“Constructively Destructive” shadowrun team MMFEC dips their toes into a world of political intrigue, starting with a stealthy HR invasion and ending with minors at a bar? Emile Corrigan proves elusive yet…

Watch all episodes of “Shadowrun: Corporate SINs” on our YouTube playlist; Ep 26 is embedded at the end of this post.

We rejoin MMFEC after Elsie has secured an agreement (at Miss J’s request for a surreptitious favor) from Dana Oakes, Seattle’s District Attorney. She has need of MMFEC’s services in retrieving Emile Corrigan – Governor Brackenhaven’s Chief of Staff – for questioning in the disappearance of former press secretary Edmund Jenkins. As a former target of assassination, she can’t risk tipping off Brackenhaven until the case is airtight. MMFEC – at Miss J’s behest – agrees to perform these services in exchange for support in future endeavors.

All MMFEC has to go on about Emile is the public knowledge of his position and work – stationed in the same building as Dana, and the same building previously visited on their last Draco Foundation run. The world in Seattle, it seems, revolves around this building. In somewhat familiar territory, Ma1nfram3 and Elsie plan a stealthy infiltration to break into Emile’s HR file. It is made exceptionally clear via group vote that this is NOT – yet – a kidnapping mission.

During the discussion of how to get Ma1nfram3’s deck into the building, Fang, Cromwell, and Mordecai become obsessed with the idea of hiding the deck in a cake. After obtaining some concealment for Ma1nframe from Sharky, Ma1n and Elsie leave Van Helshark and the cake-planning behind; Elsie dressed for the office and Ma1n in her chameleon suit. Elsie goes into the front door and claims to be meeting again with Dana, while Ma1n swings around back to an agreed-upon back door.

Security cameras and a fence guard the exit, so Ma1n is forced to demonstrate her minimal gymnastics training. Against all odds, she deftly leaps from the fence and gets purchase beneath the camera, enabling her to jack in directly and avoid attempting to wirelessly hack the well-protected host of the Seattle government. A lucky break with Ma1n’s first mark takes down the entire camera PAN, and the door alarm too – enabling Elsie to crack the door discreetly just long enough for the decker’s entry.

Once inside, Elsie makes for the HR offices, Ma1n tracking slowly behind. A quick scan of the matrix reveals the HR offices are still inhabited, so Ma1n waits it out in a nearby restroom while Elsie grabs fries in the cafeteria. An hour later, just 15 minutes or so before Ma1n’s concealment wears off, there’s still someone in the office.

Time for Team Distraction. Elsie returns and enters HR, leaving the door open behind her. She begins weeping almost immediately and cajoles the remaining employee to start filing an incident report – enough of a distraction for Ma1n to slip inside, jack into an HR terminal, and inspect and copy Emile Corrigan’s personnel file.

But there’s a surprise waiting in the file – Emile hasn’t been seen in 36 hours, and his employer is remarkably blasé about the situation. Still, Ma1n gets Emile’s address and some other personal details quickly, then slips back out. A quick – and skillful – leap up to the security cameras enable her to turn them off once again, and Ma1n is soon flipping her way down the alley undetected. MMFEC has successfully infiltrated Seattle’s HR department without detection.

Meanwhile, in Van Helsharky, the rest of MMFEC has combined their powers to make a truly horrifying spectacle. Fang obtained muffins as a cake base; Cromwell lent his camp cooking kit, and Mordecai lent… his baby teeth reagents. Together they mushed the muffins and teeth-frosting into a barely edible concoction. Despite its questionable provenance (and the teeth on top), all but Ma1nfram3 partake. Fang vomits repeatedly.

With Emile’s address, and Fang’s vomit cleaned, the team proceeds to their next stop. It is here that Fang and Cromwell team up to impersonate detectives, knowing as the team does that Emile is considered a missing person. Cromwell dons a detective’s outfit he commissioned, and dubs himself “Detective Charlie Hammer”. Fang modifies her digital clothing to mimic Cromwell’s look and decides to style herself as “Detective Shell Glasgow”.

Hammer and Glasgow successfully manage to obtain the keycard for Emile’s apartment from the security guard at the complex, along with his own personal testimonial about what occurred on the night of Emile’s disappearance. “He left with some people… I think they messed with my head.”
Fang and Cromwell case the joint, as detectives do, and Cromwell’s astral sense indicates a general sense of unease lingering – something bad happened here. The apartment looks intact but slightly off. With Ma1nfram3’s remote help hack into his machine and find an encrypted set of receipts and access logs from the night of his departure. Unbenounst to the rest of the party, Cromwell also hides a remote detonation grenade within the walls of the unit.

Once returned to the van, they hand the encrypted file to Ma1nfram3 and she finds that Emile booked transit to a corporate retreat on Friday Harbor. It looks like another island trip is in the team’s future. Of course, Fang’s probation prohibits her from officially leaving the UCAS – and Friday Harbor is Salish territory.

To aid Fang’s stealthy transit, Ma1nfram3 calls her now-romantic-interest-without-labels Captain Paul Moore. After some flirtation, she manages to get contact information for one ex-girlfriend Rachel Grant (and a commitment for a date later in the week.) Another call gets the team surreptitious booking on Rachel’s boat in the dark of night.

Fang is visibly upset to be traveling with an associate of Moore, because she views Moore as a romantic threat to the romance she wants to see between Ma1n and Mordecai. Rachel’s boat is quite a sight – called “The Drowned Sailor”, with a crude painting of an angry mermaid drowning an effigy clearly belonging to Moore himself. Fang and Rachel hit it off quickly. Elsie sticks with them above deck, while the rest of the team are sent down to the hold with the fish.

Soon enough – though not until Elsie has befriended Rachel and made conditional arrangements for a return trip – the team is back on land, and heads to a locals bar about 10 kilometers from the Starlight Retreat Hotel, where Emile is believed to be staying. In the bar, MMFEC splits up for some reconnaissance of varying success. Fang and Ma1n talk to a group of academic woo girls. Surprisingly, Elsie hits paydirt with a young patron Seth who proves to be her own age, and is willing to sneak her into the Starlight, believing her to be a fellow guest.

Once on retreat grounds, Elsie gives Seth the slip, and instead makes conversation with a housekeeper. She is given many, many towels and enough of a distraction to palm the housekeeper’s keycard. Meanwhile, the rest of the team begins the 10K slog on foot to the Starlight Retreat Hotel. Mordecai seems to insist on skipping there, which can only end badly. Presumably, Elsie can let them in – but what lies beyond those gates?