EP 14 – Market Day

Having not heard from Gunhead in some time, the rest of the crew visit the Computer Science lab to speak with him. They encounter Gunhead arguing with Kave about single sign-on protocols, but eventually Kave encourages Gunhead to talk more about his work building out the foundations of the citiNET for Bakersfield. Gunhead starts to go into detail regarding the features, such as online forums, message boards and online stores. Finally, he unveils his pièce de résistance, an output of telemetry from all citiNET users in Bakersfield. He says this data could help uncover threats to the city, such as encroaching gangers or other dangerous individuals.

The Market alive with activity

Fennec receives a ping on his agent from Mickey, a close friend within the Aegis Nomad clan. Mickey informs him that they are bringing in some supplies to help setup a market in downtown Bakersfield. He encourages the crew to come along if they want to buy supplies. The crew head into downtown a short time later, they arrive into a small, but bustling, city market with a number of different stalls set up. Rez approaches Lenny D, a ramen vendor who they spoke with shortly before investigating the Arcade Parlour a few days prior. Gunhead tries to convince him they had a bet going, but fails to convince him. The crew buy some fresh bowls and begin to wander through the market.

They find Mickey speaking with a heavily armed man in the back-end of the market, and Fennec approaches When asked about a weapons merchant, Mickey introduces them to Connor Stewart, who is hesitant to provide access to his services until Mickey makes good on a promise. Mickey encourages Connor to grab some food while he speaks with the crew. Out of earshot, Mickey informs the crew that Connor is a weapons dealer based out of Nevada, and is looking for assistance with smuggling “less-than-legal” weapons across the border from Nevada into Southern California. Rama prods for more information and finds out Connor is intending to smuggle in artillery. The crew agree to help Mickey and Connor, and Connor them provides them access to a small collection of weapons he was able to bring with him, located in the trunk of his car. Rez purchases an assault rifle, along with a few magazines, while Rama picks up some additional flash bang grenades. A short time later, Connor packs up his equipment and leaves, leaving the crew to inspect the rest of the market. They spend some time purchasing equipment from the other vendors, with the crew picking up a wide variety of new equipment.

Inyokern Airbase – Controlled by the Aegis Nomad Group

They finish up in the markets and speak with Mickey again, agreeing to travel with him and the rest of the Aegis Nomads as they travel back to the Inyokern base of operations, located east of Bakersfield. Driving overnight, they arrive at the fortified airbase in the early hours of the morning. Fennec spends some time catching up with a few Nomad-family members, and they get clearance to borrow a jet airliner to take into Las Vegas, Nevada. They pack some snacks and hit the tarmac, taking off for a short flight across the border. Fennec gets clearance from Nevada air traffic control, and takes the jet down at Enterprise Airport, a regional hub on the outskirts of Las Vegas.

Arriving into the arrivals terminal, they find a collection of large, armed men, sitting and appearing to wait for Mickey. Mickey asks the crew to wait to the side for him for a few minutes. While they wait, they try to identify the men. Fennec asks an air stewardess at a reception terminal, who believes they are representatives of a casino in town. After the men leave, Mickey indicates he has had to hand over the keys to the jetliner to the men, but declines to go into further detail about the discussion. He organises for a ground car to take them into Las Vegas.

The men waiting in the Arrivals terminal at Enterprise Airport