Shadowrun: Spells & Chrome

by John Helfers

  Pearl looked over at me. “Blood in your mouth, not good. He must have gotten you bad.”

  “Dolt!” I spat and rose to a kneeling position. “The case was designed to protect what it contains from bullets and bombs. Kissing the rail put blood in my mouth.” I ejected the Ingram’s empty magazine and slapped a new one home. “Go!”

  Seeing that my slow movements had gotten me shot, Pearl apparently decided that speed was the only way to outwit the Orks in the building. This worked beautifully for traversing my stairs again and then the next flight. but on the landing between the second and third floors, Pearl found himself trapped by the Ork sniper.

  Pearl yelled for me to help him, but I hesitated. I’d seen the happy look on his face when he thought the Ork downstairs had mortally wounded me. If I let the sniper kill him, what would I lose but a watchdog? Then I thought a bit more. I would also lose my bait.

  From my position on the lower stairwell, I determined that the Ork had to be just inside the doorway of the apartment to the left of the stairs. With Pearl’s shrieks of terror echoing in my ears, I retreated and shot the lock from that apartment’s mate on the floor below.

  Darting inside, I saw a woman and her two, wide-eyed gutterkin children huddled on the floor. I motioned them to silence.

  I answered the next burst of fire from above with one of my own.

  The Ingram’s bullets tunneled up through plasterboard and plywood, covering the ceiling with powder burns. I heard a thump from above, then ducked back out of the doorway before the blood raining down could touch me.

  I sprinted up past a cringing Pearl and secured the third floor. I stepped over the Ork’s body, then stooped to pick up his AK-97 assault rifle. Crossing to the window the sniper had used, I shrugged off my pack and studied the situation below. While doing so, I unbuckled the flap on my pack.

  The fortunes of war had shifted more in the Ancients’ favor. The Meat Junkies, reinforced by two more war wagons, had managed to pull two or three groups of their people together behind a makeshift barricade. The Ancients concentrated their fire and magic on that formation, confident that the Meat Junkies would pull out once they could regroup.

  Pearl drifted toward the window but I pulled him back from it.

  “Idiot, get down. Do you want to get shot?”

  “No.”

  “Good. Now, go get me the sniper’s body. Strip off his ammo harness and give me the AK mags.”

  “Why?”

  I looked at him. “If you want us to win this little battle, do it.”

  He set about his grisly task as I popped open the case. Its stainless steel exterior showed a dented hole from where the bullet had hit, but the kevlar lining had caught the slug before it could damage my rifle or me. I pulled the rifle body from the foam pocket securing it, checked it quickly for any problems, then reached for the barrel.

  As I screwed the SM-3’s barrel to the body of the rifle, I caught my first glimpse of a massive ork goading the Meat Junkies on to great acts of heroics. Seeing him brandishing twin Uzis, the plan Wasp had not allowed me to share again flashed to mind. The trucks were just over 300 meters away, an easy shot with this gun and scope.

  Down below, Tiny was up and moving again. He lumbered forward, his AK-97 smoking as he stabbed it into the face of a Meat Junkie and pulled the trigger. Yet even as he voiced a cry of triumph, I saw another Meat Junkie let slip the leash of a Barghest. Its unnerving yelp made Tiny hesitate, and in that moment of weakness, the infernal canine leaped for him, fangs bared and eyes as red as the fires of hell.

  My brain instantly calculated the odds that I could bring the beast down before it killed Tiny, and the calculation said he would die. If he did not it was because, moving from the shadows, Sting intercepted the Barghest. The curved blades protruding from the back of her right hand sliced clean through the nightmare-hound. It slewed around and tried to snap at her just as its two halves were flying a meter or more apart.

  “I got the ork, Greenie.” His ammo harness landed at my feet. “What do I do with him?”

  I nodded to the wall on the other side of the window. “Just stand him up there.”

  “But he’s dead. He’ll fall down.”

  “So hold him up.”

  Snapping the rifle’s bipod into place, I looked up at the dead grunge Pearl was supporting. “Too bad you did not choose a more secure position from which to snipe, my friend. Right idea, wrong address, I believe they say.” I pulled the collapsible stock into position and locked it down, then mounted the scope.

  The flanking attack, led by Sting and Tiny, nibbled away at a junkie position, centimeter by centimeter. A junkie stuck the muzzle of a gun out and tightened down on the trigger. As his random fire punched a line of holes across Sting’s chest, the Elf went down. I feared the worst for Wasp’s rival, then I saw her roll to her feet and dive back behind cover. A second or two later, she was moving forward, albeit slower than before. The kevlar lining of her leather jacket must have saved her life.

  The battle was by no means over and I wanted to make my contribution to the war effort.

  “What are you doing?”

  I slapped a magazine of .655 caliber bullets into the sniper rifle and rested the bipod on the lip of the window. “That’s the Meat Junkie leader down there. If I take him down, they are done.”

  “Wiz, Greenie.” Pearl murmured reverently.

  I smiled. One gunshot and the gang would be leaderless. One gunshot and my position within the Ancients would be assured.

