The Station
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The Station
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BBhad not been lying when she said she was going to do the tourist thing. Tel aviv has hundreds of deco and modernist /bauhaus buildings. And so for a while she wandered around taking photographs of the real gems. Wolf was no where to be seen which worried her. The early start necessitated an early lunch, so while she watched the world go buy over the rim of her second coffee her comm trolled and an arrow showing a local pay as you go number flashed up.
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It is a sunny morning and is good for tourism. Walking the streets she is surprised at the quality of the air, not the best one she had – but very good for a major city. The streets are safe, and most of the people are friendly – though perhaps it is more being a blonde attractive tourist rather than their natural disposition.
Jerk texts at about noon >> BB, are you in the market? If so, can you provide me with a few contacts for a background check.
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BB thought a moment “Missy Mahem and Pullthrough will speak for me”
She messaged both of them just to let them know someone be contact. Then she replied to Jerk
“I think these two people will make the noises you need to hear” -
Jerk texts >> Great, I will talk to them. Please also provide the SIN you will use. I need to see if it is convincing enough before we can proceed, usually not a deal breaker, but in this case, there is no time for a new one.
…
Evening
After the Jerk worked his matrix magic, BB receives a text from “Ben Levi”, BB hi… I received your number and some pictures from Jerk,
I may have something to offer. Perhaps you can accompany me in a delivery round tonight? Say at 22:00 near your hotel? I’ll pay you 500 nuyen just for the added security, and would interview you on the ride. It’ll be about three hours gig, four hours tops – and if I can trust you there will be a lucrative offer afterward. I appologize for not being able to do it in some bar like a normal Jhonson – there is a reason.” -
BB Paused, ‘if its too good to be true it is’ hmmmm
Wolf looked her “might be a hunt”
“but”
“I know but this place has to have some” he locked his chops “thats why you came”
She texted back “whats the dress code for the party?” -
Ben replies >> We are going to be hauling fresh produce to dangerous places near Jerusalem. No dress code, but don’t come with high fashion or anything and preferably come armed with a weapon you are proficient with.
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BB deliberately stopped herself from launching off. She roughed out her plan.
“Ok, I’m not in contractor friendly accommodation so I’ll give you a pick up point in a bit”
She dropped the message and dialed up Badman
“who’s go me stuff?”
“you want? You want it?”
“gimme”
He paused “OK you’ll need to go to the beach front” he ermmmmed and arrred “there’s this surf shop with a shark on the window find a bench”
Fifteen minutes later she was haggling for her own equipment In two fancy shopping bags. Deal done she headed back to the hotel. As she passed a shop she saw a battered old canvas backpack.
She made a good attempt at checking for cameras and such in her room when she got back. then she laid her kit for the night out and checked it. Comm, trodes, sub vocal, contacts, glasses, respirator, sports shirt, snap blades, holo bracelet, ppe,sword, pistol, smg, memory knife, sword. Knucks And her little rucksack. She hid the weapons in her artists tube.
She wandered around to look for a pick up she could get to she found the spot where the staff from the hotel caught their lifts.
Message sent she ate, drank and slept.
The alarm woke her, she readied herself pulling on her combat trousers and boots, checked her water and headed to the pick up, with her bag and tube. To anyone watching she looked like an art student waiting for her boy to finish work -
Ben arrives a few minutes late with a large pick-up truck packed with sealed crates. He is a handsome, muscular man with a military-style short hair, and no obvious augmentations other than a datajack. Alex may recall him from yesterday, when he arrives he says “Bigbird… Nice to meet you, I am Ben”.
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BB threw her bag in the foot well and slid into the seat.
“pleased to meet cha, I’m sure” she pulled the door shut (instinctively scanning the street).
“I wasn’t sure of the culture here so I dressed light and packed heavy. I assumed I could suit up when we are clear of civilisation. Hope that’s OK?”
She eased the holster hidden in her top open
“so what’s the drill for to night?”
She messaged herself in Newyork so if she did buy-the-farm Father Petre would know what happened
“So” she smiled and warmly flashed her eyes “tell me?” -
Ben chuckles “Good thing you pack heavy, there is plenty of room.” He suggests a smuggling space for her equipment, or the back seat if it is legal. Then he says “Definetely get dressed – I’ll stop out of the city. We are going to Punishment town. It is a big detention camp, but they eat their veggies nevertheless… For now, be on the watch for some evil spirits. They look like ordinary people but are extremely hostile toward people that are not yet possessed. The buggers creep into you through fear and terror, so keep your temper and speak in a calm voice regardless of what happens. If we encounter them try not to kill them if you do not have too. People wake up anytime from a few hours later to few days once the mana levels drop, and if you kill them then the possessing spirit can just move on. The best way is to incapacitate them, which forces the spirit to remain inside unable to move until the body recovers.
