Argos versus Talegent

GM: Hek
Players: Argos, Tycho (somewhat)
Synopsis: Giving away the entire plot here. There was not enough interest from the player base. Both Eris and Argos took a crack at it. I could not find anybody on the MU* who was up for breaking into a corporate office in an A rated security zone.

Plot Synopsis:

Once upon a time, there was a low level "marketing director" in Shiawase subsidiary Imperial Tech Services. He was given the task of establishing another venture, a classic "shell company" focused on something boring, like offering house cleaning services to wage slaves high enough up the totem pole to afford them. The marketing director took about six months to accomplish his task, and then with the new market successfully entered into, he promptly forgot about the venture.

One might wonder what a "Tech Services" subsidiary of the oldest megacorp out there is doing moving into the low rent house cleaning market. The marketing director was not bright enough to consider it, he just saw it as an easy task and another "win" for him on the corporate point scale. His boss, the Managing Director of Central District Marketing appreciated that about him. Employees who do as they are told and do not wonder too much about them are good assets. He quickly sent a secure message off to his boss once the task was done. Then he too, forgot about what he has been asked to do.

His boss on the other hand, she did not get to her position in Shiawase without doing what needed to be done. She walked a tightrope through the Operations directorate, and developed the reputation of being one of the go to people to get things done. Such was the course of action required as a human in a corporate culture dominated by much more "promotable" elves. Her only hope of getting out of the “back water” at Imperial Tech Services and into the parent company itself was to keep doing what needs to be done.

Tasked by her higher powers to divert processing resources from the systems of the home cleaning service, she made it happen. Imperial Tech Services was tasked with developing an intelligence gathering smart frame, presumably the sort that could one day be left behind in a matrix host and tasked with returning useful information from the host's datastores. Things were going well for a good year and a half as the spare resources of the system were leveraged to compile build after build, revision after revision of the smart frame.

They were going well, up until the scandal hit. The jackass left in charge of running the actual business of cleaning residential dwellings just couldn't keep his nose clean. Presented with access to so many apartments and their contents, he orchestrated a ring of thieves within the cleaning crews to pilfer the apartments. Some amount of criminality was expected in the business, and for a while he kept it concealed but all good things must come to an end. Enough complaints stacked up, and the authorities eventually put together enough evidence to go after the company.

As standard procedure, all computing resources were confiscated for electronic discovery, to preserve any evidence on them. ALL of the computers, even the few spare ones that had been cranking away on the smart frame.

ENTER THE RUNNERS:

This is where the plot picks up for the team. Miranda, the Imperial Tech exec is beside herself with concern over the authorities discovering the smart frame on the workstations. Sure the drives are encrypted, and sure the code was broken up between four different hosts, but digital forensic tools are good, and she can't take the chance. By her calculations, she has a one week window before the company tasked with imaging and analyzing the data gets around to it and potentially finds out what they have.

That company is a mid-tier firm named Talegent Consulting, Inc. that offers digital legal services to corporations in need of them. They are a few levels removed from Novatech's Pacific Rim Computer Consultants. The confiscated hardware is stored at Talegent’s processing lab. That lab is located within Denver, in a corporate office park.

PLOT DETAILS:

The office park is an A security rated district. It’s the kind of place that mid-tier corporations rent space in. Fairly secure, but not expensive enough to break the bank. It offers all of the amenities like a matrix presence, onsite security, and convenient location in relation to wage slave housing developments. Comprised of five, ten story buildings, it is home to about 3500 employees and staff during the day, then nearly vacant at night.

Talegent is on the 7th floor of building 4. The team will have to locate their offices, and then find a way to get in there to retrieve the confiscated data from Talegent’s evidence processing lab.

SITE SECURITY DETAILS:

… Wouldn't you like to know? …

SITE SECURITY RESPONSE PLAN:

… I had it all planned out. Nobody was up for taking a crack at it. …

POTENTIAL FALLOUT:

The characters could die. The security system is not that hard, and there are not really enough guards to overwhelm a well prepared team. The biggest risk of death comes from getting pinned down and under estimating the Lone Star response.

The characters could have their identities blown by getting picked up on the cameras and not doing anything about that.

If they do too much damage to the facility, or the suite that Talegent is in, there could be upset megacorporations wanting some payback. If they manage to stay focused on the task at hand, they shouldn’t have any problems. The breach is limited enough that there is no profit in pursuing the runners.

