Session 10: Calling Vincent White

Shadowrun
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Chapter 2
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F.A.T.E. PCs
Anastasia Ellison - CS Dmitri - CS Eric Black - CS Gideon Wexler - CS Hector Radcliffe Kumiko Nakamura - CS Oni - CS

The Situation

Received from [NA/CFS/SF/SHW-ARC] on Feb. 2 2073
To: White, Vincent
From: Coltrane, Manami

Had a good time at New Year's. Interested in dinner? My treat.

Manami

Where Eric might see danger, F.A.T.E. would see opportunity. There are many unanswered questions regarding Manami's dance partner, Yukawa Sato; and as Shiawase CFS CEO, Manami ultimately resides at the top of the management chain over the Drakes Bay nuclear facility. It's rare to get access to such a powerful corporate executive, but Eric/Vincent appears to have made great strides. It's certainly somewhat... odd... that Manami would even bother contacting Vincent. Eric would be wise to remember the words of the great philosopher Admiral Ackbar.

This message presents a very real opportunity to collect more information vital to F.A.T.E.'s interests. Someone of Manami's position would surely have access to valuable files within Shiawase that could aid F.A.T.E. in its objective to shut down Drakes Bay. If Dmitri could get "behind enemy lines" so to speak, and access Shiawase systems with Coltrane's credentials, it could yield valuable information. It would also be beneficial to obtain fingerprints and a copy of Coltrane's keycard, which he was unable to obtain over New Year's.

There's certainly a feeling of uneasiness regarding Manami -- she's wicked smart and might suspect Vincent isn't who he seems to be. Her reaching out to him is certainly worthy of suspicion, and he must be careful if he responds or takes her up on the dinner offer.

Eric has informed the team of this communication and suggested that F.A.T.E. use this opportunity to gather additional information on Shiawase.

Notes

• Stipend has been raised to 7,000¥/month
• F.A.T.E. has set up a residence in Berkeley for Vincent White. Feel free to adjust this if you don't feel it accurately reflects his residence or if you want to add any positive or negative lifestyle qualities.
  • Comforts: Middle class (3 LP)
  • Entertainment: N/A
  • Necessities: Low class (2 LP)
  • Neighborhood: Low class (2 LP)
  • Security: Low class (2 LP)
  • Cost: 1,700¥/month (paid for using stipend, prorated to 1,579¥ for February)

Session Synopsis

Eric arranged to be picked up at Vincent White's Berkeley residence at 7:00 PM local time on Friday night. The plan was dinner at Gary Danko's an upscale restaurant on North Point Street in Fisherman's Wharf with a breathtaking view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Afterwards, Manami mentioned that they could go out for drinks. Expecting that Manami would select an exclusive club, the plan was to use Anastasia's celebrity status to get herself, Doc, and Wex into the club. Eric would swipe the keycard and get Manami drugged or distracted enough where she wouldn't notice it was missing. Doc, Hector, and Dmitri would proceed to the Shiawase Arcology where Dmitri would hack into the computer system and obtain the data they needed. It almost went according to plan. Almost.

The dinner started off as expected. The food was San Francisco's finest, and the greatest meal Eric had ever consumed. Eric had an analyze truth spell activated, but the dinner conversation was rather uneventful. Manami showed a great interest in Eric/Vincent's thaumaturgical studies and showed that she too was quite knowledgeable in the field. For a mundane, this was unusual, but for someone working as the divisional CEO of a major corporation, it was not too surprising. She made it sound like more of a personal interest when she spoke of it, however.

Eric played it cool at dinner and did not ask any pointed or suspicious questions. Sensing the evening was progressing nicely, Manami suggested the two continue their date at an exclusive nightclub with a couple of Manami's associates. Eric agreed, and upon getting the club's name, Myst, the F.A.T.E. van departed. Hector, normally an excellent driver, was inconvenienced by a small traffic accident and the group arrived shortly after Eric and Manami.

Eric and Manami were met by two other couples, all sporting Shiawase SINs. Eric recognized one woman as Wong Yiu Ming, however she was wearing a disguise and broadcasting a different identity, Shirley Wu, a Thaumatergical Studies major at MIT&T. It wasn't long before the drugs started flowing. Throughout the night Eric was exposed to Novacoke, Loco (a Psyche/Red Mescaline speedball), and Pixie Dust.

