Dark Nostalgia: An Interview from the Future-Past

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Listen up all you slots and trogs out there in the metroplex, you're in for a real treat with this broadcast! We've got a group of real, LIVE Shadowrunners that have agreed to give KCOK, FM-103.2, The station that keeps the 'plex ROCKING HARD all day long, an interview for all our chummers out there in radioland!

This interview is brought to you by our sponsor The Body Count Lotto where the numbers from the Friday night Firefight can win you up to ¥500,000 in the metroplex's highest progressive jackpot!

DARKSTAR Felicitations there Chummers! Let's get right down to biz then, eh? Believe me, it looks like these guys spent their nuyen on hardware instead of a sense of humor! How long have you been in the shadows?

[FROSTY]: Several years.

[PILGRIM]: I'm relatively new to the shadows. I used to hold a legitimate position with the Wildcats in the NAN.

[ULA]: For under a year.

[MOLOKAI]: Long enough, what's it to you?

[MOTHER]: Well as a decker that's kind of a rhetorical question. I've been in trouble with the corps since I was first able to "jack in". I showed a strong aptitude for computers at a very early age and my parents were quite encouraging. They didn't have a lot of money but they were able to give me a basic jack on my sweet 16th. That's when the drek hit the fan...

DARKSTAR So, then why did you start?

[ULA]: I had led a fairly quiet life until I started dabbling in magic and my mother died. After my father remarried I was made to leave the tribe, and when I ended up in Seattle I made the right friends at the right time, and here I am.

[MOLOKAI]: Well, it sure beats being in a federal prison. Besides, when you're on the run and can't use your own SIN, where else are you supposed to go, Azatlan?

[FROSTY]: Because of the retirement benefits. Actually, the money is really good. And it's something to do instead of flipping soyburgers on a street corner or getting chained to a cubicle. What other job is there where you can do damn near anything you want?

[PILGRIM]: I HAD to get off the res. I had always lived in my brother's shadow and felt stifled. Coming to Seattle was a breath of fresh air for me. A run just fell into my lap. They suit my experience and skills. From there I was hooked.

[MOTHER]: Because. In addition to a zealous interest in all things matrix related, school profiles also showed a strong rebellious streak, my counselors were always preaching about my "problem with authority." No shit! My friends could have told you that years ago. So I started hacking for kicks, then to maintain SOTA, then, and the next thing I knew I was running for my life. We'll just leave it there.

DARKSTAR I know a lot of our listeners out there might think that you're some kind of modern day Robin Hood. How do you feel about that kind of drek being said about you?

[PILGRIM]: I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel proud. Where else can you do right by the poor and oppressed? Certainly, there's not that chance in a menial position with a corp. I have to say I do miss protecting my native nation but here I am impacting the source rather than the symptom. Here we send a clear message that we're not going to stand for being held down by The Man regardless of his color.

[MOLOKAI]: I'm not sure I like it. People on the street have some really different opinions of shadowrunning. It's not all guns and glory like the sims present it. There is little romance in the bottom of a tofu container when you've been staking out a place for five or six hours making sure the timing is just right.

[FROSTY]: I feel like the laymen of the street need to watch better trid programming. I have a low opinion of the common cattle-uh, I mean, man. Firemen are heroes. Once in a while a cop is a hero (when he isn't busy shaking anyone down or accepting bribes to look the other way). Hero's are not people who get paid to do bad things. Things that real people don't want to think about, admit, or deal with.

[MOTHER]: What the frag eva! Ha! A hero? Hmmm. You should ask my mates that I run with on that one. I don't think I could quite fill those shoes. Granted I can handle myself a lot better now but I'm still pretty gun-shy. I lost someone very dear to me once because they had to be a hero. Never again chummer! I strongly discourage those traits in anyone I care about. Get the gig. Get the job done. Get the nuyen. Get the frag out and fade. Next idiotic question?

[ULA]: I think that we are just supplying a service to people in need. My main role as a healer is to try to make sure no one gets hurt or dies. That's who I am, and I don't think it's heroic or cowardly, just the way it is.

