Contract #5: Marcus Bell: Enemy of the State!

[John]

A puff of severed hands goes flying into the background as Tyros throws the useless appendages apathetically over his shoulder. Max turns his attention from the shower of body parts back to the green glows of the hand readers, willing the way to open up for Val so that he can terminate this launch sequence.

[Stephen]

Val's face is suddenly bathed in emerald light from the launch monitor as the biometric bypass indicators flick from red to green. Assisted by his reflex processor, his hand comes down on the emergency shutdown pad with a speed to make a multiple-initiate PhysAd envious. He keeps the slap-switch held down as his eyes scan the monitor for confirmation that the launch sequence has been aborted.

[John]

There's a moment held in suspended aspiration for the whole team. Max looks on at the screen, somehow certain that the sequence will march steadily onward.

[GM Nick]

The ghostly, floating numerals vanish and the sound of the missile booster whines down.

"Primary ignition has been aborted."

[John]

Max hardly dares breathe for a long moment, then lets out a long sigh. The sweat beaded on his forehead betrays his anxiety as he darts his eyes from teammate to teammate. The elf finally looses his grip on the severed hand which he's been pressing to the reader hard enough that it might have broken and lets it slide gruesomely to the ground. It leaves a smear of blood as it tumbles. "Everyone okay?" Max asks. His thoughts return to Sinjin now that the scramble is over, and he's pleased to see the ork up and about-- if not looking considerably worse for the wear. Overstreet's attention turn to Doc, whose prowess never ceases to amaze. He shows his admiration to his teammate with a small nod.

[Elliott]

((Forgot to ask before, but how did we identify the hermetic mage as a mage from the get go? It's not obvious to anyone not using astral sight. You'd think we would have to wait for him to cast a spell or some such, otherwise he would just look like another goon in armor...))

Tyros sits down in one of the half disintigrated office chairs, clearly tired but supported by the adrenaline still coursing through him. Looking around, it seems the team made it through this encounter in one piece, more or less.

"Where was the missile headed anyway? And what is it's payload? Oh, and I think we can safely say that nondetection is right out the window now."

[GM Nick]

The control room rumbles as the silo hatch closes down to contain the remnant fuel vapors.

"Not necessarily," says Pandora, tapping her lips with a forefinger. "Val, can you make it look like the missile launched after all?"

[Drew Buddy]

Adams grunts in agreement with Tyros.

"And it was going so well, too," he gripes. "We might be able to continue undetected for a bit longer, but getting in and out without leaving a trace is impossible now."

He turns his attention to the amputated hands, and mangled corpses.

"I do wonder what they'll think of all this. I almost feel sorry for the janitor."

[John]

(( I made the narrative leap that he had some kind of indicative facial tattooing just so I could explain away picking him out of the crowd. That wasn't described by Nick, though. ))

Max sits down into a crouch against a blown out console, looking in the direction of the massive load of invisible weight resting into the shaky chair. Unable to assist Val in his task, Max turns his attention elsewhere. The elf's mind flashes back over the fracas through which the resilient team has just scraped, and catches something in the periphery of his mind's eye. As Tyros cleaved into his first opponent a dim and deep crimson hue shone out from the wound, then spilling forth its arterial bounty. Max considers that brief glow, and says,

"Tyros, I saw something while you were hacking your way through the Legion soldiers. I can't quite describe it, but I've never seen it before... It was like blood-- more than just the blood you were already spilling."

Max doesn't finish his thought outright, but his memory flits upon the team's brief vacation in Scotland.

[Stephen]

Val glances at Pandora and back to the console.

"I suppose I could try to mask the aborted launch, electronically at least. We'll just have to hope that Legion doesn't wonder why they can't get eyes on the damn thing. They'll figure it out sooner or later no matter what, but maybe it'll set them to guessing for a while."

Val obtains the Access ID from the gloved officer's commlink. Next, he writes a script on the fly which should automate the editing of the launch records and mask various sensor readings. Finally, he injects the spoofed script into the console.

[GM Nick]

Spoof (4) Test (Val)

[Hacking (6) + Spoof (6) = 7]
6 2 5 6 3 5 4 5 6 1 4 5

Val alters the log files of the launch to indicate that all was successful. In addition, he disables the gas spectrometers in the blast pit and scrambles the video feeds. It won't hold up to close scrutiny, but it may buy them some time.

[Stephen]

After making remarkably short work of the clean-up, Val takes a brief moment to sift through the launch briefing files. Clark will undoubtedly want to know where this warhead was headed and with what payload, and Val's curiosity pains almost as badly as his latest gunshot wound.

[GM Nick]

(( The launch console is more or less a dumb terminal and only has logistics of the launch, nothing pertaining to the destination or payload. ))

Pandora leans around the corner from one of the two exits.

"You guys are going to want to see this."

