The Setup: Part 6
Sawiz woke the next morning ready to go. He threw on his clothes, equipped himself, and made his way to his new warehouse to begin setting things up. Several boxes arrived throughout the day, which he signed for under his assumed identity; Jack Hughman. It was a reference to an old 2D movie actor from the early 21st century. Sawiz liked the classics.
As he arranged the equipment for the hideout, he made a few calls over the commlink, mostly to Felicity to try and get her to meet him, but it seemed she was still busy. Tomorrow would be the first official team meeting, so he hoped she would be ready to meet before then.
It took him a few hours, but eventually, Sawiz got everything set up the way he wanted it. In one corner was a decker haven with Matrix access, in another sat the vehicles and a few drone charging areas for riggers, in yet another was an almost empty arsenal, stocked with a few medkits. Finally in Sawiz’s corner was a leyline, a few magical amulets, and some spellbooks.
Dominating all that however, was Sawiz’s control mainframe. The security protocols to the warehouse could be activated there, job e-mails and relevant Shadowland BBS posts would be filtered to his inbox there, and payments and expenses could be calculated for the whole team using some payroll software he’d downloaded from Shadowland, the premier shadowrunner BBS hosted out of the Seattle data haven.
In the middle of the warehouse was a line of four lockers, prepared to house equipment for each runner, and each holding the street name of one of them on the name plaque. A little personal touch Sawiz had come up with to make the runners feel a little more at home. Still, all this cost a lot, and his account was running very thin now. He was essentially broke. For what O’Rien was promising, though, it was worth it.
Finally Sawiz got a call back on his commlink from Felicity.
“I’ve finished my work and I’m at your disposal now. Where you wanna meet?”
Sawiz was somewhat taken aback by her straightforwardness, though it wasn’t necessarily a rare trait among runners, especially Street Sams. “I’ve got some data to assemble, so I’ll meet you at The Rabbit Hole. It’s the same club I met the rest of the team at last night.” With his account running so thin, he didn’t say “drinks are on me”, this time. He would have enough to pick up the tab if it came up, but that was about it.
“Alright. See you there in an hour.”
Sawiz affirmed his acquiescence, then ran off to his home to retrieve the data and the slap patch, then ran down the road to The Rabbit Hole. As he entered, he was blasted with music this time. A live Punk Rock band was playing in the back. Sawiz took his seat at the bar, beating Felicity by fifteen minutes, which he spent enjoying the music.
Sawiz was so engrossed in the music, he didn’t even notice when Felicity sat down at his table, nor did he question how she had identified him. He was too startled. “Oh! Hey there. Sorry, I was enjoying the music.”
Felicity’s body was almost entirely replaced by cyberware, from head to toe. Some of it was obviously alphaware for her to keep her last shred of essence, what makes people people, but it was unlikely she had much left. What remained of her original body clearly marked her as a Smilodon. She was primarily identifiable by her prominent canines unless of course they, too, were engineered. Most of her body and indeed, her face, had been replaced with chrome, though.
“You’re Felicity?” He asks, as the waiter, an African Wild Dog, comes by to ask if they were set on drinks. Sawiz orders nothing, but Felicity orders a particularly strong synthoholic drink. She presumably had some kind of cybernetic toxin filter that would keep her from getting drunk as quickly as a Natural. That’s the first subject Sawiz brings up, despite the urgent matter of the drug he was holding.
“That’s some pretty slick chrome. Did you get it all at once?”
“No, actually. I started with the alphaware legs and had to save up after that for the rest. Still, it’s all proven pretty useful at least once. I wouldn’t have shredded my essence on it, otherwise, after all.”
Sawiz nodded. That was a valid point. “I hope you’ll pardon my stare, I’ve just never seen anyone decked out in so much chrome and wear it so well. That alphaware suits you.”
He grins, before continuing the conversation on to the more essential details. He produces the drug and the datachit with all the information on it, sliding both as covertly across the table as he can, covering it all with his hand and waiting when the waiter returns with Felicity’s drink. After that she takes it from him, asking, “What is this?”
Sawiz responds, “It’s some sort of drug and a datachit on it. It’s brand new, and Renraku really wants it enough to have me killed over it after I ‘acquired’ it from Shiawase. They’re both getting in to something heavy, but I can’t understand the documentation at all. I figured with your background-”
Felicity interrupts “That maybe I could decipher it for you? That sounds like a job, my friend. And Felicity doesn’t work for free.” She slides the chit and patch back to Sawiz, who pockets it once again. “Fine. I’ve got a few runs lined up for us to help fund my operation that pay well. We’ll start tomorrow, so get a good night’s rest.” He stood and began to walk away, when Felicity says “Wait.” Sawiz turns to hear her proposition. “Buy my drink, and I’ll take a look at it for you.” Sawiz sighs somewhere between relief and irritation. He was completely broke now, but at least he had a lead, now. He returned, sat down, and enjoyed the music until Felicity was done, paid for her drink, and slid the chit and patch back to her, which Felicity pockets this time. Before his first supporting run, he’d gotten a lead. That was something, at least.
