It was time for some precision weaponry - "Fuck." - the F-bomb. "Smurfette is totally out of it... or Alan Moore was onto something when he wrote the 'Invisibles' and I'm told he was using at the time. - Dussack glanced at counter with the desperate longing of hardened alcoholics. - No, not now... - He ignored the temptation and sat in chair in the middle of the room instead.
"Let's go over what we already have." - he turned to the young, would be Runner. "OK, Traitor, let's see the list." - As he started to pore it over, he snorted in derision. "For something you put together on your own, it's not bad... however it's full of stupid, rookie mistakes."
He fished inside his jacket and was soon enough flushing his lungs with smoke. For a while he merely puffed, as Traitor was simmering with mixed embarrassment and rage.
"You list weapons that use at least four different calibers of ammunition, half the weapons you list - especially with the hollow point rounds - won't penetrate body-armor, much less any decent cover."
The hit-man gave the boy a hard stare.
"How the hell would we haul all this shit in case we need to hoof it? Should we all carry an arsenal of these toys in case we need to raid a disco or free some hostages? Should we just distribute a couple among ourselves and hope the right guy will be in the right spot?"
He shook his head, as if to dispel his own misgivings.
"I'll go over the list with you, but the moral you should take to heart is that when you're assigned to someone more experienced, you ask them for advice and don't let pride or some other bullshit notion or honor get in the way of that. If you could do the job on your own, then you wouldn't have a partner in the first place".
At last the management sim hummed to life, the Weapons column grayed out for now. The Matrix and Cyber ones were highlighted.
"Rudy. Our hysterical precog was right about one thing... I want you to harden all devices in the group, especially the comlinks. I'll wire a list of active-softs that I want you to hunt down, but for now focus on getting our cyber-security up and running." - for a change, he waited until the hacker confirmed the request.
"This are is your expertise, so I'll leave planning and execution to you... this means the rest of you will give Rudy full access to your devices, no exceptions. Damn... we should've done this shit yesterday."
The cyber & matrix columns take on an amber glow, denoting that responsibility has been handed over. The itinerary will be filled in as Rudy plans it.
"That leaves Intel. I want whatever info we have collated and if you have some spooks or analysts on call, now will be the time to avail their talents. Once I've run it past Leblanc, I'll also put out requests for a bunch of other areas as our first layer of misinformation. Only then, with my permission are you to work your contacts."
The Intel column took on a red color, denoting its priority. Training by comparison turned pink, denoting it has been put on back-burner.
"The first weps-training session will be postponed by four hours. This is my fault, I should've kept a closer watch on things. I'll also change the number of participants from 3 to 5 so we should have everyone cycled through in two sessions... unfortunately this also means we won't have a make-up session, so everyone better attend one of these. I'll lead the first session and I guess Sandy will handle the second when we finish our detail."
He paused to light another cig, his previous one all used up.
"I know being told to do stuff like this is not to your liking, but we only have two days to get things on the road. I'll go and arrange training now, meanwhile I strongly suggest you take the opportunity to do your 'homework' now... read and memorize the history of the area, familiarize yourself with the various tribes, leaders and gangs. There won't be a written exam, instead you might just piss of the wrong people and get raped, butchered and tossed in a ditch... not necessarily in this order."
"I guess I've barked enough, get in gear, get stuff done."