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Europareich 2057 - A Cyberpunk CYOA

Erebus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
4,763
Poor Beauvais, the spelling of his name seems to be about as uncertain as the trustworthiness of our major. :)
 

Hellraiser

Arcane
Joined
Apr 22, 2007
Messages
11,300
Location
Danzig, Potato-Hitman Commonwealth
Chapter XIX

Claudia rushes towards the armed thug, he notices her but it is too late. A swift punch lands on his shoulder. He backs off a bit and loses his grip on the would be victim, that person runs away.

“I’ll gut you dyke!” The thug shouts furiously.

They struggle for a while, locked in a deadly dance as Gefreiter Bosch dodges his knife while he attempts to avoid her jabs. But ultimately it seems Claudia knows what she’s doing, he doesn’t even manage to get the blade close while she keeps hitting him, making him lose balance. Eventually she manages to disarm him and subdues him with ease a moment later.

“That’s not how you use a knife you idiot.” She says as the thug keeps struggling even when his face is facing the pavement.

“Good work Gefreiter, however never run off like that without an order!” You scold her. “Do you understand me?”

“Hesitation is the mark of cowards.” She replies angrily.

“Do you have a problem Gefreiter?!”

She remains silent.

“I thought so.” You say coldly. “Drag this piece of shit into the transportpanzer, just wrap him up nice for Orłowski. We’ll tell him Christmas came early this year.”

Claudia drags the thug into the Neinmask. You drop him off at the Karenwall Strasse Police Department on your way back to the base.

*

The transportpanzer stops just behind the Garrison’s HQ. Even from here you can see that not everything is quite right. Pulaski Strasse which runs just behind the HQ complex is completely cut off from the rest of the city, the same applies to the two streets intersecting with it right next to the HQ itself. Checkpoints have been set up with soldiers and riot cops in full-gear guarding this rear-entrance, normally while there were some soldiers here they never blocked the streets. The situation doesn’t look good, the General is preparing the worst it seems.

“Tight security, it looks like trouble.” Osterhagen says.

“We’re in the Army Gefreiter, trouble is the only thing with we deal with.” Muller tells him, you can’t help but agree with him.

“Look at all those people, it’s a bloody mob!” Sarah adds after a quick look in the crowd’s direction. The entirety of the Platz is filled to the brim even despite the falling snow and cold, it is as if a concert was supposed to take place. Unluckily for you that is not the case.

“Hope they didn’t bring the pitchforks and torches with them, or worse.” You say to the squad.

The front entrance from Kościuszki Platz remains open to all, although at this point you honestly doubt if the word “open” can apply when it’s clogged with such a huge mass of people. Very angry people at that. There are also many journalists there, along with people with cameras and phones who keep filming the protest that is happening in front of the building. All of them trying to immortalize the event and the scene - this sea of people standing in the glow of city lights on this December evening.

“Reich Raus! This is Gdynia not Gdingen! This is Poland not a Spezial Zone!” They shout together, unified in their discontent. Even here, behind the barricades, you hear it. They keep repeating that chant like a battle cry.

The Major attempts to contact you via your netlink, you answer his call.

“You’re already there I see. Give me a status report.” He orders, it doesn’t appear he’s in a good mood. Better not piss him off you guess.

“We’re dealing with at least five thousand people. So far they’re just shouting but it’s clear they don’t like us.” You answer.

“It’s just like the others said then.” The Major comments, he’s definitely sounds troubled by this whole ordeal. “Well you have Skorzeny and Thomerson’s squads there as well out of our company, work with them. I need to stay here and monitor the situation in case a crowd *suddenly* appears at the base or the ECK compound in Langfur.”

“Understood, I’ll contact them ASAP. Westgard out.” You tell him as you end the conversation. Well the Major clearly prefers to stay out of this, you honestly wonder if he honestly has to stay back in Danzig or if he’s just trying to weasel himself out of this. With all the nagry people and the media around that would be hardly surprising. You open a channel to Skorzeny and Thomerson.

“This is Westgard, I’m at the location. What is the plan?” You ask them.

“We’re supposed to help the riot police secure the perimeter,” Skorzeny tells you, “cover all but one possible exit so that the crowd can’t spill all over the place if this goes sour. Limit their movement and hopefully keep them in line and to provide fire support if bullets do start flying.”