DARKSTAR Well! I see. So, how about the opposite then? I mean, I know Lonestar has to have an opinion too. How do you guys feel when the world out there thinks of you as scum lower than a Halfer on a bad day?

[FROSTY]: I think the laymen of the street have started watching better trid programming. I don't particularly think of myself as either street scum or as a hero, but I think shadowrunners in general are. There are many more low class, unprofessional sinless morons who will do anything for a shiny credstick than there are real shadowrunners.

[ULA]: I'm sure that there are a lot of people that consider us scum. I try not to let it affect me (and it's gotten easier as time goes by) too much. I know who I am, my teammates know who I am.

[PILGRIM]: That's just ignorance talking. They don't understand who we are or what we are fighting for. Course there are a lot of shits out there only in it for themselves. I think that's selfish but if they can have a positive impact then so be it. Sure it's arrogant and unethical but it's morally right. It's more a matter of desperation than anything else.

[MOLOKAI]: Those are the people who don't see the people on the street. There was this one run we did for a Lonestar Johnson that had no clue as to what to do about these certain bank robberies. Well, with Lonestar running around like lost Barghest, the bank robbers had a plan. They were feeding the homeless on the street. Those slots on the street who think that we're scum ought to look into their own souls before casting judgment on ours.

[MOTHER]: Now that I can understand. The masses have become fearful and complacent. There is no doubt that we play a necessary evil in our society. We're part of a check and balance system used to evaluate, monitor and control the unnecessary evils out there. Now it's just a matter of enlightening the masses. I don't expect our society to rise up as a whole and shrug off their current lifestyles in order to revolt and fight for what they rightfully deserve. And there are a lot of negative elements out there that sully the reputation of "runners."

DARKSTAR So, what about these Johnsons? Have you ever run against them?

[MOLOKAI]: Yes. And I have no problem running against a Johnson for personal honor. You don't screw over shadowrunners and get away nicely. We aren't that expendable. You hear that Mr. J?

[MOTHER]: Again, it's very hard to generalize any group, Johnson's included. I worked with individuals who were very altruistic and some who weren't, and hell yes I ran against them. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction or some drek like that. This applies to everything we do in any of our lives regardless of our chosen profession. There will always be conflicting interests depending on your station in life, the corp you work for, whether you have a SIN or not, etc. The best that any of us can hope for is to know yourself and make the decisions you can live with.

[FROSTY]: Yes. Sometimes it's necessary. When a baby gets out of line, he gets spanked. When a Johnson sets you up for a fall or tries to have you killed, he gets spanked. Difference being the J gets spanked with large caliber weaponry or high powered mana. It's a necessary trade off. If you kill J's, you don't get hired. If you don't kill the ones who step out of line, it sets a nifty trend for J's to not be wary of what they are doing to the team they hired.

[ULA]: Yeah, but not one that didn't deserve it. It essentially comes down to "Don't frag with us, we won't frag with you." It's that simple.

[PILGRIM]: Let me tell you that there are some unscrupulous people manipulating things behind the scenes. Yes I have run against a Johnson. But only one who had crossed the pack first. There are certain types of jobs I feel comfortable with and certain types I would never dream of doing. We have been misled before and I'm sure we will be led astray again in the future. You define who you are early in life and have to stick to it.

DARKSTAR Sure, sure. Bet tell me, how much influence do you think you really have in this Sixth World of ours? I mean, every shadowrunner has a story to tell that makes them feel important, so what's yours?

[PILGRIM]: Sometimes it's daunting when you think about the power that some of these corporations wield. The impact that runners make is kind of like a domino effect. Sure many people fear or hate us but there's also a great many that we give hope to and help. If we're lucky our actions will inspire those people to stand up for what they believe is right. That's about as much influence as I feel comfortable with.

[ULA]: Enough to heal the people that my mates decide need to be hurt. I try not to get as involved in the violence. Strange isn't it, a shadowrunner that is basically non-violent? Don't get me wrong, I'll strike when I need to, and I've done things that amaze myself, but I'd still prefer to hang in the back until the wetwork is over.

