LibriumArcana.Games

The runners disembarked from the sub orbital flight and made the tedious rounds of baggage pick up in the zoo that was La Guardia airport. Wraith's contact had arranged a pick up and miracles of miracles it had managed to penetrate the notoriously awful New York Traffic and be there to meat them. It appeared to be a non descript, comfortable van.

Chase manuvered his way through traffic, swerving in and out of lanes admist the incessant honking of horns. Silently he wished that they would go ahead and update the grid guide system and make it more capable to handle the heavy traffic flow of NY. Of course that wouldn't happen but he could wish.

He mentally let out a long stream of profanity as he narrowly avoided being hit by a Eurocar Westwind. He calmed himself, resisting the urge to blast the smaller vehicle off the road. Fortunatly he was close to his destination anyway and he would soon be out of this hellacious traffic. He again questioned himself for about the dozenth time that day, why the hell did he take this job?
'Because you need the money,' he reminded himself.

He had been out of the game for several long months now after his last run had gone way south. It had left some people behind who still harbored some ill will towards him. So he had layed low, living off the money from the last run and some extra he had stashed away for a rainy day. It had dwindled away to almost nothing now. Up till a few nights ago he was wondering how he was going to be able to get the nuyen to afford the rest of the upgrades to his rigs.

Of course he should have been careful what he wished for. He had gotten the call a short while later. Nothing big, flashy or dangerous. Just enough to keep some bread on his plate and the roof over his head. Which was just as well, since he was almost out of funds for that too. He was grateful for the job and knew he needed to get back in the biz, but damn did he hate NY traffic.

He pulled up into the loading zone for La Guardia and pulled over to the curb. He began to send the systems into standby before he unjacked himself from the vehicle. With a flutter of his eyes he came back into his own body. He pulled the cable from the jack behind his ear and stretched for a moment in the seat, loosening up muscles that had been stiff for too long. Chase unbelted himself and opened the door. Looking around he leaned against the side of the MPUV while he waited for his fare. Here he was, an experianced runner playing taxi and tourguide to some out of towners. His father was right, running wouldn't get him far in life. He hated when his father was right...

Having reclaimed his travel bag, Gil took a moment to step into a nearby restroom and reequip with everything the plane wouldn't let him haul on carryon. He did a quick patdown and check to make sure that all his proper identification for his current identity was in order and all that he could pull from his outfit.

(It was tremendously embarrassing to be running under one identity and accidentally produce ID for another- it had happened to a guy he knew, with fortunately less than lethal consequences.)

Reaching for his sunglasses, he mentally repeated his cover name over and over- Ryan Salter, field director for Mackenzie Investigations Service.

Wraith had picked up his bag. He made a quick stop in the restroom to rearm, and then headed out to the street to meet their ride. As he stepped out of the terminal, he shed his identity and became Major O'Niel, retired.

Polynome and Whisp mae their way from baggage claim, their new names being Scott McFlannigan and Dennis Smith, respectively

He walked out front and located the van parked where it was supposed to be. He made his way over to it, hands carefully in plain sight.

Poly and whisp also began to head toward the van, hans visible

Wraith watched the crew heads towards the van. Wraith slipped into a spot where it would be hard for anyone from the van to see him. He pulled out a tiny scope and focused in on the license plates. He compared the numbers with those that his buddy had given him. Once he determined they were mathcing, he walked to the van, his right hand never straying more than a few inches from his sidearm.

Chase stopped leaning against the car as people began to approach him. He began to take a mental count of them. His unbuttoned work shirt flapped around him gently in the breeze. He had to laugh to himself at their display of unarmed hands. This was New York, he was the least of their worries.

'1, 2, 3...'

Chase glanced around and saw Wraith begin to step towards him.
'4. All accounted for.'

He coughed to clear his throat as Gil came close to him.
"Your other partner had his flight delayed. He'll be picked up later. Name's Gavin and I guess I'm your taxi."

Chase walked to the back of the MPUV and popped the rear hatch revealing the limited cargo area.
"You can put your bags back here. Now, you guys hungry or would you prefer to hit up your pad first?"

Wraith nodded and placed his duffel in the cargo area. He kept looking around, always keeping a watch out for anything wrong. He spoke to the others.

"Don't care, you guys decide."

Wraith turned to chase. "So, Gavin, what did my buddy pay you for? Just taxi service or just anything else?"

