The Found Arcana – Chapter 6 [IC]
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The Found Arcana – Chapter 6 [IC]
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Wonder Plum? AM asks not familiar with the name.
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The wire boy laughted: “Wonder Plum aka. Van der Bloom. Once you learn that the agents he has trigger recordings when you call out certain names, you find other monikers to use.”
Sabine replied: “One guards the gate, one guards the armory, one patrols, one gets to eat. Lucky you. Guarding the armory is also dedicated to catch a nap or two. The stable lads are taking over rounds and guarding during your morning briefing. And at night we let the dogs out. If you are good boy we’ll even introduce you to them and teach them not to chew you up.” She smiled.
Masha also smiled at Jawsey: “Oh, a sword fighting wizard elf. You must be a hoot at RPG night.” She laughed out loud. “Don’t worry about meals – as you see, we are quite informal down here. When their lordships dine, that’s another story, but thankfully we don’t have to sit a the table there – only get things there in a hurry, evade wandering hands and get out of there while we can.” There was a hint of bitterness there. “Other than that it’s a pretty cushy job. Good pay, not too much work, very good chow. Just get used to it that you are a status symbol, just like a lamp or a vase.”
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Mato leans forward. “Four? Four chasseurs? For a compound and grounds this size? And dogs at night?”
He’s thoroughly incredulous.
“Does that scan?” It doesn’t, in his mind. “Given the budget for uniforms and top-line sidearms and daily wages for …” His hand sweeps over the room, to indicate all the help: wire maids and stable boys and gardeners and kitchen staff and everyone else in attendance. “That there are four chasseurs? And that one of my duties is to wait at table?”
His expression says it all.
“No offense to the stable boys or the dogs, but what’s the constraint on hiring additional dedicated security?”
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“Any hands in particular? So I know to pass on warning when the associated feet on on the move. For that matter, any hands that I should keep my distance from?”
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“Relax, this is not like we need an army here. There are security contracts in place and a HTR team can be here in five minutes. Not to mention that the gardeners as well as the stable hands all are certified to carry.
You Chasseurs are the spear tip though. Don’t let it go to your head. And don’t mock my Hell Hounds, they are very good boys.” Sabine winked at Mato
Masha replied to Jawsey: “The Russian is particularly bad about it. I don’t know if he swings your way too, but you never know. The Chinese bitch on the other hand could see you as a new toy. The new Chasseur should be save, considering him being an orc.”
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AM greens, “So how long you have been doing this…?”
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The wire boy laughted again: “About a year now. Nothing much to it. Started out as a side job during college – but the pay is better than any entry level job I could hope for with my degree. And Wonder Plum really knows his stuff – even if he is not the sanest person around.”
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Mato seems a little bit mollified when he hears that they’re hell hounds. “Yes, well, hell hounds. Very good. Better than barghests, I suppose.
“But I think you dismiss the risks and vulnerabilities of this estate. Grounds of this size are a defense, in the sense of how expansive they are and how much time it takes to navigate them – but the the size is also a vulnerability unless you have a massive sensor and drone network to serve as an early warning system.”
He leans back and frowns.
“And there are certainly enough illustrious personages – and their belongings – to serve as targets for professional thieves. Shadowrunners. The defensive strategy, as best as I can tell, is for everyone to hole up in safe rooms and wait for the cavalry to arrive.”
He thinks of the Blue Admiral, but he doesn’t know if the proposal or the legendary gemstone are public knowledge yet. He decides to stay discrete, just in case anyone here is an inside agent. Sabine could be a honey pot, a trap to distract and neutralize Mato! The hussy. He eyes her narrowly.
“I’d be happy to make the acquaintance of your hell hounds. I’m sure they’re all very good boys.”
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“Yes, that’s pretty exactly how the Big Cheese has drilled us: In case of an assault, the VIPs go into the safe rooms and the call goes out to the police.
Come over to the stables after your 10AM and I’ll introduce you.”
Sabine replied happily.
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After finishing breakfast, Mato excuses himself with assurances of visiting the kennels later.
<font face=”inherit”>He spends some time touring the house and </font>familiarizing<font face=”inherit”> himself with the premises as best he can before returning to Brad for his rifle certification prior to the 10am meeting.</font>
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Not the sanest, do tell… AM asks curiously.
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Brad nodded to Mato and got out two rifles from a safe. To his astonishment, they appeared to be Ares Alphas, high quality military rifles – not to be seen in civilian hands at all.
Brad seemed to have anticipated that reaction: “Relax. His lordship has a special dispense through some diplomatic connections for these babies. Once you have shot with those, you never want to go back. They are tricked out with all the features of the handguns – minus the ceramic parts. We have stun grenades for the launcher and for the absolute emergency even HE. We might need them also if we encounter hostile spirits – for those we have Plight loaded rounds – toxic to mages and spirits – makes them vulnerable. Incidentally, that’s also what we can coat our knives with.
Come on, rifle shooting range is behind the hedge maze. Shooting down clay pidgeons on fully automatic is fun.”
Brad locked up very conscientious everything inside the armory, signed out and locked the door again from the outside.
After that it was off to the park.
