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Europareich 2057 - A Cyberpunk CYOA
- Thread starter Hellraiser
- Start date
Stygian Lurker
Liturgist
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2011
- Messages
- 577
voting B
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2011
- Messages
- 2,835
Some inspiration from third worldia
Hellraiser
Arcane
Bro you don't even have to look at Africa to see that, some ex-soviet republics, Russia and Ukraine in particular, are notorious for cops asking for "donations" after they pull you over, especially if you are a foreigner.
Anyway as for the votes:
BBBBBBBB
CCC
DDDD
The B bandwagon wins for obvious reasons. We'll see how that plays out tomorrow as I am rather busy today, either way more news bits:
Pity you don't have a MAIBATSU LIGHTNING, the roar of it's 360 kW JAPANESE THUNDER of an engine would make any attempt to follow you pointless.
Until the Spaniards would send an EMP drone, them Japanese cheaped out on EMP-hardening the thing
Anyway as for the votes:
BBBBBBBB
CCC
DDDD
The B bandwagon wins for obvious reasons. We'll see how that plays out tomorrow as I am rather busy today, either way more news bits:
Pity you don't have a MAIBATSU LIGHTNING, the roar of it's 360 kW JAPANESE THUNDER of an engine would make any attempt to follow you pointless.
Until the Spaniards would send an EMP drone, them Japanese cheaped out on EMP-hardening the thing
Infantryman
Scholar
Hellraiser
Arcane
Yeah, but it's not a road-legal serially produced vehicle. Designing a record-breaking vehicle differs from designing an economically viable serial model. The damn thing is also very light and fuel efficient (things that didn't make it into the bit due to lack of space), which is what made it sell so well.
Infantryman
Scholar
Yeah, but it's not a road-legal serially produced vehicle. Designing a record-breaking vehicle differs from designing an economically viable serial model. The damn thing is also very light and fuel efficient (things that didn't make it into the bit due to lack of space), which is what made it sell so well.
Good point, but this one seems relatively similar to the regular road car, yet it ran 207 mph = 333 kph.
Hellraiser
Arcane
It looks like one, but the inside was most likely stripped of the usual accessories you expect from a car, like a ridiculously overpowered sound system or a passengers seat.
Hey, even if they will have faster hydrogen road cars in the future, my 240 kph won't look as retarded compared to that as Gibson's FOUR MEGABYTES OF HOT RAM looked 15 years after the book was published.
Monty
Arcane
Or the spacefaring infrastructure in 2001 A Space Odyssey (although reading Arthur C Clarke's early books mentioning space elevators / satellites etc is admittedly quite impressive)
Infantryman
Scholar
.
Hellraiser
Arcane
Chapter XIII
“Well Paul,” you say, “it looks like we’ll get to see how that charm of yours works on Spanish soldiers.”
“I still think we should ram them.” The Unteroffizier replies, he is somewhat disappointed by your choice.
The van slowly and calmly approaches the checkpoint. Six soldiers man it, each and every one of them looking as dead serious as possible, while watching your every move closely. You know that look, you have seen it before, on the faces of your fellow soldiers back in France and even on yours. The stare of anxiety, as you wait for the first gunshot or the first explosion, during the silence before the storm.
One of the soldiers approaches the driver’s side window. He gives you the meanest stare you can possibly imagine before finally saying something.
“Show me your papers.” The soldiers says.
You hand him your fake papers hoping they won’t bother to access the Gov-Database to check them. He glances over the documents with a scrutinous gaze.
“Fernando, come take a look at this.” He says, looks like he doesn’t like something.
Another soldier walks up, with the same mean and serious look on his face.
“This is no good Eduardo.” He says upon looking at the papers. “You will have to come with us back to the base.” He tells you.
“Surely we can solve the issue here and now. Our documents are fine.” Paul comments.
“No, this is not good.” Fernando repeats once again.
“You are traveling through a combat area without the proper permit.” Eduardo says.
“Permit? We have checked the necessary requirements, everything should be in order. No permit was required as far as we know.” You explain.
“No Seniorita, there is a new special royal decree, announced just a week ago. It’s all over the Net. It says you need a permit.” Fernando replies.
“We checked thoroughly online as did our employer, I am sure we have the necessary documents.” You tell him.
“Seniorita, you know what, we’ll cut you a deal yes. Normally we would have to detain you, but we’re busy people as are you. We need to spend time fighting islamists, you need to get wherever you want to go to do business. It’s a waste of time for both us. We’ll do you a favor.” Fernando explains.
“A favor? That would be really nice of you Senior.” You tell him.
“Yes a favor, but you see, we don’t really have to do this.” Fernando tells you.
“No, no we don’t.” Eduardo cuts in.
“So you see, we need *motivation* to do this favor.” Fernando adds.
“Motivation you say?” You see where this is going, should have figured as much considering their bullshit about permits. “How much motivation are we talking about?”
