Story

Episode 1: Recruitment

Juan, an up-and-coming wage mage working for Aztechnology, is offered a promotion.  While it certainly puts him on the career fast-track, the offer gives certain vibes suggesting that it might involve lifestyle changes he was not comfortable with.  He turns it down and there are no hard feelings — except that his career suddenly stops in its tracks.  Much worse than that, he discovers that he is slated for very emphatic termination with prejudice, so when a corporate headhunter offers him a job and relocation to the Humboldt Nation, Juan immediately accepts.

In Madras, Suchitra has been looking for employment.  She gets a job invitation via the matrix from Subankhar Samithran, an elf.  Samithran offers to meet Suchitra for an interview.  After a successful talk, he arranges for a flight to Redding for a second interview.

Meanwhile in L.A., Merribeth Sharpe, or Torque to her friends, is visited by a woman who introduced herself as another recruiter for the Humboldt Nation, putting together a team of troubleshooters in the Humboldt Nation.  Bored and disgruntled and not minding a change, Torque accepts.

Juan, Torque, and Suchitra meet in quarantine at their arrival in Humboldt.  After a day of cooling their heels, they are introduced to the president and given more information.  The job involves being part of a small covert operations team that is being put together by the government of the Humboldt Nation.  Pay is 60,000 ¥ per year.  Requirements include relocation to the Humboldt Nation, a six-month trial period, and qualification as residents within six months.  What the heck, they'll try it!

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Episode 2: Try-Outs

After completing basic training in the Humboldt Militia reserve, Juan, Torque, and Suchitra are given their first mission.  East of Arcata and south of the former Hoopa reservation is an old farm house, about 25 miles out of town.  Although the farm is supposedly abandoned and is off the grid, bounced signals indicating modern technology have been intercepted and seem to come from it.  The Humboldt Militia wants to know who and what is there, so the recruits are tasked with assessing the situation, "weapons tight", and get out discreetly.  They are given three pickup locations for different extraction scenarios.

Torque preps the assigned vehicle, a GMC Banshee, and loads her drones; after study of the topographic information, she concludes the location was selected for stealth.  Suchitra examines the captured comm data, which suggests high-level encryption, possibly military.  Juan sends a spirit of Man to examine the location, along with a watcher spirit to report.  The watcher spirit soon comes back and Juan learns that his recon spirit was possessed by a an unknown opponent — the alarm bell has been rung!

Torque stealthily lands the Banshee about 4 km from the target.  With some help from Suchitra, that puts her just within signal range for her drones, so she sends a Fly-Spy to assess layout.  Juan goes astral to check out the place — and meets a watcher spirit he has to swat down before it can raise an alert.  Meanwhile, Suchitra finds some comm chatter from the farmhouse, but it's heavily encrypted.  With some fiddling, Torque mounts her radio scanner onto an Opti-X drone and sends it off to recon.  Suchitra hacks into the encrypted signal and identifies an inbound component (telemetry data) and an outbound one (video signal).  A bit of decrypting shows the telemetry to be theirs, and the video to be a woman in a Humboldt Rangers uniform.

From the woman, they get a welcome and a set of coordinates that take them to the farm.  Juan casts Improved Invisibility on himself and checks the site out before they all troop out and are debriefed.  The farm turns out to be the headquarters of the Humboldt Nation's "A" team of covert operatives, the Kill Team.  All team members are infected with the Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus (HMHVV).  The team leader, Colonel Doris Severs, is a vampire, while the other members are ghouls.  Colonel Severs is also the head of all special operations, and as such, the recruits' new boss.

After a debrief of what the new team did right and what it did wrong, and some discussion of whether they'd have trouble working in this context, Colonel Severs gives the team its first official mission.  She takes them to see the outside gate of the abandoned Shiawase research facility on the Hoopa reservation, and see for themselves the pollution level.  Their job will to go to San Francisco and somehow get into whatever files Shiawase has on this facility.

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Episode 3: Poking Around

The new team receives a briefing on the Shiawase compound in San Francisco.  Some additional research on the abandoned research facility yields the following: (1) Shiawase personnel suddenly evacuated the facility twenty years ago; (2) no indication that they kept any monitoring on the facility has been reported; (3) it's not possible to determine which branch of Shiawase was operating the facility because someone cleaned up all public domain references to the facility; this clean-up took within the last 20 years. 

After discussing options, they decide to head down to San Francisco, where Torque will try to get employed by Shiawase for contract transport.  Despite her lack of enthusiasm, Suchitra and Juan give her a "corporate makeover" for the job interview.  Using a combination of patience, saké, and uncharacteristic deference, Torque successfully makes her way past the front gate security and obtains an appointment with Human Resources.

She purchases another bottle of fine saké and returns the next day for her appointment.  She is brought in to meet Mr. Saito, a name that rings all sorts of bells since General Keiji Saito ruled San Francisco and the "California Protectorate" from 2061 until the recent withdrawal of the Japanese forces.  Mr. Saito's name seems associated with a sort of disdain among the Shiawase personnel Torque comes across.  He turns out to be a very stiff, very formal 19-year old.  He accepts Torque's gift and her list of references, and eventually adds her name to the roster of transport contractors.