It also didn't take long for the drugged-up Manami Coltrane to notice that Anastasia Ellison was at the club. Amused that Vincent's ex-girlfriend was apparently stalking him, she struck up a conversation with her with antagonistic motive. In a moment of unprofessional, jealous rage, Ana snapped back at her and it briefly escalated into a shouting match, grabbing the attention of nearby patrons. Eric and Wex managed to bring the conversation down a notch and separate the two.

Ana and Wex spent the rest of the night watching to make sure Eric wasn't in any trouble. Eric pulled Manami away to the dance floor, while Doc went to the restroom to change clothes. He had been wearing a waiter's uniform under his suit and using that disguise, grabbed 6 drinks and a tray from the bar. By simple luck, the other couples joined Coltrane on the dance floor, leaving Manami's purse unguarded in the VIP area. Doc slipped by Manami's bodyguard by playing the role of a waiter flawlessly. He collected empty glasses and trash, as well as Manami's keycard, and left the room. Moments later, he left the club altogether, and was on his way to the arcology.

Hector drove the van to the arcology where Doc escorted Dmitri to the restricted floors. The two had been given Shiawase SINs for a father and son on the 15th floor of the compound. It was a restricted area, which is exactly where Dmitri needed to be to do his hacking. They proceeded to the 15th floor with no issue and swiped their Shiawase IDs. The IDs checked out and they proceeded to a small utilities closet where Dmitri began his hacking in VR. It took Dmitri exactly one hour to download all of the data he was looking for. However, just one minute before Dmitri's downloads completed, an IC was alerted to the suspicious activity and guards were notified that someone on floor 15 had unauthorized access to nodes.

Doc and Dmitri thought they were home free as they headed for the elevators, but the security guard ordered them to stop. The elevator door opened but the two complied. Two more security guards joined the original guard, and they began to search the pair's commlinks. Manami Coltrane's keycard was RFID, and as soon as the guards read it, they knew they had found their culprits. Doc shoved Dmitri into the elevator as the doors closed, freeing him from the imminent danger as a gunfight ensued on the 15th floor lobby. Doc skillfully gunned down the 3 security guards and began fly down the stairwell.

As soon as the trouble started, Oni burst out the back of the F.A.T.E. van and charged into the crowded arcology shopping center. He saw Dmitri being detained by 6 guards at the ground-level elevators and opened fire over a large crowd of people at the security officers. A gun fight ensued, sending the crowd fleeing for cover. The guards were no match for Oni and were easily gunned down. One guard was holding Dmitri, threatening to kill him, and Oni from extreme range put a bullet into the man's shoulder, forcing him to release Dmitri. As the guard clinged to life, he took an undeserved last gasp shot at the unarmed 16 year old Elf, grazing his arm with a bullet. Oni wasted no time putting that man's life to an end as he scooped up Dmitri and headed for the exits. More Shiawase reinforcements were on their way, not to mention the Lone Star patrols that would be responding quickly in this popular San Francisco shopping district.

Aftermath

"Ana, look at me," Wex said, taking her attention away from the dance floor she was watching just over Wex's shoulder. She looked to him from her slightly slouched position at their booth. He continued quietly, "You need to get your act together. Focus on the mission at hand. Whatever emotions or feelings you have for Eric, toward Manami, or this whole situation -- you need to set those aside. We're messing with some very powerful, and dangerous, people here."

"I know," she responded sincerely. For a few consecutive missions, she had been more of a burden to the F.A.T.E. team than an asset. J.P. already mentioned this to her, effectively putting her on notice. Her status as the President's daughter was becoming a distraction for F.A.T.E., but here she was. Any further slip ups and she could find herself suspended, or worse. She was determined not to let that happen. She took a deep breath.

Both agents watched as Manami Coltrane went into a bit of a fit inside her curtained VIP area. She was screaming about something, and in a few seconds emerged from the area with a rather pissed off expression. She had her sights set squarely on the two F.A.T.E. agents and made her way over to the corner booth. Wex attempted to speak up first, but Anastasia interrupted him. "Eli, I've got this," she said, using Wex's cover name.

Manami joined them at the table. "Alright you little thief," the drugged out executive began, staring down the President's daughter. "I know you had something to do with this."

Ana responded, remaining cordial, "Look, Ms. Coltrane, I don't know what you're talking about, but Eli and I here are trying to enjoy our evening together. Pl..."

Coltrane interrupted her, leaning close and whispering in her ear. "If I find out you're involved in this, I will make your life hell."

Ana nodded as Coltrane stormed off, thinking to herself: you already have, Manami, you already have.