  “Subdue the arrogant,” I recalled the High Lord quoting Virgil as he exiled me for attempting to overthrow him. I settled the cross hairs on my target. I took up the slack in the trigger. “Subdue the arrogant, I shall,” I breathed, stroking the trigger.

  Pearl’s jaw dropped. “What you did do, you ... “

  I swung the sniper rifle around and jerked the trigger. Pearl smashed flat back against the wall at the center of a gory sunburst, then flopped forward onto his slack-jawed face.

  The ork started sliding toward me. I filled my left hand with the Ingram and triggered a full magazine, blasting him out through the window. His body slowly arced over and landed headfirst on the steps, then rolled to the sidewalk. Stunned, Ancients looked up to me and then off toward the center of the battlefield.

  The first 900-grain bullet had taken Wasp in the bridge of the nose and blown what passed for his brains out through a gaping exit wound. The Ancients’ magical assault stopped abruptly and the fighting slowed as if Wasp alone had powered it with his sorcery.

  I appeared in the window and brandished the sniper rifle. “You want a sniper, Meat Junkies?” I screamed like a madman! “I give you a sniper!”

  My first two shots reached the Meat Junkies’ stunned leader before he could even think to find cover. The first clipped him in the left bicep, whipping him around, with only his jacket keeping the severed limb anywhere close to his body. The next bullet punched into his right hip, coring him from flank to flank. The force of the second shot tossed him like a doll and he rolled to a stop in the gutter.

  The Meat Junkies, leaderless and confused, crumbled and retreated. Sting shouted sharp commands, directing Ancient outriders to chase the Junkies from our territory. From my position, I played guardian angel for her, picking off stragglers who wanted to make their mark by killing her. By battle’s end, the Ancients knew who their new leader was and I approved of their selection.

  For the time being, anyway.

  Before the High Lord cast me out of Tir Tairngire for treason, he asked if I had anything to say in my defense. “Better to reign in hell, than to serve in heav’n,” I quoted Milton. And reign I shall, one way or another, in this hell of the Sprawl.

  ABOUT THE EDITOR

  John Helfers is an author and editor currently living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He has edited more than fifteen short story anthologies for DAW, as well as numerous ones for other publishers in all genres. He has also published more than thirty-fi
ve short stories in anthologies such as If I Were An Evil Overlord, Time Twisters, and Places to Be, People to Kill. His media tie-in fiction has appeared in anthologies for the Dragonlance® and Transformers® universes, among others. He has written both fiction and nonfiction, including the third novel in the first authorized trilogy based on The Twilight Zone™ television series, the YA novel Tom Clancy’s Net Force Explorers: Cloak and Dagger, and a history of the United States Navy. With Jean Rabe, he co-wrote Shadowrun: Aftershock.

  SHADOWRUN TIMELINE

  How We Got Here

  Pay attention. There’s not enough time to cover everything. But if you want to have any chance of understanding the world you’d better know something about how we got here. These are the key events that have made the 21st Century what it is.

  1999: The Seretech Decision. During food riots in Manhattan, a Seretech delivery truck was attacked, and security killed 200 rioters. The Supreme Court of the old United States ruled that the security guards were justified in their actions.

  2001: The Shiawase Decision. After an attack on a privately-owned nuclear power plant, the Shiawase Corporation argues that they have the right to defend their holdings. The Supreme Court agrees, giving large corporations extraterritoriality, making them sovereign over their own property.

  2010: VITAS 1. A new virus emerges and spreads throughout humanity. A quarter of the world’s population dies in the outbreak.

  2011: The Year of Chaos and the Awakening. The year begins with a portion of the infants born across the world looking like elves and dwarfs of legend in a phenomenon known as the Unexplained Genetic Expression. Later, magic long absent from the world returns in an event known as the Awakening. Ley lines, ghosts, dragons, and more appear.

  2012: The Continuing Awakening. Magic continues to spread, and more dragons appear, including the great dragons Dunkelzahn and Lofwyr. Lofwyr goes on to helm corporate giant Saeder-Krupp.

  2014: The Native American Nations. Detention camp escapee Daniel Howling Coyote announces the formation of the Native American Nations. Later, in 2017, he helps perform the Great Ghost Dance that unleashes chaos on the world and forces North American governments to accede to his demands.

  2015: Aztlan. The nation of Mexico, backed by the company that eventually becomes Aztechnology, changes its name to Aztlan. This becomes the base of one of the most powerful corporations in the world.

  2021: Goblinization. Ten percent of the world’s population take on the traits of mythical orks and trolls, and these races become a significant presence in the world.

  2022: VITAS 2. A second strain of VITAS strikes the world. Another ten percent of the population dies.

  2029: Crash 1.0. A computer virus like the world has never seen brings down the entire worldwide Matrix.

  2030: UCAS. After losing much of their territory to the Native American Nations, the remainders of the United States and Canada merge to form the United Canadian and American States (UCAS).

  2033: The Nanosecond Buyout. A financier named Damien Knight executes a flurry of transactions that, in under a minute, give him ownership of the massive Ares Macrotechnology corporation.

