A Time for Secrets

"Ok, that explains the idea to boost a commercial airline. Let me think a moment, and see if I have any alternative broad-stroke plans..." Ashe sits back a bit, and places her finger to her lower lip, pulling it down slightly in thought. After only a moment, she sits bolt upright, an excited look coming to her face.
"Boosting a corporate jet has it's concerns... I have a few ideas, but the most interesting one I have in my bag o' tricks," a deep and satisfied grin comes across her face. "Is to steal a country." Ashe pauses for effect, but not for more than a moment. "You and I both know that it will be much easier to enter a country, ID be fragged, with anything we could ever desire, as Diplomats. Despite what it seems, it is not the easiest job to pull off. Japan, however, is working hard to maintain diplomatic relations with some smaller -less internationally recognized- countries. A country like the Athabaskan Council, or the Tsimsian Protectorate, may be just precisely what we need to make this work." Ashe settles slightly, having shared the first of her ideas.
"Of course, whatever country we choose, we would have to be careful not to EVER enter. At least, not with a picture ID..." The smirk returns to her face, presumably from a fond or strange memory playing through her head.

He had recognized the little device that was brought out and realized it would sever his connection to Eleanor, quickly clicking his sub vocal mic, he knew she had a tie in. "Sweet heart, keep an ear out..." A stern look was all that he allowed to escape as the generator kicked in, severing him from his eyes and ears to everything. "Sorry about that, important to keep your friends updated and such. I thought we had this all planned out at our first meeting, but why not repeat it to our new guests. We are not stealing a commercial plane, but a military plane, its bigger than an ac-130 and can quite easily fit all of our equipment, vehicles and is getting quite a few useful upgrades for maintenance. It is much easier, and a lot less illegal to pose as a military pilot. It's also less likely to upset a country, which would be more than likely to spend every one of their resources to track us down. The time will be 22:30 hours tomorrow at a location that I'm sending now. <quick message sent to the group>. This is the east gate by the way, there maybe a fight, but that is something i would like to avoid if possible, they will be mad enough that I'm going to steal another pet project of theirs."

Stopping for a moment, "Anyways, that is the short and sweet of the current events, i believe a few introductions would be in order for everyone to be reacquainted. My name is Driver, i rarely give out my real name for obvious reasons. I can drive or pilot anything that moves, fix anything that doesn't, and i have a few other skills thanks to the military we are about to visit." Looking to both <ashe> and Jack, "Welcome to the team."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Driver. That is the most detail given yet. You are most correct that the equipment that you carry is far less illegal in the hands of the military. Military planes, however, still have to pass through customs, unless they are native. How will you accomplish this?" Ashe says, clearly interested in another potentially successful and new plan. It is quite obvious that she is engaged, for better or for worse, in the planning stage at hand. She is leaning forward, her facial features and voice modulations perfectly match those expected from someone interested, and possibly excited, by the activity at hand.
"Also, what is it that you intend to do to prevent a fight from ensuing?" She looks allows her gaze to sweep the table again, before returning her attention to Driver. "I can assure you, there are some very potentially negative side effects to stealing a country. It most certainly can be worth it, under the right circumstances, but you are correct in your assertion. It carries with it some very negative side effects." - If only they knew... Ahh, but never has a plan turned out to be so beautiful. In execution, in reward. It was priceless; and absolutely worth the cost.

LT shrugs looks at driver. "We never did go over that, and you gotta admit. Them's some big concerns." Looks back at Ashe "Tell us more about stealin a country i like that." Looks back at driver. "Unless you got somthin better Chief. I'm all ears on this part."