He dumped his bag in the back, letting Wraith talk. His contact, his setup. "Pad first," he said when asked, then he resumed listening.

Chase turns towards Wraith and put on his most winning professional courteous smile, then immediatly dropped it.
"Your chummer set me up as your taxi cab and your tour guide. I show you what you want to see, I take you where you want to go, within reason. Anything else is whatever deal you all make with me."

Chase nodded towards Gil.
"That's fine, we'll head there when you're ready. Shouldn't take too long, traffic permitting."

He laughed and opened the driver's door and leaned against the seat.
"But then again this is New York so traffic permits nothing."

He nodded as he headed for the front. "So I've heard."

He'd been looking over the van, liking what he saw. A lot of riggers mistook glitz for professionalism.

They usually had short, splashy careers.

He clambered in.

Wraith nodded and got in behind gil.

Once everyone had loaded their luggage and gotten in he closed the rear hatch and slid into the driver's seat, pulling the door shut. Stretching one last time Chase strapped himself in and took a quick glance in the mirror at his passengers. With long practiced hands he grabed the cable and pressed the jack into the hole behind his right ear. The connector slid smoothly into place with a click he felt more then heard. A second later he left his body and transfered his conciousness into the vehicle. The systems reenaged from their standby state, the engine roared to life and the parking brake disengaged.

Sweeping in all directions with sensors and cameras, Chase's encephalon assisted him in keeping track of movement in various directions, allowing him to cut in traffic closer then most others could have gotten. He pulled out onto the main highway, taking the quickest route he could think of to Queens. The ride was as smooth as he could make it considering the latent damage from the quake that had never been fixed.

A relatively short time later they arrived in Queens and Chase began to navigate the side streets and roads, manuvering around cars and bikes.
"We'll be there momentarily," came his voice through the speaker systems over the low volume rock music that he had been playing.
"I was told you already had a way inside."

"Yeah," Gil said. "What's your take on the neighborhood and the local players?"

Chase took a left and started slowing down going through the neighborhood.
"Your typical hood more or less. Got one or two local gangs, nothing big. Local toughs, mostly kids. As for the local players. This is Queens. Most of the big players hang out in Manhatten. After the quake thats all the corps deemed worthy enough to repair. That's their domain and thus where the biz is, dig?

"It's up there on the left. Welcome, er, home..."

Chase pulled up in front of the safe house and parked, leaving the engine running.
"Want me to wait for you guys or what?"

Gil studied Chase for a long moment, then nodded. "Yeah, if you could. Give us about twenty to half an hour to get squared away."

"Well isn't that special" Whisp said as he saw a ganger dealing drugs in the corner

"That is queens for you" polynome said "and half the other major cities" he muttered.

"Nice digs" they both said as they arived at their safehouse

"Yeah." Said Wraith, there were a few beds in a couple of bedrooms. Wraith headed into a bedroom that had a table in the middle and a couple of computers. If Ghost had set it up according to the way they had been trained, he shouldfind an armory in the closet. Wraith opened the closet and inside was an assortment of weapons, ranging from Colt Manhunters to Remington Roomsweepers to assualt rifles and smgs.

Wright made his way through the safehouse, checking the entrances and exits, sight lines off the windows, closets, bathrooms, so on and so forth, before he made his way back to the kitchen, checking the fridge last. He opened it veeeeeeeerrrrrry carefully.

He and Bob had pulled the old 'grenade in the fridge' gag once upon a time.

It all checked out. The computers were ancient junkers, but they could get you onto the Matrix. The arsenal was sparce, but all small arm classes were represented and each gun had several extra clips.

After getting everything settled in, Gil headed back outside, climbing into the van. Conspicuously, he still carried his sport backpack, the one that was about the right size to lug a cyberdeck around in.

Typical decker.

After getting in and letting the air conditioning catch up with the heat of the day again, he looked over at Chase.

"You booked for anything else in the near future?"

Chase set the systems to continue running the diagnostic tests in the background as he set the rest of the systems into standby. His hand blindly reached up and grasped the cord trailing from the side of his head and pulled it free slowly. He blinked a few times, coming back into himself.

He stretched and turned his neck, feeling and hearing it pop as he did to face Gil.
"Well lets see here, I've got that appointment with my lawyer from Dewie Cheatham and Howe but I suppose I could push that back to a week from Thursday if neccessary. Why? Got something for me?"

"Let's talk gear and capabilities. Is this your only ride?"