"Well, I sent the others off to deal with Melitus. Jericho only knew you were coming because Melitus called him to tell him in advance, you see. But Medea had to split because apparently she is completely at Jericho's mercy as he controls her real-world body [as I relayed to you guys earlier]
"But, you know, I kept a close watch on Medea with my monitor here... Oh! I am sorry Medea!" he says, mockingly. "Did you forget I could follow you from here? Been working without an operator too long, hmm? And guess who she led me straight back to...?"
"Oh yeeaaaaaahhhh, that's right... Hey Jericho! I can see you! Yeah, you don't know I am watching, you arrogant bastard... anyway, not only that, but then the lot of them performed a job. It was a grab-and-switch on a message a motorcycle courier from out of town was bringing in. It was very well done- they did it without the courier even noticing they had taken it. And given it back.
"Can you guess what it was the courier was carrying?"
"ASAP," says Dallas, "before they get back to Melitus."
FULL ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
Assignment Name: The Heist
Details: This is not a Zion briefing. This is an on-the-spot situation update
Having escaped from the CCC building, but being split from the half of you who went to try and deal with Melitus, in some vague way you are still actually on course with your mission- to discover and deal with the Jericho problem. You missed him at CCC but in surviving his trap you have proven yourselves well; Dallas has been able to track Jeircho's location by following his wavering crewmember Medea.
Jericho and his team have, inside the last 30 minutes, stolen the new delivery of the Machine's Cipher cods which got you into this damn mess in the first place. This time it was coming in by motorcycle courier. Jericho and his team have already performed the operation of taking the codes, downloading them, and putting the USB device back again. The codes are already stolen from the System, which does not know this has happened. So all that needs to happen now is to steal it from Jericho and bring them back to Zion.
Jericho, and his five crewmates, are now heading back to Melitus'. They have left the Freeway for quieter roads but are still out in the open. You must intercept them on the road. This is a no-nonsense mission. Engage Jericho's team in aggressive combat and get that laptop.
Jericho's team is good but you guys have the element of planning and surprise. Make those advantages count- especially as you guys are a little banged up already.
COMMENTS- by Dallas.
"This is our chance to strike back. I know you guys have been feeling dumped upon from a great height since we got out here. Well, consider that a mere prelude to the big can of payback we are about to open in Jericho's face.
"Don't be under any illusions here, Jericho tried to have you killed; he is clearly hostile. But when it comes down to it, eliminating him and his team is a bonus. What we really want is that laptop. If you can get it and run, then fair enough.
"Incidentally, just in case... WHATEVER you do, under no circumstances must the System find out what is on that laptop. If it does, then everyone's time will have been wasted again. This IS our second chance; we won't get another if the System catches us in action again.
"As for your opponnets... well, none of them are worse than you, some of them are better. Jericho's good, he's into that whole 'Samurai' thing; he can make a mess of you up close with his sword. Khali, as I have mentioned before, she is a BIG problem. She is very good, well-trained, very instinctive, and utterly without morals. She'll cut you down without a second thought.
"The others... well, Loomis is a gunner. They have the team ethic with him done well so don't see him as the soft target. Tyr and Sinister, they are all-rounders. And Medea... she's a close combat specialist. Big on kicks.
"Now... I know it isn't easy to fight other humans. Even harder to kill one. If you think any of therm will surrender... well... ok, let them live, but don't let sentimentality get YTOU killed, as I am pretty sure they won't hesitate to kill you.
"The question mark is on Medea. I don't trust her as far as I could throw an Agent... but she saved Burn's life at the airport and she pulled the rest of them out the fire at the CCC. Will she fight you? I dunno. But remember, even in the best of circumstances, if she is seen to betray Jericho in front of him, then that's her death warrant signed unless you kill Jericho there and then- else he will pull her plug first chance he gets.
"It might be possible that some of the others have wavering loyalty to Jericho. But if they don't make that obvious... it's too late. They've already betrayed Zion and now Zion needs what they have. If they fight back, they are inviting death. They made their choice.
"Get me that laptop. That makes everything we did worthwhile. We thought we wasted our time at the airport. Well, now if we get away with this, we get the codes AND we deal with Jericho. Two missions complete in one go. Make me proud."
SPECIAL RULES:
Combat Mission: This designation for an Assignment means it is a mission where no stealth or subtlety is in any way required. Therefore the Concealment rules will not be used- you may simply take as much gear as you can carry!
Car chase: No specific rules for this but the fact that the fight will be conducted whilst on the move makes it interesting...
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
The Laptop- Just as in the first Assignment, only this time, you need to take it FROM Jericho's team. Whatever you do, don't let the System have it. The laptop is being held by Tyr.
ESTIMATED DANGER LEVEL: High. In fact, about as High as it can possibly go and you be reasonably expected to be able to win. So, not as dangerous as CCC, but you need to win, not just bugger off.
TIPS:
Ok, this is the big one. This is your moment to shine. You have everything the way you want. You have surprise. You know exactly what you need to do. And you can PLAN the way you want things to go. Planning is very, very important. Project yourself into the future, and see the point at which, afterwards, I am saying "Well, you might have done better if you had planned a bit more sensibly..." You don't want me saying that, so make sure I do not have to.
ROLES: An important part of planning.
You need a driver, of course, who will be essential for the first part of the plan.
You may also wish to designate someone to get the laptop
Other than that, your main thing to think about is who you want to fight whom.
TIPS: I pull no punches on this mission. Your opponents are not super-strong Agents. They work on exactly the same rules as you, though some of them have more Download space. The reason they will be so dangerous is because they work as a team and because they won't piss about- they will be very efficient. I'll be playing these people as well as I can so if you ever wanted to fight ME, this is your chance. This fight will be brutal.
COMBAT PATH OBJECTIVE
YOUR OBJECTIVE IS THAT LAPTOP! GET IT, AND YOU HAVE ALL PASSED THE COMBAT PATH AND WILL BE REWARDED APPROPRIATELY.
Ok, here we go!
Plan A
On team, of two people, a driver and a gunner, intercept the car, they provide targets. Fot this I sugest we swipe or DL a Cop Car for deceptive purposes. Then the rest of the team comes in from the side woth two hummers. The Hummers sandwitch Jerico's car and our whole team pours out. The first car stays in front of Jericos, effectivly blocking off his escape. Then we move in. We need Mors or another Full blown martial dude to take out their gunner first. Then the all rounders will attack their's. Everyone else disable Jerico. Our greatest advantage is in numbers.
To review,
A cop, distraction car, gets in front of Jerico's car, and the gunner blows out a Tire or two. The two hummers or other big cars come up alond side them. Everone gets out and gets on Top of Jerico's car. We use a sword or somethign to can-opener the top of the car. Grab the Lap top and go. If se have to fight, a martial Guy attacks their gunner, all all rounders attack theirs and the rest swarm Jerico. We flee ASAP and get the hell outta there.