Scarcity of Stars • Chapter 02

"*Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war.*"
 ― Kylan Nikil

## Fight or Flight

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### **The Jungle, Medea Station** *(15/07/2344)*

In the abandoned maglev tunnel deep within the heart of the Jungle, Kolibri enters the hidden Voodoo Boys stronghold through an airlock, having just traversed the vented maze of maintenance tunnels that prevents just about anyone uninvited from finding this place. The interior, packed with vidscreens, ice baths, and crash couches, is busy and tense. Rumours abound of a R.A.B.I.D sighting, the first in decades, just minutes before the breakout of the Militech and Kang Tao corporate war.

Though the sighting is so far unconfirmed, an entire team of three Revnans (Voodoo Boy netrunner specialists) had been killed, their brains fried, within a few moments. Very few things could do something like that undetected, and the rumour mill is already running wild on the open NET, spouting conspiracy theories and wild claims.

Kolibri is led by one of the guards to a platform where three of the biggest names in the Voodoo Boys are engaged in quiet discussion. One of them, Farah Jean, the Voodoo Boys fixer, breaks off to speak with her. The conversation is brief, in which Kolibri is instructed to (discreetly) locate a netrunner by the name of Trojan.

"*Wah gwaan, Koli. There someone mi waan yuh to find. A netrunner. Goes bah the name of...Trojan*"
 ― Farah Jean

### **Jig-Jig Street, Medea Station** *(15/07/2344)*

Waking up amidst a pile of naked bodies after a wild night in the loud and bright nightclubs of Jig-Jig Street, budding NET sensation Inkblot staggers out of bed to find 12 missed calls from his parents, which he promptly ignores in favour of browsing his Garden patch notifications and fanmail, sliding into a few DMs, and favouring in particular those posts from beautiful women.

In his general groggy state, it takes him some time to notice the news scrawl: Militech forces attack Kang Tao Tower in retaliation for industrial park bombing. Kang Tao Tower, head office of Kang Tao Solutions in Medea Station, is also home to many of its lesser partners, including his parents' employer: Kendachi Arms. Hurriedly, he tries to call back his father and mother, only to find their lines busy, or potentially being jammed. After a few moments of panic, he makes a plan to find a way past the checkpoints into Downtown, and calls on his fans for an impromptu flash mob at the checkpoint itself.

### **The Stacks, Medea Station** *(15/07/2344)*

In the aftermath of their gun fight with 6th Street, the survivors of the crew quickly pick up the pieces, loading the bodies of Sawbones and Hammerlock into their vehicles, and taking also the two crates of weapons that were being sold. They notice that the third item, a briefcase, was seemingly missing and had presumably been taken by the mysterious buyers.

Keeping a low profile, they head to Camilla's clinic, where they leave the bodies after notifying the two's closest contacts. In the weapon crates, they find an assortment of brand new Militech weaponry, including a heavy grenade launcher. Leaving the bodies and Hammerlock's car behind, they head to Brick's place to evaluate what to do next.

### **Waterside, Medea Station** *(15/07/2344)*

At Inkblot's behest, a crowd of eager fans gathers near one of the checkpoints leading into Waterside. Getting things started, Inkblot plugs in his amp and goes off into a series of fan favourites, all the while riling up the gathered Belters with anti-corp rhetoric. The Militech guards holding the checkpoint try to apprehend him, but he loses himself in the crowd and manages to sneak past the first line, only to come face to face with those guards still at the checkpoint itself.

Unable to talk himself out of the situation, he makes a break for it, dashing into the streets of Waterside with Militech and MSPD in hot pursuit. With some luck, he manages to disappear into one of the empty apartments still damaged from the Waterside Riots, only to get himself caught by MSPD officers when he tries to steal and hotwire a sports car, and he is subsequently arrested.

### **El Coyote Cojo, Medea Station** *(15/07/2344)*

On the hunt for Trojan, Kolibri manages to find some mention of his recent connection with the Valentinos, and heads to El Coyote Cojo to see if she can track him down there. Her questioning of the bartender, Guapo, yields few results, and she resorts instead to breaking into the bar's NET. She finds the security a bit beyond what she can handle easily, and narrowly escapes getting her brain melted by Black ICE, having discovered little to help her.

