GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 27: But He's Not Just Any Man

Characters:

Alexander "Specter" Marshal - Solo
Pat "The Peacock" Watson - "Former" Nomad
Ruby "Paxos" Lang - Netrunner

Braxton "Jar" Jiggs - Cybertech/Ripperdoc     NPC

He's Skeleton Man

The chrome skeleton just stood there, emitting a "growling" sound of many different tones layered on top of each other.  After a brief mute conference on the cell phones in their skulls, the crew decided to back away slowly and take the long way to the bus stop, and it did not pursue.  On the way, Jar opined that it was probably heavily resistant to bullets, what with being a skeleton and all.

The next day, they got down to planning the specifics of the digging, vault-cracking, and powering the computers, eventually settling on using expansive demolition grout for the dig, followed by shoveling.  Their Militech plans suggested the door had an electronic lock, but without power, they couldn't spoof it, and digging down to find the external power lines was just going to add more time, so they elected to get a plasma torch.  As for power, a portable battery bank should get the computers going long enough to get the files they were after.

After a shopping trip to pick up their "construction equipment", the crew headed back to the VRcade so Jar could rig the sound system to act as a distraction by playing sounds of a firefight.  Meanwhile, The Peacock used the scope built into their cybereyes to take a closer look at the hotel room where they'd spotted the Militech team earlier.  There were only two people there today, and judging by the supplies, they were loading up to take the precinct by force sometime soon.  Later, Sarah, member of the Animals and Specter's ex, showed up again, slowly walking down the street smoking a cigarette.  She was a lot more noticeable, but stealth wasn't really the Animals' style.  

GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 26: Many People Think He's Just a Regular Man

Characters:

Alexander "Specter" Marshal - Solo
Pat "The Peacock" Watson - "Former" Nomad
Ruby "Paxos" Lang - Netrunner

Braxton "Jar" Jiggs - Cybertech/Ripperdoc     NPC

Under New Management

Jar picked up a black market grenade launcher implant plus a dozen or so grenades for Specter, who went and got it installed at Chromedome's; it was an extensive surgery and he was out for a week.  Meanwhile, the rest of the crew continued their planning.  They knew the pre-crash data vault was somewhere under the abandoned Offshore Dr NCPD station that the Tyger Claws had taken over, but not where exactly.  According to the dossier, it was hooked up to the old city grid, which meant they'd have to bring in an external supply to run it, and it likely had nerve gas defense measures, though hopefully they'd have decayed in the decades since the crash.

To deal with the location problem, they went to the Watson district administrative building in Little China to hopefully find someone from the records department who'd give them survey data.  Jar hit on one of the clerks, but they weren't receptive ("Maybe if he wasn't wearing the alligator-skin shoes"), but between Paxos and The Peacock, they got the data they were after.  It looked like the ground under the police station was rubble with some loose soil mixed in, so it'd be quite a bit of work to get down to the vault, which had shown up in the survey but was ignored in the name of expediency.

Some quick comparisons to their recollections of the inside of a pre-fab NCPD precinct suggested the vault was under the armory, which meant it wasn't too far from the sewers, but those came with their own problems.  The city government had installed kill drones and occasionally unleashed nerve gas to kill the homeless "rats" that lived there.  Either way, when it came to digging through the concrete, they had a couple options.  Some heavy tools like a rock saw or jackhammer would be faster, but loud, or they could go with some expansive demolition foam which would take a long time but be much quieter.

GURPS Cyberpunk 2078 Session 25: Ambush!

Characters:

Alexander "Specter" Marshal - Solo
Pat "The Peacock" Watson - "Former" Nomad
Ruby "Paxos" Lang - Netrunner

Braxton "Jar" Jiggs - Cybertech/Ripperdoc     NPC

Surprise Attack

Specter triggered his Sandy and looked around for whoever had pointed the laser sight at Paxos but saw noone.  He ran over to the take cover at a dumpster across the parking lot from them, hoping he'd be out of the line of fire, while The Peacock moved behind the only parked car and shouted out that they were on the roof of the building above the dumpster.  There looked to be five of them, one sniper and the rest with rifles, and just as the words left their mouth, the assassins opened fire.  Paxos dove backwards, avoiding the sniper's shot, but a follow-up burst from one of the rifleman hit her twice, leaving her writhing in pain; since they were just going to a meet, she'd ditched the netrunner suit for an unarmored dress, and was regretting it now.  At least she was mostly in cover.

Jar was slow to react and by the time he started running, he had already been hit in the back with five rounds.  They damaged his subdermals but left him otherwise unharmed, and he made it down the staircase that led to the Afterlife and out of line of sight.  The Peacock hit the floor behind the car but still got hit twice on their way down.  The last rifleman had to lean over the edge of the building to shoot at Specter, who dove to the ground, but the long burst managed to strike him in the back once anyway.  He leapt back up to his feet and ran towards an alley to flee.

The Peacock scrambled to their knees and got fully behind the car's chassis.  A sniper round pinged off the concrete an inch away from Paxos' stomach, and two more bursts of fire were blocked by the concrete pillar she was partially behind.  Specter wasn't so lucky, and took four rounds to the back, which left him sprawled on the concrete.  Jar shouted up the stairs, asking if anyone else was still alive (The Peacock: "Our reputation's in shambles!").  Paxos crawled backward then lurched over the railing to the floor below; the fall broke a rib, but it was better than being shot.