“Makes sense, so what are our options?” You query once again.

“I’m sending you a visualization.”

hqmap3d.png


“The north is already cut-off, it’s there for evac in case things get really hot. We can let the crowd in and out of the Platz from the west, east and south.” Skorzeny calmly explains. “To the west is 10 Februar Strasse that’s pretty much the main street running through the entire Zentrum along the east-west axis from the Platz.”

“The entire Zentrum? I image that if a riot breaks out, we’ll have to fight them inside skyscraper lobbies and the other buildings along the street, if they run inside which they probably will. I don’t think this is a good idea.” You object.

“Or we can post men inside them beforehand and not let them get the opportunity.” Thomerson suggests.

“That will surely piss off the owners.” You tell her.

“True, but we’ll be able to cut them off and box them in the fastest. Rapid containment.” She replies, she appears to be confident that this will work.

“I see your point Frau Thomerson. What about the south Herr Skorzeny?”

“That’s Sankt Johannes Strasse, the city’s *representative* street.” He answers.

You sigh. “This just keeps sounding better and better Skorzeny.”

“Well, we’re in quite a mess to say the least.” He reinforces your doubts about this whole thing. “The good news is the buildings along the damn street are smaller and they mostly belong to boutiques, lawyers, jewelers and the occasional bank.”

“Lawyers and bankers, even better.” You comment, the last bits of hope that this may not end up as one giant mess just faded away. It just keeps getting worse, better just find a way to avoid getting hit by the inevitable fallout – you think.

“Well they’ll be more likely to not raise a media shitstorm, if they get paid for any damages. Probably won’t stop the journos from saying the Bundesreich plundered and scorched the very heart of Gdingen’s Zentrum.” Skorzeny continues.

“Tell me that last eastern option is better.” Somehow you know it probably won’t, but you say it anyway.

“Well the Platz goes all the way towards the bay and there’s not much around it, however it is very wide.” He keeps explaining. “If they try to run to the sides it is going to be a while before our people get into position cut them off. Likewise we can’t control who gets inside as well.”

“Some will probably get away.” Frau Thomerson adds.

“Exactly, there is also one other issue.” Skorzeny continues. “At the part of the Platz that extends into the sea two museum ships are moored. An old destroyed from the second World War and a Frigate which was used to train seamen in the early and middle twentieth century. It would be rather bad if those suffered due to a riot.”

“Scheisse! You curse. “Is there any part of this damn city that can get scorched without destroying something that will piss off the population?”

“Probably not Herr Westgard, probably not.” Skorzeny coldly replies.

*

A wall of policemen behind barricades separates you from the restless horde, a horde which grew to about twelve thousand by the time the policemen and soldiers got into position. Their chants changed but the message remains the same. It is pretty clear you are not welcomed here.

They managed to erect a soapbox somewhere in the middle. Various individuals came on top and off of it. Each one with a sermon of his own, but in the end all of them babbling about Europareich tyranny. Then one person you think you recognize comes up on top off the black synthetic crate and pickups the megaphone.

“They violate our rights, they censor information and repress the free press!” The young woman shouts through her amplification device. “They even raided my apartment because I had the audacity to seek the truth about the clinic bombing!”

“Well bloody hell, look what the cat dragged in.” Gefreiter Smith muses as she notices who just climbed on top of the makeshift podium.

Yes that’s Miss Żuławska, the safe proclaimed martyr of free speech. Harassed by volksdeutsche and fascist cyborgs. She just never gives up does she?

“I tell you this, these whole bombings, they’re all a lie! A giant plot to take away the few remaining freedoms we have. All so this Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete right here in Pomerania and the Tricity, can justify enacting martial law and the further subjugation of the Polish people!”

“End the occupation! Reich raus!” The crowd shouts in agreement. This is getting really bad real fast. You have to admit, she knows how to stir up the crowd.

“We must go forward now! No, not next year, next month or next week. We must charge and retake what is ours at this moment today, starting from this building in front of us! Don’t let these volksdeutsche and the Gestapo stop you! They are nothing against the strength our nation!”

“Reich Raus! Death to Europareich!” The crowd chants.

“We have to act fast, the bitch is going to turn this into a revolution!”

