CY_BORG: VIP Abduction

[Mantis]

Zola will scope out the office block entrance and just check for any signs of activity or if there is another business working out of it.

[Stormbringer]

Zola and Sen leave the taxi, ignoring the hot-dog salesman. Sen walks around the perimeter while Zola walks towards the office entrance.

Doze, meanwhile, staying in the passenger seat, syncs her tiny fly-sized surveillance drone to her RCD and is able to see the image of its miniscule camera as a picture-in-picture within her own headgear.

Using a remote control interface that comes with the drone software, she pilots the bot from the taxi, across the trash-strewn street toward the main entrance of the office block, toward a pair of automatic glass doors. She notes that CCTV cameras observe all comings and goings through these doors.

Flying the bot near the automatic door-sensor, the door detects the bot's movement and the double doors slide open with a hiss. Flying through the gap, Doze sees a shabby reception area within, like any of the hundreds of thousands of businesses scattered about the city. More CCTV cameras are fixed around the ceiling in here, covering almost every angle.

Sitting behind a cheap desk, facing the doors, RCD jacked into a terminal, is a plain-clothed receptionist, who looks up when she sees the doors opening, but quickly looks back down to her terminal when she sees nobody is there.

To the right of the receptionist's desk, on the north side of the room, a corridor runs westward. Down this corridor Doze sends the drone. The corridor stops at a dead end up ahead, but there are two closed doors on either side, left and right (south and north respectively). Based on the layout of the building that Doze can see from the outside, she assumes that the north-facing door opens out directly into the alley, directly beneath the steel walkway that connects the two buildings. The door on the left does not appear to have any obvious way inside.

Doze flies the drone back to the main reception area and sees that, to the left of the receptionist's desk, on the south side of the room, there is a flight of stairs, running up, and westward. She flies the drone up these stairs to the second floor. The second floor is a typical open-plan office layout, filled with cubicles for the other type of 'drone': the corporate zombies. Most of these are empty and unused, covered in dust, but three plain-clothed workers currently inhabit three of the cubicles, each of them RCD-jacked into their respective terminals, typing away on their keyboards. No sign of a drug lab so far; more like an up-and-coming business trying to save rental costs by operating from a slum, rather than an Inbetweener district.

Doze flies the drone around the upstairs office, trying to get a good understanding of the area. There appear to be two exits to the room. One door is in the centre of the office's north wall. Again, using observation, it strikes Doze that this door probably leads to the metal walkway that connects the buildings. There is another door on the eastern wall of the office. It might lead to a storage cupboard, a toilet, or possibly a private manager's office. The door is closed and Doze cannot be sure.

There are no security cameras up here.

This appears to be the entire extent of the office block.

+ + +

Doze: is there anything in particular you'd like to look at or for around the office block? Or do you want to fly the drone back out and see what's going on in the warehouse?

+ + +

Sen, meanwhile, walks casually around the perimeter, keeping his eyes peeled. He notes that there are four ground-floor entrances in total. Two side doors; one on the warehouse's east side, the other on the office block's north side, tucked beneath the bridge. A large garage door, big enough to let a truck through, is on the warehouse's north wall. The office block has a set of glass, double-doors, likely automated, on its eastern wall.

He thinks about where the limo might park during the deal.

In all likelihood, it will arrive from the north, from the direction of Inkwell Heights in South Central. Lorne said Tosk would drive through there from the Golden Spire, HQ of Gravf/Mellberg/Tosk.

That being the case, Sen deduces that the limo could drive directly into the warehouse through the garage, since it's big enough for the vehicle to pass through, and would conceal any illegal activity that took place from outside observers. Not that there's many people around, except that hot-dog salesman. It could also pull up alongside the warehouse's side door, since the street runs right alongside it. It could also turn into the alley, parking under the bridge, directly between the buildings. It could just as easily park up alongside the main entrance of the office block. One of those four options seems to be the most likely result.

Zola, meanwhile, walks up to the main entrance of the office, standing just far back enough that he doesn't trigger the automatic doors. Looking through the glass, he sees a receptionist sitting at a desk within, suggesting that an active business is working out of this building.

+ + +

Everyone: remember you can send messages to each other through your RCDs, either by text or by speech.

[Sly Boots]

"Hey chooms, getting the feeling the office isn't connected to the drug operation, I doubt our mark will be going in there."

Doze will then pilot the drone into the warehouse, by whichever is the most obvious route.

[Wrathbone]

I’ll update everyone with my findings.

“If the limo parks inside, we gotta be in there too, right? Maybe one or two of should get in there now and hide.”

[Sly Boots]

"Wait up Sen, lemme look inside first to see what we'd be getting ourselves into..."

Out of interest, how close would Doze need to get to the limo in order to try hacking its software? Is it like the mech, she'd need to physically jack in?

[Stormbringer]

Out of interest, how close would Doze need to get to the limo in order to try hacking its software? Is it like the mech, she'd need to physically jack in?

100%. If she can get inside the limo, she can plug the cyberdeck into its onboard computer and attempt to hack in and drive it.

+ + +

Doze pilots the tiny drone around the warehouse exterior. Both doors (garage and side) are closed and do not open automatically. She flies the drone up onto the roof of the warehouse. There she spies an automated defence turret, sitting right on top of the building, at the edge overlooking the bridge connecting to the office block. It is armed with twin autocannons and covered in thick armoured plating. It appears to be active, and is scanning the bridge for targets. Both bridge doors are also closed. There is no obvious way into the warehouse for her spy-bot.

[Sly Boots]

Doze will report the presence of the auto-turret, but continues "negative on warehouse interior scan. Zola, can you switch to IR and give us a heat-sig count?"

[Stormbringer]

Zola, can you switch to IR and give us a heat-sig count?"

Don't forget, Sen has a Visionvisor plug-in.

[Stormbringer]

AND I HAVE JUST LOOKED IT UP AND REALISED THAT THERMAL IMAGING DOESN'T WORK THROUGH WALLS.

Tempted to let you have it in this game, though...

[Sly Boots]

Zola, can you switch to IR and give us a heat-sig count?"

Don't forget, Sen has a Visionvisor plug-in.

Sorry, thought it was Zola that had that!

[Stormbringer]

He doesn't, but YOU do!

However, it only works if you've not got the spy-drone plugged in. And you're also too far away to get heat-sigs from where you are.

[Sly Boots]

If we can't get surveillance into the warehouse before Tosk arrives, Doze will suggest Plan A is board and hack limo if it parks in out of the exterior spots, but if it does park inside then Plan B should probably be to hit it after it leaves again.

[Sly Boots]

He doesn't, but YOU do!

However, it only works if you've not got the spy-drone plugged in. And you're also too far away to get heat-sigs from where you are.

Indeed, that's why I asked one of the chaps who's out near the building

[Stormbringer]

Got it!

[Stormbringer]

Meanwhile, here's a plan of the interior of the office block, based on what Doze's spy-drone scouted out:




Also...going to give you another option. Going to let you test to see if you can find an air vent in the warehouse roof or something for the spy-drone to fly through.

Doze: Can you make a Presence check for me?