PAYOUT:

… This was my original plan. There were not any PC fixers capable of getting a team together. The Johnson had to handle the hiring herself, and the payout was reduced accordingly. …

The plan is to offer 100,000 nuyen to a PC fixer. There is an extra 25k available to be siphoned off of the Johnson if negotiation goes very well. The Johnson cannot offer any sort of other compensation in lieu of payment. It is strictly nuyen.

The fixer will be tasked will putting together a team. For that, he should anticipate keeping about 30% of the total, with the rest split up among the team.

MATRIX HOST DETAILS:

This was a +matrix Average/Orange-7 auto-generated by the MUSH code with my notes appended to make the run go faster)

A C I F S
orange-7 17 / 18 / 15 / 18 / 17
IC Init: 3d6 + Rating
4 - Probe-5 with Blaster-9 (Probe: 5 vs DF. Blaster: 7 vs 4, 9S damage Damage if Dumped p229)
9 - Scout-9 with Sparky-7 (Scout: 9 vs DF. Sparky: 7 vs 4, 7S damage. Damage if Dumped)
14 - Passive Alert (19 / 20 / 17 / 20 / 19)
19 - Blaster-7 Cascading (7 vs 4, 7S damage. +1 every time it misses, up to +3)
23 - Active Alert
26 - Blaster-7 Shielding (7 vs 4, 7S damage +2 TN to hit it)
30 - Construct-7 Shifting
33 - Scout-7 Expert Defense (7 vs 4. +1 Security Value for each success, +1 to damage resistance test, -1 to attack test)
38 - Black Lethal-5 (7 vs 4. 5S damage)
41 - Shutdown
46 - Sparky-7 Cascading


It is a moment of deja vu when Argos' icon connects to a virtual store front in the lower tiers of UCAS hosted space. A familiar icon, the female representation of a typical Mr. Johnson sits in the center of the store. Her pin stripped skirt suit is out of place amongst the sales icons that pay her no attention, probably not even aware that she is logged into the host.
"I am pleased to once again make your acquiantence." She greets, smiling, the facial feature highly rendered, down to the mascara on her individual eyelashes.

The icon known as The Greek logs in, smirking a bit as he glances around, certainly recognizing the place… and then the Johnson icon. "Hello again… hear there's an interesting challenge that you need taken care of… and I've been wanting to take that girl down a couple of pegs anyway."

The Johnson is all business and simply folds her hands on her lap as she leans against the table in the center of the store. It looks like an Apple store for the turn of the century, large tables and wide open spaces. "Good. Do you have any questions about the compensation model?"

The Greek scholar just smiles and shrugs lightly as he folds his hands. "Well, know it pays 25k, but I'd like to know more clearly what it is you're wanting me to get from this host… as well as what data is ok for me to snag along the way to prove my accomplishments. Reputation counts for alot afterall."

The Johnson nods. "Very well. The host contains, among other things, 2000mp of our data. It should be fairly clearly labeled, given the precision with which the service provider handles these matters. What I need is two fold. One, I need the data completely removed from the system, deleted. Second, I need the physical devices that contain the data removed from the service provider's office, located in the UCAS sector of the Denver FTZ."
The woman pauses, letting the set in. Then she continues to explain. "Each piece pays 25,000."

The Greek blinks a bit at that and frowns softly. "So not just a hacking, but you need a B/E as well? Or can I access those physical devices and slag anything in there?" That is quite the differance afterall, and having to do something in the meat like that… means he'll need backup.

The Johnson nods once again. "It is proving quite difficult to find competent physical assets who can operate successfully in the FTZ. If that is beyond your capability, I understand. It was beyond hers as well. Although, she did hint that she had connections with sub-contractors who might be able to perform the work."
The woman pauses and displays a rare bit of emotion, frowning ever so slightly. "Though given her lack of competency with the initial task, I sincerely question anything she has said."

The Greek nods and taps his chin as he thinks about a few things. "Ok, I can certainly handle the first… I can even handle the second afterwards provided I've got a little time to get people together and put a plan together to go snag it. How many people can you afford to pay for the physical portion of this job?"

The Johnson responds without hesitation. "Twenty five thousand. Both tasks are of equal importance."

Argos shakes his head at that, the icon looking rather lifelike. "I plan on recruiting at least two other people for this. Doens't divide nicely, and a B/E like that on short notice can be rather risky. Tell you what, let's just make it a nice round number. 30k for the physical portion."

The Johnson shows no emotion, easy to do with a matrix persona. "Fine." She nods curtly. "Given your success with the initial phases of this operation, I believe that your team is probably worth the additional resources."