  2034: New Nations Emerge. As geopolitical boundaries continue to shift, southern UCAS states secede to form the Confederation of American States (CAS); the large nation of Amazonia is founded in South America; and the elven nation of Tír na nÓg in what was once Ireland.

  2035: Tír Tairngire. Following the emergence of Tír na nÓg, a second elven nation, Tír Tairngire, is founded in what used to be the northwestern United States.

  2039: The Night of Rage. Anti-metahuman bigotry, which had been brewing since the UGE and Goblinization, explodes in global riots that kill thousands.

  2048: Operation Reciprocity. In retaliation for the nationalization of all Aztlan businesses, the largest corporations in the world engage in a joint assault on Aztechnology holdings, causing severe damage but stopping short of destroying the company.

  2057: Dunkelzahn’s Triumph and Tragedy. In a single year, the great dragon Dunkelzahn announces his candidacy for president of the UCAS, wins the election, then, on the day of his inauguration, is killed.

  2061: Year of the Comet. The passage of Halley’s Comet wreaks great changes on the world, including mana storms, a UGE-like phenomenon known as the SURGE, the eruption of the volcanoes in the Ring of Fire and other locations, the emergence of a new dragon known as Ghostwalker (who goes on to rule the Free City of Denver), and sightings of the undead-like creatures known as shedim.

  2064: Crash 2.0. A combination of attacks from the cult known as Winternight and the initial public stock offering of the Novatech megacorporation brings down the Matrix, paving the way for the construction of a new wireless Matrix.

  2070: Emergence. Technomancers, who can interact with the wireless Matrix with only their mind, cause a worldwide outbreak of paranoia and fear.

  2071: Ghost Cartels. A new drug called tempo sweeps the world, plunging millions into addiction and setting off a massive underworld war.

  SHADOWRUN TERMINOLOGY

  If you’re going to walk the walk, better know how to talk the talk. Here are the essential terms you need to know so you can talk without having people stare at you.

  astral plane: The dimension of all things alive and magical. Everything living has an aspect on the astral plane, and magic lights up this plane like fireworks.

  Augmented Reality (AR): The primary way of interacting with the Matrix, Augmented Reality is a digital overlay on reality that allows individuals to access information and customize the appearance of certain areas. Individual pieces of AR are called AROs (Augmented Reality Objects).

  Awakening: Term used to describe the return of magic to the world. Magical individuals and beasts are referred to as the Awakened.

  bio-ware: Augmentations to the body that act as new organs.

  BTLs: Better-Than-Life chips, chips that provide a sensory experience more intense than reality. BTLs (pronounced “beetles”) are tremendously addictive.

  commlink: A device used by almost everyone in the Sixth World, it combines elements of a handheld computer, telephone, camera, and other functions.

  Corporate Court: A body made up of representatives of the ten most powerful corporations in the world that regulates high-level corporate activities.

  critters: Animals that, affected by the changes that have shaken the world, have taken on new aspects and various powers.

  cyberware: Augmentations that build machinery into the body to enhance and extend its natural abilities.

  face: A member of a shadowrunning team who specializes in interacting with various contacts.

  fixer: An individual who arranges contacts and meetings between shadowrunners and Johnsons.

  hacker: Someone with a special expertise in accessing and manipulating nodes and the data they contain.

  HMVV: Human-metahuman vampiric virus, a virus that causes vampirism in metahumans. Certain strains of the virus have the effect of transforming metahumans so that they resemble mythological creatures such as ghouls and goblins.

  JackPoint: A private network of experienced shadowrunners, organized by legendary hacker FastJack, who gather on the Matrix to share information and tips.

  mana: The magical energy in all living things that makes spellcasting and other magical activities possible.

  manaline/ley line: A concentration of magical energy; these lines form cris-crossing patterns across the globe.

  Matrix: The global electronic network formed by the multitudinous wireless nodes across the world.

  medkit: A medical kit, assembled goods for delivering first aid to victims and repairing wounds as rapidly as possible.

  megacorporation: A tremendously large multinational corporation that acts as a sovereign power, complete with its own army and internal form of currency. In the Sixth World, the power of the megacorporations outstrips that of national governments.

  metahumanity: Term used to describe all humanoid
races, including humans, dwarfs, elves, orks, trolls, and others.

  Mr. Johnson: The code name used by most representatives who arrange jobs with shadowrunners.

  nanotech: Technology that uses microbiology and enhancements at the cellular level to carry out certain tasks. These tasks can include enhancements to human abilities.

  PAN: Personal Area Network, the network formed by an individual’s collection of wireless devices.

  RFID tags: Radio frequency identification tags; common to almost all electronic devices, they broadcast information that facilitates communication between devices.

  rigger: Term used to describe a specialist in controlling vehicles and drones.

  sarariman: Term for the core backbone of any corporation—the salaried workers whose daily work makes a corporation go. Also known as “corporate drones.”

  shadowrunners: Independent criminals and deniable assets; people who stay out of the glare of the world and try to make a living in the gray areas.

  SIN: System Identification Number. The basic form of identification used worldwide. If you don’t have one, whether real or fake, things like opening a bank account or crossing a border will be damn tough.