"I am more than happy to expound on the idea of stealing a country. And it is certainly possible, like any other idea, to work a bit to mitigate risks. However, it sounds like the Military Aircraft idea has been thought through. I am always interested in a well thought-out plan, regardless of whether we decide at the end to use it." Ashe directs her gaze toward Little Tiamat; err... Nathaniel.
"Nathaniel, let us play through the Military Plane plan to it's logical conclusion. I will be more than happy to make a cursory decision, following that, as to whether there should be any warranted interest in stealing a country. Well, interest beyond academic, of course. If that is all right with you?" Ashe returns her gaze to Driver, once Tiamat looks satisfied.
"Please, Mr. Driver, continue. I have not yet heard the part of the plan that covers a) how you all have agreed is the most logical way to avoid a fight before boarding the plane, and b) how it is that you all have determined is the most statistically successful way to bypass customs, even as a Military Unit. Also, now that I think about it, it is unlikely that a Military Plane would be allowed to land at an Air Base in Japan without already having transmitted the correct coded messages. I assume that this has already been discussed. When will the Decker or Technomancer that you all have hired be arriving? I would prefer, given the choice, to meet him or her before we leave." Ashe focuses the last round of comments on Driver, as he seems to be the one who is keeping control of the plans for the time being. She is genuinely interested in the idea of stealing a Military Plane, which would be a first for her, and quite an exciting prospect.

LT puts his hand in his head. When he realized that Nathaniel is one of his gifts from Watashi This of course is only realized after he hears it spoken aloud. So he looks up at Ashe. "You know What? I hate the way that sounds, LT will do fine."

Ashe looks back to LT for a moment, considering her words carefully. "LT," she says to him, softly, leaning in to make it semi-private. "We are in the process of deciding whether or not we wish to steal a plane from the UCAS Military, or a small country. Following that, we will be crossing international waters to steal a man from an imperial state, who reserves the right, to this day, to remove the head of any direct international threat. We will then cross international borders again, with live cargo, to return here, and destroy the property of either the UCAS Military, or the Country that we steal." Ashe doesn't pause for a moment, driving this point home.
"You have already admitted that your employer has paid a fee large enough that I will be able to purchase nearly anything I need by way of translation software, without significantly affecting my budget." Ashe takes a deep breath, and then goes on.
"If the typical shadowrun may cause death, it is death as a deniable asset, death as a nobody. There are no repercussions for your surviving team members. This run is not the same. This run will follow you for the rest of your life. If, somehow, Japan, UCAS, or the country that we steal, EVER finds out who did this, 20 years from now, they will come after you. Trust me when I say, this gift of his was likely more valuable than the money he is paying you." Ashe leans back, slightly, and takes a look at LT's slumped shoulders and drooping head.
She leans back in, but this time for a little encouragement. "Nathaniel," this time she says it with emphasis. "Pick yourself up. You can no more back out of this now than had you already stolen the plane, or the country. Walk forward with pride. This will make the news, one way or another. We will be mildly infamous. Hopefully, using fake, non-reused callsigns."

With that, she turns to the group."Well, I had not entirely introduced myself yet, as I was wondering if Watashi would be giving a name to me as well. However, for the duration of this adventure, you are all welcome to refer to me as Jeanne." She says, smiling. The name, pronounced with a heavy french accent, sounds something like Jhay-uhnn.

LT frowned he was being misunderstood. Apparently being the troll equivalent of nineteen meant saying things he would regret. Because he got up when she spoke the words "you can not back out." His eyes flared more because he misunderstood then to scare anyone. "Look sister" he said his hands slamming the table enough to make a point but not break the table. "I never back out" he continued "if there's a knife ill take the bleed, if there's a gun ill take the bullet, But i don't back out after iv given my word got it!" He sits down noticing that some of the patrons hands start to reach for the insides of there jackets. Hell even the bartender gave him a look like not in here LT. He Shrugs lowers his voice and speaks again. "I just don't like the name and i never admitted if there was a lot paid or not i said i got paid".... "bah" he snorted and he grab's Kess's barely touched drink downing it before a protest can be made. He was upset a tantrum you could call it very unprofessional. But at the moment he just wanted them all to know that he was in this for the long hall.