The Greek smiles and gives a nod. "Sounds good. Then I'm on board, and eager to see what this host has to crack… Just let me know exactly what I'm looking for and I'll take care of the first half in no time." And hopefully find some information to make the second phase easier. Then maybe paydata if the entire host isn't trying to kill him

"They obtained roughly 2000mp of our company's data. I am not familiar with their internal classification scheme. It is involved in a UCAS Department of Justice criminal investigation." The Johnson stops speaking. Then, as an after thought she mentions. "You should determine the exact location of the original physical data devices while you are in there. The company deals with a large number of clients and hundreds of litigations a year, if my sources are correct."

He nods softly at that and raises an eyebrow. "I see… Sounds like this will be an interesting one then. Well, unless there's anything else you feel I should know, I suppose I'd better get started. Sounds like this may be something you want taken care of as soon as possible."

"Absolutely." A narrow smile. "I appreciate your diligence in this matter. Once you have completed the first half of the operation.." A male icon walks into the host, dressed in a simple suit. "I will leave this frame here. Just upload a message to it. We can go over the second portion of the operation then."

Argos glances over at the frame and nods softly. "Understood. Well then, see you soon with any luck." He smiles and gives a slight bow before logging out of the host. Time to work.

Argos makes sure everthing is set up in his new room… first time doing work in this new place afterall, so want to make sure everything is good and hooked up… comfy chair is still comfy, and that's easily the most important equipment. Ok, time to go… doesn't take long to find and lock-on to the satellite and then… his body slumps, the smooth transition of jacking in and soaring up into the heavens in digital form. Dear God, nothing could compare to it… Doesn't take long for him to slip into the system and then… he's beaming right back down to Earth, loading up the address that Eris was so kind to put up… just have to jump through the hoops first.

The host is fairly typical for a corporate system, representing itself to the matrix as a ten story tall building covered in black glass. The door to the lobby is opened for you by a typical icon, a security officer with gray slacks and a black blazer. "Welcome to Talegent." He greets you and through the hot ASIST interface, you feel the warm rush of endorphins. Corporate programming at its best, rewarding the wage slaves for coming to work.
Argos shivers as he steps into the host, glancing around with a smile. So far so good… nothing jumping him yet like it did poor Eris… yet anyway. Still, can't hang around to much… time to find those files and get rid of them.

Bypassing the lobby you head up the elevator to what looks like a typical cubicle farm. None of the office drones seem to pay any attention to your activities as you rummage through filing cabinets like you belong there. There are some interesting tidbits, information about how the corporation handles their retrieved data. Procedures for chain of custody and insuring the integrity of the evidence. Nothing about the specific matter that you are looking for, Better Than Best Property Services (BTBPS)

The system seems a bit glitchy, perhaps due to the earlier activities of other parties. As you're sorting through the filing cabinets, an executive assistant approaches you. Dressed in a corporate skirt suit, charcoal grey in color and with blonde hair. The corporation must do a lot of work online, given the amount of processing resources that they devote to their icons. She is attractive, in a traditional sort of way.
"Sir." She pauses. "The information that you are looking for is kept in that office over there." She gestures to one of the corner offices, overlooking what appears to be a well rendered, virtual cityscape.

Argos shifts his icon to blend in more and more, glancing over at the office she mentioned. "Ah yes, of course… Thank you." He gives the icon a smile as he heads over there… though keeps an eye out just in case that icon is an IC. So far so good anyway…

In the meat world, the fans inside the cyberdeck kick into high gear as they try to disipate all of the heat generated by the MPCP running beyond full bore and into overclocked territory. The analyzation algorithms work overtime to overcome the defenses of the host and dig into what the system obviously does not want to give up.

Whoever built the system did not spare many expenses it seems. Then the last tibdits of information come trickling in.

Argos frowns as he has to work harder then usual to the info he wants… finally, he nails the code, getting the system to tell him what he wants to know. Bloody hell, this is the hardest Orange colored host he's ever run into… still, the Data Bomb is there… figured it would be. He gets back to work on his code, defusing that thing… finally, now he can start deleting this file at long last!

Argos frowns as he works on the first one, getting rid of it… now for the second one and… oh frag, /another/ bomb… this one takes a little work as he has to try a second time to defuse that blasted thing… but it gets snipped. Finally, now he can work on deleting the other file… that's the first task done and 25,000 in his pocket. Now to find the physical location of this data so they can get them and that'll be another 30k…. for whoever he decides to get as backup.

The system is stingey with information like a prostitute is stingey with her assests. It takes all of the tricks and skills that you have to get it to give up seemingly the most simple pieces of information. Finally though, the data begins to come through.