Out of the possible deployment patterns you picked the one where…
A)…the crowd is funneled through 10 Februar Strasse in the west.
B)…the crowd is funneled through Sankt Johannes Strasse in the south.
C)…the crowd is funneled through Kościuszki Platz in the east.

Miss Żuławska is inciting the crowd to violence and it looks like she may indeed succeed, you will try to stop her by…
1)…trying to shoot her with your rifle. She can’t talk if she’s dead.
2)…ordering the police to deploy non-lethal weapons and disperse the crowd. You won’t give them a chance to try to storm the HQ.
3)…grab a police megaphone and attempt to talk the crowd down.
4)…do nothing. Let others take the initiative.

Before you ask, the entire available squad is with you at this moment. However if it has to split up the team you picked will go with you.
 

Erebus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
4,763
Trying to funnel this big crowd into a single street would probably result in quite a few casualties : people would fall down, panic, walk over each other, etc. Considering journalists are here, we just might want to avoid that. Moving them to the other end of the Platz seems much safer. It's not really important if some people get away. In fact, it may be for the better : cornering and arresting 12,000 people probably wouldn't go well (and it's not like we're likely to catch the people behind this among them).

While it would be a riot to shoot Miss Zuul in the head... well, it would be a riot. And using a megaphone obviously isn't going to do anything good. We should start dispersing the crowd.

C2
 

Smashing Axe

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 29, 2011
Messages
2,835
Divinity: Original Sin
Jesus, we really should have taken the slimeball major's option. I don't want to argue against her with a megaphone, since we could very potentially become a well known public figure, which isn't good if we're wanting to head down the Black Ops career path. 1 wouldn't be so bad if we could do it covertly, but as it is I think it'll be full on renegade. Public acts of tyranny with the media all around isn't a good idea.

2 and 4 look like the best options, but they're not exactly optimal either.
 

Monty

Arcane
Joined
Mar 24, 2012
Messages
1,582
Location
Grognardia
So Bosch is a 'dyke'? Is she a romanceable character?

A2 - There's no point trying to talk to this crowd. And the longer we leave things the worse they get. Trying to shoot the speaker is too extreme right now, let's start with non-lethal weapons. And all the crowd dispersal directions have negatives, and we're probably going to get some casualties from a 12000 crowd regardless. I'm going for quick containment and skyscrapers are more resilient than small boutiques and jewelers.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
A3
The cheap shops will get replaced rather easily as compared to the historical district and damaging the monuments will be even worse.
As for talking, might as well give it a try, since using force automatically lends credence to their claims of tyranny and oppression. We have the "fearless public speaker trait," so it's not like they will drown us out. It won't exactly be like the first crowd we talked down, but it seems like the choice with the best possible outcome. Color me an optimist.
As for the whole "we're going Black-Ops," those guys probably have a million and one way to make people disappear without questions.
 

eklektyk

Erudite
Joined
Feb 12, 2010
Messages
1,777
Location
mexico of europe
C 2

talking to so ampedup crowd is pointless[gives more time for hostile operatives to organize and incite crowd more] break it hard and fast is only option

anf giving most of that mob chance to "vanish" instead of boxedin fight to the last coz my back to the wall is least of bad options
 

Seerix

Arbiter
Joined
Mar 31, 2012
Messages
235
Where's :flamesaw: option for the crowd? Just shooting that bitch is kind of weak.

Anyway, it's easy A2. Them storming our HQ is bigger concern than any media bullshit after we disperse the mob. Talking with them is pointless, right wing fanatics won't listen no matter what and we'll only get our face in the media, and maybe even into some article in Brasilia Tribune. And if I missed something, we are not exactly a celebrity material, so that kind of exposure may also damage our chances of getting into shadier parts of military.

And of course, choosing A and going with Thomerson's advice, we will minimize any damage and bystander casualties. Only lots of injured/dead fanatics and loads of broken glass, probably. Much easier to clean up than plundered shops, banks or antique warships.

So, A2
 

oscar

Arcane
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
8,036
Location
NZ
C3.

I'm tempted to do nothing, but we are in charge here. I imagine the cost of making the attempt to calm the crowd is that we get our face splashed around on the media/gain the attention of angry Polish nationalists but with the benefit of a minor chance to cool things down (I imagine the act would be completely pointless without the Public Speaker trait).