“Well Seniorita, we count on your spirit of generosity yes. Giving is after all a reward in itself” He tells you.
You show him most of the cash you still have left, worth roughly about what the average soldier here earns in 4 months. Not that you need Spanish currency, considering you are about to leave this country.
“That is most generous Seniorita.” He tells you as he grabs the money from your hand. “I wish you a safe journey.” He adds before waving to the other soldiers, signaling them to let you through. You drive past the checkpoint.
“Corrupt assholes.” You murmur. “They would’ve probably let any raghead get past that checkpoint, if he had the money.”
“If they didn’t, we would probably end up being shot at.” The Unteroffizier comments.
“Do you think we’re the only ones who they just let go for some cash? These guys are probably doing that for months. Who knows how many Shaheeds they let go through. Bunch of traitors that should be shot.”
“Are we no better if we paid them?” Paul asks.
“We’re following our orders and remaining loyal to our Government, doing what it takes to ensure European citizens are safe. They are ignoring orders for their own personal gain, we are nothing alike.”
“So the ends justify the means?” Sven inquires.
“If they are not in conflict with Europe’s interests they do, what any other government or group thinks about them is irrelevant.”
An ominous silence fills the van, disturbed only by the sound of the vehicle’s engine.
*
You look at the gray mass of turbulent clouds floating above your head. Something is boiling in the heavens, you just wonder what. The small cramped boat makes it way towards a familiar vessel, a silhouette you will probably never forget, the Elisa, anchored and waiting for you. Carlo stands on its deck, he smiles as he sees you approaching.
“Ah! Madame Laura! It is good to see you again.” Carlo says before looking towards the tied up hacker. “I see you brought a most prized catch with you, a magnificent one indeed. Come! We must find a suitable place for this Iberian trophy.”
You lock the hacker up below deck, for now Oskaras will be guarding her, after his shift ends Sven will take over.
Elisa heads towards safe waters, but you know that the journey towards them will be anything but safe.
*
The journey was long, surprisingly though you encountered no ships on an approach heading. You have no idea whether Carlo plotted a better course, or if the Berbers became too scared to go out to the sea after you massacred their last two corsair packs. This is something you have been thinking about a lot as you travelled back to the TSZ. Although not as much as about the hacker and the Clinic bombing. At least it feels good to be back at the base, away from all the Alis and Ahmeds.
General Gunther Vogler, the commander of the TSZ garrison, wants to debrief you in person. You wonder why, but you guess you’ll get your answer soon enough. You make your way to the briefing room, along with the rest of the team from your Spanish escapade.
“Feldwebel Westgard, I want to personally congratulate you on completing the mission.” The General says after you close the door.
“Herr General, I was only doing my job. As were these men without which I would not be able to complete it.” You tell him.
“Yes, I am sure that their support was critical to the success of the operation. However there is another problem. Herr Major, explain the situation.” Vogler orders.
“During your absence there has been another *incident*, two days ago on the GFG tower’s parking lot in Langfur, a bomb was planted under one of the cars.” Edmund Schobel, the Major of the 32nd Mechanized Infantry Company you are part of, starts explaining. “This time there was no hacking, as far as the ECK is aware, although there was no need for one, probably. But, unfortunately, the consequences are unpleasant.”
“Who or what was the target Herr Major?” You ask.
“The GFG regional manager, he is critically injured, but alive at least for now.” The Major answers. “He owned a sturdy car as it appears, probably typical corporate paranoia, but the way things are here recently no one can’t blame him for being paranoid. Outside of that only a few cars got wrecked, somebody got burned when hydrogen from one of the cars ignited, nothing serious. ”
“This could be linked to our case, unless new terrorist organizations keep popping up overnight here.” You conclude.
“First Fuchs now GFG, two German corps hit within a span of two weeks. Looks like a pattern, one aimed against German corps in particular. They're not in the same market, this isn't their competition hiring hitmen.” Paul comments.
“Indeed it does Unteroffizier.” The General tells him. “Considering the recent nationalist tones in the local media, after a minor row over the investigation into Miss Żuławska’s involvement, there isn’t much of an outrage over the bombing as it did involve *foreign* companies. But we fear that the locals are getting tired of our protection over the area. A new group of right-wing extremists may be behind it, or an old one which changed its MO."
"What did Żuławska do now?" You ask, curious as to what kind of trouble the young news vulture may have caused.
"Not much, found some Polish network willing to cover her story of *abuse* by the garrison forces, they major networks ran with it for a day or two, got bored afterwards. The anti-european sites continue to complain about it, but as their users are fringe groups, their discontent is limited.”
“I think we should start by interrogating our prisoner Herr General. If the bombings are connected she’ll help us find out who’s behind them. Where can I find her?” You ask.
“We’ve transported Carla Durante a.k.a. m3x14 to the local CKE facility. McKay has been digging into her augmentations, to see if she has any implanted digital memory hidden somewhere.”