Lab: Bin 23

The host does just as Argos would like it to, delivering a floor plan with the location of the lab clearly marked. In fact everything is marked. The offices. The conference room. The kitchen.

An assistant comes into the office and sets some paperwork on the desk that you have adopted as yours, right there in the corner office like some sort o high priced executive. "Here are the work orders for the security system that you asked for." They are just purchase orders, letting you know that yes, in fact security systems were purchased for the lab.

The assistant comes back. "Here are the rest of the files that you were looking for sir."
Jackpot. The entire workup on the lab security system. Camera positions. Access control method details. The whole enchilada.

Argos smiles as he looks over the file and copies them. Excellent, this should make planning stage 2 much easier… now to get out of here and notify the Johnson. He stands from the desk that he had claimed and starts to log out of the host.

Argos frowns as he keeps getting an access denied, frowning a bit. "Oh, this is going to suck drek…" He sighs and the icon freezes up a bit… as he stirs partially awake in the meat. He reaches up and takes a breath… and pulls the cable out.

Argos groans as he jerks completely and suddenly back into the real world, almost dropping his deck. He puts it all back onto the desk and holds his head for a moment, trying to get the room to stop spinning. Ok… nap first, then contact the Johnson… ugh.

Once Argos finally regains consciousness after a couple of aspirin and a few hours of sleep, the matrix host is still right where he left it. Virtual store fronts have no need to hide behind teleporting SANs. The frame is still there waiting, a typically corporate icon, male in a black suit. The man is more than happy to accept the good news on behalf of his employer.
"You are to be provided with these." A couple of data files are transfered, if they seem familiar, it is because they are. The results of the first run Argos did for this Johnson. Information about the physical location of the office.

«Plot» Hek says, "https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4bSQo_XIajmVXhybVg3SW1UbEU/edit?usp=sharing"

«Plot» Hek says, "https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4bSQo_XIajmcnJFWlJNem5iTkE/edit?usp=sharing"

Argos takes the files and glances them over, chuckling a bit. "And here I went through the trouble of finding the place too… Ah well, every little bit helps. Anything else, or is that it for now? Oh, and don't forget to transfer those first funds my way as well while I gather a couple of volunteers."

The frame thinks for a few moments, trying to parse the dialogue Argos passes along to it. "Payment. Okay, yes. Payment is being transfered… Payment is being transfered…." An incoming data transfer presents itself to your deck, offering a credit transfer and asking what you would like to do it. Accept it directly or re-direct it into an account.
"My employer will be along shortly. Please stand by."
A few minutes later, the Johnson appears in the host again. "You completed the task. Excellent. I am very, very pleased." Her icon beams a broad smile, detailed teeth showing, pearly white of course.

Argos directs the funds to a differant account. Stay there and be good, money… Once the Johnson's icon comes up, he chuckles softly. "Well, should try and get me anytime you've got work in the future, I'm well worth the money. Have two people in mind for phase two, just need to get them, go over the information I gathered, and then we can get everything wrapped up nice and tidy for you."

The Johnson nods curtly, once again back to business. "You have been provided with all of the information that we have regarding the location. Talegent is leasing office space on the seventh floor of the marked building."

Argos smiles and nods softly at that. "Right. We'll try and get it wrapped up in short order. Where's the dropoff point for the physical data, or shall I just come back here and arrange something then?"

The Johnson nods, dipping her chin towards the blouse, rendered to the point of having pearlescent buttons. "My intelligence indicates that this host is still secure. Once you have obtained the packages and extracted them to a safe location, contact me here through the frame."

The Greek nods and glances around. "Fair enough. I'll let you know when we've completed the objective then. TIll then." He gives another slight bow before logging out of there. Now to gather the room mate, the wife, and go over the data to form a plan.

The layout of the office is like a U that takes up one half of the floor. The lobby is in the center of the U, accessed via a pair of double doors. On the tip of each side of the U is a door. The doors are secured with maglocks, keypads and card swipe. There are cameras on the lobby, and on the interior hallways… the 'legs' of the U. There are also a few scattered around the inside of the office. The lab is in the lower left hand corner of the U, nestled in that 90 degree bend. It has its own maglock and keycard access.

Argos gathers Alyse and Tycho in the living room, tempting them with the promise of work. He's even got his deck full of data and maps in the living room. "Ok, just logged off with a Johnson regarding a two part job. I already did the first part, but this second one, I'm gonna need some help. Already did some legwork on it as well… basically, the job is to go into an office and get some physical data out of there. Its on the seventh floor… here…" He hooks up a display to show the map. "Its in a bin number 21, so we just have to get in, get the data, and get out. Pays 10k each. I've got position of all their cameras, their maglocks, and what not, so I can either give overwatch, or come with to help you guys past those locks… but the kicker is its in an A rated sector of the FTZ."

