A LOT happened this week hence the delay and my RSI from typing
Episode 11 - Betrayal
After travelling down to Earth the group get local Transport to Balitmore ready for Bruces 65th Birthday party. With most of the group already suited up (Thatch quickly swaps his Dress blues for a traditional tux while Joe insists on buying any sort of armour he can find) the group search for the other essentials for the man about town. Namely a Limo and a small arsenal of guns. Ziang, being from the area, takes them to Wing Yip. A local florist and asks for a "bouquet" each with enough "Pollen" for an average length "garden Party". They walk out with pistols each (as well as random flintlock for Victor) and a request to never come back. While Ziang and Victor get the bouquets Joe stumps for the limo and driver (not quite bringing himself to get the armoured ex presidential model) and Thatch gets them an Air BNB to stop in through various cutouts.
Once the shopping is done the group head to the party in their limo leaving the guns inside as it is directed to the parking area of the luxorious nightclub. Bruce is a minor celebrity in his own right so the party is well attended by the local socialites and minor celebrities along with the press. They are allowed in (after Joe is told to remove the Bullet proof vest as it's against the dress code) and given their own booth. The Party is in full swing with all the food and drink they can eat (thatch takes advantage to get all the REAL chicken wings he can) while the all sorts of entertainment is on offer which Joe insists on joining by doing Kareoke. On his way down from the stage he spots a commotion at the entrance. A younger chinese man is arguing with the bouncers. Eventually he is let in and he heads across to a side door with no further challenge.
Finally Bruce himself comes on stage in an elaborate shiny suit and gives the typical Birthday acceptance speech thanking them all for coming and a "spontaneous" round of Happy birthday rings out before the same young man Joe saw storms out of the side door visibly distraught shouting up at the stage phrases such as "You don't care!" and "All he's done for you!". Bruce just shakes his head not unsympathetically as he storms out before politely making his leave. The group note more goons arrive and seem to be having a polite word with what appears to be the local press. Ziang recognises the young man as Raz. Someone rumoured to be the lover of Shinzu Yamamoto, Bruces second in command.
For the first time tonight Tito comes to the group. He invites Ziang back to meet with Bruce. Ziang takes with him Angelus and Joe as the groups best talkers. Thatch orders more wings.
The trio are taken to a big gaudy office where Bruce is sat in front of a definitely not evil villainous wall of monitors. Joe notes what appear to be Martian ship plans on the screen before Bruce shuts it down. He turns with a huge grin to Ziang and Thanks him saying "I can say I know you now". He places the datachip on the table but Joe, who was heavily involved in creating the forged unit, notices it doesn't look quite right. It looks like the real one and not our forgery. The real one Reuben insisted on throwing out the airlock...
Bruce continues to Ziang, mostly ignoring the other two saying his debt is "almost repaid" and asking if he would do a "little favour" to clear it completely. Shinzu has been missing for several days and Bruce would like help finding him saying Tito will provide the rest of the details shortly.
The trio head back to the table where Thatch is just finishing the wings "Did Bruce like the "package"?" He asks of them. "He did but the... "packaging" wasn't ours but the original" they replied. Thatch's face shoots to Reuben and asks him if the data went out the airlock. he is unreadable but Thatch gets the feeling he is hiding something. At one point Tito turns up asking if it is a bad time. Thatch sends him for more wings. Eventually they agree to hold the conversation until elsewhere. Tito comes back and informs them that Shinzu went missing after going to a warehouse thye owned on his own without his bodyguard which is unusual. No specifics of what is stored there and no cameras in that part of town. Riz came in upset thinking they are not doing anything to look for him but they are also at a loss and want the group to find him. He can arrange for riz to meet them at the warehouse the next morning. Joe drops the hint he wants the promised payment
with all the subtlety of a dropped anvil.
The group go back to their limo and head to a random bar. On the way they notice another limo following flashing it's lights. they pull up at the bar and walk over to find Riz is inside distraught. He has just received a ransom note 30 minutes ago saying they had him. Thatch asks for his device to try and and completely fails to clone it instead taking it with him in the hope he can trace the source of the message. Riz rants and raves that Shinzu kept going to the warehouse alone, that Shinzu will be in trouble with Bruce if he finds out that he likes his life etc. The group assure him they will find Shinzu and send him on his way.
The group turn and question Reuben as the last person who had the data Bruce now clearly has. His face is a Mask but, where usually he is blunt and definite he evades a straight answer just repeating "Everything is for the best. Especially for Ziang" Thatch remembers having a gun to his head and all the bending over backwards he did just to protect the data for Reuben and gets madder and madder. At this point Angelus excuses himself for a moment as he received an incoming message from Fred Johnson before coming to the group and, while staring at Reuben, sends the message to everyone's devices...
On their screens Fred seems tired and concerned in a darkened office. The entirety of Tycho station lost power for 20 minutes and in that time the station was breached by an unmarked martian frigate and boarded causing 25 deaths and 10 injuries and taking away the "assets". One attacker was killed and his face did not come up in a scan but a quick autopsy showed he had been eating Martian rations. Johnson points out the only people who knew he had the assets was him, Drummer and Angelus' crew and for Angelus to watch his back. He closes off with "shit smells like Black ops to me"
The group look to Reuben who is statue like. giving absolutely nothing away. The doctor thinks back to when he treated Reuben after his beatdown and realises for someone of Reubens stature the wounds were mostly superficial. Reuben gives nothing away. Thatch has gotten visibly more and more irate as this go's on Challenging Reuben about putting a gun to his head at even the HINT of the data being seen then eventually storming out saying "fuck it. I'll see you tomorrow" to stop himself from drawing his gun on Reuben himself.
The rest of the group don't trust Reuben but, with nothing else to do and a task in hand, decide to check out the warehouse early at night. Just before they leave the bar Joe get's a message from Tito and a bank transfer which suddenly get's the previously Reluctant Joe ALL IN on the investigation. The warehouse looks run down and a side shutter is slightly raised. Inside the place is a mess with flour on the floor and smashed crates everywhere apart from one office with a barred door. Lacking their usual door opener in Thatch they manage to get in and find inside a single desk and chair with an old kerosene lamp and a computer. Again lacking their usual computer geek they take the computer away and head home not finding Thatch there and wondering where he is.
Thatch, after leaving the bar, walks angrily for a while aimlessly until he has calmed down enough. He rents a random hole then, unable to sleep, go's to work on the ransom note in a feat of the most aggressive ragehacking you have ever seen. He traces the message back 70 miles South east of the city to a supposedly abandoned island in the Cheasapeake bay. He looks up google maps and finds one property on the island which must be where the message originated. this takes him most of the night, not that he could sleep anyway.
The next morning the group head for breakfast somewhere wondering how to contact Thatch when he walks in obviously having tracked their devices. He sits down and shares what he has found "because that's what crewmates do" he states glaring at Reuben who is unmoved. The group give him the PC they found and he works his magic finding accounts for Winterbourne once more (the same as the ghost data) and payments handled from Mao-Kwikowski forwarded to "phoenix". Putting this together with the ghost data it is clear Phoenix has something to do with Protogen and the protomolecule but his keen eyes spot another layer of encryption. He blasts through that and finds three years of regular payments into Shinzu's account from Star Helix the police corp. It appears shinzu has been informing the police on something...
The group take this information and ponder their next steps.