“The lucky dog keeps all the good stuff for himself. We can’t have him hog the nice lady now can we.” Paul jokes.
“Leave the jokes for the guys’ night out during leave, we have an interrogation to do.” You remind the Unteroffizier.
*
A 50 meter tall former office building rises above the street level of Wyspiański Strasse, near one of the Danzig Technical University’s dormitories in Langfur. An S-Bahn train rushes in front of the corporate towers located to the west, the glow of their 3D screens reflects off its roof. However it pales in comparison to the bright display on the train itself. You have no idea if there is some kind of subliminal message in the animation, but you have an odd sudden urge to eat an Überburger at the nearest Nanoburger restaurant. A coincidence – you guess.
But the Neinmasks stationed around it give away that it is no longer a den of corporate bureaucracy, as do all the sentries patrolling around it. You can even see a miniature guard drone buzzing around somewhere behind the trees, but just barely.
Tight security, but hardly surprising considering what the buildings holds. This is the hub of the TSZ network after all, its doorway into the maze of global data streams. Modern existence hinges on working access to the Net after all. Without it business deals couldn’t be done, children couldn’t be taught, doctors couldn't diagnose illnesses and even the traffic lights would stop to work. And nobody would even know what is going on in the world around them, as they would be engulfed in a digital darkness of a one hundred percent purely offline existence. A terrifying prospect for the civilization of today.
The team from Spain goes with you to see the prisoner, the rest of the squad stays in your trusty transportpanzer just outside the building. You pass through all the checkpoints, and down into the building’s sub-levels, until you reach room B07. McKay is waiting for you inside of it. The rooms itself is dimply lit, an ominous blue glow illuminates the equipment inside of it. Carla is lying in a metallic chair, drugged and unconscious. A bunch of cables connects to various parts of advanced machinery, built into the hi-tech piece of furniture.
“Herr McKay, I see you’re taking care of Miss Durante and getting to know her better.” You greet the ECK hacker.
“I know everything there is to know about this female individual.”
“Is that so?”
“Carla Durante Perez, born in Granada on the 7th of November 2031. Moved to Toledo after the Al-Andalus Jihad declared holy war on the Spaniards by contaminating several key sites in Granada with Anthrax. Started hacking around 2049 under the name Gr4n4d3, judging by her join date on one of the monitored BBS. Got augmented with a *hack jack* in a Madrid Prateek Bio-Enhancement clinic back in 2055, changed her alias to m3x14 afterwards, started a business called “Durante Electronic Maintance” to cover up her hacking. Her activity in the Net’s underworld so far has been woefully inefficient and unimpressive.”
“Who hired her?” You ask impatiently, McKay's monologue has begun to bore you with its lack of vital information.
“Well I do not know that, the upload was interrupted before we could get anything regarding that. That is why you are here I assume. You will extract the data from her using verbal communication or is my assumption incorrect?”
“Wake her up then.”
His Prateek Pro-Tech utility arm silently whirls as it moves closer towards to unconscious hacker’s arm. One of the small compartments inside of it opens up, a dextri-arm raises itself from within it. A pointy end of a syringe, filled with some kind of pharmaceutical compound, glimmers in the dim blue light of the ECK dungeon. Adam injects the concoction into the hacker’s blood stream. She wakes up a minute later.
“What.” Carla says quietly, still dazed. “What the fuck!?” She yells in terror as she notices she’s incapacitated in a metal chair, with McKay’s half-machine, outright alien face right in front of her.
“Miss Durante, I would advise you to calm down. Talking over the matter calmly will go a long way in ensuring that our cooperation, will be mutually beneficial."
“Who are you anyway? Where the hell am I? How long have I been held captive anyway?” Carla asks a series of questions in rapid succession.
“It is only natural you have questions, let me explain then.” You tell her. “You are now at an Europareich military facility, the reason why we kidnapped you five days ago is simple. Your intrusion into the Deutsche Strom und Energie computer network, oddly coincided with a power outage in a very specific part of the Tri-Stadt Spezial Zone power grid. One where at the same time a bomb exploded, for some reason. Care to explain the coincidence?”
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” She curses.
“Now Carla, would you like to tell us what were you doing in that network and who hired you?” You ask her.
“Fucking hell, should have figured that job was too good to be true. I have no idea who the people who hired me were, they used a proxy, some small business from a backwater country, to transfer the cash into my account.”
“Go on.”
“The company, it was called Nattapong’s Old Book Emporium, or some other nonsense about selling paper books I think, like they haven’t heard of e-books in Asia or something. It’s supposed to be more sophisticated there, you know, true cyber-states none of this offline nonsense, not like back home.”
“You *think* it was called like that?” You ask her to clarify, this lead after all could be vital. If she is telling the truth that is.