[MOLOKAI]: Ever heard of Highstar Entertainment? Poor Mr. Johnson went and landed street side after a forty-floor tour straight down. I guess he didn't have a harness on when he was washing the windows.

[MOTHER]: A well planned, well-executed run can cripple a corporation that doesn't have a lot of redundancy built into their structure. That's a lot of influence when you think about it. But understand that it is NOT what I am about. I just want to live to see tomorrow. Course I wouldn't mind getting those fraggers responsible for Joel.

[FROSTY]: I probably will never knock one of the Big 5 out of the rankings. I might piss off some CEO of one of them, but my influence is the influence of vermin. Sometimes, though, vermin can carry all the power. Like rats in Europe. Some of the lowliest vermin carried the Black Death, killer of 75% of the population in Europe over the course of 200 years.

Sometimes I talk too much.

DARKSTAR You guys have got to come from somewhere, so do you think of the families and friends that you've left behind?

[MOLOKAI]: Every day. Why do you think that I got into the biz? If that little son-of-a-slitch laid another hand on my sister I swore I'd kill him. He decided to call my bluff.

[FROSTY]: Of course, that's assuming that I have a family anymore.

[MOTHER]: Family is something I left behind a long time ago. After what happened with Joel I knew there was no way I could protect my family and no way that my actions were going to place them in jeopardy. I'm dead to them and anyone who knew of my relations unfortunately. Would I change it if I could? You bet. There's not a day that goes by I don't miss them but there's no going back.

[ULA]: I think of my Father often, but I will never see him again and I almost wish that I could just bury him in my mind and get on with life.

[PILGRIM]: Absolutely. Every day. I hope that my actions and beliefs make my ancestors proud of me. I love my family dearly even though we may not see things eye to eye. I would love to have a family of my own someday.

DARKSTAR What about the families that you've destroyed? Do they ever enter into your shadow-sodden brains, or are you just a bunch of unfeeling punks on the streets?

[FROSTY]: Yes.

[MOTHER]: That's a tough one. As I stated earlier, every individual is responsible for their own decisions and actions. If those conflict with mine so be it. If their actions threaten me or mine then the choice is pretty clear to me. I feel for the families. I really do. That's why I've made the life choices I have to protect mine. If any of you wage slaves read this, involve your families in your decisions and have their interests at heart.

[PILGRIM]: That's something I need to do more of. I can be very myopic when I set my sights on achieving something, a run included. I AM a fighter and a hunter. Sometimes my blood lust gets the better of me and I can lash out in retaliation to a threat. This has led me to regret some of my actions in the past. Only I can accept responsibility for these and will have to deal with that for a long time to come. It's a spiritual thing that I am having a hard time putting into words.

[MOLOKAI]: There's an old 2-D movie that I think of sometimes when the wetwork has to happen. I don't remember the name of it, but it has a scene with this shadowrunner in a pawnshop tossing rings at the owner. He says some drek like, 'Each one of these is a life. A life that you helped destroy.' Well, sometimes the guy is just a poor slot in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's just biz. But there is a church down on Deacon Street. The minister there is a nice little Halfer, he lets me light candles sometimes.

[ULA]: I try not to. We've helped many people too.

DARKSTAR Ok, ok, enough of the dark and dreary. What do you guys do for fun? Club Penumbra? The Big Knobi Klub? Glass Spider? What?

[MOLOKAI]: Fun? What the hell kind of mediahead are you? There isn't much room for fun when you're running from the law, the government, various corporations, or just some suicidal slot that just want to sell your gizzard to the nearest Ripperdoc down the alley. Jesus Christ! What a fragging stupid question!

[ULA]: I like to practice the flute. Yeah, yeah I know it's pretty silly and I'm not very good, but it's fun and keeps my mind occupied. I'm trying to learn more about hand to hand combat, but it still makes me a little queasy.

