The job at the Dymon storage facility was not going well. The party, through Kabuki, secured a storage unit near the target unit, and used it as a pretext for scouting the facility. There was not much to see. The units were garage-sized concrete boxes, with reasonably secure garage doors, controlled by keypad entry. The entire complex was covered with decent lighting and security cameras, and a pair of standard (armored vest, uniform, pistol & stun baton) patrolled the area on a fairly random pattern.
The party came up with a straight-forward plan. Rent a van under one of their variety of fake SINs and then use it to visit the facility and break in to the target unit. A couple HE grenades were also secured in case the entire plan went wrong, and they would simply settle for destroying the smuggled merchandise. A second van, from the Marubeni garage was secured to trans-ship the goods.
Unfortunately, bad luck began to strike when Kabuki went to secure the rental van. The security check run by the rental company flagged her cover identity as fake. Luckily Kabuki was able to talk her way out of the agency before any security was called, but the fake SIN was now worthless.
The party decided to continue with the plan, and decided that camouflaging the Marubeni van would have to do.
After his unrelated meeting, Hikaru performed a quick astral scan of the unit, which did not reveal any guards or other threats within the unit. The party moved forward with the plan.
Accessing their rental unit, as cover, Riku and Yoshi made their way to the target unit, on the opposite side of the block of lockers. Riku made his way over the roof, and Yoshi went around the end.
Making a final visual scan of the area, Riku spotted a small camera mounted on the wall directly across from the target unit. He quickly jumped over the gulf between units and neutralized the camera, but with subsequent events either was not completely successful, or he missed something.
Using their sequencer to unlock the door, Riku and Yoshi quickly came under fire from a pair of SMG-wielding gunmen within the unit. With Hikaru and Kabuki coming from the other side of the building with the van, a brief but intense fire-fight erupted.
The party managed to take the guards down fairly quickly, but the firefight produced several results:
- one of the crates had been damaged severely, from an errant shotgun blast from Yoshi at one of the gunmen;
- several of the team were somewhat injured by gunfire, and the flash-bang grenade tossed by a desperate gunman;
- and the facility guards were alerted, arriving on the scene only seconds after the last of the gunmen dropped from a well-placed roundhouse kick from Riku, who had charged into the unit.
In addition to dropping the last gunman, Riku’s charge into the storage unit revealed something else: tucked into the corner behind one of the stacks of crates (and partly hidden by the corpse of a gunman) was a well-cut hole in the rear wall of the unit, with what looked like a false piece of wall/cover lying next to it. Judging from its position, Riku guesses that it goes to the unit directly behind the target unit, which would put it right next to the team’s unit…
Unfortunately, Riku didn’t have time to investigate the hole, as the facility guards arrived at the scene, calling for the team to drop their weapons, and bringing up their pistols…
The guards did not last long; expecting the police to react quickly to the firefight, the party responded to the guards’ appearance with full force, and downed them quickly and without mercy.
With the guards dealt with, Riku and Yoshi quickly loaded the crates into the back of the van while Hikaru and Kabuki investigated the concealed passage to the other storage unit.
There was not much to see in the unit; it was obviously set up as a temporary base, with a pair of cots, a small table with hotplate/cook stove, and other mundane accoutrements. A trio of small vid screens were set up on the wall, taking feeds from cameras set up to cover the approaches to the unit with the smuggled goods.
With the loading complete and the other unit checked, the team did a quick frisk of the two gunmen that had ambushed them, finding several items of interest before departing the facility. Most of the team piled in to the van, while Hikaru turned invisible and walked out of the facility.