The team regroups and discuss.  Suchitra's theory is that Shiawase had to be afraid of something in order to cover their tracks in Hoopa so well.  She and Juan pool their knowledge of the corporate world and try to figure out what kind of research project would get Shiawase nervous; the top candidate is astral space exploration.  They are still discussing possibilities late into the night when Torque receives a message from her new employer: pick up a parcel tomorrow night at midnight.  In the mean time, the C Team goes out — Suchitra to reconnoitre the Mission District by night, Torque and Juan for a drink.

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Episode 4: The Consultant

Linda Evers comms the C Team around 2AM that same night to announce that one of the Humboldt Nation's consultants, who tried to infiltrate the Shiawase San Francisco compound a year ago, has now become available again should they want her help.  They accept.  Evers meets the consultant, Diana Maliki, in Denver and they reach an agreement.  Evers arranges for the C Team to meet the suborbital at the airport around 8AM.  Diana Maliki turns out to be responsible for the Shiawase intel currently available to the C Team.

As the group discusses an approach to the mission, Torque's beeper goes off again: she needs to pick up a package for Shiawase right now!  Leaving everyone to make their way "home" in Haight-Ashbury by bus, she races to the Shiawase compound, eager to maek a good impression on this first job.  She is handed a package at the gate and an address in Oakland.  Soon, she notices three Orcs on bikes following her.  They seem hot to catch up with her, but with some extraordinary driving, she gives them the slip.  She delivers the package to a non-descript building, where a man in a lab coat accepts it. 

When she returns home, Torque is unable to sufficiently enhance the images of the Orcs obtained by her cybereyes.  However, Suchitra pokes around on the Matrix and discovers that taxes on the building are paid by a Shiawase front company.  Suchitra checks out the grid icon for the facility but finds there is none.  She nimbly evades a Shiawase agent left there on standby.  Torque and Suchitra manage to cobble together a rough forgery of a Shiawase badge that would pass at a distance.

Juan and Suchitra take Diana to pick up her "luggage" (i.e., smuggled weapons) at a dead-drop.  The watcher spirit Juan left on the apartment gives an alert, but a false one — just a rat.  And Torque gets another call: her midnight run is cancelled.

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Episode 5: Research

Suchitra decides to take the long and cautious way to locate Shiawase archives by reaserching other Shiawase projects for the right period, 10 to 20 years old; this keeps her busy for a few days.  Meanwhile, Diana stakes out the Shiawase compound, looking for older mid-level employees, while Torque scans for Shiawase PANs.  Between the two of them, they find a secretary, Sumiko Nakamura, a member of the Shiawase glee club.  The next night, Juan, Diana and Torque go check out the Shiawase-owned warehouse.  They discover that there is an underground level and that the building is equipped with a negative-pressure ventilation system.  Unfortunately, Diana's myomeric probe gets stuck in the vent and breaks off, leaving evidence that Shiawase is bound to discover within a few hours.

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Episode 6: Going In

Suchitra finds out that all hardcopy archives have been phased out after being backed up electronically to the Shiawase mainframe in Japan.  Only a few remnants are still being tracked and scanned.  Meanwhile, Diana and Juan continue stalking middle-aged, mid-level Shiawase employees so Juan can mind-probe them.

The entire team goes to a karaoke bar, where Suchitra locates a Shiawase employee; Juan probes him.  Suchitra has to fend off avances, but Torque has a great time singing "Suicide Blonde" — a complete conversation stopper in the bar.  Juan learns that remnant hardcopies found in Shiawase office are taken offsite to a contractor for scanning and evaluation. 

The team leaves the karaoke bar and organizes a break-in at the suspicious warehouse where Torque dropped her first package.  Juan provides some cover using spirits of Man.  Thanks to Diana and Torque, they make it past the first electronic lock, then a second electronic lock, through an airlock, and to an elevator door.  A bleary-eyed young Japanese man walks out of side door to check on the elevator.  Without waiting, Torque knocks him out with a spanner.  They quickly move to the control room and Suchitra searches the computer files, retrieving a badly damaged deleted personnel file for one Takehiko Asawo, alerted by a partial match for "Hoopa" and "California".

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Episode 7: Payoff

The team checks out the rest of the facility and finds the gym/kitchenette/dinette and the stash of soy.  They move on to the paper archive; break in, and photograph all that is left — a few straggler documents in an immense room.  They check out the room, or rather closet, of poor Tsuyoshi Shinma, the young employee Torque KOed; he turns out to be a fan of celebrity Shadowrunners.

At this point, Suchitra receives a priority transmission on her commlink.  Colonel Severs is forwarding a Shiawase alert: Diana was spotted by a security drone while she was checking out Shiawase employees with Juan.  Unfortunately, her visit the year before has earned her a security flag from Shiawase.  The team makes a quick exit and return to the apartment.  Torque, Diana and Juan get a bit of rest, while Suchitra goes through the detritus of data recovered from Shiawase and transmits the salient points to Humboldt.