“Well, the transfer should still be listed in my bank account’s history. Check the details yourselves, I’ll tell you the number and password.”
“Why did they hire you? What were you looking for in the system?”
“They wanted me to find something of value, incriminating someone or other juicy corp secrets. You know, evidence of sexual harassment swept under the rug, creative accounting, stuff like that. I couldn’t do shit though, the system, it was too damn good. I could only get access to desk-drone user privileges, check their corp-slave mails. Nothing there but boring memos, couldn’t even view the filenames of stuff belonging to the managers. Then the system kicked me out.”
“Adam, you told me she accessed the system and was behind the damn sabotage?” You ask him in German, the female hacker remains oblivious to what you are saying.
“I told you she broke into the system, all traces of anything she did *after* she got inside were erased. It was logical to assume that she was responsible, as nobody else broke inside during the suspicious time period.” He replies.
“Either she’s lying or we went all the way to Spain after a decoy.” You comment.
“I could try tracing the proxy used to pay her. The money trail is bound to lead somewhere.” The ECK hacker replies.
“To what? Asia? And we’re going to end up chasing ghosts and pissing off another government for nothing again, half way across the world at that?” Paul complains.
“Your assumption is incorrect Herr Muller, sufficient analysis of the Asian business in question should result in discovering ties to the terrorists.” McKay explains. “The Spanish excursion provided us with that we would otherwise not posses, now we can extrapolate more data related to the incident without having to resort to physical espionage. All done via the data streams of the Global Network, with the efficiency of coding rather than brute force.”
“She may be hiding something. I think we should try to *persuade* her to tell us more.”
“Well, if you require support, I can interface her with the terminal over here via her neural port. There is a variety of braindance sequences I can submit her to. Rather painful ones.” Adam suggests.
Sven, Oskaras and even Paul show signs of disgust in their faces as they hear Adam’s offer.
“We may need that support.” You reply coldly. “Give me a moment to decide what to do next.”
You will…
1)...go talk to Officer Orłowski, see what his men dug up on the latest bomb attack.
2)…interrogate Robert Wis, see what kind of contacts with right-wing Polish extremists he has.
3)…persuade the hacker to tell you more, using torture. Don’t worry, it’s all in the mind.
4)…visit the GFG tower, pester the security regarding anything related to the bombing.
5)…go see the injured GFG Bank regional manager. See if he tells you anything.
6)…go patrol Saspe, nothing better to do until McKay finds out where the money came from.
7)…go patrol Oliva, nothing better to do until McKay finds out where the money came from.
8)…go patrol the Port Island and Heibuden, go patrol Saspe, nothing better to do until McKay finds out where the money came from.[/b[]
Pick 3 people out of the following to accompany you during your next task:
Muller, Borg, Beauvis, Smith, Laukaitis, Bosch, Mazowiecka, Osterhagen, Richter
You have gained a Fate Point: You got out of Spain with the hacker, it wasn’t all smooth sailing but nobody died or got imprisoned and the brass isn’t pissed off. At least not yet.
Sorry for the delay, this ended up longer than expected (even with Ida not encountering anything on the sea, oddly enough) and I got caught up in some other things yesterday when I was supposed to write this.
“Well Paul,” you say, “it looks like we’ll get to see how that charm of yours works on Spanish soldiers.”
“I still think we should ram them.” The Unteroffizier replies, he is somewhat disappointed by your choice.
The van slowly and calmly approaches the checkpoint. Six soldiers man it, each and every one of them looking as dead serious as possible, while watching your every move closely. You know that look, you have seen it before, on the faces of your fellow soldiers back in France and even on yours. The stare of anxiety, as you wait for the first gunshot or the first explosion, during the silence before the storm.
One of the soldiers approaches the driver’s side window. He gives you the meanest stare you can possibly imagine before finally saying something.
“Show me your papers.” The soldiers says.
You hand him your fake papers hoping they won’t bother to access the Gov-Database to check them. He glances over the documents with a scrutinous gaze.
“Fernando, come take a look at this.” He says, looks like he doesn’t like something.
Another soldier walks up, with the same mean and serious look on his face.
“This is no good Eduardo.” He says upon looking at the papers. “You will have to come with us back to the base.” He tells you.
“Surely we can solve the issue here and now. Our documents are fine.” Paul comments.
“No, this is not good.” Fernando repeats once again.
“You are traveling through a combat area without the proper permit.” Eduardo says.
“Permit? We have checked the necessary requirements, everything should be in order. No permit was required as far as we know.” You explain.
“No Seniorita, there is a new special royal decree, announced just a week ago. It’s all over the Net. It says you need a permit.” Fernando replies.
“We checked thoroughly online as did our employer, I am sure we have the necessary documents.” You tell him.
“Seniorita, you know what, we’ll cut you a deal yes. Normally we would have to detain you, but we’re busy people as are you. We need to spend time fighting islamists, you need to get wherever you want to go to do business. It’s a waste of time for both us. We’ll do you a favor.” Fernando explains.