The downed gunmen had some useful gear, which was tossed in to the van:
- 2 Armored Jackets [Armour 12]
- 2 Goggles (R3 w/flare compensation, smartlink, image link)
- 2 Sets Ear buds (R1 w/sound dampeners)
- 2 Ares Executioner [SMG; Acc4(6), 7P, AP-, SA/BF/FA, RC, 30c]
- 5 clips (150 rounds) Regular SMG ammo
- 2 Erika Elite com (Rating 4)
- 3 flash-bang grenades
- 2 Credsticks 500¥ total
As they made their way back to the Marubeni garage via a circuitous route (to lose anyone following), Kabuki received a comm-call from her contact Hanu Rajesh. He looked and sounded concerned; he had found out that the entire job had been a mole-hunting operation by Hayes; his contact within Hayes’s organization had been picked up, and there were armed men coming to his home. He begged for the team to come assist him, as he was not sure his bodyguards would be able to hold them off.
The team changed their destination to Hanu’s address, and Hikaru and Yoshi called for their motorcycles to make their way to near the target building, to be nearby should they need them.
Minutes before the team arrived, Kabuki received another call from Hanu, indicating that he had intercepted a call indicating more armed men were on their way, as his security had managed to stop the armed attackers; his bodyguards were down, an only his armored door was stopping the intruders for the moment.
As the team arrived a few minutes later, Kabuki attempted to call Hanu to let him know they were there, but the call would not go through. In addition, a car was parked suspiciously on the sidewalk in front of the building. It appeared to be a civilian-issue GM-Nissan Patrol 1. Keeping an eye on the car, the team made their way to the building entrance. Just as they arrived, the elevator inside opened, with Hanu and 2 armed men in similar garb as the gunmen from the storage unit.
Another quick firefight erupted, and the party dropped the two gunmen inside quickly. Unfortunately, they had not spotted a sniper outside the building, and Riku was almost killed by a high-velocity round through his chest. In addition, Hikaru was knocked unconscious by a combination of drain from spellcasting and a lucky burst of SMG fire into his chest.
Scrambling to save Riku, the party had little luck. Al their attempts were close, but they could not stop the bleeding. Finally, they managed to locate a trauma patch in Hanu’s apartment and slapped it on his chest as he was seconds from death.
With everyone stabilized, the team quickly turned to planning their next move; getting out of the building without getting shot by the sniper. Luckily a simple solution presented itself. Hikaru, conscious due to a stim patch, turned invisible and went and got the van, and pulled it around back of the building. The rest of the team then bribed one of the ground floor residents to use his window to exit the back of the building and clamber into the van.
No shots were fired at them as they departed & the party managed to make it safely away, with most returning to the Marubeni garage, and Hikaru going home to collapse into unconsciousness.
Run Rewards
- Karma: 8 total from the mission to the storage garage and rescuing Hanu Rajesh.
- Pay: 37,500¥ (This includes the payment from Hanu and the profit from selling off the recovered electronics etc from the smuggler’s crates.)
The party also managed to pick up a few other items:
- 3 secure storage containers; Approximately 1m x 1m x1.5m. Structure 8/Armour 8 with 2 R4 mechanical locks each. They are also lightly shielded against wireless transmission, acting as R2 signal jammers against items inside the containers.
In addition Hanu, while presently not in a good situation due to having lost much of his gear, etc in his home, is appreciative of the team’s rescuing him, and is working to offer them suitable recompense. He will see what he can do about getting them some new fake SINs (and likely some for himself) free, or at least for a significant discount. He will need some time however, as he has some rebuilding to do.
The next day, Jon invites the team to attend the monthly motorcycle races at the Motown Raceway. They don’t start till mid-afternoon, so the team will have plenty of time to sleep in. He wants the Ronin to at least show their colors, and there are supposed to be several notable racers that are supposed to be attending this month. Riku would only be able to attend the preliminaries without missing his girlfriend’s party, and Kabuki may find it difficult getting back into the city without a fake SIN.
In addition, he has another business opportunity to discuss with the team. It is a more long-term undertaking, so there is no time pressure on it. He is looking to ‘acquire’ the neighboring lot, a small packaging plant. He would like the team’s assistance in doing so.