Two hours later, Suchitra gets a burst Priority 1 secure message: it's a major security alert instructing them to abandon or destroy all equipment and anything that might have their astral signature, get new clothes and gear, then head for the Presidio and meet someone called Winthrop, then make contact with a new number.  They comply immediately, shop for a new commlink for Suchitra and a couple of Ares Predators, then take a bus to the Presidio.  Suchitra tries the contact number she was given, but in vain; the Mendocino node is not responding.

At last they find their contact — a greater elemental spirit at the center of a wind vortex.  He merely asks Juan: "Humboldt mage?"  Juan says yes, and the spirit starts walking.  They follow him to the bluffs overlooking the ocean, just as the sun rises.  Winthrop invites them into his home; a door appears, leading to astral space.  He tells them they have his protection for 24 hours.

Colonel Severs shows up in astral space and informs the C Team that they will be extracted and should wait until they are contacted.  They give her a summary of what they found and the latest events; she is surprised to hear that the Mendocino node is down.  She tells them the Toothpullers are on their way, and leaves immediately.

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Episode 8: Exit Stage Left

In San Francisco, Tachàran is contacted by a Mr. Johnson for a delivery job: he jas to pick up a van with equipment, drive it to meet four people, and place himself at these people's disposal for 24 hours.  He picks up the GMC Step-Van around 11pm in a parking garage. 

Meanwhile, the C Team gets some rest until Colonel Severs comes back an dinforms them that a freelancer has been hired to bring them some replacement gear and assist the team.  The hired help is an Ork who has been working in the Bay Area for a few years, has been reliable, and has shown no excessive ambition. 

The Colonel also gives Suchitra a new access code and mentions that the Mendocino node is down because it has been attacked by Aztechnology.  The corp also unleashed about fifteen spirits of Man in Arcata, who left several people dead &mdahs; including Linda Evers.  It's not clear how AT connected Juan to Humboldt Nation.  In light of this, Winthrop agrees to extend his hospitality for a few more hours. 

A few hours later, Tatch arrives with the van and collects the team.  They make contact with Col. Severs and get instructions to return to Humboldt.  They brief Tatch on the situation.  Suchitra checks out the local Matrix status, finds a spy node and cuts it off.  Minutes later, Torque spots a drone following them, and Juan detects four Aztec spirits. 

The drone shoots the van and damages it pretty badly, but Diana shoots back and destoys it while Juan holds off the spirits.  They manage to get rid of the opposition and make it to the Humboldt Nation border.  Suchitra calls Col. Severs for an update and is told to pull over and wait.  An Areas Dragon chopper soon appears and the Toothpullers bring in the C Team.  Tatch is easily convinced to give Humboldt a try rather than return to San Francisco at this point.

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Episode 9: Lost Contact

A month later, the C Team has settled in a bit; it's a community service weekend.  Juan is on first aid and cook duty for a crew pulling non-native plants out of the dunes; Diana and Tatch are undergoing basic training with the Humboldt militia.  Suchitra has been hiking to the local node transmitters to check them one by one for IC and viruses.

Torque is serving out at sea on a rescue boat whose mechanic was sick.  The weather is nasty, and the ship receives an SOS on the comm.  Searching for the source, they soon lose sight of land but spot a fishing boat's hull, upside down.  Captain Drscoll reluctantly send Torque by zip line, along with an escort of two, to cut the hull open and look for survivors.  Torque hears knocking and cuts into the vessel's engine room, finding a fisherman whose leg is pinned by a rod that went right through it. 

The man says that his daughter, Starshine, is still trapped inside and begs Torque to save her.  At this moment, a kraken tentacle whips by, snatching one of the militia men, then disappears.  The rest of the militia men up top open fire and yell at Torque to get out.  Torque climbs down, searches until she finds the girl as bolts from the hull plates are starting to ricochet around from the strain.  Torque hoists the girl up, then cuts the fisherman free and struggles out of the sinking hull.  The remaining militia man hooks the zip line to Torque's harness and the rescue boat takes off, winching them in.  Captain Drascoll tells Torque that if they all die because of her' she's a damn fool; but if they make it, she's a damn hero.

Meawnhile, eavryone's comm is beeping.  The C Team is being put on 30-minute alert and told to meet at the airport.  Everyone is there except Torque, so Juan sends an air spirit to pluck her from the rescue boat and bring her in.  A Dwarf in uniform, Major Mathers, explains that they have lost contact with a militia patrol up north; they last checked in three hours ago and was supposed to check in again an hour ago.  They have been out since last night.  A tilt-wing craft will take the C Team out to set up a search and rescue operation.

They are dropped at the last known coordinates of the patrol, but can find no physical indication that the team was ever there.  Suchitra starts suspecting that perhaps the last message was fake or altered; she asks for the last several message, but is unable to find confirmation.  The team works back towards the patrol's previous sets of coordinates, until they find the bodies of the militia men in a clearing.  They immediately call Maj. Mathers who tells them to send up a smoke signal and await pick up.  They hear the Boeing tilt-rotor approach, but that is immediately cut off by an explosion.  Suchitra just has time to pin the location of the crash, then silhouettes start moving in around the team.

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(To be continued.)