Session 030

Session Date: 08/02/2024

In Game Date: August 28th, 2045

Monday, August 28th, 2045

The day of the NCPD public address.

Emerick & Omen

We last ended with Audun Bredall explaining that Mr. Steele will be the head of the initiative to investigate and solve the issue of cyberpsychosis. The crowd erupts at this because he is such a controversial figure, given that he is the most borged out person there is after Adam Smasher. The crowd is outraged given the fact that it is rumored that he is half cyberpsycho himself. Security is starting to get riled up as Audun tries to calm things down.

Emerick and Omen keep a lower profile, but Phoenix takes charge in the area around her. She ends up channeling it into being a commanding presence, speaking up as she addresses Audun directly, asking her question first.

• What is your reasoning behind having a rumored cyberpsycho themselves be the expert in this field? There is what seems to be a misplace of trust with this choice you have made. What is your reasoning behind this?
  • Mr. Steele has a very unpleasant look on his face at this question. He’s not happy with the rumors circling around the city, but he keeps it to himself as Audun steps forward to address the crowd.
  • I assure you that we have done thorough research and investigations: there is no evidence that Mr. Steele is cyberpsycho. He is of sound body and mind. Yes, he has more cyberware than most, but he is very knowledgeable in these matters and will be very valuable in this field. What is most important to us is that we take care of this issue so that everyone feels safe.
  • Emerick can tell that this is an answer that this is a rehearsed answer and he’s just saying that to not have to actually answer the question. He’s saying it to make the crowd happy.
• Objectives to take care of:
  • Trend gathering: they want to see if there are any mappable trends to cyberpsychosis attacks. They are welcoming Mr. Steele’s reach in the city to find information the NCDP couldn’t normally find. Try to see if it’s bad tech, people acting with poor behavior, etc.
    • Phoenix has opinions: it almost feels as if it’s a betrayal of the clientele that uses fixers. A snitch, a fucking rat.
  • Data Compilation: They will then take these items and then find these areas in the city where the majority of these things are.
    • Omen at this point asks if this is only meant to shut down and attack gangs and other minorities.
  • Action: Once those areas are found, they will work closely with MaxTac and members of the local medical facilities and science community at large with help of capture, detainment, and rehabilitation.
    • The plan of attack feels as if it could have been rehearsed, a PR team may have taken care of it. Phase 2 is what is particularly problematic and fishy with this.
• Emerick asks a follow up question for Mr. Steele: How do we know that this isn’t an attempt for you to simply eliminate competition from other fixers and expand your own territory?
  • (FACEDOWN TIE YOOOOOO)
  • Party Reactions:
    • Omen is backing Emerick up on this
    • Charley has a half smile watching what is essentially a scrawny man standing up to this fucking goliath of a man
    • Phoenix is locked into media mode right now: she’s not being emotional, calm and collected.
  • As Emerick stares directly at Mr. Steele and he stares directly back at him, both unfaltering and unwavering, Mr. Steele finally breaks the silence after a few seconds of deathly silence. Mr. Steele steps up and grabs the mic stand and he has absolutely no grace as he speaks, still staring directly at Emerick:
    • I wouldn’t need to subject myself to ruining my reputation just to grab territory. I am not doing this for my own gain, other than to see the people safe.
      • Emerick can tell that he is seething. He can feel that there was probably a bit of his pride that got wounded with the question. Mr. Steele felt for a moment that his pride was slipping away from him, and he was fighting himself not to lose it entirely.

Omen noticed that Audun was focusing on watching Mr. Steele, making sure that the big man doesn’t lose his cool. Once Steele walks off the stage, Audun walks up to take the mic and calms the crowd, speaking to the next panel and how there is a special guest with a new piece of tech to increase the safety of officers when on recon missions: Ida Mueller.

She steps up to the stage and there is one person with a data pad, another person walking a few feet behind them. Between the two of them is a hovering platform that has a case atop it. Ida addresses the crowd and introduces herself, saying she is the chief scientist of Arachnid Robotics within the city, and she has worked to bring a new piece of technology for those who need help with recon missions, countering netrunners.

They open the case to show the Spyder Bot. The first thing Emerick notices about the bot is that it’s gone through some changes - this is the showcase of the final product.

• Sleeker design
• Looks way more expensive than it did at Omnitech Industries
• Arasaka funded, plastered all over this shit
  • They’re going to have a hand in all of this information gathering, and will thus know everything as we go
• Now has combat capabilities???