Ashe jumps slightly, quite surprised by his reaction to her statement. He had clearly misunderstood something about what she said, but it was puzzling what exactly that was. - Somehow when I said "...you can no more back out now than had you already stolen the plane..." he took that as an affront to his honor, or some such... And with my statement "...this gift of his is likely more valuable than the money..." He assumed that this was a statement about some volume of money. Interesting. Ashe muses, considering her statement, and his.

Ashe takes a moment to compose herself, holding off a spirited response and appreciating, again, the wisdom of Driver's "Rule Number 7". She delights in the raw display of emotion, without facial expression, as the Troll snatched up, and finished, the nearly untouched drink on the table. - It is always a treat to witness an explosion like that; better than theater! Even though she is carefully controlling her composure, there is little she can do to stop the wince from coming to her face as he slams the glass back down to the table. - If that had broken... She cuts the thought off before it had time to make traction. It didn't break, and the wince passes from her face almost as quickly as it comes.

"I can see that the tension of the situation is getting to us. I don't know about the rest of you, but this has been quite an eventful afternoon. Perhaps the finer details of the plan can wait for a few hours while we all take a small exercize break, perhaps? I have a few things I need to check on anyway, just to make sure all is in order for me to leave the country for an unknown length of time. Does anyone have any objections to meeting again in a few hours? Perhaps we can set up a different meeting place, with some personal service, and some walls to provide at least visual privacy? I can set up the accomodations, provided we are all amenable." Ashe smiles, but does not make a move to stand. She rotates her gaze among the current table inhabitents. In her mind's eye, she is seeing the scene of the next meeting, with comfortable couches, an intercom to order drinks and/or food as needed, and some of the electronic intervention countermeasures, like the box on the table, keeping their conversation as private as it could be kept.

"If your wondering if you've been given a new identity, check your commlink. Suffice it to say, before I'd even agreed to do the job certain... things about me had been completely erased. Including an actually legitimate SIN. Granted, for some one like me in the right countries I can just get a new one when ever I feel like it but..." he shrugs "It was a surprise to say the least how quickly and easily it had been done."

Ashe rolls her eyes skyward. "I will have to add that to my list of things to do now... 'Check the Bank Account; Check my Identity... Is there anything else that I should be checking before we meet up again?" She asks in mock exasperation. She then grins, showing that she understands that this is just part of the job. She aught to, after that speech she gave to LT.

Meanwhile, "Jack"-- who had just come into this cold -- only watched the proceedings calmly, taking note of the Troll's outburst, but his following declarations about his commitment to not backing out raised an eyebrow. He looked to The Cat, then Jeanne, as the two seemed to be the most collected so far.

<"If plans are unchangeable, then they may not be changed. Why was smuggling across the border declined?"> Already in his mental list, primarily he intended to check his account to see if he had been advanced any money, and secondarily was that of his identity. Granted, his identity was pretty much trashed already, but the magnitude of this operation was raising some mental warnings. <"Acquiring equipment on arrival is too difficult?"> Thus far-- at least according to the translation program he had running, corroborated by the Troll-- they had made no mention of time, so he had to assume that time was not a seriously pressing issue, for now.

While he was thinking about it, he pulled out his commlink and gave "Jeanne"'s PAN a nudge, proffering an invitation to link their networks so she could get access to the translation program that he was using, his running transcript of the conversation a transparent overlay that hovered behind everyone's heads, popping up as a speech bubble in the language that he could read after a microsecond delay before collapsing onto the image of a scroll. The rest of his commlink was shuttered tightly, given the nature of the less-than-legal discussion going on. Even the conversation transcript would be deleted the second they rose.