“A favor? That would be really nice of you Senior.” You tell him.
“Yes a favor, but you see, we don’t really have to do this.” Fernando tells you.
“No, no we don’t.” Eduardo cuts in.
“So you see, we need *motivation* to do this favor.” Fernando adds.
“Motivation you say?” You see where this is going, should have figured as much considering their bullshit about permits. “How much motivation are we talking about?”
“Well Seniorita, we count on your spirit of generosity yes. Giving is after all a reward in itself” He tells you.
You show him most of the cash you still have left, worth roughly about what the average soldier here earns in 4 months. Not that you need Spanish currency, considering you are about to leave this country.
“That is most generous Seniorita.” He tells you as he grabs the money from your hand. “I wish you a safe journey.” He adds before waving to the other soldiers, signaling them to let you through. You drive past the checkpoint.
“Corrupt assholes.” You murmur. “They would’ve probably let any raghead get past that checkpoint, if he had the money.”
“If they didn’t, we would probably end up being shot at.” The Unteroffizier comments.
“Do you think we’re the only ones who they just let go for some cash? These guys are probably doing that for months. Who knows how many Shaheeds they let go through. Bunch of traitors that should be shot.”
“Are we no better if we paid them?” Paul asks.
“We’re following our orders and remaining loyal to our Government, doing what it takes to ensure European citizens are safe. They are ignoring orders for their own personal gain, we are nothing alike.”
“So the ends justify the means?” Sven inquires.
“If they are not in conflict with Europe’s interests they do, what any other government or group thinks about them is irrelevant.”
An ominous silence fills the van, disturbed only by the sound of the vehicle’s engine.
*
You look at the gray mass of turbulent clouds floating above your head. Something is boiling in the heavens, you just wonder what. The small cramped boat makes it way towards a familiar vessel, a silhouette you will probably never forget, the Elisa, anchored and waiting for you. Carlo stands on its deck, he smiles as he sees you approaching.
“Ah! Madame Laura! It is good to see you again.” Carlo says before looking towards the tied up hacker. “I see you brought a most prized catch with you, a magnificent one indeed. Come! We must find a suitable place for this Iberian trophy.”
You lock the hacker up below deck, for now Oskaras will be guarding her, after his shift ends Sven will take over.
Elisa heads towards safe waters, but you know that the journey towards them will be anything but safe.
*
The journey was long, surprisingly though you encountered no ships on an approach heading. You have no idea whether Carlo plotted a better course, or if the Berbers became too scared to go out to the sea after you massacred their last two corsair packs. This is something you have been thinking about a lot as you travelled back to the TSZ. Although not as much as about the hacker and the Clinic bombing. At least it feels good to be back at the base, away from all the Alis and Ahmeds.
General Gunther Vogler, the commander of the TSZ garrison, wants to debrief you in person. You wonder why, but you guess you’ll get your answer soon enough. You make your way to the briefing room, along with the rest of the team from your Spanish escapade.
“Feldwebel Westgard, I want to personally congratulate you on completing the mission.” The General says after you close the door.
“Herr General, I was only doing my job. As were these men without which I would not be able to complete it.” You tell him.
“Yes, I am sure that their support was critical to the success of the operation. However there is another problem. Herr Major, explain the situation.” Vogler orders.
“During your absence there has been another *incident*, two days ago on the GFG tower’s parking lot in Langfur, a bomb was planted under one of the cars.” Edmund Schobel, the Major of the 32nd Mechanized Infantry Company you are part of, starts explaining. “This time there was no hacking, as far as the ECK is aware, although there was no need for one, probably. But, unfortunately, the consequences are unpleasant.”
“Who or what was the target Herr Major?” You ask.
“The GFG regional manager, he is critically injured, but alive at least for now.” The Major answers. “He owned a sturdy car as it appears, probably typical corporate paranoia, but the way things are here recently no one can’t blame him for being paranoid. Outside of that only a few cars got wrecked, somebody got burned when hydrogen from one of the cars ignited, nothing serious. ”
“This could be linked to our case, unless new terrorist organizations keep popping up overnight here.” You conclude.
“First Fuchs now GFG, two German corps hit within a span of two weeks. Looks like a pattern, one aimed against German corps in particular. They're not in the same market, this isn't their competition hiring hitmen.” Paul comments.
“Indeed it does Unteroffizier.” The General tells him. “Considering the recent nationalist tones in the local media, after a minor row over the investigation into Miss Żuławska’s involvement, there isn’t much of an outrage over the bombing as it did involve *foreign* companies. But we fear that the locals are getting tired of our protection over the area. A new group of right-wing extremists may be behind it, or an old one which changed its MO."
"What did Żuławska do now?" You ask, curious as to what kind of trouble the young news vulture may have caused.