[PILGRIM]: As I was saying I like to think I'm a very spiritual person and can be very solitary because of this. I love to get back to nature for some well-earned quiet time as much as I can. I love the desert. I love the mountains. I love the plains. And the night! Man I love the night. When the full moon's out and there's no plexes or vehicles around and the spirits are calling, there's nothing quite like it.

[FROSTY]: A whole lot of different things. Probably a lot like what you do for fun. You don't have to worry about people trying to track you down by your habits, though, so I don't think I will go into much depth.

[MOTHER]: I deck and then I deck some more. Seriously though I have been focusing on my meat a little bit more recently thanks to some friends of mine. I've learned that balance is good. Some deckers I know feel that they're only alive when in the matrix. Does that seem right to you? Is that any better than BTLing it? All I know is that it's not right for me. A physical outlet is good for me, and my future wellbeing.

DARKSTAR Hmm. Ok, fun is out for our pointy-eared friend. What's your role on the team here?

[MOLOKAI]: Slitch.

[ULA]: I am the Shamanic healer. I also am the bullet magnet in heavy fire.

[FROSTY]: I am primarily a combat mage. I can also dump a three round burst from a SMG into a 3 ½" x 5" card stapled to the head of a silhouette at 40 meters while running at full sprint. Or I can sling the ju ju for hours. I'm a god damned Swiss Army knife. Jack of all trades…but master of few.

[MOLOKAI]: My role? I'm a member of an elite crew that does covert operations for Johnson's. Other than that, I drive, shoot, and crunch up some electronics. You? Oh yeah, 'mouthpiece.'

[PILGRIM]: You wouldn't guess it by looking at me, I'm your typical muscle. Now don't go thinking that I've violated my body with all that wire and chrome and chemicals like gutter trash. I've been taught to hunt and fight since I could walk. I strive to embody The Great Wolf in everything I do. Wolf holds perfection in his simplicity to life. You hunt to feed your family. You fight to protect your family from danger. The pack is the most important thing in my life, whether blood or not.

[MOTHER]: I handle all matrix-related areas. Information and intelligence control. We are going to be working on a little team redundancy so I am looking into installing a VCR and maybe a skillwire. I've also been working out and spending some time on the firing range. I've had some bioware augmentation to make myself less of a hindrance for the team in a physical aspect.

DARKSTAR Ok, pretend your sitting in front of a crystal ball. How do you see yourself 5 years from now? What about 10?

[MOLOKAI]: Honestly there are times I don't know if I'll see myself five or 10 days from now.

[ULA]: Jesus, how the hell am I supposed to know? Dead, alive, rich, poor, it's all the same to me in the end.

[MOTHER]: Baby I want OUT! Some may get off on the rush this biz provides but not me. I would love nothing more than to disappear and live comfortably. Spend some time taking care of myself instead of biz. Course the matrix will always call me. I'd just like to be able to be a lot more selective and only do lucrative matrix runs.

[PILGRIM]: I want to experience much in this world. I want to see Wolf in all his environments. I want to push myself through great adversity to prove myself. Eventually I truly want to raise a family. When I return to my people and family a success.

[FROSTY]: I don't envision myself past the end of the week. I have plans, but I don't keep my head in the clouds. I could die as soon as we leave this building, enemies I don't even know about waiting for me. 5 years is a long time when you ride with death.

DARKSTAR Given the circumstances right now, how do you envision yourself leaving the shadows?

[MOTHER]: If I ever do get that time I just mentioned I'd like to open myself up again enough to find someone that I could care for and vice versa. Maybe that would be the motivation I would need to walk away for good.

[MOLOKAI]: Bullets and gun smoke come to mind.

[PILGRIM]: Stronger, free and wise.

[FROSTY]: Either in style, or in a bag.

[ULA]: I can't tell you how I picture leaving, but I can tell you that I don't see it being something that is planned. I'm happy with this life now, and if or when I leave I can't imagine the circumstances that break me from the friends that I have on the team.

DARKSTAR So, let's get personal. What was you life like before you began running in the shadows?

