Runners:
Thankyou aka Eckhard Roberts
Aemon Burst
Ortega

Ro Tain decides to go take care of some business in Seattle, not wanting to do further missions for the Ancients right now as she is piqued by their Elven supremacy. The rest of the team rests up for a few days and hones some skills, before heading to the Crime Mall to meet up with Rook. They’re going to be smuggling some contraband (and Rook) out of Seattle, through Salish=Shidhe territory and over the border into Tir Taingire. The first leg of the trip will use 2 refrigerated trucks (including the repainted Stuffer Shack auto-hauler from last time).

They dicker over pay and then head out. They have an Ancients escort for the initial bit and don’t have any trouble, but are accosted by another go-gang, the 405 Hellhounds on their eponymous highway. They drive them off with dispiriting called shots and assault rifle fire before they do anything other than cosmetic damage. They reach the border-spanning Carnation Farms dairy farm, and bribe their way through without incident, refusing to pay further for some milk that “fell off the truck”.

They reach Rimrock Lake, a smuggler’s in Cascade Ork turf, and find a battered but seemingly functional Ares Dragon cargo chopper waiting for them. They trade the trucks for it with a taciturn ork mechanic named Big Jim, and also rent a refrigerated carge container with emergency chutes and an LMG from him, just to make sure things go smoothly. They load up the chopper and cargo crate, and find out they they’re carrying a bunch of random purloined corporate goods, concealing 9 Aztechnology stinger launchers. Rook tells them that the ban on Azzie tech in the Tir mean that both the launchers and the Stuffer Shack loot will fetch a good price.

They cross the border over the mountains, and spot Mount Hood in the distance, before clouds roll in and obscure their view. They are flying near the chopper’s ceiling to help avoid detection, and are avoiding magical use for the same reason. However, as TY begins to follow the ARO trail towards the LZ, their sensors ping an incoming craft, hiding in the clouds, and their comm systems bursts into static-y life with an elven supremacist screed, delivered in Sperethiel. They also are alerted that the other craft is attempting missile lock.

Rook tells them that it is likely a member of the Great Hunt, a fanatic border patrol that tends to shoot first. TY begins evasive maneuvers while Ortega and Aemon haul open the side cargo door and strap in. Ortega spots the other craft with his thermo, and they are able to tag it with a few rounds before it gets a missile off. However, their chopper is heavily damaged and TY is struggling to maintain control. They manage to send the enemy chopper (a light scout craft) into a tailspin, heavily smoking, as it gets a second missile off, which TY pulls out all the stops to partially avoid, managing to avoid a total catastrophe, but he is unable to right it and they bail in chutes, as Rook blows the explosive bolts holding the cargo on. They try to steer towards the LZ as Ortega finishes off the other chopper, just to make sure.

As they descend further, they are attacked by a small group of light rotodrones mounted with LMG’s, but manage to take them out with no serious damage, and protect the cargo. They come in and mostly stick the landing. TY, already weakened from VR feedback. fares the worst. They meet up with some Tir Peace Force troops with a bunch of off-road technicals, who begin loading the gear. They are introduced to Rook’s father, and wired-up Tir Prince named Evan Parris, who pays them and provides them with visas to the Tir good for 1 month, as well as a promise of more work in a day and a half’s time. They head into Cara’Sir/Portland to get the lay of the land until then.