"Not much, found some Polish network willing to cover her story of *abuse* by the garrison forces, they major networks ran with it for a day or two, got bored afterwards. The anti-european sites continue to complain about it, but as their users are fringe groups, their discontent is limited.”
“I think we should start by interrogating our prisoner Herr General. If the bombings are connected she’ll help us find out who’s behind them. Where can I find her?” You ask.
“We’ve transported Carla Durante a.k.a. m3x14 to the local CKE facility. McKay has been digging into her augmentations, to see if she has any implanted digital memory hidden somewhere.”
“The lucky dog keeps all the good stuff for himself. We can’t have him hog the nice lady now can we.” Paul jokes.
“Leave the jokes for the guys’ night out during leave, we have an interrogation to do.” You remind the Unteroffizier.
*
A 50 meter tall former office building rises above the street level of Wyspiański Strasse, near one of the Danzig Technical University’s dormitories in Langfur. An S-Bahn train rushes in front of the corporate towers located to the west, the glow of their 3D screens reflects off its roof. However it pales in comparison to the bright display on the train itself. You have no idea if there is some kind of subliminal message in the animation, but you have an odd sudden urge to eat an Überburger at the nearest Nanoburger restaurant. A coincidence – you guess.
But the Neinmasks stationed around it give away that it is no longer a den of corporate bureaucracy, as do all the sentries patrolling around it. You can even see a miniature guard drone buzzing around somewhere behind the trees, but just barely.
Tight security, but hardly surprising considering what the buildings holds. This is the hub of the TSZ network after all, its doorway into the maze of global data streams. Modern existence hinges on working access to the Net after all. Without it business deals couldn’t be done, children couldn’t be taught, doctors couldn't diagnose illnesses and even the traffic lights would stop to work. And nobody would even know what is going on in the world around them, as they would be engulfed in a digital darkness of a one hundred percent purely offline existence. A terrifying prospect for the civilization of today.
The team from Spain goes with you to see the prisoner, the rest of the squad stays in your trusty transportpanzer just outside the building. You pass through all the checkpoints, and down into the building’s sub-levels, until you reach room B07. McKay is waiting for you inside of it. The rooms itself is dimply lit, an ominous blue glow illuminates the equipment inside of it. Carla is lying in a metallic chair, drugged and unconscious. A bunch of cables connects to various parts of advanced machinery, built into the hi-tech piece of furniture.
“Herr McKay, I see you’re taking care of Miss Durante and getting to know her better.” You greet the ECK hacker.
“I know everything there is to know about this female individual.”
“Is that so?”
“Carla Durante Perez, born in Granada on the 7th of November 2031. Moved to Toledo after the Al-Andalus Jihad declared holy war on the Spaniards by contaminating several key sites in Granada with Anthrax. Started hacking around 2049 under the name Gr4n4d3, judging by her join date on one of the monitored BBS. Got augmented with a *hack jack* in a Madrid Prateek Bio-Enhancement clinic back in 2055, changed her alias to m3x14 afterwards, started a business called “Durante Electronic Maintance” to cover up her hacking. Her activity in the Net’s underworld so far has been woefully inefficient and unimpressive.”
“Who hired her?” You ask impatiently, McKay's monologue has begun to bore you with its lack of vital information.
“Well I do not know that, the upload was interrupted before we could get anything regarding that. That is why you are here I assume. You will extract the data from her using verbal communication or is my assumption incorrect?”
“Wake her up then.”
His Prateek Pro-Tech utility arm silently whirls as it moves closer towards to unconscious hacker’s arm. One of the small compartments inside of it opens up, a dextri-arm raises itself from within it. A pointy end of a syringe, filled with some kind of pharmaceutical compound, glimmers in the dim blue light of the ECK dungeon. Adam injects the concoction into the hacker’s blood stream. She wakes up a minute later.
“What.” Carla says quietly, still dazed. “What the fuck!?” She yells in terror as she notices she’s incapacitated in a metal chair, with McKay’s half-machine, outright alien face right in front of her.
“Miss Durante, I would advise you to calm down. Talking over the matter calmly will go a long way in ensuring that our cooperation, will be mutually beneficial."
“Who are you anyway? Where the hell am I? How long have I been held captive anyway?” Carla asks a series of questions in rapid succession.
“It is only natural you have questions, let me explain then.” You tell her. “You are now at an Europareich military facility, the reason why we kidnapped you five days ago is simple. Your intrusion into the Deutsche Strom und Energie computer network, oddly coincided with a power outage in a very specific part of the Tri-Stadt Spezial Zone power grid. One where at the same time a bomb exploded, for some reason. Care to explain the coincidence?”
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” She curses.
“Now Carla, would you like to tell us what were you doing in that network and who hired you?” You ask her.
“Fucking hell, should have figured that job was too good to be true. I have no idea who the people who hired me were, they used a proxy, some small business from a backwater country, to transfer the cash into my account.”