He hands her a bracelet with an autoinjector and then explains “it has a strong paralytic drug if you feel like you are losing it then manually trigger it, the code is 2521 – and it has no wireless functionality for security. I would do the same, it is much more gentle than the alternative of being possessed, or of being put down with jolts of electricity. You will still be able to use the matrix, but would not be able to move. Usually, evil spirits just ignore you at this state, as they hate to possess someone that cannot move. The effect wears out after a few hours, depending on your metabolism.”
He examines BB closely and then says “Pay is 500 nuyen for the ride to Punishment town and then back to Arugot where we drop the truck. I’ll take you home in my personal car afterward if you need a ride. It is about an hour drive from Tel Aviv. So… are you still interested?”
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BB stashed her illegal gear in the hole provided.
“what they like with big knives here?”
She finished sorting her gear methodically and quickly.
“Ok ready till we can change” she shot a smile “you need to know I’m employed because I move first and don’t lose. She paused, to think her explanation through without her million pound education getting in the way.
” I really don’t like people touching me, and I have to skills to make sure it doesn’t happen, is that an issue?”
Ben noted the matter of fact tone of voice and the flat level eyes of someone who had seen it, prevailed and not been overwhelmed by it.
Ben similarly pause” how do you mean stop”
“people who try to force the issue die, those two last night? Are lucky they aren’t dogmeat” -
Ben shrugs “It is good enough for now. Weather conditions are not ideal, if there is a horde of spirits at the drop point we go back and avoid confrontations. Cargo and truck are expensive, the track is coated with awakened bacterias so that as long as the windows and doors are closed nobody can possess you in the car. It is a solid wall in the astral. “
He sighs “As for the other job, the only thing I can tell you right now is that it likely requires some physical affection before you have a chance to turn a huge scumball into dogmeat. Not even the dogs will touch the remains though. “ -
BB got this queezy feeling from being ‘locked’ in an astral box.
“don’t worry” said wolf from behind, Alex nearly jumped out of her skin “sorry Did I startle you? Anyway, Don worry I can still get in here”
“OK”
BB started scanning the streets “so the evil spirits, they have a name. Are they shedem or some such?” -
“Technically, what you call Shedim posses dead bodies. These are Dybbuks, mystical beings from early Hebrew mysticism, the souls of the dead that take the bodies of the living to accomplish goals that were perhaps important enough to stick around for. Aside from few ultra-religious sects, nobody remembers how to safely take them out, so our luck is that they are not stable in this world. We basically wait for the mana levels to drop so they are forced to leave. Experts say that as mana levels are increasing, they will be more permanent in the near future.
Regardless of the deep mystical reason for they are here, these spirits caused large swaths of land to be abandoned and forced our hands into difficult compromises. The government actually… they are a different kind of assholes if you ask me – but this is a story for another day. We are going to be dealing with vampires, they are legal outside of the walls and are sort of border guards. Don’t go all righteous and butcher them. Yes, they are bloodsucking assholes that feed off innocents, but they are also the border patrol, magically active and immune to the Dybbuk’s possession. “
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BB smiled as she scanned over her shoulder. “my best friend is a vampire so there’s no problem there. No, My prey is blood magic.” she looked down at her comm link. “I majored in magical threats at university, thus stuff just pays the bills “
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Ben continues to chat as he drives outside of the city “Where did you study? Awakened or as a personal interest?” He ignores the comment about Blood magic for now.
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BB smiled at that. “if I say it will give away my secret identity” she laughed “I’m awakened, I’m an adept, I’m a wolf.”
Ben nodded with a poker face “your best friend is a vampire, how did you…?”
“Well it turns out that I am the first person to publish a hypothesis that references and considers all the major and mist of the minority papers on blood magic, my friend is a contributer on Shadowland so she tracked me down when she was writing a piece. Turns out we have a lot in common from both our before and after lives” she laughed “she even buys a coffee when we go out, even though she can’t drink it”
“why is that funny?”
“she can’t drink it, she’ll be sick, vomit it up in minutes, but it’s kind of a uniform item for girly chats”
She sighed “I awakened at college , I was going to be an architect but you know things change. Same for her she was going to go to college but she got infected and had to go underground” -
Ben shrugs in modest disapproval “Shadowrunners… “ when BB says that she cannot say where she studies, he does not pressure the point though. He listens and then comments “Seems like awakening messed up your life big time if you turned out a muscle rather than an architect. How did that happen?”
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“it wasn’t the awakening that messed me up” her face went agate hard, her eyes like a stalking cat “it was being attacked by a blood mage. My awakening was as a result of that”
Her face changed, the smile returned “and Wolf gives me the strength to sterilize the world of them, so happy days” -
Ben seems pensive and then asks “You do not have to answer that, but it may be important. Do you a boyfriend or a casual lover, or something like that? “
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