Having had no luck, she digs deeper into the NET to find any potential lead on Trojan. With effort, she finally manages to track down an article about Juno Strazniš, heir to WEB Cybersecurity before being accused of corporate fraud and industrial sabotage and subsequently deposed. The article mentions that the disgraced heir was a netrunner who operated under the pseudonym: Trojan.

### **The Stacks, Medea Station** *(15/07/2344)*

Meanwhile, at Brick's apartment, Money, Brick, and Trojan regroup and take a breather, making plans for their next step. The situation in Downtown seems to be worsening, and fighting continues around Kang Tao Tower, with neither side coming out on top just yet. More importantly, the corporate encrypted network appears to be down, leaving Money blind to goings on at the local Axiom Dynamics offices.

They decide the best course of action would be to try and find a way back into the lower levels. Through Lumberjack, Money sets up an emergency talk with Guapo to settle the deal for arms that had been his original goal, and to see if the Valentinos could smuggle them back into Downtown. They head out to El Coyote Cojo, narrowly avoiding a group of three Loca Griegas in the streets who they suspect might have been tracking them down, especially since Money recognises their leader as Logan Garcia, an old enemy of his.

Nearby, after passing along the information she'd found to Farah Jean, Kolibri tracks down the address of Juno Strazniš' box in the Stacks and goes there personally, hoping to find him in the flesh. She finds the apartment ransacked and ripped clean, the door blown in by breaching charges, and everything inside it entirely removed down to much of the wiring in the walls. The smell of bleach and cleaning agent fills the air, and the netrunning bath has been drained of coolant.

Taking a gamble, Kolibri messages Trojan photos of his ransacked apartment via the JibJob app as an anonymous user, hoping to trace his response. She also sends a photo of a footprint she finds in the bathroom, with a logo on the heel which Money identifies as that of TALOS, a premiere PMC that almost exclusively works for Exoscience. Realising the app could be used as a way to track him down, Trojan deletes his account, after messaging Neurocide that he would be disappearing for a while.

### **El Coyote Cojo, Medea Station** *(15/07/2344)*

At El Coyote Cojo, Money settles the preliminary details of a deal with the Valentinos, after Guapo reveals that the gang was looking for more than just small arms, and was hoping to secure shipboard weaponry instead, for "expanded operations". Though somewhat hesitant, Money agrees to bring up the deal to his superiors and work to secure it. In exchange, as a gesture of good will, Guapo agrees to have them smuggled quietly back into Downtown via the maintenance tunnels between layers.

The trio stay at El Coyote Cojo laying low, the urgency of the situation continuing to dawn on them with the realisation that three of the most powerful corporations in the system were trying to hunt them down. Guapo also reveals to Trojan that a woman had been looking for him earlier, and Trojan back traces her image to find her social media page, which he discovers to be completely scrambled, with clues in the code pointing back to the Voodoo Boys, an enigmatic and mysterious gang from the upper levels. As a precaution, Trojan asks Lumberjack to go to his apartment and see if he could find this woman, hoping to find her before she found him.

In the meantime, Kolibri interrogates a homeless person near Trojan's abandoned apartment, discovering that Trojan had been "abducted" by suits, in a car with the logo of Axiom Dynamics on its side. Tracing this information leads her to find the head of the local Axiom Dynamics office, William Avalanche, about whom she finds some additional criminal history, involving a murder attempt on a political official.

Her growing network of information about Trojan leads Kolibri to discover connections between Trojan, Brick, Lumberjack, and the now deceased Hammerlock. She finds videos uploaded by Lumberjack of him killing 6th Street gangers from earlier that day, in the background of which she sees Trojan and Brick. In doing so, she surmises that the group might be returning to El Coyote Cojo to cash in on a gig, and makes her way back in that direction.

### **MSPD Precinct D1, Medea Station** *(15/07/2344)*

Four or more hours after his arrest, Inkblot finds himself in the disgustingly dirty holding cell of an MSPD precinct in Waterside. It takes hours for anyone to process him, at which point he is read his lengthy list of charges, and given the opportunity to make his one phone call. Unsure whom to call, Inkblot decides to call his ex, Nishigiri Kuko, who had gone cyberpsycho a while back. The call goes about as well as expected, with Nishigiri promising to "make him sing again" just before abruptly hanging up.