“Go on.”
“The company, it was called Nattapong’s Old Book Emporium, or some other nonsense about selling paper books I think, like they haven’t heard of e-books in Asia or something. It’s supposed to be more sophisticated there, you know, true cyber-states none of this offline nonsense, not like back home.”
“You *think* it was called like that?” You ask her to clarify, this lead after all could be vital. If she is telling the truth that is.
“Well, the transfer should still be listed in my bank account’s history. Check the details yourselves, I’ll tell you the number and password.”
“Why did they hire you? What were you looking for in the system?”
“They wanted me to find something of value, incriminating someone or other juicy corp secrets. You know, evidence of sexual harassment swept under the rug, creative accounting, stuff like that. I couldn’t do shit though, the system, it was too damn good. I could only get access to desk-drone user privileges, check their corp-slave mails. Nothing there but boring memos, couldn’t even view the filenames of stuff belonging to the managers. Then the system kicked me out.”
“Adam, you told me she accessed the system and was behind the damn sabotage?” You ask him in German, the female hacker remains oblivious to what you are saying.
“I told you she broke into the system, all traces of anything she did *after* she got inside were erased. It was logical to assume that she was responsible, as nobody else broke inside during the suspicious time period.” He replies.
“Either she’s lying or we went all the way to Spain after a decoy.” You comment.
“I could try tracing the proxy used to pay her. The money trail is bound to lead somewhere.” The ECK hacker replies.
“To what? Asia? And we’re going to end up chasing ghosts and pissing off another government for nothing again, half way across the world at that?” Paul complains.
“Your assumption is incorrect Herr Muller, sufficient analysis of the Asian business in question should result in discovering ties to the terrorists.” McKay explains. “The Spanish excursion provided us with that we would otherwise not posses, now we can extrapolate more data related to the incident without having to resort to physical espionage. All done via the data streams of the Global Network, with the efficiency of coding rather than brute force.”
“She may be hiding something. I think we should try to *persuade* her to tell us more.”
“Well, if you require support, I can interface her with the terminal over here via her neural port. There is a variety of braindance sequences I can submit her to. Rather painful ones.” Adam suggests.
Sven, Oskaras and even Paul show signs of disgust in their faces as they hear Adam’s offer.
“We may need that support.” You reply coldly. “Give me a moment to decide what to do next.”
You will…
1)...go talk to Officer Orłowski, see what his men dug up on the latest bomb attack.
2)…interrogate Robert Wis, see what kind of contacts with right-wing Polish extremists he has.
3)…persuade the hacker to tell you more, using torture. Don’t worry, it’s all in the mind.
4)…visit the GFG tower, pester the security regarding anything related to the bombing.
5)…go see the injured GFG Bank regional manager. See if he tells you anything.
6)…go patrol Saspe, nothing better to do until McKay finds out where the money came from.
7)…go patrol Oliva, nothing better to do until McKay finds out where the money came from.
8)…go patrol the Port Island and Heibuden, go patrol Saspe, nothing better to do until McKay finds out where the money came from.[/b[]
Pick 3 people out of the following to accompany you during your next task:
Muller, Borg, Beauvis, Smith, Laukaitis, Bosch, Mazowiecka, Osterhagen, Richter
You have gained a Fate Point: You got out of Spain with the hacker, it wasn’t all smooth sailing but nobody died or got imprisoned and the brass isn’t pissed off. At least not yet.
Sorry for the delay, this ended up longer than expected (even with Ida not encountering anything on the sea, oddly enough) and I got caught up in some other things yesterday when I was supposed to write this.
Bohr
Arcane
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2012
- Messages
- 1,878
2 - It's time to grill this Robert Wis character, bet he has connections with Polish nationalist scum.
Mazowiecka, Richter, Smith - Involve other members of the squad to keep morale up and spread experience, and I don't like the idea of Richter being left to his own devices all the time until we know more about him. Let's keep an eye on him.
Mazowiecka, Richter, Smith - Involve other members of the squad to keep morale up and spread experience, and I don't like the idea of Richter being left to his own devices all the time until we know more about him. Let's keep an eye on him.
Baltika9
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2012
- Messages
- 9,611
Hellraiser, what will McKay do with Durante's interrogation if we won't be there? Track her payment accounts or go at it himself?
Hellraiser
Arcane
Track her payments, he's not authorized to interrogate her alone. He will do that regardless of what you pick naturally, as it is a priority in your investigation. Hence no choice to make him do other shit.
Infantryman
Scholar
3) Resorting to such EXTREME measures is regrettable, but we must be certain what we know is true.
Considering the fact the squad considers it disgusting, I would rather take none of our subordinates, but if the choice has to be made, I'd go with: Muller, Mazowiecka, and Beauvis.
I would also like to remind you that Richter is this suspicious shady guy. I think we should select him for our squad sometime, but for the sole purpose of not making him think we suspect him of hiding something.