[John]

Max looks warily away from Tyros, winces as he gets to his feet, and joins Pandora in her investigation.

[Stephen]

Val grimaces in disappointment at the launch terminal. Why anyone would completely isolate the ballistic tracking functions from the launch terminal is thoroughly beyond him. Perhaps Legion's internal security is a bit on the overzealous side. Val shrugs, keenly understanding the feeling of paranoia that may have driven them to such ends.

Without really thinking about it, Val busies himself with disconnecting the sequencer and setting the cipher display back in the terminal. The task complete to his satisfaction, he stands up and turns around, then quietly chides himself for being an idiot. Thought you could make it seem like nothing was amiss? Yeah, maybe they won't notice the slaughtered security squad and the pile of severed hands at the foot of the chair. Nice work, 'mano.

Val shakes his head to clear it of the cotton which seems to have crept its way in with the dose of Doc's surprisingly effective painkillers, then sets off in Pandora's direction.

[GM Nick]

Pandora leads Max through the doorway and into an umbilical tunnel--the likes of which the team observed earlier. Near the end of the tunnel is a make-shift table assembled from cargo boxes, scattered with playing cards. No doubt where the squad safe-guarding the launch had been stationed. A vid-screen is mounted on the wall at the terminus of the intersection. The image on it freezes Max's blood.

Bell.

Despite a new (and alarmingly obvious) cyber-eye, the former UCAS Colonel looks more or less the same since their rendezvous in Alaska. His attire is that of a charismatic despot; that is, pristine military fatigues and a bulky tactical vest. There's something more frightening about the man's mannerisms--something that nobody can seem to place a finger on.

"I think this is live," says Pandora. She thumbs the volume button on the vid-screen.

[Stephen]

Val steps into the room, stopping abruptly in mid-step as the light from the monitor bathes his visage in a strangely appropriate noxious hue. His eyes lock onto Bell's face, and his frown deepens. He doesn't like what he sees there at all.

"Something tells me Clark's not paying us enough..."

[John]

Max steps fully into the room, staring at the screen in furious fascination. The feed plays out before him as Pandora raises the volume on the scene, and the elf looks on in rapt anticipation. Unconsciously, he takes a cigarette from his pack and lights it.

[GM Nick]

"Brothers and sisters of Legion--I speak to you today not only as a leader, but as a proud father. The first stage of operation copperhead is complete. I know that many of you have questioned, even been deeply concerned by our alliance with the Tir. The elves of that place do not share our vision--that war is the only plausible way for mankind to progress. They do not agree with us that the strongest are forged in the fires of combat; that bloodshed ferrets out the weak and inferior. On the contrary, their allegiance was motivated by a fearful respect, one that we've earned as the truly enlightened.

Brothers and Sisters, I come to you today to assuage your fears and bolster your spirits. The alliance was our trojan horse. Over the past four months, Legion operatives have been infiltrating every rank and file of Tir military and intelligence. We have sleeper agents at every border, hidden ammunition caches in subterranean fox-holes, and even a Legion sympathizer within their very parliament."

Bell smiles; a smile devoid of any emotion but malice.

"As I speak these words, an Ares RA32F continental missile is en route to Portland. It's payload contains enough Parasitia nanites to overtake a full quarter of their population--the fruits of our long labors and our path to victory. With Tir citizens as guerilla terrorists, the council of Princes will have no alternative but to relinquish control of the Tir to us. With Portland under our control, and the Tir's resources, Legion will become a power unrivaled by any private military contractor."

[Drew Buddy]

Doc's feels a sense of shock and horror, before settling on an uneasy smugness.

"Man, won't he be embarrassed when they find out that their rocket went limp," he gloats quietly.

Upon further reflection, a thread of worry winds around his stomach as he considers the location of the Tir Tairngire, and its borders with his former home. How the frag did the Tir -- of all people -- get in bed with these guys?

[John]

Max can hardly believe the team's luck, and can similarly hardly believe the resonance of this moment with his first encounter with Bell. The elf is quick on the draw with his tool, and produces the directional microphone from his pack in a flash, hooking its feed to the datachip he keeps for just such an occasion, and recording Bell's every word from "only as a leader" onward. Someday, Max suspects, Bell will regret some of his wording in this particular address. At the conclusion of the speech, Max turns to Val and says,

"Do you think there's any way you can get this to Major Clark straight away? And maybe somebody with the Tir while we're at it?"

[Stephen]

Val numbly files away the video of Bell's monologue, taken with his eye recording unit, into the rapidly expanding Legion dossier in his commlink.

"Bloodshed is the only way to progress? This guys' off the fraggin' reservation."

Val nods to Max. "I'll do what I can, if I can find a gateway node around here."

Val casts a glance over his shoulder back the way they came, toward launch control, and adds, "We've gotta disable their launch capability. Once they discover the warhead's still here, they're gonna try again."

