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Author Topic: Professionals  (Read 1492 times)

kv

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Professionals
« on: January 31, 2007, 12:26:54 AM »

Runners.
Some of you will identify with the name, but to a Johnson, it almost exclusively means gullible and stupid. Unprofessional, sloppy, and expendable. I read Matador's posts all those years ago, but recently I had a run in with a truly choice group of runners, who reminded me why I always prefer to work with people that I know.

I'm not the best runner out there, but I always try to be prepared, and years of being the son of a cop and a security guard myself give me an edge a lot of new runners don't have. I don't want to sound all experienced and all-knowing, but there are a few things runners could learn from the people who know what they're doing, whether they be old hats or newbies on the field.

Meeting with the Johnson for the first time is the single easiest place to screw up the job. Within a few seconds of having met you, the Johnson has sized you up and decided how easy or hard you'll be to get rid of.

Me, I dress for the part of a business partner. I had a little money from my Dad's pension after he died, so I bought nice clothes, and I know that clothes don't matter, because I've seen people who dress like street trash who can clean house like a ten million newyen samurai. But dressing like a professional means that the Johnson has to look at you twice to see if you know what you're doing.

Second, be prepared. I've heard that one third of the Johnsons out there consider a team of Shadowrunners expendable, and if the runners I've met or worked with in the past are any indicator, they most certainly are. But if you're expecting a Johnson to slight you or try a double cross, you might be slightly more prepared than the schmuck who thinks the Johnson works for GreenWar and wants that factory shut down for environmental reasons.

Me, I carry a bug scanner, a white noise generator, and a hold out pistol in a hollowed out breifcase. The gun is only for emergencies, and I've only had to use it once. Typically a bribe will get the brifcase past the door security, but in case that doesn't do it, be prepared to leave the gun at the front counter.

Once I sit down at the table, I act like a professional, even if the other runners are old friends. I'm in this to get us all out of this alive, and if I can do that, we can celebrate later. Mr. Johnson probably won't mind being scanned for bugs- and a whitenoise generator is in everyone's best interests. It's usually during this point in the meet where I get pictures of all the runners I'm working with, as well as the Johnson- I have a built-in camera, so I shift back and forth between thermographic and normal optics, so I can tell if the Johnson is wearing prosthetics. That picture gets saved to my headware memory, which I flash and send to a decker friend before I even agree to the job. Not all Johnsons go to the job ready for the runners to check on them, and I've heard stories of Johnsons who didn't set up thier cover until after the runners agreed to the job, and got caught with thier pants down.

You also photograph your fellow runners. There are two reasons for this, and take your pick- one, you might uncover that LoneStar operative who's helping the company build a case against you. Even if they seem like your friend, they could be working for Tir Tairngire, the yakuza, or one of the big ten. Hell, it's unlikely, but they could even be working for the UCAS. Second, if anything happens to you, your friends know who to track down to ask what happened.

Always have a contingency plan. The Johnson doesn't expect to pay everyone who goes into a run- too many runners die for that to even be plausible. And even if you all survive, there's always that chance that he'll be the one to double-cross you. Have a decker check on your Johnson, and keep checking. Usually a good Johnson lays three or four trails, so keep looking into it. And ignore anything you learn from meeting the Johnson- not all Japanese work for the Japancorps, and a white guy isn't Ares, even though he might want you to think that. And everyone has some germans working for them, so Lowfyr isn't behind every Johnson from Europe. But if you track down where the Johnson actually works, he'll usually know about it. Which means that he'll know you're onto him. It might earn you some respect. And if not respect, once you know where he is when he's not playing Johnson, it's much easier to track him down and get your money if he tries to screw you. Very few things are more intimidating that pissed-off runners showing up at your home and asking for the money you owe them.

After the meet is over, and you negotiate higher than what they originally offer you- please negotiate. They're always going to low-ball you, and don't dare believe the stories about how thier daughters and sons are being held hostage. Anyone who can cash out a million dollars for thier children to be rescued can just as easily get a million five. If you don't negotiate, you're telling the Johnson one thing he needs to know- how much are you worth? How much are your services worth to you? It's worth a lot more to them, or they would pay someone else to do it. You know of other runners- so do they. So do us all a favor and stop letting the corps get off cheap- make them pay for your expert services.

After the meet is over, and you have your up-front cash, pay the decker for checking into your friends and Johnson. I know more than one decker who screwed the people who forgot to pay him, so I make it a business priority to pay them on time and often. If the decker thinks there's more to find there, then pay them extra to check on it- it's worth the extra newyen if your neck is on the line.

Also check out everything you can about what the Johnson told you. Most of it is sure to be a cover story, but check it out anyway. If you can find out what's really going on inside the place you're supposed to hit, you're that much closer to prepared.

Once your deckers and contacts have found out all they can for you, follow your targets. My dad taught me this, and I've found it to be true- nothing is better than some old-fashioned surveilance. Find a place where you can see your target, and he can't see you, and watch him. Or watch her. Follow them to or from work. Change the person watching as often as possible, but overlap the shifts. I know the homeless route is overdone, but it works, as long as someone doesn't mind smelling like piss and sitting in the freezing rain. Use the time watching the target to see if anyone else is watching him- and also to see if anyone is watching for people watching him. I've heard of runners getting tripped up by this- assume that someone knows you're coming, or assume that they've seen you once you get there. It'll save you a lot of time wondering how they caught you later.

Once you're this far, good luck to you. How the rest goes depends on your tactics and your team- but I prefer quiet over bloody and quick. That's just me, though.
Good luck chummers. You are going to need it.

  -Patch
« Last Edit: February 01, 2007, 02:35:40 PM by Kid_Vid »
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"There are three rules to surviving a gun fight.
1) Shoot First
2) Shoot More
3) Shoot last
   If you can do that, you can survive."
                                 -Samus Bravo
                                (Mercury's Father)
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