The televisions on the stage are running through displays about information about the robot, listing things like the model number, packages available for the robot. The fact they can fit everything in this small of a form factor is absolutely outstanding, and that they could include combat capabilities is impressive. With these new additions, this thing is going to be a huge fucking pain in the ass to deal with if you’re on the receiving end of it.

• Why Arasaka?
  • I have your interests at heart, I know what’s best, I will take care of you, etc. She throws in some bs about Arasaka’s advanced packaging, they couldn’t afford to engineer everything in house, etc, it’s all bullshit.
    • Emerick knows for a 100% fact that the only reason Arasaka is tied into this is because of the RABIDS technology - there is nothing else that could tie anyone else to this.
• Rollout is expected to happen in about 9 months, tentatively.
  • They are hoping to finish up development and once they secure manufacturing facilities, they can start mass production.
  • They want half a million units distributed across all NCPD precincts in the first year, two million within two years.
• What was your inspiration to make this bot?
  • She likes the question, smiling at the compliments Emerick pays her, then smiling big when Emerick asks for her inspiration. There is a clear moment of hesitation where she wants to give an answer, but she stops herself and changes gears.
  • Honestly, she’s been in security tech her entire life, and she’s been working through all sorts of different industries when developing security for the public. Arachnid has created a clear path of success when it comes to this, and she is extremely thankful for the funding from Arasaka to have the opportunity for this.
    • That’s the public-safe answer.

Things wrap up, and they do bring Audun out to address some closing remarks. He acknowledges we all have questions, and he reassures that we will have more public addresses as more things come to light and they will do their best to create a safer tomorrow. Things end, and security starts to escort the press back to the press area.

When we all get back stage, Mr. Steele is nowhere to be found back there. His room that they had for him and all of his entourage, is empty. (Thank fucking god.)

Talking to Ida

Ida is talking to her own entourage, and they are closing up the case to the Spyder Bot. Security has made it obvious that we are allowed to interact with the people back stage, but be respectful, and be aware that we are being watched.

Emerick first approaches Ida. He wanted to push more about the answer that Ida wanted to give, but there are too many people, so he asks about the invention fair. Ida does acknowledge that there is an invention fair later this year and he hopes to get a press pass for the fair. She says that the assistant can get him the information for it, and he thanks her again for talking to him. She takes down Emerick’s information and explains that he should be receiving a message from a representative to get a media pass at a later date. He also asks for information on how techies can sign up for the show as well, and she gives him that information as well (it’s pretty open).

Fee: Free press, 100 techs, 500 public

Talking to Audun

He approaches Audun and essentially asks what the NCPD would like to say to the citizens who are concerned that this whole initiative is a ploy to target minority groups and gangs. Audun gives another bs answer saying that he understands the public are concerned about this and the issues of how minority groups have been handled, and what resources exist for them. He wants to bring assurance to the public that part of the phase one operation is to do as much research gathering as possible to pinpoint exactly where cyberpsychosis threats are the highest. Most of these threats happen within these lesser established areas, but rest assured: we want to make sure that no matter what happens, the only people that will face justice and be handled are the ones that are an actual threat to those around them.

Emerick hones in on the word justice and mentions that most people would not associate the word justice with rehabilitation from what the public would consider a mental disorder. Audun asks how rehabilitation would not be justice? He explains that the desired outcome is of the public’s priority first, before their own, and that - to him - is justice in and of itself, and that path forward is the rehabilitation. Emerick asks what happens after the treatment, and he explains that they want to help people get back into the streets and adjust back to normal life. (This is the answer he is most enthusiastic about - he may either actually believe this, or it’s the part he had to practice a lot.) Emerick thanks Audun for his time.

After Interviews

We get back to the van, and Phoenix looks to Emerick and explains she didn’t have doubts for him before, but after today she knows that he is one hell of a media. He thanks her for the compliment, commenting that he takes pride in his work, and she says that it shows.

She is quiet a moment, then speaks up again: she mentions that when Emerick asked Mr. Steele about the territory, she knew for a fact that territory and a power grab is probably the number one priority of the man. What Emerick asked him affected him a great deal. She doesn’t think that Mr. Steele had the reaction he did because Emerick was wrong - there was some truth to what you asked him, and he was trying not to shut Emerick up the way he’d normally people up. Phoenix warns that Emerick should sleep with one eye open tonight.