[John]

Max cocks a devious smile, and suggests,

"If we can find the location of any other Legion strongholds, what are the odds that we could redirect the missile so it comes down on their own heads?"

[Stephen]

With his brow furrowed, Val grinds his knuckles into his lidded eyes, suddenly very tired.

"That's a possibility I suppose, but there's a damn lot of legwork that'll need to go into it. And we'll need greater support from Clark, and I'm not talking about from his checkbook. I'll likely need to get some dataworms sniffing about, locate and probe some targets. Hell, I might need to set up a botnet for all the processing power I'll need. It ain't gonna be a small job, and we likely aren't going to be doing it all from here. Besides, if one of these warheads can infect 25% of the population of Portland with those nanites, we might only do more harm than good. And aside from that what good would it do to infect Legion with nanites that bend people to Legion's will? Let's finish casing the place, and get back to Clark. Maybe we'll be able to give him enough to get the UCAS to piss on their concerns about jurisdiction."

[John]

Max nods, and asks Pandora,

"Do you have any contacts within the Tir you could alert to this drek?"

[GM Nick]

Pandora shakes her long, raven tresses.

"Negative. Though I have some friends in the Athabaskan council now. I can start spreading the word. What concerns me is the lack of personnel guarding the missile. I don't think I'm alone when I ask: where the frag is everyone?"

[John]

Max ventures a guess with "Perhaps someplace central where all non-essential can watch this address?"

(( If applicable, roll Military Security Procedures ))

[Drew Buddy]

Adams leans against the wall and stares at the floor.

"They're either mobilized, or preparing to mobilize. You don't just launch a bioweapon and then sit back and do nothing. That missile was supposed to be the first shot of... Something; An invasion maybe? And you can imagine that the crazy bastards in the Tir would respond in kind to this missile. Bell would have to know that a nuclear or satellite response would be incoming once the higher ups caught wind of the strike."

He looks up at the others.

"So no, I'm not surprised that we've encountered almost no one. They're either holed up deep underground, or they're on their way out. The launch was just the first stage of something bigger."

[GM Nick]

Pandora spreads her arms.

"The road forketh, gentlemen. Are we heading on as a squad, or splitting up?"

[Elliott]

Tyros shakes his head in fascination, muttering something about fragging nanites.

"Perhaps it is time to vacate the premises. We need to get word of this back to Clark and to the Tir. They are best equipped to respond to this sort of provocation, although somehow I do not doubt they will find a role for us in this little drama."

Stepping up to stand beside Max, Tyros stays focused on the monitor as if considering the implications of Bell's speech. The powerful distraction is welcome given the line of Max's question after the previous encounter. Tyros was happy to put it off while more important things were happening, but he can't ignore it forever. The new power he has discovered fascinates the mage and part of him would like to share his revelation with his teammates. But magic of this sort is widely misunderstood and worse, misused. Better perhaps to keep it to himself until he has more time to get comfortable with it and feel out his friend's likely reaction.

Offhandedly, "About what you asked before, there is mana in all living things, it is perhaps strongest in the lifeblood that flows through them. It was probably my magic interacting with the mana in all the blood spilled back there that you saw, if it was anything at all..."

[John]

Max looks at Tyros with some suspicion, not knowing what to make of the troll's explanation. Moving on in the meantime to more pressing matters, the elf glances around at the assembled party somewhat anxiously, unsure of how best to proceed. Finally, he suggests,

"Until we have two specific goals, splitting up doesn't seem like the best idea. I don't think another five man death squad is something any three of us could handle."

[GM Nick]

Con Test (Max)

[Con (4) + CHA (7) + Pheromones (2) = 6]
6 4 2 5 2 4 5 6 6 3 5 4 3
[CHA (1) = 1]
5

It's plainly obvious to Max that Tyros is lying--the team's mage has a severe tell when he's abusing the truth.

[John]

Max glances back to Tyros and looks doubtfully at the mage. What Max finds most troubling is that his teammate would attempt to lie about whatever it was, and that he therefore feels as though he has something to hide. 'If Tyros is dabbling in blood magic, we might be in trouble,' the elf thinks. Max knows little to nothing about blood magic from an academic stand point, but his experience in Scotland and Tyros's own mentor's life-ending stand against it is enough to make him feel plenty uneasy. This, however, is not the time to press the issue. Instead Max lets his his disbelief at the lie drape plainly across his face, and turns his attention back to the matter at hand.

[Drew Buddy]

Adams nods to Max,

"Let's continue on then. They'll discover that the launch was a failure sooner rather than later, and I'd like to cover as much ground as possible before then."

[John]

Max realizes that in all the excitement he forgot to reload his weapon, and goes about taking care of that task. Following Doc out of the room, he muses,

"Wonder why Portland is to Bell's tactical advantage... "