While he impatiently waits, Inkblot attempts to make conversation with a prisoner in the cell across the corridor. Due to the lights in the cell being out, he can only make out the silhouette of a giant lanky Belter man, with a tapestry of tattoos on his space-pale skin, including a noticeable thick black circle with an outline of dark grey. Though Inkblot makes multiple attempts to start a conversation, the stranger answers back very little, in a thick Belter and a rumbling deep voice.

"*You a rebel, ke? That what ti pensa? You make music on the NET, kopeng. You make people angry so they click on your music more. And every click goes into the inner's pocket. You na rebel. You na know what rebel is.*"
 ― Champa

Only a short while later, after he's given up trying to talk to the stranger, Inkblot hears a commotion from outside the holding area, in the precinct. A boom, rapid gunshot impacts, some shouts and screams, and then quiet. Moments later, two Belters in black VAC suits burst into the corridor, shooting the officer in there in the head before she can react. They quickly come to the cell opposite Inkblot and free the man inside, who now steps out into the corridor and is fully visible as a particularly giant, heavy-set Belter, every inch of his skin (including his face and bald head) encased in black tattoos.

Having freed the man, who they refer to as Champa, the two gunmen turn to Inkblot in the other cell, debating if they should kill him because he'd seen their faces. Panicked, Inkblot tries to convince them he is on their side, seemingly to little avail, but Champa steps in and orders them to let Inkblot live, not out of any particular kinship, but so he could tell whoever found the scene who had been responsible.

"*Remember this welwala. Remember who your people are. When the other inner come, tell them Black Sky did this. Tell them we come for them next. And they nevah see us coming.*"
 ― Champa

### **El Coyote Cojo, Medea Station** *(16/07/2344)*

As the clock ticks over midnight, Trojan, Money, and Brick wait at the bar of El Coyote Cojo for one of the Valentinos to take them to the smuggling tunnels. While they wait, Trojan sets about investigating the rumours surrounding the R.A.B.I.D sighting. He finds, curiously, no news articles or even conspiracy blogs mentioning the supposed A.I., which he finds suspicious. Going deeper into his search, he only finds one or two links back to articles that mention the sighting, and all of the websites he finds are apparently unavailable, shut down.

Testing his theory, he makes a fake article of his own. Within minutes, the link is taken down. Attempting to discover who was responsible for keeping this apparent sighting under wraps, he sets off a series of automated article uploads, each packages with a virus to try and trace back whoever takes the website down. Though many of his efforts prove unfruitful, a few ping back to somewhere in the outer planets, specifically the moons of Jupiter.

In the meanwhile, still chasing Trojan, Kolibri makes her way back to El Coyote Cojo, slipping past Lumberjack who had managed to pick up her trail for a few moments. Blending in with the night crowds at the bar, she sidles up close to where she sees Trojan, Money, Brick, and a newly returned Lumberjack at the bar, overhearing Trojan sharing some information about the R.A.B.I.D sighting, and that someone was keeping it as hidden as they could.

After consulting with Farah Jean, receiving the order to find out what Trojan knew about the R.A.B.I.D, Kolibri contacts Trojan's agent directly, telling him to meet in the bathroom. Worried about consorting with the notoriously ruthless Voodoo Boys, Trojan nonetheless heads to the bathroom, with a poorly hidden Brick keeping an eye on him.

Spotting the burly Martian, Kolibri slips past Brick and bars the bathroom door with a metal pipe, hoping to talk to Trojan alone. Unfortunately, worried Trojan might be in danger, Brick has other ideas. He smashes his way through the bathroom door, much to Guapo's horror, and tackles Kolibri before she can escape.

With the frustrated netrunner in a chokehold, Trojan and Brick ascertain that Kolibri does not mean them any immediate harm, and discover that she was there with a message for Trojan from the Voodoo Boys, who she reveals suspect Trojan knows something about the R.A.B.I.D and who was behind it. Still wary of the Voodoo Boys' reputation, Trojan is hesitant to speak further with Kolibri, insisting that he knew nothing, but when pressed he finally relents and agrees to talk.