"Again, I am forced to ask for a translation." Ashe piped up, following "Jack's" comments. She nodded in thanks when she recieved it, and immediately accepted the PAN connection request when it came in. "Ugh, Thank you!" Ashe sighed audibly when the speech bubbles came up, appreciating that she would no longer be requiring verbal translations. - This program rocks. I am going to have to have a sit-down with a super-techno-geek to find out which is the best available. If the Cat's suggestion is correct, the best out there should be well within my new budget.
"That is not entirely what was said," She said, turning to Jack. "What was said was something along the lines of "This plan has been discussed and agreed upon..." more or less. And while I appreciate and respect that, I need to hear the length and bredth of it, to the minute details, before I agree to the plan. I expect that your consideration should be equivalent." She made eye contact with him, knowing that any runner with any experience would completely agree to that. Who wouldn't?
"That is not to say that it isn't a good plan. It is simply to say that I don't know the plan yet, and until I do, I don't know that it is a good, or even adequate, plan. And, to supplement that statement, we don't know if the plans are unchangeable until we have heard the plans. I have yet to hear the plans, in their entirety. That being said, my interest in a short break, and a new location, is still on the table."

"Some equipment could no doubt be acquired on location, should anyone have the proper contacts." Kesslan agrees readily enough. "However, I for one, have no such contacts. Indeed, with recent events, I have literally no ties to anyone at all and I certainly was not about to retain ties with my former employers given.. events that transpired, and I'm honestly too young to have made connections outside of the company." he offers a slight, unapologetic shrug. "So I'm not going to be any help in that regard unfortunately."

Ashe nods at Kesslan. "Some things are relatively simple to arrange for. Bullet Proof Armor on a new Black Americar... not particularly difficult nor particularly illegal. If we wish to take our chances, I am QUITE good at working the deals out so that on the other end, we receive offers for "other" enhancements locally." She looks around the table. - Ok, I guess they don't want to leave right now...
"Honestly speaking, in my opinion, I would consider that to be a long shot less risky than potentially upsetting the UCAS military, and still having to pass through customs albeit with slightly less rigorous requirements." She pauses to consider her options.
- Well, any more bright ideas? she thinks to herself. Then her eyes light up.
"We could set up a "run" with a local team, and then "borrow" their contacts when they go to set themselves up. Or, we could rent their equipment... Again, all of this is relatively meaningless until I know more about what our current plan is, and what we are being charged with doing. I can't really get creative without the full details." The look on her face indicates that she is somewhat exasperated. She leans back in her chair and takes a breath. Then, almost on a whim, she gets up. "I am going to go get myself another drink, and ask the Barkeep if he serves any decent appetizers... since we don't seem inclined to take a break, and I am getting hungry." She takes down any preferences, and heads to the bar to place the order.

While she is up, and has connectivity away from the Electronic Countermeasures, Ashe checks to see if her identities are in-tact, and to see if her account balances have changed significantly. When she sees her new account balances, it is her turn for unprecedented excitement. "YES!" She hoots with excitement and jumps up a bit, momentarily forgetting herself. She looks around, to see all eyes on her, and colors slightly showing the embarrassment of the situation. "I, umm, beat the overdraft charges on my account...!" She says, seeing the look of agreement coming across the faces of the nearest bar patrons. - Good one! That is actually a believable reason too! She places her order with the Bartender, and returns to her seat quickly, trying to escape the newly garnered attention from her outbreak.

Instead of waiting for the food. Lil'T speaks up, and makes momentary breaks to translate for Jack. "So here's Where we are at. Figure you guy's need some catchup for all that lettuce you just got on yer burgers." No one gets the metaphors. He moves on. "Our employer wants this man found and retrieved. He just gave us a ten year old photo I'm sending to you now." sends the original Photo that was given of a ten year old boy. "I had... a friend touch it up. Here's what we got." Again he sends more photo's these updated by computer long, and short hair. "He also gave us the Name. Taiki" he says it nice and low so that they can here him but no one else can. He leans back on the seat "Yeah well no hits on the name but we did get a hit on the short hair photo again my friend is pretty much in the know these days." "So" he pauses for effect as he had seen done. then sends the latest photos. "It was taken by a security camera in a convenience store three months ago in Neo Tokyo." "And that's the just of it we had more yes's at the meeting, but well we don't really know what happen to them."