I'm also tempted to deploy the non-lethal weapons, but even that relatively mild step will probably look pretty bad to the journalists as all that's been done so far is talk. But I can see the logic in it being better to quickly nip this in the bud with non-lethal force than wait for it to devolve into a messy fight that could see dead and severely wounded.
 

Azira

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
8,519
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
Why not take advantage of the "Fearless public speaker" trait? Sure, I also think it's too late to defuse the situation completely, but it just might make a percentage of the mob reconsider and disperse. That'd mean less rioters to deal with.

A3
 

Commissar Draco

Codexia Comrade Colonel Commissar
Patron
Joined
Mar 6, 2011
Messages
20,856
Location
Привислинский край
Insert Title Here Strap Yourselves In Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Divinity: Original Sin 2
OK flipping to C3... We don't need 12 K prisoners Do we? Does Euroreich even posses adequate facilities to concentrate them properly after arrest? Cause Civilian administration will release them in 72 hours anyway. Film the mob and arrest the ringleaders at tomorrow dawn, away from reporters.
 

Erebus

Arcane
Joined
Jul 12, 2008
Messages
4,763
I'm also tempted to deploy the non-lethal weapons, but even that relatively mild step will probably look pretty bad to the journalists as all that's been done so far is talk. But I can see the logic in it being better to quickly nip this in the bud with non-lethal force than wait for it to devolve into a messy fight that could see dead and severely wounded.

That's the problem. Unless something completely unforeseeable happens, we'll have to use force of some kind in the near future. It will look bad to start doing so before the mob gets aggressive, but it may limit the casualties. Dead bodies on TV (or even a lot of wounded) wouldn't be good for our glorious Reich.
 

Rumsfeld

Scholar
Joined
May 19, 2012
Messages
116
Location
Bilderberg HQ
Yes we have two problems, the crowd is growing rapidly and the crowd is being incited to attack the HQ. At that point, given the size of the crowd, it's inevitable that real bullets are eventually used and casualties result. The crowd don't seem in the mood for a lecture from a hated Reich officer, our previous ploy of 'do you want to go back where you came from' obviously won't work on this Polish mob. I doubt we'd even be heard, I think we would just make the crowd angrier.

Deploying non-lethal force is the best way to nip this in the bud right now. Suddenly it won't seem so fun being in this protest, which is a crucial step towards removing the casual protestors and leaving the hard core for us to deal with.

A2
 

Infantryman

Scholar
Joined
Feb 9, 2010
Messages
459
Location
War Saw, Potatoland
What kind of country is Europareich anyway? I thought it was somewhat authoritarian and had extremely hawkish government. But we're in the middle of a full-blown war with Russia and whatnot, yet our greatest concern is dealing with protesting mobs and the media. The heck!? I mean, even very democratic and liberal countries would censor the media, impose martial law and curfews in such circumstances. But Europareich seems to surpass them in its pacifism...

Voting A2. Let's see them ruin their very own city :smug:.
 

Hellraiser

Arcane
Joined
Apr 22, 2007
Messages
11,300
Location
Danzig, Potato-Hitman Commonwealth
The problem is that there aren't enough forces stationed within Europareich proper to deal with mass dissent. Also quite frankly it would not be worth the resources which would be better spent on the front. It's simply easier to appease the locals because in the end the state that wields nearly all the power (Germany) relies on the satelite states' will to cooperate. Considering the current situation the whole thing could collapse from within if any state decided it has enough of the Neuses Europa Ordnung.

This is also the age of digital media, everything is online and censorship is simply hard. Even china has problems censoring the net now and they have the most experience with it. I would like to mention that there are no AIs to pull off an Echelon like in Deus Ex. You can't block the non-Europareich net as industries would collapse (just imaging how much more we will rely on the internet to do anything in 45 years can give you a headache when you consider the changes in that area of the past 15 years) if you take into and thus you can't stop people from posting what they really think on Brasilia Tribune's forum or elsewhere. You can arrest them afterwards, sure. But you'll need to get the info on them from a not-so-sympathetic towards the regime news site. They'll be unlikely to cooperate and you can't hack them too overtly or their government gets bitchy, and it's one of the few places willing to sell oil to Europareich.
 

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