| From: | Jaimie Nicholson <jaimie.nicholson@********.OTAGO.AC.NZ> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Offer |
| Date: | Mon, 27 Jan 1997 12:44:14 +1300 |
>>>>>[I have a task that will require your special skills.
Here's the history...
+++++Include previous correspondence re Ronin
We decided to sell Ronin to 'Raku, and part of the deal we came to was that
the information that he has must be suppressed. Some 'Raku troops were
waiting at the meet... local boys, not particularly good, but the magical
back-up was supposed to be drek-hot (on both sides, as it turned out).
Ronin had the advantage that they needed him alive, but that doesn't really
excuse the failure of the 'Raku guys. We caught the following pieces during
the botched pick-up.
During Ronin's approach to the meet, we monitored this radio conversation.
Encrypted, but their gear wasn't good enough to stop us listening in.
+++++Begin soundfile
The recording begins with a painfully loud squeal of electronic noise, then
its volume lowers and voices become audible.
Speaker One: Evita, this is Ronin, you got me? Testing, etcetera.
Speaker Two: I got you, I got you. Ice is on the astral, nothing to report.
Ronin: Okay, proceeding down >>street name<<. Traffic seems normal.
[Pause, 13 seconds]
Evita: Ice reports watcher activity near a tall building, predominant
emotional message in the name is something about protection.
Ronin: Armourguard Security?
Evita: Could be. There's a ward on the building, Ice is having a look...
average power, probably standard operating procedure if it is this security
company.
Ronin: Tell him to keep an eye on it. Armourguard is just across the street
from the cafe.
Evita: Yes, indeed.
[Pause, 23 seconds]
Ronin: I have pursuit, three in a van behind me, one more walking towards me...
+++++End soundfile
Now we move to the footage from our Condor drone... the guy in the leather
coat is Ronin. The 'Raku guys had planned to get him in the alley and
bundle him into the van, looking for minimal witnesses, cutting down on the
risks of, shall we say, audience participation.
+++++Begin footage
The view is from a fish eye-lense, about 10 or 12 metres above an alley
between a two-story building and one that continues above the camera. There
is a fire escape ladder leading from the roof of the smaller building
halfway down to the alley. What is visible of the street is occupied by
several passers-by at a time, moving in and out of the field of view.
A man dressed in a leather coat, Ronin, approaches the mouth of the alley,
moving from left to right, taking his hands from his pockets as he does so.
A wide-shouldered man approaches from the right, dressed in a dark suit,
carrying a grey coat over his arm. He steps out towards the street to get
out of Ronin's way, then lunges at him from the side, dropping his shoulder
and driving it into Ronin's side. Ronin falls back into the alley, rolling
over backwards and coming to his feet as the suited man moves forward to
attack again. He blocks a left hook, catches the suit's arm and spins,
somehow arranging to stick out a foot and trip his victim over it. Taking
the opportunity to pull his heavy pistol from under his coat, Ronin moves
back a step and puts two rounds in the suit's face. He looks towards the
street, two stunned passers-by gaping back at him, then runs down the
alley.
Squealing tyres are heard from the street, and a brown van makes a sharp
turn into it, narrowly missing the dead suit. Ronin turns and looks at the
approaching van, fires two shots into the front of it, then leaps for the
fire-escape ladder as the van draws closer. He pulls himself up by one
hand, firing again into the roof of the vehicle as it passes at high speed,
then drops into a pile of rubbish sacks directly below the ladder. The
van's back doors open, and two men in armoured jackets spill out, carrying
H&K SMG's. They move towards the pile, from which Ronin emerges, shaking
off bits of rotten cabbage and other muck, firing four times in quick
succession. One target goes over backwards, his head striking the van with
a solid "thunk", the other takes a step back, reflexively pulling his
tigger and loosing a long burst. Ronin catches one or two of the many gel
rounds, is knocked over by the impact, and the rest of the bullets go over
him and to his left. As he hits the ground, there is a sudden flare of
flame, and some sort of fire spirit manifests between him and the van. The
SMG-man shouts something, and the van starts moving forward again. Ronin
pulls himself up into a sitting position and fires twice, hitting the
SMG-man at least once. As Ronin's target goes down, the elemental lashes
forwards, engulfing the back of the van. Ronin gets to his feet, and climbs
up the fire escape ladder as the van's driver leaps out a front door and
the vehicle bursts into flame.