---

Eric returned to the private booth with two drinks in hand just after Coltrane stormed out. "What's going on?" Eric asked. Shirley Wu responded, "It would seem Ms. Coltrane misplaced her keycard."

"Huh," Eric shrugged, his eyes darting for a moment to Wu's companion for the evening. Eric could sense the man casting magic. He looked back at Shirley, who continued, "Eric, you didn't take her keycard did you?" Eric, composed as ever, laughed slightly, and gave an honest answer, "What, me? No. Why would I?" Eric noticed the mage give a slight nod to Shirley.

Manami entered the booth and interrupted them, "I think we're going to go." Eric set his drinks down. Not wanting to be interrogated any longer with a mage potentially using Analyze Truth, Eric was more than happy to be leaving. He fetched their coats while Coltrane collected her things. The other couples encouraged them to stay to no avail.

While they had consumed the same amount of drugs, Manami was noticeably more coherent than Eric. As a frequent consumer, she had built up a tolerance to some of the substances that Eric had not. As the two rode the elevator down in silence along with her two bodyguards, she seemed calm and composed, yet Eric was still twitchy and hyperactive. Eric helped Manami put on her coat, and moments later they were walking outside toward the limo that pulled up at the building's entrance. They climbed in.

"Sooo... what now?" Eric asked suggestively; the recent hit of eX had his mind racing. Manami gave him a weak smile and responded, "Unfortunately I have to call it a night. Which is a shame, because I was having a great time. But my keycard is missing and I just received word that there was a break-in at the arcology." Eric, having sustained his Analyze Truth spell, was confident she was telling the truth. It seemed the Shiawase executive really was starting to like Vincent White. Manami took a deep breath, then sighed, "So it looks like I'll be working late tonight. Such is the life of an exec, with the good comes the bad."

It was about a 20 minute ride back to Vincent's Berkeley residence. As the limo came to a stop in front of his apartment complex, she gave Vincent a quick kiss on the cheek. "We'll do this again sometime?" she asked. He responded, "Yeah, sure. I had a great time." The doorman opened the door. "I'll talk to you later then. Good night." She smiled and waved one hand as he stepped out of the limo. Eric could feel that the drugs' effects had waned as he walked back to his apartment. He had no idea what the crash was going to feel like tomorrow.

---

J.P. Redman stood at the head of the conference room. All but one of F.A.T.E.'s agents was in attendance. "Where's Eric?" he asked. As if on queue, Eric entered the room, wearing a pair of sunglasses. Without saying a word he walked over to the empty seat between Doc and Anastasia and sat down. He looked miserable and somewhat pained as he walked. Ana asked him in a low voice, "Don't you have cybereyes? You can adjust the brigh..." Without moving his head to look at her, he held up his hand. She took that as a queue to stop talking.

J.P. Redman began the meeting. "Good work all of you. Last night's successful operation has yielded valuable intelligence on the Drakes Bay project and facility. We've forwarded the information to the CIA who has analysts working around the clock to decrypt and analyze the data Dmitri was able to gather. From what I've seen so far, the results are even greater than we hoped. Floor plans, security clearances, employee information, shipping records, security measures, matrix topology, and device schematics are all among the files. Dmitri also pulled some interesting files on Ms. Coltrane: financial, medical, and communications, including some between her and Drakes Bay personnel. The data will be available on F.A.T.E.'s datastores for you as soon as the CIA decrypts it."

---

Making a Run for It - Doc, Oni, and Hector's narrow escape from the Shiawase arcology.

Results

Status: Complete
Dates: February 3-5, 2073
Quote of the night: "LADIES! I'm right here." - Eric Black
Nuyen: 5,000¥ mission award
Stipend: 4,421¥ remaining

• 1,000¥ spent on 2 hits of Laés
• 1,579¥ spent on Vincent White's lifestyle

Karma Awarded: 7
Additional Awards:

• Eric, Doc, Oni, and Dmitri receive +1 Street Cred for exceptional handling of challenging situations.
• Dmitri and Oni receive +1 Public Awareness for being involved in a gunfight in a busy shopping center.
• Dmitri receives an additional +1 Public Awareness for getting caught hacking into top secret datastores with stolen credentials.
• Anastasia receives +1 Notoriety for making a powerful enemy (Manami Coltrane).
• Eric Black's Loyalty rating for contact Manami Coltrane increases to 2.
• Hector's Betameth addiction has been lowered to Moderate.