Tailwind
| Staring | Rook, Shiranui, Tak, Zosimos |
| Introducing | Franklin Herrold, Legate |
| Previous Episode | S01E10 – Learn from Yesterday |
| Next Episode | S01E12 – Minimum Attainable Threshold |
Outside the SCIRE and months before the Shutdown begins, another group of shadowrunners takes a seemingly simple abduction job, only to be thrown into the middle of a scramble — multiple groups all seeking the same target.
Session 1 - 2024/05/16
Jury Selection
Tak receives a call from his and Zosimos' mutual fixer, Legate, inviting him to meet with a Johnson at Matchstick's. He puts the team together, and they gather at the smoky jazz club.
The team is offered 200,000¥ to abduct a "high profile individual" and turn him over alive to the Johnson. They go through the standard back and forth, eventually gaining a small percentage up front and a small increase to the back end.
Terms agreed, they learn who the target is: David Hague, Fuchi's representative on the Corporate Court. They immediately realize they probably could have asked for more, and likely would have gotten it. The Johnson provides his itinerary — he'll be arriving in two days time aboard Qantas Flight 1118, a suborbital departing Tokyo and landing at Sea-Tac International to attend a meeting at Fuchi America HQ the following day.
Voir Dire
The team does some digging on Fuchi security procedures and makes a plan. They quickly realize that the two end points — Sea-Tac International and Fuchi America HQ — are entirely too tough to crack, so they'll have to grab him somewhere on the highways in between.
Matrix research indicates that Fuchi Security generally runs one of two options for a protective detail: either a three vehicle convoy (with six security in each of two cars but only the principle and a rigger in the third) or a single SUV (with the principle, a rigger, and four security). Without diving into the Fuchi America HQ host, there's no way to know which pattern he'll follow on the day.
They decide to use Tak and Zos in the Hotspur to force the convoy to stop at a pre-determined point, where Rook will be in sniper overwatch and Shiranui will be nearby as backup and to squelch comms. In the one-car configuration, when the security officers get out to clear their firelanes (a known Fuchi Security tactic), Zos will use his magic to force Hauge out of the vehicle and into the Hotspur. In the three car configuration, Shiranui will hack the car to open it and get Zos line-of-sight to Hague.
Mistrial
Shiranui posts up in the airport garage, watching the international suborbital terminal for the target. She spots a flurry of activity on the runway — emergency vehicles rushing out onto the airfield. After a moment, they douse the lights and sirens and turn around, heading off the airport property. Tak and Zosimos, parked near the airport exit, see those same vehicles heading out of the airport and to the East.
From their vantage points, the whole team can see the craft blow past a high speed, followed shortly by a fireball somewhere to the east. Local news services almost immediately report that Qantas Flight 1118 is an "overshoot", meaning the suborbital's trajectory will bring it down somewhere beyond the airfield. The Johnson calls the team and offers them an extra 40,000¥ if they can get to the site and recover Hague's briefcase and his body, dead or alive.
Opposing Counsel
The team meets up and heads towards the crash site. By the time they arrive, it is swarming with emergency services of all sorts — SeaTac first responders, DocWagon paramedics, Franklin Associates firefighters and more. Realizing the need for disguises to blend in, Zosimos uses Fashion to make the teams outfits look like DocWagon standard response team gear.
They infiltrate the site, and find a group of four DocWagon high threat response team carrying a corpse — David Hague — with a briefcase handcuffed to it. They move to intercept, and the hostile team responds by opening fire. They manage to hold off the 'runners long enough to get the body aboard their nearby helicopter.
As they're fly away, Shiranui locks in on the target's matrix signature and Rook uses it to take an epic shot. He severs the briefcase from the corpse's hand, where it plummets to the ground and they recover it. They bring it to the Johnson, who opens it only to find it empty. The case must have been a red herring, he needs the body of David Hague.
Session 2 - 2024/05/23
Cross Examination
| Who | Rook, Shiranui, Tak, Zosimos, Franklin Herrold |
| When | Friday, July 18, 2059 (Day -153) |
| Where | Blue Flame Tavern, Tacoma, Seattle Metroplex |
The team heads back to the Blue Flame to do some research and figure out their next move.
Tak asks his contact Frank Herrold about the crash and any helicopters matching the escapee's not-Docwagon chopper. he's more interested in pumping Tak for information about the crash than sharing what he might know. He heard about DocWagon guys shooting at each other, and wants to know more.
Eventually Tak gets a word in and learns Frank had heard something about a helicopter flying the wrong direction — deeper into Redmond instead of towards the hospitals, landing somewhere near Ames Lake.
Closing Arguments
Tak and Rook head to Redmond to see what the word on the street is. Between being a big blue lady and a lack of social skills respectively, Shiranui and Zosimos lag behind.
Word on the street leads them to Ames Lake Distillery. Allegedly, a helicopter dropped off two people less than an hour after the suborbital crash. A few hours later, a truck showed up with somewhere between six and ten guys — some of them were clearly muscle, while two of them had big duffle bags and didn't look like combatants in anyway.
Shiranui does some digging on the matrx, getting the exact location and floor plans of the site. They're old, pre-Crash, but the place has been closed since then. If they're doing anything that needs power, she figures they'll set up in the basement near the generator.
The team reassembles to scouting the area. They find a truck backed up to loading dock and identify a sniper posted on the roof. Shiranui identifies a dozen silent-running icons in the area of the building, giving them some idea of the defenses arrayed against them.
Rook sets up for counter sniping and to cover the team's approach, while Shirayuri makes sure the sniper can't inform his teammates. Fortunately, she discovers that he's logged into the wrong commlink — his weapon (a Terracotta Arms AM-47[1]) is connected to his team's WAN, but he's using his personal 'link.
Rook takes out the sniper, then rejoins the others at the building. Zosimos gets them in silently via shape glass, and they swiftly take out most of the guards. The two non-combatants in the basement turn out to be cybersurgeons, extracting Hague's internal commlink. The team runs them off (along with four of the remaining guards) and takes possession of the commlink and the body.
Session 3 - 2024/05/30
Delivering the Verdict
On their way out of the Barrens and into Touristville, heading towards Downtown to meet the Johnson, Tak gets a phone call from the Ferret. People are now talking about there being something or somebody of value onboard Flight 1118, and there are other parties looking for it.
Forewarned, the team is ready when a group of gangers ambush them on the streets of Redmond. They try to block the team in with multiple vehicles ahead and behind. Shiranui is able to skirt around them on her Mirage, while Tak is forced to drive his much larger Hotspur right through the roadblock. At least two of the gangers are unable to get out of his way and are crushed to death.
One of the vehicles attempts to pursue, but Zosimos dispatches it by tasking a fire spirit to attack the driver. Rook's well-placed gun fire dissuades any of the other gangers from making further attempts.
Final Appeal
The Johnson calls the team with an emergency change of venue. When the team challenges his sudden change of plans, he admits that his security detail is dead and he barely escaped with his life. If they want to get paid, they'll have to come to his new location.
Figuring there may be an ambush — either staged by the Johnson or by whomever took out his security detail — the team prepares for the worst. They drop off Rook early so he can get into sniping overwatch, leaving Shiranui's bike for him in case he needs to make a quick getaway. The rest close in on the meet sight, with Tak deploying drones for additional overwatch.
The precautions were warranted, with Zosimos spotting a magically concealed strike team under the cover of an overpass. The team is able to fight them off, protect the Johnson, and get paid.