Reaching the top of the lader, Ronin pauses to take stock of the situation,
then changes clips on his pistol before heading away from the street from
which he entered the alley. A muffled explosion sounds from below as the
elemental rips into the fuel tank, and Ronin turns his head briefly at the
sound, apparently spotting the floating camera as he does so. He fires at
it three or four times, and the camera plummets towards the alley.
+++++End footage
So much for the condor... finally, the gun-cam footage from our combat
heli-drone...
+++++Begin footage
The point-of-view starts above a street, moving along it at speed, then
banks steeply into a left turn, shooting down an alley full of dead suits
and a burning van. It clears the roof of the two story building by a few
centimeters, catching it's first glimpse of Ronin. The samurai is running
across the roof, jumping down to a slightly lower one as the drone arrives.
The POV rotates towards him while passing, lining up the crosshairs on his
moving form. As it fires an automatic burst, a similar fire spirit to that
which appeared down in the alley manifests between Ronin and the bullets,
only one or two of which make it through the flame. Ronin jerks with the
impact, almost falling, but the gel rounds bounce off his presumably
armoured coat, and he regains his stride as the drone moves past. The fire
elemental moves towards it, then suddenly demanifests. Ronin begins firing
at the drone, and it drops below the rooftops, slowing down, and cruises
along a quiet side street.
When it resurfaces, Ronin is nowhere in immediate view. The drone rises,
camera tilting to look downwards, and spots the samurai, waiting in the
shelter of an air-conditioning system's rooftop motor housing. The drone
drifts down towards him, motors going quiet, but just when it has him lined
up, Ronin dives aside, turning to fire at it. The burst from the drone hits
only the roof, gel rounds bouncing in all directions, but one of Ronin's
three shots seems to damage the drones electronics, causing it to slip away
to the side, losing height. More shots sound, the camera jerking with a
couple of impacts. For some reason, the motor fails to restart, and the
drone crashes into the roof, bouncing a few times before coming to rest
facing away from Ronin.
The footage ends about five seconds later as the camera is engulfed by a
fire elemental.
+++++End footage
Ronin kept going across the rooftops, and the elemental continued to run
interference for him. A 'Raku mage was up in the astral trying to deal with
it, but Ronin had some very capable astral support of his own. More spirits
arrived, spells went off in random directions and from non-obvious sources,
and in the confusion, Ronin got away.
According to the 'Raku hit-mage, his astral back up consisted of a female
mage of unknown type (probably initiated, capable of astral perception,
sorcery, and conjuring, but she didn't come out and play on the astral) and
an elf who is an initated hermetic magician (described by one of the 'Raku
astral guys as "not bad, for kawaruhito shadow-scum"). The female adept was
tentatively identified as Evita, of whom we have some pictures. Ronin may
also have the backup of an as yet unidentified gang known as the Shifters.
Ronin himself so far seems to be a fairly standard issue chipped-up street
monster... he has yet to show active magic use, and according to the 'Raku
astral back-up he's so cybered he couldn't light a match by magic. But be
aware that he has a very high powered detection spell quickened on him. The
'Raku mage was doubtful about his ability to take it down, even if he
hadn't been hampered by Ice and his herd of elementals.
These are all the pictures we have:
+++++Include picfile Ronin1.pic
+++++Include picfile Ronin2.pic
+++++Include picfile Evita1.pic
+++++Include picfile Evita2.pic
And the 'Raku mages impression of Ice's astral body:
+++++Include picfile IceAstr.pic [A blue-robed, powerfully muscled elf with
a long slender dragon wrapped around his left leg, body, and right arm. The
head of the serpent is rearing up from the elf's wrist, snarling in the
direction of the viewer. The quality of the picture is surprising.]
You must take Ronin and all associates, so follow him for a while before
finishing him. Use drones though, remember the detection spell.]<<<<<
-- Geo <16:41:26/01-26-57>