Upon Money's suggestion, Trojan, Money, Brick, and Kolibri retreat to a more reserved section of the bar, hoping to discuss potentially dangerous matters in more privacy. Here, Trojan shares the little he has found out, suggesting that he suspects Exoscience was connected to the R.A.B.I.D, due to some of his ping backs tracing all the way back to Europa, the location of Clarity Station. He specifically neglects to mention the chip they had recovered and the encryption he had managed to crack, keeping that a secret.

Everything he tells her, Kolibri sends immediately to Farah Jean, who in turn instructs her to stay with Trojan and keep him alive, suspecting he knew more than he was letting on due to TALOS, and by extension Exoscience, tearing up his apartment. Around this time, Lumberjack comes up from the bar, telling them he was cleared to take them to the maintenance tunnels and smuggle them to Downtown. Kolibri immediately makes to follow, and a few terse moments ensue, after which Money agrees to let her come with them on the condition that she arranges a meet with someone higher up in the Voodoo Boys to resolve their issues with Trojan.

### **Maintenance Tunnels, Medea Station** *(16/07/2344)*

Following Lumberjack's lead, the rest head down into the cramped maintenance tunnels between the Stacks and Waterside. In the dim, flickering lights and the narrow conditions, they slowly make their way around the curve of the station towards one of the pylons that support the ring, aiming to take the ladder down to the level below.

Along the way, they run headlong into a Militech patrol of two. Seeing no other option, they ambush the duo and quickly gun them down, with a little netrunning trickery from Kolibri and Trojan to pop two of the steam vents running through these tunnels, expelling jets of heated steam at the two soldiers.

Knowing someone would be along soon to investigate the bodies, the group hurries on to the ladder shaft that leads down along the spokes of the station alongside the vertical elevator shafts. They climb 50 metres down to the next level, and emerge in an alleyway near the joint station and police precinct building that's constructed around the spoke.

### **MSPD Precinct D1, Medea Station** *(16/07/2344)*

In the alleyway, the group immediately spots the shot-up body of a cop slumped against the ajar door of the police precinct, and the spray-painted Black Sky logo on the door. From inside the holding area, Inkblot hears low voices in the alleyway outside, and makes contact with the group, convincing them to let him out after telling them his parents worked for Kendachi Arms.

The group enters the precinct, finding it in complete disarray. Everyone inside has been shot in a bloody and coordinated assault by Black Sky. Trojan heads to the server room to copy and scrub the camera feeds, while Money and Brick free Inkblot from the cell. They've only just done so when a petite woman enters the precinct, decked out in cyberware, shouting creepily in a sing-song voice for Inkblot.

Inkblot explains to the others that this was his ex, Nishigiri Kuko, who had gone cyberpsycho. He steps outside to confront her and talk her down, and quickly realises his mistake when she lunges at him with mantis blades bursting out of her arms and tries to cut him open. The precinct erupts into a chaotic fumble of the group trying to escape from the extremely deadly cyberpsycho, with Brick managing to incapacitate her for long enough for them to make their escape without losing any lives, though a few of them are severely injured in the process.

### **Downtown, Medea Station** *(16/07/2344)*

Having escaped the precinct, and after berating Inkblot, the group heads down a level to Downtown, splitting up when they get there. Half the group, Brick, Lumberjack, and Inkblot, head to hospital to tend to their various injuries. The rest head towards the Axiom Dynamics offices, hoping to get an idea of the situation with the Militech-Kang Tao war and figure out what happens next.

At the office, Money meets privately with Arthur Abernathy, who very pointedly makes it clear he does not like Money and does not approve of his instatement as head of office in Medea Station. With communications being jammed from the main offices on Mars, Abernathy makes it clear to William that he was in charge now and that he would be looking for any excuse to get rid of Money if he should fail.

"*So, since we're stuck together. Here's how this is going to work. You will keep me appraised of your every move. No more sneaking off to the upper levels. No more secret meetings. No more strays. I need to know who you're talking to, when you're doing it, and why. At all times. Am I understood?*"
 ― Arthur Abernathy

With no choice otherwise, Money agrees, but manages to convince Abernathy to let him keep the chip they had recovered from Rebecca Myers. He reconvenes the crew at his apartment, buying them lunch. Here, they sit down to make plans for what to do next. Two options present themselves: finding an unrelated gig while things died down, or else trying to get into Kang Tao Tower to rescue Inkblot's parents.