"intresting." Tycho says gettign up from the couch and going to get himself a drink from the kitchen."Did you get word on how long this data is gunna be in bin 21? Law offices hold onto stuff for a while, but thats no garntee it will be there next week, or valuble even." He adds in his smooth montone before disappearing intot he fridge.

Argos gives a slight shrug at that, looking over at the mecha-ork. "No clue, but we weren't given a time limit either. Of course, the sooner we get it done, the better. But still, for 10k a head, I'm not rushing anything on this one. Think there's security personal in the building as well, but I'm not quite sure how many there are, or even where they do their rounds."

"You want anything?Like half a tuna sandwhich in here, gunna go bad." tycho responds before pulling out a beer and setting it ont he counter. The ork stands withthe door open for a moment,"How heavy is security grid side? anything beefy enough to give you trouble or can you take your time over there?"
Argos shrugs slightly at that. "If its like the host I just hacked… it'll be a pain in the ass. I can probably manage it, but I don't know how quick I'll be able to work if drek hits the fan."
Tycho closes the fridge and walks back sitting down, poping the cap on his beer with a mechanical grip."So you might be able to go in ahead of time, and say, sit on thier cameras for a night. see what they do?"
Argos shrugs slightly at that, leaning back in his seat. "Maybe. Longer I stay there though, better chance security has of noticing me and then they'll be on alert. And if they're smart, they'll notice that data I deleted and figure out what's up and move the data. Though granted, it'd be rather unlikely they notice I deleted any of their files for awhile, was quite a lot of them there."
"Just saying, i dont think we are busting in there tonight, might as well pop over and at least get a head count, know what we're dealing with on the manpower scale." Tycho responds taking a sip of his beer."Is this building all one office or is it just thier floor? They may close at 5 pm but thier neighbors mught not appeciate niose and all that. Any idea who they are bunking with?"

Argos chuckles a bit at that and shrugs. "Oh, I don't plan on rushing, no. Just giving you the details on the job and what I've got so far. Only thing I know about is the stuff on that floor, that office. Getting even that was a pain. Still, I can try and see if I can worm my way into their host and see what I can find."

Tycho nods and surveys the data they have again."I suppose bin 21 could be everythign from a opti disk to a pallet of legal paper too." the ork says shaking his head."I suppose I coudl walk over there and see if i get thrwn out for just standing around, let me see the building directory if i'm not."
The ork sips his beer and says,"whil i'm doing that, why dont you see if you can find out what kind of postal service this place gets? If they keep physical data, they have to move it and if its not all couriour jobs, then we really just have to break in and move some papers across the office and wait 3-5 buisness days."

Argos nods softly at that. "I'll see what I can dig up on the building itself. What we're looking for are basically FUP drives… Should be two of them we're looking for. Hopefully we don't have to snag the entire bin though."

"Well thats all i got with what we know now." tycho says taking another sip form his beer."I'll pop over ther as soon as i can get out."

Given the address to work on, the cyberdeck executes the search algorithms and begins to scrape the matrix for everything related. Everything related to the address turns out to be quite a lot, and there is a lot of chaff to sort through to get down to the pertinent particulars. Some of them are obvious, standing alone and useful in and of themselves. Others require inference and extrapolation from consolidated data streams. In the end though, the picture becomes clear.

The office complex that the Talegent corporation is leasing space in is run by a larger entity, the Prosperity Development Corporation (PDC), an umbrella group that includes the majority of Wuxing's service sector business. In this case, the services that they offer are office space to non-mega corporations who need it. They contract out just about everything; the searches bring back work orders from all sorts of companies with the address of the office complex on them. HVAC companies, electricians, waste management, telecom, all of the usual services that you would expect.

Specifics of the complex and the tenants are gleaned from a mixture of sources, the tenants themselves and information that PDC puts out to attract new tenants. The large majority of the tenants are a mixture of predominantly financial services and legal firms, with a lesser mix of technology companies that service those markets (like Talegent) and various others, design firms, architecture firms and the like.

There are not many specifics on the property itself, other than the following. They boast a full offering of services, including a gym, on-site parking, concierge, 24/7 on-site security and heliport access. There is also on-site housing available, both long term and for visiting employees of the various companies who lease space in the office towers.

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