Spoiler:If you want, you can roll for your certification – Automatics test on medium range, the more successes the better
The wireboy answered AM: “You’ve seen that drone he has? He uses it like it was part of his mind and asks it for advice all the time. Thank god it hasn’t answered him yet he should burn down this whole place…”
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AM laughs “The drone made him far nicer to me, so I sort of like it. How reliant is he of the thing? Does he consult it on every single thing?” Perhaps she can get a leverage of Van der Bloom by hacking that drone -but can she really pull that off?
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“Probably, at least he has it with him wherever he goes.”
He replied.
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“Ever tried to hack it?” she asks.
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“Oh wow!” Mato says when he sees the Ares Alphas. “That’s not what I was expecting at all. I thought for sure we were going to be on patrol with sporting rifles, like a Winchester Model 2067, or a Marlin – like a 3468SS or 3041 BL. Something more in keeping with the grounds and the uniforms.”
He follows Brad out to the shooting range. Brad seems on-the-level so he decides to ask about staffing.
“So is it really true there are only four chasseurs? One at the gate, one in the armory, one on patrol, and one eating ? Why aren’t there more?”
At the shooting range, he syncs the Alpha to his smartlink and gets into a shooting position. He doesn’t have any image magnification so he’ll be at a slight disadvantage due to range.
“Pull!”
He’s locked in and the first shots push the Alpha to its limits, obliterating the clay pigeons with satisfactory crunches.
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Brad shrugged: “Yeah, and we are pulled of those duties whenever the gentry decides to get fancy and have a ball or some other big show – then we are all inside and the gates get manned by the stablehands.
And yes, it’s stupid. But it’s how they do this. There are security contracts with Knight Errant in place to show up in force at a moment’s notice. Likewise, the Courier has a bunch of bound spirits on call – and until today he was the only one around with magic. Key weaknesses.
But then, it’s part of the image Pike wants to project. Having such a bare minimum of protection is considered brave in certain circles.
Then again, this place isn’t easy to breach. There are sensors all over the place and you have to cover a long distance to get here – enough warning to get everyone that counts into the safe rooms. Trading distance for time. The building itself is also a lot more secure than it looks – and the Titanium shutters close down in two seconds. You’d need a cruise missile to breach this place – and then more guards wouldn’t be of much help either.
Not to mention, that Pike and the Duchess have their own personal bodyguards.
Good shooting by the way. I think we can consider you certified.”
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Jawsey noticed a general movement to leave the room, so he checked the time, smothered a curse, and said “Hopefully we’ll get to talk more another time. I’d better get back to duty.” He scalded his mouth while draining his coffee, shoved in the rest of his eggs anyway, and wrapped his toast in a napkin and took it with him, hoping he wouldn’t get into trouble for making crumbs.
Back in the courier lounge he returned to the wonderful chair, stowed the toast with his cane underneath it, and got comfortable. He took a couple of quick jaunts out of his body and the house in order to get a quick feel for the grounds, but mostly he just lay there, digesting breakfast and all the new names and impressions. He might need his limited out of body time later, so he didn’t want to burn through it too quickly.
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Mato is a little reluctant to return the Ares Alpha. He doesn’t go so far as to wish for an occasion to use it, but he can still put it on his Christmas list. Unfortunately it may overshadow his trusty (if unused) AK-97 for the remainder of its days.
“Yes, I figured as much about the distances involved in the estate. But you get these crazy shadowrunners who have skimmers on their feet and can run 100kph… it messes with your expectations and your math. In the shadows you see a lot of tech and a lot of designs that are fluid and creatively implemented, far more so than in more traditional security organizations and what they expect to respond to.
“I hadn’t thought about the bare minimum of protection being seen as brave. I always thought that security was a form of conspicuous consumption, of ‘look how terribly important I must be to warrant all this protection’. But I suppose when you’re at the point where you have eight names plus two or three titles, your importance is sufficiently implicit.
“And good point that Pike and the Duchess having their own personal bodyguards. Katya Komarova is guarding the Duchees, correct? I understand she’s very formidable, and very dangerous. Katya, I mean, not the Duchess.”
This is an open-ended observation that serves as an invitation for Brad to share his impressions of Katya, should he have any.
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The wireboy laughed again: “I’m neither crazy nor that good. Have you seen his personal deck? That thing is killer – tricked out through the wazoo too. Wonder Plum surived as a White Hat against some pretty nasty Black Hats. I said he was crazy, not that he was stupid.”
Brad smiled ruefully: “Let me tell you, whatever you have heard about that broad, it doesn’t do her justice. I think she must have been a runner herself or some other kind of operative before she met the Duchess. I think she might be able to break even you in half. And she’s silent like a ghost if she wants to. And fast. I saw her catch a grey hound in full sprint.
The Cunning Man and she have some kind of rivalry going on – a bit like over protective godparents. It’s going to be interesting who Pike and the Duchess keep after the wedding, because sure as hell, keeping both would end in something going up in flames.”Jawsey soon was joined by McElroy:
“Ah good, you have found our primary working place. In an hour or so, we can do a bit of sparring – not moving all day is a sure fire way of wasting your body. For now though let me take you on an astral tour through the grounds and the mansion.
Are you ready, or would you like to know something about what we encounter beforehand?”
McElroy had a soothing, voice that made you want to listen and remember what he said – a perfect tutoring voice.
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