The group also discusses matters related to the Voodoo Boys, Kolibri, and why they were so interested in Trojan. It seems that the enigmatic netrunner gang has some information about why Exoscience is chasing Trojan, but Trojan remains wary about meeting with them, knowing well their reputation for backstabbing associates.

Money and Trojan also tell Kolibri some information about Rebecca Myers and the gig that had started this whole mess. They mention the chip, but Money convincingly lies about its current location, telling Kolibri he had given it to Abernathy. Upon informing Farah Jean of this new information, Kolibri is given immediate instructions to retrieve the chip, at any cost.

### **Downtime**

Before taking on the next step, the group spends a few days recovering from their injuries and handling some loose ends. Unable to return to their own apartments for the time being, they take up residence in Money's corporate conapt, and in the upscale conapt owned by Inkblot's parents, which they break into with some trickery.

Money spends the time catching up with work, and schedules a meeting with Wade Roland on the 21st. He keeps Abernathy appraised of the situation with daily reports for the time being. He also sends a message to his father, with whom he hadn't spoken since the Tony Federó incident, asking him if they could meet to talk, so he could explain some things.

Inkblot, with little to no cash to his name and all his belongings left behind at the police precinct, tries to acquire some cash through a generally drugged-up Acid, who sells Inkblot's bedsheets for cash and is instructed to sell anything else he could find that would make money.

Kolibri, staying at Money's apartment, and suspecting that Money and Trojan still knew more than they were telling her, finds a moment alone and attempts to hack into the apartment's NET, hoping to gain access to some private files that would give her further information. She manages to work a way in and secretly copies an amount of communication between Money and Arthur Abernathy.

Trojan spends his time keeping an eye on the R.A.B.I.D sighting, hoping to catch it early if another sighting were to occur. He also scours Inkblot's parents' apartment and attempts to break into the NET architecture with Kolibri's help in order to get into the highly-secured main office room. The attempt triggers a number of defences, but proves successful. The two netrunners manage to open the locked office, and steal a sizeable amount of sensitive data related to both Kendachi Arms and to the Yakuza, which they discover Inkblot's father has significant ties to.

### **Downtown, Medea Station** *(21/07/2344)*

The group gathers back at Money's apartment to discuss their findings in Inkblot's parents' apartment. They go over some of the Yakuza data, finding an entire ledger of transactions between Inkblot's father and the gang, enough to completely ruin his corporate career should it be leaked.

They have little time to process this information however, as the apartment abruptly goes dark. Money scrambles to his phone, looking into the lobby camera feed, which seems to have been frozen by a netrunner in the building NET, but not early enough to hide the frozen image of a Kang Tao assault team breaching the building.

Scrambling to defend the apartment, Brick hands out the weapons they had stolen from 6th Street, and Money sends out a general alert on the Axiom Dynamics line before wiping his computer of data. Minutes later, the assault team breaches the apartment, equipped with military gear and heavy weaponry. The Militech grenade launcher comes in handy in fending them off, but even still the fight is a near deadly one, and many in the crew are badly injured in the shooting.

They kill several of the Kang Tao team, thanks in no small part to the inbuilt auto-turret that the conapt comes equipped with, and eventually make enough of an opening to try and escape, still taking fire. While leaving the apartment, Kolibri manages to quickly steal the harddrive from Money's computer, hoping to run some restoration on the deleted data and recover what was on it.

Sprinting down the corridor, taking gunfire from behind, with Money bleeding out and the rest badly hurt, things look dire. But at the last possible moment, a massive figure in a black VAC suit steps out at the end of the corridor and shoots the last of the initial Kang Tao assault team, saving Money's life. From behind him, a second figure in a black VAC suit steps out. A tall belter with a scarred neck and a single cybernetic eye, who Money recognises as Kylan Nikil just before passing out.

"*Hello William. We need to talk.*"
 ― Kylan Nikil

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