Considering the fact the squad considers it disgusting, I would rather take none of our subordinates, but if the choice has to be made, I'd go with: Muller, Mazowiecka, and Beauvis.
I would also like to remind you that Richter is this suspicious shady guy. I think we should select him for our squad sometime, but for the sole purpose of not making him think we suspect him of hiding something.
Seerix
Arbiter
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2012
- Messages
- 235
The option 3 means we will interrogate her now, so our original squad stays at least during the interrogation.
Also, I don't think she's lying, she's definitely way over her head and some other and much better hacker used her as smokescreen. She could probably say some remotely more useful stuff like if there was anything weird she noticed during the job, etc. but I don't think it's worth losing rep with our squad and probably getting slightly deranged.
Interrogating Wis is pointless, will probably cause another short lived drama in the media about abuse by foreign military.
I think we should go see Orłowski before doing anything else related to this new bombing as we don't really know much about it. Also, visiting the bank manager in hospital is probably waste of time as we will get stonewalled by corporate lawyers, just like the last time with the cashier. Wouldn't be surprised if it was the same with trying to talk to the security, if they weren't already replaced.
1)
Also, we should take Richter with us. It's time to try figuring out who the hell he is. Muller stays as he's the most experienced and this case is getting more serious. And Mazowiecka, while I would prefer Borg, it's better to rotate squad a little more.
Richter, Muller, Mazowiecka
Also, I don't think she's lying, she's definitely way over her head and some other and much better hacker used her as smokescreen. She could probably say some remotely more useful stuff like if there was anything weird she noticed during the job, etc. but I don't think it's worth losing rep with our squad and probably getting slightly deranged.
Interrogating Wis is pointless, will probably cause another short lived drama in the media about abuse by foreign military.
I think we should go see Orłowski before doing anything else related to this new bombing as we don't really know much about it. Also, visiting the bank manager in hospital is probably waste of time as we will get stonewalled by corporate lawyers, just like the last time with the cashier. Wouldn't be surprised if it was the same with trying to talk to the security, if they weren't already replaced.
1)
Also, we should take Richter with us. It's time to try figuring out who the hell he is. Muller stays as he's the most experienced and this case is getting more serious. And Mazowiecka, while I would prefer Borg, it's better to rotate squad a little more.
Richter, Muller, Mazowiecka
Hellraiser
Arcane
Actually, as I am in a good mood, I am willing to use the magical powers of PLOT TELEPORTATION and RETCON to make it so that the rest of the squad is in the Neinmask outside. Or that you will simply drive back for them or something. If only because it is more convenient that way.
So, as I did mention that the people you pick *will* accompany you in the next task, they will be present during the interrogation. I'll probably look over the chapter and edit anything suggesting otherwise out of it now.
EDIT: I looked over the thing and as a matter of fact I didn't say anywhere that just the team from Spain (the one that was debriefed) went to the ECK facility. Assume that everyone is there, just that they're waiting in the Neinmask for the moment.
Erebus
Arcane
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2008
- Messages
- 4,770
The hacker was clearly used as a distration and I doubt that she's hiding anything torture would make her remember. Her employers clearly expected us to go after her, so they wouldn't have told her anything important, and she doesn't seem to be good enough to have discovered stuff about them by herself.
EDIT : Flip-flopping to 1, with Osterhagen, Bosch and Richter
EDIT : Flip-flopping to 1, with Osterhagen, Bosch and Richter
Seerix
Arbiter
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2012
- Messages
- 235
It took less than 24 hours for GFG Bank lawyers to cover up their employee connection with bombing at the clinic and tell us to fuck off in legal jargon and this new bombing happened two days ago. I really doubt we will get anything out of anyone working at this corporation. Besides, it is typical of any corporation to do damage control for stuff like that to ensure that they won't get any, even remotely negative press that could hurt their business.
Also, Orłowski was working with his team on this case from the start and he may have already tried both 4 and 5 options.
Monty
Arcane
Do we outrank Officer Orlowski or have specific orders to lead the overall investigation in preference to him? I ask because I'm wondering how cooperative he'll be if we show up and start asking him about his investigation, whether he'll just cooperate and tell us everything he knows or view this as us intruding on his turf, trying to 'steal his glory' etc. The last thing we need is to get sent off on another wild goose chase because someone is playing office politics and views us as competition.
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2011
- Messages
- 2,835
3
However, I get the feeling that there's going to be another bombing or riot soon, and that choosing the right location to patrol will yield us better results. It's just a matter of determining which is most likely to face disaster.
Edit: I feel like an idiot, I just cannot keep the names of our squad straight. Is there any chance you could put up a quick summary of the squad the next time you do a character update for Ida please Hellraiser? It'll be good to have something to go back and easily reference.
eklektyk
Erudite
time to stirr some shit....
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