worse than your prison cell. It's free after all.

{{get some gear from the lists and A narrative update will be short in coming.}}

Lebeau takes a look at look at the clinic room with an expressionless glance and walks to the entrance looking for a phone and phone book (I assume he is going to need a computer of some sort to locate what he is looking for.)  Lebeau is looking for a hotel with four clean beds, a clean bathroom that they can bathe in, and four hot meals that they can eat.  Nothing out of the ordinary since they just got out of jail.  (Something on the lines of Red Lion not Motel 6).  If he is successful in finding the Hotel, he then calls a taxi for the group to be picked up and reports back to the to the team and tells them what he has done.  If he is successful, he leaves a note in the clinic room to let them know where they are and how to contact them.

The City, Canopy 3201- Redmonton Upberbs
October 14th-10:40 AM- October 15th 09:00 AM
Participants: Lebeau, Eldridge, Shadley, Gavin

As you all leave the clinic, Doc Reese looks up from her current patient. The old man has what appears to be part of a chair impaled into his lower abdomen.
“Check in with me in the morning. I ought to have a contact by then”  Her snaggle-toothed smile fades as she focuses again on the man.
 
The next ride over to Hotel Natomie is much shorter than the earlier ride but much more harrowing, even more proof that public transportation should have more strict checks. Arriving at the cleaner more comfortable lodging eases your nerves. It’s the best accommodations you’ve had since you were put into prison. The room Lebean acquired is actually 2 adjoining rooms with 2 queen beds each. One has a hard wire OpNet connection and the other is WiFi. Both have pay-per-use cyberdecks.  
A security guard knocks on your door sometime after your check –in and in an attempt to possible shake you down offers better security for 100 creds. He appears to be no more than a retired Merc but seems competent; your room has no odd stains on the floor or holes in the wall or furniture stating no murders here recently.
 
Sometime during the rest of the day, you purchase all your basic gear. In this part of the Canopy everything will be about 10% less and lesser quality than new. High quality gear is simply not available in this area.
 
Later that night, after Eldridge has purchased his Deck and cracked it to his specs, he is able to decrypt the holo-disc given you by the drone.  The disc cracks and buzzes and then the holo-projector brings to life a crystalling glowing red skull. Its skinless grin is almost haunting as it speaks.
“It’s about time! I thought you were gonna use me as a paper weight.”  The deck begins broadcasting remotely through its built in wifi.
“You are being offered a chance of a lifetime to be remembered all over the Universe. All for just doing some things good and upright peoples ought to do anyhow.  Put your worries and anxieties aside and contract with the skull and you will be taken care of.”
Eldridge is able to determine that the message is connecting with a server and getting an algorithm which is activation what looks like an AI in the disc.

“For the first job, and this is non-negotiable,  you need to delay mag-lev train 67 from Old Portland tomorrow. No one needs to die but if you nuked the train that would sure be neat.  Activate me again when the job is done, otherwise,  F@!#- Off.”

The disc ejects and Eldridge' deck powers off.
There was no trace involved in the signal from the disc.

First Elridge Thanks Labeau for the better amenities. He takes time to dress in his newly purchased clothes and shades, before telling the group that he's going to head out and look further into the skull job.  He tells the group that he will be back, 'late or early depending what time it is'

He suggests to pay the merc if not only for safety but also for information.  He offers 100 creds of his own plus a possible 100 extra for 'local information'.

Once out of the motel he looks for two places, both with public access to the 'net'.  The first place needs to have 2 exits and possibly a private booth for the net session.  The second place needs to be a motel also with 2 exits and public net access from the lobby.

Elridge attempts to scout these places out being as inconspicuous as possible. 

Before heading back to the hotel he scouts for any evidence of a netrunner hangout.  This being a area new to him, he doesn't expect much.

{Sorry all for my absence the last few days...Outside world issues}

Gavin will go with Lebeau to the mall for gear shopping, having his new items sent to the room as well.

On the way back to the hotel, he will depart from Lebeau to run an errand.

Gavin will attempt to track down the source of his previous unregistered weapon and see how much to procure another. If not able to track them down, he will make contact with the Diggers Gang to get one at a reasonable price,(ie credits or gunsmithing services.).

Then, he will go to the hotel and change into his new clothes and secure his new security item. After a while joining Lebeau at the table to discuss the mission;what equipment needed, list of items wanted for clinic, plans, etc. As well as light talk of the world changed by a years time.

The City, Canopy 3201- Redmonton Upberbs
October 15th 09:00 AM
Participants: Lebeau, Elridge, Shadely, Gavin


After a good nights sleep compared to the previous year on the padded bricks of the prison cell most  of you want to stay in bed. However, the desire to get a new start and get into a better life motivates you all to get up and meet at the appropriate times. You do not have a hard set appointment with Doc Reese but the implied statement of ‘morning’ is open to interpretation.
 
Elridge has secured an area to get to work for the ‘skull” and Gavin has made contact with a decent weaponsmith. He has even made some contacts with some old friends in a local gang. The Diggers are not big here, but they have manpower enough to claim a few blocks their own. They might be able to lend some muscle where needed. The lot of you are as ready as you will ever be for the day ahead. LeBeau has some plans laid out of the Job at hand. Perhaps getting the meds for Doc Reese should be done as top priority to get some street cred and then …


{{PM sent to LeBeau, and info posted in sheet section.}}