[ULA]: My life was pretty quiet and simple. I was the healer of a small tribe when I was 13, but we usually didn't have any more serious injuries than a splinter. I do remember one time when I was about 14, one of the smaller children came running into the camp holding what looked like a scrawny calf leg with half the meat gone over his head, waving it and screaming in the most disturbing way. His name was Omel, and he was a favorite of the camp. When he got closer I realized he was holding his own arm, which had been torn off by a beast that had snuck up on him. Realizing the courage that it must have taken this child to tangle with a wild animal that had his own arm in it's teeth gave me extra reason to try to save the arm, but it was just too mangled and too, well, eaten to save. He was bleeding horribly when he staggered into camp, the spraying blood making patterns that almost seemed to look like the gods mocking me. When I saw a splatter that looked for all the world like a large snake, my totem. I got to work, and though I didn't manage to save the boy's arm, I did save his life. What has become of him since I left? I wish I knew.

[FROSTY]: Not as interesting, but the health benefits were good.

[MOTHER]: Ya know that's something I barely remember. Even when I wasn't doing runs professionally, I was doing them for kicks. It's so easy to be your own boss when you're a decker. As long as you've got the programs and the right deck you can write your own ticket. Cutting out the middle Johnson does wonders for your profit margin. I guess my life was pretty boring.

[MOLOKAI]: Well, I was a slot in a job. A job that I used to like, before I got my Kiroshi's installed.

[PILGRIM]: I loved life on the NAN. I don't remember a lot about my early childhood. It really is a wonderful place to grow up. I had so many friends. The bonds so strong to transcend time and distance. My brother and I were exceptionally close. We trained together with my father. We went to school together. We joined the military together and eventually came to be in the same squad in the Wildcats. I love him so much. But eventually felt a little smothered. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision to leave but there is so much for me to learn. I know in my heart that I am walking the right path and this will enrich my relationship with my family and Wolf.

DARKSTAR Do you miss anything about your previous life? Ya know, the one you can't go back to?

[PILGRIM]: There I go again answering your questions before you ask. I miss my family above all else. I miss the sun and fresh air. I miss the stars. I miss the camaraderie of our squad. Soon I must make a trip back to visit.

[ULA]: The food.

[MOLOKAI]: Clear vision without the fuzzy grain and the metallic taste in my mouth every morning. And I kinda miss surfing without having to worry about the salt water's effect on my hardware.

[MOTHER]: My family and Joel.

[FROSTY]: My girl, Linda Lou, who has tied a yellow ribbon around the ol-sorry. Obscure reference. I miss many things about my previous life. They aren't the kind of stuff that I will tell you, though.

DARKSTAR So, what would you do with a legal SIN right now?

[MOTHER]: What? Like it's any big deal to get a SIN? I could get you one by tomorrow. Course it's validity is going to cost you big time. You act like a SIN is the answer to any chump's prayers. Let me tell you chummer I could never be a suit. Too low on the food chain to really make any positive impacts on your life and too many political games to stomach moving up the ladder. I prefer to make my mark on the sidelines and hope for something better for me and mine.

[FROSTY]: Why do you assume I don't have a SIN? I have four.

[MOLOKAI]: A SIN isn't all what it's cracked up to be, wahine. Besides, do you really think I'd tell you that?

[PILGRIM]: Maybe I'd start a bogus secured transport business as a cover for my shadowrunning activities.

[ULA]: I think I'd take a trip out to the reservation. I can't rejoin my tribe, wouldn't want to now, but it would put some skeletons to rest to see them again.

DARKSTAR Well gee! If all this shadowplay is so deadly, why don't you just quit? It's not like you've got to write a two weeks notice or anything.

[MOLOKAI]: Man, who gets these people to ask you these questions? Did you write these, or did some other bag-jobbed slot do it for you? You fragging people have no clue, and won't until you've actually done it. Fragging pimps! You don't understand the rush and thrill that shadowrunning has when you pull off a job in one night and get fifty-thou for the taking.

[ULA]: I have no desire to leave the team that I've been with. I've done quite a bit of meditating and communing with various spirits in the past months, and all that they've indicated is that I will come back to the shadows. When the spirits say it's time to leave, then I will.

