The door slid closed on the old, frail woman in her bed, surrounded by the hum and blip of expensive autonomous medical equipement and the white tiger slumped supine at the bed’s foot, it’s great head cradled on it’s forepaws.
“She took it even worse than I thought she would.”
“Mai ouis, ma poupye. She has waited a very long time to find out even this much.” The gruff voice perfectly suited it’s heavybuilt, shaven-headed owner. Tones of smoke and cajun moonshine. “We will need to pursue it, of course.”
“Of course we will. Just, not with our usual people. This is going to take an unusual mix of skills. We’ll need to put the word out.
The big Louisanan sighed and leaned up against the corridor’s wooden panelling – so luxurious up here on the sixth, not at all his style. He looked at the ceiling, then at the petite, raven-haired woman he worked with. His visual augments classified her hidden weapons, her own posture and minute muscle twitches that might give a second’s warning, all while outlining the door they’d just closed, the ventilation duct and a small camera and electrolaser mount in the corner above his head in cool green. All safe, as far as his wired-in sixth sense for threats and trouble could tell. He turned again to his colleague of many years.
“Madeleine, how good is your information, really?”
The slim woman shrugged inside her enveloping black faux-leather jacket, setting twinking iridescent lights chasing each other across the scales of some big reptilian that had never been alive.
“As good as these things ever are, Gabriel. You know how it is. I paid a lot of m’lady’s money to be as sure as I could and I’ve three different sources that all go through Yaffle’s socio-dynamic analysis as giving an 80% plus chance of being genuine. The item exists, although why he had it made or why it should now be here of all cities are unknown factors.”
“D’accord. Alright. I’ll start the process at my end, see if I can dig up some good muscle. You’ll talk to the Professor?”
A liquid chuckle, cynical and world-wise. "If I can get him out of that damn VR he’s been spending so much time in, yes. And I’ll put out the word on the streets too, with the better agents and managers.
“Good.” The Gomi Emporium’s security chief kicked off from the wall and began to lead the way towards the stairs down to the fifth floor. “We’re going to need the best…well, the best available given they won’t break the bank and they’re expendable.”
In a well-appointed hotel suite downtown, a man with too many rings and skin that has a distinct golden flake effect placed a plain pay-as-you-go phonebud down on the table in front of him alongside several others and leaned back in his easychair.
“Hey, Desmond – headhunt contract. Who we got that’s good for some high-end B&E but isn’t such a face he’ll trip every recognition chip doing the job?”
His companion, a tall and grossly fat man in a business suit of the latest European cut began to pace, the servomotors of his exoskeleton clicking under cover of the black fabric.
“Jeez, boss, I dunno. Most’ve our stringers are strictly lo-lifes right now. We blew through some talent doing that job on the Don, y’know?” He snapped his fingers, ceramic on metal. “There’s that creepy guy, the one who did that job for us in Concord Heights. He might be ready to step up a grade. Or I could talk to you-know-who and see who he has in the pipe.”
The gold-flecked man picked up his trademark top hat and began to play with the brim.
“Get both, Des. We’ll get a nice fee, yes, but this is also a matter of honor. I owe the client a favor, and now is a good time to repay it I think.”
Nodding, Desmond pulled out his computer stick, pulled the screen out of its roller and began to type on the clear, flexible surface.
Before game start, players should post here a Prelude explaining how their character is contacted, hired, and dispatched to a briefing at the Gomi Emporium. Be as creative as you like – there are extra CP to be awarded for extra effort. If you create new NPC’s, locations, organisations or technology in the process, we’ll do our level best to integrate them into the setting. We want you to be involved in the creative process at all levels, not just as your characters.
The docks were shrouded in fog from the moisture coming in off the sea. It was late but there was still activity – workers loading and unloading cargo, patrons moving from one establishment to another, eyes watching and ready to report unwanted activity. I scoped out the location for some time and there didn’t seem to be any suspicious activity. There was no sign of corporate hitmen waiting to pounce. The coast seemed clear for now.
It was a very late dinner. The sun was just becoming visible – being this high in the tower and this near the bay, the rising sun could find it’s way in the gracefully curved panoramic windows of the restaurant at the top of the Port Authority’s central office building. The sky was just beginning to tint pale orange, almost matching the sweet sauce Mei’s fish was drowned in.
Welcome to News 24/7’s Movers And Shakers – the interactive news and gossip show for webizens focused on what’s going on behind the news in Night City. I’m your host, Robyn Curia.
