How Was Your Day?

(game date: March 25, 2021)

I spent my morning arranging a meeting with, and hiring, a thief.  I'd decided to go this route because the alternative method to retrieving the Ci from Gipson would likely be messy.  As the Dragon had said, he would not willingly part with the thing.  That, however, did not mean we should draw attention to ourselves if we didn't need to.  I don't think Dragons believe in subtlety. 

I reached out to one Steff "Novaspark" Camden, who has been our main contact with the Hoods since we noticed their activities at ER's benefit concert.  She (or her comrades) did an excellent job planting the bug on General Stone, and she knows that she'll get paid when she deals with us.

Once we'd arranged our meeting, I transferred 1,000 credits to a datachip, which I handed over, first thing.  

"That," I said, "is for your silence, whether you take the job or not."

She scanned the chip and made it disappear.  "'Kay, you've got my attention."

Screw Your 2nd Amendment Rights

I've been watching the news for a long, long time.

And one thing that I have noticed is, not once in my life has a 2nd-Amendment NRA-sponsored gun-humping militia made an appearance to defend any sort of civil rights.

BLM? You don't see them.

Abortion rights? Conspicuously absent.

Voting rights? They sure don't seem concerned.

Lead in the water? Sucks to be you.

Nope. They don't seem concerned about government overreach at all, other than the completely imaginary "taking away our GUNS" issue.

So, I say, screw 'em. They are not using their 2nd Amendment rights for the purpose that they, themselves, claim that they are for. Ergo, they don't really need those rights. 

A Dragon Comes Calling

(Game date: March 11, 2021)

 Through no real merit of my own planning, we'd pulled off the raid on SunTek's R&D and escaped without firing a shot.  It had been accomplished with real teamwork.  While I do think that it could have gone better, it could certainly have gone worse.  I thought we deserved a celebration.  We flew everyone (kids included) to the Crystal Palace.

The celebration didn't last long.  In the middle of the meal, Aru's mother called him.  There was an emergency at the manor: a stranger had arrived, unannounced, in a limousine, demanding to speak with Aru and "his friends."  The family was apparently quite agitated.  

We cut dinner short.  Cecily and Hilda were most accommodating, and had everything boxed up by the time we had our own plans straight.  Once again, I reluctantly asked the children to drive their anthrodrones, due to the unknown nature of the crisis, and the fact that they are both extremely high-profile (that, and they have families of their own to protect).  I also asked Vamir to take the Owlet, rather than ride in Frank, so that he could use his invisibility spell and be our surprise backup, if needed.  I also sent out orders to the rest of the group's drones (those which had BANlink access, anyway) to meet us there.

Ode to Sir Pterry

You gave us a world,
but we...
we are never satisfied.
Always wanting more,
and so sad for ourselves that we cannot have it.

We wave farewell,
clutching your words,
your gifts,
to our breast.
Our last Hogswatch.

Did you feel the joy you gave to each of us?
It should be a palpable thing,
following you beyond the world,
like sapient pearwood luggage. 

Walking on the Sun(Tek)

Game date: 3/4/2021

 It is not my fault that I was raised with classist blind spots.  In fact, my entire plan was based upon one of them.

We entered the building dressed in the uniforms of the cleaning crew.  The young ones drove their anthrodrones in, on the assumption that children in the crew might raise questions, and a few of us brought additional drones along.  This was the first time I felt safe enough to actually do so, with the new self-destructs installed.

I had gone to considerable trouble to research the cleaning schedules, and the locations of supply closets, so that we would appear to know what we were doing.  I knew where our target was: the R&D servers, which were kept way up on the executive level.  This might give you some idea of the pull that this department has within SunTek - many corps relegate their server rooms to a sub-basement, not next door to the CEO's suite.

As expected, no one paid us much notice during our trek through the building.  Not until we reached the top floor, and my fake IDs were insufficient to buzz us through, did we encounter anyone at all.  Class blindness.