[FROSTY]: Because I don't have enough money in the bank to buy that little house with the white picket fence and concealed sentry guns.

[PILGRIM]: To quit now would deprive me of too much growth. It would be admitting failure and weakness. I have close friends that depend on me and I will not let them down. It's a matter of honor.

[MOTHER]: Look, how many variations on a theme are we going to drudge through here? I just don't think that there ARE any other options available to me besides running. I could never limit or restrict myself in the Matrix. That would bore the hell out of me working as a corp decker.

DARKSTAR A lot of people on the street talk about honor in shadowrunning. Is there really an honor system you guys follow?

[ULA]: Of course there is, don't be silly. There can be honor in anything if you only don't break the rules you make for yourself. We are not some marauding butchers, flying through the night on razor-laden motorcycles. Though that does sound like a great way to make an impression! Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, honor. It's simple. We do what we're paid, and we try not to kill anyone unnecessarily. If you don't frag with us, we'll tend to leave you alone. If you hire us, we will do all we can to get your job done.

[PILGRIM]: Are you reading my mind? Hold on a sec. Hmmm. Ok, we can continue. Honor is a personal thing. Either you have it or you don't. It is harder to find in this age but not where I'm from. It's in the way you're raised, your belief system. It's in the way you resist temptation and weakness. Never stop fighting for what you believe is right.

[FROSTY]: As much honor as there can be when you are dealing with borderline psychopaths (and some that are obviously over the line), power hungry idiots, and illegal actions so dark that the lights of the Vegas 'plex would be swallowed whole. Within that framework, some honor can be found. It can be simple, like "don't shoot children", or complex, like "I need to have the oyabun over for coffee since he freed me from sex slavery and all". I personally like shooting people in the back when they don't have a chance to draw. It increases my safety margin. If I can use dirty tricks, I will. Because no one else is going to hold anything back.

[MOLOKAI]: Honor is all how you look at it. Is it honorable for the cops and the corps to keep slamming the squatters who have nowhere else to go? Is it honorable for those same people to put out edicts and laws that keep benefiting their own instead of trying to help the problem all over North America? Is it honorable when you sit there in your silk suit and try to pretend to care about all this drek when all you want to do is go home and sip on your SoyFrappacino and slot yourself off while in the Pronroom? Before you ask me wahine, ask yourself.

[MOTHER]: AGAIN honor lies with the individual not with the profession. Of course there is honor, if one has morals and sticks to them. If they fight for what they believe is right. That's a really ambiguous question. Tell me about your credentials again.

DARKSTAR How would your lives be different if you had never come across that dark day when you were first in the shadows?

[FROSTY]: Little house with the white picket fence, but without the sentry guns. Running has taught me a healthy sense of paranoia.

[MOTHER]: I would probably be in jail or dead. Without the interaction with individuals with the experience to help guide me and teach me the shadows I would be in deep doo-doo right now. It would certainly be more boring and frustrating. I'd probably be married and assigned to one specific sector for one specific corporation. [yawning]

[PILGRIM]: It would be just as noble to have remained with my squad and protect the borders of our great land. I would have deprived myself of a great many experiences and maybe been a bit more naive due to this but one can never tell. It is as it should be.

[ULA]: Boy, how far back do we get to turn the clock? If I were still wandering the desert after being driven out by my tribe, then I'd be dead or mad. If I got to stay, I'm sure that I'd be the medicine woman to his day. If I made it to Seattle, but never got mixed up in the shadows I'd probably still be dead, my friends were the best protection and teachers I could imagine.

[MOLOKAI]: It would be over.

DARKSTAR Way to use up air time there Molokai! Let's try to keep your verbiage down, ok?

DARKSTAR What? Time's up? Oh man, just when things were getting good! As you can see, there are a variety of ethical and spiritual beliefs in the shadows. Which are you going to follow?

[THE VIEWS EXPRESSED HERE BY THESE CRIMINALS ARE NOT THE VIEWS OF KCOK RADIO, DARKSTAR DELILAH, OR THE BODY COUNT LOTTO]


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