When LT speaks up, Ashe pauses, but remains standing. She listens patiently, paying attention to LT as he gives a description of the current situation. When he finishes, she looks back toward the bar, then toward the table, and then heads over to the bar to make the order she had been planning on making. She asks the Bartender to bring over another of whatever everyone had been drinking. She returns to her seat, and curses herself for forgetting to order food. She makes a mental note to ask the server when they come over with their drinks.
"Thank you for that Nathanial. Now that we know what we're doing, let us go over, in detail, the plan for how we intend to do it. Shall we?" She gives a nod toward LT while thanking him. She allows her gaze to play across the faces of each of the table's first occupants. - They all know this. First: what is the mission. Second: How do we do it. Both are entirely necessary pieces of information. She gives the barest of nods, to no one in particular.

"To be perfectly honest, we don't have much of a plan at this point. The only thing it boils down to right now, is to get our way into Japan, probably head for Neo Tokyo and check the lead out, see if there's anything more recent on our target." Kesslan notes softly, leaning back in his seat, his drink half finished but now remaining untouched. "We've not even been told why we are expected to find this man, but frankly, given what the job is paying. I don't give a damn." he offers up a slight shrug of his shoulders "Beyond that, well I'm certainly open to any ideas, though I'm... kinda out of them at the moment."

<"Then we lack information currently. Who, Why, and When. Not only our objective, but our benefactor."> Jack pauses, looking at something in midair, considering. <"I would not remain ignorant of the circles we move in should it not be required.">

Ashe listens to Kesslan carefully, and then reads the translation of Jack's thoughts as he gives them. "I agree. Information is far too important, particularly considering the pay we have received, for us to move blind. We should take some time now to consider the possibilities available to us regarding a few things: a) gathering more information on our target, his activities, his employment, and any recent changes in his habitual activities; b) what equipment we may need to have available to us in Japan that we can not acquire there; c) how we will transport ourselves and our irreplaceable equipment there. The table, of course, is open for ideas. So far, we have 2 potential ideas: 1) steal a military transport; 2) impersonate diplomats from a small enough country that it is unlikely to be able to confirm or deny our positions. There are some other variations on these, that I would consider even more dangerous: We could steal a megacorp. For the moment, let us assume that stealing a megacorp is not worth the effort, which leaves us with 2 viable ideas. Each has it's merit, but the potential negatives are not really worthy of consideration until we know what needs to be transported in to the country. A car, no matter how nice, will be allowed in on military transport. A tactical nuke will need to be a diplomatic immunity issue. Etcetera.
"That being said, let us consider the question of primary importance: Gathering more information on our target." Ashe turns to LT. "Nathaniel, tell us about your data contact." She says, knowing that it could be necessary to engage an immersed Technomancer, or a highly upgraded corporate decker. Fortunately, she knows a few.

LIl'T slaps his hand over his face. As Ashe repeats, over and over the name he said he did not like. Is she pushing me? He thought trying to see how far she can go? "Lady easy with the name. I told you LT will be fine." he said in a professional yet guttural tone. If he was upset he did not show it. "And as far as my contact there's not much to this person. What is it that you wanna know? Understand there trustworthy and have never sold me out. Long as we known each other. Sooo yeah...."

"Your missing part of the problem here it seems." Kesslan points out "We all know these things are important, however, the information we presently have, is all our employer could provide us with. Until LT's contact came through with a name, we did not even have that much on the target. Only the old photograph. I've no doubt our employer will instruct us further on what to do once we actually locate the target, for now that's all that has been asked of us. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Well, then, all we need to do is decide how to get there, and what to bring." Ashe smiles, satisfied that they were finally getting somewhere.

"True, but that's been the point where we have been sitting for some time now. It all boils down to transportation and what we may or may not have to deal with in the way of customs officials and other such things. I for one, would prefer to avoid customs as it's likely to get me into a world of hurt unless it's some place like the NAN or some other.. friendlier country." Kesslan says, pausing a moment as he tries to decide just how much he should explain. "My kind are not generally seen as welcome, much less having any rights regardless of SIN status in most countries. Though at least I seem to have it better than ghouls."